Prologue

Without even the slightest sound or movement he suddenly found himself in a dark cavern beneath a foreign village. Before him stood the man who had invited him, or at least he assumed the very obvious and strangely talkative spy had been an invitation. The fact that the man in front of him was clearly wearing his shinobi armour beneath his standard white and green kimono made him doubt whether he had made the correct assumption. Then again, in times like these he could hardly blame him for being overly cautious.

"I see my suspicions were correct after all, Hokage-dono," the man said in greeting.

Nothing in his posture showed that the Hokage's sudden appearance surprised him. In fact, nothing in his posture showed what he was thinking at all. The man seemed confident enough in his own skills to not immediately react on his sudden arrival, yet smart enough to still be ready in case the Hokage would force him to react. Something both men hoped wouldn't be necessary.

The Hokage gave the man in front of him an easy smile despite the poorly disguised accusation. "After the recent Chūnin Exams you can hardly blame me for taking certain precautions, don't you think, Kazekage-dono?" He let his own warning remain a mere implication and decided not to press the matter any further. So far it seemed that the Kazekage had contacted him in good faith, so there was no need to dig up more old graves than necessary. Not if they didn't want to start digging more new graves next to them at least.

"What happened with the daimyo was Land of Wind business," the Kazekage said, his voice flat, "I apologise that it had to happen in Konoha."

The Hokage looked the man in front of him in the eyes. Thanks to his veil and hat it was the only part of him that was visible. The other man didn't even blink, and it was the Hokage who looked away first to more carefully take in his surroundings.

It was a dark chamber. And based on the few pieces of architecture he could see in the light of the handful of torches around the room, it was clear that they were in Suna. Beneath it most likely, if the cool temperature was any indication. Catacombs perhaps, even if he didn't immediately see any urns or coffins. Not that it mattered too much at the moment, the important part was that there were no other people there. Just the two of them. It spoke of a certain level of trust that the other man had put in him.

He gave the Kazekage a nod. "Then please see it as an extra form of protection in case you are ever in need of Konoha's aid. Rest assured, I will not use the marker on you unless absolutely necessary. Like today, it seems, considering the… unorthodox nature of your message."

The Kazekage was quiet as he looked the Hokage over. Then without another word he turned around and walked further into the dark cavern, grabbing one of the torches as he passed it. "Follow me." The words were barely above a whisper but in the deadly silence of the cavern that was all he needed to make himself heard.

The foreign visitor decided to ignore his fellow Kage's rude behaviour and with a few quick strides he was right next to his host again. There was a safe but respectful distance between them as they walked further and further into the dark room. The light of the torches behind them slowly faded until the only source of light was the torch that the Kazekage was carrying with him.

As they were walking through the seemingly endless dark caverns the Hokage noticed that the pathways kept getting smaller and that they kept making the strangest turns. While they started in a simple big room, they now walked through what he could only describe as a labyrinth. It was just wide enough for the two of them to walk next to each other without it becoming too awkward due to their close proximity, but also small enough for him to brush the walls while doing so. And more importantly, to see what was on said walls.

"These symbols are ancient," the Hokage said. He stopped for a moment and carefully reached out with his right hand to trace an engraved symbol that seemed almost familiar to him. It looked like an animal but it was too dark to make out what kind of animal. The Kazekage decided to humour him and brought his torch closer so the symbols were easier to make out. It didn't help him in recognising the animal—maybe a badger?—but it did give a better view of the symbols all around it. He had seen some of these symbols before, he was sure of it. "Are those seals?" he asked, a frown on his face. "Ancient seals?"

He got no response and as he turned to look at the man behind him he saw the other Kage staring at the wall with a strange intensity. Especially at the animal-like symbol he was currently tracing with his right index and middle finger. It was an intensity that wasn't even there when he first appeared before the man, after he had used the Hiraishin to teleport himself to the Kazekage's location. And that was a move that would unnerve most other shinobi, Kage or not.

After a few seconds, Suna's leader turned away from the wall and slowly started walking again. The Hokage was quick to catch up so he wouldn't get lost in whatever maze they'd found themselves in. "We're almost there," the Kazekage said, "you'll see."

It was less than a minute and five turns later when the leader of Sunagakure stopped in front of a sudden dead end. In front of them was a wall with what seemed like a mural on it. On both ends of the wall hung an unlit torch, and as the Kazekage lit the both of them the Hokage couldn't stop his eyes from widening.

"The Ichibi," the Hokage whispered as he took a half step backwards in both shock and amazement. There was no doubt about it. The mural was in such a good state that if the Kazekage had told him he painted last week, the Hokage would have believed him. But surely that couldn't be the case, could it?

"Indeed." The Kazekage sounded almost reverent as he looked upon the mural. "Shukaku-sama in all its glory."

The Hokage turned to the other man in surprise. "I wasn't aware the people in Suna still worshipped The Nine?"

"They don't." The Kazekage gave the other man a deadpan look. "Publicly."

"I see." The Hokage couldn't help the slight dry chuckle at that. "Still, this mural seems recent."

"It does." The Kazekage stepped forward and put his right hand on the mural, right at the tip of the Ichibi's tail. "Yet it isn't. My youngest found this place eight years ago. He had a… calling, you could say. When he found it, it looked exactly as it does now. Together with my oldest son they've secretly been studying this place for years. Even I was none the wiser. Not until a few months ago at least. That's when they finally found one of the secrets behind these engravings and they could no longer lie about what they were doing down here."

With that parts of the mural began to glow as the Kazekage channelled some of his chakra into the seals that seemed to be all over the mural. The Hokage reached for a three-pronged kunai when a poof of smoke appeared from the wall in a sign of a standard unsealing. Yet instead of a weapon or anything hostile, the only thing that appeared was a big room with a strange altar in the middle. On top of it lay a cushion with something so mundane that the Hokage couldn't help but check whether it was a genjutsu.

"A big tea kettle?"

A snort of amusement came from the Kazekage as he walked into the room, casually lighting the torches around the room with his own torch. "Your wife is an Uzumaki, is she not?"

"She is," the Hokage said somewhat perplexed at the strange change of subject.

The Kazekage nodded as he finished lighting all the torches in the room. He placed the torch he was carrying on the ground and from the corner of his eyes the Hokage saw how a trickle of gold dust covered the flame and extinguished it. "Then you more than most should understand all this secrecy if I told you that this big tea kettle belonged to the Bunpuku clan."

The Hokage frowned and gave the kettle a sceptical look. Aside from its size, it didn't look like anything impressive. But if it was indeed an artefact of the famous Bunpuku clan, then he understood the caution. "Why would you show me something like this? If what you say is true, then this is beyond priceless. Not something you'd just show to the leader of a foreign village."

The other man stayed quiet as he carefully lifted the old and rusty tea kettle from its altar with the help of his gold dust. Nothing happened. The Hokage walked around the now floating kettle and studied the thing from all sides. For all the legends surrounding the Bunpuku name, the Hokage couldn't help but feel a sense of disappointment. It was ugly. It was full of rust. And when—after a nod of permission from the Kazekage—he touched and channelled some chakra inside the object not a single thing happened.

"And are you sure this is one of the Bunpuku clan's artefacts?" The scepticism and disappointment were clear to hear in the Hokage's voice. A thing that didn't escape the Kazekage's notice.

"There have been stories about a Bunpuku priest sealing the power of Shukaku-sama in a teapot ever since Sunagakure was founded," the Kazekage said as he watched the other man investigate the kettle. "I've always thought of them as nothing more than legends, even when my son found this room I was sceptical. But when I looked inside…"

With that, the gold dust turned the kettle on its side and lifted the lid. The Hokage's eyes widened. "Incredible." On the inside the kettle was full of seals. Every inch was covered in symbols and scribbles that would have no meaning to most people. The Hokage looked back towards the Kazekage, his amazement still clear on his face. "It's obvious they're seals meant to hold something inside. Do you know how to unseal it? Or maybe even a hint towards the key?"

The man shook his head. "I only have a limited knowledge of seals, and it was impossible to ask the more knowledgeable people in Suna. For obvious reasons. Only a single historian was allowed down here to establish its authenticity. An old and trusted friend. A rarity in Suna these days." He went to stand next to the Hokage who was now tracing the insides of the kettle with his fingers. "It's my sons who have been studying these seals ever since we discovered them. Which is the actual reason I asked you to come here."

That caught the Hokage's attention. Just because he had been humouring the other man with his mysterious and silent business up till now didn't mean he had forgotten that there was obviously something urgent the man had asked his presence for. After all, it was highly unusual for Kages to meet like this. Especially considering the recent history between their villages.

"Two weeks ago they had a breakthrough," the Kazekage said. His voice was calm and collected but the Hokage could sense something was off. "My youngest went to a temple up north near Ishigakure to ask the priests for extra information. He took one of my best jōnin and a few trusted chūnin with him. Last week that jōnin returned, mortally wounded and barely conscious. He died less than an hour later."

"Your son..?" the Hokage asked with a troubled frown.

"Dead. They killed all of them, even the priests."

"I'm sorry." He let out a heavy breath. "Do you have any idea who-"

"Iwa," the Kazekage said, jaw clenched. He reached into his robes, holding up his other hand to keep the Hokage at ease. He pulled out a stack of photos and handed them to the Hokage. "This is all that's left of the temple and the surrounding village."

His brow furrowed the Hokage took the stack of photographs and leafed through them. The pictures showed a scene of destruction on a scale he hadn't seen since the Third Shinobi World War. Bodies were strewn all over the place, most of them missing various body parts or sometimes just comprising a single body part. Not a single building was undamaged. Most of them were completely destroyed, and the streets were littered with craters. Some of them bigger than the houses that had stood there previously.

"There's only one group capable of defeating my shinobi and causing that level of destruction in such a short time span. A time span in which only one of my men could get away to relay a message."

The Hokage ran a hand through his blond hair as he let out a weary sigh. "Iwa's Explosion Corps." This was worse than anything he could have imagined when the Kazekage had his strange invitation delivered. "Can I keep these pictures?"

"Please do," the Kazekage said with a wave of his hand. "I've been in talks with the daimyo of the Land of Stone. He's been on good terms with Iwa and the Land of Earth, but even he can't let the killing of priests in his country go unpunished. I've also approached some of the minor villages, Taki and Kusa amongst them. They have also been getting anxious about Iwa's recent behaviour."

The Hokage looked up sharply at that. "Wait a minute. You're planning to start a world war over this?" He waved the photos in the air to illustrate his point. "Is that what this meeting is about?"

"This," the Kazekage said with a glare, his fists clenched in an uncharacteristic show of emotion, "is the murder of my son! The person who I was going to name as my successor."

"With all due respect, Kazekage-dono, but your son was a shinobi. An excellent one, I remember him from last year's Chūnin Exams, but he knew the risks. We all do." He sounded like a hypocrite even to his own ears. Gods knew what he would do if it was his son that got butchered by Iwa's Explosion Corps. But he couldn't let something like this spiral into another Shinobi World War. And he certainly wouldn't let his village get dragged into it. The previous one was still fresh in people's minds and it had cost them too much. If another war was why the Kazekage had invited him he'd be sorely disappointed.

The Kazekage scoffed. "Don't worry, Hokage-dono, I didn't invite you here to discuss war. Not yet, at least. I know Konoha is still too busy with their proxy-wars against Kumogakure."

The other man opened his mouth to protest the accusation, but the Kazekage was quick to cut him off.

"Don't even bother denying it. Everyone knows the real motives behind the ten-year civil war in the Land of Snow—or should it be the Land of Spring now? It's hard to keep up—even the recent rumblings in the Land of Frost have the smell of Kumo all over it." The Kazekage waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. "Honestly, they're not my problems and under normal circumstances I'd be delighted if you two kept each other busy for the foreseeable future. Yet with the ongoing civil war in Kiri and our own problems with our previous daimyo, we're left with an Iwagakure in an especially superior position of power. A position that has made them bold enough to openly attack my shinobi. And that, Hokage-dono, that is my problem."

The two men stared at each other in silence. The Hokage knew exactly what the other Kage was talking about, it had been a source of concern to him for quite some time. A powerful Iwa was something that would never be a positive thing for Konoha, especially considering how the last war ended.

They had been trying to rein in some of Iwa's power through various means, but most of them had ended in failure. Even his own sensei's spy network had failed to penetrate their defences. Which left them almost completely in the dark about the movements of their most dangerous potential adversary.

A sudden loud clang interrupted the Hokage's thoughts as the lid of the tea kettle fell back in place after the Kazekage had put the kettle back on its cushion. "I suspect," the man said as soon the noise had died down, "that my son's inquiries forced Iwa to show its interests and research into these same matters sooner than they might have wanted to."

"Research?" The Hokage raised an eyebrow as he looked back to the Kazekage. "What do you mean?"

"The jōnin who made it back to Suna after the attack on the temple mentioned the name Tokiwada Kanna." The Hokage didn't react to the name. "I see the name doesn't ring any bells with you either. We suspect it's not a real person but an alias or the name of a group or possibly a project."

"Could it be multiple names? Kato Kanna was one of the more infamous members of Iwa's Explosion Corps in the previous war-"

"And Tokiwada Kuroshi was infamous for his toxic mist release during the Second World War." The Kazekage nodded. "Both shinobi who were rumoured to have used the power of the Gods for their abilities. The Yonbi's and Gobi's respectively. We believe they're trying to use such powers once again."

The Hokage rubbed his temple in thought. "Those are just legends though, like how Kumo's Gold and Silver brothers supposedly got their power from the Kyuubi. Anti-Nine propaganda to make the Gods seem less divine."

"Legends like this tea kettle?" The Kazekage raised an eyebrow in challenge. "I don't believe in coincidence. There's a reason Iwa targeted one of the Holy Nine's temples just when my son was there for information about whatever is sealed inside this artefact. Whether or not the legends are true, Iwa seems to believe in them. That's all that matters. They're trying to create another weapon using the Gods' chakra as its source, and they don't want anyone to interfere with that. And as soon as they find out about this artefact…"

Slowly it became clear to the Hokage what this meeting was really about. The Kazekage was not just scared of whatever secret weapon Iwa might be building, it was the thought of Iwa setting its sights on Suna to make that weapon that scared him even more. Especially if Suna stood all alone against that threat.

Of the five Greater Elemental Nations, only the Land of Fire and the Land of Water still allowed the worship of the Nine Divine Beasts and their holy artefacts. Many of the smaller nations still had the same freedoms, yet Suna hadn't made itself too popular with them. And even if they could step over that, they probably wouldn't be of much use against an emboldened Iwagakure. Neither would Kiri while it was still fighting a civil war against its own shinobi. If Iwa really came for this holy artefact, who would be there to help Suna protect it?

"Our predecessors had one of the strongest alliances our world has ever seen. An alliance feared by all the other villages. If we want to put a stop to the Tsuchikage's mad quest for power we need to revive that alliance," the Kazekage said.

The Hokage gave the man a weak smile. "An alliance you broke in the first place. Yet now, when Konoha is once again your only option, you want to revisit it?"

The Kazekage didn't respond to that. He didn't have to, they both knew it was the truth. Yet they also knew neither of them would hold it against the other in times of need. They were well aware that in their world even the closest allies could become enemies the very next day, and the greatest foe could become a friend just as fast.

"What is it you want exactly, Kazekage-dono?" The Hokage asked. "You show me legendary artefacts, tell me about your suspicions that Iwa has a new weapons program, and you even offer me an alliance. Yet after over fifteen years of distrust between our villages you know I will need more than that. I will need proof. Both of your good intentions and of this weapons program you're so afraid of."

Despite the veil covering most of the Kazekage's face, the Hokage was sure the other man was smiling. "Of course, Hokage-dono." With a wave of his hand, two chairs of gold dust appeared in the room. "I asked you here not just to warn you about Iwa or to tell you about my recent change of heart regarding the Divine Nine. I do also have things to offer. Three things in fact. See it as a token of goodwill and a sign I'm genuine about this."

He sat down in one of the newly formed chairs as he watched the Hokage eye the other empty chair warily, not yet taking a seat.

"The first is a gift for your wife." The Kazekage motioned towards the tea kettle. "As an Uzumaki, I'm sure she'd appreciate a relic of the Bunpuku clan. And if she, or you, manages to unseal whatever is sealed inside the kettle, then it might just be a gift to Konoha as a whole, don't you think?"

The light from the flickering torches around the room wasn't bright enough for the Hokage to clearly make out the Kazekage's face, but he couldn't shake the feeling he was being mocked. The man had just laid out how afraid he was that the Bunpuku artefact might attract Iwa's forces, and now he wanted to gift that burden to Konoha? Sure, as far as holy artefacts went this one was very much priceless, but would he really want to risk his village's safety like that?

"Second, and perhaps not as spectacular as the first gift," the Kazekage continued with barely any pause, "a promise and an offer of a more spiritual matter." He reached into his robes and pulled out a scroll that he gave to the Hokage by way of his gold dust.

The Hokage unfurled the scroll with a frown on his face. A frown that got deeper and deeper the further he read on. "This is an impossible promise to make. Your council won't stand for this."

"Let me worry about that. I'll get it done, trust me."

"I don't."

A sound of amusement came from behind the Kazekage's veil. "With good reason. Which is what my last gift is all about. Well, it's more of an experiment really."

Another scroll appeared out of the gold dust, and again the Hokage read the contents with a frown on his face. This time, however, it didn't take long for the frown to give way to a look of surprise. The Hokage looked at the other man in disbelief, silently asking him if what he read was meant as a joke or not. When the other man didn't react the Hokage slowly walked towards the empty seat of gold dust and sat down.

For a full minute, neither of the men spoke and the only sound in the room was that of the crackling torches. The Hokage read both scrolls over again, weighing the implications of both offers in his mind. Meanwhile, the Kazekage remained quiet, silently watching the other man's contemplations. He seemed more than content in letting the moment drag on and giving the Hokage all the time he needed.

"This… experiment is beyond dangerous," the Hokage finally whispered, looking up from the scroll. The Kazekage gave a nod. "It will take a long time to get any results, and there's absolutely no guarantee there will be any results in the first place."

"Two to three years, according to my estimates," the Kazekage answered as he leaned back in his chair. "Which is why I came to you now. With Iwa on the move…"

He let the implication hang in the air. There was no need to vocalise both their fears. If the Kazekage's suspicions were true, then both men knew exactly what dangerous odds they were up against. And they knew the risks they'd have to take to prevent such an unfavourable outcome. Even if those risks came in the form of an unprecedented experiment like this. "And the minor villages have agreed to this?"

"They have." The Kazekage looked perfectly at ease. "On the condition that you join this venture as well."

The Hokage sighed and gave the scroll another once over. "Very well." He placed the scrolls to his side, leaned back in the chair and looked the man opposite him straight in the eyes. "Let's talk details."