Canon Fodder

CHAPTER 127 PAINFUL

I had thought we had more time, but it made sense. Pain was going to make an appearance since nothing was going his way. We had killed 2 of his elite teams. The twisted man really believed in what he was doing, despite knowing he was a pawn. Or was it just the purple haired girl that knew they were pawns? I couldn’t remember. 

We ran non-stop. I don’t mean that we took breaks an hour here and an hour there, I mean we never stopped running. All of us had family back home. All of us were worried, and I knew Kamjutsu. Like Kame said. It was for endurance, not bursts of strength. I proved that by continuing to go and run when the others were past their limits. 

Casting shadow clones to carry people, then going into Kame Mode to replenish my lost chakra was…priceless. I couldn’t think of a greater skill to have to simply keep going. Whenever I felt tired I was able to enter my Kame Mode. Absorbing the energy of the water around me and replenishing everything. My tiredness mostly disappeared, my chakra refilled, my strength came back to me, and I kept running. 

We made a normally 12 day trip in 5. Not just from running non-stop but pushing past our own limits. Kakashi and Asuma’s teams were dead tired when we came to the remains of the village. It was as I remembered. Completely flattened. The only thing left standing were the faces of the Hokages on the cliff faces ahead. 

There were large tents and people walking around where the city should have been. My gut clenched as we ran the last stretch. People began calling our names, but it wasn’t long until the Hokage’s people were running to us. 

“The Hokage wants all of you,” an ANBU member said as soon as they reached us. 

“Yamato, is that you?” I asked. Recognizing the voice. I hadn’t seen the man that taught me how to control water chakra much.

“It is,” the man said, moving his mask. “No time.” We all nodded and followed him. My body was beyond tired, but I kept going. There were many ninjas gathered around the Hokage. They parted for us as we came up. 

“Weston, thank the heavens,” Tsunade said. She looked better than I thought she would. The purple diamond reserve energy mark on her forehead was still there, so she didn’t have to use her all to save people. “We were attacked by Pain.” 

“We heard,” I said, taking charge. “We killed the Akatsuki members and saved the 2-tailed Jinchuriki. Explain what happened.” 

Tsunade nodded, but turned to Jaraiya. The older man with white hair was still alive, much to my surprise. “I was doing my own research on Akatsuki,” Jaraiya said. “I tracked their base down to a small village called Amegakure. The village hidden in rain. I was doing my own reconnaissance when I heard that Konoha was attacked. I did gather some information on their leader. He is-” 

“Doesn’t matter,” I cut in. “I know how to beat him. I will explain soon. For now, we all want to know. How are the losses in the village?” 

Tsunade nodded. “There were a lot of injuries. But only a few fatalities. From those who challenged Pain and his people. When we confirmed who was attacking we prioritized evacuation.” 

“Thank god,” I said with a sigh. I knew then that the girls were safe. They weren’t stupid enough to attack anyone. There was a collective sigh from those around us. 

“Alright,” I said, catching a second wind as my worry subsided. “We will need everyone ready for Pain to come back.” 

“Come back?” Someone asked. 

“Of course, he was after Naruto. Naruto wasn’t here, right?” I asked Tsunade. 

“Yes, those that fought him and escaped said he asked about Naruto.” 

“Good. He can play the perfect bait. I doubt it will be long until Pain returns. Start having people evacuate to where you have the rest of the village hiding,” I said. Tsunade nodded and yelled some orders. I looked to the others around me. 

“Pain is a pain in the ass,” I told them. “His name is Nagato or Naruta or something. You know him Jaraiya, you trained him way back in the day.” 

“What!?” He asked, angrily. 

“Yeah, we can talk about that later,” I said. “So Pain has Uchiha eyes on crack.” Everyone around me listened intently as I grabbed a knife and started digging into the soil. “They’re called 6 Path something or other. He can control 5 or 6 other people to attack for him. You,” I pointed at one of the ANBU. “What did people that fought against him say his companions could do?” 

“Uh there was a giant gravity attack. That’s how he flattened the village in one move. There were gigantic monsters. One had metal arms and weapons. And there was one that could absorb energy,” the Jounin said. 

“Okay. So you can recognize these guys because they have black bars stuck throughout their body worse than a kid with daddy issues. Let’s say there are 6. So the ones I know about are the ones you talked about. The gravity guy can pull and push you. The stronger the move, the longer it takes him to be able to use his skill again. I don’t remember the metal guy, he must be easy to beat. The guy who can absorb chakra sounds like a dick to deal with. There is one that can summon giant animals. One of those is a chameleon that goes invisible. Another can read people’s minds and steals souls. Then one can bring other’s back to life. Which is a pain, we have to kill the healer first. So there’s the 6. The real problem is they are really just limbs of the same body. The real Pain isn’t among them…” 

—

I was exhausted. After explaining everything to the ninjas I needed in the fight my adrenaline failed me and I collapsed. People crowded around me but I pushed through. Stumbling up and walking away it wasn’t long until Hinata found me. The pale woman with long black hair frowned at me, hesitating before approaching. 

Instead of saying anything she grabbed my hand. Pulling me off I didn’t fight her as we headed from the main group of ninjas. The plan was set. People were going to their assignments. The others in my team were going off to rest as well, so I let Hinata drag me. 

She found a large boulder and set me down beside it. I sat in the shade of the boulder, my mind muddled as the exhaustion tried to play tricks on my mind. I couldn’t sleep yet though. Closing my eyes I focused and after a few seconds I went into Kame Mode. Refilling with energy there had been depleting returns to it, but it kept me going. My headache receded a little as I looked over to Hinata. 

“You look like death,” she whispered. 

“Thanks, I feel like it,” I said with a sigh. “You seen my family?” 

“I saw your parents,” she said. “And sisters. Thought I saw some of the maids too.” 

“Good. Your family okay?” 

“Yeah,” she whispered. With a sigh she sat beside me. The boulder at our backs as we watched the people scramble around. “I heard you’re to thank for everyone being safe.” 

“I wasn’t even here,” I said. 

“Rumor got around that it was your idea for the tunnels. And you warned the Hokage that if anyone with bars in their skin appeared, to call an immediate evacuation,” Hinata said. I didn’t answer. There wasn’t a good answer. 

I sighed. “Remember our first mission as Team 8?”

“The delivery across town?” I nodded. “What about it?” 

“Sometimes I want to go back to that time. When it was simpler,” I said. 

“Genin’s graduated recently,” Hinata remarked. “We are still in those simple times. I saw a group of 3 kids with packs on their backs, delivering to the same place a few days ago. We just…got older. More on our shoulders.” 

“You know…I think that’s the longest you’ve ever talked to me without stopping before,” I said. “What was it? 40 words there? I lost count. Just think, a few years ago, you could only give me one word answers.” 

Hinata laughed, a sweet laugh. Then she elbowed my ribs. I groaned as I fell over. Too weak to catch myself. Instead of getting up I laid there. Looking up at the sky as I moved my tired legs to lay on her thighs. I let myself relax for a moment. 

“I’m glad you’re okay,” I said. She was supposed to die, then get resurrected in this fight against Pain. I didn’t want that to happen. 

“I wish you would calm it down,” Hinata said. Her hands resting on my ankles. “You have been in more life or death missions than anyone else in our class.” 

“Soon,” I promised her. “Just a few more months and all this work will pay off.” Hinata frowned. “What? You want to get married to me that bad?” She blushed, her eyes turning away. “Obviously we will have to get married when things calm down. There won’t be anymore fighting after the next big battle. Everyone will be at peace.” 

“Really?” She asked, a little hope in her voice. 

“Getting married?” 

“No, peace,” she asked. The blush on her face I could see she was nervous about the idea. I just hoped she wasn’t against it. 

I laughed. “No, there will always be fighting. But it will seem simple compared to what we are about to go up against.” 

“It doesn’t all have to be on you,” Hinata whispered. 

“I know, but you kicked me out of the team. Now all I have is Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi to rely on.” She slapped my legs, frowning as she glared at me. I laughed. “I know. I can-” 

“He’s here!” I heard a great booming voice say. It took a long few seconds for my mind to catch up to the words. I blamed being up for 5 days straight, but it was also a very ambiguous sentence. It could have been anyone. Since people began to scramble and start yelling, I guessed it was the guy I warned would be coming back. I had hoped the tracking teams had more time to search, but until then we would have fun kicking the necromancer’s ass. 

I got up with a groan and started running to where the commotion was coming from. Hinata followed, I could feel her worry, but she was a trained ninja as well. Protecting the village was her job. It didn’t take long until we were near the outskirts of the village. I wanted to keep it simple in my planning for this fight. I was surprised most people listened, but with the Hokage’s backing, it wasn’t too hard to convince them. 

Jaraiya was up front. Naruto next to him. Tsunade was up there with Sakura beside her. I felt sorry for Kakashi, standing there all alone so I walked to be beside him. Guy, Lee, Neji, and Tenten were beside us. Hinata and Kurenai were with Asuma and Shikamaru. Choji and Ino had admitted to not being able to keep going, so they were out for the fight. There were also a few nameless ninjas I didn’t know, one of them was the closet pervert that trained Konohamaru. I had forgotten about them. 

“You aren’t Nagato, but Yahiko!” Jaraiya yelled as the Pain’s came out of the treeline. “Where are Nagato and Konan?” The old man asked the front person of the 6 Pains. They were an assortment of men. Tall, shorter, bald, orange hair, they were all over the place in looks. But all wore the Akatsuki robe, and had black bars sticking out of their skin. I could only see the ones in their faces, bars in the bridge of their noses, in their ears, but it was enough to know they were Pain. 

“I’m surprised you remember me,” the front Pain said. I really had no idea what any of them did. I was hoping that seeing them I could remember, but it was useless. I was about to yell to stop the talking and start the fighting but was stopped when I got a quest. 

“Fuck,” I mumbled. That meant we would have to talk and do more backstory. But that could wait until the fighting was done. 

Jaraiya and Pain did some back and forth, but the fight was soon on. I would like to say that he was an issue. He had killed Jaraiya in the manga/show. One of the Sannins, easily one of strongest ninjas of Konoha. Pain had brought the village to its knees. Killing a lot of the villagers. Destroying the village like it was nothing. Naruto didn’t beat him until he brought out the nine-tails chakra. 

But as I had found, most of Akatsuki’s strength was their subterfuge. Pain was great in an urban environment. Great in guerrilla warfare. This was an actual war. Out in the open, for all to see. And we knew most all of his moves. 

Pain started the fight by pulling all of us to his gravity guy, but Naruto and Jaraiya used Rasengan on the dirt at our feet kicking up a dust cloud. Guy and Lee opened gates. Jaraiya used his own Sage Mode, and the rest of us attacked the other’s with all we had. It was fun and simple. 

We also got lucky too. Tsunade and Sakura were the ones closest to the resurrection guy. The thick cloud of dust all around us the Pain’s couldn’t see and before they knew it the Pain’s healer was dead with his face and balls crushed. 

Kakashi and I went up against the summoner. The guy got the huge animals, but I summoned a big turtle. Not Kame himself, but huge. The summoned monsters attacked and my turtle took the hits easily. He had a thick shell for a reason. By that time Guy and Rock were ready. They each attacked a Pain, killing them. Then Jaraiya joined. Killing the metal and gravity guys with a single blow. The 2 frogs on his shoulders bickering at him as they fought. 

The last guy to make it was the chakra absorption Pain, but Guy was on him. One kick and his neck was broken. All the Pain’s were dead and everyone was mostly unscathed. Everyone important was fine at least. 

After that Jaraiya, Tsunade, Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi, and I went into the forest. After a while Kiba and his family found us. They had found the giant tree made of paper in the woods. We thanked them and headed there. 

We found what I expected. Pain and his friend, Konan. Konan was just as badass as Pain in my book. She was the only female Akatsuki member. Blue hair, she used paper for everything. She was killed off camera which is what I hated. She deserved to be a bigger part of it all. I knew she had a thing for their friend that died, but I also wanted her for myself. There had to be a way to convince her to not try to kill herself fighting Obito. If that meant bringing Pain to our side, then so be it. 

Pain was in some weird lower body machine that had connected him to the black chakra bars in his other bodies. His main body was sickly and skinny. His hair was red, and between the bangs I could see the Sage of the 6 Paths eyes. It wasn’t till I saw them that the name came to me. 

Jaraiya and Pain had a nice reunion. Jaraiya had taught he, Konan, and their dead friend Yahiko ninjutsu years ago. Pain made fun of Jariya’s ideals. Then they talked about some crap or other. I wasn’t really paying attention. I was exhausted. It wasn’t till they all turned to me that I knew it was my turn. 

“My turn?” I asked as I yawned. 

“Yeah,” Tsunade said, hiding a smile. 

“Okay,” I said. My eyes were heavy but I pushed through. “You have been manipulated by Madara Uchiha.” That was news to everyone. I guessed I forgot to mention that as they started yelling at me. 

“What?” “Who” “How can you know that?” People said to me angrily. I raised my hands, calming everyone down. 

I yawned again. Sitting down on the paper mache floor. “Let me finish. It’s probably time to tell you the whole thing. At least what I know about it. Which isn’t everything. I was skipping around a lot cus I just wanted to know the end.” Which was true, I skimmed a lot of the manga chapters near the end. But I got the gist of it. 

“I don’t know his exact motives. But anyway, Madara Uchiha did not die when he fought…your grandpa,” I said to Tsunade. “Or was it the first Hokae? Fuck I can’t remember. Uh Madara went underground. Sustained by…something. Maybe that plant guy. Can’t remember. Anyway back in the last ninja war…you were there Kakashi.” I was starting to slur, but I kept going. 

“And your dad, Naruto. The 4th Hokage taught Kakashi’s team. He was the leader.” I was getting weird looks. I shook my head trying to understand where I was going. “Anyway, uh Obito Uchiha. Your teammate, Kakashi. He was crushed by a boulder and he gave you that Sharingan eye of yours.”

“How do you know this?” Kakashi asked. 

“Cus I do,” I said, giving him a glare for interrupting. “Stop talking. Let me finish. Fuck, I’m tired.” I slapped my face. Trying to feel something. “Anyway, Obito was crushed by this boulder. But he didn’t die. Madara Uchiha grabbed him. Helped him stay alive the same way Madara was. Then Madara did what he knows how to do, he manipulated. Let Obito in on his plan to take over the world. He tricked him though. Killing that girlfriend of yours, Kakashi? Jen? Ben? Ren? Whatever. Obito had a huge crush on her. And Obito was able to be manipulated cus you had to kill her, right? Something about a tailed beast. Then I think Madara really died? I can’t remember. Fuck,” I yawned loudly. I wished we could do this later, but I wanted that quest for Pain to finish. 

“Uhhh then Obito or maybe Madara came to Konoha. Back when you were being born, Naruto. Uh the seal on the foxes cage became weak cus of…birth…for some stupid canon reason I’m sure. Obito had the sharingan. He took control of the Kyuubi. Made it attack the village. Then your dad sacrificed his life to trap the 9-tailed fox or something. The same thing Sarutobi did against Orochimaru. I remember that at least. So yeah, your mom and dad died protecting you and the village. Why the hell was Obito doing that way back when? Fuck, I don’t remember like anything. Uhhh anyway. Tobi is Obito.” I laughed. “Wow, I just realized if you switch the letters around it’s basically the same name.” The others didn’t find it funny. 

“Fine, uhh the guy that can pass through stuff. Tobi slash Obito. He goes into another dimension, like your eye can do, Kakashi. So you need to fight him. Since you can go into the dimension too er whatever. But yeah. Madara wants to do a Genjutsu on the moon and make everyone live in the Matrix. But he’s being manipulated by some god on the moon…I think. That wants the 10 tails. And there was the 10 tails something.” 

“Fuck. Why do I gotta figure all this shit out,” I said angrily. I looked up, everyone was giving me confused looks. “Pain, K-name girl with the purple hair. Is that purple? I thought it was blue. Fuck, I’m tired. Seeing shit. You fucking fuck. Attacked my village. I’ll kill you. My girls…better be…safe… my magic…balls.” And I passed out.