For the Good of the Village: Final

Ch 1 Mercy

No one should have this much power, Jiraiya thought. This was the moment, the final moment, in which all of Konoha's, as well as the other shinobi villages, worst enemies would finally come to an end. Kakashi and Obito were off to his left, dead after helping Jiraiya, Naruto, and Itachi cripple the mastermind Madara. Itachi stood over the Uchiha's greatest warrior thought long dead, bloodied, wary, sick, but strong. How he had survived against one of the mighty founders of Konoha was done so largely by luck and the Will of Fire that still resided inside the heart of Obito, Madara's puppet so he thought. How it had happened, Jiraiya was not sure, but when Obito and Kakashi came together, using their sharingan doujutsu in tandem, they had both said, "Rin, I do this for you."

What was left of Kakashi and Obito was less than what one would consider a whole person. Madara fell on his back, knees bent awkwardly at the duos had destroyed his hands, part of his torso, and half of his head.

He still lived, but barely. Itachi limped towards Madara, shivering with chakra exhaustion, pain, and severe fatigue. Taking the front, he hadn't slept in three days and time had finally caught up with him.

There was only one thing left to do.

"You…are a disgrace to…all Uchiha, Itachi." Madara gurgled with his remaining strength, his fractured sharingan eye sightless.

Itachi pulled back his arm, his ninjato in hand, "Good, because I'm a Shinobi of the Leaf." Then his arm fell.

Madara's head separated, his life no more.

Unable to stand, Itachi fell a moment later, endurance spent.

xxx

All that was left was one person. The thrum of power in the air was deafening. Again, Jiraiya wondered if, perhaps, this was too much power for one person to wield. It was too late for it now, knowing he couldn't take it back, and, guiltily, he wanted to see how far he could push Naruto for these last five years, even going as far as showing him his heritage, the Yondaime's scrolls and Uzumaki libraries on chakra chains, for the sake of helping them complete these gruesome tasks.

In one hand, Naruto wielded a mighty rasengan, spinning at blinding speeds, saturated with sage, Kyuubi, Uzumaki chakra and finished off with a bit of wind element in its heart. Naruto's other hand grasped several tri pointed kunai, loose and ready to be chucked at his will. Eyes, dilated with the Frog Sage signature horizontal slit, Naruto returned the gaze of Jiraiya's other pupil, the expected Child of Destiny, Nagato, leader of the Akatsuki. Scattered around them were the other Paths of Pein, including the other members of Akatsuki that were thought to be undefeatable. Konan put herself bodily in front of Nagato, fierce eyes daring Naruto to assault him.

"The world will never know peace unless it knows pain, Uzumaki Naruto." Nagato called out from behind Konan's protective posture and on top of his crab-like carrier.

Naruto shook his head, tossing the shureiken rasengan into the air, splitting it a dozen times with a dozen glowing chakra arms growing out of his cloak. "A world where only a few survive isn't peace, its genocide."

"No, there will be survivors. Just those that really want to do anything to achieve true peace."

"I've met people like you all of my life. The 'do anything' for the greater good. You people scare me the most. That's why I'm here to stop you."

"So be it, Uzumaki Naruto." Nagato poised his palms over the other, igniting a dark globe.

"Ero-sensei, Itachi, you better go." Naruto witnessed Konan give Nagato a kiss, telling him obvious words of love and devotion that she was willing to see to their end. It made him think of Hinata, and how much he missed her. They had sent each other letters over the past five years, but the last one she sent scared him. She had begged him to come home. She was worried about him, even going as far as asking where he was so she could join him. That was his girl, his Hinata-chan. Tsunade and Orochimaru were able to fix her eyes so she could see again, but it was not the prized Byakugan that her family had coveted. Sakura and Haku had sent pictures showing Hinata's progress. First it was one eye, bandaged and the other patched. Hinata was unable to write, so Sakura or Haku had written in her stead. They were friendly, curious, and always asking how he was doing, what he was doing. When the pictures came, Naruto treasured each and every one of them. Sakura and Haku dressed Hinata up, making her presentable despite her surgeries to her eyes. Then there were pictures of Hinata walking, then training with the Genin students. Sasuke was in a few of those pictures, sometimes even asking through Sakura or Haku how Itachi was doing or how the mission was faring. One thing that was never brought up was Hinata's 'womanly' condition, was she still barren? He never asked, because he was sure she would either tell, there was nothing to report, or the news simply was not positive so there would be no need to tell him. Besides, he was sure Sakura would send him flying through the streets of Konoha if he was to ask such a delicate question.

"Tegu Kage Bushin No Jutsu." Naruto split into fifty score of himself, each one with a dozen glowing spheres of obliterating death.

They attacked each other, like ravaging gods meant to destroy the world.

Xxx

Everywhere, there was smoke. Everything was broken, burnt, and gone for as far as the eye could see. Ruin, desolation and permanent destruction leveled the land for miles. Jiraiya remained in his partial sage mode, panting, wounded, one eye closed due to a severe contusion, yet a grim line of determination set his jaw. Naruto and he defeated all of the other five paths, and, sadly, Konan. Holding her hand as she breathed her last breathes, she whispered, wheezed, "This isn't going to end. He hasn't felt…pain."

"Should anyone, Konan? Look at this? How many people would have died if we hadn't intervened?"

"How will they know? No one…will believe you." Konan exhaled, slowly…slowly…slowly. It stopped.

"Good bye, Konan-chan."

Yahiko's mashed body bent at odd angles on the ground. Nagato's emaciated figure lay broken, his head tilted weirdly with the dark rods coming out of back snapped. Both men still breathed, how was not exactly know, perhaps through will.

Most of Naruto's clones were gone, puffed into the air with only four remaining, two helping to create the wind shureiken to finish his opponent.

"Then how will you defeat those that only know how to kill, Naruto?" Yahiko asked, his voice strong despite his physical condition.

Naruto couldn't do it. Their eyes, the rennigan, continued to stare back at Naruto without regret, without emotion, without fear of the loss of their lives. He hadn't known Yahiko's life was no longer his own, but that of Nagato's puppet. Naruto's fiery cloak fell. The whirring twin rasengans disappeared. The orange-yellow tinge to his eyes faded and returned to his sky blue irises.

"With mercy." Kneeling down, he took both of their hands into his. "Let's stop fighting. Let's start by forgiving each other, by learning about each other, and know what we've taken from each other. It's easy to destroy and beat each other to death, but to build something from hate to understand has to be the way. That is what Hinata, my love, did."

"Uzumaki Naruto," Yuhiko and Nagato spoke as one, gripping his hands as tight as death, holding him hard and still, "does your love, Hinata, know pain?"

Both men pushed dark, sharp dark rods through their arms, piercing Naruto through his chest.

Blood bubbled through his lips, his nose. Shock, fear, and pain…raged through him, ripping, tearing, removing…

The Kyuubi's roar shook him, crushing him to his soul...then disappeared into the tips of the black rods.

"She will."

As his vision faded, he saw Jiraiya rushing to him as fast as he could.

"Hin…at…a…-chan…"

His forehead protector fell from his brow.

Xxx

She woke with a gasp, grabbing her heart as if she had been pierced through with a spear. It wouldn't stop, it wouldn't ease. She felt it, through and through, to her soul, to her heart.

Hinata knew. She just knew.

She couldn't breathe. She wanted to scream, but it wouldn't get past the fiery pain in her throat. Haku was there, rushing from his room to her side. "Hinata-sama?"

"Naruto-kun…oh no…"

Xxx

Itachi woke, unaware he had even slept. Madara's body was still there, at his feet as he had remembered. Kakashi and Obito still were collapsed upon the other, ravenous birds and other creatures picking at their bodies. He got up, achingly slow, lumbering and aware he had some very painful wounds that needed to be seen to, but he needed to find Naruto and Jiraiya. Konan, the Six Paths of the Sage were there as well, including a dead Yuhiko and Nagato.

Large swords had pierced them both, looking cumbersome and deadly, probably weapons of Jiraiya's arsenal. Crossed dark rods had pierced something, bloodied it and, possibly killed it, Itachi noticed. Between them, a hiatite bundled on itself, face down into the earth. Picking it up, Itachi looked around, trying to find any signs of Naruto or Jiraiya. He could find nothing of either of them. Putting the Konoha headgear in his pouch, he made his way to each of the bodies, forcing his body to produce enough chakra to capture each one and place them in a scroll. Getting his bearings, he made the very long trek back to Konoha.