Eroninja - Chapter 40

Chapter 40: Know Pain: Part III




The cool water of the waterfall felt refreshing as it fell around him as his right hand traced down smooth silken skin. Placing his chin on the shoulder of the woman said skin belonged to as his hand continued down her stomach he said, “So, let me get this straight. While for the past month I’ve been a perfect gentlemen making sure not to peek at you as you bathed, you would blatantly look at me when you were supposed to be cooking.”

Naruto’s hand reached between Naruko’s legs where he slid his finger into her warm silken honeypot causing her to coo appreciatively and press her ass against his groin. Naruto began working the finger in and out as she moaned happily while responding, “T-that’s not all…I even one time spied on you when you were fucking some of your other lovers.”

“W-what! When?”

“You were staying at some penthouse,” Naruko said, turning her head to kiss her lover over her shoulder.

The kiss ended causing Naruto to chuckle as he said, “You’ve truly inherited Pervy Sage’s will.”

“Do you think he’s watching us right now?” Naruko said making the jinchuriki arch an eyebrow as her pussy clenched down on his probing digit.

“Without a doubt,” Naruto said sliding a second finger inside, but he felt Naruko’s spirit dampen so removing them turned her to face him. When she didn’t make eye contact he asked, “Hey, what’s wrong? You’re not…”

“No, don’t ever think that,” Naruko responded guessing he was about to ask if she regretted their actions the night before, “I… I didn’t know it was possible to feel such happiness and pleasure. It’s just…you say I’ve inherited Jiraiya-sensei’s will, but… Are you sure that I’m not the evil you contained? All I can think about is how badly I want to kill Pain.”

Naruto cupped his lover’s face and stared into her blue eyes which appeared on the verge of tears for several moments so he tried to think of something he could say to put her at ease. Finally, he settled on, “Me too.”

He smiled at her as her face registered her surprise at the revelation. “Y-you do? But…what about it being your goal to…”

Naruto shrugged as he replied, “I’m no saint Naruko. I don’t know how to reconcile my ambition with this desire to kill Pain. On one hand, I know killing him could cause me to lose my way. Yet, on the other hand the idea of not avenging Pervy Sage…it’s sickening to me. Do I let my teacher’s killer go so I can claim a moral victory in order to keep his dream alive? Or do I stop Pain permanently and risk killing my dream in the progress? In the end I don’t know the answer, but I think if I can find it…then maybe Jiraiya’s death wouldn’t have been in vain.”

Naruko rested her head on Naruto’s chest as she said, “You’re over thinking it. Pain needs to be stopped plain and simple. But I know what you mean…if it comes to it…I’ll kill him for you.”

“I can’t ask that of you, or anyone for that matter.”

“Why?”

“Because I need to find the answer I feel this confrontation will present to me…to us,” Naruto said correcting himself as he saw a scowl begin to appear on Naruko’s face from his making fighting Pain about him. “If I turn responsibility over to you if presented a chance to confront him, then it would be no different then turning tail and running. I’d be running from the darkness in me. You’ve seen who Pervy Sage dedicated his first book to right?”

Naruko scowled, but nodded as she said, “It’s dedicated to Nagato.”

“Yeah, Nagato also inherited the Pervy Sage’s will. But when he was confronted with his own darkness he didn’t run or confront it. He embraced it and as a result his goal, while noble, has become twisted. If I’m not careful the same thing can happen to me.”

“It won’t,” Naruko said her voice caring a certainty to it. “But look at us,” the blonde woman said her voice taking on a seductive tone, “Here we are in this romantic setting and we’re getting all philosophical. If Jiraiya-sensei’s spirit is here, he’s probably screaming for things to get a bit more physical.”

Naruto chuckled at her joke, but groaned pleasantly as she decided to follow up her words with action when she took his nipple into her mouth. As she sucked and teased it with her tongue, her hands traced down his body until she gripped his rigid cock. Using both of them, she slowly began to jerk him off. Commenting on the night before she said, “Sorry about last night, I guess it must have been pretty disappointing for you. I can’t believe I passed out.”

“Last night was fantastic, and any time I make a woman cum until she’s unconscious makes me feel like I did something right.”

“Oh you did,” Naruko said as she began sinking to her knees. “Let me return the favor.” Naruko continued to tug on his dick as she came face to face with it. Smiling up at him, she gave the head of his dick a little flick with her tongue. Naruto groaned as she followed it up by swallowing several inches as she continued to use both hands to stroke his remaining length.

“Yeah… that’s fantastic,” Naruto said encouragingly as he leaned back into the waterfall enjoying the way its cool wetness was combating the warmth surrounding his love muscle. Moving forward enough that the water just fell along his back and shoulders, he stared down loving the way she looked as she pleased him orally with her hair in their usual pigtails.

Meeting her blue eyes, he let out a pleased moan as she stopped her stroking and placed her hands on his hips. Starting slowly she began to bob her head back and forth prompting the jinchuriki to place his hand on her scalp to guide her along his pole. Naruko began to pick up the pace as she began to take more and more of him into her mouth. Occasionally she would stop to suck on his nuts, before running her tongue back up his cock in order to resume blowing him again. Naruto felt himself reaching the end, so in order to by some time to recover pulled his dick from her as she let him slip from her lips to move to stimulate where his substance for which she was growing to enjoy tasting was produced.

She pouted up at him cutely, but let out a pleased laugh as he pulled her back up to her feet. He maneuvered her under the water fall, where they spent several moments kissing as he began to resume his fingering of her. Naruko groaned into his mouth as she ground her mound into the hand cupping it. Once his hand had become coated in a wetness that had nothing to do with the water cascading over them, he brought it up to her face where she licked his fingers clean of her juices. She then once more locked her lips to his allowing him to taste her as well. Naruko ended the kiss upon feeling the stiffness poking her in the stomach so whispered, “Mmmm, I don’t taste bad, do I?”

Meeting her hooded eyes Naruto grinned lustfully as he said, “That is an understatement.”

Pressing her body tighter against his as she brought her lips to his ears where after nibbling on his earlobe for a moment throatily said, “It would taste even better if it was mixed with your cum.”

Naruto in the midst of tonguing Naruko’s ear in a similar manner as she was his whispered, “Let’s find out shall we?”

Moving his hands, which had been loosely gripping her hips, to her ass, Naruto picked his lover off her feet as he stepped back into the gentle waterfall that fed the pond. Naruko reached down between them to grip his cock and guide it into her steaming cunt. The two of them shivered, as he penetrated her, in a way that had nothing to with the cool water raining down on them. She gripped him tightly by the shoulders as she locked her legs around his waist to aid him as he began to pull her up and down his cock slowly.

Naruko sucked on his neck and shoulder as the two began to build up to a more frantic pace. When the pleasure being generated from her lover’s cock became too much her grip on him weakened causing her to fall back. Naruto easily held her, but took advantage of the separations to add to her pleasure by focusing his oral talents on her breasts.

Naruko, moaned appreciatively as her arms hung limply behind her occasionally dipping into the pond as Naruto continued to hold her like she weighed nothing. After lavishing her breasts in attention, he moved the arms wrapped around her lower back up pulling her torso close to him again. As the distance closed he ran his tongue up her chest, to her neck where after tracing her jawline he reached her mouth which she opened in welcome. The two kissed deeply as Naruko began to feel the first vestiges of an approaching orgasm. Sensing that Naruto was still a ways off and not wanting to cum alone she let her leg’s grip on his waist slacken.

His dick slipped from her folds as she ended their kiss, and wordlessly turned around. Stepping from the falls, she approached the nearby rock face that surrounded the pond and placed her hands on it. Looking over her shoulder she saw Naruto stepping out after her and seeing a place she could use as a footrest raised her leg to step on it. Naruto stared at the sight of his lover with one foot in the water and the other legged raised out of it with her ass pushed out towards him thereby giving him a terrific view of her wet and drooling snatch.

Coming up behind her, he ran his hand over her thighs before gripping her hips and sliding one more into her tight and welcoming quim. Naruto picked up right where he had left off as he slammed his hips into her firm ass. Looking over her shoulder at the jinchuriki driving her wild Naruko egged him on saying, “Yeah…that it lover. Fuck me until I can’t walk straight.”

Naruto brought a hand down on her ass causing her to yelp in surprise. Leaning forward as he continued to prod her core with his pleasure stick, Naruto brought his face to hers as he said, “You better be careful. You remember what happened that last time you told me to fuck you until a condition was met. I don’t think gramps is going to accept fucked silly as a valid excuse to miss today’s training.”

“Still the request…stands.” Naruko responded finding the orgasm she had denied herself earlier was approaching as Naruto’s right hand moved from her hip to her stomach and then pussy.

Knowing what was coming, she tried to stave it off. But regardless came hard while shouting, “Oh fuck yes! I’m cumming!” as he rubbed her clit.

******

“…cumming!” Kushina shouted as she shared in the experience of Naruko, who because the kunoichi was staring at her son as she came it forced the red-head to do likewise. Kushina detected a slight widening of Naruto’s eyes like he had seen something that confused him. She had noticed a similar look appear the night before when Naruko had climaxed. Naturally as she had been tied to kunoichi at the time, Kushina had as well. Although she had not lost consciousness as the young woman had.

The red head wasn’t sure why, but to her both that experience and the one she had just had felt more real than any of her previous “moments of weakness”, which was how she had begun to describe the times she allowed herself to experience what her son’s lovers did. She hated to admit it, but after a month without any sort of release she wasn’t going to allow herself to feel guilty. That would come later though she knew.

Naruto slipped from Naruko, thereby pulling out of Kushina, causing both women to whimper at the loss. Kushina took the moment of clarity, now that her lusts had been partially sated to try and find a way to end the session. However, Kushina wasn’t sure how since the moment she had switched off the lamp in the living room, her apartment had faded away. It had been replaced by the environment where Naruko and Naruto were currently letting their desires run wild. The same thing had happened the night before, which had frightened Kushina since at first she had feared she had somehow left the seal alerting Naruto to how shameful she had been acting.

Kushina had been waging a losing battle with her libido ever since the first time she had experienced the pleasure Naruto gave his lovers. However, for a short time she had managed to prevent herself from giving in to her need for pleasure after what had happened with Pakura. Although still basking in the afterglow of the orgasm she had experienced as Naruto spun her around, she recalled how that incident had been the first time that instead of experiencing the pleasure of Naruto’s lovers through phantom sensations, an avatar of her son had appeared. Kushina had quickly switched on the lamp before matters could progress too far, but it had forced her to confront the fact that it was her son making his lovers feel so exquisite, and by extension her.

She had succeeded in holding back her need for release until she had used Rin’s situation as an excuse, although granted there had only been a period of a few days that had passed between Pakura’s joining the harem so she knew she really couldn’t count it as a victory. But like a smoker trying to quit might use a bad day at work as a reason to light up, Kushina had justified her succumbing to her lusts as a necessary in order to relieve Rin of the memories of her actions while under Joseki’s control. It would be later, when the guilt settled in, that her mind, now freed of her want for release, would point out she could have offered to do so after Naruto had made Rin a part of his growing family. She had tried to argue with herself using her knowledge that Kiyomi had deaged Tsunade while they had been making love. But her rational mind had then used Koharu’s own deaging as an example of how she could have helped Rin without the need to step out of the green light that prevented her from experiencing the same joy as Naruto’s lovers.

Kushina had tried to argue back though that she had wanted to learn if the previous appearance of Naruto had been a fluke of the weakened seal. But naturally the rational part of her had pointed out that her curiosity was just another excuse. The simple truth was she was growing addicted to her son’s cock.

Kushina’s self-assessment came to a screeching halt as Naruto completed spinning Naruko to face him and then lifted her right leg and placed in on his shoulder before burying his dick inside her. Naruko still sensitive from her orgasm experienced another one as did Kushina. Who copying the blonde woman’s actions threw her head back and moaned loudly. The red-head tried to once more will the lamp on so she could end her involvement in the love making session. But, when nothing happened and the promise of orgasmic bliss once more began to build soon abandoned her attempt.

Kushina tried to close her eyes, but since Naruko stubbornly refused to do so, she was forced to stare into her son’s eyes as his dick gave her pleasure. Granted it wasn’t her directly, but staring into the clear blue eyes of Naruto it was hard to remember that fact. Kushina suspected that was one of the reasons he was able to maintain a harem of women, which was that he had the amazing ability to connect with people on such a level. Even now, Kushina was finding herself being sucked into those eyes making her feel like she was the only woman in his life. She believed that it was Naruto’s dedication to the moment that was why his lovers could tolerate not being his one and only. It was because when he was with a particular woman, he was with her. He didn’t let outside distractions pull him from dedicating his full attention to the kunoichi he was sharing the moment with.

For instance, Kushina was amazed that he could even function let alone be capable of rocking Naruko’s world considering the number of women he needed to please. Although she had been quite content with her sex life with Minato, she knew there were others who would often complain how dispassionate their husbands could be even while in the acting of making love. Mikoto had often come to her with complaints about how unless she was in a fertile period Fugaku rarely touched her. And even when he did, she got the feeling he was planning out the next day’s events often leaving her unsatisfied once he came. It was a problem Kushina didn’t share, as although they didn’t get to spend as much time practicing their bedroom arts as she wanted too. He had made sure to do his best to satisfy her. Kushina knew it had not been an easy task for her husband due to her endless stamina and energy. But, she knew she had been a very lucky woman indeed.

An even further feeling of guilt struck the former jinchuriki as thinking of her old sex life, brought forth a comparison between the only two men she had any sexual experience with. Although, she knew everything she was experiencing now was through another woman, Kushina couldn’t help but feel that when it came to their skills in the bedroom Naruto improved upon his father in every way imaginable. Kushina didn’t make that judgment lightly, but it was the result of experiencing the pleasure Naruto was capable of giving through a variety of different women.

If there was one thing she had been able to throw in her rational minds face, it was that each woman Kushina had experienced pleasure through caused her to feel different things thus confirming to her that although she saw only herself, it was still the other woman on the receiving end. One such example was the kunoichi Matsuri, who had the tightest pussy among Naruto’s lovers. Whenever Kushina had stepped out of the light when he was with her, she would feel almost too stuffed. Or there was Tsunami, who Kushina probably would admit was one of her favorite woman whose time with Naruto she liked to enjoy. A part of the reason being that Kushina had planned to breastfeed her son and having been denied the chance, loved how when he was with the woman from Wave she would experience an orgasm just from having her tits sucked. Strangely though Kushina found that when Naruto was with Kiyomi the pleasure she felt was perhaps the most familiar. She sometimes wondered if it was because of the connection that bound all three of them. But at times she almost felt like her old-self, although it was difficult to compare since Naruto was larger than what she had ever experienced while alive.

Kushina felt the telltale signs that Naruko’s world was about to once more explode with pleasure. She also felt a swelling within her that told her the kunoichi’s womb would soon be flooded once more. Although, Kushina knew it was Naruko who said it, it was her own voice she heard say, “I can feel you getting bigger…t-tell me when your…cumming.”

Naruto’s thrusts became more frantic and powerful as he tried to bury himself as deeply as possible when he inevitable exploded. His voice sounded strained as he said, “I…I’m…I’m at my limit.”

Hearing that, Kushina found herself surprised when Naruko pulled her leg from his shoulder and allowed his dick to slip from her cunt. She sunk to her knees her hand taking over the job of stimulating her pussy as she began to suck on his dick which was coated in her previous releases. Kushina, who on occasion had tasted herself in a similar matter found the taste different but not unpleasant. As Kushina tasted what another woman’s pussy tasted like it dawned on her that although she had always know what she felt physically was based on what others felt, it was the first time something like taste had not been filled in by her previous experiences. That realization also made her understand that mixed in with Naruko’s essence was what her son’s own unique flavor. Finding that once more a barrier that had allowed her to pretend she wasn’t crossing into the taboo had been destroyed, Kushina tried to once more will the green light that kept her separate from her son’s sex life into existence. However, it stubbornly refused to appear. Not that it mattered, as Kushina suddenly found her mouth flooded in the warm thick cream of her son’s release, which coupled with the fingers stimulating her pussy had her struggling to both swallow and moan as an orgasm rushed through her.

Naruko’s eyes never left Naruto’s as she swallowed his load, which meant that neither did Kushina’s. The woman currently in possession of Kiyomi’s current form felt a moment of panic as her son’s eyes seemed to defocus for a moment. A quick look of confusion appeared making the red-head wonder what it was he was seeing and fearing he somehow knew she hadn’t been inside the light. But the moment was over in an instant as he smiled in a way she knew was meant for Naruko. She sprung up to place her lips against Naruto’s and after separating the two began to quickly begin to clean themselves as their training was set to start soon. Due to Naruto’s libido calming Kushina found the pond fading to be replaced by her apartment again. But just before it completely switched was forced to say, “I was right. Your cum was just the thing needed to compliment my own flavor.”

She didn’t hear Naruto’s reply, but as she prepared to have a quick shower which although she didn’t need, she found it helped wash away some of the guilt. But as she made her way to the bathroom, she found the taste in her mouth still hadn’t faded, and while she knew this latest development only made it more imperative that she resist indulging herself any further. She didn’t know where she’d find the strength too since the warm feeling in her stomach already had her salivating for more, as well as curious as to how his cum would taste if mixed with her own essence.

*****

Yakumo bit her lip as she searched for her name among the list of shinobi candidates that had participated in the recent genin trials. Having started at the bottom, she felt a little dread begin to settle over her the higher that she went up the list. Yet to her great surprise she found her name second from the top revealing that not only had she passed, but did so with the second best evaluation. She was especially proud of her achievement since a major part of the testing parameters had been physical in nature.

Feeling elated she turned, but felt a little of her high spirit fade as she caught sight of a woman also looking for her name in a similar manner, except she was searching among the candidates hoping to be promoted to the Anbu black-ops. Yakumo watched her for a moment and could tell the exact moment the woman found her name. The just minted genin guessed that what she found was less than the woman had been hoping for as her whole demeanor seemed to shrink. The dark haired woman seemed to know she was being watched so turned towards Yakumo giving her a brief smile. But in that smile, the Kurama clan head could see the sadness of a person whose dream had once more been crushed. Yakumo having once been in a similar position knew the look by heart so tried to send the woman a reassuring smile. But, she also knew that regardless it would do little to help pick the woman’s spirit up.

Her attention was pulled away by the elderly sounding woman said, “Ah, second place, well done.”

“Thank you, Elder Koharu,” Yakumo said formally as she turned to face the woman to give her a polite bow of respect.

Koharu henged to appear as her elderly self, waved off the polite response as she replied, “Please none of that now.” Her gaze shifted to all those present looking to know where they stood in regards to their evaluations, “It is I that should be thanking all of you for your hard efforts. It pleases me to see the village is filled with such fine people willing to do all they can to protect our home.” Refocusing on Yakumo, she said, “Yakumo there are a few village matters I wish to discuss with you. I’m sure you would like to celebrate your joining the village’s shinobi roster, so can we perhaps make time to get together a little later?”

“I’m available now,” Yakumo said her gaze shifting to where the woman she had been watching had been standing.

“Good,” Koharu said, but upon noticing where Yakumo gaze was pointing caught sight of the woman as she left the room. Aware of her story, she said, “Poor thing.”

“You know her,” Yakumo asked as she fell in step with Koharu.

The elder nodded sadly as she answered, “In a manner of speaking. She was one of the two midwives that assisted with Naruto’s birth. She was gravely injured by Tobi when he released Kiyomi from Kushina and set her upon the village. She spent the last sixteen years in a coma and was one of those that healed when Kiyomi inhabited her new body. She was an extremely skilled Anbu and medic.”

“Was,” Yakumo said confused, “I’ve seen her training everyday as she tackles the Anbu obstacle course. It doesn’t look like she’s missed a step all things considered.”

“Oh she’s still quite capable,” Koharu said as she and Yakumo left the village’s Jounin Station where the evaluation results had been posted.

She was about to go into further detail, but was stopped as a voice called, “Yakumo.”

Both women turned to see a very pregnant Kurenai approaching them. The red-eyed woman nodded politely to Koharu before asking, “Well…”

“I passed,” Yakumo said excitedly as she closed the final distance between them to hug her old sensei. “But don’t tell me you came all the out here just to find out.”

“Not just for that,” Kurenai admitted, “I also needed to get out and move a little before my doctor’s appointment so figured I’d do both.” Sensing she may have interrupted something she said, “I hope I’m not bothering you.”

“Not at all,” Koharu said with a warm smile, “I was just telling Yakumo about how proud she should be of her accomplishment.”

Yakumo blushed prettily as she said humbly, “It wasn’t that great an achievement. I mean Tsu…Lady Tsunade got rid of the rule stating that those that failed the exam couldn’t retake it for six months and has even held an evaluation bi-weekly instead of every three months. With Jiraiya’s passing she’s trying to build up the village’s forces in case our enemies decide to test us.”

“True,” Koharu stated, “But, since you’ve only participated in the one you wouldn’t know that she made the evaluation quite difficult. One could say it was almost a mini-chunin exam in difficulty.”

“Really, and they only made me a genin,” Yakumo said as her voice took on a slightly pouting tone since she had believed the Genin Evaluation had always been quite difficult.

“Well consider it good practice for when you do take the Chunin Exams,” the elder said giving her fellow harem member an amused smile. Growing serious she added, “The Hokage might be trying to bolster our forces, but she’s not willing to do so by filling our ranks with those whose only role is to absorb kunai meant for more skilled shinobi. That tends to be Iwa’s approach for combat.”

Yakumo absorbed what she had been told, but thinking of the Anbu asked, “Was the test made more difficult for those wishing to be Anbu as well?”

“No, I’m afraid not,” Koharu answered, “I’m assuming you are referring to Taji, the woman I saw you watching earlier.”

“What’s your interest in her, Yakumo?” Kurenai asked rather surprised at just how well her former student and the Konoha Elder were getting along. Remembering her own experiences with Koharu, she had always held the opinion that all modern kunoichi failed to measure up to her strict standards.

“She…she just seemed so sad today and I’ve seen how hard she’s worked to earn a spot in the Anbu. I guess she just reminds me of my own struggles. But considering how good she is, I don’t understand why she has yet to be chosen.”

“Unfortunately, it’s a case of her being past her prime,” Koharu said her tone growing wistful. Answering the question she was forming in Yakumo’s mind she explained, “The Anbu black-ops are the people given only the most important and difficult missions. Therefore it also has the greatest turnover. That is why the Anbu hold evaluations almost monthly. Its standards are so strict that a shinobi who is injured and loses a step or two is almost instantly flushed from the program. You might be surprised, but even someone of Kakashi’s skill level might not be able to meet those standards anymore.”

“I find that hard to believe,” Yakumo replied.

“I know,” the elder responded, “But as famous and well respected as Kakashi Hatake the jounin might be. It pales in comparison to the reputation he had amassed in the Anbu. He had joined shortly after his teammates passing, and had become a truly formidable asset to the village. Yet, he didn’t leave just because the Third Hokage had wanted him to become a Jounin-sensei. The effort to maintain the level of performance necessary to remain in Anbu can be said to be as trying as the missions. For that reason most members of the Anbu are in their early twenties. A few make it to their thirties, but I can assure you no one has ever been admitted to the Anbu past the age of thirty-five.”

“I just can’t wrap my head around that I guess,” Yakumo said. “I mean the Hokage, could probably trash hundreds of Anbu, but you’re telling me that she couldn’t be a member.”

Kurenai spoke up to say, “You’re confusing personal strength with the strength of an organization.” Kurenai smiled at her former student as Yakumo turned to her with the questioning look she had often received when she had briefly trained her. Stating her point she said, “You could say that as the current Hokage, Lady Tsunade could be considered the pinnacle of all the shinobi in the village. As a result everyone knows her name. The Anbu though are faceless shinobi, not known for flashy jutsu nor do they receive personal recognition for their exploits. They simply get the job done. When Elder Koharu said Kakashi had been a great asset for the village that was exactly what she meant. He had probably performed hundreds of missions for the village, but if things went correctly then no one would be any the wiser that he had been involved. His victories weren’t his, but the Anbu’s. Therefore they have to be skilled in every area of the shinobi arts.” Kurenai rubbed her stomach as she paused for a moment the gentle smile on her face making the other two woman present suspect her unborn child was making his or her presence felt. “I’m sorry,” she said upon refocusing on the conversation, “Basically while the Hokage could likely defeat the entire Anbu division if push came to shove. She might necessarily be as fast as would be necessary to be in the Anbu or as accurate with her shuriken jutsu. But just being fast or accurate doesn’t make an individual strong in the same way it can an organization where every member performs to the same exacting standards.”

“I understand,” Yakumo said feeling even sadder for the Anbu. Turning her gaze to Koharu she stated, “You’re saying just from growing older Taji’s body isn’t capable of meeting the basic standards of being an Anbu.” When the elder nodded she asked both women, “Surely she must be aware of this. So why does she try so hard?”

Koharu frowned slightly as she answered, “She missed out on sixteen years of her life. Sixteen years where everyone else in her life had moved on. I guess she just feels that rejoining the Anbu would be the one thing from the past that she can recapture before moving forward.”

Yakumo frowned as well, but it morphed into a small tight, but cryptic smile as she said, “I believe there might just be another thing from her past that could help her to move forward.”

Kurenai stared at her student in confusion which only grew as she believed that Elder Koharu seemed to understand exactly what Yakumo was hinting at. Although curious, she needed to move along as her unborn child again reminded her of its presence as well as her need to visit the doctor. “Congratulations again on achieving your dream. I’m sure you’ll make chunin in no time,” Kurenai said before bidding both women a pleasant day.

Yakumo waited until Kurenai was out of ear shot as she said, “I’m sure Naruto would be upset if I were to achieve Chunin before he did. He’s going to be disappointed when he learns he missed the Chunin Exams that Suna held.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” Koharu said as she began walking once more. “Naruto must have been aware of the possibility he would miss them in order to perform his training.” Koharu’s eyes gave off a mischievous shine as she added, “Besides, you should consider it a unique opportunity for you and him to be together.”

“What do you mean?”

“What I mean is that in six months’ time the chunin exams will once more be held in Konoha. Although a few specifics do change, one thing that has remained the same is that the second test is a five day endurance test in Training Ground Forty-four. Imagine it, five days trapped in a forest with Naruto.”

Yakumo could imagine it and gave voice to a little of what she was thinking as she said, “I imagine it can be quiet cold at night and we might need to generate heat somehow.”

Koharu smirked as she said, “Oh I can’t just picture how you’d go about doing that.” She giggled as the younger woman’s face began to color.

Yakumo calmed herself as she set the new goal of being ready to enter the Chunin Exams with Naruto for herself. But concentrating on the present she asked, “What were you hoping to get together about?”

“Well, I suppose considering we were just speaking about the chunin exams. I was hoping you would accompany as I wished an old friend my regards in his grandson becoming chunin?”

Yakumo suddenly felt extremely nervous as she knew that wasn’t the only reason that Koharu wished to visit her old teammate.

****

Konan sat in the medical bay of the Den as she recovered from her injuries. When she had first awoken she had been surprised to be alive, but not nearly so much as to find the woman sitting by her bed was none other than the Hokage. For Konan those first few moments had been filled with feelings of nervousness and anguish as she expected had Tsunade to lay into her about her failure to prevent Jiraiya from dying at Pain’s hands.

Yet to her surprise once Tsunade had been sure she was okay the woman had placed hand on Konan’s head as she lowered her face to the blue-haired woman’s and giving her a warm smile said, “You gave us all quite a scare.” The reason for her surprise was that outside of Tayuya and Ino, Konan had not interacted with any of his other lovers. She hadn’t even really been in touch with Naruto since their brief time together, as she had only been able to send occasional updates.

The genuine kindness and acceptance she felt coming from a woman that she expected would still be filled with grief for her friend, a grief she shared, not to mention her nearly dying by her oldest friends hands caused Konan to do something she hadn’t done since Yahiko’s death. She cried. Tsunade pulled the woman to her as she vented years of pent up emotion.

Tsunade waited until Konan’s tears stopped to say firmly, “Konan, I’m sorry I can’t give you more time to deal with all that’s befallen you. But you can’t continue to straddle the fence. You’ve helped us greatly in weakening Akatsuki. But you can no longer pretend Nagato is separate from it. I need to know everything you can tell me about him.”

Konan had remained silent as she met Tsunade’s eyes. In them, she had seen a sadness at her understanding the position she was putting Konan in. However, she also saw a fear there which spoke to her as it was one they shared due to the threat Nagato posed to Naruto. Disappointed that things had turned out the way they did, Konan had nonetheless nodded as she began to explain Nagato’s abilities.

Back in the present the kunoichi began to plot her next moves. First she would wait for Nagato’s inevitable arrival in Konoha and once she did what needed to be done there. She began to plan how best to end the man that she blamed for leading her and Nagato into the darkness in the first place.

*****

“May I help you?”

Koharu smiled at the man who had stepped up to the gate barring Yakumo and her path to entering Homura’s home. “Yes, can you please tell Homura that Elder Koharu and Lady Kurama are here to see him?”

Instead of doing as she asked, the man unlocked the gate as he replied, “There’s no need for that. I’m sure Master Mitokado will be quite pleased to see his old friend.”

“Why thank you,” Koharu said politely, “Can you point me in the right direction?”

“I believe he is out back overseeing his grandson’s training.”

“Excellent,” Koharu said for a variety of reasons, “To pass along my congratulations to young Udon is one of the reasons for my visit.”

“Right this way,” the servant said before turning and heading deeper into the grounds.

The trip was made in silence for the most part. Yakumo would occasionally ask their guide questions about the grounds, one of them inquiring about how the Konoha Elder could afford to live in such luxury. The guide had explained that upon his retiring from being an active duty shinobi, the last remaining male member of Team Tobirama had branched out into the business world starting several successful enterprises. Koharu had let the guide explain further so that she could be alone with her thoughts.

Looking at the Kurama Clan head out of the corner of her eye as she subtly pried into her old teammate’s history, she thought, “Now I can see why Naruto believed having Yakumo look into who had warned Danzou would be a good idea.”

Koharu frowned internally though as she recalled that she had not exactly been the most welcoming ear to Yakumo’s theory that Homura had been Danzou’s secret partner. In fact when Yakumo had brought up the theory several weeks previous, the female elder had done everything in her power to disprove it. Sometimes she’d even go so far as to belittle the young woman’s lack of experience.

Still Yakumo had been insistent that he was the most likely suspect. Her first piece of evidence being that Homura had been in the Clan Council Meeting where Tsunade had told the Clan Heads about Danzou’s plots. Koharu had quickly countered that any of the Clan Heads present could be the culprit. Not to mention after the meeting there had been no guarantee that the Clan Heads hadn’t alerted members of their respective families about what was about to happen. They had known well in advance that at least two of the clans had high ranking Root members in similar high positions. She had named Fu Yamanka as well as Torune Aburame as examples.

Yakumo had conceded the point, but quickly pointed out that she had considered that possibility, and had already tried to account for the two men in questions whereabouts during the timeframe after Tsunade had called the meeting. Having been unable to do so, she had postulated the theory the two men may have even been present in the Root base when Tsunade’s forces had attacked. She had explained her reasoning by using the two secret passages that had been found right by the one Danzou had taken as her proof that others might have escaped as well. Koharu had argued quite successful that those tunnels presence was proof that any number of people could have been the culprit since they would have allowed secret egresses into and out of the Root base. She had also reasoned that it couldn’t have been her old teammate since he had been present at the command center during the attack.

To her embarrassment Koharu learned the Yakumo had baited her into throwing out the theory that the tunnels added more suspects not eliminated any. The young Kurama heir had done this in order to disprove the elder’s theory. She did this by producing the map that Komachi had drawn of the Root tunnels that had been found in her apartment when the Anbu black ops had investigated it in order to find clues as to where she had gone. Yakumo had pointed out that of all the secret ways in and out of the Root base, the three tunnels in question had not been on Komachi’s map. The young woman had then explained that the tunnels were so secret she doubted anyone but Danzou and perhaps his partner knew about them. In order to maintain that level of secrecy she doubted that they had ever been used except when the base had been attacked. Therefore that meant that whoever had warned Danzou had done so from the outside.

To that end she had theorized that the message had come from the tube network they had found that connected the Root base to various points in the village. Several of which could have been easily accessed by any of the Clan Council members while on their way to where the command center had been. Yakumo had then asked if Koharu could attest to Homura not having an opportunity to send the message as he traveled to the Uchiha district. The female elder had ended up grinding her teeth as she answered that she couldn’t.

Yakumo also pointed out that the person helping Danzou needed to be extremely well-off as they could not simply fund Root’s operation with the scraps they could skim from Konoha’s budget. Koharu had seen where she was going with the next piece of information so quickly argued that people would also notice large sums of his money going to Root as well. But again Yakumo had proved she had thought about her theory at length as she had replied they wouldn’t if he spent it on community or charity projects where people might not necessarily look underneath the underneath. The example she had given was a large project to renovate the Uchiha district as it had fallen into disrepair. Koharu had tried to argue that she had felt he did it as a way of making amends for his role in the Uchiha Massacre. Yakumo though had other ideas as she had believed that was when the additions to the tunnels that had connected the Root Base to Danzou’s home had been made.

Koharu had found it hard to refute the possibility, but Yakumo had more evidence in that Homura had also donated a large sum of money to a fund set up to improve Konoha’s infrastructure. A fund that had eventually been tapped to repair the damage done to the Leaf Maximum Security Prison during Mizuki’s first escape and when she believed many of the new security improvements that had been made off the books had been put in place.

That was when Koharu had snapped at the young woman claiming that it was easy for her to cast her teammate as another betrayer because she had never contributed anything of value to the protection of the Leaf. Nor had she ever had to make any of the thousands of difficult decisions to safeguard the village as she and Homura had done. She had known her words had hit a particularly vulnerable cord in Yakumo but she had been too upset to care. Koharu had then stormed out of the meeting leaving a hurt looking Yakumo and the surprised faces of the other kunoichi present.

The elder had even managed to convince herself that Danzou had just managed to infiltrate the organizations her teammate contributed his money to as he knew how much Homura loved the village. As she cooled off over the next few days she had even come up with a few other theories and had looked forward to ambushing Yakumo with them in the same way she had felt the Kurama head had done to her. However, all of those theories had fallen flat on their faces when she felt Komachi’s presence return to the village via her foxmark and it settled underneath Homura’s home.

Naturally as a result of the new development another meeting of Naruto’s lovers had been called. Koharu had been embarrassed to attend considering her outburst, but it was misplaced as none of the women had commented on it. Instead they had all explained how they could understand her wanting to believe the best about her teammate. Needless to say, Koharu had made sure to apologize to Yakumo for the hurtful things she had said.

During the new meeting Yakumo had also explained that she believed Karin’s theory about Udon had been right as well. Tsunade had been the one to lead the charge in disproving her theory this time, but not out of a particular sense of loyalty to her sensei grandson’s teammate. It was to make sure they could poke any holes into it before taking an action that might expose them to their enemies. But, even Koharu had to admit that it was difficult to deny Udon may be a plant to lead Konohamaru towards the path of Root.

Yakumo in order to prove that theory had attended the third round of the Chunin Exams held in Suna. The young woman upon hearing that both Konohamaru and Udon had made it to the final round had decided to go in order to get an idea of just how skilled Homura’s grandson actually was. However, it wasn’t anything that had happened in the arena that had convinced her that Udon was more than he seemed, but something that had happened outside of it. Upon passing the Second Round, Temari, the proctor in charge of the Third, had the winners pick numbers to determine the fighting order. As a result Udon had been matched up against a shinobi from Grass and who happened to be the heavy favorite to win the Third Round.

Yet it was a match that never happened since the Grass Genin had ended up being poisoned. A quick investigation had traced the place he had been poisoned to a local Suna restaurant. Of course the fact that everyone that had eaten the same dish as the genin that night ending up being poisoned as well had aided in learning that. The investigation had revealed that mixed into the dish those poisoned had eaten were mushrooms that resembled the kind normally used, but with a few slight differences. With the possibility that the poisoning had been an accident raised, since several more had been found among the batch of mushrooms the restaurant had just received, the Chunin Exam Ruling Committee had been unwilling to delay the third round to properly investigate. The fact that the Genin in question would recover made the decision easier to swallow. Although that wasn’t to say there had not been fatalities as several people had died, but they had tended to fall into the categories of being extremely old or young.

Udon though had attempted to drop out of the third round, knowing that he would be the prime suspect. However, those running the exam had made their opinion that Udon was not guilty of the act well known. Plus, his willingness to withdraw had further solidified the belief that he wouldn’t take such a risk just to dropout. Two points that Tsunade had brought up to challenge Yakumo’s theory.

But once more Yakumo proved she had thought at length about her theory, and had explored it through multiple angles. She had quickly pointed out that if Udon’s goal had been to be promoted to Chunin along with Konohamaru, a heavy favorite to do so, but also continue to downplay his abilities, then facing off with what many considered to be the most skilled genin of the group and defeating him would not be the way to go. She had used Naruto’s battle against Neji as her example since although Naruto had beaten a heavy favorite; he had always displayed the determination and guts needed to do so. Two traits which Udon had noticeably lacked, at least according to Iruka’s records from the boy’s time in the Academy, and further verified by his sensei Ebisu’s mission reports.

Tsunade although she had sounded convinced pointed out that the Chunin Exams had a way of making the right candidates shine or discover strengths they didn’t even know they possessed. Yakumo had conceded the point, but argued that if Udon’s purpose was to influence a potential Hokage candidate to embrace the philosophies of Root. Then he couldn’t be perceived as a rival, because if he was then Konohamaru may at times just take the opposite approach that was being discussed just to continue to fuel the rivalry. A teammate’s opinion however might be better received, especially if he was perceived as being weaker, but more knowledgeable. An illusion that would be crushed should Udon manage to defeat someone people had considered vastly superior. He’d also lose his underdog status thereby making all his subsequent opponents fight him all the harder.

Still despite by that point pretty much everyone had come to accept her theory. Tsunade had still pointed out that Udon had been willing to drop and couldn’t guarantee those in charge would not force him to do so. Yakumo argued that being allowed to drop out might have been the prize should everything gone according to plan. She had pointed out that the winner of the third exam didn’t necessarily always become a Chunin. She had proposed that by displaying the proper judgment to offer up his withdrawal so as to alleviate suspicion of being the poisoner from falling both on himself and the Leaf village, there may have been those who would promote him regardless of his not appearing in the third round. The judges could argue that by even making it to the final round he had displayed the skills necessary to get there. But by withdrawing, he had shown one of the most important skills, good situational awareness. Not to mention there were likely plenty of people willing to make an exception in order to remain on an Elder’s good side.

Koharu had been quite impressed as by following Yakumo’s logic, she could see how that would be the optimal solution for Udon. It would allow him a chance to be promoted without forcing him to reveal skills he didn’t necessarily want anyone to know he had. Not to mention that he would need to be ranked Chunin in order to take the more dangerous mission Konohamaru may receive which would allow him more opportunities to influence him to the Root way of thinking.

Still despite not being permitted to withdraw, Udon had been promoted although he had lost in the second round. Konohamaru also achieved the rank of Chunin having dominated most of his opponents and winning the third round tournament.

Koharu spared a moment to think of the last member of Team Ebisu and also the only one who failed to be promoted. She knew Moegi had been disappointed not to receive a promotion despite making it to the semifinals, but she hadn’t let it sap her spirit. Furthermore to Koharu’s surprise, the genin kunoichi had approached her recently asking about how one went about forming a team for the exams if their teammates already passed. Koharu had informed her that the process came down to the genin simple finding their partners on their own. Once a squad had been formed a temporary sensei would be assigned to them for the duration of the exams.

Again to her surprise the genin had asked, “D-do you think the Boss, will participate in the next exams?”

“Boss?” Koharu had replied questioningly.

“I-I’m sorry,” Moegi had replied her face turning crimson, “I mean Naruto.”

An amused smile had appeared on her face as she answered, “Oh, I’m sure he’ll definitely want to participate. I’m also sure he’ll be very happy to take the exams with you when they return to Konoha in six months.”

A bright smile had appeared on Moegi’s face at the idea, but it melted a little as something seemed to sap at her exuberance for a moment. It made the elder believe that Moegi likely harbored some romantic feelings for her lover, and had suddenly recalled that as far as she and the village knew he was in a relationship with Ayame. However, Moegi brightened back up as she perhaps hoped that by the time of the next exams Naruto’s relationship status might change. Koharu spent a moment wondering how Naruto viewed the budding young woman. Having been well acquainted with the team that her old teammate’s grandchildren were on, she knew that in six months the kunoichi would be sixteen. And although technically academy students were considered adults as soon as they graduated, most people frowned on the idea of thirteen year-olds indulging in the vices of adults. Koharu, before her inclusion in Naruto’s harem, would have considered herself one of those people. But since Naruto had mastered the Temptation’s Touch at that age, found she wouldn’t have a problem if after the exams there was a new woman bound to her lover.

Koharu pushed thoughts of her growing family to the back burner as Yakumo and she were led around the back of Homura’s mansion. There they found Homura and Udon on a private training field which had quite a few targets for shuriken practice some of which would move behind obstacles or pop up at irregular intervals. At the moment though, Udon was practicing on a standard target set up around fifteen feet from him. Koharu spent a moment as the servant announced them to study it. She was able to ascertain that it was relatively new, and whoever had been using it was quite skilled. There was the odd stray, as even the most accomplished shinobi would sometimes throw a kunai or shuriken off target, but most of the markings she noticed were right on target. However, as if to give the appearance of mediocrity that she believed was just a front, Udon threw a kunai that hit low and well outside the bullseye. The next one was better, but nowhere near the tight knit group of markings in the center of the target which would suggest an expert had been using it.

Koharu watched as Homura shook his head giving the impression of a grandfather who felt his grandchild was not performing to the level he expected. Turning away from his grandson, Homura favored her with a smile as he said, “Koharu, you should have told me you were coming. I would have prepared something.”

“I figured you would,” Koharu said pleasantly, “which is why I didn’t say anything. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve told you that it isn’t necessary to entertain every time I come over for a visit. Especially a visit just meant to pass on my well wishes on young Udon’s promotion.”

“Ah, and here I thought you may be here to talk village business since Lady Kurama has decided to join you.”

Yakumo smiled politely as she replied, “Elder Utatane has been mentoring me in Council Protocol. We decided to take a break and when she said she was coming here asked if I could join her.”

“Hmm, I see.” Homura said politely, “Out hoping to get a better read on your political opponents.”

“Opponents?” Yakumo said questioningly, “I don’t see any of my fellow councilors as opponents.”

“Ah, to be young and naïve again, eh Koharu,” Homura said his tone a little mocking.

“I like to think I’m still young at heart,” the female elder replied keeping her tone neutral.

Homura studied his old teammate a moment before saying, “Indeed, still give it time. Unfortunately you’ll soon see that despite our abilities to pull together in times of war. In peace times it proves difficult to get anything done as each clan puts itself before the village.”

“Perhaps things have turned a corner,” Yakumo said politely, but her tone made it clear she didn’t see things the same way, “Since I have joined, it appears to me that the council has only been working for what’s best for the village.”

“Perhaps…” Homura said, “Then again things have hardly been peaceful. One could say we’ve been at war for years and are just now taking the steps to confront our enemies. Akatsuki’s killing of Jiraiya will soon have the other villages seeking to test us again. Plus, Akatsuki needs to be dealt with.”

“True,” Yakumo conceded, “But we have allies in the Sand, and perhaps even Kumo would be willing to aid us now.”

“Lady Kurama, please don’t be swayed by Tsunade’s belief that we have turned a corner with Kumo,” Homura warned. “The current alliance with Sand was the dream of the Third and even after years of working together they turned on us in an instant. However, I will concede that lately things have been going well, but you must consider that without their jinchuriki their fighting strength is sorely depleted. You could say that they are simply wise enough to take advantage of our desire for peace in order to prevent themselves from being wiped out by the coming conflict.”

Koharu saw that Yakumo was unhappy with Homura’s description of events, especially considering that several Kunoichi of the Sand were a part of Naruto’s family. Yakumo well aware that each woman was as dedicated to the alliance between Suna and Konoha as they were to Naruto, looked like she was going to lay into Homura as she had done to Danzou once. Not wanting to cause an incident she stepped in saying, “Regardless of what we each think of where things stand between the villages. I think we can all agree that Akastuki is the true enemy. Well considering this has turned into a discussion of politics I think it would be best if we were on our way.”

“One moment if you will, Koharu?” The male elder asked, before directing a pointed look towards Yakumo.

The Kurama Head picked up on it and with a slight bow said, “I’ll wait out front for you. You have a lovely home Elder Mitokado.”

Homura waited for the young woman to leave before saying, “Koharu, it still saddens me about what happened to Danzou. To think that such a loyal and brave shinobi could be capable of such…”

“Betrayals,” Koharu supplied upon seeing her fellow elder struggle to define Danzou’s actions.

“I only hesitate to call it that as I can easily see Danzou believing he was acting in the village’s best interests. There are some who upon learning of certain actions we have undertaken would perhaps label us betrayers as well.”

“You’re speaking of the Uchiha Massacre I take it?”

Homura nodded before asking, “Yes, tell me….considering your recent alliance with Tsunade and her way of thinking. Do you regret your role in it?”

Koharu had searched her heart on the matter many times over the years. Even more so since becoming Naruto’s lover and despite her belief in him and his dream replied, “No, I do not. Considering that it was Itachi that came to us with the plan to eliminate his clan, I have always believed our choice prevented the village from tearing itself apart.”

“Agreed, although as I remember it you were the hardest to convince,” Homura said seemingly pleased by her admission.

“Why bring this up now Homura? I doubt you would dredge up the past for no reason.”

Homura studied her for a moment as if trying to decide if it was safe to bring up what he wanted to discuss. Finally though he said, “I only bring it up because of the recent events in the prison. As you well know there was another Uchiha survivor. We let Danzou keep her in the prison figuring she might be useful as leverage against Sasuke should we need it if he ever learned of the massacre. According to some of the survivors of Danzou’s plot she also had become a member of his faction. Her…disappearance… is troubling.”

Koharu let the frown she felt appear of her face, although she believed her old colleague would misread its meaning. She believed Homura imagined it was due to the potential threat he likely believed Mikoto represented, instead of it being about her concern that he was already searching for the Uchiha woman. Taking a gamble she said, “It may be prudent to bring this to the Council’s attention. I had simply believed that Danzou quietly eliminated her. But if you have knowledge that she is in fact alive, we should find her before she can meet up with Sasuke. The best way to do this would be to use the Village’s resources.”

Homura kept his face neutral making her believe that was not what he wanted to hear. Cautioning her he said, “Let’s not be too drastic in our response. In truth the woman was never identified by name. I was merely concerned since one of the unaccounted for women matched Mikoto’s description. I have a few sources keeping an eye out for her and a few of the other escapees. Let’s handle it quietly until I can make a positive identification.”

Koharu gave a slight nod as she replied, “If you feel that is for the best, I’ll follow your lead. Please let me know if you hear anything.” She turned to leave but stopped to ask, “Speaking of people we need to find. Have your sources picked up any information about that Root member that wounded Kakashi?”

“No, I’m afraid not. I’ve directed them to keep me informed should that change.” Noticing the frown that appeared on Koharu’s face he asked, “Does that bother you?”

Koharu shook off the sudden depression that came over her to say, “Yes, a little. I just have this feeling that she’s closer than we think, perhaps waiting for a chance to avenge her master.”

“I think that is a real possibility,” Homura replied simply.

Koharu nodded as she thought, “I bet you do,” since she could feel the young woman’s presence under her feet. But deciding that now was not the time to deal with Homura and his working with Root simply bid him a good day. As she left his property able to feel the eyes of people watching her from the shadows, she discreetly searched for a secret entrance to whatever tunnels ran under Homura’s home.

*****

The cool night air continued evaporating the sweat that coated Naruko and her lover as she rested her head against his shoulder in the aftermath of their love making. Already looking forward to cleaning herself in the morning, only because Naruto would be joining her, she let her mind wander to a topic that was becoming more and more prevalent as their training neared its end. Giving voice to an uncertainty she felt, the kunoichi asked, “What happens to me once you go back to the village?” From the confused look Naruto graced her with she knew he had no idea as to what she was asking so she explained, “I mean, how are you going to explain my existence to people. Or…or am I supposed to just keep my distance and only visit you in the Den?”

“I’m really not seeing what you’re so worried about. Of course you’re welcome in the village.”

Naruko felt a slight annoyance at her lover for his seemingly in ability to see the glaring problem with her just walking through the village. Lifting her head from his shoulder to give him a good view of her face she said, “And what about the fact that I so greatly resemble you? Not to mention, aren’t people going to wonder why I look exactly like that stupid jutsu you created?”

“I figure they might which is why I thought it might be best to explain that you’ve been a student of the Pervy Sage’s for years.” Naruto smirked when Naruko realized that he’d been thinking about her situation already, “As to why you look like my Sexy Jutsu minus the marks on your cheeks. Well one time when Jiraiya was checking in or something he brought you to the village where we ran into each other. We didn’t get along and me being the brat that I was created a jutsu to embarrass you.”

Naruko smiled gently appreciating how Naruto’s rendition of events even included how she had not been particularly fond of him in the beginning. However, she wasn’t convinced it would fly so said, “Still, minus your whiskers. I look exactly like you. How are you going to explain that away?”

“Easy, we’re from the same clan. It’s only natural we’d be somewhat similar. Plus we can use it as why Jiraiya decided to train someone outside the village since you resembled his godson.”

Naruko was surprised by his declaring her a part of the Uzumaki. Giving voice to it she said, “D-do you really mean it? It’s okay for me to call myself Naruko Uzumaki.”

Naruto reached out to cup her cheek as he said lovingly, “I do, Lady Uzumaki.”

Naruko leaned in kissing her lover as she straddled him. As their tongues danced against each other her hands were busy stroking his cock to hardness. She pulled back as she placed his stiffness against her entrance. She moaned happily as she sat down on it enjoying the feeling of him spreading her insides. Once fully impaled she said, “Let me show my appreciation, Lord Uzumaki. Rocking her hips and basking in the feeling of being connected to Naruto, an increasingly large part of her also felt a sense of gratitude to Kiyomi. The woman that Naruto had once mentioned could be considered her mother.

****

Nagato started at the Leaf village from the eyes of his Paths after killing the shinobi of a small scouting outpost. Directing his focus from what his Paths saw to what he did he informed Tobi, “We’re in position.”

“Excellent,” Tobi replied his voice cold and competent sounding as he was no longer using his idiotic persona. “Do they appear to be on their guard?”

“The guards at the outpost were at a higher state of alert then I would expect,” Nagato answered. “But that can simply be due to the realities of Jiraiya’s death.”

“It could also be due to Konan,” Tobi suggested. “It’s readily apparent that her allies had some way of monitoring her. Still if she and her allies are in Konoha, I suppose it won’t matter much longer. Are you ready to begin?”

“Yes,” Nagato said maneuvering his walker to follow after Tobi as the masked man moved to the entrance of the cave that the leader of Ame would be using as a command post during the attack on the Leaf Village. The red-headed shinobi inspected some the metal cylinders lining the cave walls to make sure the bodies they contained were still in good condition. He frowned momentarily as he felt a wave of anger at Konan for her betrayal since normally she would have used her paper abilities to hide him during a large battle. However, upon his beginning to suspect her it had forced him to reconsider his plans for how to secure the hosts of the nine and seven tails.

Fortunately for him, the man that claimed to be Madara Uchiha, something Nagato truly doubted, at least he apparently had a good idea of the terrain surrounding the Leaf Village. Once the cave had been secured, Nagato had allowed Tobi to begin transporting his supply of Paths to it. This had been done during the period were Nagato had used the disloyalty of a minor member of Aktasuki to test out the improvements built into his walker to expand the range and amount of chakra he could channel into his paths. By having Konan tag along on the mission it had allowed him and Tobi to make several other moves in preparation for an attack on the Leaf.

Despite his difficulty in coming to believe his old friend had switched allegiances to some new group. What truly surprised him was his gut feeling that it was in some way tied to the Leaf village. After all, Konan had almost as much reason to hate Konoha as he did. That she would betray him for someone from that village stoked a white hot fury in him that he could not wait to unleash upon the people huddled behind their wall and who felt they were protected by the watchful gazes of their current and previous Hokage.

Nagato’s focus was pulled away from the future screams of the people of Konoha by Tobi as he said gravelly, “Are you prepared? Our timing here needs to be perfect, or else we’re going to quickly regret having Kisame release it.”

“I understand,” Nagato said preparing himself by gathering chakra within the mouth of the cave’s entrance

Tobi nodded from his spot outside the cave, before using his jutsu to release what he had stored inside his pocket dimension for nearly two months. The spatial tear started off looking rather normal but due to the size of what he had been holding quickly grew massive. Before it was fully released from the dimension it let out a scream of pain and rage that although loud, its true message was conveyed through a different means.

*****

Kiyomi watched her handiwork as the three Taki kunoichi performed the tasks of cleaning she had given them. What pleased her was that they were working efficiently from a list she had given them, without her needing to go into the details of who handled what. She took a sip of her tea as she considered how best to apply the knowledge she had gained from tinkering with their minds. Confident she could even undo her handiwork now, she wondered if perhaps it wouldn’t be best to just wipe their memories and be done with them so that things could return to normal between Naruto and her.

She felt a smile threaten to appear on her face as she would have to thank Kushina for the knowledge of how to rid them of their memories as she had recently asked Rin if she could examine what Kushina, her former host, had done to rid her of the time she had operated as Joseki’s pawn. With that knowledge, had also come the knowledge that Kushina had performed her mental surgery while Rin and Naruto had been in the midst of making love. Knowing full well that meant the former jinchuriki, and now Bijuu in her own right, had taken to stepping out of the protective barrier Kiyomi had erected to keep the mother from experiencing the pleasure of her son’s lovers, Kiyomi wondered how open Kushina would be to removing the seal and allowing Naruto the full access to the powers contained in her original form.

Kiyomi found it somewhat ironic that the measure she had put in place to allow Naruto to access her chakra by waking Kushina was now the biggest roadblock to his continued growth. Her thoughts into the matter were a recent development due to a scroll toad named Gerotora having sought her out. To her great surprise, before entering Ame Jiraiya had signed over the key to Naruto’s seal over to her. The fact that the toad sage despite never interacting with her directly trusted her with the responsibility was a great honor. But it had answered for her the question of why upon learning that she was free the Sannin hadn’t simply unlocked the seal.

Now though Kiyomi understood that it was because by the time Jiraiya had been made aware of that fact. She had already bound Kushina’s soul to her original form. She suspected that the sage realized that should Naruto take full possession of the chakra, then Kushina would have no means to escape the sensations she would experience as Naruto pleased his lovers.

Naturally her insight that this didn’t appear to be an issue any further was tempered by the belief that the last thing Kushina would want was people to be aware of her jaunts outside the barrier. Kiyomi found the whole thing to be both amusing and frustrating. Her amusement stemmed from the fact that Naruto was nailing almost every kunoichi or civilian of worth that he had encountered in his journeys, but it had yet to occur to any of his lovers that his mother, who had a front row seat to this would not be curious as to just what kind of lover her son had grown up to be. The frustration stemmed from the same source, but mainly from her hesitance to broach the subject.

Kiyomi recognized that her hesitance was born from her belief that she was not the best candidate to approach the subject. A part of her knew that the reason the other women seemed blind to the possibility was because of the taboo associated with it. Because of that taboo, Kiyomi didn’t want to wade into the potential minefield like she normally would and disrupt the stability of her family. She wondered briefly how the other woman would react should Kushina ever officially join the Harem. Truthfully though, she doubted it would make too many waves as there already was a pair of women in the harem that were technically engaged in incestuous actions.

Granted the first time, both Tsume and Hana had been under the animalistic desires their clan displayed during long dry spells or when first choosing a mate. But both women had been present during several orgies or had even double-teamed the man they shared when the situation called for it. Yet, it hadn’t raised any moral hackles from the other women. Kiyomi conceded that it may be different should the mother and son become lovers, but believed any issues that arose would simply be due to traditional thoughts on incest, which in turn would be quickly dealt with. Especially since it could be pointed out that as far as the women bound to Naruto knew, people would be just as quick to make judgments about their decision to share the same lover.

As Kiyomi had pointed out to Mikoto, she found such thoughts to be both limiting and pathetic. Her own opinion on the matter was if Kushina and Naruto decided to strengthen the bond they had with each other by adding a physical element then so be it. Yet, she knew that her opinion was born of her simply not having been raised in a societal condition in which such a pairing was frowned upon, so was aware it could be a much bigger issue than she expected it to be.

That thought did give rise to the possibility that perhaps no one would be more disgusted to know Kushina was enjoying her son’s efforts then Kushina herself. She frowned at that possibility since she could only imagine how the woman feared it coming to light.

Kiyomi’s thoughts on the matter however came to a screeching halt though as a scream reverberated through her. It wasn’t something she heard, but she instinctually knew who it had belonged too. Standing abruptly, the chair she had been sitting in fell over causing the three kunoichi cleaning the room to turn to her in alarm. An alarm that Kiyomi could feel beginning to appear in her sisters. Responding to the telepathic yell she thought, “Shukaku, what is it? Where are you?”

However, there was no response leaving Kiyomi to believe that however her fellow Bijuu had escaped from the statue it had been sealed in. The one tailed beast had already been subdued. Certain that Shukaku was nearby she suspected that her fellow Bijuu may be a part of whatever Pain had planned for the village so turned her mental energies to alerting the one kunoichi she felt could spread the word discreetly and quickly.

******

Shukaku the Sand Spirit fully exited Tobi’s pocket dimension. Its body was pierced with giant versions of the black chakra rods that Nagato used to control his Paths and summons. It roared in pain at the violation as it searched for the people responsible. Spotting both Tobi and Nagato it turned towards them raising a massive fist in the air as it prepared to smash them out of existence. However, before it could get its revenge Nagato used the chakra receivers it had been implanted with to arrest its movement. Still the strain to do so was incredible causing Nagato to say, “You must hurry! I can’t hold it much longer!”

Tobi stood weakly as he replied, “I’m well aware of the difficulty in keeping that thing in check. I’ve had to for nearly two months. I’m sure you can manage for twenty seconds.” Still despite his words, Tobi leapt up the chakra beast with a great deal of urgency. Coming to a stop in front of its golden left eye he said, “That’s quite enough out of you.”

Placing the beast in the same genjutsu he had used to control the Kyuubi, he willed the creature into a mental sleep. Upon doing so its golden eyes were replaced by that of the Rinnegan. Tobi smiled beneath his mask as he noticed Nagato straightened in his walker since he no longer needed to fight the beast but was now free to siphon its chakra.

Dropping to the ground the true leader of Akatsuki stumbled slightly as he drew near chakra exhaustion. Approaching the self-styled god he said, “I trust you can handle things from here. Holding the One-tails has exhausted my strength.”

“I would be more worried about Sasuke completing his task of capturing the eight-tails at this point,” Nagato replied smugly as he began to maneuver his walker deeper into the cave. “With the jutsu at my command now that I’ve tapped into the One-tails power the Leaf Village will be a memory by the next sunrise.”

“Good,” Tobi said as he began to warp away to recover his strength, “It may be overkill to have released the One-Tails for this operation. But we can afford no further slip-ups if we are to reforge this world into the one in our dreams.”

Before blinking out of existence Tobi watched as Nagato maneuvered the one tails in front of the entrance to where he would be conducting the destruction of Konoha. The chakra beast squatted down blocking the entrance and then seemingly blended into the surrounding rocks. A moment later Tobi appeared in his own base of operations where the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path was stored. Desiring nothing more than to rest, he instead pushed himself to find Kisame in order to send him after Sasuke. Although he wanted to believe the Uchiha was capable of handling the Eight-Tails alone, as he had informed Pain, at this junction it was best to ensure results. Confident that soon he would have the Seven, Eight, and Nine tails under his control, Tobi turned his mind to how he would manipulate the Shinobi World’s reaction to the events he had just set into motion.

****

“Mom,” Ino shouted upon entering into her family’s shop from the greenhouse where she had attending to the flowers.

“What is it Ino?” her mother questioned from where she stood behind the counter.

“You need to get to the shelters. The Village is about to be attacked,” Ino warned as she ran to the exit.

“What? How do you…”

“Just promise me you’re going,” Ino said cutting her mom off. “I need to find Lady Tsunade.”

Her mother nodded having not seen her daughter so serious so Ino took off alerting the people she encountered out front before leaping to the rooftops. Alone for the moment she thought, “You’re absolutely sure about this. Otherwise I’m going to look insane if nothing happens.”

“I’m sure,” Kiyomi replied mentally.

“Okay, so then why contact me and not Tsunade directly?”

“I would if I could,” Kiyomi replied. “However, my telepathic abilities are rather limited. I’m able to communicate with my sisters because we all started our existence as a single being. Sort of like how twins are said to be able to sense one another. The reason I’m able to communicate with you like this is because your clan has honed their abilities to communicate mentally for generations.”

“Alright then what do you want me to do once I reach Tsunade?”

“Just put me in touch with her and then link us to everyone else. We need to plan accordingly. Out of curiosity did you notice anything strange before I contacted you?”

Ino thought for a moment recalling how as she watered the flowers she had a sudden sense of foreboding as she thought she heard a pained scream. Relaying as much to Kiyomi, she was surprised as the Bijuu replied, “That was Shukaku. It seems that you’ve been honing your skills while you’ve been away.”

Ino frowned at the surprised tone Kiyomi had used since it implied the Bijuu thought that without Naruto being a part of her life she would let her skills wane. Still she did concede that a reason she had been working so hard to improve her abilities was because it helped alleviate the loneliness she had felt. Therefore she simply replied, “I had a lot of free time on my hands.”

Despite the seriousness of the situation she felt a small smile threaten to appear as Kiyomi replied, “I bet you did.”

Reaching the Hokage Mansion, Ino made her way to the Clan Council Chambers where she barged in before the guards at the door could react. The shinobi present went on guard at her rude appearance with her father being the first to give voice to it as he said, “Ino, what do you think you are doing?”

“I’m sorry Daddy,” she replied quickly, “But I believe we’re about to come under attack.”

“What do you base this off of?” Tsunade asked concerned knowing full well the information could have come from other sources.

Ino wasn’t sure how to respond at first since she hadn’t considered how to explain the situation without revealing her source. But looking to her father had a sudden inspiration as she said, “Dad, did you feel a sort of psychic scream a little while ago.”

Her father frowned making Ino fear that he hadn’t since a part of the Yamanaka training did consist of blocking such stray psychic pressure. But after a moment he nodded as he said, “I did feel something a short time ago. But as you know such things happen from time to…”

“I know,” Ino said urgently. Knowing that she would need to stretch the truth a little she said, “I…I’ve heard it before in my dreams…during the Sound Invasion several years ago. At the time I just passed it off as a side-effect of the genjutsu I was under that compelled me to sleep. It would only be after talking to Temari during my time with the Training Force that I realized the dream I had was connected to the Shukaku that Gaara released.”

Homura frowned as he scoffed while saying, “Are you telling us this scream you claim to have heard just now is the Shukaku? My dear I don’t think I need to remind you that Akatsuki has…”

Ino wanted to smirk as it dawned on the elder that was exactly what she was implying. Tsunade snapped to her feet shouting at the guards, “Have all our outposts check in immediately.”

The chunin that had been guarding the door both snapped to attention before running to complete their orders. Tsunade directed her attention to the councilors, “Everyone man your posts. We will treat this as the real thing until we receive proof otherwise. If it is a false alarm we can simply claim it as a surprise drill.”

The Councilors nodded in agreement before leaving the room. Ino’s father favored her with a warm smile before following Shikaku to the command center where they would direct Konoha’s forces should an actual battle take place. Ino followed after Tsunade as Yuugao and Koharu did likewise.

Once they were alone Tsunade was about to ask how the Yamanaka had truly learned her information, but stopped as Ino placed a hand on her back and using the mark that connected Naruto’s lovers used that as a means to link her and the other women of his Harem that were in or near the village. “Well done Ino,” Kiyomi said over the mental link. “Tsunade, as Ino already informed you Shukaku is nearby. Unfortunately it is not responding to my mental calls. But I believe Akatsuki plans to use Shukaku in an attack on the village.”

“Why would they go through the trouble of releasing the one tails?” Tsunade questioned.

“Perhaps as a means of forcing a confrontation between Naruto and it,” Temari said from her tent in the Training Force camp. “Naruto was the one to beat Gaara when Suna tried to use Shukaku in a similar matter.”

“No,” Konan said from the Den’s medical bay, “Nagato has positioned himself as a god. Therefore if he is going to destroy the Leaf Village it has to be seen as his victory. I’m not sure why they would let it free of the statue, but we do not need fear Shukaku running amok in the village at least not in the beginning. Should things turn against him though, I would not be capable of guaranteeing that.”

“I could handle it,” Fu said over the link.

“Fu, don’t forget you are likely a target as well,” Tsunade said, “Do not get overly reckless.”

“Fu understands,” the former jinchuriki replied a hint of nervousness appearing in her mental voice.

“What about Naruto?” Hinata asked from her room in the Hyuuga compound.

However, before Tsunade could respond a large explosion sounded in the middle of the village. The Hokage and the others stopped at a window as they saw the cloud of dust rise over the village followed by several others that appeared in different points of the village. Despite wanting nothing more than to hide her lover away she said, “We alert him that it appears Pain is attacking the village.”

Tsunade felt Ino stiffen behind her at her statement. She half expected the young Yamanaka to raise her voice in protest of the decision. When no such protest came, she proceeded to lead the women to her office and the messenger toad Fukasaku had left. However, upon reaching her office there was no sign of the toad that had made the room its home. “Where the hell did he go?” Tsunade said angrily.

“Homura,” Koharu said her own voice taking on a dark tone.

“What makes you believe he or one of his followers was here?” Yuugao asked although she knew the Elder had been revealed by Komachi’s presence under his home as the man that was now in charge of Root.

“It has to be him,” Koharu replied bitterly, “He can’t take the chance that Tsunade would summon Naruto back to the village. Even if Ino’s warning had turned out to be false he could have likely pinned it on remnants of Root.”

Koharu turned to leave the office prompting Tsunade to ask, “Where are you going?”

“To deal with Root,” Koharu replied her response carrying over the mental link thanks to Ino, “Homura will likely keep most of his remaining forces close to him during this invasion. He can’t take the chance of being weakened even further. Therefore this attack also presents us with the unique chance to be rid of Root once and for all.”

“Still you won’t be able to handle them all by yourself,” Tsunade protested.

“I’ll lend her a hand,” Seven said. “As fun as battling Akatsuki sounds, I was brought on board to aid in the removal of Root. It would be nice to see that task through to the end.”

Despite the Bijuu agreeing to aid Koharu, Tsunade was still hesitant to give her blessing. But knowing she would need every available person to aid in the defense of the village nodded as she replied, “You two be careful.”

Koharu smiled as she replied, “We will be. Besides, the third member of our party is already there.”

Tsunade returned the smile as she realized Koharu was referring to Komachi. “Right how silly of me to forget.” The smile disappeared as Koharu took off to settle her difference of opinion with her old teammate. Focusing on the smoke rising above her village, she moved to the window directly behind her desk where she smashed the glass with her fist. She then leapt through the shattered window to defend her village and lover’s dream from the man threatening both.

*****

Temari stepped out of her tent as the link closed down. A great deal of the shinobi from the Training Force had already done so as more and more people noticed the smoke rising from the direction of the Leaf Village. She wasn’t surprised to find Matsuri, Maki, or Pakura waiting for her to emerge or their sending her looks like they expected her to order them to Konoha. However before she could Asuma ran up to her saying, “Lady Temari, it looks like Akatsuki is making its move. I’ll be taking the Leaf forces back to the village. It would probably be best if the Sand returns home. I know you had permission to aid us against Root, but this is an entirely different battle…”

“Lord Sarutobi,” Temari said disappointedly, “Do you think so little of our alliance that you believe I need to run all the way back to Suna to ask for permission to aid our friends of the Leaf? This force was formed to defend both our homes from enemies that threatened them. I can think of no one more deserving to face our combined might then Akatsuki, can you?” Temari was proud to see that the resolve her words showed was also etched on many of the faces of her shinobi. Glad for the opportunity to repay the Leaf for its role in saving her brother, she said, “We’re merely awaiting your order Lord Sarutobi.”

Temari felt a measure of pride in the dream she had become a part of as Asuma was clearly relieved he could defend his home with the full might of the Training Force. Inclining his head to the younger woman he said, “Thank you.” Turning to Sand and Leaf Shinobi he barked, “Well what are we waiting for? Let’s get moving.”

Almost as one the shinobi present took to the trees as they moved to aid the Leaf. The women in Temari’s squad all shared the same thought as they wondered when their lover would make his presence known.

******

Kurenai was bumped to the side as a man concerned with saving his own skin ran passed her. She watched him do likewise to several other civilians as they made their way to the shelter. She steadied herself as she restarted her trek to the shelters, but a moment later she learned the rude civilian had just been the vanguard of more as suddenly dozens of more people began to push her from behind. Trying to learn why, she looked behind her to see a large centipede racing down the street towards them. Kurenai was tossed about as more and more people became aware of the danger and began running to escape it.

Due to her pregnancy Kurenai struggled to keep up and seeing a small alley ducked into it to escape the throng of people. She winced at the scene left behind as the scared civilians moved on as several less fortunate people laid trampled in the street. She heard the sounds of exploding kunai hitting their target so peeked out to see a line of chunin doing what they could to distract the strange summons from the fleeing civilians. About to get moving, the Jounin noticed a small child crying having been separated from her parents.

The summons apparently also noticed as it easily smashed through the shinobi killing or incapacitating them, before moving to attack the young girl. Kurenai moved on instinct as she channeled chakra to her legs to help overcome her limits as a result of her pregnancy. She reached the girl and snatched her out of the way just as the centipede smashed its head into the spot she had been standing. Kurenai felt winded due to eight months of being unable to properly train.

She felt a measure of panic come over her as the centipede focused its gaze on her as she cursed her recklessness since it was no longer just her life of the line. As the centipede positioned itself to attack her, Kurenai caught sight of someone approaching from the direction the civilians had fled, recognizing the jinchuriki Fu. She watched as the young woman began to emit a golden chakra which surrounded her as it took the shape of an armored giant humanoid beetle. The chakra appeared to harden to a glossy black as it reached a height of several stories tall.

Fu upon reaching the centipede delivered a massive uppercut that rocked the centipede as it sent it flying down the street and away from Kurenai. However, before the jounin could even thank her rescuer though a tongue wrapped around the upper body of the shell surrounding Fu. The jinchuriki struggled to remain standing as a chameleon with a snake for a tail appeared on the side of a building behind Fu. It began pulling backwards in order to topple the golem like construct.

Kurenai felt guilty as a part of her screamed to get out of there in order to protect the civilian she had already saved and her unborn child. However, as a large multi-headed dog leapt on Fu to pry the woman out of the chitin surrounding her. Kurenai knew that the same instinct that had prevented her from letting an innocent civilian die in front of her would not allow her to turn her back on a fellow kunoichi. Telling the young girl to take shelter in the alley she had earlier, Kurenai darted to one of the shinobi the centipede had killed. Riffling in his pouch, she pulled several kunai that had exploding tags affixed to them. Taking aim at the chameleon, who was not allowing Fu to remain upright; she threw them and was pleased to see that her aim although shaky was still true as the blades impacted the tongue. A moment later they exploded causing the tongue to be amputated. The chameleon roared in pain as it disappeared blending into its surroundings.

Kurenai watched as now free of the appendage that was hindering her ability to defend herself, Fu easily grabbed the summons scrambling to remain perched on her and tossed it into a building. The jinchuriki followed up by smashing its fists into the bizarre dog beast. Yet just as Fu appeared to be gaining the upper hand, she was propelled backwards as the summons separated into several copies of its self.

Pushed backwards by the strange turn of events, Fu found herself facing three of the multi-headed canines. Far from being concerned Fu willed the faceplate of her armor to open revealing that the golden chakra was stilling surrounding her inside the shell. She then sent a concentrated blast of that chakra into one of the summons incinerating it completely. The other two summons realizing the peril they were in appeared to decide to retreat. Fu paused a moment to look back the way she had come and seeing the squad of shinobi she had been with approaching decided to give chase.

Kurenai watched relieved as Fu chased after the remaining summons. Seeing the approaching shinobi she waved at the young girl to join her. Yet, just as the civilian appeared from her hiding spot Kurenai’s view of her was clouded as a giant dust cloud was kicked up by something heavy landing in the street. Kurenai searched for the threat, but just caught site of the shimmering outline of the chameleon summons she had wounded before its snake-headed tail slammed into her.

Kurenai was sent flying by the blow and only stopped upon hitting a wall which she slid down. Kurenai blacked out for a moment, but came to seconds later to see the summons being driven off by the approaching shinobi. Dazed from the blow, she didn’t really understand what was going on as two members of the medical core hovered over her. Able to hear them though she listened as one of them said, “Her wounds aren’t too severe…but there’s only one heartbeat.”

The other one took a second to look down at her obvious pregnant stomach to ask, “Are you sure?”

A slight nod was all the confirmation the man gave, but it was enough to cut through the fog surrounding Kurenai. The jounin turned her focus inwards and was unable to feel the life that she had been nurturing for the past eight months. Feeling an overwhelming amount of grief she let out a bloodcurdling scream of, “No!” which after her throat went dry she began to repeat over and over again as she tried to deny reality while the medics began to carry her to the hospital.

*****

Nagato watched dispassionately through his Animal Path from the roof of a nearby building as the Konoha reinforcements drove off his summons. Having heard the woman’s scream, he felt it as a reaffirmation of his belief that only through excruciating pain would the world begin to seek out peace. Turning his back on the shinobi as they secured the pregnant woman and civilian he directed his dog summons to lead the Seven-Tail jinchuriki on a chase until his Deva path could deal with the annoyance it faced.

Nagato knew that he should probably use the jutsu that had been his reason for releasing the One-Tails. But rather than crush the village quickly he wanted the despair of the attack to sink in. Especially since he had lived with his hatred of Konoha for decades so didn’t wish to rush through his snuffing out of their much vaunted “Will of Fire.” Nagato was aware that if he wasn’t careful, he could in turn be creating the next generation of those who would resist him in the future. Therefore he needed to extinguish all hope and the best way to do that was a long drawn out siege that would slowly crush their spirits. If it lured out the nine-tails as it apparently had the seven then so much the better.

Nagato stopped as one of the dogs that had splintered off from the two that Fu was chasing suddenly picked up a familiar scent. Recognizing it as the woman that had rescued Konan, he directed the summons to follow the trial even as he moved his Animal Path to the same location.

*****

Konan could feel the earth vibrate as large explosions went off nearby. Despite her body protesting her decision she pulled herself out of the bed. She quickly dressed as she made her way out of the Den. Aware of how frightening powerful Nagato truly was. She needed to be ready in case he decided to really cut loose. Knowing that at the moment Nagato was simply toying with the Leaf, she needed to observe how he had arraigned himself through the village so she could choose the opportune moment to strike.

*****

Kiyomi watched as her home battled against Pain. She felt hemmed in by her role as a civilian as she longed for the freedom that both Yoruichi and Seven were displaying. She also wished she could simply teleport to her lover, but since she used the fox mark located on Naruto’s lovers to travel could not locate him due to his presence being blocked by the atmosphere of the Toad’s home. She had been surprised to learn that it was apparently a handicapped that didn’t extend to him. But she reasoned that it was because the Hiraishin was reliant on the seals built into the fox marks or on his kunai, not the sense of presence the marks gave off.

Aware that she wasn’t alone she asked, “Can I help you two?”

Miya Asama shrugged as she replied, “Not really. I’m simply watching the fireworks, same as you.”

Kiyomi frowned at the woman’s words, but wasn’t surprised by them as she had made it quite well known she had no desire to protect the village. Not that Kiyomi could blame her considering the Leaf had locked her up for over a decade. But looking at the woman standing next to the purple haired woman, she could see her other house guest wasn’t so unconcerned. Finally, Mikoto broke as she said, “Let me do something to help. I can’t just sit back and do nothing.”

“Oh, isn’t the sight of the village locked in battle the very thing your clan wanted to bring about.”

Kiyomi took some satisfaction in seeing Mikoto wince from her words, but it was short lived as the Uchiha replied, “I…I can’t deny what you say is correct. But, to stop such a thing from happening is the very reason why I alerted the Third to my husband’s plot. He failed to understand that even if we won…we wouldn’t erase the cold stares that we received. We’d only solidify the villagers mistrust and fear of us.”

Kiyomi hearing that didn’t trust Mikoto any more than she had before, but decided that at the very least it would be a chance to see where the Uchiha stood. Releasing the seal that bound the woman to her property the Bijuu said, “Then go. But upon our defeating Pain, I expect you to return.”

Mikoto nodded, before darting out of the room. Miya watched as Kiyomi turned back to the window and asked, “Do you truly believe she will?”

Kiyomi shrugged as she answered, “Honestly it doesn’t matter. If she comes back she at least proves she can be trusted. If not, then she’ll go in search of her son. I trust that her friendship with Naruto’s mother will be enough to keep her silent about the secrets she has uncovered. If not then I’m sure her son will insure that she takes them to the grave.”

“Remind me to never get on your bad side,” Miya said finding the Bijuu would make a dangerous enemy.

Kiyomi smiled back at the woman over her shoulder before saying, “If you’ll excuse me. I have a guest.”

Miya watched as the Bijuu slowly walked out of the room. Making her way to the window she saw what appeared to be a young woman with orange hair. Guessing her to be this Pain, she had heard mentioned by the women of the house she settled in to watch wondering if she should aid the Bijuu to gain some insight on where Kisame was hiding. However, as the Bijuu appeared out of the entrance of the mansion Miya doubted the Bijuu wanted or needed any such aid.

*****

Soifon watched as the smaller dogs that had separated from the larger one her squad had ambushed finished killing the rest of her team. She killed the emotions she felt as one beast removed its fangs from around the throat of her sensei while staring at her. Having recently been promoted to a chunin in the Suna Chunin Exams, the fifteen year old kunoichi waited for the remaining beasts to take notice of her. Willing to trade her life so long as she could incapacitate them, she had set up a Barrier Encampment with herself as the bait that would lure the summons into the killzone.

“Come on you pieces of shit,” the chunin said defiantly. “I’m not going anywhere.”

The summons all snarled before leaping at her, and as they approached Soifon smiled as the exploding tags she had set around her began to smoke, before erupting in flame. Just before being engulfed she closed her eyes and was surprised that dying felt a little bit like flying.

Feeling like she was being held around her waist while suspended in the air. She opened her eyes to find herself being held by a dark-skinned woman on top of a roof. Upon seeing the kunoichi she had rescued staring up at her the woman said, “Whew that was a close one. If I had been a little slower we both would be extra crispy right now.”

Soifon felt her cheeks begin to color as the woman stared down at the kunoichi she was easily holding with just one arm. “W-who…”

“Hold that thought,” Yoruichi said as she leapt backwards causing Soifon’s stomach to lurch as she was held around the waist by her savior’s arm. The unease also stemmed as several of the summons she thought her trap had killed smashed into the area looking burnt but otherwise unharmed.

Upon Yoruichi’s landing one of the dogs growled at her before leaping to attack. However, the Bijuu simply raised her leg straight up in the air before smashing it down on the summon’s head driving it through the roof until it landed in the basement. Once the dust cleared, Soifon could see that from just the one blow the animal would not be getting up anytime soon although she could see several new heads sprouting from the beast.

“I tell you,” Yoruichi said, “It always bothers me when people let their mutts run loose off of their leashes. Well I guess the owner won’t be able to raise too much of a fuss about me putting them down, although he’s welcome to try.”

Soifon was about to point out that physical attacks only seemed to make the summons stronger, but before she could the woman tossed her behind her as the dog she had sent through the roof leapt from the hole. The summons smashed its paw where the woman was standing prompting Soifon to charge forward in anger at the beast killing someone else. However she stopped as the dust cleared and revealed the purple-haired woman easily holding the paw it had tried to smash her with.

Yoruichi smirked into the summons Rinnegan eye as she said, “Aw, you want to shake.” Pushing it backwards she quipped, “Now play dead.” She then breathed a ball of black fire into the beast’s chest that caused it to burst into flames. The flames grew stronger before taking the shape of several large black flaming cats. Yoruichi walked among the jutsu composed of her blaze element as she said, “Opps, I don’t think its playing. Oh well let’s see if the rest of these flea bags can do any better.”

The cats leapt away from her as they smashed into the summons setting them ablaze. Soifon watched amazed as within moments the woman’s jutsu reduced the pack of dogs into so much ash. Stretching her arms over her head, Yoruichi moved to the end of the roof looking for another area of trouble. Spotting a dust cloud she was about to leapt away but stopped as the kunoichi she had save asked, “Who are you?”

“Yoruichi,” the Bijuu replied and then leapt away.

Soifon watched the woman as she moved to attack a giant crab that easily towered over her. Despite the chaos still going on around her Soifon whispered reverently, “Lady Yoruichi.” Her attention was pulled from the angel that had saved her by the cries for help of people nearby. Having to complete her duty to the Leaf, Soifon leapt away to render what aid she could. But once the village was secured promised she would learn everything she could about the woman that now captivated her world.

******

Sakura directed several less severely wounded civilians towards a waiting are where they would be treated in due time. She paused as her eyes landed on Kurenai, who still stared off into space while simply repeating the word no. Her heart broke for the woman especially as her hands absentmindedly rubbed her stomach despite her deceased child having been removed. Tearing her gaze away, she saw her teacher moving down a hall as if to leave the hospital. Quickly closing with him, she said, “Where do you think you’re going?”

“Sakura, I have a duty to perform. I’m healed enough…”

“When did you become a doctor, Kakashi-sensei,” Sakura said sternly cutting her teacher off, “Your wounds barely healed. Now get back to your room before I forget myself and do something you’ll regret.”

Kakashi well aware that in his current condition, his student’s threat was more along the lines of a promise, sighed in defeat as he followed her instructions. Sakura spared a moment to make sure her teacher did as she said, before moving to help a gravely injured shinobi. As she set about the task of trying to repair the damage she sent a silent prayer out to her lover that he would arrive in time to save the village.

****

Tsunade channeled chakra to her feet as the Deva path tried to pull her towards it. Resisting the pull until it stopped, she then charged forward hoping to reach the Deva path before it could use its jutsu again. Tsunade managed to succeed, but it was pushed out of the way by the Path that appeared capable of absorbing chakra. Tsunade’s fist connected with its face in place of the Deva’s path causing it to go flying off where it smashed into an apartment building. In the back of her mind Tsunade realized that the apartment her human projectile had just ruined had been Naruto’s.

Turning to the Deva path that was recovering from the rough push it had received she raised her foot intent on crushing it. However, she was blown back as it raised its hand sending Tsunade off to slam through a building herself. Glowering at the path as it stood, she threw off the broken pieces of furniture covering her as she got to her feet as well. Staring down at it from the hole of the second floor apartment she had crashed into, she shouted, “Give it up you bastard. This village is not something someone like you can crush.”

The Deva Path stared up unintimidated as it replied, “An ant can rage all it wants at a descending boot heel. But in the end the result is still the same.”

Tsunade growled as she ran down the face of the building intent on showing Pain that he had picked a fight with the wrong ant.

****

Komachi remained in the cell that had been her home for over a month still as naked as the day she entered it. Despite Monkey apparently deciding to spare her, it showed that he in no way trusted her. She could understand his reluctance to do so since even were she still loyal, her upcoming mission to kill Naruto would have had only one outcome for her, death. With the possibility she would be tortured before being killed she doubted Monkey would want her revealing any pertinent information she would learn about his operation if she were free to move as she pleased.

Komachi frowned as she heard the sounds of large scale combat taking place overhead. Despite her chakra being sealed she could still vaguely sense the other women connected to her via the mark she bore, but had been unable to communicate with them. Suspecting the battle was directed at the village as opposed to removing the remnants of Root, she wondered who the enemy was.

Her thoughts turned to her personal safety though as her cell began to shake violently making her believe that on top of a battle the village was suffering an earthquake. But her fears proved groundless as a large stone beetle smashed through the back wall of her cell. It shattered into pieces a moment later to reveal the still henged Koharu and Seven.

Both women appeared shocked to find Komachi completely nude with Seven saying, “Um, sorry…we only brought you some weapons.”

Komachi took them wordlessly as she strapped the pouch to her waist and the sword to her back while Koharu removed the chakra restraining seal. She had just finished situating them when the door to her cell burst open. Komachi pulled her blade as she leapt the distance and slashed one of the men across the throat. The second Root member managed to swing at her, but she parried the blade as she dug a kunai from her pouch and buried it in his masked eye socket.

Turning to the two women, Komachi said unashamed of her nakedness, “They are enough.”

“Then let’s go,” Koharu said taking the lead as she went in search of Root’s current master and her old colleague.

The three women encountered relatively light resistance since it was apparent that Root had not expected their attack. The three kunoichi learned the other reason was because most of the remaining Root members had gathered in a large assembly hall. Upon their stepping into it Monkey said, “So, it appears my first instinct about you was correct Komachi. I should have simply eliminated you.”

Komachi felt no need to respond but Koharu did as she said, “Homura…how could you fall so low?”

“Low,” Homura replied removing the mask he wore. Tossing it aside, where it landed next to a jar containing the missing and unconscious messenger toad, he began moving through the ranks of his Root members as he explained, “How is it low of me to do the things that you and the rest of these weak willed fools find distasteful. You see our rebellion as us being disloyal when it is us simply and finally making the village recognize the horrible things that must be done to keep the other villages from snuffing out our Will of Fire? Forget your romantic view of what it means to be shinobi. We try to dress it up, but in the end we are no more than the various Daimyo garbage men.”

“How can you say that?” Koharu said sadly, “Sensei taught us to be proud shinobi.”

“And how did Sensei die?” Homura replied coldly. “Like a cornered dog as the rest of us raced back to the village clinging to our pitiful lives. Our ideals for peace were used against us to lure us into that trap. Peace is an illusion which cannot become a reality so long as the other shinobi villages exist. But from that experience in Lightning Country, I learned the only true peace we can hope for so long as the current shinobi world exists is the one found in the grave.”

“Then why don’t you go hurry up and die then,” Seven replied. “In case it’s escaped your notice your home is being flattened by Akatsuki and yet here you bastards sit huddled together.”

“Akatsuki is simply a wildfire that has spun out of control,” Homura replied calmly as he came to the head of his forces. “We were aware of them as they fought to establish peace in Ame during the Third Shinobi War. Such a naïve idea of peace had no place in this world which is why we joined with Hanzo in eliminating them. However, it appears we underestimated this Nagato. But looking at what he’s become is all the proof one needs to see just how weak his ideals of peace were.”

“Don’t you see though,” Koharu tried to reason, “Your actions then are why our village is suffering now.”

“As I said,” Homura replied unperturbed, “It was a wildfire that has spun out of control, but one I can use to reforge this village into what it needs to become in order to survive in this world of shinobi. Once Pain has finished in his rampage, we will emerge to lead the survivors forged through the painful reality of this world against him. Maybe after they’ve had a taste of what awaits them outside the safety of Konoha’s walls, they’ll be more willing to take the steps necessary to ensure such a thing never happens again? This time there will be no soft hearted Hokage to hold us back like Sarutobi or Tsunade.”

Koharu frowned as she said angrily, “You’re the one that helped to appoint Tsunade once Jiraiya suggested her.”

Homura chuckled as he replied, “True, but I fully expect her to be a colossal failure as Hokage. Little did I imagine the woman that was cheating her creditors and drinking her life away would prove to be such a formidable opponent. She was supposed to be a wreck that Danzou and I could influence or discredit thereby allowing him to rise to the position.”

Koharu stared at the ground sadly as she said, “I see…so this is a path you’ve been on for a considerable amount of time.”

“Indeed,” Homura replied, “But don’t kid yourself Koharu. It’s a path you’ve been on as well. When Itachi came to us with his plan to eliminate his clan, you may have raised the greatest fuss about it. But you still agreed with us in the end. But it was because it took so much convincing to bring you on board that Danzou and I refused to let you in on our greater plans.”

Koharu pulled her gaze from the floor as she met her old teammate’s cold glare with a steely one of her own as she said, “For that I thank you then. By not pulling me into the darkness you two had surrounded yourselves with it has allowed me to find my true self.”

Homura shrugged as he tossed the robe he had been wearing away to reveal his old shinobi armor. Pulling the scroll strapped to his chest down he called forth a sickle and chain. Spinning the weighted end of the chain he said, “In a clash between two ideals only one can remain standing. Let’s see if your true self can stand against mine.”

Koharu dropped her henge showing off her youthful appearance as she replied, “I’m afraid now that you’ve seen it, none of you are leaving this room alive.”

Homura recovered from his surprise quickly before charging his fellow elder as his Root members followed in his wake. Pulling a kunai she let it fly but wasn’t surprised as Homura battered is aside with the weighted chain. Pulling another to parry Homura’s sickle, she smiled in his face despite his saying, “You’re a fool Koharu. Do you honestly believe the three of you can stand against Root?”

“What can I say Homura,” Koharu said as she struggled against her oldest living friend, “We’re another wildfire that you’ve lost control of. Let’s see how calm you can remain now that your true home is caught up in it.”

****

Nagato watched through the Animal Path’s eyes as the woman that had saved Konan calmly strolled out of the mansion that he assumed was her home. Despite his usual confidence he found her calmness both in the chaos going on in the village and his ability to find her disturbing. Commenting on it he said in the female Animal Path’s voice, “You don’t seem surprised that I found you.”

“What makes you think I was hiding in the first place?” The woman replied condescendingly.

Pain turned his Path’s head to where a fireball had erupted due to his Asura Path’s battle against a purple-haired Anbu and the squad she was leading. “Perhaps from your remaining here instead of helping this village defend itself.”

Nagato found the predatory smile the woman gave him as a result of his words unnerving. She spoke with a finality that caused him to question not only whether or not the woman was human, but his own chances of defeating Konoha. “Take it from one who knows. This village will not be done in by this.”

Nagato got over his bout of nerves as he recalled his ace in the hole the member of Akatsuki said, “I’ll keep that in mind. Tell me, did Konan survive her wounds?”

“Who can say,” Kiyomi replied with a shrug, “Don’t tell me you’ve begun to regret your attacking her.”

“I merely wish to ascertain if she still remains a threat to my goal to create peace in the Shinobi World. But no matter, if she’s still alive I’ll find her in due time. Now I believe you said, there was someone that would determine my fate. Where would this person be so I can show him the futility of challenging a god?”

Kiyomi held back the frown she felt since without her ability to feel him via her foxmark she could not teleport to Naruto’s location as her technique worked separately then his. Plus since Homura apparently had captured or killed the messenger toad that had been left to summon the jinchuriki they couldn’t summon him that way either. Despite her not wanting to interfere with Naruto’s confrontation with Pain, the Bijuu had her own goals in regards to him so said, “I’m afraid he’s rather indisposed at the moment. You should have told us you were coming as I’m quite positive he was very eager to meet you. But in the meantime let us do our best to entertain each other.”

Nagato had his Animal Path react immediately as it crouched to place its hands on the ground. It summoned two of the creatures that it had yet to set loose in the village. The first was a massive Ox which towered over the woman as it was as tall as her three story mansion. The second creature let out a loud screech as the strange three winged and legged bird flew out of the cloud that had sprung into existence upon its being summoned with the Animal Path riding on its body.

Kiyomi frowned at Pain’s choice of summons as the last thing she wanted was to attract attention to their fight. Therefore in order to ensure that they remained alone she placed her hands upon the ground causing a massive red barrier to spring into existence around her property.

Taking the perceived opportunity to strike that Nagato saw he willed the Ox forward to crush the impertinent woman as she established her barrier. To his surprise, she didn’t even attempt to avoid the massive hoof as he brought it down on her. It hit the ground with full force kicking up a massive cloud which the Animal Path and bird it rode scoured looking for some sign of the woman. They need not have bothered as from beneath the hoof several red tendrils of energy wrapped themselves around the leg. The tendrils squeezed the leg in a grip that began to crush it, before they pushed the Ox backwards until it fell onto its back.

From the Animal Path’s vantage point it could see the woman still crouched as she had been, but now covered in a red cloak looked like it was trying to take on a shape, yet couldn’t due to the woman apparently preventing it from doing so. She stood in the hole that had been made as her chakra cloak prevented her from being crushed and began to scan the sky. When she spotted the Animal Path, Nagato saw a small smile appear on her face before she disappeared into flames.

Kiyomi reappeared behind the Animal Path on the bird it was riding as she could use her version of the Hiraishin to teleport to a location she could see. The Animal Path reacted immediately as it lashed out with a kick behind it that Kiyomi’s chakra cloak easily blocked. She prevented it from taking its fox shape by cutting her chakra as soon as the threat was ended since she didn’t want to supply Pain with too many clues as to what he was facing off against. She tried to retaliate with a chakra fist, but the female path leapt over it and her.

Kiyomi spun to face her opponent but watched as the Path appeared to miss the end of the bird and begin to fall towards the earth. Kiyomi frowned, but learned it was intentional as the bird at her feet disappeared into smoke. Before she could recover, the Ox charged her and rammed her as she was in midair. Hitting the center of its forehead she found herself pinned against it until the Ox smashed her into her home.

Finding herself in her study, Kiyomi’s anger spiked and no longer caring if Pain learned what he was facing decided to show him the folly of making her angry. Pulling back her fist, she slammed it forward just as the Ox was beginning to back up in order to inspect its handiwork. A massive chakra claw sprung into existence catching the summons in the head and sent it skidding backwards.

Kiyomi walked slowly towards the hole that had been made and noticed a thick fog beginning to cover her property. Mentally thanking Miya, suspecting her due to her being a Kiri-nin, Kiyomi stepped from the hole. Yet instead of falling to the ground a red fox cloak sprung into being around her. Residing in the fox apparition’s head, which was as large as the Ox summons, she watched as the Animal Path leapt atop it’s summon’s head.

Kiyomi smirked as the Animal Path taking notice of the nine-tails swinging about behind her chakra cloak asked, “What the hell are you?”

“What are your eyes telling you?”

“Do you honestly expect me to believe you are the Kyuubi?” The Animal Path questioned its tone filled with disbelief.

“Why not,” Kiyomi replied in amusement, “You wish for me to believe you are a god. Let us see whose boasts appears to be closer to the mark.” The Bijuu leapt at the Ox as it charged towards her while the Animal Path leapt away. The Ox hit Kiyomi’s cloak in the chest, but its horns failed to penetrate as it was stopped almost immediately due to the heavy nature of the Bijuu’s chakra. Kiyomi had the cloak’s claws grab the Ox by the horns as it tried to twist the summons head clean off its shoulders. But just as Kiyomi was about to succeed, her cloak was hit from the side by the Bird that the Animal Path had re-summoned.

The drill like beak failed to penetrate as well, but the force of its collision caused Kiyomi’s grip on the Ox to weaken enough for it to pull away. The bird scrambled back on the ground as it had been unable to remain airborne after the collision as Kiyomi turned her attention to it. Pulling back her arm which was mirrored by the Fox cloak she prepared to crush the skull of the bird summons. However, as she was bringing her cloak’s fist down, something wrapped around its forearm. Searching for the new threat she spotted a shimmering distortion that appeared to resemble a bizarre chameleon of some sort. It revealed itself to show that the snake like tail of the summons was wrapped around her cloak’s forearm.

Kiyomi willed her tails to deal with the nuisance as they wrapped around reptile as the Ox tried to rescue it by charging Kiyomi. The Bijuu turned the Fox Cloak’s head towards the fast approaching summons. Kiyomi took a deep breath before expelling a fireball from her mouth that grew in power as it traveled through the fox cloak’s throat. When it emerged from the Fox apparition’s mouth her Hellfire fireball was easily as large as the Ox’s head and when it hit caused the front half of the summons body to explode into charred flesh. The rear half collapsed to the ground as it skidded to a halt. Kiyomi then had her tails bring the chameleon in front of her where she grabbed it around its torso and squeezed the life out of it.

Dropping the broken husk to the ground she stepped on it for good measure, before scanning for the Animal Path in the fog. She caught sight of the female Path as it rode the airborne bird. The bird flew as high as the barrier would allow before diving towards Kiyomi. The Bijuu could tell the beak was aimed for where she resided within her fox cloak. However, just before it made contact Kiyomi dropped the cloak. She teleported before the beak could connect and appeared in front of the Animal Path.

Kiyomi struck first this time grabbing the path around the throat and refused to let go even as the summons beneath her feet was dispelled. Kiyomi was prepared so teleported with her prize and reappeared in front of her home as she easily held the shorter Animal Path off the ground.

The Animal Path struggled to speak due to the iron grip around it’s throat as it said, “Do you truly believe you have won?”

“This round,” Kiyomi replied pleased. “I thank you for your contribution to my plan for releasing my brethren from the husk of the Ten-Tails.”

“What are you talking about?”

Kiyomi smirked as she replied, “As I thought…you’re just a pathetic pawn in all this as well.”

The Animal Path’s eyes narrowed at the Bijuu as Nagato replied, “Know your place. If you truly are the Kyuubi, then you’re nothing but a power source for the jutsu I’ll use to change the world.”

Kiyomi’s eyes narrowed as well, but then a smile appeared on her face as she responded, “No, I’m afraid you’re quite mistaken in that regard. But no matter, you’re plans are falling apart even as we speak and you were even kind enough to deliver into my grasp the last element I needed to really muck up that masked bastards plot.”

“And what would….”

The question cut off as Kiyomi began to channel her chakra into the Path. First she set about healing the damage that had been done to the body in order to make it suitable to be used as one of Nagato’s paths. As a result the black chakra receivers began to be pushed out as the holes that had been created to house them as they closed. The black rods began falling to the ground as the more shallowly inserted ones healed first. Once the last rod came loose the Rinnegan faded from the Path’s eyes as the female went slack.

Next, Kiyomi channeled her chakra to stimulating the organs of the soon to be former Animal Path. She could feel a pulse as the woman’s heart began to beat and once it had a steady rhythm she ended her artificial stimulation of the organ. The former Animal Path suddenly took a deep gasping breath as its lungs began to function as well. The ex-Path’s eyes began to come into focus and zeroed in on Kiyomi’s face.

Kiyomi knew the woman would not be the one that she had been before her death, nor would she likely retain any memories of her time as a Path. Therefore, Kiyomi as she returned the body to the land of the living had applied the skills she had mastered through her tampering with the Taki-nin’s psyche to give the woman the means she needed to function, but would also leave her as a blank slate.

Kiyomi was pleased as a questioning look appeared in the woman’s blue eyes as she asked, “Who are you?”

Setting the woman down she replied, “I’m Kiyomi.”

The woman processed the information and despite the confusion she was no doubt experiencing didn’t let it show as she asked unemotionally, “Who am I?”

“Perhaps in time you’ll be able to answer that,” Kiyomi said proud of her work, “But for now how about I call you Sage?”

“Sage,” the woman repeated still sounding unemotional. After a moment of thought though she added, “That is an acceptable name. What is my purpose?”

“In the future that will be your own decision to make,” Kiyomi said turning towards her home. “Yet for the immediate future your purpose is to help me free my siblings.”

“How?”

“All will be explained in good time,” Kiyomi said as Sage began to follow her into the mansion. “For now though let’s get you somewhere safe. I fear things will get worse before they get better.”

****

Nagato tried to understand what had happened to cause him to lose contact with the Animal Path. He also began to wonder if the woman he had faced could have truly been the Kyuubi. However, he dismissed the idea as ludicrous since that would mean the Nine-tail Jinchuriki would have been dead. Still he couldn’t deny the woman’s power so decided it might be best to begin the preparations for deploying his trump card.

With a mere thought two of the lids for canisters housing his paths were sent flying as they were punched open. Nagato watched as the two new Paths stood and then ran out the cave’s entrance to Konoha. With them on their way he turned his focus back to his Asura Path as it dealt with the Anbu that had been guarding the Hokage.

*****

Hinata ducked down as she performed the splits as one of Pain’s dog summons passed above her. Before it cleared her, she jammed her hands up into the air with the chakra that coated them taking on the form of a lion’s head. The jutsu hit the beast in the chest causing it to yelp as it was propelled upwards. The dog tried to right itself but was then hit in the side by an Eight Trigrams Vacuum Wall Palm as several Branch Family members, including Neji, attacked the summons once she was clear of it.

Her Byakugan showed her the animal, which had split off of a larger one sporting multiple heads, slamming into a wall which crumbled atop of it. Rolling back to her feet, she fought back a sigh as her bodyguard Ko said, “Lady Hinata that was far too reckless. You should return to the compound and leave the fighting to us.”

“Ko, I know father has left you in charge of my wellbeing during his absence, but it is our duty as Hyuuga to defend this district. A duty I intend to see fulfilled,” Hinata said aware of the pile of stones shifting behind her.

Ko more focused on his duty of protecting his charge by convincing her to return to the Hyuuga compound where the other Main Branch family members were residing, did not. Therefore he was surprised as said charge pushed him back as a sizably larger and three-head canine emerged from the rubble of the wall.

Hinata spun to face the renewed threat and began swinging her arms in front of her in an incredible display of speed in precision. The arc-shaped chakra blades formed a barrier in front of her which as the summons hit caused it to get sliced into cauterized cube shaped pieces. Hinata remained vigilant in case the strange creature somehow survived the damage, but when no new beast seemed to begin growing turned her attention away.

Sounding confident and in charge Hinata asked as she helped Ko back to his feet, “Neji, you’re eyes are stronger than mine, are there any threats present?”

“None we currently need to deal with. Also, it appears that most of the villagers have been evacuated to the shelters. It’ll probably be time for the counterattack soon enough.”

Hinata nodded before ordering, “Good, we’ll hold position here until it’s time to begin.”

She then leapt up to the top of a nearby tree as she directed her attention to the village as she tried to determine where her clansmen and she would likely be sent in order to drive Pain out of the village. Beneath her those clansmen looked on with respect as well as a few faces of worry since many of them hoped Hinata would assume leadership of the Hyuuga and did not wish for her to fall in battle.

None though was more concerned than the man charged with her safety, who as his charges cousin drew near whispered a little harshly, “Neji, how can you show so little concern for Lady Hinata’s safety. I’m sure if you told her to return to the safety of the compound she’d listen.”

Neji’s face remained impassive as he replied, “Unfortunately there is only one person she would possibly listen to, and he’s not in the village at present.” From Ko’s face Neji figured that they were thinking of two different people. Directing his gaze up to his cousin, he imagined that not only was she scanning for threats, but also for any sign of orange that would signal Naruto’s return. Like most of the village Neji had no idea where Naruto was, only that he was receiving some sort of specialized training. Returning his focus to his clansmen he continued, “Therefore, it is our job to make sure no harm comes to Lady Hinata.”

Ko nodded his head in agreement an action mirrored by the other Branch Family members present. Neji didn’t smile since they were simply reaffirming their duty as Branch Clan members. But he did take pride in knowing that unlike with many who bore the Caged Bird seal, they weren’t doing so due to their station in life. But because they genuinely wanted to serve the woman that many considered the only Main Family member that valued them.

****

Yuugao ducked behind the corner of a building and looked behind her to see if the remainder of her squad made it. She watched sadly as one of them didn’t make it in time and took a direct hit from the projectile that the Path they faced had launched. The missile exploded, the flare of which forced Yuugao to turn away.

“Inoichi,” Yuugao thought, “Where is Lady Tsunade?”

“She’s still in battle with the Paths classified as Deva, Preta, and Naraka,” Inoichi replied mentally.

“What!” Yuugao replied concerned, “Your last report stated she had knocked the Preta out of commission.”

“It was an accurate report, but unfortunately it seems the Naraka path is the one capable of healing the others. We’re not sure how, but that would appear to be the reason it does not engage in battle directly. However, the Hokage is managing to hold her own.”

Before Yuugao could reply a new voice spoke up in her head as it said, “Yuugao, I know your first inclination is to rejoin the Hokage, but it would be unwise of you to do so.” The only reason the Anbu Captain didn’t argue was due to the voice being Shikaku Nara. Well aware the man had a reason for his statement she remained silently prompting him to explain, “As formidable as Pain seems to be due to his ability to channel his jutsu through six individuals, he’s actually weakening himself by attacking the village in this manner. Breaking down the abilities we’ve seen thus far we can catergorize the Asura, Animal, and Deva as offensive in nature. The Preta would be defensive and the Naraka would be a support type.”

“I get it,” Yuugao replied in thought, “by keeping the Asura after me you’re saying I’m in fact lessening the danger the Hokage is facing.”

“Precisely,” Shikaku answered, “We still have no idea what the Human Path is capable of. Although from survivors of squads that have encountered it, we believe it is looking for information on where Naruto is. Since it appears Tsunade is the only one that knows that information if it begins moving towards her we’ll need to take steps to stop it.”

“Where is it currently?”

“Unknown, we’ve lost track of it. Also, despite it being obvious that the Animal Path is around, no one has been able to visually confirm that yet. We do not even know what it looks like so be extremely careful.”

“Roger,” Yuugao replied as she came to a stop. The rest of her squad did likewise so she ordered, “The rest of you are to loop around to aid Lady Tsunade. I will hold the Asura Path here.”

Her squad new better than to question her so continued on as Yuugao scanned the area for signs of her opponent. She heard the sound of something being launched causing her to look up in time to see a flying fist approaching her. Leaping out of the way she avoided the projectile as it smashed into the ground where she had been standing. She watched as it flew out of the hole that it had made and tracked it as it returned to the Asura Path that was standing on top of a damaged building.

Yuugao threw several kunai at her target, but they were deflected by a large metal tail that sprung from the Asura Path’s back causing its robe to rip apart. The makeshift barricade retracted as the Asura path dropped down from the building. It pulled its cloak away revealing that it had a total of six arms as it fell forward to rest on two of them. Yuugao watched as from its crouched position the top of its head opened revealing some strange circuitry. Yuugao’s eyes grew wide as a beam of light began to coalesce in front of the path. Aware that if it connected there probably wouldn’t be enough left of her to fill a matchbox; Yuugao threw down a smoke bomb to cover her movements as she dived through a nearby window. The beam fired tearing a path of destruction down the narrow street and gouging out a portion of the building she had leapt into.

Yuugao had already returned to her feet by the time the beam fired and rushed through the building in order to get closer to the Asura Path. She cursed under her breath as she heard the sounds of the battered building breaking apart due to the most recent damage. Still she was determined to reach her target so ignored them even as support beams began to snap. Spotting the Asura path she smashed through another window with her sword drawn as she swiped at it. Her blade just grazed the path as it managed to leap away.

The building behind her began to tumble down forcing Yuugao to concentrate of escaping from beneath the collapsing structure. Running from under the shadow, she leapt the final distance just barely managing to stay ahead of the wreckage. Scanning through the dust she silently hoped that the Asura path was buried under the building. Yet she highly doubted it, and a moment later was proven right as she sensed an attack from behind. Spinning towards the threat she raised her sword to deflect it and was able to push the blade away from the sure kill shot of her head. However, the tail continue passed her and the sharp metal edge cut into her right shoulder causing her to bite her lip in pain as she refused to scream.

The tail retracted causing her to yell despite her desire otherwise. The Asura Path left its tail hovering above its head, but angled it down so her blood would travel to the tip. “I will take you a piece at a time until you tell me where Naruto Uzumaki is,” the Asura Path said confidently.

Yuugao adjusted her stance to accommodate her inability to user her right arm effectively as she replied defiantly, “You’re welcome to try.”

*****

Shikaku continued to monitor the situation as best he could from the various radio voices of the squads engaging the summons running amok around the village as well as those directly facing the Paths that had been accounted for. Forming a theory based on the reports he surmised, “Someone must have taken care of the Animal Path that is why the number of summons seems to be decreasing. It may have been that woman Yoruichi; she’s been wreaking havoc on the summons capable of replicating itself after being attacked physically. Or it may be tied to the red barrier that sprang up around the Kiyomi residence there may be more going on there than meets the…”

“Shikaku,” Inoichi called from where he was connected to the machinery that allowed him to communicate with the units mentally.

Shikaku preferred to use the radios to gather real-time intelligence and use his friend’s mental abilities to communicate his orders. Guessing his friend’s interruption was due to the orders he had recently sent he said, “Let me guess Yajirobee is uncomfortable with the orders I gave him.”

“He says he wishes for you to clarify them,” Inoichi replied with an amused smile.

Placing his hand on Inoichi’s head he said mentally, “Yajirobee what about my orders were unclear?”

The mental aspect of their communication made the nervous stutter of the chunin all the more pronounced as he said, “I-I j-j-just wanted to make s-s-sure I heard it correctly. Y-you want my squad to engage directly with a Path. Y-you’re aware I’m l-leading a bunch of unproven genin.”

Shikaku from his years of practice was able to hold back his sigh lest the chunin hear his frustration. “Yes, I am well aware of that. However, you do not need to confront the Asura Path directly. Neko is currently fighting it alone as she sent the rest of her squad to aid the Hokage. Unfortunately that squad was in turn ambushed and wiped out by a pack of those dog summons. Neko is fighting valiantly, but is going to lose unless she receives help.”

“B-but…”

Shikaku cut the man off as he said, “Lady Yakumo, I believe you understand what I’m saying.”

“Yes sir,” Yakumo replied, “Due to the battle Lord Jiraiya had with Pain, he uncovered that his Paths are susceptible to genjutsu. You want me to get close enough to place the Asura Path under one allowing Neko a chance to eliminate it.”

“Exactly,” Shikaku said impressed by the formerly bedridden young-woman. Directing his mental attention to the chunin in charge of the squad he said, “Yajirobee, if you have any further questions feel free to direct them to Lady Yakumo.”

“Y-yes sir,” the Chunin replied sounding chastised since he was aware that if he delayed any further he’d likely find himself taking orders from the genin next.

Shikaku confident that the squad was already moving turned his focus to trying to locate the missing Human Path as he found its disappearance more worrisome then the Animal Path’s. Noticing a nearby squad had stopped reporting, he felt his eyes go wide as he prepared to alert those in the command post that located in the Jounin station when a large explosion destroyed much of the wall he was standing in front of. Blown off his feet, he tried to clear the bells ringing in his ears as a hand clamped around the top of his head. Shikaku felt unable to move as he felt a presence peering into his mind despite his best efforts to block it.

The Human Path yanked his hand away pulling Shikaku’s soul out of his body as it said to itself believing everyone else had died in the explosion or simply posed no threat, “Interesting, so only the Hokage knows where Uzumaki is. Still, she is proving rather difficult to deal with; it may be prudent to locate this Ayame the boy is seeing.” With a new target to locate the Human Path leapt out of the ruined command post leaving broken bodies and the dead behind.

******

“Where is Uzumaki?” The Deva Path said calmly.

Tsunade didn’t respond as she charged the Deva Path aiming to take it out of the fight. However she needed to stop as she channeled chakra to her feet to ride out the massive push it unleashed against her. Tsunade grimaced as even with her precautions, she felt her feet begin to slip. A moment later though, the wave ended allowing her to move forward again, dashing towards the path she made it to within punching distance. Yet she was forced to roll away as the previously out of commission Preta Path returned to the battle having been restored by the Naraka.

Tsunade blocked a punch from it and pushed its arm away as it tried to grab her. She forced it to leap away as she tried to connect with a kick of her own. The Preta landed in front of the Deva Path. Tsunade’s attention was pulled to the sound of glass breaking as the Naraka Path kicked out a window in a nearby shop where it had been watching the battle to avoid fighting the Sannin. The large piece of glass flew in front of the Preta which punched it shattering it even further before leaping out of the way as the Deva then used it ability to accelerate them at the Hokage.

Tsunade simply charged into the oncoming projectiles as she released the chakra contained in the seal on her forehead causing her body to become covered in black marking. Tsunade’s apparent lack of self-preservation surprised the man controlling the Paths as the glass shards ripped her to shreds. Tsunade didn’t even slow down as they passed through her body confident that her Strength of a Hundred jutsu and the bonus of being Naruto’s lover would heal the damage almost as soon as it was made. She leapt into the air intent on bringing her foot down on top of the Preta Path’s head, but both it and the Deva managed to leap away. Her dodged attack connected with the street causing it to shatter and crack causing several of the nearby buildings to sway.

Once the mini-quake settled the Three Path’s moved to stand in front of her. The two sides stared each other down until the Deva Path said, “I’m not sure it is accurate to say that you’ve lived up to your legend as I was under the belief that I’d be facing a broken down old woman well past her prime. It pleases me the reports were wrong as there’d be no point in destroying a village which relied on such a weak Kage.”

“I think you’ll find this village has survived worse than you,” Tsunade said defiantly.

“You’re the second one to tell me that,” Nagato said through the Naraka Path although it used the same voice as the Deva. “However, this village is going to fall this day and there is nothing you can do to stop it.”

“We’ll see about that,” Tsunade roared charging the Three Paths, “As the Hokage, I won’t allow you to trample on our dreams or to snuff out our Will of Fire.”

The Naraka and Preta leapt away from the Deva as it replied, “Those dreams were only allowed to come into being as a result of the suffering of the lesser countries. It’s time that you experience a similar feeling of desolation.” The Deva Path then leapt into the air, rising far above Tsunade until it reached a point where it could see almost the entire village. Hovering in midair the Deva Path held its hands above its head as it intended to release a Shinra Tensei which would level the entire village. “Know god’s judgment,” it said intending to focus the blast directly where Tsunade was standing.

However, before it could bring its hands down, a large paper chakram hit the Deva Path from behind cutting it in half. Nagato felt slightly disoriented as he watched the world spin as the two halves of the Deva Path tumbled towards the earth for the final few moments he could see through it. He cursed as he saw Konan standing on the roof of a nearby building as he guessed she had remained hidden expecting him to use his technique in such a way. Cursing his former partner and friend he sent the Naraka in motion to collect the halves in order to repair it.

*****

Konan moved to aid Tsunade as several of his summoned canines attacked her. However the Hokage easily dealt with the beasts by simply chopping them in the neck and disrupting their motor movements. As the beasts struggled to move, Konan covered them in paper tightly bounding them before applying a seal that caused them to go inert.

Landing next to the Hokage, she felt a small smile, which she didn’t let appear, as the blonde woman said, “You should be in bed.”

“It was lonely by myself,” Konan replied.

Tsunade nodded, before asking seriously, “Is that going to be enough to keep the Deva Path down?”

“Unlikely,” Konan said even as the Deva landed in front of them.

“Konan, how unfortunate to find you still among the living,” Nagato said through his favored Path. “Do you honestly believe you’ve saved this village?”

“Please Nagato,” Konan said sounding on the verge of tears, “Stop this insanity. Don’t you see that you’ve become everything Akatsuki was founded to oppose? Where does it finally end?”

“Such a foolish question,” Nagato replied through the restored Deva Path. “You as well as anyone should know it’ll never end. Even after my ultimate jutsu has been perfected and unleashed peace will only rein for a short time. Eventually the pain and fear of it will lessen, forcing its use once more. That is the truth of peace, periods of calmness set between times of pain and suffering. The jutsu that I’ll create with the power of the Bijuu will simply make the bad moments shorter.”

Konan wanted to refute Pain’s philosophy. However, she found it difficult to do as a part of her still believed it herself. She could follow Naruto because as she had told Nagato earlier she believed her lover had inherited Yahiko’s will along with Jiraiya’s. Yet in the face of the suffering she had experienced found believing in Naruto’s dream wholeheartedly difficult.

She looked at Tsunade out of the corner of her eye, expecting that perhaps the Sannin shared similar doubts. However, all she saw written on the blonde woman’s face was a sureness that she was traveling the right path and an unshakeable faith in the man leading her down it. Konan felt disappointed in herself that she could find nothing to say to counter Nagato’s argument. At the same time she wondered why it was that Tsunade was so positive especially in light of all she had lost over the years.

The blue-haired woman received a glimpse of what Tsunade was thinking as she said, “What a load of crap! You claim to be about peace but all you want to do is hurt the world as it has hurt you.”

“Easy words to say when coming from the pig in charge of the village responsible for much of that suffering,” Nagato said a hint of the anger he felt bleeding into Yahiko’s voice.

Tsunade glared at the man, as she counted, “That’s precisely my point. You just want to be one deciding who suffers what and when. I can’t change whatever wrongs my home has committed against you to make you this way. But they in no way justify you actions against us now. You’re not targeting any particular person looking for revenge or justice. You’re simply striking at a point on a map in order to make things even in your mind. As a result you don’t care if your actions actually punish those responsible. How many innocent people have you already hurt that weren’t even alive to have wronged you?”

Nagato remained quiet for several heartbeats causing Konan to hope that Tsunade’s words had somehow penetrated the darkness he had surrounded himself with. That hope was dashed as he replied, “Weak words uttered from one that used to wield the stick that beat down the other villages and now finds herself on the receiving end.” Suddenly two new Paths appeared landing next to the Deva Path. To both women’s surprise the new Paths revealed they could summon as they pressed their hands to the ground. As the smoke cleared it revealed twelve metal tubes that almost resembled metallic coffins standing on their end. The Paths contained inside pushed the lids to their containers open as they stepped in front of the Yahiko Deva Path.

Tsunade upon facing fifteen Paths of Pain sent a shocked look towards Konan asking, “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know,” Konan said shocked, “Nagato’s never been able to maneuver more than six paths before. This is something new.”

“Indeed,” Nagato said through the Yahiko Deva Path, “Once I suspected you to be a traitor I figured it would be best to overcome my previous limitations. As a result my six paths have evolved into an Army of Pain.”

Konan frowned as she realized, “That mission to hunt down the Akatsuki defector where you said you were testing some upgrades. They didn’t just modify the chakra transmitters in your walker to allow for greater range. It was also to up the amount of chakra they could send out.”

“Very good,” Nagato said through his favorite Path, “It’s too bad you connected the dots too late though.” Turning his focus to Tsunade the man said, “Hokage, the coming battle will be an interesting chance to show you what I meant about lessening the suffering endured between periods of peace. My paths are slowly going to grind this village into dust. I’ll be sure to leave you alive long enough to tell me afterwards if you would have preferred me to simply have wiped it off of the face of the planet with a single jutsu.”

The Yahiko Deva path then disappeared into smoke as Nagato had one of the Animal Paths that remained behind summon it back to the cave. Feeling so very much like a god, in thanks to the two hundred paths he was manipulating due to the chakra he was siphoning from the One-tails. Nagato smiled in the darkened cave as he witnessed the Leaf Village’s destruction through two hundred points of view.

****

Yuugao seemed to dance backwards as she avoided the attacks of the Asura Path she had been battling. She left several after images of herself causing the Asura’s missile attacks to miss as it targeted the false images. Yuugao charged through the dust kicked up by the explosions and created two shadow clones. She leapt into the air as the clones approached the Path from the ground with each of them leaving afterimages in their wake.

Their timing was perfect as all three struck at once, but the Asura Path used three of its six arms to catch the blades in its hands. The Path smirked as the top of its skull opened in order to fire its beam attack once more. However, Yuugao managed to surprise it by slamming the palm of her hand into its nose, using the arm that she had been favoring due to her previously injured shoulder, thus breaking it and causing its head to rock back causing the beam cannon to misfire into the air.

The Anbu captain kicked off of the path as she again used the arm the Path had believed was out of commission to make a one-handed handsign in mid-flip which caused her shadow clones to explode. Landing on her feet she brought her hand up to her injured shoulder and although she already suspected as much was still surprised to find the deep cut she had received was healed. Not exactly sure of the how, she did believe it was a result of her being a lover of Naruto as she had felt her injured shoulder getting stronger as the fight had progressed with the Asura Path.

Yuugao wasn’t given the chance to ponder the matter any further as the metal tail that had injured it in the first place shot out of the smoke. She was forced to dodge it several times as it tried to track her movements, before the Asura Path retracted it as the smoke cleared. Yuugao frowned as she inspected the damage she had caused as although she had destroyed the arms that had caught her clones’ attacks. The rest of the injuries it had sustained appeared to be pretty minor.

“Impressive,” The Asura Path said amused, “You’ll make a worthy vessel for my power.” Yuugao remained silent as it wasn’t the Anbu way to make idle chit-chat with the enemy. Yet to her surprise its gaze suddenly snapped off to the side as it asked, “Where do you think you’re going?” It crouched over as it turned in the direction its head was looking. The metal tail shot from its back as if to impale some fleeing person leaving itself wide open.

Yuugao charged forward as she sensed Yakumo’s presence and she understood the recently minted genin had placed a genjutsu on the Path. Still despite the genjutsu showing a fleeing Yuugao, it appeared to sense her attack at the last moment. Yet it was too late to react as her blade sliced through its neck removing the Asura Path’s head from its shoulders.

As the beheaded Path collapsed Yakumo appeared from the side of the rubble from the building that had collapsed during her battle. “Yu… Captain Neko,” Yakumo said remembering her place, “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” Yuugao stated looking over her fellow Harem member and the squad with her. Directing her focus to the nervous looking Chunin in charge she said, “Report.”

“W-well you…um see…”

Yuugao was about to snap at the stuttering chunin, but Yakumo stepped in for him calmly saying, “Truthfully we don’t know what’s going on. We were ordered to help you by Shikaku, but since then all our attempts at communicating with the command center have gone unanswered.”

Yuugao frowned behind her mask as she considered the possibility that Pain had targeted those directing Konoha’s forces. Yajirobee spoke up to say, “A-anyway we’ve completed our m-mission we should return…Arrghhh!” His desire to return to the rear was cut short as a blast of chakra hit his back and blew a hole through him.

Yuugao and the other Leaf shinobi leapt back as the powerful blast continued on and hit the ground at the center of where they had all been standing. The resulting blast from where it hit sent out a large shockwave that sent several of the other genin flying.

Yuugao and Yakumo landed near each other and both directed their gazes to the top of a nearby building where the blast that had killed Yajirobee had come from. Yuugao frowned upon seeing two fresh looking Paths, one of which arm looked like some strange futuristic cannon. Recognizing it as the same type of jutsu that the Asura Path had been using the Anbu Captain asked aloud, “How did he get a replacement Path into the village so quickly?” Directing her gaze to the unfamiliar bald man standing next to the new Asura she pondered silently, “Is that the Animal Path? Did he summon it?”

But one of the genin that had accompanied Yakumo pointed saying, “What’s that coming out of its back?”

Yuugao’s eyes went wide in shock as coming out of the back of the one she had thought was the Animal Path was a familiar looking metal tail. “Two Asura Path’s!?” Yuugao said shocked. The Anbu Captain didn’t have any time to think on the matter further as the tail burst forward intent on skewering the pointing genin. Yuugao managed to rescue the young kunoichi as Yakumo caused them to disappear by casting a genjutsu.

Their respite was short lived as the Energy Cannon Asura Path began firing randomly into the area. The squad managed to regroup as they escaped from the energy blasts. Terrified beyond belief a young shinobi said, “Yajirobee was right…we aren’t ready for this. We should be…”

“Be silent,” Yuugao scolded, “If you wish to leave the front lines I won’t stop you. However, our duty as shinobi is to ensure that this chaos does not reach the people of the village. If we fail here there is no place that will be safe from Pain’s onslaught.” Yuugao brought the squad to a stop as the wildly firing Asura Path ended its attacks. Using silent handsigns she directed the squad to prepare a counter-attack as she continued, “There is no magical time when one can be considered ready. You either manage to rise to whatever challenge you are facing or you don’t. In a perfect world those challenges become increasingly more difficult giving the appearance that you have overcome them gradually. However, I think you’ll find that those that have will to do so, can overcome even the most difficult situations without the learning curve.”

A new Path landed behind the other two and placed its hands on them dispelling the genjutsu. Pulling her sword, Yuugao gave the motion for those she had charged with providing her cover by throwing kunai to begin their attack. The new path stepped in front of the other two and raised its hand causing the kunai to stop in midair. It then propelled them away and towards the genin causing them to take cover. Several didn’t react in time taking minor wounds as a result causing the Anbu Captain to curse as the revealed Deva Path leapt from the building to intercept her.

The Deva Path landed in front of her and raised its hand to hit her with a powerful repelling force. However, Yuugao noticed its hand shift ever so slightly causing the jutsu to pass by her. Smirking at Yakumo’s ability to quickly put the new foe under her genjutsu the Anbu captain threw a kunai that imbedded itself in the Path’s forehead, before exploding. The two Asura Paths suspecting they had again been placed under a genjutsu began firing randomly, as Yuugao charged passed the ruined Path.

Still the purple haired woman was forced to pull as the Path with the tail leapt to a different building as two large rectangular pods appeared from its back. The pods were revealed to be rocket launchers as they fired into the area they suspected Yuugao was occupying. Forced to abandon her attack, she cursed as a new Path appeared on the building next to the Energy Cannon Asura Path. It then summoned a pair of the Single Headed Dogs that were roaming the village. Yuugao gave the signal to retreat as she suspected that the Summons would be able to counter Yakumo’s genjutsu since they may not be as reliant on sight as the Paths appeared to be. Helping an injured genin to his feet, Yuugao threw several pellets that exploded into a bright light to blind their opponents as she tried to get the injured to safety before returning to the front lines.

*****

Moegi tried to pick herself up off the ground as she recovered from the explosion that had scattered her squad. Shaking her head, she winced due to the pain and bells ringing in her ears getting worse. But she managed to get to her feet just in time for a hand to clamp around her throat. Being picked up by her throat, she stared into the Rinnegan eye of the man who asked, “Where is Naruto Uzumaki?”

A strange looking creature appeared from the ground behind the man as it repeated the question. Moegi glared as defiantly as she could as she replied, “I don’t know! But even if I did I’d never tell you!”

Moegi’s mouth was forced open as a strange tongue like appendage appeared from it as if to be swallowed by the apparition behind the Naraka Path questioning her. However to her great surprise the being disappeared into the purple flames it had appeared from. The Naraka Path then let her go before leaping away deciding to award her bravery and true answer.

A moment later Udon appeared asking, “Are you alright?” as he helped her to her feet.

Moegi nodded as she replied, “Surprisingly…” The rest of what she wanted to say was cut off as her teammate slammed a black chakra rod he had secured from a destroyed Path into her stomach. Moegi looked on shocked for a moment before she burst into smoke as she used the substitution jutsu to switch with a piece of debris.

Udon fought back a curse as he kicked the lumber his teammate had switched with away. Scanning the area he spotted her trying to escape although she appeared to still be rather weakened by her encounter with the Naraka Path as well as from the wound she now sported. Now needing to kill the kunoichi in order to protect his cover as well as to guide Konohamaru to Root’s way of thinking the young man gave chase.

*****

Ino was part of a medic squad that had been dispatched to the central command center located in the Jounin Station. Their task was to ascertain what the situation was and to tend to the injured. Unfortunately along the way they had encountered a squad of chunin that had taken refuge in a building due to the number of injured civilians they had been escorting. The Jounin in charge a woman named Taji, and who had also been the midwife to Naruto, had suspended their mission to attend to them.

Ino finished in her task of healing one of the chunin who had been injured defending the make-shift shelter. After being thanked and politely turning down the young man’s request for a date, the kunoichi stood to take in the situation. She frowned as she realized that with the number of severely injured the mission was likely going to be scrubbed in favor of escorting them to the hospital. Noticing Taji had finished healing the civilian she was working on the Yamanaka kunoichi approached the former Anbu to ask, “I’d like to request permission to move on to the command center.”

“Request denied,” Taji said quickly preparing to give the order to secure those that couldn’t move under their own power.

“Please,” Ino said a small amount of pleading entering her tone.

“Ino,” the Anbu said her voice and face softening slightly, “I can understand your desire considering your father is there. But we can’t abandon these people and I can’t take the chance of losing any skilled medics.”

“I won’t deny a part of my desire to go is to see if my father is okay,” Ino said hoping to reason with her commander. “But it’s also so we can learn if a second attempt is even necessary. Taking this many medics from the hospital has to have been felt by now considering the amount of injured we’ve encountered. Wouldn’t it be better to know if a second attempt is even necessary?”

She could see her words were winning Taji over, but she could tell the woman was concerned she would be sending Ino to her death as she said, “It would, but I can’t spare anybody else and according to the radio broadcasts it seems the heaviest fighting might be taking place around there.”

“I’ll be fine,” Ino said, “and that’s just one more reason why we should learn if a second attempt is even needed.”

Ino tried to keep her voice calm and businesslike so Taji would let her go instead of sending some one that didn’t have a personal stake in going. Finally after what seemed to be an eternity the dark-haired former Anbu nodded as she said, “Be careful and radio to us as soon as you can. Otherwise we’re heading right back out as soon as we deliver the injured.”

“Roger,” Ino replied as she turned on her heel to learn the fate of her father and the rest of the shinobi stationed in the Command Center.

*****

Konohamaru had been in the midst of mailing a letter to a penpal and his secret crush Naho when the fighting had broken out. He had been worried about the girl and jealous primarily due to her crush on Sasuke Uchiha. Lately the worry had been growing much stronger. The reason being that in her last letter there had been a request for him to look into the Uchiha Massacre and see if he could learn of a conspiracy against the clan. She had explained her reasoning that she had come to believe that Sasuke had been forced out of the village by a hidden plot.

At first Konohamaru had just been upset at the request due to his believing Naho was hoping to exonerate her own crush’s actions. But some part of him felt a growing concern that perhaps the sudden inquiry might be due to him not being the only person that Naho was in contact with. He didn’t want to believe the girl he liked was either secretly communicating with Sasuke, or harboring him. But he felt her letter raised the distinct possibility that she was.

Konohamaru had wanted to talk to Naruto about it, had he even been in the village. But, with the matter being related to Sasuke, Konohamaru felt it likely he wouldn’t have been able too. As a result he had instead gone to Udon. To his great surprise, despite his belief that Sasuke was a bastard through and through, his oldest friend’s reaction had almost convinced Konohamaru that there was more to the Uchiha Massacre then he had originally believed. Without mentioning why he was curious he had simply asked if Udon thought it possible that the Uchiha had been the target of some plot against them. Udon’s whole demeanor had changed as his fellow new chunin had asked where he had heard such a thing. Thinking quickly, as he didn’t want to implicate Naho, he claimed he had been going through some of his grandfather’s things that were stored in his parents’ attic and one of the reports that had been mixed in with the Third’s journals had raised the possibility.

Udon had studied him for a moment making Konohamaru believe his friend doubted the explanation. But a moment later his friend’s demeanor shifted again as he shrugged while replying that he doubted the massacre was a result of some plot. The report he had read was most likely simply putting forward another theory for Itachi’s actions. Konohamaru had quickly agreed that must have been it, but deep down began to suspect that perhaps Naho may be onto something. He didn’t think that even if there had been a plot that it excused Sasuke’s actions primarily since the young Sarutobi had visited Naruto in the hospital and seen the Uchiha’s handiwork on what could be considered his closest friend.

Konohamaru also felt his worry was growing due to his believing that Naho might be caught up in something greater than she could handle on her own. He feared that if Sasuke was the one prompting her to search for information on what had happened to the Uchiha, then it was likely he was simply using the girl’s affections for him to further his own goals.

Konohamaru felt a fresh burst of anger at the thought, but pushed it aside to concentrate on his job. After Pain’s Invasion had started the young Sarutobi had linked up with a squad that at first concentrated on guiding civilians to the shelters. Once that task had been finished they had linked up with several other squads, his two teammates being among them, and moved to begin the Konoha Counter Attack when the village had been besieged by an Army of Pains. The group had reached the front when it had encountered a battle unit made up of several Deva and Asura Paths. At the rear of the group appeared to be a Naraka which had already repaired several of the Paths that they had managed to destroy.

Hoping to take out the one responsible for healing the others and also to force the Paths into a crossfire, the Squad leader had sent a group to flank their opponents. Among those sent had been Moegi and Udon. However, as the battle had gone on and the second group had yet to attack the squad leader had become concerned. Konohamaru had volunteered to go in search of them to learn what had happened. He could tell that the Squad Leader didn’t want to be the one to send the Honorable Grandson on such a dangerous assignment, so Konohamaru had taken the choice out of his hands as he took off in the same direction as the man mulled over his choices.

Konohamaru came around a corner and felt sick as he found the corpses of the squad. From the large crater at the center of the carnage, he suspected that the group they had been fighting must have noticed the squad breaking off from the main group and sent an Asura Path to deal with it. He figured it must have laid in wait and upon spotting them had fired a rocket into the center of the formation. Creating a shadow clone he sent it back to the main group to alert the commander that the squad would not be flanking the Paths they were fighting. He then looked about for signs of his friends while fighting back tears.

After several moments of frantic searching he felt a measure of relief as he didn’t spot his friends among the dead. But was concerned as to where they were since he doubted either would continue the attack. His attention was pulled to an area strangely devoid of corpse considering the way they were blown about by the attack. Searching the area he found a black rod imbedded in a piece of wood and pulling it free found the tip coated in blood. Looking around, he spotted a trail of it leading away from the area and deeper into the village. Creating a second clone to inform his commander of his going in pursuit, he took off to follow the blood trail.

He felt a measure of fear begin to take hold as the drops of blood began to appear closer together making him believe the wounded person was tiring. Increasing his speed, he turned a corner and for the second time stumbled upon a scene from out of a nightmare except this time it was to find Udon holding Moegi by the throat up against a wall as he prepared to ram a black chakra receiver into her chest.

“Udon, what the hell are you doing,” Konohamaru shouted causing the bespectacled shinobi to turn his head towards him.

Moegi took the opportunity to raise her legs up and to kick her teammate away as Konohamaru came to a stop in the gap that had opened up between them. Udon sighed as he said unemotionally, “It’s unfortunate that you had to see this, Konohamaru. It was my hope and mission that we could guide you to the correct way of thinking.”

“Guide me…correct way of thinking…What the hell are you even talking about? What does any of that shit have to do with your attacking Moegi?”

Moegi held a hand to the shallow wound that Udon had inflicted before she had managed to switch places with the debris she had used for her substitution. Explaining what Udon had told her as he prepared to finish the job she said, “He believes that by eliminating someone close to you and pinning it on an enemy of the village then you’d be inclined to be more ruthless then your grandfather or the other Hokage.”

Konohamaru looked at his friend in shock as he asked, “Is this true?”

“It is.”

“Why? How could you even contemplate such a thing?”

“Because for too long this village has been guided by idiots and soft hearted fools,” Udon said stoically. “I had hoped that by opening your eyes to the reality of the shinobi world you’d become a worthy Hokage. I see now this was a foolish hope. Therefore, I’m going to have to eliminate you both and use your deaths as a springboard to the position. With the anger generated from this attack and your deaths as the justification. I don’t believe the village would be too opposed to a future Hokage’s decision of ensuring our well-being by destroying the other villages.”

Udon then charged attempting to bury the chakra receiver into Konohamaru’s heart. The Chunin managed to avoid it, but learned it was a feint as Udon kicked him in the side of the head sending him tumbling out of the way. Udon then struck at his true target Moegi, but the kunoichi sidestepped out of the way at the last moment causing him to bury his weapon into the wall she had been standing in front of. She lashed out with a palm strike to the chin that rocked his head back causing him to lose his grip on the chakra receiver. But, Udon recovered quickly and slammed his forehead into hers. Moving to pull his weapon free of the wall, he pulled his hand back just as Konohamaru kicked at him. Moving to stand in front of Moegi again Konohamaru took up a ready stance as he prepared to show Udon only one of them was fit to be Hokage.

****

Ino came upon the Jounin station and felt her fear for her father grow exponentially as it looked like something had used exploding tags to blow a large hole in the building that had caused a portion of it to collapse. Looking further down the road she could see Asuma leading a badly battered squad of Training Force Shinobi against several Paths in order to retake the building so they could coordinate Konoha’s forces. Running up the collapsed debris, she found it led right to the room that housed the Command Center and gasped upon spotting the radio operators’ remains who had taken the blunt of the explosion. She spotted Shikaku laying in the center of the room and not seeing any significant injuries prayed he was just unconscious, but upon flipping him over found his eyes wide and unseeing. A quick check of his vitals was all she needed to confirm he was dead.

She heard a groan come from the back and saw her father tangled in the remains of the devise the Yamanaka used to enhance their mental abilities. She pulled him free, but sat back in horror as he came loose minus a leg. Now free of the constriction that kept him from bleeding out, Inoichi condition rapidly deteriorated. Ino began to treat the wound even as tears began to gather at the corner of her eyes. Clamping the artery that had been cut, she began to heal what she could but her emotions got the best of her as she screamed out both mentally and physically, “Naruto! Please save us!”

Her attention was pulled to the hole as a gravely wounded Asuma appeared having been alerted to his student’s presence by her scream. “Ino, we have to go. We can’t hold this position for l…”

Ino’s stared on in horror as her sensei was pieced in the back by a metal tail that lifted him off of his feet. The tail then retracted pulling Asuma out of the room even as she moved to reach for him while several Paths gathered in front of her. Slowly a Naraka Path approached as it coldly said, “It sounds like you may know where the Jinchuriki is. Tell me what you know.”

Although scared, the Yamanaka stared defiantly at the Path to say, “I know when Naruto finds out what you’ve done here… he’s going to kick your ass.”

“We’ll see…” A Human Path said as it closed with her preparing to remove her soul.

*****

Naruto was in the midst of training against Naruko when he felt someone scream for him. Surprised he looked in the direction of Konoha as it had almost sounded like it had come from there. Despite his being distracted he managed to catch Naruko’s hand before she could hit him. Noticing the concern appearing on his face as well as in his spirit due to her Senjutsu abilities she asked, “Naruto what’s wrong?”

Confident the others hadn’t heard the scream as he became convinced it had been Ino he said, “Something is happening in the village.”

“Naruto if that were true then Tsunade would have sent Kosuke back,” Fukasaku said.

Naruto closed his eyes and focused on the Hiraishin portion of the Ino’s fox mark and saw a man with Orange hair approaching his lover. He sent a look back to Naruko which conveyed what he was about to do as he didn’t want to waste time with words and then disappeared in a red flash. Appearing between Ino and the man threatening her, Naruto grabbed the outstretched hand and then backhanded the Human Path in the face. Already in Sage mode the blow sent the Path flying out the hole and through several buildings. Naruto tossed the arm that his sending the path flying had caused to be ripped from its socket as he charged the remaining Paths.

He made it a handful of steps as a Deva Path raised its arm pulling Naruto off of his feet and towards a Asura Path that wrapped four arms around him. Naruto head butted the Path caving its skull in and kicked it away before forming a massive Rasengan that it slammed into the Deva Path obliterating it a good portion of the room. He spun and kicked a Preta Path in the chest sending it smashing through a wall. Able to see several more Paths heading towards his location Naruto created a few hundred clones and sent them out to intercept them.

Ino watched as Naruto turned towards her the red jacket he was wearing flowing in the breeze. Feeling her hope being restored by his presence she said softly, “You came.”

Naruto knelt down to cup her face lovingly as he replied, “I heard your call. Don’t worry; I’ll put a stop to this.” The Jinchuriki then carefully picked up her father and as he stood told her, “Grab on.”

Ino did so and they disappeared in a red flash and reappeared in the Hospital. Due to Naruto’s method of travel all activity stopped upon their appearance as several people openly wondered if the Fourth Hokage had found some way to return from the dead to aid the village in its time of need. But upon realizing the person was Naruto, a clamor had begun to spread as people questioned how he had learned a jutsu associated with the Yellow Flash. Some of the more cowardly people present began to suggest they turn the young man over to Pain in order to end the attack. Those words reached the wrong ears as Sakura brought her fist down upon a desk which shattered under the blow causing the room to once more settle into silence. Naruto ignored it all as he placed Inoichi on a stretcher Shizune brought towards him.

After making eye contact with each of his lovers present to reassure them, he prepared to Hiraishin to another location when the room began to erupt into panic. Turning towards the cause he could see a large Rhino charging down the street right towards the Konoha Hospital entrance. This caused the people closest to it to try to move deeper into the room to escape. Naruto easily slipped through the frightened people to step outside the building where he waited to receive the summons charge. Just before its horn reached him, Naruto hit in in the side of the head with a spinning kick that sent the summons tumbling down the street away from the hospital. He then disappeared in a red flash to reappear in near a safe-house where another of his lovers needed his assistance.

******

“Hand over the woman,” a Deva Path said to the masked Anbu woman standing in front of Ayame.

“There are easier ways to pick up a girl then this,” Mikoto responded having found a dead Anbu and stolen his mask and clothes. Mikoto waited for Pain’s response as she recalled how she found herself in her current situation

The Uchiha after leaving Kiyomi’s mansion and locating her current attire had been torn by her desire to abandon the village to search for her son or honor her promise to Naruto. She had been debating both choices as she watched the Pains attack the village. She had noticed that when Pain had originally attacked with just the Six Paths that he had spread them out randomly over the village. Now that he appeared to have called in some reinforcements he was attacking from the outer wall and working his way to where the Civilians were sequestered. She understood his reasoning was to drive home the point that the Leaf couldn’t stop him from destroying the people that called the village home. The darker part of her could appreciate his tactic and even felt it fitting that the people who had benefited from her clan’s demise would know the same despair as the destruction that heralded their doom slowly approached.

But Mikoto had forced such thoughts away as she knew there were plenty of innocent children that had nothing to do with the old fears and suspicions that had ultimately led to her clan’s revolt and subsequent destruction. Preparing to aid the village if only motivated by that fact, she had noticed a group of Paths heading to a spot located in a portion of the village that had yet to be attacked. Recognizing a squad on a mission when she saw one the Uchiha had taken off in pursuit.

She arrived just in time to witness as the group attacked what appeared to be a safehouse located near the Hokage Mansion. The sounds of conflict ended before Mikoto could come up with a plan of attack and she watched as a young woman was carried from the building over an Asura Path’s shoulder. She recognized the woman from her visits to Kiyomi’s home and having learned that she was the public face of Naruto’s many relationships realized that whoever had been leading the village’s counterattack had likely known that Pain may make a move on her to lure Naruto out so had secured her away.

Having witnessed Paths being summoned by the Animal Paths dotting the village, Mikoto threw caution to the wind as she leapt from her perch silently to free the kidnapped woman before they were summoned away. She landed in the midst of the group and buried her borrowed blade into the middle of the Asura Path’s back. She kicked the Asura Path away as she grabbed ahold of Ayame and leapt away just as all the Paths disappeared.

Setting the woman down, she loosened her bindings as she asked, “Are you alright?”

“Yes thank you,” Ayame said standing as she rubbed her wrists where they had been bound.

“Good, we should likely get going. I imagine Pain is going to be pissed.”

Ayame nodded so Mikoto took off running heading towards Kiyomi’s figuring having the Nine-Tailed Fox as a guardian would insure her safety. She noticed that Ayame appeared to find the direction they were heading to be rather strange and was about to reveal who she was, but several Paths landed in front of them with an Asura Path landing behind to box them in. The Human Path in front of the group looked in the direction they had been heading and then turning towards the women said, “Hmm, a strange place to head. Something tells me you aren’t so much allied with the village as the woman that lives in that direction.”

“Not quite by choice,” Mikoto said causing a spark of recognition to appear on Ayame’s face. Both women backed up as the Paths blocking their access to Kiyomi’s mansion took a step forward. The one of the four Paths in front a Deva Path said, “Hand over the woman.”

Mikoto replied offhandedly, “There are easier ways to pick up a girl then this,” as she tried to think of a way to defeat the four Paths in front of her and one at her back. She could feel their eyes all watching her as they perceived her to be the only threat to them. Which was why the Asura Path at their back was caught unaware as Ayame having remained pressed against Mikoto’s back as she appeared scared, spun and threw a kunai that she had deftly pulled from the Uchiha’s pouch and hit it in the eye.

Despite being as surprised as the Pains by the sudden skill Ayame displayed due to her training to become a kunoichi, Mikoto didn’t let the opening slip away as she launched herself at the four Paths. Her Sharingan flared to life as she closed with them and her bloodline showed her how the Paths would react to her attack. It revealed that two of the Paths were also Asura which were moving to engage her as the Human Path, not exactly geared towards combat, would leap away. Mikoto responded by targeting where the Human Path would be and fired a Great Fireball Jutsu that hit it exactly where she expected it would. She felt a moment of satisfaction as she noticed the Rinnegan eyes of the Human Path go wide in surprise before her jutsu engulfed it.

To her surprise as the two Asura Paths raised their arms to reveal a pair of cannons which appeared from the sleeves of their cloaks. she realized that the Paths intended on eliminating both her and Ayame. Mikoto knew she could save herself by leaping out of the way, but instead turned to shield Ayame from the coming blasts. A red flash appeared between her and Ayame, temporarily blinding her as she felt a kunai fly pass her from in front of her. A strong arm wrapped around her waist as she hit something solid and then felt a disorienting feeling as they appeared in a rather large and opulent bedroom that held a massive bed.

Stepping away she recognized Naruto as he held Ayame whose arms were draped around his neck. Naruto kissed Ayame gently before he said, “Stay here.”

“Let me help you,” Ayame said knowing she likely sounded silly to her lover.

Naruto smiled lovingly as he said, “I know you’ve been training yourself to be a kunoichi lately. But you aren’t ready for someone of Pain’s caliber yet.”

Ayame nodded, causing Naruto to turn to masked Uchiha as he said, “Mikoto, thank you.”

“How did you know it was me?”

Naruto pointed to her ankle where the fox mark that had kept her on Kiyomi’s property resided as he explained, “That mark has a locating function that would let me find you if you ever managed to escape. Can you please watch over Ayame in case Pain finds his way down here?”

The blond then disappeared leaving Mikoto and Ayame in the Den as having witnessed the Uchiha’s willingness to sacrifice herself for one of his lovers, he knew he was leaving his official girlfriend in good hands.

******

Naruto reappeared in the street at the location of the kunai he had thrown upon saving Mikoto and Ayame. He pulled it from where it was embedded in the Deva Path’s throat as the two Asura Paths spun towards him. Naruto smirked as they had to put their cannons away since they needed him alive. They charged him but he was ready as he prepared and threw a Rasenshuriken that expanded as it passed between them destroying both Paths. Still he was surprised at the ease in which he was dealing with the Paths he had encountered and suspected that however Nagato was capable of controlling so many of them he had to sacrifice some of the power they contained. He then teleported to another part of the village in order to aid Tsunade and Konan against the large number of Paths they faced.

Several minutes after he did so, a Naraka Path dropped down in order to restore the Paths that had been destroyed.

*****

A large cloud appeared in the center of the village as Shima, having used the pond located near the Konoha that allowed smaller toads to travel to the village without being summoned, called forth Naruko, her husband, Gamabunta, Gamahiro, and Gamaken. Naruko stood on Gamabunta’s head decked out in her new attire which consisted of her wearing a black and red jacket similar to what Naruto normally wore except it was shortened to show off her toned stomach. She had opted to wear a tight pair of black shorts which exposed her long legs. On her feet she wore a pair of geta and also in memory of her teacher she wore a replica of the horned forehead protector that Jiraiya had worn.

Looking over the village she said, “That bastards really done a number on the place.”

Fukasaku nodded from his perch on her shoulder as Shima leapt atop of her other one. The female toad said, “That’s not all. It appears Pain has found a way to channel his powers through a virtual army of Paths. Most of them appear to be of the Deva or Asura variety due to their strong combat capabilities.”

A cadre of Shinobi appeared behind Naruko brandishing weapons as Ibiki stepped forward saying, “Who the hell are you?”

Naruko turned towards the Special Jounin as she answered, “My name is Naruko Uzumaki. I was a student of Jiraiya and I’m here to avenge my teacher. Stay out of my way and there won’t be any problems.”

Although having never heard of the girl before her standing atop of Gamabunta as well as the Toads on her shoulders gave strong credence to her story. “Hey girlie,” the Toad Boss shouted attracting her attention, “Eyes front and center.”

Naruko turned her back on Ibiki to see a bunch of Paths gather on the rooftops. She also noticed a bunch of dogs moving towards them. As they approached the animals would slam into each other growing larger as they melded together so that by the time it landed across from Gamaken it was easily the same size as him. She noticed two large clouds of smoke erupt from the streets and suspected that some Animal Paths were also summoning reinforcements to combat the toads.

As one of the clouds thinned Naruko could make out a purple serpent that had several large chakra rods implanted in its head. Gamabunta was shocked as he recognized Manda causing him to say, “So the bastard would go so far as to desecrate the dead of our fellow summons as well. I can’t say I shed any tears upon learning of Manda’s death, but he at least deserved a better end then this.”

Naruko nodded as her gaze moved to the second cloud of smoke which revealed a large Rhino that towered over the village. Next her eyes shifted skyward as she noticed a large bird-like summons pass overhead. Able to feel several of Naruto’s lovers battling beneath the street near the toad that was supposed to summon them in case of Pain’s attack she said, “I think there is another fight going on besides the one with Pain. It might be why Kosuke didn’t alert us to what was going on. Fukasaku-sensei, Shima-sensei please go lend them your aide. We’ll deal with Pain.”

“Are you sure?” Shima asked, “It might be best if one of us stays to aid you in gathering natural energy.”

Naruko shook her head as she replied, “I’ll just use that clone method Naruto came up with. Besides if somebody did stop Kosuke from warning us then they must know how you summons keep track of those who die away from the mountain. If that’s the case they are only going to keep him alive for as long as the fighting goes on.”

A Path was sent airborne from where Naruko could feel her lover was. She watched as Naruto appeared near the Path and sent a Rasengan into its back sending it flying away. He then threw a kunai at one of the rooftops where the Paths had gathered and Hiraishined towards its location where he began tearing into their ranks. Commenting on her lover’s actions she said, “If Naruto keeps going at that pace it would probably be best to save him sooner rather than later.”

Both Elder Toad Sages nodded as they leapt from her shoulders to rescue their fellow toad able to feel where he was due to their Senjutsu. Naruko noticed a shadow appear around her which was growing larger. Looking up she saw the bird summons diving towards their location intent on burying its beak where she was standing which wouldn’t be doing Gamabunta any favors. Making several hand-signs her ponytails shot skyward as they took on the shape of lion mouths which bit into the Bird summons neck. They then pulled it out of the sky and slammed it into one of the buildings the Paths had gathered at. Looking at the shinobi behind her from over her shoulder she said, “If you’re not ready to leap into the thick of it get the fuck off.” When none of them leapt off, she turned forward again as she said, “Let’s go Boss.”

“Alright, hold on tight.”

Gamabunta then leapt towards Manda pulling his blade as Naruko leapt off to land on one of the roofs to take the fight to Pain.

*****

Konohamaru hit the ground hard as he took a punch to the chest that caused him to stumble before tripping over some garbage. He rolled out of the way as Udon threw several senbon which would have impacted his legs rendering him immobile. Moegi prevented him from following up by throwing a kunai which forced him to move out of the way.

Udon moved to attack the kunoichi, but was forced to change tactics as Konohamaru used the Substitution jutsu to switch places with her. He then quickly created a clone which stabilized the chakra he gathered in his hand as he tried to connect with a Rasengan. Udon caught Konohamaru by the wrist as he kicked the clone in the chest dispelling it. He bent Konohamaru’s arm back forcing him to cancel the jutsu and then tried to bring his elbow down on the locked joint in order to break his teammate’s arm.

Moegi connected with a kick to Udon’s knee that caused him to yell out in pain as Konohamaru pulled free of his grip. Udon recovered and in turn punched Moegi in her wound causing her to gasp. The then faced her fully and delivered a powerful kick that sent her flying right to where the chakra receiver was imbedded in the wall.

“Moegi,” Konohamaru shouted moving to help her but was sent spinning away as Udon used the moment to spin towards him and deliver a vicious backhanded fist.

Udon turned to inspect his handiwork but was surprised when he didn’t find the orange haired kunoichi impaled on the black rod. But instead found she was being held in Naruto’s arms as he stared angrily at the secret Root operative. Naruto’s voice sounded dangerous as he said, “I didn’t want to believe Karin when she said she suspected you might have been faking being knocked out during your mission to Wave so that Moegi and she would be killed.”

Udon didn’t flinch as he replied calmly, “Whether you want to believe it or not is rather irrelevant at this point. Wouldn’t you agree?”

“Why?”

Udon removed his glasses as he ran his hand through his hair to reply, “Honestly, I’ve grown rather annoyed at having to repeat my motivations. Besides, what’s the point in telling a clone when I’ll have to repeat myself as you inevitably try to save me should we ever meet face to face?”

“You’re a clone,” Konohamaru asked as he moved towards his friend and rival’s side. Naruto nodded causing Konohamaru to say, “Get Moegi to the hospital.”

“No Konohamaru we’re a team…”

“Moegi, that’s an order. I outrank both of you now so you both better listen.”

The clone stared at Konohamaru for a moment and aware that the young man was likely in the same situation as Naruto and Sasuke nodded in understanding before teleporting away. Konohamaru looked on surprised as he said, “Was that the Flying Thudergod Jutsu? Aw man Naruto is probably way stronger than me now.”

“He isn’t the only one,” Udon said tossing his glasses away. Aware that as soon as Naruto’s clone delivered its charge it’d likely dispel itself causing more to head to the area, Udon turned and darted off calling back, “I think a change of venue is order.”

“Get back here,” Konohamaru shouted giving chase to his friend while wondering when the world had become such a complicated place that a childhood buddy couldn’t be trusted.

*****

Naruto crossed his arms and used chakra to remain in place as a Deva Path tried to push him off of the roof with an Almighty Push. Throwing a kunai on the jutsu ended, he appeared before it could do so again and grabbed it around the throat. Snapping its neck one handed, he tossed the broken path off of the roof and turned to see Naruko fighting several nearby. He was distracted as she was tackled to the ground by several of them, which allowed a Preta Path to land behind him in order to drain him of his chakra. However, before it reached him Tsunade’s voice shouted, “Don’t even think about it.”

Both the Path and Naruto looked up to see Tsunade being dropped by an airborne Konan. She landed right on the Path driving her foot into its skull as she sent it smashing through the building like an express elevator heading to the basement. “Thanks,” Naruto said as he moved to aid Naruko, but watched as the Paths holding her down turned into toads before turning to stone. Guessing they had drained her of her natural energy he summoned one of her clones which dispelled itself filling her with new energy. Once more in Sage mode she managed to easily break the statue holding her down, but Naruto cursed as the Deva Path he had just taken out landed on the roof with her. It used its jutsu to pull her towards it as a chakra rod appeared from its sleeve in order to impale her.

Naruto Hiraishined to her and wrapped his arms around her before using the mark on Tsunade to teleport back. “Thank you,” Naruko said as her lover set her down.

“Dammit,” Naruto cursed staring at the Deva Path that was staring at them from the opposite roof. “We’re never going to win if we can’t put these bastards down for good.”

Konan landed next to him as she said, “Agreed. Nagato has his Naraka Paths remaining hidden in order to repair those we manage to eliminate.”

“There has to be a limit to how many times he can do it,” Tsunade said as she watched several more Paths gathering opposite them.

“His limitations before were due to how much chakra he had,” Konan replied. “But it’s apparent that the reason Kiyomi said she felt the One-Tails was because Nagato is likely somehow using it to power his jutsu now. If that is the case then I have no idea what Nagato’s limitations are now.”

“Then we have to find Nagato and take him down,” Naruko said.

“Unfortunately he’s made quite a few improvements to his chakra transmitter so I have no idea of how close he needs to be to the village. He could be in another country for all I know.”

“I have Tsume and Hana as well as the rest of the Inuzuka working on that,” Tsunade said “For now we just need to hold on until they find him.”

Naruto nodded as the gathered Paths leapt from the roof at them and although the jinchuriki believed they would triumph in the end. He feared how many more losses the village would endure in the meantime.

*****

Koharu tried to leap back as a shuriken thrown by a Root member attempted to bury itself in her throat. Although she managed to avoid the projectile, Homura used the opportunity it presented to send the chain end of his sickle to wrap around her throat. He pulled it taunt causing her to get yanked forward and hit the ground. She managed to recover enough to push the blade to the side as he tried to bury it in her face. It hit the ground inches from her head, allowing her to kick back and catch her teammate in the face with her foot. He stumbled back losing his grip on his weapon allowing her to pull the chain from around her throat.

She got to her feet and was forced to roll away seconds later as Homura summoned a pair of windmill shuriken from the scroll hanging from his chest. He charged forward and pulled his sickle from the ground as he swung it wildly at the deaged elder. Koharu used a kunai to lock blades with him and as they struggled against each other he said, “What exactly have you done to yourself. At first I merely though you had henged yourself to throw me off. But you’re not showing your age at all. Not to mention that nick I scored to your cheek earlier seems to have completely healed.”

Koharu smirked at her teammate as she said, “Consider it a benefit of clean living. “ She then pushed back at her fellow elder forcing his weapon out of position and allowed her to grip the handle. She then pulled back as she fell backwards causing Homura to tumble forward as well. As she began to roll backwards, she brought her knees up to her chest and then kicked out against Homura’s causing him to be propelled away. Flipping back to her feet she turned to see Homura landing roughly on his back, but was forced to focus on a pair of Root Anbu charging towards her. Before they reached her though a nude Komachi appeared behind them and cut them across the back with her blade. Koharu returned the favor as she fired a stream of water from her mouth that hit a Root operative that appeared behind the nude woman.

Koharu turned to see Homura get back to his feet and pulling a scroll from the holder strapped to his back whipped in around him. From the scroll a barrage of ninja tools shot out which aimed directly at the two women. However, Seven landed in front of them and held her hands up creating a magnetic field which acted as a barrier. The objects slammed into it bouncing off harmlessly. She then used her magnetic ability to gather the discarded tools as several Root Anbu positioned themselves between her and the Root Elder. The magnetized ninja tools took on a shape resembling a dragon which Seven sent flying towards the remaining Root shinobi. Homura and several others managed to move out of the way but those that didn’t were shredded to pieces as the dragon swallowed them and they paced through the jutsu made up of lots of sharp pointy objects.

Homura glared hatefully at the women opposing him and had decimated his forces. However, he still held quite a significant edge in numbers and believed they would still be victorious as it appeared that Koharu and Komachi at least appeared to be tiring. Yet he was forced to recalculate his odds when a pair of small toads smashed into his forces from behind.

Koharu and the other women charged forward making the most of the chaos the new arrivals had thrown Root into. Koharu attacked Homura as the Male Elder said, “Why is it you fail to comprehend that this desire for peace with the other villages is what will lead to our extinction? How many more of our children and friends do you need to be sacrificed to that foolish ideal before you’ll finally understand?”

Koharu jumped back as Homura summoned a spear that he swung at her midsection. He charged towards her causing her to spit out some mud which hardened into a wall that his spear slammed into. Koharu grabbed the end that pierced her wall pulling it out of Homura’s grip and spun around her barrier just as he appeared. She slammed his weapon into his chest surprising many of the Root members present.

She met her dying teammate’s surprised gaze as she said sadly, “I understand that it is fear that makes you believe that. But what you fail to understand is that those same enemies you believe are plotting our demise are motivated by the same fear that is what we are doing. They are also motivated and haunted by those they have lost as a result of the misunderstandings born of that fear. If we are to break the cycle of hatred that had engulfed the Shinobi Villages since their creation then we need to stop seeing them as villains plotting our demise and see them as people motivated by much the same things as us. A love of their homes and people and a willingness to do all that they can to protect them.”

Homura began to fall back as Koharu let the spear slip from her fingers as he said, “You’re a fool Koharu and you’ll die a fools death.”

“Perhaps, Homura,” she replied although his eyes stared at nothing indicating he was no longer of the living world, “but at least it will be a death I can be pleased with as a result of how I lived.”

“Um, that’s great and all,” Seven said pulling Koharu’s attention from her old friends face, “but something tells me, he wasn’t speaking about the future when he said you were going to die.”

Koharu watched as the remaining Root Anbu all began to topple making her suspect they were swallowing some sort of poison hidden in their masks or mouths. She noticed the two toads pulling a third from a jar located near a throne where Homura had been standing upon their first entering the room. But what really attracted her attention was how the new corpses began to smoke as the exploding tags they had activated before their mass suicide prepared to explode.

“I think we’ve over stayed our welcome,” Seven said as she turned Koharu’s hardened barrier into an earth dragon that she directed to slam into a wall. The dragon burrowed into the concrete wall as it dug an escape tunnel towards the surface that those present used to escape the explosion. Koharu brought up the rear as the room behind them erupted. She tried to ignore the feel of the flames that pursued them, as she feared they would not be able to outrace them. She could feel the surface was near due to the presence of Fu that seemed to be right overhead. Just before being overtaken though, a large black fist smashed into the ground separating them from the flames as the dragon burst through the street.

Koharu emerged to see an extremely damaged Fu, in her golem construct, kneeling on the ground with its fist buried in the ground. It pulled its hand free revealing that it had been destroyed by the blast she had separated them from. “Is everyone okay,” Fu said in the loud echoing boom her voice took on when speaking as she used the ability she gained from her merging with Seven’s Bijuu body.

“It would appear so” Koharu answered as she noticed nearly a dozen men with strange piercings and wearing the Akatsuki cloaks appearing around their position.

“You’ve led us on a merry chase, Jinchuriki” one of the men said as his arm morphed into some sort of cannon.

Several of the others copied the technique prompting Seven to say, “What’s that human saying about jumping from the frying pan into the fire? I think we just did the opposite, but it appears we’re still just as fucked.”

Fu began giggling as she raised her constructs ruined arm to point, “I don’t know compared to what’s going on over there we might be in the better situation.”

Seven looked to where her old host was pointing to see several Paths floating in the air. They formed a circular pattern as they began forming a black sphere at the center. Before Seven could move she was forced to throw up a magnetic shield as the Asura Paths opened fire with their energy blasters. Straining to maintain it against the power of the blasts she said, “If they complete that jutsu you can kiss our asses goodbye.”

*****

Kiyomi watched from the top of the Hokage monument as the Deva Paths began to from a massive Chibaku Tensei over the village. She wondered if Pain had simply decided to kill Naruto along with the village since a black sphere of the size they were constructing would likely suck the entire village into a tightly packed if massive ball. She suspected that Pain was of the opinion that the Bijuu Naruto contained would attempt to save him less it be destroyed as well.

Kiyomi watched as the three Toads having dealt with the summons they faced leapt in an attempt to swat the Paths out of the sky. However, they were sent flying away as several Deva Paths revealed they weren’t aiding in the creation of the jutsu by turning from the center and repelling the massive amphibians. Kiyomi raised her arm to cover her face as dust shot up from where the Toad that wielded the twin swords landed on and crushed a nearby building.

Believing it was time that she step in, she called out to Naruto causing her former host and current lover to appear. “What is it Kiyomi, I’m a little busy.”

Kiyomi frowned fearing his tone was due to the rift that had appeared due to her actions in regards to the Taki-nin. But she calmed as she understood it was because he likely knew if the Paths finished their jutsu his village would cease to exist. “I wish to take a more active role in this struggle.”

Naruto looked conflicted since he was measuring Kiyomi’s appearance with the questions they would face afterwards. However, she calmed him by saying, “Don’t worry. No one is going to question my appearance on the battlefield.” Before Naruto could ask how she planned to pull that off, Kiyomi began to be coated in chakra as a single tail appeared behind her. She crouched forward as the fourth and fifth sprang into existence and her body completely disappeared in the chakra. With the sixth tail’s appearance a fox’s skeleton appeared as the chakra body surround Kiyomi grew much larger. Muscle and sinew grew as the seventh and eighth tail appeared so that by the time the ninth tail became visible what stood before Naruto was a fully reborn Kyuubi. However, had any of the people that faced Kiyomi seventeen years ago been so inclined to look in iher eyes they would notice that this time instead of a deep red, the Bijuu possessed green ones.

Naruto leapt to Kiyomi’s head as he said, “This is a surprise.”

“I thought it would be prudent to come up with a means to fight in the village so that nobody would question it,” Kiyomi replied. She then directed her gaze towards the Deva Paths and opening her mouth created a beast ball that she then fired into the Jutsu that was being created. Her Beast Ball hit the black sphere and exploded destroying the Paths that surrounded it and caused all the fighting in the village to stop for a moment.

Many a shinobi nearly lost control of their bowels as they witnessed the Kyuubi appearing from atop of the Hokage monument. However, when they saw it leap from its perch to sink its teeth into a restored Manda that had had its head cutoff by Gamabunta, they noticed Naruto standing on her head and realized that for the moment it appeared they were working together. The sight of what many had considered the greatest threat the village had ever faced now working to defend it gave many of the shinobi a renewed sense of hope as they proceeded to take the fight to the Paths.

Naruto prepared to defend himself as several Paths managed to leap onto Kiyomi to take him out as he believed Nagato though she would dispel if he was defeated. However, he watched as several began to mummify as Pakura leapt from a building onto the Bijuu’s back her orbs hitting several of the Paths in the process. She moved to attack one that was blocking her from Naruto, but it simply absorbed them revealing it was a Preta Path. However, before it could attack, it and several other Paths were sliced to ribbons as Pakura leapt away to a nearby building.

Naruto turned to see Temari wielding her fan from a nearby roof. She was flanked by Matsuri and Maki as they kept the Paths they faced at bay. The Paths they faced appeared to lose track of them before being destroyed by a fast moving object that darted between them. The object came to a stop revealing Yoruichi who was soon joined by Yakumo and Yuugao as several Paths converged on their location. However, a damaged black construct that resembled a man wearing armor designed after a beetle rose up behind the Paths and swatted them away. It then faced towards a charging multiheaded dog as its face plate opened and a beam of golden chakra shot from it hitting the summons dead center and burning a hole through it.

Naruto turned his focus in the other direction in time to see Tsunade send the body of a Deva Path over the wall with a girder that she then threw to impale a dog trying to separate from the dying main body that Fu had killed. He then followed Naruko as she ran behind Tsunade to leap to another rooftop in order to bring a Rasengan down on a path. It managed to absorb the attack, but she threw a punch that it also managed to avoid, but was still sent flying as the Aura that followed in the punch’s wake still connected. Several Paths moved to intercept his fellow Sage, but were rebuffed as Hinata appeared between them and she used rotation.

Naruto watching his lovers taking the fight to Pain felt a confidence that not only were they going to win the battle they were currently engaged in. But so long as they were by his side there would be no obstacle they couldn’t overcome. He directed his gaze straight ahead as a centipede was summoned to attack Kiyomi. Creating a Rasenshuriken he sent it flying at the summons catching it in the head and destroying it. Konan landed behind him and pointed towards were a flare was shining in the sky. Able to sense Tsume and Hana near its presence he said, “We’re going to finish this.” He then Hiraishined Kiyomi, Konan and himself to their location.

*****

Konohamaru held his side as he glared at his former friend. Despite his best efforts it had been all he could do to avoid being fatally injured. The only crack he had seen in Udon’s calm demeanor as he easily handled Konohamaru was as his grandfather’s home, where the Root operative had moved their fight, had erupted into flames. Udon tore his gaze away from the burning building as a dark rage appeared on his face, but it disappeared a moment later as the Root member said, “It appears our fight has no further meaning.”

He then took off running as he headed out of the village. Konohamaru tried to give chase but due to the damage he had received was forced to call, “Come back here you coward. I thought you were going to convince me how wrong I was about everything.”

Udon stopped for a moment and turned back to reply, “I will…mark my words I will. I just will not be doing it with the intention of waking you up any further. The next time we meet, I’ll be tearing down this pathetic excuse for a village myself.”

Konohamaru knew better than to ask with what army as he was sure there were plenty of people out there willing to aid Udon in that quest. Sasuke Uchiha being a name that immediately sprang to mind.

*****

Ino finished healing another shinobi and waited for another to be placed in front of her. She listened with half an ear to a radio as a new command post had been established in the hospital. She knew that it made them a target, but since it had been the second most fortified position outside of the civilian shelters from the beginning it had been selected. She focused on what was being said as a commander lamented facing a group of Paths that they had already eliminated. She heard the sounds of several of the shinobi being killed as they requested reinforcements.

She tried to tune it out but the screams continued to haunt her. But hearing the yells of hope that sprang up as Naruto appeared atop of Kiyomi, Ino felt a desire to contribute more to the battle then just her healing talents. Realizing that until Naruto dealt with Nagato, the Paths would likely keep coming due to their being restored she came up with a way to locate the Naraka Paths.

Finding Shizune working on a horribly injured civilian she said, “I need to borrow Karin. I have a way to locate the Paths restoring the others.”

Shizune gave a quick nod before returning her focus to her patient. Ino quickly collected Karin and moved to the roof as she explained her plan. Karin sounded a little skeptical as she asked, “Are you sure you’re capable of it?”

Despite not having the slightest clue, Ino replied determinedly, “I won’t fail.”

Karin returned her determined gaze as they appeared on the roof. The red-head sat in a cross-legged position and expanded her chakra sensing abilities. She was able to easily pick out the Paths due to their sharing the same chakra. Ino then linked their minds and then reaching deep inside herself did likewise to every shinobi and kunoichi in the village. “Everyone listen, I’m projecting to you the locations of all the Paths in the village. Watch for those that wink out of existence and pay attention to the ones that move to those locations. Those will be the Naraka Paths, eliminate them and Pain won’t be able to bring the other ones back.”

Ino watched as from Karin’s perspective several Paths disappeared. This caused several to head to those locations, when the previously destroyed Paths came back into existence. Ino marked them and then directed the nearest shinobi squads to intercept. In her mind the ones that had been marked as Naraka Paths turned ready and she felt a sense of satisfaction as those lights winked out as the village used her and Karin’s abilities to work together much as the Paths had been.

Despite the success they were experiencing Ino found it difficult to maintain the connection as linking that many minds without the aid of the devise her clan normally used proved to be draining. However, Ino resolved to keep the connection active until they won or her chakra gave out and she died, whichever came first.

****

“What the hell are we waiting for,” Kiba questioned his mother from where they observed a mountain that their eyes told them nothing was amiss. But their noses made them believe Pain was conducting his war against Konoha from it.

“We’re waiting for backup,” Tsume replied harshly, “If you weren’t in such a hurry you’d notice our partners aren’t all that excited about charging in there. Something’s got them spooked.”

Kiba looked back at Akamaru who whined communicating that although nothing appeared to be nearby, outside of the scent coming from the mountain. But there was something powerful nearby that his partner could sense. Kiba frowned as the last time he saw Akamaru act that way it had been in the presence of Gaara.

However his pondering was put on hold as suddenly a massive red fox appeared in a flash of red. Almost immediately a portion of the mountain pulled away to reveal the Shukaku that responded to Kiyomi’s presence firing an air bullet. Kiyomi avoided the attack which hit near where Kiba and his family were hiding. Gapping at the destruction left in the wake of the attack asked, “W-what do we do now?”

“We sit back and watch Naruto kick its ass,” Tsume said as an unfamiliar smile appeared on her face, at least unfamiliar to Kiba. Not sure what his mom meant he turned back to see Naruto was riding atop of the fox’s head. Suddenly quite positive he didn’t like what his mom’s smile was implying he felt a great deal of jealousy as it appeared that the Blond continued to outpace him as he had since beating him in the Chunin Exams.

*****

“Naruto,” Kiyomi said as she leapt back away from where Shukaku’s air bullet was aimed. “I need you to go and fetch Yoruichi. I then need you to teleport her to Suna to collect an artifact. She’ll know what I want her to grab.” Naruto didn’t ask any questions as he created a clone to follow his Bijuu lover’s instructions. “Good,” Kiyomi replied, “I’ll create an opening so that you and Konan can confront Pain.”

She then charged her fellow Bijuu and clamped her jaws around its throat. Once Naruto and Konan leapt free, she then tossed Shukaku over her head causing the one-tails to land on its back. It got to its feet but due to her standing in front of the cave that housed Nagato didn’t fire any projectiles since if they missed it could cause a cave in. She suspected that it was Nagato controlling her fellow Bijuuu much as he had his Paths, so once more charged forward intent on ripping the chakra receivers free of Shukaku’s body.

******

Naruto and Konan approached the end of the cave as they scanned the empty canisters that housed the Paths that Nagato had used in his attack. The cave opened up to reveal Nagato sitting at the back and the Yahiko Path sitting in a meditative pose in front of him. The Yahiko Path opened its eyes as it said, “So you’re the one that Konan betrayed me for. I might have guessed as much.” Naruto felt Konan wince behind him as a result of the dead tone the Path used. He kept silent though as it continued, “I suppose you’ve come for your revenge?”

Naruto finally replied, “I can’t deny that a very large part of me hates you to the point that all I want to do is kill you for murdering Jiraiya. But I’m not going to listen to that part of me. I’m here to stop you for the threat you pose to my home and to the Peace I want to establish in the Shinobi World.”

“Our goals are the same,” Nagato said through the Yahiko Path. “If it truly is your goal then surrender to me. Your death will make a true peace possible.”

“A true peace cannot be built by someone willing to kills his own teacher and friend,” Naruto replied causing the Yahiko Path’s face to contort in anger.

“They turned their backs on me first,” it replied angrily. “Jiraiya came to Ame with the intention of killing me and Konan…she’s become a whore of the Leaf Village. I wonder what they offered you to secure your loyalty.”

Naruto’s own gaze grew dark as he replied, “You had already killed dozens of innocent people with the skills Jiraiya taught you. What teacher wouldn’t try to stop such a student?” Naruto looked back as his lover his gaze growing softer which remained as he turned towards Nagato to say, “You want to know what Konan wanted in order to work with me. She asked me to save you from the darkness that you have surrounded yourself with in your quest for peace. Nagato, please end this madness all you’re doing is causing the hate that infects this world to spread to more people.”

“No Uzumaki,” the Yahiko Path said as it raised its hand, “It’s not hate I’m spreading but fear. Once that fear has reached every heart then Peace will be the end result as nobody will be willing to cross me. Before you die you’ll know exactly what I mean.”

Naruto watched as the Yahiko Path’s right arm morphed into a canon revealing that Nagato was channeling more than one of his abilities through it. Reaching into his pouch he threw dozens of tri-prong Kunai about the room. He aimed several at Nagato but the Yahiko Path raised its left arm scattering the ones heading towards it. Grabbing ahold of Konan, he began to Hiraishin about the room as he avoided the blasts coming from the canon.

****

Kiyomi was punched back by Shukaku, but she managed to pull another chakra receiver free. She noticed that the Rinnegan her fellow Bijuu sported began to fade. But then Nagato reasserted his will causing them to reappear. Guessing she’d have to keep at it, the Bijuu charged forward but Shukaku spun hitting her with its tail.

Kiyomi cut a swath of destruction through the forest where she landed before growling as she got back to her feet. She considered using a Beast Ball, but felt that might be a bit of overkill considering her fellow Bijuu wasn’t in control of its actions, even if a part of her felt Shukaku might be enjoying the results regardless. She knew that as children she had often teased Shukaku about being weakest making the one-tail resent her. But she hoped that soon they’d be able to start a new chapter in their lives. The Rinnegan faded for a moment causing the Bijuu to flick her off as it said, “Fuck you Kurama. If I was in control of myself, I’d be kicking you nine-tailed ass even more.”

“Oh to hell with this,” Kiyomi thought gathering chakra for a beast ball as the Rinnegan reappeared in Shukaku’s eyes. Her fellow Bijuu mirrored the action. Both Bijuu fired at the same time and although hers was smaller, she wasn’t surprised as it tore through Shukaku’s since she doubted that Nagato was as skilled at the jutsu as her. It hit Shukaku and exploded causing the Bijuu to go flying backwards away from the cave. She closed the distance as the One-tail regain its footing and she spun lashing out with all her tails. The blow sent it skidding backwards. She felt the return of Yoruichi and the Naruto clone which had used the mark on Kiyomi to teleport to her location as she followed her attack up by gripping the last two chakra rods this time using her claws. Ripping them free, she watched as the Rinnegan completely faded away.

Shukaku cheered as it said, “Alright I’m free. First thing I’m doing is smashing the village of the stinking brat that stopped me last time and then…”

Shukaku stopped mid-rant as it felt something attempting to seal it. Looking down it saw a dark-skinned woman that felt rather familiar standing next to an older version of the brat she had just mentioned. Recognizing the tea kettle that Suna had used to keep it contained in between hosts it said, “No, you bastards, you’re not sealing me again. Hey Kurama help me…”

However, before Kiyomi could think of a calming reply her fellow Bijuu was sucked into the kettle. Yoruichi and the clone leapt to Kiyomi’s head where holding the kettle, the two-tailed cat said, “Shukaku is going to be pissed when we try to talk later.”

“Perhaps, but at least it prevented us from having to fight further in order to protect Konoha.”

Yoruichi nodded her head in agreement as both she and Kiyomi turned their gazes to the cave.

****

Naruto managed to avoid the blasts due to his teleporting about the room, but eventually Pain began to blast the kunai in an effort to narrow down his potential places for appearing. Reappearing at a spot, Nagato had just targeted, but missed his kunai. He leapt towards the Rinnegan wielder letting Konan slip from his grip as he created a large Rasengan.

The blaster morphed back into a hand as the Yahiko Path absorbed the attack and then kicked Naruto away. A tail shot from his back as it tried to skewer the blond, but Naruto managed to catch it while in the air. It still succeeded in smashing him into the wall, but he easily held it in place due to the strength he possessed while in Sage Mode. The pressure pushing him back disappeared as Konan sent a paper chakram into the metal appendage cutting it in half. Nagato had the Yahiko path retaliate by raising its left arm towards the woman flying about the cavern on paper wings and repelled her into the cave wall.

She let out a pained yell as she hit and began to fall towards the floor. The Yahiko Path’s arm again morphed into a canon as it took aim intent on finishing her off. Naruto leapt from the wall but Hiraishined to her location using her fox mark and then teleported them both towards a kunai. He placed her on the ground before charging the Path which fired the blaster several time, but Naruto create a wall of clones between him and it.

The clones absorbed the blasts as Naruto leapt over them. The Yahiko path tracked him, but was forced to defend itself as the surviving clones let fly a barrage of kunai. The Yahiko Path stopped the kunai in midair and felt its eyes go wide as it saw they were all the tri-pronged kind that the blond used to teleport. It attempted to repel them, but couldn’t as Naruto appeared in front of him and slammed the jutsu Jiraiya had taught him into its chest. The Rasengan caused the path to fly backwards smashing into Nagato’s walker.

Nagato sat up in the mechanical devise as he recognized that with his Yahiko’s Paths defeat he was undone. He witnessed the last of his Paths inside Konoha fall due to the sudden synchronized teamwork of the Konoha and Suna shinobi opposing him. He focused through his own eyes as he said, “What are you waiting for finish it?”

“It’s over,” Naruto said turning away to help Konan to her feet, “I’m not going to sink to your level. Killing you would just hurt those close to me.”

Nagato glared angrily at Naruto’s back and fired a pair of chakra rods from hidden launchers in his walker. Naruto spun easily catching them and shook his head sadly as Konan came up behind him. He watched as Konan placed a hand on the blond’s shoulder. The tender contact causing a greater fire to fuel his desire to force the blond to admit that his unwillingness to inflict pain on his enemies was a weakness.

Knowing the perfect way to do so, he began forming hand-signs which prompted Konan to shout, “Nagato no you can’t.”

“What’s wrong,” Naruto said concerned by the fear Konan was displaying.

“Nagato himself is also a path. Through him alone he can control who lives and dies, but the strain is incredible. He intends to summon the king of hell to take all the souls in the village.”

“Exactly,” Nagato said as his hair began to turn white, “Let’s see how willing you are to forgive when everyone you know and care about is dead.”

Nagato watched as Konan formed several shuriken but felt that they wouldn’t reach him in time to stop his jutsu. He blinked and gasped as Naruto appeared before him plunging his own chakra receivers in his chest. Nagato couldn’t finish the handsigns, but took some delight in the look of horror on Konan’s face. Feeling that at least he had won a small victory, he said, “It didn’t take much for you to go back on your desire to kill me.”

Naruto sounded strained as he replied, “I wish I could say there isn’t a part of me taking joy in ending you this way. But, letting you kill everyone to prove I’m not like you would be too selfish.”

Konan began running towards them as Naruto’s strength faded and he slid down the front of the walker. As he rolled to Konan’s feet, Nagato could see that paper shuriken had embedded themselves in Naruto’s back. Due to how deeply they had penetrated he realized Konan’s attack would have reached him in time and likely would have killed him. Understanding her wounding Naruto was the cause for the pained expression on Konan’s face and wondering why then Naruto would do the deed when she had been willing to he asked, “Why…you could have let K-konan do it for you?”

“No, I couldn’t,” Naruto said staring up at the dying man as she pulled the paper weapons free. Grimacing as she did so he said, “I already ended up breaking my promise to her. I couldn’t let her bear the burden of having to kill you as well.” Konan helped Naruto back to his feet as she fought back tears. As Nagato struggled to breath the jinchuriki said, “Nagato, although you took a different path we shared the same master and both strived to make his dream of peace a reality. I may not have been able to cure the hate you bore, but thanks to you I know how to make that dream happen.”

“H-how do you propose to do that?”

“By helping people learn how to endure it, and when those incapable of doing so appear. I’ll be there to stop them.”

“Naruto…you’ll find that…such a path in time will consume you…no one person can bare the world’s hate on their shoulders…”

“You’re right,” Naruto said, “But I’m not alone. I’ve inherited yours and Jiraiya’s wills.” He turned his gaze towards Konan and added, “Plus there are people willing to aid me in making those wills a reality.”

“Nagato,” Konan said holding back her tears as she helped Naruto stand, “I’ll help him endure it and be a pillar of the bridge he hopes to build towards a brighter future.”

Nagato’s vision began to fade and although a part of him felt it could just be a trick of his dying mind he saw a vision of Yahiko and Jiraiya standing behind them. Recognizing it for the sign it was, he let his will slip away to be inherited by the two as he whispered, “T-thank…yo…”

****

Upon Nagato’s passing, Konan broke down into tears as she pulled away from Naruto. He reached out to comfort her but stopped as she said, “Your village needs you. Please let me attend to them alone.”

Naruto nodded as he began to walk away to exit the cave listening to his lover giving voice to her grief. Able to move better as the wounds on his back fully healed, he knew it was a voice currently being repeated over and over again in his home. Fearing that soon those voices of grief would turn into calls of war, Naruto began to contemplate how he could convince his fellow Leaf-nin to endure the hatred they felt so as not to contribute to its spread. Hoping he and his lovers were up to the task he emerged from the cave confident in his answer, but unsure of how to implement it.

Next Chapter: Severing Bonds