Struggle (Sequel to Shinju Hatake)

The fall of a Sanin

Shinju's P.O.V

After a long day with dad, I couldn't be happier. It's been a while since we've spent some quality time. We were about to get some dango until we met Kurenai who told us we were asked in the Hokage's office. We were all assembled and every Jonin were sent to the rooftop. Some of them gave me respectful looks and some even bowed to me. Was I really well known in the Shinobi world?

I bowed down in return to them and turned to Tsunade-sama and kneeled. "You assembled my team?"

"Team Death Shadow I want you to go after Jiraiya. He's going to confront Pain, the leader of the Akatsuki."

Wait...Jiraiya, against the leader of the Akatsuki. This was the perfect advantage for me to get information of Tobi. I summoned White Fang to track the Sanin down. My team and I haven't got into a mission ever since Lord Third died. It's felt so fresh, so good to be back into the unit. I spotted Jiraiya with his usual scroll on his back. He headed to Amegakure and asked a few of the villagers about the Leader of the Akatsuki; who I soon learned his name was Pain.

Jiraiya unsuccessfully gathered any information and soon lost his patience and captured two ninjas and interrogated them. This shocked me since I never thought Jiraiya would be this aggressive. I summoned Grey. He was the ideal person to overhear a distant conversation. He whispered in my ear. "It seems that Pain single-handedly defeated Hanzo."

My eyes widened. Hanzo. As in Hanzo of the Salamander? He was a legendary shinobi and was the leader of Amegakure. He was the one who named Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru the legendary Sanin. How come Pain defeated the previous leader? Was it because of the enormous power he had? I explained this to the team. Wolf came forward. "Death Shadow, if Jiraiya-sama ever confronts him should we intervene?"

"Yes, we can't lose another Sanin. Orochimaru is already dead. Even if he is an enemy. We can't lose him." In a flash, the 'tension' scenery soon changed when a purple headed woman came in and attacked the Sanin. My team were about to charge at her but I stopped them.

"Death Shadow what do you think you're doing?" Tiger asked incredulously.

"It's his fight." I simply said.

"You said it yourself, we have to intervene." Wolf joined in the conversation.

"It's true, however, this is not Pain, and Jiraiya-sama is not in a crucial situation. We will only strike when the time is right." I reasoned the team.

They were convinced and we waited. They fought for a short time. The two fighters were evenly matched. Jiraiya then spoke about their past. We overheard their discussion. Pain arrived and they discussed his ideologies and the Akatsuki's goal. Their goal was to take control of everything and bring peace in the world. How was that bringing peace? They strategically deployed the tailed beast.

The cause of this could start wars thereby speeding the process. Pain wanted to destroy the shinobi world to let everyone to know the meaning of pain, and that there would be no longer any more wars. Their goal was reasonable; however, it was carried out in the wrong way. I had to report this to the Hokage. This was some valuable information.

After their talk, the battle commenced. Pain summoned a crustacean. Jiraiya summoned a toad named Gamaken who easily took down the crustacean. Jiraiya and Gamaken then began battling against Pain. Their opponent was no longer to be found, and multiple creatures were summoned to defeat Jiraiya. Pain was an extremely powerful foe, and Jiraiya put up a barrier to enter sage mode. My team was impatiently waiting to defeat the creature but my two-summoning's growled at them making them recoil slightly.

Jiraiya was in sage mode and Gamaken left the battlefield and Fukasaku-sama and Shima-sama were summoned. We followed Jiraiya discreetly and looked around to find our foe. We found three Pains who I soon learned they were Pain's 6 paths. They each had a specific purpose. Jiraiya blinded one of the Pains with a kick in the face. I winced at the sight. Jiraiya kicked the Pain with his shoes,. He killed three of the paths in the most gruesome way. Jiraiya left the bodies behind and another Pain attacked him from behind and severed his arm off. It was time. "Team Death Shadow. Now!"

I signaled my team. We attacked the 6 Paths but they were too strong. Another path came in and crushed Jiraiya's throat. We were too distracted on the other Paths. Damn it! I got kicked on the side, making me fall. I got stabbed on the other side pinning me to the ground. I groaned and saw the rest of my team either knocked out or injured from the paths. All of the paths gathered around Jiraiya and rose their rods.

"NO!!!" I yelled. I tried to run, but I felt so weak and limped instead. My body wouldn't listen to me. It was too late, they stabbed him. One of the paths shot his fist at Jiraiya and destroyed the slab of concrete Jiraiya was lying on. Jiraiya then drifted off into the water to his death.

One last time. Please body let me see him just one more time. I limped to Jiraiya where he was lying on.

"Grandpa?" I chocked on my words. He looked up at me.

"Man...Finally after all these years...You called me Grandpa..." Jiraiya struggled to form his words.

"Sh! I'll heal you..." I said desperately. He was going to make it! I applied my healing ninjutsu, but a side of me knew it was already over.

"Stop it Shinju, it's no use. They all touched my vital spots." He wheezed.

"If only I came here sooner and intervened. I'm so stupid. If it wasn't for me and my patience you wouldn't have been like this!" I blamed myself.

"Don't blame yourself..." Jiraiya begged.

"What about Naruto? What will I do?!"

"He'll understand. What I enjoyed the most in this battle was to hear you call me Grandpa..." He said with his last breath. My whole body shook, I couldn't control myself. I screamed all my might. In anger, in frustration, in everything I resented. This was it. Another failure. Today was the day.

The fall of a Sanin.