(A/N) So the villages that the Amekage mentioned having successfully taken over at the minor village summit were the Hidden Grass and Hidden Stone, but when I said Hidden Stone Village I meant the minor one that borders the Land of Wind and attacked it during Gaara Hiden. (Not the Hidden Stone in the land of earth, one of the five great villages). For purposes of simplicity, I'm going to refer to Iwagakure as the Hidden Stone and Ishigakure (the destroyed one) as the Hidden Rock from now on.

Also, the Ninja Profiles/Bingo Book Entries are official records kept by a party independent of but loyal to the five great shinobi villages and are common information that is kept on all ninja genin-rank or higher and distributed freely. Highly sensitive information is sometimes kept from them, but for the most part they represent the legitimate shinobi world's current image of a ninja.

Ninja Profile: The Amekage

Ninjutsu: ?
Genjutsu: ?
Taijutsu: ?
Specialties: Tactics, Space-Time Ninjutsu, Absolute Leadership

Description: The Amekage stand with unremarkable height or build, but their posture is always one of absolute precision and control. Their face hasn't yet been seen, hidden behind a perfectly carved golden mask, and their voice is a flat and toneless yet equally precise monotone. The gold extends to even the prosthetics that visibly replace their forearms and lower legs, as well as the lining on their clothing.

Origin: The Amekage is a relative unknown in the ninja world, having appeared and come to power about forty years after the Fourth Shinobi World War. Their true identity is a mystery, and the only known information on them is public record: they appeared, led an hour-long revolution, and seized control over the Hidden Rain. After that, they and the entire village dropped off of public view during something referred to as the 'Great Rebuilding', after which they resumed operations in the public eye. However, since the Amekage's rise, the Village Hidden in the Rain has denied any close ties with other villages.

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With bases in every single nation, Orochimaru's domain was huge and near-inescapable. Although, Kame thought uncharitably, maybe he could've put the bases in slightly-more-relevant areas. He and Haku had been hiking for hours on end from the base through the incredibly dull and grey countryside, moving directly towards the Hidden Rain, which in and of itself was slightly disturbing to Kame. Orochimaru did tell us to just go straight there, but… we're missing-ninja, dangerous ones.

The latest bingo book had just come out, to the late Hiretsuna's glee, and Kame had been bumped up to a B-class missing-ninja. That meant chunin and jonin would be sent to deal with him, while Haku's A-rank would bring down jonin and ANBU. Apparently, though, it was fine for two known criminals like them to simply traipse through the Hidden Rain's damp countryside in full view of anyone-

Kame felt himself pale a bit as he realized that, despite having stumbled onto a main road and walked along it for several hours, he had yet to see another human being besides Haku. After some mild chatting, the last hour or so of walking had been in silence that had at first seemed content, but now just felt eerie. He remembered the summit, where the various minor villages' delegates had all been varying types of scary, but the Amekage had stood out most of all. Something in the way that man had spoken, replying almost instantly and never pausing to think or take breath, or his elaborate prosthetic limbs and intricate metal mask, had left a strong and terrifying impression in Kame's mind.

Haku elbowed him and he looked up to see a group of three people standing in the middle of the road, completely still. The two Sound ninja shared a quick glance and then proceeded towards the three forms with extreme care, Kame even drawing and placing a windbomb on his chest in case they needed an escape. Upon nearing the three people, Kame recognized their headbands with the four lines of the Hidden Rain. The figures stood side-by-side with perfectly identical posture, each clad in light grey clothing underneath the dark grey and featureless vests of their village. In addition, they had steel protector guards on their forearms and lower legs and held kunai in their hands, which they raised once Kame and Haku came within a certain distance of them.

"You are the Hidden Sound representatives?" Kame jumped a little bit as none of their faces moved, then he saw- their faces weren't visible. They had metal masks with two round holes where their eyes were and a line in the general area of their mouths. Nothing was visible through the small holes, only a flat darkness. Kame actively flinched backwards, but when he moved in surprise, they instantly reacted by dropping into combat stances and readying to throw their kunai in unison.

"Yes, we are." Haku sounded slightly put off, but managed to smile and maintain composure.

"You will follow us." One of the Rain ninja turned and moved back between the other two, going off down the road. Kame gave Haku another confused glance, but started forward after it. Once he and Haku had moved between the other two guard, they fell into line behind them and formed a rough triangle. I don't like this, thought Kame. This might be a good way to protect us, but it's also a good way to surround us.

However, he couldn't pretend that it was only the positioning of the guard that was putting him on edge. Something about the Rain shinobi was just… wrong. The way they moved a little bit too perfectly, the lack of emotion from any of them, and even the land itself all sent Kame's nerves haywire and screaming at him to leave. It took a lot more restraint than he'd like to admit it did to keep himself from trying to escape or enter a defensive stance, but he managed to keep still and quiet as their little group marched down the long road.

Eventually, a haze on the horizon slowly became a visible city, with the grey skies getting darker and darker until they condensed into rainclouds pouring down onto the Hidden Rain itself. A huge lake surrounded the city like a moat, seemingly fueled by the heavy downpour to swell to huge sized. However, massive metal bridges spanned the gap easily, coming in at exactly interspersed angles like the spokes of a wheel all leading directly into the raised city itself.

As they came even closer, Kame noticed the Hidden Rain's stark contrast with the dead-looking area surrounding it. The city itself almost seemed alive, with lights glittering all over the various towers and buildings and smoke pouring out of hundreds of vents. No, not alive, Kame thought, it's like a machine. The guards didn't even stop or slow as they stepped up onto the steel bridge, so Kame wasn't given any time to stop or gawk at his surroundings. The lake that now filled both sides of his vision also looked off, with a dark and murky stillness that he hadn't seen anywhere before.

The air went from humid to wet as they entered the rain's domain, but thankfully Grandmother had seen fit to include raincoats in their mission supplies. She'd even color-coded them; Kame's was a dark brown while Haku's was purple. The Rain ninja seemed unaffected by the falling droplets, which at a surface level wasn't particularly surprising, but as the water ran down their masks and dampened the cloth covering their hair without drawing any reaction whatsoever, Kame's mounting dread grew just a little bit more.

Finally, they approached a gate to the city that was manned by another four Rain shinobi whose appearance was again exactly the same as the ones guarding Kame. Unmoving metal masks gave him dead stares, but the gate was opened without any deliberation or talking and Kame was ushered forward without breaking stride.

Upon entering the Hidden Rain itself, Kame staggered back a little bit and coughed from the smokey air, which send a shuddering wave of motion through his vision. Looking back up, he saw that all of the Rain ninja within view had turned to look directly at him, but all looked back to whatever task they were attending to when he hurriedly resumed walking beside Haku. The main street that they strode down was flanked by tightly-packed buildings, all of which looked industrialized far more than the Hidden Sand.

Most imposing were the huge structures that dominated over the surrounding smaller ones, especially the towers. The appearance of motion that Kame had been impressed with was mostly brought about by the huge gears, wheels and belts that emerged from said huge buildings, along with the vents that sent smoke billowing up as if to fight the falling rain. The people of the city were very few and far between, and even then consisted almost completely of the same clones that were escorting him and Haku.

Eventually, Kame ended up walking through a huge doorway and into the tallest tower of the city, up a set of stairs past more Rain ninja standing at attention, and ending up before a new type of person: Wearing the same Rain headband, but with a mask carved out of a much more polished, silvery metal and with more human-like features. A nose, two cold eyes, and a stern mouth were all set into the shiny metal, though none of them moved as the shinobi stood deadly still and stared directly towards Kame.

He noticed a symbol laid in white stitching over the grey cloth of the ninja's vest; the kanji for 'air' with a circle around it. The forearm and leg protectors of the new ninja were also made of the same cleaner metal, but they had lines on the edges colored in the same white. Is this… a jonin? Wait, no, if the ones guarding me and Haku are genin, then maybe this one is a chunin… He was left to wonder as the ninja of indeterminate rank stepped to the side and allowed the group of Sound and Rain ninja past him and up to a new door.

The door opened seemingly on its own and Kame stepped through it to find himself facing the Amekage, who was standing at the other side of the small room with hands clasped behind his back. As Kame felt dread overtake him he stopped walking, only to be grabbed by one of the guards behind him and pushed over to one of two chairs. "Sit," the Amekage said, so Kame complied, watching Haku do the same.

The Amekage was similar and yet vastly different from the other rain shinobi. Now not wearing the traditional Kage robes that he had at the summit, instead he was clad in a grey mesh top and grey chainmail pants, along with a metal breastplate. Rather than dull or shiny steel, his mask and even the lining on his clothing was a polished gold. Intricate carvings on the mask itself aside, it seemed more lifelike than those of the other underlings and morphed into human expressions. The mesh shirt ended at the man's elbows, underneath which were two prosthetic forearms made up complex gears, cables, and levers all of which were visible to the eye and composed of pure gold.

"You were sent to discuss strategy." The Amekage's voice that Kame had identified before as male was less so in person… this could be a woman, he thought.

"Yes." Haku responded for the both of them.

"My directives to him demanded that he send two genin-rank ambassadors." Damn, Kame thought, it's hard to try to talk with someone who has no inflection in their voice or tone at all. I can't tell if he… she… they are upset, or satisfied.

"I am genin-rank, and so is Kame." Haku smiled, but quickly dropped back into a more restrained expression as the expression was not reciprocated.

"Our database matched that assessment. However, your accomplishments are not those that a genin-rank ninja could accomplish. The inefficient system of ranking is clearly flawed." Kame wasn't sure how to respond to that, but thankfully the Amekage seemed to move on near-instantly. "But at this point it's irrelevant. Explain your purpose for meeting us here."

'Us'? Kame glanced around the room but didn't see any other ninja whatsoever, during which time Haku again responded for the both of them. "Orochima- er, the Otokage has sent us to try to get your help for our military movements."

"We-" Again with the plural, Kame noted, "-must know more before entering any actual agreement."

This one Kame could answer: "We plan to attack the Hidden Valley village in less than a week's time." Orochimaru had told him that it was okay to disclose as much information about the attack as was necessary. Apparently, the Amekage was reliable insofar as that he would prefer to have the Hidden Sound left alive than the Hidden Valley. "Our goal is to kill the Tanikage."

The Amekage stood dead still for long enough to make Kame start to consider getting up, but finally responded: "What of your forces will participate in attacking?"

"Uh…" Kame thought briefly before replying. "Orochimaru, me, Haku, Himei, Sankuryu, and Seikaku are the ones engaging on the Tanikage, while the Sound will also send a lot more expendable ninja to-"

"What of the jinchuriki known as Hiretsuna?"

"He's…" I don't think I should tell another Kage about him being dead, but… Orochimaru told me to give them any information they asked for. "He was killed in the creation of a chakra bomb that we'll use in our attack on the Hidden Valley."

The Amekage paused again, then looked to Haku. "Our scan on you indicated that you possess no tailed beast, so yours must have also been used in the process. What weapon has Orochimaru created with so much chakra?"

Haku replied, "I'm actually still in possession of my tailed beast, although… but nevermind. As for the weapon, well…"

Kame picked up where she trailed off: "Hiretsuna's tailed beast chakra was compressed into an explosive that should be capable of levelling the entire Hidden Valley."

"An interesting tactic, but against the Tanikage…" the Amekage paused before continuing off in a completely new direction: "Such a weapon would lend to your cause, but is far less valuable than the tailed beast. We will consider your request and access our records to determine the probability of success."

With that cryptic statement, the Amekage turned back to the window and the door behind Kame opened, admitting the guards from earlier into the room. As they stood expectantly, Kame got up onto his feet and moved towards the door, assuming that his choice was the correct one when they wordlessly fell into line behind him. He remembered something and turned back towards the Amekage: "Wait, what are we supposed to-"

The door slammed shut behind the two guards and Kame was left with no answers. Haku seemed just as confused as he was and actually turned to him and asked, "So, what now?"

"I don't know… do we go back to the base?"

Kame's question was answered by one of the Rain ninja, which scared the living crap out of him. "You are not to leave the Hidden Rain until a decision has been reached." Kame stiffened too quickly and stumbled backwards, heart pounding loud enough for him to hear and hand twitching towards his kunai. He'd spoken to the person, before, but for some reason miles upon miles of silent walking had lulled him into a false sense of security.

Haku stifled a laugh at his overreaction, then pointed down the hallway: "Can we move around in the Hidden Rain?" When the guards didn't answer, she just started walking, so Kame tagged along behind her. For some reason, along with the dread came a desire to confer with Haku, but with the guards mere feet away he decided now probably wasn't the best time.

Several flights of stairs later, he found himself stopping at the edge of the Amekage's tower, reluctant to go any further. "Haku, are you sure we should-"

"Yeah, I want to see more of this village and get something to eat."

Once again, Kame was startled by the toneless voice trailing out of the Rain shinobi behind him, but this time he kept his surprise under control and instead turned around slowly to face them. "There is only one place for you to eat in this village. Follow us."

Kame did as the guard asked, trailing behind them while rapidly considering the implications of what had just been said. Only one food shop… but this is a whole village, why would there only be one food shop? Wait, he did say 'for you', so maybe they just don't want us to eat anywhere else?

The Rain ninja led Kame and Haku through more of the same industrialized metal-and-stone buildings in various shades of grey, eventually taking them to a dimly lit building labeled 'Ichimi Ramen' but stopping at the entrance. Haku walked straight in, ignoring the Rain guards. Kame glanced at them, but they made no move to enter after her, so he shrugged and stepped under the curtain.

The place he found himself in was not at all what he'd expected, warm and brightly lit despite the grey, cold rain just outside. A countertop with five stools and a kitchen across it were the only features, all painted a reddish color that was again at odds with the monotony less than six feet away. Haku had already seated herself, and as Kame slid in next to her, a middle-aged man stepped out from a back room with a wide smile, making some inner part of Kame sigh in relief at the sight of another real human face.

"Hey there, kids, what can I do ya for?" Even his tone is warm and happy, Kame thought before glancing over the man's head to read the menu, finally settling on a dish.

"Can I get an order of miso ramen?"

Haku mirrored his request, and the shopkeeper nodded. "Sure thing, coming right up!"

As he disappeared back into the restaurant, Haku seemed to briefly glance outside before leaning in to speak to Kame in a lower tone. "Something's going on with this city."

"Yeah, but…" Kame shot one more glance towards the still curtains, then voiced his thoughts. "I haven't seen a single civilian, and all the shinobi are way too similar. This guy seems to be the only normal person in this entire village-"

A metal grinding noise from behind him startled him into drawing a kunai and whipping around to the sight of two limp bodies collapsing just outside the curtains. Just as they hit the ground, a newcomer pushed the curtains aside- a boy, who looked about fourteen or fifteen, clad in the Rain vest and grey clothing underneath it but with a joyful face and messy white hair showing. His green eyes sparkled with excitement as he stepped over and proffered an open hand for a handshake, so Kame obliged him, albeit with reservations.

Who the hell is this!? As the boy dropped into the seat beside Kame, he grinned even wider at the shopkeeper, speaking in an unnecessarily exuberant voice: "Hey gramps! Sorry I'm late!"

"All is forgiven, Kinzoku." The shopkeeper emerged from the kitchen with ramen bowls that he placed down before Kame, Haku, and the newcomer Kinzoku. "Although, I really wish that you wouldn't kill those people just outside my shop."

What? Kame instinctively glanced back towards the two limp bodies again, now actually scared. I was technically allied to them, so this person might want to kill me, too… but his fears were laid to rest (at least for the moment) by a wide smile and more of the happy talking: "Oops, guess I did it again, gramps… but don't worry, dad can fix them in no time."

So he's the son of someone who can heal… no, 'fix' the dead Rain ninja? Kame turned back to his food and dug in, trying to bury the creeping discomfort in his gut under the mixing flavors of the ramen. This is actually pretty good. A question shot into his mind and after a brief hesitation before he reminded himself that Orochimaru wasn't nearby, he asked it: "Why is this the only restaurant in the Rain?"

The old man's smile faded away slightly, revealing a bitterness underneath. "Ah, when the Great Rebuilding happened, the village lost a need for food, but I was allowed to keep my shop around because Kinzoku here," he reached over the counter to pat the teenager's head, "-asked for it."

"The Great Rebuilding?" Kame asked between mouthfuls of the ramen. He hadn't realized just how hungry he was until the food was presented to him, but now he was tearing through the noodles at a speed he wasn't normally capable of.

"Yeah!" Kinzoku's voice somehow grew even more unwarrantedly delighted. "That's when dad took over the Rain!"

The ramen cook's smile faded even further. "Yes, when the Amekage, first of his title, took power in the Rain, he reshaped the military and even the surrounding country. The people call that event the Great Rebuilding- or, they used to. Now it's just me and Kinzoku."

"So…" Kame glanced again at the fallen ninja outside. "Didn't Kinzoku just kill two Rain shinobi? I thought the Amekage was your father, so why-"

"I told you, stupid, dad can fix them."

"But-" Kame bit his lip, desperate for answers but also overloaded with information.

Thankfully, Haku came to his rescue and spoke when he couldn't: "Why can he 'fix' them? Does he bring people back to life from the dead, or…?"

"I dunno." Kinzoku scratched his head, then leaped to his feet excitedly. "Oh, I know, I'll just show you two! Here, c'mon, come with me!"

He began walking off, leaving Kame to glance at his emptied bowl of ramen and then at the chef before pulling out enough money to pay the tab and moving to follow the childlike son of the Amekage. Haku glanced longingly back at the food, muttered "Aww…" but ended up tagging along with the other two, leaving the saddened shopkeeper by himself.

As they moved through the streets, any Rain shinobi that saw them moved to keep a wide berth while keeping eyes trained on them. Kinzoku led them through dark alleyways and up onto the rooftops, cutting a haphazard route through a variety of obstacles until he arrived at the top of one of the larger buildings. He bent over and then pulled up on a hatch that was clearly locked, but before Kame could point that out he'd already yanked the entire thing, lock and all, out of the roof and tossed it off the edge of the building. Shattered rock fragments ringed a dark hole that Kinzoku unhesitantly jumped down into.

"Should we…?" Kame trailed off questioningly towards Haku, but she was already jumping down into the darkness, leaving him little choice but to leap as well. After what had to be only a few meters, he hit a solid surface that was dimly lit enough by trailing light off to his right. Still in pursuit of Kinzoku, he walked towards the silhouette of the other boy but soon found himself looking down into a massive storehouse packed almost fully with dark forms.

Kame's eyes gradually grew accustomed to the darkness, but once they did, he gasped- all of those forms in the darkness were humanoid. He subconscious backed away slowly, mind racing in terror as he imagined just how many corpses were stood-

Wait, corpses can't stand, Kame thought, approaching again as curiosity overpowered horror. Kinzoku turned towards him, still smiling, and then appeared to realize something and spoke: "Oh, sorry, I forgot that you two can't…" he leaped over to the wall and appeared to rip something off of it before shoving his arm into the hole. A few sparks flew and then Kame flinched backwards as dim lights turned on all over the place, burning his dilated pupils.

Blinking the spots out of his vision, he took a cautious step forward and tried to get a better grasp of his surroundings. He, Haku, and Kinzoku stood on a raised flat platform of concrete that overlooked a massive warehouse. From the ground up, the entire storage facility was occupied by layer after layer, shelf after shelf full of what he'd mistakenly assumed to be corpses but were actually… Rain shinobi? But… why are they standing still in a dark warehouse? He turned to voice the question, but a finger to his lips silenced him.

Kinzoku used his other pointer finger to direct Kame's attention back to the floor of the building. "Look," he whispered, "see?" Two of the forms at the end of the warehouse jerked forward suddenly, assumed a more ready position than the neutral stance that the other shinobi were assuming, and then disappeared in small clouds of summoning smoke. The other still bodies in their row marched two steps forward before dropping back into their neutral stance, filling the gap.

Kinzoku grabbed Kame's shoulder and pulled him back towards the hole in the roof. "You're gonna miss the cool part!" Kame played along, letting the other boy drag him across the concrete surface and past the hole, on for a surprisingly long time, until they reached the far end of the concrete surface and looked down over the edge. To his surprise, the line of inactive ninja was still going, and it was only at the very far side of the massive storehouse that the two gaps left behind by the disappeared Rain ninja were visible.

Two small doors opened, letting out a loud cacophony of noise, and then deposited two new Rain ninja onto the ground, who stood and moved to the gaps in the lines, refilling them and making the warehouse fully occupied once more. What is this? Kame thought, completely speechless at the eerie and unnatural display. Does he have all the ninja under a genjutsu or something? That would actually explain why they don't need civili-

Haku spoke. "Kame, behind us."

He turned to see the silvery Rain ninja with the 'Air' symbol on their chest and white patterning, approaching rapidly and barking out orders. "Kinzoku, you are to return to your quarters at once!" The boy nodded sheepishly and darted off past them. "Hidden Sound Ambassadors, you are to report to the Amekage's tower immediately."

Kame swallowed, briefly considering making a break for it before the hordes of unconscious Rain ninja surrounding him made him rethink that decision and simply nod. He and Haku moved towards the hole in the roof, clambered through it, and then made their way over rooftops back to the Amekage's tower. Once inside it, they were directed straight back up into the Amekage's audience chamber, where they were confronted by the same impassive golden face that the Rain's leader had worn when they'd first met.

Once they sat down, the Amekage wasted no time and got straight to the point. "Your request for military support has been considered and rejected."

Kame winced and envisioned how Orochimaru would react to that new, desperately trying to think of a way to avoid such an outcome. "And why is that?" Maybe if I get a reason, I can argue our case, or at least have an excuse to give Orochimaru…

"Because after long research on his powers and known battles, we have decided that the Tanikage is an enemy that we are not prepared to face. In addition, to expose ourselves before the full incorporation of the Rock and Grass is not an option at all." The Amekage pointed towards the wall behind Kame. "Return to Orochimaru."

Kame wanted to make one final argument, but before he got the chance the Amekage was already turning away and several more carbon-copy Rain shinobi were stepping forward and directing him and Haku towards the exit. As he left first the Kage's tower and then the Hidden Rain itself, Kame found himself faintly glad that the eerie village hadn't agreed to join them. Something very wrong is going on there, he thought, but I don't want to know the details.