Family issues
Naruto dusted his hands as he looked around the Kazekage's room, his seals had been brushed off the walls. Not even a mark was left. Izuku had worked with the Samurai to move all a hundred odd ROOT bodies out of the building, where to he didn't know. But he didn't really care, what he did care about though, was how easily Izuku bribed the Samurai into assisting him. Katsuki hadn't been lying when he said they loved his spicy katsudon. The greenette barely mentioned the idea as a little thank you and the Samurai had already begun hauling bodies away. Tsunade had gotten a good chuckle from it while Katsuki took Sasuke and Sakura home before returning to help clean up the bodies. The Mizukage and her aides had sat with Tsunade after they had packed to discuss polotics. That conversation became super boring, but the Shadow Clone had remained by Tsunade's side because like it or not, Naruto was going to have to deal with that when he became Hokage. So he resolved to figure out how to cope with the boredom. They were getting ready to leave when Samurai began rushing into the summit room. The Kage quickly followed along with the guards. Squad Seven was last in, meeting up to puff into their ANBU gear. The five landed front and center however clutching their tantos ready to battle. Naruto stood at the front, Izuku and Katsuki on his left, Sasuke and Sakura on his right. The whole room was facing a single man, stood still as a statue, calmly facing down the entire small army in front of him. "Tobi," Izuku growled "Why are you here for clown? Danzo's already fled like a coward,"
"I know," The voice was much deeper and much more menacing than before, "I was the one that assisted him in fleeing, I also assisted him in intercepting the messenger sent to get Hokage in hopes she would not actually arrive," NAruto drew his blade slowly, "But now I come with a declaration, Tobi was simply a name to distract you fools, my true name is Mada,"
"Obito Uchiha," Sasuke cut off, "Your Mangekyou is similar to Kakashi's, after studying the Uchiha records for a while, I found that you're supposedly dead after a failed mission in the Third Great Ninja War, the same mission that resulted in Kakashi gaining his Sharingan,"
"Ah yes, the Friend-,"
"I'd watch your tone Obito," Katsuki growled "I might not know who you are but I know that Kakashi isn't a friend-killer,"
"Agreed, it's hard not to kill someone when they jump infront of your jutsu,"
"It matters not, my best ninja are already moving to capture the Eight and Two tails jinchuuriki while you have this farce of a,"
"You mean these two?" Izuku flicked a thumb as B and Yugito. The eye revealed by the mask thinned,
"Well, if they failed that so be it, but right now they are collecting the other jinchuuriki as we speak, in fact they should be arriving in Konohagakure to claim the Nine tails right now," An audible sneer, "And with the destruction of Konohagakure imminent, I will declare the Fourth Great Ninja War," He swirled around his eye and disappeared as A charged him with a Lariat.
"Raikage! Behave yourself!" Izuku ordered "if you charge recklessly you will regret it,"
"You may pose a threat yet boy," Obito sneered from the side of the room. "But even if you could stop me here, you won't stop Konoha from being destroyed," Something tugged quickly at the back of Naruto's head and he allowed a smirk to his lips, "So I shall leave you to panic like the ants you are before I crush you," He disappeared in another swirl.
"Raven, Petal?"
"Nowhere nearby," Both shook their heads.
"Wonderful, Lady Hokage, hold on," Izuku grabbed the two blonds and disappeared, Naruto took Sakura and Sasuke and disappeared. Yugito stepped backwards, looking at the spot in abject horror.
"Those children were ANBU?!"
Ino wasn't sure what was going on at the start, just people began stopping and looking up at the sky. She had been on her lunch break at the time so she didn't really notice at first. Until people began stopping in the streets and staring up at the sky. People began doing it right in front of her as she was eating, how could she not notice? Following their gazes she noticed a small speck floating in the sky, standing out against the blue. She couldn't discern what it was exactly but it appeared humanoid is, the muttering of the crowds began to die down and she could here the person speaking. "I will end the cycle of hatred, now prepare because now you shall know pain!" Ino watched as the person lifted their arms in front of them, "ALMIGHTY PUSH!"
Konoha exploded
Not exactly exploded, but a great force suddenly appeared pushing everyone and thing away from the focal point. Ino cried out as she was pushed back with the people around her. Buildings began falling apart as trees were uprooted. The world blurred as she rolled along the floor. Picking herself up quickly she looked around the destruction hurriedly. A wisp of silver hair and she took a deep breath, "Kakashi!" The cycloptic shinobi perked up and looked around to her, moving to her side "We need to evacuate everyone, now! Get everyone you can helping to get people out, I'll grab as many med-nin as I can and set up a shelter on the west edge."
"Got it," He nodded and looked back at the remains of Konohagakure, or at least, where the remains should be. Ino looked over too and softly inhaled as she saw, nothing was left. In fact, less than nothing was left, because even the ground had been moved. Making a crater spanning most of Konoha, starting in the very centre of the village. She felt the blood drain from her face before taking a moment to calm her shaken nerves and pull the flower from her hair, it had been in her hair for three years every day, and resting by her sleeping body every night. It was a flower with a stem covered in black splotches, except they weren't splotches, they were parts of a seal, a seal only one person could create. Pulsing her chakra through the flower hurriedly she tossed it to the wind, letting it float towards the centre of the crater, where the figure was now beginning to land. Kakashi began running around, finding Itachi and Shisui, relaying the plan so far. A tear brimed in her eye as her lower lip quivered and Ino turned to leave, to leave and set up the medical shelter they were going to need. Meanwhile at the flower there was a flicker of yellow and three new figures stood before the unidentified attacker, observing the damage before glaring at them.
"I just paid that off asshole," Naruto folded his arms, "What the fuck is your problem?"
"My name is Pain, and I am God, I am here to destroy Konohagakure and take the Jinchuuriki of the Nine Tailed Fox,"
"Alright Pain," He growled, "Since you've already wrecked the place, I bet you're looking for that Jinchuuriki now aren't you?"
"Konoha ANBU do not intimidate me, tell me the location and I'll make your destruction less painful,"
"Right in front of you, Raven, Petal, can you cover me for five minutes?" He sat down and crossed his legs.
"We'll do what we can," Sasuke nodded, drawing his tanto,
"Summoning jutsu!" Pain cried, slamming his hand on the floor. The three of them watched as five more figures appeared, all with facial piercings, orange hair and purple eyes. "We are the Six paths of Pain, we wield the Rinnegan and we shall teach you,"
"Oh my god, just shut up!" Sakura ran forwards, her hands glowing as she drew her blade. Naruto made two Shadow Clones and watched them support Sakura and Sasuke. A six on four right would break down into two three on two fights. Sasuke and his clone would be synchronized after studying under the two offensive Sannin, so they could hold the three at bay, while Sakura and his second clone matched perfectly. Even after three years Naruto knew every move she'd make in a spar and would account for it, his clone would match her style, the duo was unstoppable. Naruto closed his eyes and began collecting Nature Energy, Jiraiya had done his best to teach Naruto this technique, the blond hadn't been able to master it due to the fact he needed to sit still. It wasn't really in his nature to sit still, right now though he could use the boost. He still couldn't control all nine tails of chakra, hell Kurama was hesitant to give him the seventh, since it would require opening the gate in the mindscape and mixing their chakra pools permanently. So this was the next best option, his only problem was sitting still. He knew the others were fighting around him, he could hear it! But he needed to stay still, just another moment. Nature energy began molding with his chakra, filling his body, making him want to move more, but he had to sit still. The energy almost began encompassing him, his body desperate to even just vibrate. Taking a deep breath Naruto forced his muscles not to move, just for one, more.
Click
There it was, the nature energy swirling along his chakra pathways, powering up his very being and granting him access to new forms of justu. Senjutsu.
"Clear!" In one hand grew a Rasen-shuriken, "Light it up Sasuke!"
"What?!" The ravenette turned to see the jutsu gliding straight towards him, smiling he turned back to the two Pains in front of him while the clone dispelled. Sasuke waited until the last minute to backflip over the blade of air, a Chidori screeching in his hand and getting pulled into the rotation.
"Combo jutsu," Both called out, "Rasendori-Shuriken!" Both Pains were struck by the almost invisible whirlwind, getting carried away with it as the lightning paralyzed them in place. It swirled skyward, taking the duo with it before exploding. Both bodies hit the floor smoking and unmoving. Sasuke put a thumb up and turned to retreat, prioritizing the villagers. The blond moved towards Sakura and leapt over her crouched form, a hand gliding overher back as both of his feet hammered into a third Pain. The four against two started with an intense staredown. The Rinnegan, the Rinnegan, Naruto had heard that before, but where?! His minds eye recalled it.
Nine year old Izuku ran over holding a book. "Naruto, Naruto!" The blond looked up from his own scroll. "Dude I was jsut exploring the catacombs and I found this awesome dojutsu,"
"What? What's a dojutsu?" The book was planted softly against his head.
"We found out about them yesterday dummy! They're the super weird eye abilities, like Sasuke Sharingan!"
"Woah, I bet this one isn't as cool as Sasuke's though!"
"No way," Izuku shook his head "But it's still really weird, it gives the user some awesome powers, like they can push and pull with their mind, make their body like a machine, collect souls,"
"Creepy,"
"Yeah, and they can summon massive unkillable creatures, and absorb chakra and guess what?"
"What?"
"They can summon this thing called the King of Hell!"
"Sounds spooky, but if that's all the Rineegun can do,"
"Nuh uh, it's gonna be super hard to beat, cuz all the bodies share their vision, so they can dodge like super easy! And they can make this weird black metal that can block chakra!"
"What no way!" Naruto reached out for the book, "Lemme see!"
Right, the four could all see what each other saw. That was a disadvantage, what paths were left? Shit he didn't keep track, double disadvantage. Well it was still four on two, the Rasen-Shuriken was his strongest attack for now and with the chakra control Sage mode gave him, he could make one in each hand. The issue was that the Pains would know to avoid it. Wait, the short haired one was here at the start! That meant he was the one that made the crater and pushed everything away, so that one was the body controlling the forces. That still left three bodies with one of five abilities but Naruto could make it work. A bulky Pain charged forwards, Naruto swept a fast punch, ducking under the strike the Pain aimed. Of course it avoided his strike too, but it didn't avoid the gale force wind generated by Nature energy formed next to his arm. The face caved in as Naruto pivoted and quickly buried a Rasengan into the body's back turning into a Rasen-Shuriken as he leapt away. Sakura joined his side, ready to fight. "Leave them to me, go and help the others,"
"No, Fox you're-," She disappeared in a flash of yellow.
"So you are the jinchuuriki? To think Tobi was right next to you," Naruto smirked under his mask, Pain thought that Obito was Tobi? That was rich. "Well it matters not, I shall extract the Nine Tails after I show you true pain!" The short haired Pain was definitely the leader as the other two got ready to charge as well. Several Shadow Clones appeared behind him and joined the charge to meet the Pains. A shuriken whizzed by his head and Izuku appeared.
"Heya Fox, just here for support, things are pretyy bad in the remains, they need all hands on deck out there so you're going to be flying solo here, think you can do it?"
"Course I can Midori, I already got three of these bastards,"
"Language," Yup that was Izuku, "Alright well," One Pain was quickly subdued by Izuku covering it in explosive tags and putting a Chidori through its chest. He disappeared in a flash of green and Naruto turned back to the last two Pains. The forces one was still stood, waiting for something. Naruto narrowed his eyes, a Rasengan to the face quickly stopped the last Pain. He charged forward to the Pain, not wanting to waste anymore time, when something blasted him backwards. With a grunt he rolled to his feet, Pain had a hand raised with a dark look on the face. Standing up straight the blond was blasted by a wall of chakra again. He ran forwards, leaping to the side, in hopes th attack would miss, only for it to strike his back and leave him on the floor. Pain pulled his hands together and held out his own arm. Naruto stared as a black rod materialised from his palm before yelling as the rod was driven through his hands. Pain did a similar thing to his shins, before driving a pair through his thighs and upper arms. Izuku appeared in the left of his vision and growled. "Bastard," Quickly attacking Pain and forcing the rogue-nin to turn around, once he had Naruto could feel the rods on his legs getting broken before a foot swept into his vision and broke the rods in his arms. They slowly drained the Nature energy from his body.
"Come on big guy, let's get you," The pinkette's voice was soft as she helped him to his feet.
"GAH!" Izuku's gasp forced them to look at the battling pair. Pain had used whatever the special ability was to pull Izuku towards him and impale a rod into his gut. "Almost felt that one," Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth as he smiled arrogantly. Pain dropped him onto the ground,
"Your resistance was useless,"
"Jokes on you fuckface, I was just the distraction," Izuku laughed as another rod grew from Pain's hand and was put through his sternum. "Oh, now you done fucked up," Pain turned back around to see Sakura supporting a barely standing Naruto.
"Naruto, run! You need to get out of here, you're the only one that can fight him,"
"Then why am I running?!" Honestly he couldn't if he wanted to. Izuku's body was laying with the two rods embedded in it as Sakura ran to try and fight Pain. A lazy swipe of its arm and she was sent cartwheeling through the air, but she dragged herself to her feet and charged again, over and over. Naruto wanted to move, he had to move, but he couldn't, his body screamed out at him, pleading with him not to move. Sakura landed in the dirt again, he HAD to MOVE! His legs groaned under him as he began making his way forward, Sakura laying in the ground again, this time not getting up. Pain lifted another rod above his head, preparing to kill her. "YOU BASTARD!" Naruto roared, tails of chakra quickly evicting whatever little Nature energy was left in his body, absolute rage entered in its wake. Pain turned to recieve a chakra coated fist to the face, flying backwards. Sakura groaned before looking up to Naruto and her eyes widened in shock.
"N-Naruto?"
"I'm here babe, I've got some control of it Kurama's trying to help by cycling it through my system," Which was true, he could feel the Fox pushing and pulling the chakra in a loop, taking as much as he gave. It was unorthodox but it gave Naruto some degree of control. In seconds they were by Izuku and the rods removed.
"You took," The greenette coughed up blood and smiled weakly, "Your sweet time, Sakura, I'm going to need a little bit of a hand,"
"But, but medical ninjutsu is useless on you," The pinkette fell to her knees,
"It used to be harder than normal," His voice was strained as blood kept dribbled from the corner of his mouth, "But I've learned a lot in the last three years, including how to make myself more receptive to medical ninjutsu, didn't think I'd have to tell you like this," She laid her hands on his chest as a soft green glow emerged, "I can Raijin us into the shelter, but it's going to be a bumpy entrance,"
"That, that's fine," She whispered "Just don't die on me," Izuku smirked weakly,
"Like I'm going to let a papercut like this give the Shinigami a reason to stroke itself," He turned his head to cough up blood, "Naruto?"
"Yeah bro? Right here,"
"That's just a receiver," They disappeared in a flash of red speckled green light. The blond turned to Pain, the anger bubbling away under his skin. Pain glared at him,
"Finally, a,"
"Shut up," Naruto growled, the chakra burning away inside. Kurama was beginning to slow to loop down, meaning Naruto fought harder for control. He could see bright orange and yellow flickers of light from the bottom of his vision. Pain just glared at him before the two charged to meet in the middle. Their forearms collided powerfully as they locked eyes.
"Now do you understand pain?" Naruto lodged his foot into Pain's gut, grabbing the arm and throwing the body. PAin rolled along the floor as Naruto appeared next to him in a flash.
"I've understood pain for a very long time bastard," A Rasengan collided with whatever jutsu created the barrier. "I know the pain of having nobody special, the pain of being alone, I know the pain of losing everything you care about, the pain of never being enough," The purple eyes widened, "I know damn well what pain is, and let me tell you," He began pushing against the force, making slight progress, "Whatever you think you're doing," His body leant forwards as power was pushed into his arm, "Ain't it!" The barrier finally gave and the Rasengan struck like a kunai, winding Pain. "This, this is just wanton destruction!"
"No," The ginger shinobi stood up, "This is retribution! This is what will force peace!"
"Forced peace is nothing but an illusion," The blond bit back as he deflected a punch, "No matter how many times you try force it, or make others surrender," His fist almost struck Pain's nose, until he body was pushed backwards, knocking his balance. "Your peace will be nothing but a temporary illusion,"
"And what?" Pain sneered "You think that people will ever understand each other? You think people will ever understand the pain you went through?" Naruto growled, the orange flickers began lasting longer.
"No,"
"Then,"
"And that's okay," His continuation silenced Pain, "Because if I forced them to understand I'd be no better than the ones that did it to me in the first place," He swept an arm around him, "Look Pain, at all the destruction you caused, are you proud? Do you feel vindicated now?!"
"I do what I must to create temporary peace, because man will always start war, my home Amegakure, was destroyed over and over in the last War, not because we fought, but because our home was the battle ground,"
"So that makes destroying my home okay?" Another Rasengan, "You justify destroying my home, trying to kill my friends and family but refuse to allow anyone else the same judgement?" His eyes narrowed at Pain, "Tell me Pain, what makes you better than the ones who destroyed your home?"
"I-" THe speech was cut off as Naruto warped to the body, his Rasegan pass through the chest and whirling slightly in front of Pain.
"It doesn't," A snarl as Naruto relaxed his hand, the Rasengan shrinking away. The body slumped over to the floor and Naruto looked at it fall.
"That's just a reciever,"
Izuku's voice was clear in his mind. How could a body be a reciever? The black piercings stood out to the blond, who walked over, quickly taking one. It practically hummed with chakra. Pain had made them from his hands, so it most likely was just molded chakra. Biting his lip Naruto lifted the small material to his own skin, pressing it into his muscle. Now that he concentrated on it, he could feel the connection to something, someone. Closing his eyes he began following the connection, built up by the rods. It led miles away, to a distante tower in a ruined land. He ran in that direction before anyone could tell.
The wall crumbled to paper. "So you found me, Naruto Uzumaki," He pulled off the mask, it was useless now anyway. Before him man with long red hair stood in something akin to a mechanical walker, with small spots of the metal dotting his chest and numerous of the black rods seemingly buried in his back. "Come to kill me?"
"No," He spoke as a blue haired woman stepped between the two, "I just wanted to talk, Nagato Uzumaki," They both stared at the blond, "Yeah, I know who you are, because Jiraiya spoke often of his three students, Yahiko, Nagato and Konan, he told me that I reminded him of both Yahiko and you, with my indomitable optimism, he said that the Uzumaki he meets are always special, my mother and I because we house Kurama and you because of the Rinnegan, but he never spoke much about it, just that you were the one to use it and given the rarity, I figured out on my way here that even if your death was rumored, it was probably faked, since no-one could withstand both Rinnegan, so implanting them was out,"
"You're smart,"
"And? Brains has nothing if brawn can't back it up," Taking a deep breath he sighed "But brawn is tryanny if brain doesn't reign it in, you almost killed Jiraiya, Orochimaru too,"
"Yes, they only got away because the snake summoned something that gave them time to be rescued," Naruto nodded, remembering how Izuku had mentioned they were recieving medical attention in Konoha, "They knew how my Rinnegan worked, they enough to win, so I stepped up my plans, I destroyed Konoha to prevent that, because if they couldn't give the knowledge, you'd be fighting at a disadvantage,"
"Except I wasn't, my adopted brother Izuku, he found information about the Rinnegan when we were littler, I had forgotten all about it until you declared you wielded it," He admitted, "Once I was able to remember the fact you could share vision I was able to surprise you with some Nature energy control and using blindspots to aid me," Nagato simply remained silent, "Y'know I've been hurt too, I've gone through things you wouldn't believe, for starters, I'm an orphan too, never knew my parents, still don't, I know their names and their faces sure but I don't know them, because I lost them the night I was born, Kurama being sealed inside of me the same night, after the dust settled, everytone was quick to blame the newborn kid, who had the fox forced into him, it was his fault, because blaming me was better than blaming no-one," Sighing wisfully Naruto waved a hand, "I lost my two senseis, the first people who took care of me properly, they fed me, taught me, trained me, cared about me, and they were only a few years older than I was, one faked his suicide while the other was forced to kill his own clan entirely, behind it was the same man that caused the events that took my parents," He clenched his trembling fists, "And then my brother was the one to step up, the one to take care of me because I was still so weak, protected me from bullies, fought my battles because I just couldn't, and you almost killed him in front of me, claiming the actions were those of peace when he was one to defend the weak," His spit seemed to offend the blue haired woman, "You are just a hypocrite trying to excuse your actions with fake nobility, you fight hatred with hatred and call yourself a saviour,"
"And you suppose talking about our issues will solve everything?"
"Not everything, there are people that need to be stopped, people that seek to divide and conquer, so it is important for us to instead find who is dividing us and unite against them,"
"Who is this mysterious divider?"
Danzo Shimura, he has been responsible for almost every travesty in the world, he was even meddling with Amegakure according to the records in the catacombs, once we eliminate him and whoever is working with him in the shadows," Naruto nodded "We will bring about peace," There was footsteps behind them as a winded Izuku appeared in the opening, leaning against the wall and panting.
"You ever, *pant* make me, *pant* move that fast *pant* again *pant* I will turn *pant* your ass into shoes!" He pointed a threatening finger at Naruto, before putting his hands on his knees to catch his breath.
"Izuku? But you should be,"
"Resting? Yeah, Sakura did her best but it's going to scar, otherwise I'm good right now, one of her fastest patients," Something he should probably not boast about. "Alright well, whatever, who's that?"
"Nagato, remember him from Jiraiya,"
"Yes, so I'm guessing the blue haired is Konan?" She nodded "What happened to Yahiko?" Silence, "Ah, my condolences, I understand losing somebody hurts,"
"What are you doing here?"
"Me? Not much, I've come to get him home, we have a lot of rebuilding to do, fortunately we had no casualties, just a lot of injuries," He levelled an eye at Nagato, "In any other life, in another time, if we met you before this, I would've offered you a place in our returning clan Nagato, but after what you've done to the village, to the people, in your misguided charge of justice, I don't think you'd fit in well,"
"I understand your sentiments Uzumaki,"
"Izuku,"
"Izuku," Nagato nodded "Is there one thing I can ask you to do for me?" Both boys nodded, "You can probably tell that I am dying, my death is almost imminent, there are people that would use my eyes in far worse ways than I have, if you can find it to grant this request, can you guard my eyes for me?"
"Nagato?!" Konan whirled around to him "Are you?"
"Naruto defeated all Six paths and I could feel Izuku was held back during the fight in which I wounded him," That was news to Naruto, who snapped his head around to the greenette.
"I didn't have time to take off my wieghts," Of course he was wearing those, he never took the things off. "I don't sleep with them on,"
"Oh go fuck yourself," Naruto grumbled, folding his arms, "Nagato if you are trusting this to us, then we will guard your eyes against everything there is," Katsuki blipped into existence, cuffing Izuku around the back of the head.
"Next time a medic tells you to stay still, stay fucking still! Do you even remember what they wanted to tell him?"
"Uh tell me what?"
"During your fight," Katsuki directed to him, "While everyone was moving rubble and sorting through it all, ROOT came in,"
"They took Kabuto,"
"We really must stop meeting like this," Momo startled as the voice spoke from the darkness around her, "Might I ask why you aren't in the party? It is your estate," True, Momo sighed, it was supposed to be a party for her sixteenth birthday. She didn't feel much like celebrating though, so she had snuck out to the balcony off the dining hall where the festivities were taking place. The figure appeared in a swirl of the wind stood on the railing in front of her, she gazed at him before asking,
"What brings you to the area?"
"Classified," Momo raised an eyebrow, "A civilian in the next suburb decided to go chasing down some dealers I was tailing, that is definitely classified to you," She snorted "Yeah no, anyway, I caught her doing it last night and she ended up running almost three laps of Musutafu before walking another half and deciding to go home, tonight I saved her from getting killed,"
"How?" He disappeared in front of her.
"Same way I breath fire or walk up walls, or even grow trees from solid concrete, trade secret," Now he was behind her, he took two paces and stood beside her. "I brought her home and saw the lights on my way past, I figured I may as well check for you to make sure you hadn't wondered off again," She shivered momentarily.
"Do I finally get a name from you?"
"Kage," He pulled out a white mask from his cloak.
"Like the Twin Kages that have been?"
"The very same, my partner had to go home though, doesn't realize I'm in both places," The mask slipped onto his face and she took it in. The eyes were highlighted with black and the kanji 緑, meaning green, was painted delicately in, well, dark green down the centre. Momo took a moment to admire the caligraphy, thin but heavy brusk strokes left the majority of the mask moonlight white while the decorations stood out when seen directly. She shivered again and this time Kage lifted a hand from his cloak, undoing a clasp by his neck before swirling the cape from his shoulders and around hers. With the cloak gone she could now see his body, or at least she tried to, even with the last remnants of the light braking down over them his body was covered in shadows, almost as if they were clinging to him. He made a quiet noise that sounded almost impressed as he redid the clasp, leaving the cloak around Momo.
"How long has it been since you saved me?" She knew, she just wanted to see if he did.
"Exactly? Three weeks and a day, you were the last time I was able to come here before going home," That oddly made her feel a tiny bit special. "Do you still have the item I gave you?"
"The kunai?" Obviously she hadn't thrown it out, but she had been wracking her brain over if for so long that it hurt to think about. "I think you gave me a broken one,"
"I couldn't give you a sharp blade when you don't know how to use it,"
"That's not what I meant,"
"I know, but it's my answer,"
"Then how do I use it? I've tried doing what you said, imaging it with my quirk but," Well, Momo now had a small armoury of kunai.
"I said to try and push your quirk into it," Kage leant on the railing his hand moving to his waist, "Because when you do, it means I'll be able to be at your side the moment you need me," His hand came up to hold another kunai, this didn't have shadows clinging to it. "Essentially what I am saying is for you to do something like this," Something like a blue flame gathered around his hand and stretched out to the kunai, "Just with less visible progress,"
"It is a quirk?"
"No, it is a skill, that I acquired after many, many days working on it, until I got it perfectly," Momo clutched the inside of the cloak, thinking. "Now I think it's time you answered by original question, what brings you out here?"
"Oh, I, I just don't feel like celebrating, my birthday," She added hurriedly "I just turned sixteen,"
"Ah, welcome to the club," Kage nodded "I turned sixteen a few months ago," Wait what?! "But this year I didn't really get to celebrate it, not like I normally do with my brother or best friend, no for the last three years I've celebrated with my sensei and my partner, the first year was really difficult, didn't have any idea what to expect and just felt super homesick," He tapped the kunai on the railing, "Word to the wise, enjoy it, even if you aren't feeling in the mood to celebrate, just enjoy their company, who knows when you'll have it again,"
"Oddly, sage like of you," He chuckled,
"Oh please, I'm no Sage yet," Putting the kunai away he took a deep breath, "Right, I think it's time you went back inside, they'll be missing you about now," Momo began reaching for the clasp, he raised a hand gently, "Keep it, I have another," He hopped onto the railing, and crouched.
"Wait," She grabbed his wrist, "Thank you, for this and, saving me, back then," Kage stood up and she could feel the warmth of his smile.
"You are most very welcome young Miss," Leaning backwards, he fell off the railing, Momo panicked and looked out over to see.
Falling leaves.
Smiling softly to herself she walked back towards the light of the party, as she opened the door people came up to her. "Sorry, I just wanted some fresh air, I'm actually quite tired of the dancing, could we play a game instead? Oh the cloak? Just something I had laying around for the cold, just let me put it away," Quickly making her way to her room she waited until she was out of sight to pull up the hood. It smelt of trees and rivers and damp grass, it smelt of him. And as she held it on her shoulders.
She felt safe.