A/N: Sorry for the delay, this would have been put up a week ago if it weren't for some annoying connection problem I had, but, that is over now and the update is here, so enjoy.
PREPARTIONS
Sasuke walked out of the room with nothing but his usual impassive face, he walked down the corridor but didn't get far before coming face to face with Kabuto, Orochimaru's right-hand man and probably the one person in the world Orochimaru trusts above all else.
"Which one are you?" Kabuto asked.
A strange question, but considering the nature of Orochimaru's habits, and that of Sasuke's, it wasn't that strange if one were to think about it.
"Who do you think?" He answered with a smirk as the Sharingan appeared.
Suddenly, Kabuto found himself in a vast wasteland, one that could not possibly exist in the normal world. He knew immediately that this was the place of the transmigration, the place where Orochimaru took over his new hosts' mind and take over their bodies in order to prolong his life.
Kabuto was then witness to Orochimaru's struggle to absorb Sasuke only to fail horribly due to Sasuke's Sharingan eyes. He could not understand it, nor could he believe that he could be beaten in a place created by himself, alas, his struggles were futile, as he was defeated.
Back to reality now, Kabuto now understood what he had seen, Sasuke had shown him how he had killed Orochimaru.
"Orochimaru-sama has died," Kabuto said hardly believing it himself as Sasuke remained quiet, "...no...this is like..."
"I took him over," Sasuke said cutting him off then walking away with his back to Kabuto, as if kabuto trying to kill him was not even possible. All Kabuto could do, was to stand there in shock and fear, both sensations paralyzing him to the spot where he stood.
It had been a few weeks since the confrontation with Iwa and people were still talking about it. Spies from hidden villages all different elemental countries were sent to gain information on the unknown village, Arashi. They all infiltrated easily and found nothing but an average sized village with average looking ninja mulling around and maybe the one or two children practicing in public parks. Overall, Arashi still remained a mystery leaving all the spies baffled. One such spy sat cautiously in the room as she waited on his interrogators.
As she waited, she looked around the room; the room was not decorated and had a window at her back. How was it possible that these people could obliterate a sizable force from one of the top five nations and appear so weak, not even decent training facilities. When she had first infiltrated, she thought that this was just a trick to fool the casual observer, so she had her self captured in order to see what the casual observer could not. It was a well known fact that hidden villages are not tolerant of spies, and should a spy be caught, they get to see some of what the village was truly made of and how far they are willing to go to protect their secrets. That in itself is information worth having, besides, a captured spy is usually a dead spy and a dead spy manages to get a bunch of information before they die.
But this had been completely ridiculous and frustrating to say the least. They practically invited her into their tower and then gave her an exit. She sat in the chair wondering if her brilliant infiltration was nothing more than them letting her in; maybe this was part of their plans to ensure she was a ninja. Give her an exit that any ninja would easily be able to take. Suddenly, her attention snapped to the door as it was opened, and a man with spiky blond hair, piercing blue eyes and whisker marks walked in. He looked to still be in his teens and wore on his forehead what appeared to be the village's symbol.
"Good after noon miss..." he looked down at some sheets of paper, "...Kiri spy, I trust your stay in Arashi has been comfortable so far?"
The Kiri spy smiled at the man before responding.
"There is no way these fools actually know that I'm a spy, let alone one from Kiri, they're just guessing that I am," she thought. "Lets see what they actually know."
"Well one, I'm not a spy, not even a ninja and two; I was having a good time before one of those ninjas jumped me."
The young man looked perplexed for a while then he looked down shuffling through his papers once more and his eyes widened before an embarrassed look came over his face and a nervous laugh escaped his lips.
"What's wrong?" she asked looking him over.
"Could this guy really be a ninja? He's a complete mess and if I didn't know better, I would say he was afraid of me," She thought. "But he is kind of cute though."
"I'm so sorry, Miss, we seemed to have gotten you mixed up with someone else," he said with a deep bow. "I'm sorry for any inconvenience we have inadvertently created."
"That's not good enough," she said. "I came hear to enjoy myself and see the great whirlpools of Uzumaki no kuni, and suddenly I am being held against my will, I demand to see who ever is in charge of this place."
"You mean kanshisha-sama?" he asked innocently.
"Whatever, just get him here right now."
"I would love to, but Kanshisha-sama is extremely busy right now and he cannot be disturbed," he said looking extremely frightened of the thought of just disturbing this Kanshisha person. "But I can organize for you to get an audience with him if that is what you want."
"Sure, but do I have to stay here, its rather stuffy."
"Oh, no, you can wait in the hall or leave any time you want, I just have to get a form for you to full out, I'll be right back."
With that he left the room leaving the door open. The Kiri spy smiled from ear to ear as she walked into the corridor. Connected to the corridor was another corridor which lead to a door at the end of it with the storm's symbol emblazoned on it. She casually strolled down the corridor when the coast was clear and tried the handle. To her surprise, it was unlocked and when she peered in, it was completely empty except for some furnishing, decoration and a blue haori slung over the back of a rather comfortable looking chair. She walked into the room and closed the door behind her and locked it with a click.
She moved about the room looking through files and documents until she came upon a scroll with many seals on it. As she picked up the scroll, she heard the door open and she swung around quickly and hid the scroll in her garments. Her heart rate slowed down when she found that the person who came in was the same teenager who had 'interrogated' her earlier. In his hands he carried a stack of folders that looked as if it would topple over. As he set the papers down on the desk, he gave an accomplished sigh as he wiped the imaginary perspiration but then he noticed the woman trying to sneak out the room.
"What are you doing in here?" he asked and she paused in mid-step, she was caught.
"I was looking for the ladies room and got lost," she said pathetically. "Pretty stupid, huh."
"No, I sometimes get mixed up in this place sometimes," he laughed nervously. "Who would have thought that I was working here from the time this place was built."
She laughed along with his joke.
"Either he has to be the worse ninja in existence, a charity case, or this is the best trap in the world." She thought.
"Oh yes, here you go, just fill out those forms and hand it in down stairs and the messenger guys will get back to you if you are still in the village."
She looked at the form and perused it then smiled at him.
"I will be sure to," she said before heading towards the door.
"Let me get that for you," the blue eyed teen said as he bounded across the room to hold open the door for her as he took her hand and escorted her out the door. She never noticed the seal forming on her shoulder.
"Hope you come again," he said as he waved her off down the corridor.
As she was gone, the blue eyed teen waited a few moments till the woman was out of earshot then walked back into his office to meet Tsubaki standing next to the wall, her face impassive as ever. He waited a few more minutes then burst out in a fit of laughter while holding his stomach.
"kanshisha-sama," Tsubaki said. "Please explain to me why we are doing this, and why you seem so amused?"
Naruto wiped the tears from his eyes then sat on his desk as he explained.
"Due to the natural structure of our village, all of our secrets are very well hidden away and secured, and as such, spies from other villages never get an easy time finding anything important, and since so many hidden villages have an interest in us due to what happened with Iwa, they will send in their best spies to gather information."
Naruto paused and Tsubaki nodded to confirm that she understood so far.
"We simply appear that our guard is let down by allowing far less ninja in the civilian area and make ourselves appear to be incompetent, this will confuse them and as a result they will take us lightly giving us the opportunity to brand every spy that comes to us," Naruto then got a look in his eyes that suggested he was up to his old mischief. "It also gives me the opportunity to prank the raikage and mizukage. It was an opportunity I couldn't possibly have passed up."
"I understand now, but why would you want us to appear weak, and why would you brand them?"
Riku asked as he stepped in the door.
"If we look weak, they will leave us alone, and if that don't work, then they will at least underestimate us and a ninja that underestimates their opponents is usually dead."
"I see, but why brand them?"
"The two rarest type of ninja are spies and Hunters, in order to survive as one, you either have to have talent or a certain mentality you either born with or forced on you. For this reason, I have decided to create a sort of early warning mechanism that warns us if any spy gets too close to our walls."
"Brilliant as always, Uzumaki-sama."
Naruto grinned and scratched the back of his head and shook his head in the negative.
"It was actually, Akira nee-chan's idea." Naruto said before a faraway look in his eyes developed and a smiled played across his lips. "She thought of herself as a spy, but if she actually ever did any serious spying at that time she would have gotten herself killed, although, she was pretty good at gathering information for a young teenager without much training."
Somewhere in rice field country, the ground itself began to ripple and then rise up like a termite mound before falling back to the ground revealing a stunningly attractive woman in her late teens with wavy brown hair, green, eyes and tanned skin.
"Achoo!" she sneezed "What the hell? I couldn't possibly have a cold, so someone must be talking about me."
She looked around her location and saw that she emerged exactly where she wanted to be, the field where she, Naruto and Hinata had met master Kyosh for the first time. She turned in the direction of the town she remembered and blurred away in blinding speed. After a few hours of running, she came upon the town and started to dig for information.
"Lets see," she said to her self, "Naruto-kun said that if I wanted to find him just look for his name."
She went in to a bar and sat out of site so that she could listen in to all conversations around her.
"Hey, have you heard?" asked drunken man number one.
"What?"replied drunken man number two.
"They said that three hundred Iwa ninja was slaughtered by some no-name village in new Uzumaki."
"That's old news." Said drunk number two, "I heard that, the night before they were all wiped out, they were stalked by a demon of some sorts and by time the next day came, they were all too scared to fight and wanted to give up."
"You drink too much." Stated drunk number one.
"Why you..."
"Uzumaki no kuni," thought Akira as a smile graced her lips, that was way too easy, but then again, Naruto was never very good at being cryptic, at least not to her. She picked up her pack and walked over to the two men and sat down.
"Excuse me gentle men," she asked with a smile on her face as she pushed out her chest to gain the drunken men's attention. "Do you by chance know how to get to that new no-named village you were just talking about?"
They looked at each other dumbly then back at her before sobering up enough to spit out directions.
"Thanks boys," she said stroking one on the head before walking out of the bar.
Later that day, he would notice that all his money was gone from his wallet and he would be too drunk to realize he didn't spend it all on sake...this time.
"You mention this Akira person of yours quite often, will we..."
Riku began, before a chunin burst into the door with a scroll that had a claw with the number 5 written within it.
"I beg your pardon, Kanshisha-sama, but this just came in from Gin-sama."
"What, give it here!"
Naruto shot across the room and snatched the scroll from the man's hands before anyone could blink. As he read the contents, a satisfied smile came across his face.
"What does it say, Kanshisha-sama?" Riku asked.
"Riku, go to the hospital and tell the head to prepare the emergency room and keep it ready till such time that it is needed, and be ready for critical arrivals within ten days.
"May I ask why?"
"The home coming of dragon number ten is nearly upon us."
Then he turned the scroll so that Riku could read it, when he read it realization occurred. What the letter read, was "Uchiha sasuke had killed the Snake sannin Orochimaru and is now forming a team. We shall remain in hidden pursuit of the target per your orders."
"I shall go tell the medic department immediately."
"Tsubaki, Summon Hinata."
"Hai, Uzumaki-sama." She said and was gone in a flash.
"Good," Naruto said then he summoned his secretary. "Send our fastest messenger bird to Konoha, tell them that 'retrieval two' has begun and include the following: Hold of pursuit until..."
"So it's finally you," the water in the tank spoke, "then you defeated Orochimaru."
"Yea," the dark haired youngster from outside the tank said as he gripped his sword, "more importantly, let's get you out of here."
As he spoke those words, he slowly unsheathed his sword, and in the blink of an eye, he was re-sheathing it since he had already slashed through the cylindrical tank. With the sudden release, the water came spewing out, and from the puddle on the ground, a human head formed.
"I'm finally out," he said as a body started to form, "thanks, Sasuke."
"Suigetsu, you are the first" Sasuke said with a monotonous authority, "come with me."
"So, I'm the first huh," Suigetsu said as his body slowly formed, "Who are the others?"
"Karin from the South hide-out and Juugo from the North hide-out."
"Hm." Suigetsu grunted in slight disgust.
"What?" Sasuke asked.
"I don't like those two," he answered, "we might not work well together."
"You don't have to like each other, just work as a team," Sasuke said with authority that Suigetsu didn't take too well to, "put some clothes on and lets go."
"You think you can order me around just because you killed Orochimaru?" Suigetsu asked as he stood to his full height, "Get something straight about how this partnership works."
Within the blink of an eye Suigetsu was behind sasuke with one arm around his neck and the index finger of the other pressing up against his head.
"You were not the only one out for Orochimaru, we all wanted to kill him," he said smiling, "you were his favorite so you had the best opportunity."
"..." Sasuke did not bat an eye or flinch in the least; this seemed to please Suigetsu in some way since he smiled more.
"Your heart rate and breathing didn't waver in the slightest," Suigetsu said releasing him, "I guess you killing Orochimaru was no accident or coincidence."
"Let's go." Sasuke said, as if nothing had happened.
Moment later, Suigetsu and sasuke was standing outside of the base with Suigetsu sipping on some water with another canister of water on his hip.
"Oi, sasuke, before we go get the other two, I want to go collect something."
"..."
"Its important." Suigetsi said.
"Fine."
In Konoha, a few hours later, Tsunade had just received Naruto's message, she wondered just how reliable Naruto's intel on this incident was, then Shizune burst into the office.
"Tsunade-sama, did you summon me?"
"You are late Shizune."
"My apologies, Tsunade-sama, I was in the middle of surgery."
"Very well, take a look at this."
She handed Shizune the message and Shizune's eyes widened when she saw the note.
"Th-this means..."
"Yeah," Tsunade said cutting her off, "Naruto-kun had everything planned and his information is a lot faster than what we have expected."
Then she smiled and chuckled a little.
"I am still curious as to how he plans to pull this off."
"What do you plan to do?" Shizune asked.
"Call Team kakashi immediately, I shall brief them myself.
Within moments, Kakashi, Sakura, Shino, Kiba and Akamaru and a brown haired Jounin that none of the chuunin knew were in her office. Kakashi, sensing the atmosphere in the office immediately put away his book and paid careful attention to what his Hokage had to say.
"Kakashi," Tsunade started, her eyes showing her authority, "I have a mission for your team that is of the utmost importance, this is an S-rank retrieval mission in which you will rendezvous and coordinate with the Kanshisha of Arashigakure no sato."
"If Naruto himself is going to be there, then does it mean..."
"Yes, kakashi, the target is Uchiha sasuke," she said calmly and sternly, "Due to the sensitive nature of this mission, Kakashi will give you the relevant information as you proceed."
"So does that mean we will be infiltrating one of Orochimaru's bases?" asked Kiba.
"No, the only reason this mission is possible is due to the fact that Orochimaru was killed by Sasuke's hands," there was a collective gasp in her office before she continued, "this information was gather by Arashi, and is only a few hours old, how Naruto managed that I will never know. Now go, and be ready to move at a moment's notice, kakashi, you stay here."
After the other filed out of the room and the door closed behind them, Tsunade gave him the most serious gaze.
"Would I be wrong to assume it would be time to enact Naruto's plan?"
"No, you would not be wrong," Tsunade sighed, "then that means you already understand Konoha's role in this joint assignment?"
"Yes, Hokage-sama, we are to act as a distraction to whoever tries to prevent us from retrieving Sasuke while Naruto and his team retrieve him instead."
"Very good, Kakashi, but, there is some other information that you must be made aware of," Kakashi's eyes shifted, "the reason why we are not immediately going after Sasuke is because he is currently gathering a team, no doubt he will go after Itachi when his team is assembled."
"Naruto-kun was right about him going after Itachi, but a team of ninja of unknown capabilities may cause unwanted trouble, considering who else may be there."
Tsunade knew who he was talking about, and despite his excellence as a ninja, Kakashi had no delusions of besting Uchiha Madara. That was one ninja he hope would stay dead.
"Yes, a team would be tricky, however, that wont be much of a hindrance once knew information comes in."
"Do we have spies close to the situation?"
"No, but that could be the only reason that Arashi has this kind of information so soon after it has happened," Tsunade said with a smile, "Be ready to deploy the instant that further information comes in, dismissed."
"Hai," with that he was gone in a shunshin.
"Um, Tsunade-sama?" Shizune tentatively asked.
"What is it Shizune?"
"I got the distinctive feeling that there was someone that you are trying to avoid making contact with and is putting a lot of effort into keeping occupied, is such a person so dangerous?"
"Shizune, if he was less dangerous, then I would have told you who that person is," Tsunade said with a frown, "as it is, there may only be five people in the world who knows of his existence, and I don't think any of us can defeat him."
"Then wouldn't this be a suicide mission?"
Tsunade glared at Shizune, shutting up the dark haired woman in an instant.
"Of course not Shizune, we are not seeking to capture a live and kicking Uchiha Sasuke and Itachi," Tsunade said, "we are merely the distraction. If this goes well, we would hopefully hinder a powerful foe and gain a powerful ally."
"I hope you are right Tsunade-sama."
The next day, Sasuke and suigetsu were in a small cemetery in wave country staring at the dug up grave of the late Momochi Zabuza and Haku. Sasuke's feature was as unreadable as ever, but Suigetsu's annoyance was as apparent as the sun in the sky.
"What the hell, Sasuke," suigetsu seethed, "I thought you said it was here?"
"It was,"
"Then where is it now then?"
"I am not sure," then his gaze shifted to the empty grave.
"What is it?" Suigetsu asked seeing Sasuke's curious gaze.
"I have an idea where it is, but it would be a waste of time to pursue it.
"What do you mean, who the hell has my beheading sword?"
"Only my team and a few others from this place knows where these two are buried," Sasuke said, "They took his body as well."
"Argh, what does that have to do with anything?"
"The grave that is dug up next to Zabuza's belonged to a boy named haku, he had a Kekkei genkai that allowed him to create and manipulate Hyouton."
"Oh, I get it, this was probably done by Konoha in order to procure a new blood line." Then he laughed, "I never thought that they would do something like that."
"Don't forget, Orochimari too was a Konoha shinobi," sasuke said, "But this was not done by Konoha, only the sandaime knew the full details of this mission, I'm thinking that my former team mate Naruto had something to do with it."
"So are we going after him?"
"No," Sasuke said walking away from the grave, "it would be pointless to do so since I have no idea where he is now and I have no intentions of asking Konoha, besides, we have more important things to do."
"arghh" Suigetsu growled, obviously not pleased about his lost opportunity but followed anyway. When he get a chance, he would kill Sasuke, it was obvious, he was after all, the second devil Zabuza. But, that would have to wait, Sasuke was too skilled right now, and a better opportunity would come and he still had some use.
"I am mostly certain that it is you, but what purpose would you have for removing that boy's body, Naruto?"
"So where to now?"
"The southern hideout."
A/N: Hoped you like this chapter, here is the profile of another of my OC.
CHARACTER CORNER -
Name: Hagen Riku
Age: 35
Clan: None
Origin: Mist
Bloodline ability: None
Affiliation: Arashigakure no sato
Rank: Special jounin
Class: S
Department/Squad: Juryuu no Arashi
Ninja type: Assassin
Specialisation: Assassination, sensory, kenjutsu
Ninjutsu: Mostly water based.
Genjutsu: Above average
Taijutsu: Good.
Weapon: Nodachi.
Summons: None
Biography: He was born blind in the village hidden in the mist and quickly ascended the ranks to become one of the seven swords of the mist. His blindness was never a hindrnce and may be the reason his chakra sensory capabilities is so high. He is a master of silent killing. Not much is know on why he fled the hidden mist; only those of the Juryuu no arashi know his full story though.
Special Notes: It is impossible to sneak up on him since he depends on his other senses and his silent killing technique is swift to the point that no one has ever survived to tell the tale and as a result, he is not a well known shinobi. When he speaks he gets straight to the point.
A/N: Thankyou all for reading, and I apologise for taking so long, but take heart, chapter 26 is almost finished and is already longer than this one. So until next time, Read, Enjoy and Review.