114. GOD

Never in the past, Shiroken had used this much power on anything. No human being in the world had witnessed such brutal physical strength. Where he was standing now appeared a 100 metres deep and 2 kilometres wide crater. Jiraiya, Konan, Naruto were kept safe by Shiroken's earth bubble around them, it was made of stone and they were completely filled with water, entrapping them inside it.

This protected their mortal bodies, meanwhile, Shiroken appeared beside the dark thing faster than anything could travel. It was shocked by this suddenness and tried to take Nagato's eyes as fast as it could.

"NOT ON MY WATCH!" Shiroken bellowed and blew air at the thing. *WOOSH* The thing tried to hold on to Nagato and couldn't take the eyes.

Shiroken just tried to stop it from taking the eyes as fast as he could, not giving it any chance. Next, he threw a kunai at lightning speed and plunged it into the ten tails' husk.

This was not a normal kunai, it was a flying thunder god kunai. And what Shiroken was doing was actually reverse of the normal jutsu, instead of making himself teleport to the kunai he was making the object the kunai was plunged into teleport to him.

Nagato and the ten tails' husk teleported from the dark thing's grasp and appeared beside Shiroken. Without giving any opportunity to the thing, he threw a large chakra beam.

"HAAAA..." It was blue in colour and seemed like a beam of pure energy. It was being shot from Shiroken's palm and in reality, it was nothing but pure condensed natural energy.

The black thing immediately dived into the ground in fright. Perhaps, natural energy was the only thing that could hurt it. Shiroken quickly expanded his natural sense and tried to sense where it was.

Seeing it roaming around underground, he tried to stab it with thousands of tree roots. It was surely annoyed by how Shiroken was able to see it even there. The closer it got to him the more intense the attacks became.

The thing just wanted the eyes, because if it had them, no matter where Shiroken would hide the husk it could be summoned. But it found it hard to get it no matter what it did. All ways were cut and all its actions were as visible as if its body was in front of Shiroken.

~He's truly the greatest foe of the mother. I... can't allow him to spoil all my hard work. But... if I die today, I will fail my mother. I have waited a thousand years, I can wait some more. When he dies, I shall manipulate his children.~ Thinking this, the dark thing dived deeper into the ground to get away from Shiroken and started teleporting away as fast as possible. But it was his wishful thinking that Shiroken would just automatically die someday.

As if an earthquake stopped, the loud sounds of Shiroken blasting the ground ceased to exist. Jiraiya, Naruto and Konan quickly rushed to him.

"NAGATO!" Konan cried in fear for her best friend's life.

Nagato was pale and there was a hole in his chest. Shiroken quickly tried to heal him, "Don't worry, kid. I can heal you back to perfect health, with normal arms and feet."

*Cough* "DON'T..."

Jiraiya urged, "What are you saying? Why not? You made a mistake, you were fooled by that thing, you should live."

"Jiraiya sensei is right," Konan agreed.

"N-No... Lord Dama, do not heal me. I can not live with the burden of my sins. I have killed too many people. It was all my idea, Konan was just following me faithfully. I made the Akatsuki to save people *Cough* And I-I did the opposite. People who had nothing to do with politics died, just because they were in our way.

"I failed to realise I was being used. I am ashamed of what has happened... my delusion has cost too much. So this is my final wish, please... let these sins die with me... the Akatsuki is over... I take all the blame for everything." Nagato breathed out.

Shiroken could somewhat understand him, if it was him, he'd too rather die after causing such a blunder. The Akatsuki has been famous since the 3rd shinobi war, for all the bad reasons. Too many people have died.

"What about Konan, kid, you should live for her," Shiroken suggested him. He'd rather not see a good-hearted boy die just in guilt.

"L-Let Konan live... please... show her t-the world you promised to make. One... without wars, one that does not create monsters like me. She was a voice of reason for me and Yahiko, she's colder now but still warm at heart." He tried to raise his arm to Konan. She quickly held it in her hand.

"It wasn't your fault, Nagato. Everyone failed to realise that all our lives were being controlled. We just did... what we thought was best for the world." She choked.

Jiraiya sighed, "To see your student die before you is like seeing one's child die before oneself. I'm at fault here too, I should have brought you three to Konoha. But again, my village isn't really that great, since we have people like Danzo. I too... failed my duty as your sensei and as one of Konoha's so-called "sannins". You don't need to die... Nagato Uzumaki."

Shiroken nodded, "You may feel good knowing this, many of the Uzumaki clan survived, they live in the Dama village now. You still have a chance, I can save you and you can live with your clan."

Nagato denied, his voice going much softer and smaller. But he was finally able to show a smile, "You... are a good man. Never... C-Change... please."

*BREATHING NOISE*

Nagato took his last heavy breath and mustered all his strength in his body to move both his hands. Shocking them, he forcefully took his eyes out in a bloody sight. "I d-don't know w-who t-these belong to... give them to someone truly worthy... or keep them with yoursel..."

*THUD*

In the middle of his last word, his life gave away and his neck fell back with no support. His hands were going to fall too but Shiroken supported them. Nagato was dead.

"Nagato..." Konan silently cried and put a piece of cloth torn from her robes on his eyes sockets.

Shiroken took the eyes from him and put them in a jar he took out from his scroll. Then he sealed it back. After this he moved his hands to clean the space, making the blood disappear. Small flowers and saplings started growing in their place due to his use of Natural Energy.

"Where do you want to bury him, Konan?" Shiroken asked her, himself feeling somewhat sad. Even though he barely knew Nagato, it made him sad knowing what happened to him was a result of something as stupid as wars. It made him sad knowing Nagato's life was never truly his own.

"I... In the cave, we used to live as orphans in Ame." She replied sadly.

Shiroken nodded and forcefully detached Nagato's body from the Gedo Statue. First, he stored the statue then lifted the body, "Let's go to Ame. Grab my clothes, everyone."

They silently followed his words. And in an instant Shiroken brought them somewhere in Ame. Konan from there led the way and soon brought them all to the small cave. It was raining as always, making it even more gloomy for everyone.

"This is where we used to live for a long time. Soon we ran out of food and had to start searching, eventually meeting Jiraiya sensei." Konan emotionally explained.

"You three were victims of this world, one of many... I guess." Shiroken muttered. Children suffer the most during wars, especially those who are orphans. Because their minds aren't developed yet, they don't understand how cruel the world can be. Eventually, they get taken advantage of. Something Shiroken hated. No amount of explanation can ever justify harming children. And this rule... nearly all Shinobi villages broke.

"How do you want the Shrine to be?" Shiroken asked. he just needed the design and the rest he could make fairly quickly.

Konan gave him a piece of paper with a design. It was simple, with a tilted shrine, she was going to put paper flowers under the body. But it was for two of her friends.

Without any questions, Shiroken used Earth release and created it in a matter of minutes, as beautiful as he could. Nobody spoke in the meantime. Soon after Konan used her jutsu to make lots of paper flowers and decorated the shrine.

Then with a heavy heart, she put the two bodies on them and silently prayed for a minute. Naruto did it too, but verbally, "Don't worry, I will one day become the Hokage and bring peace to the world, big brother Nagato."

Jiraiya ruffled his hair, "Then you must work ten times harder than right now."

Shiroken also prayed with closed eyes, ~I do not know if a god really exists. For now, the gods I have met have tried to kill me and destroy the planet. I myself can be considered a god, but as it's known, anyone who can die is no god. If you do exist, please have mercy on the soul of this kid, he deserves some rest. And maybe... a sign of your existence would be appreciated. You can gain a new follower then, a good deal, right?~

After their praying, they came out of the cave. But, Shiroken nearly jumped in fright at that moment. Because the sky over Amegakure had suddenly turned sunny as if spring. Not a trace of a cloud was there, and birds flew around in flocks.

*TAP* *TAP* *TAP*

Then, out of nowhere a flock of birds came, led by a strange blue bird that seemed too beautiful to exist in this world. It was singing with its beautiful voice, a song that moved everyone's heart and made them feel warm and hopeful.

The most shocking part was how the birds that followed the blue one started to poop in a synchronised way. And by the end, the poop made some pattern on the ground.

Shiroken noticed they were words, so he read them, ~I'm real, kid. Most call me Grandpa.~

Shocked, Shiroken quickly moved his hand and poured dust over the words made out of poop. He silently stared at the sky with a big smile, "*Sigh* Such a day of revelations."

"Indeed..." Jiraiya agreed, as he also looked at the sky, but he was thinking about something else. Meanwhile, Konan was also smiling, feeling that this sunlight was a signal that tomorrow will be better. Naruto was oblivious of anything as he didn't understand the importance of this event.

Kurama meanwhile was extremely spooked, why? Because even he somehow got words written in poop near where he was staying in Naruto's mind space, and the words read, "For you, I'm your G-Chan."

Some moment later, coming out of this trance like state, Shiroken looked at Konan, "What will you do now?"

She immediately replied, "I will follow you. Nagato put his trust in you. I want to make sure it was not misplaced."

He nodded, "Then come along."

[A/N: Burning bushes? Nah, bird poop is the way of god now.]

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[A/N: Yup, that was a reference to the Grandpa Universe. And since Grandpa Universe himself has tailed beasts from one Naruto universe as his cute little potatoes, he takes good care of nearly all tailed beasts in the Omniverse. In no universe, in the multiverse, you shall see a Bijuu permanently dying unless they are evil due to it being a law of that universe.

Yes, not even in Boruto.]

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I EXPECT TO SEE STONES IN MY BED TONIGHT!

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