Chapter 144: Suspense.

-Final Valley-

Those two shinobi found themselves, standing on the head of that great statue that brought an era to an end. The wind was strong up there, so much so that their robes seemed to want to become one with the wind. The sound of that waterfall was almost deafening. Despite being lower than the statue's waist, the water could clearly be heard crashing against the great river that stretched its length.

"That's all that happened. I almost died, but thanks to the fact that I was able to get into the ground, the explosion didn't affect me that much. Only my head hurts a little and my hair got singed, but from then on, I'm perfectly fine" Tobi raised his hand with his index finger pointing to the sky. "Still, senpai. Right now you look rather... how shall I put it, nostalgic?" he was suddenly curious and touched his chin above his mask. "Well, since we're in this place, surely you have memories here, don't you?"

Earlier Tobi and Toru's clone were in the blast zone. Toru searched for a few seconds around the place, but found nothing related to Deidara. So, the only thing left for him was to ask what had happened to the survivor of this explosion.

It was certainly strange that Tobi asked to talk in another remote place, although it was also quite reasonable. If they were both at the scene of the crime, shinobi from Konoha or Suna could quickly intercept them.

"I don't have any interesting memories in this place, it's nothing special."

"Wow... what cold words. It sounds like you're trying to hide what you really think."

"I have nothing to hide, Tobi."

Suddenly, a strange awkward silence fell between the two, however, now someone else's voice was heard. It was Tobi, but at the same time not. His one eye that was not covered by the mask flashed crimson red. And then... "We all have things to hide, Asahi Toru" A man's deep voice was heard coming out of Tobi's mouth. "I was joking! Hahaha!" But he quickly reverted back to his usual voice.

Toru looked at the other statue in front of them. He already knew, that this man next to him is someone who doesn't appear to be who he is. However, in these statues, he somehow found something nostalgic. They were both standing on the head of the statue of Uchiha Madara, after all.

"Hey, hey, senpai. did you feel that?"

The boy closed his eyes and replied, "Yeah... there's quite a few."

"Could it be that they're looking for us? What if we go after them to get rid of the trouble?"

Still with his eyes closed, he let the wind caress his face. He put on his hat and remembered everything that happened this last week.

Everyone is crazy in their own way, everyone has a desire that they pursue without stopping and everyone does whatever it takes to be themselves.

His eyes glowed with the light of the Kodō Shigan. 'Let's go' He took a leap then landed in the water. 'Maybe I just need to clear my mind'.

-Near the Final Valley-

"There's a bunch of people with identical chakra all around us! What the hell is going on!" Karin felt nervous as she felt so much chakra around her. There seemed to be over 200 people and they all had quite a bit of chakra.

Somehow the search for Itachi was complicated by this simple fact.

"Shall we take another route, Sasuke?" asked Suigetsu.

"No, let's continue as we are."

"Thank goodness. I hate detours."

The four shinobi continued running among the branches of the trees. However, at the moment they least expected, a blond boy appeared in front of them.

Sasuke frowned when he saw who that person was.

"Sasuke!"

A clone of Naruto in front of them. Sasuke reached out and used Chidori to destroy him.

"What the fuck, was that a Kage Bunshin?"

"That Naruto never gives up" Sasuke hurried the pace as much as he could, but not enough to conserve his energy.

-Amegakure-

"Looks like it's Jiraiya" Konan looked at Pain's Animal Path.

"Jiraiya-sensei, huh... Just hearing his name brings back so many memories."

"What do we do?"

"Kill him, obviously. Just use this body to kill an intruder, so it doesn't matter."

"Then..." Konan's body began to turn into hundreds of sheets of paper. "I'll hold him until you arrive."

"No need, if you can kill him, do it. Even so, surely Toru has already found him from before. So join him. I'll make the preparations."

"Yes..."

After that, the sheets of paper were completely scattered all over Amegakure and the Animal Path stared silently before launching itself out of the building.

***

On the other side of Ame, Toru walked holding the dagger in his hand. He looked at the surroundings with the Kodō Shigan, as his eyes simply do not allow him to see well from afar anymore. Even with acute blindness, Toru can see the lines of death clear in front of his eyes. So it was easier this way.

It certainly didn't look like Toru was going to find the subject that easy. He felt his chakra close, but he couldn't see it.

Suddenly, a man appeared between the metal pipes. It was a shinobi from Amegakure, whose expression on his face was quite relaxed. He was looking around, as if he was looking for someone.

So this told Toru that this person is the subject, the intruder.

'Dansu Gyakusatsu...'

He disappeared into the shadows to then appear in front of the man. In response, the man didn't know how to react and tried to back away, but quickly realized that Toru had disappeared, now being at his back.

'He realized'!

Toru stabbed the dagger into the man's shadow, from which, a second before the dagger managed to stab him, he stepped out of the water and backed away.

"Shi no Tenshi-sama! This man is an intruder! You have to kill him and fast!" Managing to break free from the intruder's grip, the shinobi ran and hid behind Toru.

"Hm. Toru looked at the man behind the shinobi and recognized him instantly. "I will do it. Now get out of here before you die."

"Yes..." After that, the shinobi fled as fast as he could and left Toru and the man alone.

"Shi no Tenshi, why am I not surprised?" the man shook his head as he tried not to laugh at the irony of it all. "Though it's odd that you didn't drop your hat with such sudden movements" He folded his arms and looked at Toru. "Let me ask you a question, what or who is Pain?"

"Does that even matter? You don't need to know, because right now you will die."

"I see. You can't have a civilized dialogue here."

Without leaving him time to breathe, Toru lunged forward raising the dagger and trying to strike the man's throat. The man, in response to the attack, grabbed Toru by the wrist and threw him away just before the dagger could hit him.

Toru skidded backwards in the water with his feet and approached again.

The man, gray-haired and, in short, an old man, smiled as he saw that his enemy was no big deal. This man, as he had promised Tsunade, infiltrated Amegakure. Right now, this man, Jiraiya, can't help but engage in combat even though he only wanted to gather information.

"Well, I expected this already" Dodging and blocking Toru's attacks, Jiraiya then stepped back and quickly executed the seals of a fire jutsu.

Toru reacted instantly and the X inside his eyes spun once. His hands moved quickly, connecting the same seals as those in Jiraiya's hands and then they both said.

"Katōn: Gōkakyū no Jutsu! [Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu]"

They both exhaled a fireball that collided with each other, exploding and pushing back Toru.

Jiraiya took advantage of this and, growing his hair, broke through the cloud of steam that formed after the explosion and imprisoned Toru by wrapping him in his hair.

"..." Toru didn't move, just looked at Jiraiya, who lifted him high in the air to avoid sudden attacks.

"Now if. Let's talk" Jiraiya wiped his hands and looked at Toru. "I'll take that hat off you first though. You can't talk if we both don't see eye to eye" A small lock of Jiraiya's hair stretched out and took off the boy's hat.

At once, the cold gaze of that strange-eyed boy showed itself. He had grown, he had grown a lot.

"It's sad to know that rumor is real, don't you think so? Your mother would be sad to see you like this, Toru" Jiraiya sighed. 'What the hell is this...? He looks exactly like his mother...'

"What's someone like you doing in Amegakure?" On the other hand, Toru didn't rush. As he was, so to speak, not so calm a few minutes ago, he felt that he couldn't control his own body as usual. Now all that was left for him to do was to gather information and assassinate the target.

But to do that with half of his power, for Toru is something very difficult.

"I come as a tourist. The food here is good, but the people seem a bit depressed. Is this befitting such a mysterious country?"

"Your jokes will get us nowhere, Sage. Speak now or die."

"You're pretty hostile, boy. Relax a little."

Hearing this, Toru sighed and closed his eyes. "Shimikomaseru..." A small light showed through Jiraiya's hair surrounding him. And then... "Hi no Karada! [Imbuing: Body of Fire]" Like a bright star, Toru's body was completely covered in Shakuton, destroying Jiraiya's hair surrounding his body. Only a second later, the fire was extinguished to avoid injury to his own body.

"I almost forgot that the Asahi can do that" He watched as Toru disappeared in front of his eyes.

As fast as sound or even faster, Toru moved all over the place to throw Jiraiya off. This, of course, left Jiraiya surprised. This boy had become very strong on his own, in addition to this strange fighting style.

Therefore, he kept his guard up while analyzing how Toru moved.

"There you are!"

"Uhg!"

Toru's eyes widened as he felt Jiraiya's fist slamming into his abdomen. He actually saw the world in slow motion as this happened. He knew how to recover though, wrapping his legs around Jiraiya's arm, then kicking him in the face and staying that way.

"Die!"

Toru swung the dagger and tried to plunge it into Jiraiya's neck, but Jiraiya sharpened his gaze and spat out oil in order to free himself. This caused Toru to only be able to graze his arm with the blade of the dagger while Jiraiya quickly backed away.

But this wasn't enough for Toru, so he went on the attack again at an absurd speed. He moved around Jiraiya trying to cut him with the dagger, but he blocked and dodged quite fluidly.

However, at a decisive moment, strange sheets of paper floated around them.

Toru noticed this and stepped back.

Boom! The papers exploded and filled the place with a cloud of smoke.

"Pain is on his way."

A female voice echoed. Instantly, a strong gust of wind pushed the smoke out and cleared the view of the battlefield once again.

The angel's large wings showed themselves, at the same time Konan looked at Jiraiya with an expressionless face.

"Wow... I thought the first one to come would be that Pain guy, but not only do I meet this kid, but also you. Konan, you have improved your techniques and grown into a great woman" Jiraiya smiled nostalgically. He looked at Toru who was now standing behind Konan, who was flying above everything with her beautiful angel wings. "You really think you're an angel, don't you?"

"I must kill you, that is God's will" Konan raised her hands and the sheets of paper floating around him changed shape, now being sharp blades.

She looked at Toru, as if giving him an order.

Toru understood and stretched out his hand pointing at Jiraiya. "Shimikomaseru..." At once, the sheets of paper were imbued with Shakuton. Konan acted at once and all the blades of fire shot at Jiraiya like a murderous crimson rain.

Jiraiya dodged it by rolling into the water. Almost a millisecond later, he clasped his hands together and looked at Konan. "Gamma yu dan! [Toad oil]" A large amount of oil shot out of his mouth, which hit Konan squarely.

At the same time, Toru lunged forward as the oil impacted Konan. He held the dagger and again tried to cut Jiraiya, however, just when he thought he had succeeded in cutting his face, the old man's body disappeared in a cloud of smoke, which let a small log of wood fall into the water.

"You can't use your paper being covered in oil, Konan" Another flashback came to his mind. "I remember you were the kindest of the three of us...you always loved origami."

Toru tightened his grip on the dagger, but somehow couldn't move as he realized that Konan had stood still, as if accepting this man's lecture.

"What happened to the other two? The rumors that they were dead too are all lies, aren't they?"

Konan didn't answer and looked away as if she was trying to hide his lie.

"I see. After I left them, after a few years I started hearing rumors about you guys. When there was trouble, those who opposed you ended up dying."

Konan sighed. "You have no idea what happened to us after you left."

"You're right, I don't. But I have no doubt that what Akatsuki is doing is wrong. Besides, taking advantage of a child who has nowhere to go is falling too low."

"That's just your opinion, Jiraiya-sensei..."

Toru looked up, where the strange wave-patterned eyes seemed to glow mercilessly. Jiraiya, on the other hand, felt that this was only getting more complicated.

-Near the Uchiha Lair-

"It can't be, it can't be. They're catching up to us. There are too many of them" Looking back in short intervals of time, Karin tried to rush the team, however, a shadow came between them.

"Oh. It's you!" and Suigetsu recognized it instantly.

"Sasuke-kun, if you want, go on by yourself. Itachi-san would prefer the rest of us to wait out here" Hoshigaki Kisame smiled sitting on the metal roof.

Sasuke for a moment closed his eyes and then opened them looking at Kisame. "No problem. After all I only formed this team to make sure no one interfered with my objective."

Karin disagreed though. "That's crazy, Sasuke. We should kill this guy and go fight Itachi together."

This seemed both amusing and stressful to Kisame. "The truth is, I'm not in the mood to kill a couple of kids. But if you want to, I have no choice."

"Don't even think about it, Karin. This is my revenge, so wait here and don't interfere."

After that, Sasuke quickly agreed to the Lair.

***

"What do you see with your Sharingan, Sasuke?" Sitting in that place, relaxed, with a gaze so cold it could freeze the sun, Itachi saw his fate in front of him.

Sasuke clenched his fists tightly and replied, "What what do I see, Itachi?" As he approached, the monochromatic light of Sharingan was superimposed on his eyes. "With all the power I've gained I only see one thing and it's as clear as water..." He gently held the hilt of the katana. "I see you dead."

-1 kilometer away from the Uchiha Lair-

"I never thought I'd run into a bunch of shinobi from Konoha. And it's a 9 against 1, what a surprise... and how unfair" Tobi waited for Toru to come out of hiding too, but something strange happened to him.

The moment they met the hostile shinobi, Toru froze, hiding behind a tree.

His eyes under his hat were frozen, staring at two specific people. Hinata and Ino. He unconsciously looked down at the ground and held his head in pain.

It had been a long time since he had last seen them. This only jolted the memories in his mind making him feel nostalgic and somehow sad.

He thought he no longer felt anything towards his past, but he was absolutely wrong.

"He's an Akatsuki..." Hinata narrowed her eyes.

To which Yamato, remembering the information they had received from Kabuto, felt confused. "That guy isn't in the information Kabuto left us..."

To be continued...

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New chapter. 150 power stones for the next one. I will be reading your comments :3