Chapter 50
HIKARI HYUGA
Hikari was spent. He had pushed himself to his limits, and then beyond some as he lay there on the ground huffing as he prayed for their victory. The plan that he had hatched was rather simple, for he had realised that unless they were to get rid of the Preta and Nakara Path, they had no chance of winning.
Their connected visions and unique abilities made each of the paths a menace on its own, and unless they had a jutsu to dispose of them all at once, they would lose the fight. Thankfully, Terumi Mei had just the technique, and so the plan went into motion as the three of them systemically got rid of the two paths, giving the Mizukage the perfect opportunity to destroy the rest of them using her Boil release.
Still, it was all a big gamble and now he was out of both chakra and any energy as he lay there on the ground waiting for the outcome to reveal itself, and just as he was looking at the earthen dome that he had raised up, the air in front of him began to shift before two figures spun out of thin air, stilling his heart.
"No," he gasped in despair as he saw the masked bastard emerge with the half-rotten yet still moving body of Yahiko, as that sole Sharingan looked down on him with piqued interest.
"It seems like your gamble did not quite work," and it was obvious to him that it would have if not for his intervention. Yahiko's body was half rotten, and even half of his face had been eaten away by the acid as one of his arms lay limp by the side.
Still, the bastard was moving as Obito stared down at him, all pretences gone.
"I knew there was a reason I did not like you," Hikari uttered angrily as he looked him in the eye, and he was out of all options. The cost of using his partial sage mode twice was a heavy one, and now the mere act of breathing felt like a laborious task, and yet now he stood face to face with perhaps two of the most dangerous shinobi alive.
"I could say the same thing," Tobi answered as Pain stepped forward.
"I never thought that I could be pushed to my limits like this, yet you have proven yourself to be exactly what we feared you to be, Hikari Hyuga," and he bit his lip, and tried to mold chakra, yet he sensed it at once.
SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH!! SWOOSH!
"AGHHH!" and he screamed in agony as Pain raised his sole functional hand and shot him with half a dozen rods that nailed his body to the rock behind him, making it impossible for him to move.
"HAAAA"! Hikari screamed as pain tore through his body, unlike any other time before, as he looked down at him with those ringed purple eyes.
"It's over," he declared with finality.
"You have lost," he whispered, and that was the truth.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that," he challenged, and he could feel Obito smiling under that mask.
"No, we can be," and with that, his heart stilled as he saw a winged kunoichi land beside them, as she threw down the unconscious form of Ino to the ground.
And even though his pain, Hikari gasped as he saw her battered form.
"No..." and Obito raised a brow.
"Did you really think we would let you call reinforcements?" and he had to do something. He had to.
"You have lost. Both the kages are dead, and soon enough, you and she will be dead as well," Obito ordained as he looked at Yahiko.
"Do you really think you can bring peace to the world like this?" and the air stilled at his words, and he had no plan now as he began to ramble away, hoping, praying for a miracle.
"You are Jiraiya-sama's student, right. The one from Ame," and he had his attention now.
"Even during war, he spared your life, he taught you ninjutsu and taijutsu, and this is how you repay him! You call this his legacy!" he raged frantically, as the blood loss began to eat away at his conscience.
"How do you know all that?" Yahiko, or Nagato, questioned as he refused to stop.
"It doesn't matter," he retorted, as he continued to bleed away.
"Yet I believe I have finally figured out your final secret as well. Lady Tsunade, she called you Yahiko, yet you are not actually him, are you?" and now those eyes were on him, and he was not actually lying now.
"I can sense you through these rods of yours," he said with a smile.
"The real you. The real Pain, or should I call you..." and he turned his head in the direction from where the chakra was coming from.
"...Nagato," and Konan gasped.
"You are a dangerous man, Hikari Hyuga," Obito's voice cut through the air, yet he ignored him.
"I don't know what happened to you to have you turn back on Lord Jiraiya's legacy, but if you think that you can achieve peace through your convoluted ways, then you are wrong. You are absolutely wrong!" and he screamed at him, hoping to make him see sense.
"What do you know peace!" and this time it was not Yahiko's voice that came out. No, he was talking to Nagato directly.
"Or more importantly, what do you know of war and pain. You were born in Konoha to a powerful clan, and yet you sit here lecturing me about peace! You who have tasted not even a sliver of the pain we went through because of your wars!" and Nagato was enraged, as he pushed those metallic rods further into his body.
"AGHHH!" he grunted in pain.
"Do you feel this. This is but a fraction of what we endured, and yet you question me! ME!" A wave of chakra gushed off of him, and blew away the air as he stepped forward and stepped just beside Ino's body.
"No," Hikari eeked out as he saw him summon a dozen rods, just as Ino stirred underneath him.
"You wish to understand me. For that, you must first understand Yahiko's pain," and with that, he looked him in the eye, as he asked seriously.
"Since you somehow know so much about us, then I shall give you the same choice that was offered to us. Choose," he said as he grabbed Ino's throat and began to choke her out.
"Her, or you?"
"Spare her," he pleaded, as his vision began to blur away.
"No, Hikari..." Ino eeked out a sound as her teary eyes met his.
"Kill me, but spare her," and yet it was all fruitless, as he heard her scream as her blood rushed out of her body, as Pain cut away her neck, and let her body fall to the ground.
"NOOO! NOOOOOO!" he screamed and tried to push away, yet the rods kept him rooted to his place.
"Now do you understand it?" he questioned, as he looked down on him like a fucking god.
"Do you understand Yahiko's Pain? Do you finally sympathise with me?" and perhaps if it had been someone else in his stead. If it had been a stubborn, yellow-haired blonde, he could have truly understood him, yet Hiakri was not Naruto.
He did not have his enthusiasm or his ideologies.
"I will kill you," he whispered, and he saw a triumphant grin appear on that face.
"I will fucking kill you," he promised, and with death so near, he had one last gamble to play as he began to gather senjutsu chakra in his body once more.
"Even if you send me to Hell, I shall come back and drag you back with me, do you understand it, Nagato!" and the bastard shook his head, and Hikari could sense Pain's chakra through his rods. He could sense the bastard sending his chakra through the metal pushed into his skin, and as tears blurred his vision he let nature chakra flood his body without any sense of self preservation.
"And now do you see your own hubris?" Nagato lectured, as he saw the life vanish from Ino's gaze while he raised another rod into the air and aimed it at his face.
"Those who don't know pain shall never understand true peace," he lectured as Hikari's world began to turn dark on the edges, and he knew that for it to work he had to use as much senjutsu chakra as possible, and so he waited and waited just until that metallic rod began to move, he pushed all the chakra that he had gathered into the rods pushing into his body.
"May you rot in hell...." he gave a whisper, as he felt all his energy vanish and accepted the fate coming for him.
"And now you understand a fraction of Yahiko's pain..." and with that, the rod rushed forward, and he prepared himself for his death. Yet in that moment before it could reach him, he heard lightning crackle before a bolt of lightning rushed right past his nose, and blew apart the rod aimed straight for him.
And the last thing he heard as the light vanished from his eyes was a whisper.
"What have you done...."
0000
HINATA HYUGA
Peace had returned to Konoha at last, and the village was finally healing from the wounds left by the betrayal of their allies. Once more, children ran through the streets of the village without care, and people laughed in the market as they spoke of the future.
Hope had returned to the village. No. Not just the village. It had returned to their clan as well. To this day, her grandfather's involvement with Danzo remained a secret known to but a handful of people, yet with his death, her father had been able to push forward the reforms that he had always sought.
The chains of the 'Caged Bird Seal' had been cast aside, and slowly but surely they were beginning to bridge the gap between the Main Line and the so-called Branch Line. Years of pain and discrimination had left behind a well of anger and resentment, yet they could not let fear hinder this progress.
Many within the Branch Family held great resentment for the main family for the pains that they had suffered, yet through the combined efforts of herself, Hikari, and Neji-nii, they were able to quell such dissent and push forward with normalization.
Hikari's rise through the ranks also helped them much, for he gave the younglings within the clan a role model to look up to. By now, Hikken no Hikari was a name as famous as 'Copy Ninja' or 'the Sanin' and though he denied being their equal, people believed that he was their equal, and for good reason.
Her cousin was also the reason for much bustle within the village, and it had been two years since the village had seen a great celebration. So, when the announcement was made about the engagement of Hikken no Hikari and the Yamanaka heiress, the entire village joined in on the celebrations.
And with Hikari and Ino both busy with their missions, it had fallen upon her as the clan heiress to manage everything. Her teammates had each taken a separate path, and so in many ways team seven had been separated, and so she was not as busy as Ino or her cousin, who was perhaps the busiest shinobi within the village.
Naruto-kun was away from the village, though he was set to return today, which brought her here to the Hospital. And as she stepped through the doors, she was greeted by the staff, who had become used to her visits.
"Hinata-sama, it is good to see you," Shin-san greeted him at the reception.
"It is good to see you as well, Shin-san," and the man was one of the iryo-nin working at the Hospital, who had been somewhat of a mentor to her teammate.
"I have heard that your team is getting back together today," and so the rumor had spread already.
"Indeed, it is," and the man smiled.
"Reminds me of my own teammates and the times we spent together," he added nostalgically.
"Still, you must be here for Sasuke-kun," and she had come to get him, because she knew that otherwise he might just forget about it all.
"Yes," and he pointed towards the office.
"He is in the office. With Lady Tsunade gone, and Lady Shizune helping Kakashi-san at the Hokage office, he has taken charge at the hospital," and that was quite an accomplishment.
"It will be good for him to take a break," and so he had been overworking himself again.
"I will take care of him," she added, as she began to walk up to the office. On the way, she was greeted by many people many of whom congratulated on the coming engagement, and as she reached the office she gave a small knock, as a scowling roar answered from the inside.
"Come in," and she pulled away the handle, and saw Sasuke-kun sitting there with his head stuffed into a pile of reports, as he muttered ominously under his breath.
"That old had! I am going to kill her when she returns. I am going to make her regret it," and the years had mellowed out her teammate, who had long surpassed in height.
"What is it?" he asked without looking up, making her smile.
"It seems like you are overworking yourself again," and her voice stilled him, as Sasuke raised his head cautiously, and she could see the dark circles under his eyes, above which rested a small rhomboid mark that was a testament to his skill and hard work.
"I thought I was quite clear about taking breaks the last time we meant," and Hinata saw him shudder at her words.
"You can blame this on that hold hag!" and to think that he would call their Hokage-sama an old hag. If she were here, she would beat him up for it.
"She is allergic to paperwork, and the entire hospital system is a mess. I never knew things were so messy; otherwise, I never would have taken the damned job," he raged, and still she smiled.
"Still, you should take a break now. You do remember what day it is today," and he rubbed his eyes as he nodded.
"Of course, I do. I am not an idiot like him," Sasuke retorted before an all too familiar voice came from behind him.
"And who do you think you are calling an idiot!" and she glanced up, and her heart skipped a beat as she saw those familiar blonde hair and that signature orange jumper.
"Naruto-kun," she greeted, as he pushed up the window and jumped into the room. He had grown taller as well, and he had a wide grin on his face as he gave her a small salute.
"I am back, Hinata-chan," and Sasuke clicked his tongue.
"You are back a bit early," Sasuke-kun grunted out, as he glanced at the clock.
"Well, Pervy Sage wanted to rush back, so we just moved and ran a bit faster," and then he raised a brow.
"And what are you doing holed up in this office?" he asked.
"You can blame the old hag for that," and so the banter began, and she only smiled as their team came together once again.
"Let's go and greet Kakashi-sensei," Naruto-kun suggested, and neither her nor Sasuke-kun objected, yet before they could move, a shadow emerged at the window, wearing an ANBU mask.
"Team Seven, you have been summoned to the Hokage office. Report at once," and all three of them perked up at that, as their smiles vanished at once.
"What happened?" she asked, and the masked ANBU did not answer directly.
"I cannot say, but the matter is urgent. Lord Commander has asked that you all report to him at once," and they exchanged glances and moved forward at once.
"We are coming...."
0000
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