LAND OF EARTH

No one moved.

Konan’s eyes did not leave Itachi even as she split her attention to watch the other Uchiha lying face-first in the dirt before her. Tobi’s—or rather, Madara’s—unpredictability made him an outlier even amongst the most eccentric of their members; she did not know what to make of his offer to remain neutral in this altercation with a proven traitor. Had he known of Itachi’s continued involvement with Konoha? Was he also a traitor to the Akatsuki? What were his intentions—Paper wings sprouted from her back, snapping her from her thoughts as she sensed Itachi’s chakra roil.

The Uchiha moved, flickering away from them. In response, Konan raised an arm, aiming at his retreating figure before launching a barrage of paper shurikens that perforated everything in their path at him. In front of her, Obito sank into the dirt before reappearing some distance away, seemingly in a bid to extricate himself entirely from the battle. A few meters ahead of her, Nagato’s Animal Path leapt after the traitor, its arms a blur as it weaved a summoning jutsu. White smoke exploded behind it; a mass of writhing giant centipedes poured out of the screen and began racing towards the younger Uchiha.

The shuriken barrage reached Itachi first, filling the air around him as it cut off his escape. A frown creased Konan’s face as Itachi’s torso burst open to release a squawking murder of crows that disappeared into the forest the moment the projectiles pierced his body. A clone.

Typical.

Of course, Konan had not expected to be able to dispatch a former member of the Akatsuki with such a basic technique; that would simply be wishful thinking on her part. Still, the fact that she couldn’t say with any confidence when exactly he had switched with the clone displeased her no less.

Frowning still, her gaze panned around the battlefield in search of Itachi. Nagato’s summoned centipedes skittered about the forest floor, uprooting trees in an attempt to flush their opponent out of hiding. Another cloud of white smoke exploded outwards behind her to reveal a winged, five-meter-tall dog as the Animal Path completed yet another summoning. Its fur was a reddish shade of brown and a giant black metallic chakra receiver stuck through its head, its blunt end glimmering in the crimson light of dawn.

Meanwhile, some distance away, Obito watched the entire exchange silently from his post on the bough of a large tree at the fringes of the battlefield. As promised, he did not seem particularly interested in taking sides in this matter.

Suddenly, a wave of heat buffeted Konan from behind. Instinctively, she dove out of the way, her wings beating as she spun midair to launch a retaliatory barrage at the reemerging Uchiha. A massive fireball shot past her, forcing the Animal Path in the process of another summoning behind her to evade. In turn, the Uchiha was similarly forced to reposition, leaping away just in time to avoid the barrage of shurikens launched in his direction. The summoned dog leapt after the traitor, hounding. In the background, Konan spotted three of the remaining Paths—Deva, Asura and Preta—emerging from a cloud of white smoke. Itachi’s hands flashed for a moment before a rapid-fire barrage of flaming projectiles emerged from his mouth to shoot the summoned dog out of the air. Thrown of course by the explosions buffeting its torso the animal careened sideways into the earth before disappearing behind a cloud of dust.

Another fireball exploded beneath Konan’s feet as she shot upwards, wings beating at a frantic pace to propel her beyond the Uchiha’s range. Locking onto Itachi’s flickering form flitting through the forest below, she committed into a barrel roll at the apex of her flight before strafing down at him with a hail of explosive paper projectiles. A line of devastation opened up in her path as she zoomed overhead, explosion after explosion ripping through the forest beneath her.

The Paths of Pain stood in formation some small distance away from the Uchiha's last sighting. The summoned animals settled into a patrol pattern, diving into the burning forest, as they resumed their task of attempting to flush the Uchiha out of hiding should he still be alive. Konan hovered over the battlefield in an overwatch position, eyes scanning the inferno below her for any signs of the traitor. Below her, thick columns of black smoke arose from the burning forest; the scene was one of wrathful destruction.

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Surely, she thought to herself as she continued her search for the Uchiha or his corpse, that should have enough—

“Yasaka Magatama!”

Konan instinctively tucked in her wings, allowing gravity to pull her to the ground as a flaming projectile shot out of the billowing smoke towards her. That apparently was not enough as the projectiles exploded midair a few dozen meters away, the resulting shockwaves hurling her into the earth below.

She hit the forest floor hard, tumbling for a few desperate moments before righting herself with three, powerful beats of her wings. The cold frown on her face deepened as took flight again, cruising away from the battlefield at just above treetop level so she could better evade the Uchiha’s next salvo.

Just as the predicted attack emerged from the smoke, Nagato acted—the Deva path raising both its hands as it pushed the flames and smoke obstructing their view out of the battlefield. At the same moment, Konan again folded in her wings and dipped into a small valley just as Itachi's second shot screamed past. For a split moment, a searing heat buffeted Konan's face as the projectile zoomed past just a few meters overhead before slamming into a nearby cliff face.

Pulling up into a vertical bank, she popped out of the valley to see Itachi single-handedly battling the Paths and the animal summons: a seven-meter-tall, humanoid avatar stood over him; In its right hand was a strange fiery sword with a gourd for a hilt, and in its left was an ethereal shield that seemed to deflect the worst of Nagato’s attacks effortlessly.

Konan dipped slightly to the left, altering her flight path to bring her closer to the fight as she searched for an opening to exploit. The animal path, seemingly unable to evade quickly enough, was stabbed through the chest by the strange sword in the avatar’s hand. For a moment, The weapon’s blade shook like a flame in a stiff breeze, before violently sucking the Animal Path into its hilt. With the sudden absence of their summoner, the animal summons that were working in tandem with the Paths to corner the Uchiha all disappeared from the battlefield.

Seemingly startled by the new development, the other Paths retreated a few meters away from the Uchiha and his avatar, and for a few moments, a tense standstill ensued.

But like most things, it was short-lived. The Asura path aimed its arms at the chakra construct; the appendages morphing to reveal an arsenal of missiles that screamed off their rails towards their opponent. In that same moment, Itachi counterattacked with black flames struck the Asura Path even as his avatar raised its shield to defend against the salvo of missiles. The Preta Path which had been on stand-by, preempted the counterattack, absorbing the demonic flames as they appeared.

Konan looked around in expectation of a follow-up by the Deva Path only to realise she couldn’t spot it on the battlefield.

Just as worry was starting to bubble onto her countenance, the earpiece in her right ear crackled. “Leave the battlefield,” Nagato ordered via radio transmission.

“Why?” she asked, baffled.

“This is getting messy,” came his stoic reply. “I am going to end this. Now.”

The frown on Konan's face deepened, but she said nothing more as she altered her flight path to leave the vicinity. Moments later, she heard a distinct, telltale whine rippled through the air behind her. Then came a great rumbling as the earth beneath was uprooted by the ton and sucked towards a small, lightless orb floating in the air above Itachi.

“Chibaku Tensei!”

Even as far as she was from the battle, Konan distinctly felt her speed drop as she was faintly being pulled back towards the artificial gravity well forming behind her. Their opponent standing directly below the jutsu fared much worse. Although Itachi put up a valiant resistance, in the end, he failed to escape the all-encompassing pull of Nagato’s technique. He and the phantasmal avatar he summoned quickly disappeared beneath literal tons of solid earth held aloft by supernatural forces.

Finally, the battle came to a grinding halt.

“...Is it done?” Konan asked as she swooped down to hover beside the Deva path. Obito appeared out of thin air beside her, his gaze oddly contemplative as he stared at the artificial satellite suspended in the air.

“Yes,” the Path replied before turning to leave.

Konan cast one last glance at the seemingly spell-bound Madara by her side before turning to leave as well.

"...Izanagi?"

"What?" Konan asked as she turned to face the Uchiha. Madara shook his head in response.

"Don't mind me," he said in a somewhat amused tone.

"It's nothing.