Legacy of the Rin'negan

Episode 3: Angel and Devil

This is a dangerous time. My enemy has managed to capture the whole country in one night. I must be quick… and deadly, the man thought as he walked down the hall toward the meeting room. The council would be waiting…

The man opened the door and slowly entered the room. It was a small and cramped space that had fallen into disrepair. This basically described the current financial situation of his organization. Dirt poor. Oh well…

A dozen shady figures awaited him. They were all the nobles of the rain who were opposed to Pein's sudden takeover.

"Hanzo. We've been awaiting your orders," a man with his head wrapped in bandages spoke softly.

"Get me all the info you can on our enemy," Hanzo replied. "We have to be ready to attack. Get all the stone shinobi and tell them to rendezvous with our west security. We'll give this Pein a little surprise…"

…

Pein sat in his room with three others. One is the head of security, a large dark man who was a former ANBU squad leader. Another is the chief medical ninja, a small blond kunoichi in a fishnet skirt and robe. The last was the peace official from Iwagakure. He was the first to speak.

"My country is not happy with this takeover. Your actions are too sudden and volatile. You-"

"That is not your place," The head of security interrupted. "Iwagakure has gotten a little too friendly with us. Just because we are on your side of the war does not mean you suddenly rule us."

"It is not wise to argue, considering my country is much more powerful than yours. Your lives are basically in my hands."

Pein spoke next. "You're sounding more like a war official than a peace official. If you want to challenge a god, then you can die right here."

The peace official paled. "We will crush you, and all your little followers. If you are a god, then they can all become martyrs!"

Pein was not in a good mood. Iwagakure "peace" officials had crowded up his day, all saying the same message. He already had a room filled with their incapacitated bodies, and was considering letting the official in front of him join them.

Pein sighed. He then punched the official in the neck with such force that the official flew back and made a dent in the wall behind him.

The others in the room looked at him in disbelief, And Pein realized his mistake. A chakra field around the official had been set off, alerting shinobi outside of the building. This official had been bait, sent in to determine what had happened to the other officials. Pein had fallen right into the trap.

"Everyone go. Now. Dispose of the body," Pein ordered. The other delegates stored the body under the table.

The delegates rushed out of the room to see a gathering of shinobi. About half of them wore Iwagakure headbands, and the other half wore Amegakure headbands.

One of them spoke. He was a tall man with an Amegakure headband, with a large scythe on his back. His face was serious, as if he did not smile often.

"Hello Pein. You fell into my ambush just as I expected of you. My name is Hanzo. Come, let's talk."

Guards apprehended Pein and the delegates, but Pein only shook his head.

"You cannot win, Hanzo. You are but a foolish mortal. Even now, hundreds of ANBU will take care of you and your little rebellion."

Hanzo's face hardened. "You forget that my "little rebellion" contains a regiment of soldiers from Iwagakure. Your ANBU face legions of shinobi!"

The platoon of guards and their prisoners rounded a corner to see hundreds of Iwagakure swarming into the village. They were battling the ANBU, who were outnumbered.

Pein took action immediately, leaping twenty feet above the heads of the guards, and unleashing a gust of wind that sent them flying. All except Hanzo.

Hanzo rapidly formed hand seals and slammed his hands to the ground. In a plume of steam, a gigantic salamander about the size of Gamabunta appeared. This is going to be fun, Pein thought.

Hanzo took the scythe from his back and whirled it. Pein shot a score of air bullets that hit the scythe and it broke into pieces. Hanzo ordered the salamander to attack. It rushed forward, mouth wide open to swallow Pein. Pein just stood there calmly as the summon swallowed him.

Hanzo stared. Maybe he's just another overconfident amateur…

Then the salamander exploded in front of his eyes, sending him flying into the ground. He turned the momentum into a diving roll and prepared for Pein's next move.

This one is powerful. Perhaps I cannot defeat him…Hanzo thought. My only hope is to escape alive and use an assassination jutsu to finish him off…

Pein landed, assessing his surroundings. He's tested my offense. Finding me superior, he will try to flee. In that case I have to finish him now, without scaring him off.

Pein began to draw raw fire chakra into his palm. The chakra became visible as a ball of smoke. The chakra began to glow and then caught fire, burning as bright as the sun. It was hotter than imaginable, yet enough so that it would bring Pein no bodily harm.

Hanzo stared, mouth agape. The chakra gathered in his hand is immense… his chakra rivals that of a sannin…

And then Pein attacked, releasing so much energy that the street below him began to evaporate. He charged at Hanzo. Hanzo tried to dodge the attack, and flung his body as far as possible from the ball of energy. Pein released it into a beam of chakra, slicing neatly through Hanzo's midsection and plowing right into a wall. Hanzo was utterly evaporated, and the wall was liquidated.

Pein stumbled, and leaned on a wall for support, his bloodlust ended. DARNIT! WHAT HAVE I DONE?? I've led the land of rain into more violence! I've become a murderer, no worse than the one who killed my brother...

He slid to the floor. I can't take it anymore. I have to get out of this land. Out of this war filled trash heap.

"It's another ANBU!" Pein turned to see three Stone shinobi. "He looks like a weakling. Let's finish him quick."

Pein rose unsteadily. He gathered his fury into raw elemental chakra. Why does it have to be this way? The chakra became visible, as a ball of electricity. Why can't they just go home? The ball of energy began to unleash small shocks. Why can't they just shut up and stop all this?!!

A few seconds later, Pein stood in the clearing, alone. The bits and pieces of three Stone shinobi lay strewn about him. He walked toward the entrance of the village in a daze. He did not feel sorry for those unfortunates that got in his way. He did not feel. He did not care. He slowly strode through the village, leaving a trail of bodies in his wake.

Only one figure stood in his way now. It was a young woman, of his age. Beautiful... It is harder to kill a flower than a weed, he thought. From the middle of his cloak he drew a long serrated knife.

Her eyes widened in fear. She held a sheet of paper in her hand. Pein moved so fast, he was but a blur. She moved faster, folding the paper into a spear. It zoomed towards its target at an impossibly fast rate… Until Pein snatched it from midair.

"You are worthy of an honorable death. And that I shall give you."

A violent gust of wind picked her up and slammed her into a wall. He was about to crush her with wind velocity when his bloodlust ended. The wind died down. The paper lady got up and came up to him.

"What happened? Chakra run out?" The paper lady asked bitterly. Pein curled up into a ball and began to shake.

"You're pathetic!" the paper lady said as she picked up the serrated knife and began to put it at his neck.

"You'd be like this too if you realized you were a murderer. Hopefully you don't want to become one." Pein wailed.

The paper lady put the knife down. "Anyone who's in the black ops is a murderer."

Pein still did not speak.

She paused for a moment. "I'm going to cut to the chase. This place is filled with black ops and stone shinobi. I need to get out of here and most likely you do too. So get off your feet and let's get out of here. We won't make it alone."

Pein got up and they trudged out of the village. The battle still raged behind them, but this area was rather unoccupied. Eventually they left the village limits.

"By the way, I haven't even got the chance to ask you your name," the paper lady said.

"Pein," came the unceremonious reply.

"You know, you could at least try to be polite. My name's Konan."

Pein didn't reply this time, but she continued, undeterred. "The next town's just a mile ahead. Then we can split up and I won't have to deal with you, Mr. Grumpy. By the way, where are you heading to next?"

"I was going to the land of sand," he said.

"Oh, coincidence. I'm going there too!"

"Then I'm going to the land of Grass," he grumped.

"Never mind. I'm sticking with my traveling companion. I'm going to the land of Grass," she said with a smile.

"You're not even worried that I just tried to kill you?"

"No. Actually, you're kind of a wimp."

…

After three hours of trekking through the wastes of the land of Rain, Pein and Konan finally reached the beginnings of the grassland. Pein sat down and took a breather.

"So, why did you leave your home village?" Konan asked.

"How do you know it was my home village?" Pein answered.

"I've seen you around. I was an orphan too, you know," she said. "I mostly stayed in the safe area of town."

Pein didn't look interested.

They sat there resting until Pein noticed they were being watched.

"Well, well, well. Look at these two meatsacks."

The voice came from a tall man with (steven put description for makaimaru here YES YOU, NOW!!!!).

"I think we've found them at last…" a softer voice sounded. It belonged to a short man of with jet black hair. His eyes were black, and gave him a dead sort of look.

Pein turned. "What do you want with us simple travelers?" he asked.

"You can't fool us. Hanzo has a little message for you. He simply says: see you soon."

Pein got up. "Hanzo? Why don't you tell him he should have stayed in the ditch I left him in."

The dead-looking one smiled evilly. "Makaimaru, stun the tall one. As for the female, she can be contained in collateral damage."

"Don't worry. I'll make this slow and painful!" The tall one chuckled as he drew two katana and charged at Pein.

Pein turned to Konan and yelled, "Get out of here!" and then turned and began to fight Makaimaru. Konan turned and disappeared into the grass.

Makaimaru drew two katana and charged. Pein kicked at him, but the two katana crossed and blocked the attack.

The dead-looking one appeared behind Pein and stabbed him in the shoulder with a kunai. Pein felt woozy. The world seemed to blur, and he blacked out.

…

Pein woke up in a dim room. He was bound, gagged, and possibly drugged. In front of him was Hanzo. "Hello Pein. You may have been wondering how I survived. It was a useful jutsu, but I dare not tell one such as you about it."

Hanzo turned to two Amegakure guards. "Prepare him for the execution." Hanzo then strode away.

Once Hanzo was gone, one of the guards kicked the other one in the face, knocking him out instantly. Pein stared in surprise. The guard's form began to ripple, until it had become someone he recognized.

"Hello Pein!" Konan said. She cut his bonds and removed his gag. He got up unsteadily.

"How'd you like my genjutsu?" she asked cheerfully. Pein staggered around.

"I think he drugged me. I can't feel my chakra system, and I can barely think," he stated gravely. "We have to get out of here as soon as possible."

"Yeah… that's a good idea," Konan said as they left the room.

They came to a hallway and began to traverse it, Konan leading and Pein stumbling behind. They came to the door and Konan put her ear against it.

"Guards. Darn!"

She formed hand seals and became a guard again. The door opened and a guard came from behind it.

"Shishiri, why are you transporting this prisoner to the exit?" he asked.

"I'm taking him to the execution area."

"Alright then." The guard walked away.

Konan and Pein stepped through the door and found themselves face to face with Hanzo. "What's this?" he asked.

Konan didn't waste a second. She grabbed Pein's serrated knife and jammed it into Hanzo's throat. She picked up Pein, who was still staggering about, and ran through the exit. The shinobi in the room stared in shock as they saw their leader fall to the floor and die. They were too busy tending to Hanzo to better with escapees.

Konan stopped a fair distance away from the village and put Pein down. She then formed hand seals to a genjutsu that blurred their outlines and nearly made them invisible. Then she and Pein walked away in relative leisure.

…

Their campsite lay about 20 miles away from the main village of Amegakure. It was nestled in a hollow in a hill. Pein had finally awoke from his drug-trance, and got up.

"I haven't thanked you properly," he said.

"It's all right. I can't just leave without my traveling companion."

Pein finally cracked a smile. "You're so annoying. By the way, you must be tired, saving me and all. Catch some rest and I'll take first watch."

"Thanks," Konan said and in a few minutes, she was out like a log.

Pein watched the clouds go by, and the glimmerings of the moon that shined through. It was beautiful. Konan had begun snoring, which slightly spoiled the effect.

Finally, a gap in the clouds aligned itself with the moon, and it shined through. It was the clearest Pein had even seen it, and it should have had a calming effect on him. But it didn't. A horrible sense of foreboding crept up inside him, washing through his insides until it collected in his stomach, and it stayed there, festering inside him. The moon itself seemed to be a projection of the horrible malice, and it slowly began to change color, from white, to orange, to a brilliant red. Reality seemed to twist, time seemed to stop, and he felt like he should sleep and never wake.

What is this? What is this horrible intent? He thought frantically. I have to get out of it!

The horrible feeling began to grow, and grow. Slowly, the camp disappeared. The trees faded into scarce outlines. Konan faded away into blackness, with only a white outline of her to remind Pein she was still there. Yet she was far away, so far away.

The horrible feeling reached an unbearable point. Pein let out a stricken wail. His pain and misery seemed to materialize and take shape. He looked up and saw something that truly horrified him. Yahiko!

He saw Yahiko standing there, with the body of an enemy jonin dead in front of him. The jonin's knife protruded from his chest. Yahiko fell, and blood mixed with dirt and grass. Pein looked down at Yahiko's body, the soft smile of his lips, the shallow breathing of his ruptured chest, the eyes slowly dulling into the glazed stare of a corpse. And then Pein broke. A rending scream came from his mouth, his body fell into convulsions. He lay there, broken, helpless, defeated.

And then a voice spoke. It was soft, insinuating, and yet it concealed malice.

"Greetings, Pein. It is an honor to finally meet the heir of the Rin'negan."

Pein looked up. It took a Herculean effort. There, standing in front of him, was the blank outline of a figure. In the middle of the head gleamed two red eyes.

"Wh-what do you want f-from m-me?" Pein croaked.

The figure seemed to smile. "You will serve me. Eventually you will realize that it has it's rewards. But if you refuse, I shall trap you in this nightmare-world for years, and then when your horror is over, I shall destroy you and your little lady friend."

Pein realized he was worried not only for himself, but for Konan as well. She did save him, after all.

The figure smiled. And then Pein saw Konan. She was sleeping peacefully. And then he saw a figure standing above her, drawing a long knife… bringing it down…

"Please… Stop this…" Pein gasped. "I shall do as you say… Just don't do this…"

The figure laughed. It was a horrible, cruel sound, filling your soul yet emptying it. "Very well. I shall contact you when the time is right."

Time seemed to start again. The hill returned, and Konan became a person instead of a blank outline. Pein looked up. There was no gap in the clouds. There had never been a gap in the clouds. He turned and vomited.

What have I just gotten into?

Could it have been a dream? An aftereffect of the drugging? It had to be. Otherwise… Yeah, it had to be a dream.