Hey everyone, me again!

GOD DAMN GUYS, I EDITED THE HELL OUT OF THIS ONE. What started as 1000 words turned into over 3000, this is my longest chapter yet. I love the continuing support and comments so please keep it going. Reading your comments give me so much motivation to keep posting these!

ALSO I've added "..." in-between scene changes so that its visibly easier for the reader to understand the skips.

I've had 3 people mention now that I called Tsunade the sixth hokage instead of the fifth, and I've gone ahead and edited the chapters prior to fix this (at least on my end, its been fixed, hopefully it looks that way for you too). Anywho, hope you enjoy this one too.

Signing off, Cherry is typing...

Pain watched in satisfaction as the jinchuriki erupted in a show of power. He surveyed Naruto as he turned from human to demon, almost instantly four large crimson tails waved around wildly. The surrounding air became dense and hot. Pain stood, raising his hands towards the sky, he shouted maniacally.

"DO YOU HATE ME?"

The creature simply howled in response, its breath creating a powerful stream of hot wind. As the demon held its jaws open towards the sky, a dark purple, almost black ball began to form, red and blue chakra bubbling into the ball of dense power. A high pitched sound emanating from the almost black ball. Once the demon was satisfied with the size of the ball of chakra, it shot towards Pain, blowing him a good distance away until his body slammed into a cliff wall. Without a second to think, the now five tailed jinchuriki landed a solid punch to Pains face before drawing back and howling into the sky above again. Pain's body peeled off the side of the cliff, leaving a human sized indent in the wall. He fell towards the ground but landed lightly on his feet. Naruto's fox form began to hurl chunks of rock towards the Akatsuki robed man. Pain dodged the earth born pieces in an elaborate twist and turns of movement. The Kyuubi drew closer as Pain just barely dodge the airborne chunks of rock. As the fox got closer, two massive hands made of chakra extended from the core body of Naruto's sizzling form. The giant claws for hands picked up a large silver of earth, raising it high into the air only to smack it down upon Pains head like a nail in wood. The demon smirked evilly as it clubbed the orange haired man into the ground until only his head stuck out slightly. As the demon laughed in triumph, Pain took the moment to push his body out of the earth. Pain moved back into the forest behind him, his feet carrying him into the trees in an attempt to create some distance before the next attack. Spotting a large lake, he handed with a plop on top of the liquid surface. The Akatsuki leader was now wearing only half a sleeve. Half of his chest and entire left arm was now exposed to the elements, the clothes being fried off from the initial attacks. He ran across the giant body of water, droplets splashing as he speed across. His eyes moved to the corner of his face as he heard the demon approaching. Without warning, massive strands of dark crimson charka surrounded him, striking down multiple times into the depths of the water below. Pain accelerated across the water, evading the life threatening daggers within inches of his skin. Finding himself now on a small plot of land in the surrounding liquid, he laid face first onto the ground, attempting to make himself as flat and invisible as possible. Suddenly, hot explosive balls of hell fire shot towards Pain like bullets. Using his jutsu all mighty push Pain created a semi circle around his body, almost like an invisible barrier that protected him from the demons attacks. The attacks stopped abruptly, giving Pain time to get to his feet. He stood with his feet slightly apart and hands raised ready to counter.

Then, the water moved. As if an earthquake had legs, the water erupted into large waves aimed straight at him. Again, giant claws of dark red chakra rushed forward. Pain once again relied on his jutsu all mighty push, only to be knocked back so hard by the red claw he flew into a wall of rock far behind him. He landed head first into the cliff side, his body and feet sticking out straight as a needle.

'He withstood my all mighty push?!' Pain thought to himself, clenching his teeth. He slipped out of the wall with a thud to the ground. Six tails now wiped around wildly creating dust storms and sharp hot wind. The beast stared at him in amusement. It had now grew a bright white spine of bone and skull around the chakra covered body. It's bubbling crimson body growing larger by the minute. The demon sat like a cat, eyeing Pain like he was a mouse at dinner time.

Pain was now beginning to sweat, knowing that it was now or never, he attacked. Pain began to use his jutsu to erupt blocks of solid ground from the earth and aim them towards the increasingly larger fox demon. The fox began to jump on top of the blocks of ground, gradually jumping higher into the air using the chunks of earth as stepping stones. The fox continued to jump across the flying rocks in attempt to both dodge and reach closer to Pain. As Pain continued to rapidly hurl the clumps of earth towards the creature, a giant ball began to form around it, encasing the red demon in a sphere of ground. The demon howlled in annoyance as it was incapsulated within the sphere.

Pain stood tall with his arms towards the sky, pieces of earth hurling towards the ball in the sky around him.

...

"NAGATO!" a purple haired women shouted, the concern obvious in her voice. She stood within what looked like a large hollowed out tree trunk. It was dark and dry with only a few candles carefully place around them to offer some light. The women stared up at a extremely pale, bone thin man, who sat upon a throne of wires and machinery that was attached to his body. It seemed the machines attached to him were the only things currently keeping his body alive. His bright red hair dropped half-way across his face, so that only one purple ringed eye was visible.

"Your pushing yourself too hard, Nagato. At this rate you'll...you..." The women draped in an Atkatsuki robe trailed off, her brows frowned in worry.

"Konan. It's okay. Peace is almost among us." The red hair man spoke in barely a whisper, his vocal chords straining to make a sound.

Konan frowned, worried for her friend but not doing anything to stop his resolve. She knew her place, and that was to support her friend until the end, even if that meant his death, or hers. Her eyes tightened at the same time as both of her fist. She knew her place, but why did it feel so wrong? 'Will peace really come, even if your gone?' she thought to herself, looking up at her childhood friend.

The man before her simply looked straight ahead, at seemingly nothing but a dark tree wall to her. To the red haired man called Nagato, however, he saw everything. His eyes linked with the puppet of a man called Pain, seeing and moving the orange hair Atkatsuki member using his own chakra.

He allowed himself to smile before uttering, "Planetary Devastation."

...

"Planetary Devastation." Pain spoke in a deep voice, his purple ringed eyes wide with excitement.

He looked upon the massive ball of earth, so large that it blocked out the sun. A few seconds passed as Pain thought he had captured the Kyuubi, but the fox's head burst through the miniature globe. The head of the fox was now surrounded by muscle, the true size of the beast so giant that the neck and head alone was astonishingly large. Pain watched in glee and awe as the creature began to grow muscle mass and veins. A real body started to form from the once chakra bodied jinchuriki. Pain smiled, the adrenaline rushing through his body. Finally, the last piece of the puzzle he needed was here, the nine tailed fox was in his grasps.

"DO YOU HATE ME?" Pain laughed like a maniac.

His hands raised to the sky, fingers crinkled in excitement. He held both hands palm up facing the reconstructed globe. He hurled more rock into the sphere, watching on as the fox and globe grew larger.

...

Off in the distance, a few figures could be seen. There stood Shikamaru, Ino, Sakura and Neji. They distanced themselves far away enough so that they were reasonably safe, and ready to run if necessary. The four stood in amazement, looking upon the giant moon sized sphere. Not believing that the beast encapsulated within the globe was their friend, Naruto.

"I feel horrible for leaving Hinata and Natabe behind." Ino said, her eyes withdrew from the sphere, looking over to Neji who stood to her far left, just after Sakura.

"It's not necessary that they be here. Lord fifth and your fathers, Shikaku Nara-san and Inoichi Yamanaka-san, already advised us that this should be a four man squad, with Shikamaru as the team captain. With my skill set and byakugan, I was clearly best suited to accompany the three of you." Neji finished, a stern look on his face as he looked back at Ino.

"I know. Both of them were so worried though." Ino finished, her eyes going back to the massive ball in the air.

"Their both probably still watching us as we speak." Shikamaru added in, his hands in his pockets as he stood slouched over slightly.

The other two nodded in understanding, Neji thinking to himself that his whole clan, those who were still standing at least, were probably watching and relaying the events to the rest of their fellow shinobi.

Sakura was silent. Her fist clenched tightly as she stared at the head of the fox demon in the sky. The voices of her current teammates felt distant as she looked at the demon emerging. She wanted to scream in frustration, how could she have let things go this far? She didn't even get the chance to thank Naruto for all he's done for her. She didn't get to tell him a lot of things she was beginning to realize deep within her heart.

"SAKURA!" Ino now yelled for the third time.

Snapping out of her messy train of thought, Sakura unpeeled her eyes from the globe, turning to face Ino in surprise.

"Sorry, Ino. What did you say?" Sakura responded half-heartily, unclenching her fist and raising one of her hands to her cheek, scratching it with a single finger.

Ino sighed, "I asked if your alright. You nearly died not that long ago, and your already back on your feet. You should be resting with Lady Tsundae-sama! I mean, she nearly killed herself trying to heal you..." Ino huffed, grumpy that her childhood friend was straining herself so hard.

Sakura simply smiled, then looked between her and Shikamaru. "If it were Shikamaru up there" she said as she looked towards the globe once again, "would you be sitting on your ass, or standing here right now?" Sakura finished, looking back at her friend.

Ino simply blushed, looking to her feet, she replied in a small voice "yeah...I guess your right..." she trailed off, not looking at her pink haired bestfriend or lazy long time teammate.

Neji simply smirked in slight amusement at the embarrassed couple, clearing his voice he grunted "We should probably go over the plan once more." he stated.

"Right." Shikamaru coughed into his fist, a slight pink visible on his nose and cheeks.

"Neji, Ino, the both of you are to use your sensory type jutsu to locate the real Pain. As my old man had figured out from Jiraiya-sama's clue, the real Pain has yet to make an appearance." Shikamaru said, more serious now.

Continuing, he spoke, "That bastard is hiding somewhere around here, controlling everything through those purple eyes. The Rinnegan, as he called it. I don't know much about this jutsu, but for the sake of simplicity lets think of it as a long distance puppet technique. Similar to the jutsu Kankuro from the hidden in the sand used during the chunin exams." Shikamaru exhaled, taking a small breath.

"Some how this guy was controlling all six Pains at once independently. But there's only one left now, and the guy in control must be weak and low on chakra after all he went through. Which is a good and bad thing. Good, because it means taking him down should be a walk in the park. Bad, because since hes low on chakra it will be a lot harder for you guys to sense him." Shikamaru finished his short spiel, his hands in his pockets as he spoke, head tilted to the direction of the eclipsed sky.

Ino physically cringed, obviously not confident in her speciality. Neji frowned his brows but stood tall, seemingly ready to take on the challenge.

"And I'm here to whoop his ass once we find him" Sakura spoke confidently, punching her fist into her palm in front of her.

Shikamaru sighed, "Yeah yeah, take it easy will you? Your also the only experienced medic we have. Not to mention your definitely at your lowest capacity out of the four of us" he finished with a groan.

Sakura simply ignored the pointy haired man as she continued to stare at the demon far above them.

Ino silently thought to herself she should of practiced medical ninjutsu more, cursing at the fact that Sakura had one-upped her in that field.

"And I'm here as the strategist, apparently. What a drag..." He smirked, trying to lighten up the mood slightly as he looked at the worry on Ino's face out of the corner of his eye.

"As your father said, we'll need you as we encounter new challenges. The Nara-clan are well known for thinking on their feet, isn't that right, Shikamaru?" Neji sounded his thoughts allowed, receiving nothing but a another deep sigh from the pointy haired shinobi.

"I...I don't know if I can do this." Ino said shakingly, her confidence dwindling now.

Sakura turned to look at her childhood friend, her eyebrows frowned. Placing both hands on her shoulders, she spoke.

"Ino, I'm sorry. I'm relying on you too now. I know you can do this, you've trained so hard, day after day without rest. We all have" Sakura looked up at the other two men, who moved inward so that they were in a small circle now.

They both nodded with their eyes closed.

Ino looked at the emerald eyes of her pink haired friend, then to the two men that stood before them. Feeling ashamed of herself, she simply looked to her feet.

Frowning, Sakura backed off slightly, turning her head towards Shikamaru, her eyes pleading for help.

Shikamaru once again sighing, he cleared his throat slightly, "Neji, Sakura.." He started, "Can we have a moment?" He finished, not looking at any of them in the eye.

Sakura and Neji nodded to each other simultaneously, quickly jumping a little ways out of ear shot, but still within visible distance. They stood so their backs showed, giving the two some privacy.

Clearing his throat, Shikamaru moved so he was in front of Ino. He looked down at the pale blonde haired girl, for a moment questioning when she got so tiny.

"Ino..." Shikamaru started, but she simply continued to look at the ground, biting her lower lip slightly in frustration.

Taking one hand out of his pocket, he gently brought his hand to hers, holding on to the tips of her fingers. Again slightly fascinated about how slender her hand was.

Ino looked up slightly so that her view was now Shikamaru's chest, not quite ready to look at her teammate in the eyes.

"You know, when we were kids, I thought you were just a boy crazed chick. It was always Saskue this and Saskue that, pretty annoying actually..." He faltered, but smiled slightly as he thought of their childhood.

Ino frowned her brows, now looking up at her teammate.

"That was a long time ago, I don't care about Saskue anymore. He left us and I've...moved on." She finished, looking down at her feet again, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink.

Moving his fingers through her hand slightly more, Shikamaru went on,

"I know. That was a long time ago, back when we were all dumb kids. But we've grown up now. Our old mans are back there taking care of the search team for the injured. No doubt my old mans shouting instructions at your dad as he uses his mind technique to gather everyone. Our dads trusted this mission to us, because they believed in us, Ino."

She looked back up at Shikamaru, her light blue pupil-less eyes shined with innocence. Shikamaru blushed slightly but didn't look away this time.

"I know I usually seem like a pretty lazy guy, but not today. Because now, I'm responsible for your lives too." He finished, staring into her wide eyes, waiting for her reaction, and hoping his pep talk was good enough.

"You're right." Ino stated with a smile creeping up her face. "Now's not the time to second guess myself" she finished.

"AHEM.." Neji yelled awkwardly, his and Sakura's backs still faced towards them.

"I hate to interrupt, but we should really get moving now." He yelled at the pair, his arms crossed and eyes shut closed as he spoke loudly.

Shikamaru and Ino both looked at the other two shinobi standing in the distance, then back at each other, their eyes linking. They both quickly dropped their gaze to Shikamaru's hand that was still gently interlocked with hers. Noticing this instantly, his hand quickly vanished back into his pocket, as if it was never touching hers in the first place.

They both turned away from each other, Shikamaru blushing harder now and Ino smiling to herself.

"Oiii! Sakura, Neji, sorry for the wait. I'm ready, let's whoop some ass!" Ino yelled with both hands to her mouth.

Sakura and Neji both turned with a smirk on their face. Sakura yelled in response with her usual battle cry, "SHANNARO! That's more like it, Ino!"

The four of them gathered closer together once again, now prepared to start the plan.

Before Shikamaru could mouth his first set of instructions, a bright turquoise light shone above them. All four shinobi looked up to the sky, witnessing as the bright light came out from the demon, swirling around the head of the fox, before shimmering out of existence.

Shikamaru's eyes turned to slits as he muttered, "That can't be good..."

Sakura frowned, not knowing what that light could of been either. The only thing standing out to her mind was that the colour it shone was exactly the same colour of the crystal necklace Naruto wore around his neck. She knew, of course, that Lady Tsundae-sama had gifted Naruto the necklace back when they were still kids. She's looked at that neck a thousand times over, she thought, blushing slightly, so she was sure of the similarity. Deciding to keep that piece of information to herself, mostly to avoid future teasing from Ino, she stayed silent as the four watched on.

As the light vanished, Shikamaru looked back to the three standing before him. "Alright, no clue what that was, but with our luck it's probably not good. Let's go." Shikamaru finished and flickered away, the rest following quickly behind.

...

Pain looked onwards at the vanishing light.

"The seal has broken" he said aloud, his smile continuing to widen.

"It's only a matter of time now, Kyuubi!" He yelled into the sky, his hands raised as he laughed maniacally.

Pain continued to douse the sphere with rock, blissfully unaware of what was happening within the mind of the fox demon.

Annnnnd thats a wrap of chapter 3, PAIN. I had a good time writing this one and as always please let me know what you think.

The next chapter will probably not come as quickly as I've been posting currently, but I'll give myself about a two week time limit. I start work again Monday since I been on Christmas/new year vacation so sadly I won't have as much free time.

Next, Chapter 4 MINATO, KUSHINA