I read the name on the cover once again. Kazan Uzumaki.

The rain thudded on ceaselessly against the walls of the tower. At the other end of the chamber, I could hear low voices as Nagato and Kitsuchi spoke of the future of nations. Konan sat in their discussion too, representing Konoha. She kept sending worried glances in my direction every few minutes.

I didn't move from the bench I sat upon. My fingers slowly traced the K. I knew that name. That was my father's name.

Not my father from Earth. My father, the man who had sired me. The man who had loved and married my mother. Not my mother from Earth either. My mother, the woman who gave birth to Renaro Uzumaki. Two bodies, perhaps not even that, that lay at the bottom of the ocean.

He had been a wanderer and a recluse, and had lived to be far older than most ninja had any right to be, according to what I had been told. I had no memories of him, of course, nor of my mother. But I'd been told about them. In the end, though, he wasn't really family. My family was Minato and Kushina and Naruto and Konan and Jiraiya.

Why was this in Iwagakure, father? And why do you have these markings on it?

The markings. Nine circles with lines radiating from them. I knew what it symbolized: Nine Suns.

Who did that make me? A second generation insert or something? Someone who merely had been given memories of Earth? Or else? I had always thought the suns were linked to that. What if they weren't, and instead it was merely an obscure family matter, a bloodline limit or genetic memory or something.

I flipped it open yet again, my eyes straining to read the ravaged and ruined paper to no avail. The parchment was too old, the ink too faded, to make out anything at all. Other pages had been torn or wrinkled beyond reading.

So many questions… and I had no wish to go back to the Nightlands to ask the Rabbits now. So I fished out a rice cake from a secured pouch inside my clothes and took a bite. It felt as good and simple as always: just the right about of softness, just the right about of sweetness, just the right size. As I swallowed, I could feel my throat burning pleasurably: raw chakra from a food made for immortals rolling down. I finished the whole piece, hesitated for a moment, then took another. They calmed me down, helped me think.

I stood up, pocketing the journal and strode past into where Nagato and Kitsuchi were discussing details. A possible retaking of Iwagakure, apparently. The village was devastated, but enough of its infrastructure was intact that it rebuilding it would be far better and easier than resettling, and moreover it would be a symbol.

Only, of course, the remnants of Iwa weren't strong enough, and they needed a place to leave their civilians and children.

"They're welcome in Leaf." I said as I walked by.

Konan and Nagato stared. "Wait, you can't just let them-" Konan began. I shook my head. "Yes, yes, I know. We'll only allow civilians and children under the age of ten, after each individual gets thoroughly vetted. Don't worry, we'll be as gentle as we can. I'm not a sadist."

Kitsuchi narrowed his eyes just slightly, "That is… very generous. What would you want in return?"

"Iwa." I said, "There are questions I need answered, and I will scour what remains of the village to find it. We can talk later about this. For now-"

I turned to Nagato, "You called me for something before all this happened. What was it?"

He looked at Kitsuchi. "Could you excuse us, please?" The Tsuchikage grunted and acquiesced, leaving the room with an "I'll check with my Jounin."

Nagato turned away from us, looking out the window. "Do you remember the final days of the war with Hanzo? When we had missing-nin by the dozens flocking in and out of Ame, hired either by us or the loyalists?

Konan nodded. "Yes. It was a tough time."

"All the missing nin either reported to me, Konan or Yahiko. We'd mostly just get a feel for them, tell them the rules of how we operated, then let them engage Hanzo's hired people in battle. It wasn't the best option, but it was the only one we could take."

I remembered too. I hadn't been in the fighting in Ame until at the final confrontation, but Leaf had been involved nonetheless.

"One of the missing nin I met," Nagato continued, "Wore a white spiral mask. He was nothing unremarkable at that time, except exceptionally powerful chakra. When I heard of Tobi and his description, they matched up."

My mind was whirring. Tobi and Zetsu had met Nagato, Yahiko and Konan to form the Akatsuki before Yahiko's death, in canon. Of course, here, Zetsu had already been buried by then. Still, I learnt something new. I learnt Tobi had been operating for at least three years, if not more.

"What else can you remember about him?" I asked, urgency in my tone.

Nagato shook his head, "Not much. He wasn't in the country for any longer than a few days before collecting his pay and leaving."

"But," His alien eyes swivel a bit to look at mine, "Even though it was a long time ago, I remember his chakra felt strange. A little like… yours, but still different."


"I'm all out of chakra." I muttered, breathing heavily as I leaned against a tree. The ground was cold, wet and muddy. I shivered. It was raining heavily.

"Can you make fire?" Minato wheezed out. Okita nodded with wide eyes, the driest pieces of kindling she could find in her hands. A pair of hand seals later they burned merrily. I breathed in a sigh of relief. We quickly shoved the fire under a little hollow in a tree.

I cautiously peered out, scanning the trees. There was a squad of Earth nin around. "Where the hell is sensei?" I asked quietly.

There was a blur of gray. Okita yelped and stuck outwards. Scarlet splashed. Metal came whirring in at my face and I rolled to the left, letting Minato deflect the thrown kunai with his own with a ringing clang.

Three-man cell. The third attacker showed himself just as I thought that, hands flashing in a display of ninjutsu. He was too close for his comfort, so with a burst of speed I rushed in and drove a wedge into his hands, breaking apart whatever seals he was making. A second hit landed on him, my uppercut hitting him square in the jaw. His head whipped back and his legs whipped up to catch me in the chest and knock me back as he somersaulted backwards.

He landed on a spike of steel. He only had a momentary surprised look on his face, before crumpling to the ground. Okita removed her bloody sword and wiped the edge on his body, then stood up slowly.

For those who weren't physical gods walking the earth, that's how fights went. Wet with mud and blood, ending in seconds.

"There are too many enemy shinobi around. We need to move." Minato said. We looted the bodies of the attackers, picking up spare kunai, a set of senbon and a few explosive tags. Just generic equipment held by generic mooks.

Generic mooks… that's all they were. Not men and women who might've had brothers and sisters and parents and children and lovers. Not people with their own unique ideals, dreams, passions. Merely… extra bodies thrown into the grinder of war.

One day, I would change it. One day, I would shine over this world brighter than any other sun.

That night, Minato took the first watch, and Okita snugged up to me as she did every night. We didn't have sleeping bags or camping gear. Our camp was a little crevice in rock that was big enough for two of us, while the third kept watch.

I whispered stories. Tales from the other world I knew. Of gods of dark and light and great ships sailing a black void. Of men, women and children capable of doing wondrous things with a word and a wave. Of kingdoms that tolled in war or peace. Of a farmboy travelling the stars to deliver a message. Of a boy summoning a hero of the distant past to save his life. Of a schoolgirl watching her friends battle for the sake of their souls. Of a girl wanting to be a hero in a world nearly beyond saving.

A different tale for each night. It was alright, I knew hundreds.

Jiraiya found us two days after the last fight. He took one look at us and said, "Fuck solo missions. I'm not leaving you guys alone again."

I grinned weakly. I was weak. "We're okay, sensei-" This hadn't been our first mission nor any of our first kills, just the first one without Jiraiya-sensei.

"Where did you go, sensei?" Okita asked.

Jiraiya looked at her, then replied, "Amegakure. Just scouting the area. There's a plan, one final strike to end the war. I can't say any more than that right now."

My eyes widened. Amegakure. Final stroke of the war.

Scores of Konoha shinobi, include Dan Kato, would die. Jiraiya-sensei, Tsunade-nee and Orochimaru would earn their names of the Sannin.

I- I needed to do something.

Jiraiya smiled, "Don't worry about it, kids. It's still a few days off. And you guys are, officially, out of this war now. Let's go home. We'll take a shortcut."

Said shortcut was a reverse summon to Mount Myoboku. The toads kinda stayed out of our way, though. I barely saw them, except for a few flashes of the younger ones, but I saw the slight frown on Jiraiya's face. That night, we slept in a house for the first time in what felt like forever, and the beds felt almost like the ones I had back home in Konoha.

Minato's fell asleep in seconds. Okita's breaths became slow and steady after a while. But I couldn't sleep. After a while, I just got off the bed and walked out to the next room, where Jiraiya was sitting and writing by moonlight. Part of the wall was just open to the outside.

"Can't sleep, sensei." I said.

He looked up, putting down the paper, "What's up?"

I looked out and around Mount Myoboku. It felt calm and quiet at this time of the night, and beautiful too. "I thought I'd see more of the toads."

Sensei grunted. "They're being testy for some reason. I'll ask the elders what's wrong after I've dropped you off."

"Oh." I said. Was the issue with us? The toads were perfectly fine with Minato. "Are all the summon realms like this?"

"Hmm." Jiraiya gave a small shrug. "From what Oro-teme and Tsunade tell me, yeah. Though the snakes live in some dark, dank cave, so not quite like this. But I like this place best, even more so than the hustle and bustle of Konoha at times. It's peaceful yet lively here. Heh, maybe I'll end up like old Fukusaku one day."

After a few seconds, I finally asked, "Sensei, I'm the long-range ninjutsu specialist in the team. But I'm a little limited in the things I can do, and bigger stuff takes just too much out of me."

Jiraiya-sensei looked at me, "Well, you could ditch the bow-"

"No." I said flatly, "I'm specialised in it and I'd lose a lot of range. I have another idea."

"Go on…"

I looked up at him, "Teach me the summoning jutsu."


It took a lot of paperwork to run a hidden village.

It took even more paperwork to bury a dead village.

Fortunately, Yahiko was something of a wizard with paperwork. I occasionally looked up from my files, glancing at him and Konan as they tossed up sheaf after sheaf of paperwork. Yahiko filled the stuff in, Konan moved them around. I wondered what would it take to bribe Nagato to let Yahiko take a 'vacation' in Konoha.

Not that I actually wanted to abduct a wheelchair-bound guy so I could force him to do paperwork. Not at all.

The files in my hands were old reports and war records. Somewhere among them had to be details about Tobi and whatever missions he carried out. Nestled in my pockets was my father's journal. Once I got back home to the Leaf, I could have it forensically examined for any more details.

Hours and hours went by. There were a lot of old reports. Eventually, I just groaned and tossed them onto a desk, walking out for a breath of fresh air. "I hope Dan's buried in paperwork too." I muttered under my breath.

The day was cold. The sun was low and dark in the sky. I 'tch'ed in annoyance, looking up at it. This would be a foul day, I could already tell. I wouldn't be leaving Ame before I'd found something about Tobi, and until the refugees of Iwa were ready to move. Briefly, I thought of simply discarding them. I thought of all the valuable manpower it would take up, all the resources that could be better spent in other ways. The Hokage's job was to protect the Hidden Leaf and preserve the Will of Fire. But my will, the Will of the Sun, overrode that.

"Oh, Ren." Okita said, "You can't help but save them."

"Yeah," I said, "I know. I'm practically Shirou Emiya. Just more pragmatic. Except Ican't fucking protect those close to me." I snarled out the last part.

There was a familiar sensation. A voice, too distorted to recognize, spoke, "You can't protect them from me." He said simply.

Before I even turned around I was hurling fireballs from my mouth. Each sizzled in the air and passed harmlessly through Tobi. He had Kamui. He was intangible. My fireballs soared through him and flew on over the lake, out of sight.

I stopped firing. I knew it was futile, unless I used any of my more destructive, more conceptual techniques. And I wasn't quite willing to do that in the middle of a crowded city. "What do you want?" I seethed.

"The same thing you do." Tobi replied, "To save this world."

I had to resist the urge of laugh. "You think… what you;re doing will save the world?"

"It will save this world." Tobi repeated. "Stone was only the first step. I believe Sand will be next?"

"Stone-" I gaped, "Stone was only the first step? Thousands dead in a battle between rampaging jinchuuriki, an entire village reduced to rubble. That's your path to peace?"

Tobi nodded. "One day, you'll understand."

Space distorted. I poured chakra into my arms and legs simultaneously, and rocketed towards him, my arms ablaze with the light of the flame cloak. A burning comet lit up the street as I seared a path towards him fifty meters across, blackening the ground for ten feet to either side.

But Tobi was gone.


Have a double update. Only got back to work on this a few weeks ago, but there's a few more chapters written ahead of this, so maybe will keep a regular schedule on this. This point is about 1/3 the way through.