NHRK Chapter 68

Naruto immediately stretched his senses, already knowing what Shizune’s chakra signature felt like.

He found nothing.

He growled in frustration.

Kidnapped, and nowhere nearby. It wasn’t possible to make such distances to escape his senses unless…

…unless they teleported.

And since Kushina would have no reason to kidnap Shizune, there was another probable chance.

“A note,” Tsunade said as she fished out a piece of parchment from the rubble.

Naruto hurried over to her, reading what it said from behind the furious blond.

‘We are in need of your services, Tsunade Senju. We have brought your assistant to Ame. Come within a week’s time or she will be executed.’

-Akatsuki

Ame, Akatsuki, Pain, and likely Obito being the kidnapper.

Another development out of the timeline, and Naruto did not like it one bit.

He dialled his senses, stretching them towards the west of Fire Country’s borders, straight into Ame.

He scanned the rainy village, taking in the foreign chakra, and…

There, he sensed her.

Right in the middle of the Hidden Rain village. She doesn't seem to be conscious, from the lack of erratic movements of her soul.

He would not risk her life. Not a chance.

He immediately sent a clone to fetch Jiraiya as quickly as he could…only to find out that the old fool was passed-out drunk in a brothel.

“Jiraiya is intoxicated, we can’t wait for him to wake,” Naruto told Tsunade, to which she scowled.

“Leave a note, we go now,” Tsunade demanded.

Naruto nodded, sending another clone to their hotel room to do just that.

Tsunade couldn’t wait any longer, and prepared to move before Naruto abruptly stopped her.

“Wait,” he said, as he held out a hand to her, “I have a Hiraishin seal planted in the west border of Fire country during one of my missions. I’ll take you.”

Tsunade looked sceptical, not knowing whether he was able to muster up enough chakra to travel the long distance. Yet, in the face of putting her assistant in danger, she reluctantly allowed herself to be transported to…wherever it was that he intended to go.

The moment she had her hand on his, the world changed around her. One moment she was in a rural town in fire country, the next, she was at the borders that separate Fire and Rain.

She looked around, taking it in quickly before shuddering.

She glanced towards Naruto, expecting him to be on the ground and out for the count, panting from chakra exhaustion, but he looked as if he’d just come back from a stroll in the park, not winded or remotely tired at all.

This kid made her nervous now.

Not even Minato Namikaze could shrug off travelling such a long distance without any rest.

“...are you good to go?” Tsunade asked.

“Yes,” Naruto answered as he took out a scroll from his pocket to mark something down.

Tsunade nodded but didn’t wait for him as she moved.

She knew the way.

She’d been here before.

Not once in her life would expect to step foot on the land where she and her team had fought Hanzo the Salamander once again. Where her infamous namesake was bestowed upon her from a monstrously strong opponent.

“Hold on a sec!” Naruto said, “this is important!”

Tsunade turned back, almost wanting to give him a piece of her mind before she huffed and crossed her arms, tapping her foot impatiently. At any moment, Shizune could be killed–she was at the mercy of the Akatsuki’s whims.

Whatever it was that Naruto was doing, it didn’t take long as he finished up his scribbling before pulling out two fuinjutsu tags, keeping one for himself and handing the other to her.

She arched her eyebrows as she accepted it. It looked…it looked far more complicated than anyone this young would be able to muster up. It was even familiar to the penmanship of Kushina.

“It’s an averting eye seal,” Naruto explained, “as well as an anti detection seal which I learned from…a snake.”

He looked a bit bitter to admit the last part. Had he copied one of Orochimaru’s seals?

Naruto shook his head. “Anyways, It’ll help us with stealth. I have a feeling that whoever we’re up against has a way of detecting us the moment we step foot in Rain. This will mitigate that, though we still have to stay hidden when possible.”

Tsunade nodded and placed the tag on her wrist, just as she saw he did.

Immediately, she felt her presence shrink, as well as Naruto’s own. It was…rather mystifying to her, as she now felt like she had the same chakra level of a civilian, whilst still leaking appropriate chakra leakage proportionate to her state instead of fully holding it back. In other words: a perfect disguise.

Once more, she was impressed by this…Naruto that she saw in front of her, but she didn’t air her thoughts just yet. She had other things to worry about.

“Are we ready now?” she asked just to make sure this time.

Naruto nodded but warned her. “We have to take it slow and observe. We are going into foreign territory.”

Tsunade growled as she marched onwards but Naruto grabbed her arm, making her turn to face him once more.

She met his gaze, serious as a block of stone.

“We cannot afford to rush this and put Shizune in danger. Take it slow, slow is smooth, smooth is fast,” he said, referencing the old adage.

She wanted to refute him… but as much as she wanted Shizune back with her, safe and sound, as quickly as possible, it was indeed more important for them to act such that Shizune was put in the least risk.

That meant locating her and scouting the enemy and its forces to minimise the chances of the extraction going wrong.

The longer she stayed with this kid, the more she was impressed by him, and the more frustrated she was that he was always right.

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“Are you sure it was a good idea to send him away, my lord?” Konan asked.

Pain took a moment to answer. “....Do you doubt my capabilities, Konan?”

“No!” she retorted immediately. “It’s just…you’re sick, Nagato.”

“I am still capable of handling one Tsunade of the Sannin, and our old sensei,” he hoarsely coughed.

Konan worried, as she always did for her friend’s health.

It was deteriorating over the past years, and he often struggled to move his real body these days, needing her help to function.

His powers over his…human puppets didn’t diminish though, and his might was as strong as ever.

Yet, they have come to a point where they had to do something drastic to save his life.

Where Kabuto Yakushi was a promising option before, he was now as deceased as they come. No word nor hide was heard of him ever since Orochimaru’s failure to infiltrate Konoha.

Zetsu had informed them of a promising youngster he encountered in Wave that they could target, but that was before they realised that she was under the protection of this…Naruto Hagoromo.

Hearing of his powers and prowess, Nagato couldn’t help but draw similarities in their abilities.

But it couldn’t be.

Only he, and he alone had the Rinnegan in this world.

Only he, and he alone, was chosen as god.

It had been three days since they had kidnapped the girl named Shizune, Tsunade’s prized assistant. She’d been kept in a cell, allowed food and necessities but she wasn’t at all important.

It was her teacher that they wanted.

Who but the best in the elemental nations would be able to fix Pain’s condition?

Tsunade and Jiraiya expected arrival time would be tomorrow, and then their plans would commence.

With Pain back in full force, they would finally be ready to start collecting Bijuu even with their loss of Kakuzu, Kisame and Itachi.

And with Konoha ripe for the taking, just after the invasion of Suna and Iwa, it was all too easy to pluck the Ichibi, Sanbi, Yonbi and Gobi when they were all gathered together.

Pain needed to be ready for his new world, and their god could not afford to look like a withered husk of a man.

It was then that his senses flared.

Someone had entered his borders, and their presence was all too familiar.

Like a bumbling fool, in came a rushing Jiraiya, looking like he was late for a meeting. For a spy as great as he was, it was surprising how little restraint the old fool was showing.

He was about to send Yahiko’s body to greet his old sensei, before his senses were blinded by a sudden flash of chakra flaring, drawing it all in a torrent of power.

His eyes widened as before him, suddenly stood Tsunade, who seemed to have come out of nowhere.

She threw a punch at him and his head was only saved from being obliterated by the fast acting of Konan, who formed a paper shield in front of him.

Tsunade’s fist sent the paper scattering, but thanks to the strange properties of Konan’s hidden jutsu, the force of the blow was mitigated over a large surface area, sending only a breeze of wind to his face.

It was enough, as immediately, Nagato’s avatars were there, protecting their master.

Tsunade was lifted off of the ground as the Deva path of Pain pulled her to him.

Tsunade seemed prepared however as she punched the air, sending a force strong enough to land on Yahiko from a distance away. Luckily the Asura path was there to tank the blow and save him.

Yet that hadn’t been the only purpose of Tsunade’s attack, as the force of her punch also allowed her to be displaced by the air, sending her back to Nagato’s original body and counteracting the Deva paths’ attractive forces.

Once more, Konan saved him by quickly moving him away, letting Tsunade’s overhead kick land on the floor of the tower and obliterate it to a million pieces, creating a giant hole.

If the tower weren’t crafted of malleable steel, it would have surely toppled.

Nagato growled.

Jiraiya was already nearby, feeling the flaring of chakra of their battle, and…

…where was the hostage?

He looked through the eyes of a gecko under the influence of the animal path, set to spy on Shizune, briefly but…couldn’t feel it.

No.

Their hostage was already gone.

That meant that there was another on this mission.

Nagato spat. “No matter.”

He had a contingency in case this happened. Even if they had the hostage, they had injected Shizune with a rare poison crafted by Sasori of the Sands himself. A poison even Tsunade would have a hard time healing without the antidote.

He still had leverage for Tsunade to heal him.

He sent a look at Konan's way and she nodded.

He nodded too, just in time for Jiraiya to land next to his former teammate, joining the action.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Naruto evaluated Shizune’s condition.

There was something foreign within her, something that was killing her should the antidote not be regularly administered, likely in the drinks and food that was being fed to her.

Even with his knowledge in the medical arts, he did not want to risk endangering her to his lack of talent and experience.

He needed to bring her to someone more qualified, and since Tsunade was currently occupied, there was only another he would trust to heal Shizune.

For now, he concentrated on the Asura path, keeping Shizune’s body in stasis and putting her in a form of cryosleep.

He had to be near her to maintain this effect though, and Sakura would have to somehow extract the poison with his presence in the operating room as well.

A Hiraishin flash later, he was in Konoha once more, right in front of the hospital.

Just in time for Sakura to exit the door to end her shift.

Her eyes widened as he appeared before her.

“Naruto–” She tried to say.

“No time,” Naruto immediately cut her off, “the patient was poisoned. It needs to be removed as fast as possible. I’ve frozen her bodily functions to prevent its spread.”

Sakura needed no further words as she gestured the patient in to a private hospital room.

Having shown her skills over the past months, as well as the healing she provided in the aftermath of the invasion, she’d been promoted to a fully fledged medic-nin and could now treat any illness or wounds she wanted.

Sakura sent a diagnostics scan through shizune’s body, wincing after detecting the poison in her bloodstream.

She winced at what she found.

“It’s…everywhere,” she muttered, and allowed Naruto to catch what she said. She met his gaze. “You have to keep her in this state until we do a full blood transfusion.”

“Tsunade and Jiraiya are dealing with an S-ranked shinobi at this very moment,” Naruto informed her, “they need me. We have to be fast.”

Sakura nodded as she pulled out a sample of Shizune’s blood after piercing it with a senbon.

She sent a pulse of chakra through it to acutely determine the exact blood type she needed.

“B Positive blood type,” Sakura said, “That’s…your blood type, Naruto-kun.”

Naruto nodded, holding out his wrist to offer his blood.

“Wait, what about…the side effects?” Sakura asked.

Naruto only arched his eyebrows. “What do you mean?”

“Well, since your seed already affects us to this extent…who knows what your blood will do to her,” Sakura explained.

Naruto drew back, surprised at the notion. “You’re saying…”

Sakura didn’t need to explain further.

“There’s got to be a supply of B positives in store right?” Naruto asked.

Sakura shook her head. “We ran out today after the Hokage ordered us to treat the injured Iwa and Suna nins as well. We currently have a shortage of all blood types. Donors were supposed to come in tomorrow.”

Naruto paused, looking down to the still currently frozen Shizune.

“Then we have to risk it,” Naruto muttered, holding his arm out once more.

Sakura sighed. “That we do.”

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Jiraiya and Tsunade teamed up for the first time in…decades, and still they could not manage to gain an edge on Pain and Konan.

It had taken a few seconds for it to click in Jiraiya’s mind that the people they were fighting…were his old students.

“Nagato, think this through!” Jiraiya shouted as he dodged another barrage of paper shuriken from Konan.

“It’s no use,” Tsunade said, “They are blinded by their own ideology. They have been this way for years. You can’t change their minds now.”

“I have to try,” Jiraiya muttered.

“And you will die trying,” Nagato’s raspy voice interrupted.

“Shinra Tensei!” the body of Yahiko roared.

Tsunade and Jiraiya were both blasted backwards, crashing through the wall of the tower and falling into the moat that surrounded it.

“Only when the world knows pain that it will be grateful for what it has,” Yahiko said, “we will rebuild it anew, in our vision.”

“A vision of corruption and death,” Tsunade bit back, spitting out a bit of blood to the side from the blow, already healing her injuries from within. “Admit it, you just want power. In fact, you are likely even worse than Hanzo of the Salamander, or at the very least the same.”

That pissed Pain off.

“We are nothing alike!” he snarled.

“Great. Thanks Tsunade,” Jiraiya muttered as he formed a series of hand signs.

“Kuchiyose no jutsu,” he said.

Two toads the size of one’s fists appeared on Jiraiya’s shoulders.

It was none other than Fukasaku and Shima, elders of the toad clan and widely respected by all, both toads and humans alike.

Pain recognised the two, with them being one of the beings that resisted his attempt to take over the animal kingdom, however short that attempt lasted.

He had made an educated decision to wait until he grew even stronger before trying it again, as no realm could escape the influence of a god such as he.

He knew what their appearance meant, and with a small explanation Jiraiya gave to them, the toads nodded.

“Give me some time, Tsunade,” Jiraiya said.

His old teammate nodded and she, too, concentrated.

The diamond seal on her head expanded, and at once she was covered with layers of fuinjutsu seals, unleashing the stored up chakra she had over the years.

The hundred strength seal.

Pain would have to be careful.

Breaking the surface tension of the water she was standing on in a crash of giant waves, Tsunade leapt towards Pain.

“Shinra–”

He was interrupted as Tsunade punched the air once more, displacing it and sending a ball of condensed force to Yahiko’s gut.

It was enough to stop his jutsu, but not enough to stop the other bodies of pain from intercepting her.

The Asura path blocked her punch and his arm was obliterated.

To Tsunade’s scowl, however, it began to reform into machines of destruction.

Rockets flew and she barely had enough time to block before she was sent flying backwards from the explosive power of the missiles.

She was outmatched, even if she wasn't rusty.

Thankfully, Jiraiya was ready.

His sage mode turned him into something akin to a man-toad, with toad-like features dotting around his frame.

For some reason, Tsunade knew that even this wouldn’t be enough.

Jiraiya joined her, and together they repelled and struck out at the coordinated bodies of pain.

The battle raged for thirty more minutes but they got no closer to Nagato’s true body than when they first started.

“Just how much chakra does this guy have?!” Tsunade snarled as she dodged the rampaging body of a rhino under the influence of the animal path.

“He was always strong as a kid, now he’s a monster,” Jiraiya huffed.

“A monster you helped create,” Pain added. “Now, enough playtime.”

With a gesture of his hands, their battle ended as abruptly as it started.

“Bansho Ten’in,” Pain muttered as both Jiraiya and Tsunade were sucked in by a force unknown and no matter how much they struggled, it seemed as if they had no autonomy over their limbs.

They approached the waiting maw that seemed more and more likely to be the end of their eras.

Tsunade’s heart palpitated as she anticipated meeting her former lover once more in the afterlife.

For some reason, she felt regretful that things would have to end this way. She wished she could have done better to those she had left. Shizune. Kushina. Even her old sensei.

Then, like plucking a butterfly out of the air, Naruto Hagoromo was at their sides in a flash of yellow light, grabbed them, and teleported them away from their deaths.

As she gazed into the face of the kid that saved her, she was surprised to find him looking a bit pale and tired.

Instantly, worry began to go through her.

“How is Shizune?” she asked.

“She’s fine and in good hands in Konoha,” Naruto told her before turning to face their adversary. “Rest up. I’ll take it from here.”

He placed both her and Jiraiya down from his shoulders.

“Kid,” Jiraiya said, “that guy is…”

“Deadly. I know,” Naruto finished for him. “But I can handle this.”

Before Jiraiya could even protest, Naruto hiraishin’ed away.

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