Chapter 397: 375. Repent
After a brief bout of Talk-no-jutsu,
"No matter what the pain and suffering may come on, I will move forward. That's who Naruto is!" Naruto tosses Jiraiya's first book toward Nagato.
Nagato stares at Jiraiya's novel and recalls his days spent with Jiraiya. Konan passes him the book as he gently touches its pages.
"You are a mysterious guy, Naruto. You remind me of my past self. Perhaps if I had believed and endured a bit further, I might be like the protagonist of this novel, like you! I think I shall try to believe in you..." Nagato closes his eyes. His tears stain the cover of the book.
He passes the book to Naruto.
"I have a message for Jiraiya-Sensei.
I might not have lived up to his expectations and easily gave up on myself. But... at last Jiraiya Sensei's teaching made it to my heart. In my final moments, I will repent for my mistakes."
Nagato slowly lifts his hands and makes a ram hand sign.
"Gedou: Rinne Tensei no jutsu,"
Nagato uses the outer path- samsara of heavenly life technique to revive the dead shinobis of Konoha.
"But Nagato... you..." Tears flow from Konan's eyes.
"It's fine, Konan. Even without this technique, I don't have much time to live. The Gedo statue has drained most of my vitality and at most I would have lived another five years. This battle shortened that duration to a year. However, this is the choice I made for myself."
Nagato's hairs turn white. His sickly body turns more emaciated.
"WHAT? What did you do?"
Naruto stares at Nagato with wide eyes as he senses the rapid drain of vitality from Nagato.
"He used his life force as a catalyst to cast a powerful technique. It's a sort of Forbidden jutsu." Sasuke explains to him as he inspects Nagato's body with his Mangekyo Sharingan.
'The power of the Rinnegan is out of this realm. What a powerful ability to manipulate life and death!"
The hue in Nagato's eyes dims down as his body limply falls on the mechanical walker.
"Nagato!"
Konan burst out in tears.
Suddenly,
Fwoosh... Fwoosh... Fwoosh...
Multiple white Zetsu clones pop out of Nagato's body.
"Seems like it was earlier than planned. But we have to complete the task nonetheless. One of the Zetsu clones rips out Nagato's eyes."
"Recovery complete!"
"YOU BASTARDS! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" An enraged Naruto jumps at the Zetsu clone with a Rasengan.
Swoosh...
"Chidori Raikiri,"
Sasuke also appears beside the Zetsu clone with lightning chakra in his palm.
Tch...
The Zetsu clone clicks his tongue. A sealing Fuinjutsu formation erupts from the mechanical walker of Nagato. The Fuinjutsu formation restricts Naruto and Sasuke's movements. The Zetsu clone enters the ground to escape.
Argh...
"I won't let you. KURAMA!"
Naruto releases a burst of red chakra and instantly destroys the sealing Fuinjutsu formation by overloading it with the chakra.
Whoosh...
Naruto and Sasuke break through the paralysis of the seal and immediately appear beside the Zetsu clone. They slice the body of the Zetsu clone in half.
Heh...
The Zetsu clone smirks before its death as another Zetsu clone escape with the Rinnegan.
"He used a substitution technique to swap his position with another clone." Sasuke dismembers the remaining Zetsu clones.
"DAMNIT!" Naruto punches the ground. A gigantic crater appears beneath him. Everything happened in the blink of an eye.
"Konan recovers from her shock. It's him. It must be him- The Madara Uchiha!"
Konan grits her teeth in rage.
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Back at Konoha,
"Thirty-three casualties! The Akatsuki members wiped the entire patrol platoon."
One of the Anbu members passes a report to Itachi.
Sigh...
Itachi sighs and stares at the corpses of the patrol teams lined outside the remains of the patrol platoon headquarters.
Rumble... Rumble...
Suddenly, a gigantic figure of the Underworld King appears at the outer perimeter of Konoha.
"WHAT... what's this?"
The Anbu members quickly enter into a combat stance.
"An enemy attack!" They warily stare at the gigantic face of the Underworld King. The purple hell flames around its body send chills down their spines. None of the anbu members dare to stare into Underworld King's eyes.
"Wait!"
Itachi stops them as he warily inspects the Underworld king with his Mangekyo Sharingan.
'My gut feelings that tell me to not attack it. If I might attack him, I might provoke something dangerous.' Numerous alarms go off in Itachi's head as the threat of death looms over him.
'It's... it's like this thing can control the life and death of every living being.'
Itachi enters in a combat stance, ready to make a move the moment the Underworld King attacks.
'I thought Naruto went to talk with the leader of the Akatsuki. Did he fail?' Several questions appear in Itachi's mind.
Crack... crack...
Suddenly, the gigantic figure of the Underworld King cracks opens his mouth. It opens its gigantic mouth and releases multiple cyan orbs from it."
"That is..."
Itachi inspects the cyan orbs.
"Could these be... Souls?"
Itachi recalls his encounter with the strange girl in the HOLE. That girl had the ability to ferry souls to the afterlife. The appearance and aura of the souls were similar.
Fwish... Fwish... Fwish...
One by one, the cyan orbs enter the dead bodies of the Konoha shinobis lying outside the remains of the patrol platoon headquarters. A cyan aura surrounds the bodies. The wounds on the corpses rapidly regenerate. Even the lost limbs and torn-off heads reattach to the body.
Aaaah...
The anbus gasps in shock as they notice the unusual phenomenon.
"He is moving!"
One of the Anbus points towards a particular body with visible movement in hands.
"No, all of them are moving!"
Itachi points towards other bodies as all of them make some movements.
"But... but... how could this be? I personally checked their body and there was life in it." One of the medic-nin falls on his knees.
"What... what's this miracle? Could... could this be the act of a GOD?"
The medic-nin zones out as the patrol team members slowly stand up and look around in confusion. One of the shinobi, with a distinct outfit, quickly regains his wits and turns to Itachi.
"Enemy attack! It's an enemy attack. The Akatsuki are attacking the village." He reports to Itachi.
"It's alright! The situation is already under control. You did well." He praises the patrol team captain for his wits and soothes him.
"All of you... return to the village and continue to tally the damage. I want a report as soon as possible." Itachi dismisses them and waits for Naruto and Sasuke to return.
Kakashi had departed for the infirmary to treat Guy's wounds. Shisui has returned to the Police Headquarters to fulfill his duties.
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Back at the Uzumaki compound,
"About this incident, inform the Kazekage. I will tell Mei myself. We can't reveal the loss of one-tails for the time being. It will create unnecessary panic." Tsunade reaches a decision.
"That's my exact thoughts!" Minato nods his head.
Tsunade turns to Minato and questions him.
"So, now Minato. I would like to hear more about this student of yours. We have confirmed that he was the one responsible for the release of Nine-tails fifteen years ago. He was also responsible for both of your near-death states, and perhaps he was the person who orchestrated the Uchiha clan massacre with Danzo and manipulates the Third Mizukage." Tsunade throws down a bunch of accusations at Obito.
Sigh...
Minato sighs helplessly and explains everything in detail to Tsunade.
"Hmm... so this kid broke down after the death of his only love." Tsunade feels in a dilemma.
She reminisces about the death of her brother Nawaki and her former lover Dan.
'Huh... it was the same for me. Instead of blaming others, I fell into a self-reproach, bottled and channeled all my hatred towards myself. Instead of relieving my hatred of others, I drowned it in alcohol and gambling.'
Tsunade closes her eyes and recalls her previous state.
'Pathetic... isn't it? We shinobis strive forward to another day, just to protect our loved ones. If our only sense of purpose was taken away from us, then what's even the use of living? That's what I used to think before.'
Tsunade opens her eyes as Izuna's smiling face appears in front of her eyes.
'It was you who pulled me out of that self-reproach and blew away the fog blocking my vision. I learned to move forward from you.'
Tsunade recalls her first meeting with Izuna.
'Perhaps you were the first person to treat a beautiful woman with such bitter words. But back then, you were still a kid, so I pardoned your offense.' Tsunade chuckles to herself.
'Now, after showing me the path forward, you shielded others from the impending darkness.'
Tsunade recalls the final smiling moment of Izuna before the space rift engulfed him. A drop of tears leaks from her eyes.
Kushina and Minato silently vacate the place, leaving Tsunade to herself.
"She misses him a lot!" Kushina remarks.
"We all miss him, but..." Minato shakes her head.
'I am not sure about the feelings in Lady Tsunade's heart... No! I am aware of it. It's just that I don't want to voice them.'
"Let's go!" Minato walks out of the Uzumaki compound.
"Next time he comes, I will make him take responsibility for making Tsunade Nee-san shed tears." Kushina grits her teeth.
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