Embers and Shadows

The deafening explosions seemed to still echo through the valley, but in reality, only deathly silence remained, along with the stench of burning and thick clouds of dust.

"Ling—!"

Naruto broke free of Jiraiya's grip and scrambled toward the charred figure lying motionless beside the crater. His heart-rending cries rang especially harshly through the empty valley.

Jiraiya gritted his teeth against the pain wracking his body and staggered after him. At the sight of Ling's terrible condition, his heart felt as though an icy hand had clenched around it. That boy... had done this to himself to save them.

"Ling, you brat..." He crouched down and reached out with a trembling hand to check Ling's pulse. The beat beneath his fingertips was so faint it was almost impossible to feel, but it was there. He was alive! But those injuries...

Jiraiya immediately pressed both hands to Ling's chest and slowly channeled what little Senjutsu Chakra he had left into him. The gentle life energy flowed like a trickle, cautiously nourishing Ling's nearly dried-up, shattered chakra pathways and protecting the last faint beat of his heart.

"He... he's still alive, Pervy Sage? Is my brother still alive?" Naruto grabbed Jiraiya's sleeve, his eyes brimming with tears and his voice trembling uncontrollably.

"He's alive. Stop shaking me!" Jiraiya snapped, steadying himself as he continued to channel chakra. He glanced at Tsunade, who lay unconscious and just as badly injured, then looked toward the enormous crater in the middle of the valley and the Pains at its bottom, all of them completely still.

Had they won...?

He couldn't be sure. Those people in Akatsuki cloaks were too strange. Especially those eyes...

"We can't stay here." Sage Fukasaku leaped onto Jiraiya's shoulder, his tone grave. "Little Jiraiya, you and the Tsunade girl are both badly hurt, and Ling is even worse... We need to find somewhere to treat them immediately! Who knows if those monsters have any allies nearby?"

Jiraiya snapped back to his senses. Right. This was no time to let their guard down. He glanced at Naruto, who was nearly exhausted from crying, then at Ling and Tsunade, both at death's door, and gritted his teeth.

"Naruto, help me support Grandma Tsunade!" he ordered, while carefully lifting Ling onto his back. Ling's body was frighteningly light, as if the explosion had drained away every last bit of life in him.

They had to leave this hellhole immediately.

Not long after Jiraiya and the others struggled to evacuate with the wounded.

Beneath the shadow of a huge tree in the distance, space wavered. A red-haired man seated in a strange wooden wheelchair suddenly opened his eyes and began coughing violently. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. He was gaunt, with strange black rods embedded in his back. He was the real body behind the Six Paths of Pain—Nagato.

Beside him, the blue-haired Konan immediately steadied him, her face full of concern. "Nagato!"

"I'm... fine." Nagato gasped for breath, shock filling his Rinnegan, along with a hint of... excitement. "The Deva Path... was destroyed. That Uchiha brat... he actually..."

Using the final vision sent back by the Animal Path, he had clearly seen Ling clutch the Deva Path and detonate that terrifying sphere of energy, taking them both down with him. The boy's resolve, his madness, and the flames reflected in those crimson eyes at the last moment, as if they could burn the soul...

"He probably didn't survive either," Konan said calmly, though a hint of lingering fear showed in her eyes. The power and will the boy had displayed were beyond anything they had anticipated.

"No..." Nagato slowly shook his head, his Rinnegan fixed on the direction Jiraiya and the others had taken. "I can sense... a faint trace of life. He's not dead yet."

He fell silent for a moment, then spoke in a low, hoarse voice. "An unexpected variable has appeared beside the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. The plan... needs to be adjusted."

This time, they had lost the Deva Path and would need time to recreate it. And Konoha, it seemed, wasn't as united as it appeared.

"We'll return to Amegakure first," Nagato decided. "The plan to capture the Nine-Tails will be postponed for now. We need... more information."

Konan nodded and pushed the wheelchair. Their figures slowly merged with the shadows of the trees and disappeared.

With Ling on Jiraiya's back, Naruto supporting Tsunade, who had barely regained consciousness, and the two sages, Fukasaku and Shima, scouting ahead, the group pressed toward the Land of Fire without daring to stop.

They found a hidden cave and made camp there for the time being. Ignoring his own injuries, Jiraiya immediately began treating Ling and Tsunade more thoroughly. Ling was in especially bad shape. His chakra pathways were ruptured in several places, his internal organs were badly damaged, his chakra was nearly depleted, and he had suffered severe backlash from the Nine-Tails Chakra. The fact that he was still clinging to life was a miracle.

Naruto stayed by Ling's side without moving, tightly gripping Ling's cold fingers with his small hand. His eyes were red and swollen. Seeing Ling's face, pale as paper and utterly bloodless, and the bloodstained bandages wrapped around him, made Naruto's heart feel as if it were being cut by a knife.

"Brother... did all this to protect me..." he murmured, his voice choked with tears. If his brother hadn't saved him, he wouldn't have been so badly hurt.

"Don't talk nonsense!" Tsunade's voice came from nearby, weak but stern. Leaning against the rock wall, she looked just as awful, but her sharp eyes were fixed on Naruto. "That brat was saving all of us! He fought to protect the things he believed mattered! Do you think you're honoring the chance he risked his life to give you by sitting there crying?!"

Naruto froze at her shout and looked up at Tsunade.

"When he wakes up, do you want him to see a dead-last who can only cry, or a stronger ninja who can protect others?" Tsunade's voice softened a little, but it still carried force.

Naruto wiped his tears away with a hard swipe and pressed his lips together. A fire rekindled in his blue eyes. He said nothing, only gripping Ling's hand even more tightly, as if he could pass his strength on to him.

Jiraiya watched them, somewhat comforted. He continued his focused treatment, using Senjutsu Chakra like the finest needle and thread to mend Ling's damaged body bit by bit. But Ling's injuries were too severe, especially the damage to his mind and the backlash from the Nine-Tails. Simple Medical Ninjutsu couldn't fix them right away.

A few days later, Ling's condition finally stabilized. He was still unconscious, but his vital signs were no longer as weak as before. Jiraiya, meanwhile, was nearly at his limit too.

"We have to get back to Konoha," Jiraiya told Tsunade wearily. "Ling needs better medical care and a proper place to recuperate. We're almost out of chakra and medicine, too."

Tsunade nodded without protest. After their brush with death, some of the knots she'd held against Konoha seemed to have loosened.

They set off again, moving much more slowly this time. When Konoha's familiar gates finally appeared in the distance, Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Naruto all breathed a sigh of relief.

But as they approached, they noticed something strange about the atmosphere at the gates. There were more guards than usual, and... quite a few of them were Root members wearing bizarre masks.

Danzo's people.

Jiraiya's heart sank. They had only just returned, and trouble was already waiting for them?

A ninja who appeared to be a Root squad leader stepped forward and blocked their way. His gaze swept over Ling, unconscious on Jiraiya's back, and his single visible eye showed no emotion. "Lord Jiraiya, Lady Tsunade, welcome back. Elder Danzo has ordered you all, especially Uchiha Ling, to report to the council chamber immediately and provide a detailed account of this mission, as well as... the circumstances surrounding his unauthorized departure from the village and use of forbidden power."

Naruto immediately stepped in front of Jiraiya and Ling, glaring at the Root ninja like a small animal baring its fangs. "You're not taking my brother!"

Tsunade snorted. Though weak, she still carried a commanding presence. "Get out of the way! We'll talk once we've settled the wounded!"

But the Root squad leader didn't budge. "This is Elder Danzo's order. Please don't make this difficult for us."

The tension turned razor-sharp in an instant.

Jiraiya looked at the scene before him, then felt Ling's faint breath against his back. A nameless fury surged in his chest. They had just fought for their lives out there, nearly been wiped out, and barely made it back alive. And instead of comfort, they were met with an interrogation and harassment before they'd even had a chance to rest?

He raised his head and looked at the Root squad leader, his voice cold. "Tell Danzo I'll bring the boy to see him. But not now. If he has a problem, he can come talk to me himself!"

Without another glance at the Root ninja, he carried Ling toward Konoha Hospital. Tsunade and Naruto followed close behind.

The Root squad leader watched them leave. His expression shifted beneath his mask, but in the end, he didn't force them to stop. He merely signaled for his subordinates to report back at once.

The sky over Konoha remained gloomy. With Ling returning gravely wounded, the undercurrents within the village had not settled; they had only grown more turbulent.