Sakura was on duty at the hospital when the six flares exploded in the sky, staining the beginning of chaos in red. The alert was immediate, and within minutes the first wounded began to arrive. The protocol indicated that everyone should be evacuated to underground shelters or redirected to the secondary hospital, but it was impossible. Panicked people ran to the hospital seeking protection; the hallways filled with the cries of civilians, the sound of rolling stretchers, and screams of pain.
"We need more space here! This side is collapsing!" shouted a nurse.
The jōnin established a desperate perimeter outside to divert the giant summons, while the hospital became, de facto, an emergency and refuge center. Critically wounded arrived non-stop. Some with charred limbs, others with exposed organs. Sakura, as the disciple of Tsunade-sama, knew she couldn't falter.
Shizune and Ino joined her immediately, forming the front line of stabilization. "Keep applying pressure! This Jutsu can't fail now!" shouted Shizune, her forehead drenched in sweat. Ino moved between patients with surgical speed, her mental and spiritual precision at its peak, using what little she had learned of medical Jutsu to help. Beside her was Emi, the young samurai, who refused to leave her side. "I'm with you, Ino. I'll do whatever it takes," he murmured as he used his first aid skills, suturing wounds, bandaging, and stopping bleeding.
With the arrival of several Katsuyu extensions, the situation partially stabilized. Tsunade's chakra, channeled through the soft body of the slug, wrapped Sakura's hands in a comforting warmth. "You must stay strong, Sakura. You can do this," said Katsuyu's voice, anchoring her amid the storm.
But the calm was an illusion. Katsuyu warned her that the jōnin on the perimeter were facing a summoned creature unlike the others: a thin, agile aberration with concentric eyes and the ability to absorb chakra. "Can you intervene?" asked Katsuyu seriously.
"I can't! These two will die if I leave them!" Sakura replied through clenched teeth. Her hands were on two unconscious jōnin, one Hyūga and one Inuzuka, both bleeding internally. Tsunade's chakra wasn't enough. She needed more time.
"Then have faith. Reinforcements are approaching..." Katsuyu tried to calm her. But before she could finish, a piercing scream erupted from within the hospital.
A new figure burst through the threshold with force. A grotesque creature, obese, with four arms and hide-like skin. Its Rinnegan eyes seemed to see beyond the physical. In each hand it held someone: Ino and a patient by the neck, while the other two pressed on Shizune's head and throat.
"If anyone moves, they die," it growled harshly.
Emi reacted immediately, but when he saw the patient bleeding from the neck and the creature's hand beginning to squeeze Ino's throat, he froze.
Shizune's eyes were completely white. Sakura knew instantly: it wasn't fear. The monster was doing something more. It was... reading. Absorbing.
"...Mount Myōboku..." murmured the creature, as if repeating an echo stolen from Shizune's mind. Sakura's heart stopped for a second. They were looking for Naruto.
Sakura charged chakra into her arms. She was ready. "Don't you dare touch her!" she thought.
But Emi was faster. Using a swift and precise technique, he slid in with his katana and severed the hand holding Ino. The creature screamed in rage, crushed the patient's neck, and in the same motion ripped Shizune's soul from her body with a spiritual technique that chilled everyone present. Then it escaped through the wall with inhuman speed.
Sakura stood still. Trembling. With burning tears she couldn't allow to fall. She had wanted revenge. She had wanted to chase after it. But two lives were under her hands, hanging by a thread.
She took a deep breath.
"My patients' lives come first..." she murmured. And she kept healing. Because she was Tsunade's disciple. Because she was a war medic. Because she couldn't allow another loss.
<<<< o >>>>
Sasuke wanted to pursue the one responsible for the village desolation and the near death of Kakashi, his old mentor. But the urgent pleas from Katsuyu, asking for assistance on multiple fronts, pushed both his Sharingan and body to their limits. Even so, he was steadily getting closer to the heart of Konoha: the Hokage's tower.
"The Deva Path is in front of Lady Tsunade!" warned Katsuyu through one of her clones.
Sasuke didn't hesitate. He focused his chakra into his legs, took a deep breath, and activated his Lighting Breath. Everything slowed down. Time itself seemed to yield to his stride. The world distorted around him, and like an electric shadow, he shot toward the rooftop.
When he arrived, he saw it: the Deva Path slowly ascending into the air, like a god parting from the mortal world. In the distance, the summoned beasts were vanishing one by one, dissolving like smoke that never should have existed. A colossal mass of chakra gathered around him, visible even without a dōjutsu.
"With this power... I will show you the true meaning of pain," Pain declared, his deep voice echoing across the silent village.
Sasuke gritted his teeth. "I won't let you... I won't allow this!"
His Mangekyō Sharingan flared with fury. Just as Itachi had taught him, he summoned Susanoo: a massive figure of dark chakra emerging around him. A black bow appeared in his hand, and with a surge of power, Sasuke shaped an arrow from the black flames of Amaterasu. "You're not escaping this!"
The shot ripped through the sky. Blood streamed from his eyes from the strain, but his resolve didn't waver. Pain tried to respond, but the attack struck him full force, launching him like a shooting star beyond the village.
In the distance, right at the moment of impact, the chakra Pain had been building detonated. The earth trembled, trees were uprooted like leaves in a storm, and an explosion of devastating magnitude tore through the forest's edge. A wave of debris surged toward Konoha's wall, but it held, barely containing the destruction.
Sasuke dropped to one knee, gasping. His Susanoo, consumed by its own flames, faded into the air. He looked up. In the distance, he saw the figure of the Deva Path... still standing. Damaged, but not defeated.
Everyone present, even Tsunade, looked at him with surprise and respect. Sasuke stood tall, his voice steady:
"Leave him to me, Lady Hokage."
Tsunade, exhausted, gave a faint nod. "Keep one of the Katsuyu with you. I'll restore you before you reach him. I want you at full strength."
The small fragment of the slug clung to his shoulder. Sasuke inhaled, feeling the chakra surge like lightning through his muscles. He activated his Lighting Breath once more and dashed toward the outskirts of the village, determined to intercept his enemy before he could return to strike again.
<<<< o >>>>
Jiraiya stood at the edge of the village, panting lightly, his body marked with cuts and covered in dust. From atop a rocky formation, he watched as the Deva Path was flung beyond Konoha's borders by the black arrow forged of searing flames—Amaterasu, made manifest. A faint smile touched his lips. "So the Uchiha boy isn't playing around…"
But Jiraiya knew the fight was far from over. He could feel the gathering chakra building in the distance where the Deva Path had landed. A massive explosion far outside the village made Jiraiya's blood run cold as he watched a wave of debris slam against Konoha's walls. They had held… but several breaches had appeared.
Wasting no time, he bit his thumb and slammed it against the ground. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"
With a burst of smoke, Fukasaku appeared.
"Master Jiraiya! Is it that bad already?"
"Worse than I thought, old friend. I'll need Sage Mode."
"Then let's not waste a second."
Fukasaku perched on his shoulder, channeling natural energy as the air around them began to shift. The world itself seemed to hold its breath.
A minute later, Jiraiya's features transformed, taking on more toad-like traits thanks to Fukasaku's support. He abandoned his sandals and launched himself toward the outskirts, advancing slowly, being careful not to fall into an ambush by their enemy to where the Deva Path could be seen slowly rising, his body heavily damaged by the arrow, it was clear that part of the power of his destructive technique had been used to protect the body of the deva path... Yahiko's body.
"I knew you were using Yahiko's body…" Jiraiya murmured as he landed several meters from his enemy. "You've really sunk low, Nagato."
Pain raised his gaze, and in an instant, the Animal Path descended from the sky, followed by the reappearance of the other Paths. Restored. In formation. The Animal, Preta, Asura, Naraka, and Human Paths aligned beside the Deva Path—a semicircle of death.
"Then I'll fight you… even if it breaks my heart," said Jiraiya, flexing his fingers. "It's not the first time I've been outnumbered."
The battle began.
The Asura Path launched missiles from his arm while the Human Path moved with supernatural speed, circling for a rear assault. Jiraiya dodged with swift footwork and unleashed Hari Jizō, his hair transforming into defensive spikes to deflect the projectiles. He then slammed the ground: Doton: Yomi Numa, momentarily trapping the Human Path's legs in a swamp.
While in the distance, Pain using the Naraka Path restores the Deva Path body to its full capacity. Now his wounds have disappeared, forgotten in the underworld.
"Senpō: Goemon!" he cried out with Fukasaku, hurling a torrent of burning oil at the Preta and Animal Paths. But the Preta Path absorbed the Jutsu, and the Animal Path used his summoning to dispel the remaining flames.
"Rasengan!" Jiraiya roared, ramming it into the Asura Path—only to be thrown back by the sudden pull of the Deva Path's repulsion technique, sending him crashing into a distant hill.
Jiraiya pushed himself back up, coughing blood. His bones ached. A spike from the Asura Path had pierced his shoulder. Fukasaku still clung to him, breathing raggedly.
"This… is as hard as I expected," the sage muttered.
"Jiraiya-chan! Behind you!" Fukasaku shouted. But it was too late. A spike from the Preta Path pierced through the toad sage, disrupting the flow of natural energy and beginning to absorb it. Jiraiya dropped to his knees, his senses blurred, his muscles burning from the venom.
"Is this… the end…?"
At that moment, a roar of chakra split the air. A colossal figure emerged from the dust and light: Sasuke's Susanoo, its skeletal arm raised to shield Jiraiya from the Preta Path. The other massive arm struck the monster that had absorbed the Amaterasu surrounding the Susanoo, but failed to consume its skeletal frame—it was hurled away like a discarded doll.
"Sorry I'm late… Master Jiraiya. This is my fight now."
Sasuke stepped forward, the black bow already forming in his hands, the flames of Amaterasu beginning to swirl around his arrow.