Naruto's POV
No.. He.. He actually did it.
Naruto didn't feel any anger. Nor sadness. Maybe guilt, but just a tiny bit, deep inside the very pit of his soul. Fear? Of course not. He just didn't know how to take it all in. Especially the giant crater around him, hoisting and twirling his thoughts inside his head, just like a child playing with a lollipop. Except the aching sour-like sweetness never came over Naruto's tongue, leaving only a bitter taste in his mouth. Almost somewhat metallic. And salty. Blood.
"Stop biting your lip, Naruto. You're hurting yourself." Kurama breathed out as if he was choking. His nose was no longer damp, unlike what it should've been. His fur was tangled in distress and despite all of that, he didn't move an inch towards his Jinchuriki. It seemed like he was afraid to pull him out of the trance, trying to protect him. The same as suddenly waking up a peaceful sleepwalker. But peaceful was all Naruto was not.
Kurama sighed softly as his red, piercing eyes moved across the emptiness in front of the fading safety provided by the barely-standing tree's branch Naruto was laying on, at the border between the obvious desert and mountains of debris and corpses that had once formed the Hidden Leaf.
He was too late. He had no idea whether Itachi's plan had worked or not. He could no longer sense Sasuke's chakra signature. He had no clue about the raven's state. And to him, it hurt like hell.
Then he heard it.
A voice. An angry yell, that could only mean one thing, coming from the middle of the destruction where a few vivid outlines were visible. And that was when an ominous hatred swelled up inside Naruto, ready to lash out at any moment. But he was no stranger to that feeling.
"I am the Fifth Hokage!" Tsunade huffed out a few shaky breaths before she swallowed up all of the tremble threatening to leak into her strong voice. An ANBU had run up to her side, ready to protect her with the cost of his life. "How dare you trample upon the jewel.. The dreams of my predecessors? I will never forgive you!" She narrowed her tired eyes. "I'll settle this now as Hokage!" The woman clenched her fists, a spark popping in her now determined gaze.
Naruto's back stiffened as soon as, using his chakra-infused hearing, he heard his calm voice, bringing him on the edge of losing control.
"It appears you understand a little about pain. However, I have no need of you right now, but the one I seek-"
"Is me!" Naruto crashed a powerful Rasengan into the bald head lined with black spikes of the Pain whose sharp blade had been a centimeter away from Tsunade's worry-wrinkled forehead, effectively breaking him to metallic pieces and mashed insides. The Six Paths of Pain had all assembled, now minus one. Naruto had had a feeling Pain would use the Rinnegan to bring his puppets back to life, torturing the villagers minds some more.
Once the dust had cleared away, the women gasped, bringing a hand up to her mouth.
"Naruto?" The relief in her voice was able to soothe the blond's mind, pushing his fears away.
"There is no need for the Leaf's Hokage to bother herself with the likes of them." Facing his redheaded enemy, he raised his face slowly as he got up to his feet after he had crouched down on his victim's back, still resting his weight on top of the body beneath him. He turned his head to a side to glance at the shinobi next to the Hokage, looking at the masked man with the corner of his left, narrowed eye. "Get her to safety." Naruto's voice was blank, void of any kind of emotion, be it hate or serenity. "Now."
"Understood." The ANBU nodded his head as he placed a hand on Tsunade shoulder, disappearing into a flash of black. Naruto could feel the stares of Sakura and the others, drilling holes into the back of his head. Up near the edges of the crater, they seemed to be.. In one piece, at least. But he didn't turn around to meet their gazes with his. Instead, Naruto moved his blue eyes to meet Pain's dead ones. If he were a more compassionate man, the blond would have said that Pain might have actually felt remorse. But he knew there was no such thing in the redhead's heart.
"I can't believe you." Naruto rasped out, clenching his jaw forcefully to the point where it might break.
"You cannot believe the fact that I killed Jiraiya sensei or the fact that I have destroyed your place of birth?" Pain blinked twice.
"Neither." The Jinchuriki closed his eyes to sigh heavily, loosening his fists. "You planned all of this, didn't you? Getting me blinded by anger only to see the village in pieces. You wanted to weaken me."
"Maybe I did, maybe not. In the end, I know you better than most. Which only gave me an advantage, little cousin." He narrowed his purple eyes. Naruto caught Sakura's low gasp as her face jolted upwards from the small bump on Hinata's head.
"Cousin?" Shikamaru muttered to himself, unable to believe his ears.
The four Pains separated in two and walked over to Tendou's sides, the Pain which led all of them. 'Yahiko' would have suited him better. Naruto told himself bitterly.
"That may be true, but I am sure you are well aware of the disadvantage that outweighs them all. The one you've deliberately tried to suppress." The blond noticed a small change in Tendou's eyes. "You've never fought me before." If the circumstances had been different, a mischievous smirk would've been tugging at Naruto's pinkish lips.
Pain narrowed his eyes to slits almost as if he was agreeing with Naruto's statement. Apart from that, there was another disadvantage that Pain was not aware of. Unbeknownst to him, Itachi had told Naruto everything that he'd learned about the Six Paths of Pain. And now it was coming in handy.
"Nevertheless, you know what my goal is, Naruto." He dodged the question, but the Jinchuriki knew the answer to it anyway.
"Of course I do. And I don't recall ever giving my consent to it." The blond's icy voice was now dripping venom. He gritted his teeth, clenching his gloved fists.
"I had no need of it." Tendou shook his arms slightly to the ground to pull two black rods out of his black and red sleeves.
That was when it all began.
Knowing that his katana might break, Naruto closed his eyes and lashed at Tendou only with his fists, tilting his body sideways to avoid getting pierced by the black chakra receiver as he pushed his right fist forward, stopping it midway. He watched Tendou's facial expression change the moment Naruto's eyelids turned orange and his sandy, toad-like eyes opened. A millisecond later, a powerful wave of chakra sprung out of the blond's closed fist and into Tendou's abdomen, propelling him into the earth crater's edge with a big thud, over the other side of the giant hole.
"You really love pulling that scheme, don't you?" Kurama snorted, amused by Naruto's way of tackling things.
"You know me."
Naruto pulled back and parted his legs while taking in the whole view of the other four shinobi preparing themselves for an attack while Tendou recovered from Naruto's strong 'punch'. The Pain which looked like an older version of Tendou took a few steps backwards as the others went to their respective positions.
"The one in the back. Jigokudou. Nagato must be using him to control the King of Hell. That's why he values his life more. He can restore the other's bodies and thus, making him almost invincible, excluding the Rinnegan." Naruto clenched and unclenched his fists.
"Then take him out before you move onto the rest." Kurama advised him while he nodded.
Quickly and swiftly, the blond used the Body Flicker to appear behind one of them, Gakidou, which could form a shield around him that would absorb any type of ninjutsu, and wrapped his arm around his neck, bringing him to ground as the Pain grasped Naruto's bicep, choking for air. Before any of the others could respond, the Jinchuriki's chakra tails erupted from the earth and immobilized the redheaded woman and the long haired one, leaving Jigokudou defenseless. When none was expecting it, one of Naruto's Shadow Clones appeared out of nowhere and plunged the blade of his katana into the Purgatory Path's chest, pulling it out soon after to throw away his lifeless body.
Two down, four more to go.
The Shadow Clone disappeared into a cloud of white smoke as soon as Tendou's black rod neared his neck. Knowing that Gakidou would be able to break his arm, Naruto let go of him and jumped away from his enemies, his chakra tails giving up under the powerful struggle of the Pains. The woman, Chikushoudou, without weaving any hand seals beforehand, crouched onto the ground, yelling.
"Summoning Jutsu!" Two puffs of smoke appeared at her sides, from which two giant creatures emerged: a grey rhino and a multi-headed dog, both presenting the Rinnegan and the same black rods embedded into their flesh, running wildly towards the blond.
"Naruto! Behind you!" Sakura's yell came just in time as Naruto tilted his body sideways to dodge Gakidou's rod by the millimeter. Seeing himself captured between four shinobi and two huge beasts, the blond could only feel exasperated.
Oh, for f-! Tch! He bit his right thumb as he weaved six hand seals and did the same as the woman before his focused eyes.
"Summoning Jutsu!" A wave of white passed to reveal three giant toads, one of them carrying a katana in a sheath while the other had two blades strapped around his back. The third had a black, spiky weapon with a forked end and a shell-like shield, all three creatures being colored differently albeit they all bore the same pinkish scars. Naruto heard a few gasps of amazement, probably from Sakura and Kiba.
"Chief. You and Ken take care of the oversized dog. Hiro, you're coming with me." Naruto ran his slightly-trembling fingers through his blonde locks, drenched in sweat.
"Alright. Gamaken, do-! Watch out!" Gamabunta croaked as he jumped high into the air to dodge the rhino's huge horn. He then fell onto the dog, making it twirl its heads around, shrieking in pain. Gamaken used his shield to deflect one of the head's bite before he grabbed ahold of his sasumata and and plunged it into the body of the summoning. Except he didn't kill it, but it separated in two hydra-dogs of a smaller size.
Gamahiro unsheathed his blades and crossed them in front of him, taking on the rhino's full force.
"N-Now!" He spoke in two shaky breaths as he pushed himself against the ground, leaving a trail of dirt behind and thus, decreasing the summoning's speed. Naruto slided down beneath the rhino's body and between its sturdy legs before he got up to his feet and grabbed its tail. He could see the long-haired Pain, Ningendou, and Gakidou heading towards them, ready to attack. The blond gritted his teeth as he used the senjutsu's raw muscle power to lift the rhino of the ground and to swing its body around powerfully, hitting and sending the two redheads flying in the process. He then let go of the animal, sending it to God knows where, outside of the Land of Fire.
Naruto jumped a few meters behind to avoid getting squashed by the one of the giant dogs while, having realized that cutting the creature would only make it multiply, Gamabunta held two of the necks with his long, sticky fingers while enduring the sharp fangs piercing his skin. Gamaken and Gamahiro did the same to the other. The Jinchuriki used two chakra tails to immobilize Ningendou while sailing past Gakidou's arms, he unsheathed his katana, and in a matter of seconds, he sliced Chikushoudou's throat, leaving her to gasp for air as she wrapped her slender fingers around the bleeding cut on her neck, before she fell down, onto her back with her knees bent painfully.
"Amazing.." Shikamaru seemed to mutter under his breath.
With their summoner dead, the two remaining summonings disappeared just like they had appeared. But before Naruto could enjoy taking down a strong enemy, he felt as if he was being pulled towards something. Quite literally.
"Almighty Pull!" Oh crap!
Tendou's voice resonated from the other side of the smoke screen, the swirls in his Rinnegan convulsing. Naruto couldn't use the Transportation Jutsu when Pain's chakra was basically linked to his body, thus transporting both of them and nullifying the original intent. Despite that, there was something he could do. Right before his tanned neck would slam into the shinobi's open hand, he formed a Rasenshuriken in his right hand, putting it between himself and the enemy.
But things didn't go quite as planned. Instead of Tendou, Ningendou pushed him out of the way and took the whole hit, getting thrown over to the other side of the crater, right in the middle of a giant blueish hurricane which dissipated only to show the puppet's limp body, the black chakra receivers shattered to pieces. Naruto touched the ground with his palm before he landed with a small thud.
"Nagato had the Human Path die instead of Yahiko's body since Ningendou's only power was to gather intel. Useless, at the moment.
I have to admit, he's quite the last minute man."
"No wonder you're cousins." Kurama's gaze softened. Naruto only let out a 'hn' in response.
Naruto looked over to his left to see a badly wounded Gamabunta, covered in bite marks and blood, barely standing on his feet. The blond nodded at him gently as the toad nodded back, going back to Mount Myoboku. Before Naruto could catch his breath properly, he saw a tired Gamaken and a panting Gamahiro getting raised from the earth, their sandy eyes widening.
The blond's head whipped around to look at Tendou, whose arms where slowly rising into the air. No! He couldn't do anything about it, though. In the blink of an eye, the two toads got thrown away into the forest surrounding the crater that had once formed the Hidden Leaf, out of Naruto's sight.
Taking advantage of his moment of hesitation, Gakidou quickly slammed into the blond and wrapped his arms around his muscular body, absorbing any chakra that was currently swimming inside him.
Naruto growled out in pain and exhaustion as his eyes closed slightly, his hold on Pain's arm weakening. His Sage Mode had worn off a few minutes prior, making him all the more tired.
"Naruto! Don't you dare give up!" Sakura's voice was more than fierce. She wasn't worried about the village alone. She was worried about him.
"As if!" He huffed loudly right when an idea came to his mind. If this puppet absorbs any type of chakra or ninjutsu but genjustu doesn't work, then Nature Energy should do the trick.
He closed his eyes and ceased the small struggle that his body was opposing, letting it go limp.
"Uh, guys, what's he doing? Is he dead?" Kiba seemed to be more scared than confused.
"Of course not, dumbass!" The teen's yelp was proof of the pinkette's outburst of rage.
Heh. And to think I actually care about these people.
Naruto could feel Tendou's eyes pierce through him, and it was more than an unpleasant feeling.
But he may not have to endure it much longer.
A loud gasp escaped Gakidou's lips as his arms began to shake violently, loosening his grip on Naruto. His skin suddenly turned gray and bumpy, his whole complexion rivaling the one of a toad.
The Jinchuriki opened his now sandy eyes to see Tendou hurry in their direction but the Hungry Ghost Path was already a lost cause. With a loud gulp, the redhead dropped Naruto and took a few steps backwards before he stood completely still. His skin turned to stone, capturing the bewilderment on the statue's face.
Only one left. Naruto turned his head around somehow teasingly as he glanced at Tendou, who remained unfazed.
"Way to go!" Sakura yelled from her spot. But Naruto had no time to relax.
"I must say, I am impressed. No one has ever succeeded to defeat five of the Six Paths of Pain before. But after all, you and I have the same blood coursing through our veins." Pain narrowed his eyes.
"No doubt about that." Smirking slightly, Naruto finally grabbed ahold of his katana as he let Nature Energy and chakra surge through its blade. He swiped at the air, flicking it to his right side. Pain formed a rod longer than the other ones which he held strongly in his right hand. Naruto knew him at least well enough to tell that he was having second thoughts about taking on the blond, head on. But then Naruto remembered. The Rinnegan.
Pain's face remained emotionless even when he raised his arm to say:
"Almighty Pull!" Naruto gritted his teeth and he wasn't going to pull off the same thing. Instead, his body disappeared in a puff of smoke the moment it touched the sharp tip of Pain's rod.
"Shadow Clone?" Out of all times, Pain finally showed an emotion. Surprise. A rock behind the redhead turned into Naruto's real body, leaving everyone watching at loss of words. The blond's cross-like eyes were a yellowish red, having created a red, bubbly Rasengan in his right hand, and during that five second window that he had between Pain's Almighty Pull, he slammed it into the enemy's chest, forming a small hole and ripping his clothes apart as he got sent spinning into the crater's edge. As soon as he had landed, Naruto broke into a series of coughs. He closed his eyes and breathed slowly, trying to calm himself. He opened them again to see Pain's limp body slide down onto the ground with a trail of dust behind.
For the first time in the twenty minutes the battle had occurred for, Naruto finally let out a breath of relief. Except his job wasn't done yet. He walked over to Yahiko's dead body and kneeling down, he put his fingers on the chakra receivers and pulled them all out to make sure that Tendou wouldn't be walking again.
"Naruto!" Sakura jumped down from her spot along with Shikamaru, Shino and Kiba, who was still holding Hinata in his arms.
"You just did what an entire village couldn't." Shikamaru was resting his weight on the kunoichi's shoulder, his right leg being broken.
"I try." Naruto got up and pulled his hood to hide his tired face. He walked to Kiba and placed a hand on Hinata's forehead, to which she moaned in pain as she slowly blinked her lavender eyes open.
The blond ignored Kiba's amazed face and turned to Shikamaru, crouching to have a better view of his injury. The Nara hissed slightly when Naruto fixed the broken bones with a small 'creak', mending them to their original position.
"How did you do that?" Shino asked, his eyeglasses clouded from the dust still present around them.
Naruto ignored him and got up to his feet as he took a few steps away from them, his back turned.
"Where are you going?" Sakura was getting uneasy.
"I'm not done here. These were mere puppets." His voice was more than emotionless. Dead.
"But-Where are you going? Let us-!" She flinched when he turned around, his narrowed gaze fixated on hers.
"I'll be fine. You go find Sasuke. He's wounded." Naruto said no more before he disappeared in a black shadow, just like he always did.
"Sasuke..?"
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Omg, I think my fingers are officially dead. My hands hurt so much but I've still forced myself to finish this chapter for you guys. Anyway, I promised you something less dark and dramatic so here you go. This is actually the longest chapter so far. I originally thought about splitting it up into two but then I was like: 'Meh, screw it and be badass'. Good thing I was listening to BTS, otherwise I might not have pushed myself like this. So yeah, there you have it. I hope you enjoyed it. I'm off to sink my hands into a bowl with ice-cold water! Later!
Next time, on Naruto Shippuden: 'Hate Begets Despair'
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~See ya!~
~Bella~
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