NARUTO IS PROPERTY OF MASASHI KISHIMOTO

"Kyuubi talking"

'Kyuubi thinking'

"Normal speech"

'Characters thinking'

Author's note:

Lots of stuff happened before I could publish this, so in any case I still wish you a merry Christmas/Hanukah/kwanza and a Happy New Year.

Generation Lost

Chapter 11: Deliver Us From Evil

"I'm dying from the inside, body hurts too much to feel

Pressure adds to pain… deliver us from evil."

"ID?" The tall man asked, eyeing him distrustfully under the neon light above them.

Rolling his eyes, Naruto took out a card from his wallet and handed it to the bouncer.

The black haired man looked at it with knitted eyebrows, which suddenly rose to his hairline when the first thing he read was the word chuunin. Naruto clearly saw how the clogs in the other man's head were slowly putting 2 and 2 together.

"You just turned seventeen?" the man asked dumbly.

Naruto nodded and retrieved his ID from his hands. This would have been a lot easier if he had his head band on him. The man stepped aside and let the blond have a clear view of the depressing bar in front of him. He had just been there once before, and it was to retrieve Jiraiya after a call he got from the manager.

But today he came for someone else.

Looking right and left without having much luck, the blond decided to go around the central bar and look in the lonely tables behind.

Surely enough, he found her sitting alone with three sake bottles on her table. He could guess at least one was empty since it was toppled over with nothing coming from it. Tsunade was completely detached from the outside world. Her face was hovering on top of the new filled cup on her hands. That sight of her was all Naruto needed to convince himself that she was feeling a lot worse than him.

"Granny."

His distinct voice made her turn around. She looked at him uninterestedly, then turned back to look at the table.

Failing to get a response from her, the blond sat down on the chair in front of her. There was no one else in that part of the bar, so he knew they could talk freely.

"We had a private ceremony for him earlier today." This time she raised her eyes to him, expecting him to say more. "I had Fukasaku and Shima come, along with Gamabunta." He lowered his eyes before continuing. "… and Hinata."

At the mention of her name the Hokage's lips tugged upwards. "Oh?" She said in amusement, her eyes lighting up.

Naruto decided to ignore her. "I thought of telling you to come but I knew you'd be busy."

"Hmm." The big-chested woman said pensively, taking the glass in her hands and drinking from it. "That means I'm already forgiven?"

The fact that she was taking it so lightly annoyed him. "I don't think I can fully forgive you."

She chuckled loudly. Naruto reminded himself that she might already be drunk. "Funny how we are thinking similar things. I'm sure I'll never be able to forgive myself either."

For a moment Naruto thought of bringing up the subject again, to let his rage and disappointment known to her in a more detailed way. But looking at her in that state, with a sad smile and glazed eyes, he understood she was already running it around her head.

"I'm going to avenge him." Naruto said, taking the glass from her hands and filling it up again. She thought he was going to give it back to her, but the blond took it to his lips. "Someday."

"Sure." The Hokage said simply, producing another cup from under her robes and placing it in front of Naruto for him to fill it up. "But in the meantime try to enjoy the small things."

Naruto didn't reply. He just gulped down his drink.

"I'm serious." The Hokage straighten up on her chair. Apparently the talk helped her come back to her senses. "You have a few free days this week. Try meeting up with your friends… maybe ask Hinata out."

His eyebrow twitched, but by the honest look on her face, he guessed she really just wanted to help him out. "I already have." He admitted with as little embarrassment as he could manage. "I just don't know where to take her. She made it very clear that she didn't want people knowing about… us, I guess." He felt his mouth taste funny at the simple word. He wondered if someday there might actually be something more between them.

"She's right. But I'm sure you'll figure it out." From behind the wooden wall, the bartender appeared with other two bottles in his hands and put it down in front of them. Naruto watched as Tsunade regarded them with an empty look in her eyes.

"What about you?" He suddenly asked, opening the first bottle for her and refilling their cups.

"Don't worry about me." She said tiredly, her cheeks were beginning to tinge red, but Naruto knew it was hard for her to get drunk. "My duties distract me from personal stuff. I've learned to bottle it down."

It was obvious that her way to cope with traumatic episodes was the very same one Naruto was looking at her do right now. "Fine." The blond said, getting on a more comfortable position on his chair. "The next four bottles are on me."

Tsunade grinned at him, but shook her head. "Save your money, Naruto. Save it for the meal we are going to need in about three hours."

It was his time to grin. "You know, Ichiraku is not far from here…"

The Hokage shrugged her shoulders. The feeling on her nose and cheeks was already gone. "Suit yourself. I don't mind the taste, I just need something edible."

Naruto allowed himself a laugh. They had asked the bartender for two bigger cups, which Naruto was filling to the top right now.

"You still can't miss tomorrow's meetings." Tsunade warned, watching as his ears started to get pink.

"Same goes to you."

"I've been doing this for a really long time. It's not hard for me to get up early while hungover."

Naruto smiled.

He ran through the hallways, almost bumping for the third time with an office worker as he ran. He hoped he had a watch so he could know just how late he was, but he couldn't stop now. 'Shouldn't have stayed up so late.'

It was the first time in months he felt sleepiness still wasn't leaving his system. Although he had just managed to sleep for three hours, there weren't any signs of nightmares. The only discomfort he felt was the throbbing ache pounding just behind his eyes. To make it worse, he couldn't even grab something to eat after showering. 'Oh, she's gonna kill me.'

Just as Hirumi was coming out of the meeting room and closing the door, Naruto arrived to the spot.

"Wait, I need to go in there." He said hurriedly, halting to a stop and gathering his breath.

"Naruto-san." The woman started with a smile but then remembered the time. "The meeting already started."

"I know, no big deal." His head was spinning. "Any chance I could get a cup of coffee while in there?"

"Uhm, sure. I'll bring it along with the rest of the beverages."

"Thanks." Opening the door wider, the blond went in.

The fact that most of the people sitting in the chairs were close persons to him made it easier to cope with the embarrassment.

"Congratulations, Naruto." Kakashi said, genuinely happy. "You finally managed to arrive later than me."

"Don't encourage him." Tsunade said with a frown. "Just take a seat."

She would usually be way lot angrier about his tardiness, but maybe she was still grateful at him. After all he did carry her back to her house after their feast. If it weren't for all those bowls of ramen he ingested earlier that morning, Naruto would've been having a harder time with his hangover.

He regarded the other people in the room as he walked to the only empty chair in between Hinata and Kakashi. For some reason Anko was there, looking at him with the same irritable expression she always had when he appeared. Ibiki was there too, sitting beside Anko with his arms crossed. There was also a man he didn't know with a laptop sitting in the desk in front of him.

"Hey." He whispered to Hinata as he sat down on his designated chair. There was already a full glass of water for every person in the room.

"You look tired. Did something happen yesterday?" the girl asked in a low voice.

"I'll tell you later."

Tsunade cleared her throat to get everyone's attention. She didn't look so perky either. "As I already said, everyone here is required to give all the information they can about Uchiha Sasuke, so Shuro-san can complete his entry on Konoha's Bingo Book."

The room grew quiet. Kakashi and Hinata stole glances at Naruto, to see how well he was taking it.

It was unavoidable, of course. Not even the last Uchiha alive could be forgiven after his life-threatening attempts on a whole town, his experiments on innocent civilians, and the homicide attempt on the Hyuuga Heiress.

Naruto looked quietly at the glass of water in between his hands. The news that Sasuke was now officially a missing-nin didn't come as a surprise to him. Now that he already knew he wasn't going to come willingly, Naruto had the urgent task of getting him before anyone else and imprison him. He'd rather have his friend in jail than six feet under.

"We already updated his first thirteen years of life." The middle-aged man named Shuro informed. "And it is well known that he became Orochimaru's apprentice and then executioner. What will really help us is any information on his abilities."

"Before leaving the village Sasuke already knew my Chidori technique, along with a few fire jutsus." Kakashi stated gravely.

"He favors lighting techniques." Naruto said, looking at Kakashi. "He uses them along with his katana to form a sharper blade. Although he can use thunder freely without help of any weapon."

"A-rank fire jutsus too." Commented Hinata. Being so early in the morning, her scent was fresh and intoxicating. Almost as if she had just stepped out of the shower. The blond tried to focus on the conversation.

"He's developed another level of Sharingan. The pattern was different, but I can't remember it well." He ran his hand through his hair, wishing the coffee would arrive soon.

"I think I can." Hinata piped up. Her eyes then turned hesitant. "Although I'd need a sheet of paper first."

With a smile, Ibiki handed paper and a pencil to the teen.

Hinata started to draw the six-point star that resembled Sasuke's Sharingan. After looking at it, Naruto started to remember.

"This dark part is his pupil, and it dilates when using that fire thing." The blond pointed to the center of the eye.

"What fire thing?" Anko asked.

"Uh…"

"Amaterasu." Hinata answered again. The blond looked at her gratefully. If it weren't for Hinata's observation skills, the meeting wouldn't be as productive as it was proving to be. "It summons black flames wherever he sets his eyes upon. Allegedly it can burn for a week straight if he so wishes."

"Hurts like hell." Naruto contributed, taking a hand to his affected arm. "It feels like it can burn through anything."

"Kakashi, did you know of any of this?" The Hokage turned to the gray-haired ninja. He shook his head.

"My knowledge of the Sharingan is very limited. Since I'm not an Uchiha, my abilities do not have the potential to get to those lengths."

In that moment Hirumi knocked on the door before entering the room. The smell of freshly made coffee filled everyone's nostrils. Everyone except Hinata and Kakashi took a cup. Naruto wasn't a coffee fan, but if he wanted to get through today he felt he needed at least two more cups.

"The curse Orochimaru had implanted on him is gone." Naruto said evenly. Anko's gaze sharpened. "The tattoo was no longer on his shoulder, but I don't know-"

"During his fight with his brother, Itachi managed to expel Orochimaru's influence out of Sasuke's body." The torture specialist said, crossing her arms. "Karin talks little about his plans, but that she shared with us."

"Why would Itachi…" Naruto started questioning, but Anko was already shrugging.

"The things she tells us about Orochimaru and Sasuke is limited, but I'm sure in time she will tell us more." Ibiki looked calmly at the Hokage.

"In time?" Naruto asked, incredulous. "I thought you two were the best in getting information out of people. By this time I was sure you'd have use any means necessary to get it out of her."

"I would love to…" Anko started, her temper flaring up at Naruto's tone. "… But in her case it's different."

The annoyed look on Naruto's face made her explain further.

"She's pregnant."

The next five hours passed rather quickly.

He only got time to tell Hinata to meet him tomorrow morning, but he didn't tell her what they were going to do, mostly because he hadn't thought about all the details yet.

As soon as he left the small meeting room, he was ushered in Tsunade's office so they could start discussing with the elder toad about Pain's abilities and that of his allies.

He actually had to take notes about each of the special abilities of each path of Pain. As he listened to Fukasaku list their jutsus, he felt his shoulders stiffen and his frown becoming more pronounced.

Pain wasn't just a name now. He now knew how he looked like and understood why it was possible for him or them to kill Jiraiya. It almost seemed unfair. Six against one. It was incredible that Jiraiya lasted almost three hours fighting them. But as dangerous as they sounded, the Uzumaki felt impatient to fight them face to face.

One of the office workers had been with them the whole time, writing everything down and ready to print it and share it with the whole community. Tsunade was taking every precaution possible.

"Good luck." Were Tsunade's parting words, as she handed Naruto a sheet of paper with a copy of the text engraved as scars on the toad's back.

As Naruto walked through the streets with the information safely hidden in his pocket, he envisioned the long night he had ahead of him. This time the village was going to pay him for his decoding services. But he had to deliver it as soon as possible. They were Jiraiya's dying words destined for him to know. It must be something not even Fukasaku could tell them, or else his master wouldn't have bothered.

If it was meant for him, that meant that Jiraiya's books were a key piece of the puzzle. Naruto just needed to figure out which book was it this time, and which one out of the seven encoding techniques Jiraiya had chosen.

It was going to be a long night.

Suigetsu bumped into Kimimaro's reanimated corpse harshly. The water user turned to him and graced him with a glare as he started walking off without a word.

"That was rude." Commented the white-haired man.

He heard Jugo's steps from behind and turned his head.

"Karin's absence makes him throw fits once in a while." The taller man explained calmly.

"The woman?" Kimimaro inquired, not quite familiar with all of Sasuke's new entourage.

Jugo nodded without saying anything else. For all they knew their comrade was either dead or a prisoner in Konoha. Sasuke was inclined on thinking the former, as it would mean one less thing to worry about. Suigetsu had demanded Sasuke to let him find out the truth, but the Uchiha had more important things in mind.

"Kabuto assures me we'll have approximately fifty reanimations for the attack." Sasuke told the masked man as they strolled down the humid corridors of their new lair. It was much smaller, and Jugo had to bunk with Suigetsu so Kabuto would have more space to keep bodies and instruments.

"Only fifty?" Madara asked, slightly put off. Sasuke scowled at his tone.

"That would be more than enough to conquer Konoha." The young dark-haired man assured, turning fully to the mysterious man.

"You should stop thinking about that dump and start visualizing something bigger."

Sasuke looked at him dangerously. He still didn't get why Madara was so set on getting on his way to destroy Konoha. "We'll be ready to strike Konoha in about a month or so."

"I'm afraid that won't be necessary, Sasuke."

His words left a cold sensation in his stomach. The youngest Uchiha turned his hands into a fist. "Why's that?"

Madara ignored the daggers sent his way. "Pain has already decided to rattle the village and smoke out the Jinchuriki."

"That-"

"And believe me Sasuke, there won't be much left to destroy after he goes after him." The man added with amusement.

"Taking Konoha is my right!" Sasuke's strong words rung all the way down the tunnels. "If he is so set on doing it then we'll coordinate attacks."

"He doesn't need back up." The legendary Uchiha said. "That's why it should be better for you to keep stocking reanimations, because we'll surely need them once the war call has rung."

"I can't allow that. Not only is he going for Konoha, but also for that stupid Naruto." Sasuke seethed. He started hating Pain even if he hadn't even met him.

"Think beyond, Sasuke." Madara raised his hands amiably. "If you settle in Konoha before the time is right, the rest of the shinobi nations will stand against you and try to take it back."

Sasuke's glare didn't diminish.

"You help us get in control of the whole country and you can have whatever nation you crave." Sensing that Sasuke still had some fight left in him, Madara thought it was better to get away and let him calm down on his own.

Sasuke watched the man distort out of existence. He'd never felt so impotent in his life.

His face was flushed in anger. What was the point on being the leader of his own country if he still had to take orders from someone whose face he didn't even know? He wanted power, and it seemed that he'd find resistance in every step of the way. Allies or enemies, they didn't understand his goals.

Tuning down his anger, Sasuke forced himself to think clearly.

He'd let Akatsuki think they were in control for a little longer.

She thought she'd been sad before, but this was the first time someone had stood her up. And not just by anyone.

He seemed so serious when he told her to wait for him at 11:00 AM sharp at her house, so naturally she was ready an hour earlier. The minutes went by painfully slow, but she was good at being patient.

At 11:30 she began to feel insecure, but she told herself that it was natural for him to be late. Kakashi was his teacher so she shouldn't be surprised. Hinata only realized the hard truth when her sister called her for lunch.

Eating surrounded by her family helped her to keep calm and act normal, but deep inside she felt like dying.

'Too good to be true.' She repeated to herself as she walked to her dormitory. She walked slowly, making sure nobody suspected something was wrong with her. Her eyes knew they needed to start leaking just after she crossed her bedroom door, but not a second before.

Once she finally closed the door behind her, she gave the order to her body to crumble apart, but a startling cry made her jump out of her skin.

"I AM SO SORRY!" Naruto exclaimed from just a few steps away from her. His appearance seemed so out of place in her calm and boring room, Hinata almost got a heart attack. "Hinata, you can't imagine just how ashamed I am! I just totally forgot our date! You need to believe me."

Her hand had gone to her chest without her knowledge. She just started to notice how hard she was clutching her blouse.

Her lips trembled in need to say something but Naruto had taken the initiative yet again.

"I fell asleep as I was working and the moment I woke up I just kept going through the papers." Naruto's eyes seemed crazy with regret, his hair was a little pulled back, as if he had run all the way here at full speed. Stepping up towards her and grabbing her shoulders in his hands, he continued. "Only when I finished I remembered-"

Her unexpected laughter made him stop his rambling. He looked at her like she was crazy, but Hinata almost doubled over in fits of giggles. 'What the…' Her behavior was so weird Naruto was at a loss for words, even if he had practiced his speech in his way over.

"Naruto-kun I… I should've guessed." The girl said as she recovered her breath, but her smile was wider every second. Naruto didn't find it funny.

"Don't take it lightly, this is serious!" He scolded her, letting her free from his grip. "I fucked it up."

"No, It's OK." Hinata offered him a shy smile. "I just thought you might've…" Now that her nervous laughter had escaped her system, her real feelings arose.

Naruto took a few seconds to figure out what she meant.

His eyes widened in alarm.

"What? You thought I'd bail on you?!" He looked offended, thing which made Hinata thought it was the cutest thing ever. "C'mon… It was me who asked you in the first place!"

"Shhh." Hinata looked behind her to make sure no one took notice of the ruckus coming from her room. "They can't know you're in here."

"Like I care." The blond said defiantly, but he did lower his voice to please her. "I just needed you to know it was an accident. I am really sorry, Hinata. Please, please forgive me."

She shook her head with a kind smile. "There's nothing to forgive, Naruto-kun. You had more important things in your hands."

"Nuh uh." He shook his head stubbornly. "This was at the top of the list."

His words reminded Hinata to blush, thing which made Naruto's day.

"Tomorrow for sure." Naruto said as he looked at her straight in the face. "Yes?"

She might be imagining it, but she could swear Naruto's eyes were shinning with some unnamed emotion she'd never seen in them. And they were looking directly at her. Her knees suffered a sudden weakness, but she managed to stay upright.

"Of course." Her response came in a shy tone, but it was enough to make Naruto beam.

"All right." The Uzumaki grinned. "I'll be here at 11 AM sharp. Oh, and wear your training clothes."

Hinata raised an eyebrow at his request.

"Don't get me wrong, you look pretty good with what you're wearing right now." He didn't need to lie about that. She looked pretty either way. "But we're gonna get dirty, so I'm just giving you a heads up."

Confused as she was, Hinata reminded herself that Naruto was always full of surprises. He didn't like following the rules, and it was no exception on dates either.

"Okay."

With a satisfied smile he said. "I have to deliver a message to granny. See you tomorrow then."

"Hmm." Tsunade mused with her eyes closed. "Unfortunately, this doesn't help us much."

Just like Naruto, the Hokage had also supposed that once deciphered, Jiraiya's clue would help them deal with Pain when the time came. But the message left them at a loss.

"The Real One Isn't With Them."

"Even if the true enemy isn't among the group, there will still be six paths of Pain to fight." The Hokage continued.

Naruto was finding it hard to believe that Jiraiya's last words were practically useless to them. "What now?" His head was suspended against his open palm tiredly.

Tsunade watched how Naruto tried to suppress a yawn with his hand as she thought about their next move.

"Go home. I'll have an expert look up everything we have to know about the Rinnegan." Just saying that word made the woman's mouth taste funny. It was incredible they were dealing with a legendary Doujutsu that wasn't supposed to exist anymore. "Although it might take a while, since it was supposed to be a myth."

Naruto nodded, eager to get back to his lovely bed. Just as he was walking away from the main desk, Tsunade called his name.

"Naruto, come back on Friday." For some reason, Tsunade seemed more serious than a minute before. "And clear your agenda that day."

"Why? What are we going to do?" Tired as he was, her words still sparked interest in him.

"I'll tell you on Friday." Tsunade said defiantly. "Now get out."

If he were more energized, he would surely have put more of a fight. But he needed to rest for tomorrow, so he let it slide just this once.

"Did you bring a change of clothes?"

Hinata looked down at her hands, where a small paper bag was hanging.

She nodded. "Well, you said we were going to get dirty so I did, just in case."

Naruto smiled. "Good."

"May I ask what are we going to do?" She was clearly confused at Naruto's requests.

"First of all, we're gonna spar." Naruto said, turning his eyes to her as he approached the clearing within the trees. "'Cause I've never actually fought with you, and I thought it might be fun."

Even if his idea of a date seemed really weird, Hinata had to agree with him. After all, they both had been training hard the past three years, and in a way they both had been source of inspiration for the other.

"Okay." The girl responded.

"Then we're gonna have lunch." He was climbing a small hill that had a pair of trees on top. He started rummaging through his backpack until he found a small scroll. "Feast your eyes."

Calling the contents of the scroll, a woven basket and a small container filled with ice and drinks lay on top of the scroll. Hinata stared at the offering for a few seconds before looking at Naruto's expectant eyes.

"You prepared a picnic?" Her tone was that of surprise. She needed to compose herself, since never in her wildest dreams did she imagine she'd end up in a date with Naruto sharing a picnic. Tears of emotion threatened to appear.

"Well, I tried…" The blond said nervously, looking at the ground as he scratched the back of his head. "There's enough for a few sandwiches, fruit salad and some other stuff... but let's focus on our fight first, okay?"

He was clearly embarrassed at his first attempt of providing food for someone else, apart from being on his first date. The girl nodded, unable to suppress the smile on her lips. He nudged his head for her to follow him back down to the clearing.

"We will not use our strongest jutsus, obviously." The blond started listing the rules with his hand. "Weapons are allowed, because otherwise it'd be boring. Uh… jutsus bellow B-rank are okay I guess."

"Ways of losing: taping out, not being able to continue and unconsciousness. Is that clear?" Hinata smiled, already feeling excited about what was about to come.

"Yes."

"Oh, and the loser has to do anything the winner tells him/her to do. Fair enough?" The blond smirked at her as she was taken aback by the last part. He then grinned when her eyes became serious.

She nodded.

"Surrender?" Naruto panted, looking straight down at her from their short distance from one another. Hinata called back her Byakugan. Even if she had her right hand free, Naruto's hand on her throat meant that he could slice it or crush it if it were a fight to the death. The blond's pain-tolerance was so great that not even if she struck him from behind or the side could he let go of her.

It had actually taken a lot from him to finally get up close to her and pin her up against a tree. At first he had thought playing at a distance would do the trick, but Hinata proved that even if her specialty was hand-to-hand combat, she could also hold her ground with flying juukens. One of them got him the split lip that had already healed half-way through the battle.

She tried to answer but found herself out breath. "Y-yes."

Even in their close position, Naruto couldn't enjoy it as much as he wanted. With a loud groan, he fell to back to the ground. "Thank God!"

Hinata took a few seconds to gather her breath before worrying about him. "Are you okay?"

"You tell me." The blond said with effort. His hands were clutching his stomach. "It hurts like hell."

"It's not wise to open a tenketsu point during a fight." Hinata said, kneeling besides Naruto. Once Naruto had decided that the only way to get to her was getting up close, Hinata took advantage of a slip in his attention and connected a gentle fist on his stomach. "The pain that follows can make you pass out from the shock."

"It's okay." Naruto said, looking at her through half-lidded eyes. "I'm fine. I'm just gonna stay here for a while."

Hinata smiled at him. "I'll get some water for both of us."

He decided not to respond, or talk for a while. He waited for five minutes before drinking the water Hinata had brought for him. As he rested, the long-haired girl excused herself so she could change away from him.

"You did the same thing against Neji." Naruto suddenly spoke.

They had already climbed the hill and were resting near the basket full of food. Hinata looked at his fallen form on the ground. His face didn't look pained anymore; Naruto was enjoying the breeze hitting his heated face.

"What do you mean?"

"In the chuunin exams…" With a slight groan, Naruto pulled himself on a sitting position to look at her better. "You let him hit you so you could hit him in return."

Hinata knitted her eyebrows slightly as she thought back on it. She had let her guard down on her left side, so Naruto could get a kick in, but as it was about to impact, Hinata managed to land her palm.

"I guess it is. I felt I needed to catch you off guard so I could get a critical hit."

Naruto watched serenely as Hinata's dark hair whipped back against the wind. "I applauded it back then, but you shouldn't rely on it."

The girl pursed her lips. She already knew what he was getting at. "You think it's too dangerous?"

"Your fighting style should rely on patience, not strength. If I hadn't slow down my kick you'd be at the hospital right now." He said gravely.

"I know that. I was running out of chakra, so I guess that's my desperate measure." The girl admitted. She was surprised Naruto caught up so quickly. "I have to work on my endurance more."

"Yeah. Even if you can't outlast your opponent, it should give you more time to think a strategy that doesn't involve a kamikaze scheme." The blond smiled at her. "But apart from that, is nearly impossible to break your defense."

Hinata smiled at the ground. Hearing such praise from Naruto was making her heart sing.

"What about me?" He asked as he opened his back pack and took out a green shirt.

"Extraordinary strength, quick reflexes, a portfolio of never ending jutsus, breakneck speed…" Hinata was about to say something else but she forgot what was going through her mind as a glimpse of Naruto's nude torso graced her sight. The image of perfect deity sculptures crossed her mind as she saw Naruto's abs flex as he worked on his new shirt. "Uhm… but you might be a little predictable with your clones."

Naruto smiled at the mention of his dear bunshins. "They're the first ones to taste battle so I know what I'm up against." He had started to take out the food from the basket. Hinata hurried to help him set up the picnic. "Although you do have a point. The start of my fights is always similar."

"As long as the opponent doesn't know who you are you should be all right." Even as she said that Hinata knew it was almost impossible for any shinobi to ignore who he was. Naruto had gone and gotten a name for himself, Jinchuriki or not.

"Okay, so…" Naruto was placing the plates full of food and fruit separated from each other so Hinata could see the courses clearly. "Everything you see here is fresh, I just packed it in this morning. You can put either turkey or pork in your sandwich…" He looked up nervously at Hinata's eyes taking in all the kinds of ingredients in different recipients in front of her.

He might have bought most of the stuff, but he definitively worked on slicing every single part of the vegetables so they could fit the menu. There were slices of tomatoes, pickles and lettuce on different containers. Mayonnaise, ketchup and mustard neatly put at her disposition, along with some small cherries and even a vial of olive oil.

Just as they had already fixed their first sandwiches, Naruto started taking out even more bowls of fruit. Hinata found herself eating everything from grapes and kiwi to pickled banana with a spoonful of whip cream. Even if Naruto had brought slices of cheese to place on the main item, there were also two different sets of cheese neatly cut in dices to contrast the sweetness of the fruits.

Hinata felt her stomach fill at a rapid pace after two sandwiches and countless portions of fruit and cheese. Naruto didn't seem to slow down on his intake, although he was doing so at a slow pace so he didn't make Hinata uncomfortable with his usual sloppy manners.

"You never told me what happened to you the day before yesterday." Hinata said, taking a small break from eating and hanging back with a soda can in her hand.

Naruto was busy creating a two-story sandwich to know what she meant. "The day before yesterday? I don't recall..."

"When you came in late to the meeting?" Hinata added.

"Oh, right!" The memory brought a grin to his face, which Hinata shared with a much smaller and reserved grin. "The night before I went to see Tsunade at a bar." Once he finished placing the last remnants of the cheese strings, he proceeded to take the few tomatoes left. "I wanted to talk about Jiraiya at first but we ended up drinking like… I don't know… it must've been ten sake bottles at least."

Naruto didn't know to smile or cringe at the memory. It was blurry, and more than anything he remembered the terrible headache of that morning.

"That's…" Hinata's eyes were wide. She had barely even ingested more than four sake cups in a single round, she could hardly imagine so much liquor in a person's system. "That's a lot."

"I know, right?" He chuckled. "Although I'm sure Granny must've had at least five more on her own before I arrived. I don't know how she could wake up early after that." He started munching carefully around his wide sandwich, careful not to make it topple over. He didn't notice the silence that fell on them, since he was too busy finishing what he guessed was the last sandwich of the evening, but once he was done, he turned to Hinata only to catch her smiling at him.

"What?" He asked, genuinely confused at the way she was looking at him.

Hinata tried really hard to get embarrassed, but the comfortable position along with the delicious food made it really hard to feel awkward at the moment. "Nothing."

"Nothing?" Naruto turned fully to her, feeling the contagious smile scurry to his lips.

"How's your stomach?" she hurried to say. Naruto's devious smile was making her feel faint.

"All better now." The blond said, dismissing her worries. "Hey, how's it going with Kiba? I saw you two talking at the funeral."

Hinata looked at Naruto, almost forgetting that Jiraiya had ceased to exist in this world, but she knew it was weighting Naruto down even if he didn't show it. "We are okay now. He apologized when I was at the hospital. He also told me he apologized to you."

The blond smiled widely and nodded. Hinata was glad that it was Kiba's own initiative to excuse his actions to Naruto. With all that had been happening around him, it was good that he had one less thing to worry about in his life.

"A Hyuuga clan head can't be Hokage, right?" The whiskered young man asked, looking at her. The Hyuuga drew her eyebrows together.

"I suppose? Managing the Hyuuga clan is a great task by itself. But why do you ask?"

Naruto started putting the plates back in the basket. "Just making sure I don't have to fight you for the title of Hokage. At the rate you're going…" His tone was innocent, but his eyes said differently.

Her smile slowly became a grin. "Well, who knows? I might just give the title back to Hanabi-neesan and make Hokage my new goal." She commented slyly, as she helped him gather containers.

"You wouldn't." He raised his head and looked at her sharply.

"I wouldn't have to deal with the elders anymore..." She continued teasing him, leveling his stare with hers.

"I won't let you." Naruto said firmly.

"I hardly think you could stop me." Hinata affirmed, crossing her arms in front of her chest daringly.

Naruto noticed vaguely how her arms pressed against her breasts and made them more prominent. "You forget you have to do anything I tell you. That was the deal, right?"

He must feel really threatened if he was to use that promise on her. But if this helped her get out of an embarrassing dare, then she would go along with it.

"Fine. What do you propose?" Even though they were having a good time, Hinata couldn't help to feel nervous at the slight glint of mischievousness on his eye.

"I'm a nice guy, so I'll give you two options." Placing the basket behind them, Naruto scooted closer to her. "You can either, promise you'll give up on any attempt to become Hokage or…"

She leaned closer, giving his propositions her full attention. But she couldn't guess why his cheeks suddenly got pink.

"Or?" Hinata prodded, looking at him intently.

The words rummaged in his tongue for a few seconds before he managed to get them out. "Or you can go on a second date with me."

Her eyes widened in surprise. Is that what was making him feel insecure? Her lips spread into a sweet smile. Naruto didn't know what to make of it so he just held his breath.

"Hmm…" She mused, looking at the grass in between them. She thought she heard Naruto swallow loudly. "I don't think I want to burn the bridge to the Hokage title just yet. So I'll guess I'll go out with you again."

He watched her eyelashes flutter as she turned to him once again. The lump on his throat suddenly disappeared. "That's kind of a bittersweet victory." He chuckled as he took a hand to the back of his neck. "I'll just add you to the list of my rivals, then."

"Who else is on that list?" The girl asked, placing her palms on the grass.

Naruto looked up in remembrance. "Baa-chan, obviously. Kakashi-sensei, Shikamaru, Konohamaru, practically any jounin alive right now, and now you."

"That's a long list." Hinata said with a giggle. Naruto nodded.

"Now you know why I can't stop training." They were now sitting side to side, looking down the hill and into the valley of dense trees that went on for kilometers.

"In all honesty, Hin…" Naruto turned and looked carefully at her. "How would you rate today?"

She gave him a smile, which burned Naruto's insecurities to the ground. "Aside from losing to you, I would say I had a great time." Her smile became bigger as she saw him grin. "How about you?"

"Training, eating and spending time with you?" Naruto snorted at how easy that question was. "That's about as good as it can get."

Hinata blushed at the ease with which he showed how happy he was. Now she saw the rewards of their longtime friendship.

"What would you have asked of me?" He asked with genuine curiosity.

Hinata licked her lips and looked down, embarrassed. "Honest?"

"Well, yeah." The blond answered. They'd been honest up to this point, why stop now?

Hinata pursed her lips before answering. "I think… I'd have ask for a chance to rewrite that awkward episode we had."

"You mean the kiss?"

Hinata nodded shyly.

It was the first time since the funeral that any of them had brought up that part. Hinata guessed it was easier to talk to him if they both pretended it didn't happen, but that didn't mean it was going to go away.

"If it really means that much to you…"

She turned at his words, but Naruto was already leaning down to her. Their lips met the second time that week. Thanks to her, the whiskered boy knew how shocked one could feel when having an unexpected kiss, so he lingered a good while to give Hinata time to react.

He couldn't see her eyes closing, but he did feel her leaning more against his mouth. He swore there were firecrackers going off in his stomach. It was so intense it hurt, but the lightness of her lips helped him cope with the feelings exploding everywhere in his body.

As they broke the kiss, both of them knew there was no going back this time.

"You have to be kidding."

Tsunade looked at him carefully. "Everything I just told you is true."

"If I really am the Fourth's son, the villagers wouldn't treat me like shit." Naruto was decided on not believing anything Tsunade had just told him.

"I told you it was the best kept secret of the time, Naruto." The Fifth stood up from her chair with a frown on her face. "Still is. Minato was so careful, the only other people who knew are dead now."

Hearing the Fourth's name weirded him out even more. "You don't even have any proof!"

"You can go and have a paternity test any time you like." Once she reached for something deep within the office's safe case, she turned to the boy. "But all you need to convince yourself is in here."

Naruto looked incuriously at the keys hanging from a red-whirlwind key chain; it was the same symbol every shinobi had on the back of their vests. "What's that?"

"The keys to Kushina and Minato's house." Her arm extended so she could hand it to the perplexed chuunin. "Legally, it belongs to you now."

A long pause ensued. Neither of them making a move. Tsunade broke the silence. "Well, aren't you going to take it?"

"Why should I?" The blond snapped, looking at the offending item. It seemed impossible that such a little thing could make feelings of fear and insecurity emerge within him. "I'm an orphan! The fact that I now know who they were doesn't change anything. Besides… I don't think I'd want them as my parents."

"What are you saying?!"

"He made me a jinchuriki!" Naruto answered, pointing at Minato's picture against the wall. "My life has been hell because of him! And my mom let him?!"

"Well, would you respect them if they had forced another family to give up their child to Kyuubi?" Tsunade watched closely as Naruto gripped the clothes just on top of his stomach, where the seal was supposed to be. "Huh?"

"No, but-!"

"It had to be you, Naruto." Tsunade stepped to him and held his gaze with her eyes. "Not even because you were the Fourth's son, but because you are a descendant of the Uzumakis. Apart from Kushina, there was no one else who had the chakra reserves to contain the demon."

Naruto inhaled sharply, but there whatever he was going to reply slipped his mind and he was left at a loss.

"Don't fight the truth. You are the son of two heroes of Konoha. You will learn to embrace it."

"It's too much…" He confessed, looking aside.

"I know." Tsunade said as her eyes softened. She took Naruto's hand on her own and placed the keys on his palm. "Take your time to take it all in."

The boy ran a hand through his hair with a heavy sigh. "It's-"

Whatever was going through their heads at that second went blank as a familiar sense of huge chakra molding hit their senses. Blue eyes searched for her golden ones in search for answers. Just before speaking, a glowing red light along with a shrill siren started going off in her office.

"They're summoning the shields." Tsunade said and hurried to her desk to look for a phone. Just before reaching for it, it started to ring. "Yes?!"

"Tsunade-sama, the Nara's gave the order to raise the chakra shields 'round the village. According to Shikaku, there's been a breach on the peri-"

She stopped paying attention to the words coming from the phone when an overwhelming sense of danger made her and Naruto look up. The blond frowned as his instincts told him something big was coming for them. His suspicions came true when an all-out chakra wave expanded from above them at an alarming speed.

"Baa-chan!" He roared over the loud rumbling that was the structure falling right on their heads. He made a move to go after her but the floor crumbled right beneath him.

(A/N: You might wanna refer to the AN section at the end with the description of each of the Six Paths of Pain so you know which one I'm talking about)

She saw how the pulsating wave of destruction faced against the expanding chakra shield that was surrounding her neighborhood. As soon as they clashed, the green wall started shrinking down against the powerful attack. Her skilled eyes managed to make out other bubble shields appearing in different points of the city, all of them encircling the village's walls, but none had appeared in the center of the city. In the distance, she saw how buildings fell back to their foundations and clouds of smoke rose to the air. The ground trembled under her feet and almost made her stumble.

Just as one of the servants fainted, the lethal wave subsided and left their zone intact. There was a full minute of people breathing shakily, until they all started activating their blood limit.

"The Hokage tower is down!" One man called from his position at the garden.

"There's a figure falling from the sky!"

"I see it too!"

"Everyone!" It was Hinata's turn to speak, and the voices of confusion and speculation stopped at once. "Spread out and help anyone you can. Take them to the closest shelter."

There was two seconds of silence as every Hyuuga registered the voice as that of the future heiress. With a single and energetic "Hai!" shinobi started running through the streets and into the chaos.

A number of people ran through her mind as Hinata sped behind her family, but only two figures remained as the woman changed routes and charged into the west.

She bit her lip as she rushed past the devastation the energy wave created. With her Byakugan she saw glimpse of corpses buried deep within the concrete, dying people screaming in pain and wounded all around. One by one, Hyuugas started to stop to help the ones closest to them, until Hinata arrived at the fallen two-story building that had been Kurenai's house.

With a tight knot throbbing on her stomach, Hinata assumed the worst. "Kurenai-sensei!" She screamed. In her current panic state, her Byakugan deactivated without her knowledge. "Mirai-chan!" She took a step towards the ruins of the building, until a familiar voice made her turn on her heel.

"We're here, Hinata!" She quickly recognized it as Kurenai's voice. She had crawled to the most deserted part of the street, where no lighting posts could fall or harm the crying baby in her arms.

"Thank god you're okay!" Hinata exclaimed with tears in the corner of her eyes. "For a moment I thought…"

"I had to get her from her crib." The black-haired jounin exclaimed, embracing her loyal student. There was dust on her face and hair, and a big bruise forming on her forearm. "The way to the door was already blocked, so my only chance was to go through the kit-"

Both women instincts kicked in as a flying projectile rushed to their position. Jumping in opposite directions, they narrowly avoided the explosion on their previous spot.

Hinata coughed once. 'It smells like gunpowder.'

"He's right behind you!" Hinata was already pivoting on her left foot even before Kurenai warned her. A big, cloaked figure loomed over her.

Only the cries of the baby were heard as the stranger revealed himself to be some kind of giant with dark spikes coming out from his bald head and rods incrusted all over his face.

"The jinchuriki." The man breathed deeply, looking with his strange purple eyes at Hinata's Byakugan. "Where is he?"

Hinata's eyes narrowed dangerously as her mind figure out what was really going on. Without answering his question, the Hyuuga summoned air jukens from her palms towards the enemy. The cloaked man shuffled to the sides rapidly, avoiding every single one of the air blows sent his way.

"Hmm…" The intruder set his eyes on her as he extended his palm. Hinata took a step back as his hand gave way to silver finger-like things that shot out from his limb and went straight to her. Spinning rapidly on her center, she summoned her divine wall just seconds before the projectiles reached her.

As the first two missiles hit her chakra defense, she felt herself skid back on the dirt and her spin slowdown from the explosion. With the fourth one, she felt her jutsu halt almost completely, and the fifth finally blew her off her feet and into a concrete wall in the background.

The monster then switched his gaze to the older woman and her baby. Kurenai held Mirai closer to her chest as the man opened his mouth. "Tell me where he is."

"I don't know." The woman said seriously, wondering if a genjutsu would work on him. "But even if I knew I wouldn't tell you."

"I'm done with you, then." He proclaimed, canalizing his other hand on her direction. As the missiles started to protrude from his hand, Kurenai stood on her feet and started running for her and her babies' life.

Hinata managed to open her eyes in time to see her terrified sensei running through the rubble and stumbling on a broken wooden structure. "Sensei!" Her scream hurt her vocal cords, but she could only register a black shadow enveloping Kurenai and Mirai just before the missiles struck.

The set of explosions rumbled through her ears, but she knew whose jutsu it was. The smoke cleared to reveal the dark sphere unscathed.

Once the bald shinobi saw the shadow user kneeling on top of a fallen building, his body turned to him.

"Hinata, take them somewhere safe. I'll stay with him." Shikamaru ordered, as he retrieved the shadow from around the scared but safe family of two and directed it to the giant's shadow. The enemy didn't move as the dark entity approach him. Once it had reached his shadow, it merged and formed a link with the user.

"You're stupid for a Nara." Said the Akatsuki member confidently. The surface of his head opened in layers only to show more of the dreaded rockets pointing in different positions. Shikamaru pursed his lips worriedly. "I still have more limbs."

One of the rockets targeted the young chuunin while the rest went for Kurenai. Shikamaru already knew that his shadow wouldn't reach them on time, but Hinata would. The Yuhi screamed in terror as Hinata instinctively went to shield them from the attack.

The missile reached Shikamaru first, directly on his shoulder. He was sent skidding over the debris.

Hinata embraced her sensei. The hysteric child was in between them. The only thing Hinata could do was to expel chakra from her back to try and reduce the damage they all were going to get. Only that it never came. The first thing she felt was a jerk from her head, as someone grabbed her and took her out of harm's way. The explosions went off behind her, and that was when she opened her eyes.

There were arms wrapped around her. But even in her confusion, she first searched for Kurenai. Mirai's desperate wails were coming right behind her, where a Naruto clone was putting the mother back into the ground.

"Shikamaru, are you all right?!" Another Naruto called right on top of her. She looked up to see Naruto's face against the sky.

A loud groan was heard from Shikamaru's resting spot. It was enough for Naruto. Placing Hinata down, he turned to the murderer.

"Finally." The man chuckled at the sight of the glaring blond. Just like Kurenai, Naruto's clothes were scuffed and dirty, but he didn't seem harmed in any way.

"You son of a bitch." The blond spat, falling on his knees. "Everyone, get behind me."

Hinata walked up to her sensei and placed a hand on her shoulder. Kurenai was focused on comforting her child. She felt chakra gathering in Naruto's center. He was performing a long list of hand signs rapidly, until his hands settled on the bird seal.

The Asura Path discarded his Akatsuki cloak to reveal two more hands coming from his back. There were now four sets of brand new rockets flying right at the group. The blond inhaled deeply, until his diaphragm swelled with repressed air. Naruto then expelled the chakra covered air against the missiles.

The force was such that the rockets blew up as soon as they hit the wind wall. The ground shook as the explosions ensued, and smoke littered the battlefield. Wasting no time, Naruto's clone rushed forward with a glowing Rasengan on his palm. As he went through the smoke screen, the clone was received with a sharpened tail-like knife going through his head.

More smoke came to life as the clone disappeared, and the man was straining his eyes to see where the real jinchuriki was hiding. He found out seconds later, when Naruto fell on top of him with a Rasengan firmly against his back.

It was like crushing an insect. Bits of steel and metal flew in different directions, with minor explosions going off within his body. Naruto's attack went through the chest and managed to carve a crater on the ground.

"You deserve that and more." The blond said. He frowned at the small flames littering his right sleeve. With a swift flick of his wrist they were gone. "Good thing there's more of you."

"You have no chance against us." Even though his body was a complete mess, the head of the Asura Path spoke as if nothing had happened. Naruto snarled at it and picked it up so he could look at it in both his Rinnegan eyes.

"Says the guy with the severed head." The jinchuriki countered with gritted teeth. The dismembered man grinned wider.

"We are coming for you."

"Wrong." The blond said, starting to press his fingers harder against his skull and denting wherever he touched. "I'm coming for you. This is our fight."

"Our fight can start once we finish Jiraiya's foolish teammate."

Naruto's eyes widened as he realized he was referring to Tsunade. He thought she was safe when the ANBU arrived to guard her, but apparently they were no match for Pain. He noticed Hinata's faint steps behind him.

"Leave her alone. I'm coming where you are." Without blinking, the blond pushed his hands together until the man's head was completely crushed between his fingers.

"Naruto-kun." Hinata called as she reached his side.

"How's Shikamaru?" He turned and asked hurriedly.

Hinata looked to the malformed head on the floor, hesitated, but finally answered. "His arm is burned, but he's not in danger. Mirai-chan and sensei are safe as well."

She noticed how Naruto's face loosened up. He nodded. "Good…" He sighed. "Good. How about you?" Placing a hand on her shoulder, he glanced at her bruised forearms and dirty clothes. The Hyuuga felt herself relax for the first time since the start of the attack. Naruto's protectiveness of her was practically tangible. She felt safe.

"I'm okay. We all are, thanks to you." She took his hand between both of hers. "This is all Akatsuki's fault, isn't it?" She knew she was right, because Naruto wasn't able to relax. His eyes were looking at the center of the village desperately. Spikes of chakra filled the air coming from that direction.

"Just Pain." The blond answered. A few meters behind her, he could see Shikamaru walking slowly towards Asuma's family with a hand on his wounded shoulder. "Six of him. I need to kill them."

"You can't fight them alone, they-"

"I have to. I swore I'd avenge Jiraiya. And Pain has gone too far…" His eyes darkened, but Hinata squeezed his hand tighter and forced his attention to her. He softened his voice. "You have to take them somewhere safe. They already know we're here, it's dangerous for you to stay."

"I'll help you once-"

"No you won't!" The sudden force in his voice startled her. "I can take Pain on. It's my fight, alright?"

Shikamaru and Kurenai were already walking towards them. Hinata could only stare at the ground.

"I'll give you three of my strongest clones to escort you to the shelters." Slipping his hand away from Hinata's, the blond summoned three clones identical to him. They even sported the same tattered clothes and burned up sleeve. "Two of them will seek for more people in need."

"You shouldn't waste so much of your chakra." Shikamaru called wisely, sweat covering his face. Hinata agreed with the Nara. She turned her head to Naruto expectantly.

"Don't worry. They can help me from afar. You'll see."

Even though Naruto was smiling when he said that, Hinata didn't feel convinced of his confidence.

"Be careful." Hinata heard herself say lamely. She felt powerless against any of Naruto's risky decisions.

"I'll use everything I have on him." The blond assured. He wanted to embrace her but didn't feel brave enough in front of the others.

"Thank you, Naruto." Kurenai said sincerely. She gave Naruto a one-armed hug.

"Don't thank me yet."

"I should hurry back to help Naruto." Gamakichi spoke, glancing down unto her.

"Of course." Said Tsunade tiredly. She was still shocked that the self-proclaimed Pain had disposed of his ANBU guard so easily. Even if there were more than the three paths that came looking for her, one of the orange-haired entities could deflect any attack thrown towards him and at the same time launch the shinobis into the waiting mouth of a monstrous summon another path had called.

She had been powerless to do anything as she was channeling chakra into the thousands of tiny slugs that had gone to aid the citizens that still could be saved. She had placed way too much trust on her guard and spent almost all of her chakra on her summons. Tsunade would've been dead by now if it weren't for a sticky tongue wrapping around her and taking her to safety. She could see Naruto jumping over to the ruins of the Hokage Tower; golden, toad-like eyes set in determination as he landed right in front of the feared Pain.

Even if Gamakichi wanted to go back and taste battle, the toad couldn't leave the Hokage until Sakura arrived for her, per Naruto's instructions.

The Hokage felt the toad's body stiffen. She turned to look sharply at him, even though the sudden movement gave her a throbbing headache. "What's wrong?"

"Dad's here." Even though his words were simple, Tsunade felt just how nervous he'd become.

She strained her neck to look at the same direction the toad was staring, only to find herself staring too.

Even though the great attack had left the city littered with fallen buildings and houses, and even though the point of impact left a giant crater in the center the Konoha, Tsunade and anyone else that looked where she was looking could clearly see three giant, colorful figures adorning the battlefield.

Mesmerized, Tsunade thought: 'I thought I'd never see that frog again.'

"I'm a toad you fucking twat!"

Gamabunta roared furiously as one of the summoned beasts (A giant, flying bird with a drill-like beak) mocked him from the sky.

Naruto ignored the ring in his ears, as he was way too busy rolling away from another missile coming his way. The giant, pierced man he had crushed an hour ago was now grinning at him as he fired missiles like there was no tomorrow.

He should've expected it. They would keep reviving until he disposed of the Naraka Path. Granpa toad had described it as a lean girl who could repair any damage, and even bring people back from the dead, it seemed. He hadn't seen her in action but he guessed it must be the small person standing behind the fighter paths, secure from any of his attacks.

He had already tried launching a rasengan but another giant asshole had swallowed his ball of energy whole, and that had pissed him off a lot.

Another missile made him sprint to the left, where he noticed a presence waiting for him behind the dust screen that one of the toad's footsteps had lifted. 'Fuck!'

A long-haired Pain leapt forward, with a hand in front of him in hopes of touching him. The Uzumaki knew that if he touched him his soul would leave his body and he would be no more. Gathering a mouthful of air as quick as he could, he propelled an air blast at the figure's face and knocked him backwards.

'That was close.' He thought, as a trickle of sweat poured next to his ear. 'But he's got me on the defense and I can't-'

"You are holding well, for a boy your age." Said the main Pain calmly. Unlike the others, he had remained in the same spot for the whole duration of the battle, leaving the fight to the others. Naruto's nostrils flared up at his taunt. He knew it had been him who had caused the devastation on the village. Naruto wanted to hold his neck between his hands and squeeze until those stupid rods came popping out of his face like springs.

But first he needed to break his strategy. He created a clone in the span of two seconds, and in the next two he punched said clone until it came non-existent. 'That will cost me one sage clone.'

Every Pain noticed this and raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment on that. Naruto turned his eyes to look at the progress of his three giant toads.

Gamabunta had already disposed of the dammed bird, but the Animal Path of Pain kept spawning even more demonic beings into existence. Right now he had summoned five monsters, one of which had been defeated by Bunta and the other one by Hiro. Gamaken was still busy fighting a fucking rhinoceros.

Right now Pain had the upper hand, because not only the other Paths but also the god dammed summons had the Rinnegan on them, which granted them a synchronized vision of everything the others were seeing. It was almost impossible to catch them off guard. 'Almost.'

Naruto bent his knees as another one of the Asura Path's projectiles went his way. The next few seconds would be crucial in the outcome of the battle.

Just as the projectile impacted against his crossed arms, another Naruto clone came running at an almost impossible speed from outside the battlefield. No one noticed him because he came from the opposite direction where the Pains were looking. And since the Naraka Path was behind everyone else, it was the first one the clone would make contact with.

The pierced girl in Akatsuki clothes didn't even know what hit her. The clone, invested with the power of the Sage chakra, came in like a bullet train and stabbed the back of her head with a kunai. His strength was such that the head was 80% severed a second after the clone had struck.

As the newcomer was molding a rasengan to make sure the girl was finished, the rest of the Pains turned around to see the girl falling to her knees. The Human Path rushed towards the scene, while the leader of the group invoked his mighty push in the clone's direction and hit him just before the Rasengan made contact. It didn't matter though, the damage was done and now they were only five more Paths.

While the attention of every Pain had been diverted to the loss of their trump card, a badly bruised and burned Naruto emerged from his place at the ground and rushed at breakneck speed towards the summoner Path. The tank, that had been busting his balls all hour long, tried to grab him before he could approach the Animal Path; so did the Human Path. The latest managed to graze his shirt but that was it, and now Naruto had the floor. He knew the main Pain had a freezing interval of 5 seconds between push and/or pull, and right now he only had one second left to destroy.

Leaving all doubt aside, the blond summoned the best quality air chakra he could to his right arm and slashed with all his might downwards.

He didn't even have time to dodge the corpse. Just as he smacked the body that was now cut in half, Pain sent him flying away into the wall of cement and dirt that had been some building's foundations.

Even in the pain he was in, he heard the distinguishing 'Puffs' of great summons going away, and knew he know could fight Pain and have a chance of coming out alive from this.

The giant, orange-haired man sent two warheads his way, but now the giant toads had nothing else to do, so they just stood in the way of the projectiles and received all the damage. He knew the attack was much stronger due to the deafening explosion that ensued. Gamahiro and Gamaken were out.

Getting out of the fallen bits of wall behind him, he called to Bunta.

"GET SOME OIL!" Naruto boomed, just as he activated all of the explosive tags he carried. They were already sizzling just as the sky turned dark as tons of litters of oil ran down like a waterfall on top of the remaining Paths.

'This ought to work.' He pleaded incoherently, as the sum of the blasts and crash, plus the fact that his sage mode had receded, made him light-headed and weak. He couldn't even distinguish which Pain was which as they were all now covered in dark, slimy oil.

With a flick of his wrists, the tags trailed the knives they were wired to, and went in the ocean of oil a few feet away from him.

The heat that followed was immense. He wanted to shield his eyes and let the fire do its work but he had to take out as many Pain's as he could. Getting up from his knees and approaching the hellish fire that was so hot it seemed it was burning him, Naruto called from his consciousness one of his waiting clones and felt how all the energy of the world surrounded him.

Even through the gleam of the flames, he could deduce the Deva Path was the one enveloped in a fire ball that was keeping him out of harm. Summoning three sage mode clones, the blond made two of them bear a big Rasenshuriken each, while he sent the third one where he remembered the Preta Path being so he could lock him in place and keep him from helping the others.

"Do it!" He screamed over the roaring flames to his clones while he granted Gamabunta his passport back to his own realm.

"Wow." Kabuto whistled in amazement at the dying flames.

He had been on his way out of retrieving the last corpses from Konoha when Naruto and Pain's battle ensued. Even if Sasuke wanted those last corpses right away, he wouldn't miss the spectacle, no matter how many death threats the Uchiha sent at him.

Pain's invasion had been what he needed to retrieve the last piece of his collection of Konoha's ancient clans. Thankfully the All Mighty Push hadn't been able to trespass Konoha's peripheral shields, or it would have been even more difficult to find the graves he had been looking for.

Now, sitting at the top of the head of the Third Hokage, just above the hundreds of shelters built into the Hokage Mountain, Kabuto enjoyed the show as well as he retrieved information on Pain and Naruto's abilities.

'Just in case.'

As the last toad disappeared from sight, Kabuto knew that the fight was reaching its end.

"Maybe Sasuke will have his chance after all."

Naruto's arms twitched momentarily, as the sting from his burnt skin registered yet again in his mind.

The smell of oil and grease was all over him, and he had a slick sheen of sweet all over his body. The brutal attacks coming from Pain had obliterated his flask jacket and left his black shirt in rags. It quickly fell to the floor as the last strands of fabric surrendered to the extreme conditions. The only thing that remained on the Uzumaki's middle was the ragged bandage barely clinging to his upper arm, where Sasuke had taken a part of his skin.

Neither the two remaining Pains nor Naruto wanted to keep close to the smoldering battlefield, so they just jumped a few hundred meters south, where a new patch of debris, broken glass and wood lay scattered on the ground.

"You're so selfish…" Naruto said, as he spat in the ground some blood that had fallen to his mouth from an open wound on his forehead. "You would destroy so many lives just to have a go at me."

The leader of Akatsuki raised his head slightly. The heat hadn't reached him, so he still had his Akatsuki cloak intact. The Preta Path, on the other hand, was almost naked and had lost all of his hair in the fire.

Naruto's eyes switched from one man to the other, anxious on when his underground clone would be ready to strike.

"You have surpassed your master." The leader of the Hidden Village in the Rain conceded monotonously, ignoring the words Naruto directed to him. The blond's lips twitched in annoyance. "He couldn't even manage to kill so many of us."

"I'm gonna be killing more of you, just you wait." The blond said, although not feeling nearly as confident as he'd like to. The sage chakra he had left was barely enough to get rid of one other pain.

Pain granted him a derisive smile. "Why bother? None of your attacks can work on either of us. You have grown very strong, and you should be proud. Why not surrender with dignity?"

The blond managed to summon some energy to laugh at his words, although he now noticed a large cut was dripping blood along all the edge of his hand, where he had used his chakra to sharpen it. "Surrender is not even in my vocabulary."

"I see." Pan said impassively. "It doesn't matter. One way or the other you will end up like Jiraiya and Kakashi."

Naruto fisted his hands tight, even if he made his hand squirt more blood into the ground. On sage mode he could feel the energy of every living thing kilometers away from him. He had been tracing all the people important to him to make sure they weren't in danger, but ever since his fight started he couldn't be able to feel Kakashi no matter how hard he looked.

He wanted to let go of the tears that threatened to come out, but retained himself. Now was not the time. Too mad for words, he sent the two clones waiting behind him into the air, with a rasengan in each hand ready to strike only the main path of Pain.

As was expected, Pain repelled their attacks and puffed them out of existence, but once he turned his eyes for the real Naruto, he already had a spiked rasengan spinning on his hand and producing a high pitch sound as it rotated.

"Eat this." The blond said, feeling how the Rasenshuriken drained the energy out of him as he threw it towards him.

Pain smirked at the blue star of devastating energy as it came rapidly towards him, flying low. The Preta Path dutifully stepped in front of him and extended his arms to receive the full attack. Only that a second before the jutsu stroke, two pair of hands emerged from the round and pulled the heavy man into the earth up to the neck.

"That's for Kakashi-sensei." Naruto said under his breath, as the Rasenshuriken exploded as it made contact with the man's surprised face. Pain, realizing too late what had happened, jumped away from the scene before he got caught on the atom-shattering vacuum.

He couldn't recall how many of his rasengan's explosions he'd seen today. He only knew they were way too much. Just as he expected, he felt how his body seemed to weight a ton as the pure energy left his body.

"Just one left, sensei." He placed a hand sign in front of his mouth as he was ready to call his last clone, when an unfamiliar force pulled him harshly upwards. "Fuck!"

With Pain's leap forward he'd found Naruto within his zone of influence. The last thing Naruto remembered was black cylinders sliding magically from Pain's sleeves.

The first stab caught him unaware, so he could only register a small portion of the pain that was now imbedded in right shoulder. Before Naruto could react, the orange-haired God jabbed another long rod of unknown material right through the Jinchuriki's other shoulder.

This time the sweet sound of Naruto's screams filled his ears.

"God fucking damn it!" The Uzumaki started cursing, throbbing veins showing on his temples and neck. He wanted to fight back but he'd shattered his shoulder joints and now his arms fell limp as they floated back to the ground. "You-"

His eyes widened as far as they could when another set of agony housed itself on his hip. Pain did it slowly this time, making sure Naruto noticed that the rods weren't even sharpened on the ends. It was a simple cylinder, and the Akatsuki founder poked it through his skin and bones with just sheer force. The blond let out a haunted growl as Pain incrusted the rod through his body until it actually inserted itself in the ground.

The blond started squirming on his belly, and flailing his remaining leg fruitlessly. His face had gotten impossibly red. He watched helplessly as his hands stood still even though he was desperately wanting to move his fingers and call his clone. The smell of his own fresh blood was making him feel everything but fine.

"The last one." Pain said quietly as he rose his hand in the air and brandished the dark material. "You're gonna feel every inch of this one."

Naruto thought of speaking abuse at him but all that came from his mouth were a bunch of guttural, menacing sounds.

Pain plunged downwards.

The whiskered chuunin snapped his head back as high as he could, while producing a mute scream that eventually became a gurgling sound.

As he lay on his odd crucified position, he didn't even notice what Pain was telling him. He was barely aware of the warmth spreading throughout his torso, and was about to pass out at any minute.

The thought of having lost to Pain hadn't even crossed his mind. He was at the edge of unconsciousness. If Pain were to impale him once again he wouldn't even register it anymore.

Naruto was on an overdose of agony.

His eyes started to wave shut. Any moment he would go to sleep, away from the horrible reality his limps were experiencing and he would never wake up again. Pain stepped a few meters away so he could see the boy's face and vice versa, but he looked blurry to Naruto. He might be speaking to him but he couldn't tell for sure.

Everything was becoming dark. Everything.

Except that flash of indigo hair blocking his view of Pain.

Suddenly, his heart stopped cold in its tracks. A violent shudder woke him up from his slumber.

Fear had won over his suffering. Naruto couldn't believe what was occurring in front of his very eyes. He forced himself not to believe but now he heard her voice. It sounded like it was coming miles away but for him it was unmistakable.

Cold, wet fear spread from his stomach to his head.

"Hinata."

Author's section

(Deliver Us From Evil – Bullet For My Valentine)

- The Deva Path, which allows one to manipulate both attractive and repulsive forces.

- The Asura Path, which grants the user mechanized limbs, weaponry and armor.

- The Human Path, which gives the ability to remove a soul and so, read a person's mind.

- The Animal Path, which lets the user summon a wide variety of creatures.

- The Preta Path, which can absorb all forms of chakra, including most ninjutsu.

- The Naraka Path, through which one can summon and control the King of Hell and regenerate any damage.

- The Outer Path, which rules over both life and death.

Thanks for reading!

Leave a review if you liked it.

- Paty