Author's Note: So, a more relaxing chapter before hell is unleashed upon Konoha. Still, despite being a breather, this chapter has some important plot developments. Enjoy:
Chapter 82:
Sage Training
or
Becoming a Sage is such a headache
Training Ground Twenty Five
Naruto inspected expectantly the small group of people his father had gathered for his little project. All of them people with very large chakra reserves, as well as minute chakra control. Interestingly, the majority of the group were girls: Shizune, Hinata, Hanabi, Fu, Karin and Rin. The only men present were Asuma and Shisui.
Besides Naruto was Fukasaku, who was also eyeing the group with a critical eye, silently judging if these apprentices had the potential to become Sages. When Jiraiya summoned him, and Naruto told him his plan to teach other people Senjutsu without having to sign the Toad Summoning Contract (or any other contract for that matter) the elder toad was skeptical, but decided to help the blond with his endeavor.
Only time will tell if Naruto was right or not.
"Alright, is everybody here? I think so," Naruto said, as he cracked his knuckles."Hello, and welcome to 'Learning Senjutsu like a Pro'! I'm Naruto Uzumaki, your sensei!" Naruto said, as he grinned widely, and gave the group a thumbs up.
"Um... Naruto-kun?" Hinata spoke. "I think everybody here knows you."
"Yeah, can we start with the Sage thing already?" Hanabi impatiently asked.
"Agreed. I mean, I was so happy when you said that you could teach us in the end, after telling us first that you couldn't" Fu chimed in. "What changed your mind?"
"You'll see soon," Naruto said. "Now, everybody sit down, forming an horizontal line!"
Everybody nodded and did so. Once they were all sat on the ground, Naruto started to walk around them.
"You see, Senjutsu consists in gathering the energy of nature. Energy from the air, the earth, the grass, trees, plants, mountains... you get the gist," Naruto started to explain. "And mixing it with your own chakra. To do so, you must feel the nature energy around you, and pull it inside your body. Once you do it, your bodies will be stronger and far more resilent, your jutsu will pack more power, and you'll be able to sense your surroundings as if you were a sensor. Now, let's do a small demonstration."
Naruto sat down and started to gather nature energy. Meanwhile, much to everybody else's confusion, Fukasaku grabbed a rather large sealing scroll, and unsealed its contents: several large toad statues, thrice as tall as a human being, with a weigh of a couple tons each. In a few minutes, Naruto entered Sage Mode, and walked towards one of the statues.
"Now, behold!" Naruto said, as he placed his hands under the statue. With a mighty heave, the blond lifted the massive statue above his head as if it weight nothing. "See? And this is nothing but the tip of the iceberg!" he said, before letting the statue down again.
There was a chorus of "ohhh" and "whoa!", except Fu, who grumbled something that sounded like "I can do that too."
"So, now that you see what Sage Mode can do, let's get to work!" Naruto enthusasitically said. "First, you must learn to sense and gather nature energy!"
Shisui raised his hand. "Naruto-sensei? How do we do that? Because I'm not feeling anything."
"Yeah, me neither, and I'm a sensor!" Karin agreed.
"That's why I was unable to teach you Sage Mode at first. You can only feel nature energy once it has been inside your body," Naruto explained.
"But in order to do so, you must feel it to begin with," Rin concluded. "It's a circular problem."
"In order to solve that problem, we Myoboku Toads use a special oil that, when anointed on the skin, makes the body to draw nature energy on its own. It's used to both give a human a first taste of nature energy, as well as to help the body keep it under control. Unfortunately, said oil can't be taken out of Mount Myoboku, as it instantly evaporates outside of it."
"However, my brilliant mind developed a solution!" Naruto proudly boasted, and clapped twice. Two clones landed besides him. Said clones were in Sage Mode, given the golden eyes and orange pigmentation around them. "Given that I'm an universal chakra donnor, I can gather nature energy, then pass it to anybody."
"That's a pretty clever idea, Naruto-kun!" Hinata praised. Naruto beamed with pride.
"Yeah, why didn't you think about it earlier? We could all be Sages by now!" Hanabi protested. Naruto instantlly deflated, his triumphant smile replaced by a grimace of embarrasment.
"However, nature energy, if left uncontrolled, can be extremely dangerous!" Fukasaku said, bringing the topic back in track. "If not properly mixed with your own chakra, you'll suffer horrible mutations!"
"M-Mutations?" Shizune stuttered. "What kind of mutations?"
"You'll turn into a toad," Naruto casually say.
"WHAT!?" everybody yelled in unison.
"And that's not the worst part. Then, you'll turn into a statue," Naruto continued. "Permanently."
Suddenly, everybody's eyes drifted towards the bunch of toad statues that Fikasaku had brought for the training. Everybody thought that they were just to test their nwefound strength, but suddenly their presence took a very sinister meaning. Guessing what they were thinking, Naruto and Fukasaku nodded at them, much to their chagrin.
"This isn't worth it!" Karin said, as she stood up, ready to leave. "I'm not going to risk being turned into a statue! Or worse, a toad!"
Naruto quickly cut Karin's escape, placing himself in front of her. "Whoa, there, calm down!" Naruto reassured, holding his hands up defensively. "We do have the means to stop that from happening. Pa?"
The old toad nodded, and produced a large black staff from under his cloak.
"This special staff here can force somebody to release all their gathered nature energy at once," Fukasaku said. "So the moment I see one of you starts to mutate, I'll reverse it before it's too late."
"Now, that's convenient," Asuma observed. "But I'm not going to complain. How does it work?"
"He hits you in the head with it," Naruto said, as he instinctively rubbed his head. Asuma raised an eyebrow. "Really, really hard."
"Now that we've covered the basics, let's begin the training!" Fukasaku stated. "First, Naruto-chan will transfer you some nature energy, so you can experience how it feels firsthand!"
The clones nodded, and they started to do what Fukasaku said, one by one. As the nature energy was transferred, small marks started to appear around their eyes. The amount transferred was enough to let them feel the energy around them, but not that much as to risk turned into a toad.
"Can you feel it now?" Fukasaku asked. "All the energy around you. In the air you breathe, the grass you're sitting on, the ground below it, the trees around us..."
"Yes...YES! Now I can feel it!" Shizune said. "This sensation is amazing!"
"Whoa, this is nothing I've ever felt before!" Karin said. "I can feel my sensorial abilities growing even stronger!"
"Yes, Senjutsu grants its user sensorial abilities by default, so it's normal that it would increase those of sensors," Naruto said, nodded.
"Good! Now that you have a taste of nature energy, try to draw it yourselves!" Fukasaku instructed. "In order to do so, you need to be perfectly still!"
"You can speed the process with Shadow Clones," Naruto helpfully added. "Though for the time being, use just one. Alright, let's see how well you guys mix nature energy with your chakra!"
…
Training Ground Eight
Since Naruto and Hinata were busy doing Senjutsu training, Kurenai and Haku continued their team's usual training routine on their own. Given that they were just the two of them, they decided it was a good opportunity for them to continue Haku's genjutsu training. Right now, sensei and student were engaged in a battle of illusions, creating images inside the other's mind until one of them would give up. Though for an external observed, it would just look like Haku and Kurenai were merely standing in front of each other with their hands forming a seal.
The battle finally came to an end when Haku fell to one knee. Even if their duel only lasted a couple minutes, it felt like hours for them.
"Not bad, Haku," Kurenai praised the Ice Ninja. "You're getting better each day. I think that you're only a few months away from beating me."
"It didn't feel like that," Haku said, heaving a little, before standing up once again.
"Well, I do have more experience than you," Kurenai said. "But trust my word. You're both talented and a fast learner. The time in which I will have nothing left to teach you draws near."
"I'll try to measure up to our expectations then, sensei," Haku said with a nod.
Kurenai walked to a nearby tree, and sat under the shadow of its canopy.
"Come on, let's take a rest here before we continue, okay?" the Genjutsu Mistress said.
Haku just nodded, and sat besides her. They spent a few minutes in comfortable silence, with only the chirps of the birds and the sound of a cool breeze filling the air. Even if Haku hated to interrupt such peaceful calm, he felt the need to ask something to the red eyed woman.
"Say, Kurenai-sensei... I see that you've been pushing yourself a lot lately," Haku observed. "Your genjutsu were far more intense than usual."
"Why, of course," Kurenai replied with a nod, as if Haku had stated something obvious. "Just because I'm a sensei doesn't mean there's no more room for improvement. Especially with what's going to come in the near future."
"Root?" Haku asked. Kurenai merely nodded with a soft grunt. "Is this also because of... Yakumo Kurama?"
Even if Haku couldn't see it, the light from Kurenai's eyes dimmed a little. The raven haired woman closed her eyes and nodded sadly. After the raid had ended, Kurenai had told Naruto, Hinata and Haku that the masked genjutsu user working for Danzo was Yakumo. Or a member of her clan, but given that she was the only one alive who manifested such brand of genjutsu, there were no other options.
"Do you feel it's your responsibility to take her down, sensei?" Haku asked.
"It's my fault that she is in such predicament to begin with," Kurenai replied. "I was her sensei. I should have protected her. Yet I let Danzo fool me into thinking she was dead, and poor Yakumo ended the paying the price."
"Sensei, what happened to her, while tragic, can't be your fault," Haku rebutted. "You told us that the fire happened in her house at night. You weren't there to protect her. There was nothing you could have done."
"Maybe I could have insisted more in searching her, given that her body was never found, with good reason," Kurenai said. "But I do know that wallowing in past mistakes solves nothing. What matters is what I can do now. And what I can do is rescue her from Danzo's clutches."
"Remember that you're part of the Assault Squad, Kurenai-sensei," Haku reminded her. "Don't doubt for a second that Hinata-san, Naruto-kun and myself won't hesitate to be at your side when the time to face Yakumo arrives."
Kurenai chuckled softly at Haku's eagerness to help.
"I'd say this is something that I have to do myself, but I've been your sensei for far too long to know that you're going to get involved, no matter what," Kurenai replied, leaning her head back against the tree's trunk.
"Given what we plan to do, it should be wise if you told us about Yakumo's abilities," Haku said. "And most importantly, how to counter them."
"Sure. Though keep in mind that Danzo has been training her for more years that I've been training you," Kurenai warned. "Her abilities had probably grown way beyond what I remember of them."
"Still, it's better than nothing," Haku insisted. "It will give us a base to fight her, and we'll know what to expect."
"Alright," Kurenai nodded. She cleared her throat, before starting her explaination. "The Kurama Clan were ninjas specialized in genjutsu, thanks to a Bloodline Limit of theirs. Said Bloodline only manifested once every few generations, but once it did, it was extreemely easy to recognize it. One of the hints is such a prowess in genjutsu so absolute, training is barely needed to..."
…
Training Ground Twenty Five
Back with Naruto, the blond jinchuriki and Fukasaku continued to oversee the Sage trainees. As expected, they were having a lot of trouble properly keeping the nature energy under control, and mutations were common.
TWACK!
"OW!" Shizune whined, as she rubbed her head. "Naruto-kun, I think you're enjoying this too much!"
"Hey, I'm doing this for your own good!" Naruto replied, with a cheeky grin, as he tapped the anti-senjutsu staff against the palm of his other hand. Thankfully, Fukasaku had more than one, so Naruto could use several clones to keep watch over the trainees. "You don't want to be a toad, do you?"
Shizune grumbled, and went back to the exercise.
TWACK!
"OUCH!" Karin shouted. "Do you need to hit that hard?"
"Hey, if you want to stay a toad for the rest of your life, just tell me," another Naruto replied.
TWACK!
TWACK!
TWACK!
Soon, the air was filled by loud protest of the indignant –and very sore in the head– trainees, complaining about Naruto's forceful methods, while the blond and his clones tried to justify their actions. The argument was silenced by Fukasaku loudly whistling.
"Enough!" the old toad shouted. "Okay, I think it's time to take a break. You won't make much progress if you aren't calm down. Let's resume the training in half an hour."
The trainees nodded, and started to grumble among themselves as they got up and scattered across the nearby surroundings in order to find a good place to rest, and nurse their pained skulls. Naruto, meanwhile, dispelled all his clones.
"And you, Naruto-chan, should be more careful with the staff," Fukasaku advised in a firm tone. "A little tap on the head is enough to release all the nature energy gathered."
"A little tap on the head?" Naruto asked, now him being the one sounding indignant. "During my Senjutsu training, I'm sure you almost broke my skull!"
"Come on Naruto-chan, don't be such a complainer. A frail old toad like me lacks the strength to cause so much damage," Fukasaku said, shaking his head.
"Frail old toad my ass!" Naruto protested. "You showed me the power of Senjutsu by lifting a giant-ass statue!"
While Naruto and the elder toad argued about the latter's strength or lack thereof, Shisui and Shizune decided to rest together.
"Man, Naruto really needs another way to release that pent up energy," Shisui complained, as he rubbed his head. "Care to lend me your magic hands?"
The black haired medic-nin frowned. "Shisui... do not call them by that name out of the bedroom, understood?" Shizune asked, as she started to heal Shisui's sore head. "What if somebody heard you?"
"Oh come on, if they don't know the context, there's no way they can reach such conclusion," Shisui said, his grin being not so different from Naruto's when he was whacking them with the toad's staff.
As Shizune healed Shisui, she started to wonder how much more she'll have to endure Naruto hitting her in the head with that staff. While she never give much thought over never signing the Slug Summoning Contract, she was now regretting it. Tsunade had leanred senjutsu under them, so it was possible. Plus it was probably much less painful.
It was then than a realization dawned upon her.
"Uh, Shisui?" Shizune asked. "Don't you have a summoning contract yourself?"
"Yeah. With crows," Shisui replied. "What about it?"
"Couldn't the crows teach you Senjutsu?" Shizune asked.
Shisui's eyes opened wide, and looked at Shizune as if she had confessed being unfaithful to him.
"Wait... the crows can do that!?" Shisui asked in shock.
"I mean, all summoned tribes can use senjutsu, and teach it to humans," Shizune explained. "That's how human Sages came to be. Didn't you know that?"
"No! Of course not!" Shisui shouted, completely indignant. His expression of shock was replaced by a mask of fury, as he clenched both fists, which were vigoroulsy shaking. "They could have taught me Senjutsu all this time, and here I am, letting Naruto break my head open! Oh, those carrion gobblers have so much explaining to do!"
"Now, now, don't jump to conclusions, I'm sure they had their reasons," Shizune reassured. "Or maybe they can't teach senjutsu? Who knows."
As Shisui continued to complain about his summoned tribe, Rin was sitting by herself on the grass, looking at the clouds in the sky, hoping that the calm enviroment would relax her little. She needed to be relaxed in order to master Sage Mode. Too bad for her, she was about to meet somebody who was the complete opposite of "relaxing".
"Hello!" a loud, cheerful female voice said behind her.
Rin looked up, and saw a rather tall and muscular girl dressed in revealing white clothes, with tan skin and green hair, smiling brightly at her. Rin stood up, and turned to face the newcomer. While she knew who she was, she had never met the girl in person.
"Um, hi," Rin replied, as he wiped a strand of hair from her face.
"You're Rin Nohara, right?" the green haired girl said, as she extended her hand. "My name is Fu! Pleased to meet you!"
Rin smiled back, and shook her hand. Fu's handshake was as powerful as her muscular frame suggested. Fortunately, the medic-nin didn't end up with any broken fingers.
"I know who you are as well," Rin replied. "Shino told me about you. You're his girlfriend, right?"
"Damn right I am!" Fu proudly stated. "And hey, glad to see that Shino tells his friends about me, hehe! How do you know Shino, by the way? He mentioned you a few times, but he didn't specify how are you connected to him."
"I used to be his sensei's former teammate," Rin replied. "Until, well, I died. And then came back from the death."
"Yeah, they told me that. At first I thought that they were playing a prank of me, but they were really serious," Fu solemnly said, before her face brightened up again. "So, what did my little Shino told you about me? Good stuff, I hope!"
Rin chuckled lightly. "Nothing to worry about, that's for sure," Rin reassured. "So, you're from Taki, right?"
"Yep!" Fu replied again, turning aside so Rin could see the Takigakure forehead protector she had tied to her bicep. "Sadly, I need to be here until the whole Akatsuki threat passes. Then I can go back home."
"I guess that you may feel a little homesick, but at the very least, I hope you're enjoying your stay at Konoha," Rin gently said.
"Oh, sure! Konoha is awesome! Plus here I can be with my boyfriend and friends!" Fu beamed. "But there's no place like home, you know?"
"Oh, I can relate to that," Rin replied. "Though unlike you, I can't go back to my home."
Fu raised an eyebrow, and scratched a temple in confusion. "Wait, I thought you were from here?"
"It's less a matter of where, and more a matter of when," Rin punctualized. "I've been dead for more than fifteen years. During that time, Konoha and its people continued moving forward, and when I returned... the place I once called home was hardly recognizable."
"I see. Man, that has to suck. And here I am complaining for having to stay here for a few months," Fu said, shaking her head.
"No, you have right to complain, Your village was nearly destroyed, for Kami's sake!" Rin insisted. "Besides, even if it was kind of hard at the beginning, I'm getting used to it."
"Really?" Fu asked.
"The hardest part was to accept that the friends I used to know who were my age are now grown adults, while I'm still a teen," Rin told her. "Making new friends helped easing it. That's why I tried to befriend Kakashi's students. They've been really helpful with all this adapting to the future stuff."
"Any friend of Kiba, Tamaki and my Shino are friends of mine as well!" Fu loudly stated. "So if you ever need anything, or do you want to talk about something, don't be afraid to ask me, okay?"
"Sure. You seem like a pretty nice girl," Rin praised.
Fu giggled in return. "I want to have a hundred friends! And you can't make friends if you aren't nice, can you?"
"Guess there's no arguing against that logic," Rin replied, chuckling a little.
"It's always great to have one more person I can call a friend! So, now that introductions are out of the way... how are you going with this Senjutsu training?" Fu asked. "I was so happy when Naruto said that he could teach me Senjutsu after he told me first that he couldn't, but man, this is much harder than I expected!"
"It has to be. There's a reason as for why there are so few Sages," Rin replied. "I wonder if all of us here will be able to master it."
"Well, I won't rest until I master it, that's for sure! If Naruto can do it, then so can I!" Fu energically declared. "That way, when those Akatsuki idiots come for me, I'll give them an even bigger ass whooping I gave to Kakuzu!"
"You seem determined. That's good," Rin praised, giggling as well.
"What about you, Rin?" Fu asked. "Any reason as for why you want to become a Sage?"
"Well... I'm mostly here because Hokage-sama asked me. I do have the requisites of large chakra reserves and good chakra control to become a Sage, and hey, whatever helps Konoha," Rin said with a weak smile, before her expression turned more solemn. "Though then, I realized that I also need this power to take down a certain somebody from Akatsuki."
"Akatsuki are after you too?" Fu asked, sounding even more interested. "Are you a jinchuriki as well?"
"No, I'm not a jinchuriki," she told Fu. "It's just... one of the Akatsuki used to be a friend of mine."
"Oh," was all what Fu could say. "That... has to suck a lot..."
"That's putting it lightly," Rin replied, shaking her head. "It was my death what pushed him into the group to begin with. And it was him who brought me back to life. That's why I feel... that I'm the one who has to take him down. Not to just stop him from harming others but... to stop his suffering as well."
"I hope you make him see reason," Fu replied. "Seeing one of my friends turning bad like that... I can't even imagine it..."
…
One of Orochimaru's Lairs, Undisclosed Location
"So, are you and your men ready to go?" Orochimaru asked.
The Snake Sannin was walking through his latest lair alongside somebody who had become a fellow missing-nin of Konoha, Danzo Shimura, whom Orochimaru was giving shelter for the time being.
"Indeed. Soon both me and my men we'll be out of your mind," Danzo promised the Sannin. "I guess I should thank you for your assistance before leaving."
"There's something you can do for me before you leave, if you're feeling as grateful as you say," Orochimaru replied, licking his lips.
"If it's within my power, I shall do it," Danzo said. "But keep in mind that my forces are still recovering. It will be a while before-"
"It's not something that requires physical effort," Orochimaru cut him. "Just a little information gathering."
Danzo didn't reply immediately, and shoot Orochimaru a scrutinizing stare. "What kind of information?"
"It came to my knowledge that you managed to acquire a substantial piece of DNA of a girl named Rin Nohara," Orochimaru began. "The girl Obito-kun resurrected, who was reborn with Wood Release, among other perks. Even if I held her in one of my hideouts for a short time, I was unable to get any DNA sample from her, as those annoying Zetsus never left her side. So tell me, Danzo, what did you find about that?"
"I see. It's only logical that such thing also drew your interest as well," Danzo replied, his tone remaining neutral. "It seems that the girl had her DNA spliced with one of those Zetsu things. That's where her Wood Release and regenerative powers come from. The way their DNA was combined surpasses anything either your or my scientists did so far."
Orochimaru's expression darkened. Danzo knew that it wasn't because of his jab, but because the Sannin couldn't stand that somebody was able to surpass him in a scientific field of his interest, and having no idea of how they did it.
"And were your scientists able to replicate the process?" Orochimaru asked, trying to hide his admittedly small frustration behind a veil of calmness.
Danzo shook his head. "They managed to use it as a base for some improvements over your work, but that's about it. Like I said before, whatever Obito did goes beyond you and me."
"Obito never had any background in human biology, am I right?" Orochimaru inquired. "And not just him. Neither his sensei nor teammates possessed such advanced knwoledge of both biology and Hashirama's DNA to attempt something like that."
"You worked under him. I should be the one asking you that," Danzo shot back. "Though, I'm curious about the Zetsu creatures. You say that they follow Obito's orders?"
"Every single one of them," Orochimaru confirmed.
"It's safe to assume that those creatures are artifical beings, probably man-made using the same technology," Danzo concluded. "And that whatever he used to resurrect the dead girl, was the same, or similar process to create those monsters."
Orochimaru rolled his eyes in annoyance. "I reached that conclusion as soon as I laid my eyes upon one of them. Your conclusion is that Obito is working for somebody else who provided him with such means, right? I reached that conclusion as well."
"Yet you seem to be at an impasse, right?" Danzo asked. The question was irritating by itself, and Danzo's neutral tone only made it worse. "The reason you're not finding the answers you seek is because you aren't making the right questions."
"And what questions would those be, then?" Orochimaru asked.
"First of all, if those creatures were created from Hashirama's DNA, then you should ask yourself first: how did Obito managed to acquire it?" Danzo asked.
"He probably stole it from Konoha. That's no mystery," Orochimaru said, rolling his eyes again.
"Yet had such thing happened, we would have learned about it," Danzo countered. "It was because of your unauthorized use of Hashirama's DNA in your experiments that Hiruzen was able to uncover them. After such incident, security measures towards the remaining samples were increased tenfold, and we know Obito's fall from grace happened after your defection."
"Where are you going with this?" Orochimaru asked.
"This leads us to the second question: is it possible for somebody out of Konoha to possess samples of Hashirama's DNA?" Danzo asked.
"God of Ninja or not, Hashirama was a ninja and took part in battles. I'm sure somebody could make him bleed, take a piece of skin, anything," Orochimaru said in a dismissive way.
This time, it was Danzo who shook his head. "No, no normal man could make Hashirama bleed. Unlike you, I saw him fight during the First Ninja War, and there was absolutely no one who could push him to fight to his fullest."
"Yet Hashirama died during that very war," Orochimaru rebutted.
"Yes, he did. But the reason behind his fall was extreme exhaustion after his duel against Madara," Danzo explained. "He refused to take any time to recover, and rejoined the war as soon as possible, as he thought his power was necessary to end it. However, the ninja who killed him was quickly killed afterwards by our forces, and many measures were taken to ensure not a single piece of his DNA ended in the enemy's hands."
"And again I need to ask, what is your point?" Orochimaru asked.
"The answer to this second question is the only man who could make Hashirama bleed: Madara Uchiha," Danzo replied. "It's obvious it's him the one who instructed young Obito. And it's obvious that, just like he resurrected Rin, is planning to do the same with his former master."
"That doesn't make any sense," Orochimaru retorted. "Madara was killed by Hashirama. His body was brought to Konoha, where its death was confirmed once again, and was subjected to extensive autopsy. And after several months, it was finally buried in a secret place. Trust me, Danzo, I had many people over the years looking for Madara's place of final rest."
"And once again, Orochimaru, you're blinded by your own arrogance," Danzo said. "You're possibly, the most gifted and intelligent man I worked with, but there are things that even you don't know."
"And what things would be?" Orochimaru asked, sounding irritated.
Danzo allowed himself to smirk. "Do you know about a forbidden jutsu named Izanagi?"
…
One Orochimaru's Former Lairs, Undisclosed Location
While Orochimaru was with Danzo in one of his main bases, Kabuto was tasked with overseeing the evacuation of the old bases.
One of the many downsides that Orochimaru's betrayal of Akatsuki brought was that they needed to evacuate and relocate all their bases, since Akatsuki didn't tolerate traitors, and their revenge would come sooner or later.
Then again, Orochimaru had assured that Pain and Obito were so worried with capturing the remaining Tailed Beasts as soon as possible, that they would take some time to retaliate. And they would use that time to prepare for the inevitable backlash.
"That is, if the backlash comes," Orochimaru had said, followed by a confident chuckle. "I have the feeling that Akatsuki is going to have their hands full in the foreseeable future."
Kabuto had been tempted to ask what did Orochimaru know that he didn't, but decided to trust his master's judgement. While the Snake Sannin prepared the final part of his plan, the silver haired medic-nin was tasked with evacuating one of the lairs. A masked Oto ninja then walked to him.
"Kabuto-sama, all the labs have already been emptied," the Oto ninja informed. "Everything essential has been moved out, while everything else has been left here, to be claimed by the flames when we destroy the base."
"Good job," Kabuto replied with a nod. "Remember that the boxes with the red marks are to be destroyed, while the boxes with the black marks should be safely stored and taken away."
"Understood, sir," the Oto ninja replied. "Everybody has left already. Do you want to check the base one last time, or should I give the order to bring the base down?"
"One last check won't hurt. I'd hate if because of one man's incompetence, Orochimaru-sama lost something irreplaceable,"Kabuto said.
The Oto ninja nodded. "As you wish, sir. I'll be waiting for you outside," he said, before vanishing.
Kabuto went to check the lair one last time, to make sure everything was in order. He knew that, if somebody was amiss, Orochimaru would lay the blame on him, and he didn't want to take any risks. The last part of the plan was the most delicate so far, and a single mistake could ruin it. Fortunately, every room that he checked only had red marked boxes.
"Okay, everything serems to be fine," Kabuto said, as he walked towards the last storage room. "If everything's fine, we can finally say goodbye to this lair."
He opened the door, and entered the room, and the moment he did, the silver haired man loudly gasped in shock. The reason was that he saw a black marked box. As if that wasn't bad enough, the box was opened, and one could see its contents had been emptied. This was distressing enough, but what made it such a shocking sight was the bloodiened corpses of Otogakure ninjas scattered around the room.
"I wish I didn't have to kill them," a voice said behind Kabuto. A voice he recognized. "They were good men. But they needed to die, since they would stop me in my endeavor."
Kabuto immediately turned around, as his hands started to glow with a blue light of chakra, as he activated his chakra scalpels. However, the moment he turned around to face his enemy, said enemy dropped a flashbang, filling the whole room with blinding white light. A light Kabuto was unable to shield his eyes against, and was promptly blinded.
"AAAAARGH!" the medic-nin cried, as he instinctively took his hands to his pained eyes, the chakra scalpels dispeling.
"Wood Release: Wood Binding Jutsu!"
Thick wooden roots emerged from around Kabuto and tightly wrapped around his body, leaving him completely immobilized.
"You, on the other hand... I'm going to enjoy killing you..." the person said, as a kunai appeared in their hand. Kabuto felt an intense pain as the kunai pierced his gut. "I can't wait to see Orochimaru's reaction when I throw your decapitated head at his feet."
"Ack..." Kabuto coughed, spraying some blood. "Orochimaru-sama... you won't be able to... he has powers now that... that you can't..."
"You think I'm too weak to kill your beloved master?" the attacker said, as Kabuto was stabbed two more times.
This time, Kabuto didn't reply, and focused his chakra into the wounded spots, in order to heal them with the Wound Destruction, a jutsu he had developed that allowed him to heal any part of his body without having to use his hands. Hopefully, he could fool his assailant into thinking that he was dead. He knew there were some medical supplies in some of the boxes ready to be discarded. Once his would-be assassin went away, he could use some of them to heal himself properly.
But it seems that his assassin wasn't going to give him the chance, as Kabuto felt another onslaught of stabbings. As more and more blood poured from his body, his vision was starting to blur, and his head felt lighter.
"Maybe you're right," the assassin said. "Even if I catch that traitor... even with the First Hokage's power, it might not be enough to end his miserable life. But hey, as long as he dies, I don't care if I'm not the one who kills him."
And with that, the assassin left. The Wooden bindings quickly vanished, and Kabuto's body dropped to the ground. Kabuto knew this was his chance. As he continued healing his wounds as best as he could, he crawled towards one of the boxes, leaving a trail of blood behind.
It was then when he heard several sizzling sounds. The kind of sizzles that explosive tags make. The sound came from his very back.
Kabuto didn't have time to react before he was engulfed by a chain of explosions, putting an end to his life.
…
Training Ground Twenty Five, the Next Day
When the Sage trainees arrived to the training ground to continue their instruction, they noticed that there was something different. Namely, that there were multiple long stalagmites emerging from the ground, most likely being the result of one or several Earth Release jutsu. Besides the stalagmites was a pile of thin stone slabs.
Naruto and Fukasaku were already there, with Naruto grinning in anticipation, as if expecting the trainees to ask what those stalagmites were for.
"Hey there! Good to see you back!" Naruto cheerfully said. "I'm sure you're wondering what these stalagmites and stone slabs are for, don't you?"
"Yeah," Shisui said, before his expression became contrite. "You don't plan to hit us with those slabs in the head, do you?"
"Come on guys, I don't hit you THAT hard, do I?" Naruto protested. He was met with several angry glares that told him otherwise. The blond then frowned and crossed his arms. "Anyway, too bad, because the smacks in the head won't stop until you learn to mix nature energy properly."
"Naruto-kun, you didn't told us what those things are for," Hinata pointed out.
"You'll use them for today's exercise," Fukasaku stated. "So far, you seem to get the hang of sensing and collecting nature energy. But you have troubles with both collecting it at a greater speed, and keeping them under control in order to properly mix them with your chakra. The key for both things is to learn how to be completely still."
"We already know that," Karin said, as she placed both hands on her hips.
"You do, yet you're unable to remain completely still! You won't be Sages until you learn how!" Fukasaku replied, sounding like he was reprimanding a child.
"If somebody like Naruto, who oozes energy from every pore of his skin, is able to do it, I think all of us here can do it as well," Asuma replied, before giving Naruto a conciliatory smile. "No offense, kid."
"No worries. It took me a while to get that part done," Naruto replied, smiling back. "Thanks to the exercise we're going to show you now!"
"Yes. In order to attain the stillness you lack, you'll be put into a position that will force you to stay completely immobile," Fukasaku began. "Naruto-chan, care to show them?"
Naruto nodded, grabbed a stone slab, and after climbing the one of the stalagmites, he placed the slab on its tip, before sitting on it in the lotus position. While both the slab and Naruto wobbled a little bit and threatened to fall down, the blond quickly found balance, and stood completely still atop it.
"See? In order to avoid falling down, Naruto-chan had learned to stay completely still. And once you attain that level of balance, you'll be able to gather and mold nature energy much easier!" Fukasaku told them.
"Now, time for you to do it!" Naruto said, as he jumped down from the stalagmite. "It will take you some time at first, but with effort and perseverance, you will do it!"
"Naruto-sensei, how long did you take it to remain completely still?" Hanabi asked, as she raised her hand.
"About four days," Naruto replied. "But don't get discouraged if you take longer than-"
"Heh, I bet I can do it in just two!" the youngest Hyuga said, as she telekinetically pulled a slab to her hands, before flying towards one of the stalagmites. "The Gentle Fist puts a lot of emphasis on footwork and balance, so this will be piece of cake!"
Hinata just sighed, as she followed her sister, while shaking her head. "Guess Naruto-kun isn't the only one who oozes energy from every pore of their skin..."
Naruto and Fukasaku watched as everybody placed the slab aat the tip of one of the stalagmites, and tried to sit on it. "Tried" being the key word, since many of them couldn't find the proper balance at first, and were unable to stay at the top for more than once second, and fell to the ground.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Rin screamed, before her body hit the ground. "Ouch... I thought that Naruto-kun hitting us with that staff was bad, but this appears to be even worse!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" another one screamed. This time, it was Hanabi, who fell to the ground. "Ouch... my strategy to use the tenseigan to keep the slab still didn't work..."
"Of course it didn't!" Fukasaku chided the youngest Hyuga. "Being completely still also means not channeling any other jutsu either! If such thing was possible, this exercise wouldn't have a reason to be! Now come on, get back up there!"
On top of having to endure Naruto and Fukasaku's smacking their heads, the Sage traineese had to add falling from several meters high to the ground to the list of hazards they had to suffer in order to master the power of Senjutsu.
And, unfortunately, those hazards were nothing but a minor inconvenience compared to what they, alongise the rest of Konoha's population, were about to face.
…
Outside of Konoha, a couple hours later
"So, are we all here?"
Just like Orochimaru had used the thick forests around Konoha to cover his army, Akatsuki was using the same strategy before launching their attack. They were all carried to that spot by Obito, one by one, until the six Akatsuki members were present.
However, half of their members found that there were more than six Akatsuki members present.
"Uh, question," Deidara said, raising his hand. "Who the hell are those guys?"
Behind Pain stood his other five bodies, looking as stoic and emotionless as the man the Akatsuki called their leader.
"They're Pain," Konan answered, as if that solved everything.
"And what's that supposed to mean!?" Deidara asked again.
"Enough! You can ask about Pain later, now we have a job to do," Obito cut the Explosion Release user. He then turned at Toneri. "Are they in the village?"
Toneri, whose Tenseigan was gleaming with a teal light, had his eyes fixed on the village, scanning every centimeter of it.
"Yes, I see all of them. The jinchuriki of the Nine Tails is inside a large house, I presume it's his home. The jinchuriki of the Seven Tails is in another large bulding. I believe it's a clan compound." Toneri informed. "My Byakugan Princess and her sister are also in the village. This will be a golden opportunity to secure her as well.""
"That means we will have to deal with her as swiftly as possible. We don't know how much their powers had grown since the last time," Obito guessed, a hand under his chin, before looking at Toneri again. "However, I must ask you to focus on the jinchuriki first and foremost. If we fail here, we won't have any other chances," Obito told him in a mild reprimanding tone.
"Worry not, Obito. Have I not served the organization faithfully and competently?" Toneri asked the Uchiha. "I shall capture the jinchuriki myself if the situation demands it."
"We'll see about that," Konan said, as she narrowed her eyes at the Otsutsuki.
"Are our main forces ready?" Pain asked, as he looked at both Toneri and Obito.
"Five thousand Zetsu clones are buried under our very feet," Obito told him. " They are all waiting my orders to attack."
"My puppet army is in position as well," Toneri followed. "They will also provide some additional air support."
"In that case, there should be no more waiting," Konan said.
"Haha, yes! I can't wait to begin!" Kisame said in great delight. "The last time I got to fight in another village was Kiri, and my fun was cut short too soon."
"Worry not, Kisame, for you will have plenty of fun," Pain replied. "Your job will be to cause as much mayhem and destruction as possible, in order to weaken Konoha's defenses. Obito, Konan and I will take care of the jinchuriki."
"Deidara, Toneri, given that you can fly, besides attacking from the sky, your job will be to make sure the junchuriki of the Seven Tails doesn't escape again through the air," Obito ordered.
"Now, let's commence," Pain declared.
"Alrigh, given that this is a major invasion, I'll break out the C2 Dragon from the get go!" Deidara claimed, as he fed some explosive clay to one of his hand mouths. The mouth chewed the clay, until it shaped it like a tiny dragon. Tossing the dragon forward, it increased its size a hundredfold, before Deidara jumped on its back. "I'm ready to go!"
"Before you do, take this Path with you," Pain said, as the Animal Path jumped onto the dragon's back as well.
"Yeah, whatever. Let's go!" Deidara said, as his dragon started to flap its wings, gaining attitude as it raised gusts of wind, before it took off into the sky above Konoha. Toneri was quick to follow.
"Kisame, you go and attack the main gate. Try to draw as much attention as possible," Konan told the shark ninja.
"You can count on that, hehe!" Kisame said, as he leaped forward, ready to wreack havoc.
"Now all we have to do is wait," Pain finally declared. "This day, this village shall know the meaning of pain."
Author's Note: Despite the chapter not being that long, there's a lot to unpack here. Let's begin!
First of all, what I think was the most impactful moment of the chapter: Kabuto's death. Truth be told, I've been wanting to kill Kabuto for some time since I didn't know what to do with him anymore. I originall planned to have him killed two chapters ago; he would die fighting against Shisui and Shizune while buying Danzo time to escape. However, I ended up discarding it because there's no way the Uchiha couple, exhausted as they were, could have been able to kill Kabuto when he had so much backup. So I came up with this scene instead. Speaking of which, now the identity of the killer has been narrowed down considerably, since there aren't that many people who can use Wood Release.
You know, while I'm mostly indifferent to him, Kabuto was one of the characters I was planning to kill before I even started writing this story. Like, after all the shit he did during the Fourth Ninja War, all the people he died because of him (and I'm not talking about the war itself; he had to kill a shitton of people just to create his Edo Tensei army) he gets away scot free? Like, are you fucking kidding me, Kishimoto? So yeah, even if Kabuto on this story hasn't done that, I believe that helping Orochimaru was enough to warrant a karmic death.
As for the main plot of this chapter, just like Hinata getting a Tenseigan, more people besides Naruto and Jiraiya getting Sage Mode was on my list of things I wanted to do. Though, unfortunately, they won't be able to master Sage Mode in time for the Akatsuki invasion.
And speaking of which, yeah, the Akatsuki already arrived Konoha, and the invasion will begin the next chapter. This will be a very battle-heavy arc, one not seen since the last time Konoha was invaded. Though you can tell that now it's going to be much worse than when Orochimaru did it. Still, Konoha is also much stronger now, but it's strong enough to weather the red and black storm that's about to fall upon them?
Thanks to Ookami88 for betareading this chapter.
So, the Akatsuki Invasion begins next chapter! What are your expectations? Tell me about them, as well as your thoughts on this chapter, in your reviews! Reviews make me really, really, really happy!