AN: Welp, took me… a lot longer than I wanted, but the newest chapter of Ninja Gamer is here after an attack of writer's block. I do apologise for the wait, but, this was my first truly popular fanfic that I wrote, I didn't want to leave this forgotten in the past.
I have been more active on QuestionableQuesting these days, mostly because I personally enjoy the layout and how easier it is to engage with comments and readers. Come by and check it out at some point!
I smiled slightly as I could faintly hear a familiar voice calling out they were home as I signed another mission request off.
"Good to see the kid's lungs haven't changed," Aoi commented with a laugh as he shook his head.
"I'm afraid that is something that will never change about him," I replied humorously as I set a page into my 'completed' pile.
"Is that a good or bad thing?" Chika questioned humorously, a small grin on her face.
"Who knows," I returned with a light chuckle, mentally starting a countdown in my head. I had only made it to five before one of the windows to my office rattled open as Jiraiya slid his way in. "Hello, Jiraiya-sama, welcome home."
The giant man grinned back at me as he moved to face me across my desk. "Glad to be back," he replied jovially as the mint haired jinchuriki followed him in a bit more nervously. "May I introduce you to Fu formerly of Takigakure."
"H-hello… Hokage-sama," Fu greeted hesitantly.
"Welcome to Konoha, Fu-san," I told her with a calming smile. "I will be frank with you, Takigakure has demanded your return to them," I cautioned her, the jinchuriki flinching and seemed to brace herself. "And I told them to shove it," Fu blinked in shock as her head snapped up to stare at me in shock. "If they threw you to the Akatsuki already, then they do not understand the responsibility that came with the First Hokage entrusting them with Chomei."
I let out another sigh at the thought of the missives that Takigakure had sent me when I made my declaration about not sending her back unless she wanted to return, they had even threatened to join Akatsuki if we didn't, I then told them that if they did, they would get a visit from all five of us Kage.
They shut up after that. Idiots.
"That does beg a question though," I continued, getting my thoughts back on track. "What is it you want to do, Fu? If you wish to continue being a shinobi, that is completely fine. If you wish to retire, we are willing to help you with that. The choice is entirely yours."
The mint haired Jinchuriki looked somewhat confused as she processed what I said. "I… I actually am not really sure," Fu admitted.
"That is quite alright," I assured her with a smile. "We have lodging prepared for you and a stipend to use while you figure out what you want to do with your life."
Fu gave me a hesitant smile in response to the information as she quickly nodded.
Before our conversation could continue, however, a jonin quickly entered without announcing himself. "Hokage-sama! We have intrusion alerts along the borders!" he reported quickly, kneeling before me. "We are seeing black cloaks with red clouds and confirmed the presence of several S-ranked shinobi on the field."
"Begin evacuations, sound the general alert," I replied calmly as I stood up, shedding the robes of the Hokage that I wore over my usual outfit. "Akatsuki seems to think we are a threat."
Aoi snorted a bit in response. "Oh gee, I wonder why," he drawled with a roll of his eyes. "I mean, we are just so weak and feeble, not really worth the effort."
I gave him a dry smirk in response before looking over to Fu who had an uncertain look on her face. "One of my shinobi will show you to the shelters," I told her. "We will not allow them to harm you."
Fu gave a hesitant smile as she nodded, following after one of my ANBU guards as the alert went out.
Turning I looked out over the village, watching as the people I had sworn to protect and guide began to move, either to the shelters, or their mustering stations, several messenger hawks flying out of the village to deliver their messages to our allies.
It was time, and this time, I aimed to put an end to it all.
Pein's eyes narrowed as he stared down at the village below him, a frown on his face as he observed the specks that were shinobi and citizens of Konoha as they went about their daily lives, completely unaware of the Divine Judgement that was about to descend upon them.
Even as he hovered above the village, his followers and worshipers were staging attacks across the Hi no Kuni with Itachi leading his inner circle into place to begin their own strikes.
It was time.
"[Shinra Tensei]" He announced, spreading his palms out towards the Village that was beneath him, a declaration of his judgement for the village's destruction.
His chakra surged and formed into a massive wave of invisible power, not unlike that of gravity as it fell upon the village.
Only… for a similar surge of chakra, formed into an exact copy of his attack, met his attack midair, the two techniques colliding in a massive explosion of force that sent loose debris and dust flying.
Narrowing his eyes Pein soon felt his blood run cold inside of his original body at the sight of one Yuriko Uchiha standing atop of the roof of the Kage's Office, her eyes an eerie mirror of his own Rinnegan, her hand outstretched towards him.
That… was an impossibility, how could she bear the Rinnegan, he was the one who was destined to bear them, he was the one chosen to become the God of this world to bring world peace through pain.
He saw her lips move as she issued orders to her subordinates that quickly began to move through the village, only now did he realise that the ones he saw moving around were only shinobi, there was not a single civilian within sight.
A frown crossed his face, even as he saw his Akatsuki moving in to engage the village, it seems that they were expected.
After another dozen heartbeats of trying to analyse and understand what just happened, he was pulled from his introspection as Yuriko Uchiha rose up into the air to meet his Deva Path, no doubt utilising the same technique he was using to achieve flight.
"How do you have those eyes?" Pein demanded as she rose up to his height, all across Konoha below them engagements started to break out between his followers and the Konohagakure shinobi. "I was the one chosen, how did you get ahold of those eyes!"
The chuckle that came from her infuriated him as she laughed in amusement, a patronising smile on her face. "Poor child, you never even realised it, have you? The truth of what these eyes are," she mocked lightly. "The [Rinnegan] is nothing more than an evolution of the [Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan], my bet is, you never actually awakened it, rather, someone implanted them into you and you never even realised."
"You lie," Pein hissed, raising a hand to unleash another [Shinra Tensei] against her only for her to again counter it with one of her own. "I was chosen to be a new god in this world, one to bring pain to all and bring peace!"
The look of contempt on her face as she stared at him cut him, far more deeply than he would ever care to admit. "Then you shall only repeat the cycle, over, and over again until there are none left with life on this planet," she stated in a shockingly disappointed tone. "So blinded by the power of your eyes, you can't even see beyond yourself."
She shook her head as she drew out her kodachi and levelled it at him. "Come, it is time to show you, just how outclassed you are," she taunted him. "I will show you what makes me the [God of Shinobi]."
"Not even 30 minutes in, and things are already tits up," Kisame grunted to himself, Samehada quivering as he rested the blade across his shoulders.
"Unfortunately, that is a fact of life," Hiruzen Sarutobi commented across from him, twirling his monkey summon turned staff in his hands. "Plans rarely survive contact with your enemy."
"You don't have to tell me that twice," Kisame grumbled warily as he kept both eyes on the aged shinobi. Really, out of everyone in Konoha, this man was the second worst enemy he could have encountered. "Just my luck… running into the Professor of all people…"
Sarutobi chuckled in response as, without warning, he launched himself at Kisame with a flurry of blows that had his opponent backpedalling quickly as he blocked the rapid strikes from the aged Hokage.
"You should know by now, Hoshigaki, that a ninja makes their own luck," Sarutobi announced as Kisame managed to force some distance between them. "As Itachi-kun is no doubt finding out now."
Kisame grimaced as an explosion behind him in the area Itachi was fighting punctuated that sentence.
'It seems that I may have underestimated the effect Yuriko-san would have on Sasuke-kun…' Itachi mused to himself as he dodged out of the way of a brace of explosive tagged kunai, before promptly ducking under a punch that toppled the wall of the house behind him before finally drawing a kunai to stop a chokuto from splitting his throat open, a pair of sharingan locked firmly on his chest as the pair of them separated. "I see you have gotten stronger, otouto," Itachi spoke for the first time since encountering Sasuke and his teammates.
"I have nothing I want to say to you, Itachi," Sasuke said, it was not without a varied amount of emotions, but those have been buried under a firm resolve.
His two teammates, the blond jinchuuriki and the pink haired young woman closed in tighter with Sasuke unconsciously, providing him their wordless support.
Itachi closed his eyes for a moment, allowing himself to feel a bit of pride at how his little brother developed without the influence of the many hardliners within the Uchiha clan, many of whom were planning on 'dealing' with Yuriko and her so-called 'treacherous' ideals.
"Very well then," Itachi opened his eyes as he spoke firming his resolve, he knew what Yuriko Uchiha wanted, he knew what she hope the three would step up to do in the future, now… it was time to give his brother the tools he needed for the future danger that was coming. "I will not waste any words, show me just how much you have grown… Otouto."
With that he activated his Mangekyou as black flames erupted forth threatening to swallow the team as they scattered.
The battle was joined.
There were many things that Obito had expected from this attack on Konoha, failure was one of them, as, even with this gathering of S-ranked shinobi under the banner of Akatsuki, Konoha's military might was nothing to sneeze at.
Victory was another, especially considering that three of their targets were currently within these walls, and while they couldn't extract them right away, they should be easy enough to keep contained with the proper methods.
One thing he hadn't quite expected was the confrontation he was currently having with one Kakashi Hatake, not that he didn't expect to fight with his old friend, but more… he didn't expect Kakashi to know about him.
Sharingan eye met Sharingan eye as the two analysed one another. "How did you figure it out?" He questioned, lifting his mask off his disfigured face, it was pointless at this point.
"The Mangekyou pattern," Kakashi replied calmly. "When I managed to activate it, the pattern was identical to the one reported by Yuriko, I was hoping that it wasn't you, but…" the silver haired jonin sighed and shook his head, pulling out a kunai as he prepared himself for battle. "All I want to know, Obito… is why? Why are you doing this? Is it because I killed Rin?"
Obito paused for a moment, studying his old teammate for a long moment. "I would be lying if I said there wasn't a part of myself that didn't blame you for her death," he admitted. "But I know she chose that path herself, so no… I do this so that true peace can be forced upon all, through the Infinite Tsukuyomi."
Kakashi closed his normal eye, a breath escaping his lips as he prepared for battle. "Then… I guess I'm going to have to stop you."
"You will try."
"Well, this is just an annoyance, un." Deidara grunted, glaring at the three shinobi from the back of a clay bird, the three bodyguards of the Hokage arrayed around him, poised for combat.
"It's shocking just how little I care," Aoi commented, rolling his ankle casually, his hands resting inside of his pant's pockets.
"I think you cared more when your latest date was more interested in talking about how her previous one crashed and burned," Chika drolled as she rolled a senbon across her fingers, a smirk playing across her lips.
Genma chuckled in amusement, his eyes not leaving Deidara's as he grinned. "Unfortunately for you, this is as far as you get into Konoha," he said, cheer dropping from his expression with the other two.
"Just try to stop me, un," Deidara replied with a false bravado as he stuck his hands into his pouches of explosive clay and began shaping it. "I'll leave this place as just a crater."
"You fucking Heathen!" the silver haired Akatsuki member shouted as he swung his triple bladed scythe wildly at Roshi in an attempt to cut the Jinchuriki. "Jashin will feast on your soul as I bathe in your bloo-"
"[Lava Release: Molten Fist]!" Roshi shouted as a blast of lava erupted from the ground to slam into the man, sending him flying back.
"Shitfuckdamnass!" Hidan shouted as his skin burned under the superheated rock before swinging his scythe, cutting through the technique before charging at Roshi again only for the man to counter his wide strikes.
Roshi frowned as he continued to avoid the scythe his opponent continually swung around him without any form or discipline.
It was quite plain to see, the man was a brute, plain and simple, all power, little, if any, finesse. But, dangerous all the same with his ability seemingly living through anything thrown at him thus far.
Catching the hilt of the scythe, Roshi narrowed his eyes as he began channelling Son's Chakra through his body, the red haze surrounding him as the Chakra became visible.
"Just shut up already," he growled out, his voice deeper from the influence of the Bijuu's Chakra. "I'm sick of your voice."
Before the demented 'priest' could respond Roshi crushed his throat with a burning punch to the larynx before slamming him into the ground that quickly began to melt into magma, burning Hidan's skin that quickly began to regenerate as he began cursing Roshi out.
Roshi let out a sigh as he toned out the cussing and moved out of the way of another scythe swing. 'This is going to be an annoying fight,' he groused mentally for a moment before he fully focused on this fight.
His wife was counting on him dealing with this man, so that's just what he'll do.
Sasori frowned as he manoeuvred the puppet Kazekage into spewing magnetic sand in the way of the drilling pair of Kiba and Akamaru, halting their attack as another stream of magnetic sand crushed a tide of Kikaichu as he moved his Hiruko puppet out of the way of Hinata as she crashed down from above, her hands encased in a shroud of Chakra shaped like lion heads.
He grunted a bit as he manipulated Hiruko's tail out of the back of the puppet, these three were an exceptionally well coordinated team, the Hyuuga was capable to neutralising his poison, the Aburame was the worst kind of opponent for Puppeteers due to the fact their insects ate away at the chakra strings used to control them. Finally the Inuzuka, his sense of smell gave him a good idea of where his traps were, and gave him a good awareness of his surroundings even as he and his partners manoeuvred rapidly around him.
The mouth of Hiruko opened as he triggered its senbon launcher, the poisoned picks narrowly missing the Aburame member of the team as insects began to swarm into the opened mechanism jamming up the inner workings and trying to get at his 'body' within the puppet.
Grunting he came to the conclusion that it was time to abandon this puppet as he released a plume of smoke, granted it wouldn't do much against this particular team, but it would still cause a moment of instinctual hesitation that he made use of to abandon his Hiruko puppet.
"Such a pain," he sighed as the smoke cleared, glaring at the three shinobi before him as he tested various parts of his 'body'. "Looks like I will have to take you seriously after all."
"Center of his chest," the Hyuuga informed, keeping herself in a combat stance, he could feel the eyes landing on the centre of his chest where his core was located.
A snort left him as black sand began to shift and pool around him. "You may know where my weakness is, but do you really think you can reach it?" he questioned dryly, the puppet of the Third Kazekage hovering behind him as it began to spill out more of its metal sand.
"Never know until you try!" Kiba announced with a feral grin as Akamaru barked next to him "Let's go! Formation 21!"
"Right!"
"Understood!"
Sasori sighed as the battle resumed.
"So, it really is you," Jiraiya sighed, talking to seeming air, he remained silent for a moment before scowling. "Show yourself Konan, you owe your sensei that much at least."
There was another beat of silence before the wall of a building next to him seemed to strip and fall away as paper began flying through the air, revealing the blue haired, yellow eyed woman who stared at Jiraiya impassively. "Even you, cannot stop us now, sensei," she commented in a flat tone, the paper fluttering around her.
A sigh escaped the lips of the Sannin as he shook his head, his gaze turning to look at where the two Rinnegan users were battling each other in the skies over Konoha. "Is that Yahiko, or is it simply his corpse?"
Konan couldn't stop the flinch from crossing her face as she found herself under her old teacher's scrutinising gaze. "We-"
"He would be fighting against you, if he was here," Jiraiya announced as he brought up a thumb to his teeth to bite into it, drawing blood. "As his teacher, it then falls to me to protect his dream for peace."
Konan's eyes widened as he slammed his palm into the ground, a pair of small toads appearing on his shoulders as he glared at her with a furious gaze. "Ma, Pa, I need your help with this," he told the two toads.
"Don't you worry about it, Jiraiya-chan," the female toad said, patting his shoulder as she made herself comfortable.
"Let's put an end to this, yeah?" the male toad nodded in agreement. "We'll help ya discipline your wayward student."
Konan's eyes widened as she watched her teacher's face begin to change, his nose widening and his facial markings began to expand and spread across his face.
"[Senpō: Kawazu Naki]!" The two toads called out before sound began to slam into Konan's ears, the paper manipulator quickly taking herself to the sky with paper wings as she began launching paper shuriken at her old teacher, unable to keep her heart from hurting from just how true his words were.
I let out a sigh as I blocked another attack from Yahiko's corpse, my copies from [Yomotsu-Shikome] battling against Yahiko's own Paths and absolutely dominating them.
"See, here is the problem with relying on those eyes of yours so much," I commented as I countered another [Shinra Tensei] with one of my own. "You forgot the basics," I suddenly closed the distance and slammed an elbow into his stomach, the corpse reeling as I followed up with a roundhouse kick to the head. "You have no real specialisation in which you are so unrivalled that others seek to emulate your strength."
Through my shared senses I watched as one of my copies began to strike at a Path, her hands covered in a chakra scalpel as she struck. "[Eight Gates Destruction]!" she called out as she slammed her hands into his chest at several points, destroying the chakra gates that regulated the flow of chakra, the Outer Path twitching for several moments before his body exploded as the chakra ran rampant in his body.
"This is what separates the S-ranks like yourself, and the S-Ranks like myself, Jiraiya and even Orochimaru," I informed with a bored voice through the copy battling the Preta path. "We mastered not just our jutsu, but our very bodies."
"And I took it even further," another copy stated as she struck several points on the Naraka Path's body. "I am the God of Shinobi, not because of a singular jutsu, nor is it because I am the best at a singular shinobi art."
"I am the God of Shinobi because I pushed myself to the absolute limit," the copy speaking dodge the summons of the Animal Path as she channelled Yin-Yang chakra into the palm of her hand. "Because it does not matter what enemy is placed before me, I will never falter. [Yin-Yang Release: Annihilation of the Earthly Realm]"
A wall of sound deafened everyone in the area as a beam of black energy washed over the Animal Path and the Cerberus it tried to summon to protect it, leaving nothing remaining.
"In short, you will never reach my level, using only those borrowed eyes of yours," I announced in conclusion as I slashed out with my sword, the air ringing for a moment as the sharpened chakra blade cut through all within its path, the shocked eyes of Yahiko staring in shock as his bisected body tumbled to the ground.
"We have found the main body," A copy stated as she appeared next to me, the others soon joining me.
"Assist the others, I will deal with Nagato," I replied, my eyes turning to the distance where a kunai had been planted.
As one, we vanished in a simultaneous [Hirashin]
I appeared before the large paper tree that Nagato was hiding in, ignoring the shared vision of my Rinnegan as my copies began fighting against the invading Akatsuki members. Without hesitation I walked up towards the trunk, my sword lashing out to cut an opening into the paper and walked into the large chamber holding Nagato's life sustaining machine.
A raspy gasp greeted me as I took in the sight of the withered Nagato, suspended in his machine as he glared at me furiously. "You… you have ruined everything!" he rasped out angrily. "You destroyed the peace that I would have brought to this world!"
"Even now, you remain blind to the manipulations that control you like a marionette," I sighed, shaking my head in disappointment. "Summoning the Juubi will do nothing for you, all it will do is trap the world in an illusion as it drains the life of every living being on this planet."
"You… lie," Nagato rasped out angrily, his Rinnegan eyes narrow as he glared.
"Let's ask one of the ones who tricked you, shall we?" I questioned as one of my copies teleported in, Zetsu trapped below her with several seals on its body, pinning the shadow in place. "After all, I'm sure Zetsu here has told you that he was formed by you in some way, the exact same thing he told Madara from whom you have those eyes."
"Let us go!"
"We shall consume you for Mother!"
"You will never see Kaguya Otsutsuki again," I spat at the creature. "[Fuinjutsu: All Truth Revealing Seal]. But for now, explain what you have been doing since your creation."
There was resistance for a moment as it screamed out angrily. "I… I have been… manipulating events… to revive Mother!" the creature gasped out. "All so that… she can get her revenge on all of you!"
Nagato's eyes slowly widened as Black Zetsu continued to rant and rave before us, explain in detail every action he took, from provoking the fight between Indra and Asura to tampering with the Uchiha Tablet, all for the sake of freeing Kaguya from her prison.
I nodded to my copy as it finished speaking, the copy vanishing in a teleport, heading for Training Ground X to seal Black Zetsu and hide the container deep within Kur-Rash's realm. "This… entire time…" Nagato rasped out, his body slumping as tears dripped from his eyes as my attention turned back to him. "What… now?"
I let out a sigh, looking up to the ceiling before shaking my head. "Unfortunately, after everything, the leader of Akatsuki is something that can no longer exist," I admitted, meeting his gaze. "Your organisation has hurt too many people, made too many enemies."
"I… that is true…" he breathed out. "Can you… at least… bury me with my friends?"
"I will," I assured with a nod. "I will be destroying your eyes, but beyond that, I will entrust yours and Yahiko's body with Konan."
"She's… alive?" Nagato's eyes widened slightly. "Thank you…" he bowed his head as a smile came across his lips.
"You are welcome," I assured the lost and broken man as I placed my hands on either side of his head, and with a quick application of a chakra scalpel painlessly ended his life and destroyed Madara's Rinnegan.
A bitter taste filled my mouth as I stepped back, looking down at the man before me.
I really wasn't Naruto, unfortunately. All I could be was a monster that protected her home and those that resided within it, preparing it for those who could bring peace to this world.
END CHAPTER
