Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, or any other anime/manga for that matter. This is just a parody and all rights belong to their specific owners.

Extra Disclaimer: I do not own the OC Takami Yamazaki, this character is the sole property of Antex- The Legendary Zoroark and I make no claims towards it. If anyone else wants to make any OCs and send them to me to put in the story don't feel shy, I would be happy to insert them.

Also, it is the very early morning after the tournament and Project Falcon is finally coming to a close. Next chapter is when you all will meet Akuma's new team members and I hope you won't be disappointed in my picks.

Review Responses:

Antex-The Legendary Zoroark (March 9)- I am happy to see that you think making my chapters longer is a good idea as well. Of course, this will result in longer periods between update times but hopefully the quality will override the quantity, also, yes that plasma user will be introduced in this chapter.

Lazymanjones96 (March 9)- Thanks

TigrezzTail (March 9)- Thanks, and I will continue to bring unique skills and characters into the mix. Plus, I have always believed in expanding about character's backstories and pasts, I mean, it is hard to get attached if you know only how the characters are supposed to look and act.

Lovelyladie15 (March 10)- Thanks, and the next update is here now, enjoy.

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If Orochimaru had to pick one word to describe how he felt towards Akuma, it would be proud. He had never been this proud towards anyone in his life, even his pride in Anko's accomplishments seemed microscopically small compared to his pride towards his adopted son. He was more proud of his brain than anything else, but right now he was cursing it. The reason for that was because his son had asked, no demanded, to see the experiments he was putting his people through. It had been a day since the tournament and he was now being forced to show his 5 year old son what the experiments were.

Damn it, when did he get so soft? The old him wouldn't have even thought twice before showing Akuma the experiments in the hope that it would toughen him up, but now he was… scared? Yes, scared was a good word to describe what he was feeling. He was scared that his son would not accept him after he saw the experiments, he was scared he would be like his sensei and be disgusted with him without even looking into the facts. Hell, they still had not figured out that the only people he had experimented on were the mortally ill or dangerous criminals that would have died whether he experimented on them or not. He had saved that Tenzo boy with the healing cells from Hashirama Senju, the wood style bloodline had just been a side effect for his attempts to cure his disease.

However, that was beside the point. His son was smart enough to be considered the son of a Nara, which many conspiracy theorists were already guessing at, and was going to know that this was for the good of Oto and they only helped the village. Sure, there were casualties, he still remembered the mass funeral of the stiff Fuma Clan members who did not survive the experiments, but those who survived were that much stronger. Surely, Akuma would be able to see the benefits that came with experimentation, surely he saw how it made criminals think twice after seeing the malformed remains of their fellow criminals. Surely, he knew that everything that he did was for the good of Otogakure and Akuma.

Orochimaru actually winced as he thought about that last part. That actually wasn't true and he knew it. He was more loyal to himself than the village and was only actually making it better because of Akuma and his old dream. He briefly wondered what would have happened if he had never adopted Akuma, and had no-one to tie him down emotionally and keep him from turning completely insane. However, soon his immortality jutsu would be complete and he could wholly focus on bettering his village. The only question for him was who to possess. An Uchiha was the obvious first choice, but it would be a shame if his jutsu did not work and he accidentally killed a good body for the future. A Tetsu would be the other choice, but if they ever found out he possessed one they would leave in the blink of an eye. Maybe, he would just possess strong prisoners the first few times and then he would get the strongest body possible. Maybe a Hyuga would be a good choice…

Anyway, Orochimaru got his mind back on track after realizing he was ignoring the situation at hand. He and Akuma had enjoyed the rest of the festival and now he had much more paperwork to fill out. First, he had to fill out the forms that said that he would allow all of the franchises to come into Oto. He had 3 Konoha ones, 2 Land of Fire ones, 4 Land of Water ones, 1 Land of Wave one, 1 Land of Earth one, and 3 Kumo ones. They were almost all civilian stores except for one from Konoha that was called Ha Heiki. They even sent a talented swordsmith that was accepting apprentices from Otogakure, so he hoped that they weren't spies. However, he wasn't stupid, so he had at least one skilled ninja monitoring each business 24/7. These were usually chunin trying to meet the minimum mission requirements for the jounin exams, but there was a jounin here and there.

Speaking of jounin… Orochimaru sighed as he thought about one of the village's best jounin. Ken Tetsu had proved in the tournament that he was not a force to be trifled with but he could not decide if he was really S-class material yet or not. To put him on the same ranking as Kakashi of the Sharingan, the Sanin, and Hanzo the Salamander was like saying that Oto was now capable of producing its own legends and therefore a threat. Also, in terms of S-class shinobi, Ken was more on the level of Kakashi than anyone else and if the two were to fight, he had no idea who would win.

With a shake of his head, Orochimaru thought, quite elegantly, 'Screw it, it will be interesting to see what happens.' He then wrote himself a note reminding him to meet with Ken to tell him of his new rank and to meet with the council to tell them of his new rank as well. He would also be sending him on missions again because of his new rank and would probably have to find a new teacher for Akuma until Ken could come back to teaching. What was different about loyal S-class members from missing-nin S-class shinobi was that with the new rank they would have to do many missions to prove that the rank was correctly given.

Orochimaru actually smiled as he thought about S-class Oto shinobi a bit more. A few other shinobi had the potential to become S-rank as well, especially Guren, while the rest are A-rank material. He wouldn't be surprised if the entirety of the Elemental Countries started talking about 'Black Steel' soon. He looked at the clock on the wall of his Otokage tower and sighed. It was time… it was time to show Akuma the secrets of the village. Orochimaru could only hope that Akuma still thought of him as his father afterwards.

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Neji Hyuga, no, Neji Taka looked around the remnants of his clan with wide eyes a disgusted look on his face. Sure, he hated the main branch for killing his father and putting the curse seal on him, but this… this was a bit much. There were fifty crosses up in the middle of the compound with the fifty highest ranking Hyuga nailed to each and every one. A few were still alive, but they wouldn't be for long judging by their wounds. He looked to the right and saw the many bodies of the branch family that refused to fight the main branch. Kabuto, as he learned Orochimaru's spy was named, had found out the secret to their seal and had them all killed with the very seal they were free from now.

Free… was an odd term to use in this situation. Originally they had thought that they could choose where to go after leaving Konoha, but they doubt that is a choice now. Where could they go? Mist hated bloodlines, Kumo would kill all but a few of them to be used to have many loyal, subservient Hyuga children, Iwa would not think that they were disloyal enough against Konoha, and Suna were Konoha's allies. As it turned out, their best bet at survival was with Orochimaru and his village. On the bright side, he would be trained by the best and put on a team with Oto's up and coming protégé.

That would be interesting he guessed, but he was still a bit disgusted at his clansmen's actions. Oh well, he supposed it was simply their fate to die by their hands, just as it was the main branch's fate to die at the hands of their slaves. He was brought out of his musings by a small amount of smoke and ten Oto shinobi appearing by the man named Kabuto. He told them some instructions and then slunk off somewhere, only Kami knows where. Neji looked at their feet to see how they were summoned and was shocked to see a scroll with the kanji for summon on it.

He did not have much time to ponder this as he heard a signal from the wall and a few Taka members went to the location to fight off responding Anbu. They needed to get out, and fast. Apparently, the Oto shinobi had read his young mind because they began to form hand seals at the same time and slammed their hands on the ground. "Earth Style: Gopher Tunnel Jutsu!" they all yelled at the same time and a large hole, which seemed to be an entrance of some kind, appeared in the ground.

Five immediately went down into the hole and the other five were directing all of the Taka members, including himself, into the hole with cold efficiency and speed. These were professional shinobi and could defeat him with just a hand if they wanted to. Neji silently hoped that fate decided to make him a shinobi stronger than them and one day be a famed ninja himself. Right before he went down the tunnel entrance he saw the five shinobi above throw their Oto forehead protectors and put on Kumo forehead protectors. That was… interesting, oh well if Fate decided to start a war then who was he to stop it. With that he walked down the tunnel to join his new clan, ignoring the closing of the entrance behind him.

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Kabuto, hidden from view, watched silently as the Taka members guarding the walls eventually fell to the better Anbu shinobi. They had taken a few with them however, so their lives were not a waste at least. He couldn't wait until the Taka Clan got to Oto however, they had all of the main branch techniques at their disposal and would be a great help to Otogakure. His eyes widened slightly in surprise when he saw the famed Chidori cut right through one Taka member. So Kakashi was still in the Anbu… that was surprising. He had to be about 20 by now, which meant that he was in the Anbu for 7 years now. Usually Anbu broke after 5 years of active duty so Kakashi was 2 years overdue.

Oh well, it didn't really matter anyway. The five members that would go with the Taka would close up the pathway back more and more as they went on so that the Anbu would never be able to find where it began. The other five would be disguised as Iwa shinobi and had the gear and look to pull it off. They were all originally Kumo shinobi anyway, brainwashed to go on this mission and hopefully cause tensions between Kumogakure and Konoha. The best part about that was that if a war did come around, Otogakure could be an ally to one of the two major powers and gain their trust before betraying them when it was convenient.

Kabuto was there to make sure no-one was able to tie anything to Otogakure, if Kumo found out that Oto framed them, it could be a minor problem. Of course, it was nothing a few threats and favors couldn't handle since the villages framed each other so often that it was more shocking if someone didn't frame another. Not framing someone was like an insult now, it basically said that the enemy shinobi did not even think it was worth their time to frame someone. That had been one of the many insults between villages that started the Third Shinobi World War.

Kabuto continued looking around and smiled slightly when the Kumo shinobi were swiftly killed by Anbu. They weren't much more than chunin level after all, not a threat at all. Right before he was about to leave he noticed Kakashi step out of the main house with a small child in his arms. Damn, that was the girl that he had left alive. Kabuto growled before slinking away into the shadows once more. He knew that those Taka pricks' demands would come back to bite them all in the ass, but he didn't really want to start a civil war in his village over it.

With that he left the property of the, previous, Hyuga Clan looking like a normal civilian, even receiving and giving nods to the Konoha Police Force. It was so easy to infiltrate Konoha Kabuto couldn't help but smirk in satisfaction. Now, he would find a nice vantage point to see how the village reacted to the news of one of their most prestigious clans being destroyed without anyone noticing. It would surely be a blow to the pride of the village and Oto might even gain a few missing nin from the deal. His smirk grew bigger when he heard the first anguished cry and it soon turned into a full on grin, which he carefully hid, when he heard the new ones. Oh, he couldn't wait until his next mission, but it would be hard for it to top this one…

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Kenshi sighed as he lazily watched a bird fly by from the window of his carriage. It had been a long day, he had been shooed out of the hidden village almost as soon as the tournament ended and was now riding to his palace in relative peace. He had talked with Michael, who had left about halfway to his palace, for a long time about the details of land transfer. He would have control over his entire territory in exchange for a few million dollars as well as the hidden village.

Actually, calling it a hidden village was a bit of a stretch as there were fewer than 600 shinobi actually there. However, he had decided not to disband it just yet as Michael was going to for a simple reason. This… Hidan fellow was worrying to hear about. He was easily chunin level at 15 years old but had not been promoted because of his large bloodlust. He also worshiped a god by the name of Jashin and was the most vocal supporter of remaining a shinobi village. Killing him would make him a martyr in all likelihood and start a civil war.

He had no doubt that he would win the war but there would be a lot of money lost in the deal. Not only that, but there may be public dissent for a long time later, which could be easily manipulated by a larger village into a force that would start a civil war, now with more shinobi backing it. No, he had to go about this very carefully to keep a war from happening and actually make the money spent on the country back. No matter what he would make Yugakure the prime tourist spot of the Land of Sound, but he would do it slowly. He would convince the shinobi of the village that it wasn't worth it to stay a shinobi village. This meant that all of Yugkure's missions would have to be given to Otogakure instead and more and more tourist spots would have to be put in the village. In a few years it would be complete and the Land of Sound will get another large source of profit besides their rice patty market.

Thankfully, before he left, he had been able to talk to the Otokage briefly and his plan for the future of his country was approved. Now all he had to do was appease the shinobi from Yugakure enough to not start a civil war while training competent samurai and ruling his country well at the same time. Easy, right?

Kenshi sighed again and closed his eyes briefly while holding his head up with a closed fist. He still sometimes couldn't believe he had gotten wrapped up in all this mess. Just a few years ago, he had been just another abused prince who had dreams for the future and his country. He wasn't even that special yet he had suddenly been made the ruler of one country and was about to combine it with another in his early reign. He did not even really look like a ruler if he was honest with himself.

He always wore a bored expression on his teenage face and had his green hair, gotten from his mother, held back in a ponytail that he had seen on a few Yamanakas before. He had a bang of it covering his left eye while the other was a deep blue that looked similar to the ocean. He wore a purple kimono with the kanji for sound on the back of it and a golden dragon was stitched into it to where it seemed like it is slithering up and around his body from the bottom of his kimono. Inside his kimono was a katana and he wore a blue t-shirt and brown pants as well. He was good enough with the katana to fight off a few bandits but not anyone above low genin level unfortunately. Maybe he could get someone to train him as well as a future samurai force.

He shook his head tiredly before dozing off for a bit of shut eye. Maybe a bit of sleep would help with the furthering of his plans… somehow. He got about five seconds of it before the carriage came abruptly to a stop and he was pulled out of it at high speeds. Before he could even comprehend what had happened, his carriage was on fire and he had to pull out his sword to block a kunai. Luckily, the one who threw it was quickly dealt with as was the one who started the fire. There was only one more ninja who was swinging a scythe with a smile on his face. Kenshi barely recognized the face and commanded his jounin to bring him to him but let him live.

"Hey! What are you doing assholes?! Put me the f**k down!" the white haired teen yelled as he was brought in front of Kenshi.

"Quiet, Hidan, what are you doing here?" Kenshi asked calmly but with authority within his voice. Hidan did not seem impressed.

"I came here to kill your sorry ass!" he yelled out with a grin. "After I heard about what old Michael was up to, I knew you'd try to turn our village into a bunch of pansies so I had to act. Most of the others wouldn't join me so I had to do some forbidden Jashinist ritual to be able to kill them all! The assholes started to follow me after that," he laughed out loud.

Kenshi looked at him for a minute, then two minutes, then Hidan got tired of waiting and attacked. Then he had two swords in his heart. That was… disappointing Kenshi guessed. He was about to turn around and walk the rest of the way when he heard Hidan groan behind him… and not in the painful way, though it was painful for them to hear. "Ohhhhhh yea that feels good," Hidan smiled as he pulled out the swords with a sick sound and beheaded two of his guards.

So… Hidan was immortal and seemed to love pain and death. Kenshi couldn't help but smile at this, despite Hidan's obvious amusement. This was the solution to the problem of the enemies being obviously stronger than his soon to be forces. "Hidan… how would you like to be able to kill as many people as you want?" Kenshi asked in what he hoped was a calming voice.

Hidan hesitated for a minute then smirked. "Why would I accept your proposal when I can already do that?"

"Because if you do this you will at least have one country where you can relax in without being hunted down. You will be treated as a hero for what you will be doing while killing people who can offer a challenge."

Hidan smiled at this and then licked the blood off of the swords before throwing them aside. "I want my own temple after all of this is done and a sacrifice for Jashin every day once I build the temple."

Kenshi nodded, they had plenty of prisoners and he wouldn't be surprised if they got many more prisoners from the conquests they were planning. He wasn't going to ONLY conquer the Land of Iron after all, he would also capture Snow, Frost, and Waterfall before this was all over and become the Sixth Great Shinobi Country. Also, once they had enough forces, they would go and take the Land of Whirlpools as well, furthering their power ever further.

Kenshi smiled a bit bigger as Hidan stood up to shake his hand. His guard unit tensed when they shook but seemed to relax slightly when they unclasped their hands. Kenshi looked towards his new subordinate who still wore his Yugakure protector around his neck and after a bit of consideration decided to let him keep it so that what he was going to do wouldn't be tied to Otogakure and written off as a crazy missing nin. "Your first assignment is to go to the Land of Frost and kill off their military and leadership. You are allowed to kill civilians only if you can't find any military personnel or leaders. If you find any rebels, deal with them immediately and efficiently." After looking around a bit more and finding a mask on the body of one of the men Hidan killed, he took it off him and handed it to the white haired Jashinist.

"Here, cover your face with this and maybe dye your hair a bit. We don't want anyone recognizing you after you do all of this and cause a civil war. That would be so much paperwork…" he sighed as Hidan took the mask and attached it to his face. It covered everything from his eyes down but his eyes held a sort of glee that made many people around uncomfortable.

"I like you Kenshi, I can tell that serving you is gonna be hella fun," he said as he picked up the scythe next to him. "Now then… any idea where the Land of Frost is?" Kenshi simply smirked and pointed in the general direction of the country.

"It's a bit cold there, you will tell where you are when you find snow. You don't need a coat or anything?"

Hidan laughed loudly before flexing and looking at his arm in a considering manner, "Nah, cold doesn't affect a willing servant of Jashin. Hey, would you like to join Jashin's Cult?"

"Hm, maybe after your missions are over. You have 2-3 more countries after this one after all." This made Hidan laugh louder and run off in the direction of the Land of Frost. Kenshi smirked before looking around at his guard unit that looked a little sickened. "What? You'd think ninja would be used to stuff like this. Oh well, let's go, it's a long walk to the palace." With that Kenshi began to walk, with his faithful guards following him. He would have to send a letter to Orochimaru later on explaining the situation, it wouldn't do to be killed before he could see the fruits of his labor after all.

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Akuma frowned in concentration as he held 20 leaves on each arm with only his chakra while reading Otogakure's bingo book. They had possibly the most detailed bingo book right behind Konoha's thanks to the Otokage's spy network, particularly Kabuto. Being a medic at the hospital for shinobi was very helpful in finding out the chakra capacity of ninja as well as their affinity and other minor details. Also, shinobi tended to be a bit more open around medics that had just healed them, especially when they were hopped up on a ton of drugs to numb pain.

Because of Kabuto's efforts, Otogakure knew most of Konoha's Anbu identities as well as their patrol routes and other security details that actually made many infiltration missions possible. Sadly, he wasn't allowed to know all of the details of all the missions but he had heard whispers about something called Project Falcon from jounin and members from the Oto clans. From what he had heard, it had something to do with the Hyuga Clan from Konoha so that meant that Oto's infiltration system was way better than he thought if they could sneak past the Hyuga.

However, what was the biggest thing on Akuma's mind at the moment was what he had said the previous night. He had said that he would tell him about the experimentations the next day, which was that day, and he was anxious. He knew that whatever his dad did he did it for the good of the village, but he wanted to know what that entailed. He was going to be Otokage one day so he needed to know what he was expected to do. If that meant experimentation on his own people then so be it… as long as it helped them.

Honestly, a part of him was excited to know what kinds of experiments his dad did. He had always loved to learn about knowledge and experimentation would let him learn so much more to hopefully better his beloved village. The other part of him was horrified that he was excited about such a thing. According to everything he had read or heard, experimentation was an evil and sickening thing. If his father was doing this without the people's consent, unless they were prisoners of course, then he would have a problem with that and, despite his love for his father, he would rally the ninja to revolt for the village when he got the chance.

Kami, he hoped that wasn't the case. He loved his father almost as much as he loved the village, but if it came down to it, he would choose the village over his father every time. The village accepted him, it trusted him and believed that he would be the one to make them the strongest village and shinobi in the world. He had read about how jinchuuriki were treated in other villages, and even though his village knew what he was, they only thought higher of him for it. They thought that it meant that he had more strength at his disposal and had no doubts that he could control the beast.

He sighed as all the leaves slowly fell from his arms. He was in one of the only training grounds with an actual tree in all of Oto, so thankfully he wouldn't have to clean them up. Thinking about everything had made him lose focus and cause the leaves to fall. How could he be a good shinobi if he lost focus over something like this when there were more important things on missions.

"Enough with the face kid, even ninja lose focus sometimes." Akuma looked up at the tree to see Ken hanging down from one of the branches. He let himself fall to the ground and rubbed Akuma's head, an odd sign of affection it seemed everyone was doing nowadays. "The trick is to know when it is acceptable to lose focus and when it isn't. Right now it is acceptable, but I better not find out you were doing so on a mission." He made his face look scary, and the effect was only enhanced as tears of iron began to flow down his cheeks. It just looked creepy…

"H-hai Ken-sensei," Akuma stuttered before getting tapped on the head for showing weakness.

Ken smirked a bit as his student rubbed his head with a small glare. He then schooled his features into a frown once more. He didn't know how, but Akuma had this awful habit of getting people to open up around him. It was extremely annoying in Ken's opinion. "Anyway, your father was asking for you, something about showing you all the experiments done in Otogakure." Akuma frowned slightly and nodded before walking off. He was stopped mid-step by Ken who grabbed his arm with a serious face. "Look, kid, no matter what you see it really is for the good of Otogakure. Everyone who is being tested on knows the risks and accept them. Hell, me and my clan wouldn't even exist without Otokage-sama's experiments and I probably never would have achieved S-class. Just… trust your father alright? Trust isn't easily achieved in the shinobi world, but he's achieved mine. And that means something, now take care and learn how to protect Otogakure to your fullest okay?"

If Akuma could pick one way to describe how Ken was talking it would be that he was saying goodbye. When he first met Ken, he had been utterly emotionless and cold, but slowly, he started to open up to Akuma and became a precious person to him. He could tell that Ken was open a bit more to others as well and he was glad for that. Now all he had to do was fix Naifu as well… "This is goodbye isn't it?" Akuma asked with a rare sad expression on his face.

He looked up in surprise when he felt a hand ruffle his hand and a small smile, a SMILE, on Ken's face. After making sure the world wasn't ending, he looked at his sensei with a confused look on his face. "No, this isn't goodbye kid, just a see you later. Otokage-sama had told me earlier that since I was S-class I would have to go out and do a few missions for the village. The first one is just a minor A-rank mission somewhere in Earth Country. I'll be back to give you hellish training in no time." With that he vanished in a shunshin that made iron dust float around for a little while. After coughing and clearing his eyes, Akuma looked around and saw that his sensei was gone. However, he couldn't help but smile slightly. It was pretty cool to say that he was trained by two S-class shinobi after all.

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It had been 4 hours since Project Falcon and Hiruzen Sarutobi was beyond angry. One of their best clans had vanished, just like that and not a single person was able to do anything about it. Kumo shinobi had somehow been able to sneak into the village, kill every main branch Hyuga, turns out there were branches, and removed the seal from the branch family, which he also had no idea about. They had sealed their own family! It was no wonder that they had rebelled and were willing to leave Konoha the first chance they got.

Now, Konoha was with one less clan and had been significantly weakened. There was only one Hyuga member left from the once glorious clan and he could not help but feel sorry for the girl. According to Kakashi, the girl had been found next to the bodies of her father and pregnant mother, left alive for some reason. He couldn't imagine how painful it must have been for her to witness her mother having her throat slit and her father being killed by her own family.

However, he couldn't debrief her because according to the medics she would not wake up for a much longer time, possibly days. She had head trauma, emotional trauma, and had her Byakugan activated before her body was ready apparently. All of this combined would have killed most people, but as it stood, it would only cause memory loss thanks to their medical advancements gifted by Tsunade. This wasn't the best thing in the world but it was all they had, she probably wouldn't remember the last minute or so before passing out so hopefully she still remembered a few things.

At the moment, he was stuck dealing with the backlash of the Hyuga Rebellion as people were beginning to call it so he couldn't personally check up on the poor girl. First he had to select shinobi to look into the details of the rebellion, which would be better if there were any surviving attackers but beggars couldn't be choosers. Next, he would have to receive and look through the reports from the hunter nins sent after the escaping Hyuga members. This would be hard, but they had jounin with an earth affinity so that they could sense shifts in the earth, albeit barely, sent out between Konoha and Kumo, the biggest suspect in the events. Speaking of which, he had sent a letter to the Raikage for an immediate meeting and basically asking 'What the hell man?'.

However, at the moment he had to keep his village from plunging into civil war. Losing the Hyuga Clan at that time was the worst possible time ever. Tensions had been rising between Konoha and the Uchiha Clan and the Hyuga Clan had been one of the main factors keeping the Uchihas from rebelling immediately instead of waiting a few years like he had originally thought they would do. Their original plan was to negotiate when the issue become bigger and kill off the entire clan if negotiations failed since they had another strong clan with a legendary dojutsu. Now, they did not have another dojutsu using clan and the Uchiha were their strongest clan with no others against them.

That was why he had to do something he hated. Unfortunately, he would have to basically give the Uchiha Clan whatever they wanted so they would not start a war. He only hoped Fugaku would be reasonable with his demands… Speaking of whom, his assistant was knocking on his door saying that Fugaku Uchiha was here to see him. With a sigh, Hiruzen told her to let him in and the doors almost immediately opened with a frowning Fugaku on the other side.

He walked steadily into the office, bowed to the hokage, and sat down in one of the seats in front of Hiruzen's desk. They both sat in an awkward silence before Fugaku sighed and rubbed his face with his hands. "Hokage-sama please forgive me, but why exactly am I here?" he asked with a tired tone in his voice.

Hiruzen chuckled bitterly and smoked on his pipe a bit, it was an important meeting but he needed the stress relief. "Right to the point as always Fugaku-san. Fine, I will do so as well, we know about the rebellion plans."

Fugaku did not even seem surprised by this, just resigned. "I have tried to hold the plans back many times, but if things continue like they are now then the Uchiha Clan will rebel in less than 3 years. If you are going to kill us all may I ask you to at least let Shisui, Itachi, and Sasuke live? The first two are very loyal to Konoha to the point where I don't know who they are more loyal to sometimes and Sasuke has nothing to do with this. Please, Hokage-sama, let them live." Then Fugaku did something that Hiruzen never thought he would do, he bowed to Hiruzen so lowly that Hiruzen could barely see him over the desk.

Fugaku on the other hand, had suspicions that the hokage knew about their planned rebellion almost as soon as they had started talking about it a few years ago. Every year, the clan was ready to fight the village, armed and hostile. And every year Fugaku came up with some bullshit excuse to keep them from rebelling for another year. No matter who won, Konoha would be turned into one of the weakest villages in the elemental countries and would be wiped out in a week. He did not want Sasuke to grow up in a place like that, nor did he want Itachi to have to make the choice between his clan and his village. However, now that he knew Hiruzen knew about the rebellion he had no choice but to beg for the innocent ones' lives. He was surprised when he felt a hand under his arm gently picking him up.

He found Hiruzen looking at him with sad eyes and asking him to take a seat. Embarrassed, he did so and watched with wary eyes as the hokage went to look out the window behind his desk. He had his back turned to him, it would be easy to kill him right then and there, but Fugaku knew that would cause more problems than solutions so he waited for the hokage to say something. Hiruzen gave a small smile of approval before breathing out a large puff of smoke. "The Will of Fire burns bright inside of you Fugaku, I can see it in those eyes of yours. To be honest with you, I had wanted to recommend you as hokage along with Minato but since you were a clan head you wouldn't have been able to be hokage for fear of favoritism."

He then turned around and smirked at Fugaku who was watching him with wide eyes before schooling his features into a frown once again. "That is why it surprises me that a man with such a great Will of Fire would turn against the village. Let me be frank with you again Fugaku, I do not like what I am about to do and I wish I didn't have to do it. I wouldn't do it if it was anyone but you and a few others, but I have no choice in the matter."

"After the Hyuga Massacre, as we have now called it, we are now left with one less legendary dojutsu using clan. This would usually be a problem, but one easily fixed since we have another clan similar with a legendary dojutsu to fall back on. However, when that clan is planning a rebellion then it becomes a major problem."

"We were originally prepared to do anything to keep our village safe, even killing your entire clan for the good of the village. However, that option is now long gone so I want to ask you, what are your demands for not rebelling against the village? Make sure you list them all down, for I will not ask again."

Fugaku stared at his hokage with a gaping mouth. Never, NEVER, had he imagined the hokage would actually ask him what his demands were. Even when the Hyuga died, he thought the hokage would simply kill them off as well so that they couldn't weaken the village further. Now, he had to think about what the Uchiha Clan actually wanted to demand, they hadn't even considered this to be an option so they did not even have any demands predetermined.

Well, it would be nice to fix the things that started the rebellion at least. That said, the first thing he would demand would be moving both the clan compound and police station closer to the village center. Then, he would demand Uchiha stands and businesses to be able to make more anywhere in the village instead of just the clan compound so that the populace could get more in tune with the clan. Then, he would demand that the police station gets back all of the power it had lost to the Anbu, who had basically taken over their jobs since the Kyuubi attack, as well as giving it a bit more power. Finally, to further appease the clan, he would demand a few fire style jutsu so that the Uchiha Clan could be even stronger and better protect Konoha.

After he listed off all of his demands, the hokage looked at him for a long moment before taking a long drag from his pipe. "Fine, your demands have been heard and they are acceptable. In a few weeks there will be a new compound near the village center as well as a new police department. You will have complete authority on civilian arrests and crimes as well as having almost complete authority over shinobi arrests and crimes. However, this does not include missing nin which the Anbu are responsible for. You may also have any Uchiha businesses anywhere in the village and I will send you a few fire jutsu scrolls tomorrow. I am glad that we have sorted this whole thing out without bloodshed. Danzo owes me five bucks now."

They both smirked at this and after a little bit more talking, Fugaku left the office to tell his clan the good news. After he left, Hiruzen smirked and looked to a shadowy corner of the room. "Well, what do you think of this turn of events Itachi?" Hiruzen asked in a kind voice. After he said this, a boy not any older than 11 stepped out of the shadows and kneeled to the hokage. He had just joined Anbu, as seen from his white weasel mask and Anbu gear and was well on his way to becoming a captain in a few years. Of course, to become captain an Anbu had to complete at least 150 Anbu missions with a 90% success rate and defeat the previous captain in battle. He had no doubt Itachi could do it however, as he had become Anbu shortly after becoming jounin that very year.

Itachi took off his mask and Hiruzen could see a small smile on his face that showed that he was pleased with this turn of events. "This is the best turn of events that I have ever seen, despite the unfortunate events that came before it," Itachi said, becoming somber near the end. "I had not expected my father to bow to you or to actually ask you to let me, Shisui, and Sasuke to live while he died. That was very… surprising I would say." Itachi had almost given away his position when he heard his father ask his hokage to do that. Never in his wildest dreams did he imagine that Fugaku would put his children, and Shisui but still, above his own clan and self. It seemed he would have to open up more for his father, he was willing to put others before himself and his clan after all and had actually been trying to keep his clan from trying to destroy the village! It was unexpected, and surprising, and Itachi had never respected his father more.

"I agree, to be honest I was afraid he was going to demand the entire village declare the Uchiha are the best. Or an Uchiha being selected as hokage while I step down. Thankfully, all he wanted was his clan restored to its old status with some minor things as an apology for ostracizing them. With this, Konoha may be even stronger than it was before…"

Itachi nodded his head in agreement and Hiruzen smiled at the boy. He was a genius and reminded him so much of Minato he had almost asked Fugaku for a blood test from him and Itachi one time. He was much too young now, but one day… maybe he would be the successor that Konoha needed. "Anyway, you are dismissed Itachi, go back to your clan. Oh, and can you tell me how everyone reacts to the news afterwards?"

"Of course Hokage-sama," Itachi replies before putting his mask back on and using a quick shunshin to get him to the Anbu base to where he can put up his gear. Despite the events of that day, Itachi couldn't help but feel like Konoha was only going to be stronger because of it and he couldn't help but smile. The hokage on the other hand, had to go right back to work. It had been too long since Konoha had a jinjuriki and they couldn't wait any longer for one. Luckily, the Village Hidden in the Waterfall just so happened to have one ripe for the taking…

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Akuma nervously walked through the dim hallways of the underground area of Otogakure beside his father. What most people did not know about Otogakure was that there were actually two different layers, the first underground layer that held the population, and the second underground layer that held all of the laboratories, experiment facilities, and testing labs. As he looked to the right he saw two men in lab coats writing down on clipboards through a glass window. That was how the entire second layer was set up actually. There were winding hallways with many maps and signs so no-one got lost and countless testing rooms with windows that showed them to the outside world and doors.

The two men had put up their clipboards and one went to get a rat in a cage while the other pulled out a briefcase before pulling a needle out of it. Akuma wondered what they were doing before he looked to a sign next to the door that said 'Radiation Bloodline Experiment'. It seemed like they tested the bloodline injections on animals before humans at least… They inserted the needle into the rat and it seemed to stay still for a few seconds before slowly turning a sickly shade of green. It died soon after and the scientists seemed to sigh before marking it down on their clipboards and getting rid of the body.

"Hm, well it seems like the Radiation Bloodline was a failure. The animal lasted longer than last time so that's a plus at least…" his father murmured before he started to lead the way to where he was taking Akuma again.

Curious, Akuma asked his father what the Radiation Bloodline was supposed to do, to which his father answered. "Well, it was supposed to create a bloodline where a person could control a certain amount of radiation inserted into their body. They would be able to transmit radiation with a single touch, immediately killing the opponent. It is fairly complicated but if finished, we could have one of the strongest clans in existence as long as we make it hereditary."

Akuma nodded slowly as he thought about all of this. He was secretly glad that his father did not just garb some random people on the street and start testing on them, instead using animals first and then prisoners and then volunteers. It was a pretty good setup from what he could tell and there weren't many flaws with it… however this was only one experiment. "What about the Plasma Experiment?" Akuma asked his father as that was the one they were about to see.

His father hummed lowly and put his chin in-between his fingers, his remembering pose. "The Plasma Experiment is one of three categories, the single man test, the prototype, and the group testing. This one is the prototype as we do not know the full extent of it since there hasn't been enough testing done on it. This is because it requires excellent chakra control and we have had maybe two prisoners with enough control to actually test it. If we knew the full extent and what it did, it would probably be a single man test so that others can see the kekkai genkai and then, later, a group test for any people that would want to become part of his/her clan. However, the first person to get the artificial bloodline decided who gets it as well since they would technically be the clan head. Unless they don't want to make a clan in which case someone who does would be clan head and he would be known as part of it."

Akuma nodded slowly at his father's explanation. It seemed like there was a lot of thought put into this and it wasn't just 'Ooh I wonder what would happen if I did this'. "And, who is the test subject this time?" Akuma asked warily and his father actually smiled slightly while licking his lips, he was eager then.

"Recently, a chunin level person named Takumi Yamazaki came to our registration center volunteering for experimentation to become stronger. He is part of the old Yamazaki Clan that hailed from the Land of Lightning and has the potential to use their famed chakra bows that could pierce anything. I am sure you know already how most of the clan members ended up disbanding after the Second Shinobi World War thanks to their clan being targeted for their power. They then split up and little Takumi's family was unlucky enough to decide to go to the Land of Water."

"As you are well aware, the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura, began his bloodline purges a few years ago which convinced Takumi's father, a retired Mist Shinobi, to kill his mother. Luckily, Takumi managed to escape and has been living as a thief to survive, even killing a few poor souls. He wants to prove to Kiri that having a bloodline doesn't make someone a monster so he wants to become as strong as the sannin. He also wants to restore his clan to its former glory."

"Anyway, it seems he has inherited his clan's legendary chakra control which clears him for the Plasma Experiment. We don't know if it will work however so we will be putting him through a few more tests after the original experimentation. What it did was actually a combination of turning chakra into its purest form and then using an amplified fire affinity to heat up the chakra enough to turn it into plasma. To do this, the user had to have a fire and wind affinity, thankfully the boy seems to have a minor fire affinity in addition to his wind one, as well as great chakra control and enough Yin chakra to contain it. We are hoping it works, but it may melt the person from the inside out which none of us want."

Akuma's eyes widened at that last part, but seeing his father's serious expression he nodded. He could tell that his father took no pleasure in death. Well death of his own subordinates anyway. That was what he meant by risks… and he was about to witness a person going through it firsthand. He shivered slightly as he thought about seeing one of his own people killed. It wasn't his first kill by any means, his father had wanted him to experience it in the safety of Oto instead of the dangerous terrain of the outside world. He took no joy from it but he could do it and would do it at least, and that was what matters. He supposed this was also a test for becoming Otokage, in the future he would have to send his people to their deaths and would have to possibly lead the experiments.

It was either he lead them or let Kabuto lead them and even though he thought of Kabuto like a cousin, he took too much joy from pain and death. The other options were Ken, who wouldn't know what science was if it hit him in the head, Guren, who probably wouldn't be interested, or Naifu, his second choice but he felt as if she wouldn't want to do it either. He sighed as he followed his father towards one of the five big rooms that were used for finished tests. Unlike the others, there were no glass windows, only a large set of iron double doors that stood imposingly before him and his father.

Orochimaru did not even falter or slow down as he opened the two doors and walked over to the overview. Akuma walked in after him and couldn't help but feel a little impressed with the area. It was solid stone and the overhand circled around the floor which had about 30 test tables and various tools on tables and counters around the room. On one of the tables there was a man who Akuma assumed was Takumi.

The teenager had long, dark blue hair that went a little beneath his back and Akuma could see that a scientist had put a ponytail band on the table next to him. His hair had a light lime green streak going down the left side of his hair that was easily seen when having his dark hair as a background. His skin looked to be lightly tan and he had a face that just screamed intelligence and seriousness. On the table with his ponytail band was a respirator that was usually found on Rain Shinobi, large goggles with ocean blue lenses, and a long collared white jacket. He was currently wearing a black battle kimono with mottled grey pants and an Oto forehead protector attached to his right bicep.

On another table beside Takumi, Akuma could see shuriken, kunai, sealing scrolls, notes with multiple seals on each that Akuma could recognize, multiple colored food pills or something, and a katana with red silk wrapping around the hilt and hanging off the bottom inside a leather sheath with the same wrappings on top. "Father, is that Takumi?" Akuma asked his father as they both waited for the experiment to begin.

Orochimaru nodded and began to list off all the boy's skills. He was a jounin level in sealing but only chunin level in apothecary, stealth, and ninjutsu. Finally, he was only a genin level with the katana but had seemed to be training himself ever since he got the blade so even that was impressive. Akuma was about to ask more questions when he saw an eager gleam in his father's eyes as he looked towards Takumi. Akuma himself once again looked down and saw two scientists both holding a large syringe, one filled with blue liquid while the other was filled with red liquid.

With a nod towards each other, the two inserted the needles into the veins onto Takumi's arms and pushed down on the syringe, emptying the liquid. Akuma could see the liquid traveling up the teenager's veins and a look of pain appeared on Takumi's face. Akuma's eyes widened, he was awake! He was about to ask his dad why he was awake during this when a loud yell of pain interrupted his thoughts. He looked down quickly and saw Takumi struggling against chakra bonds that he hadn't even known were there while yelling louder and louder as his entire body glowed.

Right when Akuma thought the boy was about to explode, his eyes opened and Akuma saw that his amber eyes were glowing and he made a few hand seals before thrusting his arms out in both directions. "Plasma Style: Plasma Burst!" A large shockwave of purple chakra was sent out in all directions around the boy up to the overview, luckily stopping right before hitting Akuma, Orochimaru, or all the scientists who shunshined next to them.

The boy seemed to be breathing heavily before bringing his arms down and looking at his hands in amazement. He then began to laugh slowly and pump a fist in the air in a show of happiness. "Yes! It worked!" he yelled as he continued to laugh.

"Well, we don't know how much it worked yet. Take the rest of the day off in your quarters and tomorrow we will finish testing," Orochimaru said as he appeared behind Takumi with his tongue hanging out.

Akuma would swear for years that Takumi jumped at least 30 feet in the air when he turned around and saw Orochimaru behind him. "Oh… uh hi, Orochimaru-sama," Takumi said sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head. "Sorry about all that, I was just a bit excited about my new powers."

"Kukuku, no need to worry boy, it's a normal reaction. Ken-kun still denies that he actually danced when it was found out his powers were the strongest."

"Ken…kun?" Takumi asked hesitantly.

"Don't let him hear you call him that or he'll have your head on a pike," Akuma sighed with his nose held between his fingers. That whole event had been a whole new level of stressful. At least now he knew that what his father did wasn't without the tester's consent.

"Who are you kid?" Takumi asked suspiciously as he looked Akuma up and down.

"Oh, excuse my manners," the boy ten years Takumi's junior said sheepishly as he stuck his hand out for a shake which Takumi hesitantly took, and was surprised to see the grip as strong as his own. "The name is Akuma Uzumaki, the future Otokage," Akuma said with a small smirk.

"Hm… well it is a pleasure to meet you Akuma-san," Takumi said as he took his hand back slowly. "However, you still did not answer my question, an experimentation lab is no place for a kid."

Akuma cocked his head in a way that told Orochimaru he was planning something. "Oh? But isn't it not a place for a teenager either?" After Takumi heard this he gained a tick mark above his eyebrow and growled menacingly at Akuma. He hated it when people underestimated him just because of his age, but after looking at Akuma's challenging look he could tell the kid felt the same.

He sighed and nodded his head tiredly, that experiment had taken a lot out of him and it seemed that Plasma Style was not exactly chakra conservative. "Sorry, about seeming to underestimate you Akuma-san, that was not my intention. I was just wondering if you had clearance to be here."

Before Akuma could answer, Orochimaru stepped in. "Yes, actually, he is my son and can go anywhere he wants. He is also about chunin level already if you were wondering."

Takumi was left gaping at this before shaking his head with a laugh and nodding again. The only person who had gotten to chunin level at that young of an age was Kakashi Hatake if he remembered right and he didn't even know how old this kid was. Oh well, it seemed the kid would be interesting at least. "That is pretty cool, we will have to spar one day ne?" he asked with a small smirk. Akuma smirked back and nodded as Takumi walked back to his quarters with a skip to his step.

Akuma smiled slightly at this. Really, how bad could this experimentation thing be if everyone who left looked like that. He was about to thank his father for bringing him there and walk back to his home when some chunin burst into the lab. "Otokage-sama!" he yelled, obviously out of breath.

Akuma heard his father immediately assume his commanding voice that he used towards the shinobi of his village. "Speak! What is it? Is the village under attack?" he asked, listing off the worst scenarios immediately.

"No sir, it's about Project Falcon. Captain Shizuka has returned with a bunch of Hyuga Clan members claiming to be part of the new Taka Clan and that you cleared them for entering the village. The operation was a success and there are no reported ties to Otogakure that can be used against us."

Orochimaru smiled briefly before turning and seeing Akuma's questioning gaze. He sighed and shrugged tiredly, "You're going to find out eventually, might as well tell you now. Something you said a while ago got me thinking about possible ways to bring the Hyuga over to Oto. After a year of planning and scheming and bribing, we were able to kill off the entire Main Hyuga Branch and helped the Branch Family rebel and escape to Otogakure." He saw Akuma's repulsed face at plain murder and sighed. His son still had a long way to go before he was ready to become the Otokage if this sickened him.

"Look, I know you don't like it, but this is for the good of Otogakure. With the addition of the Hyuga Clan, we will have five clans, the Mamorimasu, Fuma, Tetsu, Taranku, and now the Taka, which used to be the Hyuga. We have a legendary dojutsu on par with the Sharingan and now people will think twice before attacking us. This even opens up a variety of opportunities for the village and its shinobi, you see that don't you?" he asked with a sharp edge to his tone. Akuma winced and nodded slowly. His father was right, for the good of the village he had to be prepared to do anything. Besides, they were shinobi, murder wasn't bad for them, it was a way of life. And with that thought, Akuma took the first real step towards being Otokage. Orochimaru could see it in his eyes and smiled slightly before ruffling Akuma's hair and leading the way to see the Taka Clan.

"Come, Akuma-kun, it is time to meet the first person that will belong to your bodyguard squad. His name is Neji Taka, the protégé of the Taka Clan," Orochimaru said, not even needing time to transition from the Hyuga Clan to the Taka Clan. Akuma just thought he was cool like that and followed his father. He was planning on trying to get Neji on his squad anyway, he wanted a team with special powers that could do important missions in the future. He had the Kyuubi and Neji had the Byakugan, now all he had to do was find three more people with special abilities. He had two years to look into it, he would find someone.

As he left the lower level of Otogakure and entered the upper level, he saw multiple new buildings being built. Most importantly to Akuma was a stand known as Ichiraku's Ramen being built with some teenage girl talking to a few construction workers. This meant ramen, and ramen meant that his life had further purpose, which meant that he could have another reason to train, which meant he could eat more ramen, and then the cycle continued from there. It was perfect in Akuma's opinion. In his father's… not so much.

His father seemed to read his mind as he manually turned Akuma's head away from the ramen stand that caused enormous amounts of debt and back to the road ahead. Ignoring his son's pout, Orochimaru led them to a large group of people with pale white eyes and long hair. "Orochimaru-sama!" a man Akuma recognized as the captain of Oto's Anbu, ISAI which stood for Interrogation, Stealth, Assassination, and Interior defense, who was called Captain Shizuka. He did not look very noteworthy except for a claw-like scar that took out one of his eyes he said he got from a chunin exam in Konoha back when he was an Iwagakure shinobi.

"Report captain," Orochimaru said seriously. This was business, there was not that much time for mocking, though Orochimaru always left a little bit of time aside for mocking.

Shizuka nodded before smiling and brushing some black hair out of his lone eye. He would need a haircut soon it appeared, his hair was so long it was starting to even reach his mask. "Mission success sir, no known items have been left tying Oto to what they are now calling the Hyuga Massacre and we have escaped while pinning the blame on Kumogakure."

Orochimaru nodded before smiling himself and turning away from Shizuka to make some inspiring speech or whatever to the Taka Clan. Akuma didn't really pay attention as Shizuka walked up to him and stood stoically beside him. He had always liked Shizuka, he was a kenjutsu specialist as seen from the katana slung around his back and was very skilled with his lightning affinity. He wore a mottled grey cloak that was common for all Oto Isai as well as the grey armor that was very similar to Konoha's Anbu. They also wore masks, just not animal masks, instead they usually wore demon masks to make their foes more wary of them and to increase their opponents' fear. Shizuka's mask was a mountain troll paying heritage to where he was a missing nin from.

"Hello Akuma-kun, what are you doing here, and have you seen Ken around? I heard he made S-class and want to take him out for a few drinks."

Akuma chuckled lightly at the last thing Shizuka said. He had been trying to get Ken to go get drinks with him ever since he saw the stoic guy and saw an easy victim to pay for his drinks. Needless to say, he failed but he and Ken had somehow become good friends. Though, Shizuka has yet to actually get him to go out and get a few drinks. "He's gone on a mission somewhere, he should be back in a few days I think. He'll be a bit swamped with missions though thanks to his new rank so I don't know if he'll be free for those drinks.

Shizuka sighed and pulled down his face mask and pulled out a thin flask of Iwa Whiskey. He was a bit of an alcoholic but had lived to the age of 35 so far, so no-one really said anything. The bottom half of his face was burnt and scarred from a mission gone bad which was the one that caused him to become a missing nin. He and a few comrades from Iwa's Anbu force had been sent out to get rid of a few ninja causing trouble in a village on the country's border. However, this had been a false mission as he was soon captured by his supposed comrades and tortured for information about everything he knew since he was accused by some noble of flirting with his daughter. Instead of siding with their loyal shinobi, Iwa sided with the noble who barely did business with them and left him to die.

That was when he was saved by his precious wife, Tanaki, and nursed back to health. Even with his many scars, both mental and physical, she accepted him and the two fell in love. They had returned to her village and for five happy years he was the defender of the village and even had a son named Ai. Later on, he heard of a new village called Otogakure and he and his family moved there since he missed ninja life and Ai actually wanted to be a shinobi as well.

"You forgot my other question kid," Shizuki laughed as he ruffled Akuma's hair with the hand not holding the whiskey.

Akuma blushed minorly in embarrassment. He sometimes forgot to answer certain questions but he was working on it at least. "Yea, yea, I'm here because I was curious about what the whole Hyuga Massacre thing was as well as the Taka Clan and apparently I am getting a boy named Neji Hyuga on my bodyguard squad."

Shizuki looked at Akuma with curiosity before frowning and taking another swig of whiskey. "Nasty bit of business that was…" he mumbled as he wiped away a few drops from his mouth. "It's enough to make a lesser man quit Isai altogether but not me. Although, I wouldn't be surprised if those guys left soon." He pointed towards three of the Isai shinobi that were sitting against the wall of one of the businesses. They all looked miserable and one was looking at his hands with what he assumed was repulsion.

"The one looking at his hands is new… the other two haven't been in Isai for even a year yet. This was probably the biggest wake up call for them yet. We were forced to kill every Hyuga that was either part of the main family or unwilling to come to Oto. We had to kill children, pregnant women, and defenseless elderly men to complete this mission. However, Oto may be twice as strong because of our efforts, our sacrifices, and because of that I would do it all over again."

Akuma looked at him for a moment, trying to fight down the growing repulsion he felt for all of those events and barely succeeding, before nodding and allowing both of them to fall into an awkward silence. Eventually, Shizuki coughed and spoke up, "Hey, I think I see that Neji kid walking up here. I'll leave you two alone to discuss… bodyguard things or something I don't know. By the way, if you hear Ai ever saying anything about wanting to join Isai, knock some sense into him alright? He's your age so technically it's not frowned upon."

Akuma chuckled with the man as he walked away back home. Usually, he would try and find someone to go drinking with him, but he really loved his family and always went to them right away after a mission. After he washed and was debriefed of course… Akuma turned and saw a young boy walk towards him with a prideful air around him despite the events he undoubtedly witnessed. He wore a white kimono with a bit of dirt on the bottom from walking through a tunnel and hair that fell down to his mid-back as well as a blue bandana tied around his forehead with an Otogakure forehead protector on it. The ends of it were running back behind his head to have two strands flowing behind his back and his eyes were roaming around the area with amazement and wonder.

He could see why he found it amazing, for someone who lived above surface all of their life, an entire village underground with beautiful rock structures and glorious monuments must seem pretty cool. In reality, Neji was more interested in the many seals all over the giant cavern and the genius in building a hidden village underground with anti-ground altering seals. This made it virtually impenetrable even if someone found it since its only weakness was cave ins, which were negated by the seals. On top of that, sieges were impossible as everything could be grown inside of Otogakure if he saw right on his entrance and all the entrances were easily defendable in case of an attack. Infiltrations were also improbable, there was no such thing as an impossible thing in the shinobi world, since there was a rigorous security check at the entrance, even to the new Taka members.

As he looked around more he saw some kid with black hair and three whisker marks on both sides of his face. Hm… if he remembered right then that was the boy that he had been assigned to as a guard. Well, it was best to go ahead and prove he was the stronger ninja so that there wouldn't be any arguments later on. He hated it when people had argued with his dad when he was obviously stronger. It was his fate to be the strongest in the village, even stronger than the one he was guarding.

He walked up to the boy and got into a battle ready stance. The boy just looked at him and raised an eyebrow, inviting him to elaborate. Neji, being Neji, obliged. "Forgive me for this, but I must show you which of us is stronger so that you won't question any of my decisions to protect you in the future. It is my fate to be stronger than you as to defend you from any and all harm."

Without another word being spoken, Neji charged forth towards Akuma with his palm stretched outwards in an attempted jyuken strike. He was surprised when Akuma easily dodge, grabbed his outstretched arm, and sent him tumbling to the ground while still holding his arm. He hadn't even broken a sweat and was holding a kunai at Neji's jugular. "Ah, a believer of fate I see… Well it seems like you misread it. Your fate is to serve under me and follow me in battle, no matter the odds or what fate tells you. From this moment on, I am fate, I am your leader, get stronger and that may change one day." Akuma then pulled Neji back to his feet and looked at him for a moment more before walking off and using a tactic Ken had used on him to teach him. "You're good… for a kid. Come with me and I will help turn you into a shinobi. And then maybe one day you may be able to actually change your fate… Training will begin as soon as you are ready, let's go."

Akuma began walking and then turned back when he noticed Neji still hadn't moved and was staring at the ground in shame. "Come on, I don't have all day kid. If you don't want to be embarrassed, then train. If you want to be a leader, then train. If you want to actually be worthy of being part of my squad then you will need to train. Let's go, I won't ask again." Akuma began to walk off once again and this time, Neji followed.

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AN: And that concludes the Project Falcon and Tournament Arc. Next chapter will be a two year time skip and then some quick hopping around to get the rest of Akuma's squad. I have finally decided on the squad members. They will be Neji Taka, a person from Kiri, a person from Iwa, and a person from Suna. If you can guess who they are then good job. Anyway, this was the longest chapter I have ever written and if you want more chapters this long please tell me in the reviews. Finally, I have finally introduced Antex's OC character, Tamaki Yamazaki, into the story and he will play a few big roles in future missions that Akuma will go on and the Chunin Exams, which I will include in this story obviously. If you have any questions please review them. Don't forget to rate and review also, it is greatly appreciated and I honestly love reading all of the reviews you guys leave. I hope you are still enjoying this story and I hope to see you in the next chapter, see ya!