I know, I know, excuses, excuses. But I still hope you all enjoy the chapter. Took some time to write, after all! Also, sorry that I uploaded a strange document the first time. It should be fixed now.

–

Pein was looking over his other bodies. The Asura Path had been replaced with another, this one larger and more muscular, with his hair in a mohawk. He still had the unnerving smile on his face, however. It wasn't visible, but under their Akatsuki cloaks, the Naraka and Preta Paths had several rods pierced through their body, same texture and color as their piercings, holding their bodies together after the disaster that was their encounter with the Kyuubi jinchuuriki.

"Now we're going to split up," Pein spoke, for Konan's sake, to reveal his plan. "One group will cause a diversion, and the other will do reconnaissance. Let's make sure we've got it sorted."

He looked over his bodies, if only to make sure they were all sturdy enough to endure another encounter with Senju Naruto.

"Diversionary tactics are up to the Asura, Animal, and Preta Paths. Recon is up to the Deva, Human, and Naraka Paths. Konan, you're on the recon team as well."

"I know," the blue-haired woman spoke, nodding.

Pein frowned to himself (or at least his lips twitched downward by the tiniest of smidges) as he looked toward the village, activating his Rinnegan and seeing the chakra dome covering the village of Konoha.

"There's a spherical barrier protecting Konoha from all sides, including from above."

"Any intruders will be sensed immediately," Konan muttered.

"As planned, we're going to launch Animal Path above the villages," Pein said. "That way, they'll miscalculate our numbers and it will throw them off. Then we'll wait for Animal Path's summons."

"Kisame apparently got in without a problem," Konan spoke up, which caused Pein to release a miniscule scoff.

"His partner, Itachi, was with Konoha's ANBU. He knew how to get through the barrier without setting it off. I have my own way of doing things."

The Animal Path stepped onto the Asura Path's waiting hands, bracing itself and allowing itself to be launched high into the air. It flew through the barrier right around the center of the village, where it performed a Kuchiyose, summoning the other five Paths to itself.

"Scatter," the Deva Path ordered immediately, and they all obeyed.

Meanwhile, Sasuke was sitting with Hinata in a nearby teahouse. They had just finished eating some sweets (which Sasuke would never admit were the most delicious he'd ever eaten), and were sitting peacefully drinking their tea, when the sounds of explosions rocked the village. Neither of the two even had to share a look before they took off, gone before their teacups had even hit the floor.

They blurred into view on top of a taller building, to see several houses in the distance go up in flames. Sasuke grabbed the hilt of his sword and looked to the Hyuuga standing next to him.

"Let's go!"

In the Torture and Interrogation building, Konan stood amidst several bodies, staring into a cell. The prisoner had been tied up from head to toe, only his violet eyes visible through the bandage-like bindings. The bindings were covered with seals intended to make them unbreakable and no doubt make the prisoner completely incapable of movement.

Konan stepped into the cell, an ANBU sword in hand, and stabbed it into the ground between the legs of the prisoner, who was sitting on the floor with his back against the wall.

"Hidan," she spoke, staring down at the prisoner with a cold look, and the prisoner finally looked up to focus on her, a muffled grunt heard from within the restraints. "It's time to go to work."

"Mhmhmhmhm..." was heard from within the gag, the shoulders of the prisoner shaking as he leaned his head down to stare at the sword in front of him. When he looked up into her eyes again, Konan could tell just from the mad glint in his eyes that he cackling in his head.

–

Naruto perked up, blinking in confusion. His fusion with Pa broke, and the toad was sent flying off his shoulder.

"What tha' hell, Naru-chan?!" the old toad barked, rubbing his head in confusion. "Even the damned fox agreed ta' the fusion fer once!"

"Sorry, Pa!" Naruto barked, still looking up at the sky. "I've been getting this really bad feeling for a while now..."

"You moron..." came Kurama's voice. "You should know not to ignore those feelings by now..."

"What bad feeling?" Pa asked, hopping over, raising his impressively bushy eyebrow.

"I feel..." Naruto muttered, taking his chin in his hand and staring down at the ground. "I don't know. It's like the dirt on the ground of Konoha is being disturbed..."

He really is like the Shodai Hokage... Fukasaku thought to himself, his eyes wide in amazement. "Naruto-chan, we should send a messenger to Konoha! Something might be going on!"

"Right!"

–

Sasuke panted in annoyance as he watched the annoying, black-cloaked people in front of him. Even a single glance at them would let anyone know that these guys were the, as Naruto had referred them, 'the Peins in the ass.' A grin slowly made its way onto the Uchiha's face as he thought of the term the Senju had used. He couldn't help it, honestly.

"Is something so funny that you can laugh in this situation?" the spiky-haired man asked as he watched Sasuke, who ignored him and instead glanced at Hinata.

"How are you holding up?"

"I can go on..." Hinata muttered, watching the three with an unusually serious look in her eyes. "I just need to catch my breath."

"Look!" Sasuke spoke up, addressing the supposed leader of the Akatsuki for the first time since their encounter. "Why are you here? What's your objective?"

"I am here for the Kyuubi," the man said simply. "Give it to me, and I will leave."

"Well, you're out of luck," Sasuke muttered with a grin. Seriously, Naruto and Jiraiya had taken these guys on themselves? "Naruto isn't here. He's away training."

"Like I would believe that."

"It's the truth!" Hinata yelled, her eyes wide. "If Naruto-kun was here, he would charge head-first into battle!"

"Naruto-kun?" the spiky-haired one muttered, glancing at the pale-eyed Hyuuga. Then, before Sasuke could even react (even though his Sharingan saw everything), the man was already behind Hinata, and his hand chopped her in the back of her neck, knocking her unconscious.

"You bastard...!" Sasuke growled, getting into a ready-stance. Just as he was about to pounce, the man picked Hinata up like a sack of potatoes, holding up a placating hand to the Uchiha.

"I shall be waiting in the very center of this village," he told Sasuke with that annoyingly calm look on his face. "Go to your Hokage. Tell her to call back the Kyuubi. Tell her to order him to face me. If any other shinobi tries to attack, I shall kill this girl. You have twenty minutes."

Immediately, all the explosions around the village stopped, and the man blurred away as Sasuke reached for him.

There was a moment of silence as Sasuke fell to his knees.

"Hinata..." he muttered, clenching his fists. "I'm not... strong enough..."

His still activated Sharingan eyes were aching as he turned to look toward the Hokage Tower. He needed to call on Naruto. And he wasn't even sure if Naruto could beat this guy himself, so...

Not even ten seconds later, Sasuke landed on the roof of the Hokage Tower, where Tsunade was on her knees with her hands in a Ram seal. From the slug on her shoulder, Sasuke could only guess that she had summoned Katsuyu and ordered her to split to heal the populace. Sasuke hadn't seen her summon the slug, though, as he had been too focused on the man who kept blowing him back.

"Tsunade-sama!" Sasuke barked as he made his way through her ANBU guards. She opened her eyes to look at him, breaking her concentration from distributing chakra for a moment. "Call back Naruto! We have twenty minutes of calm. If Naruto doesn't arrive, Hinata dies!"

"W-What?" Tsunade muttered in surprise.

"The leader, Pein, the main one!" Sasuke yelled. "He blew away all my attacks! He knocked out Hinata and said we have twenty minutes to call Naruto here!"

Sasuke grimaced, rubbing his eyes, which were itching something aweful. Tsunade was staring at him with an expressiong that clearly told him that she didn't know what to do. He didn't blame her. For all they know, Pein could have been bluffing, but he did call off his attack on the village, so...

Another explosion was heard, and a cloud of dust rose from a distant corner of the village. All the shinobi on the roof of the Hokage Tower snapped their gazes toward it.

"Sasuke!" Tsunade barked, rising to her feet and giving Sasuke her most serious glare. "Take care of that disturbance! I will be calling Naru-ch-...! I'll be calling Naruto back!"

Sasuke couldn't be sure, but it kinda felt like Tsunade said something cute just then. But he had his duty to the village, so he just nodded and obeyed his orders, jumping off.

"Little brat..." Tsunade muttered to herself as she turned to the ANBU surrounding her. "Hurry! We need to get to the summoning scroll!"

As they made to dash off, they were surprised when a toad landed on them, a black toad with goggles, carrying a scroll on its back.

"Talk about timing, eh?" the toad barked with a laugh and a grin.

–

"How long are you going to play unconcious?"

Pein was standing in the center of Konoha, staring down at the girl laying on the ground, his eyes narrowed ever so slightly. It was enough to show a glare.

His paths and Konan were with him, having stopped their assault on the village to join the Deva Path. The rumbles in the distance had nothing to do with him. He had told Konan to give Hidan the order to go wild, and it seemed that he had. It mattered little to Pein. His only objective was the Kyuubi jinchuuriki, and nothing else.

In response to his query, the Hyuuga girl shot up, and Pein's eyes could see the chakra around her hands, looking almost like the heads of lions. That amount of chakra, slammed into his body with such force? That could kill even this body, the one he would never want to give up...

With a glance, a force knocked the girl to the ground, leaving a crater where she was slammed down.

"I want you to know, I have no personal grudge against you," Pein said softly as Konan stood next to him, both staring down at the downed Hyuuga. "This is simply what must be done to establish peace."

"P-Peace?" the girl coughed, spitting up blood from the blow she just took. "Killing people establishes peace?"

"People can only want peace once they've felt true pain," Pein spoke simply, watching as the girl rose to her feet. "Stay down. This can only end one way."

"A man like you..." Hyuuga Hinata muttered, taking a stance, and Pein was surprised to see so much determination in her eyes, "...you will never know peace with that mindset..."

"Why do you struggle so?" Pein asked as she charged at him, and another use of his Shinra Tensei (Almighty Push) knocked her back and into the ground again. "Do you not see, girl? With this overwhelming power of mine, no one will wish to oppose me. The Hidden Villages will come together and make peace simply because they do not want to earn my ire. Kumo will stop chasing bloodlines, Iwa will stop hunting the son of the Yellow Flash, Kiri will stop their pointless war against bloodline users, and Suna will have their missions again. There will be peace."

"That's... That's not peace..." the Hyuuga muttered as she got to her feet again. "You're just a greedy wannabe ruler, same as all the others! You claim to have good intentions, but you hurt more than you help!"

"Careful, girl..." Pein hissed, his eyes narrowing. "I kept you alive to lure out the Kyuubi. He will come to me even if it's just to collect your dead body..."

"You're just proving my point...!" Hinata said, taking the Juuken stance again. "Naruto-kun will kill you. I know all I can do is weaken you, but I will, if it means helping a man with a better goal than yours!"

Pein's eyes narrowed again.

"You believe in him."

"I do."

"Why?"

"Why?" Hinata repeated. "Naruto-kun is loud, rude, and offensive, but he has a good heart. He doesn't like killing. He wants people to get along. And he has a charm to him that draws people to him, regardless of his flaws."

"The Kyuubi is a violent idiot who speaks only with his fists."

"That's what everyone who doesn't know him says," Hinata said, and her voice was actually a growl now. "And as his teammate and his friend, I will not let anyone speak ill of him!"

Pein's eyes widened when the Asura Path caught something out of the corner of their eyes. He had only enough time to watch the Hinata in front of him disappear before another of her burst from the ground behind him, making to jab her fingers into his back. His Shinra Tensei blasted her away, naturally, but he certainly didn't expect this one to explode into smoke as well, only for a second Hinata to come out of the same hole, following soon after.

"D-Damn-!"

Pein was cut off as two palms slammed into his back, shutting off his chakra supply to his legs.

"Naruto-kun is also good at using clones, and he shared his secrets!" Hinata yelled as she dropped into a stance, her knees bent, one arm raised upward, and the other one in front of her bent downward, her palm by her knee. "And you are within my Realm of Divination! You all are!"

Looking over his shoulder, Pein could see her Byakugan blazing with intensity.

Before he could react, he could feel the chakra scalpels digging into his body.

"Two strikes!"

Next, the Preta and Asura Paths flinched.

"Four strikes!"

The girl moved like flowing water, dividing strikes between the Six Paths and Konan. While the Paths felt no pain, only loss of chakra, Konan felt everything.

"Eight strikes! Sixteen strikes! Thirty-two strikes! Sixty-four strikes! One hundred and twenty-eight strikes! Juukenhou: Hyakunijuuhachi Senpuu no Mesu (Heavenly Fist Art: One Hundred and Twenty-eight Whirlwind Scalpels)!"

The Six Paths and Konan flew away from the petite Hyuuga, landing on the ground with a thud.

Konan was gasping, grasping at her chest and trying to catch her breath, the Asura Path was in pieces, and all the other Paths were unmoving.

"This girl is more skilled than she made out to be..." the Deva Path muttered to himself as his controller flooded his body with chakra to make him be able to move through the ordeal. He rose to his feet along with the other four surviving Paths, and now his eyes were even colder than before, especially when he glanced at the prone Konan. "New order. Eliminate the Hyuuga girl..."

The five of them charged, only to be stopped by an explosion of smoke in front of them.

–

Sasuke landed in the streets of Konoha, and was disgusted to see several people in the street, their bodies slashed open by what must have been a terrifying weapon.

His danger sense, finely honed after years of Naruto trying to sneak-attack him, screamed at him, and he jumped to the side just in time to see a giant frying pan slam into the ground where he had just been. The pan hand been cut in half, though still two feet wide, and its edge sharpened.

Landing by the pan was none other than Hidan, who was wearing nothing but his pants. In any other circumstance, and if he was single, Sasuke would have hit on him, but this was an enemy.

"Yo, it's been a while, Uchiha brat!" Hidan barked with a grin. "It seems you managed to get away from Kakuzu! That fuckin' bragging piece of shit! 'No bounty gets away from me,' he said! Cheh! Guess I'll have to do his job for him! Don't worry, I'll let you live long enough for him to get his bounty for your eyes, but then you'll be a sacrifice for Jashin-sama!"

"Heh!" Sasuke scoffed with a small smirk on his face. "Your info is outdated. Kakuzu is already dead. Naruto turned him into ground beef. Though calling him that is an insult to cows..."

"Eh...?"

Hidan blinked and picked up the pan, leaning it over his shoulder, his brow furrowed.

"Kakuzu's dead?" he asked in surprise, shock evident on his face.

"That's right," Sasuke said with a nervous grin, reaching back to grip the hilt of his sword. "What, are you suddenly nervous?"

"Nervous?!" Hidan barked, and Sasuke watched as he threw his head back and bellowed a laugh. He snapped his head forward and gave a bloodthirsty grin that made Sasuke feel a shiver go down his spine. "Why would I be nervous?! The Boss told me to go wild, and the annoying Kakuzu isn't here to restrain me! This is the greatest day of my life! Especially when I have the offering I missed out on right in front of me!"

Suddenly, Hidan's chest burst open as a lightning-covered hand pierced it. Hidan glanced down at it and then over his shoulder at the jounin-uniformed man who had just hurt him, the Sharingan in his left eye spinning.

"Sorry, I guess you'll have to deal with me as well," Hatake Kakashi said, not sounding apologetic in the slightest.

"Oi, that actually hurt, you strange-eyed freak..." Hidan muttered as he glared at Kakashi, but then he grinned and raised the frying pan with the three-foot shaft. "Well then, I'll sacrifice you first, and make the Uchiha the dessert!"

The pan came swinging down, but was stopped by Sasuke's sword. The Uchiha had taken this time to cross the distance between them.

"Kakashi, don't let him cut you!"

"Right!" Kakashi said, grabbing the man and throwing him into a building, making the wall crumble on top of him. "Where's Hinata?"

"Pein's got her..." Sasuke admitted with a sour frown, rubbing his eyes again. "We've got a few minutes before he attacks again. He's holding Hinata hostage until Naruto gets here. The big-titted woman is going to summon him. She ordered me to take care of this disturbance in the meantime."

"I'm worried about the girl..." Kakashi muttered as he got into a stance, watching as Hidan pushed the rubble off him. "But I suppose orders are orders. Will Naruto make it in time?"

"I sure hope so..."

"Then we have a job to do here," Kakashi said, tensing up. "I'll get in close. I'll play with clones and confuse him. You take him at a distance."

"Don't let him cut you."

"I won't."

With a smile, Kakashi dashed off. Sasuke didn't attack at once. Instead, he was analyzing the situation. Hidan was swinging his sharpened pan wildly, but he had no finesse with it. It must have had a different weight and balance than his scythe, so it should be easier to take him down this time, compared to last time...

"Sasuke!"

The Uchiha blinked when he saw Kakashi grab Hidan from behind, holding on to him tightly.

"Hey, cyclops, if you wanna fuck me, take me to dinner first!" Hidan barked as he struggled in Kakashi's grip.

Sasuke recognized the look in his teacher's eyes and flashed through handseals, his itchy Sharingan spinning wildly.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"

A great ball of flame spewed from his mouth, heading straight for Hidan and Kakashi. The former grinned and looked to the man holding him.

"Hey, at this rate, I'm the only one who's gonna surv-..."

Hidan cut himself off, his eyes widening upon seeing the grin sported behind that mask.

"I know enough about you to not personally approach you!"

Hidan looked down to see the hands holding him sparking with electricity.

"A Raiton Bu-?!"

"Raiton: Jigoku no Hari Bunshin no Jutsu (Lightning Element: Hell's Acupuncture Clone Technique)!" Kakashi called out as the fireball struck them both, but the Jonin burst into a flash of electricity, all of which shot into Hidan, who screamed in pain from both the lightning and the electric shock.

"Phew..." came a voice beside Sasuke as the real Kakashi landed beside him. "What if I just wanted you to cut his head off? What would you have done if that was the real me?"

"We've both hanged around Naruto long enough to play around with clones. And you're not stupid enough to risk getting turned into a voodoo doll," Sasuke said simply, sheathing the sword he had stabbed into the ground as he went through his hand seals.

"True enough," Kakashi chuckled.

"F-Fuckers...!" Hidan growled as he lay on the ground, completely naked due to his pants getting burned off. Kakashi's technique had completely paralyzed him. "I swear, when I get out of this...!"

Kakashi didn't let him speak any more. Suddenly, he landed beside Hidan, and five iron rods had pierced him, one in each limb, and the last through his neck.

"OW! MOTHERF-!"

"That's enough of you," Kakashi chided and stomped on the man's jaw, getting a muted, 'Gohkillya!' in response, before looking to Sasuke with a smile. "Now, let's-"

They were interrupted as a plume of smoke came from the center of the village, where Pein had reported to wait.

"Let's help our teammate, who's very late..." Sasuke muttered, before jumping off.

–

"Well now..."

Hinata was staring at the back of the man she had so long admired, who was holding two of the Peins by their necks, the two who had just been the closest to attacking her.

The blond, Senju Naruto, looked around, and saw that the Peins were on guard, while one pain was on the ground, his cloak slack as pieces of his body had been strewn about, and a blue-haired woman was desperately clutching at her chest.

"You've really done well, Hinata!" Naruto barked, glancing over his shoulder at her. Now that she saw his face, she realized that it was different from usual. His top whisker-marks were thicker and colored red, and he had another line going down his chin, just like the marks she had seen carved into the head of the Nidaime on the Hokage Monument.

"N-Naruto-ku-"
"Kyuubi," Pein interrupted her, taking Naruto's attention away from her to focus on him. "You escaped me once, but you will come with me now."

"Wow, I must have hit you harder than I thought. You retreated, remember?" Naruto asked with his usual happy-go-lucky grin, which made Pein narrow his eyes.

"It was a temporary retreat due to an unexpected setback."

Naruto grinned and reached up to his face. Then he pulled down his left eyelid and stuck his tongue out.

"You bolted because you were scared!" he taunted. Pein showed no change in expression, but one could feel his annoyance. Naruto grinned again.

"Well, I don't really care," the blond said with a shrug as his grin turned into a smirk. "I was really just trying to distract you until the rest of my team got here!"

Pein's eyes widened when, with a thump, Sasuke and Kakashi landed by Naruto and Hinata.

"You could have let me know you faked being unconscious..." Sasuke muttered as he looked to the destroyed Pein and the prone woman.

"S-Sorry," Hinata mumbled. "B-But if you can fool your friends, then... you can fool your enemies..."

"Well, sure fooled me..."

"What's wrong?" Naruto asked, glancing at Sasuke, who frowned in annoyance.

"My eyes itch..." he muttered.

"You're not dying on me, are ya?"

"Heh, you wish."

"Alright, kids, our enemies are formidable. Standard attack formation," Kakashi interrupted their banter, and immediately, they took a diamond formation. Naruto was in the front, Sasuke and Hinata on the sides, with Kakashi in the back. "Sorry, Naruto, but I imagine you'd want to take the lead on this one?"

"Heh, you know me too well, sensei," Naruto said with a grin as he looked down at the Peins in his hands. "So this is the one that summons and the one that... I don't know what you do..." he finished lamely. "Oh well."

Cracks were heard, and Pein's eyes widened when the Animal Path and the Naraka Path suddenly went limp in the blond's hands.

Things were not going as he intended.

"Kyuubi, will you come peacefully?" the Deva Path asked, which made Naruto grin again.

"Why would I? It'd kill me, wouldn't it?"

"If you do not, I will destroy your village."

"Your death will be all the more painful if you do."

"I can cut off his legs while you crush his nuts," Sasuke quipped, which made Naruto give off a bark of laughter.

"Sounds like a deal!" he said, before grinning wider. "That is, we'll cut off the legs and crush the nuts of the real you."

Pein was glad to see that the Senju's teammates were clueless as to what Naruto meant, which in turn meant that Pein only needed to silence him, preferably as swiftly as possible.

"Well then, no more time to chat," Pein and looked to his two remaining Paths, the Human and Preta. "Take care of the others. Kyuubi is mi-"

Before he could finish, Naruto had already appeared in front of him, his fist raised and coming at him.

You are a dead man.

Those words echoed in the head of the wide-eyed Pein as the fist came flying at him. Would he have time to use his Shinra Tensei? No, if he did, he would not only hit his Paths, but also Konan...

You are a dead man!

Pein's eyes widened, and he unleashed more force than he had ever intended, sending not only Naruto, his Paths, Konan, and Team Seven flying, but also shattering all the buildings around him.

"What was that...?" Pein muttered, rubbing his hand over his chest, just above his heart.

For a moment there, Pein hadn't seen Senju Naruto. He had seen a terrifying creature in a white kimono with an evil, purple face, beady eyes full of evil intent, and a mouth filled with jagged teeth that looked capable of tearing through anything.

"Phew!" came a bark from Senju Naruto, who pushed his way through the rubble covering him. He looked more healthy than the others that were making their way out. Konan had yet to surface. "When you blew back the old pervert with that thing, it didn't look nearly as powerful!"

Pein didn't respond, instead just glaring at the Kyuubi jinchuuriki. He hadn't expected this. He expected none of this.

Just go into the village, make him hesitate out of worry for his fellow villagers. Take him down then. That was the plan. But to be so nervous just at the thought of receiving a single punch?!

"Get up..." Pein almost growled, watching his other two Paths come out of the rubble to flank him. "You are dangerous, Kyuubi, there is no doubt about that... That's why..."

"Hm?" Naruto hummed as he watched Pain raised his hand. Out of his sleeve came a black rod, its composition unknown to him, but it looked like one of the spikes Hidan used for his ritual.

"I have to take you down quickly!" Pein hissed. "Shinra Tensei!"

To an ordinary man, it happened in the blink of an eye. One blink, the rod was in Pein's hand, and the next, it was lodged in Naruto's chest.

But to Uchiha Sasuke, who had pushed a rather large piece of rubble off himself, it all went at a snail's pace. For him, it took almost an hour to watch the rod flying from Pein's hand, but unfortunately, his body moved just as slow.

He supposed this was the curse of the Sharingan, being unable to keep up with what one saw...

The rod pierced Naruto's chest, launching him back from the force used and nailing him to the wall of one of the ruined buildings.

"Naruto-kun!" came Hinata's scream at the same time as Sasuke heard Kakashi's gasp.

But Sasuke didn't care. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Naruto couldn't be dead! There had to be a joke in here, right? Any second, that Naruto would explode into smoke, and the real one would bash Pein into the ground screaming, "Fooled you!" right?!

But Naruto didn't explode into smoke. Instead, he coughed up blood, swearing to himself and clutching at the black rod sticking out of his chest, muttering something about chakra.

Out of nowhere, images flashed through Sasuke's mind.

Naruto, smashing his face in for flaunting his superior vocabulary...

Naruto, giving him half his popsicle that evening when he was sad...

Naruto, hugging him so hard that he felt he might pop like a balloon...

Naruto, assuring him that they would be brothers forever as he cut his palm and offered Sasuke a blood oath...

Naruto, who grinned so brightly when he told his team that he'd started becoming friends with Kurama...

Naruto, who might suffer slowly as Kurama was pulled out of him...

"If no one attacks, neither will we," Pein said simply, staring at Naruto. "We only came here for the Kyuubi."

"...dare you...?"

Pein, who had taken a single step toward the blond, ignoring the others, stopped and turned toward Sasuke, who was on his hands and knees, crying and clenching his fists.

Wait, that wasn't tears... Was that blood?

"How dare you...?!"

Sasuke's head snapped up, and sure enough, tears of blood were pouring down his face, and his Sharingan had changed.

The iris was black. The Sharingan had turned into three intersecting ellipses, and the eyes were spinning wildly.

"THAT'S MY BROTHER!"

This was the first time since the Uchiha massacre that Sasuke had raised his voice, and it was as terrifying as one might have expected.

A purple energy started covering Sasuke, a skeletal form taking shape around him. Pein recognized it immediately as Susano'o, one of Itachi's ultimate techniques. Before he could react, both the Human and Preta Paths burst into flames, the black, eternal flames of Amaterasu. The Preta Path absorbed the flames without problem, but the Human Path was not so lucky.

Pein didn't have time to watch the Human Path burn to cinders, as his focus was only on Sasuke right now. The Uchiha looked angry. With those tears of blood, he looked more like a berserker than a calm and collected Uchiha...

"You're dead!"

Pein barely had time to use his Shinra Tensei as the arm of the Susano'o came flying at him. He managed to repel it, and was about to sic his Preta Path on the boy to drain him of his chakra, when the fat man suddenly tensed up and then spewed black flames from his mouth, flames that eventually covered his entire body.

That's right... The flames of Amaterasu don't stop burning until their wielder wills them to... Pein realized with wide eyes. He snapped his gaze back to Sasuke, to see the raven-haired boy glaring at him with a crushing intensity.

But as Pein made to escape, he felt someone grab him by the back of his neck. He looked over his shoulder to see the Kyuubi jinchuuriki, fit as a fiddle, holding him. He had a hole in his vest, and the armor and shirt underneath, but though there was blood, there was no wound.

"That rod of your was annoying. Restrained chakra and everything, but it's useless if I have someone to pull it out of me," Naruto said with a grin, then held out his arm, holding Pein a foot above the ground. "Sasuke! Give him hell!"

Pein was in a state of absolute shock. This couldn't be happening, right? He was a god! A couple of brats couldn't kill him!

So focused was he on the impossibilities of the situation that he never even used his Shinra Tensei to throw away Naruto. He could only stare in shock as Sasuke's Susano'o materialized a bow and arrow, took aim, and pulled the arrow back.

"This can't...!"

Pein was, quite literally, cut off as the arrow came flying, and sliced him in half, just below the collarbone.

"Ew..." Naruto muttered as he dropped the remains of Pein. Then, he turned toward Sasuke and grinned teasingly.

Sasuke huffed, his Susano'o disappearing. He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, his new Sharingan was gone, replaced by his normal, dark eyes, as Hinata and Kakashi approached him.

"We got the thing out of him. It was blocking the fox from being able to heal him. Missed his heart by about half an inch," Kakashi informed Sasuke, who refused to look at the approaching Naruto, who was still grinning at him.

"Sasuke," Naruto said, which made the Uchiha twitch, but when he looked, the Senju had a gentle, sincere smile on his face, and... were his eyes watery? "I'm honored you think of me that way."

That was all Naruto said, before he brought Sasuke in for a hug that, as usual, felt like his head was going to pop any second.

"Now," Naruto said once he broke the hug, "how about we go hunt the real one?"

"You said that before," Kakashi said, raising an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"I mean," Naruto said, walking up to the remains of the last Pein, kicking him, "these are corpses. And these..." he reached down and pulled out one of Pein's piercings, "...are control rods. With this new nature chakra, my senses are at their peak. I could feel right away that something was wrong with these guys. And now that I'm holding this? The puppet master is about half a klick north of the village."

–

The paper fortress disguised as a tree was torn apart as Team Seven made their way inside.

Inside was a scrawny, red-haired man with multiple rods sticking out of his back, strapped to some kind of machine. He had a weak grin on his face as he looked to all three of Kakashi's students.

"You three made short work of my Paths. Impressive. I-"

"We're not here to talk," Sasuke interrupted with a glare. "We're here to kill you."

"But don't you want to know-"

Naruto interrupted him this time, pulling Sasuke's sword from his hip and immediately piercing the mastermind's head.

"Who gives a shit?" Naruto growled, watching the light leave the man's eyes.

After a few moments of silence, Kakashi coughed into his fist.

"Well, the ANBU have taken Hidan and the woman into custody, and people will want to study this guy's eyes, so I'll have to send a beacon for the ANBU. You guys did great today. I'll make sure to treat you to dinner tomorrow. For now, you guys should rest."

"We will, sensei," Naruto said with a grin, before looking to the female member of their team. "By the way, Hinata, did you hear it?"

Hinata couldn't hide her giggles as she glanced at Sasuke, who frowned.

"Don't..." he muttered, but Naruto was grinning again, slicing his finger with a kunai to draw bloody tears going down his eyes.

"THAT'S MY BROTHER!" he roared with glee, and Sasuke could feel an embarrassed blush blossoming on his face. "That was the most moving thing I've ever heard."

Oh yeah, that's why Sasuke didn't like Naruto sometimes...

And so, Hinata giggled as Sasuke chased Naruto all the way back to Konoha, wildly swinging his sword...

–

Well, you all know the drill. Like it? Love it? Hate it? Please leave a review at the door!