Chapter Twenty-Two
Poor Arrival Time
"So, you are the god of this village," Jiraiya said calmly even as he quickly took in the appearance of each of them. "It has been a while, Yahiko, but it wasn't you who held the Rinnegan. Where is Nagato?"
"Nagato and Yahiko died in their fight against Hanzo. All that is left… is Pain." The one that looked like Yahiko spoke with the voice of Nagato.
Jiraiya narrowed his eyes dangerously at that. "Pain. Is that the name of your god complex? You may look like Yahiko but you are not him."
"Think what you like, sensei." Pain paused before he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "It is unfortunate that we are at odds, Jiraiya, but I will bring my peace to this world. You… will not get to see it."
Jiraiya jumped back to dodge the sudden attack of the bald ninja that he vaguely remembers from his time traveling the shinobi nations. If he was correct, this one was a missing-nin puppeteer that he ran into in one of the many farming villages of the Rice Paddies country. Now that he thought of it, each of the ninja next to Yahiko were people he met in his travels.
One of them is a Takigakure shinobi that specialized in intelligence and scouting but he had died sometime after the Second Shinobi War. Another resembles that of a Fuma shinobi from Konohagakure that had carried out the unauthorized killing of an entire village. One is a Kusagakure shinobi that had retired to be a farmer of his family's orchard but it ended up failing because of his service in the war. Finally, he recognized the stern face of the Old Ways priest who had tended to him when he was injured in a particularly risky fight.
You desecrate the dead in your quest for a skewed peace, Nagato. Jiraiya scowled and used Wild Lion's Mane Technique to block a followup attack from the Kusa-nin. You are no student of mine.
He knew that he should pull back as no matter how much he goes all out, there is no way he can rationally win at a time like this. If each of these shinobi were like a puppet being controlled by Nagato, then there was reason to assume that each one with his Rinnegan could see him. They share their vision like a hive mind and so long as one sees him, they all see him.
That did not mean that he thought that he would lose in a fair fight. It is the fact that no fight is ever fought fairly and he did not expect one that uses corpses as puppets will have the honor to fight fair. Ignoring the fact that ninja do not have honor.
But he had a duty to his village to find out as much about his enemy as he could. That meant fighting him with as much as possible and sending the information to Tsunade so that they may plan to handle this god. No matter what, whether at the cost of his life or not, he will do everything he can to make sure his village is safe.
If he had to die here, then so be it.
I'm sorry, Tsunade-hime.
"How do you know my son!"
Naruto dodged the furious strike of his mother's before using a Substitution to get more distance between him and her. He could not attack her no matter if he wanted to or not because she left no openings. With the furious swings of the heavenly steel axe aiming to maim him, to the violet chains blocking an attempt to counter-attack, he was left with no choice but to dodge.
And he could barely do that.
"How?!"
Naruto grit his teeth as he quickly dashed to avoid the chain spearing through his location. "Fucking hell, you wouldn't listen to me even if I wanted to answer you, you psycho!"
His mother screamed and launched the axe from over her head towards his location. It was a blur to his vision, no matter how enhanced it was, and he yelped as the axe embedded itself into the wall near his groin. That was close!
"I'm going to make your death as slow as possible!"
He was slammed hard by a swinging chain and launched into the building he was next to. He landed hard against what seemed to be a laundromat but at least his landing was a pile of clothes that did nothing to stop his crash. His body ached as he pulled himself out of that small hole.
"Who knew my mother is a fucking psychopathic maniac," Naruto groaned to himself and quickly formed a rasengan in his hand.
Using the technique to blast apart the wall so he did not have to go out the way he came, he jumped through the hole and on the roof of a nearby building.
"Hah!"
He sidestepped the attack and quickly jabbed the LED mask before backing off. In time, as well, since his mother was unfazed from his attack and her hand was reaching for his throat by the time he backed off.
"What makes you think I'm not me, huh?!" Naruto shouted as he used the longsword to parry her axe.
"My boy is only sixteen, he would not be in Hell!"
Naruto scoffed and backed off. "What makes you think that? I was a shinobi. Our line of work was fraught with the deaths of the young."
"My son would be taken care of and trained to be strong," she breathed heavily before she tended and reached for her mask.
"Oh yeah! By who?!
She quickly and angrily unclasped her helmet before yanking it off to reveal her face. Tears were now welling up in her eyes but her brilliant violet eyes were looking at him red and furious. Her red hair cascaded down and looked every bit like his memory when healing Tex.
"Hiruzen and Jiraiya would not have left my son to fend for himself," she finally claimed and dropped her helmet. "I want you to look at my face as I kill you for taking my son's form. I will teach you a mother's love!"
"Yeah because they can replace a parent's love," Naruto rolled his eyes. "Do you even hear yourself? You expect a man that prioritizes his research over many things including his job, and Hiruzen was an old man that did anything for the facade of peace."
"If you were my real son you would not be talking about them in such a way. They promised to be there for Naruto and make sure he was safe from my and Minato-kun's enemies.
Naruto slowly frowned deeper as she spoke and nodded his head. "I understand. While you may not believe me, I really am your son. My life was hell before I died and you guys weren't there. My own father sealed a monster in me and the village made me think I was one."
He won't argue with her anymore. This wasn't the place and he didn't have the patience for it any longer. The river of fucks he had is all dried up.
However, he would not die to her hand. He had a new family to take care of, people who genuinely loved him, and he planned to return to them by the end of the night. Sadly, that meant that he would have to go against Bael's warnings.
Sorry about the problems this will cause, Tennō Heika.
Easily, so easily, he called on the power deep inside and he burst into an explosion of light as he transformed into his other form. The purple eyes of his mother widened at his new appearance and he had to appreciate the tangerine flavor. Her two gray wings were nothing compared to his gigantic wingspan, which now unfurled from behind him.
Taking the moment of surprise, he began manipulating the nature marks.
Wind. Earth.
Crystal.
He brought up his hand in a chokehold and a translucent pink crystal quickly expanded from at his mother's feet. She had avoided only one of her feet being caught but when the other did not move, she was forced back on the roof. Her other foot was then encased as well and in seconds her body from her waist down was trapped in the durable crystal.
"Captain!"
Naruto raised his longsword and caught the attack of another Exterminator. Then there was another. And another.
Oh, shit! He quickly crushed the mark of Water to replace Earth and create Ice.
Soon enough, he was surrounded by angels and he summoned a dome of thick ice in time to not turn into a pincushion. However, now he was a sitting duck with nine angels attacking his dome and three more were trying to break the crystal trapping his mother. The good thing is that now that he had all of these angels' attention he didn't have to worry about any Sinners being hunted down.
Now if only I can get a way out of here.
Deciding that this current situation was not good, he formed a Rasengan in his hand and caved in the roof floor under him. Using Wind, he was able to make his body swift and light enough to clear the entire floor and out the window. He created a dozen and had them spread out In the hopes they'll divide the angels up enough to be more manageable.
Boom!
Suddenly, there was an explosion from above his location in the sky where he was flying. He looked up and he was surprised to see a new Sinner arrive but he was more shocked to see them come from Purgatory.
Why is so much happening at once?!
He was just going to continue on in his pursuit to lead the angels on a chase. He knew that ningen were not part of the Exterminations since they were removed from the general population so he was not really concerned about their safety. If anything, Lucifer or one of the hellborn on his behalf would arrive and take care of it. But something seemed to nag at the back of his mind.
Would Exterminators know or care for the difference? Would a hellborn arrive in time to make that distinction?
Considering how bloodthirsty the Exterminators are for the average angel… or how lazy Lucifer was when it came to ruling Hell…
"Fuck." He quickly maneuvered his flight path to the falling ningen. "You better be fucking thankful, dattebayo."
"You're not getting away!"
Naruto dodged to the side the moment he heard the shout and he watched as an arrow whizzed by him. He looked back to see two angels following him, one with a sword and one with a bow.
"Fuck you!"
Naruto channeled Wind to his wings and used the manipulation as a kind of propulsion to gain faster speeds. The buildings were more of a blur under him and he could ever hope to catch but it was enough to gain distance between him and his pursuers.
With this moment of reprieve, he looked up and watched as he got closer to the newcomer. But as he got close, the form he could make out looked more and more familiar to him. He couldn't tell how but there was something that he recognized about their clothing.
"Hang on!" Naruto quickly grabbed the ningen by his cloak before banking right. "I got you!"
"Wah- Naruto?!"
Naruto's stomach dropped when he recognized that voice and he looked down to see a semi-recognizable face.
While a large warty nose and flat, toad-like pupils made him unrecognizable at first, Naruto could see that face from anywhere. Jiraiya had pale green and warty skin and golden toad eyes. His clothes is the same outfit he wore on their trip to look for Tsunade, down to the same kabuki gimmick and the toad headband on his forehead.
What the fuck?
"I can't believe you're in Hell, Naruto!" The man was surprised but a relieved and sad smile made it to his lips while tears began forming in his eyes. "Oh my Sage, I've missed you-!"
Naruto gritted his teeth as he had to dip down suddenly, making the man lose his breath from the sudden movement. He had heard the whizzing of an arrow and considering his current enemies he needed to be careful and not be distracted.
"Naruto, what's happening-?"
"Not now, pervy sage!" Naruto looked back as he weaved through buildings. "Keep quiet for a second!"
Themiel watched as his brother popped open another beer bottle and began taking long draws from it. He had been doing this ever since the start of Extermination Day and he wouldn't say what was wrong. It had just been one drink after another.
"Come on, Izzy, why don't you tell me what's wrong!"
Azrael glanced at his brother with half-lidded eyes before turning away. "Nothing's wrong."
"But you're drinking!" Themiel threw his hand to indicate the bottle in Azrael's hand. "And you rarely drink!"
"I like the taste," was his simple answer.
"Bull." Themiel was not convinced and kept looking at his brother. "Tell me."
"Nothing's wrong."
"Tell me."
"No."
"Tell me."
"Drop it."
Themiel pouted at how his brother's answers never changed tone or expression. "I won't stop asking!"
"Then it's gonna be a long while," Azrael drank from his bottle with a mocking smile on his half-awake face.
Themiel's head hit the pillow he was leaning against to stare at his brother. He was laying on the couch while Azrael sat in a recliner with the leg rest up. "I just want to know what's bothering you!"
"And I said it was nothing, I'm fine."
This was what Eve had walked in on and her eyebrow raised at what she found. She was not wearing her black hat or much of her makeup, but she still wore the beautiful red and black checkered jacket and black biker pants. She was wearing new black boots, though.
"Should I even ask?"
Themiel glanced at the First Woman and shook his head. "Izzy is being stubborn and won't tell me what's bothering him!"
"And I am telling Themi that nothing is wrong."
Just from his tone Eve knew that was a crock of shit and understood why Themiel was so adamant on finding out. But unlike the Angel of Visions, she was more subtle in her ways to figure things out.
However, I don't need to be Jesus to know what's bothering him.
"I mean, he did sound serious, Themiel," Eve shrugged her shoulders and grabbed a beer for herself from the fridge. "He must mean it."
Themiel looked at Eve with wide eyes as she chose Azrael's side, getting a small raise of his drink from the latter. "B-but-!"
"Hey, by the way, Izzy," Eve interrupted Themiel and got a small nod of recognition from the Angel of Death. "Did you hear that Luciel had a daughter?"
Themiel gasped at that.
Azrael raised an eyebrow at that and shrugged his shoulders. "No I didn't, so?"
Themiel looked at his brother scandalously.
"Apparently she is dating a boy already," Eve chuckled and took a long drink from her bottle. "I heard he was quite the chosen one in her eyes. A real charmer, too."
Her words flew over Themiel's head as he simply gushed at the idea of Luciel's daughter finding love. Azrael, on the other hand, paused in his drinking and stared at the brunette with cold golden eyes. He swallowed thickly and set his drink on the small table.
"Is that so?" Azrael said as he got to his feet and summoned his staff to his hand.
Without another word, he created a portal and entered through it.
Eve chuckled to herself at how easily the angel was manipulated. It wasn't like she didn't have an idea of what was bothering him. He was looking for an excuse to go to Hell during Extermination Day but had not done so. With no excuse, he was left to just sit back and let everything happen.
Themiel, however, was still in the room and excitedly scooted closer to the woman. "Tell me about Luci's daughter! What is she like?"
Eve raised an eyebrow at Themiel's excitement. "Aren't you the Angel of Visions? Can't you see that yourself?"
"I only use my gifts when I need to in the name of Father," Themiel explained smoothly before getting closer. "So tell me! I need to know!"
Eve smiled kindly and nodded her head but she was thinking differently to herself. You owe me, Azrael.
The two angels that were on his heels had now gained a following. Half a dozen of them were now after him and one of them was his mother. Because of course she would be able to know which one was the real one.
The good thing? His clones had fended off the other angels in his district and cleared the streets and homes of any stragglers. That meant that he did not have to worry about anyone's safety.
Except for the pervert.
"Oh, those are some nice figures," Jiraiya giggled as he got a look at their pursuers.
"Yeah, real killer, pervert," Naruto rolled his scarlet eyes and barely dodged the side of a building. "If you can't tell, they're trying to kill us!"
"But we are already dead, can't get much deader than that," Jiraiya snorted.
"You'll soon find out that's not true, perverted sage."
Before the toad sage could say something, Naruto's eyes widened when he suddenly felt something wrap around his leg.
"Oh- FUCK!"
He screamed as he was suddenly sent falling into the streets below but he was able to toss the sage into the glass window of a building further ahead. His impact broke through the street concrete and the shower of dirt and rubble covered his beautiful wings. You could barely see their color now with the thin layer of dirt attached.
Who the fuck got me?
He flipped over and looked down at his leg to see it wrapped in a chain. It must have been very durable to have withstand his speed and force and still bring him down. But upon closer inspection while taking it off, he could see the small etchings of seals in the links.
Oh, shit, they're here.
Naruto quickly got the chain unwrapped from his leg and stood to his feet. By the time he did, five figures began approaching him from further down the street. There was his father and four hellbeasts. Three of them looked to be Tribune in strength while the last one was much, much stronger.
So this is the power of a Legate.
Naruto grinned at them as they stopped a few yards away from him. "Man, what took you guys so long! I thought you were afraid to take me on again!"
"Do not expect this the same as when you fought that worthless trash," the Legate hellcat growled lowly.
"Interesting, I've heard that a lot lately," Naruto laughed and shook his head.
His lips twitched down from his grin when he felt someone land right next to him.
"M-Minato?"
His father widened his eyes as he recognized the old Sage's voice. "Jiraiya-sensei? What are you doing here?!"
"I should be asking you the same thing!" Jiraiya shouted back but did not approach, his eyes taking in the form of the hellbeasts. "You should be in the Shinigami's stomach!"
"The shinigami is a demon, pervy sage," Naruto informed the man much to his shock. "He only appeared as a god but he is nothing more than a wannabe."
Jiraiya looked at his last student in surprise and to see if he was fibbing. He wasn't, and that made his stomach drop. "Then, that means… Hiruzen-sensei…"
"Is also in the demon's control, yes," Naruto nodded his head once. "Now, I want you to run towards that large tower in the distance. Avoid all angels on your way there. They are here to kill you no matter the cost."
"What? What about you, kid?"
"I'll handle this," Naruto flexed his fingers as his enhanced eyesight caught the approach of his mother and other angels. "This is going to be a crazy battle and you are not adjusted to this place enough to fight with me. You will just be a hindrance."
Jiraiya scowled at that but even in this new environment he can see that he was not anywhere near prepared to take these people on. So with a nod of his head, he prepared to follow his former student's words. But he stopped and turned to look the blonde up and down.
Now that he thought about it, even in this weird form with wings and floating hands, he can see how much the boy has matured. He's reserved and calm, no longer the loud and confidently boisterous ninja he used to be. Sadly, that is likely the product of being betrayed and killed at the hands of a former friend.
"You've changed a lot, kid."
Naruto smirked at his former teacher's words and chuckled. "You have no idea, pervy sage."
"Ohoho, is that you, Naruto?"
The boy whipped his head to the side and was shocked to see the approach of Lucifer down the street. "Tennō Heika!"
Lucifer looked at the group of hellbeasts and mortal man with a raised eyebrow. Then there were the approaching Exterminators. "You've found yourself in quite the pickle, eh, Naruto?"
"Eh," Naruto looked over at the newly arrived angels. "I had it under control."
"I'm assuming so from your transformation!" He glanced at the wings and hands before catching the gaze of the fellow blonde. "You'll have to tell me the story, sometime, but right now I need to clear this mess up."
Lucifer approached the two forces to stand between them and Naruto and Jiraiya. He looked at the unmasked Exterminator, a beautiful redhaired woman, and she was looking at the blonde mortal near the hellbeasts. They seem to be acquainted.
"M-Minato-kun?" Kushina's eyes widen when she sees her dead husband. "How… how are you here?"
"I cannot tell you, Kushina-chan," Minato smiled apologetically but his eyes settled on his son.
Kushina followed his eyesight and with her child imposter she found a familiar old toad. Wait, I know that outfit! "Pervy toad?"
"Oh, hey, Kushina," Jiraiya chuckled nervously. "I see you made it to… Heaven. Weird, with your temper."
Kushina's shocked expression slowly changed into a forced smile. "You want to say that to my face?"
"Ahem!"
Lucifer coughed into his hand, getting everyone's attention. "You are not allowed to hunt these Sinners. They are ningen and therefore not part of your targets. Back off now, please."
Kushina's eyes narrows at being commanded and her violet eyes turned to the blonde boy. "I do not remember that being a condition. Your duty is to separate them, my duty is to hunt all Sinners found."
"And that is what I am here to accomplish," Lucifer told her lazily. "Are you hindering my efforts, angel?"
Kushina grit her teeth and shook her head. "No." She raised her axe at Naruto and said in a threatening voice, "do not think you are safe, fake. I will get you eventually."
Naruto did not say anything and only swallowed thickly as she turned around and left with a violent gust of wind. Is this where I got my temper from?
"And you," Lucifer turned to Minato and the hellbeasts. "What are you doing here?"
Minato smiled softly and shook his head. "Just surviving, sir. We were planning to be on our way the moment the angels left the area."
He knew better than to tangle with the Fallen One, the first one to be cast out of Heaven. He was too powerful for him to face if it reached a full battle. He also knew that the hellbeasts with him would be no support either.
Lucifer's eyes narrowed dangerously but he nodded his head. "Good. They're gone, so be on your way. Now."
The lioness looked ready to argue but one look from Minato made her snarl and leave with her Tribunes. The blonde man sighed before looking at his son and former sensei. "Take care of my son, Jiraiya."
The old sage chuckled and scratched the back of his white mane. "I think it might be the other way!"
Minato nodded his head and looked at his son. He opened his mouth to say something but shook his head and quickly disappeared after the hellbeasts.