Chapter 48
SHINSO KEN
The whole world had lost its color. I tried to move my arm, but it refused to move. In front of me, Danzo was stuck in the same kind of trance. Two eery Sharingan spun in his greyish scaly hand. Each time I looked at that arm, my disgust rose to new levels.
My eye went to Sasuke, who walked with shaky legs toward the stationary form of Tsunade-sama. Blood dripped from his eyes as the red in them shined with a distinct tinge. His eyes having a very unique loopy pattern in them, instead of the regular three tomoe.
A Morbius strip. I recognized the shape.
"Tell me the truth? TELL ME!" Sasuke snarled in front of the greyish form of Tsunade-sama. Shinso could see Tsunade-sama's face change as her face adopted a sympathetic look.
"Are you sure you want to know the truth, Sasuke?" she said in a small tone, and the dark flames covering his sword rattled as he snarled.
"TELL ME!" and it was as if the world was attuned to his emotions as the pressure increased, making it harder even to breathe. Though, I could see this all taking a toll even on Sasuke, as he could barely stand up.
"The Uchiha clan was in the process of planning a coup," Tsunade-sama began, and I could feel her reluctance to share this tale.
"A coup," Sasuke paraphrased, and Tsunade-sama nodded as she continued.
"Yes, a coup. Your brother was acting for the village during this and trying to bridge up the differences. But that approach failed, and all efforts for reconciliation were failing. In that situation, Elder Danzo gave your brother an offer. An offer unsanctioned by the Hokage." She spoke up as her eyes rounded towards the hated elder. Sasuke was now looking at Danzo with wide eyes as things began to make sense.
"He told him to annihilate his clan to protect his brother. His brother, whom he held dearest." And Sasuke shook as he heard those words, his face white as a sheet.
"NO! NO! NO! YOU ARE LYING! HE DIDN'T LOVE ME! HE IS A TRAITOR! A TRAITOR!" Tsunade-sama looked at Sasuke with a sympathetic gaze as she spoke up once more.
"Your brother is perhaps the greatest shinobi to ever grace Konoha after my grandfather himself. He was a troubled kid who made the greatest sacrifice all for the sake of his younger brother." Her words made Sasuke's face turn white as he dropped to the ground.
Red dripped from his eyes though it was not only blood this time. And just then, Sasuke turned his face towards the one-eyed elder.
"YOU! YOU PUSHED HIM TO DO THIS! YOU!" he snarled, and the wisps of dark flames from his sword whipped in the form of a leash and struck Danzo and enveloped him. I could feel the pressure lowering, and with a twist, I was finally able to move.
"Your brother simply completed his mission. The Uchiha were rabid dogs and had to be put down!" Danzo snarled as he appeared unscathed on another corner of the field. Orohimaur was standing by his side as all four of his, including Sasuke, stood on the other side.
Sasuke was about to speak up when the whole arena rippled as a new intruder arrived on the scene. I looked to the side from which the pressure was coming, and my eyes went wide as I saw the orange hair and black cloak. Rod-like piercings were present over the whole body, with the distinct Rinnegan looking at us all ominously.
"So it seems our suspicion was right," Pain spoke up ominously as everyone present was now looking at him.
"Orochimaru was not the only traitor amongst our ranks. But no matter. I will deal with Itachi after I am done with you." He finished while looking towards Orochimaru. And then I could only hear a slight whisper.
"ALMIGHTY PUSH
BOOOOOOM.
0000
DANZO SHIMURA
Danzo felt his body rip apart as the attack collided with his body. But it did not matter. Danzo opened his eyes once more and looked down to see that the whole area had been flattened.
'Such force,' Danzo thought. His eyes spotted a thrum of lightning, and the rubble exploded.
BOOM.
And as the debris cleared, he noted that it was the form of Tsunade's apprentice that appeared from the rubble. The kid was bleeding and standing with support from his support. Another portion of the rubble exploded, and it was the form of Tsuande Senju that appeared.
She was injured quite badly. Bleeding profusely. The reason for so many injuries would reveal itself as she got up to reveal the unconscious form of Sasuke Uchiha from underneath.
The kid was alive, he could tell, from the small breathing movement of his chest. The kid had been another surprise, Danzo had not expected the kid to awaken the Magekyo Sharingan, but he shouldn't have expected anything less from Itachi's brother.
Still, what a loss, such talent just to be consumed by Orochimaru. But that all was secondary now. For Danzo could tell that this new intruder was not just a regular shinobi.
Akatsuki. Danzo recognized that name. He had thought Hanzo had crushed that little group. Or this was a new group with the same name. Danzo lacked intel on this group, as Hiruzen and Jiraiya had been tight-lipped about any information.
He looked at the orange-haired intruder and he felt a sense of Deja Vu. But why? He narrowed his eyes as the man raised his hand once more. Danzo braced himself for an attack, but the devastation never came.
"AGHHHHH!" there was a shout as a body was ripped from the area. A body he recognized as Orochimaru's. He saw a metal-like rod come out of the Akatsuki members hand.
And just as Orochimaru's body was about to be impaled by it.
SCHING.
Noise of metal scratching echoed everywhere. He spotted that Orochimaru had somehow grown a thick cuff made out of bones around his neck to protect himself from the attack.
"Your efforts are futile, Orochimaru. This is the end," the man spoke up. Orochimaru smirked.
"Thousands have tried over the years, yet I still live, and they don't. And after today, you won't as well." And Orochimaru opened his mouth, and a projectile came out of it, aimed straight at the intruder's face.
BOOOM.
But before the attack could connect, Orochimaru went barreling toward the ground.
"AGHHH!" Danzo heard the cream once more. And the man clad in the black cloak lowered himself as he approached Orochimaru once more. He descended to the ground and began to walk once more. But this time, he was not alone.
And Danzo's eyes widened as he was joined by five more people, all with similar hairs and piercings over their bodies. All of them with the Rinnegan in their eyes.
Impossible. The sage's eyes were a myth. Seeing one set was legendary as well. But six pairs. Six.
Danzo could not imagine the power hidden behind those eyes and what he could do with those eyes. And so he began making hand signs.
Channeling up chakra once more.
"Wind Style: Vaccum Scythes!" and he pushed chakra into his legs as he vanished and appeared in front of him. His fingers inch away from the Rinnegan.
"ALMIGHTY PUSH!"
"AGHHH," Danzo grunted as he was flung backward. He felt his body get shredded as he tumbled across the ground. Pain ran over his spine as he felt his back crash into a tree.
"BLERGH," he vomited a mouthful of blood.
Danzo looked up and saw the Akatsuki member looking at him. And after centuries, Danzo felt dread as he stared into those eyes. He did not see hatred or power in those purple irises as in the Sharingan nor the awareness of the byakugan. But it was something else.
Something akin to divinity. For he felt insignificant in those purple irises.
"You should wait for your turn." The man spoke up as he stared Danzo straight in the eye. Danzo pushed the chakra into his other eye. An eye that he had kept hidden for about a decade.Shisui Uchiha's mangekyo sharingan. The eye with the perfect Genjutsu.
Kotoamatsukami.
He felt his chakra take hold momentarily. Yes, but then a blur passed by, blocking his vision. And then Danzo felt pain.
"AGHHHHH." And it was as if his brain had fallen apart. He could only scream as red filled the vision of his sole functioning eye.
"You really thought you could control me. ME!" the man spoke up. And Danzo could hear his footsteps as he approached him. He cast a small glance over his other hand.
"I am Pain. The carrier of the legacy of the Sage of Six Paths himself."
The man spoke grandly as Danzo felt himself getting lifted by an invisible force. His body convulsing due to the pain.
Danzo stared at Pain as the man looked toward him like he was nothing but a nuisance, a small inconvenience. Pain raised his hand and spoke softly.
"BEGONE PEST."
SPLASH.
0000
TSUNADE SENJU
Tsunade watched wide-eyed as Danzo's whole body was reduced to mush right in front of her eyes. But her previous battle with Danzo had shown that this might not be the end.
Shinso and Kakashi stood by her side, both trying to recover their chakra as they looked on.
"He isn't finished yet," Shinso spoke up as he looked ahead with narrowed eyes. And he was right.
BOOM. BOOM.
Two explosions happened at the same time as Orochimaru rushed towards Pain from behind, and Danzo appeared from the ground. They had somehow coordinated their attacks.
They were about to reach Pain when she heard a slight mutter.
"HEAVENLY JUDGMENT!"
And Tsunade fell to her knees. It was as if the Earth wanted to swallow her whole.
BOOM.
She grunted, and her eyes widened as she saw Pain floating, and the area around him had turned into a crater. A crater at the center of which Orochimaru and Danzo were flattened against the ground.
"Such power!" Kakashi muttered as he struggled to stand up. Tsunade agreed. Such power in a single shinobi. The predicament reminded her of a very old opponent. Perhaps the only other time she had seen such power in a single shinobi.
The Kage without a hat. Hanzo the Salamander. The man who had given her, Orochimaru and Jiraiya, their title of Densetsu no Sanin. A man whose power was said to be only second to her own grandfather and Uchiha Madara.
"Should we try and intervene, Tsuande-same?" Shinso spoke up. And Tsunade shook her head as the pressure lessened.
"No, try and recover as much as you can. We will only engage him if he attacks us."
And Shinso nodded his head at that. And Tsunade herself began circling his chakra. The small respite had given her reserves some time to recover. She could feel them fill up with each passing second. And she hoped that they would be enough.
0000
Somewhere inside the continent, Jiraiya watched as Naruto tried to train his wind-natured chakra. The kid had let his hair grow out. They were still quite short, but even then, the resemblance to his father had begun to come out.
Naruto had been sad for some time when Jiraiya told him the truth about his father as well as Third's reasoning for keeping it a secret. Jiraiya had seen tears in the kid's eyes as he had bombarded him with questions about his parents. And Jiraiya had answered as many as he could, given that he knew less about Kushina than about Minato.
And then they had discovered the specially sealed chakra into his seal. And the implication behind this had given the kid a serious boost in motivation. Even Jiraiya had mesmerized by the genius of his student.
CAW.CAW.CAW.
He was broken out of his reverie as he looked up and found a black crow circling their location. His eyes narrowed as he recognized the crow for only one person used red-eyed crows to contact him.
ITACHI.
0000
Akatsuki strikes again. The defection of Orochimaru is being settled, for there is no way they let such a liability roam free. Plus, Obito's already aware of the Edo Tensei and hence needs to take care of loose ends.
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