Disclaimer: Naruto and all of its characters belong to Shueisha and Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing but the original characters I create.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 274: Pain Is Here
Tsunade rushed outside the building and quickly spotted the invader.
He was a man with spiky orange hair and wore the Akatsuki cloak. On his skin, she spotted several of those black pieces of metal they found on the corpse brought here by the toads.
This clearly revealed the identity of this individual… the Leader of Akatsuki had come here in person to her village.
"Sound the alarm," Tsunade ordered without hesitation to the ANBU agents around her.
The Akatsuki Leader turned around and looked at them, particularly staring at Tsunade. "I didn't expect the Hokage to come out so soon… I thought I would have to torture at least a few more of your ninjas to do that."
Tsunade noted a person lying at Pain's feet, she recognized him as Ebisu, a Tokubetsu Jonin who was in charge of training new recruits.
'He is alive.' Tsunade saw his chest move and felt relief. She could not allow anyone to die.
Knowing the severity of the situation, she immediately grasped the 'Formula Kunai' that Naruto left with her and activated it with her chakra. He had mentioned to her that he was going to spend a few days away from the village because he needed to meditate, but this was an emergency, and he must be called back.
"Lady Tsunade…"
The four remaining ANBU agents around her were shifting nervously. They could tell how powerful this person was, and their instincts were likely telling them to avoid a fight.
"Don't engage directly. We must gain a bit of time," she told them.
"I honestly don't care about any of you, no offense, Lady Hokage. " Pain spoke again. "But you know what I'm here for… just tell me where Naruto Uzumaki is, and no one else will have to die today."
"Have we met before? You look familiar," Tsunade told him.
This was not a mere bluff to gain time, he really did look familiar. She was sure she had seen this young man years ago with Jiraiya.
"So you remember me," Pain said.
"You were one of the boys that Jiraiya rescued from the Land of Rain, Yahiko, I think… how could you, of all people… kill him…" Tsunade clenched her fists.
"I am no longer that naive boy you met on that day… I have grown, and I have become something more. I have become God now! A God who will restore order to this corrupt land, and break its cursed cycle of hatred." Pain said while extending his hands in the air.
"A God?..." Tsunade scoffed. "I'm not much of the religious type, so don't expect me to bow." She got ready to attack.
"Tsunade-sama!"
"We should be the ones to take risks."
"Let us do the fighting, please."
"Give us the order, and we will assist you." The four ANBU next to her said.
"So be it… if you wish to pursue this foolish idea of opposing a superior being like me, I will show you the consequences." Pain's body began to levitate in the air.
"Do we have to intercept him?"
"What do we do?"
Tsunade shook her head. "Never mind… he is already here. What took you so long?" she said.
"This world shall know pain!" The Leader of Akatsuki rose further into the air.
"I don't know about the world… but you are about to suffer quite a bit of that."
Pain suddenly felt the presence of someone right behind him. Before he could turn around to see, he was hit on the back of his head and sent toward the ground with incredible force.
"Deva Path!" He used his power to manipulate gravity and stop his descent, but even after pushing his power near its limit, he was only able to slow down the fall.
Crash!
Pain's body impacted the ground and created a small crater, sending a cloud of dust and smoke into the sky.
Naruto landed next to Tsunade.
"I thought you would have arrived instantly…" she said.
"It took me like five seconds to assess the situation… did someone die already? Because that would be pathetic… oh…" He then saw the body of Ebisu just a short distance away from where Pain had landed.
"He is not dead. But we should get him out of there." Tsunade made a gesture for one of the ANBU to take the instructor away.
"There are other puppets entering the village. They should be here any second," Naruto told her. "That's what delayed me. I had to put all the information from my clones in order."
"Puppets?... You mean that guy was just a puppet?" one of the ANBU asked.
"So you figured it out too?" Tsunade knew about this because they had deciphered the code left behind by Jiraiya. This one warned them that the real one was not among them, meaning that all the 'Pains' he fought were nothing but puppets, controlled by those metallic bars embedded into their bodies. They were all dead already.
She would have told this to Naruto, but he specifically informed her that he had no interest in hidden messages and wanted to figure out things as he fought against Pain.
"Of course I have. I can sense every source of energy in a very large radius. I even know where the real—"
"Summoning Jutsu!"
"Five enemies at six o'clock!" the agents warned them.
They could see five dark-cloaked figures approaching quickly toward them. One of them formed hand signs and brought into existence two massive beasts that immediately descended upon them.
"Chidori!"
"Dynamic Entry!"
Kakashi and Maito Gai attacked the two beasts before they reached the Hokage and her guards.
They didn't disappear, but their path was moved away from their initial course toward the Hokage and Naruto.
"Lady Tsunade."
"Are you injured?" Asuma and Kurenai arrived at her side.
Tsunade shook her head. "I am fine. I need you all to make sure the rest of the village does not suffer any danger. I believe the situation here is under con—"
"Oh, I almost forgot!" Naruto exclaimed.
"W-what did you forget?" Tsunade asked.
He had made a promise to the Toad Clan Elders to bring them here when he faced Pain. Seeing that other guy summoning the two beasts had just served as a reminder.
An intense golden aura surrounded Naruto as he concentrated a massive amount of chakra.
"W-what is he going to summon?" Asuma glanced at him with concern.
"What a ridiculous amount of chakra..." Kurenai said in disbelief.
"Summoning Jutsu… Mount Myoboku!" Naruto roared.
The sky was covered in darkness all of a sudden.
"Did he said 'Mount'?..." Asuma asked.
"What is that?" Kurenai pointed up.
"That looks like…" Kakashi started.
"What is a mountain doing there?" Gai added.
The entirety of Mount Myoboku was now floating in the sky above Konoha, with its peak pointing downward toward them.
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