The wind blew hard, heralding the coming of tragedy. His eyes glittered with death under his hat and, holding the dagger in his hand, he said, "You... Do you know true pain?" His cold, gravelly voice reached everyone's ears.
His presence alone generated uncertainty as to what was hidden under that hat. His scarf danced to the rhythm of the wind as did his tunic and the strips of cloth of his hat.
'This feeling...'
'It can't be... no...'
Hinata and Ino, just by hearing that strange, low, emotionless voice, knew instantly. They didn't want to believe it, but now he was right in front of their eyes. The suspicions were finally starting to become real.
"No time to waste..." Naruto, however, clenched his fists and lunged forward again as he sensed Sasuke only moving further away.
Holding the kunai, as his eyes turned crimson and strange canine pupil, he tried to cut the mysterious Akatsuki out of the hat, but it only moved a little, grabbed him by the wrist and then....
Bam! A little blood splashed out of Naruto's mouth as he felt something hit him in the abdomen.
He looked down and realized that it was the enemy's knee that had hit his abdomen. The blow was so hard that it even went so far as to damage his organs. After that... Boom! Another kick in the face sent him flying to the ground.
"Those who do not understand the pain of others are incapable of growth. You have not grown. You... you haven't changed at all..." The Kodō Shigan gave a small twist inside his pupil.
'Kukuku...' Tobi knows that Toru is acting. Just by the way he breathes he could tell this. He is nervous even if it's hard for him to admit it. Still, this was interesting to him, because Toru's acting is quite good, quite convincing.
Like Ino and Hinata, Yamato, with Miroku resting in his arms, looked at the mysterious scarf shinobi and had that same feeling as the last time he saw him. It was a bad feeling and, strangely, a feeling of relief.
Just by really imagining what was happening, many memories and regrets came to his mind. That memory of that rainy night appeared in front of him, superimposed in front of his eyes.
"It's amazing, isn't it! Senpai is very strong and very cool. Although sometimes he talks about things no one understands or cares about" Tobi folded his arms and nodded his head. "I guess you all know him too, since you're from Konoha too."
Hearing Tobi, Toru, under his hat, narrowed his eyes at the sight of his former team. He clenched his fists softly and thought, 'The time was going to come sooner or later, there was no doubt about that. Still... I thought I was ready for this... I guess I really have changed...' He reached for his hat.
Seeing this, Tobi smiled under his mask, for now came the funniest part.
...
...
...
With a strange wind with the smell of blood surrounding him, with that disgusting chakra that the Kyūbi could feel even being sealed inside Naruto, with all the memories of his past, mixing with painful experiences that accumulated over time. He sighed tiredly and slowly took off his hat.
Those three people already knew, they knew this was going to happen, but they refused to believe it.
The hat fell to the ground and the eyes of the shinobi of Konoha widened at the revelation.
He had changed, he was no longer the same expressionless boy of three years ago. Now he looked like a man, cold-eyed and emotionless. He was a young and tall boy (5'7" tall), with those bright killer eyes, which were engraved in Yamato's memory. Blue and red, glowing in his eyeballs. Even after three years, he still wore that red scarf tied around his neck, only this one now had the Konoha forehead protector's badge embroidered on the fabric.
...
...
...
Everyone was silent, no words in their mouths. They stared in silence for a brief second until someone whispered. Sai looked intently and remembered the portrait of a 12 year old boy that was in his Bingo Book. The identity of that boy was...
"Asahi Toru..."
-Uchiha Lair-
"Ugh..." Itachi let a little blood flow out of his mouth as he felt the katana pierce his back even while sitting on the stone throne.
"Now answer my question, you traitorous bastard. The Elder Cat mentioned three survivors of the Uchiha clan. You... me... who else?"
"Does that interest you? Why?" Itachi replied relaxed as blood trickled from the wound on his chest.
"Because that third person will be the next to die after you."
"Hm... I'm sorry to tell you that you're wrong. We are not three survivors, but four."
"...Four?"
"You... me... that person... and Toru..."
-Amegakure-
He watched as Jiraiya's dying body sank into the water. Slowly the presence of his chakra became weaker and weaker until it disappeared completely. After that, he watched as something giant in the water swallowed him.
The Six Paths tried to search for the lifeless body, but were unsuccessful.
This left him with nothing to say. Jiraiya had said something interesting before he died and it seemed that the old man knew Toru's mother quite well.
"Ha~" He sighed tiredly and touched his head painfully. 'Do I really look like her?' He narrowed his eyes as he tried to focus his sight.
After that, he let the Six Paths finish the job and entered the large metal building again. He went as always to the watcher, sat on the ground and watched as the rain fell again on this sad village. He closed his eyes for a few seconds and when he opened them again, on the other side of the room was Konan. She was looking at the lake with a rather relaxed face. However, that face failed to fool Toru. There was something else going on.
Surely he thought so, because he usually does the same thing too.
"Hey... Konan..."
There was no honorific in her name this time.
-Near the Uchiha Lair-
"Asahi Toru..." Sai, still with some difficulty, recognized the boy from that portrait in the Bingo Book.
Surprisingly, the only similarity the Toru of now had to the one from before was that emotionless expression on his face. At the same time, he also felt something strange in the air, as if his presence was extremely dangerous. Even Kiba could feel it in his nostrils.
'That guy... he reeks of blood...' He clenched his fists tightly as he remembered the last mission 3 years ago. He never expected things were going to end up like this. 'I almost didn't even recognize it, but then that nasty smell belonged to Toru... that was why neither I nor the ninja dogs could recognize his scent' He shook his head and then put his hand on Akamaru's back. "Take it easy, buddy. Don't be scared..."
Judging by Akamaru's reaction, Kiba knew how dangerous the traitor in front of them was.
Meanwhile, Shino and Sakura remained silent. They had no words to describe the situation, as Shikamaru and Kakashi's assumptions were real. All they had left to do was to look at Hinata and Ino, who looked at the ground with muffled expressions.
The same happened with Yamato, while Kakashi prepared for an impending battle.
"Forgive me for dragging you into this, Miroku-san..." Yamato laid Miroku gently on the ground and stroked her head. Then, he stood up and sighed. He clenched his fists without looking straight ahead and then mentally prepared himself. "Mokuton..." He quickly executed the seals with his hands and then put them together by concentrating earth element in one hand and water element in the other. "Shichūrō no Jutsu! [Wood Style: Four Pillars Prison]" Almost instantly, as if nature obeyed his orders, strange large branches began to emerge from the nearby trees and moved to where Toru with the intention of imprisoning him.
Tobi saw this and jumped back, while Toru only witnessed it with an expressionless face, besides not having moved from that spot.
It was because of this that he was locked in Yamato's jutsu.
Reacting at the same time, Hinata and Ino jumped into the attack, as they were already expecting what their eyes were about to see.
Boom! Different slashes imbued with Shakuton destroyed the wooden prison in a second, causing a curtain of smoke that covered everything.
The faint light in Toru's eyes scanned the surroundings and, amidst all the smoke, from two different directions, he saw the death lines of those girls approaching.
With this in mind, he closed his eyes, kept the dagger in the sleeve of his cloak and that strange mark on his face appeared. He stretched out his hands and they appeared pointing at his face with their fists. He only sighed at this, and in one swift movement, he grabbed them by the wrists and deflected the attack easily. Causing them to be shocked at how easy it was for Toru to do that.
He raised his hand and clenched his fist. "Fūton..." and the smoke dispersed.
Both Naruto and Kakashi were extremely surprised to see Toru, whose appearance changed drastically. Now his eyes were crimson, with wolf-like pupils, his hair was slightly ruffled and a black mark appeared on the right side of his face. His presence increased too much and, when Ino and Hinata landed next to their companions, they couldn't understand anything that happened.
"¡¿?!" Hinata's eyes widened slightly, whose Byakugan was active, as she saw a giant mass of chakra being absorbed by Toru's body. The chakra was trying to move away from Toru, but he was forcing it into his system.
In fact, Kakashi could see the same thing. 'It's like he's stealing chakra from nature' he relaxed his hands and pulled his closer to his forehead protector covering one eye. 'It's going to take strength. We have no choice' Then, he showed his eye, where the Sharingan gave a single twist.
Naruto, Kiba, Shino, Sai and Sakura looked at Kakashi ready for battle. So they too raised their guard, but Naruto decided to go first.
"Toru... You're Toru, aren't you?" clenching his fists and teeth tightly, Naruto tried to understand why this was. "No... even for me that question is stupid..." He looked at the ground remembering that boy who wanted to help Konohagakure just because, and then looked him in the eyes. "You..." His expression showed indescribable anger.
In response to this, Toru just looked up at him from the top of the tree and then jumped down to the ground.
"You... Are you an idiot!"
'Here we go...' thought Toru.
Hinata and Ino understood Naruto a little. They couldn't even say anything about it, just that... deep in their hearts, they want Toru back, but it seemed like that's impossible.
Now he is the enemy. But still they didn't want to give up and this was also reflected in their worried and disappointed expressions.
"How could you join Akatsuki, why?! You...you...didn't you want to help others with your strange artifacts...why do you have to be on Akatsuki's side now!"
Toru shook his head. "Children grow up, adults evolve..." He began to pace, now having put the dagger away. "But neither of those two things apply to you, Naruto. Pain has helped me grow, I have become an adult. I have grown stronger and now understand the world as it truly is. So, I guess you wouldn't understand."
"Understand what?! That you've killed so many people and joined Akatsuki?! That's what I'm supposed to understand?! You're an idiot! A huge idiot! Don't you realize that they're the bad guys?!"
"That's just your opinion, it's just your point of view as a child who hasn't discovered true pain."
Yamato watched silently and wondered to himself what he had done wrong for his student to end up like that. Toru had changed, he had changed too much... Still, he couldn't stay thinking when he was in the middle of a high risk situation, so he tried to prepare himself for what was coming next. At the same time, Hinata, who was too nervous, let out her breath softly and clenched her fists.
'Toru... what have they done to you?' She remembered the past, she saw Toru, who seemed to be happy being together with his team, but now she saw the Toru in front of her, who had a slightly tired and disturbed expression. He was no longer the same...
Ino, on the other hand, understood that with Toru there was no dialogue and, even if it hurts her to hurt the man she loves, she wants to bring him back to the light, bringing him out of the darkness he got himself into during these last 3 years. 'If only I hadn't treated you like this from the beginning... would you have been by my side, Toru?' She felt tears about to fall down her cheeks.
While everyone was thinking about this, Naruto was starting to release the chakra of the enraged Kyūbi "I've had enough of your bullshit, Toru. Pain this, grow that, don't understand the other. Are you brainwashed! I'll beat you to a pulp and, together with Sasuke, I'll bring them back to Konoha!"
"You don't understand, Naruto. But I don't care if you understand either."
Walking relaxed towards the Konoha ninjas, Toru exhaled steam as if he were a fire beast. This made Tobi get excited.
"No way, no way, no way, no way. senpai is going to fight for real! This is going to be so cool!" Tobi raised his arms and started jumping up and down. "Come on, senpai! You can do it! Kick them all!"
Hearing Tobi's shouts, Toru shook his head and then....
"Know the pain, feel the pain..." He spread his arms as if he was praising himself and then disappeared in everyone's eyes, reappearing in front of the most dangerous and annoying ninja of the whole group, Kakashi.
Raising his fist, charged with the full power of his chakra. Toru was looking to kill Kakashi with a single blow, but....
Bam! Ino appeared in front of him, covering Kakashi with her arms. "I'm going to stop you, Toru. You'll go back to Konoha..." said Ino as she tried to hold back the power of Toru's punch.
"I don't think so" but Toru increased his strength and made both Kakashi and Ino back up and crash into one of the trees.
"Akamaru!" Giving the order to their canine friend, Kiba and Akamaru launched themselves at Toru, raising their arm like a dog's claw.
Toru reacted quickly and also covered himself from the attack, but then strange creatures that appeared to be second dimensional beings composed of ink appeared and held Toru by his arms and legs. Those creatures had the appearance of two lion lions and various snakes drawn on paper. This made Toru watch as Shino let out all the insects he kept in his body.
"Don't expect anything from me, but at least I'm going to try" Extending his arms, from the sleeves of his jacket, from his eyes, from his nose, from his ears and from his mouth, a horde of insects attacked Toru.
In response to this, Toru kept his face expressionless and closed his eyes. "Shakuton, Shimikomaseru: Hi no Karada [Burning Style, Imbue: Body of Fire]."
Then, in the middle of the forest, a bright light appeared. The insects were incinerated and Sai's ink creatures met the same fate. But it doesn't end here, because as soon as the smoke curtain and the light created by Toru's Hi no Karada disappeared, Naruto's shurikens flew close to Toru's face, causing a small wound on his cheek.
Now that she was no longer nervous, Hinata took advantage of this distraction to go straight to Toru. "Toru!" The veins around Hinata's eyes swelled and her arms were wrapped in the blue color of her chakra.
Almost instantly, she threw a punch that Toru blocked with the palm of his hand, followed by a counterattack that, for some reason took forever, because, when Toru threw the punch, he felt a strange current of air, no, it was as if it was water, flowing around his arm and then....
"Omoiken: Hendo! [Heavy Fist: Fluctuation]"
Boom! Everyone looked at the power of Hinata's punch, which caused Toru to be buried in the waterfall nearby.
Naruto, seeing this, was surprised, as he didn't know that Hinata was hiding such powerful taijutsu, but still, that didn't change the fact that they were still in the middle of a battle.
"Get ready!" Yamato looked at the surroundings, Toru was no longer at the waterfall. Now, like a shadow moving at the speed of sound, silent and dangerous, he moved through the trees confusing everyone.
He left residual images of his body, like illusions that disappeared a second later. That was why everyone's eyes were attentive.
At all this, Tobi was having fun watching Toru fight. It was amazing what this kid could do.
"Out of the way!" Kakashi's Sharingan spun and his hands moved just like those of the enemy who hid to perform a jutsu.
"Katōn: Gōkakyū no Jutsu [Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu]."
After that, two large flares spread on the spot, which collided and exploded raising dust in the process.
Hinata could see Toru move between the explosion, due to the large amount of chakra he used to imbue his body to avoid the damage from the explosion. So, without waiting long, she launched herself into the attack.
Ino saw her, and did the same.
They both appeared in front of Toru. They looked at each other for a second and nodded their heads. It was time to act, it was time to use their combo attack.
"Ora!" In front of Toru, Ino hit the ground and everything rose up due to this girl's colossal strength.
Large boulders rose up covering the battlefield. Hinata took advantage of this and began to move at an incredible speed around Toru using the rocks to propel herself. Ino was not left behind, because she also did the same as Hinata and then....
Boom! The sound of Toru's abdomen being hit by Ino echoed in the place.
"¡¿?!" Toru's eyes widened in disbelief. He didn't expect this at all. In fact, he thought they wouldn't be this strong, but he was wrong.
And now, suspended in the air for a second, Hinata appeared in front of him and hit him in the chest using Omoiken, destroying the chakra ducts in that area. This also made him fall to the ground at an overwhelming speed, which left him buried in the ground.
"That was great..." Naruto for a moment forgot that they were facing Akatsuki due to the masterful move of these two girls.
'Ha~...if only I hadn't split my power when using Kage Bunshin, everything would be easier. Besides, I almost disappeared. Somehow I'm proud of these two girls. They have become very strong..." Burying himself in the ground, he looked up at the blue sky and then stood up from the ground, wiping the dirt from his robe. "I am amazed."
"You can't tell" Sai replied as he saw Toru's expressionless face.
"I underestimated all of you, but it won't happen again, because now we'll fight for real." Toru cracked his knuckles and relaxed his muscles. Now that he could already gauge everyone's capabilities, despite being at a disadvantage, he can face them more effectively.
"You can do it, senpai! Fight on! Fight on!" On the other hand, Tobi continued in cheerleader mode.
"Fūton..." Toru started using the seals again. This made everyone go on the attack again to stop Toru from using chakra.
One after another, all together, like a perfectly synchronized team, they started to use taijutsu against Toru. Quickly, without missing a beat, they threw punches, kicks and all kinds of taijutsu skills. But it simply seemed impossible, as Toru blocked and returned the attacks easily and with twice the power.
"Fūton..." Taking advantage of Naruto's being pulled into the fight, he punched Kakashi in the face with his right fist, while his left hand he used to perform a jutsu using Naruto's right hand. He also kicked Sai, Akamaru and Kiba in the face. While Sakura and Shino tried to serve as support for the others.
"How?" Naruto's eyes widened as he noticed that Toru took the time for something like using his enemy's hand to perform a jutsu, but there was no time to be surprised.
Hinata and Kakashi were the ones who outclassed everyone when it came to using taijutsu, so they were trying to stand up to Toru.
"Daitoppa! [Wind Style: Great Rupture]" Bringing his hands together at last, Toru exhaled a large amount of air that shot out at such a great force, that everyone was thrown backwards. "In a battle of endurance, it's obvious who's going to win. You guys have tired yourselves out so quickly by using taijutsu with all your might, your breaths are the proof of it" Without a care in the world, Toru folded his arms.
"Toru, why are you doing this?" Hinata asked with a sad and worried expression on her face.
"Doing what exactly? I haven't done anything special, I'm just doing whatever I feel like."
"But that doesn't make sense..." She clasped her hands together on her chest. "I don't understand... I never truly managed to understand you... but still I... I..."
Ino watched this in silence. She, as well as everyone else, were tired from giving so much chakra in a fight that led nowhere. However...
"Please... Toru..." Hinata approached Toru, standing face to face, so much only a meter away. She grabbed Toru's hands and looked into his eyes. "Take me with you... don't leave me alone again... please..."
"Hinata, what are you saying!" Naruto obviously didn't understand, but somehow Sakura did.
No one knew what to say exactly, but this was either a desperate act on Hinata's part or just....
"Hinata..." Toru moved closer to her and said in her ear... "Do you think I'm as naive as you?"
Bam! "Uhg!" Hinata ran out of air in her lungs as she felt something hit her abdomen. However... How... how was it that Toru realized her intentions?
'I...tried to abandon my love for you to put an end to all this...if someone was going to kill you...I thought it could be me" A tear crumbled down Hinata's face. She wanted to kill Toru, so she could end this quest once and for all. Still, being so close to him, she felt Toru's warmth, but she knew this was not the real Toru, from the beginning she knew it, this Toru was just a clone, but still a part of the real Toru.
Boom! With a single kick, Toru sent Hinata into a tree, where she was almost unconscious.
"Why, Toru, how can you do this to your teammates, to your friends!" shouted Naruto. To which Toru, with an expressionless face, sighed wearily.
"Teammates? Friends?" Toru's Senjutsu deactivated. "I don't have any of those."
Yamato clenched his fists helplessly, for they had already done everything. Even if he used the Mokuton's most powerful jutsu, Toru would just destroy it with Shakuton easily. This had no solution, Toru had no salvation. That boy had now become the enemy...
"If only that night I hadn't let him go... What would have happened then? "According to Yamato's thinking, Toru had no choice. It was either stay in Konoha and die of unknown causes (Danzo) or run away and try to survive.
At the same time, Tobi sat in the tree and watched everything as if it was a soap opera. However, someone immediately appeared next to him, that was Zetsu, and he had something to say.
-Seconds earlier, Uchiha Lair.
Walking with what little strength he had left, reaching out his hand as if he wanted to reach for something, his eyes have lost their light, his Mangekyo is about to disappear.
Protected by the powerful Susano'o, Itachi slowly approached Sasuke, who, like him, was completely exhausted and without chakra.
"My eyes... my light..." Itachi continued walking. Aiming for Sasuke's eyes, aiming for a new light filled with power.
At the same time, Sasuke tried to defend himself, but it was impossible. Susanoo's shield was impenetrable. Even if he tried to throw explosive kunais, shurikens and even stones, it was impossible.
With all of this, Itachi was finally standing next to Sasuke, with his hand close to his younger brother's eyes. He reached out his arm and then... Itachi smiled and gave his younger brother a small smack on the forehead. "I'm sorry, Sasuke. It ends here..." and then... he fell to the ground, to finally... die.
As Itachi fell, a small vial along with a note came out of the sleeve of his yukata.
Sasuke, not understanding anything, just turned his gaze slowly and saw the note.
[Get well and don't throw away the medicine.
-Toru]
-Near the Uchiha Lair-
Zetsu appeared next to Tobi, which made Toru look in that direction.
"Zetsu-san? What happened?" Tobi said.
"It's all over. Sasuke won and now Itachi is dead."
Toru's eyes widened in shock at hearing that, but quickly his expression returned to his usual self and just like Toru, everyone was also in shock.
"Really!!! I hadn't anticipated that!" the tone of Tobi's voice from one moment to the next changed to a more serious one. "No, it's just as I had predicted."
Zetsu replied. "Even though it only took a few seconds, Sasuke passed out. what do you think? Maybe he already died?"
Hearing this, Naruto clenched his fists. "You! aloe vera! Where the hell is Sasuke!"
But Zetsu ignored him.
His voice deep, Tobi looked at Toru and then at the Konoha shinobi. "We'll play another day, kids. Toru, we're leaving."
In response to this, Toru gave a small jump and appeared at Tobi's side. For the last time he looked at everyone and sighed. The hat that was previously left on the ground disappeared in a cloud of smoke and returned to Toru's head.
"We will see each other in the future, but rest assured that when that time comes, I will show no mercy" Toru said and then, Tobi raised his hand and a strange spiral that went through space-time swallowed both shinobi.
Hinata and Ino looked at this and only Hinata fell to her knees clenching her fists tightly....
'I couldn't do anything... again...'
To be continued...
___________
Here is the chapter I promised. I'll go to sleep, I'm very sleepy.