**Authors Note:
I think with the next chapter we should be closing up the Pein Assault ark :) If not then it will be in the following one.
After this though we will begin the Five Kage Summit Arc! This arc will be the bridge to the fourth book :)
For now please vote, comment and of course enjoy!
**
Naruto
Rin stood on a pillar, miles above the ground, her sharingan blazing and something seemed a little off about it. Her Hand was placed over my chest and I caught her wrist pulling her into my arms as the rock I stood on began to disintegrate. I jumped from piece to piece until I reached the ground and set Rin on her feet.
"Thanks" She replied but my attention was taken to the smoke and dust rising from the direction of the village.
"What's going on?" I asked and Rin sighed as she looked towards the village.
"N-Naruto, you did that" She said slowly and I met her gaze.
"What?"
"When the nine-tails took over, you kind of lost control" She explained and I had a terrible thought.
"D-Did I kill Hinata? And all the people of the lead?" I asked, afraid of the answer. Rin hesitated, or rather her attention seemed to drift to a large wound in her torso. Her uniform was stained red and her hand clutching the wound was glowing a soft green.
"Didi I hurt you?" I asked, desperate and Rin shook her head.
"No, no this was Pein when I tried to save Hinata" She replied quickly.
"So, is she..."
"I got her our of your way the second I sensed the change beginning, I left her with Sakura so I think she'll be okay" She assured me.
"And the village?" I asked again and she shrugged.
"No better than it was before you showed up, so it's fine I guess" I let out a sigh of relief then.
"Thank god, you have no idea how relieving that is. I thought..."
"I know" She interrupted.
"I've been there too Naruto but right now we still have that idiot to take care of" She said and motioned to Pein. Pein seemed relatively unscathed, his cloak had torn but there were very little physical injuries visible. It was starting to get strange, how he still managed to bounce back after all that.
"Do you finally comprehend pain? Unless you come to know true pain you cannot comprehend someone else?" Pein shouted at us.
"You keep going on and on about this comprehension of pain, about how any of us could possibly understand what the leaf put you through but you seem to keep forgetting something" Rin spoke back.
"My clan is dead, all of them at the hands of the person I admired the most. You made the rest of my life a living hell, I just lost Itachi and you've taken Sasuke. I tried to come home and you've destroyed it, you killed Kakashi. I understand pain just as well as you do, but I'm not some homicidal maniac." Rin spoke with venom and anger in her words.
"You don't want peace, you want pity. We've all lost people Pein, it doesn't give you an excuse to be a shitty person" She spat. Pein was silent at her words, keeping his eyes level with Rin who didn't waver.
"Lets agree to disagree" He replied simply and I rolled my eyes.
"Enough of this, just take me to where the real Pein is! I want to talk to him face-to-face now!" I shouted.
"So..." Pein replied.
"You've figured that part out now, first Jiraya-Sensei and now you. Leaf ninja are really quite impressive" He mused as he drew another staff from his cloak sleeve.
"But our discussion is over, further conversation will change absolutely nothing."
"I just want to discuss something with him" I argued as he started to walk forward.
"You're in sage mode now and I believe you can only create two of those rasenshuriken which causes your sage mode to run out."
"I guess I have no choice but to fight you then" I replied but he didn't seem to hear me as he continued speaking.
"If you were to miss twice then the only possible outcome is that you should lose. You'll have no more changes, so I will take you to the brink of death and haul you off!" He shouted.
"Naruto" I glance at Rin.
"I have a plan, but you're not going to like it. It will require your sage chakra"
"I'm for it, just tell me what to do"
"Um let's start with just staying put" I was about to ask what else or what good my sage chakra was if I was to just stay put but she had already ran forward. She met Pein a few feet from where I stood and dodged his strike catching his staff. She turned and used his momentum to send him flying into the rocks behind me. His staff now in her hands.
"Okay, and part two is what will suck"
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Just stay still and don't hate me, and I'm sorry" I was about to ask what for until she shoved the staff into my shoulder. I groaned slightly at the pain and could see the concern in her eyes.
"Are you crazy!?" I shouted.
"Your Sage chakra connects you to everything! You can use it for long distance tracking including to..."
"Track the real Pein" I realized and she nodded.
"This is the only thing they had in common, so this has to be what he uses to operate the others. Now find him" Rin demanded. I nodded focusing on the staff and extending my sage chakra through it. I followed it, not far from where we stood and saw him hidden within the mountains surrounding the village.
"I found him" I breathed and Rin pulled out he staff tossing it aside. She pressed her hand against the wound, starting the healing process.
"You bastard!" Pein shouted.
"See told you I had a plan" I released a small chuckle, and created two shadow clones.
"You could have been less cryptic about it" I replied and she shrugged as she lowered her hand from my wound allowing me to form another rasenshuriken.
"Where's the fun in that?" She responded as she stepped behind me.
"Smoke bombs now!" The clones threw two smoke bombs creating a veil between Pein and us. I threw the first rasenshuriken and then a second for it's shadow. I knew he would deflect first and possibly dodge the second but I still had five seconds to work with. As predicted he deflected the first, dodged the shadow clones I had hidden and dodged the second. He probably thought this was over. The rubble he landed on began to shake, and with two seconds left my shadow clones appeared.
"I thought that rubble seemed a little off" Rin mused. A shadow clone mixed with a transformation jutsu, basic enough that Pein wouldn't expect it. The clones close in on him but with one second left I knew they would be thrown aside. I felt the wave of his power reach me but slammed into Rin who held her ground as a ribcage formed around us. I heard her laugh as she pressed forward.
"Didn't think I had it left in me even for a partial Susanoo" She mused as Pein's attack lessened. Another five seconds. I looked back at Rin who reached her arm out forming a skeletal one made of chakra. She looked at me, her mangekyo active again and blood running down her cheeks.
"Rasengan, quickly" She basically ordered but I complied forming shadow clones to assist with the jutsu.
"Four" She muttered and reached out grabbing my arm with her susanoo.
"Three" She kept counting and glanced at me silently asking if I was ready. I nodded and she drew back before throwing me forward, propelling towards Pein. Pein stared at me wide eyed, unsure of how to react. I stretched out my arm making contact with torso, the rasengan tearing into him sending him deep into the rubble around us. I fell towards the ground and wasn't surprised when Rin caught me.
"Y-You did it" She managed, she was breathing hard. Her jutsu gone. I wiped the blood from her cheeks and she squinted to look at me.
"Holding up okay?" I asked and she nodded, managing to pull a small smirk.
"Please, this is nothing" I smiled in return and got to my feet pulling her onto hers and sliding my hand around her waist allowing her to lean her weight into me. We walked to Pein's body, he was still but we both knew that was no guarantee. Rin pulled form my grip as she stepped towards him.
"I have hated you since the moment I met you" She spoke to the body, malice in her voice.
"I hope you rot in hell" I stepped back when his body went up in black flames.
"Rin..." But I chose instead to not intervene. I watched her back as she stepped away. She released a slow breath and wiped her eyes, her blood mixing with tears as she let her mangekyo fade to a regular sharingan. The white of her eyes slowly returned.
"Dark chakra could risk reaching the real Pein and something tells me you still want to talk to him" She explained and I nodded when she looked at me.
"I want to go alone" I told her and she sighed.
"No, you can no longer use sage jutsu which leaves you at a disadvantage. If the original can still fight and if Konan is with him you would be screwed" She replied.
"I can still use the basic form of my sharingan and for the most part have healed my physical injuries." She continued.
"Besides, we started this together and we will end this together" She said confidently, but I was still a little skeptical.
"Rin, I..."
"Naruto please" She interrupted.
"I need to confront this man. He has influenced so much of my life and I don't even know what he really looks like. I need to see what kind of person is capable of such horrendous things." She replied.
"I need closure on this part of my life" Her voice was shaking. She was angry, she was scared but above all she just wanted answers. I finally nodded in agreement.
"Alright, let's go"
Sakura
I worked on healing Hinata. Team Gai had returned to the village and I had been trying to explain to them where we were in the battle, and what had happened.
"Naruto was able to suppress the nine-tails" I glanced back at Katsuyu.
"R-Rin made it?" I stammered.
"Yes, now they're about to face the final Pein" She explained.
"Lee!" Gai-Sensei shouted.
"We're going to back up Naruto and Rin, let's go" Gai-Sensei ordered.
"No wait, please don't. You'll only get in their way if you do" Katsuyu objected.
"But he, Pein destroyed the lead. Naruto cannot do this alone!" Lee argued.
"He isn't alone, and RIn has agreed that this would minimize casualties. He has all the back up he needs already and has a plan he intends to follow" Katsuyu explained.
"I've already asked both of them if they require aid and both rejected it." She continued. I noticed Hinata shift and looked at her face as her eyes fluttered open.
"Lady Hinata" Neji said as Hinata looked around.
"Y-You're all here" She breathed and I let out a sigh of relief.
"We were all so worried" Tenten replied as I helped Hinata sit up.
"Thank you everyone, especially you Sakura" She said softly and I smiled.
"No problem, I'm just glad..."
"Wait, Rin was injured protecting me. Where is she?" Hinata asked.
"Everyone, Naruto has defeated the final Pein" Katsuyu announced and everyone gasped in unison.
"Yes! Just leave it to Naruto!" Lee shouted.
"How are Naruto and Rin doing? Are they injured at all?" I asked.
"They are very fatigued but Rin is still capable of justu." Katsuyu replied.
"Where are they now?" Gai-Sensei asked.
"They're going to speak with the real Pein, Naruto attempted to go alone but Rin wouldn't have it" She explained.
"Why are they being so reckless!? We have to follow them" Neji responded.
"Right" Gai-Sensei agreed.
"Naruto has only accepted Rin's company because of her relationships to Pein and his organization." Katsuyu tried to explain.
"Naruto has done enough alone!" Neji argued.
"And the Hyuga are now in debt to Rin, one I intend to repay. They are both weak, Lady Katsuyu lead us to them" Neji ordered.
"There is already a team heading in their direction." She replied.
"They will have the assistance if needed but until then I will follow their orders" Katsuyu said firmly. I could tell Neji was annoyed, or maybe even worried but I guess I could relate. I believed in both Naruto and Rin, I mean separate they were amazing and so together well they had to be something else. I just prayed that they would be alright.
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Rin
My ribs hurt, the blood on my hands was becoming sticky and well in general unpleasant. I pulled off the glove that was soaked in blood and slid it into my kunai pouch. I tried to wipe off the drying blood from my hand onto my pants but it just made it streaky. I didn't even want to look in a mirror right now, the same mess was probably on my face from overuse of the mangekyo. My eyes stung and everything kept going in and out focus.
"Are you okay?" Naruto asked and I nodded as I rubbed my eyes, trying to readjust them to the sunlight.
"Just a result of overusing Mangekyo" I replied.
"My chakra will replenish you, it will take time" The Jubi's voice startled me, I was never going to get used to it. I kind of wanted him to just go back to being dormant but he did help me stop Naruto and pull off a second Susanoo and the Amaterasu. Suffice to say I kind of owed him one.
"Naruto, Rin!" I stopped on the same branch Naruto did and the blurry faces of Shikaku, Ino's father and Hinata's guard.
"What's up masters?" Naruto asked.
"The fact that you're here by yourself, does that finally mean you've defeated the sixth Pein?" Ino's father asked.
"It doesn't really matter who won or who lost." Naruto replied.
"Tell us what happened" Shikakau ordered.
"You'll read it in the mission's report" I replied.
"Rin..."
"I was supposed to lead the attack against Pein, that was Lady Tsunade's orders. Our mission is not complete yet" I added.
"What do you mean by that?" Shikaku asked.
"We're on our way to see the real Pein right now, and please don't try to follow us." Naruto explained.
"Naruto, have you figured our where the real Pein can be found?" Ko asked and he nodded.
"Yes, Rin managed to figure out a way to use my sage chakra to track him"
"Alright, but why is it so important to go on without us?" Ino's father asked.
"There's something I want to check out. I..." Naruto paused and glanced at me.
"I mean we need to speak with him" He said firmly.
"What? You're just talking nonsense now Naruto. Don't get me wrong we are all grateful you defeated Pein but just talk..."
"Look we can argue here all day" I interrupted.
"I'm an ANBU I outrank all three of you, so my orders should have already been followed and besides that if you insist on standing in our way I will cast a genjutsu to subdue you. Is that understood?" I demanded and they fell silent.
"We can never forgive Pein, we are past the point of talking. You must understand this..." Shikaku raised his arm and Ino's father fell silent.
"Inoichi, let's respect Rin's wishes and allow them to go on alone" He started.
"They are the ones that stopped the other Peins, so I think they have a right to speak with the real one, besides I'm sure he has something special in mind for this meeting" Shikaku explained.
"Yeah, but..."
"And to top it off Rin is right, she outranks us all. In fact, we shouldn't be questioning her orders to begin with." Shikaku added.
"Thank you" I replied and Shikaku nodded in return.
"Just go, and be careful"