Of course, I still don't own Naruto...Though by now, I half-wish I did (only half because I might screw it up if I'm not careful).
Chapter 10- A Movement in the Shadows!
As Tobi walked into his own meeting area, he surveyed the members of his new organization, Hakumei. Jiro was there, along with the brothers Fujin and Raijin. Counting himself, Zetsu and Kabuto, the organization had six members. Tobi wanted to gain a few more members before he was comfortable enough to start having the organization act overtly.
"Alright," he said. "Let's begin. Our attempt to gain control of the Tools of the Sage has failed. They are currently being divided amongst the villages. This could work to our advantage, however. We should keep ourselves updated on the situation."
Fujin spoke up at that point. "What I don't understand is, why don't we use the Magic Lantern Body jutsu to meet? After all, you have the Rinnegan, Tobi-sama."
Tobi nodded at his subordinate. "What you say is true; I am fully capable of that jutsu. However, I choose not to utilize it for now given that we have fewer members than I would like to have before we reveal our presence to the rest of the world. They will be looking for us, after all, especially after what you three have done for us already. Jiro gave them a taste of our power, while you and Raijin acquired a substantial number of foot soldiers for us to use. If we're going to enhance the intensity of our actions, we must ensure that we first have a solid group. Four more members should be enough to accomplish this."
"Ten members, huh?" thought Kabuto, "He's planning to structure this group like the Akatsuki, then, isn't he?"
Jiro grunted. "Heh, in that case, I know one person we should recruit," he said, pulling out a small marionette version of a teenage girl with long hair and black clothes. "Few can match my abilities. Fewer can thwart them. Therefore, whenever I meet someone I consider to be a worthy opponent, I make a marionette to commemorate the battle. This is one such puppet. Its counterpart is a young Suna kunoichi by the name of Amaya. She is still a genin, so I could possibly take her and mold her well enough to serve our purposes," he said darkly, while causing the marionette to dance before their eyes.
"If we're volunteering suggestions, I have one," Kabuto said quietly. "However, this one is special. I must be paired with her, should she join. If I am not there to keep her in check, she may prove unstable."
"Is that right?" asked Tobi, clearly suspicious of his bespectacled partner.
"Yes," came the reply. "She is very powerful…..For she was born of Sasuke's DNA. I should know...For I created her."
Elsewhere, in one of Orochimaru's abandoned bases, a body stirred in the now-dilapidated bio-engineering laboratory. Kabuto and Orochimaru had developed a rudimentary stasis pod, in which bodies could be preserved for later experimentation, and kept alive if necessary. However, all but one of those bodies was now dead, for most of the pods had been compromised. Only one pod remained intact. Inside, a pair of crimson eyes snapped open: the Sharingan.
The owner of this pair of the cursed eyes panicked at the sight of being submerged. She had some sort of breathing apparatus, but the air tasted stale. She had to get out. Suddenly, a memory flashed through her mind. An ashen-haired shinobi was standing before her. He had one eye covered, and looked as if he were half-asleep, but she somehow knew not to underestimate him, though she had no conscious recollection of him. Not waiting for her to remember who he was, the masked ninja began lecturing her as if he were teaching her something.
"When your body is exhausted or paralyzed, it becomes difficult to defend yourself or even move if need be. When this occurs, you have to open the first of the Eight Inner Gates, the Gate of Opening. This gate is located in the brain, so focus your chakra there and force it open."
"Gates"? "Chakra"? The girl had absolutely no idea what her apparent sensei meant, but she figured she may as well try to follow his commands. Struggling to move her stiff arms, she formed a Tiger handseal, as her apparent sensei did, and concentrated. She felt the energy within herself move; a feeling she assumed was due to the substance her sensei referred to as "chakra". Feeling pressure in a certain part of her head, she pushed harder. Suddenly, the "gate" he had referred to opened, and she felt strength flood into her body and promptly smashed through the pane of glass keeping her trapped, washing her out of her cylindrical prison.
Once she had regained her wits, she removed the breathing apparatus. She was in a dark room, with a great many other similar tubes. Looking back at her own, she noticed what seemed to be a name printed on the side: Kagami.
"'….Kagami,'" she thought. "Is that my name?"
It had to be. She didn't remember any other. The others that floated around in her mind- "Naruto", "Sakura", Kakashi", "Itachi"…None felt very personal, though they managed to leave bitter tastes in her mouth, as if she knew and missed the people connected to them somehow, though she had absolutely no idea who they were.
She decided to check the tube next to hers, but to her horror, what peered out at her from within absolutely toxic-looking liquid were a pair of empty eyesockets, surrounded by what appeared to be decaying flesh. A quick look told her that her tube had been the only one capable of supporting life. Feeling a chill, she hugged herself to keep warm, while looking down to see what she was wearing…..Or rather, she would have seen what she was wearing, if she was actually wearing anything at all.
"Wet…..And naked. That's not a good combination, especially in this drafty place," she said aloud to herself. There was no one to talk to, but she was beginning to feel very edgy. The fact that she had awoken in what now appeared to be a tomb didn't help matters. "Clothes," she said. "I need clothes."
Luckily, she eventually stumbled into the residential quarters of the deserted base. Her instincts hadn't been mistaken yet, so she figured she could trust them. Eventually, she came to a room that looked like it belonged to someone important. For some reason, she felt a degree of ownership over the room, but she dismissed her inexplicably possessive feelings as the agitations of a person who was still dripping wet, and now chilled almost to the bone. Forcing the door open, she entered the room. The first thing she saw was the mirror. It was a full-body mirror, though the rest of the room's contents suggested the previous occupant was male. Kagami didn't even try to figure out why there was a full-body mirror in a man's room; opting to look herself over with it. Briefly, however, she saw a man's body- a body that, somehow, looked uncannily like hers, thought it was gone when she blinked. After finding nothing amiss and drying off with a towel she managed to find, she rummaged through the drawers. She managed to find a pair of men's boxers, a blue shirt with a high collar and a design not unlike a fan on the back, and a pair of white shorts. After dressing in these, she looked at herself again. The shirt fit decently, but it hung off of her chest and left a small portion of her stomach exposed. The boxers and shorts were an awkward fit, having been made for a man's body, but she managed by wearing them slightly lower on her hips than she decided she usually would. They would have to do for now. She would exit this place and find better clothes. Stepping into a pair of sandals she happened to see in the same room, she noticed that they, too, were a close fit, but not totally accurate to her body, as they were slightly large.
"Oh well," she said nonchalantly to herself. "One more thing on the to-do list."
Everything prior to her awakening was a big blank, so the best thing she could do for herself was to stay at least moderately optimistic. She did have a few memories, but for some reason, she never felt like they really belonged to her. She sat down on the nearby bed to collect her thoughts. She remembered an annoying blond boy dressed in a gaudy shade of orange, and a pink-haired girl who she and the blond boy apparently constantly saved. However, one thing stood out to her as odd. For some reason, she was sure that her name was Kagami, but positively everyone in her "memories" kept referring to her as "Sasuke"…A name that felt both foreign and familiar at the same time.
"Who is this 'Sasuke'?" she asked herself. Standing, she muttered, "I've gotta get out of here."
Ryoji and his partner Kenta, chunin-level Konohagakure sensor-nin, had been assigned to watch the area around the hideout for some time now. However, the village was calling them back, something about an emergency situation. However, the sudden emergence of a figure dashing out of the hideout caught Ryoji's attention.
"Hey Kenta," he said to his friend as they packed their camping gear.
"Yeah?" came the gruff reply.
"Did you….feel something? Just now, from the hideout?"
"Hey, Ryoji….You and I both know that that hideout has been abandoned for a long time now. There was no sign of life, even when our team checked. And don't start repeating your weird theories about how there was a hidden room or whatever. Our team has spilled blood scouring that place from top to bottom. There was some pretty freaky stuff. There can't be—"
"Just shut up and check!" Ryoji interrupted his partner.
"Jeez, fine," replied Kenta with disdain. "But you're carrying my knapsack along with yours for the first leg of the journey home if I don't sense anything," he continued, forming the Ram handseal. Much to his annoyance and shock, there was a clear trail of chakra leading away from the hideout. It was fresh, too. Someone had neglected to reseal their Gate of Opening.
"Well?" asked Ryoji impatiently.
"Shut up and come on," grunted Kenta.
Whoever this was, they weren't to be messed with. Their orders were to report back immediately, anyway. They would just tell the higher-ups when they got back.
"We're double-timing it to Konoha," he stated bluntly. "And it looks like I'm carrying my own knapsack, after all."
Back at the Summit Hall, as Mifune was thinking of christening it, the Kages and their entourages were preparing for the long journey home. Gaara came up to Naruto and Sasuke as the latter was subjected to nonstop chatter from the former while his shackles were undone.
"So, what do you plan on doing now?" he asked Naruto, point-blank.
"Hmm," mused the jinchuriki. "I dunno, gotta get back to the village first! Then I gotta set my sights on stopping that Tobi guy, though I really should help things between Sasuke and the village to calm down first," he said, grinning.
"And becoming Hokage?" continued Gaara. He wasn't about to let his friend forget his childhood goal when he hadn't explicitly let go of it.
"Well duh," Naruto replied blithely. "But I have to help Sasuke and stop Tobi first! Right, Sasuke?"
"Heh," chuckled Sasuke as he rubbed his wrists where the shackles had been. "Whatever you want. It's worked out so far, hasn't it?"
"Ugh, same old Sasuke," Naruto groaned. "You could at least try to sound grateful or something, ya know?"
"Believe me, I'm grateful. I just don't wanna sound all mushy or whatever. That's Sakura's department," he said nonchalantly.
"Hey," Naruto bristled. "Don't you even think of her that way. Do you have any idea of what she's gone through for you?"
Gaara wasn't sure, but he could have sworn that the feeling of the air changed when Naruto said that.
"Yeah, sorry," said Sasuke, raising his hands in front of himself. "I guess I just got too used to talking that way."
"Well, we gotta change that!" Naruto said. "It'll take forever for people to warm up to you that way!"
"I thought that was your job?" Sasuke jabbed back.
Gaara left Naruto and Sasuke as they were, smiling. They had finally reconciled, at least for the most part. He was satisfied just seeing them back to their old selves, at least to the degree of being able to trade barbs again. Going to where the other Kages were gathered and waiting, he listened as the Raikage and Mifune worked out a time for emissaries from each of the other villages to pick up the Tools of the Sage. Each Kage would send teams of four headed by their accompanying jonin as soon as they arrived back at their own villages. They would all keep in constant contact with Kumo, especially if the teams needed to be delayed for whatever reason. It all sounded like a pretty solid plan. The teams would come in and check in with Kumogakure's Security Division, pick up their allotted weapon, wait for the other villages' teams to arrive and do the same, and then all of them would simultaneously hasten back to their villages as quickly as possible to avoid thieves and whoever was organizing attacks on their villages. Mifune would assign squads of samurai, also in groups of four, to bolster the security of each Weapon Retrieval Unit. All twenty samurai, hand-picked by Mifune, would be stationed in Kumogakure until the team from their assigned village arrived. The samurai team assigned to Kumogakure would stand guard the entire time, until the final village's team arrived and secured their Tool. They would then disband as a squad, and each would go with the other four teams, to bring the samurai total on each village's team to five, for a total of nine members per squad overall.
"Huh, seems a little like overkill," mused Tsuchikage. "But…I guess we're better off that way…..I'd rather end up using too much overall manpower for something this important than ending up not using enough and getting the damn thing stolen."
"Yes," agreed Tsunade. "I like this plan. However, I propose an amendment to the plan- each village should be put into lockdown mode. No ninja should be allowed in or out, barring the Weapon Retrieval Units, unless deemed absolutely necessary by the respective Kage. Also, each Kage should not be permitted to leave his or her village upon returning, until the weapons are safely in their villages. Each Kage should be held accountable for their own actions, as well as the actions of their village during this time."
Raikage huffed. "I suppose you included yourself in those new rules, Hokage? Because, no offense, but after meeting that power-monger Danzo, I can't help but think Konoha trying to make rules for the other villages is…..Odd."
"Yes, of course I include myself in my rules, and I apologize once again for Danzo's actions. I think that he honestly believed he was acting in the best interest of Konoha, but was going about things the wrong way. To be completely honest, it's suspected that he had hypnotized the Fire Daimyo into promoting him to Acting Hokage while I was comatose following Akatsuki's invasion of Konoha."
"Very well," Mifune said. "I think the war established exactly how reliable Konoha ninja are, particularly Hokage-dono here. If no one has any objections or anything further to add, we should adjourn so that I may gather my samurai and pick out squads to assist your Weapons Retrieval Units.
No one had anything else to say, so the group separated. The Raikage's group would leave last, to escort the platoon of samurai to Kumogakure. Everyone else said their goodbyes and left for their respective villages.
"Wow, that got really intense just now, didn't it?" mused Naruto.
"Yeah, it did," muttered Kakashi. "I wonder just what happened?"
Just then, as Shizune was going over the intelligence report pertaining to the other day's jailbreak, Ryoji and Kenta burst into the Hokage's Office, which she was borrowing as Tsunade's appointed stand-in.
"Shizune-san! We've got a problem!" shouted Kenta. "There's been some movement in the Orochimaru Base we were assigned to watch!"
Needless to say, Shizune was not pleased. Not only did Intel just finish compiling a report, she had gotten word that Tsunade-sama was on her way back to the village. She was not about to look incompetent when the woman who was her mentor, employer and surrogate mother had given her such a huge responsibility in her absence. "Tell me everything," she ordered, glaring at them intensely. For all her neuroses, cuteness and occasional ditziness, Shizune could be pretty intimidating when she wanted to be.
"Y-Yes ma'am!" came the reply.
When he finished, Shizune pinched the bridge of her nose. "Of all the things that could've happened," she groaned exasperatedly. Make sure you submit an official report. I want to at least have it in my hands before Tsunade-sama returns tomorrow!
With the introduction of this new figure, Shizune could already tell that life was a long way from being simple and peaceful again.
Dun dun DUUUUN! Haha. How was it? Sorry it was so late...Please, rate and review!