Naruto quickly pulled out the chakra disruptor rods stuck in Jiraiya's body.
"You're going to be alright. I'll get you out of here," Naruto told Fukasaku. "You should leave now. Master Jiraiya can't fight anymore, and I don't know how to deal with them."
Fukasaku shook his head.
"I won't abandon you or Jiraiya, kid. I know you're his apprentice too, just like that Pain fellow."
Naruto looked at the Pains staring back at him.
"Which one is Pain? I only see four guys."
Fukasaku quickly replied:
"No! There should be five! We already took one down!"
Before Naruto could react, a black blade pierced through his body—the same kind that had impaled Jiraiya earlier.
The orange-haired Pain stepped forward behind Naruto, the blade protruding from his chest.
"Hello there, Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Naruto Uzumaki. It's truly a pleasure meeting you."
Gasping in agony, Naruto could feel his chakra becoming chaotic due to the black blade inside him. A pair of eerie, spiraling eyes burned into his vision.
His Nine-Tails Chakra mode collapsed. The Nine-Tails' chakra inside him surged wildly out of control.
Collapsing to one knee, he grabbed the blade sticking out from his chest as Pain spoke again.
"You won't die from this wound—it isn't fatal. How ironic—students of Master Jiraiya gathered together once more."
Naruto lifted his gaze, locking eyes with Pain. Those strange spiral patterns flickered continuously in his mind.
At the same time, he felt like his body was falling apart. Exhausted, old wounds from his previous battle with Konan and the Amegakure shinobi began throbbing painfully.
"The Rinnegan..." the Nine-Tails whispered deep within Naruto's consciousness. "I won't let this imposter command me! I will never become anyone's slave!" it roared, pouring every last drop of chakra into Naruto's battered body. "Don't let him defeat you here! Get up!"
Slowly pulling the blade from his chest, Naruto hurled it at Pain like a javelin. Pain easily dodged the attack and effortlessly deflected Naruto's clumsy, sluggish follow-up punch.
[Nine-Tails Chakra Mode!]
Naruto's first punch was blocked by Pain, who countered with a palm strike sending him staggering backward—but he barely stayed upright. With a furious growl, he charged at Pain again.
But the orange-haired Pain sidestepped, and the bald Pain slammed a fist into Naruto's body, cracking ribs and knocking him flat onto the ground.
Grabbing Naruto by his spiky golden hair, Pain yanked him off the ground. Naruto spat out a mouthful of blood, spraying Pain's face.
Sneering in disgust, Pain hurled him aside. A Konoha ninja rushed forward to help Naruto stand but was immediately knocked airborne by a punch from the hefty Pain.
Fukasaku watched helplessly as Naruto endured relentless beatings while the other Pains circled around him, yet he remained steadfast beside Jiraiya.
"He's taking every hit without fighting back—but still, he won't fall."
He looked at Jiraiya, with only one eye open, bearing silent witness to the events unfolding before him.
"In this regard, he and you are alike, kid. He never gives up either."
"Why is this happening?" Naruto muttered weakly under his breath as the Nine-Tails kept urging him from within his mind to fight back.
Naruto staggered toward the blinded, long-haired Pain and lashed out with a weak punch, but Pain dodged it, kicked Naruto hard in the gut, then followed with another punch that drove him to his knees in agony.
"They defeated Ero-Sennin... I couldn't beat him either... I'm no match for him..."
"Give up," Pain said to the weakened Naruto. "You are the harbinger of destruction. No one can hope to control the power within you, and you'll never defeat me. But I—I can and will use that power within you to bring peace to this world. As the god of the new world, it's my duty."
Blinking sluggishly, Naruto used Pain's fist for support as he forced himself upright, leaning heavily into him.
Gathering every last shred of strength, he lifted his head to glare at Pain with one swollen eye barely open, still blazing with defiance.
"You're not a god..."
Then he did something he'd only dared once before—in a desperate, life-or-death moment.
Back then, he had just broken free from a seal—this was his last-ditch plan against Itachi Uchiha.
That move had been so utterly unpredictable that it actually worked, successfully distracting Itachi.
But this time, there was no strategy behind it. This move made no strategic sense whatsoever. It wouldn't help him win or inspire him to fight harder.
He simply felt like doing it—he just wanted to spit in the face of this so-called "god."
A glob of blood-mixed saliva flew onto Pain's face. Pain froze in stunned disbelief—no one, in all his years, had ever dared defy him like this.
Every Pain froze in place, and Naruto seized the chance to shove Pain aside, drawing on his final reserves of strength to form a blue chakra sphere in his palm. [Rasengan!]
"Shinra Tensei!" Pain roared furiously, unleashing an invisible force that hurled Naruto backward.
The force of Pain's attack was so immense it not only launched Naruto backward but also blew aside the others and displaced the lake around Amegakure.
The sheer force hurled Naruto, Fukasaku, and Jiraiya into the air.
Fukasaku clung desperately to Jiraiya's limp form, watching Naruto being flung skyward as well.
"Naruto!"
The light faded from Naruto's eyes as his consciousness began to fade.
"I can't win... I'm not strong enough..."
His gaze shifted toward Jiraiya, who had taken far worse punishment than he had.
Once they fell from the sky, Pain would capture him and extract the Nine-Tails while Jiraiya drowned. He had lost.
"I'm sorry, Ero-Sennin... Sorry, Grandma Tsunade... Sorry, Lord Danzō... Sorry everyone. When it mattered most... I still wasn't strong enough."
Naruto closed his eyes and slipped into unconsciousness. Faintly, he could still hear someone calling, "Senior Naruto," but the sound had already faded beyond his reach.
## Konoha ##
Tamako had already moved all of Naruto's belongings into the new home she'd prepared for him. Now, she was tidying up, waiting for his return. Suddenly, she felt a faint pain emanating from the summoning seal on Naruto's body.
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