Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other series I might use for inspiration.
Insidious
"How did you…" Kurenai trailed off, stopping midway through her question when she remembered who exactly Shimura Danzo was, though still unable to shake off the confused expression on her facial features as she wondered why the hell this guy was here, inside of her apartment.
"Yuhi Kurenai, Genjutsu Mistress of Konoha, authoritive figure on all things Genjutsu and criminal psychology related. I'm Shimura Danzo, esteemed elder of the village and advisor to the Hokage….amongst other things." Danzo said with a neutral tone.
"Y-yes, I know who you are, I just don't know what you are doing in my apartment." Kurenai said both as a statement and an enquiry.
"I'm here to convince you to lead a special elite team of my ANBU on a special mission. My team consists of Aburame Torune, Yamanaka Fuu, and a young boy known only as Sai. He is my apprentice and I am grooming him to take over for me one day. He has a very special and unique skill set, as I'm sure you'll find out. Nevetheless the team needs an experienced, intelligent, and competent leader, someone who can instantaneously read a situation and come up with quick solutions. I could not think of anyone better than you." Danzo said with gushing praise, even though it was said with a completey emotion deficient tone.
"Is this mission authorized by the Hokage?" Kurenai asked warily.
To say she was concerned would be a massive understatement. She honestly could not say she had any idea what on Earth Danzo was up to. Going on a mission for Danzo was something she both never thought she would ever do and also never thought she would be asked to do. Intrigued and curious as she was about what kind of experience it would be, two things however didn't escape her. One, how random and all of a sudden this whole thing was. And two, the fact that Danzo hated 'traitors' to Konoha more than anything, and now was asking her, someone unanimously thought of by the higher ups as a potential flight risk due to her feelings for a notorious criminal and traitor to the village, to go on a 'special' mission for him with three of his high ranking leutenants.
'Does he think I'm an idiot or something? Is he trying to have me assassinated by his elite squad?' Kurenai thought suspiciously.
"No, it is not authorized by the Hokage, but I'm sure you would prefer it remained that way. Do not worry about maintaining your cover, I will make sure no one knows that you left the village." Danzo replied.
"You're getting way ahead of yourself. I haven't agreed to go on this special mission of yours, and why would I want to go on an unauthorized mission?" Kurenai asked incredulously.
"Team 10, comprised of Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Choji, have solicited Haruno Sakura to join them on an ill advised and unauthorized mission outside the village in order to assassinate Uzumaki Naruto. I'm sure you already know this but if the higher ups, or better yet, if the Hokage finds out about this they could be branded as rogue nin and hunting ninja could be sent after them. Team 10 were your fiance's students, and they are his legacy. Don't you think you owe it to him to protect them from themselves?" Danzo asked with a sinister glint in his eyes.
Of course, Kurenai didn't know that Danzo had used a sharingan mind control genjutsu known as koto amatsukami on Ino in the first place, that it was actually his idea for them to go after Naruto, not only that but he had also been the one who advised her to recruit Sakura as an ally, even told her what cards to play on her to get her to go, that this was all part of Danzo's plan to eliminate or capture Uzumaki Naruto.
"I….I'm quite honestly surprised by this information, but then again, it's not entirely unexpected. Naruto is responsible for both Asuma and Inoichi-san's death, both of which were very close and dear to all the members of team 10. It was probably Ino's idea, which is why Sakura ended up becoming involved, and of course, Naruto was her teammate as well so she probably feels responsible. I should have seen this coming, well...I guess I did, but I should have kept an eye on them…"
"Worrying about what could or should have been won't change anything. You should be more concerned about what it is you can do now. So...what will it be, Yuhi Kurenai? Will you go on this mission to retrieve these young and misguided children and bring them safely home?"
"Remove the whool and cut out all the pretenses, Danzo-sama. We both know you want Naruto either captured and returned to you, or killed on sight. This is not a team 10 retrieval mission, you want me and this special team of yours to provide back up for team 10. I wouldn't even be surprised if you're behind all of this in the first place." Kurenai replied tensely.
'Amazing. She hit the nail right on the coffin, about everything. She really is just as good as Sarutobi thought she was. And that damned Naruto, he has a good eye for talent, no wonder he has such a keen interest in her.' Danzo thought.
"Nevertheless this is an opportunity no? You get to see Uzumaki Naruto one last time, and you get to have your revenge for Asuma. Naruto is travelling with a four man cell. If team ten can handle the other three, then you and your team can focus all your attention on Uzumaki Naruto himself. He has a soft spot for you, so you should have the advantage. Also, its an opportunity for you to redeem yourself in the eyes of your fellow shinobi and superiors, and a chance to avenge Asuma whilst also protecting his students, and therefore his legacy. Whichever way you look at it, killing Uzumaki Naruto is a good thing, both for you and the village. You will finally be free of the emotional strings that he has etched deep into your soul and become the true shinobi of Konoha that you are meant to be." Danzo said passionately, all the while the tamoe on the sharingan hidden behind his bandages spinning rapidly until the eye formed a different and unique pattern.
"F-fine. You've made your point, and I have your word that mine and team ten's involvement in this incident will never come to light?" Kurenai asked cautiously.
"It won't, if that is what you want. I don't know why you wouldn't want it to though, because if you succeed, you will be revered as heroes of Konoha."
"But if we fail we could go to jail, or even worse, we could all be executed." Kurenai retorted.
"Please!" Danzo snorted.
"Not even Tsunade is foolish enough to execute two clan heirs, her own apprentice, and a clan head." Danzo retorted.
"Fair enough. Now, where is this team of yours?" Kurenai asked curiously, causing Danzo to smirk maliciously, showing emotion for the first time since the conversation began as he deactivated his mangyekou sharingan.
"Come with me…"
0000000000
"We've got incoming. Its Hoshigaki Kisame, and….Itachi…?" Naruto trailed off.
"That's unusual for you? You don't sound very sure Naruto-sama?" Esdese asked warily.
"It's him...but he's very different, his chakra, his life force, its all different." Naruto said warily.
"What does that mean exactly?" Mei asked curiously.
"His chakra is much stronger than it was before, and he's much healthier too." Naruto replied.
"I still don't get it." Esdese said with a bored tone.
"Well, you're most likely about to find out first hand what Naruto-sama meant, because here they come." Fuka retorted before Naruto could reply, being a sensor type herself, and just as she said, the Akatsuki duo made their presence known as they appeared in front of the Onikage and his entourage with a fast sunshin technique.
"Uchiha Itachi, Hoshigaku Kisame. What an unpleasant surprise. You know, when I brokered that truce with your organisation, I was under the impression that it meant I wouldn't have to deal with you Akatsuki thugs anymore, and yet everywhere I go, there you lot are." Naruto said condescendingly, the blonde Uzumaki removing his Kage hat from his head and letting it hang from the back and around his neck as he wanted to have a clear line of view when dealing with such dangerous people.
"We have some questions for you Naruto-kun." Itachi said politely.
"I'm afraid we don't have time for chit chat because we have a Kage summit to attend." Naruto replied casually.
"Hnhnhnhn! Kage Summit huh? Zetsu's Intel was spot on after all, so the little gaki wants to become one of the big fish in the pond huh?" Kisame thought out loud, sheer amusement dripping from his tongue.
"I'm farely certain that some of the Kage will be travelling with one or two of their jinchuuriki. Also, one of the Kage is a jinchuuriki himself. So why are you imbeciles bothering Naruto-sama and wasting the precious opportunity to hunt down the bijuu that Naruto-sama has provided for you by calling for this Summit?" Mei asked incredulously, both Kisame and Itachi's eyes widening in surprise at Mei's words.
"Is she implying that you called for this summit soley to provide an opportunity for our organisation to swoop in on the bijuu?" Kisame asked, directing the question at the chimera toad sage.
"No, not really. Most likely, his intention is for us and the Kage to take each other out and weaken both the other villages and Akatsuki. Think about it, if we went after the jinchuuriki, we'd be potentially going up against two jinchuuriki instead of one...two jinchuuriki that are backed up by a Kage and another elite ninja of which he or she might be Kage level themselves. Those are not good odds, anything can happen in such a scenario." Itachi retorted.
"Hnhnhn! What a sinister little brat you've grown up to become. Uzumaki Naruto huh? You're turning out to be just as troublesome as your father once was." Kisame said amusedly.
"Heh? So you guys know about my lineage huh? I guess I shouldn't be surprised. However….like I told you earlier, we don't have time for chit chat, I can't afford to arrive late for the summit when I'm the one who called for it in the first place now can I?" Naruto asked retorically.
"I'm afraid we're going to have to insist that you continue to converse with us Naruto-kun." Itachi said politely, and yet, there was an unmistakable steel in his eyes that told of unspeakable horrors that would befall anyone who tried to defy him.
"And if we refuse to co-operate?" Naruto asked, eyes narrowing dangerously at the Uchiha genius.
"Then we'll make you co-operate." Itachi said as his the tamoe in his sharingan began spinning rapidly.
"Genjutsu huh? Hn, sorry Itachi-san, but I'm afraid that nonsense won't work on the Uzumaki clan." Naruto said with a confident smirk, Itachi's eyes widening in surprise as he realised that his sharingan illusionary prowess was having no effect whatsover, although only for a brief moment as he quickly recomposed himself.
"So this is an ability exclusive to the Uzumaki clan? Then, what about the other two who aren't Uzumaki?" Itachi asked rhetorically, pointing his finger, the one with the Akatsuki ring, at Mei and Esdese, the confidence with which he spoke draining out of him almost immediately as he realised that the genjutsu that he was trying to activate with his finger was not having any effect whatsoever.
"Hnhnhnhn! Itachi-san, either these guys are far more formidable than we could have imagined, or you must be losing your touch somehow. Which is it I wonder?" Kisame asked with both amusement and excitement, excited that it looked like he was finally going to get a chance to go all out as he hadn't had the opportunity to be in a real battle ever since he partnered with the genius of the Uchiha clan, because of course, Itachi tended to end battles before they even began with his sharingan illusions.
'H-how? How is this possible?' Itachi thought with confusion and wariness, having never met anyone who was immune to his genjutsu before, not even other sharingan users. Sure, he wasn't using his strongest genjutsu, the Tsukiyomi, but he'd literally taken down a sannin with this level of genjutsu with ease before, so it didn't make sense to him that it wasn't working whatsoever with these individuals, no matter how strong or skilled they were.
"Did you really think a mere sharingan genjutsu would be enough to take out a member of the Bloodline? What an imbecile you are, Uchiha Itachi. Genius shinobi my ass, you're a total idiot." Esdese said incredulously.
Of course, unlike the Uzumaki clan, she didn't have a genjutsu barrier placed on her brain to prevent genjutsu from working on her, and the reason for that was simple, simply because unlike the other members of the Uzumaki clan, Naruto had not taught her that kinjutsu. She would probably have it taught to her when...hopefully if she got married to Naruto, but as of yet, she was not part of the Uzumaki clan, and therefore was not privy to their kinjutsu.
Which then begs the question, how then were were she and Terumi Mei also immune to Itachi's genjutsu? The answer to that was simple enough, at least for Esdese. Her eyes were covered by a thin sheet of transparent ice crystal in order to ward off visual genjutsu, almost like she was wearing ice based contec lenses, which is why Itachi's chakra was unable to reach her Optive Nerve and from there, reach her brain. On the downside this meant that she was only immune to visual genjutsu and not all forms of genjutsu like Naruto, Fuka, and even Mei were.
For Mei it was completely different, because if one paid enough attention to her, they would be able to see the vapours of steam leaving her body. Mei was using a technique Naruto helped her to develop known as Steam Release: Body Precipitation. The jutsu was not originally developed for the purpose of countering against genjutsu but rather genjutsu immunity was a mere side effect of the jutsu. The jutsu considerably heats up Mei's chakra, causing her chakra molecules to vibrate at insane frequencies. The effect of this was that her chakra activity shot through the roof almost in the same manner as someone who activated the celestial gates but without all the negative side effects of an eight gates user.
This ability in effect gave her considerable and in fact exponential growth in speed, reaction time/reflexes, and strength, turning her into a super ninja for as long as she could keep the jutsu activated. The insane chakra frequencies also made it impossible for her to be trapped in a genjutsu while the jutsu is active, and unlike Esdese, who is only immune to visual genjutsu, she is immune to all forms of genjutsu and mind control as long as the jutsu remains active.
"..."
"Don't under estimate him, Esdese. His genjutsu may be useless but he is without a shadow of doubt one of the most complete ninja we will ever encounter. He's not just brilliant at genjutsu, he's brilliant at everything. This man is a true genius, underestimate him at your own peril. Having said that, I feel like we seriously are being underestimated ourselves here. Perhaps it is time we proved a point to the Akatsuki." Naruto said with a dead serious tone.
"What do you have in mind, Naruto-kun?" Fuka asked curiously.
"We murder them, of course." Naruto declared dramatically, Itachi and Kisame's eyes narrowing dangerously as they prepared themselves for battle, Kisame even removing his sword from his back and holding it in a battle stance.
"We have to seperate them first. Mei, you and I will take care of Itachi, and Fuka and Esdese can take care of Kisame." Naruto declared.
"Wait a minute Naruto-kun. If we kill each other here, war will inevitably break out, and many people will die. How about just you and I swap hands. If you win, we'll not only let you pass but we promise not to disturb you again. If I win however, you tell us exactly what happened to the Kyubi and his exact or approximate location if you know it." Itachi suggested quickly.
"What's wrong Itachi-san? Getting cold feet all of a sudden? Or did you actually, up until this very moment, believe that I negotiated the peace agreement because I was afraid of you Akatsuki thugs ?" Naruto asked condescendingly.
"I know now that you're not afraid to go to war, and that you do not fear our strength. Respect it, yes, but fear it? No, clearly not, you've proven as such. However, we still need that information, so I felt that this was the most reasonable wager I could offer." Itachi offered.
'He is testing and measuring Naruto-sama, his personality, his strength, his resolve, and the purpose behind each and every one of his actions. But why? Why does he want to know so much, even at the risk of breaking the peace agreement. Why does a person like Itachi have such a strong interest in Naruto-sama?' Mei thought analytically.
"Okay, fair enough. My people will not interfere if Kisame doesn't interfere. But if he does, or any ally of yours does, then all bets are off." Naruto said with a serious tone.
"The same goes for you then. If your people interfere, all bets are off." Itachi retorted.
"Fuka, Esdese, Mei, step back. I'll handle this." Naruto ordered authoratively.
"Be careful." Mei said with a pat on the shoulder as she and the other ladies moved to a safer distance away.
"Hnhnhnhn! This should be interesting…" Kisame thought out loud as he too moved a safer distance away.
No further words were said, the battle beginning immediately as Itachi threw dozens of shuriken at the blonde Uzumaki at speeds that most elite jonin and even some Kages wouldn't be able to follow, the shuriken lighting up like mini suns as Itachi, within the split second between pulling out the shuriken and throwing it, was able to infuse each and every one of them with his fire style, thereby increasing the penetraive force of the shurikens.
However, much to his surprise, he found himself becoming overwhelmed as Naruto matched him kunai for shuriken, successfully deflecting each and every shuriken with his wind enhanced kunai, and forcing Itachi to go on the defensive as he seemingly was able to dish the kunai out at a much, much faster rate than Itachi was able to throw shuriken, causing him to have to duck, dodge and weave around the onslaught of kunai.
'This is similar to the senbon barrage that Sasori uses with his puppets. Except naturally the gaki isn't a puppet and he is using kunai instead of senbon. But what makes his jutsu even more sinister and dangerous than Sasori's jutsu, is that the kunai are automatically infused with the gaki's wind chakra as soon as they leave the storage seals. Fuinjutsu really is a sort of cheat code isn't it? Hnhnhn, no wonder the Uzumaki clan were seen as a threat that must absolutely be eliminated.' Kisame thought with both awe and amusement.
'The kunai are coming from seals on the palms of his hands. This defeats all manner of kunai or shuriken jutsu training. The ability to bypass all levels of talent and ninja training with just a single sealing array, so this is the true power of the Uzumaki clan?' Itachi thought as he struggled to evade all the fuuton enhanced kunai that were coming his way, Getting cuts and nicks all over his body and clothing until the point where he realised that there seemed to be no end to the number of kunai stored in Naruto's storage seals.
'Even with the extra stamina that Hashirama's cells have provided you you won't be able to keep this up forever. Taijutsu is also out of the question, there is no way to get around such a ridiculous barrage of kunai and close the gap. So what will you do now, Itachi-san?' Kisame pondered with interest and curiosity shining in his eyes.
"Susano'o." Itachi whispered, standing absolutely still as a sinister looking, chakra based, and gigantic rib cage formed around him with one equally gigantic skeletal arm sticking out of it, a powerful defensive technique unique only to people who have awakened a mangyekou sharingan in both of their eyes.
However, much to Itachi's surprise, he found himself with a couple of kunai sticking out of his chest, torso, and arms, the wind oscillations having been strong enough to perforate and pass through his rib cage susano'o, although thankfully they had lost so much power and speed by the time they went through that they barely made a dent on his body, only breaching the surface of his skin and causing superficial wounds. Quickly responding to this, Itachi quickly willed the skeletal arm of his defense to cover the frontal part of the rib cage, thereby increasing the strength of his absolute defense.
'Hnhnhn! If I told the other members that someone could use mere kunai to force Itachi-san into using his ultimate ninjutsu they would probably laugh at the absurdity of it all. This brat really is full of surprises.' Kisame thought amusedly.
"So this is the infamous Susano'o. I've only read about it in the ancient records of the Uzumaki clan. I've never seen it before. Doesn't seem like you have achieved full possession though, are you still taking me lightly perhaps?" Naruto asked with genuine curiosity, his eyes, similar to Itachi's in that they had suddenly completely changed in colour and design, now spotting golden eyes with a horizontal slit at the center of his pupils and also with red markings around the eyes.
'Naruto-sama has actually activated the chimera toad sennin mode? He must seriously want to kill the Uchiha brat then.' Fuka thought to herself.
'So his response to the Uchiha activating the mangyekou sharingan is to activate sennin mode huh? Smart move, Naruto-sama. Without knowing the full extent of the mangyekou sharingan's capabilities, it is wisest to face him at the peak of your physical and ninjutsu prowess.' Mei thought analytically.
"Itachi-san, his eyes suddenly changed colour, and his already monstrous chakra has become even more monstrous in size and potency. Is this the power of the Uzumaki doujutsu? I wasn't aware they had one." Kisame asked curiously.
"Neither was I. I don't think it's a doujutsu though, but let us test the waters…." Itachi trailed off with a determined look in his eyes.
"Amateresu." Itachi whispered, manifesting pitch black flames from his left eye that were aimed directly at the blonde Uzumaki, directly as in, instead of flying from his eye and travelling the distance between himself and Naruto, rather, the flames manifested directly at Naruto's location, this happening because the black flames by nature ignite anything in the user's line of sight.
As if this wasn't bad enough, the flames were also extremely fast, travelling at a ridiculous speed, and these qualities, along with the fact that they are unquenchable, are the reason why the jutsu is known as the strongest ninjutsu in existence. However, despite the fact that the flames were supposed to be unavoidable, both Itachi and Kisame were unable to contain their surprise as Naruto did exactly that, completely avoiding the flames as he instantly dodged to the left side at a speed that completely defies reality.
Having no intention whatsoever to stay on the defensive, the blonde Uzumaki immediately went on the offense, instantaneously closing the distance between himself and the genius of the Uchiha clan and coming in from the left side, having completely escaped from Itachi's line of sight with his speed and delivering a horizontal cross kick with his right leg directly to the front of the Uchiha's absolute defense.
The sheer speed and power that Naruto was able to generate with that attack was so ridiculous that it caused a loud booming sound upon impact, causing a monstrous shock wave to wash over the area, Itachi's absolute defense completely obliterated from existence as he was sent flying away rapidly, smashing through a multitude of trees before hitting the ground so hard that a large crater formed around his body where his body landed.
'I-impossible! He kicked right through it..no, rather, he completely obliterated Itachi-san's defense. What monstrous speed and power, as if it wasn't ridiculous enough that he was able to dodge a point blank amateresu that ignites everything in its line of sight!' Kisame thought in surprise.
'It seems I was wrong. Closing the distance and engaging the brat in close quarters was never an option after all, not if he is packing that kind of speed and power. I must say, a taijutsu fighter of that caliber is extremely rare, and taijutsu isn't even his main fighting style. This could spell trouble. Itachi-san, what will you do now?' Kisame thought with both intrigue and wariness.
'I….I can't believe he obliterated my rib cage Susano'o like that. Could it be that he has even more raw power than Tsunade of the Sannin?' Itachi thought as he struggled to get back to his feet, coughing up globs of blood from the damage he took from Naruto's taijutsu attack despite the fact that said attack didn't even make direct contact with him, having been blown away by merely the shockwave that resulted from Naruto's kick.
'A ninja that not only is immune to sharingan genjutsu but can dodge amateresu and obliterate a rib cage Susano'o with a mere kick? Ridiculous. If someone told me I would be facing someone like that I would have been hard pressed to believe it. I don't have a choice, I'll die here if I don't go all out.' Itachi thought as he activated full possession Susano'o along with the Yata Mirror and Sword of Totsuka, a spiritual sword and shield that originally belonged to the sage of the six paths.
'Going all out are we? So this is Itachi-san's true power? However, Itachi-san, if I know you as well as I think I do, then the true purpose of this battle is for you to discern the true personality, character, and motives of the Uzumaki brat and also the true extent of his powers. You may have succeeded with the former and learned a bit about his character and motives, but with the latter, it seems like you are the one being forced to reveal the secrets of your ninja prowess.' Kisame thought as he not only studied the true form of Itachi's Susano'o, which he was seeing for the first time, but also taking note of the fact that Itachi's cloak had taken so much damage that his chest area was showing, revealing what was supposed to be the secret behind his newfound health and vitality.
"Just as I thought, you've been partially taken over by Hashirama's DNA and life force. You've been colluding with Orochimaru AND Kabuto, or is with Orochimaru OR Kabuto? Which one is it, Itachi-dono?" Naruto asked curiously.
"I'm afraid I do not know what you speak of Naruto-kun." Itachi replied casually.
"Oh really? So that isn't Hashirama's face on your chest?" Naruto asked rhetorically, Itachi's eyes widening in surprise as he looked down to see that his chest area was completely exposed to the world.
'I was so pre-occupied with setting up my absolute defense that I didn't bother to assess the true extent of my injuries, and therefore failed to take note of this...exposition.' Itachi self reprimanded himself, but then quickly decided to let it slide and forgive himself when he concluded that there had been no other choice at the time but to quickly set up his defense due to his opponent's godly speed of attack.
"I suppose the secret is out. Yes, indeed, I had the opportunity to slay Orochimaru when he defected from Akatsuki, but instead I cut a deal with him, to find a way to cure me of my chronic and deadly illness in exchange for his life." Itachi explained.
"You're a very good liar I'll give you that. However, one of my specialties is the ability to detect lies. You're working with Kabuto-sensei aren't you? But that doesn't make sense, Kabuto-sensei loves and worships Orochimaru, and Orochimaru hates your guts. Why would he help you...I wonder?" Naruto said with a thoughtful pose.
'He must have either blackmailed Kabuto-sensei somehow or controlled him with his sharingan. He couldn't have kidnapped him otherwise Orochimaru would have been suspicious about sensei's absence, so it's either blackmail or mind control.' Naruto deduced.
"..."
"No comment? No matter. I'll just ask him the next time I see him. More importantly, Itachi-san, why don't we call it a draw and go our separate ways. I seriously doubt your intention when you came here was to reveal so many of your secrets. Now you've shown me your amateresu, your full possession Susano'o, and you've exposed the fact that you have the long lost treasures of the sage of the six paths, the sword of Totsuka and the Yata Mirror. You've also inadvertently revealed to me that there is some sort of connection between you and my sensei. How many more secrets do you intend for me to force you to reveal? Or do you actually wish to die?" Naruto asked rhetorically, Itachi doing EXTREMELY well to hide his surprise from showing at the fact that Naruto knew about the Yata Mirror and Sword of Totsuka, even if it was pointless to hide is surprise since Naruto had the ability to sense emotions, not that Itachi knew that of course.
"H-how?"
"Irrelevant! I mean, does it really matter how, Itachi-dono? The fact is I know." Naruto retorted.
"If it's not too much to ask, I'd like for you to tell me anyway, irrelevant or not." Itachi requested politely.
"Hn, well, you'd be surprised at how detailed the Uzumaki archives are. Plus, Uzu wasn't called the village of longetivity for nothing you know. Uzumaki Fuka here, who you met earlier, despite her youthful appearance, is actually over two hundred years old. She knows a lot about the past as you can imagine." Naruto explained, shocking both Itachi and Kisame to the core with that tad bit of information.
"Now Itachi-san, out of the very little respect I have for you, and to show you how pointless it is for you to continue to resist, I'm going to paint the picture for you so that you can see it clearly. I'm immune to your genjutsu, including the all powerful Tsukiyomi. I'm fast enough to dodge your amateresu, which ignites everything in its line of sight, and I'm certainly fast enough to evade your sword of Totsuka so you definitely won't be able to seal me away with it. Now, I imagine that you think you're safe from me because you activated the Yata Mirror in conjunction with your full possession Susano'o, but I assure you that you are very much just as vulnerable as you would be even if you didn't activate the Yata Mirror." Naruto said with a grave undertone.
"I do not doubt your wisdom and knowledge Naruto-kun, certainly not anymore. However, you're not as knowledgeable as you think you are. Now let me tell you a little something about the Yata Mirror. This shield is imbued with five elemental transformations and also the six element known as yin/yang release, which can be used to manipulate reality itself. This shield therefore has the ability to adjust and adapts it's very properties to match and deflect every kind of attack, it is an invincible defense." Itachi explained.
"Hn, how naive of you, Itachi-dono. You of all people should know that there is no such thing as an invincible jutsu. For one, the Yata Mirror requires chakra in order to activate, therefore, the amount of chakra you have determines how long you can keep it activated, and I'm certain that it requires an exorbitant amount of chakra to keep activated, like all of the rikudo sennin's weapons. Secondly, there is the matter of speed. Right now the mirror is only protecting the frontal area of you and your Susano'o, but I can get behind you in an instant, so even if it can shape shift, there is no guarantee that it will shift fast enough to stop me from attacking your blind spot." Naruto explained as Itachi quickly morphed the mirror so that it covered him from front to back, Naruto noticing this but doing nothing about it surprisingly.
"Finally, let me tell you about a theory that I have. You see, the sage of the six paths had an ability to produce a malleable chakra that he used as an absolute offense and defense. Typically he would form this chakra into spheres known as truth seeking orbs. This malleable chakra was imbued with all six of the elements of nature….just like the Yata Mirror." Naruto said dramatically.
"Are you implying that these truth seeking orbs were used to create the Yata Mirror?" Itachi asked, eyes widening slightly as realisation dawned on him.
"That's exactly what I think. The sage must have bonded a truth seeking orb into that weapon in order to create what is now known as the Yata Mirror, as a way perhaps to pass down some of his power to his descendents. Now, earlier you and your partner speculated about the change in colour of my eyes. Well, the reason for that change is because I have activated what is known as sage mode or sennin mode. With sennin mode I have the ability to use senjutsu. Notice that neither the truth seeking orbs or the Yata Mirror have sage chakra imbued into them. Do you know why that is so, why do you think that is so, huh, Itachi-dono….?" Naruto asked with a sinister smirk plastered on his facial features, six rasengans forming in mid air around him as he spoke.
'I wasn't aware that the rasengan could be used like this. What does he intend to do? Can he control all of them from a distance? The rasengan is a powerful technique, there is no doubt about that, but does he really think he can penetrate the Yata Mirror and my full possession Susano'o with a mere rasengan?' Itachi pondered, and almost as if reading his thoughts, the blonde Uzumaki began to explain.
"This is my sage art: truth seeking rasengan technique. And yes, it is inspired by the tales of the rikudo sennin's truth seeking orbs. These aren't normal rasengans though, they are far more powerful than the normal rasengan as they are imbued with sage chakra. But this probably still won't be enough to take you out completely, so in that case…." Naruto trailed off as wind blades began forming around all six of his truth seeking rasengans, a loud and menacing screech coming from all six of the the now bladed orbs.
"Sage Art: Truth Seeking Rasenshurikens!" Naruto said the name of his new jutsu, Itachi visibly sweating as he was beginning to truly comprehend the nature and level of Naruto's jutsu prowess.
"My theory is that the truth seeking orbs and the Yata Mirror have the exact same weakness, because of course they are imbued with the exact same components. That weakness, Itachi-dono, is senjutsu. With that said, do you have any last words?" Naruto asked as if he was merely asking Itachi about the weather forecast for the day.
'If what he said is true about the Yata Mirror being weak to senjutsu, then I'm as good as dead as I am. What should I do? Should I activate perfect Susano'o? No, it's too early to reveal all of my Trump cards. Zetsu is watching, which means Madara and Leader are also watching. It's bad enough that I've been forced to reveal so much already, even worse, now everyone will know about the Hashirama DNA implants. I've achieved my goal, I've assessed Naruto's character, even if his motives are unclear, and I've seen the extent of his ability, at a greater expense than anticipated, but mission accomplished nonetheless. There is no need to drag this out.' Itachi thought analytically.
"Okay Naruto, I concede. Victory is yours today, and as promised, we will not bother you again...unless specifically ordered to by our superiors." Itachi said with his hands in the air, although still refusing to deactivate his absolute defense for obvious reasons.
"Hmmm….." Naruto trailed off with a thinking pose.
"Okay cool. I'll let it slide today, what you did that is. But if something like this happens again, I'll take it as a declaration of war. Do we understand each other, Itachi-dono?" Naruto asked darkly, Itachi replying with a simple nod of the head in the affirmative.
"Alright." Naruto said, instantly deactivating his truth seeking Rasenshuriken technique but not his sage mode and not his truth seeking rasengan either, as the rasenshurikens merely reverted back to their standard rasengan form, and neither did Itachi deactivate his mangyekou sharingan, although he did put away his Susano'o and by extension the sage's weapons.
"..."
"Well, what are you waiting for? Get lost." Naruto said with a small tick mark on his forehead.
"Just one more question. What is your goal exactly? What is your purpose? What are you trying to achieve? Do you intend to destroy Konoha? Do you intend to destroy the ninja world itself?" Itachi asked, deciding to go for the direct approach this time.
"I have absolutely no love for Konoha, in fact I have nothing but contempt for Konoha. But no, my goal is not to destroy them or the ninja world. My goal is to rebuild Uzushiogakure, which is why I have petitioned the other Kage to recognise Onigakure no Sato as New Uzu. My goal is to rebuild the Uzumaki clan and bring back our glory days. My goal is to protect my loved ones and everyone in Onigakure no Sato, and to provide a safe haven for all of those who have been oppressed and mistreated for reasons beyond their control. My goals, as you can see, Itachi-dono, have nothing to do with the destruction of Konoha, Akatsuki, or the other Five Kage. Those who end up at the receiving end of my blade will only do so because they provoked me." Naruto replied in detail.
"That sounds noble and idealistic, but things seldom are roses and flowers in reality. You defected from Konoha, and you killed some Konoha shinobi in the process. Not to mention you left with their ultimate weapon, the Kyubi. Do you really think there can be peace between you and Konoha after all the crimes you commited?" Itachi asked rhetorically.
"Well, quite frankly I don't care Itachi-dono. As I said, my focus is on my people, their well-being and their prosperity and safety. Konoha's issues are not my concern, and if they do make them my concern, they won't live to regret it. I won't start any wars, but if someone starts one with me, I'll be sure to end it….quickly, and brutally, just as you did with the Uchiha." Naruto said, causing Itachi's eyes to narrow in suspicion and concern.
"What do you know of the massacre of my foolish kinsmen?" Itachi asked tensely.
"Everything. Every little detail. You can ask Kabuto-sensei since you guys are such good pals now. He's the one that told me everything...and I'm the one that told your brother." Naruto said, his facial expression involuntarily morphing into thee most sinister smirk Itachi had ever seen as he said that last part, and he had seen many sinister smirks in his life, from the likes of Hidan, Deidara, White Zetsu, Orochimaru, Kabuto, and his very own partner, Hoshigaki Kisame.
"I see…." Itachi said with his eyes closed.
"Who else have you told?" Itachi asked warily.
"The members of the Bloodline all know, our eh...Daimyo also knows. That's about it." Naruto said jovially.
'Killing all of them would be difficult even for me, I'm not even sure I can kill Naruto-kun on his own. In fact, he literally has my life in his hands. He could tell the Akatsuki the truth and I would be dead, my own partner would be the first one to attack me. I came here hoping to get some sort of leverage or advantage over him, but instead I'm the one whose entire world hangs in the balance. I've severaly underestimated my foe. No wonder Leader instructed us to stay away from him. He's our leader for a reason I suppose, the man has more foresight and wisdom than I gave him credit. I have to go back to the drawing board, I have to scrap everything and start planning from scratch.' Itachi thought warily.
'At least, with Kabuto under my control with koto amatsu kami, I don't have to worry about him spilling the beans. Still, that he knows means that in all likelihood, Orochimaru also knows the truth. Hopefully Sasuke eliminates him before he decides to release such information.' Itachi reasoned.
"If war breaks out between Onigakure and Konoha, many people will die from both sides. Some young, some old, and some innocent. Furthermore, the other ninja villages might try to cease the moment to destroy both Konoha and Onigakure, this could lead to another world war, and thousands of people could die. Are you prepared to allow the ninja world to deacend into that kind of chaos, Naruto-kun?" Itachi asked suddenly.
"What I'm not prepared for, is to be lectured by scum who would massacre his own family for the sake of...actually for any reason for that matter. Unlike you, I would never murder my own family….for any reason." Naruto retorted.
"..."
"I see…" Itachi trailed off, his eyes closed solemnly as he thought about what he might have to do from here on out.
"Okay Naruto-kun. Thank you for answering all of my questions. We will be taking our leave now." Itachi said with a small bow of the head.
"Hnhnhnhn! That was quite fun wasn't it Itachi-san? I know you must have enjoyed that, you should allow me to blow off some steam too every once in a while." Kisame said as he came closer to his partner now that the battle was over.
"You would destroy the entire forest and draw everyone's attention to us." Itachi replied.
"So says the guy who is burning down the entire forest with his unquenchable flames. Also, you're not one to speak about large scale destruction drawing people's attention, certainly not after whooping out that gigantic Susano'o thing and the Yota Mirror."
"Yata." Itachi replied calmly.
"What?" Kisame asked incredulously.
"It's called the Yata Mirror. You said Yota." Itachi elaborated.
"Hn, yes...that." Kisame said with a toothy grin.
"..."
"So, what do you plan to do about the attention that you have drawn to us with your large scale destructiveness?" Kisame asked with special emphasises on Itachi's fault.
"The bare minimum." Itachi replied as he focused his chakra on his right eye, and consequently, literally staring the black flames of Amateresu out of existence.
'He has the ability to extinguish inextinguishable the black flames? Quite impressive, but now I suppose they aren't inextinguishable after all." Naruto thought.
"By your leave then, Naruto-kun." Itachi said, ever the polite and well mannered one.
"Goodbye Itachi-dono. I hope we won't meet again soon...or ever actually." Naruto said, Itachi merely nodding in understanding just before he and Kisame disappeared via shunshin technique.
"Now, I suppose it's just about time we dealt with our little stalkers. So! What do you think? Do you still want to keep following us, do you want to risk swapping hands, jutsu, and weapons with us after seeing the power of just one member of the Bloodline!" Fuka exclaimed seemingly to no one in particular, as if screaming at the forest itself.
'Kuso! We've just been made. No, actually, by the sounds of it, we've been made for a long time already, probably from the start.' One Nara Shikamaru thought warily.
"They know we're here, what do we do now, Shikamaru?" Choji whispered nervously, Shikamaru giving Ino an inquisitive look as if to ask if she still wanted to go through with this or not.
"We can take them! Leave the opening act to me!" Ino whispered harshly, pulling out a bunch of ninja scrolls from her pouch, five to be exact and spreading them in front of her before proceeding to cut her right thumb and spread some blood on them.
"Ino, what the hell are you going to do with corpses?" Sakura asked incredulously, assuming that Ino was about to unseal human corpses because of the fact that each of the scrolls had the kanji for human on them, and assumption she likely made because they were both medics and as medics would typically seal away people who died on duty in order to carry their bodies back to the village.
"No time to explain. Just watch. This is my ultimate forbidden jutsu, I created this jutsu specifically to slaughter the demon Uzumaki Naruto. Seal Release: Kai" Ino spat venomously, summoning five distinct shinobi, each wearing the colours and hitai ate of the five Kage nations, namely, Iwa, Kumo, Suna, Kiri, and Konoha, much to the shock of her comrades.
"Ino what is the meaning of this? Who are these people?" Sakura asked incredulously.
"They are all criminals who committed the most heinous crimes. As you know, I now work for the torture and interogation division, ever since my father died actually. Well, some of those criminals were very talented and were about to be executed. I felt it was a complete waste of talent to just dispose of them like that. So, I used my bloodline limit to wipe their minds clean and reprogrammed them to become my devoted and loyal subjects. They'll do anything I ask of them." Ino replied.
"Ino….this….this is...this is beyond unethical. How could you…"
"Shush! Sakura! I don't want to hear that from a ninja. There is nothing ethical about our line of work, nothing at all. Plus, it's easier for you to say, you're a combat type, I'm just not cut out for it. So this is how I fight." Ino retorted stubbornly.
"That doesn't justify what you're…" Sakura trailed, cut off by the melodic voice that they had heard earlier coming from the red haired woman.
"We're running out of patience! You have three seconds to either go back to where you came from, or die, you Konoha scum!" Fuka exclaimed.
"It's time! Go! Attack Formation Human Eel!" Ino exclaimed, her minions acting immediately on her commands, the woman with the Iwa colours placing her hands on the ground and performing an earth jutsu.
"Earth Release: Four Corner Formation!" She exclaimed, causing four walls to grow from the earth and entrap the members of the bloodline inside, giving them no where to escape except upwards.
"Oh, so the little fledglings have made their move? How interesting." Esdese said with a sinister grin plastered on her facial features, and just as she said those words another ninja, a blue haired and green eyed young man wearing the colours of the mist had jumped into the air and was just finishing up hand seals for the water style: great waterfall technique, releasing a really large amount of water into the the space between the high walls in which the members of the bloodline were trapped, drowning them in the deep waters of the jutsu-created dam.
Almost simultaneously, there was another man, this one with white hair and brown skin who was also in the air, and was wearing the colours of Kumogakure no sato, who had just finished up the hand seals for the lightning style: lightning dragon bullet technique, launching the jutsu straight into the mini dam at a rapid speed, causing the members of the bloodline to not only drown but to become electrocuted by the electrically charged waters.
"S-sugoi! These guys really are talented, and to think that Ino is controlling all five of them with her mind transfer technique, incredible." Shikamaru thought out loud.
"I-is it over?" Choji asked warily.
"I can't sense their chakra anymore. They're dead." Ino said matter of factly, much to the surprise of her comrades.
'N-Naruto…..it can't be.' Sakura thought, a storm of emotions gathering momentum from deep within her.
On the one hand, Ino was her best friend, and deserved revenge for both her sensei's and her father's death, and also deserved her support and help in doing so. But on the other hand, Naruto was her former teammate, and also her friend. She had a responsibility to save him and beat some sense into him, and then proceed to drag him back to the village so that he can help her rescure their other teammate, her beloved Sasuke-kun.
Honestly the emotions were confusing, because on the one hand she was happy for Ino, but on the other she wanted to rip her throat out for killing her teammate. Naruto may be an asshole but they had been like a family in team 7, and he had saved her life a bunch of times despite how horrible she had been to him at the academy and even in their early days in team 7. He had even given her a life lesson or two.
All these thoughts and emotions going through her mind and her heart, she just couldn't believe that it had actually come to this, that Naruto had to die, and had been killed by Ino of all people, her best friend. It just didn't make sense, how had things degenerated to this point? How could things change so drastically?
'No, he….he got what he deserved. He killed Inoichi-san and Asuma-sensei. If someone had killed one of my parents and Kakashi-sensei, I would probably have done the same thing Ino did.' Sakura thought, and yet, unable to stop the choking sobs that escaped her throat, her body visibly shaking as she battled with her emotions.
"I know he was your friend, Sakura, but Inoichi was my father, and Asuma was my sensei, and you're my best friend. I did what I had to do." Ino said solemnly.
"Don't get ahead of yourselves. Naruto has always been a trickster, ever since we were kids, Kurenai-sensei even described him as such in his profile. Until we have confirmed the kill, we need to keep our guard up. Ino, dissolve your jutsu. Let us see if they really are deceased." Shikamaru ordered, Ino giving a mental command to the earth style kunoichi to dissolve her jutsu so that they could see the results of their attack, the girl placing her hands on the ground and channeling chakra into it, which in turn caused the four corner formation to shrink back down into the ground and the electrically charged water contained in to sink into a hole she had created before shrinking the walls.
To everyone's surprise, the members of the Bloodline seemed to be just fine and dandy, a transparent barrier formed by chakra chains that originated from Fuka keeping them safe and protected from the electrically charged waters. Surprise quickly turned to anger, at least for Ino. The same couldn't be said for Sakura however, as hers turned into relief, for some reason she couldn't quite explain happy that her ex comrade was still alive, despite the fact that he was a classified criminal who killed her best friend's father.
Before any of them could utter a word however, The Bloodline was already on the counter offense, ice release: demonic crystal ice mirrors appearing all around Ino's human puppets and quite unbelievably, Naruto's sage art: truth seeking rasengans flying out of the mirrors at unreadable speeds, too fast for any of Ino's elite jonin puppets to react in time as all of them had their heads sent flying from their necks by the rasengans that connected to the sides of their faces, blood spraying everywhere from the necks of all the human puppets and turning the battlefield into a scene straight out of a horror movie.
"N-no! It….it can't be! That was my ultimate ninjutsu! I spent years working on this jutsu just to kill him. I've killed squads of chuunin and jonin level enemies with those five. How could they die so easily!" Ino exclaimed hysterically, watching her three and a half years of hard work going to complete waste in an instant.
"Don't beat yourself up to much Ino-chan, you managed to have three members of the bloodline working together to defeat your jutsu. That's quite a feat, Bloodline members rarely use combination techniques, we usually fight as individuals." Naruto said with a slightly comforting but also slightly condescending tone.
"F-fuck you!" Ino exclaimed angrily.
"Get your head in the game! Ino! Your human puppets were caught off guard that's all. We're still alive, and we can still fight. You're not a combat type, but your sensory skills will be vital in this battle, so will your mind transfer technique if timed correctly. Wait for your moment, it will surely come!" Shikamaru said sternly.
"I...you're right! I'm sorry for losing my cool! It won't happen again!" Ino said as she slapped both of her cheeks simultaneously with her hands, determination shining in her eyes as she psyched herself up again.
'We're going to need them to drop that barrier if I'm going to trap their shadows, or if we're going to mount any kind of attack for that matter.' Shikamaru thought analytically.
"Sakura, Choji, get rid of that barrier! Use your super stre…." Shikamaru trailed off in surprise when he saw Fuka suddenly dissolve the barrier on her own accord.
"Very presumptuous of you to think that we actually needed that barrier to protect ourselves from you, you little muts." Fuka said arrogantly.
"I'm gonna go on a limb here and say that you want to take care of this by yourself?" Naruto asked rhetorically.
"It goes without saying." Fuka said as she walked to the front of the pack.
"Make it quick. I hate to sound like a broken recorder, but we have a summit to attend." Naruto ordered.
"I know that, idiot! This will be over in a second, wind style: shunko no jutsu" Fuka said as her entire body became covered by a blazing wind, a wind so wild and untamed that it threatened to lash out at any and everything around her.
If it wasn't already, everything went downhill for the Konoha contingent from that moment onwards, the entire team completely outclassed by just one member of the Bloodline, Uzumaki Fuka. The shunko no jutsu was a jutsu that utilised the effects of wind style both internally and externally, internally in the sense that Fuka literally sped up the chakra fluctuations inside of her coils by infusing said chakra, within her body, with large amounts of wind style chakra.
Now this is not something that just anyone can do, because one mistake and you could completely rip your own chakra coils to shreads and even your internal organs, resulting in a certified, excruciating death. The amount of elemental mastery and chakra control required to pull this off is quite frankly ridiculous, so much so that it would take hundreds of years of training to pull it off. The benefits however were more than worth it, as the result of the increase in fluctuations meant that Fuka was able to gain an exponential increase in speed and power.
The jutsu however didn't stop there, as there was also an external effect. In this state of high frequency fluctuations, any jutsu that Fuka tried to pull off gained a considerably boost in strength, meaning that the amount wind style she was using to externally protect herself and to externally boost her movements was so strong and powerful that it looked like she was a humanoid hurricane, the wind lashing out in all directions at every threat coming her way, and yet within all that chaos Fuka somehow seemed to be in complete control of the wind fluctuations, both internally and externally.
The battle didn't last more than a minute as Shikamaru's shadow binding technique was rendered completely useless against Fuka's increased physical abilities. Sakura couldn't land a single punch or kick on Fuka, the Uzumaki ancestor proving to be to fast and elusive for her. The only time she made contact with Fuka was when Fuka, much to Sakura's complete and utter disbelief, stopped her dead on her tracks by completely nullifying her attack, catching her fist in the palm of her hands before proceeding to counter with a devastating uppercut that had Sakura coiled up on the floor for what felt like hours, feeling like she was about to puke out her entire digestive system, Sakura wondering deep down if this is how her enemies felt all the while when she had been the one punching them with her super strength technique.
The one person who could have posed a threat was Choji, but Fuka wasn't about to take chances, especially since Naruto-sama had stressed the importance of getting to the summit on time. Therefore, when she saw Choji pull out what appeared to be a red soldier pill of some sort, she knew that whatever that pill was it was going to be troublesome, moving a Godess like speeds as she ripped the pill out of Choji's hands just as he was about to put it inside his mouth, a look of shock and horror appearing on Choji's face as he realised that they were now royally screwed, that they were all going to die here at the hands of this Uzumaki woman, no, rather, this Uzumaki demon.
'Kuso! We're screwed! N-no! I can't let Ino and Shikamaru die here! There's still a chance. If I enlarge my entire body I can destroy the entire battlefield, the chaos and confusion will give me enough time to escape!' Choji thought with determination.
"Secret Ninja Art: Full Body Expansion…" Choji trailed off, coughing up globs of blood all of a sudden as he fell to his knees and starting coughing uncontrollably, blood splattering on the floor as his eyes became hazy.
'Impossible! W-when did s-she…..' Were Choji's last thoughts as he lost conciousness and fell head first to the ground.
"Three down, one more to go. Any last words, little girl?" Fuka said as she slowly walked towards the Yamanaka heiress, Ino tripping on a rock and falling flat on her back as she backed away in sheer terror, deathly afraid of the Uzumaki demoness that was about to annihilate her.
"N-no! S-stay away from me!" Ino cried histerically.
"Stop taunting the poor woman, Fuka." Naruto said authoratively.
"Oh you're no fun at all Naruto-sama." Fuka said with a childish pout.
"Yamanaka Ino-chan. This is when great leaders negotiate, not only for their own sake, but for the sake of their subordinates and comrades as well." Naruto said, quickly gaining Ino's attention.
"N-negotiate…with you! I'd rather die!" Ino spat distastefully.
"Perhaps, but would you let your friends die as well, for your selfish ambitions? Would you let them die for your pride? Because if you would, then wouldn't that make you even worse than me, your arch nemesis?" Naruto asked rhetorically, Ino's eyes widening in shock and realisation as her gaze fell on to her friends who were all suffering from the blows inflicted upon them by Fuka.
"K-kuso! What the fuck do you want, you bastard!" Ino exclaimed in frustration.
"Not much. If you use your no doubt formidable sensory skills, you'll realise that there is a four man team from Konoha closing in on our location, a four man team that also includes your late sensei's girlfriend, Yuhi Kurenai-chan. Most likely they've either come to save you or to back you up, nevetheless, I can assure you that even with their help you have no chance of defeating us. So here's the deal, when they get here, you tell them to stand down, and you tell them that you have forsaken any notions of revenge against me and by extension, the bloodline, and you tell them to retreat. If you do that, I will let you and your friends live. I will let you live with them." Naruto explained, Ino staring at the blonde Uzumaki with confusion and skepticism, although if Naruto noticed, he did well not to show it as he simply pressed on.
"However, Ino-chan, if you and your friends, or anyone associated to you, ever, and I mean ever….attack me or any of my comrades again, there will be a bloodbath. So you decide Ino-chan, do you want to continue to pursue revenge against me, at the risk of losing even more loved ones, or will you cherish the loved ones you still have and live your life to the fullest. Decide…..now!" Naruto said as he quickly formed a rasengan in his hand, not giving Ino any amount of time to really think about the pros and cons of his offer in all honesty.
"I….! I…..okay okay! Okay! I'll do as you say! I'll forsake my revenge! I'll let go of my pride! Just please! Don't kill them!" Ino cried out.
"Good." Naruto said as he decipitated his rasengan.
"Realise this Ino, and never forget it. I am what you fear when you walk in the dark and cannot see what is in front of you. I am the nightmare from which you wake up shaking like a leaf, your whole body covered in sweat from top to bottom. I am fear incarnate, my wrath induces pain and suffering unimaginable, and my judgement is cruel, brutal, efficient, and gory. Attack me or my loved ones again, and I will wipe out the entire Yamanaka clan and everyone associated to you." Naruto said, a demonic ice crystal mirror forming behind him and all the members of the bloodline as he finished his monolugue, the blonde Uzumaki disappearing into the mirror when he was done talking.
"And also, Ino-chan, tell Kurenai I said hi for me. Tell her that...tell her I miss her." Naruto's voice reverberated from the mirror and all around the battlefield just before the mirrors dissolved into puddles of water, the words sounding completely opposite to what one would describe as romantic, at least as far as Ino was concerned, but perhaps anything Naruto said to her would sound ominous given how much she both hated him and how much she was terrified of him, the poor young woman still shaking like a leaf where she was sitting, proceeding to sit there like that until their would be back up arrived.
0000000000
To say Ohnoki was pissed off would be like saying that Iwa and Konoha did not get along, a massive understatement. He just couldn't believe that the Akatsuki had actually refused to assassinate the Uzumaki brat who just happened to also be the reason his back was aching so much, having been forced to travel such a long distance only to then be further forced to sit and wait on this hard, back breaking seat as they all waited for the Uzumaki fool to arrive.
What was up with Akatsuki anyway? Were they not an S ranked mercenary organisation? Didn't that mean that as long as you paid them the right price then the deal was a go? How could they refuse a blank cheque? They didn't even put up a number! What did that mean? Were they scared of the Uzumaki brat? Why? Why would an organisation of allegedly Kage level ninja be scared of a mere brat? Were they in league with the Uzumaki brat? Did they have some kind of deal in place? Did he pay them more than Ohnoki was offering?
No, it could not be. He couldn't be paying them more because Onhoki had offered the Akatsuki a freaking blank cheque, basically asking them to put up whatever number they wanted. So what then? A deal? Or some kind of partnership? What made matters worse is that Ohnoki did not have any Intel whatsoever on this Uzumaki Naruto. He didn't even know what he looked like, if he did, then maybe he would have ordered his own men to do the assassination, or better yet, done the deed himself. He just hoped that the only reason the brat was late was because one of the other Kages had taken initiative and gotten rid of this Uzumaki Naruto.
Speaking of which, what kind of name was fish paste anyway? Was that his birth name or was he just mocking them like he was by calling for this joke of a summit in the first place? Seriously, fish paste? He couldn't have thought of a better alias? Better yet he couldn't have just used his real name?
Well, no matter, Ohnoki was going to get his way. In fact, he was actually glad that the Uzumaki brat had broken protocol by bringing a four man cell to the summit, as it allowed him to bring his full set of elite warriors. Well, not full set, but close enough. The Sandaime Tsuchikage had no doubt in his mind that between himself, his daughter, and the two jinchuuriki that he brought along, that they would easily be able to eradicate the last remnants of the Uzumaki. No one could beat them, there was no way any of the other groups were anywhere near as strong as his elite team.
Speaking of his daughter, he was very proud of her. His daughter was the product of generations of selective breeding in order to create the ultimate weapon, arguably even more valuable than a perfect jinchuuriki. She possesses a plutoria of bloodline abilities, such as the Lava Release, Particle Release, and Explosive Release, and Ohnoki had made sure that she was raised in the ANBU as she did not attend the academy programme at all, gaining ninja experience and elite training at a young age.
His two jinchuuriki, Roshi and Han, were wise and experienced, and extremely powerful in their own right, and then there was him of course. The four of them would destroy the Uzumaki, of that he was confident.
'Still, the Uzumaki were old allies of Konoha, Konoha even wears their clan symbol as their village insignia. We'll have to be very discreet about our intentions, we can't have Konoha interfering in our business.' Ohnoki thought as he sized up the Konoha contingent, a team that consisted of two of the legendary Sannin in Tsunade and Jiraiya, and the legendary copy ninja Hatake Kakashi. Ohnoki was not ignorant about the capabilities of their other member either as he knew a little bit about Might Gai, the leading taijutsu expert of Konoha.
'Perhaps I can try and collaborate with Unruly Ay. If I can have him and his team keep an eye and possibly hold off Konoha, the assassination can perhaps proceed without any hiccups.' Ohnoki thought strategically.
He knew however that it was a long shot. The Raikage would not trust him easily, if at all. Not after Iwa's betrayal of Kumo in the last war, a betrayal that resulted in the death of the current Raikage's father. He knew very well of the grudge that Ay held against him for what happened. Ohnoki would point out that he lost 10 000 men to the Sandaime Raikage in that incident, but he doubted that would have any relevance in the argument seeing as he was the cause of the incident in the first place.
'Nevertheless, even he will understand the importance of eliminating the Uzumaki surely…' Ohnoki thought warily.
"Aaargh! Where the hell is that stupid blonde brat!" Kankurou exclaimed irritably, immediately catching Ohnoki's attention.
"Blonde brat? Is that the so called Onikage you're talking about? He has blonde hair? I thought all Uzumaki were supposed to have red hair?" Kurotsuchi asked suspiciously, Ohnoki's daughter beating him to the punch as he too was eager to learn the answer to this little mystery.
"Huh? What the hell are you talking about?" Kankurou asked incredulously.
"Uzumaki Naruto has bright spiky blonde hair and blue eyes, his hair isn't even remotely close to resembling the colour of red. Why would you think he had red hair?" Temari asked incredulously.
"Hn! You brats don't know anything do you, hasn't your Kazekage filled you in on anything? Oh wait, he's a little brat too, I guess that would explain why you don't know anything." Roshi, the short old man with red hair, and also the Yonbi jinchuuriki of Iwa, said rudely.
"It's true that he is young, but nevertheless that is no way to talk to the Kage of another Nation. You're out of line, Roshi." Baki said with sharp tone.
"You're right, he should show respect for the title irrespective of the age of the Kage, but age… is no excuse for ignorance." Han, the extremely tall man with red samurai armor and samurai head gear, also the Gobi jinchuuriki of Iwa, countered with a strong and stern tone.
"Kazekage-dono, I had no idea that you were not aware of this, otherwise I would have briefed you. Your council however should know this very well, you might want to have a word with them when you get back home." Tsunade said, Gaara nodding his head slightly for Tsunade to continue.
"The Uzumaki clan is known as a distant relative of the Senju, although how exactly that is so is unknown. They are known for their brilliant red hair and many other things, such as their strong life force, inhuman chakra reserves, endless stamina, and their longetivity. Their life force and vitality is so strong that their hidden village was known as the village of Longetivity, as the average life span of an Uzumaki is twice that of a normal human. They also have special chakra in that it makes them perfect for becoming jinchuuriki, especially for containing the all powerful Kyubi no kitsune." Tsunade said, taking a small pause in order to allow the Kazekage and his entourage to digest the information.
"The jinchuuriki of Konoha have always been Uzumaki, the first one was the Shodaime's wife, Uzumaki Mito, the second one was The Yondaime Hokage's wife, Uzumaki Kushina, and the third one as you know is Uzumaki Naruto. Anyway, the Uzumaki also have another special ability concerning the sealing arts and barrier arts. When it comes to understanding, comprehending, and developing those two particular branches of ninjutsu, the Uzumaki have an unheard of compatibility, to the point that it is like their very own bloodline limit. They can create seals and barriers from their chakra alone, without even molding hand seals or drawing sealing arrays. The ability to instantly manifest seals and barriers as you can imagine, is quite terrifying." Tsunade explained patiently.
"Finally, Uzushiogakure no Sato and Konoha had a very good relationship in the past, in fact, the Uzumaki were so important to Konoha that our very own symbol that you see on our hitae ate has the Uzumaki clan insignia on it. There is more to the story, but I think I covered the main points." Tsunade closed off her explanation, Kankurou and Temari gawking at the Hokage as they struggled to comprehend that Naruto had such a royal background and heritage, Gaara doing better to hide his emotions although he too was in considerable shock.
They were not the only ones however whose attention was caught by Tsunade's explanation, as the Mizukage had been listening attentatively, wanting to know more about his arch nemesis, about the man responsible for defeating his previously undefeated father. Needless to say learning all of that about his nemesis came as a shock to him, as he not only didn't expect him to have such strong ties with Konoha, but also didn't expect him to have such a rich background, nevermind the fact that he too was a jinchuuriki, as he hadn't displayed any such abilities in his fight with the Yondaime Mizukage.
"You said that the Yondaime Hokage's wife was an Uzumaki and the previous kyubi jinchuuriki before Naruto became the jinchuuriki. It was also said that Naruto has spiky blonde hair and blue eyes, just like the Yondaime Hokage. This could only mean that not only does Naruto originate from Konoha, but also that the Yellow Flash of Konoha was his father, am I right?" Katarashi Kagura, the Godaime Mizukage, asked suspiciously, catching everyone's attention in the meeting hall, including the Raikage and the Tsuchikage.
"N-no way! That stupid brat is the Yondaime's heir? How?" Kankurou asked, more in shock than incredule, as he realised deep down that the story made too much sense to be a lie.
"The Yondaime Hokage was indeed a powerful shinobi, arguably the best Konoha ever produced. His genetic code apparently was strong enough to overide a strong bloodline trait like that of the Uzumaki's red hair." Tsunade explained.
"If all of that is true, it means one of two things. Either you are collaborating with this new Uzushiogakure, or Naruto deserted Konoha and you failed to list him in the bingo books as required. Which is it, Hokage?" Ohnoki asked angrily.
"Naruto deserted the village, killing a multitude of our shinobi force in the process with the aid of two of his comrades, and almost killing me and my entourage here as well. So no, we are not collaborating with him, he is an enemy of Konoha. We didn't list him in the bingo books because of the situation with the Kyubi, obviously. We couldn't afford to have any of you hunt him down before we could retrieve the Kyubi. Even though you would never admit it, I'm sure all of you would do the same under similar circumstances." Tsunade explained.
"My father is dead because of you! He would not have been defeated by Naruto if you had done what you were supposed to do and released information about him in the bingo books!" Kagura said angrily.
"Naruto is the one who killed the Yondaime Mizukage?" Gaara said in shock and disbelief.
"No, Akatsuki captured him, but he was injured and unconscious because of his battle with Naruto." Kagura explained.
"Why would Naruto attack the Mizukage?" Jiraiya asked incredulously.
"He was there to aid the Bloodline Faction, fortunately father had already slaughtered the whole lot of them, only their leader Terumi Mei survived. She left with Naruto after the battle." Kagura replied.
"So, he wanted to recruit the Bloodline Faction for Onigakure no sato? Or did he initially only intend to help them win so that he can form an alliance with the new leader, but decided to recruit the leader for Onigakure instead when he realised that everyone else was already dead?" Ay asked curiously, resisting the urge to smack himself over the forehead at the fact that he hadn't thought of that idea himself.
"We don't know." Kagura deadpanned.
"I want to say I'm sorry for your loss, but I'd be lying. Your father was a terrible man, killing all of those innocent people and spreading prejudice and propaganda against his own people? Unforgivable!" Tsunade declared with blatant disregard for the Mizukage's feelings, Kagura completely ignoring her as he didn't actually care about any outsider's opinion on the matter.
"I want to thank you Hokage-dono for sheddding a bit of light on the background of one Uzumaki Naruto, who appears to have failed to make a showing at a summit that he himself called for. Nevertheless we will vote on the matter and make a final ruling so that he can not call us to a summit again at a later stage for the exact same reas…" Mifune, the leader of Iron Country, the land of the Samurai, trailed off as he was interupted Nii Yugito, the blonde haired, voluptous kunoichi who was part of the Raikage's group, and also the jinchuuriki of the two tailed beast.
"Four people with extremely powerful chakra signatures approaching fast!" Yugito exclaimed suddenly.
She was part of the Raikage's elite body guard and tag team squad, along with fellow jinchuuriki Killer Bee of the eight tails, Darui of the Storm Release, and the Raikage himself. Dodai was acting Raikage in Ay's absence, with C as his tag team partner and body guard, which is why they were left behind as a result.
There was complete silence in the meeting hall, the tension at an all time high as every body guard got into defensive positions and the leaders themselves involuntarily flexed their muscles with anticipation, and just as they did so the Uzumaki group arrived and got into their positions, moving at incredible speed as they did so.
"..."
"Good morning everyone. Please forgive us for our tardiness. We ran into Akatsuki on our way here following which we also ran into some Konoha shinobi who further delayed us. It was not our intention to make you wait, but nevertheless, we apologise." Naruto said with a small bow of the head, breaking the silence that had taken hold of the summit by the scruff of the neck.
He was wearing his regular outfit, the same one he wore before he defected (Orange Hokage Naruto's outfit), except he was wearing the bloodline cloak on top of his outfit, just like the other members of the Bloodline that he was traveling with. He was also wearing a Kage hat with demonic insignia that suspiciously looked like a demon fox, the hat worn in a way that it covered most of his facial features.
"Did you just say Konoha shinobi delayed you? Who was it? Why that Danzo…!"
"On the contrary, Tsunade-dono, it was your apprentice, Haruno Sakura, who confronted us, along with Team 10. The lovely Genjutsu mistress of Konoha also made a belated appearance, leading a ROOT squad of all things. Do not worry though, we did not kill them, we merely taught them a little lesson." Naruto retorted with a sinister smirk.
'I wasn't happy with Naruto-sama not letting me kill those Konoha, but listening to this conversation between him and Tsunade, I finally understand the reason behind it. The message is clear, we could have killed your apprentice and three of your clan heirs, but we didn't, therefore you owe us. Also, attacking someone from another village on their way to a summit is a serious crime, this is not a good look for Tsunade. The only way she can redeem herself and her village now, is to approve Naruto-sama's application for Kage status. Naruto-sama, you really are a true genius. I was looking at a checkers board but you were playing shogi all along.' Fuka thought humbly, but also impressed by her leaders strategic aptitude and political nuance.
'Kuso! Those….! Those ingrains!' Tsunade thought furiously, unable to believe how stupid those kids were, and also thinking about how disrespected and embarassed she felt as the Hokage to have her own subordinates acting on their own like that without fear of her wrath. Perhaps she had been too soft as Hokage, maybe Danzo was right about her being too soft after all…..partially.
"Please forgive this slight on you, Uzumaki-dono. I promise you that Konoha will ensure adequate restitution for your inconvenience." Tsunade said through gritted teeth.
"You do me great honor, Hokage-dono. I expect nothing less from the great and Noble village of Konoha and it's prestigious and accomplished Hokage." Naruto said with a full blown sinister smirk plastered on his facial features, not even attempting to put on a poker face for the Hokage or the others.
'Stupid, arrogant, filthy, traitorous, devious brat!' Tsunade cursed up a storm internally.
'Hn! This should be interesting.' Esdese thought maliciously, thoughts shared by her fellow sisters of the Bloodline.
End Chapter
Name: chimera toad sage (Naruto)
Species: Blood Clone
Rank: Onikage
Class: S class
Ninjutsu: S
Genjutsu: B
Fuinjutsu: S
Taijutsu: S
Bloodline Limit: Yang Release, Yin-Yang Release
Affinity: wind style, earth style, water style
Known Jutsu: rasengan, chimera toad sage mode, sage art: truth seeking rasengans, sage art: truth seeking rasenshurikens
Trivia: This ninja is an elite ninjutsu user, but he is also notable for his godly taijutsu prowess. He possesses the speed and reflexes of a demon together with the strength of an ox. His speed and power alone makes him virtually impossible to deal with but even in ninjutsu he has no equals. Approach with caution, or better yet, flee on site.
