Auhtor's Note. Heya everyone, I hope you had a great start to the new year and the new decade! I started it by catching a fucking cold and spending several days bedridden, so I hope yours was at least relatively better. Here's the first chapter of 2020, about something you guys have been dying to see for quite some time. Enjoy:
Chapter 93:
The Five Kage Summit
or
International Politics, abridged
Land of Iron, Hokage's Quarters
"It seems that we didn't think this through," Jiraiya said.
Jiraiya had no delusions about the kind of room the samurai had prepared for him. While it was custom for somebody as important as a Kage to be given a comfortable guest room, the Sannin was aware of the kind of lifestyle the samurai led, and thus he was already expecting a rather austere room. Said room was small and narrow, with only a single bed, a small nightstand besides it with an oil lamp, and a wooden wardrobe.
Still, despite years of being used to their comfort of their fancy house, Jiraiya and Tsunade were more than capable of handing some austerity. However, there was a problem that they didn't account for when they requested a single room.
"Well, with this cold, we were going to sleep very close to one another," Tsunade added.
The bed they were sharing was individual, meaning that they had to squeeze themselves into it. And given that Jiraiya was tall and broad shouldered, he sometimes unwillingly threatened to push the shorter and smaller Tsunade out of the bed.
"At first I thought that we could take this as some sort of vacation," Tsunade began. "But I can't wait until this is over and we go back home. I miss our king size bed and Konoha's warm temperatures."
"Then I must be making a lousy job keeping you warm, aren't I?" Jiraiya asked, half jokingly. "But jokes apart, I do agree. I can't understand how so many people are willing to live in such a land."
"Something about living in a harsh place being good to build character, or some other nonsense," Tsunade said, rolling her eyes. The two of them fell into a short, comfortable silence, before Tsunade spoke again, though to change the topic. "So, how are you feeling? You know, at the prospect of having to deal with the other Kages."
"I'd lie if I said that I'm one hundred percent confident," Jiraiya admited. "Though the fact that two of the other four Kages are already on my side is a good thing. Otherwise this would be much harder."
"Just remember what we've been preparing these past days, and you'll do it fine," Tsunade said, before giving Jiraiya a kiss in the lips. "Besides, the escorts are allowed into the meeting, even if we aren't allowed to intervene in the discussion. I'll be there with you all the time."
"What would I do without you, Hime," Jiraiya said, kissing her again.
"Drink, whore, and overall, lead a destructive and aimless lifestyle?" Tsunade asked.
"Ouch," Jiraiya grimaced. "You don't pull your punches, do you?"
"Never," she said with a cheeky grin. "Though I'm not one to talk, to be honest."
Their conversation was interrupted when somebody knocked the door.
"Hokage-sama, Tsunade-sama, are you presentable?" Itachi's voice asked from the other side of the thick wooden door. He sounded like he had urgent news.
"Come in!" Tsunade said.
Itachi opened the door, and entered the room while averting his gaze. However, once he saw both the Sannin were covered, he dared to look at them. While the two Sannin usually slept in the nude, the unmercifully cold climate from the Land of Iron beat such idea out of their minds, and had to keep some of their clothes when they went to bed, on top of several layers of thick blankets.
"Something wrong, Itachi?" Jiraiya said, as both he and Tsunade pushed the blankets away and got out of the bed.
After being thankful for the Sannin also wearing something from the waist down, he nodded. "The last of the Kages has finally arrived. The samurai decided that now that we're all here, the summit can begin."
"Understood. No time to waste then," Jiraiya said, as he and Tsunade began to dress as quickly as possible.
Once they ready, they exited the room, where a group of samurai were already waiting for them. The samurai lead the trio to the meeting room. On their way, they were joined by the rest of the Kages and their escorts beign led by a group of samurai each. They saw the Raikage, accompained by his two most trusted men Darui and C, like other occassions; Rasa brought with him Baki and Maki as well. Mei Terumi, whom was no longer sporting a pregnant belly, decided to bring Zabuza and Ameyuri this time. The Tsuchikage was escorted by a tall, portly man with a round face and a big nose, and a woman with shoulder length brown hair, with a single lock falling over a disproportionately large forehead.
"Odd," Tsunade whispered, as she looked at the Tsuchikage, whose face was hidden by their hat. "That doesn't appear to be Onoki."
After a rather long walk, they reached the meeting room: an open, spacious place with high roofs –it seemed the samurai favored them for some reason–, decorated with banners displaying the kanji of the elements of the nations the Kages served. There were two tables, a small one where a wizened, unarmored samurai with a long gray moustache, a long gray goatte, and bandaged head was sitting, flanked by other two unarmored samurai, the two of them with scars running down their faces. In front of him there was a much bigger table shaped like a horseshoe, presumably where the Kages would sit. Around the table there were five benches.
"Hello, Kages of the elemental nations," the samurai began. "Please take a seat. Your bodyguards can rest in the benches."
Jiraiya traded quick glances with Mei and Rasa, which both nodded. Jiraiya quickly sat at the center of the table, with Mei sitting to his right and Rasa to his left, forcing the Raikage and Tsuchikage to sit at the extremes of the table, meaning that they were not only isolated, but they were separated from each other as well, making them join forces against the other three all the more unlikely.
"My name is Mifune, High Shogun of the Land of Iron, and I shall be the moderator of this meeting," the samurai of the bandaged head, Mifune, introduced himself. "Please, remove your hats and place them on the table."
The Kages did as they were told, and as many people has suspected, the Tsuchikage wasn't Onoki, but a young girl no older than eighteen, with short black hair and black eyes, giving her an odd resemblance to Shizune. Rasa was the first one to comment this.
"Ohoho, look at that. It seems that the Fence Sitter finally decided to retire and pass the hat to somebody else," Rasa commented in his usual snubbish tone. "About time, somebody old enough to remember the First Ninja War isn't suited to rule during modern times."
"Watch out your tongue, Kazekage," the young girl snapped. "I won't tolerate anybody disrespect my grandpa, no matter if it's a Kage or not!"
"Now, now, let's try not to start a heated argument so soon," Mei intervened, trying to calm the Tsuchikage down.
"Nobody asked you to intervene, Mizukage," the Tsuchikage said, glaring at Mei. "Oh, and tell your mother she's still wanted for defecting Iwa."
Mei puckered her lips, pretending to be hurt. "Are you still angry about that? My, my, it's true what they said about Iwa and grudges. Plus, that's not a way to treat your family, is it? We're practically sisters, Kurotsuchi."
The Tsuchikage, Kurotsuchi, narrowed her eyes at the Mizukage. "Second cousins. And even if the blood of the Kinryu Clan may run through our veins, that doesn't make us family."
"You have no idea how much you're breaking my heart," Mei said in a mocking tone. "I always wanted to have a little sister."
In the benches, Tsunade was carefully following the conversation. She was enjoying the revelation of the Tsuchikage and Meizukage being related, reminding her of the usual twists of her soap operas, but she was a bit lost.
"Itachi," Tsunade whispered, leaning close to him. "How are those two related? And why is Mei's mother wanted in Iwa?"
"From what I had gathered, both Mei and Kurotsuchi's respective mothers are cousins belonging to the same clan, the Kinryu. The Kinryu Clan members possess the Lava Release, and they're one of Iwa's three most important clans," Itachi started to explain. "However, it seems that, while most clans, especially those with Bloodline Limits, tend to be watchful over their members' relationships in order to protect their secrets, the Kinryu... well, to put it lightly, they have a hard time keeping it inside their pants."
Tsunade chortled, covering her mouth with one hand. This was getting better and better. "Really?"
"Yes. They do have a very liberal view towards sex and relationships, plus they tend to fall in love easily. The Tsuchikage and Earth Lord were willing to allow this, as long as they only married people native to the Land of Earth."
"And Mei's mother fell in love with somebody from Kiri, right?" Tsunade guessed.
"Exactly. It was during the Second Ninja War. Mei's mother defcted Iwa and returned to Kiri with her lover, whom she married shortly afterwards," Itachi continued explaining. "As you can imagine, the Terumi Clan was more than happy to welcome her among their ranks. The potential of a generation of ninjas with two Bloodline Limits... it was like a gift from the gods. Even if in the end, only Mei manifested both Bloodlimits."
"No wonder that Kurotsuchi girl isn't that happy to see Mei. Her very existence is a reminder of how Kiri successfully stole a Bloodline Limit," Tsunade stated. Her eyes then moved towards the two Iwa Jonin, who appeared to be ready to fight at any moment. "What can you tell me about those two? Should we worry about them?"
"The big man is Akatsuchi, one of Iwa's top Jonin. No Bloodline Limit, but one of the best Earth Release users there is, if the Bingo Book is to be believed," Itachi explained. "The woman is Suzumebachi Kamizuru, leader of what's left of the Kamizuru Clan, a clan that uses bees as weapons in a similar fashion to the Aburame's beetles. Though don't tell them I said that, since both clans hate each other to death.
"The Kamizuru clan used to be one of Iwa's three most important clans, but they lost most of their members during the past two wars, as well as most of their secret jutsu. Both she and her two younger brothers were away from Iwa looking for something, some kind of lost family treasure that would return the clan back to its glory days. Given her presence here, I'd say they succeeded."
"Did you know that Onoki had retired, and put that girl in his place?" Tsunade asked.
Itachi shook his head. "Hokage-sama had me watch Akatsuki's movements, so I didn't have the time nor the chance to see how the other villages were doing."
"It seems that she's his granddaughter, according to her," Tsunade mentioned.
"Granddaughter or not, she has to be a formidable kunoichi if she was deem worthy of the Tsuchikage's hat," Itachi replied.
Before things could escalate even further between the two female Kage, Mifune decided to intervene and put some order.
"I'd appreciate if you solved your personal quarrels once we're done with this meeting," Mifune interrupted the two bickering female Kages. "Raikage-sama has convened this Kage Summit to discuss a matter of utmost importance," Mifune said. The Raikage nodded and grunted something inaudible, inwardly thanking the samurai for bringing the discussion back on track. "Raikage-sama, given that it was you who summoned the Five Kage, you may speak first."
"Thank you, Mifune-san," the Raikage said, as the stood up from his chair. "During the past few years, a mercenary group called Akatsuki made itself known. While at first they appeared to be yet another mercenary group with excessively low prices in order to compete with our villages, it later became apparent that they had some sort of agenda: the kidnapping of the nine jinchuriki for some nefarious purposes.
"A few months ago, the jinchuriki of the Two Tails, Yugito Nii, was abudcted by two Akatsuki identified as Obito Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki," the Raikage's tone became harsher when he named the two kidnappers, glancing briefly at the Hokage and Mizukage. "And a few weeks ago, the jinchuriki of the Eight Tails, my own brother Killer B was attacked and abducted. The perpetrators of such attack were once again Kisame, though his accomplice was an Iwa ninja named Deidara," this time, the Raikage glared at Kurotsuchi.
"And what do you expect us to do? Rescue them? Help you deliver swift retribution to the Akatsuki?" Kurotsuchi began, earning a scowl from the Raikage. "Jinchuriki are the responsibility of the village they belong to. To ask other villages to help your problems is really embarrasing."
"If that's the case, you didn't do a good job keeping yours," Jiraiya intervened, shooting a sharp look at Kurotsuchi. "Not only both of your jinchuriki were abducted with you being none the wiser, but when we asked for your help in order to secure the jinchuriki of the Four Tails, Roshi, we got no response."
"And how could we know you were honest, and it wasn't some sort of trap?" Kurotsuchi asked. "Konoha and Iwa aren't allies. We have no responsibility towards you people. What about your allies Suna and Kiri? Didn't you ask them for help?"
"Kiri has been active in the operation to gather the jinchuriki, as so was Suna," Mei intervened. "Though I'm afraid that our results haven't been that good."
Kurtosuchi snorted. "So much for your alliance."
"At least we've been trying to do something!" Rasa exploded, hastily standing up from his chair as well. Kurtosuchi's bodyguards quickly leaped and jumped into the table, standing protectively in front of their Kage. This prompted the rest of the bodyguards to leap into action as well, jumping in front of their respective Kages, some with their weapons drawn, and others with their hands already interlocked to for hand seals.
"Enough!"Mifune shouted. "There won't be any fighting as long as you are our guests. Now please sit down, and return to your seats."
The ninja didn't listen to Mifune, and remained there. But after a few seconds, the Kage told their respective bodyguards to stand down and return to their benches.
"Now that's better," Mifune said, before turning at Rasa. "Now, Kazekage-sama, I believe there was something you wanted to say?"
"Yes. My youngest son is a jinchuriki. He became one before he was even born by my order," the Kazekage began. "We used to keep our Tailed Beast sealed inside a teapot, but Suna was going through hard times, and I thought that a jinchuriki would help us recover. For quite some time, I treated Gaara as nothing but a weapon, and it wasn't until I nearly lost him when I realize how awful of a father I've been.
"And from what I could learn, other jinchuriki got similar treatments too. Expected to be loyal to the village and die for it, but were given little incentive to stay loyal. Hence why many of them abandoned their homes and became vagrants. This made Akatsuki's job all the easier."
"Don't lump Kumo with your lot, Kazekage," the Raikage growled. "Kumo has always treated their jinchruki with the same respect as any other of our ninjas. In all of Kumo's history, not single jinchuriki has ever thought about betraying the village!"
"Let me repeat my question: what do you expect us to do?" Kurotsuchi asked. "Iwa doesn't have any responsibility towards-"
"IT DOES!" The Raikage roared, as he brought his fist down the table, opening a hole on it. Even if the bodyguards didn't leap into action, they did get ready in case a fight broke out. "Didn't you hear about the part that one of your ninjas kidnapped my brother!?"
"Deidara is a missing-nin. Whatever he did, he wasn't acting in Iwa's name," Kurotsuchi defensively said.
"Akatsuki is composed of missing-nin from all of your villages," the Raikage said, pointing an accustory finger at the other Kages. "And not just that, but I know that some of you hired their services!"
Rasa seemed to sigh, and cast his gaze down. Kurotsuchi, however, frowned at the larger man.
"Hey, I have no idea of what are you talking about," Kurotsuchi said. "So you better stop making those-"
"You don't? Maybe you should ask your grandfather," the Raikage interrupted. He then turned at the Mizukage. "And we also know that your predecessor, Yagura, was being manipulated by Akatsuki as well!" then, he looked at Jiraiya. "And a Konoha ninja is one of the organization's leaders! All of you have a responsibility regarding Akatsuki! You created this monster that took my brother away!" the Raikage roared.
"Konoha has been dealing with the Akatsuki threat for years, Raikage," Jiraiya told him, sounding exasperated. "We even helped you deal with Obito and his pet Nine Tails when they attacked one of your outposts and a town of the Land of Lightning. Yet, despite the fact that your ninjas saw with their own eyes the level of threat Akatsuki possess, you still refused to do anything other than hiding your brother away."
"Don't go boasting about what your village has done, Hokage! What have you accomplished?" the Raikage fired back, his rage not only unabated, but growing. "Akatsuki possess seven and a half of the Tailed Beasts! I'd say you've been doing a pretty lousy job, if the results are anything to go by!"
"The Akatsuki threat is too big for a single village to handle," Mei interceded. "Just like how Akatsuki had our previous Mizukage under their control, who can't say that something similar happened in your villages?"
"Are you implying that my granpa was also in their grasp!?" Kurotsuchi asked, outraged. "Maybe he is old, but he is no senile fool!"
"Not necessarily that," this time, it was Rasa who spoke. "After my son was abducted by the Akatsuki, I ordered my ANBU to search the village for spies. Turn out they found many moles among our ranks working for Akatsuki. And not just low ranked mooks, but actual Jonin with an impeccable record, that I would have pegged as completely loyal to the village and trust them blindly. The hand of Akatsuki is big and their reach is long.
"Ask this yourself, Raikage: how did Akatsuki find where your brother was being hidden so quickly and easily, if they didn't have spies among your ninja?"
The Raikage gritted his teeth and snarled in anger. He wanted to answer to that so badly, but was unable to. What the Kazekage said made too much sense to dismiss like that. The Raikage always prided in his village's strength, but maybe that pride blinded him to threats he had considered beneath him.
"To answer your previous question, Raikage, Konoha has eliminated several Akatsuki members," Jiraiya began. "Sasori of the Red Sands was killed by a squad composed of both Konoha and Suna ninjas after the Kazekage's son's kidnapping; Hidan and Kakuzu were defeated while we helped the Takigakure ninjas reclaim their village, Kakuzu being killed by the very jinchuriki he was trying to abduct, while we managed to neutralize and capture Hidan. And lastly, Pain, the leader of the Akatsuki, died while trying to capture the jinchuriki of the Nine Tails, and his partner, Konan, surrendered to Konoha shortly afterwards."
"Not that it matter, given the amount of Tailed Beasts the Akatsuki had gathered," the Raikage growled. "Seven and a half Tailed bests in exchange of a few members is quite the trade-off."
"If I'm allowed to give my opinion, I believe there are some pieces of information that are missing," Mifune began, drawing the attention of the five Kages. "Akatsuki seems to be collecting the Tailed Beasts. But what we must ask ourselves is, for what purpose? The Beasts have to be the means to their endgame."
"It isn't obvious? They want the Beasts to rule supreme over the Elemental Nations," the Raikage said.
"If that was the case, they would have launched an offensive already," Mei countered. "Seven Tailed Beats is more than enough to put a whole country to its knees."
"The Raikage is right," Jiraiya said, much to the other's surprise. "However, the sheer scope of their plans is something that escapes him."
"Enlighten us, then," Kurotsuchi said. "I'm sure there's something you're hiding from us, Hokage."
"There is. The Mizukage and the Kazekage know an abridged version, but this is the whole story. Sometime ago, we had a mostly odd mission request to escort a priestess to the Land of Tea. Said priestess especifically requested Hinata Hyuga to be part of the squad assigned to her," Jiraiya began. "Of course, I already knew that there was something more going on involving her..."
Jiraiya told the others about their encounter with the Moon Acolytes, and everything they learned from them: the Sage of the Six Paths and his brother; the Ten Tails, and how it was split into the nine Tailed Beasts, the Rinnegan and the Tenseigan, how the Akatsuki leader possessed the former, while Hinata and Hanabi awakened the latter. And lastly, Akatsuki's plan of reforming the Ten Tails and use its power to conquer the world in the name of "peace".
"Wait a minute," Kurotsuchi said, holding a hand. "The leader of Akatsuki had the Rinnegan. The same leader you said died while trying to invade your village. What happened to the Rinnegan?"
"Unfortunately, one of the Rinnegan was recovered by the Akatsuki," Jiraiya answered.
"And the other?" the Raikage asked, narrowing his eyes at him.
Jiriaya took a few seconds to answer. "The second Rinnegan is in our possession. Currently, one of our ninjas is wielding it."
Jiraiya could feel how his fellow Kages' expressions darkened. While A and Kurotsuchi were the most obvious, not even Mei and Rasa were able to stop some worry to manifest through their faces.
"And what gives you the right to claim that power as your own, Konoha!?" the Raikage bellowed.
"Spoils of war, that's what," Jiraiya fired back. "A man wideling those eyes attacked our village. That eye are the just retribution taken from a defeated enemy."
"I believe we're losing sight of what this summit is meant to accomplish, which is the destruction of the Akatsuki threat," Mifune intervened. "Given that the Land of Iron is a neutral nation and has no stakes in the affair of ninjas, allow me to give my opinion: I think we already established that their threat has grown too big for a single village to tackle. Konoha, Suna and Kiri are coordinating their efforts, but that wasn't enough if the results are to be believed. However, if all five Great Villages join their forces for real, we may have a real chance at stopping them for good."
"You want us to join forces with them?" Kurotsuchi asked, a little disgusted.
"Yes, but not just a mere alliance. Why not all five Great Villages pour their ninjas and their resources into a single, massive army?" Mifune suggested. "A Grand Army would be strong enough to face all the power Akatsuki had gathered."
"I agree with the idea," Jiraiya was quick to say. "This is an international emergency, and drastic measures need to be taken."
"Suna shall stand with this alliance as well," Rasa added.
"And so will Kiri. Between the five of us, we will make Akatsuki pay for their crimes against us," Mei said as well.
The Raikage let out a sigh. "I don't like the idea of allying with you people. But something tells me that refusing to do this is a huge mistake. My mistakes cost my brother and Yugito their lives, so in their memory, I shall do the right thing."
"Listen, I got the hat not even a month ago, and I had a shitload of detractors who said I'm too young for the position," Kurotsuchi continued. "And if my first big act as Tsuchikage is to surrender my entire village to foreign powers, I'll be proving them right!"
"Do you prefer to be remembered as the last Tsuchikage instead?" Mei sharply asked. "The one who let her pride cloud her reason, and thus allowed Akatsuki to crush her village?"
Kurutsuchi snarled at her cousin, trying to come up with a comeback, but finding herself unable to. "Alright. If you want to join forces, guess I have no choice but to comply. But my village won't give up its sovereignity."
"Of course, Tsuchikage-sama. This is just a temporal measure until this threat persists," Mifune said, pleased to make some progress. "Now, we need to establish a chain of command. This Grand Army must be under the control of a Supreme Commander. I believe that one of you should fit that position. The question is: who is the most fitting candidate for this position?"
A deafening silence followed the samurai's question, as all the Kages eyed each other.
…
Orochimaru's Lair, Undisclosed Location
Orochimaru frowned as he read the latest report his agents had brought him. Kabuto's sudden disappearance had him a bit worried for the past couple weeks. Kabuto was Orochimaru's right hand man not because he possessed any kind of Bloodline Limit or other sort of overwhelming power. No, he already had Kimimaro and similar reasons to fulfill that role, among others, even if Kabuto was indeed a very strong ninja.
No, the reason was that Kabuto was a competent and dependable ninja whom one could trust to carry any mission, and also because his loyaltly towards his master was unshakeable. Others in the same situation might think that Kabuto had abandoned Orochimaru, but the Sannin knew better. He knew something had happened to the silver haired medic-nin.
"Maybe he found something about that rat Danzo and thus he ordered his death?" Orochimaru wondered.
Despite their alliance, Orochimaru knew better than trust Danzo. The only reason he continued to help the old war hawk was because he still had spies on the village that could be valuable. The Snake Sannin thought that his patience had been rewarded when Pain fell to Konoha, and they harvested his eyes. Danzo would then step in and steal the eyes for Orochimaru. Of course, Orochimaru didn't trust that Danzo would honor his side of the deal, so he had several contingencies in place for when the inevitable betrayal arrived.
Unfortunately, while Orochimaru was right in not trusting Danzo, it wasn't for the right reasons. Who could have guessed that Danzo was secretly under Obito's control? Orochimaru had to admit that he had underestimated the young Uchiha. His plans to acquire the Rinnegan had been ruined, and now he had to start from square one.
"No, Danzo had no reason to do this. And his agents are like headless chickens now that he's dead. Perhaps Akatsuki?" Orochimaru wondered. Given that Obito could have used Danzo to spy on him, he must have known something. "At this stage they must know about my betrayal. Is this their doing? I wasn't expecting them to hunt me so soon."
Orochimaru's ramblings were answered in the form of a massive explosion coming from above, rocking the entire hideout, and causing large chunks of concrete and metal to fall down. The Sannin expertly dodged the falling pieces of debris, as sunlight poured from the now large hole that had been opened in the roof of his lair. And through that hole, he could see Deidara flying above him on top of a giant clay bird.
"Oi there, Orochimaru!" Deidara said, as he fed his hand mouths some explosive clays. "I hope you don't mind if I do some remodeling on this place. It could use some of my art!"
Deidara cast his hands forward, and his mouth released a swarm of explosive clay bees that flew at the pale skinned man as fast as if they were bullets. Orochimaru expertly dodged them as he moved around the place, using the pieces of fallen debris as temporal cover from the rain of projectiles, which left a trail of blasts behind. The Sannin almost reached a hidden door that would lead to an escape tunnel, when said door opened on its own, and a torrent of water poured in, forcing the Konoha missing-nin to fall back once again.
As the water started to flood the zone, Kisame casually emerged from the secret door, his clothes soaked, but otherwise unperturbed.
"You know, Orochimaru-san, you've missed the past few Akatsuki meetings," Kisame nonchalantly began, as he casually walked towards him, Samehada resting on his shoulder. "Not to mention the attack on Konoha. We were kind of worried for you, so we decided to see if you were okay."
"How touching of you," Orochimaru replied in the same mocking tone. "And now that you see that I'm fine, you'll say something about how your job is to change that for the worse, right?"
"I see you're not in the mood for talking," Kisame said, as he swung Samehada, and his lips formed a bloodthirsty grin. "Fine by me!"
In less than a second, Kisame closed the distance between himself and Orochimaru, and brought his sword down on the Sannin. However, Orochimaru had activated his Sharingan, and thanks to his enhanced reflexes, he was able to jump backwards just in time. Not that Kisame was going to give up his prey so quickly.
"Your Sharingan will be of little help against me, Orochimaru-san," Kisame mocked.
"Then how about this? Sword of Kusanagi!" A snake emerged from Orochimaru's mouth, which in turn regurgitated his legendary blade, which he expertly caught just in time to parry another blow from Kisame.
"Do you expect to counter my Samehada with that little letter opener?" Kisame's mockery continued, as he delivered more brutal swings.
"It's not a matter of size, but how do you use it," Orochimaru replied, tried to counterattack, but Kisame was proving to be the better swordsman. "Sometimes a smaller tool can do a better job than a bigger one."
Then, despite the fact that Kisame was pushing Orochimaru back, the Shark ninja jumped backwards, much to Orochimaru's surprise. He was quick to remember that Kisame wasn't his only opponent. Looking down, he saw something floating around him.
"Boom!" Deidara yelled, as he made a hand seal.
Orochimaru was engulfed by a chain of explosions, raising huge splashes of water and clouds of steam. Kisame and Deidara waited expectantly for the droplets of water in the air and the clouds of vapor would dissipate to see of the Sannin was death, but they doubted such a basic attack would have brought Orochimaru down. Which was confirmed the next second.
"Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence!"
The lair started to shake as multiple green wooden vines emerged from below the water around them. Deidara quickly commnaded his clay bird to rise higher in the air in order to avoid the wattack, while Kisame svagely cut the vines growing around him with wide swings from Samehada. The vines quickly rotted the moment the living blade touched them.
"So, you managed to acquire Wood Release," Kisame said, as he nonchalatnly cut the growing vines down. "Samehada can still absorb the chakra of any trees you summon!"
"Absorb this!" Orochimaru said, leaping into the air, as he made several hand seals. "Lava Release: Burning Catastrophe!"
Orochimaru's cheeks puffed, before releasing a stream of lava in a wide cone, large enough to engulf Kisame. The Shark Ninja, whoever, wasn't fazed, and started to make hand seals of his own.
"Do you forget what I specialize in?" Kisame replied mockingly. "Water Release: Water Shark Bullet!"
The water around Kisame started to gather around him in the form of a liquid tornado, before lunging at the incoming lava. The water tornado took the shape of a shark, which chomped the molten rock, instantly cooling it off and reducing it to bits.
While Orochimaru was engaging Kisame, Deidara decided it was his chance to strike, and took a dive at the Sannin as he prepared another cluster of explosives to drop.
"Disappear already!" Deidara shouted, as he dropped his clay explosives around the Sannin.
However, Orochimaru wasn't going to let the Iwa ninja catch him off guard twice.
"Dance of the Larch!"
Suddenly, multiple bone spikes grew all around Orochimaru's body, many of them firing into multiple directions. Deidara's explosives were caught by these unorthodox projectiles, which carried enough momentum to push them away. However, Orochimaru didn't stop there, and continued firing bone missiles at Deidara's bird, which due to its size was unable to dodge more than half of them, shredding the aritifical creature to shreds, and forcing the Iwa ninja back into the ground.
"I'm tired of you attacking me from above like a coward," Orochimaru hissed.
That moment, Kisame charged at him once again, ready to deliver his most brutal swing. When Orochimaru saw it, it was too late to dodge, so he had to parry the blow with a combination of the Sword of Kusanagi and his Dead Bone Pulse Bloodline Limit. Even if he was able to do it, the blow was so powerful it pushed him backwards, and grievously damaged his arms.
"Wood Release, Lava Release, bone manipulation... you hid quite a lot of secrets from the rest of us, didn't you, Orochimaru-san?" Kisame asked, as he pushed against the Sannin.
"Please. As if I was the only person in that organization hiding secrets," Orochimaru said, grinning for the first time.
Suddenly, a small snake emerged from under the Konoha missing-nin's clothes, and fast as lightning, bit Kisame in his dominant arm, forcing him to drop Samehada. Orochimaru quickly took advantage of this, and delivered a brutal kick into the blue man's chest, which tossed him back skidding through the water.
"Let's see what you can do without your precious sword as a crutch!" Orochimaru boasted, as his hands weaved hand seals as fast as they could. "Water Release. Water Dragon Jutsu! Lightning Release: Wave of Inspiration!"
The water around them gathered and took the form of a massive serpentine dragon, which quickly lunged at Kisame. Said dragon was then infused with lightning chakra, crackling with electricity. However, Orochimaru was going to learn that thinking that Kisame was nothing without his sword was a bad idea.
"Impressive! A jutsu worthy of this counter!" Kisame said, making hand seals of his own. "Water Release: Great Water Shark Bullet!"
The shark and the electrified dragon clashed, however, instead of the usual struggle of two similarly powered jutsu colliding, Kisame's water shark swallowed the electrified dragon whole. The shark then doubled its size and gained a cloak of electricity before continuing its way towards Orochimaru.
Too surprised to see how easily his combo had been countered, Orochimaru was unable to dodge the incoming attack, resulting in a massive blast of electrified water.
"Did you get him?" Deidara asked, as he landed besides Kisame. "There's no way he could have survived that!"
"You're right, there's no way I could have survived that," Orochimaru's voice said, as the clouds of steam started to dissipate. "At least, not without my Shedded Skin Replacement. Truly a magnificent jutsu, Kisame. You're worthy of the title and reputation you carry."
"I'll be able to add 'the man who killed Orochimaru' to my already excellent resume," Kisame said, grinning at Orochimaru.
"Somehow, I find that unlikely. Not after I use this jutsu with you two," Orochimaru said, as he started to make hand seals. "Summoning Jutsu: Impure World Resurrection!"
The moment he formed the last hand seal, two wooden coffins emerged in front of him. Kisame's grin vanished from his face.
…
Land of Iron
When Mifune asked one of the Kages to take a step and become the Supreme Commander of the Alliance army, he was expecting all five of them to jump and claim the position, as they yelled each time louder over each other. Mifune was aware over the power struggle that could go on inside Ninja Villages, and given that this situation involved five people from different countries, the samurai leader expected a bloodbath.
Instead, he got nothing but silence, and the Kages awkwardly staring at each other. Guess they also had predicted the same thing Mifune had imagined. Or maybe they were expecting the others to talk first in order to prepare an answer.
Mifune was tempted to make a suggestion, but there were two problems with that: one, as the leader of a neutral nation, he wanted to stay neutral and not take any sides. Plus, he believed that, with the exception of Kurotsuchi, who was too young and inexperienced as a Kage, any of the other four would make a fine Supreme Commander.
And two, if the five Kages couldn't reach an agreement on this topic, then there was no way they would be able to coordinate an army of such magnitude, and Akatsuki would have won already. Still, that didn't mean he couldn't give them a little push.
"Nobody?" he asked. "None of you wants to volunteer for the task? Or at the very least, nominate somebody else for the position?"
This had the intended effect, as Mei Terumi cleared her throat, before she spoke.
"I'd like to nominate Hokage-done for the position of Supreme Commander," Mei began. "As we've been discussing here, Konoha and its Hokage have lead the fight against the Akatsuki, and even took down some of their members. I can't think of anybody else better suited for such task."
Jiraiya nodded at Mei in gratitude. However, the Toad Sannin's nomination wasn't going to pass unchallenged.
"Of course you'll support him," the Raikage growled. "Everybody knows how he helped you snatch that hat from its previous owner. What did you surrender to Konoha in order to carry your coup? Or is being Jiraiya's loyal lapdog enough?"
"Who are you calling a lapdog!?" Zabuza snarled, as his hand reached his sword, while taking a step forward. The Raikage's bodyguards did the same.
Mei raised a hand "Stand down, sweetie, I can take care of this," Mei said, before locking eyes with the Raikage. "I'd advise you to measure your words, especially regarding a village you're no part of nor have any idea about its history or culture. And, even if supposing that what you said is true and I'm merely the Hokage's servant, how does it invalidate anything I said?"
"I agree with the Mizukage," Rasa interjected before the Raikage could reply. "Jiraiya and I rarely saw each other eye to eye. But what the Mizukage said is undeniable. They did more for the jinchuriki as a whole than most of the villages those jinchuriki hailed from. And speaking of which, Konoha so far is the only village left with jinchuriki among its ranks. That should be a deciding factor as well."
Mifune nodded. "A compelling argument, from both the Mizukage and the Kazekage. And, if I assume that Hokage-dono accepts this position, that would make him the Supreme Commander of the Alliance with three votes out of five."
"I'm not that eager to have more responsibility piled on my shoulders, but I know the stakes are too big to reject them," Jiraiya said.
"Still, before we can officially hand Hokage-dono the leadership of this army, I believe that all of us should reach an agreement, for the sake of cooperation," Mifune added, before looking at the Raikage. "Raikage-dono, do you have any reason to believe that the Hokage may be ill-suited for the position, or that there's a better candidate?"
A growled and glared at Jiraiya, but in the end, he sighed in defeat. "I'm afraid not. I may not like Jiraiya, and I would prefer the Alliance to be under my leadership. However I allowed Kumo's two jinchuriki to be snatched by the Akatsuki, while Konoha managed to keep theirs. For the sake of crushing Akatsuki, I'll work under Jiraiya, as long as he doesn't give me a reason not to do so."
"Excellent," Mifune said, happy with the progress they were making. Now only one loose end remained. He looked at Kurotsuchi, and was about to ask her the same question, but he saw she was talking to one of her bodyguards, the woman named Suzumebachi, who was whispering something into the Tsuchikage's ear. Kurotsuchi nodded, and mouthed a "thank you" to her bodyguard, who returned to her position. "What about you, Tsuchikage-dono? Do you agree with the Hokage as the Supreme Commander?"
"Before I do, I'd like to ask him something," Kurotsuchi said, sounding confident. "Word has reached to my ears that the reason Akatsuki had such an easy time capturing so many jinchuriki is because they had help from Konoha. And not from some sort of lowly Chunin, no. The source of those leaks was no other than Danzo Shimura, who, according to our files, is a member of Konoha's Council of Elders. Hokage, if you're given command of such a huge army, how can we know that you won't allow Akatsuki to plant spies and saboteurs? Imagine if Akatsuki knew beforehand about all our troop movements and operations beforehand. It would be a catastrophe!"
Mifune sighed wearily. Even if Kurotsuchi did raise very good points, it wouldn't help if all they accomplished was inaction and pointless arguments.
"I believe you're right," Jiraiya answered. "However, you should know that Danzo has already been dealt with, and all his minions and collaborators have been either killed or captured. Plus, like the Kazekage and the Mizukage said, Akatsuki has spies in every village, including yours. The difference is that we've been actively trying to safekeep the jinchuriki, while your village didn't."
"Tsuchikage-dono, even if your concerns regarding Hokage-dono and Konoha are valid, I'm afraid we can't just disqualify him for the position if another candidate isn't presented," Mifune intervened. "Do you have any other person in mind?"
Kurotsuchi opened her mouth to speak, but no words came from them. She realized that she didn't like any of the other Kages as candidates either. She hated Mei for how she had used Konoha to become Mizukage, on top of the previous bad blood. There's no way she'd support Rasa, the Kage of the weakest Great Village. She thought the Raikage was too anger-prone and emotional. And there's no way the others would support her, being so young and inexperienced as a Kage. In the end, she was forced to relent.
"No, I don't have," she finally conceded with a sigh. "The Hokage has Iwa's support as well."
Mifune nodded and smiled. "In that case, we have a consensus. Hokage-dono will be the Supreme Commander of the very first Army of the Ninja Alliance! Now, let's discuss-"
"Oh, how endearing. The five great villages, joining forces against a common enemy," a new voice said.
"Who said that!?" the Raikage roared, looking around.
Darui's visible eye widened, as a realization dawned upon him. "Wait, I already heard this voice before..."
"This is-" Tsunade said, knowing who was speaking.
Mifune and his two bodyguards jumped back as a spiraling vortex formed behind them. The rest of the Kage's bodyguards jumped forward in front of their leaders, weapons drawn, and ready to strike. From the vortex, Obito Uchiha emerged. His face was unmasked, letting everybody see the Rinnegan in his left socket.
"Hello there, members of the Five Kage," Obito nonchalantly said. His tone was so jovial, it was an obvious provocation. "Given that you've gathered under a single room, I decided to take this unique chance to discuss a very important matter with you five."
Author's Note: As you could imagine, with Danzo already dead and no evil Sasuke stirring trouble, this Kage Summit was much shorter than the canon one, as we went directly from the summit directly to Obito's irruption, skipping all that was in-between. Some reviewers were expecting that there would be a fight, but no. There will be moments for fights.
Though, there was a fight in this chapter, even if it hasn't ended yet. Most of you thought that Kisame and Deidara were trying their luck again with Killer B, but nope, Orochimaru. Unlike Pain, Obito really doesn't want this guy free to do what he pleases after he defected Akatsuki, even there are still jinchuriki to capture. Shout out to the reviewer W8W who correctly guessed this.
As you could see, Jiraiya and Rasa weren't the only changes from the original Kage Summit, as Kurotsuchi is now Kage ahead of canon. I not only did this so I could keep at least two female Kages, given that Tsunade isn't Hokage here, but also to have one Kage to be young and inexperienced, given that Gaara isn't Kazekage either, since his old man is still alive at this point. Also, given that the two of them have Lava Release, I decided to make Mei and Kurotsuchi related by being descendants of the same clan. I know that in canon Mei and Kurotsuchi's Lava Releases are different (and theirs aren't the only variants) but I always disliked that, so in this fanfic Lava Release is going to be the same for every user, just like every other Bloodline Limit. And it's going to be actual lava, unlike what Mei uses in canon which looks more like boiling vomit.
Also, the Kinryuu Clan and its backstory is a creation of fellow Naruhina writer DryBonesKing, author of the amazing fanfic "True Potential", who kindly allowed me to use it in my story.
You probably can guess what's coming next chapter, but will only be a small part of it. Remember when you guys asked me about how some elements of the backstory didn't match canon, and I told you that they would be explained in a future chapter? It will be next chapter, titled "Obito Gaiden". You can imagine what's going to be about.
In the meantine, leave a review with your thouhgts on this chapter! Reviews make me really, really, really happy!