[Chapter Size: 2400 Words.]
Canon World, Land of the Sea, 63.
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The surprise on the Animal Path's face lasted only a moment. Then he narrowed his eyes and looked back at Jiraiya.
"What a coincidence," he said, his tone colder now.
"I wouldn't call it that," Jiraiya replied.
"What do you mean?"
"Isn't it obvious? We know you're after the Six-Tails' jinchūriki. We also know you're using this body to scout."
Surprise returned to the Animal Path's face, but his expression soon darkened. "What do you mean by that?" he repeated, unsettled.
How did Jiraiya know about the Six Paths? That should have been impossible. Nagato tried to work out how his former master could have learned that information and, more importantly, how much else he knew.
"We know something about you and your plans, Nagato. The path you're following is wrong," Jiraiya said without wasting time.
"You know nothing," Nagato replied with disgust. The Animal Path crouched, bringing his hands toward the ground.
"He's going to summon something," Kakashi warned beside Jiraiya, preparing to deal with whatever he summoned based on the information they had. Some of those possibilities were quite troublesome.
"Nagato, you weren't born with those eyes." Jiraiya's words made the Animal Path stop and stare at him.
Jiraiya continued. "I know this won't be easy to hear, but the Rinnegan was implanted in you. Those eyes came from Madara Uchiha. He wanted you to use the resurrection technique someday."
For a moment, Nagato froze. Jiraiya kept his eyes on him, hoping that at least this information would make him think.
"You're lying," Nagato said. Konan, who was farther away and could not hear the avatar's conversation with their former teacher, still noticed the change in his expression without understanding why.
"Nagato?" she called, confused.
He did not answer. His attention remained fixed on Jiraiya through the Animal Path.
"I know about Rinne Tensei no Jutsu. I also know this isn't your real body and that you control five others," Jiraiya continued. "I know what happened to Yahiko. He died in that ambush by Hanzo, and Danzou of Konoha had a hand in it. I'm sorry I wasn't there. But there are still things you don't know, Nagato. The peace you're seeking has been made part of someone else's plan. They're using your conviction to achieve their own goals. You're being used."
"I am a god," Nagato declared.
The answer made Kakashi brace himself for a fight. To him, it was clear that Jiraiya's words had not reached his former student. Farther back, Team 8 also watched cautiously, keeping their eyes on the Animal Path and the movement of his hands.
"Wait, Nagato!" Jiraiya tried to speak again, but the Animal Path had already pressed both hands to the ground. Two sets of seals spread beneath them, and a huge burst of smoke engulfed the clearing, rolling between the trees.
Two creatures emerged from the smoke: a gigantic boar and a dog. The boar attacked first, charging straight at Jiraiya and Kakashi. Both leaped out of its path, while the members of Team 8 left their hiding place to avoid being hit. The creature tore through the forest without managing to slow down, ripping trees from the ground and raising a cloud of dust behind it.
Kakashi was the next target. The enormous dog lunged at him, opening its mouth to bite. Kakashi dodged and jumped backward, narrowly escaping its teeth. When he landed, he pushed up his headband and revealed his Mangekyō Sharingan. The dog was already moving again when Kakashi focused his gaze on its head.
The space around it began to distort. A vortex appeared, pulling the head into the Kamui dimension. It vanished, and the dog's body fell heavily to the ground. On the other side of the clearing, the Animal Path watched in surprise.
"Kakashi Hatake. It seems the information about your Mangekyō Sharingan was true," he said calmly. "But I also know that using that technique takes a great deal of effort."
Kakashi did not answer. He kept his eyes on the fallen dog and remained ready to fight. According to the information they had, this summon was different from the others, and he did not believe he had finished it off. Soon, a head began to grow where the first had disappeared. Before the creature had fully risen, a second head emerged beside it.
Another burst of smoke appeared farther ahead. A gigantic rhinoceros came out of it and charged through the forest, breaking the trees in its path. Jiraiya performed his own summoning, and Gamabunta appeared near Kakashi. The enormous toad looked at the creatures before him while Jiraiya surveyed the damage they had already done to the forest.
"We need to deal with the rhinoceros!" Jiraiya said.
The creature charged toward them. Gamabunta leaped aside, moving clear of its horn before it could strike him. The Animal Path followed that movement, and Kakashi saw an opening.
Kakashi activated Kamui once more, this time aiming at the Animal Path himself. Nagato felt the distortion forming around him and immediately tried to move away, but the vortex had already caught part of his arm. The limb vanished into the Kamui dimension, just as Deidara's arm had. The Animal Path retreated and looked at the place where his arm had been.
No blood flowed from the wound, but his arm was indeed gone.
"Damn you," he said, turning his narrowed Rinnegan eyes toward Kakashi.
The dog, now with two heads, lunged at Kakashi again. Its heads attacked from different sides, and for the moment all he could do was focus on avoiding their bites.
Several kilometers away, Naruto and the others could already hear the sounds of battle. Naruto leaped above the trees to see the area and spotted three gigantic creatures moving amid the explosions about five kilometers away. One was Gamabunta. The others matched the summons described in the information Minato had left behind.
A sense of urgency gripped him. Naruto knew what had happened to Jiraiya when he faced Nagato, and he hated seeing him in that situation. He wished Jiraiya had called him before the fighting began. As he watched the battlefield, another burst of smoke appeared above the forest. A gigantic bird emerged from it and began dropping eggs across the entire area.
Kakashi, Jiraiya, and Team 8 noticed the falling objects and went on alert. The eggs struck the ground throughout the clearing, including near the three members of Team 8. Then they began to glow.
"They're going to explode!" Shino warned urgently.
"Get out of there!" Kiba shouted.
But it already seemed too late. Explosions erupted one after another across the area. Trees snapped, the ground shook, and a cloud of dust covered the places where the Konoha shinobi had been fighting and hiding.
"Naruto, they're there!" Sakura said, appearing beside him. She watched the destruction unfolding in the distance.
"I know." Naruto could sense each person's chakra amid the chaos. He knew they had all been caught in the explosions, but he also felt the Fox's chakra he had left with them release to protect them. None of them seemed to be in danger at that moment.
Among the broken trees, Team 8 looked around, stunned by the state of the clearing. Several eggs had landed right where they stood, and all three had watched the explosions spread around them. Even so, none of them had been hurt. A layer of red chakra surrounded their bodies.
"What is this?" Kiba asked, looking from one teammate to another before examining the chakra covering his own arms.
"It's Naruto's chakra," Hinata said. She recognized the feeling as soon as she noticed the layer protecting them.
"It's like what we saw in the village," Shino added, remembering the protection his teammates, the Hokage, and others had received during the fight against Danzō.
"But when did he do this?" Kiba asked. He tried to remember a moment when Naruto might have passed his chakra to the three of them. Then he thought of how Naruto had greeted them before they left Konoha's gate, touching each of them. "That bastard. He really did it."
There was no resentment in his voice. Kiba sighed and looked again at the layer of chakra, realizing that Naruto had protected them before the battle had even begun.
"He protected us," Shino said.
"Yeah, but I don't think I'll thank him for it," Kiba muttered, turning his attention back to the clearing. Hinata did not answer. Her gaze had already returned to the battle.
Farther ahead, Kakashi was also enveloped in red chakra. Jiraiya had escaped the explosion with Gamabunta, who had leaped back before it could hit him. Seeing Kakashi and Team 8 still on their feet, he let out a relieved breath and looked up at the bird still circling overhead.
The Animal Path watched the clearing from above. His gaze moved over the layer of chakra surrounding Kakashi, then over the three members of Team 8. It was the Nine-Tails' chakra. Nagato had received information about it, but he had not known Naruto could leave his protection with others in that way. Now he understood why they had all survived the attack.
He had expected to kill them. He wanted Jiraiya to watch his companions die and feel that loss before his eyes. What he had not expected was for the space above the bird's head to begin distorting the next instant.
The Animal Path's eyes widened. The creature's head was pulled into the vortex and vanished into the Kamui dimension. Without it, the bird lost control and began to fall.
"How many times can he use that?" Nagato murmured. Kakashi had already taken his arm, and yet he had just used Kamui again. That ability was proving quite troublesome...
On the ground, Kakashi silently watched the bird fall. He could feel the strain on his body. He had never used Kamui so many times in a single battle, but the Fox's chakra Naruto had left with him continued to help. He had already activated the technique three times and was still standing. Under any other circumstances, that would probably have pushed his body to its limit.
The bird crashed onto a pile of destroyed trees, kicking up even more dust. A second burst of smoke, much smaller than the ones that had accompanied the summoned creatures, appeared among the debris, but Kakashi had no time to look at it. One of the dog's heads tried to bite him, forcing him to leap away.
The creature had split its body in two, and each half advanced from a different side. There were two dogs now. Nagato seemed determined to keep Kakashi occupied, giving him no time to use Kamui again.
Jiraiya returned to the battlefield and landed beside Team 8. "Are you all right?" he asked, looking at the three of them.
"We are," they replied.
"Good. Now stay back, all right? We still have problems to deal with." Jiraiya turned toward the dust raised by the bird's fall. He could sense six people standing in that direction. One of them seemed to be using a jutsu, and something large appeared among the debris before he could make out what it was.
When the dust began to settle, the Animal Path was no longer among the others. Only five bodies and a grotesque creature stood there. A moment later, the Animal Path emerged from the creature's mouth. His arm, however, was still missing. He looked at his shoulder in surprise. Kakashi had sent the arm to another dimension; since it was no longer there, the King of Hell had been unable to restore it.
The rhinoceros also emerged from the wreckage. It looked a little injured, but it could still charge forward, knocking down the trees ahead of it. Gamabunta swung his sword and impaled it before it could reach Jiraiya. The creature vanished in a puff of smoke. The toad then turned his blade toward one of the dogs pursuing Kakashi.
Kakashi moved away from the other dog, which was already close to him, and activated Kamui with even greater force. The vortex opened over the dog and grew until it swallowed its entire body. At the same time, Gamabunta's sword came down on the other dog, pinning it to the ground before it could attack again.
"Are you all right?" asked Jiraiya, who had climbed back onto Gamabunta.
"I am," Kakashi replied, though he could not completely hide his labored breathing. He sighed and tried to catch his breath. He had never used Kamui so many times in a single fight, and his body still had its limits, even with the Fox's chakra helping him. Even so, he felt he could use the technique a few more times if necessary.
"Good. Now we have six problems to deal with," Jiraiya said, staring at the Paths ahead of them.
The others looked in the same direction. The six bodies stood together, watching the Konoha shinobi and the sword holding the dog down.
"You Konoha shinobi are becoming more and more troublesome," said one of the Paths—the main one.
The Deva Path, or rather, Yahiko's corpse.
That was when Naruto appeared beside Kakashi using the Hiraishin. Kakashi sensed his presence and turned his head. The six Paths looked at him too, surprised by the way he had appeared on the battlefield.
"So you're Nagato Uzumaki," Naruto said, taking a step forward. "I imagine you heard what Jiraiya-sensei said. You're still following the plans of men who brought destruction into your life. Even knowing what happened, you still can't see that they're using you."
Naruto walked forward, passing Gamabunta and the dog pinned beneath his sword. He stopped between the six Paths and his companions, though the Paths were about fifty meters away.
The Deva Path stared at him with narrowed eyes. It was the first time he had met the redhead.
"You must be Naruto Uzumaki," one of the Paths said, turning his full attention to him. "The Nine-Tails' jinchūriki."
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