Devil From The Heavens

Chapter 43: Minutes To Midnight

Mei sighed as she read the message from Kumogakure. The news wasn't great. Darui was still in a coma and, with the rest of his entourage dead, those left in charge were more reluctant to spend resources based on information from Kiri and Konoha. That being said, they had their own intel regarding the unusual light phenomena that occurred right after the Summit they were willing to share.

It was redundant as they already had hundreds of reports from across their territory but she'd be charitable and take it as a sign of good will. Given where Kumo was situated, it might help to locate it faster even if she already had her best spies on the job the moment she had returned from the Summit.

"Share with them what we have." She commanded after she wrote down her own response and handed it off to one of her shinobi. She'd extend her own olive branch and perhaps persuade them to move without Darui's leadership. This was too precarious a situation to be cautious about it now. "Everything related to the search for Madara. Secrecy won't do us any good here."

"Yes, Lady Mizukage." They responded as they promptly left.

She shifted her focus to the message from the Leaf. Mei had anticipated the request from them for some time now and so another package containing the same information that was being sent to Kumo would be delivered in turn. Behind her, Heki, a bald shinobi in a brown haori and former partner now successor to the late Ao, frowned at the order.

"I question the efficacy of being so...open with our investigation." The Jonin asked as the package was taken out of the room. "It can be assumed that our allies are holding cards close to their chest too."

"That's too short-sighted of an outlook for this enemy of ours." Mei stared into the middle distance at nothing in particular. In moments like this, she could still smell the melting flesh of the Hybrid that had nearly killed her. The ghost of its smile remained in her vision even now. Even in her relatively short life, the Kage had seen plenty of horrors most men could only dream of and she learned to live and function with those traumas. These things were beyond human comprehension; Madara was dealing in things that should not be.

"Lord Mizukage?"

She shook her head and she was back in the present for now. "Sorry, I... was caught in my thoughts, I suppose." She focused on Heki. "It is no exaggeration that Madara and his science experiments will be the end of us all if we treat it like any other crisis. Stakes like these require a change in our thinking in order to survive them so we do what we should not what is most advantageous."

Her lip turned up in a slight smile afterwards. "Besides, with Konoha in its current state, Suna gone, and Kumo headless, we're in the strongest position politically in our history. Only Iwa matches us and they're too far to be a threat at the moment."

"When the dust is settled, Kirigakure will be at the top of the mountain."

The cave they sat in was quiet except for a steady drip of water at its mouth. Broly had sat at the back facing the entrance for ten hours now with little to pass the time with as Jiraiya moved at a steady pace. Konan stood as a sentry as moot as such a thing was. There was no worry if someone approached them nor if Jiraiya tried to escape. Nothing happened without Broly's consent.

"Done." The Toad Sage pulled the sealing paper from the Saiyan's back with a perfect replica of the seal on his back. He had all three now that he could study and work out how to remove without just standing around the man. "It'll take me a few days before I have the unsealing procedure mapped out. After that, I'll get those off of you."

Broly nodded as he stood and stretched before he approached Konan. The night dimly lit as only a quarter of the moon was visible above. She hadn't said a word since they left the village nor had he tried to speak to her. He didn't know how any of this emotional stuff was supposed to work but he wanted to stay beside her. The Saiyan leaned against the wall beside the former right hand of God.

"Why did you take me with you?" She started moments later which surprised him.

Broly raised a brow and then glanced over at Jiraiya. Past the slowly dying campfire, the man had his back to them and didn't appear to be paying attention. He returned his gaze to Konan. "Was I supposed to leave you behind?" It was a stupid question to him and his tone made it clear.

"I'm useless to you as an ally. What little purpose I served is gone with my village. So why keep me around?"

Broly clicked his tongue at that and took some moments to answer. "I couldn't leave you behind. You treated me well when you didn't have to so I do it in return."

It was embarrassing to say it out loud for him. He was a Saiyan. His father always told him that Saiyans didn't have friends; they had allies and comrades in battle but no friends. The life of a Saiyan was cold, hard, and solitary; the perfect life to breed a ruthless warrior. But why listen to a man who betrayed him? That was the question the old man asked him that first discussion so long ago. Hagoromo tried to make things right and that's a damn sight better than Paragus ever did. Their words reflected who they were and he was willing to give the Sage's a shot.

Konan nodded as if reaching a conclusion. "Paying a debt then I suppose."

The Saiyan rolled his eyes and directed his attention to the expanse of forest that extended into the horizon. "I know it might be strange for you shinobi types to hear but not everything is a trick or a lie. I did it because I like you, not because I thought I had to."

She stayed quiet after that and it was clear that the conversation had ended. He took a deep breath through his nostrils and heaved out an embittered sigh before he flew out of the cave. He wanted to be mad at her but, as stupid as he may be in these matters, he knew that it wouldn't accomplish anything and it wasn't like she did the same when he was the one despairing.

Konan slouched somewhat as some relief hit her after his leaving. She knew, logically, that no harm would come to her but the mind wasn't fully rational at the best of times.

"I know about Amegakure." Jiraiya spoke from the back of the cave, his attention on his former student now instead of the seals. "I'm sorry you had to go through that."

The former Akatsuki wanted to snap at the Sannin about how empty his words were and how dare he speak not knowing what it was like- but she was quick enough. She was there for Konoha. If anyone could empathize, it would be him.

"I wasn't there for them." She quietly said instead. "They died and I wasn't around to defend them."

"It wouldn't have been a fight; you would be dead alongside them too." The Toad Sage spoke plainly. "That guilt does you no good."

"How could I not feel it? At least some remnants of your village still live." She practically barked back. People could still find comfort in the remnants, laughter was still heard, children played... "I have a mass grave."

Jiraiya stayed quiet for a moment with a pensive look to his face before he returned to the seals. "I won't tell you how to handle this, we all have our own ways, but Temari lost her village completely like you did and she's found a way to heal. It's slow going but it is happening. I know you can do the same."

Konan felt like she first did when the man took her and her friends under his wings. A lost kid looking for guidance. He even had that same tone. It wasn't patronizing but she knew what he was trying to pull.

"I'm not a child anymore, sensei." The kunoichi responded. "It takes more than platitudes to fix this."

He gave a soft smile in return. "Then you don't need me to spell the rest out then. You were always the smartest of your friends anyways." He gestured over for her to join him. "Allow an old man to indulge in ancient memories."

That surprised her even as she went to sit down next to him. They were enemies but there was safety being under the eye of a godlike entity; she was under no threat. "Really? You realize you're my prisoner?"

"I'm under no illusions of anything different but we're working together to stop Madara and save Naruto." He gave her a blank piece of paper, some ink, and a spare brush. "I think that would allow for some friendliness here."

Konan looked between the supplies and Jiraiya for a moment. "He'll most likely be dead once we get to him."

"We'll avenge him then."

Broly returned some hours later well after the sun had gone down. He realized the stupidity of leaving both Jiraiya and Konan alone together but he believed the older man to be smart enough to not risk his ire. An assumption that was rewarded by the sight of him still working on the seals. Konan slept in a bed roll beside the waning campfire.

The Saiyan landed well outside the cave entrance and tried to be quiet. He didn't know how shinobi did it; they just naturally seemed to not make sound when they walked around. Jiraiya glanced at him for a moment before he returned his attention to the scroll in front of him. The Saiyan got into his own bed roll and tried to go to sleep. He found it hard to do, going in and out of sleep for brief periods at a time, as his mind kept going back to his earlier talk with Konan.

Eventually, he managed to stay asleep for at least an hour. The fire was still going but Jiraiya had gone to sleep himself at some point. Broly tried to close his eyes again but a small voice called out to him.

"Broly..."

He didn't move, still admittedly frustrated from their interaction earlier, but he grunted in response. It was why he didn't notice anything happen until her hand touched his. His head snapped up to her, still bleary eyed from his sleep, only for any grogginess to leave him when he saw her pain face with eyes wet from unshed tears. He squeezed her hand ever so gently as a gesture of comfort.

Before he could register it in his head, she had moved, silent as death, into his arms with her back to his chest.

"Please..." One single word, barely audible over the crackling flames, washed away any of his negative feelings towards her. He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her in with a control he didn't believe himself capable of before. She was so fragile compared to him. Strange feelings, completely foreign to him, raced through his head and heart. Broly didn't question it; it would take away from comforting her.

The two went to sleep soon after.

Madara's Rinnegan shone in the darkness of the room. He was maskless, a rarity nowadays, as he felt suffocated underneath with his frustration. Things were progressing so well, he had the last Tailed Beast, the end of his journey was right there, and the Gedo Statue rejected his final offering.

Why? Did fate condemn him to lose? Did he do something wrong? Was the idea of reforming the Ten-Tails flawed from the very beginning?

He put his hands together once more and connected with the statue. The same way he did eight times previously. He searched within its the heart of its chakra for answers. The previous Tailed Beasts were no longer individual minds and souls; they had all been joined as one within. In this roiling mass of violence and corruption and grief, a fledgling mind stirred.

This was supposed to be the Ten-Tails. The Kyubi would be the final piece needed to resurrect it but it would not, or could not, accept the fox. He reached out to to that heart. The rational part of his mind told him that it was a foolish risk, that there was little to be gained from touching the chakra, but he had to know and there was a chance, however small, that this would reveal what he wanted. It stirred at his touch.

For some moments, nothing happened and the Uchiha took his hand away. It was a stupid idea in the first place. Perhaps Kabuto can shed some light even if that meant pulling him away from his current projects. Without the Ten Tails, they had nothing so if other things got delayed, it was fine.

Just as he was about to cut his connection with the Gedo Statue, a blank, blood-red eye opened. He paused as another opened alongside it. In between, a red Rinnegan formed with eight tomoe. He met those eyes and felt fear for the first time since he nearly died all those years ago.

It broke open like an egg hatching and an ocean of formless, black chakra and emerald power he recognized as ki poured forth. The black chakra gave form but it was the green that filled it and gave it substance. The Ten Tails' heart lay within the chest of a beast of unfathomable size. Its body was that of an ape with a wolf's maw full of knives for teeth and ten tails flailing around behind it. Sharp, blood-red eyes, full of more hate and want for violence then their entire species could muster, focused on him. A noise like tectonic plate cracking erupted from its jaw and crashed into the Uchiha.

Madara was back where he sat. The room shook and pieces of the ceiling fell as the Gedo Statue moved. Its body swelled as its jaw extended into a crude facsimile of the beast's. The nine eyes of the statue sharpened into diamond like shapes before a deep crimson glow overtook them. Emerald phantom fire erupted from its body.

The Ten Tails lived.

The Uchiha did what he did without a thought. His Rinnegan shone with chakra just as the beast brought its fist down upon him.

Ape burst through the wall with several hybrids in tow and Kabuto close behind looking for whatever the threat was. The room was clogged up dust and debris disrupting their ability to see. Ape pushed out an invisible wave of force from his hand which cleared line of sight to the back of the room. Kabuto gaped at the wall where the statue was supposed to be.

"Madara?" He yelled out with apprehension. The missing nin made sure to have the Hybrids surround him.

Something rose from a crater in the center of the room. It was a mass of gray flesh that had even the Hybrids stepping back in uncertainty. Ape was the only one standing still with something akin to awe on his face. Muscles and bone asserted themselves into the shape of a man.

"I am here." Madara responded as he looked at his arms. The flesh was gray but the musculature underneath was swollen. Despite the large size of them, his muscles were dense like steel. Where there were scars on the right side of his body, scales replaced them. As he thought to move, he was already standing in front of a surprised Kabuto and Ape. He didn't even use Kamui; he was just that fast now.

Madara looked down on the other missing nin; he had grown far taller. "It...awakened. The Ten Tails lives." An uncharacteristic awe underlined the newly born Jinchuriki's voice. "It absorbed power from Broly and the Hybrids."

Kabuto put two and two together. "That's why it wouldn't absorb the Kyubi."

"I need time. Alone."

The Uchiha disappeared in another flash of speed and Kabuto frowned. He did a good job hiding it but the man was freaked out by what had happened. It left the missing nin questioning once more if it had been the correct idea to hitch his horse to this wagon. He still had the Impure World Reincarnation in his back pocket; perhaps bringing back the real Madara might right this ship or at least make their remaining time smoother.

Kabuto barked the orders and designated Ape as the lead to make sure everything was cleaned up quickly. He promptly left and went back to his research. Project Super Human was running smoothly and he was seeing exponential improvements by the hour. Even if 'Madara's' Eye Of The Moon plan goes belly up, it would have been worth all the nonsense.

Sasuke's performance with his new limb was exceeding expectations as well. He took some of the lessons learned there and applied it to his research. Subjects not only were living and healthy, Kabuto noted vastly improved physical capabilities. If only Orochimaru had lived until now, this was the answer that the Sannin had been looking for.

"Destroy the current batch." Kabuto ordered to a couple nearby Hybrids. "Their improvement is far above what was expected. Any longer and they might pose a problem."

They nodded and left. Minutes later, muffled sounds of extreme violence were heard followed quickly by an unnerving silence.

A little more work to ensure safety and perhaps he'll take advantage of this.

Author's Notes

Apologies for the wait. Had some big changes happen irl that kept me away from the computer. A new relationship and now I'm DM'ing a custom campaign in DND which took a lot of time.

We're on the last leg of the story. Things will hopefully be finished up by the end of this year or early next year. It's gonna be a wild one!

No review responses due to the lateness!

Ent out.

P.S. - Watch Across The Spider-Verse. Best spiderman movie imo.