Pushing Through the Limit Chapter 74: Divergence

A few weeks had passed since he’d reconnected with his former student, although, to him, it only felt like a few days at the most. Outside of when he’d confronted Nagato alongside Naruto, the last time he’d seen Konan was when she’d been far younger and optimistic.

Now, however... Well, he wouldn’t say that she was a shell of her former self, but she’d certainly gone through a lot. Her eyes didn’t light up like they used to back when he trained her.

If he had just chosen another path... Who knows what could have happened. He’d like to think that things could have turned out for the best and that they would have lived far happier lives, but, knowing some of the stuff that Danzo and Orochimaru got up to, it could have turned out far worse.

Alas, that was just life. He couldn’t have predicted the way everything turned out. Even if he could, who’s to say that his meddling wouldn’t have made things worse?

Instead of lamenting the past, he’d instead turn his attention to the future and while it wasn’t perfect, it was looking optimistic.

In light of that optimism, he focused his attention on his novel. Sure he could try and help prepare the village for the war, but Tsunade had a firm hand on things. It was a bit difficult to admit, but, regardless of his good intentions, if he tried to help, he’d only end up getting in the way.

“Just to be clear, you don’t like the bath scene with Asami?” Jiraiya asked, staring down at his new editor for his latest book. Seeing her staring off into space, he nudged her shoulder. “Konan?”

Blinking slowly, she looked down at the paper that sat on her desk, before looking up at Jiraiya. “Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention. Where were we?”

“The bath scene with Asami,” Jiraiya said, pointing to the page. “But let’s take a break instead. You seem to have a lot on your mind.”

“No,” Konan shook her head. “There’s only a few pages left. Let’s finish it now instead.”

“Got other plans, eh?” He asked lightly, raising an inquisitive eyebrow.

“I simply wish to get to the end of this before–“

“Escaping,” Jiraiya nodded.

Staring at him unflinchingly for several moments, she sighed. “How long have you known?”

“Since before you started helping me with my book,” Jiraiya smirked. “You concealed it fairly well, but I like to think of myself as an expert on reading people. So,” He hummed, sitting down on the corner of her bed. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“You’ve known for that long and I still haven’t been moved to a more secured room?” She asked, tilting her head slightly. “Why?”

“Because I don’t think you’re a threat to Konoha... And neither does Naruto,” He explained. “One of the things I had hoped that would come from all of this is you working with us to help take down the Akatsuki.”

Konan grimaced at that.

Watching her reaction, Jiraiya smiled and nodded. “Heh, I guess that was too much to hope for. They were your former allies after all. Instead, how about you help with the war efforts? Nagato was seen as the village leader, yes? You could act in his place and open relations between Ame and the rest of the world.”

“Sensei,” Konan said. “Thank you. I appreciate your offer, but I won’t be needing it.” Leaning back in her seat, she exhaled. “After spending so much time here, I realized something...”

“And what’s that?” Jiraiya prompted.

“Throughout my entire life, I’ve acted as a passenger travelling to someone else’s destination,” Konan replied. “When you left, I followed Yahiko’s lead and when he died, it was Nagato that stepped up. Now I’m alone and the temptation to follow you is there, but there’s another voice I’m starting to notice... My own.”

Jiraiya sat in silence while listening to Konan, feeling a mix of emotions. Pride in his former student coming to her own conclusions and sorrow that she’d likely be leaving his life once more.

“It’s a scary feeling... Forging my own path,” She admitted. “But it has to be done. I can’t keep following in others footsteps. It’s about time that I started writing my own story, don’t you think, Sensei?”

“...You’ve really grown up,” Jiraiya sighed softly. “I guess a small part of me still saw you as my cute little student dressed in a toad costume, but that’s obviously no longer the case.” Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath before refocusing. “Alright. What’s this plan of yours? I’m open to helping, but first I need to know that Konoha won’t be caught in the middle.”

Smiling, Konan stood and riffled through the papers on her desk before finding a single book that was hidden underneath. Taking a step towards Jiraiya, she held it out for him to take.

“While I have enjoyed the Icha Icha series, I do believe that this one is my favorite.”

Taking the book, Jiraiya chuckled as he read the title. “The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi... Now I know you’re messing with me. This thing was a massive flop.”

“It might not be as big as Icha Icha, but it is a part of your legacy,” Konan hummed, sitting back down.

“Legacy, huh?” Jiraiya muttered softly as he read over the cover... Remembering the rainy nights he’d spent writing it back in Ame.

Looking up, his eyes zeroed in on Konan, catching something unusual. The seal on her chest that restricted her use of Chakra, one of the corners had peeled off.

“Konan, you...” He sighed. “You’re not even here are you?”

“No,” She answered simply. “I managed to slip out two days ago... It’s the reason why I wanted to finish the last pages. I’m beginning to run out of Chakra,” She explained. Lifting her arm, she pulled up her sleeve, revealing a mess of paper that was beginning to come undone. “I really did enjoy working with you, Sensei, but it seems that this is it for me.”

It had been nice to have someone help him out with his writing. Unfortunately, he was going to have to report this to Tsunade. He still had no idea just what it was Konan was planning, but hopefully it wasn’t anything too bad.

...PTL...

It would be a lie to say that things had settled down in the weeks since Tsunade and I returned from Iwa. The village, while not exactly chaotic, was in a constant state of movement. Various clans and corps were all getting ready for the coming war and the two of us were right in the center of it.

It was quite a thing to see Tsunade manage the entire village.

Weapons needed to be stockpiled, Shinobi were to be separated into various groups in order to join the allied Shinobi forces while at the same time, some needed to remain behind to ensure Konoha would be protected... Hell, even the Fire Daimyo needed to be transported to a secure location.

The war hadn’t even started yet and the village was already feeling the stress of it all. It wasn’t just Konoha either, every other nation was going through their own preparations, including the minor villages who were likely concerned about the fighting spilling into their nations.

With the final preparation being made between the five villages, I found myself jumping across villages, usually to deliver messages between the Kage and occasionally to transport the Kage themselves when something needed direct clarification.

Right now being a prime example of that.

“So this is Konoha?” Mei asked, looking out the window of Tsunade’s office. “It reminds me of Kiri, except it’s a lot greener here.”

Having only spent less than an hour in Kiri during an especially misty day, I had no idea if she was telling the truth or not

“Yes, well,” Tsunade hummed, organizing the papers on her desk. “You’re welcome to have a look around if you have the time. As for Utakata, I’ve set him up with an apartment in one of the more secure areas.”

“Your hospitality is appreciated,” Mei smiled demurely.  “I hope that once this conflict is concluded, Kiri and Konoha can continue to have an open and friendly relationship.”

Well that was a little odd. It wasn’t what she said, no, it’d make sense for Kiri to want to continue to ally with Konoha, especially since it hadn’t been too long since their civil war ended... No, it was the way she said it... Almost as if she was hinting at something else.

Pausing her work, Tsunade looked up and shot Mei a questioning look. “That remains my hope as well. We would be open to fostering relations with the other villages.”

“I hoped that you would say that,” Mei clapped her hands, smiling chirpily. “I heard how, after allying with Kumo, you periodically sent Naruto there to help cultivate the bond between your villages and the Kazekage only had good things to say about him. Perhaps we could come to a similar arrangement where he can visit Kiri.”

Furthering her point, she hooked her arm with mine and beamed at Tsunade, unaware of the landmine she was stepping on.

The room became eerily silent as several of Tsunade’s clones stopped actually working and simply mimed their writing while observing Mei coldly. As for Tsunade herself... A crunch sounded through the room as she pressed her pen through her table before breaking it in her grip.

Taking a moment, Tsunade smiled sweetly at Mei. “Could you please repeat yourself? I’m not quite sure that I heard you right.”

Reading the room, Mei’s smile dimmed slightly. “I was merely asking if Naruto could visit Kiri and help acclimate my Shinobi to those of the Konoha variety... That’s not going to be a problem, is it?”

“If it was just for a few days, I wouldn’t mind,” Tsunade explained. “What I do mind is–“

Interrupting Tsunade, I coughed lightly and untangled myself from Mei. I knew that she could be a little flirty in nature, but it was a little too much.

“Naruto?” Mei hummed.

“Sorry,” I apologized. “I might be misreading the situation, but before this goes any further, I should probably tell you that I’m already in a relationship with someone.”

“You have a girlfriend?” Mei asked blankly.

“Yeah,” I nodded.

Taking a moment to herself, Mei smiled coyly. “Well you look like the kind of guy that could use two.”

I blinked at that as did Tsunade.

“What?!”

“I’m only joking,” Mei said, hiding a smirk. “I won’t try anything... It is a pity though, you’re a rather handsome man... Almost exactly my type too, all you’re missing is the dark hair.”

“…Thank you,” I replied, not really sure what else I could say.

I looked to see if Tsunade was following along.

Mei shook her head in amusement. “Now, I do believe that I came here to meet with Utakata,” She hummed. “And afterwards… I’m still interested in cultivating an alliance between our two villa–“

“Tsunade, we have a little problem,” Jiraiya announced. Climbing in through the window, he froze upon seeing Mei. His eyes remained locked with hers for a moment, before dipping down, causing the Kage to scowl.

“As you can see, Jiraiya, I’m in the middle of a meeting with the Mizukage,” Tsunade sighed, rubbing her temples. “Unless this is an emergency, it’ll just have to wait.”

“The Mizukage… Right, that was today. It’s nice to meet you, sorry for the interruption,” Jiraiya apologized, edging further into the room. “I just need to borrow Naruto for a bit and I’ll be out of your hair.”

Seeing Tsunade’s eye begin to twitch, I decided to weigh in. “I shouldn’t be gone long, but just in case I am, I could always leave a clone.”

Taking a breath, Tsunade sighed. “Fine, just… Don’t take too long,” She relented. “And be careful.”

“Great,” Jiraiya cheered. Grabbing my shoulders, he steered me out the door. “Don’t worry, I’ll have him back before you know it. We just need to take a quick trip together.” He laughed boisterously before closing the doors behind him.

Following Jiraiya as he put some distance between Tsunade’s office and us, we finally stopped in one of the more isolated parts of the Hokage tower.

“So, what’s this about?”

“I need to ask you something, Naruto and I need you to keep it quiet,” Jiraiya said, acting serious for once. “Did you ever place one of your Hiraishin markers on Konan?”

“Yes,” I answered, already putting the picture together.

There was only one real reason why Jiraiya would ask that. Konan had escaped… Or she’d been abducted. Either way, she was no longer in Konoha.

Jiraiya let out a relieved sigh. “Good. I need you to take me to her.”

…PTL…

Teleporting to the marker I’d placed on Konan alongside Jiraiya, I took a breath and immediately started coughing as I’d just inhaled a lungful of sand. Looking around, I found myself standing in the desert of all places… Right in the middle of a sandstorm.

“You’re sure you brought us to the right marker?” Jiraiya asked, shielding his face from the sand. “This is the right place?”

“Yep,” I muttered.

Plucking a single piece of paper from the ground, I pulsed my Chakra through it, briefly turning my marker visible, before it faded again.

I had to admit, I was a little impressed. I’d placed that marker on Konan while she was unconscious and she’d not only been able to find it, even though the marker was invisible, but she also managed to remove it from her body.

She certainly proved that she wasn’t a part of the Akatsuki for nothing.

“Her paper,” Jiraiya noted. “Shit… That doesn’t help. Who knows how far this sandstorm carried it.”

That was a good point. She could be anywhere right now, but… She’d made a small mistake. She’d left a piece of herself behind and it still contained some of her Chakra.

Holding the paper lightly in my hand, I reached out with my Chakra and joined it with what remained of Konan’s. Hearing a hiss come from the paper as an explosive tag formed on the paper, I wrapped my arm in my Truth Seeking Orb to limit the damage the tag could do and quickly got to work looking for Konan’s Chakra.

Extending my senses across the desert, I got a brief image of an abandoned city filled with corroding towers before the tag detonated, severing my link.

“I know where she is,” I said, shifting my Truth Seeking Orb back into its Kunai form, revealing my mangled hand that was quickly regenerating. “It’s an abandoned city on the edge in the center of the Land of Wind.”

“Rōran,” Jiraiya answered. “I could lead us there if I knew where we were.”

“That’s fine. I already know where it is,” I replied. “I don’t have any markers nearby, so we’re going to have to do this the old fashioned way. You think you can keep up?”

“Heh, I might surprise you,” Jiraiya smirked. “Lead the way.”

Nodding, I took off into the sandstorm with Jiraiya following closely behind. It was quite the distance to travel, but at the speed we were going, we’d be there in no time.

…PTL…

Barely half an hour passed before we began to see the first tower of Rōran peeking over a sand dune. It was odd that such a city existed in the middle of the desert, seemingly built for tens, if not hundreds of thousands of people, yet so far away from everyone else.

Ordinarily, I would have just chalked it up to an attempt to avoid the conflict of the Shinobi world, but the closer we got, the more I could feel it.

There was something here… Something that thrummed with a power that was just barely muffled by the desert.

“Looks like we’re here,” Jiraiya commented, coming to a stop in the center of the city. “So where do we go next?”

“Just give me a second,” I muttered. “This place is making it a little hard to sense where Konan went.”

Placing my hand on the ground, I closed my eyes and started to feel for Konan’s Chakra. She had been here, I could feel it, but it was muted.

Feeling out the entire city, I finally found a lead. There was a chamber that was hidden deep beneath the city that had a few traces of Konan’s Chakra.

“Okay, I’ve got it,” I said.

Standing up, I led Jiraiya further into the city, paying little mind to the crumbling towers.

“You know, back before this place was completely abandoned, Minato was sent to investigate it. In the end it turned out to be nothing, but it is something to think about,” Jiraiya hummed.

Opening a hidden passageway, a wave of potent Chakra washed over us.

“Yeah, I’m not so sure that it was nothing,” I muttered, heading in.

“I’m starting to get the same feeling myself,” Jiraiya said.

Following Konan’s Chakra, we descended further down the passage before finally reaching the bottom. The air grew thicker as we made our way forward, before we finally found a paper trail that led off into a decrepit chamber that had a platform sitting above a pit filled with bubbling, volatile looking purple Chakra.

“Just what were you up to, Konan?” Jiraiya asked himself as we made our way through the room.

Walking across the bridge to the platform, I was able to see that it was littered with Konan’s seals. Dozens of which had been burnt out. Those that hadn’t were in the process of failing. Each and every one of them had been made to contain the potent Chakra below.

Looking ahead to the platform that sat in the center of all the Chakra, I raised an eyebrow. The tags Konan had placed there were different compared to the rest, yet extremely familiar to me.

“Space Time Jutsu Shiki,” I muttered under my breath as I made my way closer.

“You think she used a transportation technique?” Jiraiya asked. “She could be anywhere then.”

He wasn’t wrong, but there were still ways to track her. Konan had obviously been planning this for a while now and had done her homework, but that didn’t mean that she was an expert in Space Time Ninjutsu. If anything, she appeared to be a novice.

Her seals reminded me of when I’d first began working on the Hiraishin. All the necessary ingredients were there, but they were spread out and connected in a flimsy way. It’d do the job, but it would also make it easy to read.

At most, it should only take a few hours in order to fully decipher her work and learn just where she’d gone.

“I don’t think you’re going to have that long,” Kurama muttered.

“What?”

Hearing a hissing noise, I turned to the side to find the tags Konan had set up to contain the volatile Chakra below were rapidly burning out.

Also seeing this, Jiraiya snatched a tag that was in the process of burning out and quickly looked it over. “Shit. These things were never designed for a two way trip. The moment we passed by, we unintentionally began to overload them.”

The entire underground chamber began to shake as the Chakra below grew even more volatile. At the rate things were going, this place wouldn’t last much longer.

The logical thing for us to do would be to cut our losses and leave. Once the Chakra below reached its critical state, this entire section of the desert was going to be turned into a pool of molten glass.

“We could survive it,” Kurama stated confidently.

‘Maybe, but Jiraiya couldn’t.’

“Then you better work quickly.”

Nodding, I moved to the center alongside Jiraiya, intent on skimming through Konan’s seals, only for the entire platform to crack right down the middle.

“Crap,” I muttered under my breath. “Jiraiya, figure out how to activate that thing and I’ll keep this chamber from exploding.”

I would have preferred to be the one that unraveled Konan’s technique, but beggars can’t be choosers. If we left now, we’d lose our best chance at finding Konan.

“On it,” Jiraiya replied, rushing past me.

Clapping my hands together, I focused my Chakra and formed a massive slab of wood that grew around the platform, physically holding it together.

With that taken care of, we were no longer at risk of falling into the pool of Chakra below, but that didn’t mean we were completely safe. This place was still going to explode and fairly too. I did, however, still have a few tricks up my sleeve to stall that.

Creating a tree, I stretched its roots into the Chakra below, aiming to use it to absorb as much of it as possible in order to prevent it from exploding.

It worked for a time. The tree absorbed the Chakra, using it to strengthen itself and grow stronger only to suddenly fail when it suddenly stopped and began to wither, before dying all together, not even making a dent in the Chakra.

“You’re going to have to use something a whole lot stronger than one tree to withstand all of that volatile Chakra,” Kurama hummed. “Not to mention just how much Chakra is down there. You’d be able to reforest the entire Land of Wind and still have some left over.”

Something stronger, eh?

Shifting my Truth Seeking Orb into its Shakujō  form, I stood on the edge of the platform and watched as the volatile Chakra flowed upwards, almost reaching the top.

“Just so you know, I think this is a bad idea.”

“It probably is,” I muttered softly. “But when has that ever stopped me?”

Raising my Shakujō above my head, I stabbed it into the Chakra below and immediately felt an almost overwhelming amount of Chakra flow through my veins. Gritting my teeth, I got a hold of myself and took control of the Chakra that threatened to overwhelm me.

“That wasn’t so bad.”

“Brace yourself,” Kurama warned. “It’s only going to get worse from here.”

Wanting to ask him what he meant by that, I was suddenly hit with a massive pulse of Chakra that flooded through my body, completely overwhelming me.

Refusing to let go of my Shakujō, steam began to pour off my body. My muscles ached and my bones groaned in protest. It didn’t take me long to realize what was happening. My body was breaking from the stress, only to be rebuilt, only, it wasn’t fast enough to undo all of the damage.

“A little help here,” I said under my breath.

“I’m already doing everything I can, but it’s not going to be much help. The last thing you need right now is more Chakra,” Kurama replied. “Naruto, you might need to let this one go. You’re not going to be able to hold on for much longer.”

Yeah, like that was going to happen.

“Jiraiya, how’re you doing over there?” I called out.

“Just a few more minutes,” Jiraiya answered.

That was good news… Unfortunately, I just didn’t have a few minutes left in me. The skin on my hands had already burnt away and the muscle and bone were beginning to follow suit.

What I needed was a way to burn through all of this Chakra, but the only things I had that could do that would cause a massive amount of destruction. Even the simplest Mokuton technique could be devastating and unpredictable with this much Chakra.

I needed to… Wait.

I did have something that used a massive amount of Chakra. I’d simply forgotten about it because it wasn’t really feasible and couldn’t find a real use for it. Now however seemed like the perfect time to use it.

Closing my eyes, I gripped my Shakujō and focused. Splitting the Chakra inside of me, I channeled the Yang portion to my left hand and the Yin portion to my right, before letting it flow together into my Shakujō.

Feeling the weight of the Chakra inside me being to ease, I reached down into the volatile pool below and pulled it inside instead of waiting for it.

I could feel it now. It was like a maelstrom of chaotic energy that swirled through my body, only, this time, I was able to fully exert my control over it, molding it into what I wanted.

An odd sense of peace washed over me as I sensed the chaotic pool below. It didn’t seem so dangerous now… In fact, it seemed fairly tame. All it needed was a little guidance and it would calm down.

“Got it!” Jiraiya announced triumphantly.

Opening my eyes, I was greeted by a wall of pure white light that washed over me before it twisted in on itself.

Feeling a tug on my body, the world as I knew it disappeared and I found myself standing in an inky black space with flecks of light shining from an almost fluid like black floor.

Looking around a little, I felt the tugging sensation take me to a different location, but not before I caught sight of an old man dressed in a white Kimono hovering in a sitting position a few feet behind me.

“Uzumaki Naruto,” He nodded. “We will meet again… In time.”

The world shifted again and I found myself landing next to Jiraiya in the exact same chamber, only it didn’t look quite so decrepit this time.

Though it might look like it, this clearly wasn’t the same room as before.

“What hit me?” Jiraiya groaned, rubbing his head.

“The floor,” I deadpanned.

Attempting to use my Shakujō to help push me up, I found myself reaching out with a hand that was in the process of growing back.

Well that sucked. It seemed like I’d left my Shakujō behind, but it felt like I’d gained something new.

Glancing over my shoulder, I found myself staring at nine more Truth Seeking Orbs that floated lazily behind me.

Now this, I could work with.