Chapter 32-Kotoamatsukami!

Chapter 32

Gojo was a bit taken aback by the speed of Sasuke’s recovery, and by his own estimates, it should have taken him at least a few weeks to recover from his injuries, yet now he stood in front of him, all healthy and hale.

“That was quick,” Gojo added, and Sasuke’s face softened a bit as he answered.

“I had help,” and he wondered if that help had come from a certain redhead.

“Still, you asked me to see you once I was healthy, and now I am,” Sasuke added, and that smile vanished in the blink of an eye as if it had never existed at all.

Gojo nodded as he put down his pen and grabbed his hat.

“Well, this is not the appropriate place for such a conversation,” and with that he walked towards the window and pushed it open.

“Follow me,” and when the Hokage gave a command, the ANBU followed, and so a few minutes later Sasuke found himself standing in a very familiar cemetery as his heart hammered in his chest.

They walked through rows upon rows of graves, and each name reminded him of a face and a murder he had been forced to witness a thousand times. His fist balled up until they reached one specific grave.

Sasuke glanced at the name.

“Hana Uchiha,” he whispered, and yet this time, as he reached into his memories, he was not able to track down either a face or a death.

He glanced at the date, and it did not make sense. She had died on the day of the massacre, yet he could not remember her death at all.

Why? Itachi had used his genjutsu to torment him. Sasuke was forced to witness his brother slaughter their entire clan, while he was helpless to do anything. Yet for some reason, there was no mention of this specific person.

“People often say that love is a lie. That it is nothing more than a fleeting likeability,” Gojo Hatake began, and he had never heard such a tone from him. Usually, he would be so joyful or serious, but he had never ever heard him being so soft.

“They are wrong. Love is a storm, and true love is a rarity. True love is a rarity, and the people who find it are the luckiest in the world, and those who lose it after finding it are the most tragic,” and Sasuke looked up at him.

“Who was she?” he asked.

“She was the love of my life,” and with that he looked into his eyes.

“And today I shall tell you the truth of her death....”

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PAIN—NAGATO

Nagato was surprised. He had, of course, expected that this would not be an easy fight, but Hatake’s power had taken him by surprise. He had intended to flatten the entire village with his attack, yet not only was he able to stop it, but he was also able to push him out of Konoha and into this empty field.

The attack coming towards him threatened to swallow him whole, and while the Deva Path still had to wait for a few seconds before he could wield his powers again, ninjutsu truly was ineffective against him.

Preta Path jumped in front of him and raised his hands.

“Gakido,” and with that, he began trying to absorb the ninjutsu as he turned his attention towards the blue-eyed demon who stood in his way.

“Your attacks are meaningless against me...,” but before he could finish his thought, suddenly the purple orb blew through Preta Path, and he could only watch helplessly as the purple orb rushed towards him.

One second.

But before the attack could cut through him, his powers returned to him as Pain raised his hands.

“Almighty Push!” and with that, the purple orb disintegrated, as he turned his attention towards the man in question.

“How?” he gasped, for Preta Path had the ability to absorb any and all ninjutsu, yet why couldn’t it absorb that attack?

Why?

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” he taunted him, but Pain was not done yet, as suddenly a massive three-headed dog emerged from the ground and tried to swallow him whole.

“Devour him, Cerebrus!” Animal Path roared, as the giant three-headed dog bit down at the man, yet his teeth could not touch him as they were stopped by an invisible force surrounding him.

“Aka!” and he aimed his hand down, and a red orb blew through the massive summons in the blink of an eye as Ashura Path and Human Path jumped up in the air, and tried to attack him.

By now, Pain had made an observation regarding his ability, and so just as Ashura Path shot a laser towards Hatake, he raised his hand.

“Almighty Push!” Unlike before, when the Animal Path’s summon could not pierce his shield, Ashura and Human Path’s attacks faced no opposition as they rushed towards the white-haired shinobi.

Still, despite the shifting odds, he grabbed the chakra rod out of Human Path’s hand, and with a quick spin used it to push himself out of Ashura Path’s attack.

The laser hit the ground and tore through a dozen trees, but then, much to his surprise, he aimed his hand at Asura Path.

“Ao!” and suddenly a blue orb formed in his hand, and Asura Path was pulled towards it, and just as he was flung towards him, Gojo Hatake spun around and hit him on the head with his heel, sending him tumbling into the ground.

Still, Human Path was able to take advantage of that as Animal Path summoned the massive beaked bird, and sent him flying towards Gojo Hatake and attacked him once more, and for once there was an exchange of blows, but Hatake was not easily beaten, and so just as he was busy facing Human Path, Pain jumped up and struck him once more.

“Almighty Push,” and unlike before, he could not oppose his attack in time, and was sent reeling back right into the path of Nakara Path, who brought his hands together and summoned the King of Hell.

“Devour him, Enma!” Despite his troubles, the King of Hell tried to swallow him whole, but the attack did not work, as he raised his hand and pushed it out.

“Infinity,” and suddenly, just as the King of Hell tried to swallow him whole, the summon became undone, and rather than slowing down, Gojo Hatake pushed himself towards Nakara Path, and the invisible shield around him was active once more as he pushed the Nakara Path into the ground.

“You are the pesky bastard who can revive your comrades, aren’t you?” He was smiling now as that invisible force ground the Nakara Path.

He raised his hand once more.

“Almighty Pus...” but before his attack could impact him, Hatake raised his own hand.

“Hanten: Aka!” and he had somehow managed to counter his attack before it could reach him.

“Hahaha,” he laughed, looking directly into Nakara Path’s eyes, knowing he could see through them all.

“You are not the only one with special eyes, Nagato,” and the other Paths rushed towards him, but in the end they were too late, as Nakara Path was blown to bits in front of their eyes.

SPLATTER!

His body was reduced to nothing but blood and a pile of flesh, as Pain realized the true terror of facing Hatake Gojo. Five of his paths were still alive, yet now Nagato had been robbed of his ability to replenish them.

“One down,” he answered back with a predatory smirk.

“Five more to go,” and with that, the battle began once more; all of the paths attacked him together, and he tried to disrupt his shield once more.

“Almighty Push,” but just like before, he raised his hand and tried to dismantle his attack.

“Aka,” but before the red orb could clash with his attack, Preta Path jumped forward, raised his hands, and swallowed up the red orb before it could disrupt his attack.

Pain had noticed the difference and believed that the two named attacks, Ao and Aka, which were an imitation of his own Almighty Push and Universal Pull, were simply ninjutsu and could be stopped by Nakara Path’s ability to absorb ninjutsu.

It was the third one that he needed to worry about.

Murasaki, and perhaps it was because of the nature of the attack. Unlike his other two attacks, he had named Murasaki an imaginary technique. It was an attack that combined Ao and Aka, bringing together two opposing forces of push and pull.

Such a thing was simply not possible, and that was why Nakara Path could not absorb the attack, given that it was an imaginary entity in and of itself.

The little lapse created an opening as Animal Path’s summon descended down on him, while his own Almighty Push ripped that strange and impenetrable shield away from him once more.

“Eat him up,” and with Ashura Path blocking all his escape routes, Hatake Gojo was boxed in as the massive bird descended upon him and swallowed him whole.

BOOOM!

But that was not it, as Human Path raised his hands.

“Prison of Pain!” and a thousand rods descended upon the bird and tore through its being, while Ashura Path unleashed all of its arsenal of weaponry upon the bird, homing to burn it and the enemy inside it to a crisp.

“Flaming Arrow Missiles,” and several dozen missiles raced towards the summons and hit it hard.

BOOM! BOOOOM! BOOOOM!

The ground shook from the force of the explosion, as a dust cloud covered the area. Pain lowered his hand as he celebrated his victory, but it was a laugh that broke him out of his reverie.

“Hante: Maximum Output,” and suddenly all of the Paths surrounding him were pulled towards him with an unrelenting force.

“AO!” and such was the force that even he was getting dragged towards the massive blue orb, shining brightly.

The rest of the paths all tried to resist, but the force was too strong. Preta Path raised his hands and cast a barrier to swallow up that ninjutsu, but the effect was not immediate, and while he was trying to search for him on the ground, he later realized that he was not there.

“It’s time to end this,” and his eyes whipped up into the sky, and already he had a purple orb resting at the tip of his fingers as he aimed it down towards the ground.

“Kyoshiki....” and then he unleashed the technique that still had no answer.

“...Murasaki!

BOOOOOOOOM!

This time the devastation was massive, and Pain felt three of his signatures vanish in an instant as three paths were destroyed by that singular attack. Only Preta Path had managed to survive the attack, but just before it could jump back towards safety, the lone enemy flew down from the skies and pushed Preta Path’s face into the ground.

CRUNCH!

The bones in his face cracked, but he was not done yet, and he saw those blue orbs glisten through the smoke as he heard him whisper.

“Hanten:....” and a massive force began to push and push Preta’s body into the ground, grinding it in the same way as Nakara Path.

“...AKA!”

SPLATTER!

And human flesh could absorb only so much force, and just like Nakara Path, Preta Path’s body was blown into bits, and he could only watch as his head flew through the skies and rolled into the feet of the last remaining Path of Pain.

His shield was gone, and so the blood splattered his face, and his pale white hair was dyed red as Hatake Gojo pushed himself up from the ground with a menacing grin.

“Honestly, I really thought that you were going to put up more of a fight,” and Nagato would be lying if he said that he was not surprised by his prowess, but he could not give up.

Never.

He had to win here. He had to fulfill his mission. He had to gather all of the jinchuriki.

“You possess all this power, and yet you use it to protect a status quo that has brought this world nothing but Pain,” and Hatake Gojo’s smile dropped.

“Do not speak to me of Pain, you fool. You call yourself a God, but the truth is that you are nothing more than a pawn in this game, and the worst thing is that you do not even know it for yourself,” and Pain frowned at that allegation.

“Pawn, you say?” he challenged, and the blue-eyed shinobi nodded.

“Aye, and I would tell you the truth of your pitiful existence, but I simply do not care about you or your legacy. All I care for are those eyes, and I shall have them no matter what,” and so he was after his Rinnegan.

“Why do you seek these eyes of mine?” and he possessed a doujutsu of his own, one that was in no way at all inferior to his Rinnegan.

“Because those eyes hold the one power I seek,” he answered back.

“The power to right one of my greatest mistakes....”

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Back in Ame, Itachi coughed up blood as his best friend stood over him, and he could not believe that Orochimaru had somehow managed to summon Shisui back from the dead. Shisui Uchiha was perhaps the only shinobi in the village whose genjutsu prowess exceeded his own, and now, using that prowess, Orochimaru had turned Madara into a puppet of his own.

They had tried to fight, but Madara was simply too powerful for them to face. Even with his Totsuka blade and Yata Mirror, Madara was able to bring down all of the Akatsuki members.

And now, the same fate awaited him.

“Tell me, Itachi,” Orochimaru snarled with a victorious grin as he looked down at him.

“How does it feel to have your own best friend kill you?” Itachi decided to waste no breath on the bastard as he looked into Shisui’s Sharingan.

“Forgive me, my friend,” and this friend had carried his burdens. Shisui had done his service to the village, and it pained him to rely on him once more, but it was obvious to him that he would not be walking out of Ame alive.

He was clinging to life with sheer desperation as it was, and so in his last moments a crow came and settled onto his shoulder as he used the last gift Shisui had left him.

“Kill him,” and just as Shisui’s tanto was about to pierce his skin, it stopped. He saw Orochimaru frown as he lost control over Shisui’s body.

“It has been some time, old friend,” Shisui whispered to him, as he offered him a hand and pulled him up.

“Aye,” Itachi answered as he let himself get pulled up, cradling his bleeding chest.

“What have you done, Itachi!” Orochimaru snarled as the Shodaime and Madara jumped to his side.

“You are not the only one with secrets,” Itachi taunted as he turned towards Shisui.

“Go, warn the village.....”

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A/N: This was probably my most favourite chapter to write.