Felicity Dream: Yeah, not much you can do, especially since I didn't make any real plans ahead of time for a pairing. It was a surprise for me too. As for Yugito and Bee, the story is marked tragedy for a reason. I wonder how many people that will scare off...
MissAzuka: I think I know what you're talking about. That's where they assign a 1 through 5 to various stats, right? If I knew anything about that I'd be happy to do some number crunching, but since I don't I'll give you what I can. I'll add it in the A/N at the bottom.
AAG: Good old Zelda. I haven't played one of those since the N64 days. I'm glad someone caught it.
serialkeller: It was mainly to show that Menma is still human and makes mistakes. Alternatively I could have had one of the Sound ninja survive and get his soul sucked out. Either way, Pein would have found them.
Homarid: I'll leave the Akatsuki member alone for now. You'll find out who it is soon. As for using the paths for sealing, I'll be the first to admit I'm twisting techniques to fit my needs. Most of them are fairly minor tweaks and it is AU so I hope no one minds too much.
Foxstar: Really? Huh. Well, congratulations either way. I'll have to add flashbacks to make her fit better.
somedayisours: Sorry if I wasn't clear. Itachi is in the East while Menma is in the South. The corpses were the inmates that ran from Menma and Tayuya.
acid: It was a surprise for all of us I think. Thanks. For some reason it doesn't like the fur portion of your name and blocks it out when I type it in...
Uchiha Rai: I hadn't even noticed that until you brought it up. It's a coincidence that they're so similar.
Chapter 23
(Southern Hideout)
Menma turned to Tayuya. "Tayuya, this is all your fault."
"Well shit."
Neither group seemed to notice the figure hiding nearby watching them.
The one with spiky hair spoke as the two pairs stared at each other. "I've found you, Kyūbi."
Menma pulled his fan off his back with a growl. "Why does everyone in your group insist on calling me Kyūbi? Do I look like a giant fox to you?!"
Tayuya pulled out a dozen kunai and wrapped explosive tags around them as Menma flashed through hand signs. After hearing his "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" followed by a wave of his fan, she threw the kunai.
The heftier of the two Akatsuki members stepped forward and put both his hands in front of him. As the wind-enhanced fireball approached him it was sucked up and vanished.
Tayuya and Menma were surprised that the fireball vanished, but didn't have time to think over it. As soon as the fireball was gone the member let his hands drop only to get hit with the explosive kunai. He looked down at the kunai as the tags went off, blowing him backwards. The other member dodged to the side as he flew past, skipping off the ground.
He stood, watching them impassively as a metal rod emerged from his sleeve. Tayuya took advantage of his pause and summoned her Doki while Menma activated his Mangekyō.
They stood standing for a few moments before Pein rushed at them with his rod ready to strike.
'He's fast. I hope Tayuya can keep up.' Menma thought as he watched the man charge them. He fired off a quick blast of wind in an effort to slow him down, but the man simply looked at him and the attack seemed to dissipate.
'Damn it, does he absorb attacks too?' Menma placed his fan on his back and rushed at him, pulling a kunai out.
Pein reached Tayuya's Doki first, and weaved through them as they clumsily smashed around trying to attack him. As he broke through them Menma arrived and with a slash that he barely dodged, forced him back into the center of the Doki.
Menma quickly created two mud clones and had them move to form a triangle around the Doki and Akatsuki member. As the Doki flailed around trying to smash Pein with brute strength, he dodged and weaved between them, seemingly intent on breaking through to wound Tayuya and dispel them.
Eventually he shifted tactics and attempted to break through the far side. When he managed to get past the Doki Menma used a quick Kawarimi with the mud clone over there only to get hit in the stomach with a punch strong enough to send him flying. Pein quickly ducked back into the group to break through the side Tayuya was on.
Menma spit out some blood and stood, wiping his mouth. 'He's stronger than he looks. I might have to use Kurama or the seal at this rate, but first...' He formed another mud clone and prepared to use another technique but found himself grabbed from behind. Looking at the arms that held him he could see a singed Akatsuki robe and cursed. The other member had survived the explosive tags and he could feel him draining his chakra.
"A little help?" Menma said to his clone that had been standing and watching the fight. It turned around when Menma called out to it and looked at the Akatsuki member curiously. With a shrug it pulled its fan off its back and held it ready.
"Useless," the man said, holding up one hand in preparation for a wind attack. Releasing the one hand gave Menma enough room to tilt his head to the side, dropping it to shoulder level. After Menma had tilted his head to the side the clone jumped forward and swung the fan with all its might, smashing the Akatsuki member in the side of the head with the edge of the fan.
The Akatsuki member slumped to the ground and the clone grinned down at him. "What? You didn't think it was just for wind jutsu did you?"
Menma shook his head at the clone. "Come on, you get to test out that wind-enhanced Rasengan on an enemy, aren't you glad?"
The clone glared at him. "A suicide attack?"
Menma shrugged. "You're a clone, it doesn't count as suicide."
"It'll be fun, come on." He quickly prepared a seal before turning to the clone expectantly.
The clone frowned but formed a Rasengan anyways. Menma took a few moments to mold wind chakra into it before rushing off ahead of the clone.
As he rushed into the group of clones and Doki Pein turned to fend him off and got a slap in the gut. Menma didn't stop and rushed out the other side to grab Tayuya and drag her away. When Pein tried to turn to follow Menma he found he couldn't move. When he looked down at his stomach he found Menma had slapped a paralysis seal on him.
"Dispel your Doki!" Menma shouted to Tayuya as he carried her away. She hesitated and dispelled them right as the mud clone with the Rasenshuriken reached Pein.
The surrounding mud clones were all immediately destroyed sending mud flying. Pein suffered through the entire attack before dropping and lying still.
Menma and Tayuya watched him for a bit before approaching cautiously. When they reached the body and prodded it they were satisfied that he was dead. Menma briefly glanced over at the other one with his head partially caved in from his clones fan and nodded. "We should hurry to the meeting point."
Tayuya simply nodded so they turned to leave. They found another man wearing an Akatsuki cloak and sporting multiple piercings. This one was bald, however.
They braced themselves as the man raised his arm. They stared on as he raised his other hand and... detached his arm? They only had a moment to be confused before metal objects were flying out of his arm at them. They both dove to the right behind some debris as the metal objects impacted and exploded.
When the explosions stopped they emerged from behind the debris to see a giant head poof in a cloud of smoke.
'A summon?' As the smoke cleared they found two new Akatsuki members standing before them as well as the two they had previously defeated back on their feet in perfect shape.
Menma sighed and gave Tayuya a flat stare. "This really is your fault."
"I'm sorry, alright?! How was I supposed to know Akatsuki was here?"
(Eastern Hideout)
As Itachi rushed the Akatsuki pair the one with straight long orange hair stepped back. The one with a ponytail and single bang covering his right side slammed his hand on the ground.
Itachi stopped his charge and jumped back as he heard "Kuchiyose no Jutsu." A giant ox appeared from the smoke.
"So you've betrayed us, Itachi," the summoner said.
Itachi ignored him in favor of activating his Mangekyō and turning to the ox summon. "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" He breathed out a giant fireball at the creature.
Kin who had simply been watching until this point quickly formed hand signs and shouted "Fūton: Daitoppa!" boosting the strength of the fireball.
The fireball smashed into the ox, lighting the creature on fire. After a few seconds of burning it dispelled. "Forgive me, but I think I would like to resign," Itachi told the summoner.
Kin rushed off to the side to attack the other member, leaving Itachi and the summoner alone. The summoner stared at Itachi silently before summoning two more creatures. A giant three-headed dog and a rhino.
Itachi quickly turned to the dog and called out "Amaterasu!". He had been hoping to dispel the dog as well, leaving him to deal with the rhino and summoner but all it did was split the creature in three. As the flames continued to burn the original dog that now only had a single head more and more split off from it, creating a small army. Itachi's mind raced as his eye bled from the use of Amaterasu.
'Why is Amaterasu causing it to split instead of destroy it? Itachi watched on as the rhino charged at him, each dog it stepped on splitting into two. 'Damage. Each time a dog suffers damage it splits!'
He had been so focused on the dogs that the rhino had reached him without trouble. Just as it was about to run him over it crashed into a giant yellow ethereal ribcage. A skeletal hand smashed down into the rhino before grabbing its head and twisting it violently. With a thunderous crack the rhino's neck was broken and it was dispelled.
The summoner then summoned another animal, this time a giant bird with three feet. The bird flew up a ways before turning to dive at Itachi. The strength of it's attack cracking the ribs of the Susanoo. It flew off before he could retaliate and waited for the dogs to provide a distraction.
As the dogs charged at Itachi more of Susanoo manifested. The head and left arm appeared and muscle and flesh started to cover its frame. He used the left arm in large sweeping motions to knock the dogs back while waiting for the bird to attack again. This time he was prepared for it and the right fist smashed into the side of the bird as it dived, dispelling it.
The summoner who had been standing back and watching impassively was surprised when Itachi dispelled Susanoo and jumped to where he had a clear line of sight to him. Before it could react Itachi shouted "Amaterasu." and it burst into flames. It collapsed and the dogs dispelled shortly after. Panting, Itachi turned to see where Kin and the other member had gone.
After Kin had left Itachi to deal with the summoner she made her way to the other Akatsuki member and quickly found him watching the fight against Itachi.
She quickly pulled out several senbon and threw them at the member to disable him. She was surprised when he turned, rushed at her, and kicked her hard enough to send her flying.
'Those senbon should have knocked him out.' She thought and frowned as she struggled to her feet. She briefly wondered if she had missed until she saw them sticking out of him. She pulled out a kunai and rushed towards him to check the placing of her senbon. If they hit and didn't do anything she must have missed her targets.
They spent several minutes exchanging blows back and forth, with only a few landing. When they jumped apart Kin frowned. 'Those senbon all hit the right spot. Why is he able to completely ignore them?' She shook her head. If regular senbon didn't work she'd just make something else work.
Pulling out more senbon and some ninja wire and bells. She began to throw them at the man, who didn't make much effort to dodge them as she wasn't aiming for him. After she had set up the bells for her genjutsu she grinned and triggered her trap. 'If senbon don't work I'll just find myself another advantage.'
The man glanced at the surrounding senbon and bells before rushing straight at her and punching her in the gut.
As Kin staggered back she gasped. 'Senbon and genjutsu don't work? It's like he's a damn zombie! Fine!' She pulled out what seemed like hundreds of senbon, and this time charged them all with wind chakra.
She didn't wait for him to react and started hurling the senbon at him. The man did his best to dodge them, but with how many senbon she was throwing it was like trying to dodge the rain. Eventually one of the senbon managed to catch the man in his eye which caused him to jerk violently. Kin used the distraction to rush in behind him with a kunai and jam it into his spine at the base of his skull. The man collapsed lifelessly.
As she turned to walk back towards the other fight she came across a tired looking Itachi. "We should go support the others," Kin said.
Itachi nodded and turned south. "Menma is the most important. The others will have to fend for themselves."
(Southern Hideout)
Menma and Tayuya stood facing the four cloaked men. Menma frowned, dealing with two of them had been enough of a pain in the ass and now there were four.
As Tayuya and Menma prepared to renew their attack they felt several more people approaching them from behind. "Do you require assistance, Menma-sama?"
"Kimimaro!" He risked a glance back to see Kimimaro, Karin, and some guy with orange spikey haired that vaguely resembled the Akatsuki member. "Who's that guy?"
"Ah, allow me to introduce my friend, Jūgo. I hope you will let him join us," Kimimaro replied.
"A friend, huh? Think you guys can take care of a couple of them?" He nodded towards the Akatsuki members.
Just as Menma asked that the Akatsuki member that launched the explosives at them seemed to grow several more arms and faces. "I would be happy to. I will deal with the strange looking one."
Tayuya spoke up then. "I'll take the one in the back. He's probably the healer. Always gotta kill those bastards first."
Menma nodded. "I'll take the one in the center." He risked a glance at the new guy. "Jūgo was it? Think you can handle the last one? He absorbs ninjutsu."
Jūgo glanced at Kimimaro who nodded to him. "Yeah... I can."
With that, Menma sent a blast of wind at the Akatsuki group. The large man stepped in front to absorb the blast again and shortly after was blown away by a massive punch from Jūgo.
Kimimaro, who had pulled out a bone sword, engaged the mechanical one and used the flat of his blade to block and parry attacks.
Menma slowly approached the one that had been killed by the Rasenshuriken previously and grinned at him. "So, how'd that Rasenshuriken feel? You were my guinea pig."
The man lifted his hand towards Menma, which confused him as he wasn't using an attack that could be absorbed, and simply said "Shinra Tensei."
Menma felt like he had been punched in the gut by Kurama and flew off into the distance, away from the others. Pein lifted off the ground before flying off after him.
Menma groaned as he sat up and looked around. He now found himself in some woods, away from the water surrounded southern hideout.
"Ugh, damn that hurt," he groaned again as he stood. Feeling a presence behind him he quickly whirled around and threw a dozen kunai with explosive tags sizzling.
Pein again held up his hand, repelling the kunai.
Menma's eyes went wide as his own kunai came flying back at him. "Shit!" He dove to the side as they exploded. He ducked behind a tree to wait out the explosions and to think over what had happened so far.
First had been the wind attack that had seemingly been absorbed.
Second had been that attack that launched him backwards through the air.
And finally he had just redirected those kunai.
'If he just absorbed attacks it would explain the wind attack, but if he repelled them it would explain all three. I wouldn't have seen it repel the first because it was just plain wind. Ah, but my body wasn't an attack, so... perhaps he can just repel anything?' He quickly formed five mud clones and placed explosive tags in one, which got him a groan. "More suicide attacks?"
"Shut up and go. I have to be sure."
The explosive mud clone groaned and rushed off. The clone attacked with a kunai only to be blocked by a metal rod, which then quickly cut it down. Pein's eyes widened when he saw the tags about to explode. With a burst of energy the dissolving clone was hurled away where it exploded and took out a tree.
'So it's controlled. It's not some sort of automatic defense like that Gaara kid's sand.' He stuffed explosive tags in the remaining clones and sent them off in a staggered attack. He timed them so that each following clone would arrive right as the previous one finished exploding.
The first clone ended up much the same way as the previous one, being hurled away to explode against a tree. The second clone however got tripped and pinned to the ground with a metal rod while Pein jumped away from it. The third got caught in the explosion of the second, while the fourth also flew into a tree to explode.
Menma grinned and created five more clones. Each one got the rest of his explosive tags. After they were all prepared the group stepped out from behind the tree. "I figured out your little trick," he said. "You can repel things," he said with a grin. Shortly after he sent the first clone to attack.
He was expecting it to get launched back like the previous attacks. Instead it was grabbed and slammed into the ground before being pinned by a metal rod. After which Pein raised his hand to the group and called out "Banshō Ten'in!"
Menma and the four remaining mud clones let out a collective "Shit!" as they all found themselves hurtling towards the soon to explode first clone.
Pein jumped away as the first clone exploded, causing a chain reaction with the other explosive clones. The explosion launched Menma back and through several trees.
"Ugh... damn it. That was stupid," Menma groaned out straining to stand. His clothes were scorched and torn.
"Yes, it was," a voice said from behind him. He felt a blow and his vision began to dim.
He heard the person whisper one last line as his world faded into darkness.
(Eastern Hideout)
A badly burned Animal Path stood and with difficulty formed hand signs. A "Kuchiyose no Jutsu." later it had summoned the other paths as well as the hooded Akatsuki figure that had been observing the fights.
The Naraka Path summoned the King of Hell. The injured paths walked into the mouth, were chewed, and then walked back out in pristine condition.
"The Kyūbi has been captured. Let us quickly perform the ritual before anyone interferes," the Deva path said. The group of ninja vanished with an unconscious Menma.
(Southern Hideout)
Kin and Itachi arrived to find the various other members standing around in confusion.
"Where the hell did they go? I was just about to gut that asshole!" Tayuya shouted.
Kimimaro looked around for a minute before absorbing his bone sword. "Come, let us join up with Menma-sama," he said, before running off in the direction Menma had been launched.
They spent two hours searching after they found where Menma and the Deva Path had fought, but never found him.
Itachi let out a rare frown and turned to the group. "I fear he has been captured and we don't have the strength to save him alone. We must hurry to Konoha."
As the group turned and rushed off to Konoha Tayuya lingered and looked back at the massive scorched crater left by the exploding clones. "You better be alright, Menma. If you're dead by the time we find you I'll kill you myself."
She turned and vanished into the trees.
End Chapter 23
A/N:
Since I kept it pretty vague until the end I'll put specifics down here. The first two paths that didn't run into anyone in the Northern Hideout are the Asura and Naraka paths. The two that went to the East and faced Itachi and Kin were the Animal and Human paths. Which left Menma and Tayuya with Deva and Preta.
Human was 'killed' by Kin, while the Animal path faked it's death from Itachi.
Deva and Preta were both killed and then, of course, revived by the Naraka when it arrived with the Asura.
They were all restored at the end there.
Itachi and the Sound group return to Konoha next chapter. Menma's fate and the hooded Akatsuki member will also probably be revealed next chapter, maybe the one after.
As for character strength:
For the most part, the characters are just as strong as canon. They just reached those points earlier.
Sakura is straight up canon strength. I haven't messed with her at all.
Sasuke is weaker than in canon because he doesn't have his Mangekyō...yet. While using his curse seal he is stronger than he would be in canon, simply because bijū are stronger than Orochimaru. He's stupidly OP in canon so it's an effort to balance things out.
Menma/Naruto is stronger and his skillset is different. He has Kurama as a summon instead of his Kyūbi mode. His curse seal takes the place of Sage mode. Obviously his sealing knowledge outstrips canon Naruto's. He technically has access to Rasenshuriken as well as a fire variant, so his ninjutsu is slightly stronger. Genjutsu is stronger only because of his Sharingan, without it he's just as useless in that area as canon. Taijutsu... would be about the same as canon, but he avoids it. If you can consider his fan use as kenjutsu that's stronger than canon as well. If I'm missing anything else, let me know.
Oh yeah, I updated the story to reflect the pairing.