Chapter 163: Flower of Hope.

A spiral, as if it were distorting reality, suddenly appeared in the middle of the gigantic lake of Amegakure. Out of it came that masked man. His Sharingan looked through the hole in the mask and sighed heavily. He felt bored of seeing this rainy country after a few days. The shinobi world has been in turmoil lately and that's his fault. In fact, he feels proud of it.

"Hm..."

He waited patiently right there, for he knew that those two traitors will appear before him.

***

Immediately, when he felt Madara's presence, Toru kept Shisui's eyes in his clothes, then put on his scarf and cloak. Somehow he felt chills when suddenly Madara's chakra connected to the village, but that wasn't going to stop him. After a few seconds, Toru started running in the direction of that specific place.

'Looks like Konan thought the same thing as me'.

A small paper butterfly landed on his shoulder. This was Konan's message to him. Something was going to go wrong today and she needed help.

'As promised...' he closed his eyes. 'I'll help you until I manage to find something better to do.'

He still didn't know his own identity, he still couldn't find himself and it was destroying him inside. But despite this, he managed to find calm with someone, that was Konan. Even if he felt insecure, he ran to where she might be.

'This time I'll have to use everything I have'.

His eyes flashed crimson for a second. His muscles tensed and he stomped the air hard. Boom! And he pushed himself with everything he had to get there faster.

***

"So you're the first to come before me. I only have one question for you. Depending on what you answer, the fate of your life will be decided" Madara looked disdainfully at the woman in front of him. She glared back at him in kind.

"There are no questions to answer, Madara. No matter what it is you want, I will not give you anything" she said with a serious expression on her face.

As he made his way to this place, she sent a small origami to Toru to warn him. Now she was face to face with Madara. She felt nervous, but then she remembered why she was still alive.

"Hahaha. You're anticipating events. Not for nothing are you one of the first in Akatsuki." He shook his head wryly. "Where's Nagato's corpse, where's the Rinnegan, Konan?"

Konan frowned and held out his hand. "I already told you: no matter what you want, I won't give you anything. And now that I have you in front of me, I won't waste this opportunity. I will destroy you."

"I see. In that case I won't be merciful."

Just as Konan stretched out her hands to attack, a huge explosion sounded. A split second later, a bright flame moved across the lake to where Madara stood.

Madara realized it too late. Two eyes looked straight into his, those that seemed to personify death. That was...

"Asahi Toru..."

Boom! Madara received the blow full on, he didn't even try to move, however, what had caused that roar after the blow, was the water. Toru was surprised when it went through Madara without being able to connect the blow. He stepped back immediately after this and positioned himself next to Konan.

"That Sharingan..."

"I know. I have something planned."

Konan looked at Madara's chest the whole time, for if he looked him in the eyes, it was obvious that he would fall into a genjutsu and that would be the end of it all. Still, he also had Toru on his side. So this plan could be carried out.

"So here we have our last traitor. Hm... now that I remember, there's something that made my curiosity itch. Why did you betray me, Konan? Do you really think Uzumaki Naruto is so special?"

After Madara asked his question, Toru looked at Konan silently. It was true that he was shocked by the ridiculous way Naruto convinced Nagato, but this also convinced Konan. However, he wasn't going to fall for Naruto's pretty words. He knew better than anyone that those dreamy words were just stupid bullshit, though he also didn't deny that something like what Naruto wished for was entirely impossible.

In the end, Konan only responded with the words that arose in her heart.

"Naruto is the personification of Light. That is why, all who know him, wear the flower of hope" right after he finished giving his answer, the sheets of paper began to fall off his body.

She is determined to fight. Now Toru had only two choices, use Shigan or use Senjutsu. Shigan is perfect for mass murdering people, but when it comes to someone who can turn intangible, that was completely out of the question. Still, if he could plan it long enough, maybe... Although he could also use Senjutsu, which boosts all his jutsu and could attack Madara with an endless rain of Shakuton. Still, he didn't know much about this guy's abilities.

So he opted for the most cost-effective option.

"I see, I see. You could say I understand why. However, what about you, Toru? You get no benefit from being with this woman. So your betrayal makes no sense at all. What are you really looking for? Moreover, right now I could forgive you and let you be part of the Uchiha without retaliating for your actions against me. After all, you carry the blood of my clan in your body, but I still don't understand. Enlighten me with a coherent answer."

"Heh... My name is Toru, Asahi Toru. In the past my clan was part of the Uchiha clan, but this is the present, we have nothing to do with you and your clan. Right now I only have one goal and that is to return a favor."

"Ho... I see. Then you will die for a favor, what a stupid decision" Madara shook his head. Toru might be a good soldier for the coming war, but this one himself refused to cooperate. There was no choice but to kill him along with Konan, besides taking the Kodo Shigan of course. "Well, you're not wearing the robe anymore, but Konan is. I see you miss Akatsuki, even though you just now pulled out my fangs."

Konan was annoyed by this comment. "Akatsuki was founded by Yahiko. The red clouds on our clothes represent the rain of blood that formed over Amegakure because of the wars. For Akatsuki, these clothes represent justice, so Akatsuki and our symbol don't belong to you so you talk as if you own everything" She narrowed her eyes and the sheets of paper began to levitate around her. "And the Rinnegan belonged to Nagato, a ninja from Amegakure. Those eyes don't belong to you either. His eyes are our country's greatest treasure!" Without waiting any longer, paper blades lunged at Madara.

However, this attack failed, as Madara made himself intangible to avoid getting hurt.

"Hahaha. You couldn't be more wrong, my dear. And well, since both Amegakure kunoichi and Konohagakure ninja are going to die, let me enlighten you with the truth."

Toru and Konan looked at each other in silence. Madara continued.

"It was I who incited Yahiko to create Akatsuki. And also... it was me who gave the Rinnegan to Nagato..."

Konan was shocked to hear this, while Toru just clenched his fists waiting for the moment to strike. His gaze sharpened when he heard what Madara said about the Rinnegan. From the beginning he thought that the Rinnegan belonged to Nagato, but now that he had just heard this, he didn't know what to think.

"The truth is, I'm just taking back what's mine from the start. This is nothing personal anymore" No, Madara knew this went beyond taking back what was his. He lifted his shoulders as if he didn't give a damn and his Sharingan gave a small twist inside his eye. "Forget what I said, if it's personal. You're a girl who knew nothing at all. However, now you're a girl who knows where the Rinnegan is. All I have to do is capture you and the job is done." He looked at Toru. "You I'll save for last."

Unable to wait any longer, Toru and Konan launched into the attack. Time seemed to pass in slow motion as they closed in on the masked man. Toru watched as small blades of chakra came close to his body. He never expected this, as he was being attacked by Konan. The sheets of paper pushed him back and she continued forward.

With her beautiful angel wings, her body spread out like a paper wave that crashed into Madara. He, in response to the attack, used the power of his eye to send everything into another dimension, but quickly realized that he was swallowing a bunch of explosive seals.

Boom! Before he could get up, Toru was pushed by the explosion that formed after Madara absorbed the paper. He stepped backwards in the water until he stopped two meters from where he stood and looked up. The sheets of paper were sinking in the water, full of blood, scorched by the explosion. He had a moment of weakness when he saw Konan materialize in front of him. She was injured, but that was not all.

"I shouldn't have underestimated you."

Blood poured from her severed arm. Madara looked through his mask. Konan managed to hit him with her jutsu, but she too had taken damage from the blast. Her body slowly regrouped into sheets of paper.

"You tried to self-destruct to kill us both..."

Toru's eyes widened in shock at hearing that. He looked at Konan silently as she breathed heavily from the damage she received. She lunged forward with the intentions of dying alongside Madara and Toru witnessed that in the front row.

"Konan... you..."

"Don't say anything..." She already knew what Toru thought of her at that moment. So she swallowed that uncomfortable feeling and raised her hand again. "Toru, listen carefully. We are different from this person. He is darkness! An evil being who seeks to spread darkness in the world!" He clenched his fist tightly. "I swore to protect the ideals of Nagato and Yahiko... so... please... help me..."

The boy sighed. Even though she wanted to do everything by herself a few seconds ago, now she was asking for help. He didn't blame her, no matter what, if either of them failed, they would both die. There was no choice but to fight for a better future. But what's the point of fighting if in the end he's no one in this world? What's the point of living if he's going to die anyway? There's no point in that! But still...

His arms were covered in the bright color of Shakuton, his blood crimson eyes showed and his hair bristled. Madara wasn't going to waste any time, so neither was he.

"There's no way I can go any more blind than I already am. There's no way my eyes can be damaged any more than they already are" He closed his eyes and tears of blood streamed down his cheeks. Merged with the Senjutsu, when he opened his eyelids, the Shigan showed in his eyes.

Konan sighed wearily after this. It was selfish at that moment, but she had to apologize to Toru for throwing him away so he wouldn't receive the blast.

"Thank you, Toru..."

"I'm just helping you until I find something better to do, I'll stay by your side until then."

Boom! The water under Toru's feet exploded and immediately appeared in front of Madara. He tried to punch him, but it turned intangible and Toru went through it, crashing into the water, but instantly recovering on the ground, lifting his leg to kick him in the jaw, but he again turned intangible.

"Useless," Madara said.

They both looked into each other's eyes. Time was slow for them at that moment, for their movements were so fast that it seemed that everything around them slowed down.

A sudden blow again, the water exploded, but Madara took no damage.

"Why are you trying so hard, if you can't even touch me?"

Toru closed his eyes.

"Because that's the plan."

"¿...?"

A sudden bright light flashed above them. Madara looked up and there stood Konan. Next to her was a shadow clone of Toru, who was holding that woman's hand and waist as giant paper wings wrapped in Shakuton formed behind them.

"You can become intangible, yes, but when you go to attack, you have to become tangible again. So, I came up with something interesting. Maybe you'll like my gift, Madara."

The giant paper wings began to close, enveloping the lake completely and evaporating the surface of the water. Madara didn't understand this, as he can simply keep himself being intangible so as not to take the damage. So why are they doing this? It didn't make any sense.

"What a stupid plan. I expected better from you, Toru. Now you will take damage from your own jutsu, are you aware of that?"

Toru opened his eyes and smiled.

"What a poor mind you have..."

Boom! The wings closed completely and the explosion was heard throughout the village. The villagers looked into the distance at the great light that was revealed, followed by a gigantic cloud of steam. Water boiled under Madara's feet, who looked all around, realizing what Toru had planned.

"I see..."

Everything was covered in a thick cloud of steam that was caused after the explosion. This was Toru and Konan's plan. If Madara can't see where the blow is coming from, then he won't know when to become intangible.

But this made him shake his head. Madara was disappointed.

"I didn't expect anything and yet you disappoint me, Toru."

Madara thought that, with a simple movement he could make the steam disappear, so this plan was stupid. He held out his hand and in it appeared a strange fan-shaped weapon. This weapon is called "Gunbai" and it belongs to Madara.

He extended his hand with the weapon backwards and hit the air with force, pushing all the steam out of the village, but...

Boom! The water exploded because something abruptly entered it. At the place where Madara was, now stood Toru with his fist wrapped in Shakuton. There was blood on his hand, for somehow that bastard's face was even harder than tungsten.

"Madara... when you attack you become tangible" The moment Madara used the weapon to disperse the steam, Toru took the opportunity to punch him full in the face. Although the plan was rather simple and rushed, it turned out to be quite effective in the end. "Now tell me, what did you think of my magic trick? You got quite a scare, didn't you?" said Toru. He had expected Madara to come out of the water with some major injuries, but when that guy came out of the water....

"What a hasty plan, brat. You're smart. It's not for nothing that I had Nagato offer you entry into Akatsuki..." He breathed heavily as blood ran down his forehead. The mask he was wearing cracked and a small piece of it fell into the water. His right eye was revealed, it looked quite injured and had quite a few scars that looked like burn wounds. "How does it feel to be my puppet, child? Those who called themselves 'Asahi' deserve to be in the shadow of the Uchiha. You will always be my puppets, from the day that man stood against me, you doomed yourselves. But..." He straightened up and stretched his body even though he has taken a lot of damage. "That doesn't matter now. I only came for one thing..."

Toru's skin was a bit scorched from the damage of the fire wings, but after that, he was in perfect condition.

"I know that..."

In the water, strange incandescent objects began to reflect. Madara looked up. He obviously hadn't forgotten about her, for Konan was still standing next to Toru's clone in the sky. Now the entire rainy sky of Amegakure was covered by hundreds of Shakuton spears and paper.

The sight was magnificent for the villagers, as the spears looked like stars that came down from the sky just to be appreciated.

-Toru's laboratory

Akiko sensed the fight that had been going on up there for the last twenty seconds. Toru had told her to wait in the lab to perform the eye transplant, but he never arrived.

'Kami-sama... will he be alright? He always does everything alone and somehow it worries me. He is too young, if something happens to him I would feel guilty'.

Although Toru had no intentions of saving this woman and her son, he ended up doing so in the end. Akiko is grateful to Toru for that and, around the world, many people are also grateful for that boy's work. He saved many lives, but what none of those people who were saved know, is that the same boy who saved so many people, has also taken the lives of many more. Okaminaru said it before, Toru doesn't seek to be a hero, but he doesn't want to be a villain either. Although Toru himself doesn't know it, maybe he is just a person who seeks to live in peace.

Without thinking so much, she picked up the scalpel and looked at it intently.

'The tool I'm supposed to use to transplant Kami-sama's eyes' Gods can bleed too, she thought as she put the scalpel back on the table.

"Enough. If Kami-sama changes his mind, it's not something I should mess with. However..."

Boom!

"Kya!"

For a second, everything shook abruptly. Akiko looked to see if the instruments were in good condition after the sudden tremor and sighed in relief. She wondered what was going on out there, so she went upstairs and out of the lab. When she opened the door and looked up at the sky, her eyes widened at the sight of the spears of fire.

"Kami-sama..."

-Amegakure Lake-.

"That's all you plan to do? It's a waste of chakra, since none of it will be able to hurt me."

Just by rendering his body intelligible, Madara could avoid the damage of that combined jutsu. To him it was stupid to waste so much chakra if it was going to do them no good in the end.

And Toru agreed with him.

"It is. I'm simply waiting for you to want to fight without using jutsus. It's boring that way and I've run out of ideas to make you understand. Is the great Madara afraid of a fist fight against a child?" This was a very obvious provocation. Toru had already used his one ace up his sleeve and failed to kill Madara with a single blow. Right now he couldn't think of how to make Madara tangible, so in the end he used the most classic trick of all "Provocation."

"Heh. Don't be sure that will work. I already took a hit from you and let me tell you it hurt too much. I won't let something like that happen, as I want to achieve my goal."

"Are you sure about that, Madara?"

Toru narrowed his eyes and looked Madara straight in the face. There was a peculiarity in Toru's facial expressions. When he was a child, his face always had a numb expressionlessness. After fleeing Konoha, he had an aggressive expressionlessness on his face, this was accompanied by the strange gleam in his eyes that made him look like a predator. When his Akatsuki friends died, Toru's expressionlessness became a little softer and lonelier until now.

Toru's gaze was now quite fierce, even though his face was almost expressionless. This made Madara raise his eyebrows, intrigued by this boy's murderous look.

This convinced him.

"You're not going to give up, huh..."

Boom! One of the spears exploded next to Madara, however, he started walking to where Toru, being quite relaxed.

At the same time, up in the sky, Konan and Toru's clone reached forward and the glowing spears began to shoot at Madara, but he became intangible, managing to evade them all with ease.

"Then, before your death, I will show you the power of Uchiha Madara."

Soon, Madara's relaxed footsteps increased speed. For a second he disappeared from everyone's sight and appeared in front of Toru.

"Madara..."

"Toru..."

The Sharingan spun and the atmosphere changed completely. Madara used genjutsu, but missed. In doing so, he entered Toru's mind, where the fight began. The ground was made up of a huge sea of blood and the sky was completely black. For a second, Madara thought he saw chains and shackles on Toru's arms and legs, but when he lunged, they disappeared. In the end, he took it as part of this strange genjutsu.

Bam! They both clashed fists. Toru looked at Madara and the gleam in his eyes intensified. Again, a clash of fists took place, causing the blood on the ground to tremble. Meanwhile, outside the genjutsu, Konan watched as Toru and Madara fought solely using Taijutsu. Both were moving at extraordinary speeds, so much so that, for her, it was difficult to follow them with her eyes. Even so, she looked at Toru's clone, who, at that moment, was observing everything in silence.

"He's stronger than I imagined," said the clone.

Konan frowned and returned his gaze to the front. The whole village seemed to tremble from the power clashes suddenly exploding. In view of this, she went ahead with the plan.

It was strange for her. Even though the two had barely exchanged words in the middle of the fight, they both knew very well what to do. They were completely in sync and that somehow made Konan feel worried. The incandescent spears continued to hurl themselves at Madara, regardless of whether they were about to hit Toru as well.

One explosion after another. Even though they were both locked inside Toru's mind, somehow their bodies were moving and fighting on the outside as well as inside this strange bloody place.

"It's useless. Someone like you, a traitor, a failure in this world, you will never be able to catch up to a real Uchiha. Everything you do is useless and you know it."

Toru maintained his silence at Madara's words. With great agility, he moved through the sea of blood and threw a kick at Madara's face, who simply dodged it, stretching his leg and hitting Toru in the face.

The exchange of blows resumed. They continued to fight with their own taijutsu without holding back, but even though Toru seemed to have the upper hand....

"Pray!"

Boom! The water exploded, as Madara... made himself intangible so as not to take damage. Taking advantage of his intangibility, Madara pierced through Toru's body and took something in his hands, it was a jar.

"Interesting. So here they were. I'm really sorry, brat. But this belongs to me."

Toru looked at Madara's hand and everything around it shattered like glass. His eyes stared in shock at what this bastard held in his hand.

'Shisui-san's eyes...'

He remembered that he had kept them between his clothes, so, Madara, by becoming intangible, can easily take what was hidden between Toru's clothes.

"These trinkets won't do" In his other hand, he held Toru's daggers, then threw them into the water.

He saw this and immediately changed the expression on his face. Such a cold and annoyed look, that for a second, it made Toru overthink.

'It's the first time I feel so many things in the middle of a fight.'

He felt a lot of emotions envelop his heart, but he couldn't understand them. Everything was more difficult when under pressure. Still, what made his expression change, was the way Madara threw the daggers into the water and the fact that he now has Shisui's eyes in his hands.

He wasn't going to let this happen. Shisui's eyes now belong to Toru, as they were a gift from Itachi before he died. Without those eyes, Toru would never be able to see the light of day again, let alone Konan's face. He felt anger, like that crimson night, envelop his mind and soul. But even though that emotion was too strong, he clenched his fists tightly and sighed heavily.

"None of this belongs to you. Shisui-san was the original bearer of those eyes, who bequeathed them to Itachi and Itachi, in turn, left them to me. Those eyes are not yours, for they belong to me. If you do not return them to me, then I will have to resort to more savage methods."

"Ha~.... Surprising. So, you really could put those kinds of expressions on your face. Let me tell you something though, you wasted your chance to use these eyes. You've lost them and you won't manage to snatch them out of my hands. If you really want them back, then consider them lost."

Boom! The water exploded, now Toru was behind Madara.

The masked man looked this has gotten really serious. Konan keeps throwing the paper spears and Toru keeps attacking. There is a limit to how long he can become intangible, so this obviously was his weakness and such it seems that Toru, at this moment, just realized it.

'You already lost, Toru...'

Again, the water rose up in the form of an explosion. This time, a small cut appeared on Madara's remaining arm, who looked at this and frowned.

Toru looked at the ground and extended his right hand. From the water, tentacles made of the same liquid came out, which returned the daggers to him.

"Suiton..."

He controls all the elements, though his strong point is wind and fire. So, the time has come to use them and combine them properly.

"Shakuton: Kajōsatsu... [Scorching Style: Scorching Wave]."

Above Toru, three spheres formed and began to slowly orbit around him. These spheres glowed in the color of fire and looked extremely dangerous with mere contact.

Madara frowned, as he watched the water begin to evaporate again. But this was something different, too much for his liking. And he quickly understood.

This jutsu was very similar to that of a certain woman of the Bloody Mist....

"If you already understood, then I don't have to explain it. But in case it's not clear to you, if you stop being intangible, my jutsu will dry up all the fluids in your body and you will be left as a mummy."

"..."

Again, the gears in Toru's mind began to turn. This is no longer about strength, this is about battle prowess, i.e. intelligence. Madara said it, Toru is smart and he himself will use that against the enemy.

Just one wrong step, and Madara will die. However, he needs to get his eyes back. He walked forward in a relaxed manner while holding the daggers. At the same time, Madara frowned and sank into the water.

Suddenly, Torul stopped sensing Madara's chakra and then....

Splash! Konan's eyes widened at the sight. Madara appeared behind Toru and tried to stab him with a metal bar, but Toru turned around, dropped the daggers and put his hands in front of him to avoid the attack. Blood splattered, as the metal bar pierced Toru's hands, leaving holes in both palms.

"I have to go..."

Konan tried to go down, but the clone held her waist tightly.

"No..."

Meanwhile, down there, Toru felt the pain of having both hands pierced by that metal object. Blood flowed out of the wound and mixed with the water. In front of him, Madara squinted his eyes. You could clearly see the steam coming out of his body, but it also looked like he was enduring it very well.

"That's all you had for me? I'm certainly surprised at how insistent you've been, but the time has come to end this."

Toru lowered his gaze, but produced no sound of pain or anything like that. Rather, he remained silent, staring at the ground as the glowing spheres attempted to drain all the fluids from Madara's body.

"Farewell, Asahi Toru..."

He tried to pierce his head with the same bar pierced in Toru's hands, but something happened. The metal bar wouldn't budge and at the same time....

Toru looked up.

Madara opened his eyes when he saw that look. It was a gaze that possessed no index of emotions, as if for a moment he was looking at a completely different person than Asahi Toru. There was something strange there, but when he tried to kill him with his other hand....

"Those eyes belong to me, they were a gift from my old friend and that's why I can do whatever I want with that gift. So, Shimikomaseru..."

A bright light illuminated all of amegakure, a bright incandescent light that seemed to want to eat the whole world. At the same time, the man's choked cry of pain echoed. It was heartbreaking, a cry full of agony.

From high in the sky, even Konan and the clone could hear it.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhg!!!"

The Shakuton's flames slashed and burned. The three spheres, like suns filled with power, tried to drain the liquids from Madara's body. At that very instant, that glass vial inside his robe exploded and the eyeballs it contained disintegrated with the flames.

With this action, Toru only wanted to make one thing clear. It was certainly like a child's tantrum... "If I can't have them, no one will" That was how Shisui's eyes disappeared from the face of the earth. The strongest genjutsu turned to ashes.

"What have you done!"

Madara, his whole body scorched, stepped back and touched his head forcefully. He has managed to survive the jutsu, as his body was stronger than Toru managed to calculate. But now he was extremely injured and he didn't doubt that this guy still had quite a bit of chakra at his disposal. So, they had to execute the end of this act.

***

"Konan, earlier you said you had a plan. I have an idea of what you have in mind. Please do it" The clone, without letting go of Konan, narrowed his eyes.

Hearing this, however, she frowned. She didn't know how Toru knew about this, so this puzzled her. Moreover, by executing that jutsu, the life of the original Toru, who was down there, would be in grave danger. She could not simply kill Toru together with Madara, for even if he has decided to help her, it was not worth sacrificing the life of someone unrelated to this problem.

That should be so, but Toru....

"'Madara is darkness' you said. 'Then what am I? I'm sure I'm not someone good, but I'm not that evil either. Although it's hard for me to find an answer to that question, maybe if I continue to live I'll manage to find it. And, for that, we have to finish this guy off. If he doesn't die right now, then we will die and in the end I won't be able to find that answer. So, do it, use that jutsu, I'll help you boost the damage. Besides, my original also has a Kinjutsu [Forbidden Technique] that he will surely use when he sees that you are going to attack."

"Are you really sure? If you do-"

"I'll be fine, I'm resilient. No matter what it is, I'll live to find that answer. Help me, Konan."

She opened her eyes. It was she who asked for help at first, but now it was Toru who let those very words out. She lowered her gaze and then looked at the clone. It was a clone of Toru, yes, but his hands were strangely warm. She said to herself 'This feeling again...' then held the clone's hand tightly.

"I will..."

***

"What did I do? Nothing important. It's nothing..."

Tentacles of water came out of the lake and handed the daggers to Toru. Immediately, he looked at Madara. He thought for a moment that Itachi's gift has turned to ashes and that he has now lost the chance to regain the light in his eyes. He squeezed the hilt tightly and sighed.

The time has come to end this. The final act...

Up in the sky, Konan reached forward, while, with the other hand, he held the hand of Toru's clone. The water in the lake began to disturb, causing Madara to go on the defensive. At the same time, Toru sank into the water and then....

The sound of hundreds, thousands, millions of sheets of paper colliding echoed throughout the village. The lake split in two and the water was swallowed by the hole that opened up in the middle of the paper. In the middle of it all, Toru found himself falling into the void and, above him, Madara as well.

The light of the Shakuton enveloped the daggers and, at the same time, Toru narrowed his eyes. With the Shigan and Senjutsu active, he could clearly see where he had to attack. So he opened his arms with the daggers, which turned into incandescent swords.

"San [three]"

Madara looked down and realized what Toru was trying to do. So he used the ability of his right eye.

"Ni [two]"

All the lines of death in existence moved violently, colliding and connecting with each other.

"Ichi [one]"

The energy of the world flowed in the air, caressing the world gently. The Senjutsu helped him to feel this....

"Rei [zero]"

When the countdown ended, mentioning the new name of these two fire swords, Toru launched two slashes of Shakuton that extended and launched against Madara. But the latter, being intangible, the fire blades that formed continued their path to the sky piercing him. In that same second, sheets of paper began to float around these two and quickly, they both saw that all the sheets of paper were actually explosive seals.

Toru had already suspected this, so he could be sure to survive the explosions.

Boom! The sheets of paper began to explode. One exploded near Toru's face, but he wrapped his body in Shakuton and used senjutsu to better resist the damage.

On the other hand, Madara had no way to escape. To teleport he had to become tangible and, in doing so, he would take full damage from the explosions. Besides he would surely die, since, when teleporting, he has to wait a few seconds. In that short period of time, he would end up becoming a lifeless bag of meat.

'That's bad... What should I do?' he thought.

He also looked at Toru a few meters below, who had decided to use one of his air platforms to take a closer look. Why was he staying here, though? 'The idiot bastard is taking damage from the explosions too. There's no way he'll survive this, or so he thought. Toru, by controlling chakra senjutsu, was able to stiffen his own body enough to reduce the damage greatly. Yes, he would end up severely injured, but he would come out of this alive, which Madara won't be able to do.

"You will die here, Madara..."

Amidst the explosions, Toru walked relaxed. The wounds were closing fast due to his body being covered by Shakuton. However, his plan was not to stay here for as long as the explosions would last. He was waiting for that...

The sound of flames echoed near his ear. The explosive seals were covered in Shakuton, further increasing the damage Madara will have to take. With that done, Toru had to move on to the conclusion of this act.

***

"... What... what is that?" She looked up at the sky. She didn't understand what her eyes were looking at that moment. It was strange, something that appeared out of nowhere.

Unlike Konan, Toru's clone didn't change the expression on her face when she saw what was forming in the sky. What's more, he extended his hand and the wind wrapped itself around Shakuton, turning into a branch that slowly approached that glowing "thing".

The branch slowly coalesced and then....

A bright light illuminated all of Amegakure. The rain clouds disintegrated and that "something" shone brightly. A gigantic sphere, pure and bright, dangerous and majestic... It was like watching the sun descend into the world. That sphere made strange noises, as if it were hitting the air.

"This is my ultimate jutsu. It is an extension of a jutsu I used in the past against the Ichibi, Gaara" said the clone, to which Konan was only listening silently.

***

About 3 minutes after the explosions started, Toru was still in the middle of it. He was standing still in the middle of the explosions, arms folded.

Madara just looked at him angrily, as he didn't know what to do to survive. At that moment, however, a light from the sky caught his attention. As the explosive seals pierced his body, he looked up and his eyes widened in shock.

"A gigantic mass of pure chakra..." He clenched his fist and looked up at Toru. That's when it hit him. The Shakuton blades Toru threw earlier were not aimed at him. Moreover, Toru was aiming to miss. For, when the blades reached the sky and hit the rainy clouds, the blades turned into two spheres that began to spin at high speeds, rotating and swallowing all the hydrogen in the sky. Both spheres eventually merged and expanded, just like the death of a star. That was how Madara could see the birth of a sun. Immediately he threw himself against Toru, because it was not long before his intangibility would be over and, if that thing hit him, not even its ashes would be left.

On the other hand, Toru realized this and looked up at it. He punched the air hard and propelled himself. The flames in his right fist intensified and, like a rabbit, he jumped at a great speed into the air.

He knew that if Madara received another punch, he himself had a great chance of dying, so he used this to his advantage.

When the two were face to face, Madara realized that he had acted on impulse, so Toru passed through him taking advantage of Madara's intangibility and came out of the ocean of explosive seals.

***

Like a shooting star, she watched as the original Toru propelled himself to where that large sphere that appeared to be about 40 meters in diameter was.

"I'm going to grab your waist tightly. The shockwave will push everything back. And don't worry, the village will be fine, I'm controlling the damage my jutsu causes."

"Is something like that possible?"

"In theory, yes. This is the first time I've used this jutsu, although I already had it created in my mind."

***

Positioning himself over the large sun he created, Toru sighed wearily. This thing reminded him of his past life and made him feel strange. Still, in the distance, he looked at Konan and the clone, this was enough motivation for him to act.

"The light will not return to my eyes, but there is a flame growing in the bottom of my heart. I don't know if that's good or if that's bad. For now, I just want an answer..."

He raised his fist and the flames intensified.

"Shimikomaseru, Sakuton..."

More and more, the sun seemed to shine brightly. The X in Toru's eyes swirled and a small drop of blood trickled down his cheek, which evaporated from the heat of the Shakuton.

"..."

He closed his eyes and clenched his fist. Then, from the bottom of his heart he shouted:

"Saigo no Yoake! [Final Down]"

Boom! He punched the sun, which flew out of place and into the lake of explosive seals. The air seemed to burn around him, for even the rising sun can damage everything in its path, it can hurt them all... without even realizing it....

***

"Damn brat..."

Madara saw firsthand how the sun was approaching him. Inevitably he closed his eyes and remembered the silhouette of a girl.

...

...

...

The light intensified and at the end...

***

Toru's Final Down remained on as the explosive shakuton seals entered inside the jutsu and continued to explode. He stretched out his hands next to the clone and the branches stretching up to the sun disappeared.

After ten minutes, the sun went out and gradually lost its size. It became as small as a baseball, but then... this was what Toru was referring to earlier. What he said to Konan...

The shockwave.

...

...

The sun grew again, pushing everything with a great current of air to finally disintegrate and disappear. This lasted about two seconds. The air current was too strong, but the surroundings were unharmed. Konan and Toru's clone were pushed back, this made the clone disappear in a cloud of smoke.

'Toru...'

She, still floating with her angel wings, looked at the original Toru, who was falling at high speed. After giving almost all of his chakra to that Kinjutsu, plus the damage he received from the explosive seals, Toru felt exhausted and passed out in midair.

Konan quickly flew to him and caught him.

'You said you'd be fine...' In his arms, the boy was breathing heavily. 'This is not being fine...' He slowly descended into the water. 'You're a liar...'"

"I... I guess I am..."

Konan was startled by Toru's sudden words. He woke up and climbed down from Konan's arms, falling to his knees on the ground.

"I didn't think that holding such a large mass of chara for more than 5 minutes would take more chakra than I calculated. and you're okay? Controlling that much paper must have been difficult."

"I'm not... I can barely move, but it's easier if I use the sheets of paper. That's how I was able to catch you."

"I see..." Toru looked down at himself and sighed tiredly. 'Ha~ I'm such a mess. I didn't imagine that Senjutsu would hurt me so much. Normally I only feel itchy on my body when I use it, but this time it's like I've been burned from the inside' This was a new discovery. Well, as normal, Toru only feels itchy when he has the World Energy in his body, but this time, he overuse of this same energy has hurt him quite a bit. 'I should be fine, I can handle this, nothing will happen to me...'

At the same time, however, Konan looked at the surroundings and saw that the water in the lake was boiling. The sky had been cleared by Toru's kinjutsu, so it was somehow a beautiful scenery of this village which is normally surrounded by rain.

"Is there anything left of Madara?"

Toru also noticed. He ended up deactivating the senjutsu for a few moments. "Probably not. My Shakuton cuts and burns, so it's likely to have turned to ashes or even less than that. Hm... Uh?" He saw something strange floating in the water. It was that strange fan-shaped weapon. He left Konan behind and approached the weapon. 'This should have been destroyed...'

There was a bit of blood on the weapon, plus the weapon itself didn't have any scratches on it. Somehow or other, this ended up being quite strange to Toru. He bent down and watched carefully, stretched out his hand and felt traces of chakra. It was then that he realized...

"¡¿?!"

His eyes widened in shock. He felt the bastard's chakra behind him, more specifically, behind Konan.

"No!"

He turned around and jumped into the air to propel himself. He appeared in front of Konan instantly, grabbed her hand and threw her to the ground.

Splash!

"Ahhhhhhhhhgg!"

Toru felt pain in his back and abdomen, something that made him fall to his knees and arms above the water, right on top of Konan. Blood splashed against the water and on top of Konan's clothes. She didn't know what happened, but she realized it when she saw over Toru's shoulder. Madara's Sharingan glowed faintly behind him.

"How is it possible...?"

The hope on Konan's face vanished when he saw Toru's wound. There was a metal rod running through him from the back, through the lung area, through the liver, finally exiting through the abdomen. There was not much blood coming out because the wound was covered by that metal bar.

"I have to admit it. I had quite a scare just now. I really thought I was going to die. Well, I really did die..."

His tenebrous voice echoed close to Toru's ear, who tried to endure the pain, but strangely enough, that metal bar was draining him of what little chakra he had, just like what Nagato was doing, which was quickly leaving him incapacitated.

He held his abdomen with his right hand, trying to stop the metal bar from advancing further and hurting Konan, but it was proving to be more difficult than it seemed.

'I... am I going to die?'

"Ngh!"

Toru couldn't help himself. The metal bar pierced her hand and stabbed Konan in the side of her torso. Fortunately, for her, Toru tried to keep the bar from touching any of Konan's vital points.

"K-Kona...n"

Toru's eyes closed and then....

Clang, Bam! Madara broke the bar so that it was embedded in Toru's body and then kicked him away. He sank into the water as the blood slowly mixed with the water.

"Toru!" She tried to crawl away, but suffered the same fate.

Already a bit fed up with waiting, Madara kicked Konan and a bit hastily, approached her.

"Right now you should be asking yourself, 'How can you be alive,' and I'll give you an answer. Izanagi, a kinjutsu that we, the Uchiha, have to turn illusions into reality, the bad thing is that, in return, one of our eyes closes and never sees the light again... never again. This is a kinjutsu that can only be used by the powers of both primordial clans, Uchiha and Senju."

"You... you have no such thing... that power belongs to the Rikudō [Sage of the Six Paths], so that's impossible. You... you..." He tried to get up from the ground, but his injuries were very serious and he had spent a lot of chakra on the kinjutsu from before. "Toru... you... you!"

"Yes, I. He should be dead by now. Don't cry for a child, woman. Well, taking advantage of the fact that now both of you have calmed down, one more than the other and, considering that you are a former ally, I will give you the right to know a little more about my jutsus and my history."

***

'What is this...'

For some reason, as he sank, the water felt warm, quite warm, quite familiar. That water, slowly turning to blood, embraced him tightly. At the same time, whispers were heard, whispers that seemed to celebrate the near death of this boy. The whispers continued, one after another behind his ear. Chilling voices, unknown voices. Slowly he landed on a hard surface, uninjured by the fall. When his knees touched that "ground", he felt a shiver run through his entire body, as well as all the darkness around him.

He couldn't move, he couldn't breathe, he couldn't see. He felt strange objects strapped to his wrists and ankles. Chilling footsteps, as if walking over a puddle were heard. A flame flared up in front of Toru, allowing him to see and then....

"¡¿?!"

He felt two hands on his shoulders. They were small hands, like a child's.

"We're here again" Said the voice of an infant. "We're here forever..." He dug his nails into Toru's shoulders. "What can your eyes see, onii-san? What did you see as you were thrown into the water like a fishhook?"

'I...'

"There was blood, a lot of blood. Your hands are covered in blood, onii-san. You know it, deep in your heart, you know it. Listen to those screams, listen to them, don't keep hiding them, don't keep hiding what makes you suffer, onii-san. What do you see?"

"I..."

He couldn't see it, but that boy behind him had black hair, silver eyes and a strange expressionless face. However, that boy smiled. It was a kind of expressionless smile that was somehow extremely macabre.

*Shhhhh...*

Something moved behind them both and crimson, skeletal hands rested on the boy's shoulders. It was a skeleton-like being with black wings, only there was a bit of rotting flesh on its bones. The skeleton moved its mouth, and the child spoke in response.

"That woman..."

Hands began to come out of the ground, which revealed that ocean of blood that Toru knows all too well.

"She will die..."

Toru's eyes widened in shock. In front of him, Madara held Konan by the cloak and lifted her out of the water. He Sharingan gleamed in his eyes, those eyes that somehow disgusted Toru.

"She will die... just like the others. She will die, exactly like those you called 'friends', onii-san."

...

...

...

...

...

***

"You said before that I am darkness. I will destroy your cute little rainbow bridge and its seven colors, and drown it in darkness. When my genjutsu ends, so will your life. Now tell me... Where is the Rinnegan?"

...

...

...

Konan's eyes rolled back and Madara's Sharingan circled twice inside his eyes.

He smiled as he saw Konan move his mouth, revealing the location of Nagato's corpse. With that done, he stretched out his left hand and from his sleeve came a metal rod.

"As promised..."

*drip*

"¿...?"

BOOM! An unseen force came through, like a terrible blizzard, the force of which pushed Madara so hard, that he literally shot out of the village. He crossed mountains in the process, and when he stopped at one of the mountains a few kilometers away from Ame, he was shocked by the strong blow.

Konan, who was about to lose consciousness, fell into the water as she was released by Madara. She touched her neck in pain and then looked around.

"To...ru..." she said as she saw the person coming out of the water.

His clothes were soaked and he had a small hole in his abdomen, in which was still that metal bar. His hand was outstretched and, from the position he was in, he looked quite weak, as he could barely stand upright.

She saw it clearly, Toru's hand was shaking and a couple of tears ran down the boy's cheeks. These tears, soon stained crimson, turning into strange tears of blood, which fell into the water and mixed with the water.

He was staring at the ground, as if in a trance. His hair covered his eyes and his breathing was ragged.

"Toru! Don't move! I'm coming... wait for me... I'm going to help you, just stay awake, Toru..."

Konan, as weak as she was, floated with the sheets of paper and approached the boy, but when she saw him up close, her eyes widened in shock.

A faint purple light glowed behind Toru's hair. The closer he got the more he could see. The boy's eyes had changed. A strange pattern of ripples spread across his eyeballs, accompanied by that faint purple glow that at that moment, left Konan with only one thing on his mind.

"Rinnegan..."

Hearing Konan's voice, the purple glow in Toru's eyes disappeared and he felt a pounding headache. He remembered now, what was going to happen. He did not understand anything that happened, for he saw everything as a strange dream. For a few seconds he stood there recalculating what had happened, only to remember what Madara did to both of them.

He looked up and realized that Konan was in front of him.

'Your death lines...' He reached out his hand and touched Konan's cheek. 'At that moment they stopped moving...' It was as if at that moment, Konan's fate had been to die. But something happened, something intervened, though he didn't remember it clearly. Still...

"We have to go!"

"What...?"

Before Konan could refute anything, even with all her injuries, Toru lifted her in his arms and propelled himself into the air. She immediately ran with everything she had. Every step she took, every time she walked away from this village, memories of her Akatsuki friends filled her mind. Each of them died and the same was going to happen to Konan.

His vision was blurry, his whole body felt pain, but there was a specific place where it hurt more and that place was his eyes. That voice whispered in his ear, which made the boy want to run away faster, which caused him to stumble when he reached the forest.

"Ha... hah... Konan, get on my back. We have to go... We have to go or we'll die..." He touched his forehead to the ground and clenched his fists tightly. "Quick, Konan, we have to go!" He lifted his gaze and looked Konan in the eyes.

She finally understood when she saw the desperation in Toru's eyes. So she obeyed, leaving everything behind... Yahiko, Nagato... She climbed onto Toru's back and held on with the last of her strength. At the same time, the boy did his best to stand up and continue running.

"Ha... hah... ha..." He touched his abdomen and saw blood. Then his mind cleared and he used that blood for the following. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

Poof! Toru jumped up and climbed onto Okamikase's back.

"Boy, what happened to you?"

"Get us out of here, Okaminase-san! Quick! Madara won't be long in finding us!"

"What the... Madara? You brat, what the hell did you get into? No, that doesn't matter now. Prepare for a reverse summoning" As he ran, he reached his teeth to the side of his body and pulled out a small scroll. "Woman, take this and open it, quick. The boy fainted."

"Toru..."

"No time to cry for your beloved, make it quick."

"Beloved? No, I... Ha~" Ignoring what the old wolf said, she opened the scroll and made a one-handed seal. "Is that right?"

"Yes. Now..." She increased her speed as, with the Senjutsu, she could sense someone following them. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" he hit the ground with his front paws and then the three of them were swallowed by a cloud of smoke.

After that, there was nothing and no one in that place anymore.

...

...

Within seconds, Madara arrived with a completely bloody body.

"Hm... later I'll go get them. Now I have to go get the Rinnegan."

Disappointed that he couldn't catch up to them, Madara turned around and headed back to Amegakure. In one of the trees, Zetsu smiled strangely, as he was somehow amused by this.

-Somewhere strange, far from this world-.

The sound of ambulances could be heard echoing along with the murmurs of the police. There was smoke coming out of a specific place. Buildings destroyed, people dead, that event was so sudden that no one ever knew what happened.

"Can this be considered a terrorist attack?" said the police chief.

To which one of those present shook his head.

"It doesn't make any sense. There is no evidence that it was a terrorist attack. Besides, we have reports that there is strange radiation at the center of the explosion. We've already called in the specialists, they should be here in a few minutes."

"I understand..." He nodded his head and folded his arms. 'Could it be a sign?' He frowned at the thought. 'There are low quality videos that recorded what happened from a far distance, there are also witnesses to it. The explosion, more than an explosion, it was as if suddenly a giant red bubble appeared, swallowing everything in its path."

***

After 5 minutes, the radioactive element specialists arrived. They had the typical yellow suits and machines that detected radiation levels. It seemed that this strange radiation did not affect humans, but they still could not find out why.

"I found something!"

One of the yellow-suited men raised his hand and held something up with tweezers.

"This is the radiation center..."

"I see... But what is it?"

"I don't know, it's sharp. It looks like the piece of a blade."

In the tweezers, the fragmented part of a dagger was shown there, as if it had been separated from the hilt with a clean cut, capable of splitting the particles.

To them this was important, for it was the center of the radiation and possibly the source of the crimson explosion. They took the piece of metal and carefully placed it in a briefcase. While the other researchers analyzed the debris, the one who seemed to be the senior among them took the case and stepped out of the gigantic crater that had formed.

Just as he was about to reach the van that would transport this object to the laboratories, an elderly man stopped him. The man was dressed like a Church Father and was accompanied by people dressed in a similar manner. The old man's hair was gray and a bit long down to the nape of his neck, and he had a kind smile on his face, totally different from what his slightly portly body showed.

"Good afternoon."

"Eh..., good afternoon? You shouldn't be here, this is a restricted area, it's dangerous to stay near the crater."

"Don't worry," said the old man. "We have already spoken to your superiors and they have given us permission to intervene. We come on orders from a certain person" He handed him a document with the signature of the man in charge of the case. "I am Kotomine Risei, it is a pleasure. So, since I have introduced myself and you have read and checked the document with your own eyes. Please, the briefcase."

"Well... I should talk to the Doctor first, so I could understand the situation better..."

"All right. As you wish."

After that, that old man walked next to the researcher, who had taken off the suit that protected him from the radiation and, together with the briefcase, they went to talk to that Doctor.

***

The next day, the old man boarded a train with the people who accompanied him. One of those people carried the briefcase with the piece of dagger inside and the others seemed to protect it.

'Well, this could be a good discovery. If this turns out to be what we think it is, we would have a chance to use an unknown Servant' He folded his arms and smiled slightly, as he had already thought of who would be the Master of this Servant.

On July 24, 1990, an unknown explosion consumed part of Shinagawa, in Tokyo - Japan. The cause is still unknown.

But what is known is that this piece of metal was something special.

A war is coming...

To be continued...

___________________

You like the Fate Series, don't you? Well, I don't mind. Vol. 4 is completely focused on Fate/Zero. How did it happen? Well, I said from the beginning that this would be a multiversal thing.

By the way, vol. 4 is already 2 chapters in. I plan to finish it before vol. 3 is finished on this platform. Without more to say, I'm going to go eat cookies.