Naruto: The Blind Swordsman

Chapter 189: Mission, Struggle And Pain

__________ POV Narration __________

The past 3 days had been truly nightmarish for the three leaders of the Akatsuki.

Nagato and Yahiko were only really holding themselves together thanks to Konan still being there for them.

All was going well until they received a message with a secret mission from Hanzo the Salamander.

The leader of the Amegakure asked them to go to a village on the very outskirts of the Land of Rain. Their mission was to take down a segment of the Green Forest Union that had started forming in that region.

It specifically requested that the three of them go out along with any of their subordinates they deemed fit.

They had gathered a group of 10 men and women to go out on that mission, with them included.

What they didn't expect was to lose contact with all other members of the Akatsuki.

And unfortunately for them, they were not going to be as safe as Hanzo had hoped...

It was too late by the time they noticed they were being hunted down.

All it took was for the leaders to split up from the group for one moment... And in an instant, four people were shredded apart by a series of jutsu.

They had split up into groups to look for traces of the bandits, but when they realized that they had been attacked, they quickly mobilized.

Yahiko called for all of them to gather in the center of the village, that was where they would make their stand, a more open field where they could at least see their enemy's attacks.

Unfortunately for them, one of the people who had come back was nothing more than a transformed enemy...

And when the transformed man struck, he took down another capable man that Nagato had picked.

The village was immediately swarmed by dozens of shinobi, all too much for their group to handle.

"Shit... Hanzo has betrayed us!" Nagato muttered as he looked at all of the people around them, all dressed in the Amegakure's garb.

The sheer number of enemies was not something that they could have predicted. Going to the center of the village had only led to them being surrounded.

And Yahiko paid the price for his bad decision soon after...

He was mortally wounded as he tried to defend the last member who had come with them with his own body.

Unfortunately, after the flame dragon ripped a hole through his left side, it also hit said member straight in the chest, killing her instantly.

Yahiko coughed up some blood as he fell to the ground, his left arm grasping at the charred section of his body... The stump of his missing right arm was what he ended up touching.

One of his lungs had also been mostly burnt off, but he was still alive, for now...

It was a brutal situation... Konan panted as her paper barely kept a few of the enemies at bay.

They had not sent any cannon fodder at all for that mission it seemed... All of their enemies were either Special Jonin or Jonin.

Nagato was the only one that could effectively fight them, his use of his eye bloodline limit had gotten better, but he was still not able to use its full power.

He could stop some Jutsu from reaching him by pushing them away, same for projectiles and people, but his range was not that great.

Things really were looking desperate for them...

But when Nagato's eyes finally glimpsed at Yahiko's weakened state, he seemed to lose all sense or reasoning.

He started moving on nothing but instinct, as he allowed his body to be overtaken by rage and bloodthirst.

The roar he unleashed shook the very foundations of that village. The ground cracked as their few dozen assailants couldn't help but take a few steps back in shock.

But the cracking dirt was not just due to Nagato's physical strength...

In an instant, something was summoned behind the red-haired young man.

A gigantic hand erupted from out of the earth and grasped at the ground. And what pulled itself out of the ground could only be described as the stuff of nightmares.

It was the torso of a towering, earth-colored human-like entity. It appeared almost mummified... Its body was shaped similar to a robe, and it had a large number of spike-like protrusions on its back.

Neither Konan nor Yahiko had seen it before. And to say they were terrified would've been putting it lightly.

The gigantic monster moved almost mechanically, its mouth opening widely as it turned its eye to its summoner.

Black metallic rods extended from its gaping maw, all entering Nagato's back in a gruesome fashion. The special dojutsu user grunted as he then brought his hands together in a series of hand signs.

'He's... Controlling the beast?!'

Konan's eyes widened as she held onto Yahiko's barely breathing form.

With a single wave of its hand, the humanoid beast behind Nagato razed the entire village from the ground, houses were uprooted by the wind pressure in an instant, turning into bullets that shredded their enemies apart.

Konan was forced to make a cocoon of paper as she shielded herself and her childhood friend from the powerful winds.

Even if not directed at them, it was still hard to withstand.

It was both terrifying and gratifying to Konan as she stood witness to it all. Yahiko's vision was already failing him though, as he was slipping in and out of consciousness...

The surviving attackers didn't have the time to recover, as the humanoid monster attacked again... This time it spread open its palm towards them, and spear-like protrusions started growing out of it, before being expelled outwards at breakneck speeds.

The barrage lasted for a few minutes. The screams had lessened over time as the Humanoid Beast's projectiles pulverized all of the remaining attackers swiftly.

Eventually, Konan's paper dome gave way, falling apart in a rain of blood.

Bodies and body parts were strewn everywhere, there was no way to tell which organ was from where which torso belonged to which head...

They were certainly not severed cleanly, they seemed to have all been ripped apart by a ravenous animal. The sheer force of those projectiles was frightening...

The blue-haired girl gulped as she still sat by Yahiko's side. Her gaze eventually reached Nagato...

The Red-Haired Shinobi looked drained, bloodied, and half-dead.

His tired eyes landed on Konan, his mouth seemed to struggle to form a calming smile. But it soon died down when he heard Yahiko's weak cough. He slowly started walking towards his friends.

As he did so, Konan whinced as she could hear the black metallic rods behind him creak, before they finally broke off from the mouth of that beast.

As soon as the rods broke off, the beast seemed to shrink back into the ground, disappearing completely into the earth.

He continued to step into the various ponds of blood he had created as he finally stepped into what remained of Konan's white cocoon, turning it red as well...

"Nagato... Did you get'em? Heh..." Yahiko's gaze could barely focus to make out Nagato's face at that point, he could not make out the dozens of metallic rods sticking out of his back and spine.

"I-I sure did..." Tears welled up in Nagato's eyes as he weakly grasped Yahiko's hand. Konan's hands also moved, covering both of theirs as she wept silently.

"Man, this sucks! I-I don't want to... No, there was still so much to do..." Yahiko weakly coughed out some black blood as he seemed to still wish to fight against his fate.

The charcoal-contaminated blood from his wounds had already made it to his heart, however... It was far too late.

Not that his body could have survived long with only one lung and missing arteries anyway. The fact that he had lasted that long was already a testament to his endurance.

"I-" Nagato was about to say something, to try and comfort his friend... But Yahiko didn't let him.

"Hey man, can you promise me? Promise me to change this world... Show them... Show them..." Yahiko seemed too weak to even finish that sentence, but Nagato understood...

"Yes. I will show them. Rest easy, brother." Nagato's voice sounded calm and comforting... But he was the furthest thing from that, inside he was a boiling inferno. His teeth cracked as he ground them together in rage.

They had been only doing good for the Land of Rain, they had done so much to help everyone, showed them so much kindness... And for what?

For Hanzo to just throw them to the wayside and kill them? Why? Just because he felt threatened by them again?

Who was to say that the Dark Brotherhood hadn't betrayed them either... After all, Hanzo wouldn't have acted on account of Ken still being on their side.

In the end, Nagato's mind couldn't help but come to the worst possible explanation for their conundrum.

It was unfair. The world was unfair. Nagato knew that, but he seemed to have forgotten... Well, he was reminded once more.

Even in a time of peace, the Shinobi world was still committing such atrocities.

'If kindness can't move the world, then maybe Pain has a better chance of succeeding...'

At that time, Konan failed to feel it, the monumental switch in Nagato's attitude. But she was sure to notice it later on. For now, though, they had survived, she was stuck carrying her two friends to safety... One for a proper burial, and the other for rest...

Later that day, when Ken finally reached that god-forsaken village, he couldn't help but frown.

His usual calm and refined demeanour disappeared completely, and he couldn't help but utter the following words...

"What the fuck just happened here?"

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Hello there! Hope you're all doing well.

Yeah, sorry Yahiko, it's a canon event, unfortunately. I also really like Pain as a concept, so yea... He was doomed from the start.

Nagato is kinda crucial to Madara's plan, so it only makes sense that Black Zetsu(who's still up and about) would pull some shit to get him to turn to the dark side.

Discord:https://discord.gg/xQTK8caFEQ

If u want to support me look up VeganMaster on Patre_on, you'd also get 12 chapters in advance (or 6/3 depending on tier)