Chapter 47
INO YAMANAKA
Two years ago, Konoha had nearly met its end as the village found itself betrayed by its long-standing ally Sunagakure. The betrayal had not just come from Suna, but had been plotted as a whole by one of Sandaime-sama's former students, Lord Orochimaru, and had cost the Third Hokage his life.
Though that had just been the beginning, his death had revealed certain secrets and plots that had threatened to destroy the very foundation of the village. To think that the Sandaime-sama had let treason and treachery fester so close to himself was shocking and damning for the village.
Yet peace had come, and the treachery that had been allowed to fester for years had been rooted out with prejudice. But all these trials and tribulations had left the village vulnerable, and their enemies could smell the blood in the water.
Iwa and Kumo had begun to push into their land, as they tried to take advantage of their newfound weakness, but in its hour of need, Konoha had found itself a new Hero. A new symbol similar to the one it had obtained in the darkest hours of the Third Great Ninja War in the form of the Yellow Flash.
And that symbol was none other than her own classmate.
Hikari Hyuga, and by now he had many a name, though she would say that the most apt one was perhaps Hikari no Hiken.
"Here," she said as they reached the place where the Sanbi sat resting. And the Kiri shinobi were said to have a seal to keep the Sanbi asleep, and the three Kiri shinobi took their respective positions, as they began to cycle through a set of seals.
"Triple Tomb Formation...." and with that, a chakra seal emerged over them, taking the form of a net, and began to lower itself on the Sanbi to make sure that the Bijuu did not interfere in the fight against the Akatsuki members.
"How long until the Sealing Team is here?" questioned Lady Tsunade, and she was here as a reassurance for keeping the Sanbi at bay, which was paramount to Hikari's fight against the Akatsuki's Undead duo.
"I have already sent the missive back to the village. The team will be here within minutes," and it was the one-eyed shinobi who answered the Lady Hokage, and he was the one who had taken one of their villages' most esteemed Kekkei Genkai, and yet now the Byakugan had been returned to them just as they had given them back their blade.
"Are you certain that we should let him face those monsters all by himself?" the Mizukage-sama questioned as she looked towards Tsunade-sama whose eyes travelled to the place of the battle, and they could still hear the sounds of their clashes and while those around her could only hear, Ino could, in many ways, 'see' exactly what was going on.
"Given his current state, it would be best if we let him handle this on his own," Lady Tsunade commented as her eyes travelled towards the battle site.
"Plus, it's not like he will need our help anyway," she added, as she gave her a smirk, and she nodded at that while she felt his chakra shift and blend with nature itself, and it was only she who could sense him, as the Kiri shinobi nearly shouted in panic.
"His chakra," Ao gasped as his head snapped in the direction of the battle.
"It's gone. He is dead," and everyone apart from her and Lady Tsunade panicked at those words, for they were the only ones who knew about Hikari's true prowess.
"You need not worry about him," Lady Tsunade added as she took them all by surprise.
"He is still alive," and the trio from Kiri frowned at that, as Lady Tsunade glanced in that direction, and by now, Hikari's presence was simply blitzing through space, and his movements were so fast that they were hard to even track.
It was his trump card and had allowed him to kill two of Akatsuki's members on his own. The technique relied on senjutsu, which he had been obtained by him after he had endured some troubling three months within the summoning realm.
"If he is using that, then the battle won't last for much longer," and it would not.
Initially, at the start of the battle, there had been a total of eight chakra signatures present, including one from Hikari, one from that Hidan guy, and five different chakra signatures from Kakuzu.
One of them had belonged to the masked nin that Hikari had attacked at the start, and yet since the start of the battle, the masked nin had vanished, and she had yet to sense him again as Hikari destroyed another one of Kakuzu's chakra signatures, leaving him now with bout two hearts.
"He will be done soon," Ino added confidently, and just as Hikari was battling away against those two men, suddenly she felt the world shift as another chakra signature sufficiently appeared right above her, as her head snapped up as her heart began to race.
"Someone is here," and she had not been the only one to sense this foreigner whose chakra rivalled that of the Bijuu below them, as everyone got ready for a fight as a sole figure lowered itself from the skies.
He wore a cloak similar to that of the other Akatsuki members, and he had orange hair that reminded her of Naruto's jumpsuit. Yet what made her heart still were those eyes. Those purple ringed eyes that had been mentioned only once in Hikari's reports.
Eyes that had once belonged to the progenitor of chakra himself.
"Rinnegan," she gasped, as Lady Tsunade's face paled.
"Mizukage, I believe I might need your help with this," Lady Tsunade added, and the orange-haired woman could sense the danger that they were in as well, as she stepped forward.
"Sure, I will be happy to help a fellow Kage," and they stepped forward as Ino's heart began to shake with fear, as she sensed the sheer power of this newcomer.
"Who exactly are you?" Mizukage-sama asked.
"I am this world's retribution. I am the one who shall bring true Peace to this world," he answered without any fear, or anxiety eve though he was facing perhaps the two most powerful kunoichi of their generation.
"I am..."
"Pain, the Leader of Akatsuki," Lady Tsunade finished, and she saw those purple eyes narrow.
"So you have heard of me," he began, as Lady Tsunade clicked her tongue.
"I have, and it is good that you came out here on your own and saved us the trouble of hunting you down," and with that, she punched her palm, as her chakra roared forth.
"Now I just have to bring down your damned organization," she began, and he smiled.
"If it were only that simple," and then she sensed all of Kakuzu's chakra signatures vanish, as Hidan's chakra signature thinned out, and Hikari's attention fell towards the stranger as well.
"Still, I never expected the leader of the Akatsuki to show his face like this," the Mizukage-sama questioned as Pain simply smiled, as she felt Hikari gather a massive amount of chakra within himself.
"Well, you lot have become quite a nuisance to me and my plans. But no matter, I have come here to show you just how insignificant all your struggle really is," and with that, she heard the whisper cut through the silence.
"Hiken," and though she could not see him, she sensed Hikari push through the air as he tried to catch the leader of the Akatsuki by surprise, and yet the man simply raised a hand.
SHOOOOM!
And just as Hikari's blade was inches from his face, he was stopped mid-air as those purple eyes fell to him.
"You have been quite a nuisance to our mission for some time now," and then she saw those eyes narrow as the man gathered a large amount of chakra in his hands.
"But no more," and Ino could only scream.
"NOOOO...." and she jumped up, sensing the danger as she heard but a whisper as Hikari's body was sent tumbling away.
"All Mighty Push...."
BOOOOOM! BOOM! BOOOOM! BOOOOOM!
0000
TERUMI MEI
It had been some time since Mei had felt such excitement before a fight, and yet watching that Hyuga boy's body barrel through the air told her everything about their opponent that she needed to know.
This Pain, as he called himself, was strong. He was stronger than anyone she might have faced until now, and yet all hope was not lost.
"CHAAAAA!" Tsunade Senju jumped forward, her chakra raging as Mei herself cycled through a set of seals.
"Suiton: Water Dragon Jutsu," and the water beneath her feet raged at her words as it roared forth, and tried to swallow him whole, and yet all of their attacks failed as he simply raised his hands once more and stopped both the Senju Princess and the water dragon in their place before he added.
"You can struggle all you want, and yet you won't be able to make it through my defences," and with that, suddenly she felt a massive amount of chakra roar forth, as she was sent tumbling back through the air.
"Lady Tsunade..."
"Mei-sama," the voices came forth, as Mei rolled in the air before she pushed chakra into her feet to steady herself, yet before she could attack again, she felt the temperature in the air shift as the Hyuga boy's voice raged through the air.
"HIKEN!" and he was there in front of him, again his body's color had changed, and a wing had sprouted out of his back.
BOOOOM!
And a fire raged out of his fist as Mei saw his attack connect, yet as the smoke cleared, she saw another figure had pushed itself between the boy and the orange-haired shinobi, this one wearing the same cloak as him, yet with the same strange eyes as the monster himself.
"Hikari...." she heard the girl scream, but she had moved before the anyone else, and she was not the only one.
"Suiton: Water Dragon Jutsu!" and once more, a water dragon rose from the lake below them, and tried to devour him whole, while Lady Tsunade jumped behind her and tried to attack him herself.
"CHAAAAA!" and they had the bastard cornered, and yet in that moment, she felt it again.
"All Mighty Push!
BOOOOM! BOOOOM! BOOOOOM!
And such was the force of the attack that she felt her world unravel, as the water beneath her feet rose up and swallowed her whole like a tsunami, and she felt rocks and trees and everything crash into her being as she was sent tumbling through the waves, and soon enough her vision had gone dark. The last thing she heard was the distant scream of a tailed beast cut through the air.
"ROARRR!"
0000
Back in Konoha, Kakashi found himself staring at one of the Sanin, yet not the one he had hoped to see.
"Oh, is that really you sitting in the Hokage seat, Kakashi?" the white haired shinobi teased him with a smile, as Kakashi raised a brow tiredly.
"Is this a sign of times to come?" he asked enthusiastically, and he was quick to shake his head.
"I don't hope so," for this little stint was quite enough for him, and he had no desire for slaving away in this office for the rest of his life.
"I would much rather die reading one of your books than reading another botched mission report by a new genin," and so much of a Hokage's time was spent dealing with meaningless reports and work that he was beginning to pity Lady Tsunade, and all those who had come before her.
"Hahha, is that so? Well, speaking of that, I do have another edition of Icha Icha coming up soon enough, so that will keep you occupied for some time," and those words were like heaven to his ears.
"Well, at least there is something for me to look forward to," now, only if Lady Tsunade were to come back and relieve him of his duties.
"Still, when is Tsunade coming back?" Lord Jiraiya asked, turning serious for change, and Kakashi's smile vanished in an instant as he glanced at the time.
"Honestly, we had hoped that she would be back by now, but she is negotiating an alliance with another kage, so a delay is not exactly a surprise," that was why Ino had been sent with her, for the Yamanaka's powers allowed her to report back to the village in case of trouble.
"Still, we will have her team report in on the progress by the end of the da...."
"Hatake-sama! You need to hear this...."
0000
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