Devil From The Heavens

Chapter 44: Something Wicked

The days passed, both too long and too short. Jiraiya was making great progress with the seals but as they got closer and closer to the full moon, the more sure she was of impending failure. Konan wasn't sure how far away he was but his mounting frustration and not-so quiet mutterings told her all she needed to know. Broly had been spending more and more time underneath the Sealmaster's brush.

The former Akatsuki had improved leaps and bounds with her seals in the short time he was her teacher again. Jiraiya had originally taught her when he took her, Yahiko, and Nagato under his tutelage when they were children. She had been reluctant to return to seal making after so long but it was like riding a bike and her skill had come back naturally to her. While not a natural talent like his previous student, he told her she'd be a great Sealmaster if she dedicated herself to the art. She disagreed.

Not because she couldn't be good at it but because her learning here had become utilitarian in its nature. His guided study of the functions in the Sage's seals had given her an idea. One that she had doggedly pursued as soon as his attention had shifted away.

'You see this? The Sage intentionally put in gates to stem the flow of ki both in and out kinda like the gates for our chakra. That allows the rest of the seal time to convert ki to chakra or vice versa. This here also allows for the distribution and storage of ki within the seals too. The incredible part is that it's a simple modification of the same seals we use to store our tools in scrolls. It's masterful, I wouldn't have thought to do that.'

Truth be told, she felt foolish for not investing more time into this when she could have. The extent of her seal making capabilities was her explosive tags and those were comically simple. It was a simple transfer and store of chakra. When you activated it, the chakra was instantly converted into an extreme outward release of energy. Even the brief lessons Jiraiya had given here were eye opening.

The Angel of Ame made the modifications necessary but she was still a novice so the process was painfully slow. When she finished her tag, it was deep in the middle of the night. A snore next to her put her focus back on the present. Broly had sat beside her at some point and fell asleep. He must've been there for some time and she hadn't noticed because of her work.

Konan nudged him awake.

"Hmm?" Broly was bleary-eyed and the beginnings of irritation showed but were quickly forgotten when he saw her. He groaned and rubbed his neck. "Didn't realize I fell asleep." He muttered.

She handed him the experimental tag. "Channel as much ki as you can into this without destroying it."

He glanced between her and the piece of paper. There was a question waiting to be asked but his grogginess kept it in his head. "...I'll do this away from the cave." He was gone in a moment and back another moment later. He handed it back to her. "Was something supposed to happen?"

"Only if it had gone wrong." Konan held the tag up. It looked no different but there was a weight to it that wasn't there before. Whether it was real or imagined was anyone's guess. "How much power would you say you put in here?"

Broly's eyes narrowed in thought. The amount of power he used at anytime was mostly instinct. To quantify it would have been a hard ask even if he was fully alert. "It can blow up the planet a couple times over at least. Might be more than that." He gave her a look of some worry as she put the tag away. "What's this for?"

"I wanted to work out if these seals could be made to hold ki. Thanks for your help."

There was a pause. "Get rid of it."

Konan didn't look his way. "That won't be necessary yet. I wish to study-"

There was a quick flash of anger. This wasn't something to be studied and his tone made it clear. "If it blows up, we're all fucked. Destroy it or let me take care of it."

There was a moment where the two seemed to be in a standoff before Konan took the tag out and swiped across it with her brush, effectively defusing it. "I'm sorry. It's harmless now." As an assurance, the Angel of Ame gave the tag to Broly. He reached up to tear it and glanced at her. She nodded her approval and he tore it to pieces before igniting it in his hands.

Moments later, she put a hand up to her mouth as she yawned. Without the tag occupying her mind, exhaustion crashed down on her. Konan leaned her head against his shoulder. In spite of the lack of a top, he was still extraordinarily warm and the muscles underneath were like steel with only the slightest give. He gently wrapped an arm around her.

She didn't know what to call this...relationship of theirs but it was comforting and that was enough for now. They went to sleep.

Until Konan woke up a couple hours later. She slipped out of the Saiyan's arms easily and he didn't notice. She felt at the tag in her top. Tricking him was a severe breach of trust but he'd understand once this was over. Madara crushed everything she lived for. The Akatsuki, Yahiko, Nagato...their deaths were made meaningless by his destruction of Ame.

She had to crush him in turn. Rip the dream from his skull even if it meant she died. It was all she had left.

The Angel of Ame, right hand of God, would bring annihilation.

It took the better part of the first day to scavenge the equipment necessary but a lab was secretly built underground in the nearby forest. It wasn't much but it would serve their purposes well enough. Tsunade took extra care to ensure every individual involved held no knowledge outside of exactly what was needed to help build it. That meant that besides the Hokage, Shizune and Sakura were the most important people in the village.

Yet such a status did not free them. It only felt like a noose around the neck. Tsunade had given them a tight deadline: the next full moon. An incredibly stressful pressure to work under. It reminded her of when Kankuro was poisoned right before the failed retrieval of Gaara though with an opposite, awful purpose this time around.

Sakura took a moment to look her sample over with her naked eye. The Hybrid was a mix of Broly's and Zetsu's DNA and so their initial goal had been to isolate the Saiyan's genetic code. Anything that worked on just the Hybrid's flesh might only function because of Zetsu's half and be totally ineffective against the pure thing. After that hurdle, the real work had gone underway

She understood the need for the assignment. As not-hostile as Broly appeared to be, his attack on the village being a product of Madara's control via genjutsu, what if he decided it was in his best interest to attack them again? The terror of the day was still fresh to her. She knew, everybody knew, that a second attack from him or even a normal invasion from another village now will be their doom.

But Sakura couldn't help but feel this would damn them further somehow.

On the third day, she asked her partner. "How do you feel about this, Shizune?"

Shizune made a thoughtful noise from where she sat looking through a microscope. "What do you mean?"

Sakura leaned back in her chair as she swiped from hair from her face. She'd been hunched over working for close to twelve hours already without so much as a break. "The viability of our mission. From what Temari has said before, the Sand's strongest toxins couldn't slow him down. Hell, we only have blood and some flesh to work with; what if we make one that works on those but it's neutralized when it metabolizes in his liver or kidneys?"

Shizune pulled back from the microscope and rubbed at her eyes. "I won't say that I'm certain we can do this. As a...being from another world, we can't even say anything on this planet could affect him in the way we want." She laid her forehead in her hand and closed her eyes. The uncountable injured and dead she had taken care of since the assault haunted her even now. "But we have to try. We have an obligation to find some means to defend ourselves from him if it ever came to it again."

Sakura didn't have a response to that then. Didn't have a response to it now. The pinkette returned to her latest attempt. Batch #826. She had a healthy respect for all the toxins she worked with as any oversight with her protective gear would likely kill her but this one...this one she feared. With every new batch, the lethality had only increased exponentially and this was their worst yet.

An aerosolized version of this could wipe out Konoha in minutes. One drop could kill ten thousand men. A weapon of mass destruction.

She tested it on her sample of Saiyan blood. The last few batches killed some cells but they were far too slow and she was hoping the last few changes would- The cells within died instantly and she blinked in surprise. She stared at the floating pieces of what used to be healthy hemocytes. That was their first true success. She notated the effects and set aside the batch for further testing.

Hours later and they were both standing at attention across from Tsunade.

"How confident are you that this will do the job?" The Hokage asked as she held the notes in front of her. What she said was extremely promising.

"With only the cultured cells we have on hand, we can't say for sure that it will kill him instantly but..." Shizune started.

"It will kill him." Tsunade finished. "With enough of his blood cells destroyed, his brain and other organs will suffocate. Our only concern will be fast how long he can survive before he ultimately succumbs. Even if his liver and kidneys can neutralize it, it would still have to travel through his body in order to get to them."

She set the papers down and looked at the two with solemn pride. They were condemned by her decision but they followed through as was their duty as kunoichi of the Hidden Leaf. With luck, their hand in this would never be discovered.

"Good work, you two, but the job isn't finished. Refine it and make sure we have as many ways of delivering it as possible. If we need to use it, we need to make sure he can't avoid it. Dismissed."

The kunoichi left Tsunade alone at her desk.

All the pieces were falling into place. Kiri had been able to convince Kumo to cooperate and they set a date for their assault on Madara's location. They were operating with the full knowledge that he knew they knew where he was located as they had lost two spies to Zetsu. The man had not moved operations meaning it was too late for him or he was confident that that was unnecessary.

There was little else to do now but wait for the other villages. All of her shinobi were informed. Kakashi had volunteered to lead the assassination and had decided on the team. She rubbed at her eyes. It was late, nearly four in the morning, and she needed to sleep.

One of her guard spoke. "Lady Hokage, Konan is here."

Tsunade's eyes snapped open. Why? "Let her in."

Her ANBU open the flaps of her tent and Konan walked in with nearly robotic movement. Without Jiraiya or Broly? The bags under her eyes noticeably dark. The woman was exhausted. There was a slight raise to Tsunade's brow at the former Kage's state.

"How is Jiraiya doing?" She asked as the closest possible thing to an ice breaker available to her.

"Alive and well." She answered. Her voice was normally devoid of most emotion but this was monotone. As if she lacked energy to do more than live. "How do you plan on confronting Madara?"

Straight to the point as always. "We've located where he's hunkered down. To be brief, We're going in with a frontal assault to hide the presence of two squads: One to assassinate him and the other to rescue Naruto if possible. We're counting on Broly to be there to distract the Hybrids."

"Reckless." Konan responded.

She agreed with a nod. "He's got us in a corner. Reckless is the best we can do."

Konan reached into her tattered robe. There was a quick blur of movement and she was rendered still as numerous kunai were pressed against her neck and body. The Angel stared at Tsunade. The Hokage allowed a few moments to pass before waving away the ANBU. "I can handle her."

There was a collective acknowledgement before they disappeared from view. Konan pulled out what she had reached for. It was a simple explosive tag that she laid at the Hokage's desk. Tsunade raised a brow. She knew not to underestimate the woman across from her nor to dismiss that this could be a threat but this didn't feel like the prelude to an attack. Still, she remained tense.

"I come to you with a weapon."

Tsunade looked at the tag with skepticism for a moment. "An explosive tag?" The words weren't dismissive; they were prodding her to explain further.

"Made with Broly's ki."

Tsunade froze for a moment before she leaned back in her chair. As if the extra few inches would buy her safety. There was a dryness to her mouth. "How powerful is it?"

"Powerful enough." Konan pushed forward, her gaze intense like a storm. "My only request is that I'm part of the squad to kill Madara."

The Hokage's widened at the implication. "Konan, think this through-"

"I have thought this through. My thoughts have only been this for days now. He enslaved Broly, killed Nagato, and murdered my village." Her voice rose with each crime until she stamped her emotions down. She had been on a knife's edge since that her greatest nightmare became a terrible reality and it was through an unfathomable restraint that she hadn't gone to Madara and dropped this on his head already. "I will kill Madara with or without your approval. This is merely a courtesy to make it easier for the both of us."

Tsunade was taken aback at the sheer venom pouring from Konan. It wasn't rare so see this: a shinobi pushed to their very limits. It was rare to see one of Konan's caliber so close to losing it. She tapped at the desk as she sought her next words carefully. The village was fragile; even in her state, Konan was an S-Rank kunoichi capable of exacting permanent damage.

"How will you be doing this?" She asked.

"Get close. Activate the seal." The former Kage instantly responded. It was clear that she had planned more than that but Tsunade thought it wise not to prod.

"You'll be killing the shinobi I'm sending along too."

"You already did. This will ensure it's not in vain." Konan tapped the tag. "However, I am not without reason; I will give them the time necessary if I can."

Tsunade thought it over for several minutes. Rationally, it was an incredibly risky, borderline stupid, idea to let a clearly unstable shinobi into an already planned out operation at was effectively the last minute. That was ignoring the doomsday weapon on her desk too. How many casualties would result from its use? Was that a justifiable loss when worldwide enslavement was the other option?

Was she willing to sacrifice Naruto?

"This is a last resort." She said. "If all else fails, this can be used."

"Kaka...shi."

Obito stood frozen as Rin coughed blood. He had arrived too late like he always did. Kakashi pulled his hand from her chest and she fell onto her back dead. It was moments in real time but he felt the years he had thought he had left with her in those seconds.

As the Mangekyō was born, Obito died.

Another spasm hit his body and his back ballooned grotesquely. Madara squeezed his eyes shut as sweat poured down his forehead; the pain was immense but he forced himself back to normal. The spasms, the result of his power rebelling against him, were getting more frequent and the agony was only increasing.

"Sir, I'll need you to remove your mask."

Madara held Kabuto in his stare, unnerving the missing-nin, but he ultimately complied. Kabuto put a medical mask on him which pumped pure oxygen into his lungs. They had found out quickly enough that no sedative worked on the man. The mask was simply to help him keep breathing.

His body could not hold the Ten-Tails power. Even now, he was slowly being destroyed and the beast would be freed in time. Kabuto suggested augmenting his body. Project Super Human had seen success with Sasuke and it would strengthen Madara's body against the Ten Tails. That was the theory anyways. With his goal so close, the Akatsuki leader was forced to forgo caution and accepted the procedure.

"Are you ready?" Kabuto asked. The way the fluorescent lights above shone prevented the Uchiha from seeing his eyes. "This will be at least a day of work."

He held onto the memory of Rin like it was a buoy for he would drown without it.

"Do it."

Kabuto nodded and the first of one hundred thousand cuts began. Thus begun his apotheosis.

Author's Notes

Next chapter will be an update on Naruto and Hinata among others. The chapter after that will be the beginning of the end.

This story will be finished early next year. The plan is to hunker down and really push to the finish line.

If anyone is curious as to why it's been so long, blame depression.

Ent out.