Important A/n: this story takes place in pt 2 of naruto. So you may not understand it if you have not read about it.


Part One: Retrieving Sasuke


It was sunset. The perfect time you expect for something to appear from the shadows and scare you to death. Which is what Pien was doing right now. Well, not exactly. To be more precise, he was staring into the slowly moving sun, unblinking on the edge of a cliff. Waiting. Soon, his patience paid off. As the last of the sun disappeared down the horizon, a figure appeared behind him.

"You're late…" Pien stated without turning around. The figure stood up.

"What can I say? I had difficulty getting here." Tobi said, shrugging his arms.

"Mm." Pein replied. Then, he slowly turned around to face a swirling orange mask.

"The members are getting suspicious. Especially Zetsu." Tobi cocked his head. "They haven't seen 'Tobi' in awhile." Tobi understood.

"Tell them I'm missing right now." It was more of a command than a request. Pein hated it when Tobi 'Madara' did this. Recently, 'Madara' had gotten this annoying idea that HE was the leader of Akatsuki. Pein was the one who recruited the members. And Pein was the one who set up a guaranteed three step process to world domination. And then along came Tobi who claimed that he was the infamous 'Madara Uchiha' and started giving Pein orders on how to run HIS Akatsuki.

"The six- tailed shadow panther has been captured." That broke Pein's trail of thought.

"You know what to do now…" Pein looked at Tobi's eye.

"I know." He stated firmly. "But why should I capture the Kyuubi myself when I have easier methods to do it?" He said to Tobi. Tobi shifted a little.

"Because right now, failure is the last thing we need when we are this close to world domination." Pein was slightly confused.

"This is only step one of the three step plan. There are still two steps left." Tobi sat down.

"Ah, but remember what I said about the true power of the sharingan?" Pein sighed. Here he went on again about the sharingan again. He always babbled like this.

"And what exactly would that be?" Pein asked. Tobi did not reply. Instead, he reached into his cloak and pulled out a chess board. He set it on the floor and motioned for Pein to sit down. Amused, he sat at the opposite side of the board. Tobi reached inside his cloak again and pulled out two kings and one queen. He set a king and a queen on his side and the other king on Pein's side.

"Now…" Tobi began. "These pieces are a representation of us." Tobi motioned to the two pieces on his side.

"And this piece is what we must conquer." Tobi pointed to the one on Pein's side.

"Who's who?" Pein questioned, staring at the board.

"I am the king and you the queen." Tobi plainly stated as if it was the most obvious answer in the world.

"Why am I the queen?" Pein asked slightly annoyed.

"Because you are very powerful, yet cannot take out the other king by yourself. And I am the king because, though I am weak, you cannot survive without me." "And these…" Tobi placed nine pawns on his side "Are the Akatsuki members." Pein looked at the nine pawns on the table. Then, his attention shifted to the king on his side.

"Who is this then?" Pein pointed to his king. Tobi shrugged.

"Isn't it obvious? What are we setting to conquer? The world obviously! However…" Tobi again reached inside his cloak and Pein was surprised to see him pull out ten queens and place them on Pein's side.

"…the world has many powerful forces on its side." Then Tobi took Pein's pieces and took out some of the pawns on his side. Soon, there were only four remaining. Pein understood as there were only four members of Akatsuki left. Excluding Himself and Tobi. Tobi looked at Pein.

"Excuse me one moment…" Tobi went behind a tree, and ripped off one of its branches. Then he hit himself so hard with it that it broke. He muttered 'shut up' then went back to Pein. Pein was slightly surprised at this. Tobi noticed and said

"It's nothing. Anyway, you asked me what the true power of the sharingan was." Tobi raised his fist.

"We will say that my hand is the true power of the sharigan. Would you like to see what it does?" Pein nodded his head. With one swift motion, Tobi knocked all of Peins pieces off the board with his hand.

"You cheated." Pein stated. Tobi rose up.

"Life isn't fair. Get used to it. Now, I must be on my way. You can do whatever you want to capture the Kyuubi, but I warn you that your methods will fail…" As Tobi was about to disappear, Pein stopped him.

"Before you leave I wanted to ask you something." Tobi turned around.

"Where does my sister fit into all of this?" Tobi went back to the chess board.

"Your sister would be a pawn." Tobi said.

"And why would that be?" Pein asked. Tobi moved the piece representing Kazumi to the other side.

"Because when pawns move to the other side, the gain the ability to transform into another, more powerful piece." Tobi grabbed the piece and squeezed it in his hand.

"…Including my hand." Tobi opened his palm and, instead of a chess piece, there was a miniature version of his hand. He threw it at Pein who caught it. Tobi again walked away.

"Answer me one last question." Pein commanded. Tobi stopped walking. "Are you Madara Uchiha or Tobi?" Tobi did not even turn around.

"I'd say that for right now…" Tobi then turned his head a full 180 degrees to face a shocked Pein.

"I'm Both."

Tobi disappeared into the shadows.


On the next chapter...

Naruto: WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!!