## Naruto vs. Konan ##
Time ticked by, minute after minute. Neither Naruto nor the people sent into the building to capture him showed any sign of movement. Not a single one who went inside returned.
Could he really be that hard to find? He was a towering, fox-like humanoid nearly two meters tall—how could they fail to find him in the building?
Suddenly, Naruto burst through a tenth-floor window, leaping across an impossible distance, a triumphant grin spreading across his face.
"Boom!"
Konan quickly flew away. "Get away from that building now!"
Starting from the tenth floor and moving downward, each level exploded violently—one blast after another, each five times stronger than a regular explosive tag. Scores of ninja surrounding the building were caught in the explosions... and this was just the start of the building's destruction.
Naruto grabbed onto the outer wall of another building, watching from a distance as the tower that had once trapped him crumbled into ruins. "That's one dumb plan. Do they really think this can stop me?"
A paper shuriken flew toward him. He dodged by tilting his head, letting the weapon scratch his cheek.
He met Konan's glare head-on.
"What?" Naruto called out. "Aren't I the 'seed of war'? So is this really all you're capable of? You're just plain foolish for seeing me as your enemy. You must've known this would happen… trying to use me—and others—as weapons of war. You just don't want it on your own doorstep, do you? But your precious leader sure didn't hesitate to force this on everyone else, did he?"
"It doesn't matter," Konan said coldly. "No matter what you do, you won't leave here alive today. You will be defeated, and the Nine-Tails will be extracted from you. Because no matter how powerful a monster you become, there's no way you could ever defeat—"
"God?" Naruto cut in. "I haven't even seen him yet. If that guy Pain really is God, he should've come to deal with me already, right? He wouldn't let me run wild here for long if he were truly divine, would he? He'd know I'm destroying Amegakure as we speak. So tell me, that guy doesn't act anything like a god."
Tired of the verbal sparring, Konan attacked again with a paper blade.
Naruto swatted the attack aside with his tail, realizing too late that she was only a Paper Clone. But it barely helped, as the clone disintegrated into countless sheets of paper that stuck to Naruto's body, wrapping him completely.
"Damn it! In this form, I can't use Lord Danzō's Wind Release techniques—they demand far more precision!"
Without a word, Konan formed a hand seal. The papers clinging to Naruto transformed into explosive tags, igniting and detonating, hurling him from the rooftop and smashing him into the ground below. Thick smoke billowed from the impact.
"Ugh... If she also knows sealing techniques, then she's practically unbeatable..." Naruto thought bitterly while struggling to rise. "Thank goodness Master Jiraiya didn't teach her everything—he only gave her a basic ninjutsu scroll."
The moment he stood up, he felt a water whip wrap around his neck, choking him. Two more lashed around his arms. Naruto shot a furious glare at the Amegakure ninjas who'd tried to ambush him mid-fight with Konan.
"Seize the Jinchūriki! Present him to Angel-sama!"
"Stop him!"
Naruto snorted coldly, suddenly swung one arm and yanked a man forward, crushing his back underfoot, killing him instantly.
With one hand free, Naruto grabbed the water whip wrapped around his other arm and used its pull to fling his attacker toward the person choking him by the neck.
It could've been worse, but things were still far from ideal. He needed to find Jiraiya and get out of Amegakure while they still had a chance.
Unfortunately, he was completely surrounded by enemies, with an S-rank rogue ninja watching hungrily from not far away, ready to capture him at any moment. This felt like being back at Orochimaru's hideout, except this time the entire village had become a battlefield with nowhere to hide, and nor was he fighting alone this time.
He couldn't abandon Jiraiya. He didn't know how Jiraiya was doing right now—if Jiraiya was in battle, he must be having difficulties too. Perhaps Jiraiya, like himself, was also surrounded by multiple opponents. He had to find Jiraiya and figure out an escape together. Jiraiya was still the mission commander, and he was Jiraiya's subordinate.
Naruto violently lashed his tail against Konan's paper attacks and launched a long-range Wind Release chakra sphere toward her. "I need more ranged attacks..." he muttered to himself as he ran through the streets searching for Jiraiya, with Konan relentlessly chasing him and launching attack after attack.
The faintest trace of a smirk appeared on Konan's face as she kept attacking Naruto...
Naruto didn't realize that while dealing with both ground-level enemies and aerial assaults, he'd become distracted. But Konan couldn't finish him off here in the city center—not alone, at least. Doing so would completely destroy the place.
That had never been her plan. She hadn't anticipated the villagers joining the fight willingly—but they had taken matters into their own hands.
In fact, she had constantly been driving Naruto in one specific direction because she had spotted Pain's location from above. Once Pain was done with Jiraiya, he could handle Naruto. All she had to do was bring Naruto there—then the rest would be left to Pain.
Because as the Sage of Six Paths had once proven in his prime, not even demons could stand before gods.
##Jiraiya VS Pain##
As Pain's group moved through Amegakure's underground tunnels, they navigated the maze-like passages filled with twisting corridors and branching paths.
Suddenly, a strange singing sound reached their ears:
"It sounds like frogs… Is it Genjutsu?" Pain murmured to himself, identifying the direction of the sound. "He's over there!"
He burst through a door and into a narrow hallway where Jiraiya stood waiting.
But when he struck, he realized too late—it was a trap:
"A Shadow Clone?!"
The clone dispelled, and Jiraiya reappeared behind them, his cheeks swollen with chakra, with Fukasaku and Shima still perched on his shoulders, croaking loudly:
[Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!]
A torrent of fire erupted, instantly consuming the entire hallway. The hulking man threw himself in front of Pain, arms spread wide to shield him from the flames.
"Got it! Knew he'd eat this up!"
"The one with the Rinnegan can only use the Summoning Jutsu, while this heavyset guy can only absorb chakra. Each of them has a single unique jutsu—they only use that one move!" Jiraiya thought excitedly as he slowly began to piece things together. "Now only one of them can see me!"
The large one was completely focused on absorbing the flames. The long-haired one had already been blinded, so now only the one with the ponytail—Pain—could see him.
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