Chapter Twenty Three: Know Pain.
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
Sakura flew up higher to avoid the barrage of explosive tags thrown by Konan while forming three hand seals and ending with the Phoenix seal, "PHOENIX ART: FEATHER BARRAGE!" she yelled as her wings glowed.
Konan's paper wings flurried, "PAPER SHURIKEN!" she yelled.
The feathers and shuriken clashed in the air, causing Sakura to scowl, 'Even though I'm faster and stronger, she's still managing to keep me on the edge! If I could knock her to the ground then I'll be much faster and take her out!' Sakura thought as she continued her barrage while falling through the air down towards Konan.
Konan merely let Sakura approach and hit her, turning into a pile of paper and causing Sakura to curse as the paper tried cutting at her through her armour.
Sakura began spinning as maximum speed in midair as the paper began to target the gaps in her armour, cutting at her skin painfully, but she persevered as she channelled fire chakra into her wings, "BURNING TORNADO!" she yelled.
Flames came from her wings, burning away the majority of the paper while blowing away the rest with tornado force winds.
The remaining paper all gathered in the air high above Sakura, forming Konan who was looking down at the pinkette, "You seem to be more of a hassle then I predicted, it seems I will have to…play dirty." Konan said quietly, even though Sakura heard her anyway.
Sakura raised a brow as she smirked, "Play dirty?" she said with a disbelieving chuckle.
Konan's blank face nodded, "I will kill you in a horrendous fashion so that your teammates will look for revenge against me. In Sasuke's rage I will catch him for Nagato thus forcing the Nine Tails Jinchuuriki to come after us to save his best friend." She said as she lifted her arm.
Sakura was suddenly hit with Konan's subtle but sharp killing intent, causing her to become serious, 'She's not trying to weaken me anymore, she just wants me dead!' Sakura thought as large amounts of paper began to form above Konan, making Sakura begin to send fire chakra to the brace on her hand, 'So I guess I gotta kill her first!'
"SHINIGAMI DANCE!" Konan yelled, launching a huge spear made of paper at Sakura.
Sakura's fire chakra took form as Sakura punched forward, "FIRE STYLE: WHIP FIST!" she screamed, throwing her flaming gauntlet to intercept the spear.
*BOOOOOOOOOOOM*
##########
"Now this is something spectacular." A man said through his gas mask as four bodies fell to the ground dead.
"SHUT UP!" another man with a blue three bladed scythe said as he cut down another person, "Lord Jashin-sama was pissed when I died! This is my chance to redeem myself!" he said before coming to a stop and taking a battle stance back to back with the first man.
"SPIKEY HUMAN BOULDER JUTSU!"
Hidan looked up and grinned, "Oh! The fatty!" Hidan yelled as he leapt up and over Choji's attack.
The second man stabbed his Kusarigama blade into the ground behind him and surprisingly, Choji was thrown through the air as he hit the blade in the ground.
The man pulled his blade free and span, cutting through another man who had charged from behind before kicking the two halves into two oncoming Shinobi, "I thought the ninja world would get stronger in my absence, but alas." The Kusarigama wielder said as he looked across the large group of people.
Hidan landed next to him again, covered in other people's blood, "Well Mr. Strongest Ninja in the World, why don't you just end this aye?" Hidan said.
Hanzo the Salamander gazed upon the leaf ninjas and sighed, "As much as I enjoy teaching you where your place is beneath the Rain village, this is far too boring to keep my interest." He said casually as he fought off each and every attempt to get near him with a wicked slash.
Hidan grinned as he watched the perfect movements of Hanzo, 'Even with such simple manoeuvres, this guy is hacking his way through with more grace then I've ever seen! Even Jashin-sama enjoys it!' he thought before feeling his body freeze.
"Hello again…Hidan."
Hidan's eyes wide as he was forced to turn, "The shadow user…" Hidan said, his grin trying to hide his fear.
Shikamaru came up out of Hidan's shadow and placed a hand on the back of Hidan's head, "Guess you want revenge huh?" Shikamaru said with a smirk as his eyes became pitch black, "I'm game."
Hidan's eyes turned hard as the two of them dropped into the void that Shikamaru's shadow made, 'And this time I'll kill you for real!' Hidan promised himself as they disappeared.
Hanzo raised a brow before spinning and stopping three swords with his single blade, "Hmm, three swords. I haven't seen that before." He said casually before knocking them all aside and kicking his attacker in the face.
Pikkon regained his balance as he wiped his jaw with the back of his wrist, 'How the hell did this guy block me?' Pikkon thought before the ground began to shake.
"IRON STYLE: IRON BLOCKADE!"
Every Konoha Shinobi turned to watch as Jirobo's chakra travelled along Konoha's walls, turning it into solid iron and growing outward facing spikes along the top of it.
Hanzo chuckled, "Idiots." He said as he began taking down numerous Chunnin that were looking at Jirobo's handiwork, 'It's as if they think I'll stop just because they have.' He thought with a mental sigh as he once more had to stop his attack and block two swords before ducking under the third and kicking Pikkon back.
"SAND SHOWER!"
Hanzo looked up at all of the stones of sand falling towards him, "Hm." Hanzo hummed before spinning his ninja tool above his head at a ridiculously high speed.
Hanzo nodded to himself as his weapon began to deflect or destroy every single piece of sand that was aimed at him. He looked forward and noticed that there was a green blur moving towards him, 'Oh?' he thought as he lifted his other arm to guard from the green blur.
"LEAF RISING WIND!" Lee yelled, as his kick hit Hanzo's arm.
Hanzo pulled his weapon closer to him as he rose through the air, launching the weighted end up at Gaara and forcing the desert ninja to stop his attack.
Hanzo came to the peak of his flight as he looked down, 'Why aren't they attacking? This is the prime moment.' He thought with a mental sigh, 'Ninja standards really have dropped these days.'
"EXPANSION JUTSU!"
Hanzo looked up as Chouza Akamichi appeared, turning into a giant that was mid punch towards Hanzo's airborne form, 'Good thing this body is immortal.' He thought as he closed his eyes.
***BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM***
##########
"Dammit!" Sakura yelled as she dodged backwards, her cheek getting cut open slightly in the process.
Konan's wings flourished as the paper storm chased Sakura, 'She's trying to knock me out of the air.' Konan realised as she saw the pattern in Sakura's attacks.
Sakura flew backwards to dodge before she flew up higher as she formed hand seals, "PHOENIX ART: AERIAL ACE!" she yelled as she channelled a large amount of chakra into her wings as she suddenly fell back.
Konan's eyes narrowed as she saw Sakura stop, 'Now!' she thought as she thrust her arm forward, "PAPER SHURIKEN!"
Just before the shuriken neared Sakura, she dove towards Konan before disappearing completely, causing the blue haired woman's eyes to widen as she felt a huge gust of wind shoot right past her.
Sakura reappeared behind Konan, breathing heavily as she spun back, 'That was my fastest aerial technique, but well worth the chakra cost!' she thought as she saw Konan's right wing fall away while Sakura's cheeks bulged, "FIRE STYLE: PHOENIX FLOWER JUTSU!"
Konan quickly dissipated both her dissipating wing and her full wing which formed a small shield around her from the mini fireballs as she fell to the ground, landing heavily before she ran into a nearby demolished building, the fireballs stopping against the roof.
Sakura stayed floating in midair for a moment, getting her breath back, 'What's her plan?' Sakura thought with narrowed eyes as she slowly descended onto the rooftop across the street from the building Konan retreated into.
Sakura surveyed the building with Scouter Sight before her eyes widened when she noticed two things; One- Konan was running towards her with a paper lance, and Two- the shop she ran in to was the local newsagency.
Konan pushed her other arm forward, "SHINIGAMI DANCE!" she announced.
Every magazine, newspaper, card and normal sheets shot out of the newsagency windows, forming two huge funnels of paper that barrelled towards Sakura, who barely snapped out of her shock in time to react.
'EARTH STYLE: MUD WALL!' Sakura thought as she spat out a glob of mud onto the rooftop, forming a huge wall to protect her.
But to Sakura's shock, Konan used the two funnels of paper to lift the wall up out of the roof so that her approach was unhindered as she thrust her lance at Sakura's chest.
The cherry blossom girl leant back as the lance barely cleared her body, hitting the headband from her head while ripping off her helmet painfully.
Sakura's and Konan's eyes met as Konan's attack passed over her, both of them forming a secondary attack in their free hand as they punched at each other.
"PHOENIX FIRE FIST!"
"EXPLOSIVE IMPACT!"
****BOOOOOOOM****
The paper around Konan's fist were revealed to be explosive notes that exploded upon ignition from Sakura's flames, obliterating the already mostly destroyed area and shrouding the debris in a dirt cloud.
Two figures shot out of either side of the cloud, facing each other through the wreckage.
Konan was breathing heavily but she seemed intently focussed, 'The Jinchuuriki's allies are powerful in their own rights, if I hadn't developed this technique I could've lost this battle.' Konan thought as she lifted her arms once more, "SHINIGAMI'S WARRIOR!"
Sakura pulsed her chakra and felt as her helmet dissipated before she leapt up into the air as Konan's body was covered in paper armour that formed into a larger being around Konan, whose whole body was the size of the large paper armour's chest. Sakura finished her hand seals as she deactivated her wings to give her a speed boost along the ground, "EARTH STYLE: MUD BOMB JUTSU!" she yelled, launching the attack at Konan.
Even though Sakura couldn't even see Konan inside the armour, Konan appeared to be able to see her since the armour fought back, "PAPER SWORD!" Konan's voice rang out as the armour cut down the mud ball.
Sakura scowled as her helmet re-formed around her head, 'Back to basics!' she thought as she blurred around the armour, kicking at the back of its head, "SHOCKING BURST BULLET!"
Sakura poured her chakra into the kick and caused the 'head' to explode, but before she could celebrate its end, the dispersed paper from the explosion shot towards her.
Sakura pushed her chakra through her feet, using her Chakra Hop technique to dodge the first few clusters of paper before the sixth cluster got a hold of her leg.
Sakura yelled in shock as the paper connected to the main body of armour and slammed her into the ground painfully, causing Sakura to be forced to dispel her helmet to spit out the blood in her mouth, 'Good thing RGS is so solid, but damn that still hurt!' Sakura thought as she sent chakra into her captured leg.
"ANNIHILATING FORCE BULLET!" she yelled as her boot shot free, letting Sakura flip away while her right gauntlet glowed, "HAA!" she yelled as she blurred forward towards the armour while her executioner's blade formed.
The armour moved, swinging it's sword on an intercepting course and surprisingly managing to clash with Sakura's blade, though the metal had been able to cut some of the way into the sword. Sakura pulled back her other arm as the bulge on her wrist morphed, "WHIP FIST!"
The fist shot forward as Sakura's fire chakra ignited it, burning its way through the paper armour's chest and disappearing from view before Konan was punched out the other side, chest on fire as she was forced to rip off her Akatsuki cloak.
Konan's Shinigami Warrior fell to a knee before it began to fall towards Sakura, who quickly fed power to Radical Good Speed to jump up over the paper construct. Sakura turned through the air, beginning a flip as she fell towards Konan, who barely looked up in time to see Sakura's approach.
"EXTERMINATING BLAST BULLET!"
****BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM****
##########
"SHINRA TENSEI!"
"NEEDLE JIZO!"
"SUSANO'O!"
"WHITE LIGHT FLUX!"
Deva's attack devastated the area, blowing Jiraiya's defensive hair ball through the air while Sasuke and Kakashi were merely pushed back a few meters.
Kakashi sprinted forward as soon as the gravity blast wore off, just as Animal's hand hit the ground, "SUMMONING JUTSU!"
Sasuke scowled as Susano'o changed from a mere chakra ribcage into a full torso, "I'll take down Animal Path Sensei!" Sasuke promised as he ran forward, his Susano'o reaching a hand out to the side as the smoke dispelled to reveal a huge Unicorn.
Sasuke's eyes flashed, "INFERNO STYLE: FLAME CONTROL SWORD!"
Suddenly, Sasuke's Susano'o was holding a massive blade made from the black flames of Amaterasu and in a single swipe he cut down the Unicorn, setting it aflame before it dispelled.
Animal frowned as she ran far out to the left of the clearing, slamming both hands on the ground again as her Rinnegan flashed, "SUMMONING JUTSU!"
*POOF*
Sasuke scowled as the earth began to move, 'Please don't be another one of those-! Ah Dammit!' Sasuke thought as the being from underground revealed itself.
It was the Elemental Dragon of Earth. Standing on two huge back legs, the dragon's wings glowed like silver and it's forelegs shined like steel. It stood tall before taking a deep breath as Animal landed on its head, "FEROCIOUS MUD FLOW !" she announced as the dragon spewed forth a powerful jet of mud.
The Susano'o held up its sword, cutting down the attack even as it pushed him back, "So much power!" Sasuke exclaimed as his Susano'o's other arm moved into position.
The moment Sasuke could, he pulled away from the clash before laying down his 'sword' across the Susano'o's bow, making the flames form an arrow in the process, "FIRE!"
*BOOM*
A sonic boom sounded as Sasuke's attack launched at the Earth dragon, but it merely moved its wings to use them as a shield.
**BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM**
Sasuke had to have Susano'o raise its shield/bow since the explosion was so strong, but as the debris stopped flying around, Sasuke lowered it only for his eyes to widen in complete shock.
The Earth Dragon's wings weren't even scratched by the attack and as its wings pulled away to reveal its face, the dragon lifted its head as a large amount of white energy formed a ball in its mouth.
Sasuke swallowed deeply as Animal seemed to smirk before holding her hand forward, 'Orochimaru still wants this brat alive…guess we won't go full power.' Nagato thought through animal Path as the dragon ate the ball.
"DRAGON PULSE!"
Similar to a demonic chakra beam, the dragon pulse shot towards Sasuke and Susano'o in seconds as Sasuke's shield was covered in Amaterasu and odd black markings began to spread throughout Susano'o's armour.
********BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM**********
##########
"Cough! Ah!" Jiraiya let out a yelled as he used his metallic arm to knock Preta back after the man absorbed a chunk of his chakra.
Kakashi slid back across the ground before rolling onto his feet, coming up next to Jiraiya but facing the opposite way, "Jiraiya-sama, you have all of those counter measure techniques for Deva path right?" Kakashi asked as he breathed heavily.
Jiraiya nodded, "But I need to be in sage mode to access those countermeasures, and I don't think they'll give me a chance to do that." Jiraiya said with a frown.
Kakashi sighed, "I may regret this…but it's our best choice at the moment," Kakashi said as his Sharingan once more became the Mangekyou and he placed a hand on Jiraiya's shoulder, "Enter sage mode as quickly as you can and come back here." Kakashi said as chakra began to swirl around Jiraiya.
"KAMUI!"
Jiraiya was teleported up to the top of what remained of the Hokage mountains as Kakashi turned to take a sideways stance with his sabre in his left hand facing Preta and his right side facing Deva, 'I just have to hold them off for…how long? Shit! I have no idea!' Kakashi thought to himself before he began to dig deep, his chakra aura pulsing around him as lightning cracked.
As if that was some cue, Preta and Deva both sprinted at Kakashi from either side, pulling out a chakra pole as they neared him.
Kakashi blurred as suddenly he was standing back to back with a clone of himself, both of them using their blade to block the chakra poles before the real Kakashi suddenly felt Deva put his hand on his chest, "SHINRA TENSEI!"
He escaped with a quick substitution and the Mud Clone was splattered onto Preta's upper body, covering his eyes from seeing anything as well as forcing him to step back from the pressure. And since not one of the Paths was able to see Kakashi, he quickly sprinted forward with his chakra pushing him even faster towards Deva's back as lightning crackled around his hand, "RAIKIRI!"
Hearing Kakashi's cry, Deva leapt upwards as Preta used Deva's sight of Kakashi moving below him to raise his hands into the correct spot.
With a loud slap Preta's hands absorbed Kakashi's attack even though he couldn't see the attack itself. Seeing he could take out Preta, Kakashi whipped around his blade to cut the man's head off, but before he could he was yanked up into the air.
"BANSHO TENNIN!"
Kakashi turned as his Sharingan glowed, he disappeared in a swirl of chakra only to appear behind Deva, his White Light Sabre flashing through the air, barely getting blocked by his chakra rod before Kakashi kicked out, hit Deva's back and knocking him towards the ground.
Kakashi righted himself in midair as he noticed a huge white light emanate from Sasuke's battle. He looked up just as the shockwave hit him and the Peins.
********BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM**********
##########
Sakura's kick obliterated Konan's paper clone and Sakura's eyes widened as the sheets of paper formed shuriken that began cutting her up.
Sakura blurred away and hid as she looked down at her armour, 'How the hell? They couldn't cut through before but now they're cutting through everything but my gauntlets!' Sakura thought as she caught her breath.
After a few moments, she glanced around the corner of the building she was hiding behind only to see that Konan wasn't in the area anymore. Sakura stuck her head out a little further and frowned as a weak breeze made its way through the area.
Sakura cursed as she stepped out of her hiding place, before she felt that activating chakra and realized what was going on.
The weak breeze that Sakura thought was natural was actually wind chakra that had pushed forward nothing that was seemingly important, and that included a few random sheets of paper that suddenly flashed with storage seals on them.
Scouter Sight activated as Sakura's world seemed to slow down as she dodged the barrage of paper kunai, paper arrows and some paper spears that were released from the storage seals. She was receiving the occasional cut before one got too close to her throat. This was when she took drastic action.
"PHOENIX STYLE: BLAZE ARMOUR!" Sakura yelled as red hot flames enveloped her arms and legs and she punched the ground.
A wave of fire grew outwards from her punch's impact, burning away the smaller weapons while the larger ones were shot back. It was as she saw the larger weapons survive the fire that Scouter Sight registered what was suddenly different about the paper, 'They're covered in wind chakra!' she thought before a large shadow covered the area.
Sakura turned and looked up to see a ridiculous amount of wind chakra shrouded paper shuriken diving at her from Konan, who now wore only a tight midriff shirt and standard female rain ninja pants. Sakura quickly dropped the fire armour and her torso armour as she sent extra chakra to Radical Good Speed.
'I need more speed!' she thought as she crossed her arms in front of her, "KAIOKEN!" she yelled as her body was enveloped in a red aura. At the same moment, the extra chakra to RGS had turned the previously red, pink and black boots into complete pink.
The majority of Sakura's helmet disappeared but Scouter Sight stayed as her right gauntlet became her Executioner's Blade and her left gauntlet's claws grew about thirty centimetres each before becoming shrouded in fire.
Sakura yelled as her maximum power soared through her, 'I'll burn right through and end this!' she thought as she used her speed to shoot up through the storm of paper weaponry.
Sakura tried simply burning and hacking her way through, but there was too much paper, it began to surround her, forcing her to spin as she hacked through as much as she could to get to Konan.
Seeing a chance, Sakura's Executioner's blade glowed with fire chakra and she span, cutting out a space around her before she used her Chakra Hop to jump the rest of the way up to Konan.
In retaliation, the blue haired woman lifted an arm and suddenly all of the paper shuriken retreated, forming a large orb around her. As Sakura approached, the ball began spinning in midair.
Sakura focussed all of her energy through her feet, "EXTERMINATING BLAST BULLET!" she yelled, kicking at the ball as hard as she could.
But to her surprise, the ball simply let her through before closing in behind her. Sakura was caught off guard by the manoeuvre as she suddenly realised that Konan was no longer inside, 'Shit!' she thought as seals lit up on all of the paper.
*****BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*****
Sakura landed heavily on the ground with her unarmoured body parts heavily burnt, she shakily climbed onto her hands and knees as her armour appeared in its basic form, covering the majority but not all of her body.
Sakura rolled onto her back and her eyes widened as she saw Konan falling towards her, paper sword in hand as she swung for a killing blow.
Sakura hissed in pain as she rolled forward, Konan landing behind her as Sakura's right arm glowed. Konan's sword clanged as it hit the ground before both her and Sakura span, cutting at each other, Executioner's Blade against Paper Sword.
Blood splattered across the ground as the two women crouched face to face, eyes locked as the final move had come to an end.
Konan's paper sword lay on the ground in two halves, Sakura's blade buried in her side and sticking out her back.
Sakura closed her eyes, "Sorry." She said weakly.
Konan smiled softly, "Unfortunately…so am I." she said as lines appeared on her face.
Sakura's eyes widened as the blood flowing from her arm fell to the ground at the same time the Konan in front of her fell into pieces of paper.
Sakura went to move but the paper had wrapped around her outstretched arm and before she knew it-
*SHLINK!*
Sakura gasped as she looked down, her eyes blurring as a paper spear shot through her left lung, barely scratching her heart but leaking huge amounts of blood.
Sakura fell onto her face as blood poured out of her mouth, she shook twice as Konan crouched in front of Sakura's face, "You were strong leaf ninja. But you will die." Konan said before standing and walking away, taking all of her paper with her.
Sakura coughed up a glob of blood as her body trembled, 'No…someone…help…' she thought as her eyes rolled back into her head.
##########
'I just need to get closer! If they really do share their eyesight then this should stop them all!' Sasuke thought from inside his Susano'o.
Susano'o clashed with the Earth Dragon, claw for arm, wing for sword. One could not overcome the other unless one was to make a mistake.
Sasuke leapt up to the head of his Susano'o, trying to lock eyes with the dragon's summoner. But as he reached the height of his jump and looked at the dragon's head, his eyes widened, 'Where is she?!' he thought as he began to fall again.
Feeling a pulse of chakra behind him, Sasuke turned to see a large rhino charging at him from behind. This would usually be no problem except for the fact that his Susano'o was currently in a deadlock with the earth dragon, but Sasuke still had more fight in him.
Sasuke slammed his hand on the ground the second he landed, "SUMMONING JUTSU!"
*POOF*
The rhino was stopped by the being inside the cloud of smoke, the impact blowing the smoke away to reveal Gamabunta himself holding the rhino's horn and stopping it completely.
Gamabunta raised a brow as he glanced over his shoulder, "Doesn't summon me for nearly a year and then puts me in this situation? Not the best way to treat your Master now is it?" Bunta's voice rang out.
Sasuke smirked until he felt his Susano'o falter, he turned his attention back to the dragon as Bunta stayed deadlocked with the rhino, "Can't we talk about this later?!" Sasuke shouted up to the boss toad.
Bunta chuckled before he was pushed back a few more meters from the rhino, stopping back to back with the Susano'o, 'Guess I better think of something huh?' Bunta thought to himself.
"SUMMONING JUTSU!"
Both Gamabunta and Sasuke glanced to the right to see a massive stag charging at the two of them, causing Sasuke's eyes to widen, "BUNTAAA!?" Sasuke yelled as the dragon took him off guard and head-butted the Susano'o off balance.
Gamabunta saw an opening and acted, "Get rid of it Sasuke!" Bunta yelled as he switched his hold on the rhino.
Seeing no other choice that to trust Bunta, Sasuke let his Susano'o disappear as he ran towards the stag, glancing behind him to see what the boss toad's plan was.
The earth dragon stumbled from the sudden lack of pressure at the same time Gamabunta's body shook with power, flipping the rhino up and over his head to slam it ass first into the unsuspecting dragon's head, neck and back.
Sasuke smirked as he turned to face forward again while hearing Bunta unsheathe his massive tanto, 'My turn!' he thought as he pulled out a sealing capsule and threw it to the ground.
Animal looked down from her place on the stag's head, her eyes narrowing as Sasuke began flying up to her on his board, 'What's his plan?' she thought.
Sasuke sent a pulse through his board to raise him up to the stag's eye, which in itself was large than he was, "This is it! TSUKUYOMI!" Sasuke announced as he stared into the beast's Rinnegan as the rhino dispelled and the dragon froze in place.
Bunta looked at Sasuke to see him in a stare off with the stag's right eye.
##########
Nagato gasped as he found himself inside a world of red and black, he looked forward to see Sasuke walking towards him, sword in hand, "Oh? Very smart Sasuke Uchiha." Nagato said with a chuckle.
Sasuke's eyes pulsed and Nagato suddenly found himself tied to a cross, "Pein! Stop this attack now!" Sasuke tried ordering as he held the sword to Nagato's throat.
The redhead chuckled, "This is the world of Tsukuyomi is it not? You can't kill me in here little boy." Nagato said as a tongue appeared from nowhere and knocked Sasuke away.
The Uchiha rolled to his feet and his eyes widened to see an absolutely, gigantically huge man in what seemed like a mockery of Holy robes staring down at him with Rinnegan eyes, 'What the hell?' Sasuke thought for a moment.
Nagato smirked as he ripped himself free, "The thing is Uchiha, the Tsukuyomi isn't a world that is created when you use the technique. It is a parallel dimension where only one being resides for eternity and even though that being will sit and watch most of the time, I can make it save me!" Nagato yelled as he looked up to the large monster of a demon.
"This is the King of Hell's true form!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"
##########
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Sasuke screamed as he fell off his board, clutching his head as he began bleeding from his nose, eyes and ears.
Gamabunta's eyes widened as he acted, quickly stabbing the still unfocussed dragon right in the eye before leaping to catch Sasuke, slamming an elbow into the stag's throat in the same movement.
The dragon and the stag dispelled as Gamabunta landed, uncurling his hand to look at the Uchiha in his grasp, "Sasuke! What happened?!"
Sasuke's eyes opened slowly as he tried to stand, "My senses are on fire!" Sasuke yelled in pain before forcing himself to look around, "Bunta! Get her now!" Sasuke yelled while pointing forward.
Gamabunta looked to see Animal Path falling through the air limply, as if she was a puppet without a puppeteer, the toad boss leapt up into the air before consciousness seemed to return to the girl's eyes.
But unfortunately for her, it was too late.
"BRING DOWN THE HOUSE!" Bunta yelled as he crushed Animal Path with his foot.
There was a moment of silence before Bunta sighed and looked down at the heavily injured Sasuke, whose eyes were slammed shut as he shuddered in pain.
Gamabunta felt a sudden wave of nature energy emit from the Hokage mountains and smiled as he felt the familiar source, 'Jiraiya will take care of this, that little flipping trick with the rhino tore a few of my muscles.' He thought before placing Sasuke gently on the ground next to his board.
Feeling the ground beneath him, Sasuke tried sitting up again, "Bunta! What's happening?!" Sasuke yelled through the pain.
The boss toad looked around, seeing Jiraiya use the toad hop to leap far overhead towards another huge chakra source and two more Akatsuki members, "The battle's gonna end soon kid, don't worry," he explained before seeing a team of medical ninjas running towards him, "And help is on its way." Buntafinished before he dispelled.
*POOF*
##########
Kakashi ducked under Deva's kick before Preta kicked him in the face, knocking him back and taking another chunk of his chakra away, 'I can't take on this Deva Path, but if I can get rid of Preta then it'll be much easier for Jiraiya-sama!' Kakashi thought as he looked up before his eyes widened, seeing Deva aiming his hand again.
"SHINRA TENSEI!"
Kakashi dove underground with the head-hunter jutsu before making three earth clones appear on the surface in three different positions, throwing kunai and shuriken towards the two Peins.
Preta stepped forward and sucked the chakra from the faux weaponry, causing them to fall to the ground as mud as Preta ducked just as Deva span with chakra rods in hand.
Each Kakashi clone was stabbed by the thrown weapons, dispelling them instantly as Kakashi rose up between the two back to back Peins, 'Now!' he thought as his sabre flashed through the air.
Preta turned and leant back from the strike, earning a gash across his chest as Deva turned, stabbing at Kakashi's back with a chakra rod.
Kakashi disappeared in a substitution, reappearing about one hundred meters or so away while forming hand seals, 'If I'm fast enough, then this will work!' he thought as he pulled out a scroll from his pouch, forming hand seals with it as he sprinted forward.
"EARTH STYLE: FANGED PURSUIT JUTSU!" Kakashi yelled as he slammed the scroll into the ground, leaving it behind as he ran forward while forming another seal.
Preta and Deva turned at Kakashi's yelled and Deva raised his arms, "BANSHO-HCK!" Deva yelled.
Preta leapt away from Deva as a large pack of dogs came out of the ground, chomping down on Deva's joints and stopping his attack completely, but Deva was already acting as Preta landed at a safe distance, "SHINRA TENSEI!"
All of the dogs were blown away as the two Peins went to turn their attention back to Kakashi, but they looked down simultaneously as they felt a grip on their feet.
Kakashi's second jutsu, the shadow clone jutsu, had used the head-hunter to travel through the ground and grab their feet and hold them still and even though Deva's time limit his techniques wasn't yet up, Preta still could fight.
He absorbed the Kakashi holding his legs as the original Kakashi kept sprinting at Deva as a Lightning Blade sparked to life in his grasp. Preta began running and leapt to intercept the strike.
"RAIKIRI!" Kakashi yelled as he thrust his attack at Deva's chest, only for Preta's hand to intercept it and absorb the jutsu, just like Kakashi had planned.
The shadow clone's voice rung out from underneath Deva, "GREAT CLONE EXPLOSION!"
**BOOOOOOM**
Deva and Preta were flung apart as Kakashi used Preta's body as a shield from the blast while his free hand whipped out his blade once more, "This is it!" Kakashi yelled as he reversed his grip.
Preta continued sucking chakra from Kakashi to heal himself but because of the flying debris, he nor Deva saw Kakashi's sword until it had stabbed into his neck.
Deva flipped while tearing off his Akatsuki cloak, throwing it to the ground as it burnt in the flames of the explosion. He landed with a frown as he looked up to see Kakashi twisting and pulling his weapon, beheading Preta path and making the body unusable.
Kakashi quickly kicked Preta's body away from him, gasping for air as he fell to his knees, 'He held on for too long! I've lost too much chakra!' Kakashi thought as his White Aura dissipated and he accidently dropped his sword in his weakened state.
Deva raised his arm and pointed at Kakashi, whose eyes closed in acceptance, 'So…this is it huh?' Kakashi thought as he was yanked through the air towards Deva.
Deva path pulled out a chakra rod and moved it onto a collision course with Kakashi's head, 'Time to die.' Nagato thought with a smirk as he saw Kakashi's end.
…
'NO!'
*SHLINK!*
Deva's left eye widened as his right arm right arm suddenly moved the chakra rod, instead of it killing Kakashi it cut down the length of his arm as he flew past.
'What?!' Nagato thought as Deva's left eye looked right, noticing that his right eye was normal again, 'What is happening?!' Nagato thought.
To his shock, he got a reply, 'I'm happening Nagato! I won't let you kill them all!'
Nagato's real eyes widened, "Yahiko?" he asked out loud.
Deva fell to its knees as both eyes suddenly became the Rinnegan again, causing Nagato to frown in thought, 'I don't understand what exactly is happening, but it's too dangerous to keep Yahiko's body out on the front line.' Yahiko thought through Deva.
Kakashi climbed to his feet as he held his arm in pain, 'Of course, he'll want information about where Naruto is. That's why I'm not dead yet.' Kakashi thought with a scowl.
"REVERSE SUMMONING TECHNIQUE!"
Kakashi looked up at Deva who had yelled the technique.
*POOF*
Kakashi's Sharingan eye narrowed as Deva disappeared in a plume of smoke, only for another figure to replace him.
"SAGE ART: GIANT RASENGAN!"
Kakashi looked up to see Jiraiya thrusting an oversized Rasengan down towards the person in the smoke cloud, who lifted an arm towards the Rasengan calmly.
Jiraiya growled as the cloud of smoke dissipated from the Rasengan's power, but unfortunately for Jiraiya and Kakashi, the Rasengan was absorbed in mere seconds before the now revealed red head chuckled.
Nagato looked up at Jiraiya with a light smirk, "Guess it's time for me to come out." Nagato said as he aimed his other hand at Jiraiya, "SHINRA TENSEI!"
The two toads on Jiraiya's shoulders reacted, ""EXPLOSIVE TOAD BOMB!""
With the explosion, Jiraiya was mostly unharmed from the up close attack by Nagato. He landed on his feet as Kakashi attacked Nagato from behind with his Sabre.
But from Nagato's back a metallic tail, much like Sasori's puppet's tail, tore its way from his cloak and clashed with the Sabre before the tail flicked around, knocking Kakashi back painfully.
At this time, Jiraiya began using his frog-fu to attack with Taijutsu and even though it was obvious that his technique was better than Nagato's, the redhead was just to strong as he merely leapt back.
Jiraiya smirked, thinking he had Nagato on the run, but the redhead was just getting started, "SUMMONING JUTSU!" he announced with his right arm on the ground as his left arm became a metallic gun.
Jiraiya and Kakashi covered their eyes from the smoke cloud and regrouped to stand by each other's side, giving Jiraiya the chance to finally see the huge gash that had opened up Kakashi's arm and side, "Kakashi! You need to get medical attention!" Jiraiya ordered.
Kakashi shook his head, "Sorry Jiraiya-sama, but I've only got a little chakra left and I plan to use it to help kill this guy." Kakashi said between heavy breaths.
Jiraiya sighed and shook his head, "Look, go get help. I can hold him off for a while and I might even be able to beat him like this. When you meet up with a medical team, tell their escort ninjas to come and help me!" Jiraiya ordered before stepping in front of Kakashi.
Kakashi looked down, "….Fine, I'll be back to help!" Kakashi said before he disappeared in a swirl of chakra.
Jiraiya turned back to Nagato only to see the red head standing on top of the head of a retarded bird, his hand aimed at him, "BANSHO TENNIN!"
Fukusaku yelled, "WIND STYLE: FULL SUCTION!"
Nagato smirked as he was pulled towards Jiraiya, his summoned bird using the speed of the approach to pull up and fly over Jiraiya.
The toad ninja frowned as he fell back to earth, but he didn't seem disheartened as he formed more hand seals, "SAGE ART: GOEMON!" he yelled, launching the sea of flames up towards Nagato.
The rain ninja didn't even seem to care about the effort that Jiraiya was putting into the fight as he simply rose up above the attack on his bird, "I guess I'll just capture you so you'll tell me everything I need to know. I don't want you to die just yet Jiraiya-sensei, you will watch. You will soon, know pain." Nagato said down to Jiraiya, his ominous voice echoing around the ruined city of Konoha.
Jiraiya frowned, 'Is he even taking me seriously? Is he really that much stronger in a single body then in six?' Jiraiya thought to himself as he looked up at Nagato.
Nagato chuckled before he took a deep breath as he circled Jiraiya, "Tell me where the Seven and Nine tails are! Or I'll finish this village once and for all!" Nagato yelled as his arm stopped transforming to reveal some kind of blue glowing cannon.
Jiraiya scoffed, "You'll have to get through me first!" he yelled in return.
Nagato's face went from humoured to sad, "In that case…I'm sorry." Nagato whispered before he aimed his Chakra Cannon.
Jiraiya's eyes widened as he followed the trajectory of the weapon, seeing that Nagato was aiming straight through the open gates of Konoha to the last group of ninjas fighting Hanzo and Hidan, "No!" Jiraiya yelled as the Chakra Cannon powered up.
Nagato closed his eyes, "Now sensei, you too, shall know pain." He said before his eyes snapped open, "HA!" he shouted in effort as he launched.
Jiraiya, Fukusaku and Shima all stared with wide eyes as the chakra sphere shot past them, crossing the distance in mere moments and passing through the gates.
##########
Hanzo cut down another Chunnin before he felt someone behind him, he turned mid-swing only to clash with a wall of chakra.
"GREAT ROTATION!" Neji's voice rang out as he threw Hanzo out into the open.
Hanzo flipped onto his feet as his arm reformed, he looked around to see that he was caught on all sides before he felt a massive chakra pulse.
He glanced over Neji's shoulder and his eyes narrowed, "Hm, I don't think I can regenerate after this one." he said to himself as Nagato's chakra sphere hit his chest.
Neji's eyes widened as the sphere expanded, 'No!' he thought for the last time.
**********BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM**********
##########
Jiraiya uncovered his eyes as the dust cloud fell and he gasped at the destruction, "No…" he whispered in disbelief as he looked at the massive crater that used to be an entire district of Konohagakure.
"You see sensei? It is futile."
Jiraiya turned back to Nagato with hatred burning in his eyes, "I can't fathom that I used to believe you were the one to bring peace to this world! You're nothing but a monster!" Jiraiya yelled as tears formed in his eyes.
Nagato's expression faltered before it became blank, "A monster? No, this is the only way to peace…I am merely a God." Nagato said before he aimed his Cannon towards the final remaining corner of the village, which held the hospital, "Tell me or I will fire!" Nagato threatened.
Jiraiya stared in shock, 'What can I do? I'm nowhere near fast enough to stop that thing!' Jiraiya thought as he watched the energy gather around Nagato's arm.
"Nagato!"
Jiraiya and Nagato both looked up as a worn and battered Konan landed on the bird next to Nagato, who smiled upon her arrival, "Don't worry Konan, I kept Yahiko's body safe."
Konan nodded before looking over at the destruction Nagato had caused, 'I knew this would happen… there is no way I could have stopped him anyway.' She thought before her wings regrew, though they were noticeably smaller than before.
The two Akatsuki members turned their attention back to Jiraiya, only to see that he was about to land on the bird's back right behind them.
Jiraiya's body glowed with sage energy, "I won't let you hurt them!" he yelled as he thrust a rasengan towards Nagato.
The red head just leapt back with Konan following a moment after as Jiraiya's attack broke the bird's neck before it dispelled. As the three ninjas fell to the ground, Fukusaku and Shima made themselves useful, ""EXPLOSIVE TOAD BOMB!""
Nagato looked up to see Konan only a meter or so above him, but his eyes widened as he saw Jiraiya's plan.
Nagato landed on the ground and aimed his hand, but just a second too late as Jiraiya had already grabbed Konan around the throat with his mechanical arm. There was a minute of tense silence as Jiraiya held Konan captive facing Nagato.
Konan's eyes stayed open as she looked at Nagato hopefully, "Nagato! Help me!" she squeaked out around Jiraiya's grip.
Jiraiya held her tighter as a tear formed in his eye, "Nagato! Stop this or I will kill her! don't make me kill your last ally!" Jiraiya yelled across the area.
Nagato's facial expression was unchanged as he slowly aimed his Chakra Cannon at the hospital once more, causing Jiraiya's and Konan's eyes to widen, "Who will give in first I wonder?" Nagato asked as chakra began to gather for his technique.
Jiraiya shook his head as he tightened his grip on Konan, "I'M SERIOUS! I WILL BREAK HER NECK!"
"AND I WILL SLAUGHTER YOUR WIFE!" Nagato yelled in reply.
Jiraiya's widened eyes grew larger, 'Tsunade.' He thought as he glanced at the hospital, remembering his comatose woman's peaceful expression as she slept.
"Tell me where they are Jiraiya-sensei!" Nagato yelled.
The two stood in an intense stare off as another person crawled weakly into the arena, unseen by the three present because of the loud distraction coming from the opposite side.
"KONAAAAAN!" Deva path yelled as he landed heavily and rolled, coming up into a crawl as he faced Jiraiya and Nagato from the side.
Jiraiya's eyes widened as he looked from Nagato to Deva Path, seeing Nagato's scowl as an answer to his unasked question, 'He's not entirely in control! Does that mean…Yahiko?' Jiraiya thought as his eyes turned back to Deva path.
Yahiko looked up, no more holding a full Rinnegan eye in either of his eye sockets, but both of his eyes had an extra ring around the sclera, "Jiraiya-sensei! Don't do it! Please!" Yahiko screamed as he looked at Konan and Jiraiya.
Jiraiya looked to Nagato with shock and confusion, "Nagato, those other bodies you've used were from registered ninjas that have been declared dead. I assumed that was what happened to Yahiko, but what really happened?" Jiraiya asked as his hold on Konan lessened.
Nagato scowled quietly before he sighed, "I guess it doesn't matter, so I will tell you." Nagato started as his face became blank, "Yahiko killed himself so that we may live. But before his body died I began the conversion to become one of my paths of Pein. I thought he was dead but since he held on just a little bit, he's been slowly coming back." Nagato said with a slight shrug, "I don't know why, but I don't really care. He is still a puppet of God." Nagato finished as he suddenly aimed his cannon at Konan and Jiraiya.
Seeing what was about to happen, Yahiko reached out as the single ring around his eye pulsed, "BANSHO TENNIN!" Yahiko yelled.
Jiraiya was yanked out of the way, saving Konan and him from the chakra cannon as they came to a stop next to Yahiko.
Nagato scowled, 'How did he use my technique? I didn't even channel my chakra through him…he must be almost alive again.' Nagato thought before smiling a small smile, 'My friend…is coming back.' Nagato thought before leaping over to the three grounded people.
Konan kicked out of Jiraiya's grip, holding her pained body with one hand while she reached out to hold Yahiko's hand, "Yahiko?" she whispered hoarsely.
Yahiko smiled as he squeezed Konan's hand back, "Ko….nan…" he said weakly before he passed out.
Jiraiya rolled with the momentum of Konan's kick and came up in a defensive stance as Nagato swung a chakra rod at Jiraiya. The old sage blocked the attack and the two entered a small Kenjutsu match before Nagato suddenly stepped backwards, raising a hand as he did so, "SHINRA TENSEI!" Nagato yelled.
Jiraiya was blown back from the close range attack which also blasted Konan into Yahiko's arms before the two of them were thrown across the crater in the opposite direction of Jiraiya.
Jiraiya rolled to a stop next to the weak person who had crawled to the area, he opened his eyes to see only pink, "S-Sakura."
##########
'I can help!' Sakura thought weakly as she stumbled towards the final battle between Jiraiya and Nagato.
The ground shook and Sakura fell to her knees as she looked off to her far right, seeing a massive explosion of chakra obliterate an entire section of the village she called home.
Sakura's wide eyes stared before she coughed up a glob of blood, falling to her knees again as she placed a hand on her chest, 'Am I….going to die?' she thought as he vision once more nearly went black.
Sakura fell to her side, landing heavily but feeling something sharp in her pouch from the small fall. Her dull eyes seemed to refocus as she rolled onto her back, looking up into the sky as she reached into her pouch.
Sakura's eyes widened as her hand wrapped around a handle, 'Could I do it?' she thought as she turned her attention back to the battle, seeing Jiraiya enter a stand-off against the Akatsuki leader.
She watched for a moment with wide eyes as the leader of the Six Paths of Pein crawled much like she had into the area from the other side, after some shouting she nearly blacked out again before a new shockwave made itself known.
"SHINRA TENSEI!"
Sakura was pushed back a little, but she gasped from the pain of the movement on her body before seeing Jiraiya slam into the ground in front of her, "S-sensei!" Sakura gasped as he rolled past her, slamming into a piece of debris to come to a stop.
Sakura crawled over to Jiraiya to see that Fukusaku and Shima had dispelled from the force of the crash. She tried to form her Phoenix Tears healing technique, but she didn't have enough chakra.
She looked over to see Nagato calmly walking towards her and Jiraiya, 'I can't stop him.' She thought before reaching back into her pouch and pulling out the handle she had held earlier.
"S-Sakura."
The pink haired girl looked back to her sensei as he wrapped a hand around hers, holding the weapon in both of their grasps, "Sensei?" she asked weakly.
Jiraiya weakly moved back onto his feet, "I-It's our only hope," Jiraiya said weakly as he stood up, facing the approaching Nagato, "Do it now." He said before weakly running forward.
Sakura looked to Jiraiya with wide eyes as he charged Nagato recklessly, "Sensei?!" she yelled.
Jiraiya formed a rasengan with the last of his chakra, "NOW SAKURA!" he yelled as his rasengan glowed bright red and he leapt at Nagato.
The redhead's arm formed a shield that he held above his head as Jiraiya fell, "RASENOVA!" Jiraiya screamed as he thrust with all his might.
A tear fell from Sakura's eyes as she sent her chakra into the weapon in her hands, 'Please, save us all…' she thought as she threw it up into the air, "Naruto! Help!" she yelled as the tri-pronged kunai glowed yellow.
##########
Blue slitted eyes shot open as he suddenly stopped chopping the food in front of him.
The four women opposite the counter he was working on paused in their conversation as they looked at him, "Naruto?" Hinata asked.
Naruto's eyes snapped back into focus as he suddenly tore off the little apron, "Sorry, something's wrong!" he said as he ran around to grab his sword sheathe as he was already in his new outfit, "I'll be right back." Naruto promised as he clicked his belt in place.
He looked up to make eye contact with the four women in front of him, looking at him with worry in their eyes, "I promise," Naruto said before blowing a kiss, "I'll come back to you."
*FLASH*
##########
*FLASH*
Naruto appeared in midair over a vast crater, "What the… where am-" Naruto stopped as he turned while falling through the air.
Naruto landed heavily on top of a destroyed piece of cement, staring over the large crater that was once Konoha and looking at what remained of the Hokage Mountain.
Naruto shook his head as he looked around, "No…. It can't be." He whispered before he felt a large chakra anomaly.
"DIE!" Nagato yelled as he used his shield to sap the chakra from Jiraiya's attack before moving his other hand to stop right in front of Jiraiya's face.
"SHINRA TENSEI!"
Naruto's eyes widened even more as he saw Jiraiya get blown through the air before an orange haired stranger caught him, the two of them falling to the ground next to a blue haired woman, "Ero-sensei?!" Naruto yelled.
Nagato's back stiffened as he turned, making eye contact with Naruto who tightened his grip on his kunai.
The two looked at each other before Nagato smirked, "One step closer to peace." He muttered as he took a defensive stance.
Realisation slowly came over Naruto as he realised that this man was the one who destroyed the village, killed everyone and hunted the Jinchuuriki. His anger overcame him as his demonic shroud appeared, 'I know who he is, the man Ero-sensei talked about!' Naruto thought as he leaned forward, yelling in rage at his enemy.
"Nagato!"
##########
Chapter End.
Sorry for the super delay, anyways, here is the next chapter.
Please give me reviews or at least some form of feedback or else I will spontaneously combust. This is totally plausible….hehehe.
Anyways, love ya and leave ya, Alky out!