Naruto's cloak billowed behind him as he descended, his footfalls heavy with finality on the stairs. Radiating from him were waves that made the innkeeper fling himself at the wall, whimpering, then clawing at the door to stumble out into the sunshine. Wrapping a sliver of Kurama's chakra around his hand, Naruto demolished the door and walked out after the innkeeper, ignoring Sasuke's rapid footsteps behind him.
"It's this way," Zetsu said, leading Naruto through the shadows and through dark alleys as a shortcut. People dropped wares and cowered as he walked by, holding their hands up protectively. Mothers pulled their children to their bosoms with gasps as their children started screaming and sobbing instinctively, then they fled to where they thought they'd be able to find safety. Stray cats hissed nervously and slunk away, their tails large and lashing, and drunk men ambled in the opposite direction without really knowing why.
"What's going on?" Sasuke yelled at Naruto's back, but when he reached out his hand was burned by the density of the Nine-Tails' chakra. He cursed and Naruto sensed him fall back to follow from more of a distance. It didn't matter. Nothing mattered anymore, except what Zetsu had whispered into his ear.
Don't follow him! Don't let him do this! an unfamiliar voice pleaded with him, but that didn't matter either. Zetsu knew Naruto better than anyone—after all, he was the one who served Naruto hard truths on silver platters so Naruto could consume them and fan the flames of his hatred. Without Zetsu, Naruto would've never known about Itachi's secrets, Yahiko, and Rin Nohara. Without Zetsu, Naruto wouldn't know the recipe for true peace, which was tied to an Uchiha Naruto couldn't wait to meet.
When they reached the outskirts of the village, Naruto could sense two more people following him, and he didn't need to look to know that it was Sakura and Sai. So. They hadn't done it. Still, they were Leaf shinobi, so they must've known what was going to happen.
"Sasuke knew Itachi was here," Zetsu whispered in Naruto's ear, freezing his soul. "He found you so he could distract you while his sensei fought them. Don't you remember him saying how much he hated his brother?"
But he'd wanted to know more. He might've accepted the truth, the voice inside Naruto's head said. That wasn't a boy who wanted to distract you, Naruto. See past your hatred!
"He's a Leaf shinobi, Naruto. I thought I'd told you better—even if he's Itachi's younger brother, he's still a Leaf at heart. He'll take and take until you have nothing left."
Naruto's frozen soul was shattered, and he kept walking. Past trees, where animals fell silent and a fox carrying a mouse in its mouth dropped the mouse to bolt. Through a small field, where a tree reached for the sky with hope that it could someday make it there. Naruto cut it down without moving, using the chakra that Kurama silently supplied. Leaves scattered and fell to the ground around it. Naruto stepped on them and kept walking.
When he finally reached the place Zetsu was leading him to, his vision narrowed until all he saw was the tall white-haired man crouching over a prone figure wearing the Akatsuki cloak. The man stood, spinning to face Naruto, and there was an appropriate amount of shock on his face. Zetsu's whispers caressed the inside of Naruto's mind, although Naruto didn't even know what they were saying anymore. Something about not giving control to Kurama so he could take this fucker's life with his own hands. Sounded good. Sounded really fucking great.
"Naruto Uzumaki, I'm surprised to see—"
Naruto shut the Sannin up with a slice of Kurama's chakra that nearly cut him in half. The Sannin flipped backwards, landing in a crouch on the lake, then blinked in astonishment. Before he could open his filthy mouth again, Naruto lunged, putting all of his speed into the attack as he whipped out two kunai.
Jiraiya met him blade for blade, and they traded more blows in those two seconds than most people could've traded in a lifetime. Naruto was the first to flip back, and when he was upside down he whipped three shurikens directly at Jiraiya's head. Jiraiya blocked them with ease, flipping back and making hand signs faster than Naruto's eyes could move.
"Flame Bullet," Jiraiya spat out and Naruto was forced to used more of Kurama's chakra to stop himself from being roasted midair. He took the attack head on, using the chakra to harmlessly get through the fire, while another piece of it turned into a hand and seized the dock. With chakra, he could move around easily in the air, and as he shot towards Jiraiya as fast as a bullet he did his own hand signs to use Blade of Wind. The air in front of Jiraiya shimmered and the old man dodged, but in close proximity it wasn't enough and a cut appeared on his cheek.
With a curse, Jiraiya leapt out of range and used his hair as a weapon, making it elongate and shoot towards Naruto with the intent to kill. Naruto clapped his hands together for another wind jutsu, using Gale of the Palm to blow the spikes of hair away before they could reach him. He landed rolling on the water and sprung up to his feet in time to see Jiraiya blowing oil into the lake. Digging his nails into one palm to break the skin, Naruto used a summoning technique to summon a khakkhara he'd once made with Sasori. It had been something that he sometimes saw in his dreams, and after testing it out he'd found he really enjoyed the feel of it.
Now he used the extendable end of it to stab it into the lake and create a place to stand as Jiraiya fired off another Flame Bullet and set the entire lake aflame. Standing above a sea of fire, the heat scorching his skin and drying his sweat, Naruto wondered if he'd inadvertently found his way into hell.
"I don't know what you're upset about, but if you insist on trying to fight me I'll put you down like the rabid animal you are," Jiraiya yelled, doing the hand signs for a summoning jutsu. Naruto lunged, grabbing his khakkhara out from under him as he shot towards Jiraiya's place on the shore, and only switched directions at the last second to land on the dock that the flames were rapidly consuming. He knelt down, closing his eyes for a brief second and wincing, before looking at the body of his older brother.
Kisame was injured almost beyond recognition, chunks of him missing and tears all throughout his body. His face was half gone from what looked like some sort of sword wound, and Naruto had to swallow back bile at the injustice of it. If Jiraiya had fought Itachi for Sasuke, he could've understood. If Jiraiya had attacked Naruto because he was a threat to the Leaf, he could've understood. But attacking Kisame unprovoked, stabbing him from behind while Zetsu tried to save him? How could anybody do that? Why would anybody do that?
"I'm sorry," Naruto ground out hoarsely, reaching out to brush a fingertip over Kisame's whole eye while he ignored the mess of the other one. His hands felt numb as he fumbled with Kisame's hand, and he choked on a sob as he managed to get Kisame's ring off. He lifted it up and pressed it to his lips, praying that his friend was at peace. Kisame's face looked so… happy. He must've been thinking about something beautiful when Jiraiya stabbed him.
"I should've never become friends with Sasuke. I should've never given my chakra up for him," Naruto whispered to Kisame, taking a hand missing half the fingers in his own. There was a sick squelching sound, but Naruto ignored it as he pressed his forehead against Kisame's hand.
"I will do whatever it takes to make this right," he rasped, emotion and smoke strangling his vocal cords. "I promise you, I'll avenge you. You know I will. Because I never go back on my word."
Naruto's fingers were clumsy as he undid Kisame's Akatsuki cloak. It was torn everywhere, and stained all over with blood, but he ignored that. He removed his own dark cloak and lay it over Kisame after he got the Akatsuki one off. Then he stood, cracking his fingers, before slashing at the bottom of the cloak to take about three feet off of it. When he slid his arms through it and shrugged it over his shoulders, something inside of him stilled. He didn't know what it was, but everything felt crystal clear, and when he turned back to Jiraiya he assessed the scene through a sea of icy calm.
Jiraiya was sitting atop a monster toad, his hands clasped together and his eyes narrowed in concentration. Sakura, Sasuke, and Sai were all up beside him, eyes huge as they gestured to Naruto and spoke. Jiraiya was shaking his head as if he disagreed with them, but they all seemed to be stubbornly arguing something. When Sasuke saw Naruto looking, he turned and desperately began mouthing something.
I-m-so-rry-a-bout-your-com-rade-but-we-did—
"They're arguing over whether or not to kill you or go after Itachi," Zetsu whispered into Naruto's ear all of a sudden. Naruto stopped looking at Sasuke and turned to Zetsu, studying the fully black man-thing with his newfound battle senses. Yes, Zetsu would know what they were saying because his clones could hide within things, maybe even within the toad.
Naruto knelt down and picked up Samehada, which had been laying beside Kisame. He felt the sword draw a little of his chakra, and then all of a sudden it stopped. It grew more relaxed in his hand, as if sensing his intention to avenge its master. He let Kurama's chakra grow enough that one tail began to bubble from his back, but he didn't let it go any further than that. Using his puppet chakra strings, he snatched up his khakkhara then leapt from the dock with both weapons in hand. When he landed in front of the giant toad, the ground itself shattered beneath him until he was standing in a shallow crater.
"Gamaken, keep him away!" Naruto heard Jiraiya shout. Naruto tilted his head, narrowing his crimson eyes. So Jiraiya needed time to complete whatever jutsu he was planning to do?
"I will try, though I am ungraceful," the toad rumbled, and then the biggest sasumata Naruto had ever seen came slashing down towards him. Naruto raised his khakkhara and focused all of Kurama's chakra in it, blocking the sasumata's attack with one hand while he slashed Samehada out with the other. The toad blocked Samehada with a massive shield resembling a plate, then let out a surprised grunt as Samehada began eating away at some of his chakra.
"I don't think you'll be keeping a single fucking soul away," Naruto snarled, letting go of his khakkhara and using a hand from his Nine-Tails chakra to keep it in place so the sasumata couldn't come slashing back at him. Then he reached into his mind for the jutsu Pain had shown him. It was tricky, but it was one of the few things Naruto had left besides a name from the Uzumaki clan.
His hand shook and then the chakra strings he'd created rippled, their form changing and solidifying into something much greater than strings. He heard Jiraiya's shocked shout as the Adamantine Sealing Chains wound their way around the giant toad. The Chains, coupled with Samehada, began completely draining Gamaken of chakra and soon the toad was disappearing, leaving behind only white smoke.
Naruto sensed rather than saw Sai, Sakura, and Sasuke roll into their landings, but Jiraiya landed with a massive sound like a peal of thunder, his wooden sandals digging deep into the earth. Naruto used his Chains in three directions to send the three Leaf genin flying back, then he slammed his hand into the ground and more Chains flew up everywhere within a few hundred metres radius. Concentrating, he forced his chakra to spread along the Chains and then out until a barrier was formed. Nothing was getting in or out anytime soon, and he'd made sure everyone else was on the other side of the barrier.
"Naruto!" Jiraiya yelled as the smoke cleared. His hands were still pressed together, and he was regarding Naruto grimly, as if fighting really wasn't something he wanted to do. "This really seals the deal, huh? That I'm fighting Minato and Kushina's kid?"
Naruto didn't move from where he stood, but he used a hand of Kurama's chakra to fling Samehada at Jiraiya. The old man's hair blocked it, then quickly withdrew before Samehada could absorb any of his chakra. So he'd noticed Samehada's abilities…
"I don't want to fight you, Naruto! I'm sorry about your comrade, but I don't understand why you feel the need to fight me! I didn't—"
A hand of red chakra burst from the ground in front of Jiraiya, and he cursed as he flipped back and then started running as the chakra chased him. There was nowhere to go in the circular dome, but Jiraiya still ran away. His hands were beginning to glow now, and Naruto was almost tempted to let him finish the jutsu just out of personal curiosity. Was this truly all there was to a legendary Sannin?
"You have no right to speak of any of them," Naruto said blankly, whipping his khakkhara in a circle and just barely missing Jiraiya. If he'd been any better at the Chain technique, he could've used those instead, but it drained an incredible amount of chakra just to erect the barrier. Jiraiya flipped over the khakkhara and then lashed out with one of his sandals, forcing Naruto to leap back from where he'd stood.
"I'm your godfather, Naruto. Did you know Minato was my student? Please, I don't want to end Minato and Kushina's legacy."
Naruto hadn't known. Fantastic, now he did. He split his mind to focus on two tasks at once, one of them chasing Jiraiya with Samehada while the other side forced him to go faster than his limits. He was pretty sure he was growing another tail, but there wasn't time to worry about that. Jiraiya was all defense, dodging Samehada and using his hair to block every slash of Naruto's claws or his khakkhara.
"I'm not the one who needs to be put down—Konoha is," Naruto snarled as lunged for Jiraiya's open back. It was a feint; Jiraiya spun to the side in a manoeuver that by all means should be impossible, then slammed both glowing hands on the ground. Naruto sprang back warily, drawing Samehada back and catching it in his hand as he crouched low to see what Jiraiya had summoned. It was…
Two small, old toads. They sat on Jiraiya's shoulders like dusty ornaments on a shelf, and Naruto couldn't see why they were so special. They spoke in hushed voices to Jiraiya, then squinted at Naruto. Toads, huh? Small creatures, weak and easy to crush. Naruto lunged, but Jiraiya now had full use of his hands back and he used them to gain the advantage, dodging to the side and throwing an attack with such deadly accuracy Naruto almost took damage. He would've if Kurama's chakra hadn't ripped him away from the swirling, dense ball of chakra resting in Jiraiya's palm.
Naruto narrowed his eyes at the sight, but he couldn't let his guard down for a second, because as soon as he did one of the toads on Jiraiya's shoulder spat a mouthful of green liquid at him. He tried to dodge but he was locked in by the other toad's tongue, which had darted out with impossible speed and wrapped around him. From the scent, the stuff on him could be none other than oil. Naruto's head whipped up to see Jiraiya beginning another Flame Bullet, but soaked in oil, Naruto wouldn't be able to go through this one.
It was at that moment that Naruto also realized that Jiraiya had undergone some kind of transformation—he was looking more toad-like himself, his nose swollen double its usual size, his pupils turned to horizontal bars, and red smeared like war paint around his eyes. Naruto held Samehada up to absorb as much of the chakra as he could, but he was still pinned by one of the small toad's tongues, so he was helpless as his Akatsuki coat caught flame.
"Fucking shit," he muttered, then crouched lower as another tail grew. The toad's tongue loosened as the red chakra grew denser, and then the chakra snapped out towards the toad, forcing Jiraiya to jump back with his two companions. Naruto was finally freed, and he shrugged off his coat, dropping the burning thing to the ground and rolling his shoulders back to stretch the muscles. He could feel his vocal cords thickening and his canines lengthening, and he knew he was undergoing a change different yet similar to Jiraiya's.
"Well lookie here, sensei," Naruto growled, his voice sandpaper rough. "You've taught me an important life lesson today. It takes one monster to fight another."
He dropped his khakkhara and took out a kunai Itachi had stolen for him. Jiraiya's eyes widened in recognition, then he shook his head sadly.
"Let me teach you another one then," he said as Naruto threw the kunai. Jiraiya dodged it, and a second later Naruto was behind him where the kunai was, swinging a fistful of chakra towards Jiraiya's open back. He thought for sure he'd have it, but then Jiraiya spun even faster than he'd been before summoning the toads and slammed the rotating ball of chakra into Naruto's stomach, making Naruto gag on blood and spit it into Jiraiya's face.
He was thrown maybe ten feet back, hurt bad, but the wound was already healing as he bounced along the ground. He dug his claws into the soft earth and it helped slightly, slowing him enough to see Jiraiya coming towards him with another one of those stupidly powerful attacks prepared.
"Unless you know this jutsu, you can never hope to surpass the Fourth!" Jiraiya yelled, and for a second Naruto thought he was going to die. If that thing hit his face, even Kurama's chakra wouldn't be able to heal him fast enough to survive.
"Use this, kit," Kurama snapped urgently, and in a second all of Kurama's chakra was gone, condensed into a ball on Naruto's hand that was even smaller than the one on Jiraiya's. All Naruto could do to defend was bring his hand up, and the two attacks collided with each other. Naruto was thrown back again, but this time Jiraiya was as well, and the only things that stopped them from colliding with the Chain barrier was the modifications their bodies had undergone to become more animal. Jiraiya's sandals flew off as toad-like feet slowed him down, and Naruto was slowed by digging toe and finger claws into the dirt, arching his back like an angry cat.
Jiraiya blew another stream of fire towards Naruto, and Naruto countered with a Violent Whirlwind, the wind from his own mouth hitting Jiraiya's attack and sending fire shooting up towards the top of the barrier.
"I didn't kill your friend!" Jiraiya yelled, his voice anguished. Liar. Liar, liar, liar! Naruto lunged and Jiraiya blocked him with ease, the two trading blows even faster than before. Claws slashed out and were smacked down as Jiraiya hit his arm hard enough to break it, and Naruto flipped back, pressing one hand against his arm. He snapped it back into place without so much as a wince, and felt Kurama's chakra begin to heal it instantly.
"You hurt and hurt and hurt," Naruto rasped, clenching his fist to make sure everything was working properly. "Your village is a montage of manipulations playing out repeatedly across the world. Whether you're a puppet or a puppeteer, you all need to be ended."
"Listen to yourself," Jiraiya growled as Naruto began to circle him, forcing him to match Naruto stride for stride. "Going on about manipulation when you can't even see the web you yourself are caught in. I don't know who the spider is, but if you don't stop looking at the other struggling flies, you're going to get eaten."
"I know who the spider is!" Naruto roared, springing towards Jiraiya and pouring his chakra into Kurama's. The two mixed to become a hand made of wind and fire, sweeping out to seize Jiraiya. Jiraiya forwent defense for offense, creating a massive spinning chakra ball and slamming it through the chakra hand. The chakra hand was obliterated and the ball kept coming towards Naruto.
Naruto tried to slice through the attack with Samehada, but there was way too much chakra and he was thrown back, Samehada blown from his hands as he flew the entire length of the dome and his back struck the barrier. He spat saliva with flecks of blood as he hit it, slumping down against it and trying to draw in a breath. His ribs were broken, and they must've punctured his lungs. This would be a little trickier to heal, and it would take more time than he had.
Damn it, why?! Why was this guy so much stronger than him? Even though Naruto was young, he'd thought he stood a decent enough chance. Instead, summoning those two toads had made Jiraiya incredibly strong somehow, to the point where Naruto would have to let Kurama take control if he wanted to win this thing. He couldn't do that now, though, not with his chakra network still weakened. The healing required to fix him after letting Kurama take control was just too risky.
His head hanging low, he tried to think of another strategy. Maybe if he took the Chain barrier down and started using Chains more to bind up Jiraiya's chakra…
He was just about to dismantle it when he heard a sound he'd never before imagined as threatening. Right now, however, it sounded pretty fucking threatening, especially since it was beginning to make his head swim as if he were about to be consumed by one of Itachi's genjutsus.
The sound of two toads croaking in a duet grew even louder, and Naruto knew that he was really in trouble this time.
