Recap: "And I don't know if you're aware but, I've been built to kill. Its in my blood. I'm sorry if this disrupts your image of me." I say before glancing back at Tsunade only to see her wide eyes trained on me.
I hold her eye contact and smirk bitterly, feelings I once had resurfacing as my past has very easily been brought to light. The Irony of the situation weighing on me harshly.
"Now that I think about it. I'm finally doing what I was born to do, isn't it Tsunade? Kill for the leaf village, because thats all I'd ever be good for."
••••
Its a chillingly quiet moment as the words tumble from my mouth. Almost as if it were a slap to Tsunade's face. "Haru, you don't understan-" She begins, but its no use. My blood already begins to boil, and theres no stopping that. "Understand what? That I was kept in the leaf village so I wouldn't come back to kill you all after? Only to then force me into the hokage position because lets face it. I'd make a great commander of war." I say, my voice as sharp as knives.
She falters, noting my clenched jaw and raging eyes. "You've misunderstood!" She weakly replies, her own heart hurting from the tortured look on my face. I know everything, everything they've all worked so hard to keep from me. And she knows it too.
"I've misunderstood." I repeat with a bubbling rage in my voice, the urge to snap back at her and say something extremely hurtful surges through me, but I remain from doing so.
Self control Haru, self control.
"Tsunade isn't my fight today, Pein is. I came here to help, not to attack. Help, no attacking. You are a forgiving person Haru. Much more mature." I whisper to myself, earning odd and slightly alarmed looks from the elder frogs who were able to hear me somehow. I'll show her, and I'll show the rest of this village that I'm above them. Despite what they've done to me.
I let out a deep sigh and shake my head slightly, letting a strained smile grace my face. "Fine, its okay! You're not my problem today Tsunade. Okami!" I call out, and I instantly feel a huge gush of air from behind me, letting me know that it is the large wolf that jumped behind me, ready to do whatever ordered.
I look over at Naruto who's been oddly quiet, and arch a brow when he also calls out for Gamachiki, seems like we're on the same page.
"Take Granny Tsunade someplace safe! Granny, I'll take over from here!" Naruto orders, his eyes not wavering as he glares fiercely at our enemies. "Tell the villagers to stay out of the way, it'll be difficult to fight while trying to cover for them." Naruto adds on.
What villagers? I barely saw any and I was walking all over the place!
With her head bowed low, Tsunade manages to nod. "Understood, but take Katsuyu. I know she'll be useful to you. She has intel on them." She says reaching over with the smaller slug in her hands. Both of the older yet small toads jump onto Naruto's scroll and the male toad takes Katsuyu while at it.
"Katsuyu girl, keep yourself hidden in Naruto-boy's clothes." The old toad orders to which she responds with an obedient yes. I grimace slightly when the slug makes its way onto Naruto's body.
I never liked those slugs.
Distracted by the summoning animal, I nearly get whiplash when I feel something grab at my hand. Looking down, I see that its Tsunade, holding my hand and practically leaning on me for support. My ruby red eyes widen immensely. This is the first time I've ever received any sort of. . . comfort, besides Sasuke.
Oh gosh, why did I have to remind myself of Sasuke? I can't believe I lied to him like that. . .and he barely believed me! Damn me and my heroic actions, right now me and him could be having fun on a cute dango date where he gives me all of his food but no! I'm stuck here saving my shitty hometown from a self proclaimed godly ninja while having to confront my childhood difficulties.
This is nowhere near as fun as a dango date.
And what if he finds out? How would I somehow make it up to him? Ugh!
Tsunades voice snaps me out of my daydreaming, and I almost wish that I was still not listening to her. "Haru. . I know that this must be difficult for you. . and it may not be the right time so say this but. . . I just wanted to let you know that I'm proud of you." She tells me. My breath suddenly hitches, uncomfortable with the words of fondness.
I guess it could be said that I've formed a barrier around myself as time has passed. A complex one. One that Ive only allowed Sasuke to break through. Although I'm not sure if its actually the case, but I've managed to convince myself that everyone from the leaf village hates me in one way or another.
That includes Kakashi, Tsunade, my old friends, anyone possible. I convinced myself that they all despised me, and in a way, I did that as self protection. I built those negative thoughts so that when I'm faced with the reality of them actually hating me, it doesn't hurt as much.
So being faced with comforting words from Tsunade. . . It just makes me feel odd. Despite my reaction, she continues. "I trust you completely, ignore those who don't for now. You're saving the leaf village despite everything. You're an honorable kunoichi."
I avert my eyes from her amber ones, uneasy with her positivity. "I don't know what to say to that." I say, biting my inner cheek when she smiles at me. "You don't have to Haru."
Theres a piercing silence before Naruto breaks it.
"Now may not be the right time to ask a question like this... But now that I've mastered Nature energy I'm able to sense everyones chakra just like Haru always would.." He begins to which I arch a brow. "Is Kakashi Sensei on a mission away from the village?" He asks.
I stiffen, noticing her lack of an answer. "I see." He says quietly, more so to himself than anyone else. I turn back to Okami "You go kill of Peins summonings in the village, I'll call for you if anything." I order, to which the wolf obediently nods. With nothing left to say, Naruto's gaze hardens. "Go Gamachi!"
I nod, and the two giant summonings are gone with a second, leaving Naruto and I alone with Pein. It all begins so fast that an untrained eye could never be prepared for it. Pein's female version suddenly rises up and begins to use her own summoning jutsu. A rhino with the rinnegan appears, coming straight at Naruto.
I don't even take a step away when the rhino comes raging towards us, low and behold Naruto takes ahold of the situation, grabbing onto its horn and stopping it from moving forward. With extreme power, Naruto flings the rhino in another direction, eliminating it from out battle.
Of course, the rhino summoning wasn't the only jutsu that the female pein could produce. "Summoning Jutsu!" She slams both hands on the floor, and two huge summoning animals appear as well.
The two frogs that came with Naruto already know their place, as they jump from Naruto's shoulders and use a sage art jutsu to derail the animals. "Sage Art: Frog Song!" They both yell, yellowish sound waves emit from their mouths and successfully hit the summonings.
Deciding that my demeanor awfully calm for someone in a fight of this magnitude, I join in on the battle as I begin running towards the group of Peins now that the two summonings are being stopped. My steps were in sync with Naruto's and I barely looked back to see him when I noticed that he stopped running.
He stayed behind and created two clones that created rasengans which were used to attack the two summonings. I smirk as I sense his actions, he's gotten very strong hasn't he?
I'm closer to the group of Peins since I didn't stop for the summonings like Naruto did, and one of the versions of Pein begin to run up to me as well. I scoff at the real pein, of course he would send this guy out to fight me. After having been my sensei for a considerable amount of time, Pein knows my weak point is Taijutsu.
He just so happened to send the path who isn't affected by ninjutsu, AKA my strong point. Ignoring how the odds are suddenly against me, I jump up to dodge one of the paths low kicks. We begin a ver heated Taijutsu battle which consists of me constantly dodging and barely going to attack.
Getting bothered very quickly, more chakra emits from my body and I glare at the path fiercely, I concentrate a hell of a lot of chakra into my fist and send a raging punch towards the guy, it had so much chakra that I didn't even touch the path and it acted like a harsh blow to the face. My opponent is thrown back a few feet and lands on the ground with a loud slam, satisfying me to no end when I see that he's unmoving.
Great! One path down, a million more to go! Well thats what it feels like anyway. . .
I jump back by a lot, landing next to Naruto who just finished off the other summonings. It becomes a standstill, the level of action going from 100 to 0 within seconds. "I see, so you have become a sage Naruto. Mastering the same jutsu as Jiraiya sensei." Pein claims to which I arch a brow.
Jiraiya sensei? Pein was Jiraiya's student?
"Jiraiya. . . 'Sensei'?" Naruto asks, obviously shocked from the relevation. Well, I am too but probably not as much as Naruto. "I also learned jutsu from Jiraiya. He was once my master, which would make us sibling disciples. Sharing the same mater you and I should be able to understand one another. Our master desired peace." Pein muses.
I bite my inner cheek, analyzing the current situation as quickly as possible. Pein and Naruto both studied under Jiraiya? I studied under Pein. . . Does this make Jiraiya my grandpa? But my biological dad also studied under Jiraiya, but then he studied under Orochimaru. . .
This is awfully complicated.
Naruto snaps, enraged by Peins insensitive words "SHUT THE HELL UP!" He roared. My eyes widen as I stare at Naruto, this battle just seems to be getting wilder and wilder. One second we are all blasting each other with high level jutsu, then the next we engage in dramatic dialogue, then the next we're back to murdering each other. Yeesh!
He joins the other two clones to form a massive. . rasengan? I can't tell what it is, since it doesn't really look like a rasengan but it has a very similar chakra signature. What the hell is that thing?!
My shoulder length hair flows behind me as Naruto's very powerful jutsu continues to grow and take shape. It starts to look like a shuriken and my brows furrow, so its like a rasen shuriken fusion?
I could hear the two elder frogs from behind us gasp. "Did you teach him that Pa?" The female asks. "No, I'm seeing it for the first time too! He never showed us that during his trainings, what is that Naruto-boy planning to do?!" The male responds. Well at least I know his name now.
"All that you've done here. . WHERE THE HELL IS THE PEACE IN THAT?!" Naruto bellows, and I can't help but throw Pein a look of pure attitude. Pein has always rambled about peace, and while the Akatsuki guys and I never understood what the hell Pein would be talking about, we accepted it with rolled eyes.
If this is what Peins version of peace is, I do NOT want to know about his thoughts on destruction. "You don't know the true meaning of peace. So let yourself be captured, your death will lead to peace." My former sensei speaks, and my face only worsens with the judgement.
He's just horrible!
"SHUT THE HELL UP!"Naruto yells before throwing the rasen/shuriken in Peins direction. My widened eyes follow the jutsu, awfully curious to see its damage on the paths. But my trained eyes also catch the long haired path grabbing the girl and pulling her out of the justus way.
Ugh, I wouldn't let any of these fuckers cheat death like that! Without much hesitation, I bring two fingers up to my mouth and whisper my jutsu. I then channel chakra into the ground and watch as large wooden spears laced with poisonous flowers pierce through the girls body.
Yes! I killed another one!
Naruto's own jutsu expands immensely, and I jump way back in order to not get hit by it. It completely destroyed the long haired path, and I sighed in relief when I see that Peins numbers are slowly but surely decreasing. If Naruto and I continue at this pace, then we can do this in no time!
Naruto and I then jump back in our original positions next to one another, and I look over at him in concern when I notice how tired he sounds. He's breathing heavily, and his chakra levels have plummeted. They're still much higher than anyone else's, but they are nowhere near how they were towards the beginning of this battle.
"Don't tell me you're loosing your sage mode already." I mutter, holding back the urge to groan in protest when he looks back at me, confirming what I was thinking. I know Naruto has been trained in sage mode for a very short amount of time while I have been trained for a little more than three years, but damn!
If only I could give him some of my powers. . .
"You've exhausted your sage powers." Pein said flatly. I internally curse, knowing that Naruto is no longer even in sage mode. Welp, looks like its my time to put in some work. "Now is my chance." I hear the original Pein say, and I click my tongue.
Pein begins running towards us, and I immediately go into defending Naruto by jumping in front of him and running at Pein. "Haru!" Naruto yells, worry imminent in his voice. The two elder frogs look on in peaked curiosity, they've never seen me fight to my full potential and now was their time.
I finally meet Pein in the middle, and he brings up his fist to land a punch which I block with my forearms which I secretly coated in a poisonous crystal. I smirk when Pein and I land in a standstill, my forearms still blocking his attack. I take my eyes off of him and look back at Naruto who's staring at my altercation with wide eyes.
"Go replenish yourself! Sensei and I are just gonna have a little spar." I claim, a teasing tone to my voice towards the end of that sentence. I turn back to Pein with a mean glare "Right sensei?"
The fight between Pein and I is nothing spectacular, I don't bother wasting my sage mode on his as I find that I don't need it. For some reason Pein is going easy on me during this Taijutsu match and I could tell. He's fighting with no intention to kill me, but instead like we were back at the base? Training?
"Can you not pretend like we aren't enemies right now?" I ask, annoyance clear in my voice as I dodge one of his attacks before swiping my fist at his face, though he dodged that as well. We continued this game of cat and mouse where neither one of us would actually hit each other, and I figure that its a good thing because its buying Naruto time.
When he brought his knee up to my face I decided it was time for a change, so I crystallized my arm (coated with poison) and kept hold of his leg, only to then throw and slam him to the ground.
His body creates a massive crater a few feet away and I let out a deep sigh "Naruto are you done yet?!" I yell, keeping close eyes on Pein just in case he gets up again.
"Haru get out of the way! I don't want to hit you with my rasen-shuriken!" You hear Naruto respond, so you hesitantly jump out of harms way and wait for Naruto's next move.
With Pein still on the ground due to my temporary paralysis, Naruto called out his next jutsu. "Rasen Shuriken!" He yelled, and the same strange chakra/shuriken jutsu appeared above his hands. He threw it in Peins direction, and I thought for sure that we had him.
But of course, we didn't.
Suddenly the guy from before, the one I fought earlier, came out of nowhere and stood in front of the original Pein. He used his abilities, not only blocking Naruto's attack but absorbing it as well.
My eyes widen at the sight of the Pein I didn't expect to see reappearing so soon. "Damn it!" I mutter, now Naruto is probably far more weakened and that whole attack was for nothing! I walk towards Naruto with a frown on my face. "He's going to resurrect from the dead, isn't he?" I deadpan, earning and from the slug on Naruto's shoulder.
"Yes, it seems like it Haru-san. The most troublesome Pein is the one who could repel all jutsu and attacks and pull things toward him. He hasn't shown his powers yet which is suspicious. Perhaps for some reason, he's not able to utilize his powers yet!" Kastuyu exclaims.
"Either way. . . We have to get rid of the guy in the back!" Naruto says, more to himself than anyone else. I sigh, looking back at my former sensei from far away. "If I were you I'd be careful Naruto, Pein has powers above anybody you've ever faced before." I admit, biting my inner cheek in worry. Naruto nods, a serious look on his face "Theres no way he'd be able to dodge this though!" Naruto and his clones make two rasengans and suddenly use large red smoke bombs to hide his actions.
I nearly have a heart attack at his sudden movements This isn't good! He doesn't understand, his ninjutsu won't work on Pein!
But before I could stop him, he's already off and confronting one of Peins paths with his clone. I can't help but chuckle. His plans could've worked if he weren't facing someone like Pein! The real Naruto appears in front of the original Pein, a rasen-shuriken held high above his hand and ready to be thrown. I watch in anticipation, only to glare when the worst possible scenario comes to light.
Peins true power comes back at the most inconvenient time.
Pein very easily repels Naruto's Jutsu, but it apparently isn't over yet when a barrage of Narutos clones come down with rasengans, heading straight for the path that absorbs jutsu. Low and behold, it works! I smirk, something is finally going our way in this fight!
But oh Wait, knowing Pein, and knowing that he's now at his full capabilities, NARUTO!
The blonde goes to attack original Pein, and I immediately go into action. Just as I expected, before Naruto could even land the punch Pein brings out both of his hands and announces the words "Almighty push!" My red eyes narrow dangerously and within the speed of light I manage to create a massive wooden wall which broke Narutos fall.
I flash besides Naruto by using my wood style jutsu to place myself inside the wooden wall and merge out of it. "Naruto, Ninjutsu and Taijutsu will barely work on Pein. Genjutsu is our only hope at this point." I speedily inform, and suddenly the elder toads are also by our side. "The Senju child is correct! When we last battled Pein with Jiraiya boy, Genjutsu was our means of escape!" The elder female exclaimed, sorrow in her voice as she recalled the traumatic event.
"W-What?! But how I suck at Genjutsu, Haru can you do it?!" Naruto frantically asks. I suck in a breath "I could try, but I was never perfect at genjutsu, you know my strong suit is ninjutsu."
"Preposterous! an Oshiro clan member who isn't a genjutsu master?" The elder male exclaimed, to which I sweat dropped. "Eh, my brother was the real prodigy when it came to genjutsu. I could never level out with him in that aspect." I admit, feeling down because of the reminder of Shinji.
Kami if only he were here. . .
"Chief Toad!" Naruto yells out, and I snap out of my thoughts only to see the three large toads get wiped out by Pein himself. I cringe, hearing the slams of their bodies from far away, this has got to end soon! "Dammit, they even took out Chief toad and the others." Naruto mutters, feeling the same way as myself.
"Hurry, we must launch the Genjutsu now!" The male elder toad urged, to which the female smiled sheepishly. "Its so embarrassing to perform a duet in front of everybody!" I snort at that "By everybody do you mean Naruto Pein and I? Theres literally three of us left." I comment, and a sudden emptiness follows when I don't feel the jolt of someone elbowing my side after I'd speak like that.
Kakashi-sensei. . .
"Quit complaining and do it!" The male snaps, and I can't help but agree. Time is ticking!
"Don't worry about stage fright, your little frog singing is barely a good enough jutsu to our Oshiro standards." I hear a hauntingly familiar voice call out. I freeze in place, wondering if I were hallucinating or not.
But then the source of the voice jumps out right in front of me, in the flesh, in front of my own two eyes. I could cry, I could jump up and hug him to death, I could scream, I could really just pass out on the spot, but I do none of those things. Instead I just sit there like an idiot, my dropped jaw making me look like a fish out of water.
"S-Shinji?" I whisper with a voice so fragile that the frogs beside me could barely hear it. My brother smirks, a teasing glint in his blue eyes. "Thats the name! Anyways so heres the plan. You Naruto get to go play hero and stall the guy for like five seconds while I prepare my jutsu, got it? Any questions?" He asks, a rather psychotic smile on his face which is so fitting for the current situation.
Naruto, seemingly just surprised as myself, could barely mutter his own sentence. "W-what?! What are you doing here? You shouldn't be getting involved in this!" Naruto argues, to which Shinji scoffs. "Pein raised me then killed me, I think I can get a little involved." He retorts, making me facepalm.
"Oshiro-boy! How do we know you won't go against us in the middle of battle?!" One of the small elders asked, and Shinji shrugged, a smile still plastered on his face. "Simple, you don't! You either waste time talking to me or get to killing the self proclaimed god. Your choice!" He playfully compares leaving me in a still frozen state.
Naruto, obviously not experiencing emotional trauma from Shinji's sudden re-apearance like I am goes straight into business. "I'll take my chances and trust you. How much time do you need for the Genjutsu to take place?" He asks, standing up and facing my brother head on.
Shinji cracks his knuckles almost comically "I'm self generating chakra from a demon which is no longer in my body, cut me some slack. It shouldn't be too long." Shinji says, earning a nod from the blonde.
"Right, then I'll go for the five second interval Choji talked about earlier. As soon as you prepare whatever jutsu this is, activate it!" Naruto urges, to which the Oshiro nods. "Naruto boy remember! You only have one shadow clone left to take in Sage jutsu Chakra. Once thats gone it'll be impossible to fight while taking in Sage Jutsu Chakra as it requires you to not move, and your sage mode will run out in five minutes." The male toad elder warns.
Ignoring the actual conversation at hand, I slowly stand up, my eyes never leaving the sight of my older brother, immensely scared that if I do anything as tiny as blinking that he'd disappear in thin air. I walk towards him and stop at a distance where I could easily reach out and grab his hand.
He notices my presence and now we are the ones in a standstill. For just a moment, I managed for forget about the war-torn land around me, and I only focused on him. "You're alive." I state, my voice unstable. Shinji smiles sadly when he sees the inevitable tears well up in my eyes. "I am." He replies.
And in reality, thats all I really needed. No long speech, no dramatic story, no snarky side comment. None of that. All I needed was confirmation that he really was here. I can't help it when I lunge at him, my arms wrapping around his neck in a bear hug and very ugly sobs begin to tear through the air.
Between all of my cries, bits and pieces of 'you're alive' and 'I love you I love you' could barely be understood. Shinji smiled, genuinely smiled and hugged me back, petting my back soothingly while still somehow managing to pay attention to the situation at hand.
"I see that my other disciple has made an appearance." Pein speaks, to which Shinji rolls his eyes, my body still clinging onto his own as if he would disappear if I let go. "You mean former disciple, I thought that bond was broken when you stabbed me with a chakra rod." He sharply replies.
Pein doesn't show any emotion, but he instead glances between Shinji and I. "As former disciples of mine, the two of you are committing major errors." Pein says, emotionless yet again. Although he has a mask of being stoic, I still manage to hear the mockery and, maybe something else in his voice. Call it being his student and spending that much time with him.
I somehow manage to pull away from Shinji, wiping my eyes with the backs of my hands and straightening out my back. I'm immediately hyper aware of my every move knowing that Pein is playing a game right now, and its one I don't want to loose. Pein tilts his head, and surprisingly smirks. "Shinji, I'll test you one last time. Universal pull!" He announces.
Oh Kami.
Theres really nothing I could do in a situation like this. No 'unbreakable' crystal or wood could defend me from Pein's jutsu. No amount of insane ninjutsu I attempt using will affect him. SO when I realize that Pein used his universal pull jutsu on Naruto and I, I sort of accepted my fate of being dragged towards him.
Now I did attempt fighting back when I reached Pein just like Naruto did, but it was really no use since Naruto ended up being slammed to the ground while I was punched in the gut, getting thrown a couple feet back but caught by one of Peins paths.
Shinji glares haughtily at his former sensei. He despises Pein, he really really does.
But instead of being held by Peins path for too long, the path lets me go, confusing the living hell out of me. That is until I'm suddenly grabbed again, but this time the hand is wrapped around my throat and it is the hand of my former sensei. "HARU!" I hear Naruto yell out, but I pay him no mind when I'm suddenly life up in the air, his one arm keeping me suspended. "Universal Pull!" He called out, making my eyes widen.
What on earth is he playing at?!
Shinji is at my side not many moments later, his throat also caught in Peins grip. Our former leader keeps us side by side as he ignores Shinji's intense swearing from beside me.
In a total act of self defense, wooden spikes shoot out of my hands which are clasped on to Peins wrist. He pays no attention to the fact that his wrist was just pierced by not one but two wooden spikes but instead he keeps on staring at me. "Haru, am I the bad guy to you?" He asks, making me scoff aloud.
"What type of question is that?! You're the worst! You almost killed my brother jackass!" I haughtily reply, unfazed by the way his grip on my neck tightened. "And why do you think I did that?" He asks.
I clench my jaw, bothered by his insanely insensitive questioning. "I don't know, because you're heartless and pure evil? Not even Hidan was that fucked up! and he was a jashinist!" I exclaim, to which Shinji cackles from beside me "Damn, Hidan was fucked up wasn't he?" Shinji reminisces making me nod at the memories.
Peins grip tightens impossibly more on our throats. "I did what I did for both of your benefits. Believe it or not, I'm only doing what's right." Pein states.
Shinji scoffs, seemingly unbothered by the hand wrapped around his throat. "What's in our best interests? HOW IS KILLING ME THEN SEALING THE SAME DEMON INTO HARU BENEFICIAL TO ANYTHING?!" He practically roared.
Pein, unaffected from the Oshiros outburst sighed. "I thought you would be the one to understand me Shinji, I've taught you about the meaning of peace ever since you've entered the akatsuki." He speaks. My eyebrows furrow and I can't necessarily turn to Shinji to question whatever the hell Pein is saying.
"Telling a twelve year old that in order to reach a world of peace we must kill is certainly the wait to do it, isn't it?" Shinji rhetorically asks, his voice shaky with emotion. "You reminded me of someone I use to know, I just believed you would understand." Pein admits to which I arch a brow. Someone Pein use to know? What the hell is going on here?
"Just because I was some little orphan from a place that rained every single day doesn't mean that I'm you. I thought of you as a father in some fucked up way for the longest time, you trained me, took care of me, scolded me whenever I did something stupid, gave me shelter for YEARS, only to have been using me for the ONE thing I hated about myself!" Shinji yells out, making my jaw drop.
Looks like theres a lot more about those two I didn't know. . .
Pein closes his eyes momentarily before letting out a deep sigh "If that is how you perceived everything then I suppose thats it. I won't fight you on your beliefs, you aren't my focus today Shinji and neither are you Haru." Pein speaks, and from the corner of my eye I could catch Shinji's hands shaking from how hard he's clenching them.
I glare at Pein, finally deciding to take action. I bring up my legs and kick his mid torso area with so much speed that an untrained eye would not be able to catch. As a result Pein let's us go and is thrown off by a couple of feet.
Shinji and I both go to pursue him but suddenly a clone of the path that's holding Naruto appears. "You go on ahead Haru, I'll handle this piece of work." Shinji tells me, placing a hand on my shoulder as re-assurance.
I nod and immediately go into transporting to where Pein is. I appear behind him in a Crystal rose before transferring most of my chakra to my hands. I jump back, making some distance between Pein and I before slamming both hands on the ground "Growing Crystal thorns jutsu!"
Raging thorn like spears made out of glittering crystal go zooming in Peins direction, he begins to effortlessly dodge them, but it starts to get more and more annoying for him as the crystals grow and pick up speed.
Thats when I noticed the chakra rods hidden under the sleeve of his Akatsuki cloak.
Damn it! Now I can't let him get too close too me or he'll definitely pin me down with one of those. And as if he could hear my thoughts, he suddenly raised his hands in my direction. My eyes widen, already predicting his next move. "Crimson fruit!" I yell out as its my only source of self defense at the moment.
It proves to not be enough, because his Universal pull is placed into affect and the barrier that you put around yourself is demolished. "HARU!" Naruto yells out in worry, and my own eyes widen seeing that I'm heading right in Peins direction with chakra rods in his hands. Then I notice Shinji also being dragged in our direction, a dead path of Pein being left behind.
Since we have zero control over our bodies, its inevitable when Pein grabs the two of us and forces us to the ground, pinning us together by quite literally stabbing through our hands with a single chakra rod. I choke out a wince of pain and Shinji barely reacts "Ive been through worse." We groans, seeing the blood drip down both of our hands.
"Shinji how do we get out of this?!" I cringe, the pain only developing as the seconds go by. He shrugs, extremely calm for the situation that we're in "Not sure, last time I was stabbed by chakra rods I died." He says, to which I facepalm (With my free hand, of course).
"At least he didn't get the tattoo'd hand, that would totally ruin the design." I say, eyeing the inked Senju crest. "You know, for someone who has a chakra rod going through their hand, you're awfully calm." Shinji suggests, and I send him a look. "You're way calmer than I am right now, I'm just better at hiding my insanity." I claim, making Shinji laugh.
"Wow, we've been through some fucked up stuff haven't we?" Shinji asks to which I nod rather lazily. I'm starting to feel the effects of the chakra rod and how my chakra is beginning to deplete. It isn't doing much yet since I have so much chakra, but if I stay like this forever then I'm as good as a goner.
"So you've been alive all this time?" I ask, leaning my head on my arm as theres no other comfortable position to lay in. Shinji nods "I've literally spent those weeks playing go fish with uncle Kakashi, flirting with your friends, and angering Tsunade." He reveals, my jaw dropping as a response.
"You call him uncle Kakashi now?!" I ask, flabbergasted by the development "Eh, we talked about a few things. I guess we got close. He sucks at playing cards by the way." He casually states. "Flirted with my friends?!" You ask again making him chuckle.
"Oh yeah, them! Its really entertaining to see them internally struggle because of their undying attractions to me." He simply states making my shudder in disgust "You're a father now, you know that right?" I ask to which he shrugs yet again. "I assumed, please tell me he got my looks. I'd never live with my self if my offspring ended up looking as basic as his mother." Shinji pleads.
You smirk at his attitude which somehow reminds of me of myself before I entered the tundra. "Thats a little cold, right?" I ask, only for him to return your smirk with an eerily familiar one "We've said worse!"
Pein puts all his attention on Naruto once again after having been distracted by Shinji and I. "Dont worry, I won't kill you. You are a precious Jinchuuriki." Pein speaks. "Hah, it doesn't hurt at all! Don't underestimate my Sage mode!" Naruto states confidently, and I really do begin to worry, the path holding onto Naruto is the one who absorbs chakra, so if Naruto is currently using his sage mode then-
I look over to find that Naruto's face no longer exudes confidence, but instead worry. Looks like he realizes it too! That guy is going to suck up all of Naruto's sage chakra!
"So how does Sasuke feel about you being here? Are you guys even together? I'm so out of the loop I couldn't even give uncle Kakashi any current details." Shinji says aloud, interrupting my focus on Naruto.
My eyes snap over to his own wildly "You told Kakashi about Sasuke and I?!" I whisper yell, earning a sheepish smile from my brother. "Sorry? I didn't go into any nasty details if thats what your worried about-"
"Ugh I can't believe you! Kakashi is the same guy who had a hissy fit because he saw me lean on Neji's shoulder when I was like twelve!" I snap, Shinji rolling his eyes as a response. "Oh trust me, I know. He always talked about how constantly worried about you he was, it almost made me feel bad." He revealed. Your eyes widen a bit "H-he was worried?" I ask to which he nods.
Damn. . . I try to not ponder of his words which is pretty easy considering that Shinji is already throwing me into another topic of conversation. "So Sasuke, are you guys back to being all over each other or not?" I roll my eyes at his choice of words before nodding.
"Yes we're together again, and he doesn't know I'm here. Hopefully he won't find out." I say. Shinji sweat drops at my words. "Umm Haru? How would he not find out?" Shinji asks, leaving you to your thoughts.
"Even if we get out of here alive, you literally have a rod going through your hand. I think it's a pretty visible injury to say the least." Shinji speaks, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Hey hey, I don't need the tude right now!" You warn, sending him a playful glare. A sudden cry for help sends the two of us looking back over at Naruto and Pein.
I see the orange color around Naruto's eyes begin to fade. I gasp silently, no!
His eyes close and his head drops, leaving me to assume that his chakra has been completely sucked out of his system. Luckily though, Naruto wouldn't be Naruto without having the most insane resilience ever. He somehow managed to re-obtain his chakra, and by having so many chakra reserves himself, the cloned Path of Pein couldn't handle to amount of sage chakra he was absorbing.
The pein path then started acquiring frog like features which was. . . disturbing to say the least. I look over at Shinji to see that even he looks a little disgusted. "Uhh, we've seen worse?" He questions.
The two of us hold questioning gazes until we hear even more screaming. "GEEZER SAGE!" Naruto yelled, and my eyes shoot up in surprise when I saw the elder frog from earlier has been struck with one of Peins chakra rods. Shinji shakes his head from besides me. "That orange haired jackass is impossible to fight, not with his pulls and pushes. He literally controls everything!" Shinji exclaims, annoyance laced in his voice.
My eyes widen when Naruto gets up to fight Pein once again, enraged by the sudden murder of the frog sage. Naruto is caught by surprise though when Pein throws the old sage at Naruto as if he were some object that could be disposed of. Naruto catches the elder frog, but is then struck by Peins "Universal Pull"
Naruto is then caught by the throat much like how Shinji and I were earlier, and he's slammed into the ground. My eyes catch the moment when Naruto's hands gets pierced all the way through with a chakra rod much like how Shinji and I are at the moment. I cringe when he screams in pain despite Shinji's lack of emotion from besides me.
Geez, have Shinji and I really been through that much shit where this chakra rod isn't really doing much?
"Has this tamed you a little? Nine tails?" Pein asks mockingly, and I narrow my eyes. "Just what are you? What are you?! Why are you doing all of this?!" Naruto asks, enraged and frantic all at the same time. Shinji scoffs "Get in line nine tails! The rest of us have been waiting for answers for years!"
I would kick him if I could. . .
"My goal is something even Jiraiya sensei couldn't achieve. As I mentioned earlier, creating peace and bringing about justice." Pein begins, and the way Shinji and I simultaneously roll our eyes is almost comedic.
"Peace? Justice? Yeah right. Don't give me that crap!" Naruto exclaims. "My master, my sensei, my friends, my village! After everything you've done, don't you dare talk about peace and justice!" He yells.
"Then tell me what your goal is?" Pein asks. "Im going to kill you and bring peace back into the Ninja World!" Naruto yells yet again.
Pein goes on to speak about how that may be justice for the leaf, but for nobody else, and I suddenly feel like I begin to understand his point the more he speaks. In fact, both Shinji and I have looks of recognition on our faces the more Pein speaks about the struggles his village has faced because of the leaf.
"You have your justice and I have mine. We're both ordinary men, driven to seek vengeance under the banner of justice. However, if there is justice in vengeance, then justice will only breed more vengeance, and trigger of cycle of hatred. We are living in the middle of such a phenomenon right now. We know what the past has been and we could predict what the future will be, that is history as we know it. So we cannot help but believe that human beings are incapable of understanding each other. The world of the ninja is ruled by hatred. " Pein speaks, and for the first time, I look at Pein with a twinge of understanding.
He's right. He's so right, I can't take that away from him. We live in a world fueled by hatred and jealousy and the worst of sins. And the thought of it sickens me.
"I don't have an answer. . . to something like that." Naruto responds, and I could only sigh. Hell, I wouldn't know how to respond either.
"I formed the akatsuki in order to stop this cycle of hatred. I can put an end to it. For that. . I need the power of your nine-tails. I will use the power of every tailed beast to create a tailed beast weapon many times more potent than the power that has destroyed this village. A power that is enough to wipe out a nation instantly." Pein speaks out. I look down in sudden guilt, knowing that I was a contributor to Peins master plans.
"The world will know real Pain, the fear instilled by that pain would prevent wars and the world will be on the road to stability and peace." Pein reasons. I shake my head at that "He sounds like he's creating a war, not ending one." I murmur, and Shinji nods in silent agreement.
"We're wasting our time Shinji" I whisper, ignoring the conversation which Pein is continuing and turning to my older brother. He furrows his dark brows at me. "What do you mean?" He whispers back. I sigh, shaking my head a little. "He's draining my sage mode which Ive barely used. His goal is to take Naruto, if I could deter him for a little-"
"Haru, no. Pein is obviously regenerating right now and I don't want you to get into a fight you can't handle." Shinji asserts. I frown at my older brother. "Ive done nothing this entire battle, I've only been stalling so Naruto could do his thing. I want to give Naruto a chance of survival." I retort.
I give Shinji no time to stop me when I reach up with my (free) gloved hand and rip the chakra blade out of our hands. Shinji winces a bit at the uncomfortable feeling before widening his eyes and realizing what I'm doing.
"Haru no wait-"
"Crystal Labyrinth technique!" I yell out before slamming my hand to the ground and reactivating my sage mode. Obviously taken by surprise because of your sudden intrustion, Pein turns from Naruto and narrows his eyes at me. Giant crystal roses grow from the barren ground and shoot upwards into the sky as the crystals begin to form walls all around us. I smirk when I see the top of the crystal round out in shape, creating a dome like affect.
Suddenly its just myself and Pein, alone in this giant crystal dome I've created. I made sure that neither Shinji or Naruto got stuck in the dome because I know its going to get ugly in here. Not only that, but I noticed that by the time the dome was being created Naruto had not only one, but multiple chakra rods pierced through his body.
I also noticed the other frog elder was to the side and injured
Pein doesn't say anything and neither do I. To be fair, I feel like everything said between us has been said, and the only thing thats left to do is battle.
"So you finally come out to battle." He speaks, but I don't bother replying. "Water style, raging waves jutsu!" I yell out, spewing water from your mouth and watching as ground becomes water, and an even more favorable field to myself.
"Ripping torrent jutsu!" Suddenly a spiraling vortex of water encases my hand, and I don't hesitate in throwing it in Peins direction. In fact, I throw multiple of these water vortex's in Peins directions, actually managing to hit him a couple of times. (Of course, they were clones)
Pein goes on to use many earth style jutsus which I luckily manage to either deflect or block all together. The battle becomes more and more intense by the second with myself getting bolder with my choices of jutsu and Pein not holding back when it comes to the offense.
It all boils down to the one moment that I decide to use one specific jutsu. It's the turning point of our battle, and I honestly didn't expect it to go down this way. Its a jutsu that I've done various times before in the tundra during training, but never during an actual battle. Pein is moving around a lot during the battle, and he's actually summoning things, so I'm deciding that this very skilled jutsu is what I need to do next.
I bring my hands together and preform various signs very quickly. "Wood Style: Hotei Technique!" I yell out before dispersing the large crystal all around myself. I cast a genjutsu over the crystal giving it a paralyzing affect as it shimmers downwards, and I watch with prideful eyes as large wooden hands (Large enough to easily restrain any tailed beast) emerge from the ground and spiral upwards.
Theres literally nowhere left for Pein to go as the paralyzing crystal is falling downwards and the giant hands at spearing upwards. I puff out a sigh of relief when both of the hands close, letting me know that Pein is inside with the paralyzing crystal in effect. Naruto, though in extreme pain, is stunned as he watches my justus come to life.
Sure he's seen Yamato use wood style but. . . never to that level!
I breath out a laugh at Naruto's reaction "You think thats good? You should see my great grandad, he could probably do that hundreds of times more than I ever could." I admit. I kneel down next to Naruto with worried clear over my entire face. "Shit Naru, how do I help? I can't just pull these out it could hurt you!" I cringe, seeing that theres atlas eight all over his back.
Too focused on Naruto, I don't notice the looming presence raging towards me from behind. Apparently, neither does Naruto since its too late when I feel a sharp, piercing pain coming through my left hipbone. I don't scream, I don't cry out in pain, instead, my eyes widen and I look down, staring at the bloodied chakra rod that had gone through my entire hip.
"H-HARU!" Naruto yells out in worry, but his screams are fading and it gets to a point where I don't hear him at all. My knees give out and I fall to the floor besides Naruto, my face facing his own and he stares at my rather peaceful self in horror. "My first lesson was to never turn your back to your enemy." Pein mocked, not bothering to kneel down and check up on the Senju.
My eyes can't open and all I hear is a soft ringing noise. I know I'm not dead because I could feel myself breathing, but thats about it. I don't feel anything else other than that. That is until I wake up again in a whole new setting.
••••••••••••••••••••••
Hello my lovely readers! Long time no see! No seriously, its been like what, ten years since I've last updated? Well I'm about to give you all a five second story time.
I wrote not one, not two, not three, but TEN, yes your read that correctly, TEN chapters for this book. TENNNNNNN. And it was going to be a whole Haru birthday surprise thing but guess what happened? IT D E L E T E D. The amount of angst I felt the day I logged on and saw that all my work had gone down the drain was indescribable. But alas, here I am!
I like to view it as a blessing and a curse, its a blessing because now since I'm re-writing everything, I have new ideas and can add things I never thought of before. Its a curse because well.... if you write you know what I mean lol.
But anyways onto the story!
-SO how'd you feel about this (Re-written) chapter?
-Is Sasuke going to find out about Haru's whereabouts? And if so, how?
-How is he going to react to Haru helping the leaf?!
-SHINJI IS BACKKKkK *Parties* thoughts?
-Where and when is Haru going to wake up? Will she and Naru ever have a moment that some have been waiting for?
-What did you think about Shinji and Pein? Maybe they were closer then everyone originally thought?
-How will Haru get out of this mess now that she's involved?! (Will she ever have that cute dango date with Sasuke she's been wishing for lolol)
-I'll see you all (Hopefully) soon on the next chap!!!
(Remember guys you could ask Haru any questions for the next 24 hours since its her birthday today!!)