Chapter Thirty-One
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"Before you kill us, allow me to power up."
Kenshin pushed himself up from the crater, boots scraping against shattered stone. His wounds knitted shut with unnatural speed—flesh sealing, bruises fading. The rain washed away the blood.
"My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father."
Jiraiya's shocked stare—at the healing, at the absurdity—flattened into a deadpan expression of pure, exhausted disbelief.
Kenshin caught the looks. He coughed, waving a hand dismissively.
"This is the part where you say—" He affected a theatrical accent. "—'Did you think you'd come over here and say, in a Spanish accent, My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, and I'd just roll over?'"
He gestured toward Nagato. Even the Rinnegan wielder's expression shifted—barely perceptible, but there.
Silence.
"Anyway." Kenshin coughed again, then abruptly dropped into a wide stance, hands waving theatrically through the air. "Power of nature, reside in me! Sage Mode—activate!"
He clapped his hands and shouted.
"What is wrong with you?"
Jiraiya's voice cracked with disbelief, mouth hanging open as he stared at the display.
He started forward, ready to drag the idiot back into focus—
A sudden burst of chakra erupted from Kenshin's body, sharp and wild. The air pressure shifted. Black pigmentation bled across his eyelids. His pupils sharpened into horizontal slits.
Jiraiya stopped mid-step.
"Is… that Sage Mode?"
"Yes, Jiraiya-boy." Fukasaku's voice carried faint alarm. "I sense sage chakra in him."
"How did he learn Sage Mode?" Shima croaked, eyes wide.
"And it's a perfect Sage Mode." Jiraiya's tone was flat, caught between awe and irritation. "Unlike mine."
"And it's not from Mount Myōboku," Fukasaku added, quieter now.
"Did the snakes get a sage?" Shima ventured.
"No." Fukasaku shook his head. "It doesn't feel like their chakra either."
"Guys." Kenshin rolled his shoulders, chakra still humming around him like static. "Let's not debate over my Sage Mode. I just unveiled a new form. We should ride the wave and beat the main bad guy."
Jiraiya's jaw tightened. He turned back to Nagato, body shifting into a combat-ready stance.
Then—
'Jiraiya-sama.'
The voice echoed directly in his mind, clear and calm.
Jiraiya's eyes flicked left, then right. No one's mouth had moved.
'This is my special genjutsu technique. I need to tell you something.'
Kenshin's voice. Silent. Intimate.
'You should find an opening to send the intel we've gathered back to Konoha. The odds of us getting out of here are low. More so for you—your Sage Mode's running out.'
Jiraiya gave a single, subtle nod.
'Good. That's settled. I'll open a way for you to send it.'
Kenshin stepped forward.
---
Whoosh.
He reappeared directly before Nagato, fist already swinging. Nagato's hand snapped up, catching the strike with a dull, meaty thud. A flurry of taijutsu erupted—sharp, brutal, relentless. Fists met forearms, elbows crashed into ribs, knees drove toward exposed joints.
The Deva Path moved, targeting Jiraiya.
Clap.
Boogie Woogie.
Kenshin swapped places with the Deva Path mid-motion, leaving it disoriented.
Another clap—this one sharper, deliberate.
Chakra rippled outward like a wave.
Sage Art Genjutsu: Bringer-of-Darkness Technique.
The world plunged into absolute, suffocating black. Nagato and all six Paths froze, pupils dilating into blindness.
"Let's get this party started, boys."
---
Whoosh.
Kenshin blurred forward, reappearing before the Naraka Path. His palm slammed into its chest.
Sage Art: Big Ball Rasengan.
The spiraling sphere detonated on impact, shredding the Path's torso in a spray of ash and chakra residue. It collapsed, lifeless.
Kenshin's hands wove together.
Sage Art Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation.
A tidal wave of flame erupted, consuming the plaza in roaring orange light. The Preta Path lunged forward, hands outstretched to absorb the jutsu—but the sheer heat calcified its body mid-motion. It turned to stone, then crumbled.
The remaining flames washed over the Human, Asura, and Animal Paths, incinerating them in seconds.
Kenshin appeared before the Deva Path. Its cloak was scorched, torn at the edges. He drove a flurry of punches into its frame—each strike targeting a tenketsu with surgical precision. The Path staggered. Kenshin's palm shot forward, a Rasengan condensing in his grip.
He rammed it into the Path's face.
The body flew backward, slamming into the ground with a wet, final crunch.
"Team wipe."
Kenshin straightened, breathing hard. The genjutsu receded like a retreating tide.
"Well—not a team kill since you're still alive." He glanced at Nagato, grinning through the exhaustion. "But you get what I mean."
He turned to Jiraiya. "Are you done?"
Jiraiya nodded, chest heaving. "Yes."
"Good." Kenshin's Sage Mode flickered, Black pigmentation fading from his eyes. "Time's up."
---
Nagato's expression didn't shift. "You wasted the only chance you had to beat me… on them."
It was half question, half taunt.
"Well." Kenshin shrugged, rolling his neck. "If you're truly the Rinnegan user, there's no need to have a team fight little old us. Why don't you fight like this?"
Nagato's eyes flared faintly. "Fine. I'll humor you."
He stepped forward, boots splashing through rain-slicked stone.
"Fighting them or me will not change the outcome. Against a god, there is no result but death."
His voice dropped, cold and resonant.
"You shall know pain."
"What an edgelord." Kenshin glanced at Jiraiya, who looked ready to collapse, swaying on his feet. "Am I right?"
Jiraiya didn't answer.
"Nagato." The Sannin's voice was hoarse, strained. "This is not what I expected. You were meant to be the Child of Prophecy. To bring peace to the world."
"A world which has not known pain cannot know peace."
"Nagato—what are you trying to accomplish?"
"I'm going to put an end to this pathetic world and its endless wars." Nagato's tone was calm, final. "It will be an act of God."
"Then to what end are you chasing the Tailed Beasts?"
"I suppose…" Nagato's gaze drifted, almost contemplative. "Since you're going to die, I can tell you my plan."
Jiraiya's fists clenched.
"Using the Tailed Beasts, I'll create a new forbidden technique. A weapon that can eradicate an entire country in less than a second."
"It will be the ultimate jutsu. A weapon of unprecedented power and scale."
"How could you even think something like that will stop wars?" Jiraiya's voice cracked. "You'll just make them bigger!"
"When countries quarrel with one another, what is the quickest way to end the dispute, Sensei?"
"Stop avoiding the question. Answer me, dammit!"
"I will give my ultimate weapon to the warring nations." Nagato's voice remained steady, inexorable. "People who have a weapon will inevitably use it."
"What are you driving at?"
"Hundreds of people will be killed instantly. The survivors will be completely terrified."
His Rinnegan gleamed faintly in the rain.
"All people. All the world. They will learn what true pain is."
"My technique will breed fear and serve as a deterrent. Wars will quickly cease."
"One could say this world of ours is still growing. Slowly becoming more balanced."
"Pain will quicken the world's growth… as it did mine."
"Our world is still in its infancy. But the hand of God has come to guide it down the path of maturity."
Jiraiya's expression twisted with grief and fury. "You want to teach the world what pain is. To help it grow faster. And you think that's your responsibility?"
"I do." Nagato's voice was soft, almost pitying. "I am a god of peace, after all."
"You've turned into quite the comedian, Nagato."
Jiraiya straightened, chakra flaring weakly around him. "Kenshin—assist me. I'll have to teach my student before I go."
"Happy to help."
Kenshin's expression shifted—playful veneer gone, replaced by something colder.
'What folly. Let's end this. Nagato's speech was entertaining, but my plan trumps speeches. Sorry, Nagato.'
---
They charged together.
Nagato raised a hand.
Almighty Push.
The invisible force detonated outward, slamming into both of them. Kenshin and Jiraiya flew backward, skidding across wet stone.
Whoosh.
Nagato closed the gap in an instant, appearing before Jiraiya. A brutal taijutsu exchange erupted—punches, blocks, counters, all sharp and economical.
Kenshin lunged to intercept.
Nagato sidestepped, his arm morphing mid-motion. Metal plates shifted, a barrel extending from his forearm.
He fired.
BOOM.
The blast caught Kenshin square in the chest, throwing him backward in a spray of scorched fabric and ash.
"Fucking futuristic gadgets in a shinobi world," Kenshin spat, coughing smoke.
"Time to go Todo on him."
Clap.
Boogie Woogie.
He swapped places with Jiraiya, reappearing beside Nagato. A Rasengan formed in his palm, slamming into Nagato's ribs—
—and dissolved. Absorbed instantly.
Nagato summoned a chakra receiver—a black rod materializing in his hand. He swung.
Kenshin dodged, the rod whistling past his ear.
Nagato hurled it.
The rod pierced Jiraiya's left arm with a wet, sickening thunk.
Kenshin pressed the assault, fists flying.
Another brutal taijutsu exchange. Then Nagato's boot caught Kenshin in the ribs, launching him into a boulder. Stone cratered on impact.
Nagato turned back to Jiraiya.
He slammed both palms into Jiraiya's shoulders, driving the rod deeper into the left one. An uppercut snapped Jiraiya's head back. A side hook crushed his jaw. A kick folded him in half.
Nagato followed, driving another rod into Jiraiya's stomach. He kicked it deeper.
The recoil threw Jiraiya backward. He hit a boulder hard, sprawling across its surface, blood spilling from his mouth.
Kenshin lunged from the air, leg cocked for a downward kick.
Nagato caught the leg, drove a black rod through Kenshin's shoulder, then fired a point-blank cannon blast.
Kenshin slammed into the ground.
As he tried to rise, Nagato yanked him forward with Universal Pull, jammed another rod through his other shoulder, then slammed him face-first into the stone.
More rods followed—embedding in his back, his legs, pinning him like an insect.
Nagato turned to Jiraiya.
The Sannin's face was pale, eyes wide with despair.
"Farewell, Sensei."
Nagato drove a black rod through Jiraiya's skull.
---
Jiraiya's vision blurred. Darkness crept in from the edges.
Through fading sight, he saw Kenshin—rods still embedded in his body—rising. Staggering forward. Slamming a Big Ball Rasengan into Nagato.
It was absorbed.
But in that instant—
Another Kenshin appeared beside him.
"Hey, Pervy Sage." His voice was soft, almost gentle. "It seems the night has come."
He scooped Jiraiya into his arms.
The world twisted.
They vanished.
---
"Has the act ended?"
Nagato's voice was calm, almost bored, as he addressed the clone Kenshin—the one with the absorbed Rasengan still flickering in Nagato's palm.
The clone coughed. "Impatient fool. You couldn't even wait ten seconds."
Clap. Clap.
A figure materialized, slow-clapping with exaggerated enthusiasm.
Aizen.
"Nice fight. Awesome choreography. Nice acting, too." He grinned, hands sliding into his pockets. "Nagato, you can go home now. Or send a small portion of the Six Paths—though I don't think Jiraiya will last long enough for them to reach him."
His grin widened.
"No worries."
"Jiraiya's dead. Itachi's dead. Ahh—the taste of canon."
---
Whoosh.
Kenshin and Jiraiya materialized in a dense forest clearing, miles from Amegakure. Rain no longer fell here—just silence and the faint rustle of leaves.
Kenshin leaned heavily against a tree, lowering Jiraiya to the ground with care. Black rods still jutted from his shoulders, his back.
"You still alive, Pervy Sage?"
Jiraiya could only cough, blood bubbling at his lips.
"At the end of the day…" Kenshin's voice was quiet, strained. "Konoha still lost a powerhouse."
He smiled—weary, bitter.
After a few moments, he called out again.
No response.
"Ahh. It's done."
Memory flooded back—his shadow clone dissolving in the rain, intel delivered.
He stood slowly, gritting his teeth against the pain. The rods shifted with every movement, grinding against bone.
Time for long-distance travel.
He picked up Jiraiya's body, cradling it like something fragile.
Then he teleported.
---
Fwoosh.
Two bodies materialized in the Hokage's office.
"Anybody… I… need… ramen…"
Kenshin's voice was hoarse, rasping. His knees buckled.
He collapsed.
Tsunade, Naruto, Fukasaku, Shima, Sakura, and Kakashi all turned.
They saw the bodies.
Tsunade and Naruto rushed to Jiraiya. Fukasaku and Shima followed, their small forms trembling.
"Is that… Kenshin?" Sakura's voice was barely a whisper.
"It seems…" Kakashi's tone was flat, hollow. "Kenshin couldn't save Jiraiya-sama."
Tsunade turned to Kenshin. Her eyes traced the black rods jutting from his shoulders, his back—identical to the ones embedded in Jiraiya's corpse.
"Sakura." Her voice was steady, controlled. "Take him to the hospital."
Naruto stared at Jiraiya's body. His fists clenched.
He turned and walked out of the office, expression unreadable.
"Naruto!" Sakura called after him.
"It's okay, Sakura." Tsunade's voice softened slightly. "Leave him alone for a while. Take Kenshin to the hospital."
"But—"
"I'm sorry, Fukasaku." Kakashi interrupted gently, addressing the toad sage. "Maybe you can speak with Naruto another time."
Fukasaku nodded slowly, his voice thick. "Yes. That's fine."
He paused, looking at Kenshin's unconscious form.
"About the Child of Prophecy of which I spoke… I can tell that boy loved Jiraiya. I want the Child of Prophecy to be like him. That's my fondest wish."
"And when the boy wakes…" Fukasaku's voice trembled slightly. "He'll tell you what happened after Jiraiya sent us away. He's a good child. He did his best."
The old toad vanished in a puff of smoke.
Silence filled the office.
Only the rain against the windows remained.