Naruto the Elemental Star

Chapter 30: The Wave of War Part 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, as evident by the fact that this story is more sci-fi than a fantasy story like the original. Which, in case the logo is not an indication, I prefer sci-fi over fantasy. And yes, shots fired.

Beta Reader: Albert

Last Update: 09/04/2019

Scene I

At the front desk of the teacher lodge, a very pregnant Kurenai was sitting down, grading papers. She rubbed her stomach, hoping that she would give birth as soon as Anko returned from her mission. Maybe a sooner if Kurenai did not want her best friend, biggest supporter, and future Godmother to miss the birth of her child. Nor does she want to be pregnant any longer as the baby was already late enough as it was, and she was tired of continual back pains. Kurenai hoped the baby would come soon and was mussing over what Anko's reaction would be when the Genjutsu Mistress heard the door open.

She looked up to see the scared nose Chūnin teacher Iruka enter the lodge. Kurenai saw him daily as he worked to teach the next generation of ninjas. Including the three children that also had been another recurrence for Kurenai in the office. "Hello, Iruka. I see Hanabi and Konohamaru got into another fight, and Fox Spirit once again tried to intervene and just got caught in the middle."

The green-haired mini version of Naruto blushed and tried to hide her face from view while Chūnin Iruka Umino sighed as he explained the pair's latest fight, "Konohamaru was showing off with his gun and kunai throwing skills when Hanabi remarked that that is was not very impressive, in her usual (cough) snobbish (cough) way. The two got into an argument that escalated, and now they are here to serve detention with me."

"That is disappointing," Kurenai remarked in her motherly teaching style. "Especially with students that should graduate in three years' time. I suppose, outside of Fox Spirit, Team Vixen will have to settle for some of your classmates when it comes time to graduate."

The three paled at the thought as Konohamaru begged her not to tell Naruto, "Please don't tell Naruto-Neesan. I promise to get along with fire(cracker)-I mean Hanabi if she calms down."

"There is no reason to inform Nee-Sama what happened here. I promise to be more respective to Konohamaru-San if he shows some maturity," Hanabi stated with as much respect and maturity a child could muster.

"And I will try to keep them calm. As my sis always says, being a leader means being a mediator, and I want to prove myself to Big Fox Sis and her girlfriend and friend," Fox Spirit smiled as she nervously scratched her neck.

Kurenai smiled as Iruka directed Hanabi and Konohamaru to write an essay as punishment on why getting along was essential to building teamwork while Fox Spirit stayed to provide moral support. As soon as they got to work, Iruka sat next to Kurenai to ask, "How are you?"

"Fine, just expecting this kid to come out any minute. Though I am glad I could remain in active service, even if it's only part-time and a desk job for now," Kurenai smiled as she rubbed her stomach.

Iruka nodded as he took on a more completive look, "Is Asuma still giving you any problems?"

"He's getting better. He still does not understand why I don't want to retire to raise our kid, but he is learning to back off," Kurenai admitted as she looked down. "I am not a stay at home mom that will throw away everything I worked for just because of something not part of the plan coming up. And I want to fight to give my child the best future possible, which means being in the field. I just hope he realizes that. Otherwise, he may not be in my child's life as much as he would like to be."

Iruka nodded solemnly as he and Kurenai went to fill out her paperwork when speaking of the Oni, Asuma rushed in with a flustered face. Confused, Kurenai looked up to ask, "Asuma, what the hell is going on?"

"You need to turn on the TV. An Emergency Broadcast is being televised across all of Fire Country!" Asuma exclaimed as he ran over to turn on the TV to see the Fire Daimyō giving a solemn speech.

"To the loyal citizens and allies of Fire Country, I have come before you to speak. Not of a day of celebration or success, but of infamy and hardship. At 10:00 AM today, a massive invasion force of ships, fighters, tanks, soldiers, samurai, and ninjas was detected across the Elemental Countries. On land, a large military force has amassed along the Ame and Southern Wastelands' borders that now call themselves the Whirlpool Empire. While a significant fraction of their sea forces is moving to make landfalls in Sea Country, land formerly Vegetables Country, Iron Country, and Earth Country.

"All attempts of reaching out to try to talk this out peacefully have failed. We have not even received an official deceleration of war, only silence. But even without their official words, their intent is known as they move a massive invasive force towards our neutral and allied countries. Due to this threat, the Council has allowed me to callup on all active and reserve military forces to service and be ready to move to mobilize the moment an official decoration of war is sent. All civilians are asked to provide whatever aid they can to the future war effort. May Kami have mercy on our souls, Long Live Fire Country!"

From a distance, Kurenai heard a large portion of the audience, and fellow ninjas called out "Long Live Fire Country!" before the video switched to Hokage Tsunade Senju. Lady Hokage explained how all missions for clients were officially suspended, and ninjas are recalled for military operations in what will be a bloody war. A deceleration Kurenai was forced to ignore. For it was that moment the baby decided now was the perfect time to leave her mama as Kurenai's water broke. She let out a scream that startled the group in the room and announced that she was ready to give birth.

The three children panicked while Asuma went to confront her and Iruka made a phone call for medical aid. Kurenai squeezed Asuma's hand as she wondered why the baby was coming into the world during the middle of a war. Meanwhile, she was worried about her friends and family, including Anko, since she would be ordered to go for Sea Country with her former students on a dangerous mission. Her last thoughts as the medic-nins arrive to take her to the hospital were to offer a prayer that they get out safely from what will become a warzone.

Scene II

Around the islands of Sea Country, the Shadow's Fox was going through its paces as Tenten stayed ahead of the squadron of enemy fighters trying to gun them down in a game of life and death. At first, they were able to remain hidden and avoid detection, but that did not last long. For unlike humans who can be sloppy at times, machines are relentless and thorough in their execution of orders. The twelve vulture fighters flushed them out with a coordinated fire within fixed patterns that were impossible to avoid. All it was it took was a number of tracer-rounds hitting something invisible to their sensors before they converge on their target. Tenten and Neji had to drop the cloak for shields and weapons as they fought for their survival.

The Shadow's Fox weaved and turned with such high Gs that even the inertia dampers designed to compensate and counter such forces for increase survivability, could not keep up. Resulting in the inexperienced occupants feeling queasy during the dogfight. If it was not for fearing for their life, and the adrenaline pumping through their veins, both would have thrown up everything they had been eating the last two days on the floor. Tenten barely held it in, as she narrowly outmaneuvered enemy aircraft and avoided enemy fire enough to return fire with accelerated mass rounds into the Vulture fighters chasing them. They whittled down the enemy numbers slowly as they fought.

It was turning into a long fight they were going to lose as the number of enemy fighters was not dying fast enough, and their shields were draining quickly as Neji, with a green face, yelled out, "Shields at fifty percent. I don't think we'll last much longer if this keeps up."

Tenten grunted before barely avoiding a missile lock from a Vulture beyond the site, as she returned fire. Tenten growled as the fighter dodged her bullet as she weaved and turned to avoid the enemies' fire at the same time. Tenten growled in frustration as she tried desperately to hold her lunch as she grumbled, "Agreed. If we don't get help soon, we're dead."

Neji nodded as his body quickly jerked another direction when he saw the ship sensors identified four new fighters dropping out of cloak. "We have got company! Four new fighters, three o'clock!"

"Friends or Foes?" Tenten asked as Shadow's Fox barely dodged another round of bullets as she tried to remain focused.

So focused that she missed Neji's color return to yell out, "Friends."

It was at that moment four other Phantom attack fighters opened fire with torpedo missiles. Taking a small number of the robotic fighters down as the four quickly came to the aid of Shadow's Fox. Two formed up with Tenten's plane and aided in the mop-up while the other two went to harass the enemy fleet. Things were looking up as the battle continued, but like all things that come up, must always come down, the five Leaf fighters are about to find out that the battle was far from over.

Scene III

Deep within the former Sound facility, Isaribi stared at Amachi's shredded remains with horror. Not for pity or sorrow as the man lied to her and used her like a paper cup when her usefulness was over. He was a monster, and one the world would be glad was gone. No, what horrified her was the fact this monster was slain by an even bigger monster with a toothy grin and wooden sandals soaked in Amachi's blood. Isaribi has never been as terrified as she was this moment as the monster took a step of pure dominance towards them.

"So, are you brats going to start or will Kisame have to get this battle swinging?" Kisame asked with a sadistic grin. "Please hurry up and decide, I want to start chopping off legs, arms, maybe a torso if you're not on the list. So, what do you say-"

Kisame tailed off before he was pushed into a defensive mode as Anko dashed forward with her shotgun blazing. Rock Lee and Might Guy backed her up while Team Vixen engaged Itachi and the robots around him. All part of a silent plan that Anko had given to the others after a quick assessment of the opponents they faced. Her orders were based on prior knowledge in the form of debriefs given to Jōnin and up rank ninjas on all current missing-nins and secret spies.

Kisame was noted to had an enormous amount of chakra for jutsus and a sword that could absorb chakra. Making him the perfect counter to ninjutsu and genjutsu users. Especially since he liked to engage opponents at close range combat to cut them up. Or alternatively, fire off jutsus at close range knowing he could absorb the damage of most A-rank Jutsu he used. Making him the perfect counter for the two members of Team Vixen, if not the entire team.

Itachi was a different can of worms, though hopefully, in a positive manner. For the Snake Mistress knew he was a spy for the Leaf and thus would not take the fight seriously. Therefore, they would be safe if the Loyal Uchiha decided to just play the part to throw caution to the wind and team up with them. Anko counted on it as she was not going to let Kisame near Team Vixen if she had anything to say about it as she came up with their strategy. As the Snake Mistress took two of the best close-range fighters available to engage Kisame while the rest do what was required.

Anko started off with her shotgun as she fired armor pricing clustered rounds into the living shark man. The missing-nin responded by using his massive spiky sword as a shield to block the bullets from the crazy kunoichi that rushed him. Kisame growled in annoyance when the green spandex duo performed a spinning kick to his side with enough force that would KO most opponents. It was only enough to pop a rib and annoy the monster of an S-rank missing-nin as Kisame growled in annoyance. He forgot about Anko for a second to perform a massive sweep attack in the hopes of catching and shredding the two Leaf-nins to pieces.

It was not meant to be, as Anko used that brief forgetfulness to remind the living definition of a man-shark why it was a bad idea to forget a dangerous opponent. The Snake Mistress fired at Kisame while he was at mid-swing in what she hoped was to be an instant kill. It was just unfortunate that Kisame reflexes were beyond those of human opponents, as he moved his arms to his face to serve as a meat shield when he heard that familiar bang sound. It saved his head from becoming a bloody mess, as his gory arms went limp while his sword, Samehada, scraped the ground in a half-ass attempt of a swing.

It was at that moment he was most vulnerable, but it did not last long when a swirl of chakra from Kisame, went into the Samehada and then back to Kisame. Anko watched with mild fascination at Kisame's arms as muscle followed by skin regrew around the gunshot wounds that she delivered upon him. The Leaf Kunoichi realized she should have double-tapped him when Lee and Guy rushed to give a powerful kick strikes to take him down. Only to fail when Kisame used 'Water Style: Water Dome Jutsu' to create a dense, protective dome around him to stop the two Leaf-nins' attacks.

The duo quickly jumped away with Anko just before Kisame's 'Water Style: Waterfall Dome Collapse Jutsu' collapsed the dome. This created a waterfall that turned into a crushing wave of water powerful enough to sweep them away if the three Leaf-nins were there. They were far enough to be considered safe from the jutsu, but not for much longer. Kisame gave himself enough room to stretch his healed limbs by flexing his sword arm and his mighty sword of scales. He grinned in an effort to intimidate them, and to hide the signs of slight panting he had from overexerting himself. Anko, with her years of experience interrogating people, saw it despite Kisame's best efforts of a poker face.

It did not take her long to create a winning strategy outside of an instant kill when Guy jumped right next to her to reveal his thoughts, "This is bad. It looks like Kisame's sword, Samehada, can heal his wounds. Unless we take his head, this fight can quickly turn against us."

"I disagree," Anko told the Shinobi besides her. "It is true to get a victory through pure combat kill; we'll need to take his head off. However, I also noticed another weakness that is also his strength, his damn sword."

Kisame appeared to have heard the kunoichi as he moved to attack Anko to try to shut her up before she revealed his secret. Lee and Guy took this as an invitation to attack as well as they sought to strike down Kisame. Giving Anko a breather to explain her reasoning in-between the occasional times she dodged his attack with the flexibility that the greatest martial artists would appreciate.

"That sword he flings around like a kid's sock monkey needs chakra to not only heal his wounds but also to operate. After all, it took a large amount of chakra from the fish-men himself to heal his cold-blooded limbs. That means it's a very chakra consuming piece of toy. ("Toy!" Kisame yelled in the background as he tried harder to strike down Anko). And if it takes too much too quickly, the walking tuna will suffer chakra exhaustion that will turn out to be quite lethal for him. Therefore, if we can't land a killing blow, then making him bleed enough blood and chakra will finish the job."

"Clever," Kisame complimented Anko as he jumped back, and away from the snake woman. "And you're right. Do enough damage, and the sword will suck me dry. But I am not known as the Mighty Tailless Beast for my lack of chakra, and I can play a mean long-range game as well. Meaning I can kill you afar or up close once I force you to use your chakra to fight me."

That was when he went through a long series of hand signs to use 'Water Style: Water Shark Bomb Jutsu' to summon a humongous shark made of water he produced from the opening behind them. The shark then rushed the three Leaf-nins, who moved to avoid the jutsu, that was heading towards the spot where they stood. They found out the hard way the jutsu was more than blunt force attack. Upon impact to the ground, it exploded like a grenade with enough force to shatter bone. High-pressure water kicked up pieces of stone that served as shrapnel. Rock Lee and Guy were barely able to keep their batter bodies from flying off. While Anko was flung across the room before she used her chakra to stop her body from hitting a lab table mid-skid.

Anko eyes filled with the realization of his plan and turned and gritted her teeth in anger as Kisame's eyes conveyed how much joy he got from the Snake Mistress' comprehension, "That's right my little minnows. You either take enough hits and die in agony or use up your chakra to stop me. And when you're out of chakra, I will go in for the kill, either way, I win," Kisame stated with the biggest toothy grin possible on his small face.

Only for that to slip when Guy and Lee looked at each other and nodded before stripping off what would appear to be chakra enhanced weights as they powered down and broke them. Kisame did not realize they were destroying the weights to prevent him from taking the chakra inside as he focused with astonishment on the fact they were fighting with weights. A point striking Anko as well as she asked, "So you're finally going all fucking way out?"

"Language milady, and yes. We need to go to our youthful limits and beyond if we want to win against this unholy soul," Might Guy stated as his face took on a stone-cold look even more frightening as compared to his usual silly face.

"Should we open our Eight Inner Gates as well Guy-Sensei?" a serious Rock Lee asked, ready to give it all despite the risks he knew too well after nearly crippling himself using the Eight Gates to stop Gaara during the exams.

"Only the first one for now. You only just recently fully recovered from your last attempt. And I don't want us to take any foolish risks taking down this fool," Might Guy replied as a swirl of chakra burst from his body as he opened the First Gate, the Gate of Opening. Ready to take on Kisame, Guy asked Anko, "Can you provide us cover milady."

Anko developed a wicked grin as she pulled out her kunais and licked them as though she was licking off blood, "Sure, if you stop calling me milady. I did not earn the title Snake Bitch by being a prissy princess type girl. Now let's do this!" Anko shouted as the three moved to engage Kisame for round 2.

Scene IV

While the three Leaf-nins were fighting Kisame with his sword Samehada, Team Vixen engaged their own set of enemies. Naruto proved to be a one-woman team, shooting at the robots' CPU drives in their chests with pinpoint accuracy. While Haku used 'Ice Style: Arctic Breath' to freeze the robot's joints to slow them down. Before using arrow bolts with explosive seals etched on them, courteous by Naruto's ink press seal, to destroy them. The two were taking down the robots while taking the occasional pot shot as Itachi they missed on purpose to keep up appearances. As Hinata and Tukiko 'engaged' Itachi at close range combat.

All to make the fight seem realistic for Hinata style is not highly effective against machines without using a considerable amount of her chakra in the attempt. Therefore, she was engaging with the only organics to keep appearances while Tukiko fought to question Itachi. Using her trusty Sharingan eyes to read his lips while her robotic hand took the brunt of the attacks. A tactic Itachi copied as they had an entire conversation without sound while they pretended to fight each other without doing much damage, as Tukiko's knives deflected Itachi's sword. The two would occasionally exchange jutsu while Hinata kept mostly to a position of a background opponent in to keep the two Uchiha's conversation hidden.

"What are you doing here?"

"I was sent to invade this Country by the Akatsuki and Uzumaki. I take it you arrived in this country before I was able to send my warning to the Leaf?"

"Since we were not warned of an invasion, I guess the answer is yes… How do you want to play this out? Or do you want a long drawn out fight before you are forced to retreat? ('Maybe acting like a cliché villain at the same time' Tukiko was thinking with a cartoonish image of Itachi in the background). Or fake your death?"

"The later after we destroy the machines and kill Kisame. I doubt I will do any good telling the Leaf their plans when they initiate them, and they will likely suspect I am spy soon if they haven't already."

"Okay then Oni-San, let your little Imouto handle this," Tukiko explained before she did something insane, she grabbed Hinata to jump back after using 'Fire Style: Firebomb Jutsu' to fire a glob near Itachi's feet.

Allowing him to jump back before she detonated the jutsu to create an explosion loud enough to inform her teammates on the comms without the enemy hearing a sound, "Leaf-nin compromised, need help to escape red clouds and clinkers."

Naruto was slightly confused for a moment before it dawned on her what Tukiko meant. Once she realized what Tukiko's spy talk meant she replied, "Copy that, Haku team with Hinata and Tukiko in make-believe mode as we keep the appearance up. I'll join in after finishing off all other combatants before we make a run for it."

The girls of Team Vixen replied with a "Roger" as they increased their attacks when Naruto unleashing army killing move. As she used 'Water Style: Tsunami Wave Jutsu' followed by 'Lightning Style: Current Wave Jutsu' to take down two-thirds of the remaining robots. She picked off the rest of her targets, thinking things were going to go their way.

Scene V

Meanwhile, over the site that held one of the late Sennin Orochimaru's illegal lab sites, the four additional Leaf-nins Phantom class Attack Fighter were making quick work of enemy forces and was driving them away. This was thanks to their excellent training and under the leadership of ANBU Dragon, whose real name was Kazuma. He was a veteran ANBU pilot and one of their most successful in the previous wars with Sand, Sound, and the joint Sky/Snow Forces. He was an ace that now led the air support to secure the skies and ground around the lab's entrance for extraction of Leaf-nins. And he felt the best way to achieve this objective was to perform hit and run attacks with his wingman against the invasion force while the three other fighters remained at the extraction site.

Therefore, the two wasted no time at the enemy land site to engage the enemy fighters when he witnessed a massive invasion force that sent a chill down Dragon's spine. He saw an army in the tens of thousands of machines supported by thousands of conscripted troops and over a hundred Uzumaki and Rain Ninjas unloading from the large ships. He realized this was not just an invasion of a small no-name country for a quick gain of territory. It was the beginning of an invasion across the whole continent. And he planned to wreck it, as the two fighters moved for an attack run, not realizing the worst was on its way.

Scene VI

Back within the lab turned battlefield, the fight escalated between Kisame and his three opponents. Lee and Guy were almost bouncing off the walls as they kicked or punched Kisame whenever they were given an opportunity. Kisame swung his blade to keep the two at bay while avoiding kunai thrown by Anko from a distance. His few attempts to try to wash them away with water jutsus were countered by the Snake Mistress well-placed jutsus that required far less chakra to counter Kisame's jutsus at the optimal moment.

For example, when Kisame used the A-Rank Jutsu 'Water Style: A Thousand Shark Frenzy' to create a wave of small sharks made of water to tear apart targets. Anko used an overpowered C-Rank Jutsu 'Fire Style: Flower Phoenix Jutsu.' Followed by another C-Rank Jutsu 'Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu' to disperse the technique. This maddened Kisame, especially as the Snake Mistress refused to use any jutsus against him or to counter any jutsu around him. Preventing the Mighty Tailless Beast from absorbing any of her chakra to replenish his own massive charka supplies that were dwindling.

Kisame really started to hate his boss almost as much as his opponents for not allowing him to go out and kill someone while the whole of Akatsuki prepped for this invasion without telling him. The only reason he hated the Leaf more was the fact that two Green Beasts of Konoha refused to stay still for his sword to 'eat' them as the sword absorb chakra through their bloody corpse. That, and Might Guy, the Great Green Beast, had just kicked him in the mouth hard enough to loosen a tooth. While the mini clone of Might Guy was doing a significant amount of damage that a newly instated Chūnin should not be able to inflict on him.

The fact some no-name Chūnin was faster than him as well, frustrated Kisame more than anything about this battle. It was a severe blow to his pride. For an S-Rank ninja is supposed to be top of the crop especially compared to some Chūnin, even if he did open one of the Inner Gates of Chakra. However, despite being frustrated and having the characteristics of a brutal thug, did not mean he was stupid. His tactical mind developed during his time as an ANBU for Mist Forces realized he could turn this fight to his advantage. Even after the last of those robotic Tin Cans goes down, and Itachi seemed to be at the end of his ropes. It did not take long for a plan to form as he moved at the right moment to enact his counterattack.

He first performed 'Water Style: Whirlpool Shield Jutsu' to create a whirlpool of water that swept away the two Green Beasts Leaf-nins from him as well as block Anko's view of the attack. This gave Kisame the advantage, and he knew it as a nasty smirk formed on his face before he used 'Water Style: Water Shark Jutsu' to ride on a shark made of water quickly towards his target. He was soon upon a distorted Rock Lee, who shook off the head trauma while danger approach.

Kisame's sword high as the missing-nin yelled, "I'm going to chop you up, brat!"

Kisame then brought his blade down, intent on killing Lee when someone stopped him with a loud clink. Itachi barely stopped the mad fish-man from his quest with his own sword. Kisame could not believe that his partner, the man he knew for years stopped him as he yelled out, "What the fuck Itachi? Why in Yami's name, did you stop me?"

"Because I was a spy for the Leaf. In other words, I was never on your side," Itachi answered in the calm, emotionless manner that Kisame knew was the truth as Rock Lee looked up in shock at the startling revelation as Team Vixen, Might Guy and Anko moved to assist Itachi.

Kisame growled out, "Traitor!" before performing a dropkick to knock Itachi back as he moved to strike down both with the Samehada without its wrapping before someone stopped him using the 'Water Style: Gunshot Jutsu.' It was Isaribi came in for the save as she hit Kisame in the back with enough power to send him flying.

The trained Uchiha assassin, Itachi, wasted no time to take advantage when he got his sword and with his fire element running through it to cut and burn Kisame's arm off. Depriving Kisame of the Samehada as Might Guy went on the offensive and kicked Kisame high in the air. Rock Lee joined with Might Guy's attack, and together with their ninja capture bandages wrapped around their arms to perform the dual martial arts move, duo twirl leaf hurricane. Drilling Kisame into the ground with speeds that severely damage Kisame's body as he lay in a body shaped crater.

Battered, Kisame cursed as he looked for Samehada and saw it was near. He tried to reach out for it as the sword slowly morphed its body to crawl towards its master. It would have made it if Itachi did not push it down with his sword as his Sharingan eyes morphed into a three-point ninja star that was Mangekyō Sharingan. Once in the Mangekyō state, Itachi used 'Amaterasu Jutsu.' A fire jutsu that produce black flames whose fuel was chakra. Kisame's horrified scream of rage was overcast by the screams of pain from the Samehad. Cries Team Vixen swore it sounded like the screams of the creature in that old science fiction movie Naruto showed them, the Thing. The sword continued to scream and thrash about until it was melted down into a metallic puddle on the ground.

Itachi gave a small grunt of victory before he bowed his head down, in an attempt to hide the fact his eyes were bleeding. He failed as his cousin and Team Vixen's two medics, Hinata and Haku, rushed over to him as Anko and Naruto moved to secure Kisame. An easy task as the fish man was broken both physically and mentally. The two tied him up as Tukiko received terrible news about Itachi's deteriorating eyes and health. Side effects of the Mangekyō Sharingan, as Itachi explained.

"Is there anything we can do? How long do you have to live?" a pitying Tukiko asked.

"Nothing can be done, except limiting or stopping my usage of my high-power abilities. If I do that, I may live up to another decade and a half, maybe. Otherwise, my condition will deteriorate, and I will have a life expectancy of only four to five years," Itachi answered with honesty with Hinata nodding in agreement.

"Then, why did you use it now?" Haku asked.

"I could not risk Kisame recovering, and I wanted to ensure no harm would come to you and your friends," Itachi replied with his monotone voice that softened when Tukiko took his hand as he pleaded with him.

"Please don't throw your life away for this. There are some people who want you to come home alive. I want you to come home and live as close to old age as possible. So please, don't die on us."

Itachi sighed before he made a promise, "I promise. As long as my family is safe, I will take it easy for you."

Tukiko hugged Itachi in response as a thank you for agreeing while across the room, Isaribri was congratulated by Rock Lee in his own unique way. "Thank you, Isaribri-Chan. If not for you, I would have met a terrible end."

"It was no problem," the fish-girl blushed as she felt her heart flutter with all the praise that Rock Lee was giving her. "I could not let one of the few people to treat me like a human being die. You should outlive us all."

"Your too kind, milady," Rock Lee bowed to a red-hot face Isaribri. "When we get back to the Leaf, I will make a plead for you to have time served as your sentence when we return. And if I fail, I will run as many laps as I can around Konoha on my hands as a protest until you are free."

Might Guy raised his two a thumbs-up in support while the tears that built up Isaribri in eyes began to flow. The fish girl was about to thank Lee when tragedy struck. Suddenly, Isaribri and Itachi were pulled towards an opening behind them from an unknown force. Itachi was able to break free by flaring his chakra to counter the telekinetic jutsu that held him. Isaribri, untrained in the use of chakra, was unable to escape the power that pulled her to the outstretched hands of a carrot-top Rain-nin with the Akatsuki black cloak with red clouds. The girl's eyes filled with fear and tears as she silently pleaded with the man for her life. The lavender spiral eyes of the man looked at her with disinterest before he snapped the girl's neck.

Rock Lee looked at the man in horror as Isaribri's corpse slumped to the ground. Cold tears of sorrow fellow from on his cheek before they boiled in anger when a red-headed woman came walking up to comment, "I wish you didn't do that, Pain. She would have made a fine specimen for experiments on genetic manipulation if you hadn't killed her."

Rock Lee was going to lash out in anger when he was stopped by an aware Might Guy. As the man noticed the two enemy combatants had a backup, including another carrot-top Rain-nin with the same spiral lavender eyes. A blue-haired Rain kunoichi also in Akatsuki robes. A hooded figure that made his appearance obscure. And a large squad of MIR-130 Terminators. Not something Lee could defeat, especially with how scared Itachi was while Kisame felt relive as he reached out for help, "Pain-Sama."

"Kisame, I see you were not with that traitor Itachi," the spiral-eyed carrot-tops stated as one.

"You know?" Kisame asked in disbelief as the Leaf got into a defensive stance.

"We suspected," the redhead answered as her red eyes looked over to Naruto. "Hello cousin, I am Karin Uzumaki, head of the R&D of the Uzumaki Clan, who founded the newly dubbed Whirlpool Empire. It's a pleasure to meet a fellow intellect."

Naruto looked at Karin and then to the robots and the armored Karin to realize she was the scientist that figured out how to reactivate and reprogram the robots to follow the Uzumaki Clan's orders. Her mind filed that information on what she considered to be a priority target, "That's nice, but I am sure you know I am not going with you willing."

"Of course, it wouldn't be a challenge unless you fight us. And my assistant and I could use new test subjects, isn't that right Kabuto," Karin answered in a nonchalant mannered as the hooded figure sighed in response as he removed the hood that covered his face.

"And here I was hoping to make a grand revelation, and you ruined it," the silver-eyed young man as hissed while his dark scales seemed to shine as he glared at Karin.

"You're still fucken alive?" Anko demanded in anger as she shook in rage.

"Of course, I wasn't Orochimaru's top scientist for nothing. I found a way to survive despite how close to death I was," Kabuto answered with a shrug as Kisame looked enraged that no one was helping him.

"Hey, don't forget about me. Could you please help me!" Kisame yelled as Pain continued to stare.

"Where is your sword?" One of the two Pains asked as Kisame went silent as his answer. "I see, Itachi must have destroyed it. So not only have you been compromised, you have now become useless to us. Konan, kill him."

"Yes, Pain-Sama," the blueberry-colored, haired angle Konan replied before she used 'Paper Angle Wings Jutsu' to create a pair of wings. She rose up for a better vantage to use 'Paper Spear Jutsu' to throw a spear made of paper reinforced by chakra to be as strong as steel. It had no problem in piercing Kisame's chest as Kisame looked up in shock before he slumped to the ground dead. Both sides looked at each other in shock before Naruto started the hellish fight with a bang from one of her guns.

Scene VII

For the Leaf-nin's air force, things had not been going as planned. When they attempted to make their attack run, they quickly found out the metal fleet was equipped with a point defense system. While it was not as advanced as the system used by Fire Country, it was still potent and dangerous enough to be counted as a threat. As it forced the two attacking crafts to break off their attack runs when their shields went below 40% in 20 seconds. It was then that Dragon saw enemy reinforcements were coming their way.

The first thing he noticed was the large blimp size warships with three wings with dual booster engines on each wing for increased thrust, along with railguns and point defense guns across the hull. These deadly warships were covered by fighters and were conversing to their location. Some of the aircrafts Dragon recognized as they looked like the Sky-nin Fighters, but after an extensive upgrade, as the three manned aircraft were now enclosed in armor for better protection and had a kunai launcher fitted with a tri-machinegun.

Though the deadliest looking fighter was something Dragon did not recognize, but the computer identified it as an A-22 Model Mechanize Attack Fighter, Codename Viper. The Viper was a six-wing vehicle with a high number of missiles and eight guns. It was a fighter designed during the Mechanize War to kill Phantom class Attack Fighters, and the Uzumaki rebuilt them for that purpose alone. Kazuma knew at an instant that it was a battle that was unwinnable as he barked out his warning and commands on the communication array, "Enemy forces incoming! Prepare yourself! We'll hold them back as long as we can."

It was Dragon's last orders as the intense firefight proved to be his last fight. Both fighters weaved and outmaneuver their enemy combatants while returning fire with a sporadic number of bullets and laser fire. They even killed two enemy fighters, one Viper and one Sky-nin fighter, but in the end, it was not enough. After a few short minutes, Dragon's wingmen followed by Dragon's attack fighter was overwhelmed with enemy firepower. The two died hopping the three minutes they fought was enough time as enemy fighters began to approach the three remaining Leaf-nins fighters in mass. Tenten broke-out in a cold sweat as she prayed the ground team would hurry up as she did not think they would last long if they stayed and fight.

Scene VIII

Deep within the maze of the former Sound base, Jiraiya with Kakashi's Team Redemption, Kushina Ryū, Naruko Ryū, and a squad of sixteen ANBU right beside them readied to fight. While two short shadowing figures whose height only went up to Jiraiya shins were following close behind. They rushed towards what Jiraiya felt was the center room of Orochimaru's former base and the most likely location of Team Vixen, Might Guy and Rock Lee. They moved at break necking speeds as they ran as fast as their chakra and muscles allowed them to run. Until they reached the large room to see a massive fight taking place, as the other Leaf-nins were slowly being driven back.

As three of T-216 Model called Terminations were down, and many more advancing ahead of the Uzumaki Spiral ANBUs. It was a long, arduous battle with machines that last longer than Jiraiya thought they would, considering they are enclosed for powerful elemental jutsus. Until one of the ANBU attempted to attack them with 'Lightning Style: Lightning Wave Jutsu' only for one of the carrot-top Akatsuki ninjas absorb the chakra from the jutsu. This shocked the entire group to the point they were almost a sitting ducks if they did not move to cover. They soon discussed what they had seen with wide eyes.

"What the hell was that?" Kushina asked in shocked as she, Naruko, Sai, Tayuya, Kakashi and the ANBU moved into an attack posture, while Kin and Sakura stayed back to provide support.

Everyone was ready to help Team Vixen, Rock Lee, Might Guy, and Anko Mitarashi. Everyone that is except Jiraiya, who was staring at the man's eyes to muttered out loud, "The Rinnegan."

The group looked in shock at Jiraiya as the odd carrot-top looked at the cover Jiraiya was behind to state, "It has been awhile Sensei."

"Is that you, Nagato?" Jiraiya asked, and after a nod in reply, he commented to himself, "You look very different from the last time I saw you. What the hell happened to you?"

Jiraiya then looked around and saw a familiar young blue-haired woman, Konan, fighting Itachi with swords made of paper. As well as a familiar skinny carrot-top that now had the Rinnegan instead of the brown eyes Jiraiya remembered him having. "Is that Yahiko? Why the hell does he have the Rinnegan?"

"He was killed by Hanzō of the Salamander and made him one of my paths. He personally helped me kill the man before I took over Rain Forces and Rain Country. And now with my Six Paths, the world will know pain, for I am the Pain that will inflict itself onto this world to bring about peace."

"Shit. So, it's true about that bloodline's ability. This is really bad," Jiraiya muttered

"Jiraiya-Sama, what is going on? Do you know these people?" Kakashi asked.

"I knew of them when I meet them in Ame during the Second Shinobi War. They were street urchins that tried to pickpocket me so they could buy food, and I took them as students for a time. They refused to come with me to the Leaf and last I heard, they planned to participate in a peace movement before the Third Great Shinobi War happen, and I lost all contact with them. No idea how they became what they are, but I not surprised they are S-Rank ninjas.

"All of them were skilled with unique powers and would have made them great ninjas. Though the cream of the crop was Nagato for he had the Rinnegan. A legendary bloodline that had a long list of powers. Such as the ability to use every jutsu, including gravity and telekinesis. Summon any animal or weapon. Revive the dead and extract people's souls. Legend also said that the user could possess six corpses to use each of his powers at once since one human cannot use them all at once."

Now things were tense as the group looked ready to join the fray when Kushina snapped seeing Naruto flung across the room before hitting a wall with enough force to make her scream out in pain. "I don't care what powers this bastard has. I am not letting him hurt my daughter."

Kushina was about to rush him when Jiraiya stopped her to state, "No, he is too powerful to take on alone. I handle Nagato."

"My name is Pain!" the Pain that can absorb chakra, Petra Path, charged Jiraiya.

Only for the toad sage to disappear and then repair over to the Pain controlled body of Yahiko, the Deva Path, to kick spin towards the Petra Path, and cause a brief hole in the attacking forces as he yelled out his simple orders, "Go!"

The Leaf-nin reinforcements wasted no time to reinforce the others as the battle intensified. Kushina went to cover Hinata as she helped Naruto heal her concussion. Mainly by intercepting a small contingent of four Spiral ANBU that tried to capture her child and friends. The redhead's single sword was covered in blood as she dispatched her former clansmen without remorse. Only the robots were spared from her wrath, and only because it was not needed. As they were being overheated to the point of explosion by Tukiko, or frozen over before broken up and shattered by Haku. With more being turned to scrape as they were intercepted by the Leaf's ANBU with Tayuya and Sai backed up by Sakura and Kin. Kushina was soon allowed to go on the offensive when Naruto was healthy enough to get back into the fight with Hinata backing her up.

Meanwhile, as the massive group battle happened, more personal fights took place as Itachi traded blows with Konan. A deadly kunoichi who flew around on her paper wings while making fast dash attacks against Itachi with her dual swords created from her 'Paper Blades Jutsu.' It was only the fact his blade was covered in fire chakra, and his Sharingan made him able to counter Konan's attacks. It was becoming a deadly affair as Itachi noted Konan was every bit the angle of death she made herself out. Instead of a pretty face that conveyed as innocence, she cultivated with her court bang hairstyle and purple Mache flower in her hair was a facade.

For some reason, that made Itachi feel sad that he an elite ninja was not able to tell what was designed or fake, even as she spoke with a voice that conveys innocence and elegance at the same time, "So, what is like?"

"Hm?" Itachi asked with his trademark Uchiha talk.

Something Konan seemed to be fluent in as she asked, "To play the villain?" The silence was Konan's answer before she decided to continue the conversation. "You have taken the blame for slaying the Uchiha that had a history of treason. You pretended to be a missing-nin to infiltrate the Akatsuki. Knowing full well that no matter how it looks, you will be viewed as a spy and traitor, one way or another. What terrible pains you must inflict on yourself to play such terrible roles. Perhaps if you inflict such pain onto the world itself, we may know peace sooner."

Itachi did not make a sound, but his anger was apparent as he unknowingly activated the Mangekyō Sharingan. Something Konan pointed out, "I heard your promise to your cousin. Can you now keep a promise for more than five minutes after making it? Do you plan to inflict the pain of betrayal to the one closest to you?"

"Or do you want to die trying to end the pain once and for all?" A second Konan asked from behind Itachi as the one in front of him revealed to be a paper clone. As it began to unravel into a million pieces of paper to blind him. This allowed Konan the opportunity to stab him in the back.

Itachi fully expected to feel a blade go through his chest but felt nothing but a wave of electricity and the sound of birds chirping. Itachi looked behind to see Kakashi with the 'Lightning Style: Chidori Jutsu,' his iconic jutsu design to cut and pierce objects with a blade of pure lightning. Especially paper clones as 'Konan' papers burned to a crisp as Kakashi reeled his hand into a combat stance to help backup Itachi. His kunai out and in his hand as he scanned the room for Konan as he opened a direct dialogue with Itachi.

"So, together again," Kakashi stated as Itachi hummed in acknowledge

"Yes, it appears so."

"Anything I should know about this woman."

"She loves clones, flying, and killing her opponents cleanly as possible. And failing that, using jutsus that burry her targets with enough paper to crush an army."

"Sounds fun," Kakashi muttered sarcastically, his bored tone gone as he spoke his next set of words softly. "Thank you for your years of service, and making the sacrifice to keep Fire Country, and more importantly, Team Vixen safe."

"And thank you, for your service, and being a mentor to Tukiko and her team for me," Itachi spoke as Konan, somewhere in the shadows, used 'Paper Clone Jutsu' to surround them for what would be a tough fight.

In another skirmish, Anko found how annoying it was to fight a Genjutsu Mistress supported by a close-range fighter with only close-range fighters supporting the Snake Mistress. Mainly when Karin used either the 'Genjutsu Style: Mirage Jutsu' to trick the opponents into striking images or blocking false attacks while not seeing the actual strike coming. Or the 'Genjutsu Style: Doubleganger Jutsu' to create realistic illusionary clones of people that affected all five of their senses to trick people into thinking the clone was real. It was an effective strategy with a frontline fighter like Kabuto that uses chakra blade scalpel technique around his karate strike hands to cut people up.

It was only thanks to Anko's snake-like eyes and training with a Genjutsu Mistress that allowed her to counter Karin's attacks to keep Guy and Lee in the game. Even when they were able to get in several hits that should have crippled Kabuto, were less than sufficient to put him down. Kabuto had modified his snake-like body to be far abler than a human body should be. Able to absorb damage that a human body usually cannot take and be given ridiculous regenerative qualities thanks to his healing techniques. Combine with a fast and inhumanely flexible body that made hitting him extremely difficult was turning the close-range fighters into a slugfest.

That was until another fighter joined the fray. Naruko leaped out of the shadows with a mighty sword strike to what appeared to be the body of Karrin Uzumaki. Appeared being the keyword, for it was a mirage that Naruko did not believe for a second as the high power Genjutsu dispersed to reveal Karin switched her body with the corpse of one of her dead clansmen. Naruko knew to evaded before Karin used an overpowered 'Wind Style: Vacuum Blade Jutsu' against her and instead cut the redhead drained corpse in two.

After she moved to what she assumed to be a safe distance away, Naruko eyes narrowed as she saw the briefest amount of serenity in the cold, calculating Jōnin Karin Uzumaki, "Hello, little one. Did you miss me?"

"Like the slave seal that you implanted on me," Naruko growled as she readied her blade.

"Yes, I figured you would hold a grudge for a thing like that. Talking about making your own worst enemies," Karin shrugged as she adjusted her own glasses with one hand to distract her opponents from looking at her other hand. "I don't suppose any form of persuasion would convince you to switch sides. I can guarantee no harm will happen to you as I am in need of a bodyguard when this war gets hot."

"No," was Naruko's answer as Karin's other hand had twitched into action.

Meanwhile, Jiraiya was in an intense fight with the duo Pains as they rushed his old master. They fought with such flawless teamwork that only a telepathic hive mind could match. As the Deva path used his telekinesis control to push or pull Jiraiya into danger. Such as time the Toad Sage was pushed telekinetically headfirst into Pain's 'Fire Style: Dragon Breath Jutsu' that he escaped from in the last minute. While the Petra path would intercept any chakra-based attacks and redirect them back to Jiraiya if given the chakra. Otherwise, he would absorb the chakra-based attack to distribute the excess amounts to his other paths.

However, despite the disadvantage Jiraiya faced, he was able to hold his own with pure Martial Arts. In fact, those that knew Jiraiya knew he held back a bit as he interrogated Pain to gather some much-needed info.

"Why are you doing this? You wanted peace too. So why change the Shiroi Heiwa (White Peace) into the Akatsuki (Dawnbreaker)?" Jiraiya asked as he remembered a time when the uniforms were a white cloak with blue clouds, instead of their current black cloak with red clouds.

"We still want peace," the two corpses that Pain controlled said in prefect synchronization before individually speaking every other sentence. "We tried a peace movement like we said we would the last time we spoke. And it worked for a time as we were close to getting close to having Rain Country leave the Third Shinobi War peacefully. If not end the war. However, Hanzō began to fear we would take over his country. And thus, he entered an alliance with the man you called Danzō."

"Danzō entered an alliance with Hanzō?" Jiraiya asked in shock as he could not believe he missed Danzō's attempted alliance as he scoured through his papers. Though, to be fair, it was a large stack that would take years to go through thoroughly. Especially since Danzō would conveniently forget or downplayed events that ended in failure. Like his part in starting the Third Shinobi War by assassinating important people. As well as a dozen schemes that he was very proud of but were small victories. While glossing over the fact that his plans prolonged the war and pushed Fire Country to the verge of defeat until the future Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze, Naruto's father, perfected the 'Flying Thunder God Jutsu.' The Jutsu he used to single handily wiped out Rock Country's large invasion force and forced their enemies to sign a treaty to end the war.

Still, it angered Jiraiya he missed a crime Danzō committed that had such far-reaching consequences, as the two Pain Paths nodded before they continued their creepy talk of each Path switching to speak every other sentence. "He wanted the war to continue for whatever peace was offered was only slightly in Fire Country's favor. So, he needed us gone and made an alliance with Hanzō about a mutual problem. Of course, all they did was kill Yahiko before they betrayed each other, leaving Hanzō open for me to deal with later. I took great pleasure in dethroning him in Ame to use its military might and its lands for my own as I enacted my plans."

"And what plans are those?" Jiraiya asked as he continued to stand his ground. Not giving the one man in two a centimeter as he continued the conversation.

"By using a weapon so powerful that the mere mention will cause the people of this world so much pain that the mere thought of war will ensure everlasting peace," Pain explained to a scared shitless Jiraiya.

"That is what you wanted the Tail-Beast for. To create a weapon that no other country could stand against."

"That was the original plan. However, things have changed," Pain admitted to his old master. "The Uzumaki showed us a weapon of such awesome power that it makes the Tailed Beast pale in comparison. A weapon that can destroy an entire continent with deadly consequences. As it created deadly, radioactive chakra that took centuries to dissipate to even handle safely. As seen with the Star Meteorite Star Forces used for their techniques who used it without killing themselves instantly with chakra radiation, and one person knows how to make them."

"Naruto," Jiraiya stated in horror as both Pain's nodded

"So, a deal was struck. We aid the Uzumaki in forcing the world into submission and help them gain Naruto. In exchange, we help them in forcing everlasting peace across the world. And that is what we plan to do. I must thank you, sensei. I didn't think you would deliver her right to us. After I kill you, I will be claiming the girl for the divine work of bringing peace to the world through Pain."

"Like hell will I allow you to take my student," Jiraiya snarled before he stopped holding back.

He engaged the two in pure martial arts, attacking with powerful kicks, power punches, and grappling attacks with devastating effects on the Petra when he grabbed the path's arms and unleashed a series of devastating kicks before being forced to jump back. Jiraiya was about to call on his trump card when he heard a bang and the scream of a girl he recognized.

He was momentarily distracted to see Naruko on the ground, bleeding as a portion of her red cheek was blasted open. Her assailant was Karin Uzumaki, who was on the retreat from Naruto yelling how some bitch hurt her little sister while using long-range, highly damaging based jutsu. Kushina broke away from her own battles to protect Naruko like a mama bear should while Hinata used 'Mystic Palm Jutsu' to seal the wound. All the while Naruko was taking it like a champ, as she glared at Karin's retreat from Anko's snakes. Jiraiya was officially angry as Pain tried to use it to his advantage as the Petra Path charged at him.

Jiraiya noticed Pain's charge at the last second as he gave a short whistle before two figures jumped on his shoulders as he used 'Hair Needle Jizō Jutsu.' His long hair growing to abnormal length to wrap around him like a shield with needle spikes at the end that shot out like a porcupine when the Petra Path impacted his hair. Dozens of senbon needles the length of a human arm pierced the body of the Petra Path as it tried to absorb Jiraiya's chakra through his jutsu. He succeeded with dire consequences, as the Petra Path slowly turned into a stone statue. A statue that disappeared when Jiraiya dispersed his hair cocoon and preformed a captured seal he drew on his hands.

Jiraiya gave a broad smile as he posed like an action hero with his wide eyes that look like a toad. His smirk remained as he moved to a defensive stance as an elderly green toad, Fukasaku, and an elderly purple and tan toad, Shima, hung on Jiraiya's shoulders. The remaining Path, the Deva Path, took only a second to deduce what had happened. Pain spoke out his theory with an iterated voice, "So, the title of Toad Sage is more than a tittle based on the summons you used in battle."

"That's right, I am using senjutsu (natural based chakra). And unlike the Roth Clan that convert senjutsu into regular chakra along with the ambient chakra they absorb; I am using it in its raw form. Hence, that is why one of the bodies turned into stone unlike a master like me," Jiraiya bragged with a proud smile on his face, until the elder male toad, Fukasaku, hit him with a stick.

"You are no sage yet. You still need us to regulate the senjutsu safely in your body. This is insufferable, your inability to master it took us away from lunch," Fukasaku grumbled when the elder female toad, Shima slapped Fukasaku across the cheek for his remark.

"Pa, you idiot. Why did you tell Jiraiya's opponent such vital data?" Shima grumbled as she glared at Fukasaku.

Who then flared back to grumble, "Like it mattered, ma? That young tadpole is not an idiot to figure out we're the reason our tadpole can use senjutsu."

"But you did not need to confirm it, you moron!" the toad yelled back and would have continued to argue until Jiraiya calmed the two down.

"It's alright ma. With only one path, my former student is not a threat." Jiraiya then stared at his onetime student to give him one last ultimatum, "Surrender Nagato, you can't face me alone."

"Perhaps," the Deva Path. "However, you made a poor assumption that I will face you alone. The moment I knew Naruto was here, I had my other four Paths get on the Uzumaki's fast-flying vehicles and had them rush to this location. They should be here in a matter of minutes, and our reinforcements are already here."

It was that moment he realized things were not going their way as enemy reinforcements arrived to push his fellow Leaf-nins fell back and cause massive casualties. Even when Naruto summoned dozens of elemental clones to combat the approaching horde. When the battle started, they had brought sixteen ANBU along with Team 7 (Redemption) on the four fighters. Of the ANBU, eleven were dead, and two were severely injured. One was carried away by Team Redemption's medic, Sakura with Sai providing cover. While her goddaughter's teammate, Haku, took another away while she was covered by her other granddaughter teammate, Tukiko Uchiha. The remaining ANBU, Kakashi, Itachi, Anko Rock Lee, and Might Guy had been forced to fall back. Right to Kushina and Naruto's position as they desperately tried to hold the line with Kin and Tayuya. All the while, Hinata healed with the most delicate of hands an exhausted Naruko, which was sure to have a nasty scar on her right cheek.

Pain chuckled, "You should give up. Sensei. You cannot hope to win, and I promise a painless death as a merciful God if you-"

Pain started off before Jiraiya made his decision and punched Pain with enough force to embed him into the rock formation across the room. The commotion got everyone's attention when he yelled a simple order over and over again, "Retreat! Retreat! Retreat!"

It was an order the Leaf-nins have been waiting for as they made a fighting retreat. With Tukiko, Anko Kakashi and Itachi firing off large scale fire jutsus such as 'Fire Style: Fire Dragons Jutsu' or 'Fire Style: Omega Firebomb Jutsu' to create a wall of fire to keep back with the explosion or destroy the enemy. A few still slipped through, including Kabuto, but Kin Tsuchi would have none of that.

Kin yelled out, "Hell no" before launching a dozen of senbon needles with her signature jutsu 'Genjutsu Style: Sensory Depravity Jutsu' to cause organics pain and feedback to distort robot's sensitive listening devices. Both of which Karin experienced as Tayuya used 'Genjutsu Style: Counter Jinx Jutsu' while Karin prepared her own illusion based jutsus. Tayuya's jutsu was a sensory jutsu that worked against opponents that move via muscle memory to its advantage to trick opponents into executing their moves a split second to a second before they should have.

Karin found that out the hard way as she screamed out in pain before falling to the ground due to chakra feedback as Tayuya smirked, "Got you, bitch!"

Tayuya and Kin had a satisfied smirk on a job well done as they fell back with the wounded carried by Haku, Kushina, and Sakura with the wounded ANBU, as Lee and Anko providing cover. The rest retreated piecemeal, and just as the rest were going to make a break for it, Konan jumped through the flames with six terminator model robots, one of which took down an ANBU mid-jump. Naruto, who was providing covering fire, used 'Lightning Style: Rasenshuryūdan Jutsu' to throw the lightning covered Rasengan grenade at the robots to force them back. Only for Konan to use 'Paper Cocoon Jutsu' to catch and contain the jutsu. The paper succeeded in containing the lightning jutsu with its chard remains.

Konan, with her paper angelic wings, made a dash toward a busy Tukiko as she gunned down a terminator model that almost sniped Itachi as he ran. This cause Naruto to panic as she rushed Konan with her water version of the Rasengan, the 'Water Style: Rasenneten Jutsu.' Naruto realized too late that was what Konan wanted as the paper styled angel used 'Paper Style: Paper Shield Jutsu' to take the brunt of the one-shot, one-kill water Jutsu. As the angel of death aimed her 'Paper Spear Jutsu' at the blonde Kunoichi. Not to kill Naruto, but to stab her in the shoulder and pin her to the ground.

Naruto closed her eyes, expecting to feel unimaginable pain that would make her scream along with her blood staining her clothes as she waited for the inevitable. In the darkness, she heard a feminine scream as blood stained her clothes, but neither of them was hers. She opened her eyes to see a boy with pale skin, and black hair has taken a fatal hit for her. All so he could stab his katana through Konan foot to pin her down to prevent the woman from grabbing Naruto.

The boy, no young man, Sai, turned his head toward Naruto with a bloody smile to say, "Run you beautiful Kunoichi," before he died.

Things seem to slow down as she stared at Sai's bloody corpse unbelieving as she processed that a comrade she knew died in front of her. Her mind watched in wonder and horror as the stiff body refused to move as a last bit of defiance as Konan tried to pull the sword out without losing her foot. Her mind refused to reboot until she heard Tukiko yelling at her to run, and Konan ordered the terminator robots to capture Naruto. The young Elemental Mistress barely managed to jump away before the synthetic hands grabbed her.

Naruto then turned around and booked it to the exit as Tukiko gave her covering fire while the remaining two ninjas that have not yet retreated, Kakashi and Itachi, rushed to aid her. However, she knew that it was not enough as the robots were faster than her, and she could not escape them even with two Elite Jōnin there to aid her. There were just too many. Therefore, she decided to try something desperate, as Naruto did not have anything in her arsenal, even her clones, to deal with multiple targets at close range.

Something she vowed to fix later if she escaped as she prepared another 'Lightning Style: Rasenshuryūdan Jutsu' and threw it at close range. Shocking and burning out the circuity of the robots gave her room to escape if she did not succumb to the blast. She fell to the ground, twitching, as she tried to force herself to move, to escape on her own. Though she was glad to be scooped up by Itachi as she realized she missed calculated and one of the terminator units was out of her Jutsu's range. It was dispatched by Kakashi's signature 'Lightning Style: Chidori Jutsu' while Itachi carried her out of the room.

Itachi lightly scolded Naruto for her actions, "You should have not worried Tukiko like that. I do not want my cute cousin to lose her friend for taking an unnecessary risk."

Naruto, embarrassed, nodded as she noticed Konan had finally removed Sai, by cutting off his arms with her duo paper swords, and tried to halt their escape by burying them under a wave of paper with 'Paper Tsunami Jutsu.' Naruto screamed, "Run!" as everyone picked up the pace to escape. They barely made it to the exit as the paper collided around them on the wall. Leaving the enemy from perusing, Konan cursed silently as Kabuto and Karrin insured she did not lose her foot while she removed the Katana from her foot.

Scene IX

Nearing the exit tunnels, Jiraiya was leading the survivors to safety as he grimaced how bad the mission went. Team Redemption was distraught with Sai's death. The rest was somber with the only noise coming from the fussing Hinata as she aided a twitching Naruto and the angry muttering of Kushina who blamed herself for allowing her two daughters to be hurt. Anko would have joined Kushina in her angry muttering if she was not feeling down for multiple reasons. Such as the feeling that she would continue to suffer from a past that the universe did not seem willing to let her move beyond. Therefore, Anko was a bit depressed, a feeling the whole group felt as their morale was near rock bottom. The only one not at their lowest was Jiraiya for he had experienced in similar situations in the previous wars. He was thinking about how to cheer them up, so they did not give up so close to escaping when he got a chime on his communicator.

He activated to heard her scream out, "Lord Jiraiya, this is Tenten! We can't say for much longer! We lost three of our fight, and the rest is damage with our shields below ten percent! We can't stay! I don't think we can perform an extraction!" Tenten added as he heard an explosion in the background with Neji yelling.

Jiraiya cursed as he barked out his orders, "Then escape. We will use our summons to escape. Just get out of there!"

"Roger that, and good luck," Tenten acknowledge before cutting the transmission. The group knew that it was a do or die as they rushed to escape.

They were so close when Jiraiya saw to his horror the four other Paths of Pain appear with a bloody Deva Path in front of them. The path summoned by the Animal Path, a Path that can summon the other Paths, as well as Summon Animals under its control, came forward to state, "Surrender, or don't. It does not matter for you cannot escape us."

The group was in a pickle and knew they had limited options. Most were too tried after fighting high-level opponents, needed to stay back for the wounded, or too injured to put up a fight effectively against a powerhouse like Pain. In fact, only Rock Lee, Tukiko Uchiha, Might Guy, Anko Mitarashi, Kushina Ryū, and Jiraiya could effectively fight them. In fact, together, they could win, but with the approaching army in the background, they knew they did not have time to kill the remaining five of the Six Paths of Pain if they wanted to escape. It became apparent that someone powerful or a small group would have to sacrifice themselves so the others could flee.

Might Guy decided to give them no choice as he handed off the wounded ANBU he was carrying to his unofficial apprentice, Rock Lee, as he moved into a combat-ready position. "Get out of here! I will hold these unyouthful degenerates off!" Might Guy had declared to his fellow Leaf-nins with a thumbs up.

"Guy, you can't think of fighting them alone?" Kakashi declared in shock as the Green Beast gave a big smile.

"It has to be me my greatest rival. I am one of the few skilled enough to hold them back. I was better at group combat up close then you were my old friend, and before you say anything Jiraiya-Sama, you are too valuable to die here. Fire Country needs your efficient spy network to win this unholy war," Might Guy gave his points as he focused his energy on opening all Eight Gates of his Inner Gates.

Starting with the Gate of Opening, to remove all mental inhibitions. Then he opened the Gate of Healing, to reenergize and heal the body. Followed by the Gate of Life, to push the body up to its most physical limits with a massive adrenaline rush that turned the skin blood red. Proceeded by the Gate of Pain, to ignore all pain as the body was pushed beyond its limits. Then move onto the Gate of View, to give the user a focus as he plowed through the fight. Next was the Gate of Wonder, to transcend the body to beyond human as blue sweat evaporates into an aura of pure energy. And finally, the Gate of Death, to push the body into the realm of godhood at the cost of one's life when the technique ends or when the body finally gives out.

Might Guy bursted with energy as he gave them a wide-open smile and prepared to make his first strike; the only thing stopping him at the moment Lee stammered in tears, "Guy-Sensei?"

Might Guy showed him a bright smile to state, "Don't worry my student, for I am here and will remain here to ensure you will escape soundly. Just as you'll be back home to keep the youthful spread of hope across the Elemental National back home. Do me proud, my youthful student."

"Guy-Sensei," Lee cried as he gave a nod of acceptance as Pain bore a look that translated how bored and unafraid of the man in green spandex's power-up.

"And you think that power boost is enough-" Pain started to arrogantly snide when Might Guy appeared in front of him, to his shock, and punched each of the paths with enough force to send them flying outside.

This gave the group the ability to escape after Guy gave one last inspirational speech, "Go my youthful friends! Be free!"

Needing no more encouragement, the group made a dash to freedom as a few of the group made summons escape. First was Anko and Jiraiya both Summon Gamabunta and Kingu, to clear a path and remove Anti-Air support for the flyers as the toad island-hop and the snake slithered ahead. Additional support was summoned by Hinata with her hawks, Haku with her sharks, and Kushina with her daughter's Canine Alliance contract to summon Arctic Wolf, Mother Fox, Trickster, and Dark Hunter in their boss forms. While Tukiko summoned a giant crow for everyone to climb on as they made their escape.

Pain tried to stop them with the Deva Path's telekinetic pull ability to grab Itachi and Naruto. While the Animal Path attempted to summon a flyer to give chase. Both failed for the Animal Path was slammed kicked into the ground mid-summoning. Before the Green Beast tore Deva Path's stretched arm off to stop its attack. The Deva Path showed not an ounce of pain as Might Guy spun kick the surprised Path across the field into some rocks with enough force to pulverize its skull.

Thinking he defeated one, Might Guy moved to eliminate the Animal Path when the Weapon Path and Human Path of Pain intercepted him. Both prove formidable as the Weapon Path could summon any form of weapons into combat. While the Human Path had telepathy to better coordinate and counter enemy attacks by reading their enemy's surface thoughts. It also had the ability to suck human souls out if it could grab onto an enemy target long enough. Thus, the Human Path was a skilled martial artist. While the Weapon Path could summon a series of melee weapons that it could wield, such dual swords, bō staffs, and hand blades, to shot out projectile weapons like kunai, and shurikens from its body.

It only got worse when the support Path, the Naraka Path, healed the Animal Path and to Guy's shock, resurrect the Deva Path and healed all its wounds. The two then joined the fight with the Animal Path summonsing animals like salamanders, chameleons, and centipedes to attack and to join the fray. The battle was getting very intense for what felt like a long time, but Might Guy held his own as he kept up the ridiculous pace that he was setting for himself.

He even took down all the summoned animals and took down two of the Paths twice when his luck finally failed him. As the Weapon Path created a halberd weapon to slam into Might Guy's shoulder. Giving the Deva Path enough of a distraction to telekinetically lift the Green Beast up to body slam him into the ground. The Animal Path then held him in place while the Human Path went up and connected to his head before he ripped the soul out of Might Guy's body.

Might Guy's power-up had dispersed along with his own soul the moment before his mind realized he had lost. Though in the end, he achieved his objective as a smile crossed his face for his pyrrhic victory before he fell to the ground, dead. Leaving the other Five Paths to surround him as they looked to the horizon. They realized that twenty-four minutes had past and by now the surviving Leaf-nins had escaped. The only consolation going through Pain's mind was that at the very least he had found a new Petra Path when the Naraka Path began healing the body before sealing it in a scroll to take back to Ame. The five paths then made their way to the invasion force as they began their push to Sea County's port and villages for the first part of what will be a long war.

Scene X

Escape, the Leaf-nins had escaped what would have been a very desperate battle for the Leaf-nins on top of the giant crow Tukiko summoned. As they were escorted by two damaged Phantom class fighters in the air and Gamabunta and Kingu on the ground. The rest of the summons dispersed and return home safely. By all account when one includes what they faced, it should be counted as a win, but they did not want to celebrate a technical victory. For they had lost 3 of the most irreplaceable fighters and pilots in the air. While on the ground, they lost 12 ANBU, Team Redemption close-range fighter Sai, and unofficially, Team Lead of Team Guy, Might Guy.

The group was depressed as Sakura Haruno had a crying fit as a distraught Kakashi Hatake comforted his student while silently moping at the loss of his comrades, Sai, and Might Guy. Tayuya and Kin Teuchi were less affected. They only recently joined the team, and they were accustomed to the death of friends when they were under Orochimaru. But they still felt depressed all the same. Lee was having a crying fit as only "manly tears," as Lee now claimed, ran down his cheek as he explained over the comms that Might Guy remained behind to buy them more time. Their sorrow could be heard over the comms as the rest ignored them as they silently held their own grief.

The rest were keeping busy as Tukiko was directing the crow while Haku kept the two wounded ANBU stabilize. The two surviving ANBU were looking over their comrade while Itachi was looking over the horizon behind Tukiko. Kushina was rubbing her hand through Naruko's hair to south her youngest daughter's emotion while trying to not look at Naruko's scar without pity. Nearby, Hinata and Naruto were comforting each other as Naruto occasionally glanced over at Naruko.

Naruko finally caught Naruto, who flinched to state, "I'm sorry."

Naruko blinked for a moment before shrugging, "It's not your fault. I did not take Karin as seriously as I should have and paid for my arrogance. It will not happen again as Karin will not see me kill her."

"She will not see us, as we will win this war together, as a family," Kushina softly said as she rubbed her youngest's hair.

It comforted Naruko, but Naruto lamented as she stated, "I should have been stronger. We all need to get stronger if we want to survive the war to come."

"And how do you want to get stronger, Naruto-Chan?" Hinata asked softly as Naruto thought it over before giving her answer.

"I have three other elements to combine with the Rasengan. Its time I complete my training so that I have a few more S-rank jutsus that can be thrown at the enemy to keep my friends safe. Either by my own hands or my friends. That is a promise," Naruto spoke with conviction as she looked out to the cloud, her fear of flying on an animal back buried deep within her mind as Hinata tightened her hold on her girlfriend that she embraced as she silently promised the same thing too.

Meanwhile, on the ground, Anko and Jiraiya have contacted Konoha to inform of the situation and who was going where. A conversation that was repeated as they approached the border.

"We should soon be at the borders of Fire Country. Once there, I'll head to the nearest contingent to prepare our border defenses to hold the lines while the rest head home."

"Understood, perv-Jiraiya, and good luck," Anko replied over the comm before she ended her call. The day has been a rotten one Anko had thought, as the Snake Mistress decided to call her friend to get some good news. The call did not take long to connect as she came face-to-face with a wild-looking Kurenai via video chat.

It did not take long for Anko to realize what had happened as she quietly whispered in sorrow, "I missed the birthing, didn't I?"

"You did," Kurenai sadly spoke as she softly smiled at Anko. "I am sorry the baby had such rotten timing, but I am glad you are alright. I was afraid when they made the announcement that I would never hear from my best friend."

"It was a close call, but we made it through. Though we lost that boy Sai and Might Guy."

"I see," Kurenai responded with a bit of depression in her voice before she tried to change subjects. "Do you want to see her. I am holding her right now."

"You had a girl?" Anko asked with a bit of levity as she gave a small smile. "Sure, I would love to see her."

Kurenai smiled as she turned her communicator down to show a small, pink little girl sleeping, She had features that were a mix of her momma and Asuma. "This is Mirai, Anko. She came into this world crying, tiring herself out before she decided to take a nap."

Anko thought she was beautiful and spoke softly. "Hey angel, this is aunt Anko speaking. I want to let to know I will be home soon to hold you and spoil like any aunt would. That I (sob)… I will show you a good time to make you forget (sob) the dark times we're in. And (sob) teach you how to defend yourself (sob) from mean boys and girls (sob), you're sure attracted (sob), you look like your mommy. For I promise you, (sob) everything will be alright," Anko promised as tears dripped from her cheek as they road into Fire Country and to safety, for now.

Scene XI

Within a war room, the deceptively looking old woman, Yokoshima Uzumaki, was glancing over a man of the Elemental Countries while half Uzumaki Condor Uzumaki was updating the map as reports of the first wave of the invasion force sent to Sea Country gave an interesting report.

"So little Naruto was in Sea Country, and you failed to capture her?" Yokoshima asked her subordinate through the communicator.

The reply was swift and steady as Karin spoke without fear, "Yes, ma'am. We couldn't pin her down, and she escaped us despite dealing them a great number of casualties. Our loses were overall minuscule despite Pain losing one of his paths. He got a new Path in the form of Might Guy."

"I see," Yokoshima muttered before she took a more cheerful attitude. "Oh well, we knew this war was going to be difficult anyway. "At least you and the others succeed in building beachheads for invasion points across several different points, and the supposed God can learn some humility. But enough about this battle, let us begin the next operation."

"Yes, ma'am," those on the communication replied.

"We will begin fortifying the locations so our enemies will not be able to push us out as we cause the enemy to divide their forces for defensive positions and distract from our true objectives; Operation Knock Out."

"Good. It's time to take out one of the great nations before they can even scramble to each other's aid," Yokoshima smiled as she pulled out a kunai to stab the map. Her aim was true as her blade stuck their next target. A ninja village found in Rock Country, Iwa. But that is a tale for another time.

And another chapter completed and so this story, for now, see Note A for details. I hope you enjoyed the chapter and be sure to note if you like it or if you want to criticize it. Especially since I changed the idea that the Akatsuki was founded under a different name to explain away a specific plot hole by Jiraiya and his great spy ring missed the connection. I may have also made him more powerful in cannon, but I think his base skills are more than enough to manage two paths at once. Also, due to using Genjutsu Style in several chapters, I am not changing it to Demonic Illusion Jutsu as I do not want to do a third rewrite.

Author Note

A) To fans of Naruto the Elemental Star, I am getting burn out with this project that I started in 2008 and rewrote it two times already. I am not sure I can keep writing this as it took months just to write this chapter even with some free time set aside in my busy work schedule. For now, I will focus on Mass Dragon Effect as this story is mark completed and waiting for a sequel as I collect my thoughts for a story outline. If I feel invigorated, I will do a sequel after a six month to a year hiatus. If not, I will publish my outline that will explain what I plan to do and complete it instead of leaving it entirely incomplete like other authors would do. Maybe leave it for someone else to take-up for themselves, but at the very least give a somewhat satisfying ending, or at least give it an end.

B) Need Your Opinion. Since the Story is Set in North America, what do you think of these countries' locations:

-Bear Country: Northern Portions of the Grand Canyon

-Earth Country: USA Northeast Coast, and Canada's Quebec

-Fire Country: USA Midwest, and Southern Half of Canada's Ontario, and Manitoba

-Frost Country: Canada's Northwest Territories

-Grass Country: USA Southeast Coast

-Hot Water Country: Yellow Stone Park

-Iron County: Canada's Nova Scotia

-Lightning Country: The Rocky Mountains and USA Northwest

-Moon Country: St Pierre and Miquelon Islands

-Rain Country: In between Earth and Fire Country (Southern Half of Canada's Quebec and Ontario)

-Rice Country: USA Northern Texas, Mississippi, and Louisiana, not including the Gulf Coast

-Sand Country: Mojave, Sonoran, Colorado Plateau, and Chihuahua Deserts

-Sea Country: USA Texas and Louisiana's Gulf Coast

-Snow and Spring County: USA Alaska

-Vegetable Country: USA Arkansas

-Water Country: USA California, and Mexico's Baja California and Baja California Sur

-Waterfall: Florida

-Wave Country: Salt Lake Islands

-Whirlpool Empire: Mexico's Southern Half, Central America, and Northern Parts of South America.

C) Recommendation

A) First is Wickerbot's First Series the Undead Schoolgirl: Dead Pulse as it is quickly becoming my all-time favorite fanfics as it takes interesting concepts from the show and expands the lore in a way that it fits in My Hero Academia. Especially when it comes to Quirk Instability. Plus, a cute zombie girl story is horrifying, depressing, and funny at the same time with Izuku as our favorite undead cinnamon bun due to a quirk activation upon death. Check it out, as I think you will like it.

B) Second is Emma Iveli's Ponies One Half. That has the Main 6 from My Little Ponies fall in the Spring of the Drown Girl and team-up with Ranma to his adventures. Combine with later appearances with Cutie Mark Crusaders, a less tsundere Akane, a more mature Ranma, a calmer Shampoo willing to share, and well written OCs and minor characters leads to a better story for Ranma where you will quote everything it says. It is hilarious.