3.5

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[Nagato's POV]

"You, redhead! Use that to kill Yahiko. If you do, I'll spare you and the girl."

I felt my head become light and the world spin, yet the kunai that just landed at my feet remained stationary. As if it was an anchor point that forced me to face the situation.

Hanzo had betrayed us, and Konan had been captured. We were surrounded by both his men and Konoha's, and they now wanted me to kill Yahiko.

My best friend, my brother in all but blood.

Atop the hill, Konan cried out in distress, "Don't, Nagato! Forget about me. Just get away, both of you!"

Yet if I did not do it, it would be Konan, whom I held just as dearly in my heart, who would be killed. I… Why did this happen?

All we ever wanted was to spread peace, and when Yahiko's ideals were finally showing their fruits, we were backstabbed. Why would Hanzo even do this? We never did anything to challenge him, we had even agreed to broker an alliance!

I felt my Chakra get into a turmoil, threatening to reach my eyes as it rose with my anger…

"Nagato," said the voice that always brought me back from the abyss.

My Chakra settling down, I turned to look at Yahiko, waiting for him to tell me what to do. I was lost. I didn't know what I was supposed to do. I was confused.

"Just kill me."

I gasped in shock as he uttered these words. How could he ask this of me?

"Nagato!" exclaimed one voice.

"Don't do it!" pleaded the other.

I… I must…

My ability to think sharply dived as I was left with nothing but confusion, anger and despair.

Panting like a dog, I barely even registered it as I picked up the kunai on the ground. Yes. All I had to do was to kill Hanzo. Kill him, and things will go back the way they were. Kill them all.

I gripped the kunai harder, when suddenly I felt my body freeze. My blood stopped for an instant, my whole being halting as I watched Yahiko throw himself at me, and the kunai I held.

Yet as my despair reached its peak, as Yahiko was about to impale himself, he was suddenly sent flying backwards.

I regained control over my body, and my left hand went to my eyes. Had I activated them without realizing it?

But as I looked at Yahiko, I noticed he was fine. Last time I used this power, I reduced that Shinobi to shreds.

"Run!"

I sharply turned my head to the side, where I saw two people running towards us from the nearby forest. One of them was Kyusuke, but I didn't recognize the other…

Wait, I do know him. He is the leader of the mysterious W.E, we were supposed to meet with him to discuss an alliance. What were they doing here?

In the next moment, the man in golden armor thrust both of his hands towards the cliff, and following them I saw Hanzo being suddenly flung backwards, while Konan was violently thrust our way. Because she was on top of a cliff, she was falling straight to her death.

But she barely started falling when Kyusuke appeared by her side, before disappearing again.

Next thing I knew, Kyusuke was next to us, panting, but with Konan over his shoulder.

I then felt a strong hand on my shoulder, it was the mysterious leader of W.E. He shoved me in the direction of the forest, screaming, "We're out of here, now!"

I knew the situation was still perilous, but I couldn't help it as a smile spread my lips thin as I saw Yahiko and Konan, both safe.

My smile was quickly wiped off though as Yahiko arrived next to me, and strongly slapped the back of my head, berating, "Stop daydreaming!"

I nodded and started running while I heard the sharp whistles of Shinobis drawing closer to us.

I heard the clash of metal, and as I looked over my shoulder, I noticed the man in golden armor, his sword drawn out as he blocked the sword of one of Hanzo's men.

My eyes grew wide though as I saw the Shinobi suddenly release a purple cloud of gas, right into the golden man's face.

Hanzo's men were not the strongest of Shinobis in face to face fights, but they excelled in the uses of poison. They all drew their poison from Hanzo's Salamander, which was said to be able to kill a Shinobi with only a puff.

Yet, before I could lament the death of our savior, his sword overpowered his enemy's, and ruthlessly decapitated him, before he continued running, as if nothing had happened.

His face… looked completely fine. Had he just shrugged off the poison?

But as I observed him, his eyes full of killing intent looked into mine, and for one of the rare times in my life, he was not intimidated by my Rinnegan.

Instead, he lashed out, "Use Shunshin you morons!"

Oh, right.

Not even discussing the order from the stranger, I, along with the others, started using Shunshin. It wasn't the most suitable for long distance travel, but it certainly was useful to flee from enemies.

But as I, Konan and Yahiko sped up, we passed the fastest in the Akatsuki, Kyusuke. Why didn't he use it?

As soon as the question popped up in my mind, I remembered his capacities. Catching Konan from so far away and carrying her back here with such speed, he must already be out of Chakra.

It seemed Konan and Yahiko realized the issue too as we all looked back, and were relieved by what we saw.

Kyusuke was looking mad as the man in golden armor had grabbed him under his arm like he was carrying a child, and was running while carrying him.

What kind of man had saved us?

The goofy atmosphere was nearly instantly broken however as the man parried several shurikens with his sword, making it look almost effortless as not a single one hit either him or Kyusuke.

However, as a downside, he was massively slower than us, as he not only was carrying Kyusuke but also wasn't using Shunshin.

I hesitated whether to slow down or not, as the man had saved us, when a giant fireball was fired at them.

I would have been worried, but it didn't even seem to be a problem to the man as he kicked off the ground, dodging the enemy's Ninjutsu that exploded on the ground.

It must at least have been a C-Rank Ninjutsu, going by the force of the explosion. As for the man in golden armor, he kicked Kyusuke in mid-air, transferring all the energy of the blast onto him as Swift Foot Kyusuke was sent flying forward, somehow even faster than us.

"Carry him to the group, and prepare for battle!"

That's the last thing I heard before he disappeared from my sight.

Catching up to Kyusuke, I grabbed him as I was the most proficient in Shunshin among the three of us, and asked, "The guys are here?"

Kyusuke nodded, uttering between sharp breaths, "Not far ahead, along with Alexander's men."

Alexander? Must be the name of the golden man. Strange name, I'm not sure of where that could be from. Maybe in a land in the far West?

Well, wherever he came from, he saved us. Why did he, though? We had invited them to talk of a possible alliance, but we hadn't even met.

"Alexander just said to prepare for battle… is he even coming back?" Yahiko questioned, understandably so. Konoha I'm not so sure about, but Hanzo definitely won't just give up on us like that. He must have sent all his men after us, and maybe he was in pursuit himself too.

The odds of Alexander even reaching us are low, although if he is resistant to their poison, he might actually pull something off.

But then, Kyusuke revealed, "We were ambushed on our way here, by two people. One was capable of phasing through attacks, and the second one had Mokuton. Alexander heavily injured one of them, and made the other flee. He is coming back, and we need to prepare for battle."