Ruinous energies washed over all who stood in the shadow of their presence, the full weight of malicious intent, and unbridled hatred, were cast over their perceptions as the driving force behind this great and terrible power, threatening to smother them with its intensity.
They both seethed with this power. Personifications of wroth and ruin, the both of them.
In contrast, Pein, and his paths stood opposite them. The Bulwark against the tide that crashed and broke over their own collective power. Neither side wavered, seemingly assured of their respective victories.
The siblings struck out first. Though none could be sure which was the one who delivered the opening strike. Perhaps they'd done it simultaneously. Either way the result was the same, a blast of red energy erupted beneath the six enemies, scattering them in a mad dash to escape the destruction.
They rushed in, slipping through the opening like razors cutting through fine cloth.
Pein never lost sight of either one, a dozen eyes focusing on them, and so he always knew their target.
Him.
He braced himself, blurs of speed colored black and white as they attacked with claws that could rend flesh and blows that could shatter bones.
He ducked, dodged and weaved, twisting his body between a mad flurry of attacks from both opponents as he divided his attention between following the movements of both enemies and gathering the power within himself.
He expelled it, pushing back with most of his psychonic might as he repelled both enemy nin away from his person
Booted feet dug into the earth, ready to bounce back when the others were on them.
A fist slammed into Akina's stomach , pushing her back even further as Asura path stood between her and the main body, a foot striking her face a split second later as she moved to recover, making her stumble before catching herself.
Asura path moved to attack again, seeking to push the assault before she recovered.
She did recover however, blocking the first attack before countering with snarls on her lips and her claws slashing across flesh, tearing cloth, sinew, skin and metal with rending tears as she kicked the corpse away.
A blow to the back of her head made her fall forward snarling before standing up again and rounding on her new opponent, Preta path, and rushing him, intending to rip him limb from limb as she'd done a moment ago to his brethren.
On the other side of the chamber Naruto grasped firmly onto animal path's foot, grasping the cold skin through the cloth of his pants before throwing him into the wall with bone crushing force.
He stepped to the side, ducking low as he avoided human path's high spin kick before turning on him,, finding the thing's exposed back revealed to his sight.
With a flash of claws, the corpse's spine was slashed open. It jerked, twitching for a moment before falling forward, unmoving.
Naruto barely gave the corpse another look, turning to face his next victim, he only found, Deva path however, his hand stretched outward.
Before his mind registered the threat, a force slammed into his chest, throwing him to the far wall and pushing him through it into the next room.
Deva and Animal path rushed through the hole, pressing the attack as human path's still and bloodied corpse was swallowed by dark energies, slipping out of real space along with Azura path for barely a second before both paths emerged again, fully restored and rushed forward, ready to fight their respective opponents again.
She was aware of the painful sensation of her body resting almost entirely on her stomach and an arm wrapped around her legs, keeping her in place.
It was rather simple to deduce that she was being carried.
She opened her mouth to tell whoever it was to let her down, but the only thing that emerged was 'Nghh.'
The person stopped, shifting her and placing her down on a floor that was too cold and too hard. She shivered, opening her eyes she found herself staring at the disheveled appearance of Hatake Kakashi, his forehead protector gone, letting his hair fall limply over his face, and his Sharingan eye left naked to the cold wind, a little of his mask torn and part of his clothes singed at the edges.
"You alright?" He asked.
"What happened?" She rubbed her aching head, the blood pounding beneath her temples.
He didn't need to answer, a moment later her extra-sensory perceptions kicked in, and the raw evil of the Chakra that saturated the air told her clearly enough what was going on.
He grabbed onto her arm, bringing her attention back to him. "Come on, we have to move now! Can you walk?"
She swallowed, moistening her sandpaper throat as she shakily began to reach her feet.
Again, Kakashi's grip on her arm brought her attention to him. "Come on, we need to find our way out of here.
"Wait, what about the others?" She asked, one hand still clutching her throbbing head.
Kakashi's eyes narrowed minutely beneath the thin, broken veil that was his mottled down hair. "We need to find the exit. We can find the others outside."
She started to nod, but stopped herself, warning bells ringing in her head as loud as a blaring siren.
She held her feet firm, not allowing Kakashi to pull her down the winding tunnel.
She was still Konoha's prime hostage against Suna.
Kakashi's glare became downright dangerous, his Sharingan beginning to spin slowly in his iris.
"Don't make this harder on yourself." He said.
"I think I'll take my chances."
"I may be beaten up, but I can still take you down, princess."
Temari shifted her weight, readying herself to fight.
There was a rumble beneath their feet, then a crash somewhere behind the copy ninja, a gust of wind and biting chips of ice that streaked past her face, stinging her skin and eyes.
A shroud of red, seething hate, flashing claws and snarling teeth. That was all she saw as the ground beneath her feet shuddered and crumbled beneath her.
She fell with a shout, the sound was overpowered by the crashing of an avalanche, she felt the weightlessness of a fall, and her vision swam with white, intermittent flashes of color here and there where the mass of snow broke apart in its descent.
The ground hit her feet with the suddenness of falling into a lake of ice water, she stumbled forward, falling onto her hands and knees before snow and ice collapsed over her body, burring her beneath a mound of white.
Above, Kakashi cursed, shielding his eyes and face with his arms against the energies that tore at his skin like the lashes of a whip.
He looked down, measuring the fall and the weight of the snow that must have fallen over her. The probabilities were high that she'd survived, but they were just as high that she may have broken something during her fall.
He thought of jumping down, attempting to dig her out, but the malicious chakra beat against his body like the lash. Stinging and sending the pain cutting deep into the bone.
This battle was beyond him now, beyond them all. This was a clash between those who were more than simply human. For people who had trancended a boundary that approached the realms of sheer madness. He held no place here.
With one last look at the mound of snow the Kunoichi was buried under, he turned and fled down the tunnel, determined to reach a safe distance from this.
Pure reflex and savage instinct drove him now, his mind consumed by a strange clarity and simple calm. All their movements were slow, all their attacks predictable, all their feints transparent, and lures simple diversions.
But they were fast, and the blows were too many from too many directions to seize an opening. And just as he could see their intent, they could see his with eight eyes tied to one mind observed every move he made and every step he took.
Power drove him as he could feel his battered and beaten body threatening to fail beneath the crushing weight of the immaterial energies that coursed through his veins and seeped through every pore of his body.
It was as though he was being weighed down by an anchor, binding him, and, stiffing and suffocating even as he strained against it.
He was not sure which would succeed in destroying him first, his crumbling flesh or the Akatsuki's pretender of a god.
He ducked. There...an opening. His hand lashes out, and claws rend flesh from sinew and cleave through bone, an arm falls away, its owner retreats. But he'll return again with his limb reattached and ready for a fight. He needed to find how they were doing this. It was neither simple regeneration or healing, neither he nor Tsunade could easily regrow a severed limb, and even if they could, not with enough physical strength to continue fighting at their previous level as unimpeded as these husks seem to do.
This is no simple medical ninjutsu, nor is it a bloodline.
Something hits him, a force, an energy; it was he, the one who acts as the face of these toys.
He stumbles from the force, nearly loosing his footing for a moment before he recovers, but a knife is soon driven into the back of his knee and another through his ribs.
He coughs but he doesn't open his mouth swallowing it down even as more blood bubbles up from his throat like boiling water in a cauldron.
He strikes back, his attacker dodges, pulling the knives out with him, this one wont be stupid enough to leave him a weapon like the witch had done.
Movement to his other side, he raises his arm, and there's an impact not a second later. The first one was back and their Face remains in the distance, waiting for his next chance to strike, power gathering along the tips of his fingers, ready for him to make another mistake.
So he makes one.
The force comes, but this time, its expected, and he's prepared.
He doesn't stumble, he recovers, and with a ripple of ruinous energy the two fighting him are thrown back, flames bursting over their clothing as his own skin burns away from his body.
When he attacks, the so called god remains passive, calm, but his eyes are too sensitive to movement and light now, and his ears too sensitive to sound, to not perceive the so called God's surprise as his body fumbles to catch up with his mind for barely a second as he determines what to do.
His claws swing, aiming for something vital, something painful. The edged tips of his fingers wont hit either of those things, the man's too skilled for that.
But they will hit.
Cloth and blood fall to the floor. And he cant help but wonder: What kind of god scrambles for his life?
He lunges again, but this time he does not get so near, his target turns, hands outstretched, and the force slams into him again, pushing him back violently.
He recovers, staring at the ringed eyes, and through his gaze, conveys a message.
'I've cut your flesh, God. Now, I'll cut your throat.'
Gaara hissed through clenched teeth, one hand over his stomach, hot blood gushing between his fingers as he was half carried half dragged down the tunnel by the surviving Anbu guard, Kankuro was no better, out of his suit now, his brother's body seemed unbelievably small now, slumped forward, dead to the world as two Anbu carried his body in a hurried pace to get away.
The captain was ahead of them, taking point, making sure the tunnels were clear.
The blood loss was starting to get to him, he felt light headed and faint, whatever the Akatsuki's leader had cut him with, Shukakku was having trouble healing it. And pain made every footfall feel as though it would be his last as his boots had all the weight of lead blocks and his clothes felt as though they were chains weighing him down.
"Hurry! This way, we have to get out before they bring this place down around us!"
Those words brought something to mind, made him remember. They couldn't leave. They were missing someone.
He planted his feet on the ground, the added resistance making the Anbu who's shoulder he was leaning on pause, craning his neck back around to face him.
"Sir?" He asked.
Gaara tried to pull away, tugging his arm from its place over the man's shoulders and, shocked the Anbu couldnt stop him from prying his wrist free.
The Kazekage's legs nearly gave out, causing him to stumble until he planted himself firmly against the slick wall of the tunnel.
"Sir!" The Anbu yelled again when it seemed as though he would fall.
The captain doubled back, passing the two who carried Kankuro without a glance as he placed a hand on his leader's arm, steadying him.
"Sir, sir do you know where you are? Do you remember?"
The red maned Godaime shook his head, "Temari-get...get Temari"
"Sir." The captain said with a firm nod. "You take priority here. We must get you away from here, to the safety of our own borders as soon as possible."
His frustration spiking, Gaara moved to take a step, but there his legs failed, and instead of grasping the man by the collar as he had intended, he fisted the cloth of his jacket along the side of his stomach
"No-Temari, you get her out you hear me." His voice was croaking out of his throat, dry and exhausted, as his eyes swam, trying to focus on the captain standing above him. "You get her out."
"I'm sorry sir." The captain answered at length. "But I would never risk your life. Not even for the lady Sabaku. Grab him." He ordered.
"No."
Again Gaara tried to struggle, but his blows were weak, and his limbs were heavy as the crimson liquid kept on spilling out from his open stomach. The two men grabbed his arms, hauling him up to his feet before dragging his weakly struggling body through the tunnel, away from the sounds of battle.
He tried to fight, he couldn't do it again, count leave her, couldn't suffer the thought that she was dead again due to his failings all over again.
But he would have to apparently. Because the captain's pull was too insistent, and the titans clashing somewhere behind them were too strong, and he was just...
He was just too weak.
Too damn weak...
The fist hits her hard, harder than any she's ever felt, probably harder than her brother's, and she feels herself slam solidly against the wall, ice cracked and bones strained, but I kept my eyes firmly open, one wrong move, one lapse, and she'd be finished, these two were too strong for slips.
She raises her hand claws digging harshly into the ice above her head before she pulls herself up, flipping so her head is to the ground and her feet are towards the roof as her opponent punches the spot she was previously leaning against, sending spiderweb cracks along the surface.
She pushes herself off, landing behind him, pinning him between herself and the unyielding, stubborn wall as she attacks, swiping at his feet with a clawed foot of her own, then to his shoulder, stomach, face and throat before finally kicking his chest, all blows land.
He's thrown back against the wall like she was and this time, he doesn't stop, punching straight through to a cavern on the other side. Mist and glittering crystal fills her eyes and for a moment she looses track of him, she steps forward, hoping to continue the attack.
But the fat puppet recovers, standing up with his arms hanging down like a limp doll, its body twisting itself back into a proper position with the sickening cracks and pops of bones being forcefully shoved back into place.
His eyes snapped to her, and he jumped with surprising speed given his stout physique.
He aimed for the edge of the new opening, his fist cocked back, he punched the solid wall of ice, shattering it even further as the impact drove chunks of debris onto her.
She ducked and weaved, avoiding the pieces of ice that would have crushed her beneath their weight until she found Asura path in front of her again.
Again, when his fist hit, it hit hard.
Her head snapped back, and she felt the wind knocked out of her as he followed up with a strike to her stomach that sent her stumbling backwards.
Right into the arms of the awaiting Preta.
His grip was like steel the moment he had her. And her struggles with claw and tooth, chakra limbs and raw strength were simply not enough, the flesh mannequin did not even budge his purely defensive capabilities making sure he had a firm hold on both her physical body and the immaterial energies that fueled her.
Before she could continue struggling however, Asura path was on her again, and this time she could not fight back.
Blows, which felt like she was being clubbed with an iron mace rained down on her body, her head, her stomach, her chest, more than once she felt a rib snap within her. It was clear that the Akatsuki wanted her merely unconscious, not dead.
Or maybe he just wanted her to feel pain before she went.
Her lungs soon burned from lack of air, her throat stung with the taste of copper and acid as her stomach dry heaved with every repeated strike to her mid section as her head throbbed from blow after blow as blood dripped from between her parted lips down her clothes.
Another strike cracked against her skull and the edges of her sight went dark for a moment
Was this it?
Was this all it was going to come down to? Held here like some civilian getting mugged. One holding her down the other hitting as hard as he could?
Was this all that she could do?
Unbidden, the image of her brother came to her mind clad in his armor and robe, standing over her as he always did before slowly turning his back on her.
So weak.
The thought was like poison slithering through her mind, an insidious whisper that left bitter acid in its wake and a foul taste that had nothing to do with the blood, pooling at the back of her throat.
The bitterness soon changed, morphing into thick, swelling anger that burned hot tears through her eyes that evaporated as they trailed down her face, consumed by the heat of the daemonic chakra.
This was not going to happen.
She would not end like this.
She would not let it end like this.
She was stronger than this.
The same anger that had driven her at the beginning of this battle roared to life in her belly again, feeding on itself as it burned bright and hot and her sight bled into red.
The chakra around her body increased, flash boiling the ice at their feet. Behind her, Preta path was, literally being immolated as his muscles clenched tight, trying to hold on, the endless tide of red Chakra beginning to overwhelm his defensive abilities.
Asura path backed away, his flat, grinning features belying no expression even as his cone shaped head opened up, revealing a large crystal suspended within a crystal dome, framed by mechanical replacements where his brain and skull should have been.
But the young girl was beyond caring at this point. Her struggles renewed, thrashing and twisting, clawing at the arms that still held firm even as the owners body began to turn into one giant piece of tinder, with his cloak combusting around his body and his skin being burned off of his very bones.
Finally, with a wrenching pull that tore off one of Preta path's arms she was free, and the realization was swallowed whole by pure animal instinct, rounding on her captor and tackling him to the ground.
Her feet on hist chest, the creature that she'd become tore at the preserved corpse with wild savagery, ignoring Asura path as he continued to gather Chakra to his weapon.
She panted and hissed, bloody spittle dripping from between tightly clenched teeth, feeling little more than the overwhelming urge to kill this creature.
Perhaps some part of her which still retained the ability to process thought, recognized that she would never succeed at this battle by use of her hands alone, or perhaps it was sheer instinct that drove her to prove her superiority.
Either way, she began to gather the monstrous chakra to a focus point.
Beneath her, Preta path, still surviving wounds that would have killed a hundred men over at this point, once again brought up his defenses, stalling the feral, wild woman while his other channeled his own energy somewhere behind her.
The forces of the beast bent to her will, her entire body shaking with the strain as dark matter pulsed and rippled, coalescing into a ball between her and her target
It was then Asura path fired, a lance of pure energy tearing across the distance between them, heading dead center of her exposed back.
The movement was too fast to see, even for the legendary doujutsu. Before Pein's collective hive consciousness could comprehend what was occurring, the young woman had reached down, grabbing Preta path by the shoulders as her clawed feet did the same to the clothes around his mid section.
Swiveling forward, she pulled the body's lower half with her, and fired the dark ball of energy that had been suspended between them.
The forces collided, pinning Preta path between the beam of his comrade and the mass of dark energy, both threatening to overwhelm his shields.
The animal Akina had become, crouched on all fours, staring at her enemy, displeasure creasing her brow as she growls, unsatisfied that he was not yet a stain on the wall.
For a moment, she's at a loss, but only a moment, as the answers bleed into her mind, like pictures before a child's eye, she see's and she mimics but does not truly comprehend. Does not control.
She barely felt the explosion that followed before her world went dark.
Somewhere up above, freezing, nearly completely buried beneath a mound of chipped ice and snow, lay the Suna princess. When she awoke, it was with a strangled choking gasp that sucked a mouthful of ice into her mouth.
She chocked, coughing and sputtering before her training took over and she stilled herself, coaxing the faint traces of air in her lungs to sustain her longer than normal as she looked around her, finding nothing but ice and snow, she then sought to determine where the surface was closest to. She must have been close, given that she'd breathed for this long.
Turning just a bit, she determined the light was harsher to her left, the side facing upwards.
Then, carefully, she pulled a kunai and carved herself a small opening.
Her legs were numb, her extremities were freezing, and it took all of her willpower not to shiver uncontrollably in what, she was rapidly becoming aware, were temperatures reaching fucking cold.
Not just plain old cold.
Fucking cold.
Why in the hell couldn't the whole world be a desert?
She blinked, daring some movement, she skirted lightly to the side to get a different angle, and there she stopped herself dead.
She was staring right at the back of one of the members of the Akatsuki.
Her heart leaped into her throat and she wondered to herself just how long he or, she'd been there.
He stood perfectly still, his hands in some kind of seal, she couldn't tell if his eyes were open or closed from where she lay directly behind him, but she imagined they weren't, given the fact that he had a Doujutsu.
Still, as she listened more closely, the sounds of battle were distant echoes. He was not in any fight.
An explosion rumbled up from beneath them somewhere, shaking the entire fortress as bits and pieces of ice crumbled from their places on the wall.
A moment after that she had her answer.
In an instant, two 'tears' opened up in the air along either side of him, black as the void, two bodies soon emerged from within, and she recognized them as more of those same Akatsuki that had stormed into the room earlier.
"Restored." The first one she'd seen drawled in monotone, before the two arrivals left, jumping down a hole in the ground in pursuit of their previous target.
She waited and then, again, soon enough, another tear appeared, this time with a different, yet still familiar person emerged, unscathed before he too, rushed off without a word.
She waited, and, without fail, more and more tears appeared, but this time, she noticed that it was always the same two who emerged, over and over again, as though beyond those tears he held an endless supply of copies to dish out into the fight.
She hadn't seen the first two again, but it didn't take Shikamaru to figure this out.
If this one died, the others would loose their reinforcements and be dead soon enough.
With numb fingers, she clutched the kunai in her hand as tightly as she could and slowly tested out her limbs to make sure that, despite the fact that they were freezing, that she could still rely on them to not have her fall flat on her face when she finally made a move.
Fourteen paces. She estimated. She could cover four before he turned around and saw her, maybe three more before he recognized her as a threat. That was half the distance. In two more steps he'd be looking for her attack. He'd see the kunai in three more, and judge where he needed to block with the rest. She'd have to throw a kunai at the third step to throw him off. Hopefully it would be enough. She didn't have enough energy in her weakened muscles to do much more than this.
She waited for the opening, waited for the chance to strike.
She didn't need to wait long.
They were still standing, still prepared to continue the fight.
So was he.
Even though his body was failing him, slowing, weakening, even though he could barely control his chakra enough to form most of his techniques and he simply had his hands and feet as his weapons, he was ready. He would always be ready. He was the weapon, the demon king. The man who could not be killed.
And he would not be killed this day.
Not even by a God.
Abruptly, his enemies froze, their bodies going tense, and he saw a flicker of fear pass before their eyes. As one, they retreated, running away to whatever place had called them back, to whatever had put the fear in their eyes.
Slowly, his hands fell to his side. He would not pursue, he didnt need to, they would come back to him.
Besides...he doubted he even had the strength left for a chase.
And also, there was someplace else, he needed to be.
Slowly, taking care, he turned, marching down the empty, crumbling tunnels, getting closer.
He wound his way through the caverns of crystal, their glittering surfaces standing as a mockery to the rampant bloodshed within its halls.
He wasn't sure how long he was walking before he found her.
She stumbled towards him, favoring one leg. The one that wasn't bleeding. Clutching at her shoulder with the opposite hand as it too bled, her breaths were ragged, indicating broken ribs, and the red shroud of the demon had melted away from her, exhausted, unlike his own which still clung protectively around him.
When he approached, he watched her strength ebb away, her knees simply giving up the fight allowing her to fall forward before he caught her.
She was too heavy, and he fell with her, resting on one knee with his sister bleeding out.
She was limp, pale, cold in his arms, and the blood left a bright, thick trail to follow. How much had she lost by now, he wondered.
"I'm sorry." She breathed, one hand clutching at the folds of his clothes, grimacing in pain as he held her upper body off the ground. "I'm sorry..." She repeated. "I...really tried."
He watched her carefully, a pained smile lifting her face for a moment. "Guess, I'll never...be as strong as you are, huh?"
He said nothing, raising his free hand as it ghosted over the injuries, the touch of the chakra healing the most grievous of wounds. It was all he could spare.
She was his to kill, no one else, had the right.
He felt the presences approaching before he heard them, five bodies this time.
Slowly, with foreign gentleness he set Akina down, feeling her grip at his clothes, ignoring it as he turned to face the five opponents.
"Surrender your soul to god." The first one, their leader said. "And it shall be spared from horrid void."
"There were six." was the demon king's reply. "Six...now only five. The sixth is dead. So you offer surrender."
The leader's face tightened just a bit, it was all the answer he needed.
"I kill you now, I kill you for good."
"One devil, no matter how powerful cannot defeat, God." He was still confident, he had the advantage and they both knew it. They could both feel his chakra faltering, sputtering like a dying flame.
Still, it did not matter. He would never simply roll over and die. He'd come too far for that. And others, more worthy than this fool wished him dead and had failed.
"I never said I would defeat you." He answered. "I said I would kill you."
The wind howled along the outside, sending jagged chips of ice that cut at his flesh like razors, two seconds outside and he'd probably be a pin cushion.
As it was, the Copy cat pulled away, back to the relative safety of the interior tunnels as he kept on trying to find a way out.
All around him the ice fortress shook precariously, hairline cracks as thin as a paper spread through some places while others as wide and gaping as the maws of some great beast emerged.
If the winds wouldn't let them escape from this place he was fairly certain of one thing.
They were all royally screwed.
A groan brought his attention to his surroundings, swiveling his eyes to and fro, he tried to focus on the source of the sound. Damn echoes.
He didn't really have to strain himself to find it however.
A near seventy year old man that easily weight two hundred fifty pounds on his own, with thick iron plate armor, leaning on a hammer and leaving a blood trail a mile wide was not exactly difficult to spot.
He stepped forward, and the Devil Shimazu must have been too pained, or too tired to realize that he had company. Because when he grabbed the man's arm it was genuine shock in his response before the copy cat slung his arm over his shoulder.
"Need some help." He grunted.
Offering a bloody grin in response the Iwa nin gave a wet, gurgling chuckle. "Young people these days, so considerate."
Ignoring his sarcasm, Kakashi stumbled his way down the tunnel, once again feeling the biting chill of the wind up ahead, no less harsh, and no more a means of escape than trying to dig their way out.
"Screw it." Yoshihiro grunted, pulling himself free and collapsing onto the nearby wall. "If I'm gonna die here I'm not gonna do it, bleeding out, exhausted, cold and miserable. Crushed and cold works very well for me thank you."
As if to emphasize his point more cracks splintered their way up the wall.
Another gust of wind howled down the tunnel, whipping the copy cats loose hair as it caressed the tresses. "You think we're all gonna die here."
"Most likely." The Iwa nin responded, as though discussing an every day occurrence.
"You think Naruto will live."
"If he does, we did our job. If he doesn't, we failed utterly and the world will tear itself appart shortly before going back to the way things were." His breathing was heavy, and the hand holding the haft of his hammer was barely holding up the weapon, its head resting already on the cold floor.
"Have it all figured out do you?"
"Hah." Shimazu barked out a laugh. "I wish copy cat."
"Suna guys are probably trapped here to." He noted, almost as an after thought.
"We can hope." Yoshihiro said, with an absent shrug. "Last thing we'll need is Suna being completely fine whereas our kingdom will flail about like a chicken without a head. It'd be a blood bath.
Kakashi couldn't disagree. So much...so very much...was relying on Naruto.
He could only pray that, even if they all died, at least he, of all people, made it through this.
The crunch of feet on snow made them tense, bringing both their eyes over towards the end of the tunnel they'd just came from, finding the panting, heaving form of Temari.
"Princess." Yoshihiro cried, delighted as he raised his hand in greeting. "You survived too."
"What are you two doing?" She yelled between heaving breaths, desperate to get her heart rate and breathing under control. "We have to get out of here!"
"Nowhere to run." Kakashi interrupted shrugging. "We're completely surrounded by the storm, and whatever chakra is focusing it now is a lot stronger than any I've ever seen. You'd be lucky to make it through in a metal box, let alone with just some thin vests to shield you."
She looked down the tunnel, where the winds from the outside were picking up bits of ice and snow.
"So that's it then?" She asked receiving a nod from the two older men.
They fell into silence.
"Princess." The Tsuchikage said after a while. "Since we're all most likely gonna die, you mind if I ask you something?"
"Go ahead." She answered, somewhat numb as the emotions settled and fell away from her.
"Why'd you decide to come with us? Why join the rescue?"
For a long while, she said nothing, and both Kakashi and Yoshihiro had thought she'd decided to ignore the question when she finally delivered her answer.
"I...I saw that..." She paused, and both Kakashi and Yoshihiro watched her visibly gather herself, and measure her response this time before giving it.
"Even monster's shouldn't have to fight alone."
If either man thought her statement was an omission of the truth, or a half truth, they did not call her on it and simply allowed the silence to fall again.
The ground fell out from under their feet before lurching right back up, and a roar reached their ears with the rushing of a raging tide they heard it coming closer.
In an instant, fire filled their vision, and the last sensation Temari felt was being expelled from the fortress through the tunnel opening as the hellish inferno gave way to slashing cold before the shock wave of the following explosion knocked her into black abyss.
'Am I dead.'
The thought was a distant thing, and Akina would have probably preferred to be in such a state as matches began to ignite along every nerve ending in her body as she groaned.
She didn't know how long she was unconscious, it could have been minutes, as easily as it could have been days, with nothing but the cold kiss of the wind on her cheek to bring feeling back to her mind.
Everything hurt, and it was as though she were sinking knives into her own flesh as she tried to command it to move for her. Gods above, she could barely even turn her eyes without even those hurting.
Somehow, either through sheer willpower or simple persistence she found her way to her feet.
Sh didn't have the foggiest notion of how long it took her to do that either.
One step forward however, and she was back at square one, flat on her face, with her entire body aching with agony.
Distantly, she wondered if it would be so bad to just lie here. To wait, as either the cold, or the blood seeping from her wounds took her. How much easier it could all be. No more battles...no more sorrow...no more decisions and emotions that left her torn and raw on the inside. Nothing but the cold and the stillness.
So much easier...
She found her way to her feet again.
The sky was a canvas of colors, stormy gray swirled with silvery white and fired orange, purple hues cut through from the sky above it all
Snow fell heavy and slow, more like ash than soft petals of frozen moisture as it clung to her clothes and skin.
Her eyes swept over the landscape. Debris was spread out across the ground as far as they eye could see, mounds of ice were already being swallowed by the perpetual snowfall.
Just how long had she been out?
Regardless, he wasn't difficult to spot. He was the only thing moving on this barren wasteland. A small silhouette in the distance.
Dutifully, with every muscle protesting against her movements...she stumbled forward.
The crunching of footsteps on loose ice announced her proximity, though he sensed her awaken long before she'd made it this far. When she stopped, and he was certain no attack was forthcoming, he returned his gaze back down to the Suna princess who lay at his feet, her face contorted in what he assumed to be some measure of pain.
Kakashi and Yoshihiro lay nearby, he could just see them beneath the thin layer of snow that had settled over their bodies. He was fairly certain they were breathing, but he did not investigate further. If they were dead, then that was that.
"Naruto." His diminutive sibling called out behind him, followed by a sharp intake of breath and a muffled groan as some other pain came to her awareness.
"She came for me." He answered at length before deliberately turning, meeting her gaze. "So did you. Why?"
She paused, struggling to find the words, for him. To find the answer for herself.
"I'm not really sure..." She answered finally. "But...it felt like the right thing to do."
"The right thing to do." he echoed before turning back to look at the Suna princess.
A leaden silence pressed down between the two of them as she waited for him to speak again, having no real words herself to fill in the gap that seemed to be widening with every passing second.
At length, when he spoke, his voice carried the steely undertone it had previously lacked. "You realize...that the words I said before still hold true. This changes nothing. You are still my enemy whence I return to Konoha."
"Then why did you spare me!" She yelled back. The recollection of those final moments within that battle, as Chakra and fire washed over her body, as though she had some kind of shield diverting it around her, away from her.
"Because your death is not here." He answered. As though his words were irrefutable. Certain of himself.
This time, it was she who broke the silence. And her voice carried an emotion he was more than familiar with. Anger.
"So you still intend to go through with it...to go to war with Suna!" It was an accusation.
"Your Kazekage still lives. I imagine that his willingness to go to war will not be tempered after this. And even if it has, I will not allow it. Just as heaven cannot have two suns; earth cannot have two kings." He answered.
"It doesn't have to be this way!" She called back, a note of desperation in his voice. "Just stop! You can bring this whole war with an end with a word! Please!" She paused, and he knew she was fishing for words.
"You can set yourself free." She whispered, so soft it was nearly carried by the wind before it reached him.
He was silent for a long time. Then:
"My freedom was forfeit long ago."
Slowly, almost tenderly, he reached down, picking up the unconscious princess of wind, cradling her against him as he straightened.
"Why are you taking her." The young woman at his back questioned. "She's of no use to you. You intend to make war anyway."
That was true, he did not need the Suna princess, not in the practical sense. But he wished to know, under no uncertain circumstances why she had done this. Why she had risked life and limb to come rescue someone who she should feel total enmity towards. He had not been present nearly enough for her to develop any form of twisted attachment through her confinement.
Hinata perhaps, he himself: certainly not.
He needed answers from her.
Suddenly, like the clapping of a thunderbolt on a still night, there was movement, and the crash of ice falling and settling on the floor from where it had been moved.
The siblings turned as one, finding the silhouette of a man through the icy haze of upturned snow.
"You still do not understand." A new voice spoke up, one they'd never heard before.
Slowly, the figure stepped forward, and the unholy glow of the Rinnegan peeked out from beneath raven black hair. "You yourself are the greatest child of this age of chaos."
He stared at them, the lavender colored eyes shifting and searching, piercing through them as though he were dissecting them. He stood tall, almost as tall as Naruto in full armor. His skin was pale, ghostly pale, too little sunlight and it seemed as though it sagged off his bones, like his skeleton was too thin for the rest of his body.
The man stopped just shy of a meter between the two of them, though his eyes were squarely on Naruto. "And if you do not fall...this land will never see a new dawn."
The demon king stared onto the eyes of the one who called himself a God and spoke simple truth.
"The same is true of you."
Pein, the true Pein, narrowed his eyes on the Kage. A silent challenge there as the legendary eye cut through whatever preamble or pretense laid before him, reaching the heart of it, of him, finding it and laying it bare to his all seeing gaze.
Then, with deliberate slowness, the Akstsuki member turned, knowing he would not be struck, before he began walking, leaving the field.
This was not over.
He vanishes into the fog.
Naruto turns, walking a few paces before setting the Suna princess down in a small area free of debris and ice boulders before turning and dragging his two other subordinates to the same location.
She doesn't know how he has the strength while she's barely even conscious.
She looks down, knowing that when she looks up he will be gone, out of her reach...again, as he'd always been.
But she's surprised at the fact, that when she looks up, he's standing there, watching her.
She stares back, unsure what to make of it as his hand reaches up, slowly, and caresses her cheek with the back of his knuckles.
She sucks in a breath, too shocked to speak or react, to do anything save for stare, and notice the colder kiss of the wind as the blood coating his hand leaves a wet trail across her skin.
But soon, whatever happened, its over, his hand tightens to a fist, trembling and, even though his expression has not changed, she can see his features close, and his eyes turn sharp. He dons his war mask again.
And she realizes the one moment, the one critical time she could have ever reached him, breached the armored fortress that surrounded him, just passed her by, and still she can do naught but watch with increasing despair as the gates that had been open for but an instant, were shut tightly, likely never to open again.
He turns away, and, in the next moment he and those with him are gone, and she can only stare at the vacant spot. Too many emotions running through her mind to count.
Just a scant few miles away, as he reappears still amidst the cold, dry temperature of the northern wastes, the demon king finally collapses, blood rising from his throat and leaking from his eyes.
He falls on his side, and rolls on his back, as he finally allows himself to give into the pain, his world darkening around him, blocking out the gray muddled sky above.
Too close now...far too close.
He collapses, unconscious before his eyes fully close and his head hits the ground.