(Hey, guys. I got my newest chapter all ready. Hope you're ready to see Naruto stop Pain and find out the truth about him.)
Pain hovered high above the village, and spoke, "I will show all in this village the true meaning of Pain," he aimed both his hands down at the village, "Almighty Push!"
Before his jutsu could activate, Naruto who was riding atop Soreth used his Airbending combined with tailed beast chakra to blow Pain off his aim and ended up throwing his arms upward. Because of this nothing was destroyed and Pain suddenly fell limp and began plummeting. Soreth quickly flew down as Naruto used chakra hands to generate a giant Rasengan and for good measure shoved it into the body damaging it. Naruto watched as the body fell to earth and looked around as his dragon flew across the village, before summoning more clones to check the place out.
When the real one dropped in before Sasuke, Sakura, and his Bending girl friends, he spoke, "Everyone all right?"
"We're fine, Naruto." Sakura answered.
"Where were you?" Sasuke asked.
"Kisame lured me out of the village. I should've known this was all a ploy." Naruto growled.
"All these orange haired Akatsuki members who all have the same eyes showed up and started laying waste." Ming explained.
"I see. Well that one I just defeated looked like he was going to pull something off, but I stopped him."
"So why is it all of them stopped moving?" Naomi wondered as they looked down at one of the lifeless bodies.
"Because they're nothing but puppets." Naruto suspected.
"Puppets?" Yami asked.
"Yes. And I got a feeling I know how they're controlled," Naruto plucked some black rods out of motionless body. He concentrated, before speaking to his comrades, "I had my clones remove the same rods out of the other bodies. So even if they woke up they won't be used anymore."
Yuzuru raised her hand, "Question. If these are puppets then where is the one pulling the strings?"
"I'm about to find out," Naruto said, as he concentrated before picking up a reading outside the village, "I sense a large amount of negative feeling that way. If I follow it I'll find the culprit."
"You?" Sakura asked.
"You're not going alone on this, Naruto." Sasuke replied.
"Sasuke, I need you and everyone to go and help anybody who needs medical attention. Don't worry, I'll be all right." Naruto promised.
Sasuke seeing there was no time to argue, answered, "All right."
"And by the way, I got sage mode activated but why can't I sense Kakashi-sensei or Ero-sennin?" Naruto inquired. The group got nervous and not sure how to break it to him, until Naruto continued, "I see. I'll be back." he left without a word.
As Naruto Airbended through the forest he happened upon a single tree that looked to be made out of paper. He approached with caution, before entering the fake tree. Upon entering he saw before him Konan standing next to an apparatus with a red haired withered man hooked up to it. Konan was about to attack, but the man held a hand out to stop her. He greeted the Jinchuriki pleasantly, "Welcome, Naruto Uzumaki."
Naruto answered, "So you're the one Kisame calls Pain?"
"That's my Akatsuki name. You on the other hand can call me Nagato."
"Very well, Nagato. I have to know. Why?" Nagato and Konan were confused, as the boy continued, "Why do all this? What the hell have you got against the world and the Jinchuriki?! You have any idea how many lives you've taken or how many atrocities you've committed just to try and collect us?!"
"More than you can imagine." Nagato answered coldly.
"And you don't even sound like you care." Naruto said while squinting at him.
"Sacrifices are needed to reach a greater goal."
"Greater goal? How does destroying villages and capturing innocent shinobi who never even asked to be Jinchuriki lead to a greater goal?" Naruto asked in outrage.
"With your tailed beast powers the Akatsuki would be able to stir the great nations into submission, that way no one will ever think about waging war again. And should one foolishly try to go against our wishes we will use the tailed beasts power to make an example of what happens to those who step out of line. That is where we will maintain peace." Nagato explained.
"In other words you wanna rule by fear?" Naruto asked, "Fear. Intimidation. This is exactly how every villain in the Avatar's life tried to suppress everyone and look where they ended up."
"All those whom the Avatar have faced are nothing compared to the power I possess." Nagato showed Naruto his eyes.
The blonde looked at the purple eyes with ripple patterns and asked, "What are those?"
"The Rinnegan. A bloodline that originates from the Sage of Six Paths. It is the most powerful of all bloodlines in the world."
"Then does that mean you are a progeny of the Sage of Six Paths?" Naruto inquired.
"Perhaps."
Naruto continued, "Why would you pursue this disillusioned method for peace? Ruling by fear is no means to attain peace."
"Like your Avatar lives have done any better?" Nagato countered.
"It's not easy, but at least the Avatars of the past have never resorted to using fear as a means for the goal."
"That is why you and your past lives have failed in bring peace beause you're all so soft and weak."
"Watch it, pal," Naruto warned him, "And I know who you and this Konan woman really are... You're disciples of Ero-sennin."
"Did Jiraiya-sama tell you?" Konan asked.
"That's my secret," Naruto replied, before asking Nagato, "So you killed him when you laid waste here?"
"He bravely put up a fight, but in the end he fell like many others in the village." Nagato answered.
"How?" Naruto asked, "How could disciples of a great man like him end up like this?"
"You want to know the truth?" Nagato inquired.
"Yes."
"Very well, if it'll help you understand I'll tell you about Pain." Nagato began narrating.
"In my life I have had two painful experiences. One was the death of my parents. Many years ago in Amegakure when I was even younger than you. The land was caught up in the conflicts of the great nations and was turned into a battlefield."
"A pair of Konoha shinobi entered our home as part of their surveillance for potential enemies. My father and my mother protected me but were murdered," Nagato explained putting the first surprise look of Naruto's face, "The Konoha ninja were just as surprised at their own actions, thinking they were enemies. My parents died because of your Konoha shinobi war. The pain from that memory never went away, and still hurts to this day. That pain transformed into hate. But it brought my powers into bloom. It awakened the Rinnegan."
"It was only much later I realized I was the one who killed those Konoha shinobi," Nagato continued, "With nothing left in my former home I left on my own, but with little food I thought I was going to starve until I Konan here and my second friend Yahiko."
"Both Yahiko and Konan were also war orphans like myself, but unlike me they were strong, fighting desperately to stay alive. They welcomed me into their little family. Since then we stole whatever we needed to survive. We couldn't rely on anybody since there was no system for helping orphans in that chaos ridden small nation." He grumbled.
"Even under harsh circumstances Yahiko never abandoned hope, for he had a dream to end war forever in order to make the world a safer place for orphans and families alike, much like your Avatar lives. Then one day we happened upon a battlefield where an intense battle was taking place."
"A battle between who?" Naruto inquired
"It was between Ame's former Leader Hanzo of the Salamander against three Konoha shinobi who would become the legendary Sannin."
"Interesting." Naruto answered, knowing the story was going to lead to something important.
"From witnessing the battle up close I decided that Yahiko's dream became my own. And Yahiko realized if he wanted to change the land he needed more than just words but strength as well. He needed to learn jutsu. We sought the Sannin out wanting them to teach us the ways. Jiraiya-sensei offered to stick around with us for awhile tot each us how to properly survive. Though I had trouble accepting him being a Konoha shinobi due to my previous encounter with them, I felt he was different. Then he started living with us, but much too soon another incident much like my first encounter with Konoha shinobi took place."
"What happened?"
Nagato nodded, "A renegade shinobi attacked us. When Yahiko was almost killed I struck out and killed that shinobi instead, saving Yahiko's life. It was when Jiraiya-sensei discovered I had the Rinnegan. He hadn't intended on teaching us ninjutsu, but after that became serious about it. He mostly wanted to teach us how to defend ourselves, but he also seemed interested in helping me control the power of the Rinnegan. However I feared my own power and what it could do. Hate had caused me to go berserk and left me with guilt, until Jiraiya-sensei pulled me out of that. He taught me the concept of right and wrong, and if I didn't do what I did then Yahiko would be dead. That was when I truly started acknowledging Jiraiya-sensei. I learned that a person matures and grows because you experience pain, and growing up means to become able to think and make your own decisions. Because of that I was able to give Jiraiya-sensei an answer about why I would do it. I wanted to protect my friends no matter how much pain I received."
Naruto stood there and while he said nothing was taken all of Nagato's words to heart, as the man continued with his story.
"Jiraiya-sensei also wanted to understand the world and why we fight. Like Yahiko he also aimed to bring peace. When he left us to continue on our own and left me to be the one who could bring peace."
Konan decided to add a bit, "Since then we started gathering comrades who would help us with our cause. With Yahiko as our leader we began our own organization that you might say was the first Akatsuki."
Nagato continued, "Rumors of our organization reached Ame's leader Hanzo, and he approached us no longer able to ignore our existence. We met with him and agreed to form an alliance to make Ame a better place. But that ended up being the beginning of all our misfortunes."
"How so?" Naruto asked.
"Yahiko died."
"Died?" Naruto gasped.
Nagato nodded, "It was all a trap staged by Hanzo. He was paranoid with thoughts of us usurping leadership of the village from him, and because of that petty fear Yahiko died. At the meeting spot Hanzo was allied with Konoha black ops under the lead of a man named Danzo Shimura."
'Not surprising.' Naruto thought.
"Danzo used this alliance in hopes of usurping the seat of Hokage, while Hanzo tried to protect his own authority by holding Konan here captive. He forced me to kill Yahiko otherwise he would take Konan's life."
"I hesitated to go through with it, and Yahiko ended up killing himself telling me and Konan to live on and change the world. I realized that day the answer I gave Jiraiya-sensei was worth nothing. With nothing but anger and hate dwelling up inside me I was allowed to awaken the Rinnegan's full potential. I had the power of the six paths which I used on Hanzo's army. Though it was a tough fight severely taking a toll on my body, I finished it by summoning the Gedou Mazou and used its power to remove the souls of all of Hanzo's soldiers. Yahiko died and from then on I took over as leader of our organization. Since that day many other comrades died in battle. Your land of Fire's commissions they pay to Konoha become war funds. The citizens knowing the truth falsely proclaim peace. The peace that you of the five larger nations enjoy only exists because of the sacrifices on us of the smaller nations. In other words your peace is won through violence directed towards us."
Naruto processing all Nagato was saying was also using it to determine what he would tell the man, "Just by living, people hurt others without even realizing it. So long as humanity exists, hate will also exist. True peace cannot exist in this cursed world. Everything Jiraiya-sensei said is nothing but a fantasy!" Nagato calmed down before speaking again, "That is my story, so what do you have to say?"
Naruto answered, "First of all I can only express my deepest of sorrow for the both of you and your comrade. I do know what it's like to be an orphan. I also lost my parents because they sacrificed themselves for not only the good of the village, but so I could live on. And if not for their sacrifice I wouldn't be what I am today. Even though I have hate for what you did to my sensei and master killing you won't change anything. Ero-sennin may be dead, but his will lives on through me. He trusted me to carry on when his time comes, and I will stick by that no matter what. So I won't kill you out of revenge."
"So you're just going to follow sensei's will even after knowing the brutal truth about this world?" Nagato asked.
"The truth may be brutal and ugly, but that's just one side of it. There's always a place for hope and faith. Something all the past Avatars had to have in order to make their era's a time of peace." Naruto continued, "Besides the five great nations are no longer at each others throats because they found common cause."
"Common cause?" Nagato asked.
"Yes. It's threats like the Akatsuki and even Orochimaru that has brought us all together for a greater purpose. It may not seem much to you, but to the Avatar it's a big step forward to peace."
"And what would you do when the five great nations break off this truce? What will you do then?" Nagato continued to question Naruto.
Naruto frowned back and answered, "If that does happen. I'll break the curse. If there's such a thing as peace I'll find it! I'm not giving up!"
Nagato for the first time looked incredibly shocked as if all his hate had been subdued, "You… That's…"
"Nagato, what's wrong?" Konan asked in confusion.
"Those words… Those very words." Nagato pondered.
Naruto nodded, "That's right. They're all from this book," Naruto reached into his person and pulled out a book titled 'Tales of a Gutsy Ninja', "The very first novel Ero-Sennin wrote. He was seriously trying to change the world with this book. And in the back of it, he wrote about a disciple that helped provide him with inspiration. It was you… Nagato." Nagato looked more shocked than before.
"But… could this just be coincidence?" he pondered to himself.
"And the name of this book's main character is… Naruto!" Naruto proclaimed as Nagato's eyes widened some more, "My name is a precious heirloom from Ero-sennin given to me by my parents Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki. I'm not just gonna give up and tarnish my master's gift! One day I will be Hokage and with the wisdom of all my past avatar lives I will bring peace and harmony to the ninja land and the rest of the world, because it's not only my own righteous duty as Ero-sennin's student, but as the Avatar it's my job to see this world and even the spirit worl live on for all those who share them. I'm asking you as a fellow disciple to trust in me and all my comrades and even the Jinchuriki. We'll make the ninja world a better place better than any existing shinobi ever wanted it to be."
Nagato after hearing such a proclamation started reminiscing about his life. Going back to the days of his family, meeting Yahiko and Konan, Yahiko's dreams of peace, meeting Jiraiya and all he taught them, up to the death of Yahiko. The withered man let out a small amused laugh confusing Naruto and Konan, "We are sibling disciples, you and I… Students of the same sensei. We ought to be able to understand one another… I would've originally meant it as a joke. You are indeed a curious one… You remind me of my younger self."
"Nagato." Konan gasped.
"I wasn't able to keep believing in Jiraiya-sensei or even in myself for that matter. But you give me a vision of a future that shows a different path from the one I've walked," Nagato continued as he raised his arms up and performed the tiger hand seal, "I think… I will believe in you, Naruto Uzumaki. Gedou Rinne Tensei no jutsu (Heretical Death and Rebirth Cycle Technique)!"
"Nagato, don't!" Konan called.
"Konan, It's ok. I've made a new choice. Even though I've given up hope. And you can't deny you feel the same way." Konan looked guilty from his words as Naruto spoke.
"What's going on? What jutsu is he using?"
Konan answered, "Those who possess the Rinnegan can perform all of the jutsu the six Pains used, and are said to exist outside this world of life and death. Nagato's ocular power itself is a jutsu that presides over life and death. Therefore he is the seventh Pain. As of this moment all shinobi and civilians who were killed are being revived as we speak. Including Jiraiya-sensei.
"Then he and Kakashi-sensei..." Naruto smiled knowing his two sensei's will be all right.
"Howver," Konan continued, "That jutsu requires a large amount of chakra. Given Nagato's condition there's no way he'll survive."
"It's ok, I'm not afraid of death. I may die but at least I could do one good thing before I do. And, Naruto, I want you to do something else for me." Nagato said, as he finished the jutsu which resulted in his hair turning pure white.
"What's that?"
"Use the power of the Avatar state and take away my ability to use jutsu." he requested.
"Huh? Why?" Naruto wondered.
"Taking away my jutsu will also take away the Rinnegan," Nagato explained, "A bloodline like that is too powerful for any human to have. Do this and it will be out of the reach of anyone willing to use it worse than I have."
Naruto pondered, before answering, "Well, if that's what you want," he activated the Avatar state and went up to Nagato, before putting a finger to his forehead and started assimilating the jutsu right out of him. When the procedure was done, Nagato's Rinnegan as deactivated, "It is done." Naruto said.
"Thank you, Naruto. I pray you will succeed in bringing peace to this world as the Avatar," Nagato began before turning to Konan, "Konan, make sure to warn him about Zetsu."
"Yes, Nagato." Konan answered through tears, as her friend died.
Afterward, Naruto was watching Konan wrapping the Pain body he defeated in paper that was coming from her, "You're taking this guy back with you?" he asked.
"This body was originally Yahiko. I feel it's best both he and Nagato have proper burials." she explained while levitating the wrapped body and setting it down next to the wrapped body of Nagato.
"So what'll you do now? Naruto inquired.
"I will take control over Ame and lead it into a better future. Since Nagato put his faith in you, I will honor him by doing the same."
"Thank you. Nagato mentioned about you warning me about someone named Zetsu. Who is Zetsu?" Naruto asked.
Konan used her paper jutsu to create a paper display of the plant member of the Akatsuki, "This is Zetsu." she said.
"Is that guy two halves?" Naruto asked seeing both halves looked different.
"Yes, though they are two halves they have a similar mind." Konan replied.
"So what's with the fly trap look? Is he part plant?"
"In a sense, but not much is known about him."
"What do you mean?" Naruto wondered.
"No one in the Akatsuki knew what Zetsu is or where he came from, only that he has knowledge of the ninja land dating back longer than any of us. Even before the days of the First Hokage and Madara Uchiha," Konan explained, "When Nagato shifted focus of the Akatsuki, Zetsu came to us and told us of the power of the tailed beasts. That's how the organization got so focused on collecting them."
"So he was actually leading the Akatsuki while you and Nagato acted like the leaders?"
"Precisely. And now with Kisame gone he is the only one left who still wishes to continue in what we've been focused on." Konan added, "Be warned should you ever run into Zetsu. He is dangerous and will try anything to get a hold of the power you possess."
"As if having Orochimaru and un-dead benders was bad enough," Naruto sighed, "Still I thank you for your support and words, Konan. I won't let you or Nagato down."
Konan smiled and suddenly created a bouquet of flowers made from paper, "Then please accept this as a token of our alliance. I pray you will be the flower of hope that never wilts."
Naruto took the bouquet, "Thank you." He said, as Konan grew paper angel wings and flew off with her two friends bodies.
With nothing else to do, Naruto returned to the village and to his surprise saw every shinobi in the village and civilians gathered around as if waiting for him, "Naruto!" came a cry.
Naruto looked over and saw Sakura and Sasuke running over to him. They stopped as Sasuke spoke, "Ok you?"
"Never better. How's everyone here?" he inquired.
"It's strange. Everyone who died suddenly came back to life." Sakura explained.
"Naruto, what did you do?" Sasuke asked.
"I'll tell you all later." Naruto answered.
"Naruto!" came more voices, as he saw Yami, Yuzuru, Naomi, Ming, Mitsuki, Hinata, Ino, and their squads run over to him.
"What happened out there?" Naomi asked.
"You're not hurt are you?" Hinata asked in concern.
"Come on, man. Don't keep us in suspense." Kiba said.
"Guys, take it easy. One at a time," Naruto broke them up, beofre looking over and saw Kakashi and Jiraiya alive and well, "Sensei, Ero-sennin!" he ran over them them, "You're all alive!"
"Thanks to you, Naruto." Kakashi replied.
"I don't know how you did it, Naruto. But I'm glad you did." Jiraiya smiled.
"Thanks." Naruto smiled, until he was brought over by his fellow shinobi and the civilians who started cheering for him and tossing him up into the air like a hero.
Tsunade and Shizune who has been watching felt happy to see Naruto alive and had saved the village, "He really did it." Shizune smiled.
"Never doubted him." Tsunade replied, as she watched the Avatar be treated like the hero she knew he was always meant to be.
Meanwhile in Orochimaru's lair, the sannin was busy trying to figure out his next plan, with Kabuto awaiting instructions. Suddenly they heard an alarm go off, as Kabuto spoke, "My lord, we've been breached."
"I'll deal with whoever has intruded upon my sanctuary." Orochimaru said, as he got ready to attack. He was taken aback to see rising up from the floor was Zetsu, "You?" he asked in confusion.
Zetsu spoke to Orochimaru seriously, "We need to talk, Orochimaru."
(And there you have it. You didn't really think I was going to let Pain use that technique to level the village did you? Well, the village was saved and Naruto gained a new allie in the form of Konan. But Zetsu remains at large and now has gone to Orochimaru. What will happen now? Don't miss next time.)