Disclaimer: I own Naruto about as much as I own a mansion and a fleet of lambourghinis...which I do in fact. Heh, just kidding.
Author's Note: Sorry for the late (by about a week) update; I've been busy lately with summer and friends and family. But, better late then never, so please enjoy the latest installment of It's Rikudou Hiraishin to You!
Chapter 24: Dream of a Bijuu's Past
"Guess whose back! Did you miss me, dear brother of mine?"
Namikaze Minato, the revered Fourth Hokage, looked upon the almost-identical copy of himself with an expression of abject horror and a stare so intense that he failed to notice two other cloaked figures shuffle into the room behind his time-displaced grandson.
As he watched Uzumaki Choetsu, the Rikudou Hiraishin, beam at him with a giant, mischievous grin from across the room, Minato couldn't help but think, 'Of all the people in the world who could be having an appointment with me right now, it just had to be him. I really don't want to deal with this, whatever this is about.'
And so, without saying anything, the Yondaime simply stared. And stared. And stared. And stared. And stared. And stared. And stared. And-…
"Oh come on! Aren't you going to say anything for the "welcomed" arrival of your long lost brother, Mi-na-to-nii?" The way in which Choetsu had annunciated his name, in such a playful and mischievous fashion, sent cold shivers down Minato's spine and triggered numerous warning signals in his brain.
Warning signals that caused him to immediately flee in panic using his signature Hiraishin no Jutsu.
"And there he goes," said Choetsu with an amused tone, upon witnessing the yellow flash, "To be honest though; I expected him to panic the instant I entered the room and immediately flee-on-sight. Heh, see what I did there."
"Hilarious," deadpanned Sasori.
Konan gave a brief, tiny laugh at the exchange before joining in, "Why am I not surprised that even the legendary Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure is scared shitless of you."
Choetsu simply shrugged before snapping his fingers, causing the Fourth to reappear back in the room with another yellow flash. Upon realizing that he was back in his office, rather than on the abandoned, tropical island of his that he had chosen to flee to, Minato immediately panicked and tried to escape again with Hiraishin.
It didn't work.
"Don't bother with the Flying Thunder God technique," said Choetsu, "I sealed this room in its own little pocket dimension, detached from the rest of reality. You won't be able to teleport out of it anytime soon. By the way; I always thought that it was rather funny that your version of Hiraishin is physically incapable of bypassing dimensional barriers, when the technique it was based on, Kuchiyose no Jutsu, is specifically designed for inter-dimensional transportation."
"What do you mean "your" version of Hiraishin," inquired the blonde-haired Namikaze, speaking for the first time since the "appointment" had started.
His time-travelling descendent smirked, before replying, "Haven't you noticed the fact that I can teleport wherever the hell I want, jutsu-shiki be damned. And yes; that includes teleporting across dimensions."
"So you upgraded my jutsu, huh. You seriously need to teach me that."
"Sorry gramps; it would cause way to many complications if I taught you such an advanced technique this early in the timeline. And that's just my way of saying that I'm too damn lazy to teach you," explained the True Rikudou, "Besides; you seem to be doing perfectly fine without it. You kicked an Izanagi-using Danzo's ass all over the place while still relying on those admittedly awesome kunai of yours, with a little help from Itachi-kun of course."
Minato's eyes widened upon hearing his grandson's statement, "Wait! You saw that?"
"Of course! I see everything! Even Konan-chan when she's in the shower, washing her unbelievably sexy body and moaning Nagato's name while she mast-MMPH!" began Choetsu, before being interrupted short of finishing his sentence when an enraged Konan violently slapped him in the face.
"I'm gonna kill you, Choetsu!"
What happened next was so utterly brutal and traumatizing that it was literally beyond human comprehension. So we'll skip this part. All that one needed to know was that this scene was the ultimate embodiment of the phrase "hell hath no fury like a women scorned".
When it was over, Choetsu was left in a smoking pile on the floor. Konan had somehow caused the Rikudou to spontaneously combust, despite not having a single Katon in her arsenal. It was only thanks to a quick Suiton from Minato that the angel's hapless victim was only smoking and not burning right now.
An awkward silence promptly set in, as the two remaining males in the room still conscious looked at Choetsu's smoking body, then to Konan, then back again to Choestu.
"So…"
"Yeah…"
"Right…
"Uh huh…"
"…"
"…"
"Holy shit, Konan-chan! I love you!" exclaimed a now awakened Choetsu as he suddenly jumped up from his fetal position on the floor, before pulling an utterly shocked and flustered Konan into a constricting bear hug, "I love you, I love you, I love you! That was the best foreplay I've ever had! Okay, maybe not the best, but you get my point."
Minato and Sasori simply gaped at the incredibly bizarre scene, unable to process what had just happened right in front of their eyes.
"F-f-f-f-f-f-f-foreplay; w-what the hell are you talking about!" stammered a bewildered Konan.
"While you were beating the hell out of me in your oh-so sexy way, I was using my selective masochism technique to convert all of my pain into sweet, sweet pleasure. It was basically like having intercourse for me!"
Konan started twitching, "Your…your selective masochism…is an actual technique?"
"Duh! Of course it's a technique. What better way to unnerve and discourage an enemy torture specialist than to suddenly scream out "I'm coming!" in the middle of an interrogation session, while genuinely meaning it. I call it Selective Masochism no Jutsu!"
"…for the sake of all that is sane, I'm not even going to bother asking."
"A wise decision, young grasshopper," replied Choetsu with a shit-eating grin.
"Anyways!" interjected Minato, in a desperate attempt to steer the conversation to a less disturbing topic, while his own mind tried and failed to repress the memory of what had just happened, "Back to what I was saying before; so apparently, you, Choetsu, watched my entire fight with Danzo, and didn't bother stepping in?"
Choetsu shrugged once again, "You didn't need it. You and Itachi-chan were kicking Danzo's ass all over the place, which was quite amusing to watch. By the way; you do know that Danzo's Izanagi had a one minute time limit for each eye, and that he only had ten eyes, right? Which means he could only use Izanagi for up to ten minutes…"
Minato pondered Choetsu's words for a second, before coming to a realization that caused him to facepalm, "I could've just kept killing him over and over again without a plan, and he would have died in the same amount of time!"
"That's right! Your way was more fun though. And a lot more humiliating for Danzo."
Minato sighed, "Well, what happened is what happened. And now you're here, and I know from experience that there's nothing I can do about that. So; what's the purpose of this meeting, Choetsu?"
"Oh, lots of things, actually! But I'll let Konan-chan elaborate on the first and foremost one," said the blonde Rinnegan-user, before gesturing to the female cloaked figure on his left; the same one who had beaten him into submission just a couple minutes earlier, although it was obvious now that Choetsu had only allowed her to do so for his own sick pleasure.
'There's that name again; Konan. So this is Konan, huh. And the name "Nagato" was also mentioned earlier,' mused the Yondaime, 'Could they be related to the three Ame orphans Jiraiya-sensei always used to talk about when I was a genin.'
Then, the cloaked figure removed the straw hat she was wearing, revealing exotic blue hair, cat-like amber eyes, pale skin, and a pierced chin. On her forehead was a slashed Rain hitae-ate.
'It has to be her; she matches an adult version of the description Jiraiya-sensei had given her perfectly. Plus, she's wearing a headband with the Ame symbol on it.'
"You…you're Konan, aren't you; one of Jiraiya-sensei's former students from the Hidden Rain. But…you're supposed to be dead. Jiraiya-sensei said you three were dead," said Minato out loud. Konan's brow rose in confusion, before realization dawned on her face.
'Of course; I should probably have expected this reaction, especially considering who the Yondaime's teacher was,' thought Konan, before speaking, "You are correct, Hokage-sama. I am one of the three orphans from Amegakure whom your sensei Jiraiya had trained during his time in our land, alongside my partner Nagato, who is now the leader of our village. And I am his right hand."
Minato's eyes widened, "Wait; if Nagato-san is the leader of Amegakure no Sato, then what happened to Hanzo?" The last time an outsider had any intel on the isolated Rain village, it was during the reign of Hanzo the Salamander, a powerful and ruthless shinobi on par with Konoha's Densatsu no Sannin. But that was over a decade ago; things must have changed drastically if this Konan was claiming her partner to be the new leader of Amegakure.
"Nagato killed him. It was during Ame's civil war, near the end of the Third Great Shinobi World War," explained Konan, stoic as ever.
The Fourth paled visibly at this, "Are you serious? That's…that's unbelievable. Hanzo was one of the most powerful shinobi in history. He fought all three of our Sannin at once during the Second War, and they would have died if he hadn't chosen to spare them. He was a monster of a shinobi, and you're saying that your partner Nagato killed him."
Konan nodded.
"It isn't as unbelievable as it sounds when you know more of the details," interjected Choetsu, "Hanzo had grown old and weak. He was out of practice, and his paranoia had gotten the better of him. And Nagato-chan had a trump card of his own…"
"…a Rinnegan, just like mine."
Minato bugged out again, shocked by the new reveal, 'Nagato has a Rinengan! Sensei didn't say anything about that.'
"It's true. His is not as powerful as Choetsu-san's, of course, but Nagato is extremely formidable in his own right," said Konan, "In fact, his power is so great that he is worshipped as a deity in my village, known by the villagers as "Lord Pain". That's one of the reasons why I believe your Konohagakure will benefit immensely from an alliance with us."
"An alliance? Are…are you proposing what I think you're proposing?" inquired Minato, nearly dumbfounded.
Konan nodded, "Yes; the whole point of my presence here is to open up friendly diplomatic relations between my village and yours. I believe we both stand to benefit from such a union."
Minato looked at Choetsu, unsure. The blonde Rikudou responded to his grandfather's unspoken question with, "Why the hell are you looking at me for? As a warm-blooded, heterosexual, adult human male, your eyes should naturally gravitate towards the only individual in the room lacking a Y chromosome."
Minato returned with a look that clearly said, 'You know damn well why I'm looking at you!' to which Choetsu responded with an audible sigh, before snapping his fingers and causing time itself to stop. Minato gaped as everything around them froze, including Konan and the other cloaked figure in the room.
He turned around and looked out the large glass windows behind his desk, only to find that his entire village and the world beyond had likewise become crystallized within a brief moment in time, prevented from reaching the next nanosecond by the very force of Choetsu's will and chakra.
"Jikan no Kami (God of Time), a very useful jutsu," explained the Rikudou Hiraishin, "Now you're free to discuss with me whatever it is that you wanted to discuss with me before, but couldn't because of your unwillingness to offend our guest. Oh, and yes; I already know what you're going to say, of course, just humor me."
Minato rolled his eyes, before beginning, "Well, first of all; what have you been doing all this time that you were gone. I mean, what have you really been doing? I'm sure you weren't just playing diplomatic matchmaker with people from Jiraiya-sensei's past, who really shouldn't be alive."
Choetsu smirked, "You wound me with your accusations, Minato-jiji. I really was playing diplomatic matchmaker; I wasn't lying about that. Well, I wouldn't really call it diplomacy; more like bribery. Yep, that's a much better term for it."
"Bribery? Who were you bribing, and with what…dare I ask?"
"I bribed the self-proclaimed god of the Village Hidden in the Rain. You see; Nagato and Konan both share a dream that is normally impossible under normal circumstances, but…" began Choetsu.
"…but when it comes to you, nothing is ever impossible or normal. You offered to help them fulfill their dream, didn't you?" finished Minato.
"A very astute observation, my dearest grandfather."
"And in exchange for doing so, they would have to ally themselves with Konoha."
"Naturally."
"But can they be trusted?" questioned Minato with a hint of concern, "Amegakure no Sato has been highly isolated for quite some time, and we don't know if-…"
"Trust me, gramps; Nagato will not betray us. As long as I continue to support his ultimate goal, he'll have nothing but unwavering loyalty towards the Leaf. And as long as their beloved Lord Pain is our ally, all of Ame will follow," assured Cheotsu.
"Yeah, but that's another problem. What is his ultimate goal?" asked the Fourth, "What if it's something that Konoha cannot or should not support."
"That won't be a problem," replied the Kamikage, "Nagato's dream, which he inherited from his late friend Yahiko, and which Konan-chan also shares, is the same dream held by your sensei, the old perverted hermit."
Minato's eyes widened, "You mean…the dream of a genuine peace, and the end of the corrupt shinobi system. That's what Nagato wants?"
"Yes, and he's willing to do anything to achieve it; even allying with the village that has caused him so much suffering."
Minato's eyes narrowed in curiosity, "What do you mean? What has Konoha done to him?"
"It's a long story, one that I have no real right to tell you," explained the Eight Hokage, "Of course, that usually wouldn't be a problem for me, but right now I feel like you should really hear this from Nagato himself, when you finally meet him."
"And I would really like to," replied the Yellow Flash, "He is my fellow disciple after all. And I'm sure Jiraiya-sensei would love to hear about this. But, back to business; who's that other fellow that accompanied you here? He hasn't really talked much since the meeting started, and his identity has yet to be revealed."
"Oh, him; don't worry, that's just puppet boy…better known in the shinobi world as Akasuna no Sasori."
"WHAT! You mean Sasori of the Red Sands, an S-Rank missing-nin and one of the most wanted criminals in Sunagakure history! Are you insane; what the hell are you doing with a dangerous fugitive who another major hidden village could go to war against us for?"
"Geez, don't get your panties in a bunch, Ji-chan; Sasori's under my protection. Suna will never discover his alliance with us. That's a promise."
"What do you mean, "alliance with us"? As far as I'm concern, he's only your ally. I can't associate Konoha with a nuke-nin of his status. That would be like Iwagakure harboring Orochimaru without us knowing."
"Like I said earlier; Sasori is under my protection. And when you're under my protection, not even a fucking army of eight million gods from Heaven will be able to so much as lay a finger on your person. Trust me; I'll handle everything. You just have to understand that accepting Sasori as an agent of the village will have far more pros than cons."
"Pros? Like what?" inquired the Namikaze.
"Like what, you say," responded the Uzumaki, "Well, for one thing; do you have any idea what Sasori, Konan, and Nagato all have in common?"
"Uhh, no."
"I didn't think so," said Choetsu, "In my original timeline, all three of them were members of an organization called Akatsuki, which was composed almost entirely of S-Rank missing-nin. Officially, their leader was Nagato, but in reality, a man named Tobi who claimed to be the long-dead Uchiha Madara was the true, de-facto head of Akatsuki."
"A man who claimed to be Madara? You don't mean to say…"
"That's right; the masked moron who released the Nine-Tails and fought you twelve years ago was to be the founder and leader of Akatsuki in my home universe, and he caused a lot of shit to go down. His ultimate goal was to collect all of the tailed beasts, and use their combined chakra to resurrect the Juubi. Then, he would become the Ten-Tail's jinchuuriki and cast Tsukuyomi on the moon, so he could place all mankind in a never-ending illusion of so-called peace."
A myriad of emotions appeared on the Yondaime's face after Choetsu's reveal, conflicting with each other and rendering his expression unreadable, "That's…that's completely…well, to be honest; I don't know what to think about that."
"On one hand, I'm horrified that someone would try and almost succeed at doing something like that, but on the other hand, I'm laughing at the ridiculousness of it all. I mean, seriously; his master plan is to hypnotize the world into becoming mindless zombies. That sounds like something out of the manga I used to read as a kid!"
"Yeah, Tobi's got a few screws loose, and for being a supposed genius he could be quite the moron when it comes to planning. Which makes it all the more tragic that his actions led to the death of yours and Kushina's alternate selves, and eventually caused the Fourth Great Shinobi World War."
Minato grit his teeth at this, before speaking, "That's why I've been working so hard to find him, these past twelve years. And when I do, I'm going to destroy him, and make sure this Tobi can't cause anymore suffering."
Choetsu looked sheepish, "Uhh, yeah, about that. I…kind of already did your job for you, Minato-jiji. I confronted him shortly after the Kyuubi attack and got him trapped in his own pocket dimension, which I sealed from the rest of reality. So don't even worry about it, hehehe!"
Minato looked absolutely downcast, "But…but I was so looking forward to…all my preparations…my contingency plans. The amount of pure awesomeness that could have ensued, if only…" Choetsu promptly teleported next to ailing Hokage and began comforting him, patting the man on the shoulder while saying "There, there" in a scene that would look downright comedic to an outside viewer.
"Look, I hate missed moments of awesomeness as much as the next guy, but trust me, its better this way," reassured the transcendent being, "And think of the opportunity cost. Instead of saving Tobi for you, the author got to showcase my own abilities in what doubled as a crowning moment of awesomeness and a defining moment of character all the way back in Chapter 2, I think. It was Chapter 2 right? Geez; having a prologue at the beginning always has a tendency to mess up your perception of these kind of things."
Minato looked confused, "W-what the hell are you talking about, Choetsu? And why am I acting like this? Isn't this a little out of character for me based on how I was portrayed in the manga?"
Choetsu grinned, "Oh, don't worry about that! That's just my natural OOC-field and Fourth-Wall breaking aura. It's mostly used to facilitate odd scenes like this, and its completely harmless…well, except when its not. Which may occur much more than advertised."
Finding himself even more confused by Choetsu's explanation, Minato simply blinked before grimacing, "For the sake of my mental health, I think it'd be best if we move on…"
"Yup; that's pretty much what they all say," interjected Choetsu matter-of-factly.
"…so, back to what we were discussing earlier before our conversation got derailed, again," continued the Fourth Hokage, "These three individuals; Konan, Nagato, and Sasori, who were all members of this Akatsuki organization from your timeline. Why would I benefit from an alliance with them again? You mentioned something about pros and cons."
Choetsu gave the man a shit-eating grin, before answering, "Oh, that's simple. The pros of allying with them are, of course, that they will be operating on Konoha's side, rather than becoming members of Akatsuki, which I may remind you, is responsible for the Fourth Shinobi War in my timeline."
"There's a reason I choose these specific individuals to convert after all; out of all the Akatsuki members, these three are the only ones who can be considered well-intentioned extremist, rather than complete monsters. Well, there is one more actually, but because of divergences in this timeline, he already is a good guy. But that's a tale for another day."
"Okay then; so the only reason I could possibly benefit from accepting Sasori-san as a Leaf agent is because it's better than the alternative of having him as an Akatsuki member. Is that right?"
"No. There's also the intrinsic benefit of having an S-Rank ninja on your side, not to mention one who controls a vast intelligence network that rivals even Jiraiya's. Puppet boy can also help in the defense of the village in times of crisis. He is a Kage-level shinobi after all."
Minato sighed again, before acquiescing, "Okay, fine; you've convinced me. I can see now that the pros of having Sasori as an ally far outweigh the cons. I'll accept him as a covert agent of the Hidden Leaf. You just have to promise me, on your word, that this secret alliance that I'm agreeing to won't cause problems between Konoha and Suna. They're our only major allies after all."
"Kamikage's honor," declared Choetsu, while beaming and raising his right hand. This relieved the Yondaime somewhat, but it still wasn't enough to remove his unease. Rubbing his temples in mild frustration, Minato thought, 'I really hope this doesn't bite me in the ass later on.'
"Alright, just a few more questions before you can resume the flow of time," said the Fire Shadow, "What's with the cloaks that you three are all wearing. They look official; like a uniform or something. And how much do they know about you? The real you; not that fake brother persona we made up."
"To answer your first question; the fancy cloaks symbolize our membership in the organization Hoshikuzu, which I am the founder and leader of in this timeline. Before you get all prissy about the possibility of another evil organization of super-powered ninja, don't worry; our goals are completely benevolent. The purpose of Hoshikuzu is basically achieving Jiraiya's dream of a genuine peace, through a three-step plan which I really need to brief you about in the near future," explained the Rikudou Hiraishin.
"And my second question?"
"Oh, they know a great deal about me, relatively speaking," continued the Hoshikuzu leader, "More than you, in fact. You actually have some catching up to do."
"So they know you're my grandson from the future?"
"Yes sir-y; so don't freak out if I call you gramps or Ji-chan in front of them."
"I'll keep that in mind," replied Minato, "Alright; I'm done. We can continue with the meeting now…"
And then time resumed, no longer hindered by Choetsu's jutsu.
"Ahhhhh! There's nothing better after a grueling battle and a near-death experience than a nice, quick trip to a cheap brothel! That really hit the spot, ahahahahaha!" exclaimed a certain white-haired pervert while chuckling, as he walked out of the brothel he had been relaxing at.
His battle with the mysterious armored angel had taken a lot out of him; not only was he forced to summon the Ni Dai Sennin and use Sage Mode, but he ended up having to bring out his most powerful offensive jutsu, the Cho Oodama Rasengan. Not only that, but he wasn't even able to land a hit on his true target; that mechanical behemoth kept him occupied the entire time.
In retrospect, it probably wasn't a smart idea to attack an extremely powerful entity who so far hasn't displayed any hostility towards the Leaf, but in his defense, Jiraiya hadn't been planning to escalate the battle to such an extent. All of his actions after the iron demon had punched him out of the sky were purely out of self-defense. Yes, even the gigantic, mountain-shattering Rasengan. Especially that Rasengan.
That implacable titan of steel and natural energy really scared the crap out of him, legendary Sannin or not.
Well, now that his mini-vacation was over, it was about high-time the Gama-Sennin reported back to Konohagakure.
"Hmm, what's this?" inquired the Toad Sage, as a familiar sensation manifested upon the surface of his right palm. Jiraiya took out the hand from his pocket and examined it, only to find that the tracking seal he had slipped onto the mechanical angel's fingertip was flickering and sending a signal to its counterpart on his palm.
"According to my tracking seal, that armor I fought earlier is in the area," said Jiraiya as he stared at his palm," I better go check this out."
And with that, the Yondaime's sensei had disappeared with the characteristic flicker of Shunshin no Jutsu.
Some say that dreams are a mirror of a person's soul; deep recesses of buried memories unraveled into distorted, chaotic visions that can appear as reality when viewed through the obscuring haze of unconsciousness. Like any mirror, dreams can be a reflection of what's truly inside; imperfectly mimicking, always one little detail off.
And inside Namikaze Kurama, was the soul of an ancient, malevolent demon fox. Her dream tonight reflected that…
"Neither of us have any sort of luck, do we?" said the woman with long tresses of crimson hair, and a face similar to Kurama's own sans her whisker marks, "You keep the world at bay…but I keep you at bay."
Flashes of a little girl, a mini-me of the woman from before appeared; scared, shivering, and unsure as she faced her destiny, before being comforted by the loving warmth of an old, wrinkled matriarch with her grayed hair styled in two buns. A diamond-shaped mark was etched on her forehead.
Then, a vision of that same old woman, younger now, her face free of wrinkles and her hair a radiant, youthful scarlet. Two slips of paper covered in elegant, flowing kanji draped down from her hair-buns.
"Stay tranquil, deep inside me," said the bun-haired woman, "If you use your power, only hatred will come from it."
The scene shifted, revealing the image of a man now. He had long, dark-brown hair, and was covered in a red suit of elaborate but functional battle armor. His face was covered in blood and bruises, indicating a fierce conflict of some sorts.
"Kyuubi; you're power is far too great. I cannot let you roam free any longer!"
A sinister, constricting feeling pervaded her dream as the current scene faded away, becoming replaced by the bird's eye view of a vast, mountainous location. Down below was a man, appearing to be the size of an ant from her lofty view point. The dream zoomed in on him, revealing long, spiky raven hair, a high-collared shirt, and a gunbai mounted on his back.
But the most chilling aspect of that man was his eyes; crimson pools surrounding a dark pupil, orbited by three black tomoe that revolved rapidly around the center. Gazing into those infernal irises caused a putrid feeling to well up in Kurama, as if some dark force was invading her mind and violating its sanctity. It was disgusting, revolting, and above all horrifying.
"Nine-Tails! You are merely a momentary life; a temporary existence of coalesced energy…energy that was once a single, ultimate form!" bellowed the hypnotizing, infernal man in a resounding voice, "An unstable force, lacking in intelligence or sapience, you require a guide to show you purpose…that guide is the Uchiha! OBEY!"
What happened next could not be comprehended, but it left the unmistakable mark of hatred on Kurama's psyche; it was like an infinite feeling of boundless hatred and contempt for that crimson-eyed man. The man who took her will away.
There was another epileptic flash, shifting her consciousness elsewhere. When the chaotic visions finally bled together and coalesced into a coherent form, Kurama was faced with what could only be a mirror. Staring back at her was a pair of crimson, slit eyes like that of a fox; eyes filled with hatred, darkness, and pain.
"No matter how they say it, humans always say one thing…"
"KURAMA!"
Huh.
Her eyes burst open as Kuruma's mind was harshly and abruptly ripped from her own dream and the depths of unconsciousness. The first image to assault her vision was the face of a boy, a raven-haired twelve-year old with dark, onyx eyes.
The look on his face and the gleam in his eyes denoted an expression of concern that was barely hidden under a façade of cool stoicism. But why was he concerned, and who was he? Kurama felt like she should know the answer to her own question, but her post-awakening haze muddled her mind. And then the visions came back, causing her to associate this raven boy with a similar, but older-looking individual from her dream.
"M-Madara?" said Kurama in a half-question, half-accusation, with a hint of an edge to her voice.
Sasuke blinked in confusion at his teammate's words, before replying, "What are you talking about? It's me…Sasuke."
Kurama had a brief epiphany, as her eyes widened. Of course; this was Uchiha Sasuke, her teammate, who she had rather mixed feelings about by the way. He wasn't some freaky, but terrifying man in red battle armor from an obscure dream she had.
Well, they did resemble each other somewhat, in a father-and-son sort of way, but "Madara", if that was his name, was a full-grown adult with haunting, crimson eyes, while Sasuke was her age, a twelve year old with normal looking, albeit pitch black eyes.
"S-Sasuke," whispered Kurama, weakly, "What's going on?"
"I couldn't sleep," answered the Uchiha, "You were keeping me awake with all that noise you were making. Was it a bad dream? A nightmare?"
Kurama briefly noted that it was still dark in the room, obviously not being morning yet, before she replied, "No, it wasn't a nightmare. Just…just a really, really weird dream."
She wasn't lying. Nightmares were dreams that terrified the dreamer. But her dream wasn't about terror; yes, some parts of it scared her, but the dominant emotion she felt during the dream was not fear, but hatred. Especially when she saw visions of that man, Madara. She didn't even know who he was, but she knew without a doubt that she hated him with all her being.
"Where's my brother?" inquired Kurama, after noticing the absence of her blonde sibling.
"Naruto left earlier during the night. I don't know where to. He was already gone by the time you woke me up with your noisy dreaming."
"Well I'm sorry that I have no conscious control over my body while I'm sleeping," retorted Kurama in a sassy tone. She didn't really want to cause an argument, but she was trying to cover up her concern over Naruto.
She was worried about her brother; especially after how he exploded against little Inari earlier at the dinner table. She honestly didn't know what that was about; her brother had never acted that way before. Hopefully he had just gone away for a midnight training session in order to vent.
Sasuke gave a huff in response before returning to his futon, without saying a word.
When her Uchiha teammate's breathing finally deepened after a while, Kurama gave a relieved sigh, before relaxing. She didn't know why, but she could never fall asleep at ease whenever she was in the presence of a conscious Sasuke.
For some reason, the raven boy always rubbed her the wrong way; even when they were kids. Now that she knew more about herself, the redhead wondered if it had something to do with her past life as a humongous monster fox; which was weird when she thought of it.
Even now, Kurama was still trying to get used to the fact that she used to be a living natural disaster. She didn't know if she would ever come to terms with that aspect of her past.
Nevertheless; within a half-hour, the Hokage's daughter was back in the land of blissful unconsciousness. Thankfully, the rest of her night would remain dreamless, and she would be able to get enough rest for the busy day she had tomorrow morning.
"A rather unusual dream to be having, don't you think," said a voice, breaking the Rikudou Hiraishin out of his aimless reverie. Uzumaki Choetsu turned around from his position atop the Yondaime's monumental head, before coming face-to-face with his ancient companion, the Sage of the Six Paths.
"Yeah, well, you have to keep in mind that Kurama-chan is the reincarnation of the goddamn Kyuubi; having weird dreams that spill over from her past life is just part of the whole shebang," said Choetsu, "Oh, and is this going be a frequent reoccurrence on your part; appearing out of the blue at random intervals in which you try to squeeze out an unnecessary explanation from me pertaining to recent events in this little storyline that I've concocted."
"Yes," was the Sage's terse reply.
"I was afraid you would say that."
"Well, you'll just have to deal with it," said the Rikudou Sennin, "I'm sorry to say that you're stuck with me, Choetsu."
At this, the Flying Thunder God entered a fit of disturbed giggling, starting off softly before it became a crescendo, gradually becoming louder and louder until the Kamikage's giggling had turned into full-blown maniacal laughter, causing his saner companion to sweatdrop.
"Stuck with you. I'm stuck with you? What is this nonsense? Hahahahahahaha! You don't seem to understand our predicament, Sennin-teme; I'm not stuck with you. No, no, no, no, no…you're stuck with me, bwahahahahahahahahahahahah!"
The founder of ninjutsu just sweatdropped even harder, "You know, although that Rorschach reference was completely unnecessary, you do have a point. I am obviously the less crazy and far less flamboyant of us two, and it is my upmost misfortune to have to deal with your antics."
"You've known me for almost an eternity, and you're just realizing that now?"
"No. I realized it a long time ago; I just haven't found the opportunity to voice it until now."
"Or maybe you have, and neither of us remembers. An eternity of memories is a lot to shift through after all, especially for someone with my attention span. Ooh, is that a butterfly?"
"Case and point," mused the God of Shinobi, "Anyways, I should probably get on with why I came here, before I lose you any further. I don't know how you do it, Choetsu, but you somehow manage to derail every single conversation you're involved in."
"That's complete bullshit! I'll have you know that I was once involved in a conversation between a rock and a tree stump that stayed on topic the whole damn time! And it was all thanks to me! My job in that conversation, after all, was to make sure neither of the two speakers went off tangent, and in that respect I was absolutely successful!"
"…ANYWAYS!" interjected the old Sage, in a desperate attempt to halt any further derailment, "How did the meeting go?"
"Uhh, shouldn't you already know the answer to your own question?" inquired the blonde Rinnegan-user, "I mean, I wasn't hiding the meeting from your omniscience or anything. You should have been able to watch it from the Inner Realm."
"It's for the sake of the readers, Choetsu, for the sake of the readers…"
"Ahh, so that's what this is about. Well, if you must know; the meeting went grea-…" began Cheotsu, before being interrupted by a yellow flash. When the light faded, the Yondaime Hokage himself was now present atop the Hokage Mountain, standing on the same stone carved head as the Rikudou Hiraishin and the Rikudou Sennin.
Namikaze Minato looked at his time-travelling grandson, before turning his attention to the other man present; an old, sagely-looking individual with spiky, snow-white hair, a pair of grayish purple Rinnegan-eyes, and a shakujo or monk staff in his right hand.
"Nice of you to stop by all of a sudden gramps," commented Choetsu with a smirk, "And goodness me; where are my manners. Minato-jiji, meet Sennin-teme. Sennin-teme, meet Minato-jiji."
"A pleasure," greeted the Sage in a concise fashion.
"Likewise," replied Minato, "I hope you don't find this rude of me, but; you wouldn't happen to be the legendary Sage of the Six Paths, would you?"
"That would be me, yes."
"Well then; it's a good thing I already meant Choetsu, or else I would probably be fainting out of shock right now. Then again, maybe its a bad thing that I'm so desensitized to unusual and supernatural phenomenon."
"Don't worry, I get that a lot."
"Not as much as me of course," added Choetsu, to which he got a look from his fellow Rikudou, "What?"
"Please refrain from talking for the rest of this conversation," practically ordered the Rikudou Sennin, "It's already been derailed enough. Now, where was I? Oh yes! Minato-san; how did your last appointment with Choetsu and his two hapless underlings go."
Minato blinked in confusion, surprised by the fact that the original Shinobi no Kami had just asked of him a question, "Uhh, well, it…it went well, I guess. Choetsu convinced me to open up friendly diplomatic relations with Amegakure, and to accept Sasori-san as an ally of Konoha. He also informed me on more of his past, and explained this whole "Hoshikuzu" idea to me, although I'm not sure of whether I can readily approve of a vigilante, non-aligned organization of S-Rank shinobi who try to achieve peace through armed interventions…"
"Aww, come on! I told you we wouldn't bring any harm to the Leaf, since technically you are one of our benefactors!" interjected the Shodai Kamikage.
"Whatever, Choetsu; as I was saying," continued Minato, "although I can't approve any further action towards the organization of Hoshikuzu itself, at the moment, as of right now, the Hidden Leaf village will neither support nor hinder its operations."
"Well, it's better than nothing," Choetsu shrugged.
"Anyways, that's basically the whole meeting in a nutshell," finished the Yondaime, "But I'm still curious about some unanswered questions which Choetsu had refused to go into more depth about in the extremely abridged autobiography he gave me. Specifically, questions about a certain wife of his…"
The Rikudou Sennin grimaced at the mention of this, while the Rikudou Hiraishin's face remained unreadable. Minato instantly regretted his words, wondering if he had gone too far. But Choetsu didn't say anything, prompting the Sage to speak in his stead.
"That's probably something we should discuss at a later time, Minato-san. Or maybe not at all…"
"I understand, Rikudou-sama. My apologies," said the Hokage in return.
"It pains me," said Choetsu in mock hurt, "that you would refer to my pretentious bastard of a companion with such respect, when I don't even get an honorific to my name. What is the world coming to these days?"
"Oh, shut up; your grandfather obviously knows where respect is due. Unlike you; a True Rikudou who's even more powerful than I am you may be, but you're still a brat, Choetsu-gaki."
"Eh, I'd rather be a brat than have a humongous, multi-light year long pole shoved up my asshole. Come on, you seriously have to loosen up, Sennin-teme," retorted Choetsu, initiating another flare up of arguments between the two Rikudou.
Meanwhile, the Fourth Hokage simply watched their squabbling with incredulousness, 'They're both transcendent beings that have nigh-omnipotence and make gods seem like ants in comparison, yet they bicker like an old, married couple. This is unbelievable.'
"Look, you two," interjected Minato, interrupting the quickly escalating quarrel, "I love a good, old-fashioned argument like the next guy, but I'm a busy man and I really would like to get to the point of why I'm here in the first place."
"See, I told you, Choetsu-gaki; you derail every conversation you're involved," said the Sage in a smug tone.
"Rock and tree stump, you bastard! Rock and tree stump!" was Choetsu's retort.
"Eh hem," Minato coughed, grabbing their attention once more, "I have another appointment in a few minutes, so I'll just make this quick. Although I agreed to a lot of what you proposed at our meeting today, Choetsu, that doesn't mean it's all finalized. I may be the Hokage, but I don't have absolute power. For a decision this important, the entire Hidden Leaf council must become involved."
"Yes, Ji-chan; I'm well aware of that," replied the Rikudou Hiraishin, "I was the Eight Hokage, and eventually Shodai Kamikage, remember. I know how politics work."
"Then you must know that everything you told me at the meeting must be presented again, this time in front of the entire council," said the village leader, "Minus all of the major secrets, of course, like who you really are and what the purpose of Hoshikuzu is."
"Yes, I know."
"Well then; I'm sorry it had to come to this, but you're gonna have to speak in front of the whole council sometime in the near future. There's nothing I can do about it, Choetsu," said the blonde Hokage, in an almost apologetic tone, "Now, as a fellow kage, I know how bad it can get with the councilmen sometimes, so I would completely understand if you tried to refuse. But I'm afraid that I can't let-…"
"What are you talking about?" interposed Choetsu, "You sound like you're feeling sorry for me. I wouldn't feel sorry for me, if I were you. You should worry about the council, and the fact that they have to deal with me, not the other way around."
"W-What do you mean?"
"Let's just say I have a very creative approach to dealing with annoying council members, and leave it at that," stated Choetsu with a devilish grin. Minato couldn't help but shiver at his expression.
"That one elder, Shimura Danzo is dead now, correct?" half-stated, half-inquired the Rikudou Sennin.
"Uhh, yes, yes he is; I just had him killed recently, in fact," replied Minato in a confused tone. He didn't know what the Sage was getting at.
"That's too bad. It would've been pretty entertaining to see how that man would react to Choetsu and his antics."
"I…I'm sure it would have been. Anyways, I should probably go now. But before I leave; do you have any idea where you'll be staying in the village, Choetsu? I could have something prepared for you, like I did for your two companions…"
"Don't sweat it, gramps, I got it covered," said the Rikudou Hiraishin, with a smirk that left Minato with an unexplainable feeling of dread.
"I'll keep that in mind," responded the Yondaime, before leaving with Hiraishin.
"And then there were two," stated Choetsu in monotone.
"Yeah well, I should probably get going as well…" said the other Rinnegan-bearer.
"About time, Sennin-…"
"…but not before I ask you one last question."
"Fuck."
"Language, Choetsu-gaki."
"I don't give a shit, Sennin-teme. Now what did you wanna ask me, so I can get this over with."
"It's nothing major, really. I was just wondering about a certain plot point," said the Sage of the Six Paths, "In this timeline, your father Naruto has yet to declare any desire to become Hokage whatsoever."
"What is that, like, a requirement or something?"
"Not necessarily. It's just that most universes involving Naruto have him doing so as a default, or at least mention it, with the occasional exception of "evil/dark" Naruto iterations in which your father actively hates Konoha. I just found it odd that this version of Naruto hasn't done so at all, even though your father from our original timeline has already become Rokudaime."
"Well, he did say something along the lines of "becoming a bigger badass than his father" over a dozen chapters ago. Does that count?"
"Not really. He doesn't have to become Hokage to surpass the Fourth."
"Yeah, I guess you're right. I'll have to look into this," said Choetsu, "I mean, what is my father without his childhood and pre-adolescent obsession with becoming Hokage. I think I already may have an idea forming, actually."
"What? What are you planning, gaki?"
"Oh, you'll see. Let's just say it has something to do with the dream theme this chapter has got going on."
"Dream theme?"
"Kurama."
"Oh yeah."
"…"
"…"
Cue the awkward silence, as both Rikudou realized they had nothing left to say.
"Well, I'm done here," announced the Sage, "I should probably be on my way now."
"Yeah, you go do that."
And then the Rikudou Sennin vanished without a trace, returning to the Inner Realm and leaving his fellow Rikudou alone on top of the Fourth Hokage's head.
Konan and Sasori wandered aimlessly through the streets of Konohagakure, while remaining unmindful of the strange looks that they were receiving, as a result of their eye-catching Hoshikuzu cloaks and concealing straw hats.
Choetsu had dismissed them as soon as the meeting with the Hokage had ended, allowing them to go off on their own tour of the village where they would be staying for the next few weeks. It didn't take long for the duo of S-Rank shinobi to realize that they had absolutely nothing to do.
"Sasori-san," began Konan, breaking the silence that had sprung up between them while they walked around the village, "Do you have anything in mind yet? Or are we just going to meander about aimlessly for the rest of the day."
"Why don't we just stay at the residence that the Hokage provided for us?" asked the Suna missing-nin.
"Well, according to him, it won't be fully prepared for a couple more hours, so we have time to kill," answered Konan.
Sasori sighed, "Well, I guess I could just say I'm hungry, and that we should grab a bite to eat, but I'm a puppet, meaning that would be nothing but a blatant lie."
"No, no; that's not too bad of an idea actually," replied Konan, "I mean I know you can't eat, but I can. And I'm starting to feel a little hungry. So maybe we should just grab a bite to eat."
"Well, it's up to you. I thought I saw a ramen stand somewhere around here."
"It's settled then," stated the S-Rank angel, "Let's get some ramen."
And so the two Hoshikuzu members doubled back to where Sasori had spotted a ramen stand, before finding themselves in front of a humble eating establishment called Ichiraku's. Upon entering, they realized that the restaurant, although not quite packed, had its fair share of customers. Thankfully, there were two seats left open at the bar.
As soon as the pair had sat down, an old man with a chef's outfit walked up to them while holding a notepad and pen, before asking, "Welcome to Ichiraku's Ramen. I'm Teuchi. What can I get for you?"
"I don't have ramen very often," said Konan, while sifting through the menu, "So I'm not sure what's really good here. Do you have any suggestions, Teuchi-san?"
"Well, for a first time customer here at Ichiraku's, I would highly suggest a bowl of Miso pork ramen."
"I'll have that then."
"Alright then; two bowls of Miso pork ramen, coming right-…"
"Uhh, just one bowl, please," interjected Sasori, "I won't be having any."
"Oh, well, suit yourself then sir. One bowl of Miso pork ramen it is," stated Teuchi, while writing down Konan's order. When he was finished, the ramen chef disappeared into the kitchen to inform his daughter, Ayame, of the new order, leaving the two customers to their own devices.
"So," started Konan, addressing her fellow Hoshikuzu member, "How do you think that meeting with the Hokage went?"
"The meeting? I thought it went about as well as it could have gone," replied the puppet master in a whisper, in order to protect their conversation from potential eavesdroppers, "I had this feeling that the Hokage acquiesced far too easily though."
"What do you mean?"
"When you first gave the Yondaime your proposal of an alliance, he seemed tense and had a feeling of unease to him, like he was unsure, or even a little suspicious."
"Well of course," replied the blue-haired woman, "He's a politician; when someone gives you a proposal of alliance out of the blue like that, it shouldn't be your first instinct to suddenly trust them and take all of their words at face value. He was just being a good leader; cautious and alert. I don't see how that's unusual."
"It's not. What's really unusual, though, is how the Hokage became more relaxed just a few moments later; as if he had suddenly come to terms with the proposal and accepted it. Did you notice that?"
"Hmm; as a matter of fact…I did. That is rather odd. Do you think…?"
"That Choetsu-sama had a hand in it. I'm almost sure of it. There's no way that the Hokage could have suddenly accepted your alliance proposal, no questions asked, all of sudden like that; especially when he had been so suspicious just a few moments prior."
"And what's even stranger, is that he didn't even question my role in the deal. Before the meeting, I though the most difficult part would be getting the Hokage to accept an infamous missing-nin and criminal like me, but he didn't even mention it. And I know he knew who I was. I could read it from his body language."
"This may seem rather farfetched out of context, but this is Choetsu after all," said Konan, "Do you think he could have brainwashed the Hokage into accepting the deal? Maybe he used some type of extremely subtle and powerful genjutsu."
"It's a possibility," replied the criminal puppeteer, "Like you said; this is Choetsu-sama we're talking about. The sheer extent of his abilities is practically infinite."
"But this is his own grandfather. Do you think he would really do that? Brainwash him, I mean."
"I'm not sure, but I wouldn't really put it past him. When it comes to the Rikudou Hiraishin, no possibility should be disregarded."
"Hey, Sasori; do you…do you think that maybe…maybe Choetsu is doing the same to us?" suggested Konan, "Maybe we're being controlled too; just pawns in a little game that Choetsu made up to alleviate his own boredom. I mean, a month ago, if you had told me that I would be in the situation I am in right now, I would have definitely scoffed at the idea."
"Didn't he say as much during our first Hoshikuzu meeting? And he justified it, saying something along the lines of "a man can read a book and still care about the characters inside of it."
"I know what he said. What I'm questioning is the "caring" part. Does he really care about us, or is he just using us as brainwashed pieces that he can just move around on some sort of cosmic shogi board to further his agenda. And can we even trust anything he says at all, for that matter. What if he was just lying to us about everything this whole time? His identity, his backstory, and his goals; what if they were nothing but a front. I mean, he certainly has the power to pull something like that off."
"Who knows?" said Sasori, "With all due respect, Konan; after all this time, does it even really matter anymore. And furthermore; even if you were right about all this…what could we do? What could we possibly do in the face of such overwhelming power like that which Choetsu wields? Comparing him to a god is like comparing a god to an ant. No, not even that analogy does him justice."
"I don't know, Sasori, I just don't know," replied Konan with a resigned tone, "Maybe its best not to think about it."
The conversation grew quiet after that, as Konan simply waited for her meal to arrive. When the bowl of noodles finally came, the S-Rank angel said a brief "Itadakimasu" before breaking out the chopsticks and digging in.
That's when, like the opening to a cliché joke, ANBU Commander Uchiha Itachi walked into the bar (or ramen stand in this case).
When Hoshino Daisuke returned to his team, they were already waiting for him.
"Did you get rid of that finger like I told you to, Daisuke-kun?" asked Team 6's jonin-sensei, Uchiha Yosho.
"Sure thing, sensei," Daisuke lied. Of course, that strange metal finger he had found was still carefully pocketed in his left pants pocket, against the wishes of his instructor. But they didn't need to know that.
"Good. Now that that's taken care of, it's time we be on our way," said Yosho, "we have a deadline to deliver our package, after all." And with that, Team 6 had moved on, continuing with their C-Rank mission.
As they walked along the narrow dirt path leading to their destination, Yosho took to the rear, trailing behind his students, while Yamada Jiro, the most talented of the three genin, took point. Sakura kept the mission scroll, while she and Daisuke walked alongside each other in the middle.
"Hey, Daisuke," said Sakura in an almost whisper, as she addressed her fellow teammate, "Sorry about, um, you know…earlier."
Daisuke raised an eyebrow at this, partly confused about what Sakura was talking about and partly confused that she was apologizing at all, "What do you mean, Sakura?"
"You know. Me getting mad at you, calling you an idiot, and almost punching you in the face earlier, for no good reason," said the cherry blossom, "I wanted to apologize to you about that."
"Really? Are you serious?" asked Daisuke, perplexed by Sakura's sudden mood change, "What brought this about all of a sudden?"
Sakura gave him a look, before speaking, "It was Yosho-sensei. He had a little talk with me while you were away disposing of that weird finger. He…he doesn't like us fighting."
"So you're just apologizing because sensei told you too?" accused Daisuke.
"No! That's…that's not why! He just helped me see how I was in the wrong. That's all. I really am sorry, Daisuke."
"Alrighty then; apology accepted, Sakura-chan!" exclaimed Daisuke with a shit-eating grin, "You didn't really have to say sorry though. It's not like I'm already used to you beating the crap out of you every so often."
"But that's the thing; you shouldn't be used to something like that! I need to learn how to control my temper better. And I shouldn't take my frustrations with Sasuke-kun out on you."
"Frustrations with Sasuke?"
"Yeah; you know about my big crush on him, right," said Sakura with a fierce blush on her face.
"Yeah, of course. Everybody knows; you weren't exactly hiding it."
"That's right, I wasn't. I've been completely forward about it this whole time. I've been trying to woo that boy practically since I met him, and so far, he hasn't responded to any of my advances, no matter how hard I tried."
"Aww, don't be like that, Sakura," said Daisuke, "I'm sure things will work out with you and Sasuke someday. And if not, then maybe he just isn't the guy for you. There are plenty of other fish in the sea."
"Like you?" replied Sakura with a smirk that contrasted against her deepening blush.
Daisuke was a little caught off-guard, "Y-Yeah, l-like…like me."
"You know," continued the kunoichi, "You didn't really have to kiss me back then. Seriously, what was that all about?"
"Come on! You know you loved it!" cheered Daisuke exuberantly.
Sakura rolled her eyes, "As if, Daisuke-baka!"
"Hey, what happened to playing nice?"
"I am playing nice! Haven't you noticed how I haven't socked you in the face yet? And besides; don't think I'm gonna have some kind of spontaneous personality change just cause we had a heart-to-heart-…" Whatever Sakura was about to say, was interrupted mid-sentence when a pair of deathly pale hands reached out from underground and grabbed their third teammate, Jiro, by his ankles.
Then, in a blink of an eye, the two hands dragged the hapless Jiro beneath the Earth before anyone could react.
It only got worse, when just a few seconds later, Jiro's lifeless body erupted from the ground…suspended in mid-air by a sword impaled through his bloody chest.
Sakura screamed.
TBC
A.N. And we're done. Cookie goes to whoever figures out who is attacking Team 6. Trust me, it's not that hard to figure out. Please read and review, review, review, people! Seriously, I update faster the more reviews I get!