Sasori Gaiden/Akatsuki Gaiden/What if Sasori survived? (Naruto)

by khatai

Summary:

Deidara is chased while abducting gaara. Sasori fends off Sakura & Chiyo in a very close fight. But what if Sasori didn't hesitate, and survived ? What would happen to the ninja world afterwards ? Consequences : things take a sudden turn for the worse, and the story diverges dramatically. Akatsuki makes different moves. New Jashin worshippers ? New Itachi/Jiraiya/Orochimaru/Danzo developments. Naruto becomes a new person and starts using new jutsus.
Official sponsor of this story : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7yYB5DC580&ab_channel=Riizki

Chapter 1: Closing Act

Sasori struck Sakura with his puppet's sword. But she heals herself while stabbed and tries to pull it out to heal properly. Sasori realizing he can't win in a contest of raw strength detaches his mechanical arm from the elbow to reveal another sword under it and lunges back into sakura. Chiyo, who was laying still, was waiting for that moment to deliver a surprise attack from both his flanks with his parent's puppets. Sasori sees it coming but surprisingly hesitates as a choice rose in his head :

"I could easily dodge this... or die in my parents' embrace ..."

In that instant, facing imminent death if he wishes to die by his parents' puppets, his life flashed before his eyes. He never thought he would have a moment like this in his mostly mechanical body, but his undying soul is still dwelling inside that shell.

"Deidara's influence is getting to my head. I can't believe I could consider a flashy death like that."

Sasori stops in his tracks and easily dodges the two puppets charging at him.

"I win, Granny. The girl is hit in a vital spot, and you have no antidote for my poison anymore."

Sasori watches and Sakura and Chiyo writhe on the ground and carefully approaches and stabs them.

Meanwhile, team Guy is still facing their clones individually.

"Neji! What's the situation in the cave ?" Guy asks.

[Byakugan]

"...I'm afraid Sakura and Lady Chiyo have been defeated ... Sasori is taking their bodies away"

" Shit ... What about Naruto and Kakashi ?"

"They're still chasing Deidara to get back Gaara."

"What a terrible situation. Let's hurry up and find a solution. We're getting worn out and time is not in our favor." Guy frowns, hands full with his own clone.

"Guy sensei. These clones copied the version of us from when we took out the seal. We have to evolve and be stronger than that version to beat them" Lee finds a plausible solution, and there is no time to think of something else. Fortunately, it does work out. Unfortunately, they did not make it in time and the Byakugan reveals that sasori is long gone, with only a dozen broken puppets left. And just as they thought they caught up to Deidara he seemingly explodes on the spot and disappears.

[Kamui]

Kakashi squeezes his last bits of chakra to fend off that attack. But the situation is still nothing short of a disaster.

A little further and a bit later

"Never thought my self exploding clone would be eaten too... I could flee with that as a diversion, but that jutsu is problematic... Anyway, all I lost was an elbow. I must look for my arm and ring."

After securing his limb and Akatsuki ring, Deidara uses the Astral Projection Jutsu to contact Pain and Sasori and rejoin the latter.

"Yo. Rough day, wasn't it ? Sasori master."

"I guess so. But it was worth the hassle."

"Lucky you. I barely got out alive and had to endure a troublesome jutsu. Hm."

"That's a win for my art, then."

"If it weren't for me, you wouldn't pull it off. Hm."

"That's true too."

"What's inside those 2 puppets, though ?"

"Those two's corpses. I'll make the girl into a puppet, that ridiculous strength is gonna be useful. As for Granny, It's less about combat but more about figuring out how to control her White Secret Technique."

"Gross. Scary. And at the same time beautiful. Hm."

"Indeed. What could've been the closing act has become the start of an even better play."

-----------{Outcome}-------------------------------

Sasori : Aquired Chikamatsu's 10 Puppets.

Gaara : Deceased.

Sakura : Deceased. Body made into Sasori's puppet.

Chiyo : Deceased. Body made into Sasori's puppet.

Deidara : Lost both limbs .

---------- Chapter 1 : End --------------------------

Chapter 2: Aftermath

"Sakura and the Kazekage ... are dead ?"

The unthinkable happened. News quickly propagated through the village. Some blame the Sand Village, some the Hokage for underestimating the Akatsuki. Amidst the chaos, one figure in the shadows of Konoha decided to act: Danzo, Head of Root, a subdivision of Anbu.

"You knew the Akatsuki already held him captive yet still sent units in there. Kakashi may be experienced, but those are S - Rank wanted ninjas. You went ahead and got your disciple killed."

"I don't need your bitter remarks now, Danzo. No one hates that outcome more than I do. What do you want ?"

"I'll be blunt. I don't think you're fit for that Hokage position, and this mistake is irredeemable. I'll be your assistant, and will be assigning Root units to monitor and assist you in your duties. Consider this is a threat and a blessing. You already messed up, and I'm doing you the favor of not letting you mess up again."

"What if I don't agree to this ?"

"That'll be an even bigger mistake from you, although the outcome would benefit for the leaf. For now, I'm letting you still take the reins, I will just occupy this post as a safety measure. My priority is always the village."

Tsunade stares the life out of Danzo, who doesn't flinch or give the slightest reaction. She is not completely sure of the extent of his power, but he is still someone shrouded in mysteries and the one who stole Shisui's eye, plus making a hasty, emotional move right now would just make it worse and prove she isn't fit for the seat. As annoyed as she is by the hard-line military faction's sudden emergence, she makes the best and most rational decision.

"Shizune. I'm stepping out." Tsunade violently storms out, followed by her trusted assistant.

"I suppose that settles it. We'll talk details tomorrow with team 7 and team Guy. Torune! Fu!"

"Yes, sir." Both Root ninjas emerge from the shadows kneeling before Danzo, then escort him back to Root HQ.

"Two Teams with their Jonin are barely even matched with an Akatsuki duo, and now they know their abilities. Either the quality of ninjas has dropped or the Akatsuki are a serious threat. Either way, actions must be taken. And we will not wait until a bigger disaster happens. And I'm not letting that happen."

Meanwhile, in an unknown Akatsuki hideout, Kakuzu meets up with Deidara to reattach his arms, while Sasori is next to them, tinkering with puppets and bodies.

"This scene is not for the faint of heart.. Ouch, careful with my nerves,there ..." Deidara handles the pain of having limbs fixed in an unconventional manner.

"Stop wussing, you should be glad you're able to feel pain. " Kakuzu says.

"If you don't like pain, consider a puppet body like mine, then." Retorts Sasori still fixing his puppets.

"I'll pass. Hm." Deidara swiftly declines.

" I have a suggestion, though. While you're still fixing your arm, why don't I add a touch of art to it ?" Sasori calmly suggests.

"Huh ? What is it ? I don't want those freaky mechanical arms, but something explosive is welcome."

"You already have a large-scale bomb. But your small scale arsenal could use an improvement. "

"And how do we plan of doing that."

"' A gun. In one or a few fingers. That will fire pellets of explosive clay faster, deadlier." A calm and ambitiously suggestive yet cold smile.

"Now THAT IS ART! Let's do that ! Hm !" Answered by an enthusiastic one.

And so both freaks tempering with life started working on the explosive cripple's arms. He who will soon be more explosion and less cripple. Sometimes, the contrasting artists agree on a few things.

Ten days after the incident. Sasori is supposed to meetup with one of his spies, the one he put in charge of monitoring Orochimaru. He shows up in Tenchi Bridge in his trusted, fixed and improved armored puppet Hiruko, not only for those reasons, but because he keeps his identity hidden at all times, and most importantly ... It's scary. He walks up and crosses the bridge every so slowly, in his heavy puppetry. A hooded figure approached from the opposite side and waits in the middle of the bridge until Sasori is near it .

"It's been a long time. Master Sasori." He reveals himself. It's Kabuto.

"Five years, right ?"

"Indeed. Any troubles getting here?" Sasori says in Hiruko's raspy and heavy puppet voice.

"None followed me, but still, I am risking my life being here.

"Alright. Let's make it quick."

"Yes. About what you ordered me to do. Even after his reincarnation, Orochimaru uses a jutsu to apply a protector to the cellular specimens discarded from his body. And therefore I was unable to analyze the cellular data."

"I see."

"Now please hand the item in question quickly. I can't hang around here any longer. If it's discovered that I'm meeting you like this, I'll be killed."

"Hmm." Sasori makes a wide movement, one that could easily be pulling an item or preparing an attack. As Kabuto prepares for whatever outcome follows, Orochimaru appears from behind him.

"Quite the interesting topic. Mind if I join ?" Orochimaru says in a smug manner. Kabuto jumps back to Sasori's side and... Gets captured.

"Huh ?" Kabuto still confused at the state of things, is caught in Sasori's grip. No possible escape.

"Moron. So you were indeed in cohorts with him."

"Now, now. I'd like to thank you for that boy. Creating one jutsu requires around a hundred human subjects. And his medical skills allowed me to reuse them several times... There's a great shortage you see... So would you be so kind as to ..." Orochimaru elongates and lunges his head with a sword for a tongue.

"... Give him back to me!"

Sasori deflects the blade with his scorpion tails and jumps away from the tight embrace of the snake's neck effortlessly.

"Quit the hostilities. I got something to ask, there's room for negotiations. Our goals are not so different."

"Oh ? What do you want to know?"

"That jutsu you used to reanimate the third kazekage when we last met. Tell me about it."

"Do you think I'll reveal a Hidden Forbidden Jutsu to a member of the Akatsuki that want to kill me for one medical ninja ?"

"Too bad then. That could have saved your life from us."

Sasori starts out with a classic array of throwing poisoned needles and kunais. Then gets out of hiruko and starts using one puppet after the other. Orochimaru skillfully dodged each projectile, occasionally moving like a snake but still employing minimal efforts. This wasn't the first time they met, so both know each other's tricks. Sasori however was waiting for a chance, and surely enough he got one. He pulls a string, one that was supposed to act as a signal for someone, hiding in the forest. That someone is none other than Deidara, who follows through and throws in a wave of miniature explosive clay creatures. Orochimaru evidently evades that and turns around to prepare for the inevitable jutsu that this charade is leading to. Sasori pulls out Chikomotsu's 10 puppets. 2 stand as his guard, then 3 activate [Three Jewels Suction Crushing Jutsu]. Caught between a rock and a hard place, Orochimaru throws a hand down, sheds his body and runs down the empty husk to the earth like a snake to escape.

"What is this ? I have no intel about these puppets or abilities. He was already troublesome, but now that's an entirely bigger issue." Orochimaru, still shocked at the sight, runs away with this thought.

Sasori gets back inside hiruko after calling back his arsenal.

"I was right not to use the sealing technique. That crafty madman would've escaped regardless. And I can't let him know about it until I get him with it." He thinks to himself

"Damned snake. " Deidara curses.

"Revolting individual. But whatever. We got something out of this at least" The something in question is Kabuto, bound and stifled, with utmost fear in his eyes, fully aware of what's coming.

"We'll just have to torture the intel out of our trusted spy." Declares Sasori, with the dreadful and fixated gaze of his armored puppet Hiruko on Kabuto's terrified eyes.

Chapter 3: Change of plans

A few days prior to the tenchi bridge meeting, back in the Hidden Leaf village. Only Naruto remains in team 7. Depressive and still shocked, he sits alone in a bench in the middle of the night, until Kakashi, who is supposed to be in the hospital resting, joins him. They both sit silently for a while before Naruto slowly utters a few words while tears are running down his face:

"Did we... make the wrong choice ? The one-tail was already extracted. Leaving Sakura and Granny against an Akatsuki member to chase a lost cause was pure madness... I hate myself for losing reason and going head first like an idiot. I can bring back Sasuke, but Sakura ..."

"Don't blame yourself. We were all assigned to this mission and as your teacher, I'm responsible for this ... Here." Kakashi splits an ice cream with Naruto, while failing to hide his sadness. Naruto lazily takes it and holds it down, eyes still staring down in tears.

"This is the second time I fail to protect a kunoichi close to me." Hearing Kakashi say such a thing makes Naruto briefly forget about the moment and ask him:

"When was the first time ?"

"In the third war. When the Fourth was the Jonin assigned to us before being hokage. Our team consisted of me, an Uchiha named Obito, and a kunoichi named Rin. Much like you three, although you're more similar to Obito. Back in the war, Obito saved us from a cave collapsing but couldn't save himself and got half his body crushed ,then gave me the [Sharigan] you see here before the rest of the rocks fell and buried him. As for Rin, she was kidnapped by Hidden Mist ninjas and made as a Jinchuuriki for the Three-tails. Later on, in the middle of a battle with overwhelming Hidden Mist Ninja numbers, she died by my hand, jumping in front to sacrifice herself and not let the Three-tails damage Konoha. "

Naruto's weeping eyes widen upon learning this, still silent. Kakashi continues.

"We can't change the past but there's something we can do about the future to avoid these scenarios from happening again. I'm sure you know what that is."

"Get stronger.."

"Correct. And I thought of something to help you with that, something only you can pull off."

"What is it ?" Naruto's eyes lit up.

"I'll tell you later. Let's rest up for now." Kakashi notice a slight but hopeful relief in Naruto's expression, but not one that lightens the burden on his own mind. The night goes on as both brood their loss, but feel closer now as they're similar in a way.

On the other side of the village however, in Root HQ. Danzo assigns a secret mission to Sai, who was bound to fill the gap in team 7, but that gap just widened with Sakura's death. The hokage puts Yamato - a wood-release specialist to control the Nine-tails- on standby, until further instructions.

Further from Konoha, a vexed Orochimaru comes back to his hideout, uncordially greeted by Sasuke.

"You're late. You were supposed to be here earlier and teach me that jutsu."

"I encountered an Akatsuki member on the way... And he's become far more of a threat than I remember."

"Where's Kabuto ?"

"He was taken . They might figure out the hideout from him so we better move out."

"Tsk."

Time goes on. Naruto learns his new Jutsu under Kakashi and Yamato's surpervision as things are stirring up inside Konoha with Root's involvement, as well as outside it with Akatsuki's movements.

Meanwhile, Hidan & Kakuzu kidnap the Two-tails' host, then head back to the land of fire. Their next mission , killing Chiriku for his bounty proceeds smoothly, contrasting with the violence they unleashed on the temple. Not so long after, Team Asuma accompanied by the Konoha Gate Duo head to the Collection Office to intercept the Akatsuki members trying to cash out on the 30 million, but end up losing Asuma in the process. A mistake - too little manpower dispatched in time to deal with a mission involving the Akatsuki - once again, and as such the pressure grows heavier on Tsunade. As the situation was being reported by the involved members, Danzo intervenes.

"Sending two teams again ? Not under my watch. Starting from now, the equivalent of three shinobi teams must be dispatched for Akatsuki related missions. As such, I am forcefully assigning Root units to any cases like this. Any objection ?"

Shikamaru wouldn't object to more manpower foe his vengeance and tsunade complies. And their search for Hidan & Kakuzu starts. They did day they will comeback, but when and from where is another matter.

In the meantime, somewhere in a cave in the land of fire, another Akatsuki meeting is ongoing.

"This idiot talked too much. The hidden villages already know we're after the Jinchuurikis but he said we'd be coming back to the Hidden Leaf " Kakuzu reports the situation to their leader, aiming the remark at his loose-lipped partner, the two being the only ones physically present this time.

"So you're suggesting a change of plans ?" The leader's silhouette takes into consideration.

"Right. They've got quite problematic Jutsus in the Hidden Leaf."

"Also, the bearded guy said we move in teams of two. So we might want to surprise them." Hidan adds, to make up for his mistake.

"I also have some news." Announces Sasori." A little while ago I caught the spy that I sent for Orochimaru. Turns out the Mind Control Jutsu was broken off long ago, and that he was working with him all along. I am still keeping him alive, paralyzed with the poison. Should I torture intel out of him ?"

"No that won't be needed. Excellent work, everyone." The leader - Pain - assesses the situation.

"Here are you next instructions. Tobi is to bring Kabuto to me. Afterwards, Sasori and Deidara will join Kakuzu and Hidan on their way to the Hidden Leaf and try to get the Nine-tails Jinchuuriki."

"In that regard. I have a request." Itachi breaks his usual silence.

"That's unusual from you. What is it?" Pain says.

"Orochimaru is accompanied by my brother. I would like to know any information in that regard." Itachi clearly hints that he wants to deal with Sasuke.

"Very well, then. With this, the meeting is concluded. Dismissed."

Chapter 4: Field Study

Tobi comes out of the swirling of his space-time jutsu and meets up with Deidara & Sasori not too far from the land of fire's border.

"Where's Kabuto ?" inquires Tobi.

Sasori opens up one puppet's inside to reveal a paralyzed and completely broken Kabuto.

"He'll still be paralyzed for a little while though."

"No worries. Good work. Join Kakuzu & Hidan now." Tobi absorbs Kabuto's Body through his eye and follows him in the swirl afterwards.

"We'll be on our way then." Sasori turns and heads to the Hidden Leaf.

"Yo, master Sasori... This jutsu was the same one Kakashi used to chase me earlier; though he couldn't use it as often or phase through things like Tobi does. Hm." Deidara points out.

"Space-time ninjutsu, huh... Might want to devise something against it." Sasori ponders, then asks Deidara. "Your style is pretty straight-forward. How do you deal with such gimmicks ?"

"I was flying away and moving around before it could suck me whole. He cast it from far away, but was still able to accurately aim at me. I was able to partially dodge it, and it luckily only got my arm. But things might not go so smoothly next time. Hm."

"So movement then... It's true that puppet users are limited in terms of mobility." Sasori looks up, opens his Puppet Hiruko's mouth and accurately shoots down an eagle with one Senbon. It falls right in his hands. He then attaches chakra strings to it.

"Defiling corpses again. How unethical." Deidara looks curiously, although all three of his mouths disgusted at what's coming next.

"I have to study flying dynamics and this is the fastest way to do it while walking."

"We could be flying to Kakuzu and Hidan. And here I thought you hated waiting. Hm."

"We already went over this. They have intel about our two-man teams, so we're going to ambush them. Flying is just going to alert them. Good grief... you're terrible at covert operations." Sasori answers Deidara and gets back into his 'study'. He plugs and unplugs chakra threads all over the eagle's body, and makes it move certain parts everytime. Slowly but surely making progress, a few of the bird's muscles twitch, then move. A few maneuvers later, he starts flapping the eagle's wings, but no flight yet. Making the wings flap harder didn't amount to anything either.

"Hm. What am I missing ?"

"You're too used to puppets and their mechanical movements, master Sasori. Even I can clearly see that all you do is flap the wings. To fly, you need to use its whole body accordingly, its whole body! "

Sasori, not shifting his gaze from the bird, heeds his partner's advice, and sure enough it worked, althought briefly. The bird makes a wobbly flight, with Sasori pulling on its string like a kite.

"Oooh... Good stuff, master Sasori ! Just like that ! Hm."

In that moment of enthusiasm, he makes the wings flap harder to give it momentum and stabilize it. It works for a few seconds, but eventually ends up breaking a wing's joint.

"This is fun. I'm getting the hang of it. I'll prototype a miniature version." Sasori says, with a rare smile on his face. He then summons a few puppets, slices a clean cylinder shaped stump out of a tree, and puppet parts out of that stump with an insane swiftness and precision.

"His eyes... He's totally into it. He's in the zone. Ah, how that makes me jealous as a fellow artist." Deidara thinks to himself in both admiration and tingling sense of rivalry.

Sasori splits a giant rock horizontally, stops momentarily to assemble a few pieces together, occasionally poking holes and inserting strings. He casually strips a few leaves and weaves them into his little puppet's wings, making sure the proportions are matching with the real thing.

"Alright let's see." Chakra strings attached. The headless prototype flies.

"Remember, only flap at first. Then the rest is mostly gliding." Deidara throws in a lightweight instruction, helping but not interrupting Sasori', whose gaze and focus are on his creation, yet he didn't fail to absorb the advices he's given. The puppet glides on the wind smoothly.

"Good. Good. Now, let's add a little something." Sasori inserts a head and a tail to it. The change of weight causes it to lose balance and barely take off.

"A bit more on the wings then." And this time surely, it flies, in the most elegant way yet.

"Experiment complete. Great success. Let's pick up the pace a bit, Deidara. Still stealthy."

On the other side of the world, in the Hidden Rain village. Tobi comes swirling out of his one-eyed mask, presenting with him Kabuto.

"Here's the spy Sasori sent. That should give a hint about Orochimaru's wereabouts."

"Good work. The rest is up to me." Pain brings forward Ningendo - Path of the Human - and lays his palm on Kabuto's head.

"Hooh... Now that's a jackpot. Sasori did well." After getting all intel, he extracts his soul and inevitably kills him.

Meanwhile, in the Hidden Sand village, things took a grim turn. On top of the poor economy, Gaara's death marked the Third time a Kazekage gets assassinated, and losing the One-Tail only makes things worse. The top brass, not wanting to make another mistake like the Third Kazekage's assasination, hesitated in sending manpower and left matters in Konoha's hands. Anti-kazekage groups who were lying low are more furious than ever, demanding a stronger Kazekage, and stronger shinobi overall. Temari, Kankuro and the Chiyo's brother, are contemplating possible solutions to this disaster, and solutions must come sooner rather than later, as the village's situation is dire. And by a stroke of fate, a mysterious silhouette appears in front of them...

Chapter 5: Unforeseen

In the land of fire, Hidan and Kakuzu have been spotted and intercepted. They've been separated as Shikamaru drags Hidan to the Nara Clan Forest, while Kakuzu is fending off what remains of teams 7 and 10. But the situation degenerated, and to everyone's surprise, Naruto has mastered a deadly Jutsu in a short period. As a result, Kakuzu is in a precarious situation.

"What is that jutsu? If I get hit by that I'm doomed." Kakuzu realizes the danger and gets ready to dodge it.

However, he was not the only one.

"Art is an explosion." A few explosions serve to disrupt Naruto's process.

"Yo. We meet again. Nine-tails, Kakashi."

"Deidara ?! I thought they only moved in teams of two. This is problematic." Kakashi is stunned.

"You. It's time for payback. Where's your damned partner ?" Naruto screams in rage, barely able to move after using Rasen-Shuriken.

"This is bad! Shikamaru might be in trouble. Choji, Ino, join him at once." They try following the order but are cut off by explosive clay.

"You're not going anywhere. Hm."

As the Konoha crew contemplated sending Yamato, a Naruto blinded by anger starts to lose control and give in to the Nine-tails, releasing four tails at once, then five. Yamato is forced to control him. And with everyone else tired from fighting Kakuzu, the worst could happen if Shikamaru is ambushed by Deidara's partner. When it looked like all hope was lost. A crew of numerous Anbu and Root members emerges.

"Orders from Lord Danzo. Hatake Kakashi, report the situation." One of the masked men inquires.

"We're fighting Akatsuki members. Deidara just appeared and his Partner Sasori whereabouts are unknown, he might be in the Nara forest as we speak. Hidan was taken away by Shikamaru there. Yamato is containing Naruto's Nine-tails. Choji, Ino and I are exhausted, Kakuzu died twice but only lost two out of five of his hearts instead."

"Roger. Root division, assist Nara Shikamaru. Frog division tends to the present members' wounds under Bear division's protection. Falcon division, hunt down Deidara and Kakuzu."

"Roger." The crew disperses, each doing their assigned mission.

"Heh. Looks like they brought reinforcements too. Take this." Deidara throws an array of explosive clay animals towards the Konoha team.

[Earth Style: Mud wall ]

The Anbu Bear division units easily parry it in a joint effort. Simultaneously the Falcon division units assault the flying Deidara.

[ Wind Style: Tornado trap]

Deidara's bird is stuck in the eye of the storm, he tries to leave but it knocks him back inside.

[Fire Style: Fire Ball]

The second Falcon division member ignites the tornado to a giant whirling inferno. Deidara counters it by brute forcing his way out, exploding a set point of the tornado and getting out in the smoke.

[Water style: Water Jet] x [Lightning style: Lightning beast tracking fang]

Deidara's bird effortlessly dodges around.

"Deidara. Let's get a couple of hearts from these as a replacement." Kakuzu hints at the Anbu units.

Meanwhile, Shikamaru proceeds as planned.He drags Hidan to the Nara clan forest and uses him to destroy one of Kakuzu's hearts. He dismantles him in the giant hole afterward.

"Lord Jashin will punish you for this. A greater judgment will be handed down by Jashin himself !"

"That doesn't scare me. We believe in different things. I believe in the will of fire. But your god is not that stupid Jashin or anything. Right now your god is me. And I will hand judgment."

"Such blasphemous words from a mortal with his mortal body." An unexpected voice echoes in the forest, as its source reveals itself from the shadows. It's Sasori, who throws a stack of needles at Shikamaru as a greeting.

"Impossible. No one can enter the forest without permission. How did you get here ?" Shikamaru is dumbfounded at the Akatsuki member's presence. Indeed, Sasori was unable to access the forest without permission, so he forcibly caught one of the deers that were standing and watching him. The deers, being allies of the Nara clan, can choose who to allow inside. He then inserted a needle in its brain to manipulate it and let him in, eventually leading him to where Hidan is.

"Who knows? Maybe it's my divine privilege as both of you's god. Now, it's time to hand judgment."

"HAHA, Sasori, my man. You're a lifesaver, I'm here. My limbs are scattered but I can wait. Hu- "

"Shut up." Sasori interrupts Hidan's enthusiastic remarks by throwing a needle imbued with a numbing agent.

"Uh.. urk.."

"Wait there silently until I'm done with this kid."

[Shadow Bind Technique]

Shikamaru squeezes his last resources to immobilize Sasori.

"Futile. You're out of chakra and poisoned." Sasori confidently declares as, the weak shadow bindings come undone.

"Shit ..." Shikamaru's consciousness fades.

On the other battlefield, Deidara and Kakuzu are fending off an endless stream of jutsus.

"Ah, man there's no end. I'm running out of clay. "

"Prepare to retreat, Deidara. Let's take the Lightning Style bastard though, I need to replace one of my hearts."

The Akatsuki duo unleashes a joint attack of explosive clay, fire and wind jutsu. The Bear division puts up protective layers but still gets overwhelmed by the firepower, cornering the Anbu Lightning user and damaging him. But as they were about to drop down and take him, he set himself on fire, a standard suicide instruction to avoid leaking intel. The remaining Falcon division units keep up the assault. Amidst the smoke, the Water style Anbu user gets caught by Kakuzu's threads, with any possible movement or action completely sealed, and is taken away as they fly from it

"Can't kill yourself now. I wanted the Lightning style but Water is fine too." Kakuzu declares.

The remaining Anbu units were about to pursue but were halted by Kakashi.

"Stop it. Our priority now is Naruto's safety. We can't beat them anyway like this."

"Roger. Falcon division, join Root units. Frog and Bear guard teams 7 and 10, then escort them to the village as soon as Uzumaki Naruto is subdued."

"Yes." They proceed as instructed.

In the Nara Forest, the Root units are unable to proceed, and deers stare at them. Fu advances.

"I got this."

[Mind Transfer Jutsu]

He possesses the deer's body and instinctively hints at the other ones to allow his teammates to advance, as they're here to support Shikamaru. After a few hundred meters, a thread gets pulled by one of the Root units and weapons are thrown at the location. A basic trap that's easily deflected.

"We must be close then." Shortly after, they arrive at the scene. An unconscious Shikamaru is about to be stabbed by Sasori. The Root units throw countless projectiles and push Sasori back.

"Here I was feeling proud of infiltrating this forest. "

"Sasori of the Red Sands. You're different from the Bingo book's description." A natural reaction, since he's described as frail and red haired, while what they're seeing in front of them is only his puppet shell, Hiruko.

"So? Surely you don't plan on taking me on with these numbers." Sasori scoffs at the lack of manpower.

"Anbu Falcon division, here to support. What's the situation ?" Reinforcements come, guided by the deers who were instructed earlier to allow them in.

"We rescued Nara Shikamaru before he was killed, but he's visibly still poisoned. Hidan's wereabouts are unknown. The man in front of us is Sasori of the Red Sands."

"In that case: Retreat." The two teams withdraw as they cannot take him on, ensuring Shikamaru's safety. Sasori in turn gets out of the forest, greeted by a flying Deidara and Kakuzu. He hops on the clay bird and asks:

"Did you get the Jinchuuriki ?" Sasori asks.

"No, they brought too much manpower. Speaking of which, Deidara you moron. Why didn't you tell us the Nine-tails Jinchuuriki had that insanely strong Jutsu ?" Kakuzu scolds his pilot.

"I don't know anything about it, man. This is my first time seeing it too. " Deidara retorts.

"He's a reckless idiot so he would have used it the first time he saw you. That means he learned it in such a short period. He might become a handful if we leave him for too long." Kakuzu deduces.

"What of him now ?" Sasori inquires.

"He went apeshit after seeing me and now they're controlling him, haha." Deidara answers jokingly.

"I see. In that case, I have an idea. Deidara, let's go back to where he is."

"Master Sasori, you're a naughty one. Hm." Deidara flies back to Naruto's location.

Concurrently, Yamato tamed the Nine-tails' chakra for the most part. As he was about to let go, he heard a call from above.

"Heeello Nine-tails' Jinchuuriki. There is someone who wishes to see you."

A tired Naruto looks up slowly to the air, and his eyes instantly clear up and madden up in a flash.

It's Sakura. Or rather her puppet, standing next to Akatsuki members in the same cloak, an ill-fit, but still a beautiful picture in its contrast.

Upon seeing her, Naruto loses all reason and the chakra that was already a hassle to control is now going haywire. Five tails. Six tails.

"What a nasty prank, damn them." Yamato hurriedly amplifies the degree of his tailed beast sealing jutsu and tries to restrain Naruto's Nine-tails chakra again.

"Bastard." Kakashi reveals his Mangekyo Sharingan.

[Kamui]

Space warps around the Akatsuki squad riding the clay bird.

"Ah, shit. This damned Jutsu again, my arms didn't even finish healing." Deidara gripes about it and flies away.

"Hooh. The Nine-tails more troublesome than expected. Completely unlike the rest." Sasori.

"At least we gauged his strength now. Speaking of which , where's Hidan?"

"He's a puzzle right now, and I would rather not solve it until later on. This way we won't have to deal with his yapping ." Sasori shows pieces of a paralyzed Hidan, gathered inside a puppet.

"What a moron. Losing to a small fry twice." Kakuzu mocks his partner.

"Sigh. We're going back empty handed.Hm." says Deidara in a disappointed tone.

"I wouldn't say that. I implanted a brainwashing jutsu on the kid in the forest." Sasori

"That's good news. Hope we get some useful intel before they figure it out. Hidden Leaf ninjas have some troublesome eyes, after all." Kakuzu commends the one good outcome of this mission.

"I could use this downtime. I have a few prospects in mind. How thrilling." Sasori thinks to himself.

-------------- {Outcome}--------------

Shikamaru : Alive, poison was easily dissipated. Under Sasori's sand brainwashing jutsu.

Hidan : In pieces, paralyzed.

Kakuzu : Lost 2 of his hearts and gained a new one.

Anbu : 1 deceased, 1 kidnapped.

Naruto : Mastered Rasenshuriken. Nine-tails' chakra was subdued by Yamato after a short while.

---------------{Chapter : end}---------------

Chapter 6: Bombshell

The sun is setting. A few silhouettes lurk about a visibly empty area, with nothing but rock.

"It's here." Says the hooded figure as it places its palm on the rocky surface.

"Are you fine on your own ?"

"Yes. You can head back now" The silhouettes scatter.

Simultaneously. A sickly Orochimaru looks at his room door is opened slightly.

"Who's there?" He asks as he coughs a concerning amount of blood. But instead of an answer, all he received in return was a Chidori Spear aimed at his heart, through the door. Orochimaru blocks with his hands. Sasuke cuts down the door,

"Sasuke..."

"End of the line, Orochimaru. I don't need you anymore. You wanted the sharingan right ? But you couldn't fight Itachi. That's why you targeted me, the hatchling. Isn't that right ? You've been toying with life left and right." Sasuke then lunges and pushes the spear deeper, which Orochimaru deflects enough to miss him.

"You disgust me."

Orochimaru opens his mouth and fling himself out of it. Revealing his true form, a giant white snake. But that wasn't enough, as Sasuke cuts him up multiple times in various locations, but something is wrong, and Sasuke feels weakened. Orochimaru's blood in this snake form evaporates in the air and becomes a poisonous cloud. Orochimaru then lunges and starts his body swap ritual, sending both their consciousnesses in his world of snakes to take over him. However, Sasuke unexpectedly overpowers him in his own domain.

"That can't be. I created this dimension. This is my own domain. I'm the one destined to know everything ..."

"Orochimaru. In front of these eyes, you... Actually, you know the rest."

Sasuke takes over. Or so was supposed to happen, but a sharp pain snaps him back. He's stabbed and bound by mysterious black creatures.

"Who... are you..." Sasuke slowly glances over, It's a face he's never seen before.

"Lord Orochimaru. I have a message for you from Lord Danzo." A cold-hearted Root unit by the name of Sai makes a surprise entrance and tips the scales in Orochimaru's favor. With this, his two missions of getting rid of Sasuke and contacting Orochimaru are both successful.

"And I hope you don't mind this, but I had orders to kill Uchiha Sasuke. This much is non-negotiable."

"How did you find this place ?" A glad but nonetheless curious Orochimaru asks.

"It was hard tracking you, but one of the Hidden Leaf's Anbu units spotted you moving, supposedly while changing hideouts. Luckily, we took care of things in time." Taking care of things entailing the death of that Anbu unit and reporting the sighting, all in secrecy. "But I digress. Am I interrupting something ?"

"Hahaha..." The snake laughs softly. "In a sense... But your timing couldn't be more perfect. Wait for me outside. We'll talk after I am done here." Orochimaru laughs his heart out before resuming his goal.

In another one of Orochimaru's hideouts meanwhile, a hostile figure is laying waste to all everything he sees, ranging from disgusting experiments, weird liquids, humanoid forms. The man in the one eyed mask is done looking in every nook and cranny of the hideout, and for the second time he found nothing but empty shells of what used to be human, but not the author of this madness.

"Digusting."

He heads out. And as the timing wills it, an Akatsuki meeting is notified to its member. One after the other, they join. Still a full house, with the exception of Hidan.

"You're late" Pain lightly scolds team Kisame for the delay.

"We just captured the Four-tails and had to tie him up." Kisame answers for it.

"Where's Hidan ?" Kisame asks.

"In pieces. He was messed by a single Hidden Leaf ninja, when they went out for the Nine-tails. We're wondering whether to stitch him back or not. Hm." Deidara declares, in a slightly mocking tone.

"Sashimi ?" Tobi asks like a child.

"Sashimi." Deidara confirms like a parent.

"Sashimi!" The child is excited.

"Speaking of which, did you capture him ? Surely you didn't fail with 4 members on the mission." Pain, still stern, refocuses everyone on the subject.

"Unfortunately not. Sasori and I were supposed to ambush, but Hidan was taken and beaten by one guy, while Kakuzu had to fend off two cells on his own. Sasori went to retrieve Hidan and I intervened before Kakuzu was hit by that ... thing..."

Deidara struggles to find the words as he makes a swirling movement with his finger, vaguely alluding to Rasenshuriken but Kakuzu continues for him.

"A high density Jutsu. If I got hit by it, I would probably have died on the spot. I had already lost 2 hearts fighting the other kids."

"And he didn't use it against me. Knowing he's a reckless idiot, he wouldn't have hidden it when back when we first fought. So he must have learned it in this short time. Hm."

"So ? That still doesn't explain why you didn't capture the Nine-tails." Pain retorts with clear discontent in his tone.

"They were joined by four cells of the Hidden Leaf's Anbu police forces. Luckily, the Jinchuuriki started losing control after seeing Deidara. We waited until Sasori was done, and came back, but the Nine-tails ran amok and was too much to handle. " Kakuzu sums up the situation.

"We captured one of Anbu's members before he killed himself like the other one. " Deidara adds."

"Tobi will bring him to me. Anything else ?"

"I cast my brainwashing jutsu on the kid that got Hidan. This way we can get more intel on the leaf. At least before they figure it out. I'm slightly to blame for letting the Nine-tails run wild, though. I needed to gauge his power." Sasori give one more piece of good news before Pain call off the meeting.

"That's better than nothing then. At least no one died. Dism-"

"Urgent news ! " Zetsu burst into the meeting.

"Uchiha Sasuke is dead. He was swallowed by Orochimaru."

Tobi whistles.

"Well, well..." Kisame follows.

"Oi, oi ..." Sasori expects the worst.

"Now that's a bombshell." Deidara inappropriately adds.

The mood completely shifted. Itachi that was quiet all this time is now the center of attention.

His hologram stayed still for a couple seconds that felt like an eternity. And when everyone was expecting a reaction. He left.

----------- {Outcome }-----------

Sasuke : Deceased. Body and abilities taken by Orochimaru.

Four tails : Captured .

Hidan : Whereabouts unknown.

-------- { Chapter : End } ----------

Chapter 7: Regrets

The last bits of Sasuke's consciousness are echoing in Orochimaru's.

"Naruto... Sakura ... Kakashi... Did I make a mistake ? Was my path wrong ?

Why did Itachi do what he did ? Why did we both have to live this way ...

Shit... I'm sorry, mom, dad, Naruto. In the end, I couldn't accomplish anything..."

The dead boy's voice quiets down.

"That poor boy died with so many regrets. It's a shame, but he did come on his own volition.

Don't worry, Sasuke boy, I'll put this body of yours to good use."

"Regrets, huh... I wonder what that's like." Sai asks a peculiar question.

"Oh ? You've never felt it ?"

"We're trained to discard our emotions very early in Root. Lord Danzo says they might complicate or interfere with missions' success, so it's better to get rid of them altogether."

"I see. Good old Danzo never changes. It's true that they sometimes get in the way, but removing them altogether is such a waste. After all, love, hate and grief are such potent and powerful motivators. Take a look at poor Sasuke and how his hate for his brother made him so powerful."

"And what's regret ?"

"It's a bitter, constricting feeling when someone's action gives birth to unwanted consequences; making them wish they didn't do it in the first place."

"Isn't that useless, though ? You can't change the past, and this same regret might bring something worse than if you've let things go."

"That might be true. Humans are foolish creatures, but there's a lot to learn to bad choices."

"Do you have any regrets ?"

"I wonder... It has been a while since I last thought about this kind of thing."

"You're about to have plenty of regrets, alright." An unannounced third party joins the conversation.

Sai throws a kunai at the voice's location. Infiltrating is something, but getting so close while remaining completely undetected is something new.

"Who's there ?" Sai readies his tanto.

"Looks like your little group did squeeze the intel from Kabuto. I've been waiting for someone to come. "

[Super Beast Imitation Scroll (Choju Giga)]

Sai summons Ink lions, ready to pounce to the intruder's location; above their heads.

"It has been a while, Orochimaru." A black puddle with barely visible eyes gazes down. It's Black Zetsu.

"Zetsu, huh... What brings you here ? Surely you didn't come all this way just to say hi. Or maybe congratulate me."

"Not too far from that, actually. What do you plan on doing now ? Get your revenge on us ?"

"Hardly. I have no much interest left for Akatsuki. My main goal remains unchanged. To master every Jutsu and through it learn about the truth of the world. And for that, I needed a fitting, potent and durable body."

"I see. The truth of the world and omnipotence, on top of immortality. ln that case, your goal isn't far from ours."

"Oh my. Surely you're not asking me to come back ?" Orochimaru squints his snake eyes, doubting and questioning Black Zetsu's interests; He feels something is off.

"No. But you might be the one to fulfill a certain... prophecy." Black Zetsu smiles wide, knowing full well he will spike Orochimaru's interest. And he sure did.

"Interesting. You've got my attention now. Although very little would surprise me at this point." His enthusiastic smile widens.

"You might be... but not in your current state. You may have found a proper vessel, but we both know you're still incomplete as one who seeks such heights. And I know of your potential much more than you do, but this is enough for now. "

"Out already ? You didn't even tell me about the prophecy"

"We'll speak again at in another time. When you're ready and the time is right. As for regrets... I think you already know Itachi is not going to let this slide. You better be careful..." Zetsu melts in the shadows; his words echoing in the room and minds of Orochimaru and Sai.

"Good grief... I was barely starting to savor my new body, and he had to remind me of Itachi... Though, I wonder if I could take him on now."

"I only heard of his exploits at Anbu and his Bingo Book case. What sort of person is he like ?"

"You can never know what's on his mind. He's always calm, and his decisiveness is chilling."

"I see." Sai sheaths back his tanto and stores back his scrolls.

"That'll be all, Sai. Return to your room. I need to relax on my own for a while. We'll get to the deal with Danzo tomorrow."

"Alright." Sai calmly leaves and head to his assigned room in the hideout.

Orochimaru loosens his bandages and approaches the mirror to gaze upon his new face; a mix of his eyes and hair length with sasuke's face features and rest of the body. The moment has come.

[Sharingan]

"At last. What a beauty. With this, copying Jutsus will be infinitely easier." Orochimaru stares for a short while - smiling throughout it - then heads back to his working table. "

"Now, going back to the most important research..." Orochimaru ruffles through his documents and scrolls and reveals a few that share an ominous name... [Reaper Death Seal].

Meanwhile, in the Hidden Leaf, it's late in the afternoon. Naruto is supposed to meet up with Kakashi in the training ground. As the latter is usually late to meetings, Naruto was expecting to wait for a long time again. Yet this time, it wasn't the case. Something is off. He came in time. In fact a little earlier than what was agreed upon. And most importantly, he looks pissed off. Naruto is scared and taken aback.

"Kakashi... sensei ?" He hesitantly asks what's wrong.

"We have to talk." He says without a shadow of pleasantry, eyes still serious while Naruto is trying to figure out what's wrong and somewhere deep inside, he hopes this is all a joke.

"Ready up." Kakashi dashes to him. Naruto tries to heed the hostile advice and jumps back. Kakashi catches up and ...

"Lesson Number 1 : Taijutsu." ... Swiftly throws a powerful punch to Naruto's guts.

"Uuuurgh..." A confused Naruto is in as much confusion as pain, wondering wether or not his insides aren't damaged from that, and why that would happen. But there was no time for that, and gets ready to parry the incoming onslaught. They exchange punches and blocks, but Kakashi inevitably wins it out and violently pummels his student. And on another powerful hit, he sends him flying.

"Lesson Number 2 : Ninjutsu. Ready up your Rasenshuriken." Naruto has no time to think and follows the order. But as he readies it, he gets interrupted by a hail of Fire-style jutsu and weapons from all sides. Kakashi then comes from underground with his Earth-style jutsu and hits him again.

"Do something about this. No one is going to see just powerful jutsu being prepared and let it take place, let alone let you come close to hit it." Naruto stands up, humiliated and awaits the next hit.

"Lesson Number 3 : Genjutsu " Kakashi shows Naruto a vision of himself; Of how he had multiple options at his disposal but all he did was be blinded by rage and let the Nine-tails take over when facing the Akatsuki. A disappointing developement, especially after he just mastered a powerful jutsu. Naruto embarassingly looks at himself, all that jutsu did was be deflected by an explosion and cause minor damage to his arms. Regreting how short-tempered he is.

"Starting now, I'm putting all your trainings on hold until you can control yourself. And that's not all. Here's the real deal." Kakashi puts up another Genjutsu. This time it's Sasuke's silhouette.

"I already know..." Says Naruto, until sasuke's dark silhouette turns around and reveals different, sinister, but familiar eyes : Orochimaru's.

"No you don't. Sasuke is dead. Orochimaru took his body."

Naruto freezes in place. "That's a lie... right ?"

Chapter 8: Giant Wave

A puppet's flying. But a puppet flying is nothing new. They're attached to chakra threads, keeping them dangling in the air. But this time, something is different; this one is flying using wings. Up, right, left, up, down, right, left, left again, up down, left right, quick successions, up right diagonal, forward dash, backwards, small sidesteps.

"Good. It's ready to wear." Sasori separates the wings from the puppet's hand strings, and the puppet's string from his own. He then attaches chakra threads to the wings to test out flying on his main body; or rather, the current puppet in his image that holds his core.

"Alright. Let's take off." Similarily, the flying session goes flawlessly. Sasori glides around with ease.

"Perfect. Now for the real test." Sasori throws a stone on a wooden target, which tilts it down like a level and engages the trap. This throws a few projectiles in Sasori's way. Up, down left, right, turnaround. He dodged it all midair effortlessly.

"Good. Next." A second stone is thrown at a second target-lever for a second trap. This time, the projectiles are faster and more numerous. He picks up the pace and dodges around in while staying afloat, occasionally parrying one or two every hundred, with either a sword out of his palm, or one of his wing's blades.

"Not bad. Now for the last step." A third trap is triggered. This time, at least 30 times more projectiles are thrown his way, with significantly more speed than the previous two times. Sasori sets two out of his four wings slightly around him - blades protruding from them - and starts spinning them at a high rate, while the other two keep him afloat and steering while airborne, all while parrying everything that comes his way. The hail of projectiles eventually wears off, the spinning gradually wears off and puppet master slowly lands in the middle of a sea of deadly weapons, unscathed.

"Art... is Everlasting."

"Art... is an explosion." Boom. Deidara makes it a contest of Art - in his own way - as he saw Sasori shine in action and felt challenged as a fellow artist. He readies his new weapon, a semi-prosthetic finger linked to the mouth in his palm. From the latter, he kneads clay in its hollow cylindrical shape, sucks it in and forms a spear in his hand. With this, he unlocks a deadly projectile - an explosive spear - and is currently training shooting them accurately. A fast learner as he is, it won't take long for him to be proficient.

As both finished their stuns, they exchange gazes; questioning each other's definition of art - for the thousandth time - but nonetheless feeling good about it, they both mutually contributed to their partner's art : Sasori with Deidara's wing guidance, and Deidara with his new weapon.

"Now that the wings are done, time for the main dish." Sasori loses no time and gets ready to start his next puppet; until he hears a messenger hawk's sound.

"Eh, what a bad timing. " Sasori grumble until he notices something odd.

"Hold on... this sound... a hawk ... from the Hidden Sand village ?"

The hawk lands on top of Hiruko's open shell.

"One of your spies ?" asks Deidara.

"Most likely. But this is unusual." Sasori opens the little scroll and reads it. Surprised and wary at first, his expression slowly changes to stern, then neutral, then start lightly smiling and gradually it turns into a fit of laughter.

"Hahahaha. I see, I see. Well, this is certainly interesting. The Shinobi world is a sea and a giant wave is about to crash. " Sasori declares, very amused by the little scroll's content.

"Hoh ? I'm intrigued now. Hm."

As fate would have it, an Akatsuki meeting is notified.

"Eh, what a good timing."

One by one the silhouettes appear in front of the lantern. Most the members are present.

"Any news about Itachi ?" Pain starts things.

"He said he needs sometime alone." Kisame replies.

"I see. That's very unlike him."

"Leave it to me! I'll fetch him." Tobi asks pain to entrust that mission to him.

"Very well. And Hidan ?"

"Oh." Sasori forgot about him.

"Oh oh." So did Deidara.

"Oh oh oh. Sashimi-san is gonna be pissed." Tobi playfully adds.

"Just keep that fool scattered until we need him." Kakuzu insists on the blessing of his absence.

"Patch him up, Kakuzu; we need him now. We're received some news that two more homicidal maniacs worshipping the same 'Jashin' god have appeared. You'll go with him and Kisame."

"Roger." Kisame accepts the mission with his usual shark smile.

"The Hidden Leaf placed the Nine-tails' host under high protection, so we'll have to force our way through later on. Sasori, Deidara : You'll try to subdue the Eight-tails host. Konan will assist you."

"Before that, I have something important to announce." Sasori breaks the monotony with an unusual statement.

"What is it ?"

"One of my spies contacted me from the Hidden Sand. There is an ongoing conflict to abolish nepotism and get a strong representative, no matter what. And it seems from Anti-Kazekage factions are opting for an extreme solution. In short... some people want me to be the acting Kazekage."

"That is pretty extreme. But will it even work ? You killed the Third and are part of Akatsuki that killed the fifth." Pain argues the idea, but doesn't seem against it.

"Who knows? It was no secret that the Hidden Sand had extreme training measures, one of which seemed to push the One-tails' Jinchuuriki to the brink of madness for a time. And with the Anti-Kazekage faction rising, the discontent with incompetent heads is growing."

"Orochimaru seems to be aware of that and wants to secure that position for himself as well. With the current demand of a powerful head of the village, I think we can try forcing Sasori for the position of Kazekage. " Black Zetsu adds.

"Besides, their economy is weak, their shinobi are subpar, and I can easily take over the village by myself and crush any opposition. Wouldn't that benefit your goal of making a mercenary army ? With the harsh desert conditions, it's going to prove quite effective against invasions."

"We'll think it through. Meanwhile, Kakuzu, take Hidan and seek to recruit his fellow Jashin evangelists. The rest, keep on standby. Dismissed."

Chapter 9: Prophecy

"Here it is revealed... In my dream, you, who are solely pervy, will still manage to become a splendid shinobi... and will come to stand on your own two feet, acquiring disciples... One such disciple will one day bring about a great change to the world of shinobi. This, I saw in my dream."

"A great change?"

"Either great stability or great destruction... The likes of which this world has never seen before. One of those two changes."

"One of those two ... ? What do you mean? "

"You will guide that revolution. And eventually, there shall come a day when you will be forced to make a critical selection."

"Selection ?"

"That choice you make... shall decide which way the change goes."

Jiraiya listens to the great lord elder toad's prophecy attentively and nervously, then asks :

"I ... what do I do... in order to make the correct choice ?"

"In my dream, you walked the world, writing books."

"Books... What for ?"

"I do not know either... but perhaps it means you shall travel widely, seeing all things in the universe."

"Great lord elder, have your prophecies ever not come to pass ?"

"Never..." That sent a chill down Jiraiya's spine. The great lord elder toad continues. "Besides which, I once saw a prophetic dream about myself... that a human child would one day wander into mount Myoboku. He would be granted toad power and a prophecy."

Jiraiya reminisces. That was the conversation Jiraiya had with the great lord elder toad, as a kid. He thinks to himself :

"That child of prophecy, huh... it may be Nagato, back in the Hidden Rain village. I should check whether he's really the Akatsuki's leader or not... But I can't leave Naruto like this alone."

Jiraiya grabs a double ice cream from the shop and starts looking up from tree branches, until he finally finds his location. He jumps and lands next to him.

"Yo."

"Ah... Pervy sage."

"I heard about Sasuke... I couldn't leave while my disciple is all glum." Jiraiya splits the ice cream and gives Naruto his half. "Here, cheer up."

Naruto takes his part and stares at it before finally talking after a bit of silence :

"Sakura at first... Now Sasuke... I couldn't save either of them. All I did was lose fights and lose control of Nine-tails' Chakra. Every mission ends up a failure because of me. But I'm the only one staying alive while my friends pay the price. If only I was stronger..." A small portion of his icecream melts and falls off his stick.

"No point looking back in the past. You can't change it. If you dwell on it, nothing is going to change and, you'll keep losing more, like this. " Jiraiya points at the fallen bit of ice cream, then at the majority of what's left of it, still on the stick, before continuing :

"But you must make the most of the present moment, so that now and the future can be better."

"Now and the future..."

"That's right. Kakashi once visited me on a moment like this. He lost his parents and lived alone. Then lost his teammates and teacher. He is just like you. Except the boy was a prodigy, excelling in academy and got early promotions unlike you. But death, war and this world are merciless. Skill isn't enough. You must not lose sight of what you want. "

"What I want... is to end this madness and become Hokage."

"That's right. Let's head to that same Hokage's office now, though. Don't want to keep tsunade waiting for too long."

"Eh... sure."

By the time they finished talking, they were already looking at the building. All that was left was to head up to the office.

"Yo, Tsunade. Oh, Mr. Fukasaku is here too."

"Oh. Jiraiya-boy."

"Jiraiya. You're still here..." In a corner of her heart, Tsunade felt intense relief.

"Correct. I couldn't leave while this youth is gloomy."

"Leave where ?" Naruto asks in his usual curiosity, but they both know they can't discuss a dangerous mission like that in front of him, he'll object. Although they agree with him.

"Doesn't matter for now. Anyway, Tsunade; we're going to Mount Myoboku for a little bit, with Mr. Fukasaku."

"Woah. You're gonna train me ?"

"More specifically, Mr. Fukasaku is going to train us both. I'll be more like a sparring partner now."

"Alright! I'm pumped." Seeing Naruto suddenly break out of his sad shell brought a smile to everyone in the room. Being happy and mischievous does suit him better, after all.

"I wanted to come cheer you up, but it seems Master Jiraiya beat me to it." Shikamaru enters the office.

"Oh, Shikamaru."

"I came with two important guests. Lady Tsunade." Shikamaru makes way for them and reveals... Temari and Kankuro.

"Temari. Kankuro. What bring you two here ? Is something up in the Hidden Sand ?" Tsunade asks.

"I'm afraid it is the case, Lady Hokage. We haven't even been able to properly mourn Gaara's death. There has been a rise in Anti-Kazekage Factions. They basically say the previous village heads have been incompetent and are looking for powerful ones, even if the method they employ are shady." Kankuro starts by explaining the situation in a worried look. Temari follows up :

"And some of them are hunting the previous Kazekage family. That is why we're here."

"That is indeed a troubling situation. We're sorry we couldn't be of help with Gaara's case."

"Not at all, Lady Hokage. You didn't have to help, but you still did, and we're grateful for that. We have more ominous news, though." Temari prepares for the announcement.

"What is it ?" Tsunade shows an expression that expects the worst.

"Some are considering the Akatsuki member - Sasori of the Red Sands - for that post..."

Naruto's attention intensively spikes up.

"This is bad! This is bound to topple the fragile power balance of the world. And wasn't he the one who killed the Third ?"

"Indeed. Some even want Orochimaru, who killed the Fourth."

"Calm down. Naruto. Remember, there is nothing you can do for now. Let's go."

"I'll beat them up to a pulp, I swear it." Naruto is dragged in his fit of rage

[Reverse Summoning Jutsu]

Fukasaku teleports the three of them to Mount Myoboku.

"This is problematic. A coup is bound to start if this is not one already. Temari, Kankuro. You may stay in the Hidden leaf while we look up adequate solutions."

"Alright. Thank you ma'am."

Meanwhile, on the other side of the leaf; in a shady place, outside the curious gazes.

"It's been a while, Danzo."

"Orochimaru. Congratulations on your new body. It seems Sai did a good job."

"Indeed. I'm very thankful for that."

"I heard the Kazekage spot is open are some factions are debating options like you or that one Akatsuki member."

"Correct. I do not know for sure what course of action to take for now, though."

"We'll benefit more from you being the head of the Hidden sand, and me controlling the Hidden leaf."

"Still aiming for Tsunade's place, huh."

"The times are tough. The leaf needs a proper leader. And now is the time more than ever for one. Especially with a terrorist organisation aiming for control like so. If we're controlling both the Hidden leaf and Hidden sand, things are bound to head in a positive direction for both of us."

"I see. But the Kazekage incident is very recent. You wanted me for something else, didn't you ? Something that might... get Tsunade out of her place. Am I right ?" Orochimaru smiles deviously.

"Always the attentive one, as expected."

Chapter 10: Heathen

"Aaah. Everything fucking hurts." Hidan laments the pain all over his freshly stitched body.

"Stop your yapping already. They should have just let you scattered in that forest. Fitting end for a moron like you, and I had my peace of mind."

"There's no peace of mind for the likes of us. Much less for a godless heathen like you."

"Some useful god you've got, letting you die like that to one small fry. If he's not Sasori, then you're as godless as I am."

"BLASPHEMY! Take it back immediately."

"Good grief. Is it always like this with you two ?" Kisame breaks his silence.

"Unfortunately. He never shuts up. I'm going to kill him someday."

"Like I said. I wish you could, but it doesn't work that way. I am literally immortal."

"Sashimi priest."

"Be careful, Sashimi-kun. Sharks are carnivorous. " Kisame throws in his grain of salt.

"Not you too..." Hidan is hurt and disappointed that Kisame joined on the fun. The latter then points out :

"This is certainly a change from patnering with Itachi."

"What kind of guy is he ?" Hidan asks.

"Well... he's the type you would never know what's in his mind. Mostly silent. But he's rather on the wiser side and carries on his missions efficiently, if not flawlessly."

"Sounds boring."

"It would be interesting to pair you with him. I doubt anything changes, though. I bet you wouldn't be able to cheer up that edgelord before he gets annoyed and kills you."

"Huh ? Kill me ? You're underestimating me here, and I'm immortal."

"Oh no. He certainly can, immortal or not. Trust me. What about you, Kakuzu? Think you would get along with him well ?"

"We only interacted once, and I wanted to kill him for it." Kakuzu

"That was before Kisame joined. Kakuzu had just killed his former partner, and we were looking to match Itachi with someone." Black Zetsu appears and provides insights.

"Oh, yes. Back then, Kakuzu said he was fine with pairing up with Itachi as long as he doesn't irritate him and Itachi said he doesn't like the way he speaks." Then White Zetsu adds cheerfully, before being interrupted by Black Zetsu to announce what they came for.

"Enough. The Jashin worshippers are straight ahead from here. Ideally, we'd like to recruit them without any troubles but ..."

"If they're following the same Jashin degeneracy like Hidan, I doubt they'll just join us without a fight." Kakuzu gets ready for the fight.

"Well then. Let's meet them." Kisame readies himself by putting his hand on Samehada's handle.

"I wonder who made it. The experiments are pretty brutal." Hidan wonders.

One step, ten steps, a hundred steps further...

"There they are." Kisame declared.

Two figures, a man of giant stature and a covered face only showing his pink hollow eyes, wearing a long white robe with the Jashin symbol marked in black; and a woman with long dark purple hair and kind, melancholic eyes with Golden irises wearing a long black robe with the Jashin symbol marked in white. Both with bandages around their stomachs.

"Woah. Narikyo and Ryume." To Hidan's surprise, he meets two familiar.

"Woah, Hidan. Look, Narikyo. It's Hidan." Ryume gets excited and tugs

"Any info about them ?" Kisame asks warily.

"None. We were normal before the experiments. And when I was the only successful one when I got out." Hidan answers the question without as much as a shadow of doubt in his former colleagues. Ryume approaches Hidan and starts touching his scars.

"This is horrible. What happened to you ? " Visibly worried about the stitches all over his body.

"Ah... Nothing, just a little fight." Hidan answers, embarassed. He can hear Kakuzu and Kisame laughing at him from behind, which attracts the lady's attention.

"Hello, gentlemen. Since you're all wearing the same outfit as Hidan I assume you're his allies."

"Correct, madam." Kisame answers her just as politely before asking her again :

"And I take it that you two are fellow Jashin worshippers, is that right ?"

"Yes. Praise Lord Jashin." She confirms.

"Praise Lord Jashin." Hidan follows.

"Hmmm. Praise Lord Jashin." The goliath Narikyo does the same after a deeply resonant Hmmm in his low-pitched voice.

"Here Hidan let me help ." Ryume puts her hand on one of Hidan's many stiches and visibly starts to heal it. Then another one. Then another.

"All done. Here you go, as good as new."

"Oh, thanks a bunch." Hidan feels relief from his previously painful injuries. Yet can't help but think :

"Lord Jashin is a god of death and utter destruction. So what is the healing power for ?"

Just after being done healing, and as Hidan was thinking about the whole situation, Ryume's skin turns black with white markings over her body just like Hidan in his Death Controlling Possessed Blood. She then touches Hidan again, and splits him into pieces again.

[Curse Technique : Reaper's Sown Blessing]

"Ryume, you bitch... !" Hidan throws his triple bladed scythe at her.

"ACCEPT LORD JASHIN INTO YOUR HEART! YOU, WHO HAVE BEEN BLESSED WITH LIFE... SHALL TAKE IT AND GIVE BACK TWICE AS MUCH DEATH." Ryume's eyes fully open, all smiles in a psychotic way, preaches her god with one measure of healing and two measures of violence.

"Good grief. I knew the healing thing was fishy... Are you okay, Hidan ?" Kisame unsheates his Samehada and gets in the way of Hidan and Ryume.

"Shit. So that's her contract, huh. Instead of taking blood, she wounds whoever she heals." Hidan checks his scars and concludes :

"Okay, good things I still have Kakuzu's stitches, they're still holding me together. But I think .... Urghh ... Yeah, they're deeper than earlier. " Hidan tries to stand up and his leg splits in two from his shin.

"Huh ?" Then trips and falls.

"So not just deeper wounds, but also more numerous than what was previously in." Kakuzu deduces nonchalantly.

"A real poisoned gift." Kisame is slightly amused at the current events, but still wary of the giant, who has been mostly silent and didn't move.

"Ah... I'm pissed now." Hidan licks his scythe's blade, and turns black and white. He hit Ryume earlier and took a drop of her blood.

[Curse Technique : Death Controlling Possessed Blood]

"I offer this kill to you, Lord Jashin." Hidan stabs himself in the heart, mirroring his damage into Ryume, before looking at her again :

"What are you gonna do now ? Heal yourself ? Go ahead."

The ability is simple, if she doesn't heal herself, she will inevitably die to Hidan's cursed technique. But if she does heal herself, she'll take more damage than what was previously taken and still die.

"Ah... Lord Jashin. Look into your devoted follower. Look how her heart is filled with benevolence."

She heals herself. But nothing happens to her. She turns black and white and heads towards Narikyo, then touches him.

"Oh... So she can transfer the healing consequences to someone else." Kakuzu concludes.

"That just means she hurt Hidan out of spite, doesn't it."

"I share her feelings. But what about the other guy. Why did nothing happen to him after that ?"

Just as he said this, Narikyo's body turns black and white with reaper resemblance. His eye expression turns into a severe frown and says one singular but ominous word, loudly, in a very aggravated tone :

"Heathen."

Chapter 11: Steam

"Heathen."

"That certainly doesn't look good now, does it ?" Kisame expects the worst from the huge, grumpy figure; one that is visibly up to no good.

"HEATHEN!" Narikyo slams the ground violently and create ripple on the very earth that could easily be felt from a distance.

"I decided I don't like anything related to this damned Jashin." Kakuzu assumes a defensive stance.

"BLASPHEMY!" Narikyo charges at Kakuzu, most likely to punish him for what he said. But very slowly. Faster than an average human for sure, faster than one would expect from a man of his size, but slow for a Shinobi, at least in Kakuzu's eyes. The latter prepares a net in front of him, as well as his arms. And as soon as Narikyo made contact, Kakuzu went flying back as fast as a rocket.

"Not yet. Lord Jashin wouldn't be satisfied with just this. I need to preach some more" Narikyo turns to Kisame.

"What a troublesome fellow. Let's settle down a bit, shall we ?." Kisame begins weavings his signs.

[Water Style : Water Prison]

He traps Narikyo in the water sphere.

"That ought to calm you down." Or so Kisame thought. But Narikyo forms a fist, and begins moving it in a circular motion. After a few turns, a small cyclone inside the water prison forms. The cyclone gets bigger with everyturn until he eventually stops and winds up a big punch, then throws it, which causes the water prison to be sent flying in kisame's way as a water tornado.

"Good grief. I certainly seem to attract brutes with ridiculous power and terrible intelligence lately." Kisame refers to Guy, with which he still has a score to settle.

"Well. This will be a good preparation." Kisame deflects the water attack with Samehada.

"Terrible intelligence ? Who might that be, Heathen ? I will not take a godless rogue's insult." Narikyo replies in a calm manner, contrasting with his brute force.

"This is not enough. This won't please our Lord." Narikyo looks down on the earth and slams it violently, repeatedly. A crater forms and gradually gets bigger.

"Oi, oi... You still have more in the tank?"

"A soul was on death's door, and death was denied that soul. The god of death demands his sacrifice back."

"So you won't stop until someone dies, huh... Zetsu, can you help ?"

"Yessiiiiiir." White Zetsu forms a clone from scratch and walks it up as best as he could on the ravaged terrain, or the crater that remains of it.

"Repent." Narikyo looks down on the white figure approaching him carelessly.

"I was never the religious typ-" White zetsu gets crushed under the goliath's fist before he could finish his sentence. No change appears in Narikyo's curse marks.

A little further back, Kakuzu tried to deccelerate his flight by holding on to trees or rocks with his wires, after a dozen failed attemps he finally smashes his back on a boulder and stops. He stands up, and shakes off the dirt from him.

"If I didn't use Earth Spear, I would've lost a heart again. That son of a bitch is going to pay for it."

He throws his akatsuki robe and reveals the numerous threads consisting his body, then begins travelling very quickly back to the fight.

Back in the main location, Hidan - still on one foot - begins exchanging blows with Ryume, his scythe against her staff. "You could at least say you missed me, first."

"Forgive me, but I needed to blow some steam. Those experiments were incredibly taxing, you know. Dulls the senses."

"You're right. I needed a bit of action myself, but I got stuck with a money grubbing old man." Hidan agrees with Ryume as her delivers a powerful strike that sends both of them back a little distance. Black Zetsu then appears from a tree bark to remind him.

"Oi. Hidan, we came here to recruit them. If you're getting along enough to have fun, then get to the point and let's get out of here."

"I know, I know. Just trust me and let us go at it a bit, won't you ? I promise I'll make them join us."

On the other side of the battlefield. A huge swimming pool was erected.

[Water Prison Shark Dance] & [Samehada Fusion Mode ]

"Now that is certain to tire you out." Kisame traps the giant in his giant water dome. Narikyo waves, moves, punches around violently, then tries the same tactic as earlier and succeeds in pushing a lot of water away, but Kisame dodges the waves, and takes detours to keep closing the distance on him.

"It's useless. The water follows me wherever I am. You would do well to settle down before you run out of air and tire yourself out. We didn't come here to fight, after all."

Narikyo crosses his hands, and assumes a sitting position. He then speaks underwater - his words forming a bubble - then sends the bubble in Kisame's direction. Upon contact with Kisame, the bubble explodes and he hears, very loudly :

"FINE."

"Good grief. Even that couldn't be delicate, huh. Well, at least this ended without much trouble."

Kisame undoes his water dome and his samehada fusion. Narikyo remains unmoving, as the water gently puts him down on solid ground in his sitting position.

[Fire release : Head Mincing Pain ( Zukokku)]

A vengeful Kakuzu unleashes a destructive attack on the calmed down Narikyo.

[Water style : Water Formation Wall (Suijinheki)]

Kisame forms a protective water wall to parry Kakuzu's attack on Narikyo.

"Please calm down, Kakuzu. We just agreed to end this on peaceful terms. Let's not waste time and energy for futilities and get to the point of our meeting."

"Tsk. That'll be without me. I'll fetch back my robe, I can't stand these two faced fanatics. One day I'll kill them all." Kakuzu, still bitter and grumpy, nonetheless prioritizes the mission and heads back to grab his Akatsuki garment. After a short while, Hidan and Narikyo stopped their hostilities.

"The woman agreed to join, what about you ?" Zetsu asks Narikyo.

"I have no reason to refuse. However, our religion preaches death and destruction. As long as we're free to offer sacrifices to Lord Jashin. We'll help you." Narikyo calmly answers, but his eyes are still flaring, and his skin, black and white.

"Same as Hidan, huh. Then it's decided. You three will most likely operate on a cell of your own.I will oversee you lot for a little while, if you don't mind. Our leader will tell." Zetsu announced.

"Eh, Sure." Hidan agrees

"Very well." Ryume follows.

"Here, take this. Poor bastard came to check on the noise." Kakuzu throws a tied up innocent man to Narikyo's feet. As the latter looks down, Kakuzu throws a punch elongated by his threads and hardened with his technique.

[Earth style : Earth Spear]

Narikyo is sent flying back for a little distance, but his posture has not moved an inch. After his flight stopped, he stood back up, walked to the poor tied up man, and began violently beating him to death. His eyes finally go back to their normal hollow appearance and the marks finally dissapear. Then stands back up.

"We're even now." Kakuzu declares.

"For an old man, you sure hold grudes like a child." White Zetsu mocks him.

"Shut up, or I'll kill you too."

"More importantly, Zetsu. Weren't you supposed to find out where Itachi went ?" Kisame asks.

"I couldn't hide my presence from him and he threathened to kill me if I didn't go away."

"Oh ? Scary."

------------ Outcome ------------------------

Narikyo : Joined the Akatsuki.

Ryume : Joined the Akatsuki.

Random victim : Deceased.

Itachi : Whereabouts unknown.

----------- Chapter 11 : End --------------

Chapter 12: Winds of Change

[Wind Style : RasenShuriken]

Naruto throws his nuclear jutsu at a group of big stalagmites in Mount Myoboku, and it pierces through them, crashes into the small mountain behind and forms a huge crater.

"Good grief. You've surpassed me and the Fourth with this. Good job, Naruto".

"It's all thanks to Kakashi sensei. Asuma sensei helped too. But I couldn't do anything, even with RasenShuriken, that's why I learned to throw it."

"In that case, you might be good enough to learn new things."

"Like what ?"

"You'll see, let's spar."

Jiraiya and Naruto start hitting and parrying blows. After a little exchange, it was clear to Naruto that he won't go anywhere with Taijutsu, so he switches up.

[Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu]

He spawns numerous clones to try and overpower him by numbers.

[Ninja Art : Needle Hell (Ninpo : Hari Jigoku)]

Jiraiya assumes his hedgehog form and sends a myriad of hair needles while slightly rotating left and right, sweeping through 90% of the clones Naruto sent out. After ending his jutsu, Naruto attacks from up front and back

[Double Rasengan]

Jiraiya sidesteps at the last moment, and both intersect. Another triplet of Narutos comes from above, however.

[Wind style : Rasengan]

"Not the full RasenShuriken ? Since when does the student go easy on his master ?"

[Fire Style : Fireball Jutsu]

Jiraiya threathens to make the lesser version of RasenShuriken - Wind style : Rasengan - explode on Naruto.

"I learned my lesson" Naruto throws his rasengan which, upon contact with the Fireball Jutsu, explodes as intended. However, Jiraiya quickly dashes sideways and assumes his hedgehog position again, throwing this needles at a freefalling Naruto.

[Needle Hell]

"Ah shit, shit shit...."

[Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu]

Naruto summons a dozen shadow clones in front of him to take on the deadly needles coming his way.

"Ah! Pervy sage, are you trying to kill me ?"

"Huh ? I must be getting senile, my ears aren't what they used to be. Do I hear you complaining right now ?"

"Ugh... I'll get you back for this."

[Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu]

"It's getting tiring seeing this jutsu over and over again. "

"I haven't used this one since I fought with Gaara..." Naruto gets slightly emotional before regaining control and revealing the lethality of an old technique of his.

"Take this."

[All Directions Shuriken (Shihohappo Shuriken)]

All of Naruto's clones start throwing shurikens in Jiraiya's way.

"Moron. You should start using this more often... But ..."

[Ninja Art : Needle Jizo (Hari Jizo)]

Jiraiya hardens his hair and coils it around himself as an impregnable barrier, effectively stopping all incoming shurikens without sustaining damage.

"Argh! I hate this! I can't do any damage without risking killing you."

"Moron~! If the same one or two jutsu are your only options, then you'll never be a reliable shinobi."

"Ah! My ASS! And that hair wall of yours is unfair!"

"Why don't you try making one, then ? Supportive jutsus are just as important as offensive ones."

"Eh? I can stretch my hair like that ?" Naruto squints his eyes skeptically.

"You don't need to use the hair. Try throwing a shuriken."

Naruto complies.

[Earth Style : Mud wall (Doton:Doryuheki)] x [Water Style: Water wall (Suiton:Suijinheki)]

"You can make one from elements like this." Jiraiya erects two walls as an example.

"But these are earth and water natures." Naruto complains.

"That's true, but you mastered Rasengan - the highest form of chakra manipulation - and went up a notch by making your own S tier Jutsu out of it. Developing a wind barrier shouldn't be harder, don't you think ?"

"You're right. I'll try it now."

Naruto gathers chakra in his hand and releases it in a sudden burst, exploding in a spiral and flinging both him and Jiraiya away.

"You gigantic idiot~! You tried to release it like an earth nature. I just know you did."

"Hehe, sorry. You got me." Naruto, guilty as charged, apologizes with an ashamed smile.

"Didn't you learn that each element has its own property and needs to be handled differently ? Wind isn't as solid as earth or half-half like water. It's all in the movement."

"Movement... I'll think about it." Naruto readies a clone, which helps him make a version of his jutsu.

[Wind style : Rasengan]

Naruto stares at it with his dumbfounded eyes for a while.

"Eh. How do I make a barrier out of this."

"Morooooooooo~~n. Can't you see that it's already a barrier that way ?"

"Oh..." Naruto ponders the truth of that statement, then...

"OH !!" he remembers a thing of the past.

"It's just like Neji's rotating thing! I'll go ask him about this."

[Shadow Clone Jutsu]

"Ma! Mind reverse summoning to the Hidden Leaf? I need to ask a friend about something."

"Sure thing, Naruto-boy."

[Reverse Summoning Jutsu]

Ma & Naruto are sent to the Hidden leaf. Jiraiya and Fukasaku are left in Mount Myoboku, along wiht a couple of Naruto's clone training sage mode in stillness.

"Well then..." Jiraiya gets up from his sitting position.

"Kid's learning fast, ain' he, Jiraiya-boy." Fukasaku says.

"Right. He might be the child of prophecy bringing the winds of change to the shinobi world. But I can't fall behind my own student in sage mode now, right ?"

"Ya' already behind, tho'. Gotta catch up, especially since ye don't like fusing with us."

"Right, right... Let's get to it, then. It's been a while, and I don't get much free time like this anymore."

Jiraiya hops on the big stalagmite's tip and sits on the wooden plank.

"Heh. How nostalgic." He says this before becoming completely still. Under Fukasaku's watch, his training resumes; although years later.

Meanwhile, in the Hidden Leaf...

"Eh? Come on granny. I need him." Naruto was quick to start pestering Tsunade in her office for Neji's location.

"I said no. He's on an important mission right now. You must have forgotten, but unlike you - who's still a genin - Neji is a Jonin. And Jonins are busy."

Naruto thinks the idea through for a little while, silently.

"Besides, it doesn't just have to be him. Ask another Hyuga member. Hinata might be helpful." Tsunade gives him hope back.

"Oh, that's right. Thanks granny."

"Good grief." Tsunade sighs.

"Watta vivacious kid. 'ts amazing to think he's closer to mastering Sage mode than Jiraiya-boy."

"Huh? He is ?" Tsunade expresses her surprise.

"Sure is. But he's still not e'en close to half the Shinobi his master is. He may hafta be more shrewd about certain things."

"Poor boy had it rough lately, though. Both of his teammates died, just like Kakashi. And the Akatsuki is still looking for him."

"I feel fo' him. But he'll soon be strong 'nuff to change things. "

Naruto heads to the Hyuga's mansion as a starting point to search for Hinata.

Chapter 13: Life

"What is the meaning of life ? What is life anyway ?

Life is born... and life dies."

"If the fighting can be stopped, I'd like to stop it." Shisui once said.

"It's because you're exceptional, Itachi. I bet you've never tried to understand the feelings of someone who's not." Shisui once told him, while chasing a fugitive, in order to help understand the latter's mindset.

"Life. Saving lives. Avoiding the death of life. Watching the village from the shadows... is this all it amounted to ?" Itachi walks a little while longer, seemingly wandering.

"Shisui... Where did I go wrong ?"

Seemingly wandering feet, but only seemingly to him. He, who gave up everything - including his family - for the sake of his villageand his brother, is not aware his steps are taking him back to the Hidden Leaf. After all, if he's done so much for the village, and go as far as take extreme measures plus shoulder all the blame and keep tabs on a terrorist organization, it's only natural for him to seek solace. A moment of respite. But where ? He's an S tier missing nin. All his clan members died by his blades. The options he had were the mysterious masked man who helped him achieve that - which is not a conceivable or reasonable one - and Shisui, who died years ago to avoid conflict.

"I wonder what that Nine-tails brat would do in this situation... After meeting him twice, he'd probably go headfirst into things, screaming 'I'LL CHANGE THIS'. How idiotic. But it just might work. After all, what did we do ? We who think first, plan accordingly and act in the shadows ? I heard the first Hokage was pretty outgoing and open. Was there any point to this cruel facade? "

Itachi's thoughts are interrupted by sensing a familiar presence, pestering his contemplation once again.

[Mangekyo Sharingan]

"I thought I told you not to follow me."

"Not need to be hostile. I came to talk." Black Zetsu stays in the shadows of a tree branch above, revealing only his hollow eyes.

"Our leader trusts you. But even that might change if you go M.I.A for no reason, for too long. You, who are usually sharp, effective, and swift on carrying missions, are now dwelling over something."

"So what if I am ?"

"It's Sasuke isn't it ?"

"So what? You're an outsider, and Uchiha business is none of your concern."

"This is about the stone tablet."

"You... How does an outsider like you know about it ?" Itachi grows wary of the black presence. Now that it knows about something kept only to his clan, Zetsu is now on

In Zetsu's mind, ideas flare up in the thought that 'YOU are the outsider. YOU are the pawns for my mother's revival.' But he's going to keep those ideas to himself like he always did, and act from the shadows, just like the man standing before him.

"I know far more than you could imagine, Itachi. I believe you already know that tablet can be partially deciphered with the Sharingan."

"..." Itachi stays silent. Zetsu continues.

"And that more can be deciphered with the Mangekyo Sharingan."

"You've done your research well. What are you implying?"

"Orochimaru is going there. Think about it. He who seeks all knowledge and jutsu mastery, finding the ancient stone tablet. Now that he has the Sharingan, it became an inevitable destination for him. You'll get your revenge, and dispose of him for the Akatsuki in the process."

At this moment, Zetsu thinks that Orochimaru is far more likely to awaken the Rinnegan since he has been implanting Hashirama cells in himself for years, and has Sasuke's body; Indra and Ashura chakras. But he modified the stone tablet to lead the Uchiha clan into thinking it saves them, so Orochimaru might not be too keen to following that plan, that is why Itachi might be a good contingency plan.

"..." Itachi thinks about the idea. He knows Zetsu is up to something, but he can't let Orochimaru have his way with things. But Zetsu knows Itachi is no fool, and is very skeptical and analytic, so he throws in the straw that breaks the camel's back, the match in the power barrel :

"And he has been contacted by Danzo."

"What?" and his efforts finally get a reaction out of Itachi.

"I'm sure you know what that means, right ?"

Itachi knows Danzo is after the Hokage spot. And if he and Orochimaru are in contact, numerous things will degenerate to allow him the powerful spot. He knows how ruthless he is.

As Zetsu was waiting for Itachi's response, they're notified of an Akatsuki meeting.

"Are you going to join ?"

"No. I need some time to think things through." Itachi refuses again.

"Alright. I'll wait for your answer. Don't worry though, I'll find an excuse for your absence in the meeting."

Zetsu then disappears, presence and all. Then joins the meeting.

"Looks like everyone is here, including Hidan. Where is Itachi, Zetsu ?"

"He's still brooding over his loss. But no worries, he's still with us."

"... " Pain is silent, wondering whether there's more to things than vengeance.

"Itachi sulking for this long, now this is unheard of." Kisame declares.

"You've been his partner for a long while and still don't know him that well, huh ?" Sasori joins in.

"He did say that. And it's the truth, I'm afraid. Who knows what kind of guy he really is ?"

"Forget it. There is important things to announce." Pain digresses and adds .

"We have new members. Just like Hidan, they're Jashin followers, Narikyo and Ryume.""

"Oh? Welcome to the Akatsuki. Hm." Deidara greets the new members.

Narikyo stays silent and Ryume politely answers the welcomes.

"As of now, they'll be an exception and work in a Three man cell with Hidan."

"Roger. That's more fun than being clumped with Kakuzu." Hidan cheerfully answers.

"Just be glad you get to live longer, freak." Kakuzu retorts.

"We'll assign you a mission immediately, to gauge your abilities."

"Oh ? Some action ?" Hidan gets pumped.

"Head to the Hidden Leaf and attempt capturing the Nine-tails." Pain orders.

For some reason, a couple subtle laughs have been heard. Narikyo and Ryume pay no mind to them. Hidan however, gets riled up, feeling mocked.

"HEY! Why are you laughing ?"

"Oh no, nothing. You guys are strong, right ? Surely you won't complain about this. Hm." Deidara scoffs. Sasori is better at holding back his laughter.

"No need to get so disrespectful, now. They're pretty strong." Kisame grins.

"It's time to pick things up. Deidara, Sasori : You two head to the Hidden Cloud and search for the Eight-tails on your way and its vicinities." Pain calmly follows up.

"Roger" Sasori complies.

"That will be all for today. Dismissed."

The meeting ends, and the silhouettes dissapear one by one. After opening his eyes, Deidara is still amused.

"Did you hear that, Sasori master? Our leader is so ruthless, sending them on a suicide mission at the get-go, Hahaha."

"Well... Who knows what the future will bring ? If they're immortal like Hidan, then a suicide mission is fitting. Maybe interesting things will happen. In any case... get ready, Deidara. It's time to put to the test my greatest work of art yet."

"Art is an explosion. But this is pretty flashy too. Hm."

Simultaneously, in the Hidden Rain village... Pain, Konan and Tobi reopen their eyes.

"Well. I'll see if I'm going to stay here for a little while longer or head to Konoha."

"Konan, get things ready." Pain announces.

"Is that what I think it is?" Tobi asks.

"We're heading to The Hidden Cloud village, too."

Pain makes his move.

Chapter 14: Who

Numerous days pass by. In Mount Myoboku, a young man and his master simultaneously open their eyes after taking in nature energy. Toad-like pupils, yellow irides, orange around the eyes for Naruto; Dark red pigmentation around the eye stretching into a few round lines to the edges of the forehead, ears and cheeks for Jiraiya. It is clear : both of them have successfully mastered Sage mode. All that is left now is to make it last longer by training and staying still, which is easy to do at any free time. With this information, Jiraiya decides to get back to his affairs.

"Well then, time to get going." Jiraiya stands up, and readies his departure from Mount Myoboku.

"You learned far faster this time, Jiraiya-boy." Fukasaku says with a teasing and happy smile.

"Of course. I couldn't just sit and watch my stupid disciple become better than I am at sage mode. What kind of Toad sage would I be ?"

"The pervy kind. I can't believe you never told me about training with Shadow clones." Naruto grumbles and complains.

"You just... weren't ready." Jiraiya tries to hide his shame.

"Aah! You're lying!" but Naruto saw through it.

"Moron~. It's usually a very taxing technique. One wouldn't think outright about training with it. Kakashi said it, too. Only you can do it with your ridiculous amounts of chakra."

"But you knew."

"Arh! Enough complaining. I gotta hit the road. The shinobi world is in a disastrous state right now."

"Is it about the Hidden Sand ?"

"That's another issue by itself, but there's something else I've got to do... I need more writing material."

"AAAH! YOU'RE DITCHING TRAINING FOR PERVERTED THINGS!""

"Moroooo~n. You're too young to understand. That's it, I'm leaving." Jiraiya covers up the fact that he's embarking on a dangerous mission. He can't let Naruto know about it, worrisome as he is. He felt that at least he got to train him one last time, even though it was more as a partner than a teacher. Naruto watches Jiraiya get up and prepare to leave with a frown, that gradually turns into sad puppy eyes that clearly say they haven't got enough of him.

"Akatsuki is after you, but you're strong now, with your new jutsus and Sage mode. Take care of Konoha alright?"

"Yes!"

[Reverse Summoning Jutsu]

Jiraiya leaves. Naruto continues his training in Mount Myoboku until further notice.

On the other side of the world, in the Hidden Cloud village. Precisely in the Raikage's office, Mabui brings some ominous news.

"Lord Raikage. I have a report. There have been sightings of a strange creature flying along the coast of the Land of Lightning, towards the middle. The description of its rider matches that of Akatsuki members : Black cloak with red cloud pattern."

"So they're after Bee, huh... Where is he now ?"

"Still in the storm cloud ravine, after he's been reprimanded for using the Eight-tails' chakra."

"If we send a cell to him, it might give out his location. We have to take out those accursed Akatsuki right now while they're lurking. We won't allow such behavior to go unpunished."

"Most of the sensories dispatched went missing or died. J sent a few message lizards that helped us get an estimate of their current position."

"Send Samui's cell to their last spotted location! C, you'll join them to speed up the search!"

"Yes, milord." C complies.

"I'll share with you the intel J gave us." Mabui adds facing C concerning his new mission.

[Summoning Jutsu]

Boom. A sudden chain of explosions is felt and heard all across the village. Panic ensues.

"Huh? What is now?" A the Raikage gets riled up and gets up from his seat to look at the village from the giant office window facing his back. But just before turning, a giant black and orange centipede with embedded rods bursts through the glass and stares down everyone in the office with its purple eyes. Then coils back, climbs down, crashes down one of the numerous houses built on top of the many fragile structures of the Hidden Cloud village, then proceeds to constrict and crush the vulnerable area of the upwards rock formations those houses were built on, easily making them crash down. Chikushōdō starts the violence, ravaging the frail foundations, wreaking havoc in multiple places at once with each summon. Followed by Shuradō, sending countless explosive missiles to the sturdier and better built places.

"The village is being attacked! Mabui call for Samui's cell and send orders to medical teams to tend to the villagers immediately."

"Yes milord!"

"C! What's the situation ?"

"7...8 strange creatures have been summoned, including the centipede we just saw! There has also been explosions in random locations."

"Damn this. Is it the Akatsuki already ?"

Moroi bursts through the door.

"Lord Raikage! There has been an intrusion, but only one person was detected going through the barrier. But people are reporting sightings of multiple black cloaks."

"These damned Akatsuki. I'll head there. C, come with me and tell me where they are."

"Do we call for Master B, milord ?"

"The Akatsuki is after him. They got Yugito, and now they're going for B. I won't let them have it. Assist the villagers too. I'll take care of these bastards."

A instructs C before jumping down from the raided office into the centipede's head, smashing it violently, damaging and leaving cracks all over its body, all while vigorously sceaming. Upon his descent with the creature, the latter lies on the ground and the Raikage lands on its head, standing and shouting loudly for everyone to hear :

"LISTEN UP, PEOPLE! THE AKATSUKI IS ATTACKING THE VILLAGE AND THEIR TARGET IS MY BROTHER B! They think we're easy to deal with... LET'S SHOW THEM WHO WE ARE!"

"UOOOOOOOOOOOOO"

The scattered crowd of people all feel a slight relief and let out their war cry in unison.

"And who might you be ?" Clad in black, a figure suddenly appears behind A saying this. The latter turns to find the culprit behind the attack. Short orange hair, purple eyes, and 3 rods piercing its nose. He then follows up by asking :

"Where is the Eight-tails ?"

"Damn Akatsuki BastaaaaaaaaaaAAARD!" but a loudly screamed threat was all he got from the Raikage, as the latter winds up a swift and obviously violent punch. But the ominous figure calmly watches it head his way before saying.

"It's time for you to know pain."

[Almighty Push (Shinra Tensei)]

------------Outcome-----------------------------------

Hidden Cloud village : assaulted by Pain.

Casualties : 100 dead, 800+ injured.

----------- Chapter 14 : End----------------------

Chapter 15: Draw the line

"Sigh... This is tiring. Hm."

"You said it. And I still have to go all the way back to the Hidden Sand from here to check on that Kazekage issue."

"Don't they usually discuss that sort of things with the Daimyō of their land?"

"What if they do? We can destroy a country. What is a group of dusty old men going to do? They just happened to inherit or buy that land. In the end, power will decide things. That's why they're always financing ninja villages. They're expensive but necessary."

"So we're just going back to war eras. Hm."

"The more wars, the more we thrive as the Akatsuki."

"Hmm... Our leader went to the Hidden Cloud, so it might be safe to assume that the village is going to be ruined. With him controlling the Hidden Rain and you forcing a Hidden Sand rule, things are going to go our way..."

A brief silence, before an idea pops in Deidara's head. As he lays on his back, hands behind his head.

"Kage, huh... I wonder what it's like."

"You as a Tsushikage? That's rich."

"But it's not bad, is it ?"

"I don't know. Weren't your people usually the kind to take things slowly and not like change?"

"Ah, that's kinda right. Hm. It was an ill fit with me, who likes to settle things in one explosion. Good grief. We're kind of forgetting we're internationally wanted criminals."

"Isn't that fine? Aren't Kages the greatest Shinobis of their village? That's just a fancy term for their best murderer ?"

"You're right. We should be Kages. Hm."

"Now here's a question for you : Where do people draw the line ?"

"Just before turning people into puppets, for example."

"I am not going to be lectured by a terrorist."

"It's not terrorism. It's ART. Unlike you defiling bodies."

"What's the point in an art that's fleeting ? What's the point if it can't be beheld over generations?"

"You could never comprehend the beauty of the ephemeral moment. LIFE itself is an ephemeral moment." Deidara waves with his hands to better explain his ideas as he continues: "

"Your chase of the eternal is an insult to life itself...  And above all, it's because life is short that it's beautiful."

"You got good at talking, Deidara... But you forget an important thing. What of fables ? What of telltales ? Legends of great Ninjas ? Life is indeed fleeting, but when it reaches a certain point of beauty it's a shame to let it just die. It needs to be immortalized. Preserved at its peak. I heard the Hidden Leaf village carves busts of their Hokages. They lived and died like every Shinobi before them. But those faces, seen every day, up on the rock, unchanging. That's beauty. Undying tales of the third Raikage facing 10 000 men on his own. Hashirama against Madara in the warring states ages. The 3 Sannins. The never ending rain in Amegakure. Beauty is in the unchanging. Legacy is art. Being immortalized like this, is true ART."

"Ah... We just don't see eye to eye. Forever sounds like such a drag. Just like finding this damned Jinchuuriki."

"Right... This is taking forever. This damned land is too vast."

"So was yours. Hm."

"Right. But at least the Jinchuuriki there was the Kazekage. We didn't have to raze the entire region."

"Raze the region. Doesn't that sound magnificent?" Deidara says and doesn't wait for Sasori's answer, agreeing with himself instantly. "Hm.HM. Yes, that sounds like a wonderful idea."

The impatient Deidara reveals one of his most potent bombs.

"Art...."

[C3]

"Good grief. Hope it's at least worth the hassle." Sasori throws in a few comments before C3 detonates.

"... is an explosion!"

Boom. A gigantic perimeter is blown, leaving only a crater of what once was vegetation and life. The impatient artists made their presence known. With the village under invasion and the land under attack, the locals will have no choice but to act.

"Surely the Raikage's brother will not ignore this. Hm."

"Do you even have enough clay for this festival? "

"It's going to take a while, so I'll take it slow, blowing a bit once at a time. But even if he shows up in an unfortunate timing. You're here, right ?"

"Right, right... I didn't even capture my assigned tailed beast yet. Was it the Eight-tails? "

"Nope. It was the Three-tails. I'm surprised you didn't even know which one was assigned to you."

"Doesn't matter. Whichever comes first will be captured first. I wish they would just come to me and make things easier."

"Things can't be easier than this. Don't you think ?"

"You're right. The leaf is under turmoil while we're messing up things here. Ideally, they'll find the Eight-tails and send us to the Three-tails, then continue along that straight line back to the Hidden Sand."

"That would isolate the Hidden Leaf. Hm. Pretty good."

"Then again, maybe Itachi or Kisame could take care of it. That would save us some time."

"We should go for them instead."

"You... you're still not over that... ?"

"Absolutely not! I'll have my revenge on him one day."

"Honestly, just give up on that idea. That guy just feels... intangible."

"What does that even mean?"

"Just focus on restocking your clay for now. And think of something to do about his Genjutsu."

Deidara uncovers his left eye that was hidden behind his hair.

"I already have this." Deidara shows it off with pride.

"You damned clown. A clan known for their eyes and Genjutsu mastery, ocular jutsu. And you're planning to counter it with what ? A makeshift device ?"

"Eh... come on, Sasori master. It can't be that bad."

"The Uchiha's sharingan has different grades, you probably wouldn't even be able to handle a basic Illusion with that improvised... junk. And Itachi is a genius among geniuses, who resolves missions with his Genjutsu prowess alone. Get serious, you clown. Do you want to embarrass yourself again?"

"Then what do I do ? It's not like I can train against it when I'm clumped up with you. You don't use it, and you're probably immune to it."

"Well. Theoretically yes. But against someone of Itachi's caliber, I wouldn't be so sure."

"Could you stop sucking up to him, Sasori master? It's annoying. He can't be that good. Hm."

"You're definitely embarrassing yourself at least 69 times before you learn. But that fearless side of  you... I kind of like it. In any case, I'm simply telling you to be better prepared."

"Tsk."

"Using Genjutsu though... That's a pretty good idea. I'll think of a way to do it."

"Weapons, poison, smokes, puppets... If you add Genjutsu that would be seriously scary."

"Indeed... now that I think about it. Maybe it's time to test that thing."

"What thing?"

"The needle I implanted in the kid back in the land of fire. I'll try sending a simple instruction."

"I thought you could only seal memories..."

"It didn't work out too well, as you saw with that Kabuto incident. So I've upgraded the intensity a bit. It's going to be a little more forceful before the amnesia now."

"Heeh... Interesting. Hm."

"Land for a bit. Make some clay meanwhile. Last time in the land of wind I was close enough to send a signal effortlessly, but now the target is pretty far, so I'll have to amplify things."

Deidara complies. Sasori opens Hiruko's shell, revealing his main body. He then takes out a big needle, sticks it on a specific part of Hiruko to act as an antenna, then holds it with his left hand's thumb and middle finger, while his right hand is holding up two fingers. Eyes closed.

[Yin Release : Manipulative Sand Technique - Threadless Puppet]

... Deidara kneads some clay while keeping an eye on Sasori, curious about the result.

...

Sasori then opens his eyes.

"I have a feeling nothing happened."

"Ah... So much suspense for nothing."

"Well... I'm still testing things out. I'll try swapping the needles the other way arou-" Sasori suddenly stops in his tracks.

"You bunch keep complicating things. Look at me, just explo-"

"Shut up!"

"Huh ?" Deidara defiant, realizes Sasori is focused on something.

"I think I've got something."

A...ma...

Sasori sits back down and attaches a chakra thread to the needle still in Hiruko.

... you ... don't have... this...

He infuses a bit more chakra into it, and keeps the input steady.

... it doesn't matter, Asuma-sensei left that child under my care....

"Asuma ? It's that brat's sensei, isn't it ?"

"Probably. He was the twelve guardians guy with a bounty on his head. Hidan and Kakuzu were about to get it, but the Leaf intervened."

"That's definitely him! This jutsu didn't work the way I wanted it but, that works well too.  I can hear bits of what that kid says and hears."

"For real, now ?" Deidara refocuses back on making his clay on his improvised pot.

The artistic duo stays on the ground for a little while more before it resumes flying over the land of lighting, occasionally laying waste while its Hidden cloud village is assaulted by Pain.

Chapter 16: Atone

Somewhere along the outskirts of Konoha, shady silhouettes are exchanging words.

"How did you even come to know of it?"

"Research, my dear Danzō. Surely at this point, you wouldn't be surprised I know something like this."

"Ever the dangerous individual."

"Ever the reason to have me as an asset. We should be close, don't you think ?"

"Right."

After a few steps further, their trained ninja eyes spot the destination hundreds of meters away. The walk until there continues silently, so silently that one would think it's the calm before the storm.

Upon arrival, they stand in front of a shrine; the Uzumaki clan's mask storage temple, outside which is the giant swirly symbol of theirs. Shortly after entering the ruined shine, they're faced with a hanging platform in the temple's wall center, on which hang several Demon masks beneath three symbols connected to the clan, under which are black flames. The building may be in shambles and weary by the passage of times, but the masks stayed intact.

"Oh ? If I recall correctly... that was the same mask Minato used to call upon the Reaper to seal half of the Nine-tails inside his kid."

"Correct." Orochimaru says as he extends a snake to fetch him a singular mask among the many.

The snake coils around it, then brings it up to his hands slowly.

"Well, then. I suppose you've got an offering ready for me."

"Yes. Hiro." Danzō makes the slightest of movements - a sign forward with his hand - to illustrate his order, hinting at his subordinate to follow. Naturally, as a Root executive, all that would ever ensue from that is complying.

Orochimaru hands Hiro the mask, and the latter replaces his ANBU one with the Reaper's. Ideally, Orochimaru would rather do it himself, but summoning the Reaper implies being taken over. And being taken over by the reaper means certain death. Of course, Orochimaru wouldn't mind something as simple as that, he can simply shed bodies and transfer himself into someone else after performing it. But this time, his body is Sasuke's. After all the trouble he went through to get it, sacrificing it is completely out of the question, especially since someone else can perform the deed. And sure enough, with his convenient agreement with Danzō, he was provided a much-needed sacrificial lamb that, not only needs to give up his life, but also be trustworthy to perform the technique, costing his own life.

[Sealing Jutsu : Reaper's Death Seal]

The Reaper appears behind the Root unit, Hiro. In his giant stature, clad in a white garment which serves to hide his frail body underneath; contrasting with the fatality of such an entity, the Reaper.

The symbol of death.

"As scary as ever. What a terrible memory. But this time you're on my side, Shinigami. All that's left is releasing the souls from his

"Slice open your belly, Hiro."

"Yes, sir." The root unit obeys and does just that. A seppuku. Usually, one would commit it to atone for one's own sins, but this time, a not-so-innocent, but surely completely unrelated life has sacrificed itself for the sins of another.

From the gaping, ripped stomach of the Reaper - mirroring Hiro's - a few souls get away.

One, two, three, four...

"The previous Hokages. Ironic to think they were all sealed like this. Especially the Second who devised it."

Five...

Orochimaru's hands start being pumped with blood, bodily fuilds, life, and everything in between.

"Finally. I can use jutsus again."

Six....

"And who's that ?" Danzo points at the last soul that left the God of Death's belly.

"I don't know. I have no information on that. Maybe someone the Uzumakis sealed long ago."

"You might have released something dangerous then."

"Perhaps. But that was necessary. At least my hands are free."

[Amaterasu]

[Ninpo : Super Beast Scroll (Chōjū  Giga)]

Itachi out of the shadows throws his black all-eating flames at Orochimaru, just to be intercepted by Sai's Ink jutsu tigers, which seemingly got faster, fast enough to get in the way of flames moving at a high velocity.

"You really cannot be left a second without supervision. You're too dangerous to live, Orochimaru."

"Oh, came to extract your vengeance for your brother ?"

"Itachi..."

"You're in for a divine judgement too, Danzō." Itachi with his face still half covered by his Akatsuki cloak sends a chilling threat to both parties, visibly ignoring Sai.

[Super God Imitation Writing (Shōshin Giga)]

Sai, far from being vexed, still summons his two drawings representing raw and brute force, Raijin and Fūjin. The towering duo lunges at Itachi at an incredible speed. In the middle of their dash, they wind up a violent punch each, and just before they land it, their fists turn into half crescents, like holding a cup, and start choking their victim. But the victim...

... is Sai.

"Genjutsu ? How.... ?"

Itachi didn't even bother using Tsukuyomi yet, nor did he even look in Sai's way. He simply trapped him in a lower grade illusion with his fingertips; which is still more than he could handle. Itachi calmy walks up as Sai struggles an writhes on the ground.

"Do it, Sai." Orochimaru makes a vague order while elongating his neck and biting Sai, infusing him with a tiny bit of chakra, breaking him from the Genjutsu. But that wasn't everything, it also served another purpose.

[Curse mark : Release]

From the two snake bite dots, arises a triple tomoe in a circle.

"The same curse mark Sasuke had..." Itachi thinks to himself, looking at his brother's body being deformed in gross ways for spineless stunts, reminded of the last time they met when he saw the curse mark on his neck.

In his head, Itachi wants to ask for forgiveness, but he knows he doesn't deserve it, because he was the one who pushed him to such lengths. While still pensive, a stronger Sai starts valiantly moving and breaking out of the Illusion, dark marks in the shape of drawings - just like the ones in his scrolls - are painted in the canvas of his body. Itachi throws a couple shurikens to his head and a Kunai to his heart to finish him off.

[Wind style : Vacuum Bullet]

"Now, now... I can't let you do that to my precious subordinate." Danzō parries them on their trajectory with his jutsu.

"As precious as the one you let die for the Reaper Death Seal ?" Itachi retorts, hinting at Hiro.

"Some sacrifices are requires for the greater good."

"Your philosophies aren't fooling anyone anymore, Lord Danzō.  You should have been the one 'showing your guts' to atone. This is where things end."

"On the contrary, I think this is the start of the greatest age."

---------------

Chapter 17: Dull

[Almighty Push (Shinra Tensei)]

A is flung a considerable distance from Pain.

"What is this Jutsu?" He crashes on a rocky landscape. He gets up unscathed but he's more glad the flight is over. Upon getting up, he doesn't have time to process the situation properly. Children, men, women, elderly are getting crushed under the rubble in this mayhem. He issues one more order in the means of war cry before rushing back into the fight :

"MOBILIZE ALL BATTALIONS! TEND TO THE WOUNDED AND EVACUATE THOSE WHO CANT FIGHT! THIS IS WAR! WAR!"

On a slightly hidden side of the village, Shuradō opens his body up. Arms, back and head all blooming into violent flowers. Their scent is carnage and destruction. Their pollen spilling blood. One missile splitting into six. Six missiles exploding on six houses. Six demolished houses, damaging a dozen other houses with their fallen rubble and collateral damage. A dozen houses crashing on a hundred people, killing a third, maiming the second third and orphaning and widowing the last third. As another giant wall threatened to crush a child, a saving light was heard along his cries for help :

[Lava release : Rubber Defence]

Dodai - an attendant of the Raikage - joins the fray, saving the kid in the process.

"Th... Thank you."

"Where is your family, child ?"

"Under the house..." He says, holding back scared and thankful tears.

"I see... Amai, join the rest in the hospital and tend to the wounded. And you two..." Dodai hints at the two bulky Kumo shinobis in their flak jacket to unearth the child's relatives under the rubble.

But that was far from being the last of the village's worries, as Ningendō was choking the life out of its residents one by one. One touch, absorbing the life out, in the shadows where it could easily single out an unfortunate passerby.

"This one doesn't know either." The victim's body, hollow and drooling, is left to die after its most important part is extracted.

Jigokudō is raising hell on his side of the village. Coupled with his speed, he easily holds up one or two persons that were already injured by the assaults, asking them the same question.

"Where is the Eight-tails?"

"Get lost, terrorist."

"As if anyone would ever answer you."

"I'd suggest you answer, or else your life is lost."  He summons the King on hell, elongating and dragging their tongues, then letting go after holding them for a short time.

"So you two didn't know, either."

Konan gathers herself as a flock of paper next to Chikushōdō.

"Pain. It seems none of the villagers know where he is."

"Tightly shut military secret. We'll have to target their top brass then."

"So... The Raikage."

"Tendō is already there. Join it along with Gakidō in advance. I'll catch up and summon the rest when I'm done."

"Alright." Konan dissolves herself.

[Summoning Jutsu : Giant Drill-Beaked Bird ]

Chikushōdō summons the monstrous bird to his side, flying him high up to witness the scenery. A couple glances around later, he decides to join one of his paths, where his shared vision is most needed.

In the meantime, Ningendo was caught by Dodai, trapped in his Rubber Prison.

"I was right. With all this diversion, someone was bound to investigate in the shadows. Looks like this one can't do much more than sucking the life out with a touch. Intel, most likely."

Meanwhile, Kumo Shinobis are struggling to fend off the path of hungry ghosts, Gakidō. All of their jutsus being absorbed, they remain powerless as their chakra is drained with no result.  Jigokudō then makes his move, easily holding them again, by ones or twos to ask again, and again and again. But it seems futile as no one is informed of the Raikage's brother's location.

[Lightning Style : Thunderbolt]

Samui's cell enters combat, engaging the two Akatsuki clad figures in the middle of their village's ruins. But Gakidō intercepts, absorbing the attack once again.

[Cloud Style : Crescent Moon Beheading]

Omoi immediately follows it up with an attack with his fairly long sword, slicing Gakidō to bits.

"One down."

Karui then prompts a surprise attack behind Jigokudō, but the latter dodges it as if he had eyes behind his back.

"WHA-"

"That was totally a blind spot, back to the wall and from above, there is no way he could have seen that one coming. Unless God was watching him. Is God watching over him ? Is that so ? Are we getting smitten ? Did we sin ? Is that why the village is being targeted like that ?" Omoi dwells and goes down his usual rabbit hole of overthinking before being interrupted by Samui.

"Look up. There's his 'God'." She points at the gigantic bird that flew overhead.

[Reverse Summoning Jutsu]

Chikushōdō recalls Jigokudō and Gakidō.

"Ningendō got caught and sealed, but that was the risk of investigating in the shadows alone... Shuradō is only destroyed. I'll head there first." The giant bird changes direction.

"Lord Darui, reporting" J and K arrive at Darui's location, who was seemingly just done dismantling Shuradō.

"The reported enemies are seven. The lord Raikage is currently fighting one in the plaza under his office.  One was captured by Lord Dodai. Four are currently missing."

"And this is the last one, huh. Let's hurry to the Raikage's location." says Darui, while stepping on Shuradō's remaings.

[Summoning Jutsu : Giant Rhino]

Darui, J and K barely avoid the charging mad beast's frontal assault that would have definitely been fatal. But they left Shuradō's remains under the Chikushōdō, which the latter gathered and...

[Summoning Jutsu : King of Hell]

... fed to the sizable creature with a mouth spanning almost his entire stature.

"What are these creepy summons, they're unbelievably strong as well. This is not normal."

Darui calmly questions the absurdity of the situation then, utters an order.

"J, keep gathering intel and relay it to Dodai for everyone to hear. K, you'll join the Raikage. And bring C and Atsui with you. Moroi, you too."

"I can't do that. The enemy is too strong, Lord Darui."

"Trust in the Raikage's right hand and go. These small fry are Dull (Daru). Their goal is B's info, and the Raikage might get ambushed by the missing four. And your barriers are needed to protect the villagers."

"... Roger." Moroi joins the Raikage, not knowing whether Darui's brave front is warranted or a sacrificial façade.

"I wanted Gakidō to be hunting the Raikage with Konan but this guy already beat Shuradō. Time to stir things up a bit." Pain thinks.

Darui readies himself to fight against the trio, but Jigokudō withdraws. It's fixing Shuradō and is heading towards the Raikage and Tendō's location.

"Now, then... It's you and me, freaks."

Darui faces Chikushōdō and Gakidō.

------------Outcome---------------------

Ningendo : Captured and sealed.

Casualties : 300 dead, 1500+ injured, 200+ whereabouts unknown.

Damage : Half the buildings destroyed.

--------- Chapter 17 : End ----------------

Chapter 18: Students of history

"Your philosophies aren't fooling anyone anymore, Lord Danzō.  You should have been the one 'showing your guts' to atone. This is where things end."

"On the contrary, I think this is the start of the greatest age."

"That age cannot start with you."

Sai still struggles in the confines of Itachi's genjutsu.

"What a potent illusion. My curse mark is disturbing is chakra flow to break him out of it, he's still bound. This is different from the last time you used Tsukuyomi on me. Right, Itachi?" Orochimaru quickly deduces what befell Sai. Indeed, Tsukuyomi alters the perception of time. The few times Itachi used it, he made a few seconds in reality seem like several days for his target. But this time things are different. Sai doesn't feel the passing of time. It's accelerated to him. By the end of this, he will have experienced only a fraction of a second, while several hours can pass; like sleep. Itachi stays silent on the case, but he's glad the Tsukuyomi variant is working out, as the previous one drains chakra and tires him out considerably. This one feels more like delivering a knock-out blow.

However, the biggest issues - named Orochimaru and Danzō - are still standing. And Itachi must work his way out of this.

"A shame we didn't bring more bodies." Orochimaru hinting at Danzō with a glance about Edo Tensei, before continuing :

"But that's alright. Let's get out first. Wouldn't want to damage a historic landmark, even ruined."

Itachi closes his eyes and calmly heads out, while Orochimaru and Danzō follow. Sai stays inside.

Both Itachi and Orochimaru are students of history, so the former appreciates the gesture, although the snake is far more of an underhanded individual. A little further back, where collateral damage won't reach the old Uzumaki Shrine, the underhanded individual himself begins the hostilities.

[Eight Headed Jutsu (Yamata No Jutsu)]

Orochimaru was swiftly defeated before, so he decided to start out strong and lay out his strongest snake technique right off the bat, ravaging a sizable portion of his surroundings, but still far enough not to damage the shrine.

"A giant eight-headed snake."

"That would be slightly incorrect, my dear Itachi. Creatures evolve. Creatures have always evolved, and it would be a severe understatement to call this current form merely a snake. I have evolved from a snake..."

He aims one of his eight heads in Itachi's direction mid-sentence.

"... to a Dragon." The gaping mouth opens wide and misses Itachi who gracefully jumps away from the danger zone. But at the limit of its range, its tongue morphs into Orochimaru to continues his chase, by elongating his neck. After covering a longer distance and stopping, his tongue - forming into a sword - elongates itself some more and slices sideways, splitting Itachi in half.

"For someone who calls himself a dragon, you're still pretty primitive and underdeveloped." The upper half of Itachi speaks from the ground.

"All thing start somewhere. You will be a fitting stepping stone." Orochimaru says as his tongue playfully moves around his face.

"Rather than a start, you seem like a continuously failed experiment." Itachi's lower half has turned into another split upper half.

"Defiling life." One half declares

"Defiling others'." The second half follows up, both being in a mirrored position from each other.

Orochimaru's tongue gets out in a forceful manner that feels like a body wrenching vomit. Out of his tongue, Itachi's head forms. Orochimaru summons his Kusanagi blade to cut it away, and retracts his head back to join the other seven. However

"When are you going to stop?" One of the seven heads' eyes turn into Sharingans, then gradually takes facial features akin to Itachi's.

"You've failed your comrades." A second head morphs similarly.

You've failed your village." And a third.

"You've failed your teacher." A fourth.

"You continue to push your failures onto other people's lives." A fifth.

"Your Genjutsus are still as unsavory as ever."

"Same goes to your ways."

Orochimaru claps his hands inside one of his eight-headed serpent's mouths and infuses a sizable amount of Sage Chakra, forcefully blowing off the illusion.

"My ways, huh... hahahaha. Itachi, how can you speak of 'ways'..." Four heads crash at Itachi's location.

"...after what you've done to your own clan." Orochimaru reminds him of his sins.

Touché, Itachi remains silent, not even glancing Danzō's way; the latter being the main factor for it.

"That... And I've noticed something."

Itachi's instinct tells him a certain something...

[Fire Style : Fireball Jutsu (Katon : Gōkyakyū no Jutsu)]

... and launches a textbook Uchiha Jutsu on Orochimaru before he could finish his sentence. The latter however is thrilled. Thrilled he can finally use his jutsus again, he decides to go with one that reminds him of older, simpler days.

[Water Style : Water Wall Jutsu (Suiton : Suijinheki)]

'I've mastered all jutsu elements. It's been so long since I've done this.' Orochimaru internally monologues, reminiscing for a split second, while his water wall parries the flaming ball coming his way and both dissipate into smoke and explosion. Blasting a torrent from one of his dragon heads would have been easier but he did it for the sake of nostalgia, as well as a celebration for the return of his arms.

[Amaterasu]

Two of the giant snake heads catch fire. Black fire.

"Susano'o at last. So that's what yours looks like." Danzō remains a spectator, watching the fight unfold, as intel on Itachi's current abilities is far more important than fighting him right now.

Itachi's Susano'o cuts another two using its giant flaming sword.

[Amaterasu]

Itachi's bleeding eye sends another wave of black flames in Orochimaru's direction.

[Summoning Jutsu : Rashōmon Gate]

The snake inside the dragon's mouth summons the gigantic demonic gate to parry the inextinguishable fire.

Cough. The drawbacks are starting to accumulate on Itachi's frail body, and he starts to puke blood.

In the meantime, the Amaterasu's blaze extended to another one of the dragon's heads. As three were being consumed by the dark inferno, Orochimaru was forced to cut them off, or rather detach from them as easily as he would shed skin. The big gate is consumed and weakened, then crashes. He then bursts into a fit of laughter.

"Hahahaha... so my theory was true..." he declares, awaiting an answer from Itachi who remains silent. Orochimaru follows :

"You can't damage this body. You're afraid of harming your brother, aren't you? How endearing."

Two dragon-snake assault Itachi behind his Susano'o only to be repelled effortlessly. They try to squeeze the life out of it, before failing again.

Itachi's Susano'o cuts another one's head off, leaving two.

Out of one, the Kusanagi sword is thrown from Orochimaru's mouth at a dangerous speed. Out of the other, the tongue splits into three smaller snakes, throwing Fire, Wind, and Lightning Jutsu.

[Yata mirror]

"All your attacks are meaningless."

Just as Itachi said, he's impervious to physical and jutsu based attacks, and one more dragon-snake head gets sliced off. Alas, as fate would have it, continuously using his chakra and Visual Prowess (Dōjustus) is taking a toll on him, and his body is starting to falter, coughing more and more blood. The jutsus had no effect, but disease did. Meanwhile, the Kusanagi sword comes back to Orochimaru as he congratulates Itachi :

"Tsk. The Yata Mirror. You really are a good student of history for finding it, I must praise you for that, but you're at your limit, and Danzō didn't even fight yet. What are you going to do, when you can't finish me in your little brother's body?"

Just as he said that, Itachi's Susano'o impales the main body in the dragon's mouth.

"Come on, now. Do you really think an attack of this caliber will ta-"

Orochimaru couldn't finish his sentence before realizing a brutal fact.

"Tostuka's blade ?"

"This kid had Totsuka's blade all along? Crafty one. I can't let things end here, though."

Danzō approaches. He finally makes his move.

Chapter 19: Students of history 2

"This kid had Totsuka's blade all along? Crafty one. I can't let things end here, though."

Danzō approaches. He finally makes his move, only to be interrupted by one Sai's little ink creatures. A rat, carrying intel. Danzō takes out a small scroll and lays it open on the ground. Generally, Sai is the one writing messages, but he leaves a few of his ink drawings to his colleagues, in case a message needs to be relayed in secrecy without risking a carrier; the ink drawing is faster and blends far easier. In this case, and birds are already known for carrying messages, so everyone in the vicinity is wary of such things, let alone an owl in midday. The little ink rat jumps into the empty middle of the scroll, turning into a character. That will hint at which creature to summon, carrying the message.

"Owl. A message from the Owl Division spy, huh." A Root double agent in one of ANBU's main divisions - Owl - who specializes in intel gathering and sensory.

[Summoning Jutsu]

The owl is summoned, with a message attached to his claw. Danzō opens it up and reads it swiftly, then sends it back.

[Reverse summoning Jutsu]

The whole process took less than 10 seconds, he was quick after all, having done this sort of covert information sharing for longer than he can remember, only that this one was unusual. And the very subtle, half smile that showed on his face can only mean he received some convenient and important news. Having finished his quick business, he gets back to helping Orochimaru.

"Tostuka's blade... I've been looking for it everywhere. You had it all along, Itachi." Orochimaru watches as he gets melted and absorbed by the blade. Itachi edges closer to him and makes him panic.

"STOP! Don't come closer!" Orochimaru makes a few desperate moves.

[Sharingan]

"What are you trying to accomplish with this baby Sharingan?"

[Mangekyō Sharingan]

Itachi shows him the difference in their level, without even using one of his Mangekyō Sharingan abilities, he simply makes the weak and laughable genjutsu backfire. Then lifts his fingers as Orochimaru approaches.

"These eyes... I'll take them back." Itachi threathens to pluck his Sasuke's eyes away from the body Orochimaru stole, just before he gets sealed.

"STOOOP" Orochimaru wails and... Yank.

One eye down. One crow conveniently shows up on Itachi's shoulder and takes it away.

"Next..." He aims for the second one.

[Wind Style : Vacuum Sphere (Fūton: Shinkūgyoku)]

Danzō interrupts.

[Susano'o : Yata Mirror]

A futile attack. But one that nonetheless created an opening.

After moving his Susano'o for quite a bit, Itachi violently coughs blood again.

"You can't do much more than this. Itachi. You've done everything you could. You can't fight anymore. The village will be in good hands; and its peace undisturbed. And the flowers or war plucked before they bloom."

'Flowers of war plucked before they bloom... That was my mission..." Itachi thinks before answering in an intense gaze

"What do you know... about peace, war or village ?"

"Far more than you do, Itachi. Peaceful ideals never worked and never will."

[Amaterasu]

He violently vomits another pool of blood for casting it, and the bleeding eye wasn't helping.

'I only have chakra for 2 or 3 more moves now.' Itachi mentally reviews his situation. Danzō's body is being covered in dark flames, but that doesn't stop him from speaking or unsheathing his right arm, revealing an insulting amount of Sharingans.

"The all-consuming black flames of Amaterasu, known to burn fire itself. But fate is cruel, and you'll die by power of the eyes of your own clan... "Then reveals his right eye. "And the eye of your old friend, Shisui."

A thought popped in Itachi's head.

'If I was a Jinchuuriki, I would have lost control right about now... Just like Sasuke's friend back then. I wonder what he would have done in my situation... Naruto, huh. I would like to meet you again. As reckless and idiotic as you are.'

But he wasn't like him. Itachi is calm, cool-headed and analytic. But none of these qualities mattered right now, because....

[Izanagi]

Danzō uses a forbidden Uchiha Jutsu to come back to life. Then rushes the open spot in Itachi's weakened Susano'o, who temporarily paused the process of sealing Orochimaru to focus his attention on Danzō; Orochimaru still writhes in pain, waiting for a result. Itachi's Susano'o's left arm ravages a tree to land a hit on Danzō.

[Wind Style : Wind waves (Kazanami)]

But the latter succeeds in stopping the attack. His wind style as fierce as ever. He attack back.

[Wind style : Serial Wind Waves (Fūton: Shinkū Renpa)]

A hail of wind waves assault Susano'o from all directions. A few are parried, most are blocked by Yata mirror, a handful remaining ones manage to nick away at its armor, further opening the hole that was in. It's now big enough to fit Danzō, who doesn't waste a second and claims the territory.

[Wind Style : Vacuum Blade (Fūton: Shinkūjin)]

Still time-efficient, Danzō reading his vacuum blade and rushes at Itachi to deliver the final blow.

"It's over." He aims the long sword at Itachi, who clearly is outranged if he responds with a Kunai; even if he pulls out his old Tantō. Even with that disadvantage, Itachi does pull out a Kunai and exchanges blows with Danzō's vacuum blade in a skillful dance, managing a deadlock.

"Magnificent swordplay as ever. You're really a prodigy. A shame you had to die." Danzō praises Itachi. Before breaking the deadlock, then rushing back, which will inevitably result in Itachi's loss. At last, that what's Danzō thought; Itachi's body makes a full turn, parrying the lethal attack and stabbing Danzō in the forehead.

"Wonderful." Says the latter. Who turns out to be an illusion. The real one appears behind Itachi, finally stabbing him properly, straight through the heart. One minute is up. One of the Sharingans on his arm closes.

"Izanagi again... I see..." Itachi bleeds out. This is surely his end.

"Sleep now."

Itachi explodes into a thousand clones, flooding Danzō's vision, who seems to not have moved from his spot. He looks at his arm. The eye that closed is still opened.

"What?"

[Amaterasu]

Itachi violently vomits another pool of blood, again. The eye's bleeding as well.

[Izanagi]

Danzō escapes being burned to death with Izanagi again.

"What is going on ?"

Itachi's Susano'o's left arm ravages a tree to land a hit on Danzō.

[Wind Style : Wind waves (Kazanami)]

"It's happening again"

[Wind style : Serial Wind Waves (Fūton: Shinkū Renpa)]

He rushes in again.

[Wind Style : Vacuum Blade (Fūton: Shinkūjin)]

He reads Itachi this time, and stabs him first.

Itachi explodes into a thousand crows again.

"You have to review your entire philosophies, Lord Danzō. They never worked before and will never bring anything but distress to the village."

The situation is back to where it started again.

'Finally got you.' Itachi thinks.

[Izanami]

Danzō is trapped in Izanami.

"Now... Back to you..." Itachi turns to continue where he left things, sealing Orochimaru and getting his brother's eyes back in the process. His body weak, his Susano'o dissipating by lack of chakra, and his left eye going blind after using Izanami; light extinguished out of it. He extends his fingers.

[Super God Imitating Drawing : Ashura's Four Hands (Chōshin Giga : Ashura Shide)]

Sai summons his two drawing deities Raijin and Fūjin to send Itachi flying away from Orochimaru, stopping the sealing and eye extraction. Itachi is weakened by lack of chakra, overuse of Mangekyō Sharingan, and his disease on top of that. Coupled with Orochimaru's desperate attempt in living, as well as Sai activating his curse mark at the same time, one final burst of chakra made it release...

[Curse Mark : Second Stage]

... the second stage of his curse mark. His skin turned dark-grey and his hair grew and turned dark blue with grey eyes. Additionally, he grew a another pair of arms looking like an Ashura of legends, making his stronger, faster, and able to draw more potent and numerous drawings.

Itachi finds himself in a pinch and decides to retreat. Running into the shade of woods. Sai attempts pursuing him, equally as weakened from Tsukuyomi. He leaves a few creatures to watch over the messed up Orochimaru and completely immobile and hypnotized Danzō to resume chase on to Itachi. After a little while of tired running from both parties, Itachi tries to hide before a clump of rocks and inevitably gets caught by ink snakes. Sai catches up.

"Got you, now. It's fascinating to think I get to kill both remaining Uchihas. Prodigies, no less."

With two hands holding him tight, another drawing a tiger, and the last one wielding the Tantō: Sai unleashes his tiger to bite off Itachi's neck while he stabs his heart. Itachi is dead.

He turns into a thousand crows, one last time. That was the last of his chakra.

"He escaped... No wonder he was at the top of ANBU at 13. He knows how to maneuver in this forest. Well then, that's a disappointment, but at least Lord Orochimaru and Lord Danzō are still alive. " Sai undoes his curse mark and heads back to them.

-------Outcome------

Orochimaru : Lost one Sharingan. Got back his arms and Jutsus.

Danzō : Trapped in Izanami's recurrence.

Itachi : Escaped. Lost one eye to Izanami. Retrieved one of Sasuke's Sharingans.

---- Chapter 19 : End ------

Chapter 20: Water

"Ah... Im hungry. I want Ichiraku ramen. Im tired of bugs and worms." Naruto is back in Konoha. He previously sent shadow clones to find Hinata or Neji but both times they were out on missions. So he ends up sulking.
"Tsk. Extending sage mode duration takes so long. I want to practice my Fūton jutsus a bit more but these Hyūgas are always so busy. Aaaah... for real. Must be good to have Byakugans or Sharingans or whatever... pissing me off... pissing me off... and pervy sage took to long to master it but can extend it easily... AAAAH I'M MAD. WHAT IS MY CLAN ? Uzumaki ? Do uzumakis have eyes ? Rasengan ?"
"Well the pronounciation is the same as least. They all end with -gan. Character is different though. Do you want to awaken a Tornado eye ?( Rasen - Gan)" Shikamaru interrupts Naruto's monologue. Hiding behind a wall's angle that that Naruto just passed by. Still swirling the kunain in his fingers playfully, Shikamaru welcomes back Naruto with a smile.
"Welcome back, problem child. How was Mount Myōboku?"
"Shikamaru! How have you been?"
"Between missions and such, it's been a drag. But I'm taking care of Asuma's child and helping out the Hokage with her duties."
"HUH ? You got all important now, didn't you haha" Naruto aggressively pats Shikamaru, who's clearly annoyed and is thinking how much of a drag that is.
"I didn't know he had a child. Who's the mother ?"
"Kurenai Sensei"
"WHA- woah."
"In any case, did you get any better? You still didn't tell me about your trip."
"Right. I was training with toads and controlling nature energy. It's suuuuuuper hard, but I got so strong."
"I see. That's a relief. You might want to take hard missions now."
"YES. I'll ace all the S Rank missions."
"And ... how are you doing ?"
Shikamaru slides a glance at Naruto, with different overall mood than the previous one. Serious eyes.
"Ah... I don't think I'll ever recover."
"Good grief. You have to talk to people."
"Pervy sage is out on a mission. I just came back to Konoha to relax a bit. Eat. See Kakashi-sensei too."
"I can imagine it's hard on both of you. He's been feeling down for a while as well, on the rare occasions we see him. Should've seen Guy sensei's disappointed looks everytime."
"By the way, have you seen Hinata & Neji ?" Naruto changes the subject to divert the mood. Shikamaru is surprised at the idea and is feeling glad that Naruto can take quick measures like this to avoid staying depressed.
"I don't know. What do you need them for ?"
"I've been practicing Fūton jutsus. And I needed some advice on their rotation technique."
"If that's the case, then just give up."
"Huh ?" That was totally not expected.
"Well, yes. Hyūga, Nara, Akimichi and such notorious clans, are always closeted and covered in secrecy. Do you know why ?"
"I dont know. Is that because it's just Hyūgas who possess the byakugan that can use certain techniques."
"Partly if its a Kekkei Genkai (Bloodline lImit). But the important thing is that, even with Kekkei Genkai, each clan has secret Jutsu. Listen, those jutsus are secret not because people can't use them. But it's because anyone CAN use them id they know the recipe. That's why secret jutsu or Kekkei Genkai clans hide that 'recipe'. Same goes for Hyūga's chakra rotation jutsu. They can't tell you anything about it. You'll have to figure it on your own. You can still look and try to copy them though."
"Eh. What a disappointement." Naruto crosses his arms and starts pondering.
"Hey, cheer up. There's good news."
"Hum ?" The light came back to his eyes.
"Isn't your Rasengan just like that, in a sense ?"
"I thought about it with pervy sage, But the inside is not empty unlike with Neji's rotation."
"Hm. Let's think about it then."
"Hooo. Shikamaru's brains helping me, I feel like I might awaken Daibyuakugan.(Great Byakugan)"
"Haha, no way. I won't dwell on it too hard, developing jutsus is such a drag."
"Im hungry though. I wanted to go to Ichiraku's. Wanna come ?"
"Sure thing."
The pair walks in the hustle and bustle of Konoha, passing by the mask merchants, the dango vendors and the bookstore showcasing Icha-Icha tactics. When finally arrived, Naruto pushes aside one of the Noren Curtains and enters in his natural high spirits.
"Yo. Old man Ichiraku."
"Hello." Shikamaru humbly follows.
"Welcome. Oh Naruto. It's been a while."
"Ramen. Ramen . Ramen. Until i pass out. The usual. Then pork. Then..."
"Oi oi,dont blow all your money in one day." Shikamaru warns jokingly.
"No problem! I'll solve S rank missions to make up for it." After ordering and eating 8 people's share of ramen - 7 of which were consumed by Naruto alone - . Shikamaru holds his chopsticks and points at Naruto's last bowl.
"Oi. Give me that."
"No way. Get your own." Naruto holds on to it like a stingy kid, showin comedic hostility.
"Idiot. I won't eat it. I just want to show you something.
Naruto hesitates, then reluctantly puts his bowl in between them.
"Sorry for this , old man Ichiraku."
Shikamaru then grabs new chopsticks for sanitary purposes, holds the naruto topping.
"I'll explain my idea in simple terms so you can understand."
Naruto knows he's being called an idiot but he can't deny it and simply lets Shikamaru continue his idea. The latter takes the naruto topping and lays it on the inside of the bowl vertically, as if it's peeking, and starts sliding it around the rim, making rounds and rounds.
"This is Neji and his rotation."
"Okay."
He then puts down the topping, grabs a chunk of ramen with his chopsticks and stirs in around.
"And this is Rasengan and your new Rasenshuriken, right ?"
"Yes. Although for Rasenshuriken, wind element needs to be infused from the opposite direction."
"Alright. And since you're interested in Neji's rotation i'm assuming you want a defensive move so how about this."
Shikamaru holds his chopsticks alone vertically, then stirs from the side of the bowl.
"Isn't this just like Neji's ?"
"No. Neji's chakra application was the topping and Rasengan was the noodles. Now the Chakra and element are...
... the water."
"Oh. But your chopstick are still turning them."
"Ichiraku san. Could you pass me the kettle?" Ichiraku complies.
"Here you go son."
"Thaa-nk you." Being careful with the handling of a burning kettle, Shikamaru continues explaining his idea.
"Here. The chakra and element are the water. And you're the kettle." He then pours water slightly sideways, making it follow a diagonal spiral path before becoming part of the ramen, all while the kettle stays on top on the bowl itself,as well as making sure the excess water doesn't dillute and ruin the ramen's taste. Ichiraku then grabs a miso bottle and pour some to keep the ramen tasty, doing it exactly like Shikamaru did.
"OH! I think I get it !You're a genius Shikamaru."
"Well, this is still just theory. We'll have to see how it goes in practice."
"YES. I'll finish this ramen and let's get to it immediately." Shikamaru then thinks to himself :
'Let's ? Good grief, he's planning on dragging me along. What a pain.'

Chapter 21: Pain

[Lightning Style : Black Panther]

 

An electric tiger of black lightning forms from Darui's chakra and aims for Chikushōdō's.

"You first." He says. "Don't feel like dealin' with a bunch of summoned creatures."

[Summoning Jutsu : Panda]

But it was intercepted by a cold, hard, unmoving summon.

"Alright. Let's see what else you've got."

[Multiple Summoning Jutsu]

Chikushōdō's summons visibly, from the number of smokes, multiples more creatures.

"Good grief. So it's going to be one of those days, huh ?" Darui complains one last time before weaving signs.

[Water Style : Water Wall]

'Well, it's not exactly a wall...' He thinks to himself. 'But I hope it holds them off for a bit.'

Following that thought, Chikushōdō's giant crustacean emerges effortlessly from the water wave and attacks Darui, who sidesteps the danger only to be greeted by a mad rhino from his flank, ready to pulverize him.
"You shouldn't have been able to see that one..." He jumps away from danger.
"Something's odd. It's like it knew where I was even with this water cover... Maybe their vision is share- , ungh ?"
Interrupted in his own thoughts , Darui realized something had taken hold of him. Something invisible.

[Giant Snake-headed Chameleon & Giant Drill-Beaked Bird ]

Revealing itself, it showed its body and its long tongue wrapped around Darui who was vulnerable in midair.
"Alright. It was fishy, but now I'm sure that y'all have a shared vision of some sort. Must be the creepy eyes."
"Useless to know it at this point. You're done." Chikushōdō answers.
"Oh no. Not quite yet."

[Lightning Style: Emotion Wave]

Darui's lightning travels from his body to the Chameleon's and bird's , momentarily breaking loose from its grip. He then runs along one of his water walls...
"Again."

[Lightning Style: Emotion Wave]

… and casts it again on the water around him and the other summons, briefly paralyzing them.

"I won't see the end of it if it keeps on going like this, so I'm going for..." He breaks out from one side of his water barrier, where Chikushōdō was. But she changed locations into a higher position, above a house.

"You" He points at her, before weaving a few signs again.

[Lightning Style: Black Panther]

"Got you this time." He says out loud, while thinking, 'Obviously not.' .
And sure enough, Gakidō surges and intercepts the black lightning panther, absorbing it entirely and taking the chakra for himself.

"I was wondering where you were this whole time. Good thing I was careful."
"You should probably gi- ugh ??"
'Gakidō's reeling from absorbing that attack ?' Pain thinks to itself.
"Having trouble digesting my little pet ?" Taunts Darui.
"That was no normal lightning."
"Yeah." Darui rushes to melee after unsheathing his sword." That's something only me and the Raikage know. Surely you can't handle it. I would've been surprised if you did. That would be a real blow to my confidence."
"That's still only temporary." Chikushōdō uses her left hand and a chakra to parry the hit, but after a couple seconds of struggle, they caved in to Darui's pressure and his sword's weight and eventually both got cut, rod and arm.

"You're out of your mind for this... Who uses that form to parry a big sword ? What can you do with one arm ?"

[Summoning Jutsu : Giant Ox]

Chikushōdō uses one arm to summon one more companion and make it charge the foe. The Ox rams into Darui's sword and knocks him back a distance. He uses that momentum to leap into a wall, concentrating chakra to his soles again, and then jumps back into the bare 2nd floor of a house that was half collapsed.
'I'm high enough to avoid the charging bull and crab. The rhino, chameleon and bird are still knocked. The panda can't move. Surely that's all...'

[Summoning Jutsu ...]

"Oh for fu-"

[... Dog of Hell]

Chikushōdō summons another creature with one hand, and makes it violently charge up towards Darui .
"Man, what a hassle."
The dog of hell crashes into the building, making it into a messy pile of rubble, dust and smoke and continues his charge while biting down on Darui. The ox and crustacean follow up and start bludgeoning and ripping apart Darui's body.

 

[Lightning Release : Black Lightning Clone]

What the beasts thought was Darui exploded in a black lightning surge, violently damaging, paralyzing and frying them.

[Storm Release: Laser Circus]

"A lightning clone..." Pain thinks, as a flurry of light beams shoot out from the destroyed building and aim for Chikushōdō.

 

"Useless." Chikushōdō says, as Gakidō swiftly moves and intercepts the lightning rays.
"Nah. I don't think so." Darui makes the light beams completely change course, avoiding Gakidō's absorbing barrier entirely, and curving back to Chikushōdō, who could only watch them approach and take the hit head-on.

"Tsk. "
The beams explode powerfully on Chikushōdō and leaves it laying on the ground, damaged all over.
"A special black lightning. In a clone as well. And now, a precision jutsu like this. No wonder you're the Raikage's right hand." Pain's voice resonates from Gakidō.
"Thank you for that. Any last words ?"
"It's also impressive how you can still bluff. I know for a fact that elemental clones take a lot of chakra. And with something powerful like black lighting being used so many times, you're at your chakra reserves' limit."
"Haaa..." Darui sighs,"... So what ? I've already won." he declares.
'Or at least that's what I want to say...'

On the other side of the village. A, the Raikage is still fighting Tendō.
"PAAAAAAAAAAIIIIINNNNN."
"Very noisy for someone as highly placed as the Raikage."
"Shut up. Criminal. I'll pummel you"
Blow for blow, they keep trading hits. One hit from the Raikage could prove to be dangerous, so Pain does his best to keep the strikes at bay. Dodging some, parrying others, and attacking back. But the Raikage is much faster and eventually...
"Got you know."
He closes in with a speed that looks like teleportation for the untrained eye, and smashes his fist on Tendō's flank.
"That's a lot of damage.  And that speed... I see."
"I'll hurt you badly for what you've done, Pain!" screams Ay as his fist aims for Tendō's head.
"What do you know about pain ?" Pain's eyes flicker, and his neck moves to the side in an unnatural way, dodging the blow.
"Know pain."
Boom. Countless missiles explode on the Raikage's flank, pushing him away from Tendō.
The recovered Shuradō had aimed for the defenseless Raikage. With this downtime, Tendō gets back up. The fight is pretty simple. Ay is faster and stronger, so he aims in a straightforward way to him but

[Almighty Push (Shinra Tensei)]

 

He gets repulsed far back again. So the Raikage pick it up a notch and goes a bit faster to bridge that gap making sure to dodge the incoming missiles on the way.
"EAT THIS." Ay plants a powerful fist in Tendō's face who was sent flying and crashing to an alley.
Shuradō continues his onslaught of firepower while Jigokudō rushes to Tendō's location, feeding him to the king of hell. The Raikage easily dodges the rest of Shuradō's missiles, moves at insane speed to him, and blows him away in one powerful hit. As the king of hell was finished and Tendō got out of him, Ay prepared to rush back to him. But a tornado of papers gathered next to Pain, and Konan made her appearance.
"Nothing on my end. How about you, Pain ? Any news ?"
"Ningendō, Shuradō, Chikushōdō and Gakidō are done for and I'm a bad match for the Raikage."
"But you can still beat him, right? Especially while I am with you, we can't lose."
"Right. But there's no need to fight anymore. Jigokudō had planted chakra rods on one of their guys that could control animals, and I picked up a signal from a certain location."
"J!" Raikage shouts at the realization," DAMN YOU!" And rushes back into the melee of both...

 

[Almighty Push (Shinra Tensei)]

… but was flung back even further, as Pain concentrated this last one.
"I see." Says Konan, fully aware of Pain's intentions.
"This is it for you and your village Raikage." He says while flying with Konan on a paper bird.
"COME BACK HERE, COWARD!" Shouts the Raikage to no avail." PAAAAAAAAAAIIINN!"
While taking altitude, they keep discussing the situation.
"Deidara and Sasori are close by there. But I want to go myself and make sure. That will also serve as a checkup on Sasori's whereabouts. With those rumors and his new power ups, I want to make sure he's still on our side."
"What of the Hidden Cloud ?"
"It's time for them to know pain, too."
"Pain. NO! That technique eats away at your life. There's no need for that!"
Pain ignores Konan's pleads and continues floating up on his own. He opens up his arms, looks down at the Hidden Cloud village's destroyed state from above, and declares:

 

"This world....
... shall know pain."

[Almighty Push (Shinra Tensei)]