161 Chapter 156: Toru vs Kakashi

She was sitting on a circle of black ink. Her face had strange black marks on it and she was being protected by the shinobi of the ANBU organization.

She could feel her chakra starting to burn quickly because she was healing everyone in the village. However, over her shoulder, there was a small slug. It was Katsuyu who, being connected to her other clones, could give Tsunade information.

"¡!" Her eyes widened as she felt the faint chakra of a dead person. That nearly extinct chakra was Hiashi's. She clenched her fists tightly and Katsuyu realized this.

"It was Asahi Toru-kun. He pierced his back with a sword that burned the wound and made bleeding impossible. Hinata-sama, Ino-sama and Hanabi-sama were present when that happened..."

"I see..." Blood began to flow from her fists as she closed her eyes tightly. "And what happened next?"

"As expected, he defeated them. However, you should be able to feel it, Hime-sama. Those girls' chakra is almost full, they have no serious injuries other than a few hits. Except for Ino-sama, who received a small cut on her forehead."

"..."

"As soon as they were all unconscious, Asahi Toru-kun summoned a wolf that took them out of the village. He at that moment said, 'Protect them with your life and wait for my signal' That was exactly it."

Tsunade was left recalculating everything she had heard. She closed her eyes and thought, 'What are you planning to do, Toru?' That boy's past actions didn't match what he did for those girls. It was strange, but somehow he thought that old Toru still felt tied to the village because of those girls. Are you going to kill them? What are you going to do?

To her, Toru has become unpredictable. All this only increased the worries in her fragile heart.

***

"Where is Uzumaki Naruto" Konan spread her hands and her body separated into small sheets of paper. "If they don't answer there will be consequences."

In front of her, Shino and his father stood together with other shinobi from the same clan. Together they stood in silence and from their bodies began to emerge hundreds of flying insects that launched their attack against Konan.

"I see. So that's how it's going to be..." She shook her head in disappointment and her body scattered around the place, taking the shape of hundreds of sheets of paper that turned into blades.

***

The Preta Path encountered the corpse of the former Animal Path. Because of this loss, he had to use the body of a long dead Suna shinobi. His chakra was not as much as that of the original Animal Path, but it was better than nothing.

*Clinc, clang* Something fell next to his feet and his eyes widened when he realized it was a grenade.

Boom! He quickly grabbed the corpse and used it as a shield to avoid the damage. He then stood on the roof waiting for his attackers to reveal themselves. When the smoke dispersed, a shout echoed. "There he is, kaa-san!" It was Kiba along with Akamaru, who joined together with their clan to smash the Pain Roads.

"Looks like this guy is weak to physical attacks, otherwise he wouldn't have used the corpse as a shield" The woman, Kiba's mother, smiled defiantly as she approached the Preta Path.

***

Kakashi breathed heavily. They had barely managed to connect blows against the Deva Road. Even Chouji and his father had been unable to do anything, let alone the accompanying shinobi.

"We already know how his ability works, we have to tell Hokage-sama" Chōza, Chouji's father, clenched his fists tightly. Already knowing how this Pain's ability works, they should report it to Hokage, who would inform the others and could put together a plan to prevent more deaths, but....

"That guy is not going to let us escape" Kakashi was confident that he could run away from here, but what about Chōza and Chouji? No way, he didn't want to abandon his companions. He...

He would rather die than have that happen.

"Hm... took you long" Pain closed his eyes and started to leave. "Take care of this, we've got our hands full right now."

No one could see the person Pain is talking to, but they could feel a strange chakra pressure. However, in front of them Pain started to float and below him, someone appeared.

Chouji and Kakashi recognized him, for it was obvious that with those eyes he could be easily identified, for it is Toru.

"Kakashi..." His eyes lit up with death when he saw Kakashi. A vague memory came back to his mind, it was when Kakuzu died.

"So you're in on this too, Toru..." His Sharingan could see that Toru still had plenty of chakra, but there was something strange. If the chakra had color, then the chakra channels in Toru's body were shattered. 'He should have fought Hinata...'

"Why wouldn't I be, do you think I might miss the chance to settle the score with certain people?"

"This isn't just about that anymore! Do you realize what you're doing!"

Toru started to approach them. "Do you think I'm an idiot? Obviously I do. And that's precisely why I keep doing it."

Chouji remembered that, during the chūnin exams, Toru almost beat Gaara, and now that it had been three years after that, how strong must he have become? Thinking about that made him sick to his stomach. Even Kakashi, who as soon as he saw Toru, went on high alert.

"Ha~ Chouji, Chōza, you know what Shikamaru said, avoid getting cut by Toru's daggers. If you get cut, you'll die instantly. Keep that in mind."

"Yes..."

Both father and son became defensive.

Responding to this, Toru pulled the broken dagger from his sleeve and the light in his eyes intensified. When everyone blinked, Toru had disappeared and was now standing behind Kakashi.

Kakashi quickly reacted. The Sharingan in his eye made a small rotation, he pulled out a kunai and then Clang! He blocked the attack with great agility.

"Impressive, Kakashi."

"I'm just getting started, Toru. Besides, I see Yamato taught you well."

"This wasn't taught to me by Yamato-sensei."

Clang, clang, cling, clang, clanc!  The metal weapons clashed against each other ten times. Toru, with the broken dagger, struggled against Kakashi and looked him in the eyes. He felt something moving under the ground, but he didn't take it seriously as it was simply Chouji and Chōza's chakra.

"Then who?"

Toru sighed before answering. "I learned it myself. A ninja must know how to create and adapt his body to the various situations he will face. I'm sure you know that yourself, Kakashi."

Clang, clang, clang!

"I know, but the way you apply it is not the right way."

Clang, cling!

"Your empty words won't bend my mind. Even your Sharingan won't, remember?"

Toru slammed the broken dagger against the kunai and stepped back. It looked like the ninjas accompanying Kakashi were planning to do something, and leaving him like that any longer would only disrupt the fight for a long time.

So he wielded the broken dagger over his shoulder as if it were a katana and didn't take his eyes off Kakashi.

"Shimikomaseru, Shakuton..." The Shigan slowly began to fade from his eyes and was replaced by a crimson color, whose pupils resembled those of a canine. His hair bristled slightly and his fangs grew about two millimeters. His arms became engulfed in Shakuton flames, flames that crept up his fingers until they came into contact with the dagger. 'I'm no longer fighting Hinata or Ino. So I must no longer hold back' I exhale a small cloud of steam and then "Higanbana Ken [Imbuing, Burning Style: Hellflower Sword]." A blinding light came into existence.

When the light subsided, Kakashi noticed that Toru's broken dagger had now become a katana made of pure Shakuton. He could also notice that Toru was now staring at his feet, so, remembering all the information they had on Toru, the gears in his mind started to move.

However...

Boom!!! Toru swung the katana and everything around him caught fire and began to disintegrate. This surrounded the whole place where Toru and Kakashi were, making Chouji and Chōza have to retreat, they even felt pain when they realized that the flames were even consuming the ground, which burned their hands.

'It can't be...' Kakashi watched as chakra flowed around Toru. It was quite strange though, as the chakra was trying to move away from Toru, as if he was running away. 'I'm not supposed to be able to use ninjutsu, but with Senjutsu it's already something else.'

"You figured it out. I expected no less. The conduits of my chakra system are shattered, but with this I can use ninjutsu again without any problem. Now, how about you prove that you can survive this? Old Danzo couldn't against me katana, let alone the leader of the Hyūga clan" He started to approach Kakashi. 'Ha~ I don't know what exactly to do. should I kill him? should I let him live? I don't even know what Nagato is planning to do after talking to Tsunade. Somehow this is getting on my nerves. I should just let myself go like when I fight Okaminaru.'

After this, Kakashi watched as Toru literally disappeared in front of his eyes. A split second later, he appeared in front of him wielding that glowing sword. Kakashi saw this with his Sharingan and tried to block it, but the sound of clashing metal never echoed, as the kunai in his hand had largely disintegrated.

His eyes widened at this and he took a quick leap backwards, but Toru wasn't going to let him go just like that. With the wall of flames burning everything, neither Chouji nor Chōza would be able to help Kakashi and, if they managed to enter from above, the edge of Higanbana awaited them.

-Outside of Konoha-

Opening her eyes with difficulty, Hanabi felt her whole body aching. She struggled to remember what had happened to her, but when images of Toru came to her mind, her eyes widened and tears began to fall down her cheeks. She clenched her fists tightly and made up her mind to return to Konoha, but she didn't know exactly where she was. However, with her Byakugan....

"Where are you going, human?" a strange voice, as if a woman was forcing her voice to sound masculine, was heard.

A giant shadow grew and she could feel the heavy breathing of a beast in front of her. Its fangs sharp, fur black and white, as different as yin and yang. Its voice, what was that voice? Hanabi wondered not believing what she saw. But it was right in front of her. A gigantic albino furred freak, almost silver with black details on its ears and tail.

"I said, 'Where are you going, human?' If you plan to return to that place, I won't allow it" It was Okaminaru, who had remained hidden in the bushes, resting silently as he watched the human women lying on the low grass of the forest.

"I... uh..." Hanabi for a second was intimidated by the sheer size of the wolf in front of her, but then she remembered everything and glared angrily at the animal. "What do you care?!!!" And tried to run away from the place, but quickly collided with something soft. She collided with Okaminaru.

"You won't go. He entrusted me with this mission and I made a promise. We men keep our promises. So be a good human and stand still, otherwise I'll rip your head off."

Hanabi was shocked by how fast Okaminaru appeared in front of her. She stared into the void for a few seconds, during which time Okaminaru grabbed her by the yukata with his fangs and pulled her back together with the other girls.

But there was something strange. Those human women were no longer there.

His fur bristled and his vision sharpened. He showed fangs and a look of indescribable anger. With the Senjutsu, he sensed that those humans were hiding in the trees, but then he calmed down. None of them were any match for him, for if Toru had defeated them by restraining himself, then they would be no problem for him.

He sighed tiredly and lay down on the ground without letting go of Hanabi.

"Get out of there already. My intention is not to hurt you" He released Hanabi, who instantly stepped back and raised her palms as the veins around her eyes began to swell. "If you're worried about what I said about ripping your head off, I said it because I thought it would shut you up and give up the idea of going back to the human village. Come on, I hate humans, but I'm not a monster either."

Relaxing in front of Hanabi, Okaminaru yawned and waited patiently. Entertaining these human women seemed easier than it looked. At the same time, Ino and Hinata appeared in front of Hanabi, adopting combat stances to protect the girl, but that was not necessary.

"I remember you..."

"So do I..."

Obviously the memories of the Sunagakure chūnin exams came back to their minds. During the first test, they saw a kunoichi from Amegakure summon this giant wolf.

"Really? Well, I've never visited you guys before in my life. The faces of the humans are hard to remember. They all look the same except for Ajisai-chan and Toru-dono."

...

...

Ino and Hinata frowned. "You said 'Ajisai and Toru', didn't you?" both teenage girls mentioned.

Okaminaru realized his mistake and shut his mouth instantly. For him, it was forbidden to reveal information about his companions. His honor as a man did not allow him to betray the trust of his comrades, and if he ever did, death was his best punishment. He closed his eyes and pretended he had said nothing. "Answer me, wolf..." Ino clenched her fist and glared at the wolf in anger, but the wolf did nothing about it. Okaminaru just looked at her as if she was an ant and then ignored the existence of this human being.

Hinata was still a little hurt, not her body, but her heart. Even though she had given everything she had in that fight, Toru only needed one hit to knock her out. Besides, her father had been killed in front of her eyes by the man she loved so much. All those mixed emotions pricked her heart and inevitably, in front of the wolf, her sister and her best friend. She fell to her knees and tears began to flow down her cheeks.

Okaminaru saw this and sighed. He went back to denying the existence of these girls and rested. If the human women try to escape, he will act at once. That is his mission. If they return to the human village, Toru will most likely no longer be able to protect them, but all of this....

'It's hard to understand you, Toru-dono. You act one way, then another. When you laugh, you seem to cry inconsolably. You are strange, more so than any human my clan has ever seen. I wonder if my mother accepted you into our pack for that reason...' He looked at Hinata crying and thought. 'She had a strong, determined look. Now she's crying...' Inevitably he thought Toru had missed the point.

"Hey, wolf-san" Hanabi approached and, with bloody hands, showed a small rabbit with its throat slit. "I'll give you this if you let us go."

Okaminaru felt offended. He shook his head even though his mouth began to produce more saliva as he smelled the scent of the rabbit's blood. "I refuse" he replied to the proposal.

Hanabi, however, was not going to give up. While Ino held Hinata's hand hoping to appease her sadness, she planned to bribe the wolf. Food should be enough, she thought, but it's not always easy.

"I'll get a whole cow if you let us go or if you tell us about your relationship with 'Toru'" Her look was more serious than usual. She even stopped calling Toru 'Onii-san'.

In fact, this proposal called into question Okaminaru's loyalty to Toru. He thought about it many times, however, he couldn't just let them go just like that. What if he told these girls something random about Toru? It would be easier, yes. And he could win a cow, fresh, full of meat, blood and lots of flavor.

He felt saliva dripping from his muzzle, so he shook his head and looked at Hanabi. He grabbed the rabbit with his fangs and devoured it in one gulp. He licked his fangs after that.

"I can't let them go, but if you give me what you promise, then I might tell you some things."

Hinata looked up at this and glared at the wolf. What was she supposed to want to know about her father's killer? Right now her mind was in total Chaos. Her emotions were getting in the way of her logical thinking and she couldn't think straight.

Still, what the wolf said brought her back to reality.

"Toru-dono is my original summoner. Ajisai-chan was given the ability to summon me by Toru-dono. So, he has control of my entire family and we respect and accept him as if he is our family."

-Konohagakure-

Boom! A fire blade was thrown at Kakashi. He barely managed to dodge it. The last few seconds he had been running away from Toru's attacks. There was nothing he could do about it, that boy was too fast and possessed too much chakra, something that in the past would not be possible.

'I have to do something about this. If I keep running away, my chakra will run out very fast. I have to act, but I can't find any weakness. If I throw a kunai, the katana melts it. If I try to use ninjutsu, the katana destroys it... this is... there's no way I can do this without using Mangekyo Sharingan. Still, there must be another way. If I use Mangekyo too often I'll be in danger of dying, but if I don't I'll die anyway' He stabbed the kunai into the ground and connected the seals quickly with his hands. He looked at Toru defiantly and gripped his right arm tightly.

The screeches of a thousand birds were heard and the electric light of the Chidori illuminated his face. He started to move fast across the battlefield as Toru appeared in front of him again and again to cut him with his katana, but it was impossible if Kakashi used the Sharingan to see his enemy's attacks ahead of time.

'Just a little bit more...' Kakashi wanted to be the pursuer right now. There was no other way to kill Toru. He had to follow him in speed. 'Guy is faster than this, I mustn't miss' And at some point he managed to match Toru's speed. From below, he raised his arm with the Chidori and then....

Toru's eyes widened as he saw a small drop of blood flow. Next to his face, the glow of the Chidori became present, but then, the drops of blood stopped falling.

"Ugh..." He spat blood through his mask. Toru was faster and stabbed him in the abdomen with Higanbana. The wound burned and prevented Kakashi from being able to bleed.

"This is how things end, Hatake Kakashi" Toru finally looked him in the eyes.

However, Kakashi felt that he still couldn't die. He still didn't give everything he had for this world, so he clenched the Higanbana blade with his hands and the pupil of his eye started to transform. 'You shouldn't have looked into my eyes...' The Mangekyo Sharingan showed itself and he quickly used much of his chakra to induce a hallucination in Toru.

At the same time, Toru opened his eyes and found himself in a completely white place. There stood Kakashi, who still injured, looked at him seriously and sighed tiredly.

"This is how things end, Asahi Toru."

Toru didn't say anything for a while. In fact, he closed his eyes and shook his head. When he opened his eyes again, the color of his eyes became blue as the sky, red as blood. From the pupil an X was born that extended to the ends of the iris and, with that cold tone of voice, he replied, "You're right, this is how it ends."

Boom! The illusion shattered like glass. At the same time, Kakashi flew out through the flames surrounding the battlefield. He received a kick in the face that made his whole body rumble and part of his bones broke in the process.

"Kakashi-sensei!"

"Kakashi!"

Chouji and Chōza went to Kakashi's aid as fast as they could. They clenched their fists when they saw the wound on his abdomen, but it wasn't that serious due to the fact that the cut hadn't damaged any of the internal organs. However, since he couldn't bleed, an internal bleeding could appear and kill Kakashi, so they had to take him to a medical ninja right away.

Still, Toru's footsteps were heard. The circle of flames dispersed and disappeared as this boy waved the katana against the air. His gaze showed the Kodō Shigan that had blinded him.

'Fighting using Sennin Mōdo while being half blind is quite difficult. I can help myself with chakra perception, but it's still difficult. It's better if I use Kodō Shigan, but now Higanbana will only stay on for like a minute or two with the chakra left over from the previous Senjutsu' He started to approach Kakashi.

But Chouji and Chōza, who refused to let Kakashi die, at last that curtain of flames had dispersed, could protect him by defeating Toru.

"Get ready, Chouji."

"Understood, tou-san "

In response to this, Toru shook his head. He had two more minutes to get this over with.

-Out of Konoha-

"Are you saying, Toru joined Akatsuki for that reason?" Ino didn't trust Okaminaru's words, but she couldn't help but keep listening.

Still, Hinata was still grieving because of Toru, who murdered her father in front of her eyes.

"Toru-dono had no choice. We were constantly being chased by ninjas from Konoha and many other villages. Even he had to become a mercenary to make ends meet. He always asked me for help, because he had the thought that he was too weak to do it alone."

Hanabi didn't know how to respond to this. Toru was attacked by Pain and forced to join Akatsuki, but that doesn't justify the way Toru acted. It didn't justify it at all. This made him clench her fists and teeth tightly.

"That doesn't make me feel any better, he killed my father!!! How can you justify that, nothing can!!!"

He sighed as he listened to Hanabi. Even Okaminaru didn't know that. He felt confused from trying to remember everything. In the end, he only had one conclusion. "I don't know why he did that, but I have many theories about it."

Hinata looked down and waited for Okaminaru's answer.

"Toru-dono surely did it so that you guys would develop feelings of hatred towards him."

Hearing this, Hinata quickly looked up and hurried over to Okaminaru. She looked at him with a frown and clenched fists. "Why would he want to do something like that!"

Okaminaru stood up and looked up at the sky through the leaves of the trees. He remembered the Toru laughing through the rain after witnessing the death of Kakuzu and Hidan, he remembered that nostalgic expression he always looked at the moon with right after he managed to recover from his battle against Yamato during the prosecution of that rainy night.

This was obvious...

No, it wasn't.

Okaminaru didn't understand, he could never understand Toru.

"Maybe because he doesn't want you guys to die."

Ino had enough of this. Nothing Okaminaru was saying made sense. Nothing matched Toru's present actions and that was what ignited the flame of anger in her heart. Hinata and Hanabi understood that feeling, for this time Toru simply had no excuse anymore.

"It doesn't make sense. He..."

Okaminaru interrupted. "You were going to say 'He's not like that', weren't you? You guys don't know Toru... neither do I..." He lay back down on the ground as he looked at the confused girls in front of him. "Toru is someone who doesn't understand himself. He doesn't know why he acts, doesn't understand his own feelings. That's what I think of him. As a man myself, maybe I have a little more understanding about him."

"Man...?" Hanabi was curious, why did Okaminaru keep referring to himself as a "man" when clearly his voice sounded very feminine? What's more, his bone structure closely resembled the females of a certain breed of wolf, so this was strange. "But if you're a female wolf, aren't you?"

Okaminaru widened his eyes in disbelief. "I don't know what you're talking about."

-Konohagakure-

"Tou-san!" Blood spilled and Chouji stretched out his arm as tears ran down his cheeks. In front of him, his father was stabbed in the heart by Toru.

Chōza looked at Chouji, as if apologizing and then closed his eyes. His soul left his body, Toru could see it. Which confirmed the death of this man.

It had been too easy to defeat them. Chouji no longer had the strength to fight and Kakashi was incapacitated, smashed against one of the nearby walls.

"Ngh..." Kakashi tried to stand up, but it was impossible. His body was practically shattered. He couldn't move a muscle anymore.

Toru took advantage of this and the Senjutsu mark returned to his face. The Higanbana Sword went out, remaining as an ordinary broken dagger, which he put back into his sleeve. He clasped his hands together and began to connect the seals. "Katōn: Gōka Mekkyaku [Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation]" He exhaled a gigantic flare that shot out at Kakashi and Chouji.

Kakashi saw this and then looked sideways at Chouji. He gritted his teeth and finally decided. 'Chouji, run away...'

As if he had read his thoughts, Chouji stood up and stepped out of the flame's range. However, when he turned around, Kakashi had already been caught in the flames.

"And this is how it ends" Toru looked at that, after the flames, Kakashi's charred body was left. He sighed and then turned his back on him. However, he sighed again when he felt Kakashi's chakra behind him. He turned around and there he was. The one who died was just a simple pile of rubble with Kakashi's jacket. The real one had used the ability of his Sharingan to avoid dying.

"Chouji, go! Go to Tsunade-sama and tell his everything you know!" he stood up with difficulty and looked at Toru with the Mangekyo.

Chouji was about to burst into tears, but wiped the tears away and ran away as fast as he could. Toru didn't mind this, he allowed him to run away. At some point he would die anyway. In the meantime...

Kakashi was quite weakened. He had used Chidori, genjutsu and his powerful Kamui to defend himself from the flames. That added to the beating he took earlier, which had left him exhausted. He also has broken bones, so moving would be difficult for him.

Everything was in Toru's favor and, just at that moment, he remembered how it was that Kakuzu died. He approached Kakashi and looked him in the eyes. Kakashi realized something. Toru looked a lot like his master's old rival. He knew what was going to happen at this moment, but even though his fate seemed to be sealed, he looked at Toru fiercely and the blades of his Sharingan turned once.

He prepared to die alongside the enemy. Only then would he be able to take a weight off this village's shoulders, but....

"Guess who I am" Something covered his eyes, followed by a powerful punch to the abdomen that knocked him back. However, he didn't move much because something prevented him from doing so.

Behind him, there was a Toru clone with active Senjutsu. He quickly held Kakashi by the arms and stood silently while the original Toru thundered his fingers in front of him.

"Life is born, life dies. Sacrifices exist, but they can be in vain, you know what I mean, Kakashi?"

The answer was simple. Kakashi has to die in this place.

Bam! Blood splattered from his mouth as another strong punch exploded in his abdomen. He almost fell to his knees, but the shadow clone behind him prevented him from resting. Boom! Another powerful punch echoed in the place and Kakashi felt his skull cracked after receiving the blow.

At that moment, he thought he would die another way. Being pierced by a kunai, in an explosion, but the thought never crossed his mind that he would die in such a painful way. Because in this place, Toru used Kakashi as if he was a punching bag.

Kakashi could see a certain feeling of anger in Toru's look and then he thought: It's because I killed that shinobi, isn't it? As he was being beaten to a pulp, his eyes slowly closed. He stopped breathing, his heart stopped pumping blood and then....

His brain stopped sending information to his body.

Toru stopped short before hitting him again, but with his Kodō Shigan he realized that Kakashi's soul had already separated from the body. He saw a shadow in front of him, but that shadow seemed to go somewhere specific among all the darkness present.

He looked at his fists and there was Kakashi's blood. "Naruto... I killed both of your teachers..." He wiped the blood from his hands and walked over to where Pain was.

To be continued...