NARUTO: LIGHTNING AND ROSES CHAPTER 70 (Patreon)

Chapter 70

KARIN UZUMAKI

Karin felt her vision return to her as sounds of battle assaulted her ears. The last thing she remembered was the sound of Konoha’s emergency sirens as she stood in front of the memorial of one Uzumaki Kushina with Naruto.

They had conversed a bit about the Uzumaki clan, with him asking her about what she knew, and then she had decided to follow him as he decided to visit his mother’s grave.

She felt a very familiar sense of warmth wrapping around her as her vision began to clear up. She found herself wrapped in a familiar pair of arms as she recognized the usual brown mop of hair right before her.

“Agh!” she heard him grunt in Pain as they both lay on the ground.

“Shinso!” she called out, and she grew concerned at the lack of a response. She unwrapped herself out of his hold and found him gritting his teeth in Pain as blood spread over his shirt. She saw a huge metal rod impaled on his gut, along with many cuts, burns, and bruises across his body.

BOOOM!

The sound of an explosion broke her out of her stupor, and she looked up to find a battle unlike any she had ever seen.

Hokage-sama had activated her famous byakugo seal and was facing a shinobi with headbang of Amegakure. However, what was more shocking was the huge purplish cloud of smoke that seemed to be coalescing around her. A cloud that Karin recognized as poison.

“AGHHH!” suddenly, she hit the Ame shinobi in the gut, hurling him across the field though she had to jump back to avoid an attack from a shinobi with the famed Rinnegan in his eyes.

Tsunade-sama landed in front of her, and Karin could tell that the poison was taking a toll on her with her labored breathing and weakness. She saw her glance back at her and Shinso though her focus was still on the battlefield ahead.

“Good, you are finally awake! You need to heal Shinso and get out of here! This battle is too dangerous for both of you!” she said, and Karin was already in the process of assessing Shinso-kun’s injury, who was growing paler by the second.

“But you are….” She tried to speak up, but Lady Tsunade simply raised her hand, stopping her mid-sentence.

“I know what I am doing, kid! Now, stabilize him and get to the shelters!” she ordered. Karin wanted to protest and say that he could help, yet the pale and bruised form of Shinso-kun stopped her.

She gave Tsuande-sama a nod and gripped the metal rod in his body, preparing to take it out. She steadied herself, and with a single push, she took it out.

“AGHHH!” she heard Shinso-kun grunt, and she him trying to open his eyes. She placed her arm near his mouth and closed his jaw, making him bite her.

“Don’t worry, Shinso-kun, I am right here,” she tried to assure him as the blood stopped gushing out of his wound. She felt her chakra drain, yet she did not pull back as his body finally got a bit of color back.

She saw him open his eyes and try and pull back, yet she did not let him.

“It’s okay, Shinso. Don’t worry about me!” she coaxed him though he still pulled back his head after a little while. She saw him trying to sit up, and she aided him in doing so.

“I need to get up! I have to he….” She heard him mutter, and she simply shook her head.

“You are in no condition to help. You have done enough, Shinso-kun. Lady Tsuande has ordered us to retreat to shelters!” She saw him glance at the battlefield before them.

Jiraiya-sama was facing the leader of the Akatsuki and had activated his sage mode while being assisted by an Uchiha clan member she did not recognize, who was also protecting Naruto-kun.

Though Naruto-kun wasn’t stable either, her senses felt a sinister chakra rising out of him, and not just sense, for his whole body was covered with an orange cloak, and his skin seemed to peel off. An ANBU was standing right over his unconscious body, trying to suppress the sinister chakra.

She was focused on the battle when she suddenly felt the hair on her neck rise as she felt a foreign presence behind her. She let instinct take over as all the training with Shizune-san showed its result and her adamantine chains sprang from her back.

BOOOM!

There was the sound of an explosion, and she supported Shinso-kun on her shoulder and jumped away, trying to get away from the intruder her senses were warning her about.

She landed on solid ground once more and was about to jump once more when her sense warned her as space distorted in front of her, and a masked shinobi seemed to appear out of thin air.

“Adamantine chains! I must say it has been quite some time since I last saw someone use those!” said the masked shinobi, and Karin stopped as she straightened up. This person was specifically targeting either her or Shinso-kun.

“Be careful. He has some unique abilities,” Shinso-kun suddenly added from her side as he struggled to his feet, taking out his sword.

“Ohh, it seems you remember me! It’s quite an honor to be recognized by the Raijin-no ken himself,” joked the masked man though Shinso-kun simply narrowed his eyes at the masked man.

“What do you want, Madara?” Shinso-kun said with gritted teeth as he brought up his sword.

“Ohh! Scary! Truthfully, I want nothing from you,” began the masked man, as his sole eye focused on her,” however, I cannot say the same for our little red-haired friend over here?”

And Karin felt shivers run down her spine as she saw the Sharingan spin behind the mask the red eye, focused on her discarding her whole being, and then Shinso-kun suddenly stepped in front of her.

“I am afraid you will have to be disappointed, you imposter,” taunted Shinso-kun, and she could tell he was not at half his strength. She herself readied her chains as let her senses expand, and stepped up to stand right beside him.

He glanced at her, and she nodded as both focused on the masked man.

“Ohh! You called me an imposter. Now that’s just plain rude! No matter. I never expected this to be easy! It usually never is with Uzumaki redheads,” he commented ominously before he vanished again, leaving a cryptic message.

She saw Shinso-kun tense beside her, “Karin, be very careful. His unique ability allows him to teleport himself and anything he touches! Do not let him touch yo…” suddenly, her senses picked up the chakra signature once more though Shinso kun was faster as he struck his sword into the ground.

She looked down and saw that the sword had simply passed through the masked man, of whom only the face was visible.

“Well, well, well. It seems we are going to have much fun!”

0000

JIRAIYA

“ODAMA RASENGAN!” Jiraiya felt the huge ball of chakra collide with one of Pain’s paths and jumped back as the whole area exploded again. This was the fourth one that he had to take down.

With the information from Itachi and Shinso, he had known to take out Hell’s path first to stop them from returning, and now this only left two paths. This only left the Deva and the Preta path.

“AUGH!” suddenly, the pained voice of Itachi and Yamato reached his ears, and he looked back to find a kunai in both of their guts. Behind them stood a masked man with a single Sharingan gleaming blood red.

“Pain, its time for protocol epsilon! Take care of this!” the man said as he vanished once more, and Jiraiya watched both Itachi and Yamato collapse as blood formed a puddle beneath them.

“Yamato! Itachi!” he screamed and tried to rush towards them, but he suddenly had to bring up his arms as Pain’s attack pushed him back.

“Finally,” muttered the so-called Deva path as he was finally free from Itachi’s interventions and was free to attack. Jiraiya saw the nine tails chakra cloak begin to expand as the effects of Yamato’s suppression were lifted. He had not yet had time to repair the seal.

“I must say your resistance has surprised me! Though, I believe your time has run out!” he said as he rose again. Levitating and Jiraiya knew what the next attack would be. He pushed the chakra into his feet and jumped up.

“KATON: MAJESTIC FLAME DESTROYER!” He sprayed a huge jet of flames straight at him though the Preta path jumped up, and began to absorb the ninjutsu! However, Jiraiya did not stop the attack but cycled through another set of handseals.

“SENPO: OIL STREAM!” suddenly, he was spewing a jet of oil, and the Preta path failed to absorb it. The oil coated the Preta Path, and Jiraiya made a final hand seal.

“KATSU!” the paper bomb exploded.

BOOOOM! The oil exploded, and Jiraiya felt himself getting pushed back by the force of the explosion. Though he did not relent, using the last remnants of his sage chakra, he gathered it up in his throat as he coated his neck with the special chakra.

“SENPO: NATURE’S HOWL!”

A shrill came out of his mouth and went straight for the Deva Path, and he had to abort his preparations as he raised his hand.

“ALMIGHTY PUSH!”

The attack, though, wasn’t affected and collided with him.

BOOM!

And the last Path of Pain crashed into the ground. Jiraiya himself landed, huffing out gulps of air as he looked back to find the fourth tail beginning to appear.

His sage mode finally ended as he crashed onto his knee, feeling exhaustion build up.

“Well, it seems age has caught up with you! This shall be the end!” came the voice of Pain and Jiraiya felt the world shake as huge volumes of chakra coalesced onto Pain.

“ALMIGHTY DEVASTATION!”

And Jiraiya could only put his hands on the ground, a dome of earth surrounding him so he could pass out the incoming storm.

“EARTH SYTLE: EARTHEN CACONN!”

0000

Pain watched from high above as the whole village of Konoha was decimated. A huge crater was left where thousands of buildings, homes, and offices once stood. Even now, debris covered the whole area, and he could tell that the retaliation had bought them enough time that evacuations would be useless.

“ROARRR!”

But they would be useless as he saw chakra cloaked form of nine tails emerged from the debris. The transformation was incomplete, as it only had about six tails. Yet now, no one could stop it.

He felt the space distort by his side as Madara appeared beside him and seemed slightly irritated.

“You should have waited a bit more before unleashing your attack!” he commented, and Pain saw him holding what seemed to be a severed arm of a kunoichi. Probably from the Uzumaki, they were supposed to capture.

“This is such a great opportunity to capture the nine tails,” lamented Madara. But they could not. Not with their current depleted reserves.

“We can always try again after the destruction it will leave in the wake of its complete awakening. I don’t believe Konoha will ever be a challenge!” Pain commented as he saw the tailed beast thrash. He noticed its attention shift to them as it gathered chakra in its mouth.

“Plus, the nine tails is the last piece of the puzzle. We need to gather the rest before we can seal it in Gedo Mazo.”

“Well, we might as well get out of here! I believe the mission here has been a success!” commented Madara, and Pain felt himself getting pulled into a distorted space just as the tailed beast bellowed out a huge tailed beast bomb straight at them.

However, they would be long gone before it reached their location.

0000

BOOOM! The opening act is complete! Konoha has been devastated! The number of casualties may be less than in other villages, but the damage to infrastructure is greater. Plus, there is still the question of the Kyubi.

What has become of our hero Shinso and more so of Karin?

Wish me luck. I have to get my wisdom teeth removed this week and am kind of dreading it!