11/3/2013 - 63 Reviews, 78 Favorites, 93 Followers
A/N: Well, the feedback that I've got from reviews seems to follow along the following lines: I've got an interesting writing style, good characterization and a clever plot that people seem to like. On the flip side, the story itself is somewhat convoluted and people sometimes have trouble following what's going on. Does that about summarize it?
Speaking of summaries, it was suggested that it could be a good idea to give a summary of what has occurred in the story thus far, seeing as I have an erratic update schedule. Here goes:
- Tobi won the war
- The sealing went wrong
- A whole lot of people got sent back in time. These included: Naruto, Tobi, Itachi, Nagato, Kakuzu, Deidara, Sasori, Shikamaru, Asuma, Kakashi, Zabuza, Haku, Gaara, Chiyo, Hanzo, Kushimaru and Kimmimaro,
- The Kyuubi detonated a Bijudama within itself during this process.
- For reasons unknown, Konoha, Iwa and Kumo were destroyed during this process. The status of Suna and Kiri are unknown.
- For various reasons, Nagato, Konan, Itachi, Sasori and Kakuzu all abandoned Akatsuki.
- Naruto and Jiraya found that Zabuza and Haku had been resurrected
- Kimimaro woke up to find himself alive, and set about trying to hunt down Sasuke and Kabuto (not realizing that he is in the past)
- Naruto and Jiraya got back to Konoha to find that it had been destroyed. The survivors (people who weren't there at the time) are currently deciding on their next course of action.
- Itachi destroyed the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, as well as the Hashirama clone.
- Sasori's actions beyond abandoning Akatsuki are unknown
- Kakashi was found alive in the petrified Konoha
- Konan and Kakuzu are traveling to Konoha to establish contact with Naruto
- Nagato turned that frown upside down, and also smacked around substitutes of Kisame, Hidan and Deidara.
- Tobi wants to recruit some new members, and changed the name of his organisation
- MANY people are dead
- Itachi came back to Konoha, had a minor breakdown, then went off with Anko on an unknown mission. Eventually, he plans to retrieve Sasuke from Orochimaru
- Gaara's actions are unknown
- Chiyo's actions are unknown.
Did that help? Yeah, it's fairly complicated.
Chapter Twelve: Advanced Countermeasures
xXx
(Shirokuma Trail - Eastern Region of Fire Country)
When trying to comprehend the nature of the shinobi villages of the Elemental Nations, it is important to consider very rarely were these villages completely independent political entities.
Just like anyone else, shinobi need to eat. And because of this, all of the most powerful shinobi villages had a network of civilian villages under their control who provided for their basic needs.
In order for a shinobi village to elevate itself to greatness, it required a large network of civilian settlements to provide food, goods and taxes. After all, it was hard to kill on an empty stomach.
Fire Country was littered with them. It was one of these tiny, backwater villages that Itachi and Anko were heading into now.
The weather had taken a turn for the worse since their travels had began, and now they were caught in one of the biggest storms that Anko had ever experienced. Great forks of white lightning flashed across the sky, accompanied by deafening explosions of thunder. The torrential downpour from the heavens was caught up by the furious winds and transformed into flicking whips of water that lashed painfully against her exposed skin. Her clothes were saturated with moisture and the damp collar of her trenchcoat chafed painfully against the skin of her neck. Her feet became caked with sticky mud, the open-air sandals providing no barrier against the soft, squishy earth.
Naturally, the eternally perfect Itachi Uchiha did not seem irritated by the rain at the least. Bastard.
"Why are we turning in here?" She yelled at him, having to raise her voice to shouting level just to make herself heard over the rain. "Marogi Cove is further east, why are we going south?"
Itachi turned his head to look at her.
"We're making a detour." He answered, voice quiet yet somehow still audible over the storm. Seriously, how did he do that?
"Where to?"
"A civilian village."
Anko opened her mouth to ask another question, but Itachi made the hand signal for stealth and she remained silent. They were entering unfamiliar territory, and the Uchiha clearly didn't want to risk making their presence known.
They'd stopped for about half an hour to apply travel disguises. Because certain sensor ninja could detect the use of a henge, Itachi had decided that they should utilize more conventional disguises. One judicious aplication of make-up and hair-dye later and Anko was now a platinum blonde with a slightly widened face and distinctive sky-blue eyes, while Itachi was now a brunette with a distinctive scar running down his left cheek. The blue contact lenses were irritating her eyes and only added to her discomfort. Naturally, both had removed their headbands.
It was another five minutes before they reached the village proper. It was a tiny affair, a backwater, agriculture-based village that could only have housed, at most, three-hundred people. Certainly, there was nothing that immediately stood out as relevant to their mission. Anko had no idea what Itachi could possibly hope to gain from such a tiny settlement.
Seeing as it was just past midnight and pouring with rain, the village's main street was unsurprisingly completely deserted. The two shinobi slipped through the dark shadows, edging around the outskirts of the village.
Finally, Itachi seemed to find what he was looking for. Anko paused for a second in bewilderment.
Located right on the edge of the settlement was a small, flat field, filled with crude stone markings. A graveyard.
With no chance of anyone else hearing, Anko thought it safe to ask Itachi a question. "Is there someone important buried here?"
Itachi kneeled in front of one of the graves, examining the marker. "No. This village has never produced any shinobi of note."
Anko tried to partially shield herself from the freezing rain by moving underneath a small tree at the edge of the cemetery. It didn't really work. "Then what are we doing here? Powerful shinobi are one thing, but violating civilian graves is kind of..."
It wasn't that she was squeamish. It's was just... violating someone's final resting place wasn't something that should be done lightly. It was disrespectful to the dead, and to do so without any real purpose was a little too Orochimaru-like for her tastes.
Itachi looked up at her. "You are under no obligation to stay. If disturbing the graves of non-combatants violates some ethical principal you hold, feel free to depart."
"Hmm. No, I've seen much worse." Anko replied. "Just take me through your reasoning, why don't ya?"
Itach's turned to look at her. "Edo Tensai is an extremely potent jutsu, one of the most powerful ones I have ever encountered. Countermeasures such as these are necessary."
"That doesn't answer my question, Uchiha." Anko growled, walking over to his side. "Look, I already get that part. Edo Tensai is super-powerful, and eventually someone is going realize just how useful it is and summon up a whole lot of immortal zombies with unlimited chakra to waste anything in their way. What I don't get is why we're in the arse-end of nowhere digging up people that no one in their right mind would ever want to resurrect."
Anko had to admit, it was a powerful counter-measure. Jiraya was a damn clever man. If what she'd seen on that scroll had been correct, then that Akatsuki group had resurrected a huge number of powerful shinobi and used them to wage a war against the five strongest shinobi villages simultaneously. And if they'd done it before, they could very well do it again. The only difference would be that there wouldn't be a force strong enough to resist them. Konoha, Kumo and Iwa were down for the count. No messages had come from Kiri since the Night of Stone. The carrier pigeons they were receiving from Suna made no mention of any problems down there, but it was possible that a group of survivors were simply doing the same thing as Jiraya and taking steps to maintain the illusion that their village was still intact. The solution? Destroy the bodies before Akatsuki, Otogakure or anyone else could get to them. That didn't explain what they were doing here, though.
"That's entirely the point, no one would possibly want to resurrect them." Itachi answered cryptically.
Anko glared at him. "Enough riddles, Itachi. Explain what you're doing in terms that us poor, simple mortals can understand."
"The purpose of our mission is to completely eradicate the corpses of powerful shinobi before they can be resurrected, correct?" Itachi said. "However, our task is one that must be accomplished with complete secrecy. What do you imagine would happen if Akatsuki or Orochimaru realized that we were doing so?"
"They'd probably try and get to as many bodies as possible themselves. It would be the world's most macabre treasure hunt." Anko answered, adding the second part after an extra moment's thought.
Itachi nodded. "Precisely. For this reason, no evidence of our tampering must be left behind."
Anko's eyes widened slightly. "Oh, I get it! So you're planning on replacing the bodies in the graves of famous shinobi with ones from this graveyard."
"A slightly distasteful task, but one necessary to accomplish our intended purpose." Itachi replied.
Anko peered closely at the grave marker. "So Orochimaru takes the body, thinks he's got a legendary shinobi under his control, and really ends up resurrecting... an eighty-seven year old female butcher?"
Despite the morbid nature of their task, Anko couldn't help but laugh.
The corner of Itachi's lips quirked up. "Do not be so quick to underestimate the power of a geriatric butcher, special-jonin Mitarashi. They are often extremely efficient with a cleaver."
Anko's raised her eyebrows. "Oh, was that a joke? From the eternally somber Itachi Uchiha, no less?"
"Merely an observation." Itachi retorted smoothly. "One that you may take as you will."
Then, any trace of humor disappeared from his features as quickly as it had come. "The storm should cover our tracks. Do you know any earth jutsu of use?"
Anko nodded. "Earth jutsu aren't really my forte, but I know one or two."
"It would be best that we get to work then." The Uchiha stated grimly. "We need to be gone by the time the sun rises, and I I estimate that we will need the contents of this entire graveyard.
xXx
(Marogi Cove - East Coast of Fire Country)
At first glance, Marogi Cove seemed like nothing special. A large-ish, sandy beach surrounded by great cliffs of stone, separated from the rest of the world by a copse of the freakishly large trees of Fire Country and accessible only by a single path. Certainly, it was a very pretty beach, but there was nothing obvious to distinguish it from the hundreds of other locations that dotted the coastline of Fire Country.
Once you entered the trees, however, you'd start to come across weapons. Lots of weapons. Kunai, shuriken, even a couple of unexploded tags, enough weapons to arm an army.
And then you'd find the skeletons.
It had been about four hours since Anko and Itachi had finished grave-robbing the civilian cemetery, and the sun was just starting to rise. Thankfully, the storm had passed an hour or two ago. The two were making their way through the trees that bordered Marogi Cove, and Anko couldn't help but wince slightly as she heard the ground crunch under her feet.
The Battle of Marogi Cove had been the last true conflict of the Third Shinobi World War. Emboldened by the belief that Konoha's troops were permanently engaged along the northern fronts against Iwa and Kumo, Kiri had launched a small invasion of their own, hoping to carve themselves out a chunk of Fire Country for a mainland colony.
Kiri's leaders had been extremely confident in their victory, and the invasion had included several thousand civilians who were going to act as colonists. This confidence, however, had proven to be misplaced.
Iwa's Kusa campaign ended in failure after the destruction of a vital supply line, and Kumo had decided to cut its losses and leave after it became clear that victory was an impossibility. Once Konoha had finished chasing the invaders back over the borders, it had turned its full attention to the incursion that was occurring upon its eastern coastline.
Rather than the light resistance it had been expecting, Kiri's forces were faced with the full might of Konoha's elite. Only one pitched battle that had occurred, the Battle of Konishiki Plains, and it had ended in a total Konoha victory.
With the highly mobile platoons of Konoha reclaiming territory at breathtaking speed, Kiri was left with the problem of evacuating several thousand civilians off the continent and back to the Land of Water. Having just experienced the horrors of the northern conflict, the Leaf shinobi were in no mood to be dispensing mercy. Kiri's remaining ninja forces fought tooth-and-nail in a defensive rearguard strategy, but the sheer overwhelming power of Konoha's forces made their advance like an unstoppable boulder rolling down a mountain thousands of meters in height. Still, the majority of civilians reached Marogi Cove and were about to begin boarding the ships when Konoha's troops finally caught up with them. It was there that they came up against Kiri's Seven Swordsmen.
And so, in that tiny, insignificant little cove, the Gambit of Swords took place.
In order to buy time for the civilian ships to escape, the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist stood alone against the oncoming tide of Konoha shinobi. Jinin Akebino, Mangetsu Hozuki, Kushimaru Kuriarare, Zabuza Momochi, Jinpachi Munashi, Fugaki Suikazan and Ameyuri Ringo, seven against an entire army.
Perhaps the Konoha ninja were overconfident from their easy victories, or perhaps they were exhausted from the extended conflicts they had been engaged in. Whatever the reasons, the result was a bloodbath of a degree not seen since the battles of Uchiha Madara and Hashirama Senju.
With most of Konoha's heavy hitters elsewhere, the majority of the shinobi who led the charge into those dark trees were low chunin level, at best. Very few would come out again. Using the stealth techniques that were the lynchpin in so many of their strategies, Kiri's swordsmen tore through the invaders like a knife through paper. The ground became coated with the burnt, sliced and disembowled corpses of ninja. The trees were made slick with blood, and the dozens of ninja were strung up in the trees and left to die. Lightning flashed, men screamed and thunderous explosions echoed throughout the darkened landscape.
The Gambit of Swords would continue through the night and into the morning. Jinpachi would die first, torn up from behind by a Inuzuka's Gatsuga technique. Jinin fell second, consumed from the inside out by a particularly nasty species of the Aburame's insects. Mangetsu was the third to die, doing so while wielding the Kabutowari in one hand and the Shibuki in the other.
In the end, the only ones to escape the carnage were a heavily injured Fuguki and Zabuza, carried onto the last civilian ship by a pair of genin. Cut off from the beach by the oncoming Konoha troops, Kushimaru and Ameyuri met their end, fighting back to back to the last.
Konoha had never released the official figures detailing just how many people had died during the Gambit of Swords, but it had to total several hundred, at least. When you walked on the forest floor at Marogi Cove, you weren't walking on dirt. You were walking on bones.
Marogi Cove had become a cautionary tale about the dangers of overconfidence. It was also a very good reason for destroying the bodies of five of the Seven Swordsmen first.
As Anko and Itachi approached the edge of the trees, Anko couldn't help but whistle. "They really did a number on us, huh?"
Itachi gave a nod. "I've heard that most of the survivors developed post-traumatic stress disorder. It was an unfortunate chapter in Konoha's military history."
The Swordsmen who had died at Marogi Cove had originally had their corpses impaled on spears by vengeful Konoha ninja. Later, after things were back to a more diplomatic level, Kiri had requested that the bodies be returned to them. Minato Namikaze had eventually decided that they should be buried where they fell, on the shores of Marogi Cove.
Emerging onto the bright, sun-lit beach, Anko immediately spotted the grave locations; five simple stone markers not much more advanced than the ones in the civilian graveyard. Something was strange, though. She couldn't really tell very well from the angle she was looking from, but it seemed like the sand around one of the graves had been tampered with recently.
As they got closer, Anko realized that it hadn't just been tampered with. It had been dug out.
Anko was instantly on the alert. It was possible that the grave had been dug up by a wild animal, but she doubted it. Someone had been here.
The two Konoha ninja approached the grave cautiously, ready to spring into action at the first sign of trouble. Anko peered over the side of the hole. The Swordsmen had been buried deep, deep enough that their bodies would forever be protected from the elements. There was a single, wide hole in the sand, stretching down several meters.
And at the bottom of said hole lay a still figure.
The person at the bottom of the hole was a thin, lanky man of uncommon height. His face was covered by a porcelain mask, with a green triangle at its base and the symbol of the mist symbol etched into the forehead area. He had unkempt, straw-coloured hair caught up in a tangled bird's-nest. The man's once-white mask was cracked and stained with dirt and dried bloodstains. His clothes, a sleeveless black shirt and pair of black pants, were ripped and degraded. A set of soiled, rotten bandages encased his neck and he wore only a single, grey leg guard.
The slow rise and fall of his chest indicated that the man was still alive, at least. His arms lay by his side and his right hand was wrapped around the handle of a long, needle-like sword.
Anko couldn't tell for sure, but he kind of looked like he was sleeping.
Suddenly, the man made a loud gasping noise, as if waking from a nightmare. The man started scrabbling to his feet, but slipped on the sand and fell into a tangled heap.
Anko looked at Itachi. "What am I looking at here?"
"This man is lying in a grave and the sword that he is carrying appears to be the weapon known as Nuibari. It would be a safe assumption to make that we are looking at Kushimaru Kuriarare, one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist." Itachi murmured back.
Kushimaru had apparently not noticed them, and seemed to be having great difficulty just getting to his feet. Somehow, the man got his left arm caught under his right leg guard, and didn't seem to be having much luck getting it out again.
Anko shot him an incredulous look. "This is one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist?"
She supposed that she should have been more concerned about why the man had spontaneously come back to life, but Anko found the sheer incompetence that the man was displaying to be severely distracting.
Itachi just raised a hand for silence.
At the bottom of the grave, Kushimaru finally got to his feet, and placed one foot on the sandy wall, nodding in apparent satisfaction at the blue glow of adhesive chakra that surrounded it. As he began cautiously making his way up the wall, Kushimaru looked up for the first time and saw Anko and Itachi looking down at him. The man gave a squawk and tumbled back down to the bottom of the hole.
Surprisingly, Itachi was the one who took the initiative. "Hey there, can we give you a hand?"
Anko looked at her companion in shock. The way that Itachi had asked that simple question was a complete inversion of everything she had experienced as to his personality and mannerisms thus far. She's only spent a few days with him, but in that time it had become clear to her that Itachi was remote, phlegmatically dispositioned and shockingly introverted. This wasn't that he lacked emotions, he just kept them hidden most of the time.
Now, Itachi's normally blank face was set in a wide, slightly dopey grin. The Uchiha's voice had been loud and as boisterous as her own, and his body language was open and friendly. If she hadn't witnessed the transformation herself, Anko would never have imagined that the person standing across from her was Itachi Uchiha.
But of course, that was entirely what Itachi was aiming for. This person was a possible witness, and it was feasible that Itachi's former comrades could identify him based on his mannerisms alone no matter what sort of disguise he was wearing. No one would ever dream that the stoic Uchiha would behave in the manner than he was doing now.
It really shouldn't have come as a surprise to her. After all, Itachi had successfully pretended to be a murderous sociopath for a good decade. Was it really that surprising that he could imitate a charismatic extrovert too?
In fact, it might not be a bad idea to apply a similar mask herself. Anko reached down and subtly buttoned up her trenchcoat, then clasped her hands behind her back in a way that suggested nervousness.
Below them, Kushimaru got to his feet and looked up at them. "I... er... I... No, thanks... I'll.. ah... ah... do it... ah... myself."
Anko and Itachi watched as the man slowly chakra-walked his way out of the grave. Kushimaru's behaviour was almost like someone parodying how an awkward person behaved. Kushimaru's face was hidden by his mask, so she had no idea way to tell whether the man's discomfort was real or simply an overblown approximation of the behavioral disguises that she and Itachi were donning. It almost seemed like the man was terrified of them.
Itachi greeted the man warmly as he approached the edge of the hole, stretching out a hand. "Hi, I'm Hiroshi, and this lovely woman standing next to me is Takako. We've come to pay our respects to the casualties of the Battle of Marogi Cove.
Anko made a quiet noise of agreement. "Hmm."
Kushimaru looked at the hand as if it was an alien life-form. Tentatively, he stretched out a hand of his own, as if trying to figure out how the two hands fit together. The man wrapped his hand around Itachi's middle and index fingers, giving it a soft shake.
There was an awkward silence. Anko looked at Kushimaru expectedly.
The man took in a nervous breath. "I... uh... sorry... sometimes I can't talk and I'm nervous. People... uh... yeah."
The man had apparently lost the ability to form coherent sentences. It was one of the most socially uncomfortable sights Anko had ever seen. It was like the man had some sort of grotesque parody of a social anxiety disorder.
Kushimaru turned his face away from them and began examining his sword as if fascinated by it. It was as if he was hoping for them to forget about him and talk to each other instead. Anko had seen people do similar things to escape conversation at parties, except that those had been at least mildly believable.
Itachi gave an encouraging smile. "Don't worry about it! Personally, I'm more concerned with what you were doing down that hole! Isn't that where the Seven Swordsmen are buried?"
Kushimaru made a noise that sounded like a cross between a gulp and a sob. Anko couldn't tell whether it was motivated by the nature of the question or the concept of more social interaction. "I... ah... ther... there was a war... um... do... umm..."
Suddenly, a radical change came over Kushimaru. His head snapped up, his posture straightened and he turned to look at Anko.
"Hey!" His voice was now clear and confident. "You're pretty!"
Anko didn't quite have to fake her awkward reaction. "I.. uh... thanks."
Kushimaru span around on one foot, pointing a finger at Itachi. "You! You're also pretty!"
Itachi gave a bemused nod. "Thanks?"
What the hell was wrong with him? Anko was now convinced that Kushimaru wasn't faking it, for the simple reason that no one could possible fake a consistent emotional bearing that badly. It was possible that he was attempting to take refuge in audacity by doing something so insane that no one would possibly question it, but most ninja who did that usually ended up dead. Kushimaru was one of the goddamn Seven Swordsmen.
"What am I doing here? What are you doing here?" Kushimaru's speech was racing. "What happened to the war? My sword was hidden in the trees. Do you know why I buried it? I didn't want Konoha to find it. I hid it with a jutsu. You have to understand, they want our swords, Hiroshi!"
Itachi's eyebrows furrowed. "What's this war you're talking about?"
"The war! The war with all the nations at once! They wanted... wanted..." Kushimaru clicked his fingers. "They wanted our swords! The masked silver-hair man was after our swords! He had a Konoha headband! They were trying to take them back! They wrapped me up in bandages and then they used some sort of Death God Seal on Jinpachi! They were going to do the same to me! But then there was this huge explosion and I escaped! I escaped, Hiroshi! But Jinpachi died! Which was okay, because I never liked him anyway. But now they're coming for my Nuibari! They won't take it from me! I'll defeat all comers! They'll come up against the wrath of a demigod! They'll scatter like dust in the wind, and they'll wish they'd never been born!"
As someone who had several friends in Konoha's Torture and Interrogation Force, Anko had read a large amount of psychological literature so as to actually be able to participate from a position of knowledge in their endless discussions of the human psyche. Kashimaru wasn't just eccentric, he was displaying symptoms characteristic of an extremely serious mental disorder. First, there was the increased energy, an enthusiasticness that not even her most excitable friends would display. Kushimaru's speech was rapid and tangential, he was simply bouncing from subject to subject without properly thinking about what he was doing. Worse, he was experiencing severe delusions of grandeur, particularly his belief that the purpose of Akatsuki's war had been to take his sword and his description of himself as a demigod.
Increased energy, grandiose beliefs about his own importance, high distractibility, racing, tangential thoughts, rapid speech, severe delusions. Kashimaru's behavior had all the hallmarks of a bipolar manic episode, but to an extremely exaggerated degree.
Of course, it was a snap diagnosis based on only a couple of minutes of interaction, but Anko was pretty sure she was right. Back before Konoha had been destroyed, people watching had been something of a habit of hers. She'd sit herself down in a cafe and just observe her surroundings, trying to figure out fragments of people's personalities based on how they acted and the ways that they interacted with each other.
She'd always been pretty damn good at it, too. She was usually able to identify whether two people were a couple, friends, family or acquaintances within a few seconds. It was one of the weirder, quieter personality traits she preferred to keep to herself.
"Wait a second." Abruptly, Kushimaru became suspicious. "Why did you say you were here again?"
"We're travelers, come to pay our respects." Anko answered.
All at once, there was a swordpoint pressing into the front of her neck.
"No. No, I don't think you are." Kushimaru growled, having transitioned from suspicious to hostile in the space of about a second. "I was sleeping down there. You woke me up. I think you're spies. Spies from Konoha, come to take Nuibari from me! That's it, isn't it? You're in on it! You're both in on it!"
"Kushimaru, look at me." Itachi demanded, the false warmth gone from his voice.
Kushimaru rounded on him. "How do you know my na..."
Itachi's eyes flashed red with the dark pattern of his Sharingan. Immediately, Kushimaru's eyes rolled up into his head, The Swordsman fell to the ground, unconscious.
There was a moment of silence, as Anko got her bearings back.
"What the hell was that?" She demanded.
Itachi shook his head. "I do not know. Unfortunately, my knowledge of this man's background and mental state is severely limited."
Now that Kushimaru was out of it, Itachi had dropped character completely. Anko did the same. "Fuck me! Guy's crazier than a cut snake!"
She rubbed her neck, where a thin trail of blood was dripping down. "So, now what? Do we kill him?"
The idea of killing an unconscious man was an unpleasant one, but considering that they were talking about a murderous crackpot here...
Itachi shook his head. "No. We can't. If Akatsuki knows that he was resurrected, it could compromise our mission if he were found dead. The genjutsu I used on him should effectively erase his memory of the last few minutes. Put him back in the grave. I'll deal with the bodies of the other Swordsmen."
Anko nodded. "And his sword?"
"Leave it. There can be no traces."
Anko lifted Kushimaru over her shoulder. The man was surprisingly light. The kunoichi leapt lightly down the hole and lay Kushimaru in the same position that they'd found him in.
Itachi pulled out the scroll that contained the bodies they had taken from the civilian graves. Placing both hands on the sandy ground, Itachi muttered the words of a jutsu and a rotten wooden coffin slowly rose up out of the ground.
Itachi carefully pried open the lid. Inside was the skeleton of a heavily-built male, one that was missing its right leg. There were a couple of scraps of flesh and clothing, but for the most part it was completely degraded. Itachi removed another scroll from his belt, this one blank. The Uchiha carefully lifted the skeleton out of the coffin and broke off the skull. Then, he placed the skull onto the scroll and channeled the appropriate chakra. The skull sank into the scroll. He did the same with the right arm, then the left arm, and slowly made his way down until the whole body was sealed within the scroll. There was nothing he could do about the missing leg, but it was safe to assume that it was lost forever in the sea of bones underneath the trees of Marogi Cove.
Then, Itachi raised the scroll in the air and used a simple Katon jutsu to burn it to ashes.
It was possible to buy scrolls immune to fire or just about anything else that could harm them. This was was not one of them. The scroll and its contents were now lost forever.
Itachi unsealed a civilian corpse of appropriate size and placed it within the coffin. The Uchiha then used the same Doton jutsu from before to move the coffin back down to its previous position.
Then he moved on to the next. Within the space of a few minutes, he had completed his grisly task. A couple of the bodies had been missing bones, but he doubted that it would cause any troubles.
Anko strode over to his side. "Are we done here?"
Itachi nodded. "We're done."
"Okay, who's next on the list?" Anko asked.
"Kumo's Gold and Silver Brothers, Ginkaku and Kinkaku."
Anko grinned. "Ah, Kumo's most infamous missing-nin? Excellent."
The two once more took off, leaving four civilian corpses and a gently slumbering Kushimaru in their wake.
xXx
(Just outside Nasaki - Land of Rain)
His suspicions had proved correct.
Tobi peered down into the ditch where the former leader of Amegakure had unceremoniously tossed by Nagato's forces. Hanzo of the Salamander had not been given the honor of receiving a grave. Instead, he'd simply been tossed into one of the mass graves that were the result of Pain's purges, buried along with who-knows how many others.
It was subtle, but the mud in the ditch had been disturbed. Almost as if someone had been trying to get out.
Hanzo had been resurrected.
Tobi followed the trail of debris into a nearby thicket of trees. It wasn't hard. This person hadn't even bothered to cover his tracks; or if he had then he'd done a piss-poor job of it. Tobi could swear that he could see finger-marks on the ground, as if someone had been dragging themselves on their stomach.
He found Hanzo lying against a tree a few hundred meters from the ditch. The man was in bad shape. His clothes were in rags, degraded and torn, and his respirator had turned a sickly brown colour from rust and grime. The man's yellowed hair was unkempt and shabby, and his entire body was caked with dirt. A rusted, dented kusarigama lay by his side.
The man's forehead was beaded with sweat, and he looked pale and feverish. His eyes were closed, but there was a subtle tremor in his hands and it looked like his teeth were chattering. His skin had a subtle purple tinge to it.
The symptoms he was displaying were synonymous with someone who had been poisoned with black salamander venom.
Why would...?
Ah. Of course. The resurrection. When that odd red light had brought them back, it had also healed all their injuries, both old and new. It had probably cleansed all traces of the salamander's poison from Hanzo's body.
Of course, it could very well have removed the anti-toxins from his bloodstream at the same time. The resurrection probably hadn't removed the salamander's venom sac though, so Hanzo was currently experiencing the joys of having his body reacclimatize to one of the world's most unpleasant man had probably regained consciousness several days ago, clawed his way out of the mass grave and crawled as far as he could get before passing out.
It had removed the man's scars, though. For a second, Tobi was tempted to check under his own mask. The thought was crushed as quickly as it came. He'd left Obito behind long ago. He was Tobi now.
Still, it would be unfortunate if Hanzo were to die. Ketsueki Yuuyake was running short on members.
Tobi gave the man a prod with his foot, ready to leap backwards if the man was just playing possum. Nothing. He reached into his black cloak and pulled out a kunai, then placed its point on Hanzo's neck. Tobi then applied a small amount of pressure, just enough to draw blood.
Still nothing. Either Hanzo was one of the best actors that he'd ever seen, or the man was completely unconscious.
Well, there was nothing for it. Hanzo needed a healer, and Tobi didn't have any healing skills beyond rudimentary first aid. It looked like the only person who could help him in this situation was...
xXx
"Kiri is so happy to see you again!"
The Reikikage had been waiting out the front of his house when he'd materialized upon that snowy plateau in the Land of Mountains, an unconscious Hanzo slung over his shoulder. The man was like a puppy who knew when its master was coming home.
Kiri laughed happily. "Another patient for Kiri? How exciting! Why is he purple?"
Tobi sighed. "He's had the venom sac of a black salamander inserted into his body, and his body hasn't acclimatized to the poison yet. Just make sure that it doesn't kill him."
Kiri shot off a salute and ran up to him, yanking Hanzo's body off Tobi's shoulder. The man ran into his hut, Tobi following at his heels.
As the Reikikage ran what Tobi presumed was a diagnostic jutsu over Hanzo's body, the man asked him a rather unusual question. "So how're things, Tobi? How's the wife?"
Tobi blinked. "Wife?"
Kiri nodded. "That blonde you brought round last time! Kiri thought you had real chemistry."
Tobi couldn't tell if Kiri was misguided, sarcastic or just insane. "Deidara? Deidara is male."
Kiri looked up at him for a long moment, then a grin split his face. "Kiri doesn't judge!"
Kiri thought... ugh. That was... ugh.
Tobi really could not care less what other people did in their spare time, but he was one of the most asexual people on the planet. And the only things Deidara ever got excited about were art and explosions.
It was odd of him to get riled up by something so petty. It was almost like some vestiges of his dead personality were affecting him. It was dangerous, too. Tobi was all too aware of the poisonous and often fatal consequences that loosing your cool could have on a shinobi. It would be better to simply let it slide, just to reassure himself that he could.
"So when's the wedding? Can Kiri be best man?" The Reikikage gave him what he assumed was meant to be a coy look. "Have you done the dirty yet?"
Okay, that was enough. He was starting to understand why Deidara had hated him so much.
"Kiri." Tobi said slowly, enunciating every word. "I am not gay. Deidara is not gay. You are insane, and if you don't leave this subject alone I will hurt you."
Kiri gave him another mock salute. "Yessir! Not gay, sir!"
Despite his annoyance, Tobi found that he was actually enjoying the banter. The odd conversations he had with the odd hermit, bizarre as they were, were probably the one luxury he allowed himself. In front of everyone else, it was necessary to wear a mask of detached superiority. He could let it slip slightly when he was with Kiri, because there was no point in manipulating him. Kiri just didn't care.
Of course, he'd kill the man in a heartbeat if he compromised his mission, but it was pleasant nevertheless.
"Oh, that reminds me! That little furred rodent will be coming for the smaller rodent soon! Be careful, or you'll loose your collections of bones, clay statues and shiny, shiny crystals! Shiny!"
And they were right back into insanity land.
"Up next time, the marrionette becomes a real boy! The tentacle turns on Mr Swirly! Young man Pyknic goes off the deep end up after meeting old man..." Kiri seemed to freeze mid-sentence, then slapped himself hard across the face. "Sparrows!"
Tobi stood in silence as Kiri continued to use his medical jutsu on Hanzo, ranting nonsensically as he did so. Finally, the Reikikage turned to Tobi, slapping his hands against each other in an exaggerated manner.
"Done! Kiri has fixed up his poison resistance! Hanzo should regain consciousness within around ten minutes!"
Tobi nodded. "Your assistance is appreciated."
Then a thought struck him. "I never told you his name. How... did you know that this was Hanzo?"
Kiri laughed happily. "Kiri hears all sorts of things up on his mountain! Hanzo is famous!"
Well, Kiri did occasionally get visitors other than himself. One of them must have mentioned Hanzo at some point.
In any case, he didn't want Hanzo learning about Kiri. Heaving the unconscious man over his shoulder, Tobi strode out of the small, candle-lit hut. The Reikikage followed, treading after him in an exaggerated parody of a military march.
Tobi scanned the horizon. At the high altitude he was currently at, the skyline was choked with thick white mist made long-distance visibility extremely limited. He'd been considering having his confrontation with Hanzo on the top of one of the titanic mountains that surrounded Kiri's home, but suddenly he had a much better idea.
Tobi activated his Sharingan, initiating his long-range travel jutsu. The world around him faded, replaced with the shadowy gloom of the other dimension.
Tobi wasn't there to witness it, but for an instant after he departed, Kiri's purple eyes took on a dark, malevolent orange glow. Then, the man's right hand came up and struck him hard across the face. The orange glow vanished abruptly and Kiri looked around in apparent confusion.
Apparently seeing nothing out of the ordinary, the man trudged back into his hut, muttering to himself about "stupid canids" as he did so.
xXx
(Eastern Wastelands - Land of Rain)
Tobi's feet landed with a crunch in the sandy ground of the ruined wastelands of the Land of Rain, sending a pair of rats scurrying away in fear. Tobi looked around at his new surroundings, breathing a sigh of satisfaction.
He was standing in one of the many battlefields where Ame shinobi had battled foreign invaders all those decades ago. It was a featureless plain of rocks and charred dirt, interspersed with only the occasional rusted kunai or human bone. Over thirty years later, and the very land itself still seemed to give off an aura of depression and hopelessness, a grim miasma of death and tragedy. The sky was overcast and dark with thick, black clouds, but no rain fell. The air was hot and dry as a bone, and contained a metallic tang that was unpleasant to the senses.
This, however, was a a very specific battlefield. This was the place where Hanzo had defeated Jiraya, Tsunade and Orochimaru in their youth and christened them the Sannin.
Tobi unceremoniously tossed Hanzo onto the cracked earth, then settled back to wait, going over the various lures he could use to maneuver Hanzo into accepting his offer. Having never actually met the man before besides the most fleeting of encounters, he was going to have to think of several potential strategies. The landscape would work to his advantage here.
If Hanzo was an idealist, as he had heard, he could use the ruined land around them as an example of the horrors of war. The desire for peace was a surprisingly common trait in shinobi, and an unexpectedly easy one to manipulate.
If Hanzo was interested in money or power, then he could use the battlefield as a way to stroke the man's ego and grease the wheels of their interaction. Ambition and avarice were quite possibly the simplest ways in existence to gain sway over someone.
If Hanzo was remorseful and seeking to make recompense for the sins of the past, he would depict himself as someone who wanted to help Hanzo make amends. This one would be trickier to pull off, but it would engender a stronger loyalty than money or power would. He could use the battlefield around them to remind Hanzo just how many horrific acts he had to make up for.
If all else failed, Tobi could use brute force and use the scene of one of Hanzo's greatest triumphs to drive home just how far he had fallen.
A couple of minutes later, Hanzo's eyelids shot open, and Tobi was treated to a piercing glare from Hanzo's odd red-and-green eyes.
The former Kage gave a grunt of surprise and immediately sprang to his feet, reaching for his kusarigama. His hand grasped empty air and he took on an expression of perplexity.
Tobi reached into his coat and tossed it to him. "Here. You may want to get it sharpened."
Hanzo let the weapon land in front of him. "How do I know you haven't rigged it with an explosive tag? Who are you?"
Ah, Hanzo of the Salamander's famous paranoia at work. He wondered just how deep it went.
"I'm a friend." Tobi answered smoothly.
Hanzo gave a grunt. "I don't have any friends. I won't ask again, who are you?"
Tobi nodded. "My name is Tobi. I'm the one who's responsible for your resurrection."
Hanzo bought his hands together into a jutsu seal. "So you're the bastard who's been controlling me like a puppet?"
The masked man raised his hands placatingly. "There's no need for that. I assure you, I was not responsible that. This is a different type of resurrection. You have full control over your body."
Hanzo scowled at him suspiciously, but lowered his hands slightly. "Why did you resurrect me? Do you intend to have me fight another one of your wars?"
Tobi shook his head. "Nothing quite so dramatic. I have a proposition for you."
The former leader of Amegakure raised an eyebrow. "A proposition?"
"Yes, a proposition." Tobi sighed. "Pick up your weapon, Hanzo. There are no explosive tags on it."
Hanzo scowled again. "You could have hidden one inside the handle."
"What possible reason could I have for doing so?" Tobi asked. "If I wanted you dead, I would have killed you while you were unconscious. How do you think you got here from the forest?"
Apparently Hanzo couldn't find a fault in his logic and the man reached down and picked up his weapon, still glowering at him.
The former leader of Amegakure raised the weapon into a defensive stance. "Now, this proposition of yours?"
Tobi adjusted his mask. "Simple. I want you to join my organisation."
"You want me to work under you?" Hanzo gave a mocking snort. "I'm no one's underling, Tobi. Still, tell me about this organisation of yours. I'll humor you."
"We are known as Ketsueki Yuuyake. We're a group dedicated to collecting the nine bijuu and using them to conquer and unite the world under our rule." Tobi lied seamlessly. "Our members are all elite shinobi."
Hanzo's eyes held a dangerous glint. "Does this organisation of yours hold any sort of connection with Akatsuki?"
That was unfortunate. Ah, well, it was going to come out eventually. It might as well be now. It was lucky that he had never officially been part of Akatsuki in this timeline.
"Four of our members were once part of Akatsuki." Tobi answered. "Beyond that, we hold no connection with them, in fact, we bear strong animosity towards Akatsuki and its leader. We're offering you a chance for revenge."
Hanzo leered at him. "You think I need your help to set my own house in order? What possible reason could I have for sharing power with you?"
Hmm... Hanzo had taken uniting the world to mean making a grab for power for the sake of merely having power. That had some rather telling implications. Tobi had been intentionally vague about the motive behind world conquest. As with many others, Hanzo had interpreted the words in a way that fit to his predominant mindset, namely that of someone with a lust for power. If he was reading Hanzo correctly, then there was none of that desire to unite the world for peaceful purposes he had heard about, just simple ambition. It was almost disappointing. The Hanzo of the past had been famed for his idealism. Now he was just another aimless tyrant, albeit an absurdly powerful one.
Well, that meant that peace and remorse were no longer viable carrots. Hanzo was also proving highly resistant to the idea of sharing power or wealth, which was unfortunate.
It was time for the stick, then.
"Because you won't be able to achieve it on your own."
Hanzo froze. "What?"
Tobi raised his chin. "You heard me. If you attempt to kill Nagato on your own, the result will be the same as the last two times you came up against him. Either you'll die, or you'll flee the battlefield like a coward."
In truth, he had no idea whether Hanzo would be able to defeat Nagato. He had no concept of just how strong Hanzo actually was. The Rinnegan used was certainly powerful, but Tobi didn't know the circumstances under which he had killed Hanzo. For all he knew, Nagato had slipped Hanzo poison and just waited for him to die. Hanzo didn't need to know that, though. What mattered was making him think that he couldn't do it.
"Coward?" Hanzo spat, face reddening with rage. "I will..."
"You'll do what, Hanzo?" Tobi asked softly, cutting Hanzo off. "Nagato already killed you once, and he's only grown in power. If you try to take your country back without my help, you will die. It's as simple as that. Nagato will tear you apart, then toss what remains of you straight back into that ditch. Do you want to go back into the ditch, Hanzo?"
Hanzo did not respond well to Tobi's patronizing question. The man's hands tightened around the handle of his weapon.
"Whether you were responsible for my resurrection or not, I will take your head for that." Hanzo growled.
"I will afford you the chance, on one condition." Tobi shot back. "If I win, you join my organisation."
"You will afford me the chance? What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Hanzo demanded.
"It means that I have a teleportation jutsu, and a long-range one at that. If I wished, I could simply leave here and return with a half-dozen Kage-level shinobi." Tobi answered. Even Hanzo couldn't be arrogant enough to believe that he could handle six S-ranked ninja at once.
"Fine." Hanzo spat. "Then I want to add a condition of my own. No teleportation jutsu. If you lose, you don't get to pussy out and run away. We settle this here, like men."
"Only if you'll accept another one of mine." Tobi replied smoothly. "No summoning jutsu. If you defeat me, it will be under your own power."
Hanzo gave a reluctant nod. Excellent. Tobi really didn't want to have to kill Hanzo's summon. They'd need it in the future.
Of course, Tobi would violate the terms in an instant if it looked like he was losing. He was fairly certain he would be victorious, but Hanzo had been considered one of the strongest shinobi of his time. A man who had defeated all three of Konoha's Sannin in their youth was not to be taken lightly, even if his skills had dulled slightly. This was going to be a tough fight.
Hanzo settled into an aggressive stance. Tobi pulled a pair of kunai out of his cloak and waited, one in each hand.
Then, Hanzo struck.
The man charged forward, blunted end of the kusarigama spinning in the air above his head. The bludgeon flew through the air in a wide arc, hurtling towards Tobi's face.
Tobi ducked under it, only to be faced with an irate Hanzo flying towards him, sickle in hand. Tobi raised his kunai to meet it and steel struck steel with a discordant clang. Tobi leapt backwards, wary of another strike from the blunted end.
Hanzo followed him, and Tobi danced backwards, dodging and blocking the strikes of Hanzo's sickle. For half a minute they dueled this way, Tobi remaining purely on the defensive.
Hanzo came in for another wide swing of the blunted piece, this one aimed at his legs. Tobi stepped backwards, then leapt in to deliver a punishing kick to the man's chest. Hanzo was sent hurtling backwards, landing in a defensive crouch.
From the first strike, Tobi had known that something was off. The rest of the blows had only confirmed his suspicions. Hanzo of the Salamander, one of the icons of the shinobi world, was no more skilled than an average jonin. The realization was as disappointing as it was irritating.
The legendary skill of Hanzo of the Salamander? Hanzo's speed was mid-jonin, at best. Sure, the man had a couple of clever kusarigama maneuvers and a black salamander venom sac, but neither were deserving of anything near the amount of veneration Hanzo recieved on a regular basis. Tobi knew of literally hundreds of shinobi with weapon skills superior to those of the man in front of him and an airborne poison like black salamander venom could be easily neutralized with a simple air jutsu. He was using one at this very moment.
Hell, Tobi was countering him with simple taijutsu and a pair of kunai, and that was saying something. While his skills in hand-to-hand combat were admitedly impressive, he was far more proficient in the ninjutsu and genjutsu fields. Against most high-level weapon users and practitioners of kenjutsu, he had to supplement his taijutsu with his intangibility techniques or counter with a weapon of his own. Here, he didn't even have to activate his Sharingan. Nagato, Kisame, Kakuzu, Sasori, hell, even Hidan would have torn Hanzo apart by now.
And yet, he'd heard such tales of Hanzo's exploits. Tobi wasn't yet willing to believe that every single one was a mere exaggeration. Hanzo had once been a name that could send hardened samurai and shinobi fleeing in terror. This... was just pathetic. Was it really possible for a shinobi's skill to atrophy this much?
As he was now, Hanzo was next to useless to him. If he was going to get any sort of worthwhile value out of Hanzo as a tool, he was going to have to break the man down completely and rebuild him from the ground up.
"Pathetic."
Hanzo looked at him with surprise, then heated fury. "Pathetic? You've hardly touched me."
Tobi's lone visible eye glittered dangerously. "I haven't been trying to touch you. Would you like me to?"
As if daring him to try, Hanzo began spinning the chain of his weapon in lazy arcs.
So be it.
Tobi ran forward, blades at the ready. Hanzo swung his chain in an overhead strike. Tobi made a feint to the left, then with an almost preternatural burst of speed darted to the right. Before Hanzo had time to blink, Tobi's hand jabbed through the air, point of the kunai blade just touching Hanzo's neck.
"Dead."
Tobi withdrew his kunai and stepped backwards. Face flushed with anger, Hanzo slashed at him with a two-handed sickle strike. Tobi caught the blow on the kunai in his artificial, Mokuton-strengthened right hand, raising the one in his left to press against Hanzo's throat once again.
"Dead."
With a growl, Hanzo attempted to shove him backwards. Tobi let him, leaping through the air and landing a good few meters away.
Hanzo's hands began flashing through hand seals. "Katon: Inferno Blade"
The sickle part of Hanzo's kusarigama began to glow a brilliant white. Tobi held off from attacking head-on again. It would be best to identify what Hanzo's jutsu did first.
Tobi slid the kunai in his right hand back into his sleeve and reached out, and a gigantic shuriken popped into existence. Rather than using Kamui's rotational power to launch the weapon, Tobi merely used his augmented strength to toss it at Hanzo. He wasn't quite sure whether Hanzo would be able to handle it at full rotational speed, and he didn't want to kill the man.
And if Hanzo couldn't handle the shuriken at the speed that he'd thrown it at, then he really would have no use for the man.
The huge weapon flew through the air, spiraling towards Hanzo's head. The man raised his sickle, and struck the shuriken as it came close. There was a hissing sound, and the sickle sliced through the shuriken like a hot knife through butter. The two halves of the weapon landed harmlessly on either side of him, the red-hot edges making the ground around them shoulder and smoke.
Interesting. Hanzo was using his Fire Release to heat his weapon's blade. To impressive temperatures too, if the ease at which it had cut through his weapon was any indication.
Tobi was starting to see hints of how Hanzo could once have been considered a shinobi legend. The man didn't have much in the way of long range offense, but with a speed increase and a little more situational awareness he could be lethal at close range. Engaging him at in a contest of blades would be suicide if he could just tear through your weapon with a single blow. Additionally, to use Fire Release in such a way without it melting your weapon bespoke of an uncommon skill with ninjutsu.
Unfortunately, a jutsu like that was only effective if you could hit something with it.
Tobi ran forward once more, right arm raised. One of the things that he had discovered after his little time-travel jaunt was that the red light that had brought him back had also increased his synchronization with the artificial cells that made up his right arm and shoulder. While his ability to use Wood Release before had been severely limited (and only usable to any real extent when he merged with Zetsu), he could now use Hashirama's jutsu to at least a partial degree.
A wave of thin, wooden tendrils shot out of the right sleeve of his cloak, descending on Hanzo like a swarm of vipers. Hanzo jumped backwards, trying to slice through the grasping strands, but they were too fast. The tendrils wrapped around his right arm like ropes and then immediately hardened, carefully avoiding coming anywhere near the glowing blade of the kusarigama.
Tobi dropped his other kunai and wrapped his left hand around Hanzo's throat, exerting a significant amount of pressure.
"Dead."
Tobi's hand tightened further, and the glow from Hanzo's weapon faded. More tendrils of wood sprouted from him arm, and wrapped themselves tightly around Hanzo's legs. The man was making choking noises, spluttering and struggling to draw breath. His eyes were still wrathful, but contained more than a hint of fear.
Tobi released the man's throat and retracted the tentacles from around Hanzo's arm, but left the ones binding his legs. The man fell to the ground, coughing weakly.
"This is the limit of your strength?" Tobi asked quietly. "This is the legendary power of Hanzo of the Salamander?"
Tobi turned and began striding towards nearby a clump of boulders. Hanzo was dragged along behind him, bare skin scraping painfully on the sharp rocks of the earth. The man was still hacking painfully, trying to get his breath back.
"Pathetic."
With a heave of exertion, Tobi swung Hanzo through the air, slamming him into a boulder with punishing force. The stone was reduced to fragments, and Hanzo gave an involuntary cry of pain as the bones of his left arm were shattered.
"You're nothing, Hanzo." Tobi declared scornfully. "A nobody. The world has passed you by and all that's left of you is this pathetic shell."
Tobi dragged Hanzo backwards, and then swung him headfirst through another rock. Chunks of stone exploded everywhere, and a river of blood began pouring down Hanzo's face.
"People used to flee at the very sound of your name, remember? Look at you now. An icon of the shinobi world? Don't make me laugh."
Tobi span Hanzo through the air and released his Wood technique, flinging Hanzo into another group of boulders several meters away. The man struck them with enough force to fracture several, then tumbled to the ground in a bloody heap.
Tobi strolled over to were he had fallen, kunai in hand. Hanzo grasped feebly at the handle of his kusarigama with bloodied fingers. Tobi stamped viciously on his right hand, and then plucked the weapon from Hanzo's limp digits. Tobi examined the weapon it intently for a second.
"You like metaphors, don't you Hanzo? Of course you do." Tobi said, in a voice dripping with disdain and mockery. "From what I've heard, you were always ranting about faith and conviction and comparing people to their weapons. Well then, how about this one? This weapon is you!"
With a cruel movement, Tobi slammed the weapon into the ground with a Wood Release-enhanced blow. The scythe end shattered into a pile of useless, rusty fragments.
"You spent so much time delivering sermons to other people about conviction that you forgot your own! You used to stand for something, Hanzo. What are you now? Just another despot, trying to protect his own power."
His speech seemed to be working. Hanzo's eyes had widened slightly when he'd bought up the man's conviction fixation. He needed to drive home how far Hanzo had fallen just a little further, and the man would probably have some sort of epiphany about the value of having purpose in life, or some similar ideological bullshit.
"Look around." Tobi knelt down and grabbed Hanzo head with both hands, roughly twisting it so that the man was forced to survey the landscape around them. Do you remember this battlefield? It's the place where you defeated Konoha's Sannin. You had conviction then, didn't you? You wanted to unite the world! You wanted to create a utopia of peace, a land free of war! Just what have you become, Hanzo? A weak, tin-pot dictator, driven only by hatred, avarice and lust for power. You're just like your weapon, dull, broken and rusty. Pathetic."
Ugh. Tobi had to hold back a desire to vomit at the nauseating quixotism and saccharine sentimentalism he was spouting. Yet, somehow, the hackneyed weapon metaphor seemed to bring about a change in Hanzo.
With herculean effort, the former leader of Amegakure began shakily getting to his feet. Tobi stepped backwards. He had done enough. Now it was time to see whether his efforts had borne fruit.
Hanzo spat a mouthful of blood onto the ground, then looked up at him with newly-determined eyes. His voice was clear and strong, and gave no hint as to the unreal pain he must be feeling "This organisation of yours. What is its purpose?"
Tobi raised his head. "I've already told you that. We want to unite the world."
"I already know that." Hanzo growled. "What I need to know is why. Give me the reason."
"You think you're in a position to make demands?" Tobi asked.
"Either you give me the reason, or you kill me here and now." Hanzo said. "There's no middle ground here, Tobi."
Tobi hesitated for just the right length of time, then pretended to sigh. "Very well. To the general public, as well as some of our more power-driven members, our goal is world domination for the sake of world domination. Our true goal, however..."
The man was trying to hide it, but Hanzo was hanging on to his every word. "Yes?"
"Our true goal..." Tobi paused again, as if he was almost embarrassed about what he was about to say. "Our true goal, or should I say, my true goal, is to create a world without war. By its very nature, the current system of shinobi nations propagates endless conflict. The only way to stop that conflict is to change the system completely. We cannot do so with merely our own power, however, so we aim to gather the bijuu to create an unstoppable force that no country can stand against."
He was channeling Nagato now. Still, what he was saying wasn't too far from the truth. The ultimate consequence of his actions would indeed be a world at peace. It would simply be through different means than the ones he was describing to Hanzo.
"Why do you need to lie?" Hanzo asked. "It would be much easier to gain public support if you portrayed yourselves as peace-makers, rather than terrorists."
"Villages don't take kindly to the idea of being conquered." Tobi replied. "Most of our members are traitors and missing-nin. Selflessness isn't a common trait amongst such people. If they knew the true reason, they would likely just leave and be done with it. As it is, I'm taking a sizable risk simply informing you of the truth."
Hanzo was silent for a good minute, likely considering all the factors and weighing his words carefully. Tobi let him. This wasn't a decision to be made lightly.
Finally, Hanzo bent down. For a second, Tobi thought he was going to kneel, but instead he simply picked up the blunted end of his ruined weapon. "Very well. I will join your group, on three conditions."
Tobi raised a hand towards him. "Name them."
"First, if this new world of yours becomes a reality, I get Amegakure." Hanzo stated.
So Hanzo hadn't been able to relinquish his vindictiveness after all? That was a pity. Still, it meant that he had something material to leverage over him. Naturally, Hanzo would be put under the eternal genjutsu of the Eye of the Moon Plan like everyone else, but he didn't have to know that.
Tobi nodded. "Done."
Hanzo straightened out of his slouch. "Second, I heal from these injuries naturally. No medical jutsu."
Now that was unexpected.
Tobi's eyebrows furrowed. "And why is that?"
"Because you're right, Tobi." Hanzo replied, a hint of iron in his tone. "I've become dull. That's got to change. No more shortcuts. You want to know how I became known as one of the most powerful shinobi in the world? It's because I clawed my way up from nothing. Sometime along the way, I forgot that. If this peace of yours is going to become a reality, I'm going to have to do the same thing again."
It looked like Hanzo had really taken his words to heart. Tobi stepped forward. "Very well, we can..."
"Leave me here."
Tobi tilted his head in confusion. "What?"
Hanzo's lips quirked upwards at him, eyes aflame with youthful vigor. "Leave me here. This land is my home. If I can't recover my strength here, on my own turf, then I don't deserve to be one of the people to usher in a new world."
"Your arm is broken!" Tobi protested. "I hope you're not planning on trying to take on Nagato by..."
Hanzo chuckled. "What, when I couldn't even handle you? No, I'm just going to recuperate, retrain my skill with my kusarigama and increase my speed. No outside help, no back-up, no guards to cushion me from harm. Just me. That's all."
Hanzo had REALLY taken his words to heart. Tobi wondered for a second whether the hit that Hanzo had taken to the head might have dislodged something. The former leader of Amegakure had seemed like the stoic, humorless type who wouldn't display positive emotion if his life depended on it. Now the man was smiling like a fresh genin who had just learnt his first flashy ninjutsu technique. It was made all the stranger by the fact that Tobi had nearly beaten the man to death not ten minutes earlier.
It was not unsimilar to the effect that Naruto Uzumaki seemed to have on people. Tobi had devoted a fair amount of time to researching the boy's past, and the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki seemed to change people's personalities left, right and center. The Godaime Kazekage had been transformed from ruthless serial murderer to devoted and caring village leader. One of the branch members of the Hyuuga clan had apparently gone from a vengeance-driven misanthrope to friendly, supportive humanitarian. If what he'd heard was correct, Naruto had even managed to break a Root member's emotional conditioning.
Now that he considered it, he really had incorporated a lot of Naruto's approach into his own speech. Apparently, the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki could inspire people even by proxy. How amusing.
Tobi shook his head in slight bemusement. "Alright. And the third condition?"
"I need a new weapon." Hanzo said.
Tobi reached into his cloak and pulled out a new kusarigama, identical to Hanzo's old one aside for an odd gleam being given off by the metal. "This weapon was forged from some of the finest chakra metal in existence. Consider it an initiation gift."
Tobi tossed it to him. Unlike before, Hanzo caught it.
The other man nodded his thanks. "Come back in thirty days. I'll be waiting."
Tobi hoped so. It would be a pain if Hanzo died after all the trouble he'd been through. Still, he would indulge the man's mawkishness. It would serve to bind the man closer to him in the long run. He'd have Zetsu keep an eye on Hanzo, make sure he didn't get into any trouble he couldn't handle.
Tobi activated his teleportation technique and disappeared, leaving Hanzo alone in the scarred, empty battlefield. The former leader of Amegakure watched him go, then turned and limped off towards a far-off grove of trees, a small smile on his face.
xXx
(Marogi Cove - East Coast of Fire Country)
Bright sunlight.
Kushimaru opened his eyes and gave a yawn.
It was nice here. Warm. The sand was comfortable.
The sun was a little bright, though.
Kushimaru reached into his shirt and pulled out a small skull. The Swordsman examined it curiously for a second, then stuck his hand up through the hole in the neck, pushing his middle and index fingers out through the holes where the eyes were supposed to be.
Eheheheheh, Ameyuri.
"So." He said.
The skull did not respond. Kushimari cleared his throat.
"So." He repeated.
The skull remained stubbornly silent. The Swordsman wiggled his fingers.
"You know." Kushimaru said. "It's considered rude to ignore someone when they're speaking to you."
The skull still did not respond.
Kushimaru sighed. "Since when did you become the silent type, Ameyuri? Fine, have it your way."
Kushimaru placed the skull on top of his own, using it as a barrier to shield his eyes from the light.
The Swordsman settled back down into his grave, wiggling around a bit to get comfortable.
Bliss.
xXx
Fin!
12,000+ words! Hell yeah!
Also, this took a REALLY long time to write.
Exciting news! My review count skyrocketed last chapter!
Well, not quite skyrocketed, but I got over twenty. Admittedly, nine of those came from one person, but that one person is awesome and I will not have anyone besmirch his/her name!
I was kind of worried that people wouldn't like what I did with Itachi last chapter, so the positive feedback was awesome.
This chapter was originally going to contain another scene where I was going to explain just what the hell is up with Kushimaru, but I figure that it's huge enough already, so I'll end it here. There will be one more Akatsuki-centered chapter, then we'll get back to the good people of Konoha. Konan and Kakuzu's arrival will be happening very soon too; either next chapter or (more likely) the one after it.
It turns out that Anko isn't actually part of the Torture and Interrogation Department. I always just assumed that she was. Damn you, fanfiction!
Hmm... I'll have to get back to Kimimaro sometime.
I've got a confession to make. I've never actually watched the original Naruto anime. I started with Shippuden, watched about two hundred and twenty something episodes (I ran out about half-way through the post Invasion of Pain Arc filler episodes), read the manga up to its current chapter, went back and then got halfway through the Adventures at Sea Arc before I got distracted and went off to do something else.
I don't really have that much of a desire to watch either the newer episodes or the original series, simply because I already know what's going to happen (from the manga and the thousands of fanfics I've read respectively).
Case in point, I've only watched a handful of the newer episodes. Hanzo seemed pretty badass in the manga, so he was originally going to get a significantly different portrayal than the one I gave him. Then I watched the Hanzo vs Milfune episode, so as to get a better idea as to his language patterns and fighting style.
Turns out, Hanzo really isn't all that impressive after all.
He's not incompetent or anything, but compared to some of the powerhouses we've seen before he just came off as kind of... lackluster. His poison was kind of cool, but his skill with the kusarigama wasn't all that fancy. His strikes were fairly slow and he didn't come across as someone with an overwhelming amount of offensive power. He just didn't match up with the image of someone who would be able to handle all three Sannin at once, even in their youth. Don't forget, Naruto and Sasuke haven't even hit eighteen yet in canon. Hanzo just comes across as a slightly above-average jonin with an impressive summon.
The canon explanation is that Hanzo's skills atrophied from lack of use, which I guess makes sense, but goddamn, that is some insane degradation. Especially considering that people used to consider him one of the strongest ninja of his time.
So this was my compromise. Now, on to something else!
Nfiwinfew: if you go back and read chapter two carefully, you should get a vague idea of why Konoha became petrified. That said, I will go into the details as a later date. The thing is, within the world of this story there is only one being in existence who knows the whole truth about what happened that night, and they won't be showing up in the story for a while yet. So we'll get to it eventually, but there's quite a lot of ground to cover up until that point.
Impstar: Yep, that's a good point. The whole time travel thing has really screwed things up, there's no doubt about that. On the other hand, if they hadn't come back then everyone would either be dead or under eternal genjutsu. It's still the lesser of two evils.
imsabbel: Why don't the rest of the survivors just end it? Because then this wouldn't be a very interesting story. One guy in an earlier chapter did actually do what you said, but these are hardened ninja who have grown up on "Will of Fire" speeches. They're not going to give up 'till the end.
To those wonderful people who called this one of the best time-travel stories on the site, I can't help but feel that there are other fics more deserving of that title than mine. That said, you guys are awesome and it's your feedback that gets me motivated to write in the first place. So thank you all!
Oh yeah, I came up with some names for the various arcs this story is going to be covering. I'm going to go ahead and list them here.
- Opening Arc
- Shadow of Konoha Arc
- Puppetry Arc
- Foolish Little Brother Arc
- Ashes of Konoha Arc
- Clash of Wind and Rain Arc
- Chekhov's Dark Horse Arc
- Savages of the Fifth Arc
- Fractured Alliance Arc
- Melody Dissonance Arc
- Whirlwind of Lightning Arc
- Cartographical Redefinition Arc
- Requiem Arc
Currently, we're still in the Opening Arc. The lengths of each arc are going to vary HUGELY though, so this is just going to give you a basic idea of where we're at storyline-wise. Also, arcs may be subject to change/deletion.
This chapter is dedicated to Insanely-Yours96.
See you next time!
Read and Review!
