DISCLAIMER!: I DON'T OWN NARUTO! Thought you'd know by now...
(A/N): DON'T FORGET THE Q&A ON CHAPTER 100! GET YOUR QUESTIONS IN!
TO THE STORY!
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Chapter 98: Desolation
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Cole closed his eyes and sighed, looking at Jiraiya and back to Tsunade. "We will be facing eleven enemies. Sasori of the Red Sands, Deidara..." he started before looking to Jiraiya. "And the two heads of the Akatsuki. Konan, the Angle of Amegakure, and their leader, Pein. Amegakure's God, or better known as Uzumaki Nagato."
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In the far off deserts of Kaze no Kuni, four figures stood on a high rock formation, overlooking a devastated village. One of the figures looked at the village, eyes closed, arms crossed, waiting for something...something soon to come.
Another figure moved towards the first, this figure was hunched at an odd angle and moved slowly, almost like it was crawling.
The figure growled and looked towards the destroyed village. "Why are waiting? We have the Ichibi, why haven't we extracted it yet?" the figure growled in a deep and raspy voice. The fist opened his eyes, showing a strange purple glow and the ripple pattern that accompanied it.
"We will wait for now...soon they will be here, and then we will finally put an end to their meddling." the man with the ripple pattern eyes droned in a deep, lifeless voice. The hunched figure growled and began to move away from the strange eyes man. "You know I hate waiting..." it grumbled before moving to another figure.
"Don't worry Sasori-dono, yeah. When those fools get here we show them our art, yeah." A tall figure with long hair said with excitement. The now named Sasori merely huffed in annoyance. "I could hardly call what you do 'Art' Deidara. True art lasts forever, not in a mere instant." he grumbled and settled down next to the tall man.
Deidara laughed and shook his head. "Oh Sasori-dono. One day you will come to understand that art is an explosion, lasting for a brief moment before blinking out with a bang, yeah." he said to the hunched over man.
The forth figure looked at them. "Stop your arguing. You are lucky to be in Pein-sama's presence, do not make fools of yourselves." the figure said with a melodically feminine voice.
"That's enough Konan." the ripple eyed man said to the woman. "They have arrived..."
. . . .
. . . .One Day Earlier. . . .
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The team from Konoha raced through the air on the back of Cole's summons, Roc.
They had just about to made it out of Hi no Kuni when they noticed a storm rolling in. "We won't be able to fly through this." Cole shouted to the members of the defence force with him. "We will have to land and wait this out." he instructed.
Hiruzen nodded to him. "Very wise. It is best to travel with the weather being favorable, so not to tire your own forces." he responded before Cole commanded Roc to find a place to land.
The massive falcon landed them in a clearing near a natural cave that the group could use as shelter for the night. They were about an hour from the border of Hi no Kuni and Kaze no Kuni when they landed. And not ten minutes later a massive downpour rolled in and forced the group to take shelter within the cave.
Jiraiya looked out the cave and shook his head. "I don't understand how this rain could have crept up on us like that. We should have been able to see this coming from miles away. This makes no sense." he grumbled before sitting next to Naruto and Sakura, who were trying to get a fire started. Kakashi and Gai were setting up tents and Hiruzen was standing with Cole at the mouth of the cave.
"This worries you...doesn't it?" the elderly man asked Cole. The Rinnegan barer nodded slowly. "This rain is laced with chakra...I have a feeling that our enemy has moved faster than we predicted..." he responded, a slight scowl edging in on his face. "I only hope Sunagakure can hold out against them long enough for us to make it in time..."
Hiruzen looked at him with a questioning glare. "Do you doubt the strength of an entire nation to fight of eleven people?" he asked incredulously. Cole was quick to respond. "Yes, yes I do." he said with conviction. He turned to Hiruzen with a serous look on his face. "Just one of them has the strength to defeat Gaara. Another has the ability to control an army of puppets, and the other two are revered as a god and angle in another country. I have seen it Hiruzen. What their leader can do. He alone has the ability to destroy all of Konoha, and then challenge a near fully formed Kyuubi on even terms." he said with a grave tone. Hiruzen had a look of utter shock on his face. How could anyone have such power? Was that the strength of the Rinnegan?
Cole looked back out to the rain and slowly shook his head. "I fear we may be already too late..."
. . . .
The next day, the rain refused to let up. Cole cursed and looked to the group. Alright, we are going to have to move quickly. As soon as we clear into the desert we will be able to get back into the skies and be in Suna within the day. Are we ready to move?" he asked the group. Kakashi, Gai, Jiraiya, Hiruzen, Naruto, and Sakura all nodded with conviction.
Cole nodded back to them and looked back into the rain. "Alright then, lets move out!" he said before moving out of the cave and into the rain.
The group raced through the harsh rain at a breakneck pace. Gai had to carry Hiruzen, to keep the elderly man as fit as possible. After an hour in a half they came out of the trees and were greeted by the harsh sun of the desert. The went a little further into the desert before Cole summoned his massive falcon. "Alright, get on. We need to hurry to Suna before it's too late!"
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And how late they were. Roc flew over the great stone walls tat surround the village, and to the horror of all that were present, there was nothing left.
The village was little more than a crater surrounded by destroyed buildings. And at the center of the crater stood four figures, looking up at the falcon Cole and company were riding.
Cole's fury spiked before he pulled his summons in a nose dive towards the enemy. But before they could get close enough an invisible wall of energy knocked Roc out of the sky.
As they fell Cole formed several Truth Seeking Balls and willed them to turn into platforms to catch the falling group and guide them to the ground.
As he caught them a beam of pure chakra struck out at him. The beam was strong enough to obliterate almost anything it struck, but Cole held out his hands and roared. "DON'T UNDERESTIMATE ME!"
As soon as the beam hit him he absorbed the attack and formed a chakra canon with his own arm. "ASURA PATH: CHAKRA GATLING GUN!" he roared as the canon formed several barrels that unleashed a fully automatic barrage of chakra blasts towards the enemy on the ground. A new figure appeared in front of the four and held up his hands, absorbing the blasts.
Cole cursed, but he had bought enough time for his group to land safely.
Cole landed in front of them, his Truth Seeking Balls floating behind him, a Shakujo forming in his hand. "So," he started. "Was it you, Nagato, that destroyed the village? Or was it Deidara there?" he asked in a cold tone.
Pein, the false leader of the Akatsuki stepped forward, his five other paths joining him. "It was I that brought the meaning of pain to this village." he said to them. "How do you know of Nagato?" he asked, and looked behind Cole to see who they would be up against. "So, you have brought Copy Cat Kakashi, Maito Gai, the Kyuubi, a medic, The God of Shinobi, and my old master with you to fight us...Should I feel honored?" he droned, a chakra receiver rod forming in his palm.
Jiraiya looked at him with shock. "Yahiko?" he breathed. "How...how did you get the Rinnegan?" he asked the orange haired man. Pein looked at his old master and back to Cole. "Yahiko died a long time ago. All that remains is Pein. And you will all die here." he said to the group.
Sasori and Deidara removed their cloaks and readied themselves for battle. Konan stepped next to her leader.
"You have been a thorn in our side for too long, Oracle. We will put an end to you here and now. It is time, for you to know pain!" he roared as the ground began to shake.
Team Konoha looked to the ground and jumped away from where they were just in time to dodge the solid white arms jutting out from the ground.
All around them, hundreds of white Zetsu clones emerged from the ground. They stood amidst a sea of white, back to back they looked at the army before them.
They all knew what would come next.
All out carnage.
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(A/N): To be continued...
Time for a fight, yeah.
Remember to REVIEW AND ASK A QUESTION FOR THE Q&A! And as always, I'll see ya next time!