"If Neji took Hinata, it is because he is being manipulated." Hiro Hyuga spoke before the jonin council. "I have no doubt both he and Sasuke are being manipulated by Madara."

"You are blinded by the fact that Sabui is your grandson." Inoichi Yamanaka retorted, frustrated. He was ready to pull out his sandy blonde hair strand by strand, as haywire as things had been ever since Pain's attack on the village. He was not even quite sure if he should be trusting this entire room of elders, clan leaders, and high ranking jonin. Based on the recently revealed past events, even the hokage was not above suspicion. And unfortunately, at present the only two, who he had complete confidence in, were his old teammates and best friends, Choza Akimichi and the current jonin commander, Shikakui Nara. "And I get it but…"

"And Hinata is my granddaughter. I am not blind to anything. But Sabui has been corrupted and weakened from all of the years that he has spent under Orochimaru, Danzo, and Madara's influence. While Hinata has grown into a strong and capable shinobi. I also have no doubt that she will come out of this ok. While Neji… I'm not so sure about." Hiro scolded. "Besides Homura and Koharu, I am the only one who is old enough to have lived among those who remembered Madara Uchiha when he was a konoha shinobi and leader of the Uchiha clan."

Hiro continued. "My great aunt, Lady Eiko Hyuga, was leader of the Hyuga clan then. She was also one of the few people who had a relationship with Madara and whom he might have even cared for… in some form or fashion. Even she was very much afraid of him. All of this… is Madara's doing. He will have ensured that Neji, Sasuke, and any other involved in his plot are acting exactly how he planned for them to act. Every single last one of them. If he wanted Hinata, he was going to get her one way or another."

Hiro turned to look at Yamato. "The reason why Madara approached Naruto that night in the north is because Naruto was able to influence Nagato, one of his most loyal subordinates. If Madara admitted that he believes Naruto is an embodiment of Hashirama, it is because he sees Naruto as a rival. He is afraid Naruto may be able to influence the others.

Even as power hungry as Madara is, there was a time that even he would have turned back from that dark path. So just like Naruto, Marada also believes that Sasuke is not completely lost, yet."

"So then, he will want to get rid of Naruto as quickly as possible." Shikaku stated.

"Not really his style. He will want to defeat him in battle. Finally prove that he is the stronger of the two. Uchiha versus Senju. That is more Madara's style." Homura stated.

" And he will use Hinata and Sasuke to bait Naruto into that fight." Shikaku replied.

"I agree with everything Hiro has said. And the intel that Kakashi has sent back is proof that Madara was manipulating Danzo... and likely Orochimaru the entire time too. Hiruzen was right. We should have found a way to make things right between the village and the Uchiha clan. Madara set the nine tails against the village and kidnapped those children in order to widen the gap between the village and the Uchihas, so his own people would become a target… Sacrificial lambs to push the two children, who he wanted, towards that accursed power of the Uchiha bloodline. A punishment for those who dared to defy him. And like fools, we fell for it." Homura scowled pushing his glasses up his nose. He clutched his fists together in frustration. "He hid the altered Hyuga, while letting Lord Third discover the Uzumaki clone because he knew with the help of an Uchiha, the girl could be hidden in plain sight, and this discovery would strain Danzo and Hiruzen's relationship even further, ensuring Hiruzen would protect both Itachi and Sasuke at all costs, even to his own life. I should have seen this when Lord Third insisted on placing Naruto and Sasuke on a genin team together. Hiruzen knew Itachi would protect that bond, ensuring he would continue to keep the girl out of Danzo's hands."

"It also pushed Orochimaru's forbidden experimenting into the light, causing the rift between Lord Third and his student which forced Orochimaru to the Akatsuki." Shikadai added.

"Orochimaru did not remain with the Akatsuki long." Inoichi pointed out.

"Long enough to hate Itachi and want to possess his brother and his power."

"Though I don't quite believe Orochimaru is or was being manipulated. At least not in the way the others are." Tsunade shook her head, deep in thought as she spoke. "He surely hated the Akatsuki because he saw through their supposed "higher" purpose and the group did not serve his own self centered goals. Despite everything our master did to prevent this... Orochimaru is evil, but there is nothing he hates more than to be used to do the dirty work of others. He might be the one loose end that Madara was never able to fully tie up."

Tsunade continued, "Plus, Madara obviously wanted him dead. If Sasuke killed him and then Itachi killed him again. The rumors that Orochimaru is still alive in some form or another… are likely true. Though he tried to make secret of it, Orochimaru did achieve sage level, and like Madara, I am absolutely certain he was not given a sage's rebirth or accepted into the Pure Land."

"Also like Madara, he never does anything that does not benefit himself and his power." Koharu grumbled in agreement.

"So, if we want the rest of the answers, we should find Orochimaru." Shikaku said to himself. "Madara probably wanted him dead because he knows too much."

"Lady Tsunade, I propose we form a small group of intel gathers and tracker nins to interrogate the girl from Taka. She worked for Orochimaru for years. We can use that information to find him. The rest of us will gather our forces and join up with the allied forces." Shikaku suggested.

"I agree. I have sent Kakashi ahead to track down Naruto with Itachi's assistance, the rest of us will soon follow." Tsunade nodded and began to speak again, before she was interrupted by Shizune entering the chamber.

"Excuse me, mi'lady." She said apologetically. She walked over to Tsunade and leaned forward to whisper in her ear. "Sai and Shikamaru are outside. They state it is very important that they speak to you."

"We already know about the Kushina Uzumaki clone." Tsunade replied, crossing her arms over her chest. "Kakashi has found Itachi Uchiha alive and sent back his intel."

"And the altered Hyuga?" Shikamaru replied.

"We know Orochimaru took one of his byakugan and gave it to Danzo. Other than that we have no idea why Madara had him hidden for so long."

"I've encountered Sabui before. While I was with the root." Sai stated. "I couldn't say anything before because of Danzo's curse mark. But several years ago, some of us were sent to guard a lab on the outskirts of the Land of Trees. I never saw them with my own eyes, but I heard whispers that both Orochimaru and Kabuto ran the lab. Sometimes we would be assigned to escort Sabui back and forth or to take food to the place where he was held. He was kept in the same area as another shinobi named Kimimaro. A ninja from the Kaguya clan who had the clan's rare shikotsumyaku. At first it was not clear what they were doing with them, but later, I could tell from some of the conversation that they were harvesting cells. They were only held there for a few months and then they both disappeared."

Tsunade frowned. "But for what purpose?"

"I would guess it has something to do with all of the rest of the experimenting that went on under Orochimaru." Shikamaru replied thinking out loud. "And I'm thinking that is why they took Hinata… not just to bait Naruto. Based on Sakura's report of what happened at the bridge, Sasuke appeared sick before Madara took him away. Maybe that was because he used too much chakra, fighting Danzo and then team seven… or maybe it's because Madara is doing something to him. We already know Orochimaru was injecting him with all kinds of drugs, using curse marks… to make him immune to poisons and to enhance his abilities, etc. If Madara was injecting him with something to enhance his powers but it need to be stabilized or had side effects that needed to be suppressed… to keep him alive long enough…"

"The side effects would have been unmasked, after he used up so much chakra." Tsunade continued. "And this time he did not have Orochimaru's chakra to draw on since Itachi released and killed it. But what would be the end goal? And if they had Sabui, what do they need Hinata for?"

"I don't know." Shikamaru replied. "Hinata is able to be bound to the nine tails… Not every Hyuga is able to be sealed directly to the Tailed Demon Fox, in fact, most aren't. Maybe he needs to push Sasuke even further and Sabui's cells just aren't cutting it anymore."

"So, it all worked out in the end, Madara." Black zetsu said from inside his green plant shell. "Danzo's endless greed, Itachi's inspiring self sacrifice, and Masuku's heartwarming devotion to her sensei have given us exactly what we needed to bypass Nagato's flub up."

"That is if Sasuke manages to pull this off." Madara replied, watching the young Uchiha who lay in an unconscious state on a stone slab like bed. "I am impressed by his resilience though. With how hard and how fast I've had to push him, even with the Hyuga's cells, he should be by all rights dead already."

Black Zetsu smiled, maliciously. "I'm going to miss his sour disposition when he is gone."

"It won't be long now." Madara said tasting the delicious power on his tongue. "He is almost ready to give us exactly what we want."

Proudly, Guy stood with his arms crossed as he watched his quarry's legs and arms bound tight... What did that guy say his name was again? Kissminee... Killemlee? No matter... he certainly was a worthy opponent! To defeat this mighty foe, I had to open my seventh gate of shock, unleashing the daytime tiger and bathing this body in that oh so sweet blue sweat!

After returning to his comrades with an unconscious Kisame in tow, everyone was quite impressed with Guy's physical prowess, though no one was impressed with the amount of sweat that he was still spraying on everyone as he past by. Yick!

"Might Guy. I guess you really are capable despite the way you look... but that foul smelling sweat of yours has got my nose shook! Phew!" Killer Bee rapped, waving his hand in Guy's direction. The sharkskin sword leaning against him also snarled in Guy's direction, perturbed by the smell. Killer Bee soothed Samehada's irritation by cooing and tickling her under her jawline.

Aoba pushed his glasses up his nose and shook his head, commenting on both his comrade and the Kumo jinchuuriki, "Can this get any weirder?"

Killer Bee was in the middle of battling the Akatsuki when Aoba, Might Guy, and the clouds' best tracker nin, Motoi, showed up looking for him.

After the rift created by Sasuke's attack on Kumo's remaining jinchuuriki, upon waking, Lady Tsunade sent Guy and Aoba Yamshiro as envoys to Kumo with intel on the particular Akatsuki, who was known to be targeting Killer Bee. Guy, who had fought Kisame before, though he only vaguely remembered this encounter, and Aoba, who was skilled at intel gathering as well as proficit in multiple other ninjutsu and genjutsu.

After a long battle, Guy finally incapacitated Kisame with the deadly punch, daytime tiger, which was completely resistant to Kisame's chakra absorption. Now bound, Aoba attempted to gather as much intel as possible by entering the Akatsuki's mind with his psycho mind transmission, a specialty of the Yamanaka clan.

But where this deep dive led him was much more profitable than he even hoped...

Kisame stood over his master's body, as Fuguki Suikazan lay bleeding out on the stone ground. The man spat out his last words mixed with blood. "Kisame... why..."

Ignoring the question, Kisame threw away his sword and leaned over the body, relieving Samehada from her strap and placing her on his own back. He had no answer for that question. He had no moral qualm with Fuguki's selling intel to other enemy villages. In fact, he may have helped him do so if he saw some benefit for himself. As a killer of comrades, he had never known true loyalty. His world was filled with nothing but lies. His master's betrayal was truly just an excuse to kill him and take the power of the great sword Samehada for himself.

But then, he found that he was not actually alone in the chamber. A small shadow loomed in the hall just beyond the archway. "Good work, Kisame."

Kisame turned and grasped at his hilt, ready to strike if necessary. Then the shadow moved out into the light and he saw that it was a child. A boy who was no more than thirteen or fourteen years old. "I was right. Fuguki was colluding with the enemy. And as his killer... from now on you are the owner of his blade. And my loyal subordinate as well."

"Or... at least I am until you decide to eliminate me too. Am I right?" Kisame narrowed his fish like eyes, suspiciously. "Lord Fourth Mizakage."

The mizakage moved further into the light so his green hair and lavender eyes were fully visible. "I can trust you because of who you are. For the sake of our people and our village, you have always done our dirty work. You followed through on the most treacherous assignments. You have no fanciful notions. You are well aware that this world is full of lies and deceit."

Kisame scoffed at the odd praise. "And all of that knowledge has led me nowhere. It makes me question my own truth as much as anyone else's. Friend or foe? Murderer or hero? Mist shinobi or rogue scum? This false existence has me trapped."

Another shadow appeared beyond the Mizakage as though out of thin air, long wild spiky black hair causing the man to look more animal than human. A deeper and older voice came from the second shadow. "Let me help free you from the pain of that falsehood. I will create a place where you and those like you will belong."

Kisame did not like the cold sensation wafting off the presence of this man. He had been knee deep in the evil of men many times, but this creature was something beyond even that. He grabbed at the hilt of his sword. "Who are you?"

"We'll start with this nation. It has been so amenable in the past... You have worked hard to deal with and dispose of your comrades up until now. Join me and become my comrade. Together, we will bend Kirigakure fully to our will."

"You seem to be willing to put a fair amount of trust in me." Kisame hissed, tightening his grip on his sword. "Too bad I can't do the same since I have no idea who you are."

A gleaming red eye appeared from the darkness. The power radiated from it as though it were actually emitting light. The word slipped lightly from Kisame's lips. "Sharingan."

He let go of his sword and stood up straighter. "So it was you all along. The bloody mist... the suddenly brutal and ruthless ideals of our leader. It was the sharingan manipulating the Mizakage. But what kind of visual prowess is powerful enough to manipulate a human... and even more impressive, a jinchuuriki?"

Kisame growled and demanded. "Just who exactly are you? Tell me?"

"Madara Uchiha."

Kisame scoffed. "Everyone knows Madara Uchiha is long dead."

"I am dead." Madara replied. "But still... here I am speaking to you."

"Reveal yourself!"

Madara took a step forward closer to the light. "Very well... but then you must decide if you are going to trust me or not."

...

Aoba leaned forward, and sucked in his breath excitedly. "I'm about to see the man in mask's actually face!"

Then the connection abruptly ended as Kisame bit off his own tongue. Reflexively, Aoba removed his hand from Kisame's forehead, feeling the pain like an electric shock. "Unbelievable, he pushed me out of his head by biting off his own tongue!"

Kisame was writhing around on the ground, blood dripping from his mouth as his eyes rolled back into his head. He began to laugh uncontrollably. He yelled to no one in particularly. "Project tsuki no me! True world free of lies! Project tsuki no me! True world free of lies!"

He broke his bonds, roaring before making hand seals. "Water prison jutsu! Summoning jutsu!"

Guy attempted to punch into the water prison but he could not reach the shinobi. "DAMMIT! I can't get to him!"

Aoba slid into a fighting stance too. "Don't worry. He's trapped. But we need to capture him alive to get his intel. Don't let him kill himself!"

Kisame smiled closing his eyes. He thought back to the one person, who he had managed to connect with in this life. The one person who had been like a brother. Itachi Uchiha.

Four years prior...

"You don't understand me. You don't even understand yourself. You're just a thug who got lost in the mist and is wandering aimless without any true destination. Am I wrong?" Itachi replied, not bothering to turn around to look at his new partner. Kisame's mouth curled into what appeared to be more of a snarl than an actual smile, baring his sharp teeth. He placed Samehada to Itachi's neck.

Then he leaned forward and hissed, "You've killed comrades... in fact, you killed your entire clan. I've killed comrades. In fact, that was my entire existence within the mist. Now we are Akatsuki members and comrades of each other... so be wary... of me."

He lift his sword from Itachi's neck as he saw the other Akatsuki's sharingan activate upon the water surface. Itachi got up and walked past him without stopping to look. "Same goes for you."

"Well then... now let's be friends and have some fun alright?" Kisame said in a lighter tone that sounded just as malicious. But he followed Itachi from the deck. "Maybe we won't be each other's final opponents."

"No one, who dares to raise their hands against a comrade, ever dies a decent death." Itachi finally stopped and inspected his new comrade. He noted that the man looked too much like a shark and not enough like a man. "Remember that."

Kisame scoffed. "That's no matter now. Our fates are already sealed. It seems that you and I are to forever be depraved and worthless."

"Not true. We are humans... not fish. No matter how many terrible things a man has done, he will never know the kind of person he has become until he reaches the very end... Will your death be unworthy? Will it find you a place in the Pureland? Will your actions continue to live on in the minds and hearts of others... as a sort of rebirth? The moment of death tells everything about how one's life was lived."

Presently...

"Itachi... my death will not be unworthy!" Kisame's sharks began a feeding frenzy within the water prison, consuming him to death.

Naruto was unaware of how long he had been locked in Madara's prison. Stale bread was dumped through a slot at the bottom of the door from time to time. And the water basin was kept full with fresh water, but he saw no one for what felt like days.

He spent the time training. The use of Kurama's chakra made him extraordinarily powerful even compared to his sage mode. To the point where he likely could have caved in the entire structure if this was all about just escaping. But he had to figure out how to entice Madara into sending him to the dimension where Hinata was held.

It was obvious that Madara wanted more than just to steal Kurama and kill him. The fact that he had been held so long meant the elder Uchiha was preparing for something.

"Let me speak to him when he finally comes for you." Kurama suggested. "If he knows you have complete control over my power, he will be even more distracted than before. The only thing that the Madara, I knew loved more than power, was a great battle."

When he accessed the tailed beast's chakra, it surrounded him like a brilliant yellow light. His illuminated white chakra mixed completely with Kurama's fiery red chakra. It caused the prison cell to heat up like an oven, the walls trembling with the ferocity of raw power. The first time he shifted into beast mode a combustible explosion went off... BANG!

Naruto released the nine tails chakra and listened anxiously for a few minutes.

"No one heard." Kurama replied.

After daring to shift to beast mode a few more times, Naruto finally understood how Kurama knew these things. Like in sage mode, his ability to sense and identify chakra signatures increased greatly, but it also connected him to others like the binding seal had connected him to Hinata. He could always sense her emotions, in particular a shift of emotion. If she felt something strong enough it may influence his own feelings. In beast mode it was the same only, he could only feeling negative emotions... anger, fear, sadness, hatred, disappointment. He thought no wonder Kurama hated everyone so much.

Finally, the small peek hole door in the large wooden cell door opened and the masked face appeared. "Awww... so it appears you have been waiting patiently like I asked."

"He's not waiting. I'm waiting." Kurama's deep rumbling voice came from Naruto's mouth. The foxy features of the nine tailed beast stretched Naruto's face in a distorted fashion. Kurama's fiery eyes matched forces with the glare of the sharingan that flashed reflexively behind the mask. "Don't be naive, Madara. Even you can't control me within Naruto anymore."

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure of that, my old friend, Kurama." Madara's wily smile could be felt from behind the mask. "I've controlled a jinchuuriki who had complete control over their tailed beast before."

Kurama scoffed. "You dare to compare me to a weak minded being like the three tailed beast! Me?! The great Kurama?!"

"When I'm controlled, it's by a shinobi with immense power, who should never be underestimated. Wouldn't you agree Madara... or is it Obito now?"

"Tomorrow." Madara's voice became cold. "Your Naruto will battle my Sasuke. The winner will get the girl."

"You already know Naruto will not kill Sasuke." Kurama replied, annoyed. Then tauntingly, he added, "Just like Hashirama would never kill you... though he had many, many chances."

"He will if he wants his girl back alive. Tomorrow. Noon." Angrily, Madara snapped the peephole door shut.

Kurama turned Naruto's body back over to his jinchuuriki. Then he growled. "You may have to kill Sasuke."

Naruto shook his head, defiantly. "No. I won't have to kill Sasuke."

"That's what I figured you'd say," Kurama sighed.

Hinata offered some of her water to the scarred faced man. He took it gratefully, but he did not drink. "Who are you? How did you get here?"

Obito shook his head, just as confused himself. The last thing he remembered was Rin's death. It had replayed over and over in his mind for almost two decades. "My name is Obito Uchiha... I use to... well, I once was..."

He was not sure what he was. He had not been a konoha shinobi or an Uchiha since he was thirteen. He could tell from the reflection in the small pond like mirror that set in the middle of this strange world that he was far from thirteen any longer.

Rubbing his face and pulling at his short hair, he frowned at the grown man in the mirror. Then he looked over at the girl whose kind disposition reminded him so much of his Rin. "Madara took my body. Then he threatened to kill Rin... and I remember watching her die. Kakashi... his chidori went through her chest and then she turned into a tree."

"Kakashi?" Hinata perked up at the name. "I know Kakashi. He is Naruto's team leader. Team seven."

Obito frowned. "Team seven. That was our team number... He is like Minato Sensei then?"

"Minato... Lord Fourth. He was Naruto's father." Hinata smiled. She felt lucky to have found a friend in this desolate place. Though neither she nor he knew how and why he had lost so much time.

"Minato is gone then?" Obito surmised folornly. "And Naruto? Minato's son. Who is he? He must also be a great shinobi too."

"He is." Hinata replied confidently.

Obito noted the way she looked when she spoke about this boy. It was the same look Rin had given him that night when she final told him how she felt in return. "Where is he now?"

"I don't know. I can't feel him through the binding seal any longer. Sasuke Uchiha and my cousin Neji took me and Madara brought me here. Where are we anyway?"

"It's my dimension. The Uchihas called the power to transport here the Kamui. The old wives tale of the three dimensions connected to the mind, the body, and the spirit. The user of the Kamui would be the all powerful god of any of those dimensions that he was able to access. Madara now holds the power to enter and exit this place at will since he took my body. But he is not the only one. The sharingan that I gave to Kakashi can access this dimension too."