"It seems we finally put a stop to him," Tobi remarked as they observed the battle from afar.

"Quite a handful he is, eh?" White Zetsu mused.

"Don't be cocky," Black Zetsu warned. "The power of the Nine Tails has always been absurd. If not for the existence of the Sharingan and the First Hokage's wood release, the original would have never been sealed."

"And even then, very few could safely hold it," Tobi acknowledged. "But for now, this Bijuu is still but a child, throwing around a power he still does not fully realize."

"I'm not so sure," Black Zetsu said evenly, eye narrowed as he watched the floating moon. "Nor should you be. Never has this happened. The first of anything should rarely be underestimated."

Tobi said nothing, watching on, his Sharingan eye drifting to where he knew Kakashi had been. He wondered what he would do now? Fight on? Retreat? Nothing?

He'd have to check if he died from this battle. He doubted that, but he would rather know if Kakashi would be around to experience the Infinite Tsukuyomi or not.

There was a rumbling and his gaze drifted up to the moon once more.

Meanwhile

Yu Kasukabe frowned as she rode on the back of a large white wolf. She could feel the hound growing worried under her. She couldn't blame the she-beast. She could see and hear so many animals rushing far, far away in the opposite direction they were going. Fleeing the wrath of a force of nature.

The Kusa-Gensui had sent her out to observe the situation, to bear witness and report just what had happened here.

The Kyuubi declaring, warning them that he was heading to the Rain Village, just so they in Grass would not think they were the target of his interest...or ire.

Yu's expression dimmed as she recalled Karin. Ever drained and mentally troubled by the connection she now had with the Kyuubi. A being like that casually and effortlessly being able to enter her mind, to whisper into her thoughts and see through her eyes.

Yu could strangely relate, able to form temporary connections with beasts similarly. But the gap between her and a forest animal was minuscule compared to the vast abyss that was between Karin and the Kyuubi.

A rumbling was heard over the trees. "What was that?" she wondered, stopping the wolf. "Go, run off!" she ordered as she released her bond with the creature. The wolf whined in primordial fear, fleeing for its very life.

With that done, Yu scaled the nearest tree to get a view of what was happening.

Her face didn't show it, but her heart almost dropped. "Is that a...moon...?" she muttered, trying to understand the sheer...wrongness of how and why there was a giant sphere of earth and stone hovering in the sky. What kind of Jutsu could do something like that? What kind of chakra would...

"Is that...is that the power of the Kyuubi?" she whispered.

"No."

She stiffened, slowly looking to the branch next to her, and found a figure she knew only by reputation. By what she was and how immediate of a threat she could be to her village.

Fu of Waterfall, the Jinchuriki of the Nanabi.

"That is the power brought to bear against him," she said, and only now turned to look at Yu. "We're both here for the same reason. There is no reason to fight."

Yu hesitated before nodding, very slowly. She had no plan of testing just how much of her Bijuu this Jinchuriki could channel.

Their attention was drawn to the small moon once more, as a great rumbling echoed through the air and stones shook loose from the sphere.

Meanwhile

Within his prison of stone, Naruto poured his charka into his limbs. It grinded, melted, and just plain moved stones away as his power forced the rocks to bend to his will. Fists and tails pushed the opening around him wider and wider.

He could feel it, the pressure of the Jutsu and the earth trying to collapse in on him.

But compared to treading on the ocean floor?

This was only mildly more troublesome.

That said, he was feeling borderline claustrophobic in this space.

With a great roar of defiance, he slammed his fists downward.

The explosion knocked him back against the wall, but it also destroyed a lot more of the stone down in front of him.

"Hmm?" he tilted his head as he looked down and saw a black orb hovering there. Stone began to envelop it again, pulled towards it by a gravitational pull. "The hell...? Oh, right, that orb was pulling everything up towards it. So I guess that means up is the way out in here, even though I was buried upside down? Hnn, this is weird to think about."

The cave walls pressed down more above him.

"Fuck!" he exclaimed, pouring more chakra into his tails to keep it back. He frowned as he felt his chakra being drawn away and dispelled. "What is...?"

He frowned as he saw...or rather sensed what was going on outside. He wasn't sure how, but this so-called God was drawing out his chakra and spreading it through the surface of the stone. Probably trying to seal him.

Seal him. Wonderful.

Well, he took solace in the fact that no one from Konoha tried to do it first.

But then he let his anger mount as he realized this multi-bodied freak was trying to trap him in here!

"Fine, you want my chakra! Take it!" Naruto called out with a growl.

Opening the metaphorical floodgates, he let his chakra blaze; within him, out of him, and all through the stone.

On the surface, Pain and his paths continued to apply seals with Konan's help, using the black rods to help mitigate the Bijuu's chakra to some extent. Rods and seals were being applied all over the surface, further securing the trap.

Konan watched it all cautiously, keeping mindful of the location of Nagato's true body. It looked like they had managed to pull victory from defeat, but something about this felt too...easy.

As if to confirm her suspicion, a golden glow formed beneath the orb's surface. The seals pulsed and the black rods rattled. Pain blinked before his bodies redoubled their efforts. Only the Diva Path remained idle, floating just above the spherical prison.

"To think it is this powerful," Pain mused to himself. He was pushing it. His body, his real body, was already taking a toll from using Planetary Destruction. If he tried to increase it more, he might run out of chakra altogether.

He glared in frustrated fascination as the top surface of the mini-moon began to bulge like a bubble was trying to escape it.

The seals began to burn away and the black rods dislodged from the stone like arrows.

One almost stuck him in the head, if he hadn't grabbed it at the last second. "It seems this gambit has failed," he concluded grimly.

With that, the bubble burst open like a volcano, stones flying like yellow-flamed comets as they flew through the air.

From the hole climbed out a thoroughly annoyed Kyuubi in all his golden glory. With one hand grabbing the loose stone, Naruto hurdled a handful of stone at the flying God.

"Almighty Push," Pain declared, pushing the attack away without effort, the rocks falling away-

-And a slash of charka-imbued wind caught him by surprise, grazing a scar upon his face.

God and Demon stared at each other for a long moment. It became very clear that this was a battle of attrition and it was obvious who would run out first.

And Naruto felt gravity change again. "Oh, you fucking-!" Naruto growled as the floating sphere began to fall, slowly spinning in an attempt to crush him between it and the earth.

"Enjoy your victory, Kyuubi," Pain said finally he turned to leave, having already moved his path to leave the immediate area.

Naruto growled as he ran up the side as the sphere spun and fell while breaking apart. At the last moment, he leaped off, just in time before the impact and resounding boom echoed over the area. The shockwave covered the area in dust and debris, destroying everything in the surrounding area.

"Behind you!" Konan called out in warning.

Pain turned around and saw a giant boulder flying towards him. With minimal effort, he waved his arm to the side and sent it off its path.

His brow furrowed as the stone exploded in midair. Not like Deidara's work, but more like a Jutsu...dispelling...

He realized too late, as the jaw of the Kyuubi emerged and snapped shut, the Bijuu falling to the ground with a colossal thud, the Deva Path still in his jaws.

"Yahiko...," Konan whispered in shock as she saw the body of her old friend in the fox's mouth. The left side was in the mouth, caught between just two great teeth, the head and right limbs hanging outside with blood gushing from the mouth and body.

The Deva Path grimaced from the damage. "A-almight-"

Naruto bit down harder in response, cutting the body in half, cold blood spattering against his maw.

Hidden nearby, Nagato gritted his teeth in frustration at the loss of Yahiko's body. Much as he hated it, he knew this was a defeat. Without the Deva Path, he had no chance of competing with that power.

With a disgusted grunt, Naruto spat out the body. Ignoring his desire to not taste human flesh, there was something cold and...wrong about that body, even the blood.

He could sense Pain's other bodies finally retreating. He scanned the horizons with a daring look.

"Anyone else?!" Naruto called out. He was mentally spent and wished nothing more than to take a nap after all of that.

To the east, Yu and Fu dared not move, lest they drag the Kyuubi's ire onto themselves.

To the north, Kurotsuchi glared as she felt the Kyuubi's blue eyes linger on her. Or maybe, the Jinchuriki with her.

To the west, Zetsu and Tobi watched on in silent contemplation.

And to the south?

"Naruto?!"

The golden fox turned to regard the giant toad and Jiraiya with annoyance. "Pervy sage, your ass couldn't be later to the show!"

"What show?! What are you doing here?" Jiraiya asked in confusion, looking around at the battlefield, complete with a literal mountain of stones, a wasteland where a forest had once been, and a lot of dead summon beasts.

The Toad Summon was respectfully wary of that last fact, staying silent while the Sannin and the Bijuu talked.

"Fought a god, got put in a moon, busted out, and bit the bastard in half," Naruto answered bluntly, listing off each with a raised finger

"That explains nothing! Less than nothing!" Jiraiya said in exasperation.

"In my defense, this was all Kakashi-Sensei's idea," Naruto informed shamelessly. "speaking of him, you mind helping him? He's on my back and about to fall off from chakra exhaustion. And a broken arm, he thinks."

Jiraiya shook his head and resigned himself to the situation. "Thanks for the ride," he said to the toad, canceling the summoning after he jumped over onto Naruto's head. True enough, Kakashi was laying face first on the back of Naruto's neck, holding onto the fur with one hand. "What did you do?"

"Fought Deidara, chased him off," Kakashi answered shortly, due to the exhaustion and pain. "Henged Naruto into a boulder. Took a lot more out of me than I thought it would."

"You henged a Bijuu. You're as crazy as your sensei," Jiraiya said with a head shake as he helped Kakashi up and gave him a chakra-replenishing pill. "Anything else I should know?"

"Yeah, we made a friend, you know him," Naruto said with a smirk. "Hey, Hanzo!? Want to go meet the Fire Daimyo?!"

"WHAT?!"

Far away, Yu tilted her head at the outburst. "Is he brilliant or crazy? I can't tell."

"He's clever," Fu said. Or Yu assumed it was Fu and not her Bijuu. "So, in a way, both."

"Naruto, you cannot take Hanzo the damn Salamander to meet the Daimyo out of the blue!" Jiraiya protested.

They were on the ground in front of Naruto, retrieving the two halves of the body Naruto had bitten in half. Kakashi had retrieved the larger half with the head, lacing it into a sealing scroll, while Jiraiya did the same to the smaller chunk.

"Oh, don't get your hair all twisted up, Pervy Sage," Naruto said with an eye-roll. "I'm not inviting him into the palace or shit. I just don't want his ass dying on us before we talk to the Daimyo."

"Why, exactly, would I want to meet with your daimyo?" Hanzo asked neutrally, ignoring the wary looks the Toad Sage was giving him.

"Call it a hunch," Naruto said with a drawl. "I mean, I'm assuming you want help with your civil war?"

Jiraiya sighed, looking to Kakashi for support. "Kakashi, please talk sense into him!"

"Can't. He's right, this was my idea, so I owe him a turn trying a bad idea," Kakashi answered with a painful shrug. "Besides, I kind of want to see where he's going with this."

"As you said, I have a civil war to deal with. I can't just leave for pleasantries with a foreign leader," Hanzo said flatly.

"First, fuck off, I think we all know you're not the type that likes that shit anytime," Naruto reasoned flatly and got no arguments from anyone. "But fine, sure. Run on back to getting your ass kicked when that God decides to finish you off."

"I wasn't exactly idle while you were almost sealed," Hanzo retorted pointedly, the bodies of the dead summons still littering the area. It was strange, most summons left upon taking enough damage, but these stuck until their very deaths. And dead summons didn't always head back to where they were summoned from.

"You're a tough bastard, but I don't think you have a way to counter a mini-moon being dropped on you. Cause I don't! I can just get out of being buried inside one!" Naruto pointed out.

Hanzo admitted that was a concern. The power this so-called god had displayed was something he had never heard of, something to rival the likes of Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju…something mighty enough to make even the Kyuubi struggle.

"What would even be the point of me going?" Hanzo asked pointedly. "Again, why would the Daimyo help me?"

"I can think of a few reasons," Naruto answered honestly.

"Naruto, you can NOT threaten the daimyo," Jiraiya stressed pointedly.

"Yes, that is definitely something you shouldn't do," Kakashi agreed warningly.

"The fuck made you think I would? Why would I be ass enough to threaten him?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"...You do realize that you asking for anything can be taken as a threat, right?" Hanzo asked, questioning the Kyuubi's self-awareness.

"Nah, I'm on good terms with the guy," Naruto waved off.

"When did that happen?" Jiraiya muttered to Kakashi, who shrugged.

"Even if I felt like this was worth it, my village might be on the verge of falling to the enemy right now," Hanzo denied firmly.

"Fine, fine. I'll talk to the Daimyo and Pervy Sage will deliver the message to you if he okays helping you out," Naruto informed. "You know, assuming your ass is still alive by then."

"Wait, why am "I" being volunteered for this?" Jiraiya asked with a frown.

"Cause a regular messenger would get killed with that Pain guy wandering about?" Naruto said, gesturing to the remains of the mini-moon. "So either you do it or I will."

"The Sannin is doing it," Hanzo said firmly. "I do not need a Kyuubi wandering into my land to play messenger."

"I know you're trying to insult me, but I'll take an excuse to walk to someplace new," Naruto said with a smirk.

Jiraiya just sighed and resigned himself to this insanity. "Well, I guess I should be glad time hasn't withered you too much, Hanzo," he said with cautious praise.

"I hear it has done well for you and those other two. In terms of power, that is," Hanzo said, regarding the Toad Sage as well. "But I hear time has been unkind to you three in most other ways."

Jiraiya hummed, knowing there was no word against that. Being a Shinobi often meant dying young or living long enough to see your comrades die or crumble in the line of duty.

Naruto watched the exchange idly, his ears twitching as he kept a lookout. Their watchers had mostly left.

Mostly, he mused, glancing to the north again.

Miles and miles away, he could still see her lingering on that hill, eyeing him with some form of envy that he didn't care for.

Iwa. The Hidden Stone. He wondered if they were going to be a problem, or just her.

He got the feeling that even when the Hakaju was dealt with, his battles would be far from over.

He could see it, smell it, taste it…the hate, the envy, the rage, the fear. So much attention on him and the shock of his existence was wearing off. Others were no longer stunned into inaction, this so-called God proved that much.

That was fine with Naruto.

An entirely peaceful life was never in the cards for him.

End of Chapter

And there we go, end of the battle. It was kind of a draw, but Naruto came out better than Pain. But we also had Tobi and Zetsu keeping an eye on things, among others. To top it all off, Naruto plans to get Hanzo some help in his civil war.

Keep in mind that nobody here knows how Pain's powers and bodies work. None of them know if he can do Planetary Devestration with any of the bodies or other things like that. So Naruto is taking the safe bet and saying that Hanzo would probably still get killed by Pain. Hence why Naruto wanted to bring Hanzo along. But not all plans go withotu hitch, so Hanzo is staying to make sure his side of the war doesn't fall apart.

Early viewing of chapters 27-28 avaliable on my pat-reon:

p a treon . com (slash) akumakami64