Chapter 8: The Will to Fight
{Canterlot}
Itachi was fast asleep in Luna's bed, her wing covering him as he slept. He lay still in the bed on his back with both hands at their respective sides. It had been quite the night for them both as he told her a long story about his family's history with his village, he also revealed to her that his little brother, Sasuke Uchiha, was far too important to him to kill. She was moved by the story and insisted that he sleep the night away, using her wing as a cover. Itachi didn't feel the need to pass up such an opertunity for a good night's rest and also felt that he could trust her for some odd reason. As a result, he complied with Luna's request. The lunar princess had noticed that the sun was rising and her shift was done. Itachi had awakened from his sleep. Luna felt him getting up and lifted her wing into the air and folded it back to her side. After getting out of bed, Luna smiled at him and Itachi had fixed his unkempt hair, all the while looking out of the door in front of the balcony. "Good morning Itachi. Did thou sleep well?" she asked him gently, still smiling as she asked.
Itachi looked at her, closed his eyes, and smiled lightly. "Yes I did, thank you, and good morning to you too princess." He was still smiling at her before looking out the balcony again. His smile disappeared and his eyes narrowed as he saw Deidara, Sasori, Hidan, and Kakuzu coming from the the air outside of the castle. They were on the backs of two of Deidara's large clay birds "I have to go." he said, quickly grabbing his cloak.
Luna stared at him as he put his arms into the sleves of his cloak and didn't like the idea of him leaving. She got out of the bed and quickly pointed a hoof at him as he buttoned his cloak. "Wait!" she called out to him. He stopped but didn't turn back to her. "Allow us to come with you." she then suggested.
"No, you must stay here. I, however, am needed elsewhere." he said in his usually calm voice. He then noticed that the other princess, Celestia, had slowly trotted into the room along with the bearers of the elements of harmony. She was giving off a small smile along with the ponies following her.
"Hay Itachi, what the hell is taking you so long, huh? Sasori's getting impatient over here, and so am I!" Hidan said, nearly yelling at him. Itachi looked back to the other Akatsuki members and walked onto the balcony, then jumped onto one of the clay birds.
Celestia looked at them and announced to them. "We will go with you as well. It would be nice to talk with your leader." She had explained to them. Deidara shifted his gaze to Celestia. The two silently stared at each other, causing him to close his eyes.
Deidara sighed. "Okay, fine, but only you and Twilight can come, your magisty. Our leader isn't too fond of visitors, but seeing that you are in charge of this realm, only you and your student. Hmm." he said as he made another large clay bird despite their ability to fly without it. "Well, hop on, we are heading out now. Hmm." he then said to them. Twilight looked back to her friends, all of which seemed to be disappointed that they were unable to go with them.
"Agreed." Celestia said. She then looked at Twilight and motioned, with a hoof, for her to go with them. "Come on Twilight, it's rude to keep them waiting." she said, still smiling. She looked back to her mentor then at the Akiatsuki members and finally, she complied. They flew onto the third clay bird and readied themselves for their flight to the current Akatsuki hideout. After landing on the bird, Deidara looked forward. "Well alright then. Hmm." he said to himself as the birds immediately took off in the direction west of Canterlot.
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{Akatsuki hideout}
After a flight that lasted only a good ten minutes or so, the seven of them soon found themselves landing on a cliff side that had an excellent view of Canterlot. Celestia and Twilight both looked back at the city they just come from. The four shinobi had already jumped off the clay birds and were now walking into a near by cave. Celestia took notice and turned back to her apprentice. "Twilight, we are here, follow them." she said to her. She nodded and followed them with Celestia by her side. They noticed Konan standing at the right side of the cave entrance. She let the two ponies pass then walked in herself.
The cave was dimly light, damp, and slightly cold inside. A few large gray rocks were the only feature to the cave. Pain was standing at the far end of the cave. He was staring at a symbol of peace, that he had carved into the wall as the other Akatsuki members, along with the two princesses, walked into the cave and were approaching him from behind. "You're late." He said as he stood still, not taking his eyes off of the symbol.
Deidara smirked. "Well, it took us longer than expected, but we found him within the castle. Surprisingly, he wasn't in the prison, he was staying with one of the princesses. Hmm." he explained to their leader. "Also, we brought along one of the princesses, she wishes to..."
"Silence!" Pain replied in a very cold manner as he turned to face them. His piercings could easily be seen by all of them and his eyes appeared to glow. "I told you to bring Itachi. We have no reason to bring them here." He was staring at the pony princess with a look of no emotion, tension almost literally radiating into the air around him.
At this, both alicorns felt a chill crawl down their spines as they stared back at him. Twilight was staring to have second thoughts about coming here with them and backed up a few steps. She looked back to her mentor, who was, at the moment, staring him down, and swallowed the lump that was forming in her thought. Princess Celestia was also beginning to feel the fear that her student was feeling, but she was on a mission to save her realm and subjects from the invasion that she knew was soon to come and she was determined to save them. " If I may introduce myself, I am Princess Celestia, and I am very pleased to have the opportunity to speak with you this day." her regal smile radiated an equally powerful pleasant feeling to match the bitterness of his lifeless stare. Pain was silent, meeting one of a high rank that was pleased to make his acquaintance was uncommon to the Akatsuki along with one of their members being held in one of the princesses rooms rather than in a prison caught him off guard, still, he knew little about this land and, therefor, didn't know much about these ponies so he wasn't going to trust them so easily, they needed to earn his trust and they knew it. "Welcome to my realm, I would like it if you were to become our friends. Will you accept our friendship?" she then continued, now slowly going toward him.
Deidara stopped smirking at this point. "Uh oh." he and Hidan said in unison. Twilight noticed this and knew something bad was about to happen. One way or another, she knew that approaching him like this wasn't a very good idea.
Pain then held out his hand a in her direction, catching her by surprise. She took it as an invitation to shake his hand, but the instant he had stopped lifting his hand, she found it difficult to proceed as she slowed to a stop. "Almighty push." he said to himself. Twilight watched in confusion as to why the princess had stopped, but after the Akatsuki leader had said that to himself, Celestia's eyes widened as she flew back in a powerful shock wave several feet backwards before slamming into a wall with immense force, causing several large cracks to form where she appeared to hit. Fortunately, Twilight was able to teleport Celestia to her side while she was in mid air. After seeing that, Pain slowly dropped his hand back to his side. "Friends? What makes you so sure that it may even be possible to form a friendship with us? The Akatsuki's objective is not to make friends in a world which we are not from."
Twilight looked to her former teacher. "Princess, are you alright?" she asked her.
Celestia stood as she locked eyes with the Akatsuki leader for the second time. "Yes Twilight, thanks to you." she responded gratefully while still eyeing the man who had just sent her flying only a moment ago. "You certainly are quite the antisocial leader, but that look in your eye along with the way you're acting suggests that something has affected you in the past." she then said to Pain.
For a moment, he said nothing. He just stared at her in a way that expressed no emotions. "You wish to know what drives me? What makes me this way?" he finally questioned the white alicorn. "Fine I'll tell you, but after that, you must leave." he then said. Celestia nodded. "Very well then." he said, followed by him closing his eyes and reopened them after a moment of silence. "Pain," he said to them. Twilight and Celestia briefly looked at each other in confusion then looked back when he continued. "Pain is what drives me, Pain is what causes my behavior, and Pain is what made me grow up." he explained.
"What happened?" Twilight asked, "What exactly do you mean by 'pain'?" She finished.
"Back when I was just a boy, my parents were killed in a war." Pain replied, remembering the horrible event.
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(Flash Back)
It was raining heavily outside, the rain very audible from within the walls of a simple wooden house. There were three residents inside the house, all very quiet, not making even the slightest sound as they hid from two other people, wearing light green vests over long sleeved navy blue shirts along with headbands with the symbol of a leaf and among the three who hid was a man, a woman, and a small boy with red hair which covered his eyes.
"I'm going to distract them while you two get away from here as fast as you can." the man said in a whisper to the boy and woman, who were next to him. The boy was stiff and did not say anything.
"No, I won't just let you die, think about Nagato and me!" The woman instantly protested. Her protest was to no avail as the man got up and ran into the room with the two intruders. "Wait!" she then yelled, running after him.
After the man ran into the room along with the woman they were both killed quickly by the two other men, before those men realized that they were mere civilians and mistaked them for their enemies. "Wait, these people aren't the enemy, they're just civilians!" one of them said to the other as they laid the two on the floor and closed the eyes of the people they had just killed. The boy had crawled tothe doorway to see what had happened and was horrified by what he saw. He fell silent as a tear began to go down his cheek.
They then noticed the boy, Nagato, who was then starring at them "Oh we're very sorry kid" the other man said to him. The boy then yelled in anger revealing the odd pattern on his eyes that matched those of Pain's.
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(Present)
"I blacked out after witnessing the death of my parents and when I came to, both men were dead." Pain said still standing motionless before the two alicons. "I left my old home behind after that and went to a nearby village called the Hidden Rain Village, needless to say, I was orphans and grew up in extreme poverty."
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(Flash Back)
Hidden Rain
It was the middle of the day in a very large village. The buildings all looked alike at a first glance; gray, tall, and pointed at the top. Heavy rains fell upon the city which was normal for the village, hence the name "Hidden Rain". The streets were somewhat busy with pedestrians which walked about here or there, all which were wearing raincoats to avoid catching a cold or to simply keep the rain off of them. A small boy with red hair that covered both of his eye walked out on the streets of the town, like everyone else in the village, he wore a raincoat and he didn't have anyone with him. He walked aimlessly around the town, asking for food and a place to stay.
"Go away kid! We don't need another mouth to feed so go find some other place to leach off of" (SLAM!)
He stood at the door of the house that the man had just slammed. He was silent, cold, and hungry. ".......But...I don't have anywhere else to go....I....I've already asked all the people in the village...." he said quietly to himself. He lowered his head and turned to leave.
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(Present)
"It had only been but a few days in the village and at that point, i had given up all hope. I was alone, without anyone who cared, starvation was closing in and I had nothing to eat, and I was cold without a place to stay." Pain explained before pointing a finger at Konan. "But, just when all seemed lost, I met a girl, about my age named Konan who was with a bow named Yahiko.
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(Flash Back)
Nagato sat on the side of a road in the middle of the village. He sat by himself, many people contently passed him without even knowing he was there. He rested his head against the wall behind him as he sat there. All his hopes and dreams were coming ever closer to being crushed and so he sat and waited for the end of all his suffering.
"Hear, take this." Said a femanin voice.
Nagato looked up and to his surprise, there was a blue haired girl with amber eyes holding out a loaf of bread at him. At first he thought he was seeing things and rubbed his eyes in response. He then knew that he wasn't just seeing thing and looked to his left then his right before looking back to her and pointing at himself. "Me?" He asked.
"Yeah, take it, you need it more than we do." Another voice came from behind her as a boy with orange and spiky hair walked up to to them. Nagato looked over to the girls side to see him and turned back to her. He smiled and slowly reached up and grabbed the bread. After a moment or two of starring at his life saving gift, he took an enthusiastic bite. The bread didn't last very long but it ment a lot, the two who had just helped him both smiled as they watched him eat.
"By the way, I'm Yahiko and this is Konan," the orange haired boy said as Nagato finished his bread.
"We noticed that you were sitting here by yourself. Are your parents hear?" Konan then asked. Nagato looked down and didn't say anything. They then noticed a tear roll down the side of his cheek. It was then that they realized that he was an orphan.
Konan and Yahiko didn't have a way of realizing that he didn't have any parents, yet they couldn't help but feel bad for him as they lowered their heads in sarrow. "You too huh?" Yahiko asked.
Nagato looked up and whipped his cheek before looking up to them. "What do you mean?" He asked in response and to his surprise, they were orphans, just like him.
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(Present)
That was how we met. The three of us were the same, orphans without a home. We were forced to live a life of thievery just to survive. But one day, a few months after we first met, Yahiko became fed up with the way things were in the Hidden Rain and decided to become the god of our world. We left the village in persute of teachers in the art of ninjutsu.
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(Flash Back)
After leaving the village, the Nagato, Yahiko, and Konan had heard an explosion go off, it was loud and close by. The sudden sound caused the three of them to jump. It didn't take long for them to realize that they had ran into a battle site. They quickened their pace and continued as the explosions and the clash of metal continued to sound off. It had been about an hour when the sun had already set. They stopped and took shelter in a small cave to rest and to wait out the battle that was currently in progress. They all huddled up in the back of the cave.
Yahiko looked at his two friends. "Did you see those three from the Leaf?" he asked them. "Cause they were having it out with Hanzo." he then explained in admiration of those three who were currently battling Hanzo. He thought to himself, how could anyone even have a chance against Hanzo? As far as they knew, he had never been defeated in battle, few were even lucky enough to survive him. Nagato and Konan were also thinking this and oddly enough, knew what he was coming at. "I say we find them and see if they can teach us ninjutsu, then we could finally bring peace to the Rain.
Although the enthusiasm at which Yahiko was going his plan to learn from them, Nagato couldn't help but feel uneasy about his idea. He saw flashes of his parents and the two men who killed them right after Nagato said "leaf". He remembered very clearly seeing the crest on their head bands resembled a leaf.
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(Present)
"Yahiko wanted to train under those three shinobi who were strong enough to take on Hanzo. This seemed a good idea to him and Konan had agreed with his plan." Pain paused as he closed his eyes. A second later, his eyes slowly opened again as he continued. "I, however, didn't like this. For those who had killed my parents were of the leaf so the thought of having a teacher from the leaf was almost unimaginable for me at the time. But I didn't say anything and went with them to search for them. It took only a few days to find them hiding out in a small cave.
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"I pity these children, shall we put them out of their misery?" Asked a man with ghost white skin and long dark hair. His tone and expression suggested that he was serious and the man next to him gave him a quizzical look then switched to a look of disgust. He had spiky, long, and white hair along with a small line running from the middle of both bottom eye lids down to the center of his cheeks.
Yahiko was before them and, hearing the white man in front of him say such a thing in his presence, made him jump and become consumed in not only fear, but confusion. Why would he want to kill three orphans who asked for them to train them? And why say it infront of them? He thought to themself.
"Orocharu, that's enough!" Scolded the white haired man. "These poor souls have asked for our help and the only thing that comes to your mind is to kill them!?" He then said while glaring daggers at him.
A woman was also with them, she too looked dusgusted towards Orochimaru but at the same time, stared at the other one in confusion. "I also don't think we should allow them to live Jiraiya, but what can we do? We don't have the time to help these kids out." she told him.
Jiraiya look back at he with a look of determination. "I'll train them. We at least owe them that. They probably lost their parents because of this war. I'm going to train them so they can defend themselves if need be."
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(Present)
That was how we met Jiraiya Sensei. But, even after standing up for us that day, I still wasn't ready to accept him as my teacher until much later when I had subconsciously killed a man who nearly killed my friends. He had figured out about my rinnegan and became Sirious about our training. After only a few years, we finished our training and left him, we went back to the Hidden Rain, and Yahiko had founded an organization known as the "Akatsuki", an organization which seeked to bring about peace through any means necessary. And, for a time, the Akatsuki gradually grew in power and numbers as our reputation as an organization came to the point to where Lord Hanzo could no ignore us and formed a pact with us. However, dispite our pact, Lord Hanzo had betrayed us and I was forced to make an impossible decision.
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(Flash Back)
Yahiko and Nagato both stood several meters from a low cliff which was only a few stories high. Several men in grey padded armor, along with an older man who looked to be in his late thirties wearing a gas mask that covered only his mouth and nose standing in the middle of them. He held a kuni in his right hand up to Konan's neck as he shouted to Nagato. "Your friend over there is the leader of your organization, kill him now, or the girl dies!" He threatened. "Here use this to kill him." He then ordered as one of the men around him threw a kuni onto the ground right next to Nagato.
Konan stared at her to friends in disbelief as she desperaitly tried to free herself from him. Her attempts were to no avail, however. "Nagato, don't worry about me, you and Yahiko must get away from Hanzo and his men as quickly as possible!" She then demanded.
Yahiko looked at her then at Nagato. "No Nagato!" he said, strongly disagreeing with Konan's demand. "You must kill me so that you and Konan can live!" He then argued.
Hanzo grew impacent and spoke again. "This is your last chance, kill Yahiko or Or the girl dies! You have ten seconds until I kill her so hurry up!" He demanded bitterly. As Nagato slowly reached for the kuni.
"No Nagato! Don't kill Yahiko! Just get away from here now!" she then demanded for the second time.
The area grew silent, the air grew even tenser than it had already been, there was no way out of this, and all eyes were fixed on Nagato in anticipation of his next move. He slowly stood back up after picking up the kuni. He shook violently with hesitation from the moment he picked up the kuni. "Konan..." He said to himself as he looked up at her before slowly turning to his other friend. "Yahi-" (STAB!) But turned only to be interrupted by Yahiko slamming his chest into the kuni in Nagato's hand, which left a fatal wound. At this, Nagato widened his eyes in shock and horror at what he had just done.
Yahiko spoke his final words to Nagato as his blood began to trickle down his chin from the sides of his mouth. "Nagato.....you.....are the bridge......that would altimately lead to peace.......and Konan.... must live......she will be......puller that supports you......" He then finished as he collapsed.
Nagato grabbed him as he fell and gently layed him on the ground and sweeped his hand across his face from top to bottom, closing his eyes as he said to him, "I hope you can find peace where ever you are going....my friend.." He then stood, tears now forming in his eyes as he wiped them away and faced Hanzo. His expression darkened exponentially as he yelled out in a mixture of anger and despair. Shortly after he went into a frenzy as he formed a few hand signs before slaming his hand onto the ground after which, a very large and gray figure arose from the ground. After a second or two, it bacame clear the the object was in the shape of a man, but with eight eyes and several large rocks jutting out of the creatur's back.
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(Present)
The room grew silent. Princess Celestia and Twilight were both a bit shaken from the story they had just herd, both of them had almost broke out into a sob as Pain and Konan both stared. Just the memory of their dear friend Yahiko's death had even gotten to them. After nearly a minute of waiting in silence, Pain spoke again. "Yahiko truly beleived that I was the bridge to peace and that Konan and himself were pillors that supported me. He died for our sake and thus, died for the sake of peace. If you truly wish to keep peace in your realm then you should have no problem in fighting for it if you must, am I correct?" He then questioned skeptically.
Both princesses starred at Pain. They had a feeling that he was planning something. "Yes, we are willing to defend Equestria through means of force for the sake of peace and harmony." Celestia said with a rather serious expression.
Pain turned back to the wall. "Hm. Although your facial expression, tone, and posture strongly suggests that you aren't lying, I will not be swayed so easily." He said much to their disappointment. "You will receive aid from the Akatsuki only when you have proven that you are ready to fight and even die for peace. Go now, we have some important business to attend to." He then finished as the two princesses left the room disheartened.
After Twilight had left with Celestia, Pain shifted his gaze from the wall to Konan. "Inform the other members that we are to have a meeting here. There is we are to discuss a few matters of great importance including their promise to defend the peace in this world."
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Take as long as you need. Pacing is very important. :O
2913721thanks man I really needed that :D
Yes chapter 8 :D
Man you are good. Like, really good! I loved how well you've done this so far. Pacing is fine(it moves quickly and it's fine because we're approaching war so we move quickly). And the characters are working well with each other. I don't exactly know how.it's possible but, it is.
Great job so far and I can't wait(but gladly will wait if quality is what we all ask for)for the next Chapter and the eventual end.
3005247so I take it I altered your perspective of crossovers when it comes to akatsuki? If you want to know about the story that inspired me to write it its "Akatsuki in Equestria"
2913721 Yes
*Sniff* The Ame Orphan Trio's story is always sad when I read it!