A/N: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.
Seems like everyone enjoyed the previous chapter and especially the appearance of the new ice dragon. I can see that there are lots of fans of Toshiro Hitsugaya from the Bleach manga following this story, he is also one of my favorite Gotei 13 captains.
Some of you are eagerly waiting for more details about Natsuki's unsealing, it's not that I forgot about it but there's just a little twist that will be shortly explained. Anyway, no need to worry I wouldn't skip it.
With this chapter, the story will finally enter the "more than 150K words" category in the filters, not so bad for my first attempt ever at writing a fan fiction I might say. Thanks again for your continuous support and reviews, those are a great source of motivation for a first time author like me.
Finally, taking the time to properly thank the anonymous reviewer 'DViper' for his review and all the praises he put in it to qualify this story. I was quite surprised when I read it, really gave me a boost in my confidence as an author.
Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.
Chapter 45 : Passing Dreams
Otogakure – Detention Area
Uchiha Itachi's consciousness was slowly fading away. He woke up days ago but he wasn't sure when exactly, as the only thing he remembered was the fight with the Hachibi jinchuriki before everything went black.
He swore he would never become like the rest of his clan, arrogant and overconfident in their supposedly invincible eyes. However, during that last fight with Killer Bee he dropped his guard, thinking the Sharingan would do the work and that cost him dearly.
He found himself in a strange room he couldn't recognize, most likely reserved for medical use. His movement were restricted and his chakra had apparently been sealed as well. He lost the track of time as medics were tending to his wounds, only recognizing Kabuto and Sakura as he already met them in the past. From that he could deduce that he was currently in Otogakure, the most surprising thing was that Sasuke had yet to visit him.
Today Kabuto injected him with some kind of drug, Itachi could already feel his control sleeping away. When Orochimaru's former right hand started to question him about Akatsuki and their plans, he found it increasingly harder to resist. When he felt his mental strength finally vanishing, that was the precise moment his younger brother decided to grace them of his presence.
The last thing Itachi could picture, before his vision became clouded, was a pair of fully matured Sharingan staring at him. The same eyes that made him one of the most feared shinobi in the entire Elemental Nations but also quite ironically the same eyes that caused his doom.
That day Sasuke learned everything his brother knew, first was the truth behind the massacre of the Uchiha clan. Itachi was a spy for the village against his own clan, directly reporting to the Sandaime Hokage and his advisers. Apparently, the clan planned to rebel and start a civil war but before they could act, Itachi was commissioned with the task to eliminate them all.
He then learned about Akatsuki and the secret identity of the man behind the orange mask. He was stunned to learn that his ancestor, Uchiha Madara was still alive. Itachi then spoke about Madara's plans and why he needed to gather the nine bijuu. Sasuke was especially interested in that Sharingan ability that the founder of his clan wanted to use.
Everything went well but Sasuke was still struggling with one thing, to discover why Itachi decided to spare his life on that fateful night. The elder Uchiha was pretty resilient in answering that question for unknown reasons, that made Sasuke's blood boil.
"Increase the dosage, Kabuto !" The Otokage ordered his second in command.
"Uchiha-sama, he has already received more than his body should be able to handle. Any more than that and he is at risk of overdose and then death." Kabuto pleaded, trying to convince his leader to be more patient.
"I don't give a damn, you could replace his whole blood with the drug for all I care ! Now, Do it." Replied Sasuke, completely ignoring the warnings from Kabuto.
"As you wish, Otokage-sama. You will have to wait a few minutes for the drug to kick in though." Kabuto answered before he pushed more drug into Itachi's bloodstream.
Sasuke was getting more and more unstable as he had to wait for the drug to take effect on Itachi. After five more minutes, Kabuto gave him a nod to signal for the interrogation to continue.
"Tell me now ! Why did you leave me alive ? Whose order was it ? Who wanted me alive for whatever plans they had, the Hokage ? The Elders ? Madara ? Answer me damn it !" Roared Sasuke as he looked into Itachi's eyes with his Sharingan activated.
Itachi slowly opened his mouth, still trying to resist the effects of the drug flowing through his system on his mind.
"I … They wanted the whole clan to disappear, men, women and children alike. The Sandaime Hokage wanted to only kill those who were found guilty of treason but the elders wouldn't agree. I … I struck a deal with them, your life for my silence. Only you would survive, my brother you were supposed to rebuild the clan, freed from its corruption. I couldn't let them kill you … My only hope … My only weakness ..." Finally replied Itachi.
As the former Konoha ANBU captain was revealing his last and dearest secret, his eyes were losing their focus. Sasuke couldn't hold his tears back as he finally knew why Itachi left him alive, he was supposed to be his redemption. All this time, all Itachi ever did was to protect and guide him.
Sasuke was about to speak with his brother again when he finally realized his condition.
"Itachi, wake up ! Don't leave me alone !" Yelled the younger Uchiha.
"I'm sorry, Sasuke ..." Were the last words Itachi pronounced before his eyes became empty, he was not there anymore.
Kabuto watched in fascination, at the exact moment Itachi's mind was gone and his eyes lost their light, Sasuke's Sharingan began to change its shape, morphing into the form of the Mangekyo Sharingan.
"So that's how the famed Sharingan evolves to its next level, guilt over the death of a loved one. Well it seems Itachi passed the torch to his younger brother, not sure if Sasuke actually sees the bigger picture or if he will just let anger consume him once more ..." Thought Kabuto in a morbid fascination.
Sunagakure – With Naruto
Naruto stood in front of the three remaining Rinnegan wielders, after having already defeated three of them. The bird creature, called forth by the one who used the summoning jutsu, had dispelled the moment its summoner had been struck by Naruto's wind technique. They had gone deeper in the desert as Naruto didn't want to destroy Sunagakure with his high scale techniques.
Pein and Konan were highly impressed at the display of skill from their target, so far only Jiraya had managed to go that far against Pein and his six Paths.
"He's truly a student of Jiraya-sensei. Nagato, I sincerely hope you have a solid plan ..." Thought Konan as she continued to watch the battle from a safe distance.
"He easily took down the Animal, Preta and Asura Paths. I need to distract him and get the Naraka in position to restore the ones who can still be revived. I'd rather keep the powers from Deva secret for the time being, if I can." Pein analyzed the situation and his different options.
Before he could think of a proper course of action though, Naruto had already thrown a Rasenshuriken towards their group in anticipation. The deadly chakra sphere was already upon them and without the Preta Path he couldn't deflect it anymore.
With not enough time to evade, Pein had to sacrifice the Human Path. It stayed behind in order to push the Naraka Path away from the deadly looking jutsu that Naruto had just launched. Naruto's upgraded version of the Rasengan hit the Human Path dead on, completely destroying its body in the blast, as it expanded on impact.
The Deva Path was the only one far enough to jump away on his own. However, he didn't see Naruto's three dragon summons coming at him in anticipation. Ryuoh was in front of him while Hiryu and Hyorinmaru were flanking him, all preparing to release their attacks as they inhaled large quantities of air in their lungs. With no other choice, he decided to use his powers.
"Shinra Tensei !" Yelled the Deva Path as he extended his arms to the side of his body.
Naruto stood there dumbfounded, as he saw his dragons being violently pushed back by an invisible force. He could only imagine the strength behind such an attack if it had enough power to blow away a creature with Ryuoh's size. After flying backwards, Ryuoh, Hiryu and Hyorinmaru landed very loudly as they fell, hard on the ground.
"What the hell just happened ? It looked like my Black Hole jutsu, with the exception that he didn't need to compress the air around him, I would have felt it if he did." Thought Naruto as he was forced to dispel the dragons and let them go back to their realm, in order to heal from their injuries.
While Naruto was focused on the Deva Path, the Naraka made its way to the only body that could still be salvaged, the Preta one. The others body were not sustainable anymore, having received too much or critical damages. Unknown to Naruto, it started to regenerate the Preta Path.
"I'll concede that you have nice moves too, well it's just two to go now." Naruto said, trying to not show how impressed he truly was.
"Bansho Ten'in !" Suddenly called the Deva Path as he extended one arm towards Naruto.
The blond immediately felt his body being pulled towards his enemy by an invisible force. He finally understood what attack was used against Ryuoh and the others previously, gravitation force. Naruto tried to manipulate the wind to stop his movement but it was in vain as the gravitation seemed to have more power.
Naruto was getting dangerously close to Deva when he somehow managed to launch a Hiraishin kunai and instantly moved away from there, appearing right behind his opponent. He was about to repeat his tactics from the fight against the Animal Path and launch another Furyudan, however he was stopped at the last moment by the Preta Path absorbing his jutsu.
The Namikaze couldn't understand why the Preta was "alive" or at least operational as he was sure he destroyed it earlier. Looking back at the position where its body should still be laying, he saw the Naraka there with a strange statue.
"This one must have the power to somehow revive them, damn I was so focused on the one with the gravitation powers that I completely forgot about this one."Naruto thought.
The three remaining Paths moved into a new formation, with Deva in the center, Preta in the front and Naraka in the back. Naruto quickly analyzed and understood the sudden movement, the "Shield" in the front, the "Healer" at the back and the "Sword" in the center, it actually made sense.
"For my next move to work, I'll need to at least get the one with regenerative powers so taking down one of the other two will be secondary. I'll also have to be careful with the one manipulating gravitation, the other two don't seem to have offensive powers." Were Naruto's thoughts as he prepared his next moves.
With a battle plan ready, Naruto summoned a Hiraishin kunai and threw it towards his enemies before going through hand signs at a really high speed.
"Futon : Hiraishin Tatsumaki no Jutsu !" He yelled, as the Hiraishin kunai suddenly multiplied itself to form fifty copies. The wind then violently picked up and formed a small tornado around the three remaining Paths, absorbing the fifty Hiraishin kunai in its body.
When the kunai were evenly dispersed within the tornado, Naruto did a single hand sign and disappeared in a white flash. Soon, Pein could see flashing lights traveling through the tornado as Naruto was jumping from one kunai to the next without stopping for even one second.
The Deva Path tried to use the Shinra Tensei and then the Bansho Ten'in but both failed, as Naruto simply moved to another kunai when he was being pulled or pushed by Pein's techniques. When the Preta tried to absorb and dispel the technique, he got severely cut on both hands as not only wind but also kunai were traveling at high speed inside the tornado.
Naruto could see during Pein's attempts against him that the Akatsuki's Leader had to wait for approximately five seconds between each jutsu before he could launch the next one. The blond then timed his next attack and waited for an opening. Naruto didn't have to wait long as Pein decided to try again with the Shinra Tensei.
The moment Pein's attack failed, the five seconds opening came and Naruto did not waste it. A Rasenshuriken was thrown into the enemy group and Preta immediately went to intercept it, however upon impact he realized too late that it was in fact a Henge of the true Naruto flying at him.
The blond tackled the Preta to the ground and instantly applied both his palm into his opponent's rib cage.
"Futon : Shin'Zou Hakai !" Yelled Naruto as he made the Preta implode from within.
He immediately stood up and unsheathed his katana and pointed its blade towards Deva who still couldn't use any jutsu.
"Futon : Doku Kyuzou !" He said as he thrust his katana towards his target.
With no hesitation, the Naraka Path pushed Deva away and took the hit in his stead. Naruto's sword went right through his heart and he could already feel the wind chakra tearing his body from the inside.
The five seconds window finally ended at that precise moment and Deva pushed as much chakra as he could into his Shinra Tensei. Naruto was harshly blown away and the cyclone also dispelled as he lost his concentration after being hit at point blank by the condensed Shinra Tensei.
"Nagato … He sacrificed the Naraka even if it had a more strategic role than the Deva, because he didn't want to lose Yahiko." Thought Konan as she looked at the battle.
Both Naruto and his last opponent were getting tired. Even with his ultimate mode activated, minimizing the efforts he had to do in order to perform his techniques, the blond was starting to feel the after effects of the continuous use of the Hiraishin.
Pein only had the Deva left and he also used too many techniques. Furthermore, contrary to the blond jinchuriki, his chakra reserves were far from limitless even with six bodies at his disposal. Both warriors knew they only had not much left before they were out of chakra.
"You're the first one to ever damage the Six Paths of Pein to such an extend, even Jiraya-sensei did not go that far." Pein said.
"How dare you speak his name, your goals are so far from what Jiraya-sensei wanted for this world this isn't even funny." Replied Naruto.
"Are you sure about that ? Let me tell you a story then ..." Pein then started to tell Naruto his past and how he came to meet the Sannin and Jiraya.
"This is how your precious Konohagakure came into my home and killed everyone I ever loved, Uzumaki refugees, just like you and I my dear cousin." He finished his story with this particular sentence, surprising his opponent.
"We both lived hard lives, I don't really know what to feel about what you just told me about us but one thing is certain, peace through violence is not the answer." Naruto said.
"Then we shall see if your idea of peace can stand up to mine !" Replied Pein as Deva went through hand signs.
"Chibaku Tensei !" Yelled Deva as a small black sphere left his hands and floated high in the sky above Naruto.
Nothing happened immediately but after a few more seconds, Naruto could feel the ground shake beneath his feet. Then everything went fast as stones, trees, sand were pulled toward the sphere. Naruto was also caught by the attack and his movement were quickly restrained by the materials that were pulled towards the sphere alongside with him.
"This is said to be the jutsu used by the Sage of the Six Paths when he created the moon, even you won't be able to escape from it." Pein said as he kept the jutsu active. It had soon transformed into a giant boulder floating in the sky, crushing everything inside as new materials were continuously being pulled towards it.
Pein was about to release his hold on the jutsu when he started to feel strange, everything around him started to feel empty, no sound could be heard as if it had been sucked into the Chibaku Tensei itself. He started to look around, only to see Konan far away from him screaming at him. He still couldn't hear a sound, making it impossible for him to understand that she was trying to warn him about the incoming danger. When he saw her look up, he followed her gaze and finally understood, all but too late what she was trying to say to him.
The Chibaku Tensei had exploded from within, hundreds of highly condensed materials were falling down on him and he had no chakra left to push them away or even attempt to escape himself. As he was about to be showered by the avalanche of rocks and sand, his hears finally caught a sound again.
"Be honored to be the first to witness my strongest jutsu." That was Naruto's voice, however, Pein couldn't locate its source as it seemed to come from all around him.
Konan's eyes widened at what she saw, the Deva Path and everything that was falling down on him disappeared in a white flash without making any sound …
A/N : What do you think ?
Sasuke finally got his Mangekyo Sharingan and he knows the truth about Konoha and the massacre of his clan. Which path will he chose from there ?
The fight between Naruto and Pein is coming to an end, with Naruto once more victorious of course. The blond also learned about the existence of a long lost relative, how will he move from there ? I will reveal what jutsu he used the next time.
As usual please read and review.
Hoping to top the 600 reviews with this chapter.