Bring the Hammer Down

25

Tsunade stared at Jiraiya like he had grown another head.

"Who in the hell are you talking about?"

Jiraiya shot her a look that made her shut up immediately, a rare occurrence in their strange relationship.

"Pein is a one-time student of mine whose real name is Nagato. Remember those three kids we found begging for food back in Amegakure during the Second War? He was the little black-haired boy. I stayed with them for three years, trained them to protect themselves, and during that time he developed the Rin'negan. He killed an ninja who was trying to kill Yahiko, one of the other orphans and his doujutsu kicked in."

Tsunade racked her brain to remember these kids and her eyes widened.

"It's almost prophetic. Orochimaru told you to kill them and you didn't. Sensei should have killed Orochimaru and didn't. Naruto should have killed Sasuke and didn't. It's like a cycle that just continues."

Jiraiya and Naruto glared at her and she put her hands up in a placating gesture.

"Whoa, whoa, easy, easy. I was just saying..."

Naruto huffed, clearly annoyed.

"We know what you were saying. Having your failures pointed out so bluntly is not very flattering though. We plan to rectify those mistakes very soon, however. Since you're going to take Pein, I think you should know about how the Rin'negan works...or what Itachi found out anyway."

The two Sannin and TenTen were attentive immediately.

"Pein is more than one person."

TenTen blinked and spoke the collectively thought question.

"What?"

Naruto ran his hand over his face in frustration. He needed to word things more carefully.

"His doujutsu is different from everything else. Being a descendent of the 'Sage of the Six Paths', he has certain...powers. Any enemy he kills becomes a body of his."

Jiraiya was trying to absorb the information as much as possible, but couldn't quite wrap his mind around it.

"Explain further."

"Ok...when he kills someone, he possesses their body. His Rin'negan eyes become part of the body and he gives the body piercings to match that of his original body. According to Itachi, the Rin'negan is a true doujutsu, like the Byakugan and the Sharingan. Instead of copying things or seeing 360 degrees around the body, the Rin'negan allows the wielder to use the other bodies to increase its field of vision and it's shared between all the bodies."

Tsunade leaned forward a little more.

"So what you're saying is that each body sees what the others see?"

"Yes."

TenTen gave Naruto a look of disbelief.

"How the hell is that possible? The information overload to the brain would be astronomical. Who could possibly process and sort that kind of information? How could you be sure of which body is seeing what?"

Naruto shrugged and gave her a helpless look.

"I dunno. I just know that's what Itachi told me. Each body shares views with the other bodies. So let's say each one is hiding at a different point where two hallways intersect. They can see each side of the hallways and each can plan on how to strike."

Jiraiya nodded, getting a better feel for his opponent.

"How do they communicate with each other?"