Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Legacy of the Messiah

Chapter26: Unexpected Moves

Fire Country: Konoha / Root Headquarters

This place was always dark and damp, feeling like a pit in hell only without the lava. The lighting was a bare minimum and gave off a killing intent all on its own. Standing in the center of the platform was the leader of Root, a man by the name of Shimura Danzo. He was the kind of man who always thought that the ends justify the means and had no problem doing whatever it took to accomplish his goals and safeguard Konoha.

It was the reason the Sandaime and Godaime Hokages kept him around...the Yondaime had kept him around for that very reason too before his demise during the Battle of the Nine-Tails fifteen years ago.

"Sai...wipe that stupid smile off your face," Danzo said and Sai appeared in front of him, kneeling. "Report," he ordered.

"Orochimaru is dead Danzo-sama as is Kabuto; I apologize but Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura both managed to escape," Sai informed him.

"...I see, interesting...I assume that the mission didn't go as planned then?" it was a simply question but Sai knew better than to answer. "Very well the mission was indeed a failure as Uchiha Sasuke still lives...however with both Orochimaru and Kabuto dead I no longer have to worry about those two fools". He turned and took a few steps before stopping again, "I will let this failure slide this time...however do not fail me again Sai".

Sai kept his head bowed, "you're orders Danzo-sama?"

"...I have a mission for you; take Fu and Torune and collect as much information on Orochimaru's experiments as you can," were Danzo's orders.

"Yes Danzo-sama," Sai said simply.

"Dismissed," Danzo said and turned away.

"...Danzo-sama," Danzo stopped and turned to him slowly. "I request a formal placement on Team Naruto under Namikaze Naruto as an official member."

"Agreed," Danzo said surprising him though he didn't show it. "You may leave Sai," the Root Anbu bowed once more and left soon after.

Danzo was not a fool, not by a long shot. He knew that despite the fact that he and Naruto had different beliefs, Naruto was the best chance Konoha had for survival other that himself of course. With the increasing threat from Akatsuki and their accursed leader Uchiha Madara on the rise, Konoha needed every able body shinobi they could get these days.

After all that was the reason he had voted to ally themselves with Kumo and permitted Yugito on the team...

Fire Country: Konoha

Night had fallen on the village and the only sound that could be heard were the crickets in the bushes. Naruto was sitting at a bench in the middle of the silent street with an ice cream bar in his hand. Tears streamed down his face but he paid them no heed as he stared at the ice cream he held in his hand.

"There you are Naruto," he looked up and saw Yugito approach. He wiped his eyes as she sat down beside him, "you're a hard man to find".

"...I wanted him to keep watching over me...wanted him to see me become Hokage...he was my godfather but I always thought of him as my own grandfather," Naruto choked out.

She pulled him into a hug as he cried yet again, "its okay, its okay".

"W-why did this have to happen?" he asked her.

"I don't know...I don't know," Yugito answered truthfully as she felt him shake.

"I'll kill him, I won't stop until he pays for what he's done," Naruto vowed.

'Naruto...' she thought as he continued to cry in her arms.

It was going to be a long night...

Rain Country: Ame / Akatsuki Headquarters

"...Did you recover his ring?" Pein questioned.

Black Zetsu snorted at the question, "what ring? There was nothing left of it to recover after his battle with the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki."

"This is...troubling news," Pein began. "Itachi, Kisame; you two are to hunt the Kyuubi and the Nibi. With Jiraiya now dead they will be vulnerable and they won't be expecting an attack so soon. Kakuzu and Hidan will hunt the Yonbi and the Gobi after we seal the Nanabi. Konan and I will personally deal with the Hachibi," Pein finished.

"What about the Sanbi?" white Zetsu asked simply.

"Tobi will deal with the Sanbi, it doesn't have a Jinchuuriki so it will be weaker than the others," Pein reasoned.

"Oh man you're sending Tobi? Are you mad?" black Zetsu asked in disbelief.

"Oh don't be like that, after all Tobi is a good boy," white Zetsu said simply.

Everyone turned to the mask-wearing Akatsuki member and saw him standing on one of the other fingers/platforms completely motionless like a statue.

He snored...

"I think he's asleep," Kisame laughed.

"You know I think he's utterly mad," white Zetsu commented.

"Geez what was your first clue? The guy is clearly bonkers," black Zetsu retorted.

"You have your assignments...dismissed," Pein ordered and the holograms of the other Akatsuki members disappeared one by one until only Tobi remained. "I thought I would be the one to hunt the Kyuubi and the Nibi. Why do you want them to go instead?"

"Because I want you to hunt the Hachibi," Tobi replied simply with none of his regular light-hearted attitude.

"Why don't you go yourself?" Pein asked.

"Because I have a prior engagement," Tobi said and turned to leave. "The time is not yet right to show them the Uchiha's power, my power; the power of Uchiha Madara."

Fire Country: Konoha / Namikaze Household

The family home of his parents was the place Namikaze Naruto had moved into once he unsealed all of his things from his travels. The entire area had been riddled with security seals of all kinds, some of which took even Jiraiya hours to finally crack. Once the seals were finally out of the way Naruto had actually managed to find a photo of his parents which now lay beside the king-sized bed.

He had also found his parents' 'armoury' if that's what you could call it. Below the house was a network of tunnels reinforced with several sheets of metal and was filled with hundreds of different weapons and seals. There were thousands of Hiraishin Kunai in storage just waiting to be used and the seals...to be honest he wasn't even sure what half of them did.

The morning sun shone into the main bedroom of the house and Naruto let out a groan as he tried to shift away from the light. His eyes fluttered open and he felt a weight on his chest. He looked down and gave another groan when he saw Yugito's head using his chest as a pillow. They were both fully clothed however so he knew that nothing happened last night but he couldn't remember getting home so he simply assumed that Yugito somehow carried him in.

"Morning," Yugito rose her to look at him.

"Morning," he smiled back.

"Are you okay?" she asked him.

"No," he answered simply. "I hate doing nothing...I need to confront him...I need to confront Pein."

"Naruto..." she trailed off not knowing what to say.

Knock Knock

"It's Shikamaru," Yugito told him having sensed the Nara at the front door.

Naruto nodded and rose from the bed; Yugito gave an audible groan as she felt him leave her side. Naruto exited the room and descended the stairs, reaching the door within moments. He opened it and saw a rather dishevelled Shikamaru standing at his door.

"What is it Shikamaru?" Naruto asked him.

"Can I come in?" the Nara asked.

Naruto nodded and stepped aside to allow him entry. He closed the door behind them and they made their way into the kitchen. Shikamaru sat down at the kitchen table and Naruto moved over to the fridge.

"Can I get you anything?" Naruto asked him, looking over his shoulder.

"No thank you," the Nara replied politely as Naruto grabbed a drink.

"Why are you here Shikamaru?" Naruto asked outright as he sat down also.

"I want to know everything I can about Pein; the best place to start are the only other Rinnegan users we know of...that means you," Shikamaru stated clearly.

"Well the Rinnegan allows it's user to manipulate all five main elements as well as the wood element since the Senju got that little trick from the Rikudō-Sennin. We are also able to absorb chakra directly through our hands making Ninjutsu all but useless given the situation and we have the Yamanaka's ability to probe minds when we grab them by the head. Other than that I have no idea," Naruto answered honestly.

"What about being able to be six people at once?" Shikamaru asked him.

"Well...I am able to see what my clones are doing if I make them when my Rinnegan is active but Ero-Sennin once told me that the human mind can't handle the information from more than one set of eyes at the same time. I'm not sure how Pein is six people," the blond replied.

"...I understand," Shikamaru said with a nod.

"I'm sorry I can't be more helpful," Naruto apologized.

"Don't worry I think that's more than enough," Shikamaru said as he stood once more. "Before I forget Hokage-sama wants to see you in his office right away," he mentioned.

Naruto nodded as he escorted him to the door, "aright I'll see you around Shikamaru".

Before Shikamaru closed the door he turned slightly and said, "the day will come when we surpass those who came before us. Jiraiya-sama was a great man Naruto...from what I've seen you will soon surpass him," he closed the door behind him as he left.

Naruto just stared for a good few minutes before turning and seeing Yugito slowly walk down the stairs.

"What are you going to do?" she asked him.

Naruto thought about it for a few more seconds before giving his answer, "I need to meet with Hokage-sensei".

Fire Country: Konoha / Hokage Tower

"Ero-Sennin's code said that 'The real one is not there'; what if he meant the real Pein wasn't among the six bodies?" Naruto asked those that had gathered.

"There were only six people with the Rinnegan that we saw Naruto-boya," Fukasaku responded.

"And the first shinobi was called the Rikudō-Sennin; I think those bodies that Ero-Sennin and you fought were Pein's 'paths'," Naruto continued.

"They did call themselves the Pein Rikudō," Fukasaku mused. "That still doesn't explain how he is six different people though."

"It's the same with me and my shadow clones but instead of dispelling like mine do he keeps them active all the time. I don't know how he makes them but I doubt it's that much different from me," Naruto explained.

"Shadow clones...Jiraiya-boya recognized a few of the bodies as people he had fought before...if what you say is true then he may be able reanimate and control a corpse. That would explain how he was able to 'resurrect' three of his bodies after they were killed by Jiraiya-boya," Fukasaku mused. He turned and asked the question, "how did you come to this theory?"

"When I create a shadow clone with my Rinnegan active they get it too. It allows me to take direct control of the clone while I maintain control of my own body. I've never gotten use to looking in more than one direction at once; it's the reason I don't do Kage Bunshin no Jutsu on a large scale as often as I did before because Ero-Sennin warned me that the human mind isn't capable of processing so much information at once," Naruto explained.

"Pein might be using something similar with his six paths...they only demonstrated one jutsu each though," Fukasaku said confused.

"Shizune-san is already going over the body that Jiraiya-sama recovered," Kakashi spoke clearly.

"Maybe once we find out how they work we will be able to fight this bastard," Tayuya's grin was worthy of Anko's praise.

"Don't get ahead of yourself; none of you are even close to matching Pein right now. The only one who might have a chance is Tsunade-san and even then that chance is small," Fukasaku snorted at the very idea.

Pein was able to defeat Jiraiya, who despite being considered a failure was the strongest shinobi Konoha had since his student the Yondaime Hokage died in battle against the Kyuubi. Tsunade might be able to hold Pein off for a while but she would ultimately lose and though Kakashi was a strong Hokage, he knew he was nowhere near Jiraiya's level.

"So what do we do then? Just wait for the bastards to attack us?" Naruto asked angrily.

"That's simple, you all train," Fukasaku replied with a smirk. "And you Naruto will be coming with me," that surprised everyone in the room.

"With you?" Naruto asked the toad elder.

"I'll train you in Senjutsu on Mount Myobokuzan the same way I hammered it into Jiraiya-boya," a smirk somehow managed to settle onto Fukasaku's features.

"...Will it let me win against Pein?" Naruto asked him after a moment.

"That I can't guarantee but right now you don't have a chance at all," Fukasaku told the blond Namikaze.

"...Count me in," Naruto replied.

"Then we leave in an hour, you'd better go pack," Fukasaku told him with a nod.

Fire Country: Konoha / Main Gates

"Don't worry about us, we'll be fine. We've got our own training to do you know," Yugito said as Naruto pulled her into a tight hug.

"I'll be back soon Yugito," he told her as he pulled away.

"As soon as we have any results from the autopsy or the interrogation we'll send word," Kakashi told them.

"I'll leave a messenger toad so if anything happens just send him to get us," Fukasaku said with a nod.

"Don't worry little brother, we'll keep this shithole together until you get back," Tayuya said a little too cheerfully.

"...Right," Naruto deadpanned and shook his head.

"We really must be going...until we meet again," the moment Fukasaku finished; both he and Naruto disappeared in separate poofs of smoke.

"They vanished?" Tayuya said in alarm.

"It's a Gyaku Kuchiyose no Jutsu; don't worry about it," Yugito told her.

"You two will meet me at Training Ground Seven in twenty minutes because I'm going to be training you both personally," Kakashi told them.

"What about dickman here?" Tayuya asked pointing her thumb at the smiling Root Anbu beside them.

"I am afraid I will be on a mission for Danzo-sama during this time," Sai replied simply.

Kakashi paid him no heed as he started down the street with his book in hand. No one could have predicted what would happen over the following week...

Author's Notes:

Translation

Rikudō-Sennin = Sage of Six Paths
Pein Rikudō = Six Paths of Pain
Kage Bunshin no Jutsu = Shadow Clone Technique
Senjutsu = Sage Technique
Gyaku Kuchiyose no Jutsu = Reverse Summoning Technique

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