Flying Demon

by sinisteruto

How different would the shinobi world have been if Naruto had been born into the Uchiha Clan? How different would the shinobi world have been had Naruto met Madara in his younger years? Mangyeko Sharingan/Perfect Sage Naruto.

1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other series that I might use for inspiration.

Fate

"Let me get this straight, you mean to tell me that you are an Uchiha-Uzumaki hybrid, and that you are the son of one of Tobirama's subordinates, Uchiha Kagami, and a woman named Uzumaki Kushina?" the old man, old being an understatement in itself, asked retorically.

"Yes." The young, eight year old boy replied simply.

He was a rather tall boy for his age, with spiky red hair, deep blue eyes, and three whisker-like linings on each of his cheeks, wearing only black shinobi pants and no top to go with it, his top having been burned by the black flames that the old man had thankfully put out for him.

"Interesting...but do tell me, how did you end up getting hit by an Amateresu? And who was it that was skilled enough to execute such a high level technique?" The old man asked curiously.

"The Uchiha clan has been annihilated, every single person in the clan is dead. The clan head, Uchiha Fugaku's son and an Uchiha orphan, Uchiha Obito are responsible for the attack on the clan. They killed everyone, even the children. Uchiha Itachi is the one responsible for the Amateresu, he had also trapped me in his Tsukiyomi but I managed to break out of it. However, my attacks were all countered by his Susano'o, so eventually I was forced to retreat or risk losing my life like the rest of my kinsman." The young boy explained, more than stimulating the old man's interest with his story.

"I see, so you used your own Mangyeko Sharingan to teleport yourself over here, to escape Uchiha Itachi's amateresu?" The old man inquired, not wanting to miss a single detail of what was being explained to him.

"Yes, I awakened my Mangyeko Sharingan shortly after nii-san's death a few month's ago...a death that was at the hands of Uchiha Itachi. Although there is no concrete evidence to prove that he killed nii-san, the circumstancial evidence is overwhelming." The young boy replied, a look of pure anger taking over his facilial features.

"What is the name of your teleportation jutsu, young Uchina?" The old man asked.

"Flying Demon Technique" The young boy answered simply.

"And what of that appearance that you had when you arrived, what was that?" The old man asked, already having his opinions on that particular matter but wanting to hear the boy's version and understanding of the truth.

"That was my sage transformation, it's an inherent ability from the Ryuchi Clan, the clan with origins from the mythical Ryuchi Cave. My grandfather married a woman from that clan to solidify an alliance when the Ryuchi clan joined Uzushiogakure, that is why I have the ability now, and because of my Uzumaki life-force and chakra, I can control it better than the Ryuchi pure bloods, although I myself am not perfect yet." The young Uzumaki-Uchiha hybrid said neutrally.

"Interesting..."

"You don't sound too surprised by any of this, just who are you exactly? I mean, I can tell by that sharingan on your left eyehole, the fact that you were able to put out Amateresu, and the texture of your chakra that you're an Uchiha, a very powerful one at that, even though, you do seem to have run out of time." The boy inquired, his own curiousity gettting the better of him.

"All in good time young Uchiha, all in good time. Now, tell me about your other Mangyeko Sharingan abilities, have you awakened them yet?" The old man asked curiously.

"I only answered the questions that could not be avoided because of how we came to meet each other, and because of the current circumstances, however, I do not and will not tell you about my other abilities." The young Uzumaki-Uchiha hybird, now known as Naruto, replied with an intense gaze, a gaze full of determination and an immense strength of will.

"Okay, let us leave that aside for now, but do tell me, how and why did you teleport to this place in particular? Did you already know about my hideout, or is there some other explanation? Surely you don't expect me to believe that it was mere coincidence that you ended up here?" Madara asked with a soul shattering gaze, one that made the young Uchiha, despite his own immense ability and strength of chakra, feel like a measly little ant in the presence of a giant.

"I...well, I don't actually know myself how I ended up here, but..."

"But what?" The old man urged on.

"Are you Uchiha Madara?" Naruto asked abruptly, causing old man's eyes to narrow slightly at the red haired Uchiha.

"And what of it?" The old man replied, brushing the blonde's insinuation off as if it was nothing of signifance.

"So I was right! You are Uchiha Madara!" Naruto exclaimed with wide eyes, his mouth so wide open that the old man could swear he could see all the way to the boy's stomach.

"In the flesh!" the old man, now known as Uchiha Madara, said theotrically, pride and confidence, a tad bit of arrrogance to go with it written all over his tone, his expression, and even his poise.

"You're just a fledling Uchiha right now, but it is still a pleasure to meet your acquintance, Uchiha Naruto." Madara acknowledged without the traditional small bow of the head.

"I-impossible...!" Naruto exclaimed with wide eyes, almost falling flat on his backside in surprise.

"Why the surprise young one? This is merely a comfirmation of what you already suspected isn't it? But than again, merely suspecting something and having it thrown at your face are two different kinds of feelings aren't they? Sometimes reality can become extremely difficult to comprehend, even when you saw it coming." Madara lectured wisely.

"..."

"..."

"Well in any case, weren't you about to tell me something?" Madara inquired, skillfully diverting the conversation back to the direction that he wanted it to flow.

"W-well, there were two thoughts on my mind as I fled the battle, one was to get as far away from Uchiha Itachi as possible, and the other, w-well..."

"Well...?" Madara prompted patiently.

"I felt sick just thinking about the fact that I was running with my tail between my legs, I...I remember thinking that I wish I was a little more like you, that I was brave and powerful like the Legendary Uchiha Madara. I don't know for sure, but I think that's the reason I ended up here. I've known for a while now that I can teleport to wherever I want, or whetever place I think about, so it wouldn't be a far stretch to think that I would be able to teleport to whoever I am thinking about regardless of my ignorance regarding their location." Naruto said with a pondering expression.

'So that also means that there is technically no hiding away from him. As long as he is thinking about you, than he can find you. What a useful ability. I can't help but wonder if fate itself has a plan for me, first Obito with his kamui, and now Naruto with his Flying Demon Technique?' Madara thought with a mental smirk.

'Obito was a little older, and he had his own pre-convictions about the shinobi world, but this guy, well, he is still raw. He can be of good use to me.' Madara thought, wondering now if letting Obito live had been a bad mistake that might come back to haunt him in the future.

'Even so, half of his body is made of Zetsu, he is irrelevant to me as long as his body remains like that, he might still be of some use to me yet, whether he comes back of his own accord, or even if I have to make him repay his debt.' Madara thought, quite literally pissed off everytime he thought about the fact that Obito had chosen to run back to Konoha over repaying his debt to him.

"Madara-sama...!" Naruto shouted, not too loud, but not too soft either, just enough to snap the old man out of his trance.

"Tell me Naruto, what is your opinion about this world...?"

"I hate it!" Naruto exclaimed furiously, causing Madara's eyes to widen slightly at the red haired's quick response, however choosing to keep silent as he listened in anticipation of what the boy had to say.

"This world has taken everything from me. My mother, my father, and my brother. Sure, we only shared a father, but he was still my brother and I loved him as if we had the same mother. I have absolutely nothing now in this world, and no one seems to have been held accountabe for all of my losses. This world is cruel, unforgiving, and unjust, it is a pathetic world!" Naruto shouted furiously.

'He's perfect!' Was the only thing going through Madara's mind in that moment.

"So, Naruto. Tell me, if I told you that there was a way that we could change the world, a way to create a new world, with different rules from this one, with our own rules. A world without war, without hatred, without even death. A world of peace and love only. What if I told you that we would be able to ressurect everyone that we lost in this world and live happily ever after, just like in the fairytails. What if I told you that I needed your help to achieve this goal, that I wanted you to become my apprentice? That I would train you and teach you everything you need to know to attain this goal? What would you say to this, Naruto-kun?" Madara asked with a serious tone.

"I would say yes in a heartbeat...if I thought that what you were speaking of was even remotely possible, and if you re-assured me that you would be a real mentor to me, not just someone who was using me as a means to an end, not someone who would put a knife through my back when I wasn't looking. I would agree only under the condition that you would show me the same loyalty that I would give to you." Naruto replied, choosing each and everyone of his worlds carefully.

'So he wants us to make a pact of loyalty and faithfulness to each other, a contract of sorts. He doesn't want to be manipulated like a puppet and he doesn't want to be used or betrayed either, or at least, he wants to ascertain the likelyhood of betrayal. This boy is a genius, he reminds me so much of my younger self. Perhaps it would be wise to enter into this pact with a sincere heart, with his potential, and me of all people mentoring him, he will certainly not be someone I will want fighting on the other side in the future.' Madara thought, weighing his options with a clear and analytical mind.

"Than it is settled." Madara said as he sliced up his right palm with his scythe and beckoned the young Uchiha-Uzumaki hybrid to stand before him, the young Uchiha following in kind as he allowed Madara to slice open his right palm as well.

"Let this blood pact be a symbol of trust, faith, and loyalty between you and I, as sensei and student, as blood relatives, as friends, and as partners in our quest for world peace." Madara said as he offered his bloody hand to the red haired Uchiha.

"For world peace, I agree to the terms of this pact with you, Madara-sensei." Naruto said with a dead serious expression.

"Good now...look into my eye so that I may show you everything." Madara said as he made direct eye contact with the young Uzumaki.

3 Years Later...

"The message said that we should meet here, but where is our myserious saviour...my mysterious saviour." Konan said dejectedly.

"Don't be so hard on yourself Konan, the truth is, that guy, whoever he was, most probably saved all of our lives. God only knows what would have happened to us if he hadn't interfered." Yahiko said comfortingly, causing Konan to smile happily, a small blush adorning her cheeks despite her best efforts to keep it contained.

"But why is he only making contact now though? That incident happened over two years ago, one would have thougt that he would have contacted us much sooner than this." Nagato asked wearily.

"Well, I guess we'll have to ask him directly when he arrives, be on your guard though, if there's anything I learned from that incident, it is that we can trust absolutely no-one in this shinobi world apart from the three of us and our unfortunately deceased brothers." Yahiko said.

"But if we could trust our fallen comrades, whom we only met much later in our journey, why than couldn't we trust this mysterious individual in the same way? Is there something that makes him different from the others?" Nagato asked.

"Ofcourse there is Nagato, this man singlehandedly took out not only Danzo's but also Hanzo's elite platoons, and than went on to forcing both Danzo and Hanzo himself to escape with their tails between their legs. He has power in abundance, and if the five Kage and Hanzo are anything to go by, than it follows that no one with that much power can be trusted. Power corrupts, that's just the way it is." Yahiko explained.

"Not neccessarily...although I suppose that would be true 99.9% of the time." A suspiciously young sounding voice reveberated around the mountain side as a very sizeable wooden gate appeared literally out of thin air, the doors of the gate sliding open to reveal two contrasting figures.

One was quite short, wearing a white mask with two eyeholes and black, circular ring-like designs on it, the two eyeholes revealing two mangyeko sharingan eyes. He was also wearing blue shinobi pants with white leg warmers and dark blue sandals, with a black hooded cloak over his outfit, the cloak extending down and almost reaching his ankles and with the hood hanging on his back, not wearing it over his head this time. The other figure, well, lets just say that a giant plant that had taken the shape of a human was standing next to him, wearing a very similar outfit to the shorter guy, except this one specifically modified to fit the venus fly-trap around his body.

"You...you look much younger than I imagined." Yahiko said as he and his friends turned around to face the two mysterious shinobi as the duo walking out of the wooden doors, the doors sealing shut right afterwards before disapearing altogether.

"That jutsu, it's a space-time technique isn't it? It looks different from the one you used that other time...so does your chakra." Nagato pointed out with a questioning tone.

"That is because it is a different jutsu, the other one was a power from my left eye, The Flying Demon Technique. This one is Senkaimon, it's for defensive purposes.." Naruto explained patiently.

"World Penetration Gate huh? That's quite a fitting name." Nagato commended.

"It is isn't it?" Naruto said with an amused smile, although said smile was invisible to the naked eye as he was wearing a mask that practically covered his whole head.

"Anyway as for my change in size and chakra signature, well, that's because I'm not wearing the body suit that I was wearing back than. It's a special body suit made out of living tissue, but that's a story for another day." Naruto explained.

"Why are you revealing your secrets and powers so easily?" Konan asked suspiciously.

"To establish a trusting relationship between the three of you and us two. Hopefully in the near future, I will be able to say us five rather than you three and us two." Naruto said openly.

"I see..." Yahiko said thoughtfully.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"In any case, my full name is Uchiha Uzumaki Naruto, I am Uzumaki Kushina and Uchiha Kagami's son, and the deceased Uchiha Shishui's younger brother. and this is my friend and partner, Zetsu. However, in the presence of our other members, I would prefer you use the name, Otura rather than Naruto, I would also like for you to omit my surnames when you adress me in the presence of our other comrades. Later on, I will pose as Uchiha Madara, and I request that when that time comes, you use that alias to adress me." Naruto explained slowly and concisely.

"What do you mean when you say, comrades? When did we agree to join you?" Yahiko asked with a deadly glare.

"It doesn't make sense for us not to join forces, all things considered." Naruto replied evenly.

"All things considered?" Nagato asked curiously..

"Our ambition is to create the perfect world, a world of peace and love, where there is no suffering, no pain, no loss, no losers, and...no death! Your ambition is world peace is it not?" Naruto asked retorically.

"A world of no death? No loss? Where only peace and love exists? That's impossible! You're just trying to use us, to use Nagato!" Yahiko accused with a pointed finger.

"I'm embarrassed for you, Yahiko." Naruto said with a disappointed shake of the head.

"You're embarrased for me?" Yahiko asked indignantly.

"You're a poor excuse of a leader. How can you start an organisation founded on world peace, an organisation that has lost a countless number of members all for the sake of world peace, when you yourself don't even believe in the concept yourself. I propose for us to unite in that goal and you are the first one to tell me that it is impossible? Tell me Yahiko, what did all those men and women die for? All the sacrifices they made, and their belief in you and your goals, what was all that for if world peace is an impossible dream to begin with?" Naruto asked angrily, completely rendering the Akatsuki founder unable to utter a world.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Fine, have it your way, I wouldn't want to be associated with a self-centred, heartless, and hypocritical ingrate like you anyway. Lets go, Zetsu!" Naruto ordered as a pair of wooden sliding doors appeared and opened behind them, the duo turning around and preparing to enter the the space-time tunnel before they were stopped by a loud shout from behind, Naruto unable to contain the smirk from appearing on his facial features.

"Wait!" Yahiko shouted hastily.

"What?" Naruto said with mock apathy, not even turning around to meet the orange haired Akatsuki leader eye to eye.

"W-we...we're down to only the three of us, all our other comrades have passed away. We're nowhere near achieving our goal as it is, in fact, we've gone a few steps backwards even. W-we...we could use a few more members..."

"You could use a different plan too...!" Naruto trailed off, cutting off Yahiko before he could finish.

"You have a better plan?" Nagato asked curiously.

"Yes ofcourse, but first take a look at this." Naruto said as he turned around to face the trio, handing a scroll over to Nagato.

"What is it?" Nagato asked curiously

"It's a list of members for the organisation that Zetsu has recruited for us. You can read them out loud for Yahiko and Konan to hear." Naruto said authoratively.

"Hoshigaki Kisame, Akasuna no Sasori, Bakuton no Deidara, Orochimaru of the Densetu no Sannin, Kakuzu, Hidan," Nagato read out, causing Konan's and Yahiko's eyes to widen in surprise, Nagato's own eyes wider than any of his best friends..

"This is insane! How are we supposed to control so many S-ranked criminals. I don't know who Kakuzu and Hidan are, but I'm quite certain that they too must be at the same level as the others. And Orochimaru? Why would we ever trust him?" Konan exclaimed in disbelief.

"They reason they have all agreed to join the organisatuon is because most people would be more than willing to follow the reincarnation of the sage of the six paths..." Naruto trailed off.

"Y-you told them about Nagato's rinnegan! I knew it, you just wanted to use Nagato to further your own ambitions!" Yahiko shouted accusingly.

"Ofcourse! The reason people team up to begin with is because they need each other. If people didn't need each other than the concept of friendship and family wouldn't exist in the first place. The fact of the matter is that all of these people have joined the organisation because they want to follow the next sage of the six paths, also, because they believe that this organisation's goal is world dominion." Naruto explained.

"So that's how you were able to get a bunch of super strong and crazy criminals to join, by lying to them?" Nagato asked retorically.

"It's not a lie, world dominion is neccessary in order to achieve our goal. No-one will listen to you if you don't have any power even if you scream at the top of your lungs, you of all people should know that by now. Did Hanzo listen to you? Did Danzo listen to you? Did any of the five kage listen to your pleas?" Naruto answered with his own barrage of retorical questions.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Exactly!" Naruto said with a dead serious tone.

"So if Nagato is the one to lead this organisation, than what is to become of Yahiko?" Konan asked worriedly.

"We have set up this organisation to work in two men cells, Yahiko is to be partnered with Hoshigaki Kisame. We like to partner the more eccentric of our comrades with the more...reasonable ones, Yahiko will be Kisame's voice of reason." Naruto explained.

"So your partner is Zetsu, Yahiko's partner is Kisame, than, does that mean that Konan will be my partner?" Nagato asked.

"Precisely." Naruto replied simply.

"Orochimaru has betrayed the organisation! He tried to capture me, probably to turn me into one of his experiments. He didn't believe that we had a leader with a rinnegan because in two years, none of them had seen you. Because of Orochimaru's betrayal, Deidara has now been partnered with Sasori," Zetsu explained, talking for the first time since the meeting began, his dual personality causing the three Ame orphans to stare at the plant/human hybrid with unrestrained stupor and surprise, trying to wrap their heads around the concept of this guy actually have two minds and personality in one body, however, Naruto was very quick to break them from their stupor, distributing more vital information to the ring leaders of Akatsuki.

"Kakuzu also has a tendency of killing his comrades, we have paired him with Hidan because...well, because Hidan is immortal." Naruto said, once again causing stupor and surprise to filter through the Ame orphans' expressions.

"I...Impossible!" Yahiko exclaimed in denial.

"I suppose you wouldn't believe me either if I told you that Nagato has the potential to control gravity, to summon mechanical body parts and weapons from a mythical dimension, to master and control the sixth element, yin-yang release, to summon a vast array of summons, to ressurect the dead, and so much more thanks to his rinnegan." Naruto said matter of factly.

"T-that...that is nonsense! If the rinnegan had such abilities, I would have discovered them by now. I can acknowledge the sixth element theory, but the rest sounds like garbage to me..."

"It's not rubbish! In fact, using the Naraka Path's hell demon, you could technically have a space-time traveling mechanism right there, and Preta Path enables you to absorb all chakra and all ninjutsu." Naruto re-affirmed, adding two more to Nagato's ridiculous potential feats, at least, ridiculous in so far as those ignorant of the rinnegan's true ability.

"Assuming that what you are saying is true? Is that why you have chosen Nagato over Yahiko to lead this new organisation? And, how exactly do you know so much about the rinnegan?" Konan asked suspiciously.

"To answer your first question, yes, that is precisely why I have chosen Nagato. And as for your second question, well, I and Zetsu are the last two remaining members of the secret order of the rinnegan originally established by the sage himself. The sage foretold that a rinnegan wielder would re-appear everytime the world was, or was about to be thrust into war and chaos. He established this secret order and passed on the secrets of the rinnegan so that we could help to guide future rinnegan wielders towards the right path, the path towards peace." Naruto explained, taking a momentary pause to ensure that the Ame orphans understood everything he had said so far.

"My mentor, Uchiha Madara was leader of the secret order, and he recruiting me on his deathbed to carry on the legacy. Zetsu was already with him when I met him. I now run the rinnegan project, and my duty is to watch over Nagato and help him to forge his path towards peace. I will provide all the neccessary resources and means for the fulfillment of the plan, including training Nagato to unlock the full potential of the rinnegan. This power, should...no, rather, when Nagato attains it, will be enough to control an organisation comprised of the most dangerous criminals in the world." Naruto explained patiently.

"You've been blabbing on about Nagato and the plan for a while now, yet we still know nothing of how exactly you want to us to achieve this goal." Yahiko said accusingly.

"The plan is simple, the first phase is to collect the nine bijuu and seal them into the demonic statue of the outer path. You've already seen the statue since Nagato has summoned it before am I correct?" Naruto asked retorically, all three of the Ame orphans nodding in agreement.

"The statue is actually the outer shell of the ten tails..."

"The what?" Yahiko interupted.

"The nine bijuu were originally one entity, the juubi, which had ten tails and had chakra and power surpassing each of the nine. The sage, in order to defeat the juubi and save the world, had sealed the ten tails into himself using a sealing jutsu that has been passed down throughout the generations, now used to create what we call a jinchuuriki, and he had attained the power of a true god, having wielded the godly powers of the rinnnegan in the first place. However, years went by and age caught up to him. Fearing that the juubi, upon his death, would be released and set havoc in the world again, the sage used his last remaining strength and seperated the juubi's chakra from it's body using the human path's soul removal technique, a technique that you will soon be able to utilize yourself, Nagato..." Naruto trailed off, Nagato's eyes widening in surprise and anticipation.

"Anyway, having seperated the Juubi from it's body, the sage used deva path to create the moon, where the juubi's body was sealed. This technique is known as Chibaku Tensei. I can see it in your eyes that none of you believe me, but the living proof of these jutsu is Nagato here, as you will see when he has mastered them at the completion of our training." Naruto said confidently.

"How sure are you that I will be able to master them?" Nagato asked curiously.

"You're an Uzumaki with the rinnegan, there is nothing that you cannot do, Nagato." Naruto answered sincerely, once again, causing surprise to filter through his audience.

"Uzumaki!?" The trio exclaimed simultaneously.

"But ofcourse. Your life-force and chakra capacity and potency are a dead give-away, even more-so is your red hair. My mother, an Uzumaki, had red hair, as do I, and as do you. Tell me, Nagato, did one of your parents not also have red hair?" Naruto asked retorically, knowing full well that it was impossible for one of them not to unless he was adopted.

"M-my mother...she had the most beautiful red hair I've ever seen..." Nagato trailed off, eyes wide in shock as tears fell out his eyes.

"Exactly. So you see, you and I are family, Nagato. That is why I have absolute faith in you." Naruto said, the seriousness and sincerety in his voice easily noticeable.

"..."

"In anycase, as I was saying, the juubi was sealed into the moon, but the last rinnegan wielder before Nagato, the sage's son, was able to summon the Juubi's outer shell from the moon, and named it, Gedo Statue, the one that Nagato can also summon. As for the chakra, the sage used creation of all things, otherwise known as yin-yang release, to split the juubi's chakra into nine weaker entities, albeit still incredibly strong in their own right. You all know these entities as the nine bijuu." Naruto explained patiently.

"Okay, assuming all of this is what really happened, what is the point of collecting the nine beasts and sealing them into the statue? I mean, it's obvious the point is to re-create the ten tails, but for what purpose? Do you plan to control the ten tails and use it to force the elemental nations into submission? Is that how we are going to achieve world peace? Because that is a very stupid plan, what if you can't control the ten tails, what if even Nagato can't control it?" Yahiko asked in quick succession.

"Ye of little faith, do you honestly believe that we don't have measures in place to prevent all of that? Don't be ridiculous. In any case, the plan is for me to become the jinchuuriki of the ten tails and than I will use it's power to maximise my ocular powers. The plan is to cast a genjutsu over the world, a genjutsu that will be reflected off of the moon, where the body of the Juubi was sealed, the name of the jutsu is Mugen Tsukiyomi. With this jutsu, I will be able to instill a war and conflict aversion control on every human being, ending all wars and all conflicts in the world. It will be a world of peace. Also, in this world, the dead humans will be revived using the juubi's lifeforce as a catalyst, ofcourse, I can't revive everyone that ever lived, but I can revive people from up until the first shinobi world war, that includes each of your parents and family members, and it includes the people that we will inevitably have to kill in order to get that far." Naruto said with a grave undertone.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"So, will you join me? Nagato? Konan? Yahiko? Will you be the ring leaders in our new organisation of S-ranked criminals?" Naruto asked once again.

"Yahiko...?" Konan trailed off.

"I don't like this, I think we should..." Yahiko said, only to be cut off mid sentence by Nagato.

"I will join your organisation, and I will lead the organisation, by the way, what is this organisation called?" Nagato asked curiously.

"It's the new Akatsuki ofcourse." Naruto said with an amused smile hidden behind his mask.

"I see..." Nagato replied with a small smirk.

"N-Nagato! You can't just make a decision like that, we need to make a vote on it...!"

"I'm sorry Konan, Yahiko, but this is it. Unless you have a better plan, one that actually has a chance of working and doesn't contantly put us at a disadvantage, than this is the path that I am walking. I would be honoured if you were to walk with me, but if you can't, than I understand. However, I am not changing my mind" Nagato said with determination

"Y-Yahiko, do something...!" Konan pleaded helplessly.

"We've gone too far to allow ourselves to be seperated now. Besides, Nagato has a point, I do not have a better plan, truth be told, as much as I find it hard to believe half of the stuff Naruto has said, it all makes too much sense to not have some level of truth to it. Besides, if Nagato masters and demonstrates these jutsu that the sage supposedly used to defeat the juubi, than all the more reason to give Naruto and his plan the benefit of the doubt. So this is what we'll do, we will join the new Akatsuki as ring leaders, but Konan, we are going to have to train really hard to match Nagato and our new comrades, heck just to manage to survive long enough to realise the plan." Yahiko said with a weary but determined expression.

"You sell yourself way too short, Yahiko the Swift, or should I say, Glutonous Yahiko? And you, Konan the Paper Angel Of Ame." Naruto praised.

"Thanks Naruto, but flattery will not make us any stronger." Yahiko countered.

"Yes, it won't, but surely this will." Naruto said as he pulled out a glass jar with preservation liquid in it, two eyes floating in the middle of the glass jar.

"W-what is that?" a shocked Konan asked.

"This is a doujutsu, the Fuingan, a rare doujutsu that appears once in a while in the extinct Bishiteki clan of Kiri. I stole these eyes from Raiga of the Seven Swordmen, right after he had gourged them out of a seven year old kid that he killed during the bloodline massacres of Kiri. I ruthlessly murdered Raiga after the incident, lets just say that killing an innocent child, who couldn't even walk on his own two feet, struck a cord in my heart. You'd understand if your whole clan and all your friends in the clan had been ruthlessly murdered by a traitor." Naruto explained.

"That doesn't seem to have stopped you from capitalizing on the situation did it though? Using his eyes as a bargaining chip like you are now, kinda makes you wonder how sincere your words are at the moment." Yahiko countered.

"I took his eyes as a symbol and a promise to myself, and especially to him. A promise that his eyes would one day be able to see a better world and a better life than this pathetic hell hole that we live in now, I wanted to find someone worthy to wield his eyes, someone who has the will, the desire, and the strength to carry the burden of realizing that ideal, I coudn't think of a better person than you, Yahiko." Naruto said, staring unblinkingly at the orange haired founder of Akatsuki.

'He doesn't seem to be lying, but still...' Yahiko thought skeptically.

"What do these eyes do anyway?" Nagato asked curiously.

"It's quite interesting really, the eyes seem to carry the same traits as a byakugan and a three tamoe sharingan. Basically, Yahiko will have ex-ray vision, telescopic vision, 360 degree vision, visualization of chakra, precognition, and generally the potential to see through all genjutsu and ninjutsu, and to cast genjutsu through the eyes as well. His chakra control and ninjutsu mastery should also improve significantly." Naruto explained.

"That just sounds too good to be true." Konan said with a disbelieving tone.

"It is important to remember that a tool is only as strong as the wielder himself, just as a kenjutsu master can take down a novice with a sword using nothing but a peble." Zetsu cut in.

"Also, this is a symbol of trust, of the trusting relationship that I wish to establish between us, as this eye will protect you and your comrades from sharingan illusions, ofcourse, pending on your own training and mastery of the eye, which I have no doubt you will master." Naruto explained.

'Ofcourse, my real intention is to protect you from Itachi and Obito's sharingan rather than mine. Deidara has trained his eyes to counter genjutsu, Sasori has a puppet body and is therefore immune as well, Kakuzu has a unique nervous system and fiven interconnecting chakra networks, over and above that, he has those masked jingu beasts to protect him and break him out if he gets caught, Kisame has Samehada to break him out, Kurozetsu has Shirozetsu and vice versa, I have my sharingan, Nagato has the rinnegan, and now you have the fuingan, Yahiko.' Naruto thought with satisfaction.

'The only people I'm really worried about are Konan and Hidan, but Konan probably can't be captured in a genjutsu as long she keeps her body dispersed around the battlefield, and she will spend most of her time in Ame anyway once Nagato has dealt with Hanzo, and Kakuzu will just have to watch Hidan's back.' Naruto thought, at least comforting himself with the knowledge that Hidan didn't know half as much as Yahiko and Konan did about his plans.

",..."

"..."

"..."

"Yahiko, I think Naruto has done more than enough to earn our trust, why don't we give him a chance?" Nagato pleaded.

"Nagato...I understand that Naruto, as an Uzumaki, is probably your last living relative, but can't we just sit on this for a while, I mean, really think about it, maybe for a month?" Yahiko asked desperately.

"I understand how you must feel, like you're selling your souls to him or something, or taking the easy way out, but there is no hard way out. We tried it, and it doesn't even exist because no-one will buy into it. Humans are selfish and self-centred. It is a code imbued in our very nature, it stems from the very basic principle of self-preservation. How many comrades must we lose? How many people must we sacrifice, Yahiko?" Nagato asked retorically.

"I hate to say this, but Nagato has a point, Yahiko. Naruto has been nothing but honest and sincere so far, and he has quite a good plan. If we have to take a small portion of free will from humans in order to make them happier and peaceful, than I don't see why we shouldn't do it, especially considering that everyone we have ever killed, and will kill, will all get a chance to live in this world." Konan said with a pleading look, one that literally shattered Yahiko's heart into pieces.

'Well, I wouldn't go as far as saying that I was being totally sincere, after all, I have yet to tell them about Madara-sensei's role in all of this. I'm surprised they haven't asked me about him yet, or did they think I was talking about another Uchiha Madara when I told them about my mentor?' Naruto wondered to himself.

He was ofcourse, planning to tell Nagato about Madara's role, after all, Nagato was the one that was supposed to ressurect him. However, he felt that he should at least build up a strong bond with Nagato before revealing such a big secret, and he also wanted to make sure that Nagato, after embracing his role, would be the one to share the info with his friends, that is, if he decided to share the info.

'Nagato doesn't really have to die though, I could implant the rinnegan in one of the Zetsu spores and teach the jutsu to it, have it be the one to perform rinne tensei. And we can get Nagato a new set of eyes, maybe he can get Madara's original eyes. He might be able to restore the light in those eyes, he is a pureblood Uzumaki after all.' Naruto thought strategically, not liking the idea of his only living family from his mother's side dying like that, or in any manner for that matter. Meanwhile, Yahiko was having his own internal argument, trying to get his prioreties straight and to make the best decision for himself, for his friends, and for the shinobi world.

'I'm being selfish and self-centred aren't I? Is...is it because I'm afraid that I might be losing control of the organisation? Is it because I'm afraid of change? Is...is this how Hanzo felt when he betrayed us? Was he overcome by this feeling of helplessness, the feeling of being replaced?' Yahiko thought wearily.

"O-ok."

"What?" Konan asked.

'This feeling that I have right now is proof that humans really can't avoid conflict for as long as the self-preservation instinct exists within all of us. The feeling of wanting to put yourself in a favorable position compared to others, or wanting to remain there at any cost. I can't become like Hanzo and the Five Kage, I refuse!' Yahiko thought with determination.

"Okay! You're all right. This is the best plan that we have, in fact, I doubt I will ever think of a better solution." Yahiko said.

"Does that mean...?" Naruto said only to be cut off by Yahiko.

"Yes, Naruto! We will join you, we will lead the new Akatsuki with you!" Yahiko declared, causing Nagato to smile happily, Konan also directing a warm smile towards Yahiko.

'He'd already said he would join earlier, but somewhere along the line doubt started to creep into his heart and he had seemingly changed his mind. But now, looking at his eyes, I can see an unbreakable will and determination, this is good news, I could not have wished for a better result.' Naruto thought

One Year Later:

"I see..." Jugo, a fourteen year old, very big and muscular boy for his age, with orange spikey hair and similar cloured eyes, black shinobi pants literally being the only item of clothing on his person, trailed of thoughtfully.

It all started when Naruto sent Zetsu to spy on Konoha during the chuunin exams. More specifically, to spy on Konohamaru, the kyubi jinchuuriki, and Uchiha Sasuke, a potential Akatsuki recruit for the future. That's where Zetsu had seen Sasuke use the cursed seal. Zetsu had been very quick to come up with an anology as to the origins of that power, and with further investigation into Orochimaru and his henchmen, had seen with his own eyes, Kimimaro using version 2 against the Yondaime Kazekage.

It became obvious that Orochimaru was experimenting with Ryuchi clan dna, and the sample obviously did not come from Naruto. So Zetsu, figuring that this would probably be just as important, if not moreso to Naruto, had shifted his investigation from Konoha to Oto, and the investigation had yielded the desired result, with Zetsu finding Jugo chained up in the north hideout of Oto and delivering the news to Naruto with immediate effect.

Naruto, in kind, had responded with immediate effect. Teleporting himself to the North Hideout of Oto and proceeding to kill everyone in the base and destroy every single cursed seal experiment in the base. Last but not least, he'd freed Jugo from his imprisonment and taken him back to his secret base, all the while using his sharingan to prevent Jugo from going on a rampage, as he was doing even now.

Naruto had told Jugo everything, about their familial relation, about his own past and history, about how he got to where he is now, about Madara, about Akatsuki, and about the plan. He'd also explained to Jugo about Kimimaro, how Kimimaro was Orochimaru's puppet, how Orochimaru had been manipulating him since he was a child. He'd promised that Kimimaro could be saved through the infinite tsukiyomi plan and that Jugo should therefore not worry about him. And than, finally, Naruto had asked for Jugo's help, for Jugo to the Akatsuki and fight side by side with him to realize the dream of world peace.

"So what do you say, aniki?" Naruto asked with anticipation, having taken off his mask for Jugo to see his face as he had done with Nagato during their training, now wearing the standard Akatsuki uniform complete with the red clouds on it.

"I'm sorry, but I can't. I'd only be a burden to you, unlike you, I have absolutely no control over my power." Jugo replied with a sad expression.

"The difference between you and I is the life-force. One needs to have an inherently larger than normal life-force in order to balance out his chakra with the senjutsu chakra. In other words, my Uzumaki lineage is the key that makes it easy for me to harness and control the true power of the Ryuchi clan. Correct me if I'm wrong, in fact, don't bother, since I already know that I am right, but don't you have the ability to absorb and assimilate human tissue into your body?" Naruto asked retorically

"But if I absorb you you'll die...!" Jugo retorted instantly.

"Who said anything about absorbing me?" Naruto asked with a sinister smirk

"I don't understand...?" Jugo said with a confused expression.

"Spiral Zetsu...!" Naruto exclaimed seemingly to the space itself, but only a second and a half later Jugo could see a figure...two figures, one carrying the other rise out of the earth next to Naruto.

Jugo was a little unerved by the scene, seeing what looked like a humanoid monster with a face that looked literally like a spiraling root with no visible eye in his singular eyehole, carrying what appears to be a naked man with long, dark and silky hair. Jugo, however, continued to watch intently as the guy he reasonably assumed was this Spiral Zetsu guy placed the man on the ground right in front of Jugo.

"N-no way! T-this guy...why does he look like Senju Hashirama, it cannot be? H-he should be dead, or at least a 100 years old!" Jugo stuttered out in disbelief.

'As I thought, Orochimaru has also been experimenting with Hashirama's dna, how else would Jugo so easily recognise a Konoha shinobi who died so long ago? Ofcourse, he could just as easily have seen an old bingo book with Hashirama on it, but that is quite unlikely.' Naruto thought internally.

"This is a clone of him that my mentor had been trying to harvest for many years. The creation of the Zetsu were in vain attempts to create a perfect clone of Hashirama, although, the Zetsu themselves are far from useless. They have been very helpful and will continue to be in the long run." Naruto explained patiently.

"..."

"I want you to absorb him, Jugo..." Naruto trailed off, causing Jugo's eyes to widen in surprise.

"This guy, even for a genetic clone, has an incredible life-force, I can understand why you would want me to absorb him, or why absorbing him makes sense. But...is this really okay?" Jugo asked, feelings of unnerve settling at the pit of his stomach.

"If you're concerned about him, than don't be. This is just a mindless clone with no emotions, no thoughts, and no logical reasoning. There's no need to feel sorry for him. Also, not only will you be able to completely control your sage transformation when you absorb him, but you will also gain the potential to use all of Hashirama's techniques, enhanced with your own senjutsu. Your speed in mastering his techniques will also be amplified if you use Spiral Zetsu as your body suit, as he is well versed in Hashirama's techniques and ensures that you always have a voice of reason to bounce off ideas from. If you're wondering how this works, well, Spiral Zetsu doesn't have any insides, so merging with him is basically him covering up your whole body. He's like a suit that enhances all of your powers and serves as a body armour, a mask to hide your identity, and as a mentor and/or advisor that's with you at all times." Naruto explained patiently.

"I see, and how do you want me to repay you for all of this? I mean, I know better than anyone else out there that nothing is for free." Jugo asked wearily.

"The only thing I expect from you is to think of me as a brother, as I do of you. We're family, Jugo, and there are very few of us out there. All I want is your loyalty and dedication to me and the plan we have for world peace. To become one of us and join the Akatsuki, that's all that I ask for." Naruto said with complete sincerity.

'Orochimaru promised to help me control my rampages. But all he did was to imprison me and use my dna to conduct experiments that only furthered his own ambition. But Naruto is different. He is helping me control my rampages and even giving me the love of family and a purpose in life. What more could I ask for.' Jugo thought as he strecthed out his hand towards Hashirama's clone, a long and thick syringe-like appendage extenting from his wrist and impaling the clone as Jugo prepared to completely drain the clone into himself.

"I will join you, Naruto. I believe in you and I also believe in the plan. I think, if I had been born in such a world, where there was a genjutsu that facilitates conflict aversion in place, that my rampages would have been non-existent. I would have lived a normal and happy life, and my parents would still be alive. If there is a chance that we can prevent the same pains and struggles that we have had to deal with from being experienced by others, than I will grab the opportunity with both hands." Jugo declared, Naruto watching intently as Hashirama's clone dissappeared into Jugo's body.

'That's what I wanted to hear, Jugo.' Naruto thought with a mental smirk.

'Everything is falling into place. Jugo will be able to match or even surpass Hashirama himself now, even without Spiral Zetsu he would have matched him in time by absorbing the clone, but with Spiral Zetsu, they will be even more powerful. Nagato, Jugo, Yahiko, Konan, Zetsu, I myself, Konan, Kakuzu, Hidan, Sasori, Deidara, Kisame, the nine bijuu that we will collect, and Madara-sensei when he comes back. With all that fire-power, not even the Five Elemental Nations will be able to stop us. World peace is at hand.' Naruto thought confidently.

Six Weeks Later..

"Did you guys really think that we wouldn't notice you walking around freely in our village...in those uniforms, with those unique physical features?" Kakashi asked with a deadly glare, almost as if trying to bore a hole through his enemy's back with his eyes alone.

That was perhaps something that he had the potential to do given the level of mastery he had attained over his mangyeko sharingan thanks to his training with Obito, who was standing right next to him with an equally deadly stare, the last of only two loyal, well, actually three loyal Uchiha if one counted the so called traitor Itachi, wearing black shinobi pants with white bandages around the ankles and a black turtlenecked shirt with the Uchiha clan emblem at the back of his shirt.

"We haven't hurt or attacked anyone, so why don't you just let it slide and let us be on our way?" The shorter of the two trespassers asked with a calm and surprisingly friendly tone, however, the two inigmas not even turning around to look at their persuers.

"We'll let you go, as soon as you accompany us to A.N.B.U HQ." Kakashi said condensendingly.

"Hmmm...you're a funny guy, Hatake Kakashi" The shorter, orange haired guy replied.

"You might as well turn around and prepare to defend yourselves, because we're not letting you leave here alive even if you try to flee." Obito replied.

"They say that giving your back to someone is a sign that you think of the other person as beneath you. However, I wonder if our persistence in giving you our back is really what is irritating you, or...is it the fact that you can't make eye contact with us in this position?" The taller man asked amusedly.

"..."

"..."

"Well, in any case it doesn't matter, Genjutsu won't play a factor here, it is completely useless and irrelevant." The shorter added as the duo turned around to face Kakashi and Obito.

"Big man, fin like hairstyle, blue skin colour, gills on the face, razor sharp teeth, big sword, and high chakra reserves. You're definitely The Monster Of Kiri, the man known as the tailless bijuu, wanted for killing former ninja swordsman Suikazan Fuguki, the Water Country Daimyo, and various comrades and diplomats." Kakashi said with absolute certainty.

"I didn't know my exploits were famous around here, I'm quite honoured." Kisame said with a toothy grin.

"And you! Spiky orange hair, red glowing eyes, and a big black and silver sword on your back...who the hell are you?" Obito asked, causing everyone, his teammate Kakashi as well to sweat drop at such an anti-climax, Kakashi especially, having figured that Obito would end his line by saying the guy's name.

"Hnhnhn! This one is funny, I like him. It's gonna be such a shame to kill him." Kisame said with a shark-like grin, amusement dancing all of his facial expression and his eyes.

"Don't underestimate him, he's quite strong, and he is not nearly as stupid as he makes himself out to be, not even close actually." The shorter man warned, but normal of height in general terms and in fact roughly equal in height with Kakashi and Obito.

"You speak of me as if you know me on a personal level? Who are you?" Obito asked, eyes narrowing dangerously at the orange haired enigma.

"Your eyes are quite scary, and you went and got yourself a new left eye I see, it seems some people benifited more than others from the Uchiha massacre. One might even wonder if you and Uchiha Itachi didn't plan and execute this thing together." Yahiko said with a small and 'innocent' grin, causing Obito's eyes to widen slightly in surprise.

"That's crazy! If you think waving such ridiculous conspiracies is going to save you than you are sadly mistaken. I'll let you in on a little secret, the only thing awaiting you in the next few moments...is death." Kakashi said with a deathly tone.

"I didn't know the sharingan had the ability to predict the future to that extent, I thought it's ability to do that only extended as far as prediction of bodily movements. Thank you very much for that tad bit of information, I'll be sure to add it to my personal bingo book." Yahiko replied condensendingly.

"Assuming you will live long enough to do that." Kakashi retorted.

"Oh well, in any case, I guess I should fight the two of you, more specifically you, Uchiha Obito." Yahiko said with a sinister undertone.

"Obito, I'm sure I don't need to warn you about his eyes, you've noticed it too haven't you, that doujutsu?" Kakashi whispered harshly.

"That goes without saying. Anyway, we'll do it like we always do, you take aim from distance and I'll go in and break ranks." Obito replied softly so as not to be heard by the Akatsuki duo.

"What are you two gossiping about there, sorting out you plan of attack?" Kisame taunted.

"You with the orange hair, why do you have so much of an interest in Obito? And why do you speak of him as if you know him personally?" Kakashi inquired.

"My interest towards Obito only extends in so far as my urge to dispose of him. There is nothing that urkes me more than a traitor, and Akatsuki does not tolerate traitors." Yahiko said with a deathly stare.

"Don't talk rubbish! Are you really in that much of a hurry to die?" Kakashi warned angrily, not in the least bit happy about such an outrageous accusation about his best friend.

"You Konoha shinobi are so ignorant? Just who do you think is it that saved Obito's life at the battle of Kannabi Bridge? His whole right side had been crushed beyond recognition and death was beckoning, who else has the science, skill, and knowledge to patch him up but us?" Yahiko asked retorically, causing both Kakashi and Obito's eyes to widen in surprise, complete and utter shock clearly visible in both of their facial expressions, but for different reasons altogether.

"Obito...I thought you said that you didn't remember what happened to you? That you had come to in the middle of the forest in Kiri that day?" Kakashi asked with a shaky tone, suspission slowly creeping into the forefront of his mind.

"Really now Obito, amnesia? Did you forget the old man who took you in like his own? He practically gave a new birth to you in a way, I mean, to a least half of you. And all he asked of you was to help him fulfill his dying wish, and you couldn't even do that, here I was thinking you liked helping those of old age..." Yahiko trailed off with a sinister undertone, a horrified expression warping into Obito's facial features

"What's going on here, Yahiko-san?" Kisame whispered under his breathe

"I'll explain later, Kisame." Yahiko replied coolly.

"Obito...!" Kakashi trailed off with a deathly tone.

"Kakashi...?" Obito replied, doing everything within his might to contain his emotions and maintain a neutral tone and expression.

"I'm not saying that I completely believe everything he is saying, but you and I are going to have a little chat later on." Kakashi said with a no nonsense tone.

'Kuso! Now he's suspicious of me. I have to find a way to keep him quiet, if the higher ups find out about this...about him and my relation to him...' Obito trailed off wearily.

'But than again, if he is the one responsible for the existence of this organisation , the one directing Akatsuki's business from the shadows, than, is there really any merit in trying to supress the information? Wouldn't it be better if everyone knew exactly what they were up against?' Obito pondered with a mental sigh.

'I suppose I have no choice...' Obito thought.

"This is the story, Kakashi..." Obito trailed off, waiting for the slightly stunned Kakashi to regain his bearings before carrying on where he left off.

'Is he going to tell the truth, right here...right now? Or is he trying to do damage control? After all, he can sugar coat it and make it seem like he was completely innocent in all of this if he tells the story himself...so...damage control than?' Yahiko pondered casually.

"When the rocks fell over me at the battle of Kannabi Bridge, I managed to slip through the rocks and ended up in a secret hideout belonging to an old relic of the Uchiha Clan, a very old man who was using Senju Hashirama's dna to sustain himself, basically, to keep himself alive for all of these years. This man used the same cells, Senju Hashirama's cells to make plant-human hybrids called Zetsu. These Zetsu are basically humanoid plants that can talk, reason, and even feel just like ordinary humans, except they don't age and they don't have to eat, sleep, or go to the toilet." Obito explained, Kakashi staring at him with an incredulous expression.

"These Zetsu have the ability to use Mokuton techniques, very useful mokuton techniques might I add, albeit to a limited level compared to Shodaime-sama, and they are completely loyal to the old man who created them. As he can't move, he uses them to gather intel on the events of the world and he can also use them as foot soldiers. Also, such is the intensity of their loyalty to him, he can make them do anything that he asks of them, no matter how gruesome, such as volunteering half of their body in order to transplant into another to save his life..." Obito trailed off.

"N-no way! You don't seriously mean...?"

"Yes, Kakashi!" Obito cut in.

"The old man, or rather, Uchiha Madara, is the one that saved my life that day, and it would seem that he is the one responsible for the existence of this organisation, the Akatsuki. He'd said that he wanted a favor from me in return for saving my life, but I had no idea that this is what he had intended for me to orchestrate. He must have found someone else to carry on his bidding, but I wonder who it could be...?" Obito said with a pondering expression.

"Obito..."

"What?" Obito asked neutrally.

"Do you honestly expect me to believe this nonsense? Is this some kind of joke? Because if it is...?"

"This is no joke, Kakashi! I never told anyone what really happened because I felt that it was the least I could do for him for saving my life. You have to understand, he was an old man on his deathbed, and he was asking for help from me, a twelve year old boy at the time. I never imagined he had something as dangerous as this planned out, and even if I had, I would not have fathomed that he had anywhere near the slightest chance of achieving it." Obito explained.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"I still don't believe everything, I simply can't. However, assuming that everything that has been said here today is true, than, do you expect me to believe that you have never tried, even once, to go back to Madara's hideout in all of these years?" Kakashi asked incredulously.

"No, I don't expect you to believe that, simply because it is not true to begin with. I did go back, but there was nothing there. He didn't even leave a trace of himself ever being there, in fact, the hideout itself was non-existent. I suspect that the Zetsu used ninjutsu, earth style in particular to erase any traces of the hideout. In time, I even convinced myself that everything that had happened, the existence of Madara and the Zetsu, was just a figment of my imagination, and that something else had transpired, something a little more logical than Uchiha Madara being alive for all of these years. Ofcourse, deep down I knew that it happened, but it was easier to live with myself that way, by believing it never happened. It did urk me not knowing though, if Madara was still alive or not..." Obito explained only to be cut off by Yahiko.

"He's dead now, well, physically at least. But his legacy lives on through us, the Akatsuki. He is the saviour and we are the disciples that will prepare the world for his return, when he returns to pass judgement on the world." Yahiko said with conviction.

"Madara's brainwashing huh? Who would have thought that the mighty Akatsuki were nothing but a bunch of religious fanatics...a silly cult."

"Brainwashing? That is a very ignorant statement, Hatake Kakashi." Yahiko said condensendingly.

"I'm sorry, Kisame-san, Yahiko-san, but the two of you are going to have to die right here and right now. We're not letting you get your hands on the kyubi." Obito declared confidently.

'He knows my name...? I see, he must have read Kisame's lips with his sharingan earlier on. But the fact that they know about our persuit of the kyubi? How could that be? Is it because of Orochimaru? Is he the one leaking information about us?' Yahiko wondered to himself.

"Seems like these guys know more about us than we thought if they know about our intention to capture the Kyubi brat. We'll have to make sure that they take that secret to the grave won't we?" Kisame said with a tooth grin, sadism and excitement dancing in his white eyes.

'Kisame is taking the news about Madara very well, but I suspect I'm in for a lengthy interogation when all of this is set and done.' Yahiko thought before replying to his comrade.

"It's quite pointless to silence them, if these two know about that, than definitely Minato and the rest of the Konoha higher-ups are also informed, Jiraiya too." Yahiko reasoned.

"So what are we going to do, just leave them be?" Kisame asked with a hint of disapointment.

"No, these two are strong, and they will be involved in the protection of the Kyubi. On top of that, I doubt they'd just simply allow us to walk out of here. The right thing to do is to eliminate them right now." Yahiko theorised intellectually.

"Are they really that strong?" Kisame asked with curiosity more than fear or anything else.

"Yes, Obito has the ability to make himself intangible, and he also has the ability to warp things into another dimension with his right eye through a space-time technique originating from his Manyeko Sharingan, however, he needs to engage you in close combat before he can do that, he can't suck you in from long range. Also, remember this very important detail, he needs to be tangible in order to attack or warp things away. Basically, under normal circumstances, one needs to aim for the moment in which he becomes tangible in order to land a hit on him while avoiding getting warped at the same time." Yahiko explained carefully.

"Wow. I never once imagined something like that could be even remotely possible, despite the many strange things that I have seen in the ninja world." Kisame said with a surprised expression.

"Don't worry too much, Kisame, of everyone in the Akatsuki, probably, you and I are the best suited to counter against his abilities. If you really think about it, you'll realise what I mean." Yahiko said re-assuringly, causing Kisame's eyes to widen in sudden realisation.

"Hnhnhnhnhn! I see now, thank you for that little bit of insight, Yahiko-san." Kisame replied respectfully.

"Obito...?"

"Yes, I know. Zetsu or Madara must have passed on the information about my abilities." Obito said wearily.

"Not only that, but they seem to have implied that they have something that can counter your abilities. This is bad, I don't think they're bluffing" Kakashi warned.

"They're not, that's why we're going to use your ability instead." Obito declared.

"I see..." Kakashi said as he activated his mangyeko sharingan instantly, taking aim of Yahiko with immediate effect.

'Yahiko seems to be the brains of this two man cell, and the more knowledgeable one as well. I'll take him out first.' Kakashi thought as he aimed to warp Yahiko away.

'The same shape and design as Obito's mangyeko...!' Yahiko trailed off in surprise.

"Kamui/Swift Release: Shadowless Flight" Kakashi and Yahiko both exclaimed, each initiating their respective jutsu in the matter of a split second, a wormhole-like barrier appearing around Yahiko's head, Kakashi attempting to take snipe his head clean off of the top of his shoulders.

However, Yahiko was much too fast, moving himself away completely out of Kakashi line of sight, neither Kakashi nor Obito able to follow Yahiko's movements, the orange haired Akatsuki appearing behind Obito with his giant sword (Ichigo's shikai in Bleach) from his back, now held in his hands with redish-black chakra cloaking surrounding the sword as he aimed to decapitate Obito from the waist.

'He's too fast for me to dodge, however...' Obito thought as, while his body was not fast enough to move out of the way, his reflexes were such that he could activate his intangibility in the single split second before contact. However, one can imagine the horror, surprise, and confusion on both Kakashi and especially Obito's face as Yahiko was able to successfully slice right through Obito's waist, Yahiko, without skipping a beat, moving forward until he was standing right next to Kisame again, in the exact same position where he had been standing, everything happening at such a speed that Kakashi's kamui barrier had only snapped shut a few split seconds before Yahiko resumed his position.

"Obito!" Kakashi cried out, watching with overwhelming anguish as Obito's upper body landed harshly on the ground, his lower body standing for a few seconds before falling backwards on the ground.

"I never imagined that a non-Uchiha would be able to awaken a mangyeko sharingan, and I never imagined that Obito's other eye would posses a long range version of Kamui. That's quite a dangerous jutsu." Yahiko said with cautious appraise.

"I thought you were going to lose your head there for a second...but I should have known better than to underestimate you." Kisame said with a manic smile.

"Well, I'm not going to be that easy to kill, unlike Obito." Yahiko said only for his eyes to widen in surprise as a hand grabbed onto his cloak from the back.

"Unlike who now...?" a very familiar voice asked with a sinister tone, causing everyone, Kisame, Yahiko, and even Kakashi to gasp in surprise.

"Kamui!" Obito whispered harshly, for a split second, it looked like Yahiko would be sucked into Obito's Kamui, but Kisame's intervention was swift and timely, the rogue Kiri nin swinging Samehada in Obito's direction, causing Obito to cancel Kamui and activate his intangibility, however, to his great surprise, finding himself getting crushed and shredded under the weight of the great Samehada, dying, once again, in an intant against an Akatsuki swordmen.

'What's this...I was sure I landed a hit on him, where did he disappear to?' Kisame thought in surprise.

"Thank you, Kisame, I was about to use Zangetsu again, but Samehada is just as effective it seems." Yahiko praised.

"So it seems, but what happened to that guy? He disappeared right after I killed him." Kisame asked curiously.

"He's hiding behind that tree over there!" Yahiko exclaimed at the end, having started off in a whisper, as he swung his sword, Zangetsu, in the direction of the tree, a large, super fast, and crescent shaped wave of blackish-red chakra flying out of his sword at ridiculous speeds, destroying the tree in an instant and evaporating Obito as well, only for Obito to appear again next to Kakashi.

"Did you really think you could hide from these eyes of mine, Obito?" Yahiko asked with a condensending tone.

"Did you really think that you could kill me that easily?" Obito asked with equal measure, his left sharingan eye glowing almost in a similar fashion to Yahiko's fuingan.

"His right eye is glowing, are we in a genjutsu?" Kisame asked wearily.

"No, if that were the case, Samehada would have broken you out of it, and I would have seen through it with my eyes." Yahiko retorted.

"Than, can you explain to me what is happening?" Kisame asked again.

"He's using an Uchiha clan kinjutsu, a jutsu known as Izanagi." Yahiko explained carefully.

'An Uchiha clan kinjutsu? Izanagi? Why have I never heard of it? And how does he know...did Madara tell him?' Kakashi thought frantically.

'He knows about Izanagi...that damn old man!' Obito thought furiously.

"Izanagi? Just what is that exactly?" Kisame asked with unrestrained curiousity.

"Izanagi is a jutsu designed to rewrite or change reality or destiny. The user of the jutsu basically casts the jutsu on himself and sometimes even on a comrade, and for as long as the jutsu is active, anything bad that happens to the person on whom the jutsu has been cast will be turned into an illusion, in other words, it will return the person to the state that he or she was in before the incident happened." Yahiko explained.

"That's ridiculous, how was the Uchiha clan defeated by the Senju during the clan wars if they had a jutsu like this, how were they even annihilated by Uchiha Itachi during that incident?" Kisame asked in disbelief.

"The jutsu, while very convenient, is not as perfect as it might appear to be at first glance. If you look at his right eye now, you will notice that it's glowing. That is a signal for the activation of the jutsu. When that eye stops glowing, the jutsu will have exceeded it's time limit." Yahiko answered.

"So there's time-limit. Do you know what the time-limit is?" Kisame inquired.

"No, that is because, there's a different time-limit for everyone depending on a number of factors. Chakra strength, chakra potency, chakra capacity, skill, being just a few factors. However, given Obito's skill level with the sharingan, his chakra potency and capacity, and the fact that half of his body is made out of Senju Hashirama's cells, well, I'd say ten minutes minimum." Yahiko declared wearily.

"Ten minutes! That's quite a long time." Kisame pointed out.

"I know." Yahiko said with a deep frown.

"We also have to consider that, if he got that eye as a result of the massacre, that he might have dozens more sharingan in store. Meaning that, if we let him live through this battle, he'll come back with another eye to use Izanagi again."

"Why would he need another eye? Why not use the same one?" Kisame asked with a confused expression.

"Because the eye is forever sealed away after one use of Izanagi. He can never see or cast jutsu from that eye again." Yahiko explained.

"Is this true, Obito?" Kakashi asked with a stupified expression.

"Yes, everything he said is one hundred percent true." Obito replied simply.

"Why did you resort to such a jutsu, wouldn't turning intangible have been sufficient? I thought you had died." Kakashi said angrily.

"It's not that I wanted to use this jutsu, but rather that I was forced to use it." Obito replied.

"What do you mean?" a confused Kakashi asked.

"I didn't realise it before, as I have only read about it but never seen it in person or in picture or drawing before, but that sword, Zangetsu, is one of the weapons that the mythical sage of the six paths used in the past. It is a weapon with two known abilities. One, the power to control and manipulate time, and two, the power to control and manipulate space." Obito explained.

"What...?" Kakashi sputtered out.

"Did you see that chakra his sword was coated in when he initially sliced me up, and also when he destroyed me and the tree with that chakra wave? I'm sure you did. That chakra ages and rots anything that it comes into contact with, even chakra itself, and by virtue, ninjutsu itself. Everything ages, even a grand fireball technique will eventually fade out. This is the sword's manipulation of time. The sword is also known as the world decapitating sword, a name given due to it's ability to apparently slice through worlds or dimensions. Basically what I'm saying is, my intangibility technique doesn't work against his sword at all. It is a ninjutsu and therefore can be aged rapidly or simply inter-dimensionally sliced through. As it is a ninjutsu, it needs chakra to function, Kisame's sword absorbs chakra, that's why I had to rely on Izanagi again when I tried to absorb Yahiko." Obito explained clearly and concisely.

'So that's what Yahiko meant when he said that he and Kisame were the most suited out of all the Akatsuki to deal with Obito, and that's why Obito resorted to Izanagi. The level in this battle is outrageous, if I didn't have my own sharingan...I wouldn't even belong here.' Kakashi thought wearily.

'Wait a minute, I thought that the sage of the six paths was only a myth. If there is a story about his sword, and the sword is than right here in front of me. Does that mean that he actually existed? Just how many secrets don't I know about this shinobi world? And how many has Obito known of all this time?' Kakashi wondered to himself.

"Kisame..." Yahiko trailed off with a dead serious tone.

"Yahiko-san?" Kisame asked curiously.

"There's one more thing you need to know about Obito's jutsu, that is that his intangibility lasts for about five minutes. In order to slice through him, I used my sword, which controls time itself, in order to shorten that time-frame that he can maintain that jutsu to a mere split second. This is how I was able to slice through him. I just thought I'd share that information with you. I don't know how it will help given that Samehada has the ability to slice through him by absorbing the chakra used to cast the jutsu itself, but, as we do not know what may come next, I thougt it prudent to share every tad bit of information with you." Yahiko explained.

"I see...well, in any case, don't worry about a thing, I know just the jutsu to use in order to give us an advantage irrespective oF Izanagi." Kisame said as he placed his sword back across his back, quickly adopting a ram hand seal as he prepared to launch his jutsu.

"Water Style: Great Water Shark Technique!" Kisame exclaimed with a sadistic smirk, launchung a ridiculously huge water shark out of his mouth.

'Nice idea, Kisame. That jutsu should be able to kill at least one of them. Obito has already cast Izanagi on himself, he can't change the target once Izanagi has already been activated. Meaning, he is the only one that is protected by that jutsu, but Kakashi is still up for grabs. Obito...you were hasty in your decision to activate that jutsu, you should have cast Izanagi on both yourself and Kakashi. Yahiko thought analytically.

"Kakashi!" Obito exclaimed.

"I know!" Kakashi said, building up chakra in his right eye in and instantly launching his own counter attack with immediate effect.

"Kamui!" Kakashi exclaimed as a gigantic, swirling portal appeared out of thin air.

Initially, it seemed that the portal would suck up Kisame's great water shark, however, one can imagine the surprise on both Obito and Kakashi's facial expressions when the portal seemed to have cancelled out and disapeared altogether, Kisame's jutsu on the other hand growing even bigger than it was before.

'Kuso! What happened? Why did Kamui get cancelled?' Kakashi thought frantically.

"Water Style: Water Shield!" Kakashi exclaimed, as usual, very quick to react and taking the most logical measures in order to save his life.

"No Kakashi! That jutsu absorbs all chakra and ninjutsu just like his sword...!" Obito exclaimed but it was too little too late, the water shark reaching the duo very rapidly, everything having taken place in the space of less than five seconds.

"..."

"..."

"Samehada can't feel their presence anymore. Did you see anything with your eyes?" Kisame asked curiously.

"Yes, Obito is obviously still alive, Izanagi was still active, he'll appear any second now." Yahiko said.

"And the copy ninja?" Kisame asked again.

"The yellow flash intervened, also, there's alot of shinobi rapidly approaching us as we speak." Yahiko replied.

"The yellow flash huh? Isn't it getting a little too crowded now?" Kisame asked retorically.

"Definitely. He's not someone we want to face with such a handicap. Even two on one he would give us problems...we might still die even under those circumstances. Facing him here, with Obito, Kakashi, and the rest of his entourage backing him up would be comparable to suicide." Yahiko said, and, just as he finished that sentence, the yellow flash, Kakashi, and Obito re-appeared via Minato's Hiraishin no Jutsu.

"Instantaneous inter-dimensional travelling huh? There's no mistake about it, he's the yellow flash." Kisame said.

"My identity is not much of a secret nowadays, I wish I could go back to the days that it was, it kind of makes things a little more difficult when everyone knows exactly what to expect." Minato said with a casual tone.

"Minato-sensei..." Kakashi trailed off.

"That jutsu absorbs chakra just like his sword. It also, just like his sword grows bigger and stronger with each dose of chakra. Your kamui was absorbed, Kakashi, and your water shield would have only hastened your death. I didn't mean to intrude, but I couldn't take the risk that you might die either. I'll be taking things from here if you don't mind?" Minato asked politely.

"Not at all, sensei, in fact, I'm glad you arrived just when you did." Kakashi said with gratitude.

"Don't mention it. Or rather, you can repay me by telling me what the two of you know about their abilities, more specifically, about the orange haired guy." Minato

"Don't underestimate Kisame, Minato-sensei." Obito warned.

"It's not that I'm underestimating him, it's just that I already know alot about him, but know nothing about the other guy, not even his name." Minato countered.

"I see..." Obito trailed off.

"His name is Yahiko..."

"Excuse me!?" Minato hastily objected.

"Yahiko, that's his name. Does that name mean anything to you, Minato-sensei?" Obito asked with a discerning eye.

"I-Impossible...he's supposed to be dead!" Minato thought out loud, eyes wide in surprise and even borderline horror, unable to quite believe what he was hearing and now that he thought about, what he was seeing as well, his mind refering back to the picture Jiraiya had showed him of his three young students from Amegakure.

"He seems to know about you?" Kisame pointed out, Yahiko having no words in response to that.

"..."

"Sensei? Just what's going on around here?" Kakashi asked suspiciously.

"I find it hard to believe myself, but if I'm right, this Yahiko is the same one that used to be one of Jiraiya-sensei's three students from Amegakure. They're names were Yahiko, Nagato, and a girl named Konan." Minato explained.

"Jiraiya had other students besides you?" Obito asked in disbelief.

"Yes, one of them even had the rinnegan, the eyes of the sage of the six paths. I don't remember anything about Yahiko having a doujutsu though, from what I had heard from sensei, Nagato was the only one out of the three with a doujutsu." Minato explained.

"The rinnegan? Someone like that actually existed? Sensei, Jiraiya-sama told me the story about the Ame orphans too, but he never mentioned anything about the rinnegan to me...?" Kakashi said with a questioning, and even skeptical tone.

"I don't know why he didn't tell you, but I saw the pictures myself. He definitely had the rinnegan, as a result, Jiraiya-sensei had thought that he was the child of prophesy before he'd heard the news about their demise. But given that Yahiko is right here and alive, than it is possible that Nagato is also still alive, and that he is the one pulling the strings behind the scenes in the Akatsuki. After all, who better than the reincarnation of the sage himself to convince the likes of Akatsuki to put their differences aside and work for a common cause." Minato said, a thousand, or more, thoughts running all across his mind.

'They've figured out that Nagato is the leader of Akatsuki...this is bad.' Yahiko thought with concern.

"It seems like there are still alot of secrets that have been kept from me, to think that you were none other than Jiraiya of the Sannin's students...no, not just you, but leader and Konan-san too." Kisame said with an uncharacteristically serious expression.

"Don't let your thoughts get carried away, Kisame, everything will be cleared up soon enough. For now, please try to trust me as you did before and believe that my intentions with you and the rest of our comrades are of the utmost sincerity." Yahiko said passively.

"Hmmmm...that depends on your explanation. In any case, shouldn't we get out of here right about now?" Kisame asked retorically.

"I'm afraid we can't allow that. You're not getting your hands on Konohamaru, I'll make sure of that...!" Minato said dangerously, eyes narrowed at Yahiko in particular.

"Well, that's fine for now. They'll be other opportunities to capture the kyubi anyway. Besides, I know you probably have a marking on the Kyubi's seal, and you definitely have one of your kunais with Jiraiya. And with Obito's mangyeko sharingan in the mix, all three of you will easily follow us to Jiraiya and the kyubi's location anyway." Yahiko said seemingly without a care in the world.

"Assuming you would even make it out of here in the first place." Kakashi said matter of factly, as if having absolute surity that the duo would not be able to escape from Konoha.

"Hn, so confident. You're still underestimating us I see, or is it that you're overestimating yourself?" Yahiko asked with a condensending tone.

"Yahiko! Are Nagato and Konan alive? And why join the Akatsuki? I thought that your goal was to help direct the world towards peace? You're Jiraiya-sensei's students, and he spoke highly of you three, he said that he thought that the three of you could really do it, that you could bring peace to the world! So why? Why do this?" Minato demanded.

"You wouldn't understand even if I explained it to you, and even if you did understand, you'd probably disagree with us and our methods. So there really is no point in explaining, and I don't wish to explain anything anyway. The only thing I'll say to you is this, Akatsuki's goal has not changed at all, only our methods. World peace and the end of all wars is still our ambition, and nothing is going to stop us from achieving that goal!" Yahiko exclaimed as he grabbed onto his sword with his left hand, stabbing the sword into the air and than twisting it anti clockwise as if using a key to open a door, this action causing a portal to open right in front of the two Akatsuki comrades. The portal looked blackish-purple in colour and practically looked like the maw of a demon, with sharp jagged edges at the bottom and the top of the void, the inside looking like a pitch black abyss.

"Lucid Void Technique!" Yahiko said with a mischievious smirk.

"What? Don't tell me you thought that the three of you were the only ones that have the ability to travel through dimensions in the whole of the shinobi world? Well, there are a few others that I know of..." Yahiko taunted.

"You're not getting away that easily!" Minato exclaimed, in the blink of an eye, throwing a tri-pronged kunai at Yahiko and Kisame's direction, however, it was too little too late, both Kisame and Yahiko making it inside the void just in the nick of time, the portal closing up with immediate effect after the fact.

"Seems like you were a little too late, Minato-sensei. That doesn't happen very often..." Obito said robotically.

"I was a little rattled and I took too long to act. I lost my composure." Minato apologised.

"Well, you made it in time to save Kakashi, that counts for something I guess." Obito said with a bitter tone.

'He still hasn't forgiven me for Rin's death, however, considering that he is the reason for Kushina's death, does he really have a right to hold a grudge against me? Do I even have to care about whether he forgives me or not...?' Minato thought, trying with all his might to subdue the righteous fury and hate threatening to overwhelm his heart.

Honestly, if it wasn't for Jiraiya's teachings, and his sensei's belief that he, much like Nagato, could be the child of prophesy, Minato doubted that Obito would still be alive right now, and if he was, he would be locked up in a specially designed prison, specially designed by Minato himself, for all eternity, or at least until he dies. Sure, Minato, having lost Kushina to a politcal marriage designed to resolve the differences between the Uchiha clan and the village, and than later to death, could understand the pain that Obito must have felt, but in no way did it justify him agreeing to participate in the Kyubi attack just to get back at him, and what the hell were Sandaime-sama and Danzo thinking?

Sure, the Uchiha possessing the Kyubi was an uncomfortable circumstance, but to go to those extremes just to get it back? Really? And all of this behind his back as well. And what about the lives that were lost that day, what would become of Konoha if the people found out that the hero of the Kyubi attack, Sandaime Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen, and an esteemed elder, Shimura Danzo, were the masterminds behind the whole thing? What would they do if they knew that one of the Fourth's students was also involved?

'At the end of the day, it is still my fault, I should have known that Obito had awakened the mangyeko sharingan, my ignorance of that fact is probably what lead to the success of that plan...and Kushina's death. If I had known...'

"Minato-sensei!" Kakashi shouted with a harsh tone.

"Aah! Sorry Kakashi, I was just contemplating something." Minato said.

"I understand, but you need to tell us everything about Yahiko, Konan, and especially Nagato and the rinnegan, no...actually, we should go and meet up with Jiraiya-sama and Konohamaru right away. Kisame and Yahiko could be headed there... they could be there already." Kakashi smartly pointed out.

"No! Kakashi, you stay here and watch over the village, I'm putting you and Shikaku in charge, someone needs to watch over the village in my absence. Obito and I will rendezvous with Jiraiya-sensei, we'll also collaborate our intel with Jiraiya-sensei and see if he has any extra info on the Ame orphans, and the rinnegan too. We'll distribute the information accordingly on our return. Use the kunai I gave you if anything happens. Come, Obito! Lets go!" Minato ordered.

End Chapter