Alright here's the next chapter for you, hope you all enjoy.
Broken Angel
Chapter 84
Rain gently fell as the city came into view. Despite her anger, Riley couldn't help but be impressed by the size and scope of the city itself. It was, without a doubt, larger then any other hidden village in the Elemental Nations.
The city itself teamed with life. From several miles out, Riley could clearly make out the massive aura of chakra that radiated from the city. It was tinged almost gray, the power of the Rinnegan's unique chakra flowing throughout the area, encapsulating the city itself. Activating her Byakugan Riley's gaze pierced through the dense miasma of chakra and into the city itself. Within she found her pray.
Deep within the bowels of the city, she found the decrepit form of Nagato Uzumaki. His body looked pitiful, it was barely being held together as is, with the aid of the strange machine he was strapped too. Despite his physical ailments, Nagato radiated with powerful magics. He was without a doubt the single most powerful, non-jinchuriki human being, she had ever come across. If what Zetsu had told her was correct, then the people of Ame worshiped him like a god. With that fervent belief, would come an incredible power boost, amplifying his already incredible magical level, to an even greater extent.
His servant and partner, Konan would similarly receive a power boost, as she was also worshiped as their god's angel.
Deep within the bowels of the city, Riley spotted a massive stone slab. On it were thousands of symbols and runes carved into the stone. Riley didn't know what the slab was, or where it came from, all she did know is that it sat before Nagato himself, and to her eyes, it almost looked like a burned out vessel. Like massive power had once surged through it, but it now stood empty. Cold. Devoid. Almost like Nagato himself.
She'd need to get answers from the man, before she finished him off. Riley allowed the power of the Byakugan to fade, and she stared out over the city. She took in a deep breath as her eyes drifted over it.
A moment of silence passed before Riley vanished in a burst of speed. She was within the city limits, within seconds. She felt herself pass through some kind of sensory field as she landed amongst a crowd of people.
"Come out Pain. I know you're here." Riley thought to herself as she glanced around. People were slowly turning towards her, their faces marred with confusion.
"You should not be here." Came a voice from above. Riley turned her attention and found Konan, the one female member of the Akatsuki, hovering above her, with two long paper wings supporting her weight and keeping her afloat.
"Pain slaughters my allies and you expected me not to react? That's quite naive." Riley noted as she turned to face the woman. Around her, many of the Ame citizen began whispering reverently about Konan. If Pain was their god, then Konan was his angel.
"You wish to face Pain? Fine. I'll show you too him." Konan stated, her eyes focused on Riley, her face devoid of emotion.
"Show me too him? You think I came here only for him? No… I came here for the Akatsuki. All of them. Every single member, and every single person that supports them." Riley responded with a vicious grin. Konan's face remained impassive, but her eye's widened slightly.
Right then, Riley reacted. Ten kunai instantly materialized in either of her hands, and before Konan could stop her, Riley fired the bladed weapons into the crowd of onlookers. Screams of pain and terror ripped through the crowd as ten men and women, fell to the ground, lifeless.
Riley fully intended on leveling the entire city. She wasn't going to actively target the civilians any further then she already had, but she wanted them to know, all of them, that she was going to slaughter every person she came across.
If they ran, she would ignore them, but if they remained, she would kill them all. Pain had shown no mercy to the people of Takigakure. Riley fully intended to avenge them. She may not have known them that well, and now she never would. Whatever crimes those people were guilty of, they died with them. Riley couldn't judge them because she knew nothing about them, so in the end she was left with hundreds of thousands of dead people, all of whom were killed for no greater reason then to satisfy Pain's desire for bloodshed.
So, Riley would repay his kindness with kindness of her own. Ame was now her killing grounds, for the admiration and respect of her mates and family alone, Riley wouldn't target the children or those that fled for their lives, but any person that stood in her way or chose to remain by the Akatsuki's side would meet a gruesome end.
Within seconds, people were running. Crowds of people stampeded away from Riley, as Konan flapped her wings and unleashed a hail of paper shuriken towards Riley.
In response, Riley hardened her flesh to the point where it surpassed even diamond in terms of density, she simply stared down her angelic counterpart with a vicious glint in her eyes, as the attack bounced harmlessly off her flesh.
"Pain murdered all of Taki. Now I'm going to murder all of Ame. If Pain wants to fight, we'll do it here, amongst his people. In his home. He slaughtered all of those people, he should have no problem fighting at full power here." Riley replied with a sadistic chuckle.
While Konan's face colored with hatred, inside she felt her stomach sink. The Hero of the Burning Leaf intended on burning Ame to the ground. If Pain did not stop her, she would do exactly what he did to Taki.
With a smirk, Riley leaped up towards Konan. The Akatsuki member was quick to launch herself back, attempting to avoid Riley's attack. Konan was well aware of her strengths and weaknesses and knew that her ability to fly, was one of the few things that may help her in this fight. She only hoped that Riley hadn't yet learned of the Rinnegan's flight ability.
Konan was successfully able to dodge Riley's punch but she didn't make it far. With the opposite hand, with which she used to deliver the punch, Riley opened her palm, and locked eyes with Konan.
"Bansho Ten'in!" Riley snarled.
Konan's eyes widened as she felt herself tugged forward, right into Riley's outstretched hand. Konan had barely a half second to react as Riley seized her by the front of her cloak, and delivered a bone crushing punch to Konan's ribs. The strength of the strike was enough to tear the front of her cloak and send the woman flying through the air to impact one of the nearby buildings with a sickening thud.
Konan felt her entire body scream out in pain as she slowly pulled herself from the concrete wall she had just been embedded into.
Konan had to take a moment to collect herself, despite the situation. Never in her life had she been hit so hard. She could feel that several of her ribs had fractured from the force, and she could only guess as to possible internal damage.
"That strength… the reports about her weren't exaggerating." Konan thought with a grimace. She quickly reformed her angelic wings and rose to hover over Riley, whom had fallen back to the Earth.
Sending her chakra infused paper forward, Konan unleashed another hail of paper shuriken at Riley, while at the same time she shaped some of it into a large lance. Then with a wave of her arm, she fired the lance into the whirlwind of paper, hoping that the initial attack had thrown Riley off balance.
The paper lance slammed right into Riley whom skidded back several feet. Konan's eyes widened in surprise. While hopeful, she hadn't expected the strike to hit, despite it's speed.
Her eyes widened even further when she saw the lance fall to the ground, Riley's body unharmed by the strike.
"There was some impressive force behind that. Let's see if you can keep it up." Riley stated with a monstrous grin.
Flashing through handsigns, Riley prepared to launch a torrent of fire at the Winged Akatsuki member.
With a wave of her arms, Konan sent a hail of paper tags flying towards Riley, each one primed with explosion seals. Riley's Grand Fireball Jutsu, quickly met with Konan's explosive tags. A cascade of explosions filled the air, as both assaults collided.
An orchestra of thunderous explosions erupted between the two as people all throughout the city were alerted to the attack and began to flee towards shelter.
Both women sustained the attack for several moments before ceasing. Smoke had filled the air between the two, obfuscating their view of one another. Konan took this opportunity to begin to form two large paper shuriken. Each one was nearly five feet across. Once formed the two blades began to spin with incredible ferocity.
Konan stared intently into the cloud of smoke, looking for any sign of movement. Her breathing grew heavier as the pain in her chest grew worse. Riley's initial strike had definitely done some major damage.
It took a few seconds but Konan finally spotted movement within the smoke cloud. Without a single word she launched the spinning blades into the cloud, aimed right at the movement.
Silence followed and for several moments, Konan began to wonder if maybe Riley had substituted with a nearby object.
Movement within the smoke cloud caught her eye, her twin shuriken came rushing out of the cloud, back at her. Konan twisted in the air, allowing both to glide past her. The movement caused her to cringe, pain wracked through her body, forcing her to grit her teeth, to suppress a grunt of agony.
At that moment, Konan's danger sense peeked and with a powerful flap of her wings, she shot straight into the air. She was just in time to avoid another punch, courtesy of a Riley clone that had snuck behind her during their bout.
Konan quickly ascended up, she knew that if Riley was able to close into a melee, then it was over. She knew her only hope was to buy time for Pain to make it to their position. He was the only one with the strength to stop her.
She kept ascending straight up into the sky, hoping that the distance and the falling rain would disorient Riley's vision just enough for her to avoid being ensnared by Basho Ten'in.
Konan succeeded in making it above the buildings, and turned her gaze down towards the shadows below. At this height, she could no longer make out the people below, nor could she see where Riley had gone while she made her way up.
She glanced around at the nearby rooftops, preparing herself for that inevitable pull, that would send her careening into the hands of her vicious attacker.
Right at that moment, a demonic snarl erupted from the buildings below. Konan turned her gaze down, right as a dark serpent burst up from the shadows below.
Konan's eyes widened as she tried to fly away from it, but the creature moved far to fast and within an instant, it's massive, sharp teeth, clamped onto her lower leg.
Konan let out a muffle scream of pain, as she felt her right foot, go completely numb. The creature's teeth, sunk deep into the flesh and bone, nearly severing her leg entirely.
The pain grew in intensity as she felt herself pulled down towards the buildings.
Faster and faster she fell, the creature pulling her with impossible speed, it's glowing purple eyes, seemingly never leaving hers, even as it sunk it's teeth deeper into her leg.
Konan barely had time to register the buildings passing her by, when the entirety of her perception was altered. Time almost seemed to slow down for her, as she found herself spinning in the air, the serpent pulling her upwards, her leg still locked in it's mouth.
In a moment that seemed to last far longer then it should have, Konan found herself looking up at the creature, the dim light from clouds, illuminating it's body.
It was in that moment, that she saw something above it. Hovering in the air past the creature, also staring down at her, was Riley. She just hovered there, like the natural gravitational field of the Earth had no affect on her at all.
It was in that moment, that Konan saw the devilish smirk on Riley's face. It was a grin so evil and full of malice, that it chilled the seasoned warrior to the bone.
All of this occurred in the space between this second and that.
It passed in the blink of an eye, and Konon felt a pain sheer through her leg. It was only in the moments before she hit the concrete street below her, did she realize what had happened. The creature had pulled her towards the ground with such speeds, intent on slamming her into the ground with unbelievable force, but that wasn't the entirety of it. No, it kept her leg in it's mouth the entire time. With malicious and brutal intent it whipped her at the ground, using the momentum of her fall to sever her leg at where it was now weakest.
Konan slammed into the ground so hard that the world around her went black. She was out, in an instant. A ten foot impact crater forming around her as her body impacted the ground.
Riley stared down at the woman, her smirk never leaving her.
"Five seconds." She thought to herself as she ran a hand along the flesh of the serpent that had risen to her side. The creature was quickly gnashing it's teeth, devouring what remained of Konan's lower leg.
Riley could feel Pain closing in. The Akatsuki members must have truly believed they could convince her to follow them to a preset battlefield. They must have assumed Riley was only here to face Pain, and that by sending Konan, Riley would follow her to where Pain was to get her revenge.
Riley didn't fault them for their attempt. Such a ploy would have worked on her grandfather. Would have even worked on her Great-Grandfather. Would have worked on Kakashi, Itachi, Kushina, that tactic would probably work on almost any great warrior. Hell Riley could even see such a tactic working on Orochimaru.
Ninja were prideful like that. Even if they were there to destroy the enemy's entire city, most shinobi couldn't turn down a one on one fight. In most cases, Riley wouldn't have refused either, but this fight was different. Pain fancied himself a god, and his people believed him to be one. Belief bestowed power. His followers made him stronger. Every loyal sycophant that Riley destroyed, weakened Pain.
Riley, despite her pride, refused to allow arrogance to cloud her judgment. Pain had the Rinnegan. The same eyes that defeated the Ten-Tails. Riley was not going to take chances with a guy like that. She wasn't going to allow her pride to be her downfall. She'd fight him where he'd be hesitant to use his full power. She'd target his followers, to weaken him. She'd do whatever it took to win this battle because she knew, that with those eyes, Pain, much like Minato and his seals, was a viable threat to her existence.
With a single second remaining, a bone-like spear erupted out of Riley's palm and she shot down towards Konan's near lifeless form.
Riley hit her target, right as Pain and the rest of his paths, appeared around her.
Riley felt more then saw Konan die, her body twitching and gasping as Riley slammed down onto her, driving the spear into her heart.
The only female member of the Akatsuki wasn't even awake for her final moments. She had no last thoughts, no final words. She was simply dead.
Riley slowly rose to her feet, leaving the spear behind, impaled into Konan's chest. Riley's gaze eventually met with Pain's. The man and his paths, stood atop nearby structures, staring down at her.
"What a kind host, sending your servants to play with me while I wait." Riley stated with a chuckle, channeling her darkest emotions and intentions. She had no desire, what so ever, of fighting fair.
Pain stared down at her, his eyes cold and emotionless. Riley stared up at him, their eyes meeting in a mental clash. This was the first time Riley had ever seen the Rinnegan in the eyes of a foe. For how expressive Riley's eyes were often described, Pain's seemed so lifeless and without any sort of light to them.
Without so much as sparing his fallen comrade a glance, he addressed her. "So you've finally made it."
"Yes, I have. You made quite the stir when you annihilated Taki. I'm sure the other hidden villages will be rallying their forces to march on your little haven, here, the moment they learn the truth." Riley stated as she stepped away from Konan's body, her eyes still locked with the main Pain.
"The other villages are irrelevant. Just like you. Hand over the Fox's soul, and I'll allow you to return to your armies, and keep fighting Iwa." Pain responded as all six of his Path's jumped down to stand several yards in front of Riley.
"You talk a lot of shit for a cripple. Tell me, how much of a fight do you plan on putting up when I drag your broken ass out into the sunlight, and nail your body to one of these buildings?" Riley stated, as her eye's began to glow red.
"I see you will not adhere to reason. Very well… then I'll show you the true meaning of Pain." Pain stated.
And with that, the fight began. All six paths moved at once. The Deva Path, Asura Path, and Animal Path rushed forward, Animal began flashing through handsigns, while the Asura Path ripped off it's cloak revealing a long flat, metal tail, emerging from it's lower back, and two extra sets of arms.
The three more offensive based paths quickly swarmed her and began to engage her in an intense Taijutsu bout.
The close range engagement lasted only about ten seconds before the Deva Path shot forward, and struck her with Shinra Tensei.
Riley flew back from the three, skidding to a halt almost fifty yards away. As soon as some distance was gained the Animal Path slammed it's palms into the ground, summoning a large deformed dog, embedded with chakra rods, and the with the Rinnegan in it's eyes. The dog raced towards Riley, who spared it only a glance, as she ignited it's body with Amaterasu.
The creature went down with an enraged cry of pain as it burned away into ash.
The Asura Path quickly moved to the front of the assault formation, missiles firing out of it's arms, while it got into position. Riley was easily able to dodge the incoming projectiles, but while she was doing that, the Asura path was setting up it's primary attack.
The top of the Path's head opened up, revealing an internal cannon, built inside of it. As Riley dodged the incoming missile barrage it began to build up energy into this canon. Once enough energy was built, the Deva Path held up it's hand, and using Basho Ten'in, it caught Riley and held her in place.
Riley felt the forces of gravity encase her in a single spot, her gaze shot towards the Deva Path, but just before she unleashed a stream of fire at him, she spotted the charging attack of the Asura Path.
The energy released from it's head cannon erupted out as a beam. It shot forward at unparalleled speeds. Riley had just enough time to utilize Hachiman to shield herself.
The reddish mist erupted around her body, absorbing the incoming attack. Pain's eyes widened in confusion as the energy from his own attack was stopped against Riley's barrier, amplified with her chakra, and then fired back at them, with even greater force.
All of the three attacking paths jumped high into the buildings to avoid the redirected attack, this allowed Riley freedom of movement once again.
She shot forward, flashing through handsigns as her redirected attack shot through everything in front of it. The attack kept going until it was outside of the city, only then did it finally lose it's energy. The resulting damage was a fifteen foot wide hole that had punched through over a dozen city blocks.
"Wood Style: Deep Forest Emergence!" Riley bellowed as tree limbs erupted out from all around her.
A massive forest quickly tore it's way through the city, entire buildings were torn asunder as massive trees punched through the concrete and the metal. All Six Paths of Pain were forced to retreat as the forest grew larger and larger, swallowing up more of the city until nearly half of it had disappeared within the dense overgrowth.
"Wood Style: Deep Forest Bloom." Riley whispered from her position deep within the newly created forest.
On the outside, Pain and his paths stared into the forest, their eyes trying to pinpoint Riley's position within it.
It was a difficult thing, trying to find Riley's chakra, her magic was black, almost as black as the void. The trees now gave off the same energy, allowing her to blend into the background with incredible ease.
A few seconds after the forest had finished growing, numerous large trees began to rise up out of it. These trees held what looked like large flower buds on the end of them. Once they reached a certain height, the flower buds opened blooming into large red and black petals, and releasing a cloud of yellowish pollen that quickly spilled down into the forest, and out past the edge of the trees, into the city.
"Poison." Pain noted as the cloud washed past him and his paths. Because they were all merely corpse puppets, none of them could be poisoned. Pain doubted that Riley knew that, she probably expected him to be forced to retreat to a higher position.
It was about at that moment when Pain heard screams begin to erupt all around him. His eyes glanced down at some nearby streets, and he found Ame citizens crying out, clawing at their throats.
The screams grew louder and louder as the poisonous pollen spread further into the city.
Within the forest, Riley smirked. Normally the pollen would only knock a person unconscious but because of Riley's Virulent chakra, her use of this technique made it into an incredibly potent poison. One that caused swelling within the throat. Any living person that breathed it in would slowly find it harder and harder to breath until they weren't able to any longer. They would then lose consciousness and immediately after, would suffer brain damage and the mostly likely, death.
Riley knew Pain wouldn't be affected. Her eyes were keen enough to see that all six of the bodies shared the exact same chakra, and that chakra emanated from the black rods, not from their chakra cores. They were all corpses. Bodies, used like puppets.
Within moments, the poisonous cloud would begin to overwhelm the entire city. If the people hadn't started running yet, they would most certainly need to now.
With that done, Riley shot forward and out of the forest. She quickly closed in on Pain's location, drawing her wand as she did.
Her target was the Asura Path, as soon as she saw it, she began to channel lightning magic in preparation for an attack.
The Asura path was also preparing for it's attack, it pulled out one of it's arms revealing a cluster of missiles. Before it could launch them, Riley struck. Coming to a halt atop a nearby building she stabbed forward with her wand, calling down a cluster of lightning bolts that slammed into the Asura path from multiple angles in the exact same instant.
Lightning continued to ark down from the sky, channeling into the body of the Asura Path, the other five paths had jumped away from the attack, the moment Asura was hit. The lightning channeling into him was slowly forming a sphere of energy around him. Within moments, the sphere was fully formed.
This was level four of Lightning Elemental Magic. The ability to utilize Lightning to form plasma fields.
Within only a handful of moments, a perfect sphere of light was formed around the Asura Path.
Both Pain and Riley, felt more then saw the Asura Path fade out of existence. The heat within the sphere of plasma formed by continuous lightning strikes was so intense that it basically atomized the Asura Path, leaving nothing at all remaining of it.
A smirk spread across Riley's face as she turned her attention to the Deva Path.
"One Down, Five to go." Riley noted with a chuckle.
Pain was silent as he stared back at her. Riley suspected that the man knew that this wasn't a fight he could mess around with. If he didn't focus all of his might on Riley, he wouldn't win.
Without any hesitance, the five remaining Paths went on the offensive. Animal Path summoned another beast. Deva Path led the charge, with the Preta Path following close by, while the Human and Naraka Paths held back a bit to stay out of the line of fire.
Animal, Deva, and Preta all unsheathed Black Chakra Rods from beneath their cloaks, and closed in on Riley. Riley's response was to wrap her wand in wind chakra, and summon a bone blade from her palm. She then engaged the trio in a rapid bout of kenjutsu.
While Riley engaged the three she was using her knowledge of the Six Paths to determine which Pain represented which path. She knew the one she had destroyed was the Asura Path. And she knew that one that primarily spoke was the Deva Path. She also had the Animal Path pegged. Which meant that all that remained unknown to her was the identity of the Preta Path, the Naraka Path, and the Human Path.
Riley had a goal in mind when she targeted the paths. She took out the fully offensive path first. The Asura Path. She made sure to completely annihilate it so that it couldn't be brought back or revitalized by the Naraka Path. With that one out of the way, she'd have a bit of breathing room to target the next path she needed to deal with, the Naraka Path.
So long as Naraka was active, it could revitalize any of the other fallen paths, which meant unless Riley completely destroyed them, leaving nothing left, she'd have to worry about them coming back.
Three paths were attacking her, two were holding back. She knew the identity of two of the attacking paths, which meant that the Naraka was somewhere in the remaining mix.
Logic would indicate that the medic of the unit would hold back. Meaning the Naraka Path was probably amongst the two that kept at a distance.
The question was, which one was it?
Riley was quick to unleash a burst of Shinra Tensei sending the three paths skidding back, it was right then that the beast that the Animal Path had summoned, a large centipede, quickly rushed at her.
With a downward slash from her wind wrapped wand, Riley unleashed a blade of wind that sliced the creature right down the middle.
She then turned her focus back on the three attackers. Deciding to make a gamble, Riley ushered forth the Darkness.
As the three offensive Paths continued their assault, the two in the back kept a close watch, using their joined eyesight to keep Riley wholly in their sight.
Deciding to simply target the furthest one back, hoping it was the Naraka Path, Riley channeled her chakra into the world around her, allowing the Darkness serpents to emerge from the shadows behind the furthest two paths. The one at the rear, had little time to react as something shot out of the darkness behind it, and clamped its razor sharp teeth around it's neck.
At once, all of the paths turned away from Riley towards the furthest path, and Riley knew she had succeeded in picking the right one.
Two more Dark serpents erupted from the shadows behind the Naraka path, these two bit into either of its arms. The three tentacles then lifted the path into the air and wrenched it apart with incredible strength. The one holding it's neck in it's jaws, was able to maintain a grip on the body while the other two ripped it's arms off. Then, just before the closest path could move to stop it, the Darkness bit through the Naraka Path's neck, severing it's head, before retreating into the darkness.
Seeing an opportunity, Riley shot towards the Animal Path and slammed it's chest with a palm strike, leaving a Hiraishin seal on it as she did. The Path was lifted up into the air, and Riley quickly charged a Chidori.
It was about twenty feet off the ground when she disappeared in a flash, appearing right in front of the Animal Path. With lightning fast speed and precision she drove her fist into it's chest, punching a hole clean through it.
Riley and the path fell to the ground, Riley's grin was absolutely monstrous as she removed her fist from the Animal path and turned to face the Deva Path.
This time when their eyes met, Riley did see something within them. He was getting mad. Very mad.
This whole fight, Riley could feel Pain growing weaker and weaker. Not only was Nagato already in a near death state, but the loss of his followers must have felt like sudden fatigue washing over him. Riley hadn't a clue what it felt like to lose the supporters that granted you more power, but she guessed that sudden exhaustion was probably a close approximation.
Not only could Pain not go all out within his own city and so close to where Nagato was positioned, but he was also growing weaker due to Nagato's health, and the loss of his followers.
Riley knew that Pain knew something would have to give. He couldn't hold back for much longer, or he'd be overwhelmed.
Now only three paths remained. The Deva Path, the Human Path, and the Preta Path. Riley knew which ones were which now. The Preta Path was the one close to the Deva Path, while the Human Path had been left back to guard the Naraka Path.
Now the Human Path was all by it's self standing about fifty yards away from the other two.
Seeing this, Riley fired a kunai right towards the Human path, inscribed on this kunai was the Hiraishin formula.
The Deva and Preta Path's quickly turned to race towards the Human Path, knowing full well that Riley intended to divide and conquer.
The Human Path quickly deflected her kunai with a chakra rod, but Riley still flashed to it, appearing slightly above the path. With kunai in hand she drove it down into the shoulder of the path. Instead of trying to fight her off the Human Path placed both hands on her head and in that instant Riley felt an ungodly pain rip through her body.
She felt her soul shift and tug against it's physical binding, the sheer weight of it alone keeping it within her physical form and preventing the Human Path from ripping it out.
Riley could see the surprise in the Path's eyes as it felt her soul and felt the weight of it. Riley knew in that moment that Pain knew she wasn't human. The secret that kept the truth from him would still prevent him from knowing exactly what she was, but he now fully understood that he wasn't fighting something human.
With a powerful punch, Riley knocked the Human Path back, it skidded several yards, and Riley rushed towards it. Despite the pain in her body, she focused on her assault. The Human Path attempted to jump away, only for a massive reddish-black skeletal hand to close around it. The skeletal form of Susano'o quickly formed around Riley, it's demonic grin unnerving even the stone cold Pain.
With a powerful clasp of it's hand the Human Path was crushed.
Riley turned towards the remaining two paths, Susano'o slowly dissipating around her.
"What are you?" Pain stated as he stared her down.
"That's a good question, to bad you wont live to learn the answer. Four down, two to go." Riley stated as she advanced on the two.
She quickly flashed through a few handsigns, and created a handful of Wood Clones. While the main Riley launched at attack on the Deva Path, the clones all launched an attack against the Preta Path.
While Riley and the Deva Path engaged in a mixture of hand to hand combat and gravity based attacks, the Preta Path was focusing on sucking the chakra out of the clones to destroy them. It succeeded with two of them before it was stabbed in the head by one of the remaining clones. Pain's eyes went wide as he felt the Preta Path die. Now all that was left was Deva. The Wood Clones quickly dispersed, leaving nothing behind but the Preta Path's body with a kunai sticking out of it's head. Without the Naraka Path, that was all that was needed to kill it for good.
It was at this moment that Pain finally decided to go all out. His gravity attacks grew stronger, but Riley knew of his greatest weakness. He was trapped by the five second time limit. He could only use those attacks once every few seconds, and thus Riley was able to exploit those precious few seconds to close the distance and hammer away at him.
"DIE!" Pain screamed as he clasped his hands together, sending two building sliding along the ground and into Riley from either side.
Barely a second after the strike Riley shot out the ruined buildings with a vicious grin spread across her face. Her hands shot forward, Basho Ten'in on her lips. Pain felt himself pull towards her, and with a cry of rage and defiance he launched the strongest Shinra Tensei at her that he could muster. The end result was quite spectacular, the push and pull of gravity caused a strange cosmic effect to occur between the two, creating a shimmer of light and incredible colors that bubbled almost at the center point of their attacks.
The effect only lasted a few seconds and quite possibly was only visible to their special eyes, but when it vanished, it released an outburst of energy, creating an explosion that sent the two flying in opposite directions.
"That was weird." Kurama noted from within her mindscape.
"Yeah, let's not do that again." Riley thought to herself as she pulled herself to her feet.
She then cracked her neck and went charging in Pain's direction.
At that moment, deep beneath the city, Nagato sat in darkness, his breathing ragged and heavy.
"It seems not even you can match her strength." Came a voice from nearby. Nagato knew it to be 'Madara'.
"Do not speak, I need concentration." Nagato hissed out.
"Lot of good that concentration did you, she's winning. She was beating you with all six paths, now you only have one left." Obito responded, still using Madara's voice, his Sharingan glowing ominously beneath his orange mask.
"I can focus all of my energy through the Deva Path. I can overpower her, I just need more time." Nagata responded as blood started to leak from his nose.
Obito was silent as he stared at Nagato for several long moments. He then let out a sigh.
Nagato let out several more huffs as the Deva Path reengaged Riley. He needed to get her out of the city. If he could do that, then he might be able to utilize Planetary Devastation to seal her away.
"No hard feelings." Came 'Madara's' voice from right next to Nagato.
Nagato quickly turned his head to shout a profanity at the man, when a burning pain seared through his eyes, and his sight left him.
Up top in the city, Riley was charging at the Deva Path, ready to slam a Rasengan into it's chest, when it's eyes suddenly went blank and it collapsed.
"What?" Riley muttered in surprise as she skidded to a halt.
"Ahhh!" Nagato screamed out in agony as he clutched at his eye sockets.
Obito stood a few feet away, in his hands were Nagato's Rinnegan eyes. He quickly summoned a jar and placed them inside for safe keeping before sending the jar into Kamui.
"Like I said, no hard feelings Nagato. I can't allow her to gain access to your Rinnegan. If she did, then she'd gain access to the statue. If the plan is to succeed, the statue must remain beyond her reach. You understand I'm sure." Obito stated as Nagato let out a string of curses that started loud but then grew weaker and weaker.
As his cursing grew weaker, Obito slowly approached the giant slab. Some of the symbols on it began to glow, forming into an S shape.
"Seems it's time to collect payment." Obito noted, as he sent a glance back at Nagato. Nagato's body was slowly convulsing, he seemed so close to fading away, when suddenly he let out an ear shattering scream, and pure red flames erupted around his body. His screams continued for several long seconds, even as his body went limp.
Obito stared at the scene in silence. The flames that had suddenly appeared around Nagato did nothing to harm his body, yet at the same time, Nagato reacted as if he was being burned alive.
This lasted all of six seconds before it went out, and when it did, Nagato's body had been turned to stone.
Obito was silent as he stared at the stone statue. He then turned towards the glowing slab, his eyes filled with malicious glee.
"You're able to collect on a debt, without even crossing over to our world? Such power…" Obito stated to the slab.
In the city above Riley could hear screams erupting from the distance. She had been kneeling over Pain's lifeless body when it happened. Once it started she immediately activated her Byakugan and began to scan the area. Her eyes widened in surprise when the screams led her to Ame citizens being consumed by pure red flames.
Riley watched, absolutely stunned by this sudden occurrence. She watched as the citizens of Ame, in unison, had their souls and lifeforce, burned away.
The screams lasted for only a few seconds, and when they faded, every single person in Ame, had been turned to stone.
"What in the fuck is happening Kurama?!" Riley hissed internally.
"That power. Don't you feel it, their souls are being devoured by a demon!" Kurama bellowed in reply, letting out an angry hiss.
Miles away, the remaining Tailed Beasts all let out collective roars of anger alerting their Jinchuriki to the presence of a powerful threat.
"Their souls aren't going anywhere. It's like that fire is pulling their souls into another dimension." Riley noted as her eyes darted between from one petrified body to the next.
"Their god promised their souls. The time to collect has come..." The Darkness intoned with a cruel chuckle.
Hearing that, Riley immediately turned her attention to the chamber where Nagato had been. She was just in time to see a familiar chakra sign, pulling the massive stone tablet from earlier, into his Kamui.
"Obito!" Riley hissed as utilized her own Kamui to teleport into the chamber that housed Nagato.
She arrived just as Obito finished pulling the stone tablet into his pocket dimension.
"Obito!" Riley shouted out as she appeared.
"Ahh, Narumi, it's been far too long." Obito responded, not bothering with his Madara impersonation.
"What the fuck did you do, Obito?" Riley hissed as she marched towards him.
"Me? I didn't do anything. This was all Nagato's doing. He made a deal with the devil, and when he died, the devil collected it's dues." Obito responded with a shrug. Despite knowing that Riley could easily wipe the floor with him, Obito felt a relative amount of safety in keeping his body intangible. So long as he didn't deactivate that intangibility for even a moment, Riley shouldn't be able to harm him.
Despite knowing he couldn't be harmed, Obito did back away from her, not wanting to risk her actually being able to do something.
"I am going to kill you all. I will never stop hunting you. The day will come when you're broken and bleeding on the ground, and you'll look up and see me there, staring down at you. It is in that moment that you'll realize that you never stood a chance." Riley hissed at him.
"Perhaps. Only time will tell. Later." Obito responded as he drew himself into his own pocket dimension. Despite wanting too, Riley knew it was unwise to try and follow Obito into his own version of Kamui, not only was he god in there, but if he somehow managed to destroy his eye before Riley could get it, then she would be trapped within his own dimension. No if she was gonna fight Obito, it had to be out here, the unknown variables were to high in his own version of Kamui.
Riley stared at where he had been for several long moments before turning her eyes towards the body of Nagato. His petrified visage was twisted into an unending scream of pain and agony. Despite herself, Riley did pity him. Their fight was only just beginning, who knows what the man would have accomplished, had he gone all out. It was as she stared at him that Riley finally took note of his empty eye sockets.
Realization quickly dawned on her and she found herself grinding her teeth together. Obito must have felt the battle was already lost and stole Nagato's Rinnegan to keep it from falling into Riley's hands. That meant that the statue was still in Obito's possession.
"What was that thing Kurama?" Riley inquired as she turned to face where the stone slab had been.
"That thing was a powerful Archdevil. It sucked out Nagato's soul, along with the souls of all of his followers without needing to cross over into our world. That stone tablet must be some kind of vessel. Something that it can channel it's essence through, and allow it to communicate and operate in our world. Riley, we have to find that thing and destroy it. That devil was monstrously powerful. It might have even been stronger then I am." Kurama explained to her, earning a solemn nod from Riley.
"It pulled out their souls with such ease. When Nagato swore his soul to the thing for whatever reason, the devil must have somehow latched onto the souls of every one of Nagato's followers. Every person that viewed him as a god, and strengthened him with the power of their belief, became an unwitting pawn in whatever deal Nagato made." Riley noted.
"We need to get back. We need to finish this war with Iwa, finish off Orochimaru, and hunt down Obito like the rabid dog he is. This needs to be finished and quickly. Luna's vision… the coming Day of Wrath, she spoke of people turned to stone..." Kurama reminded her, earning a loud sigh from Riley.
"So… the true enemy reveals itself. And it's working with the Akatsuki." Riley muttered.
"Riley..." Kurama stated. Despite himself, the fox knew that they no longer had time to spare. This devil had devoured the souls of thousands of people in an instant, from across dimensions. It didn't need to cross over to pull out the souls of the people that were unwittingly gifted to it. In the few moments that it's power had crossed over to drain out everyone's soul, Kurama had gotten a good feel for how powerful the thing was.
Riley would need to complete her training, and soon. She needed to ascend to the ninth tail, she needed to bond with him and the Darkness, and she needed to learn to wield their combined powers. This Archdevil, was impossibly strong. For an Archdevil to be more powerful then three minor Archdemons, it would have to be ancient. Millions of years old with trillions of followers, amplifying it's strength. And because it was an Archdevil, it would have perfect control over that ungodly level of power.
"Let's go." Riley stated as she flashed away from Ame. The city now stood in absolute silence. Every single person within the city had either been killed by Riley's attack, or had their soul devoured by the devil Nagato had sold his soul too. For the first time in years, the rain ceased to fall. Silence filled the air for several long minutes as the sun came out.
The absence of all human life, was about the most chilling thing, anyone could possibly imagine, and then… slowly but surely, sound began to appear. The sound of birds, and insects. Fish breaching the water. Sound returned to the desolate city. But human life didn't. All of the humans were dead, and now… Ame would stand forever as a silent monument to what happens when men mix with the things that dwell in the Dark.
-A few minutes Later-
"Gaia!" Kankuro called out to the Kazekage as he approached her.
Gaia was currently at the head of the joint Suna, Wind, Legion army. She was busy leading them across the desert towards the northern border. They were marching along one of the major highways so travel was quite quick, and to anyone watching it would truly be a sight to behold. The combined force of nearly three hundred thousand soldiers, made their way north, to finish the war with Iwa, once and for all.
"What is it Kankuro?" Gaia inquired, from her side Baki and Temari both threw glances over at Kankuro, waiting to here his response.
"Lady Uchiwa's back. She's called for a meeting with the army commanders." Kankuro informed his little sister.
"Alright. Stay here with Temari and Baki and keep us on the march, we should reach the halfway point within a few hours, we'll rest there." Gaia ordered, earning a nod from her brother.
Gaia quickly made her way to their forward command center. It moved around with the army, being a small unassuming tent on the outside, but on the inside it was magically expanded to serve as an HQ for the army.
Gaia was quick to get there, and when she did, she found herself to be one of the last to arrive. The Wind Generals were already there, along with the commander from the Sky ninja, and the Legion commanders.
Riley stood amongst them, a somber look on her face, as soon as Gaia entered Riley locked eyes with her.
"Ame has been destroyed, and two more Akatsuki members have been dealt with." Riley stated.
"I sense that something bad happened." Gaia noted, as she recognized the darkened tone of her friend.
"It probably has something to do with what I felt earlier Gaia." Shukaku noted, earning a subconscious hum of agreement from his host.
"The Akatsuki are working with a powerful dark entity. I don't know a thing about it, but with Pain dead, that means that Obito Uchiha will be taking the reins. Their plan is accelerating. Obito took Nagato's Rinnegan before I could reach him. With those eyes in his possession things just got a lot more complicated." Riley explained earning a collective quiet from those around her.
"Alright Riley, explain everything, from the beginning." Hashirama instructed after a moment of silence.
With a nod, Riley proceeded to explain the fight to them all. How she took down Konan, how she had utilized wood style to decimate the city and force a large portion of the populace to flee. She explained how she dealt with the paths, and how the moment the battle turned in Riley's favor definitively, Obito struck and took Nagato's eyes. Riley then explained to them how every single person in the city had their soul sucked out, by whatever creature Nagato had been communicating with.
Riley now understood what it was that Zetsu was seeing. When Zetsu had told Riley that Pain was speaking to shadows, it must have actually been Nagato speaking to the Devil beyond the tablet, and Zetsu simply had no knowledge of the tablet and thus no context to Pain's weird actions.
Silence permeated the room for several long minutes after Riley's explanation. Hearing about so many people having their souls sucked out by a demon of some sort was not something that anyone could take lightly.
After some time had passed the question came up about what they should do with this information. The answer came from Riley. They needed to end this war. Immediately.
As soon as the army made it to the border of the Land of Stone, Riley would take the Legion into the Land of Earth and tear apart every defense that got in their way. Meanwhile Gaia would lead the rest of their combined forces straight towards the Earth capital. The Legion would clear the way, using their extreme firepower, allowing the Wind army to quickly speed through the country without much resistance.
While that was going on, the Fleet provided by the Sky ninja would circle around the continent and attack the Land of Earth's Northern coast. Once their ports were decimated they would hold position and prepare for the final assault on Iwagakure itself. Once the Earth capital was dealt with and the Earth Daimyo was dead or captured, they would march onto Iwa, attacking it from two sides, with the sky ninja hitting it from the north, via the sky, and the rest of the army marching in from the south.
From there, the plan was simple, the Wind army and the Suna ninja would take hold of Ame, while the Legion marched east into the Land of Grass, and began the assault on Kusagakure, one of Iwa's major allies.
Once Kusa was destroyed or submitted to them, the Legion would begin their hunt for Orochimaru, and the Akatsuki.
The plan was set in place, and everyone was set to task. In the days that followed, Riley informed her family, and mates of what she and Kurama had come to realize in Ame. Hearing of the people turning to stone made them all realize that Kane's prophecy was legitimate. The Fourth Great Ninja War needed to end soon. Fighting here had to stop, the Legion had to prepare, just like the Sky Ninja for the Day of Wrath. They now understood what they were fighting, there was an Archdevil out there, and it had Earth in it's sights.
-Five Days Later-
"What do we do boss?" Darui asked to his pacing Raikage. They had just heard about the engagement between Riley and the Kazekage, and their own ninja. A had been furious when he'd heard, not at Riley, but at his own men. They had heard rumors of a Bijuu present in that area, and they were given orders to track it. Sensors had pinpointed the energy coming from a young woman, so they had been on the lookout for her. While those men had followed their orders, they had also disobeyed another order he had given all of his forces, and that was to not antagonize the Hero of the Burning Leaf.
A had nearly strangled the messenger when he'd heard. They needed some form of peace between Kumo and the Legion, this incident may have just put Kumo in the firing lines.
Now A was nervous. He hadn't heard of any troop movements that would indicate that the Kazekage or the Angel Slayer were planning on taking the fight to Kumo, but he also recognized that they still had Iwa to deal with, and he may be next on the chopping block.
"We need to appease them. We have to find a way to stop this from turning out worse then it already is." Mabui stated, earning a nod from Darui, whom hadn't taken his eyes off of A.
"We need a way to ensure lasting peace. I will not see Kumo plummet into ruin like Iwa." A barked out as he threw a glare around the room.
"So what do we do then boss?" Darui asked again.
"With this incident it's to risky to just rely on faith. We need to secure peace with them, no we need to go further then that. Only a full blown alliance will convince me that we aren't on the chopping block." A stated.
"An Alliance, a marriage alliance?" Mabui inquired, earning a curious look from Darui as well.
"Yes. I've heard rumors that the Wind Daimyo is planning on marrying the Kazekage to the Angel Slayer. Such an alliance would secure good relations between the land of Wind and Britain. We need to get in on that. A marriage alliance between Kumo and Riley Uchiwa would not only remove us from the chopping block, but it would gain us allies in Britain, Suna, and the Land of Wind." A stated earning several nods from his followers.
"Well who do you plan on offering. I know the Uchiwa matriarch practices polygamy but if she's marrying the Kazekage, then only our best will entice her and not be seen as an insult." Darui noted,
"Yes, there are only a few women in Kumo that might strike her fancy and would fit the criteria. I am one of those few people, but my removal from Kumo would be a greater detriment to the village, then what we may gain from an alliance." Mabui noted. If A had ordered it, she would have agreed to his demands for her to marry the Angel Slayer, but to her mind she simply knew to much about Kumo to be a reasonable match, but unfortunately not many Kunuoichi came to mind that fit the criteria they'd need to show that Kumo was heavily invested in such a union.
"You're right Mabui. I actually had someone else in mind. Offering her up would be to enticing an offer for them to refuse, and it also removes a headache for us." A noted as he turned his gaze out over Kumo.
"You can't mean… Yugito? I'm sorry sir but forgetting the fact that she's one of our Jinchuriki, you saw how she reacted when she heard about what happened to Karui. The two were very close, best friends. She'll never go for it." Mabui responded, surprise etching into her features.
"I know how close they were, and I know what she is Mabui. I have the council breathing down my neck to send her back out to the front, they don't want her here in the village, despite knowing that the Akatsuki are out there hunting for her. They already barely tolerate Bee, but his hero status buys him credibility with the average ninja and the people. Yugito doesn't have those same benefits. The people fear her, they fear the Two-Tails. I can't risk sending her out there, but I can't have her here either. If we send her to marry the Angel Slayer, then not only would we be assured of their acceptance, but things would settle down here as well." A explained his reasoning to the two.
"As powerful an alliance as this may be, do we really want to risk losing one of our Jinchuriki?" Darui asked, eyeing A intently.
"Look at the state of the continent Darui. Konoha is gone, the fox is in Britain from what I hear. Most likely the Legion have it. The Three Tails is gone, so is the Four, the Five, and the Seven tails. No one knows where the Six tails is that leaves only two villages with their Jinchuriki. Us and Suna. The Ox is stronger then the One tails and the Two tails combined, and Bee is a fully realized Jinchuriki. If we give them Yugito it'll show our commitment to this alliance, it'll also get Yugito away from Kumo which is good for us, and good for her. Despite being loyal, she hates it here. I see the way the people treat her, and if it wasn't for the threat of the Akatsuki I'd send her back to her temple. She can't stay here, and she can't go out there. We need an alliance with the Legion. It's the only way to ensure that once Iwa is defeated, this war ends. I wont lose everything we've gained just because I'm too stubborn to take a loss." A explained to his subordinates earning hesitant nods from them.
"Who's going to tell her?" Mabui inquired.
"I will. As soon as we hear back from the Legion, about whether or not they accept." A responded with a sigh, earning a nod from the two.
"I'm sorry Yugito… but this is for the best." A thought to himself as his comrades departed from his office, leaving him alone to look out over the city. Kumo was on the rise. This was the greatest growth spurt their people had ever experienced. A knew he had to make difficult decisions, he knew he had to make sacrifices. A Bijuu for a generation of peace, that was worth it. It had to be. A would not allow Kumo to fall like the others. He knew that peace was the only avenue for survival when faced with the unrelenting power of a goddess given flesh.
-To be Continued-
Alright there's the next chapter, hope you all enjoyed. Yugito introduced next chapter, and more relationship building for Riley and her other future mates. Hope to hear all sorts of feedback, and more hints, as Trigon becomes more involved in the upcoming story. Yes Raven is one of Riley's children and Trigon will be a major villain in the follow-up story once this one is finished. See ya later.
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