Chapter Twenty Five
Heyo, welcome back kiddos. It's time things get spicy. I don't own Naruto, Kishimoto does. If I did, this chapter would have happened.
Edit: 11/4/19 Added missing dialogue that plays out in later story.
Naruto stared at the kunai over a hundred yards in front of him. He had just perfectly executed the Flying Raijin for the two hundredth time. It was actually the first time using it perfectly himself, but his clones had previously been flashing all over the pocket dimension.
He closed his eyes, and focused on the feeling of the single kunai before him. His eyes suddenly shot wide open however; when he sensed a kunai inside his parents' home. "God damnit, I'm an idiot. How could I not have thought of that. Of course you would use Flying Raijin to leave this place dad." The blond smiled to himself, and quickly collected his kunai in the area. He then closed his eyes, and flashed to the blade in his father's home.
The blond flashed into existence back in Konohagakure, only to land on a pile of rubble. "What the hell?" He asked aloud. He looked around, and found himself in the ruins of his parents' previously standing home. As he pushed himself up, he uncovered a large white cloak. The jounin pulled it from the ruined closet that it sat inside of. He had held it up in front of himself, when his balance was rocked by multiple explosions and the loud sounds of battle raging through the village. His face hardened as he realized his home was under attack. He stretched out his chakra, and felt the weak signatures of Kakashi and Rikka, along with everyone in the village. Knowing they were in trouble, the blond quickly pulled the cloak on, and disappeared in a flash of yellow.
Rikka and Kakashi sat buried in the rubble, pain coursing through them. Before them stood the orange haired man. "Your inability to move doesn't seem faked." He spoke.
"Shit I didn't make it, is Rikka alive!?" Kakashi thought to himself. He looked around and saw the bluenette pinned against a wall, a pipe sticking through her side, but she was breathing.
"I know you're not a shadow clone, Hatake Kakashi. It's over, but I will not approach you, just to be safe." Two nails ripped from a board below his feet, and flew up into his grasp. "Humph…. know pain."
Kakashi took a deep breath realizing this was the end, only to see a yellow flash appear in front of him. At the same time one appeared in front of Rikka as well. Both nails were knocked away, and before both ninja stood a blond haired man, a cloak upon his back, with orange flames licking the bottom, and the kanji reading: Yellow Flash. "Sensei!?" Kakashi called, shocked at the pure resemblance between Naruto and Minato. He had, for just a second, mistaken one for the other.
"Too slow." Said the blond. Three kunai flew at the orange haired man, but he immediately recognized just what kind of kunai they were, and repelled them with his jutsu. Naruto had expected this and appeared behind the man in a body flicker, and two kunai were thrown into the air before his foot impacted the man's back.
The body of Pain stumbled slightly before he felt a hand grab him on the bicep. He quickly grabbed the offending appendage, and slung the blond across the rubble field. As he moved to engage the thrown blond, he was forced to stop and repel a spear of lightning.
"Chidori Sharp Spear!" Came the voice of Uchiha Sasuke. "Naruto! Take them, I'll hold him off while you handle the rest of the problems. Here! Take Lady Katsuyu!" He yelled throwing the small slug at the blond.
"Thanks. Don't die Uchiha." Naruto said, quickly flashing to Rikka, who he picked up gently in his arms. Another clone popped off and grabbed Choji, flashing the boy to the Hokage.
"Hn. As if." The Uchiha replied as he watched Naruto's shadow clone grab Kakashi, and the pair of blond's flashed away to the Konoha hospital.
"How...did you get to me so quickly?" Kakashi asked his student.
"You still carry the kunai my father gave you." The masked man looked at the boy stunned, before realization dawned on his face.
"Ah, that's right. I guess I do." He said rubbing the back of his head. "Where did you get the coat?" He asked.
"Oh, dad seemed to have a prototype coat in his closet at the house, I found it when I got out. Long story, I'll tell ya later." The blond jounin replied.
"Oh okay, and Rikka? Did you give her a kunai as well?"
"I gave her one before I returned to my training ground. My shadow clone will explain the rest Sensei, I have to go." The boy said to his teacher, before walking over to the bed he had laid his lover on. "Rikka….I love you.
She stirred slightly before looking at the blond. She smiled softly, but with a tired look adorning her face. "Naruto….I love you too…..Good luck." He leaned down and kissed her cheek. He could see the pain she hid however; and his fist clenched in anger at his side.
"Thanks. I'll be back in a flash."
"Tsunade." The boy said landing next to the Hokage. Seeing that Choji had just gotten done explaining the abilities of the main Pain body, he continued with his plan. "Ma'am please, tend to the people at the hospital. I have clones collecting them and bringing them there. Please Lady Hokage, let me do the fighting, and you do the healing. More will live that way."
"Naruto…..fine. Take me there." She said after a moment's hesitation.
"Yes Ma'am." The blond said grabbing her shoulder and flashing her to the hospital.
"I've gotta go Grandma Tsunade." Naruto said with a soft smile.
"Be careful, and make us proud." She said, with a soft smile of her own. No matter how smart the young man was, and how collected he could be, some of that age old personality Iruka had told her about still managed to show through at times.
As the ANBU black ops battled the multi headed dog, Inochi, Shizune, and a few others, were surprised by the arrival of a massive rhino. Next thing they knew the rhino had torn down the building, and the dog had arrived along with the ANBU.
Before anyone could move though, a voice echoed through the streets. "Summoning: Multiple Food Cart Destroyer technique!" Across the village, all of the summons were crushed under the massive weight of Naruto's toads. Shadow clones stood atop the heads of some, but the real Naruto stood atop Gamabunta, who's weight was holding down the massive dog. Gamahiro stood beside them, perched atop the rhino. "Bunta! Hiro! Hold them down just a bit longer. I need to gather some chakra to do both at the same time!"
"Will do! But hurry up brat!" Yelled the boss toad.
Shizune called out in wonder, "Naruto! Is that you!?"
"Don't worry Shizune, I'll wrap this up in no time." The blond called back. After which all the toads in the village came crashing to the ground, the enemy's summons gone from beneath them, along with Naruto and his clones.
Meanwhile Sasuke was still battling it out with the main body of pain. "Damnit, now that Naruto has that jutsu down, he's definitely stronger than me. I'll have to train more. He might be the only one who can get around this guy's stupid jutsu." The young Uchiha stared down the orange haired man. "Chidori senbon!" He called as thousands of lightning needles shot from his hand at the man.
The Preta Path quickly appeared, absorbing the ninjutsu sebon. Sasuke grew annoyed, he didn't want to use it yet, considering it risked his sight. "Fine I don't have a choice." He closed his eyes, and his left eye snapped open. "Amaterasu!" He called, as blood began to trickle from the eye socket. "Burn to ash."
"Almighty Push!" With that the flames of Amaterasu were forced away, and he then moved his hands in a different gesture. "Universal Pull!" Sasuke was pulled towards the man, but smirked as Naruto flashed into existence behind Pain.
"Sorry but you're needed elsewhere buddy." Naruto said, grabbing a hold of the man's arm where he had left his Flying Raijin marker.
He had teleported them outside the village, to a crater left by the tailed beast bomb his father had teleported away from the village on the night of his birth. The man immediately reached up and ripped the sleeve of his cloak off, knowing the Flying Raijin marker had been placed there. He noticed that the young adult had also teleported his summons to this crater as well.
"You know….this crater we now stand in….it's only here because of you. You caused the death of my mother and father.. I got to meet my dad. He's more skilled with sealing than I am, so he worked it into the seal that I would be able to meet him one day. Except…. when you attacked the village on my birthday...you were supposed to have red hair." The blond stared down the Deva path, the slightest hint of anger in his eyes. "Where's the real you, Nagato?"
The puppet corpse narrowed its eyes at the jinchuriki. "How did you know?"
"Well dad said a man with a Rinnegan, and red hair attacked the village, and well only Jiraiya-Sensei's one in a million student fit the description. Not to mention, the message he sent back contained valuable intel. I know the real you is not among those here.
"I see, so you know. But you do not know of my pain. You have not felt my pain, so you cannot understand me."
"Listen buddy, I've felt pain. I watched my first love die before me. I grew up alone, because you killed my parents. And I felt even more pain when you killed Jiraiya-Sensei. You may have killed a couple hundred or so nin in the village, but that stops now. I'm here and you won't touch my village again." Naruto quickly weaved through hand signs as he saw the man's summons begin to move.
"You're all talk boy."
"Summoning: Multi Food Cart Destroyer Technique!" He called out as multiple shadow clones burst from the trees, dropping massive toads atop the summons. Among those toads were Gamabunta, Gamaken, and Gamahiro.
Two shadow clones burst to life behind Naruto, they pulled the scroll from his back, and flickered to the sides of the crater. They unraveled the scroll, and weaved through hand signs. In a puff of smoke, forty tri-pronged kunai sat before them. The two clones then took the opportunity to litter the crater with them, before they themselves rolled the scroll back up, and tossed it at the original. "I hope your eyes can keep up." He reached into his kunai holster, and withdrew another marked kunai. He moved himself into a fighting stance, and as he did five more orange haired paths of Pain landed before him.
"You see I hope you weren't planning on destroying my village just because I wasn't here. That would be pretty rude. And on top of that it looked to me like you intended to kill Rikka, and that just doesn't sit right with me." The nineteen year old said, appearing before the man in a flash, and kicking him high into the air, sending a barrage of kunai along with him. He slashed the Deva Path six times as they made their ascent, before flashing behind him at the highest point and bringing his kunai down into the man's back. As Pain landed, Naruto did as well. "Flying Flash: Heaven Stage." He smirked at the enemy as his feet touched the ground.
The path stood, before extending his hands out before him. "Almighty Pus-!" He was cut off as the blond slammed into him, throwing him back across the ground.
"I won't let you!" He yelled, moving to attack once more. He was then intercepted by the Human Path, who threw him away toward the Asura Path, who's massive blade that had once killed Kakashi's shadow clone, moved to end his life. He was forced to flash away from the group, as all six paths converged with their chakra rods in a strike aimed directly where he had been.
"I see you've already able to at least be on par with your father's use of that blasted jutsu." The Deva Path commented.
"You had a Fox to distract him last time. Now you don't have that. This time you're going to lose, Pain."
"As if." The man said, extending his arms. "Almighty Push!" He yelled, and every Raijin kunai was blown away to the edges of the crater.
"From the intelligence I've been given, he should had about five seconds in between each use of that jutsu. Their eyes are all linked, but you can't dodge if you can't even keep up." Thought the blond. Who threw a handful of kunai at the Naraka Path. "Gotta take him out first so he can't bring back his buddies." He appeared before the corpse puppet, slamming his fist into it, while simultaneously marking it with his Raijin seal. He tossed it away and appeared behind it, a larger than normal Rasengan charged. The jutsu smashed into the body's back, destroying it almost entirely.
"Universal Pull!" Yelled the main body, and the blond was sent hurtling towards the remaining paths. Just as he thought he may have the blond though, the younger man disappeared in a flash, landing on the edge of the clearing.
"I've got something important to protect! So I can't lose here!" Yelled the blond, launching two kunai at the Animal Path. The kunai landed just in front of her, and Naruto appeared, slashing her across the face with a kunai, before kicking her into the air. A kunai chased her, and impacted her chest, before Naruto flashed into existence behind her. The blond quickly sent her back to the ground with a Rasengan. He appeared once more above her body as she bounced off the ground, and slammed into her with another Rasengan. "Flying Raijin: Combo Level!" He called in his head as he destroyed yet another of the Paths of Pain. The summons now gone, Naruto sent the toads home as well.
Having sensed the presence of a new player, Naruto began to weave through hand seals. "Wind Style: Open Destruction!" A massive blast of wind left his mouth, as it barreled toward the main body.
"Fire Style: Searing Migraine!" Came the shout of the newcomer. As the jutsu joined together a simultaneous shout came from both parties.
"Ninja Art: Massive Firestorm!"
Sasuke landed next to his friend as they watched the jutsu barrel towards the enemy. Unfortunately the Preta Path jumped before the main body, and instantly absorbed the jutsu.
"Fuck I forgot about him."
"Of course you did you dolt. You never change."
"Shut up Sasuke. Now this is going to feel weird for you, but I have a plan. How would you like to teleport today?" Asked the last Namikaze.
"If I was going to trust anyone to teleport me, it might as well be you. Not to mention you've done it before during our fight with Itachi." Quipped the Uchiha.
"Yeah, but that was a little different." The new speed demon quickly grabbed his friend on the shoulder, and as he did so, his clones once again threw a volley of kunai around the crater.
"Almighty Push!" Yelled the main body and all the kunai were repelled, only to burst into smoke. Another volley of actual kunai were launched this time, and the crater was covered.
Suddenly the Uchiha had appeared behind the Asura Path, and stabbed his Chokuto into it. "Chidori Blade!" He called, and his Chidori took possession of the entire sword, slicing the entire Asura Path in half. Naruto flashed beside him, and teleported his black haired comrade to the Preta Path, who Sasuke immediately engaged with his sword.
Naruto appeared before the Human Path, bringing a Rasengan to bare at the corpse only for himself and Sasuke both to be sent flying. "Almighty Push!"
The two Konoha shinobi landed beside each other. "Fuck, we almost had them."
"Chill Sasuke. We'll get them."
"Right."
"You two should just give up now. And your deaths, shall lead to peace." The Deva Path spoke.
Surprisingly it was Sasuke who was riled up by this. "What!? What the fuck can you say about peace. You just came and tried to destroy our entire village. You almost killed my teammates! And the whole point of you being here now is to kill my best friend! Nothing about what you are doing here, is peaceful. My brother gave up everything to protect our home! I won't let you step on his sacrifice. We are outside the village now, so I'm not going to hold back, Naruto." The Uchiha stared at his friend.
"No, you can't use the Susanoo. You can't risk your eyesight. Save it for if I get knocked out of this fight. You promised not to use it until you had Itachi's eyes implanted. We can use your other jutsu though. Let's go." Said the blond. Sasuke was teleported to the side of the crater, and immediately he nodded to Naruto.
"Combo six." Said the Uchiha.
"Got it."
"Fire Style: Searing Migraine!"
"Wind Style: Open Destruction!"
As the two massive elemental jutsu combined as they climbed into the sky, and the two nin shouted in unison.
"Ninja Art: Massive Firestorm!"
A massive deadly looking storm cloud began to form over head. And the main body of Pain was almost confused as to what was going on. "Sasuke…." Naruto said quickly. "Don't even try it until I've taken care of that other one."
"I know." The Uchiha said, and Naruto reached out, placing a tri-pronged kunai in the one time avengers' hand. The blond disappeared to the opposite side of the crater, slinging a handful of Raijin kunai at the three paths.
"This is getting old." Said the main body. "Almighty Push!" He yelled sending the kunai away, only to see a second group of kunai come falling down from the sky. They surrounded the three paths, and a flash burst into existence beside the Preta Path, grabbing it on the shoulder before disappearing. A small explosion was heard in the direction of one of the training grounds, before the blond appeared beside the Deva path. "He hid kunai in the firestorm they created earlier!" Nagato thought to himself from his far away hiding place. The blond kicked the body away and yelled to his comrade.
"Sasuke! Now!" The Human Path had a perplexed look upon its face, before it turned in shock at the Deva appearing next to it having been teleported by Naruto.
"This jutsu is called Kirin. Now, with the thunderclap, begone!" As the Uchiha moved his hand down, lightning from the heavens followed. It completely ruined the Human Path, and left the Deva path with only tatters of a cloak left, and exhaustion evident in his expression.
"You Konoha nin just don't know when to quit. Fine then I'll use that jutsu. Planetary Devastation!" A black sphere formed in his hands, that he then threw into the sky. The ground and everything in the general vicinity began to rip apart and fly toward the sphere.
The Uchiha was ripped from his perch, and a few trees were torn away as well. "Sasuke!" He flashed to his best friend, quickly teleporting the man back to the village. "I'll be back, this is my fight now."
Seconds later found Naruto staring down the final body. "I'll just continue to pump chakra into the jutsu until you are sucked up into it Nine Tai-..." The man cut off suddenly. What the blond didn't know was that back at his control tower, Nagato had began a fit of coughs, having pushed himself much farther than he had anticipated.
Naruto took immediate advantage of the situation, he quickly threw a kunai at the man. The kunai stabbed into his chest and Naruto appeared above him, Rasengan charged. He brought the jutsu down upon the man crushing him to the ground. "Flying Raijin: Second Step!"
The man's body lay broken and battered, and yet he began to stand. Naruto wasn't about to let him recover though. He flung two kunai at the man, and when both impacted he teleported behind him. He landed three quick kicks to the man's chest, before launching into a spin kick that sent him backwards. To finish him off Naruto jumped into the air, and connected a heavy heel drop to the man's head. "This ends here!"
The man once again stood, and Naruto decided it was time he stopped getting up. He threw two kunai parallel to each other, and charged a Rasengan in each hand. "Time Space: Rasengan Barrage!" He thought, as he flashed between the kunai, appearing before his target and demolishing his body with the combined force of his two oversized Rasengans.
Naruto knew he had done it, when the body failed to stand anymore. He spawned two clones, who began pulling the rods out of the original blond crouched to the ground, and stretched his chakra over a large area, searching for anyone unfamiliar. "So that's where you are." He thought, sensing the chakra of the man named Nagato. Not a bad hiding place, out in the forests of Konohagakure. But unfortunately for Nagato, Minato had long ago littered the forests with kunai and markers.
Naruto flashed to one of these markers and he was now only about a mile away from the location of the enemy. He was beginning to get tired. "Shit...dad must have been a chakra beast, to just teleport all over like this. The Flying Raijin is not for those with small chakra reserves. That's why I'm perfect for it." He quickly body flickered to the fake tree Konan had set up.
He cut through the wall with his kunai, and stepped through cautiously. "So this is where you were ...Nagato." The blond sighed, "as much as I don't want to do this, Jiraiya-Sensei trusted in me to try to find peace, whenever possible. So that said, I'll give you this one chance to surrender. Give up, stop this senseless killing. I don't want to have to kill my sibling students. You both trained under Jiraiya. I know about your friend, Yahiko. And seeing as how he isn't here, I'd assume he died. I'd also put money on the fact that you probably only became the way you are now, because of his death. So tell me, would he be proud of the actions you have taken since his death?" The blond asked.
At those words, Nagato and Konan visibly froze. The thoughts plagued the redhead's mind, the bluenette stunned by the words as well. "You talked about finding true peace. Nothing about how you go around just killing people is peaceful. Didn't anything Jiraiya-Sensei said stick in that stupid head of yours!"
Nagato yelled back at the blond, "Jiraiya was a fool! His words are nothing but a dream of an idealistic old man!"
"You're right. Jiraiya-Sensei was a fool. The day will never come when everyone can understand each other. But, when I become Hokage, I will do everything in my power to make the world become more peaceful! If there's a chance of the other villages working with me to come together and have a peaceful world then I'll make it happen. But if Konohagakure is attacked. I will stop at nothing to protect it, and end any war as quickly as possible." The blond spoke, his voice that of pure resolve.
The red haired man glared at the nineteen year old. "You're a fool. You could not find the answer, so there is nothing more you can do. So do the just thing and simply sacrifice yourself to me, and to the peace that I shall soon construct." A chakra rod shot out of Nagato's control throne, aimed at Naruto's chest.
"I see. So be it." The blond said. Two kunai landed beside Konan, and three flew at Nagato himself, courtesy of two shadow clones Naruto had hidden higher up in the tree before he entered. He flashed in front of Konan, destroying the bluenette with a Rasengan in the back, inflicting wounds from which one could not recover. He then flashed to Nagato just after the three kunai impacted the man's chest. He appeared just above him, and slammed a kunai into the redhead's throat.
Watching the life drain from his eyes, Naruto sighed. "I really didn't want this at all ...I suppose all I can do is move forward. You threatened my home, I hate you for it, but I forgive you. But you just wouldn't stop." He sighed once more and left the tree as it began to crumple into sheets of paper.
He traveled awhile, before finding a suitable place, and set up a shrine to his Sensei. "Jiraiya-Sensei…...I hope at the very least you will be proud of me for protecting Konoha. I know this isn't exactly what you wanted ...but even you may have been too naive, goodbye Sensei. Rest well." With that the boy began heading back to the village.
"Lady Hokage!" A nurse yelled as the Hokage finally fell from exhaustion. The nurse and a few nin laid her on a bed, and she looked at them through tired eyes.
"Have Sakura and Shizune take over ... bring me Kakashi, he should be up by now."
"Yes Ma'am."
Minutes passed and Kakashi walked into the room. "You wanted to see me, Lady Tsunade?"
"Kakashi….. go find my brat."
The masked jounin eye smiled at her before responding with, "Yes Ma'am. Please rest now."
"Kakashi, I'll be out for probably about two to four weeks." She said, her body beginning to succumb to exhaustion. Having spent all her chakra on preventing as many casualties as possible, she had done her utmost to protect the village. "You are temporarily appointed as Hokage in my sted."
"Yes Ma'am. I'll hold down the fort." He said, and after acknowledging his response, the Hokage fell asleep.
"I'm coming, Naruto." Thought the jounin as he left to find his student.
"Damn if I ain't tired. Flying Raijin really takes a lot out of you doesn't it dad?" The blond thought to himself, looking to the sky as he stumbled through the woods. "Jiraiya-Sensei…..Mom...Dad….. would you be proud of me? Choosing to take the lives of those who threatened the village. I'm sure you would, Mom and Dad. But what would you think Master? You entrusted your dream of peace to me… Old Man Hokage… Dad… no matter how I feel, I will always take the well-being and protection of everyone in Konoha on my own shoulders.." The jounin's steps faltered, and he fell forward.
"Naruto...you did well. You made your mother and father proud. And all of your sensei as well, including Master Jiraiya." Came the voice of the copy nin as he caught the blond man on his back.
"Kakashi….how's Rikka?"
"She's fine kiddo, rest now."
"Alright."
With this Kakashi made the trip back to the village. "He's gotten much heavier…. they really do grow up fast."
"Kakashi!" Came the loud shout of the last Uchiha as he landed beside his sensei. They were only about a half mile outside of Konohagakure, and the Uchiha had gotten impatient in waiting for the return of his comrade. "Is he alright?"
"Yeah, just tired, and exhausted."
"Hn. Good."
"It can't hurt to show a little more emotion Sasuke."
"I've already lost enough of my filter due to my exposure to the idiot. It's important I compose myself as much as possible these days."
"Hmmm. Sure."
"Fuck….you….Sasuke…." Mumbled the blond as he began to stir. The conversation between the other two men having brought him back from his slumber.
"You alright idiot?"
"Yeah I'll live." He replied, having Kakashi slowly set him on his own two feet. Shortly after, the three broke the tree line, coming face to face with the village, along with hundreds of grateful villagers.
Kakashi and Sasuke recognized exactly what this moment would mean for the blond jinchuuriki, and quickly faded back behind him.
Shouts and cheers rang out at the sight of the man who so closely resembled the Fourth Hokage. Naruto slowly made his way forward, and the crowd parted letting children in to pester him. As he patted heads of children, and spoke kind words to the young ones, the crowd parted before him once again. Konohamaru and his group popped out of the crowd, dragging their fellow children from the blond, and leaving him standing alone.
Standing before the man was a blue haired woman, someone he fully intended to give all of his love to. "Naruto...you came back to me…"
"I always will Rikka, it's the promise of a lifetime. No force, in heaven or earth, can keep me apart from you." The blond replied walking toward her.
She smiled brightly, before turning her face away and blushing brightly. To hide her face, she leapt forward into his arms. But when she finally looked up, their eyes met, and their lips locked together for everyone in the village to see.
"I love you."
"And I love you."
Fin.
Just kidding! That's all for this chapter. Fun fact for you. It was because of this chapter that this whole story was even written in the first place. It sparked all of this. I hope you loved it. That's all for now, stay tuned for the next chapter!
In my story, Flying Raijin gives off a flash of yellow like it does in the games.
Anyway, enough for today, see ya next time. Darling in the Fox out!