Note: One problem that comes up with this pairing is the age gap. Konan is approximately 35 and Naruto is 16. There are really three ways to handle this. A) Use a plot hole to make the age gap smaller. B) Do something in the story to de-age or age a character. C) Don't worry about it. I haven't decided which medium I will take just yet. More than likely it won't be "A" since I will be doing that with my other story.

Chapter 4: The Reckoning

Naruto slowly his eyes to see the blue haired girl overlooking him. "Are you alright? I think we are even now" she said to him. It may be that he didn't hear her, or that he was still recovering from what transpired. Konan was never one to show emotion, at least not for a very long time. Still a look of concern came from her amber eyes. "I don't think your girlfriend likes you very much."

Naruto finally snapped back into reality. "She's not my girlfriend, I don't like anyone like that." He looked over the side of the bird down into the water, as if expecting her to be staring back at him. The water was bubbling as dead fish floated to the surface. "I don't think that's supposed to happen, we have to get to the island."

She shrugged off the death that encircled them. "What's so special about it?"

Naruto scratched his head piecing together what he knew. "From what I understand, they wanted me to hide here while the war went on. Something about masking it is a mission to document animals. I know what's going on, and I have to tell my friends here what happened. See... I left them to chase after the shark-thing before finding you."

The bird flew over the island when they spotted a clearing. After landing, Naruto searched for his friends. The remains of Kisame were still there, but no signs of his companions. "I really hope something didn't happen to them."

Hoping to cheer him up, she walked over and kneeled down. "It looks like whoever was here left many days ago. Perhaps they went looking for you, or maybe they went to report to your leaders?"

Naruto put his hand up to his chin. "Well that could be the case, but I don't know where they are. They wanted me out of the loop so I wouldn't participate in the war."

She tugged his arm and tossed him onto the bird. "The Land of Iron, we are leaving now."

Naruto was stunned by her behavior. "That was sudden, what's the deal?"

She pointed up to the sky as they lifted off. There was a glowing object in the sky, it was tiny and had a purple light trail behind it. "Just a bad feeling." Whatever it was, it descended slowly.

Naruto had opted to nap during the flight, his experience had taken a terrible toll on him not only mentally, but physically as well. He awoke to see Konan sitting on the edge looking at the ground below. "Are you thinking of them?" She didn't say anything, not that he expected her to. "I ask, because I am too. When this war ends, their dream will become a reality. I'll do my best to make it happen."

Her head nodded down a little, but her body language had not changed. "I know you will."

"Look, I can see the wolves." Naruto pointed ahead to the natural rock formations in the distance. "We are nearly there."

She gazed in awe at the ominous shapes ahead, this was her first time seeing them. A voice interrupted her staring session. "Naruto, why are you here?" She looked to her right to see another bird flying along side them. The single rider was a pasty faced Shinobi around Naruto's age.

Naruto called out, "Sai! I'm glad to see you."

Sai gave a fake smile and held up a kunai. "I would not have expected somebody like you to join the Akatsuki."

Naruto waved his hands wildly. "You have the wrong idea trust me, she is on our side."

After putting the blade in his pouch, Sai briefed them quickly. "To the North is the main battlefield, as we speak there is a large scale battle going on. I assume you are looking for the Hokage, the main headquarters is just east of here. Follow me."

Inside the command tent, the Kage's were standing over a map formulating battle plans. The Tsuchikage was speaking of his experiences in the field. "We have determined a critical weakness in the enemy. Ever since Madara Uchiha was killed, the enemy forces have been behaving erratically. Zetsu must be having a hard time controlling them because they intermittently stop for a few seconds at a time. Once this happens, we can swoop in for an easy kill."

The Raikage pounded his fist on the table, a number of plastic Zetsu figures flew off the map. "Then we shall crush them, victory is assured. Besides, my brother is on the field now."

Tsunade, the Hokage was reading off a chart. "Based on these new figures our soldiers have a ninety three percent survival rate. This may be the least bloody war ever fought."

Gaara was standing in the corner thinking, he wasn't as excited about the new revelations. "This unknown woman who is fighting on the field worries me, her power seems substantial."

All present were alarmed as a sound of wind blowing could be heard outside. Naruto pushed the door open, followed by Konan and Sai. All but Tsunade were alarmed at Konan wearing her Akatsuki robe. The Hokage simply nodded, they knew who each other was. That didn't stop the others and their personal guard from acting defensively. Naruto spread his arms out and stood in front of her, "She's with me."

After their greetings, the Raikage aggressively shook Naruto's hand. "Thank you for protecting my brother, I never expected the island to be compromised."

Naruto was dizzy and everything around him seemed to move. "Uhh, no problem." Then he remembered, "So does that mean everyone made it here okay?"

Tsunade dragged him over to the map. She pointed her finger down to a circled area. "They are here, fighting. We didn't want to send you two out, but we are mopping up at this point and could use every pair of hands we can afford. We would have you go there now if you are able."

Naruto studied the map aggressively. "I have so much to tell you first, about my new powers. And more importantly I met this lady who has been causing me problems for days, I wanted to know if you knew anything about her."

Everyone was shocked that he encountered her just as they did. Before they could talk in length about it, a low ranking Shinobi bust through the door. "A thousand pardons for interrupting you like this, but there is a strange phenomenon occurring outside."

As the group went outside, they looked up to the sky. The object Naruto had observed was back, but this time there were a few others along with it. The purple glow was much more visible now with the orange sunset. It wasn't very bright out however, as a number of clouds had obscured the moon. Naruto put his hands on his hips, "I saw that before, I don't know what it is - but it's beautiful. I can't help but feel something is wrong though."

Hundreds of lights began to descend from the sky as a number of birds began to fly away. Konan was quick to comment on the growing situation, "Something has scared them, they are flying south away from the battlefield."

The entire area lit up as if the sun came back out. It was like an act of God, a massive rock fell from the sky. There was a trail of fire and black smoke from it. There was no scale of reference to determine the size, but it was dramatically larger than the small pieces falling with it. Before it reached the ground, everyone simultaneously heard the White Lady's voice in their heads; "All life must end." When the rock made impact, a white light obscured everyone's vision and no sound could be heard from anyone. A terrible mushroom cloud made up of fire could be seen in the distance as thousands of flaming projectiles shot out in every direction. It was only a matter of seconds before the camp was overrun with the rain of fire, anything that was touched was ignited; including the buildings.

After an unknown amount of time, Naruto woke up and began coughing. He was laying on his stomach and had a face full of black ash. He looked around to see small fires and dead trees all around him. Other people began rise up, it looked like almost everyone survived. Many were wounded though, mostly from shrapnel and moderate burns. The medical Shinobi were already healing and out searching for wounded. Naruto sat on a fallen tree and tried to grasp the reality of what just happened. He thought of the battle to the north, "I hope everyone made it out alive." He put his hand over his heart and shed a number of tears, he was probably just thinking wishfully.

Naruto felt a hand on his shoulder and saw the White Lady sitting beside him with a look of sorrow upon her face. "I'm glad you survived."

He had his mouth open in shock, his tears turned to anger. "Because of you, a lot of people died today..."

She took a finger and wiped his tears away. "Don't be so sure of yourself, stranger things have happened." With that, she faded away into nothingness.

A few minutes later, Konan appeared and sat down beside him. She shed her torn cloak and was wearing a simple black shirt and matching pants. "Are you hurt?"

Naruto shook his head. "Just inside. What about you?"

She lifted her arm to show a few pieces of metal embedded in her side. "Nothing I can't handle."

Naruto put his elbows on his knees and buried his face into his hands. "Can I ask you a personal question?"

She titled his head inquisitively and asked: "What?"

He made eye contact as if he was looking right through her. "Did you know your parents well?"

She shook her head sideways. "They died when I was very young, I don't remember them very well. Why do you ask?"

He let out a long drawn out sigh, "Well not too long ago I met both of mine for the first time, just like you and Nagato they entrusted me to find an answer. When I gained these new powers I thought I was invincible, that nothing could stop me. After all of this, I wonder if that is at all possible now. I don't want to let anybody down."

Konan gently put her hand on his shoulder and reassured him. "They have faith in you just like Nagato did. Even after this display of power, I still do. I know you will find the answer."

Perhaps it was just his imagination, but he seemed to feel other presences all around him comforting him in the same way that she was. With a strengthened resolve, he stood up and brushed himself off.

Note: This chapter is about twice as long as the previous one. I'm not sure about the length yet so I figured I would try this and gauge any reactions anyone is willing to share. PS: Gonna bring everyone least favorite emo into the story soon.