A/N: I have been super busy. Sorry for the wait. On the plus side, I have parts of the next chapter ready. Fingers crossed for a timely update!
Recap: Leaf takes back shinobi's captured by Hari. Hiruzen meets Harry and their missing-ninjas. A deal is reached to assist Village Hidden in the Mist with their 'Kage' problem.
The crew under the Hokage walked at a respectful distance from their leader - a fortunate event that no one could see the conflicted expression on Hiruzen's face. The meeting with this new leader had helped him in knowing his ambitions and goals. That was not what alarmed him. The monsters around him, these absolute beasts of power that Hari did not seem to get, troubled him more.
Itachi's solemn figure still danced in his mind. He was glad that he seemed lighter, as if, he had come to terms with that painful ordeal. But on the other hand, this was not a conflicted Itachi anymore. He seemed sure of what he did, almost as if he knew what lay ahead and how to proceed and that he had not shared his plans with him.
Orochimaru too seem happier and composed. It was troubling to see him not looking and analyzing everything about them. Hiruzen knew Orochimaru well and this raised alarm bells in his mind. To not care about Danzo, spoke volumes. What was it that had captured Orochimaru's attention so, that he didn't see fit to be bothered by them.
He feared that this was the first out of a whole can of worms. If his lot were so leveled up, what did it say of those from other villages? Granted that his village produced some of the finest shinobi the Five Great Villages had known he had to remind himself that others were of similar strength and caliber.
Hiruzen stopped in his tracks and so did the crew.
'It is time for parted flock to come back in the fold.' He thought as he turned around. Letting his eyes linger on the wounded soldiers he had brought back, he turned to face ANBU. A couple of handsigns later, the two had parted ways. Hokage's personal guard accompanied him to his yet unknown destination while the rest, albeit reluctantly made their way back to the village.
The moment Gai stepped into the gates of Konoha, he could feel his strength returning. So pumped up with his invigorated strength; he was off to the nearest training field; what followed after is anyone's guess. If Shinobi's felt intimidated by Gai before, they were thrown out of the loop when they saw his new training regime. Taking certain liberties with his philosophy of Taijutsu style only, he mixed it up with enhancing his chakra nature which unsurprisingly was, Earth-Style.
"Take rest, Lee." Gai motioned to his most youthful student in which he saw making of a fine shinobi and Taijutsu master. "One day you will match me." He said energetically, his teeth giving out sparkles. "But today is not that day!" He gave a victory pose and ran straight ahead to complete two more laps around Konoha. A new day had just begun and for Gai it was just another one to perfect his body, mind and chakra on the task at hand.
For Kakashi, it was a whole different story.
Kakashi couldn't bear to go outside for anything. Part of the reason was the Mangekyo, which drained his chakra reserve and part because well, what was the point? This existence had never looked so pointless as it did now. And so, everything had become just that.
A choice.
To eat food or not to? What was the point?
To persevere or to give up? What was the point?
To breathe or not to...
A month had gone by, just surviving and not listening to his mind. His body demanded sustenance and so he provided. No one ever thought of checking at his clan's compound and in this basement it was just him, right where his father had decided to end it. The walls and the floors spoke a story of their own. The faded wallpaper and the kunai marks on the hard floor board spoke about a time where father had just begun his training. The silence made him able to focus more on this than the loudness that awaited him outside.
"Do you know the proper way to hold a kunai, Kakashi?" Sakumo asked as he gave the toy kunai to his only son. After a few experimental grips, Kakashi's tiny hands settled firmly on the handle adjoining the triangular wooden piece.
"The proper way..." Sakumo said taking the kunai from his hand, "And the only way is with firm resolve. What is the kunai going to do? Is it supposed to hit the target or protect you from a lethal blow. Or is it to deflect something from your path. Kakashi, the proper way to hold the kunai is with conviction." With Mangekyo, Kakashi's recollection of past events had become prefect. His brain took in way too much information than it should and the collective effort drained him. He couldn't remain conscious for more than 6 hours.
The voices echoed in the dark chamber underground. It was a start of an arduous battle that would take all of his effort to give that one last push. The real test though, lay when he would step outside - where the birds chirped like his chidori.
"Mei... Are you considering going through with this?" It was the first time she heard Ao without mishearing her most trusted aide.
Dealing with Orochimaru was preferable to this vague terms set forth by Hari.
In the later conversations, Hari had zeroed in on what he meant and expanded further on what was expected by them but the open-ended wording made the pair uncomfortable. The last conversation was the most troubling to them.
-FlashBack-
"So it is done then. You promise to trade freely with us, within reasonable limits that are not limited to a particular sector of goods and services." Harry said with a hint of satisfaction.
"Yes, within reasonable limits. Just to be clear about your earlier point regarding free movement of shinobi's across border of two region. You mean to say that shinobi's can move in from your village to ours." Mei said.
"And yours to ours." Harry added.
"But they can still go back to Village Hidden in the Mist, if they want to?" Mei stressed.
"Yes." Harry replied.
"This seems acceptable. Our final concern is with your assistance in overthrowing the present Mizukage. What numbers are we talking about?"
"Well, there's me." Harry said scratching his chin. He hadn't really asked anybody about this. Although he had approval for the Jonin exam setup, he had yet to do something about this. "Zabuza is another. What about you, Orochimaru? Will you be coming?"
"I don't know Hari-san." Orochimaru said dryly. "I'll have to check if I'm free."
"Ah, well. Itachi might be interested. I'll ask Deidara and see if he's in the mood. Who else might be willing?" Harry's casual acceptance made Orochimaru fume more. He had hoped denying his support would have an effect on Hari but it seemed that grasping Hari's idiosyncrasies was beyond him.
"I will join you to eradicate this vile human, Hari-Sama. It will be a matter of great privilege to see you take him down." Norimo bowed deeply.
"So that's three." Hari sighed.
"Three." Mei stated blankly.
"It's not much but we'll deliver. Of that you can be sure. You have my word."
-FlashBack End-
Mei turned back to see her camp settle down for the night. She was prepared and so were they. Could they take Yagura down without their help? Probably. But it was always better to have some backup just in case.
"We have to kick that murderer out anyways. Any help is appreciated." Mei said shrugging. The help the rebel faction was receiving from Big-Five was a double-edged sword. On one hand, it kept them motivated to overthrow the bloody regime but on the other, it kept them fighting. The more they fought with each other, the less they were focused on what the other four were doing. It seemed that this leader, Hari wanted peace and he did not come across someone of a mindset as the other nations had. Much more nonchalant, yes, which served to tick her off but not like them. Hari was different, although what kind of different remained to be seen.
"We accept the contract. Deliver the message." Mei said turning to her most trusted adviser/bodyguard.
It was a familiar sight back in the Village of Missing Ninja. Harry sat at one end of rock, surrounded by ninjas by the campfire. Marshmallows were turning brown and everyone was waiting for Hari to say something that would get the conversation going.
"So a deal was cut between Village Hidden in the Mist and me." Harry said. "There is certain someone who has been a right pain throughout the time I formed this village. That however pales in comparison to what he has done to other villages; especially the Hidden Mist Village. I have verified this through my contacts." Harry's eyes lingered on Itachi. "This man is now working with the Kage of that village. We will be taking them out."
"We?" Orochimaru asked politely.
"Anyone who wishes to join me. There is no reward waiting when you finish that mission, although some of you have a personal stake in this fight." Itachi's charcoal eyes shone red for just an instant, while Zabuza's face sported a determined look. Ao, too looked solemn. "Anyone who wishes to join is welcome but I will see to it that they will not become a liability. I will depart one week from the day Tsuchikage comes and collects his shinobi - which is two weeks from today and make no mistake - I will deliver his head." Harry turned to Ao as he spoke that last bit.
"That bitch is going down." Harry said between gulping down the crispy marshmallow.
Early morning saw Hari standing at the center of the battle stadium. He was dressed in the battle gear with the most advanced piece of technology covering his essential parts. The torso was covered with a deceptive soft cloth. His legs were covered with tough, thick fabric that could in theory withstand a grenade. In an age of explosive kunai's and paper bombs, this would cover any and all explosions.
"Oh good. You are here." Harry beamed as he saw Haku. He had no idea that Haku was waiting since an hour. There was an awkward silence as Haku just smiled and stood there. "So... Uhh. You are going to be support of Zabuza, right?"
Haku nodded.
"Alright." Harry sighed and added, "Lets just start with basic taijutsu and wait for others to arrive."
It was then that Orochimaru arrived in his patented dress.
"Come on then. Hit me with all you've got." Harry said as Haku stood to the side of Orochimaru, opposite to Hari. As Hari took the basic stance, he failed to see Orochimaru's sadistic smile.
"Oh wow." Harry said between dodging punches and kunai swipes from the Sanin. The last one had managed to cut a lock of his hair. "I thought this was only Taijutsu!" Harry said, excited and nervous at the rapid handsigns that Orochimaru was doing.
"We are ninja, Hari-San. Everything is permitted." With that, he expelled a gigantic ball of fire.
Deidara looked up and saw giant ball of fire fill up an entire stadium.
"Must eat more." His said as his mouths gobbled up more clay. He was late for the meet but he knew he had to "beef up" for the fight that lay ahead. He had to carve out a legacy for him and running out of explosive clay was not a way to do that.
"You people are not playing around are you?" Harry asked rhetorically.
"Was there any doubt, Harry-San." Orochimaru had yet to break a sweat. Harry on the other hand, was panting with exertion. While Haku had not been active to tag-team with Orochimaru, he made sure to not give any openings to him.
"No." Harry said, putting his weight on the sword. "Good work, Haku!" Harry gave a thumbs-up a sword gave off a shine in the distance. Instantly, Harry closed his stance with the sword placed vertical to his body.
CLANG!
A heavy blade skidded off the ground and came to rest near Haku.
"Come here, Haku. Let's show him what we've got!" Zabuza said. To a spectator in the stands, the three elite were poised with their respective legendary swords.
"Oh man." Harry said as the fog covered the entire stadium.
"Well, what is it?" Tsunade replied tipsily. ANBU usually left some messages from Kage of the Leaf Village and there wasn't any reason why this would be any different.
"The Hokage has a message for you." A voice drifted behind the animal mask.
"As long as I don't have to step in to a shinobi village, go ahead." Tsunade ordered as she slammed another glass down. The ANBU parted to make way for Hiruzen.
"Come back to the village, Hime." Hiruzen said softly.
Words died at Tsunade's mouth when she looked up to see the Hokage. There was a moment's silence when she looked down with a hint of sadness and then, she replied.
"I wouldn't come back to that village if you begged, old man." There was a gasp from the far end of the table where Sizune stood but Tsunade paid no attention to it. Nor was she interested in making eye contact with her only close relative.
Hiruzen, in his uncharacteristic way, bent down to meet her eyes and repeated.
"Please, Tsunade. Come back to the village." Sizune's mouth was wide open. To disrespect the Hokage with that tone was not like of Tsunade. She couldn't stand watching her village leader do something so humiliating.
"No." Tsunade's voice cracked and her will wavered.
"Please." Hiruzen said as he held her palms into his.
"KAKASHI! MY ETERNAL RIVAL!" Gai landed just ahead of him and turned to give him a quick hug. It was almost a month since they had seen each other and Gai looked much better than his rival. He surely had him beat over there.
"It seems the flames of YOUTH are now stoked!" Gai enthused. "What do you say to an energetic challenge, huh KAKASHI!" His eyes shone with anticipation.
"What about a race?" Gai said, taking a pose.
"No." Kakashi whispered as his focus wavered. The sounds were getting to him now. The sound of birds chirping like his chidori.
"Then how about a good Taijutsu match?" Gai back-flipped to face Kakashi. His chakra was now out of his control, transforming his chakra to lightning nature.
"Still have that hip and cool attitude, Kakashi." Gai said with a bit of nostalgia. "I am glad that the place has not changed you that much."
'Glad huh.' Kakashi thought. 'Happy. For me.'
"You have no idea." Anger filled Kakashi and the switch went off in his head. He would make him feel all that he felt. All the while Gai was busy enjoying this wretched existence. For a moment, Kakashi looked at the smiling face of Gai, and then, he charged.
'Come back soon, old man.' Jiraya said as he filled out another form in triplicate. He was ashamed to admit that he now was getting proficient in doing this. It made him feel with dread that this was the going to be permanent. He had begged off getting briefed about the top secret missions and protocol that only a Kage would know. To know that was tantamount to be declared a full-kage.
Nothing note-worthy had happened since that incident and everything was boring and dull - something a Kage would appreciate in the long scheme of things. Jiriaya, however had hot blood pumping in veins and then some. He could not wait to get out of the comfortable chair and out for some real action.
BOOM!
"Alright!" Jiraya jumped out of this chair and fist-pumped high. Really, Jiraya was not the Hokage material.
The sound of blades clashing against one another filled the stadium. Every now and then, there would be gnashing of the weapons as well as distinct sound of kunai 'pinging' against some sort of shield but the fog around the stadium had put a damper on shinobi's gathered to view the intense fight between Hari and the elite shinobi.
Harry's limbs were now aching and was tired on the mental task of holding an alert state for so long. Just as he parried another attack and send Zabuza flying back with a strong kick to his midsection, he came across a pair of red eyes glowing in the fog.
"Oh Shit." That summed up the situation nicely. Harry retreated to the far end of the stadium and cast a human scrying spell. The figures all glowed in his mind, providing an accurate map of what lay ahead.
'Lets banish the smoke to start an attack'. He thought and then paused. 'On second thought, I should collect the fog and use it to my advantage.' With that in mind, twirled his wand in anti-clockwise direction letting the fog get suck into a vacuum.
"Really, Hari-kun. How do you expect to take on a whole village if you can't keep up with us?" Orochimaru said with a sickly sweet voice.
"I can step up my game." Harry said cautiously. "But..." He looked around trying to see something. "I don't think this place can take it. And frankly, it's supposed to be a training exercise. I'd rather not kill any of you just because..."
Ninjas tightened their grip on kunai, barely suppressing their anger. It was an insult of highest degree when someone would patronize them like that.
"Really, Hari-kun. We will keep up. Just make sure you can." Orochimaru said, poised to attack at the signal - A sentiment shared by the four of them.
"Alright." Hari said.
BOOM. BLAM! BOOSH! BAM! BAM! BAM!
"Dammit! Deidara! You're late!" Harry shouted as he was flung by the bombardment.
"You're late, Sensei." Jiraya said with solemnly.
"I had full confidence in your abilities to rule the village." Hiruzen said and his lips twitched a little, "The village is still standing. Good job."
Jiraya sweat dropped at the teasing and his ANBU did too. For different reasons. It was a miracle that the village was still standing considering the terrible fight between to monsters. Jiraya had the presence of mind to seal the place down, so that the destruction would not have that big of an effect on the whole village than just Forest of Death and few training grounds surrounding it. But, Jiraya had not helped the matters one bit when he calmly ordered ANBU down and let the two duke it out. It was only in the end where Jiraya had come to his senses and let ANBU charged in.
Tenzo still had nightmares of the two monsters standing against one another. A green beast on one side while a big humanoid warrior on another. After suppressing the battle that day, Tenzo had demanded a pay raise. He was paid too little if this was to be a regular occurrence. Thank Kami, that both were alive and unharmed.
An immense weight lifted off of Jiraya's shoulder. Tsunade, incredulous of the mature look of Jiraya watched it slowly transform back to the goofy, slightly mischievous nature that she was incredibly familiar with. It was like watching a caterpillar turning to a butterfly - a pervy butterfly who would now peek in to women's side of hot-steam!
"Come, Tsunade." Hiruzen said and she followed, back to the Hokage Tower.
"Woohoo!" Jiraya said as his nostrils flared and took in a great breath. He was free!
After Deidara's assault, the fight had quickly wound up. Orochimaru would like to blame that foolish boy for momentarily distracting him but the giant snake had come out of nowhere. And just when Orochimaru thought he had this in the bag, his own snake, Manda just bowed down to Hari's!
Now he was held upside down by some invisible string that refused to let go of him and after a full five minutes of Harry gloating over him, he was happy that Zabuza's turn was next.
"You think I couldn't put a rabbit out of this hat! Huh!" Harry gloated over a thoroughly bound by an incarcerous. "Your game is weak, man! Trying to get away with shit a real ninja wouldn't do! You better bring your A-Game in the next training session, Momochi! Or you'll be gogochi!"
Orochimaru sighed. In the hindsight, Zabuza had it coming with all the sledging he had done to Hari.
"Good job, Haku." Harry said at the end seeing Haku was patiently standing besides Zabuza.
There was an awkward silence as Haku just nodded. Harry then turned his sights towards Itachi, who was patiently observing a bird in his hands.
"It's real and alive." Itachi's penetrating gaze seemed to question Harry.
"Not the time to really question things like that, Itachi." Harry said as his conjured bird sat patiently in Itachi's hands. Although, Itachi had escaped any and all attacks that Harry had dished out. Itachi just stood there, unruffled and not-bothered by anything going around him.
"Come with me, Deidara. I'll have to give you a potion to rid you of those slugs." Deidara was belching out explosive slugs out of his three mouths.
Hiruzen was back at his desk going through the reports Jiraya had approved and overseen. Contrary to popular belief in his village, Jiraya did do his reports properly. The door opened and closed with a silent click.
"Kakashi." Hiruzen said calmly. "Effectively immediately, you are no longer part of ANBU. You are re-assigned to teach Team 7. Be there tomorrow at 9 am sharp. Dismissed!"
With that, Sarutobi Hiruzen was back to work. Such was the work of the Hokage. No matter how trustworthy Jiraya was, he still had to double-check everything.
Ommake:
Missing-Ninjas gathered, quick to set camp across their village's perimeter. Considering the sudden war that had occurred, and under Orochimaru's tutelage, their response was quick and precise. There was no room for error.
A lone figure stood at the other side of the village. He had swim-suit glasses and was of dark complexion. The only recognisable trait was that of the two swords-handle that pointed up from his shoulder. His hands twitched at intervals but apart from that, he stood calmly at the gate.
"What is he doing?" A non-descript soldier said nervously. The twitching and slight movement of the man's hands made him weary of some jutsu.
Tensions melted away when Hari - their most glorious and awesome leader walked out of the gate.
'Ooo yeah. Here come's the big bad Hari.'
'But if he messes with me, he'll be sorry.'
"Ooo yeah." Killer Bee thought in his head bounced with the beats.
Focus Bee. The monster Ox whispered in his ear.
"What can I do for you, Mr...?" Harry said calmly.
"Name's Killer Bee, representing Rai-Kage.
Here to collect my shinobi's, Mr. Nu-kage!
Here's the scroll of payment and here's the contract
Now let go of prisoners, fast-track!"
'Ooo Yeah.'
Harry caught both the two scrolls and eyed them for a moment.
"Alright, wait here. I'll bring them to you." Harry didn't wait for a response. He wanted the prisoners out of his village as quickly as possible. They had started to recover, since Dementors were not present. Harry had to close the lax infrastructure to ensure they could not just walk out. Timed runes helped out a lot here as they deposited they prisoners back to their cells.
-Some Time Later-
The prisoners were all lined up, for Killer Bee to check.
"The way to village is long, so wait;
Get yourselves get checked out by that gate!
Fools, ya Fools!"
And that was it. Harry watched the strange man guide their people back to the outer gate where he knew a 3 teams of Cloud Shinobi were waiting patiently.
"That was very weird." Harry said to Orochimaru. Orochimaru on the other hand, was having a hard time coming to term what had just transpired. Every visit with Kage had been tense and there was a real chance of fight to break out. But here, when there was an obvious insult, there was a smooth transition of things.
'Why is it that this man is so hard to predict?!' Orochimaru fumed as he saw the retreating figure of the Village's leader.
A/N: I had trouble writing fight scenes. I shudder to think of managing an entire war that will feature in coming chapters. The next chapter will feature the incumbent Kage meeting the deadly Missing-Nin force! Sauske and Itachi shall have a brief-long meeting(if you catch my drift).