Ch. 25

Tsunade, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura were already standing at the gates as the other nin arrived. Every member of the original Konoha 11 was now present along with some familiar faces like Guy, Sai and Yamato. Naruto looked at a small clock on the side of the main gate. 1:54 PM. As he turned around, he saw Kakashi walking up to everyone who was now present. Kakashi had on his ANBU gear, and of course, his mask.

As Kakashi reached where everyone was standing, Sasuke grinned at him and said, "Not late for once, eh Kakashi?" There were scattered giggles among those present, then Kakashi said in a semi-jovial voice. "Well, no one needed help on the way." Sasuke wore a small smirk as he looked away towards the main gate.

Kakashi noticed that Naruto looked like he was in a better mood than usual, so he asked him, "What is it?" Naruto smiled, then said in a low voice, "It's nothing really. It's just that I noticed we're about to go on our first mission as equals. We're both ANBU captains now Sensei." Kakashi gave a slight grin then said in a whisper, "Then maybe you should stop calling me sensei." Naruto gave an indignant look. "No way! That would be weird." Kakashi smiled at a glimse of the old Naruto then made sure to take note of Sasuke's reaction. His face didn't change. He kept that same blank stare he always wore, but Kakashi knew he had to be thinking about what his life could've been like.

After a few seconds, Kakashi turned serious as he spoke to everyone present. "You all know the stakes. I don't think I need to tell anyone here that we can't afford to make any mistakes…"

After Kakashi finished speaking, he pulled out a small notebook. "These are going to be the team compositions. Naruto, your team will consist of-" Before he could say anything else, Sasuke interrupted, "Naruto doesn't need a team. With his shadow clones, he's basically a mini army, and if he was alone, he could also travel to the Sand without needing a Kurama Avatar."

Kakashi thought about it for a second, then turned to Naruto. Naruto simply shrugged his shoulders then nodded in agreement. Kakashi turned back to Sasuke and said, "I'm guessing that means you don't want a team either…" Sasuke said in a monotone voice, "We all know I can take care of myself. Giving either of us a team would just be a waste of resources. Other teams would benefit from the extra members more than we would."

Kakashi thought to himself for a few seconds then made some changes in the small notebook he was holding. After he was finished, he read off the new team compositions to everyone.

Team Compositions

Team Naruto - Naruto Uzumaki

Team Sasuke - Sasuke Uchiha

Team Sakura – Sakura Haruno, Shino Aburame, Hinata Hyuga, Kiba Inuzuka/Akamaru

Team Kakashi – Kakashi Hatake, Anko Mitarashi, Sai, Yamato

Team Guy – Might Guy, Rock Lee, Tenten, Neji Hyuga

Team Shikamaru – Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, Ino Yamanaka, Raido Namiashi

After he was finished reading off the team compositions, he looked around at everybody. "Team Sakura will be traveling with Sasuke, everyone else will be with Naruto. Any questions?" Kakashi looked around and everyone seemed to understand what was going on. He looked over to the small clock on the gate. 1:58 PM. He turned to Naruto and Sasuke. "Take it away…"

As Naruto and Sasuke started to walk out of the main gate, the teams they were transporting followed them. After they were a reasonable distance away, Naruto walked over to Sasuke and touched his shoulder. A red aura formed around Sasuke, then Naruto said, "A little extra just in case." Sasuke paused for a second, then nodded.

Naruto walked a reasonable distance away from Sasuke so he could have room to create his Kurama Avatar. Sasuke turned to Naruto and said in a serious voice, "You ready?..." Naruto turned and smiled. "Born that way…" Sasuke gave off a small smirk as they both turned and faced forward.

In an instant, an orange aura started forming around Naruto and a purple aura started forming around Sasuke. Everyone close to them was engulfed in the auras and before long, Naruto's group was in his Kurama Avatar and Sasuke's group was in his Susanoo.

Naruto turned to Sasuke. "Let's do this." Sasuke gave a short nod.

Sasuke's Susanoo slowly started to lift from the ground while Naruto's Kurama Avatar started to run in the direction they were going. After Sasuke's Susanoo was around 50 feet off the ground, it started rapidly accelerating in the same direction as Naruto's running Kurama Avatar. When Sasuke's Susanoo had caught up to Naruto's Kurama Avatar, the Kurama Avatar jumped off the ground and started flying alongside the Susanoo.

Naruto looked over to Sasuke and yelled, "Time to pick things up!" Sasuke nodded then they both started to rapidly accelerate. As the two avatars accelerated to supersonic speeds, a loud boom was heard. Kakashi turned to Might Guy. "I think we're moving faster than the speed of sound…" Might Guy squinted his eyes. "Then how come I can still hear you." Kakashi thought about it for a second, then shrugged. "I have no idea…"

The nin watched the outside fly by as they picked up speed. Terrains lasted for less than a second as the avatars whizzed by them. From forests, to waterfalls, to valleys, to open fields.

Naruto looked over to Sasuke and gave a questioning nod. Sasuke smirked then nodded back. Naruto smiled then looked forward. The two avatars started to accelerate to the point where the outside could barely be perceived.

As the two avatars continued to accelerate, Kakashi started to wonder if Naruto would really be ok. He may have massive chakra reserves, but this was still a lot to ask. He moved through the orange chakra until he was at Naruto's side. "You ok?..." Naruto replied in an easygoing voice, "Yeah, I'm fine. Not only that, we're making great progress."

Kakashi nodded then thought to himself for a second. After a little while he turned to Naruto and said, "Jiraiya would be proud..."

Naruto paused for a second, then said with a wide smile, "Believe it!" Kakashi smiled and returned to his original place in the avatar.

After traveling for a while, a body of water came into sight. Naruto turned to Sasuke and the two gave each other short nods. Sasuke's Susanoo left the side of Naruto's Kurama Avatar and started heading toward the Cloud while Naruto's Kurama Avatar began to slow down.

After the Kurama Avatar had reached the Hot Water village, Kakashi jumped out, followed by Team Guy. Kakashi handed Guy a letter and said, "Give this letter to their leader. It has all the information they need to know. This village prides itself on being 'the village that has forgotten wars'. Problem is that sometimes the wars come to you... Good luck." Guy nodded and gave a thumbs up followed by one of his signature smiles. Kakashi slightly lightened up after seeing Guy's attitude before jumping back into the Kurama Avatar. Kakashi gave one last nod to Guy, then, in a flash, they were gone.

As Sasuke's Susanoo arrived at the Cloud, they were met by Killer Bee and A, the Fourth Raikage. As Sakura's team left the Susanoo, A said to Sakura, "We got your email. We also got Hikan's email from earlier. If that bastard thinks he's going to mount a successful attack against the Cloud, he's sorely mistaken. We'll be ready."

Sakura gave a determined nod, then A looked over at Sasuke who was preparing to leave in his Susanoo. A whispered to Sakura in a low voice, "It really is him." Sakura nodded then yelled up to Sasuke, "Will you be ok?" She noticed the chakra Naruto had given him was now gone, so she wondered if he'd be ok to continue to the Sound. Sasuke replied in his usual monotone voice. "I'll be fine." He turned to the team he had just dropped off, "You all take care of yourselves." Sakura nodded then Sasuke turned around, and before long he was flying towards the Sound.

A watched as the Susanoo faded into the distance, then turned to Sakura. "The rogue ninja isn't so rogue anymore." Sakura smiled then said to herself in a hushed voice, "Hopefully, he stays that way."

As Naruto arrived at the Sound, he decided to make a Kurama Avatar Clone and have it start infusing chakra. It sat out in the open in a meditating, sitting position with its eyes closed.

Before Kakashi left the avatar, he turned to Naruto and said, "You're not tired?" Naruto was now sweating a little, but not profusely. He replied in a voice that showed he was actually feeling pretty good. "No, I'm fine. And I've already started infusing more chakra, so I'll be fine." Kakashi looked satisfied with his answer, then said, "Ok. Then we'll just wait for Sasuke." Naruto nodded in agreement as the two started waiting.

After a few minutes of waiting, Naruto and Kakashi saw Sasuke's Susanoo heading their way. As Sasuke landed, he looked over to the avatar clone that was infusing chakra. It's nine tails and its body in general were now significantly bigger than usual.

Naruto smirked then said, "Took you long enough…" Sasuke smirked and replied with a simple, "Hn." as he walked over to Naruto and Kakashi.

As Naruto got rid of his avatar clone, he felt the wave of chakra hit him all at once as his orange aura turned a deeper and more vibrant orange.. He reached out and put his hand on Sasuke's shoulder. After a few seconds, Sasuke saw a huge red aura form around him. He paused then said to Naruto, "Don't give me too much. You've got a longer way to go than I do." Naruto replied with a convincing, "I'll be fine." Sasuke looked at him for a little longer, then gave a slight shoulder shrug.

After a few more seconds, Naruto removed his hand from Sasuke's shoulder and said, "That should be more than enough to get you to the Stone. As Sasuke nodded in agreement, Kakashi turned to both of them and said in a serious voice, "I hope you both know that you've helped save many lives today." Naruto gave a short nod and Sasuke, after a short pause, did the same.

Kakashi looked in the direction the two shinobi would have to go and said, "You guys better get going. Remember, we're on the clock." Naruto and Sasuke nodded, then the two flew off in their respective avatars. After they were out of sight, Kakashi turned to his team and started relaying his plan. The Sound currently had no leadership, so his team would have to inform whoever they could find.

As the sun shone through the forest leaves, Hikan continued to walk at a leisurely pace. He looked forward with a smirk on his face and said in a soft voice while shaking his head, "Too easy…"

After he had walked for a while, he reached his destination. He gave a small smirk then used a transformation jutsu to turn into Sasuke. He wore a proud smile as he looked up to the main gate of Konoha.

He chuckled to himself, then said to himself in a low voice, "They're pathetically predictable…"

After a moment, he grew serious and used his gravity powers to levitate over the village in a way similar to how Pain did.

He looked out over Konoha, then thought to himself, 'I still remember when Pain destroyed this village… ' As he thought about it, there was a glint of respect in his eye for the fallen leader of the Hidden Rain.

He knocked himself out of his thoughts, then said in an upbeat voice, "Sorry Konoha. Nothing personal. I just have to prove a point..."

He looked out over the village then pushed out his hands and yelled out, "SHINRA TENSEI! (Almighty Push)"

All at once, a crater started forming at the main gate and started expanding towards the village. Everything in its path was completely destroyed as it tore through the city. The many trees in the area were completely uprooted and tossed aside like toothpicks while all of the houses and buildings in the area were torn up from their foundations.

The crater continued to expand, but started to slow down as it approached Konoha P.D. It completely destroyed Konoha P.D. and stopped just short of the Hatake Clan region.

Tsunade was in her office when she heard a large booming sound coming from outside. She turned to look outside and watched in horror as the portion of the village around the main gate was completely destroyed. After the destruction stopped, she felt a wave shock, exasperation and confusion come over her. Right now, her best ninja were on an important mission, and now some new threat just showed up out of nowhere.

Tsunade activated her Mitotic Regeneration then jumped out of the window and started heading towards the destruction to investigate.

Hikan looked out at the destroyed part of the village, then slowly dropped his arms and used his gravity powers to return to the ground. As he dropped though the dust created by the destruction, he let out a content sigh then sat on some of the rubble.

After a few short moments, Tsunade arrived at the huge crater that had destroyed a small portion of Konoha. She looked around at the destruction, then bit her thumb and summoned a large portion of her healing slug, Katsuyu.

As soon as Katsuyu arrived, she looked around in stunned silence, then asked, "What happened?..." Tsunade looked into the crater and replied, "Even I don't know yet. For now search for survivors. Save as many lives as you can." Katsuyu nodded, then separated into several smaller slugs and went to search for survivors.

Tsunade noticed there were some other nin present and held out a hand so that they wouldn't make a move. She had no idea who they were dealing with, and the last thing she needed was nin getting themselves killed. Whoever this was had to be an extremely powerful enemy.

As she continued to look into the crater, she found herself struggling to see since the dust hadn't completely settled, but it looked like there was someone sitting in the rubble.

Before she could do anything else, she saw a flash of red and found herself in a vast expanse. She looked down to her feet and saw that she was standing on some water that reflected the red sky overhead. It must be a Sharingan. Before she could think anything else, she heard a voice behind her. "Tsunade, the legendary Sannin…"

She did a 180 and saw none other than Sasuke. She turned her head and said in a confused voice, "Sasuke?!" Hikan lifted his hands to his side and said, "The one and only."

Tsunade paused for a second, then said in a confused voice, "You're not Sasuke." She paused for a little while longer, then said, "You're his impersonator…" Her eyes widened as she continued. "You're Hikan…"

Hikan put both of his hands on his chest and said in a sarcastic voice, "Oh, you got me…"

He released the transformation jutsu, then continued. "You know, I was beginning to think you wouldn't even be able to figure out my true identity. You Konoha nin are easy to fool."

Tsunade wore a shocked expression as she said, "…But how are you here?..." She slightly shook her head as she continued. "Our intel…"

Hikan scratched his head and said, "What intel?..." then after scratching his head for a little while longer, he said with a sneer, "Ohhhhh, you must be talking about that encrypted piece of FICTION I had stashed away on my computer."

Tsunade's eyes widened as she realized he had let them acquire false intel on purpose. While she stood there silent, Hikan looked out over the water and said, "You know, you guys should really be careful about communicating by hawk. Such an outdated...slow...and very interceptable way to send messages."

Tsunade stood there in shock, then after she had thought to herself for a second, she said in a low voice, "Gaara's intel…you changed it…"

Hikan smirked then said, "I made a few tweaks here and there. I needed you guys to get some bad information from a trusted source…" He let out a small sigh then said in a smug voice. "Having information isn't the same as having answers… This little scheme of mines actually worked out better than I thought it would…"

After a few moments of Tsunade standing in stunned silence, Hikan shrugged his shoulders and said in a carefree voice, "Oh well. Maybe next time you guys will consider using emails like I do... Much more secure method of communication... The Sand needs to get with the times..."

Tsunade gave him a disgusted look, but before she could say anything, he started to gloat a little more. "You Konoha nin…" He started chuckling to himself. "I mean COME ON, me and the Hidden Rain launching an attack…on six villages…" He started laughing a little more as he said the last part. "…SIMULTANEOUSLY…"

He turned to Tsunade and said, "I mean I know I'm good…but I'm not THAT good….." Tsunade looked at him with a rage that was uninhibited. He noticed her reaction and said in a monotone voice, "Come on now, don't give me that face. It's because you Konoha nin are so devoted to helping others that I was able to find such a great opportunity to strike… and with no consequences. If someone like Naruto or Sasuke were here, I'd probably die after launching an attack like this, but they're… otherwise occupied."

After a short pause, Tsunade growled out, "At least now everyone will know what a fraud you are!" Hikan replied rather quickly. "You sure about that?..." He slightly tilted his head to the side as he continued. "The Rain didn't receive a notification that Sasuke had returned to the village. I'm guessing that means the other villages don't know as well, which means this attack could've been perpetrated by the real Sasuke." Hikan shook his head and whispered into Tsunade's ear, "Not sharing is gonna come back to bite you guys. Even if you can convince the other villages that Sasuke is innocent, their trust in Konoha will be shaken. Konoha is the main village advocating 'peace' and 'trust' between all shinobi, yet you all kept Sasuke's return from the other villages...not a great plan... Not only that, even if Sasuke is proven innocent, you still have no proof that this attack was perpetrated by me... It's your word vs. mine... Anyone from Konoha who saw me, saw what I wanted them to see... a vengeful Sasuke Uchiha. You're the only one who's seen my actual face." After a short pause, he said, "I wonder how the Rain would react to false accusations being raised against their new leader..." Tsunade thought about what he said and found herself growing more and more disgusted with him.

He paused for a second, then looked out over the water and said in a pensive voice, "I was actually quite surprised when I saw a Kurama Avatar and a Susanoo breaking the sound barrier headed towards other villages. You guys must've had some plan..." He paused for a second, then said in a sarcastic voice, "Too bad it was all for nothing, eh?" Tsunade let out a yell and started charging towards him. He let out a small sigh, then looked at her directly with his Sharingan.

Before she knew what hit her, Tsunade found herself sitting down and tied to a pole from her neck to her waist. She looked around and noticed they were now in a red alleyway. She tried to break free, but couldn't find the strength to.

As she tried to break free, she felt someone give her a slight wack upside the head. She turned to her left and made a disgusted face as she saw that it was Hikan. He walked around and stood opposite her then said, "You know, instead of rushing me like a mad dog, maybe you should ask me why I actually haven't left yet. It's obvious that I could've left after launching this attack before anyone, including you, saw me. I mean you guys might have suspected me to be the culprit, but you wouldn't know for sure. So the question you should be asking is, why am I still here?"

Tsunade paused, then cast him an angry glance and growled out in a low voice, "Why are you still here?..." Hikan gave a fake smile then said in a sarcastic voice, "I'm so glad you asked!"

His demeanor immediately changed as he sat down next to her and whispered into her ear in a menacing voice, "You see, the only reason I attacked this village was to get a message across. It wasn't personal. So you make sure to tell all those nin I saw headed to those other villages that this peace you all are working so hard for…it's not worth it. A small portion of the people in your village are now dead, all because of this… 'alliance' between nations… This peace, it's a façade, and when I put this uhhh…'false' peace to the test, I'm gonna prove I'm right." Tsunade now saw that Hikan's joking demeanor was completely gone. He was dead serious.

After a few moments of silence, Hikan turned away from Tsunade. "Don't worry, I didn't destroy nearly as much as Pain did when he came here. With a little time, you all will be able to rebuild… except for the lives lost that is…" Tsunade gave him a look of disgust, to which he simply gave a small smirk. "I can tell that if you could, you'd probably kill me right now, but I didn't come here for a fight…not that you'd be able to win…" He gave a small smirk, then released the genjutsu.

"Tsunade!" Tsunade woke up and found a worried Ebisu shaking her shoulders. She turned to him and said, "What happened?..." Ebisu looked at her and said with a notable concern in his voice, "You told us not to make a move, then you just froze…"

As Tsunade looked around she realized she was back in the real world. She looked into the crater where Hikan was. He was gone. She dropped her head in defeat as she looked around and saw the destruction that had been caused.

As she looked around at the massive crater, she saw one of her slugs moving towards her. The slug climbed onto her shoulder and said in a solemn voice, "So far, we have over 200 casualties and counting..."

Tsunade stood there motionless for a few seconds, before dropping her head and saying in a silent voice, "We messed up… big time."

Author's Note

PLEASE feel free to leave reviews on this story. I do enjoy reading reviews and if I see good ideas as to where the story can go, I do listen to them. Reviews are not only very encouraging but they also help me get better. Be sure to drop a follow and a favorite because I will be updating this story consistently. This story will be completed. Believe it!