Chapter 61 - Arc VIII: Death of the Flesh- Chapter 11

His hands together, Yuji put the fire to them, forming a spear. He rocketed downward toward Pain, repeating his silent pleading that this would be enough to kill the monster.

Miko’s chakra was focused now, and coated her in a yellow glow. She waited for her opponent to reform, knowing any attack before then would be wasted. Once the gaunt girl was facing her again, Miko made a polite request.
“Your name?”

Surprisingly, Miko got an answer.
“Konan.”

“I see. Konan, then? Well, Konan, is there any great need for us to fight?”

Konan drew herself up, taking in a breath and closing her eyes. “Pain’s orders are absolute.”

Miko threw up a screen of light just in time, as paper shuriken were aiming for her face. She wasted no more time talking. Instead, she put her chakra to good use.
“Light Style: Light Archer!”

As fast as she could point her fingers, she could shoot arrows made of light. One barely nicked Konan’s sleeve, but a good portion of her paper arm burned instantly, leaving no ashes.

“I see. The damage to a body that could feel pain would be significant. To keep your powers concealed…” Konan looked toward Miko’s stomach.

Miko nodded solemnly. “Yes. The procedure I used on Yuji…it was developed for me, and the Uzume before me, to keep our abilities hidden. Our chakra would be easily sensed otherwise. And as killing is something we abstain from…”

Konan’s paper shuriken hit Miko high up on the chest, almost at the shoulder. She tumbled backward, but rolled gracefully to one knee.

“I take no pleasure in your death.”

Miko got to her feet. Her shoulder hurt, but that was nothing right now. She met her opponent’s eyes, giving a grim nod.
“Likewise.”
--

Shoki watched the other Pain being roasted alive, wondering how much longer Yuji could keep it up. With his curse bindings removed, it wouldn’t be much longer until he collapsed from exhaustion and needed to go into his protective genjutsu. One Pain was the most he could handle. So Shoki began to plan how to attack. And as much as he disliked it, he needed to become a weapon. In the midst of his Awasekagami Jutsu, he was just that. But there was no choice.

Allowing himself to reform, Shoki’s body split in two. One version was in color, the other was a gray outline. The gray one stepped in front of the color version. It wouldn’t be much longer now…
--

Yuji speared himself through Pain and into the ground. He had created an enormous hole in the center of Pain’s body, all but cutting him in half. Yuji had wanted to aim for the head, but took the sure body hit instead. This should be the end of the fight. It HAD to be.

The red ‘X’s’ were now plainly forming all over Yuji’s face. He wobbled, fell down to one knee, then collapsed altogether. For better or worse, he had given all he could.
--

The other Pain hit the ground gracefully, immediately reaching for Shoki, without any hesitation. His hand hit the gray Shoki, and stopped. The in-color Shoki met Pain’s eyes, and he froze.

“Issekigan, the ‘discerning eye’, combined with ‘Awasekagami’- opposite mirrors,” Shoki intoned effortlessly, holding his justu with no sign of strain. “My jutsu mirrors your movements and even your chakra flow, so I can halt any attack to a stalemate. You could withdraw, except for my eye- THAT traps you in a freeze-frame as long as I can maintain my chakra.”

Shoki looked to Yuji, seeing that he was out of commission immediately, and had a split-second to decide what to do. In that split-second, his decision was handled for him.
--

Miko’s fingertips still glowed from the Light Archer Jutsu shot she had just taken at Pain’s heart. As that Pain toppled over, in one smooth motion, she shot another beam at Konan, backing her into a corner. Konan came back out, moving towards taijutsu. Miko dodged and countered efficiently, eventually driving Konan back into the corner. One hand held two extended fingers, firing another shot at pain. The other hand Miko brought to her face.

“Light Prism Jutsu!”

Barriers of light penned Konan in, holding her in suspended animation.

One Pain was down with most of his midsection incinerated.
The other Pain was down, his heart destroyed by light itself.
Konan was incapacitated, unable to move, let alone cast any jutsu.

Only Yuji was down, but not out, as he stumbled back into the cabin. Disbelief was written all over his normally stoic face as he said aloud: “Did we just win?”

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Then:

“shoot! Look out!”

Yuji tucked and rolled, pulling Miko and Shoki out the last window of the cabin that still had glass. They crashed through, unharmed saved for the miniscule cuts on Yuji‘s arms. Seconds later, the cabin was crushed by a massive orange foot. What on earth the demon dog-thing was, none of them knew, but the man on top controlling it…

“Not another damned-! how many of them are there?!” Yuji cursed. He was totally spent at this point. He could maybe force a Summoning Jutsu. But if he did…
No time to think of that. He had to.

Then there were four. The lead Pain, the ‘other’ Pain, and now the Pain on the demonic dogs. Konan had been freed by the blast, and she joined them. It was an imposing lineup. There was no way to ward the four of them together off…

Miko strode forward purposefully. Yuji reached a hand toward her, but found it repelled by an invisible barrier.

No! Not invisible! It’s…light! But how…

“Yuji…Let your chakra flow. Just enough so I can feel it…”
Miko had spoken, but her voice sounded disembodied. Like she was speaking through a filter or something like that.
“Can you stand?”

Yuji found he could, with some effort. Miko took his hands and put their foreheads together.
“You’ll make good use of this chakra. I’ll give you enough to end this fight.”

Yuji inclined his head. “Fine, but keep enough for yourself. We’re all going to get through this. ALL of us.”

Miko smiled, her hair being tossed around by the force of her barrier. Yuji found that now he could go right into her barrier.
Then she kissed him.

Strictly speaking, it actually wasn’t a kiss. It was a little-used technique- chakra transfusion. Chakra types need to match for this to work, just like blood types.

“My chakra is the ‘O-type’ of the chakra world. It can be given to anyone. Light is purity, and so my chakra can adapt to any other chakra. Even a chakra that is it’s strict antithesis.”

Yuji didn’t need her to explain. He knew about his chakra.
“My chakra is black; dark and deep. Like a swamp. The exact opposite of yours…”

“Your chakra is black; but your heart and soul…”
Her hand brushed Yuji’s hair out of his face, taking some of the blood with it.
“Those are pure.”

Seemingly effortlessly, Miko shot a beam of light that sliced the four legs off the dog-thing. It sent Pain crashing to the ground. Moving faster than he thought possibly, Yuji was on this ‘summoning Pain’, a kunai through his throat within a second. He kept moving, dragging the Pain with him, until the head and body separated cleanly. Even then, he kept mutilating the body, until all the limbs were separated from the torso.

The lead Pain was moving towards Shoki, a black sword in hand. Shoki stared Pain down, their eyes meeting and locking. Pain seemed to hesitate, at least for an instant. His eyes closed, then opened wider than before. He began his stabbing motion, this time making certain he would kill the boy.

He struck nothing but vapor as the ‘Mirror Shoki’ halted the blade before it hit the real Shoki. The blade was stuck. And Shoki’s stare interfered with Pain’s eyes. Pain still had his jutsu, and was about to put it to good use.

“Don’t. Then you really will make me a weapon,” Shoki told him plainly. “My mirror copy, Awasekagami, will reflect the same force back at you. Even you couldn’t withstand that.”

That was a bold move. Shoki knew for a fact that he would be destroyed. But if Pain went for it, they would get some answers. These bodies kept coming back to life, but there had to be a limit. And this one in particular- the ‘Lead’ Pain- seemed different than the others. They were almost identical, yet this one spoke for them. Why this one? What was special about this Pain?

Pain began to raise his arms. A beam of light hit him squarely in the temple and exited out the other side. Staying in place, the light expanded in the middle of his head, until the top and bottom halves of Pain’s face separated.

Shoki breathed a sigh of relief.

“Know pain.”

Shoki only saw Pain’s jaw moving (despite the upper part of his face being gone) for a split second before being blasted by chakra. He tried to focus chakra to his feet, but couldn’t get enough in place in time, and went sailing. He flew through the air until a pair of arms caught him gently, but not tenderly.

“Target captured, Lord Pain,” came Konan’s impassive voice.

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