"Sasori my man, what's up." Deidara asked as the red haired puppet approached.
"Suigetsu has been captured by the leaf and being Orachimaru's favourite toy, we fear he knows too much about our plan. He wouldn't snitch in us immediately but it won't be long before the leaf can torture it out of him." Sasori mentioned.
"And you want me to rescue him? You'd be much better at this than me. Too busy trying to become a real boy? " Deidara joked.
"My puppets need repairing but I can still poison you so that you die a slow and painful death." Sasori threatened as Deidara took a nervous step back.
"Bye Pinocchio." Deidara snickered before jumping on a clay bird that carried him away.
Jiriaya sat down in front of the village elders. "I would not make a very good hokage. I am the master of battle and women but this is beyond me." The toad sage bragged whilst being humble.
"We have no other choice. No other ninja of this village possesses enough strength to protect the village." Homura said.
"I could take on the role of both Hokage and Root leader." Danzo suggested.
"You are excellent as leader of the root but Hokage is a completely different job. The Anbu are machines who only think about the task given but ordinary ninja cannot be treated the same way." Koharu explained.
"When Itachi was attacked by the Akatsuki four of our top Jonin were stopped by a single ninja, a product of the single minded thinking of the 'bloody mist.' No high ranking root member of mine would be caught so easily by the water prison jutsu." Danzo shouted angrily.
"Kisame is an immensely powerful s rank ninja whose clones could crush your strongest root members with ease. He is stronger than Orachimaru, our most powerful missing ninja. He has jinchuriki level chakra reserves without the hindrance of a corrupt beast sealed inside of him and the most powerful blade we know of. The rest of the Akatsuki are on similar or stronger levels to him, I don't have much Intel on their leader but he is powerful enough to bring that traitorous snake bastard Orachimaru, a terrorist, the greatest swordsman of the mist and a physics path who uses other people as puppets." Jiriaya ranted angrily,
"Who would you suggest takes over than?" Danzo challenged.
"Tsunade. I can find her and convince her to take up the position, she is stronger and smarter than me." Jiriaya told the council.
"You have one month. If you fail we'll have to consider other candidates. Danzo, you cannot be both a light and a shadow but several clan leaders seem semi capable if young Jiriaya here refuses and fails to bring back Tsunade." Koharu said.
"Do you know why we're here." Naruto groaned at his squad mates unable to wait quietly any longer.
"If I knew don't you think I would tell you." Kiba growled back.
"Itachi will be dearly missed but training must continue. Until more permanent arrangements can be made I'll take over your training. This is my squads usual training ground and they'll be coming here soon. As they know the environment better than you do I'll give you the element of surprise, ambush them and take them down before they defeat you." Kurenai instructed.
"I don't need to hide. I'll take them head on." Naruto arrogantly claimed puffing out his chest. Sakura shoved him into the ground whilst Kiba muttered 'Idiot.'
"This reflects on all of us Naruto. Don't make me look bad by standing in clear view." Sakura vainly but correctly advised and with a stern look from Kurenai Naruto reluctantly trudged off into the bushes.
"Where is that blonde twerp." Jiriaya said to himself as he prepared to leave, planning to take his apprentice with him, when he was approached by one of the last people he expected to see.
"Jiriaya sensei, one of the legendary Sannin, please take me on your search for the next Hokage and train me in your powerful techniques." Neji humbly pleaded.
"Why would I take you Hyuuga brat, can't your clan train you. Have you seen my student Naruto anywhere." Jiriaya demanded. Neji activated his Byakugan.
"He's training in the woods nearby with Kurenai sensei. Please take me instead, I've learnt all Hiashi is willing to teach to a branch member of the family." Neji begged.
"Sorry kid, you're not my problem." Jiriaya told him and began striding off. Neji thought quickly before replying "My byakugan will be very helpful finding Tsunade. Besides Naruto would probably learn better with friends than on his own, he doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who enjoys a solitary lifestyle." Neji faked respect for his colleague in his attempt to learn from the greatest teacher he could find in the village.
"No deal… Wait you have the Byakugan right. So you could use it for, you know, research?" Jiriaya hinted, making various suggestive hand signs. Neji swallowed his pride, if he was going to gain the power to defeat Sasuke and overthrow Hiashi he would need to do this.
"If a sage as wise as yourself deems it important I'll be willing to offer my services." Neji forced out, his first attempt at flattery in a long long time. Jiriaya thought carefully about how useful the Byakugan would be and desperate not to let Danzo take power,vreluctsntly agreed. "We leave in an hour, meet me by the gates then." Jiriaya said.
Shino was walking through the trees when he was surrounded by purple smoke. The buzzing of his bugs alerted him to Kiba's presence and he leapt out of the way of several Kunai flying through the air. As the smoke cleared the two came face to face. "An Inuzuka without is dog, I sympathise with your plight, I cannot imagine life without my bugs aiding me in both battle and general situations. We are allied and you bear no grudge that I know of so I assume this is a training exercise. Yes, your sensei is recently deceased and so Kurenai is using you to test our strength. I understand your handicap but it would be misinformative of me to hold back, I must fight you at my full capacity." Shino deduced logically as a swarm of bugs arose from him and flew towards Kiba. "Earth style, earth wall." Kiba said, summoning a wall of rock to hide him from Shino's swarm before dashing off into the trees.
Soon enough Kiba doubled back and saw Shino jumping through the trees. He released another smoke bomb before using the head hunter jutsu on the unsuspecting bug-user. "Submit." Kiba demanded as he held a Kunai to Shino's neck. A swarm of bugs surrounded the Kunai as the Aburame was revealed to be a clone and soon enough Kiba's chakra resources were nearly empty.
"I believe you should submit. Your chakra levels have been depleted too far for the use of jutsu and in hand to hand combat whilst I admit that you are stronger and faster my bugs will turn the tide of the battle in my favour easily." Shino counter argued.
"How did you find me?" Kiba inquired.
"When we first chatted, before I sent that massive swarm after you I planted a single bug on you. When I was informed of you're approach planning around a surprise attack was -" Shino brgan before Kiba launched himself at the Aburame in the middle of his monologue. However, weighed down by the bugs crawling all over him, he was slow enough for Shino to knock him out with a well time punch to the head.
Hinata heard footsteps and activated her Byakugan before instantly reading and dispelling the genjutsu Sakura placed on her. "Sakura, my By-by-aku-kugan allows me to easily tell when I am in a gen-genjutsu. Why are you trying to use it on m-m-me though?" Hinata nervously asked as Sakura approached.
"Sparring exercise your sensei set." Sakura admitted before launching into a flurry of Taijutsu against Hinta. Hinata yelped as she weaved through the attacks before trying to hit Sakura with her gentle fist. Sakura leapt back and started throwing Kunai at Hinata, who could easily dodge them.
"This isn't a vert fair fight. A-a-a genjutsu user is a bad matchup for a Hyuuga." Hinata apologised as she dodged three shurriken before grabbing two Kunai out of mid air and throwing them back at Sakura.
"Don't worry Hinata, I need to learn to defeat enemies who can see through my genjutsu." Sakura said as she rolled up her sleeves and ran to sucker punch Hinata.
"8 triagrams 32 pa-palms." Hinata squeaked as she jabbed Sakira repeatedly in the chest, soon shutting down enough chakra points that the pink haired girl collapsed to the ground. "I'm sorry." Hinata said when Sakura flipped into the air and tried to kick her in the face. Hinata instinctively grabbed Sakura's legs and slammed her too the ground before apologising for that too and asking for a truce. Y. strongest." Naruto yelled as he jumped in front of the raven haired boy.
"No, I have to train, you're not worth my time." Sasuke replied coldly.
"I'll just tell everyone you refused my challenge then." Naruto taunted with an obnoxious grin.
"I'll finish you off quickly." Sasuke replied as he launched off a fireball that burnt the shadow clone to a crisp. Naruto drew on Kuruma's chakra to summon a much larger one which cleared the nearby trees as Sasuke slid underneath it before throwing several shurriken at Naruto, who was forced to constantly dodge. Suddenly one of the shurriken he sidestepped was knocked at him when it collided with another one and pierced his arm causing minor bleeding. "This is what true ninja can do, a fool like you woul never achieve this." Sasuke contemptuously stated. "I have some tricks or my own." Naruto angrily retorted as he enhanced two Kunai with wind chakra and hurled them at Sasuke. Sasuke caught both of the, but they were sharp enough that his hands started bleeding even with indirect contact. Sasuke grimaced before staring into Naruto's eye and using his Tsukoyomi. Whilst the genjutsu only lasted 5 seconds Naruto witnessed Sasuke slaying all of his friends in front of him whilst he was helpless to do anything about it for a whole hour. When it was done a dejected Naruto collapsed to the ground panting.
"Now you know how it feels to have everyone you ever loved slaughtered mercilessly. Itachi did this at my age, and here I am wasting my time with pointless training. I'll avenge the Uchiha and if that meaning I have to grind you to dust I won't hesitate. Amaterasu." Sasuke ranted, concentrating greatly at the end. He had not masted the Mangekyo Sharingan, only able to keep the fire burning by focusing on its point of origin and was soon disrupted when Naruto launched a huge blast of wind at him.
"Itachi was protecting the village, it was his mission." Naruto roared back before summoning a giant road. It wasn't as big as Gamabunta but was about four times the size of Naruto. "Kid, you know fire style." The toad asked Naruto.
"Yep. 3,2,1, Ultimate fireball jutsu." Naruto cried as he launched a massive fireball into a stream of oil and enhanced it with wind. The explosion annihilated the terrain but Sasuke managed to protect himself with his Susanoo armour, the chakra bones cracking under the immense heat. Sasuke raised his Susanoo sword behind his back before throwing it at Naruto like a javelin, the piercing blade rupturing several organs as it peirced the Uzumaki. Anyone else would need immediate medical attention but with Naruto's regenerative prowess it was as simple as passing out. He awoke surrounded by the other 5 before Kurenai gave them a lecture. "Hinata, you are too nice to your enemy, you won't be able to defeat them with hugs and kisses. Sakura, your genjutsu is strong but if you come up against someone who can dispel it you are out of options and will lose the fight. Kiba, you're plans are good but you don't consider what to do if you come up against an unexpected problem. Shino, as you said yourself your taijutsu needs work and stop explaining everything to your enemy, just fight them. Sasuke and Naruto, you are both extremely powerful but your arrogance will allow much weaker ninja to cut you like butter." Was the feedback they received. "I know I got you to fight each other but we'll be conducting a joint mission so you'll have to learn how to work together." Kurenai added at the end, causing Naruto and Sasuke to glare at each other hatefully. Suddenly a huge explosion was seen and heard in the distance. "Stay here and get to know each other, I'll check it out." Kurenai instructed the ninja, squashing their eagerness to fight and dashed off.
"Sasuke doesn't like me and Shino is creepy. I know, I'll talk to Hinata she seems normal enough." Naruto thought before yelling hey to her.
"N-n-Naruto." Hinata replied turning crimson.
"You ok, got a temperature?" Naruto said feeling her forehead, causing the shy girl to faint.
Seeing the panic on Naruto's face Kiba told him not to worry, she was fine.
"Why did she faint then?" Naruto inquired.
"Because she is infat-" Shino began when Sakura punched him.
"Shino was about to say she is tired after all the training today and just needs some rest." Sakura sweetly smiled whilst kicking Shino in the ribs repeatedly.
"We have ways of making you talk, even considering your … capabilities, infact revolving around them." Ibiki said as an Anbu member entered the interrogation room, electricity crackling at his fingertips. Suddenly a hole was blown in the roof and Deidara swooped in. The tank Suigetsu was in shattered and the boy hopped onto Deidara's bird happily. "High five." Deidara asked but Suigetsu politely declined when he saw Deidara's hands licking their lips. Slightly depressed and looking down, Deidara looked to see the various Jonin staring at him from the ground. "You really should find ways of defending the air." He laughed as various long range jutsus were fired at him, some coming close but all ultimately failing.
"Summoning jutsu." Kakashi said, causing Pakkun to appear.
"Track him down and report what you learn back to me." Kakashi whispered as he pointed to the soaring animated clay in the distance. Pakkun sniffed around for a bit before sprinting off after his target stealthily.
"Lady Tsunade is in that casino." Neji told Jiriaya.
"Without you who knows how long it would've took me. I have tracking capabilities of my own but seeing through walls is amazing." Jiriaya mused, blood beginning to drop from his nose. The duo walked into the bar to find Tsunade and Shizune gambling away. "I really think you should stop lady Tsunade." Shizune fretted.
"You're not the boss of me." Tsunade shouted back chugging more sake down as she slammed down her cards, only for the dealer to sweep away more of her chips.
"Jiriaya, why are you here?" Tsunade said, leaving the table to speak to her former colleague.
"Hiruzen died and I want you to be the next Hokage." Jiriaya said clearly.
"Only a fool would want to be Hokage." Tsunade replied.
"Danzo is going to install a puppet if you don't." Jiriaya mentioned.
"I really think you should do this Tsunade, maybe it will stop… Reduce your gambling and drinking if you have something to do." Shizune advised and Tonton squeaked in agreement.
"No, it's a pointless job, looking what happened to the fourth Hokage." Tsunade replied irritated. That was when Neji had an idea which he whispered in Jiriaya's ear.
"How about a game of poker. If we win you become Hokage." Jiriaya offered.
"Ok but if you lose you have to pay my tab and any debts I have to this casino." Tsunade replied as she grabbed a deck of cards that wasn't being used, "and I know a Hyuuga when I see one, no using the Byakugan to help you. Shizune watch his eyes, make sure that boy there isn't cheating."
"And that's the game, I win, now leave me alone, and pay up." Tsunade said as she revealed her pair of aces that won her the game.
"Double or nothing." Jiriaya desperately called after her.
"I'm not playing another round of poker." Tsunade shouted back as she walked away.
"What if I can teach the kid a new jutsu by sunset Tommorow. I win and you become Hokage and pay your own debt, but if you win I'll give you thrice what you owe." Jiriaya asked her pleadingly.
"That's easy, you think I'd make such a stupid bet." Tsunade said before glaring when Shizune stifled a laugh.
"The rasengan. That's the jutsu I'll teach him." Jiriaya promised.
"That brat learn the Rasengan in one day, no way." Tsunade retorted.
"Then take the bet." Jiriaya begged her.
"Ok, I'll have your money by sunset." Tsunade cockily declared.
"What now?" Neji asked.
"We're screwed." Jiriaya explained in as few words as possible.