Hello people! Chapter 13 is finally here. Sorry for the delay... but life gets in the way sometimes. Please do enjoy, and I hope you'll review if you liked it. Thanks for reading!

Chapter 13- God of Peace

She wanted to believe it was some distant dream, nightmare rather, but it was here and now, and she was facing it. She knew this day would come. When, apparently, not even her and Itachi could capture it, not Hidan or Kakuzu, not Deidara, not Sasori, not anyone, it stood to reason that Leader would turn up, too, and with Konan in tow. No, not in tow. Konan was too dignified for that. Whatever the situation was, Kana was hit with an agonising thought. She had to talk to Leader, she had to. Maybe she could dissuade him from taking Naruto. If she volunteered her chakra, wouldn't it be equivalent to taking the Kyuubi's? It was strong, right? So if he accepted her chakra instead, Naruto, Kakashi, Sai, Hajime, they would all be safe…
She couldn't get too ahead of herself. She had to see whether the Leaf really could be strong enough to fight Leader. The desire to believe in them was present, but Leader was who he was for a reason. No-one stood against him. She had repeatedly been told that the power Leader possessed was unimaginable.

With a multitude of thoughts carelessly running around her head, she fumbled in her drawer for a jacket and a ninja tool kit, stuffing some kunai and explosive tags in along with the shuriken already in there. She gritted her teeth. Why did her hands shake so much? Was it the anticipation, the thought of a fight? The fear of Leader's presence? The frustration of her conflicting emotions?

"I have to go," she mumbled, but it was drowned out by a thunderous smash and piercing screams. "Geez, the diversionary tactics method. He wouldn't search for Naruto in that way; it's completely unsuited to him. He must be using that to get to Naruto some other way… I have to find him." Or fight Leader? The choice was hers and it was impossible.

The streets were filled with terror. Bodies of the injured or worse off were already adorning the ground. Kana stepped over them, staring straight ahead, determined not to look back; there was nothing she could do to help them. That was the job of the professional medics, not professional criminals like her.

"Kana!"

She saw Hajime running towards her, sweat glistening on his cheeks, an anxious crease in his forehead. He stumbled to a halt, breathing heavily.

"Hajime, what's going on?"

"Someone's attacking the village…"

"I know that! But… who's fighting them?"

"Everyone. There's seven of them, seven people, and we think they are all members of the Akatsuki. The jounin council came to that conclusion and deployed all troops the defend the village."

"Seven?"

"Yes, and they're all littered with piercings and have orange hair, apart from one woman with purple hair. I've never seen anything like the power they wield, too. Does that remind you of anything?"

She bit her lip. So Konan was here, too. "No, I've never actually seen Leader, only projections. I don't even know his name. I didn't know there were six Leaders running about the organisation."

Hajime sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. An explosion sounded in the distance and Kana winced. The air was beginning to fill with smoke and screams, and her mind was brought back to an event that took place a long time ago, the destruction of her old village. Running through the ruined streets, dodging dead bodies, seeing her mother killed before her, the unexplainable events after that… all of it wormed its way to the surface and made Kana shiver. Hajime watched her with concern, before waving his hand in front of her face.

"Kana, wake up! We have to defend the village."

She blinked. "…Right. I have to give Leader a good punch in the face for what he's done, for what he's doing…"

"That's the spirit," he said encouragingly. Another loud crash, and this time it was closer. The force of it, the sheer pressure, made both of them duck instinctively. "We need to find them."

"I can sniff out their chakra from here… Or we could just follow the crashes."

He grimaced. "Yes. Are you sure you're alright, Kana? You look a little pale."

"I always look like this," she snapped, an immediately felt bad about it. It wasn't Hajime's fault that she was feeling out of sorts at the moment.

Suddenly, he focused his chakra and commanded: "Byakugan!" and then his soft lavender eyes became defined, and the veins around them were alarmingly huge. His eyes darted around, quick and alert.

"What did you just do?"

"It's one of the three great eye techniques that my clan has. It's a kekkei genkai, like the sharingan. It's called byakugan, and it gives us almost three hundred and sixty degree x-ray vision for a long distance. I can see the seven intruders right now, in fact," he explained.

"Wow… that's really amazing, what you can do."

"Everyone in my clan can. We're born like it. That's just about the only thing we all have in common." His voice took a slightly bitter edge to it. It was only a pinprick of unpleasantness, but just that was enough to pique her curiosity. "Anyway, focus, Kana."

"You're the person who should be focusing."

"Right. There seems to be the purple-haired woman at south-south-east, only two hundred metres away…"

"That's Konan!" she burst out.

"Who?"

"She's… she's the only female member of the Akatsuki, and Leader's partner. She's beautiful, and strong, and calm, but she's also really powerful."

"You knew her well?"

"Not very. We kept to two man cells and rarely associated with each other. I just met her at meetings."

"I see… well anyway, let's get going. Look alive and follow me."

Kana was still distracted by the crashes and the equally loud plethora of thoughts storming her head. She kept on having the nagging sensation of wanting to black out and lose control of herself like before, but that wasn't possible to accept.

Hajime sighed half-heartedly, and held out his hand. "Come on, I'm not going to carry you there. Pull yourself together!"

Kana stared at it for a second, and slipped her hand into his. It was dry and warm, unlike her clammy palm, and he squeezed it in encouragement.

"It's this way."

And then they careered at high speeds toward the place where Hajime claimed Konan was. Kana felt a jolt of nerves, but shoved it back down with almighty effort. She forced her body into as calm a state as she could and concentrated on keeping a hold of Hajime. He was very, very fast.

"There she is!" Kana pointed out, jabbing her finger straight ahead. She saw Konan's luscious purple hair, complete with origami flower decoration, first of all. The red and black cloak fluttered in the winds. "Konan!"

Hajime let go of Kana's hand and almost silently, without taking his fixed gaze off Konan, reached into the pack near his lower back and extracted a glinting kunai. Attached to it was an explosive tag. He sunk into a slight crouch, his knuckled white around the kunai, and his eyes were clearly baying for the chance to take her down for the village. Kana watched him with some fascination for a moment, before remembering precisely where she was.

Konan turned slowly around, and her golden eyes widened in mild shock at seeing Kana here.

"You're Itachi's protégé, Kana," she greeted without malice.

"Yeah, I am. Why… Why, Konan? Why are you doing this?"

"This is Leader's wish. We must find the nine-tails, without fail. It has gone on for too long."

"But all these people, all this destruction, for one thing, a big chunk of chakra?"

"Exactly. In time, you will come to understand that all of this," she gestured around them, "is necessary to achieve world peace. All this pain and sorrow is just the beginning of something great."

"All crap!" Kana growled. "I'm going to take you and Leader down for what you're doing. I'm going to make you pay for ruining my life!"

"How did we ruin your life?"

"By letting me stay!" Kana's cry echoed. "You could have let me go as a kid instead of bringing me up to be the complete mess that I am today. You turned me into a cold-blooded killer by the time I was nine, isolated me, prevented me from having a real childhood… all for my chakra!"

Hajime straightened up and stared at her with a mix of interest and concern.

"Yes, we did contribute to that, however, it is Tobi whom you should be directing your just rage to, Kana, not us."

"I will, when I see him, but for now, it's you."

Suddenly, Konan's tone changed. "Do you know where Naruto Uzumaki is?"

Itachi's words rang in her head: You wouldn't find a single person there who would betray a comrade.

"Not. Telling!"

"Very well. I'll go to the other half of our objective, then."

"What's that?"

"Tobi has requested that you re-join our ranks."

Kana paused for a moment. Hajime gasped and gripped her shoulder.

"Kana, don't!"

She grimaced and shrugged him off. "Don't be and idiot. Like I'd even dream of teaming up with Akatsuki again."

"Tobi and Leader did not lie when they said that your power would be very useful one day, and that day is drawing very near. Because of that, you need to come back with us. I'm sorry Kana, but it's necessary."

"Like hell it is! No!" She kicked a stone, but fought to calm her breathing, which was ragged and angry. "But I have a… counterproposal?"

"What's that?"

"Just take my chakra and go. I'm not saying I'll join up again, but just take my chakra- I'm sure I have a whole load of it, enough to serve your twisted plans, anyway. Just leave the Uzumaki kid alone."

Konan observed Kana for a brief moment, before smiling a little. "An interesting proposal, but impossible. We need both your charka and the nine tails'."

"Dammit!" She clearly hadn't thought that one through. A great weakness of hers that Itachi frequently pointed out. So they needed Naruto and her… But what they didn't know was that Naruto wasn't here. They weren't going to get him. He was training in a distant place and it would take a reverse summons to bring him back. Even if they got her, they wouldn't get him.

But now Konan had told her this, was Kana seriously going to let them take her? Absolutely not! But Konan was crazily powerful.

"Say what you like Konan… I'm far more powerful than you think," she bluffed. "You'll never get me."

"She's right," Hajime picked up on Kana's bluff, and joined in. "Kana's power can awaken at any time, and she listens to no-one when that happens. When she comes after you, you will be astounded at her power."

It didn't work, and minutes later, the two of them found out exactly why Konan was one of Akatsuki's strongest.

Face-down in the dirt, Kana coughed and spluttered, her skin flecked with dozens of cuts. A particularly deep one ran over her forehead, which bled down her face and made her cringe. It felt like someone had dropped bomb on her body, it was so heavy. Konan domineered over her, staring down with a face devoid of emotion or sympathy. Kana forced her body to move, and dragged herself to Hajime, who was a little away from her, and who wasn't moving.
He lay in a pool of blood, his teeth gritted.

"Hajime…"

During the chaotic storm of origami shuriken, Hajime had yelled for her to run, being buffeted by the paper mercilessly, but Kana, knowing she had a better chance of survival, shielded him and bore the brunt. What she didn't know what that a paper clone of Konan was lurking behind, ready to take them both out, and it looked like Hajime had come off worse.

"You bitch!" Kana cried at Konan. "Look what you did!" The effort of speaking was too much, and she dropped her head again in exhaustion and pain.

"Leader has changed tactics," Konan said in surprise. "I can't let him do that. It will take too much chakra. If you aren't going to come willingly, we may as well make you useful here and do Leader's work the way he intended to himself."

None of this made any sense. Konan picked up a drained Kana, who flapped in her arms toward a still Hajime, and transported her through being a paper angel. Kana pondered the irony as they hung suspended over the village.

Kana had never once noticed, until now, how utterly beautiful it was.

Konan wheeled around, and Kana suddenly picked up a chakra that crushed hers instantly. It beat out Konan's by a long shot, and was… she didn't know how to describe it. It was powerful, elegant, cruel, peaceful and yet fraught with pain and violence. Was this what something 'Godly' could be described as? Was there such a thing? A god with chakra like this?
Kana answered her own question: Leader.

"Good job, Konan, though it's only half done…"

The voice was smooth, calm and it rang in the air around them. It mobilised the birds and halted the clouds.

"Kana. We finally meet in person."

Everything about the man before her screamed 'death'. It was just as Hajime described; piercings, orange hair, crazy powers… But that wasn't what was the most disturbing thing about her leader. It was the eyes, most of all. It was exactly like being the presence of something divine. The purple ripple pattern, the sharp alertness, their intense watch.

"Leader," she forced out in a feeble whisper.

"Call us Pain. All six of us are Pain, god of peace."

"Peace? You're out of your mind…"

"It is time for you to make yourself useful, Kana."

"I have done…" she whimpered. "Since the beginning, I've done whatever has been asked of me. I was loyal, wasn't I? Will you at least tell me what's going on? Just let me be. I'm so confused."

"Do you have people here in this village that you value?"

Kakashi, Sai, Hajime… Yes, they were valuable. Her saviours.

"Do you love this village now?"

She paused. "…Yeah, I do. I love it here." She was startled to feel tears gathering.

"Then all the more reason for you to know one's pain of having everything they know and love destroyed. This will make you a better person, Kana. Also, the need to test out your true potential is here."

"True potential?"

"Your power has been sealed away for a long time. The brief intervals of deadliness you show are only fractions of your true capabilities, and the stronger you got, the weaker the seal became. This moment in time is the perfect one to release much more of your power, if only for an instant."

Too many words. Too much that she didn't want to hear. However, Kana understood loud and clear exactly what Pain wanted out of this, and it would be the undoing of her. It would be the undoing of everyone here.

Don't use me.

Pain took her from Konan, grabbed her into a full nelson grip, and held out a metal object near her chest.

"What's that?" she gasped.

He replied almost inaudibly, "Chakra amplifier."

Please don't use me. Not for this.

Kakashi, you are like and older brother, you've helped me so much. Sai, you have been my quiet companion, always listening to me and giving your honest opinions that I've come to like so much. And Hajime… Hajime.

And as Pain placed the object on her chest, amidst her protests, as her head heated and she felt the power rising up within her, Kana thought back and remembered… the very first day she stepped into the village, and smiled.