Devil From The Heavens

Chapter 9: Make Canvas of Coastlines

"Based on the way his techniques affected and damaged the environment, we can reasonably assume it was by his, Broly's, hand that the settlements around Fire country had been annihilated."

Tsunade let out a deep breath as the ANBU concluded his report. There was that mystery solved at least even if it wouldn't assuage the villagers. With the reports of small towns seemingly vanishing overnight, it had driven the Leaf citizens into a frenzy of panic and despair. There was even a riot the day before though that was quickly quelled.

She dismissed the shinobi with a quick wave of her hand. The Akatsuki had to be taken care of much quicker if only to keep her village from ripping itself apart.

The door suddenly opened which pulled her out of her thoughts. Jiraiya and Naruto stepped through the door with grim faces. It seems the few days the young blond had off did nothing for him which meant letting him know of their future plans for Sasuke was not going to be pretty.

Their last excursion resulted in the deaths of two clan heirs and needless to say their clans were not happy. They lost the strongest of their next generation in an attempt to bring back a missing nin specifically at the request of Naruto. They had volunteered for the mission but that didn't matter. Tempers flared extremely high and, were she a worse leader, it might have resulted in conflict. In the end, they were able to make a deal.

Sasuke was to be officially considered a missing nin and future attempts to retrieve him were not to be made. Only execution was acceptable.

Her brow rose when she saw who was trailing behind them.

"Hinata? I didn't ask for you."

Jiraiya grunted as the Hyuga looked away in slight embarrassment. "The brat wouldn't leave her alone so I just brought them both along."

The Hokage looked over the younger ninja but seeing as they weren't forthcoming with the reasoning, she left it alone.

"Hinata," She started with a sigh. "You can't be here for this."

The kunoichi straightened up and nodded at her. "Hai, Hokage-Sama."

She could see the relief in the poor girl's eyes as she turned to leave. Naruto reached out however and prevented her from leaving. Tsunade glanced at Jiraiya with a questioning look but the sage seemed unsurprised. It seemed that she should have kept a closer eye on the kid in the last few days.

"No, she stays." Said the jinchuriki defiantly. His eyes dared her to insist otherwise. Hinata looked in a slight panic between him and the Hokage. "Naruto, it's okay..." She whispered to him but he seemingly ignored her.

The Hokage was taken aback by the overprotectiveness that Naruto exhibited over the girl. She knew things hadn't gone as planned but it seemed that the reports might have downplayed how badly the young man had been affected.

For the sake of preventing any future problems, the Hokage relented. Once Naruto was done with the sage training, he was going directly to counseling to help him deal with his issues.

"Fine but not a word of this leaves this room for the time being, is that clear?"

The two nodded. Tsunade's eyes lingered on the young blond's for a few moments longer. Neither of them were going to enjoy the next few minutes.

"Naruto, I called you so I could personally tell you that as of today, the village will no longer support your endeavor to bring back Sasuke."

She was prepared for the possibility but the brazen manner in which Naruto slammed his hands onto her desk was still irksome. The speed at which he crossed the room astounded her however. Not the fastest she'd seen but it was up there. The brat was strong. His crimson eyes bored into hers.

"What do you mean we can't bring him back?! He belongs here!" His nails-turned-claws bit into the wood of her desk and the splintering could be heard by everyone in the room. "There's good in him, Grandma, I know it!"

Setting aside the usual irritation from the nickname he gave her, Tsunade leaned back in her chair if only for some distance. The anger in his visage was not a pleasant sight. It looked so out of place on the young man like a puddle in the middle of the desert. Her mouth felt dried.

"As much as I hate to say it, it doesn't matter what you believe, Naruto. The clan heads, while understanding the risks their children take in this line of work, were not pleased to find out their children's lives were wasted trying to return a missing nin back to the village based on the desires of his former friend."

Fissures appeared in the desk as Naruto squeezed further. The jinchuriki's head lowered and his bangs hid his eyes. Tsunade looked past him. Hinata looked incredibly awkward if sympathetic to the blond. Jiraiya continued to look grim.

"They weren't wasted."

She wanted to stand up and put a hand to his shoulders, hug him even, but in this she had to be professional. It didn't matter that she looked to him much like a grandchild and seeing him in pain pulled at her heart. She settle for laying a hand on one of his own.

"I'm sorry but my hands are tied. I can't risk losing the clans, not with the Akatsuki still out there."

His head lifted slightly, his pupils blue but wet, but she could see hope. Tsunade couldn't help but suspect that the next thing out of Naruto's mouth would be uncomfortable to answer.

"So if the Akatsuki were gone, we could bring him back?"

She pulled her hand away.

"I don't think so but I can't say for sure."

He pushed off the desk and balled his fists. She did a quick once over of the piece of furniture. It needed to be replaced which was time and effort that could be spent on better things. Were it anyone else...

"Then I'll just kill them all. Shino and Kiba's lives will be avenged and the clan heads will have no choice but to let me bring Sasuke back."

Tsunade exchanged a swift glance with Jiraiya. That was a dangerous sentiment to hear from anyone much less the container of the strongest Tailed Beast in the world. The Toad Sage's training better work.

"On the topic of killing Akatsuki, There is a second purpose to bringing you here today." She gestured to the spymaster. "Jiraiya, if you may."

As the Sage moved forward, Hinata found herself hoping for the wall behind her to swallow her up. There was no point to having her here and it felt like she was intruding more than anything else. It's not like her personal feelings matter when it was her crush that asked her to stay. In spite of her feeling nearly paralyzed by the circumstances, she found butterflies raging in her stomach when he grabbed onto her like he did.

She remembered the first time she woke up after the mission. He was there by her bedside alongside her cousin, Neji, and her sister, Hanabi. Given what she knew of the blond, she wasn't too surprised that the medical personnel couldn't stop him from sitting in the room despite not being family. Of the ones who survived, she was the most injured with severe chakra poisoning from Naruto becoming the Nine Tails.

It was apparently touch and go because when she finally woke up, it was a pretty intense experience for her. Naruto and Hanabi asked a million questions while Neji just stood behind them with a pleased smile. From there, things quickly devolved.

The attention she had so craved became suffocating and she was rarely allowed a moment to herself. She found it hard to even properly grieve for her team mates with Naruto constantly around. He had been slowly losing control since Gaara and the mission was the last straw. Now it seemed he protected her to get back that sense of control. It was worrying.

Naruto looked up at the older ninja.

"Pervy Sage?"

The older man frowned.

"Alright brat, I'm not going to beat around the bush. You need to get stronger and I need you to stop losing your mind at the slightest thing." Jiraiya crossed his arms. Even she winced at the harsh way he spoke. It seemed that the Sannin lacked the patience she did regarding Naruto. "I'm taking you to Mount Myōboku for Sage training."

Naruto's eyes widened at the news. "Really?"

Jiraiya nodded.

The shinobi grinned and grabbed her hands. She didn't even notice him cross the room. "You hear that, Hinata? We're going to Mount Myōboku!" Her brows furrowed. That was odd wording on his part but she chalked it up to the excitement of becoming stronger. She could use a breather from the blond's attentions because surely, he didn't mean the two of them. Did he?

"You better mean me and you, kid."

Naruto's eyes turned red again.


Broly woke up to darkness and chains. He was stuck back in his own mind. He wanted to scream and tear at his bindings but he knew it was a wasted endeavor as soon as he thought of it.

A cool breeze passed by him. It felt nice even if it wasn't real. Oh, how he'd love to lay in the sun in his real body once again. As his thgouhts sunk into the memories of his brief time of freedom in his youth, a nagging thought bothered the Saiyan.

This place doesn't have wind. Or temperature if he really thought about it. The footsteps of someone approaching him rang out behind him and the man turned around as much as he could but there was no one.

This place was driving him mad. That had to be the only explanation. He was feeling and hearing things that weren't there. He swore he's seen thing moving in the darkest reaches of his prison too.

"I'll have a broken mind before I get out of here I swear."

"Let's avoid that if we can."

Broly's heart practically jumped out of his chest at the voice and he began frantically searching for whoever was talking. He felt the amusement of whatever was talking to him more than felt it. What the hell was going on?

"Otherwise my efforts would be wasted."

The Saiyan saw movement directly in front of him. A figure emerged and his eyes widened at what he witnessed. It was him but not entirely. It was his face, his hair, but his clothes and his eyes were an exact copy of the old man he fought when he landed on this godforsaken planet. He floated with his legs cross and a staff touching the floor as if it was what was holding him up.

Broly shook his head at the incredulity of what was happening. Who? What? How?!

The figure waved its hand and the chains fell away from the Saiyan. Broly quickly shot to his feet in an aggressive stance.

"Explain yourself or die!"

Amusement passed through him once more. It felt like he was breathing the emotion it permeated the world of his mind so wholly.

"Leaving power like yours unsupervised is the gamble of a fool." The old man,- him,- whatever he was, stroked his own face. "Though I did not anticipate this...appearance of mine."

The Saiyan wanted to blast the man into oblivion but he felt a strange compulsion to just wait it out. It took but a moment for him to figure out at the old man was influencing him. The anger that resulted was enough. An orb of ki shot forward only for it to fizzle out before it touched the pseudo-clone.

"We're in a cage in your mind, Saiyan. A cage of my design. Unlike our first meeting, you have no power against me."

He waved his hand once more and the two were back in the original forest where he landed. Broly's fists clenched as he looked around. It was a perfect replica or close enough to it that it didn't matter. He looked back at the one who imprisoned him and pointed an accusatory finger.

"Alright, you old bastar-"

The Sage lifted a hand. "Please, call me Hagoromo."

Broly's aura exploded out. His fists ached to turn the thing in front of him to a pile of mush. The gall of it to ask for respect out of him! "I'll call you shitstain if I want to for trapping me like you did!" They stared at each other for a moment, one impassive, the other furious. "Explain yourself! How are you here?"

It took a moment for Hagoromo to answer. He did expect this interrogation but it would be hard to explain this whole situation to someone nearly wholly ignorant of chakra.

"I left a portion of my own chakra, my life force, within the seals on your body. Part of my consciousness now lies here within you. Unfortunately, your unique...physiology has left me changed into this form you're witnessing."

The Saiyan began to pace. This son of a bitch couldn't get enough of him in the real world so he just decides to stick with him after death? What kind of bullshit was that? He looked up at the sky. He'd never, truly, seen the stars above this planet. They were so unfamiliar. He took a deep breath. He might as well get some answers if he was impotent.

"Why invade my mind?"

The Sage, or rather his chakra, hesitated. "It was my...desire to repair your damaged psyche during your hibernation and, to an extent, I did. You were left feral by your confrontation with the being known as Kakarot so I did what was within my ability." Hagoromo had a small smile on his face. "If I'm allowed a moment of pride, seeing you as you are now is an accomplishment."

That name, that hated name, brought Broly's eyes back to the construct of chakra. Unbidden memories were suddenly brought forth and the Saiyan closed his eyes. There was only what he believed he should feel and a slight rise in his heart rate. None of the blindness and tunnel vision that normally came.

"You know about Kakarot?"

"When you repair a mind as fractured as yours, the cause of said fractures has to be known. The circumstances regarding your birth were tragic." The pseudo-clone's hand tightened around his shakujo. The evils that the Saiyans committed against a mere infant were horrific even if their fear was warranted. "Your mind, in order to cope with both your power and your trauma, latched onto the memories of, and subsequently developed hate for, Kakarot crying in order to maintain some semblance of sanity. I am truly sorry that you were born with so little chance to be good."

The Saiyan's fists tightened once more, his brows furrowed, and his mouth became a snarl. "I don't want your pity." He spat out between grit teeth.

The Sage nodded in understanding.

"Don't mistake my sympathy for your plight as pity, Saiyan. I respect your pride more than that."

'At least someone does.' Broly thought as he became calm once more. It was surprisingly easy to do so but this time he couldn't pin the blame between the Sage's influence or his 'repaired' mind. Of course, this entire discussion begged the question as to why he would show himself now. The Sage gave him a knowing look as if reading his mind.

"I had hope when you release finally came, I as well as my descendant would aid in your recovery but that is not the case. The inheritor of my eyes wishes to use you to bring ruin to this world."

Broly crossed his arms and shrugged off his concern. Like he gave a shit what happened to this construct's plans.

"So you can't play therapist now, my heart bleeds for you really, but what does that mean for me? Are you going to put me back in the hole so someone else can play with my mind?"

"No, nothing of the sort." The world shifted and Broly found himself stand across the Sage with a table on the floor between them. Hagoromo kneeled on a mat and gesture for the Saiyan to do the same. The ancient warrior growled but complied. Anything to get this old fool to leave him alone sooner.

The pseudo-clone poured an imaginary cup of tea for him.

"I just wish to have a talk."


How could he have been so stupid? The answer had been staring him in the face this entire time.

It was the Rinnegan by which Broly was brought down to the level of mere mortals. It had to be by the Rinnegan with which he would be truly and absolutely driven by his will alone. Nagato will have to relinquish his eyes to him.

'A bit earlier than planned but not an altogether unwanted change.' Madara thought as the Kamui took him from the Sage's tablets and brought him to a large underground pool. Within the water were thousands of pale, white bodies with green hair.

Zetsu was merely the original and with the Gedo Statue and Hashirama's DNA, more Zetsus were able to be created. With how things were going, he wouldn't be surprised if a war was needed to complete his plan to cast an Infinite Tsukoyomi over the world. Despite the Saiyan's unique properties, such a conflict could not be a guaranteed win with just one man.

But it was not the exact copies of Zetsu that he was particularly concerned about. He walked along the surface of the pool to the center. Below him were a dozen Zetsu still partway through development. They were larger than the other clones though not considerably so. What was of interest were the tails with green fur that floated among the ones that were further along.

This batch was stable it seemed. Not a single one dead or deformed so far.

Madara could not be more pleased. The end was near and, despite some setbacks, things were coming together.


Author's Notes

This chapter would've been out last month but man, between getting a new job and personal issues, there has been no time for writing.

So, roughly speaking, we're about a third of the way through the story. Still a long ways to go but it's a journey worth taking.

Ent out.


Review Responses!

The Awesome One: Oh man, darker is a great way of putting it. Though it might be an understatement for what's coming next...

Guest: Wat

fightingchampion: A good villain is one you hate, haha.

Abyss Emperor: I couldn't quantify how much of a boost he's getting, only that it's not going to bode well for anyone. As for the genjutsu, it's not really something he could adapt to giving its being facilitated through artificial means unlike in your example of Goku with Nova. Normally, he'd be completely immune to genjutsu anyways.

A random Guest: Broly is receiving Zenkai boosts but their effects will be seen down the line.