Chapter 31:
Shimura Danzo, the Sixth Hokage of the Village hidden in the Leaf's, is not happy.
Currently, he is seating behind his Hokage desk, looking at the remains of the Team 10, along with the other ninja who had a misfortune of fighting against the Zombie Duo of the Akatsuki.
The reason Danzo is not happy, is because he just found out that, Asuma Sarutobi, has been killed, and on top of that, his body was taken by the Akatsuki. Now, while Danzo didn't particularly care about the son of his former rival, and the Third Hokage; Asuma was still one of the Elite Jōnin in Konoha, and as such, was a valuable asset, one of the more powerful ones in the Leaf.
"How did you manage to run into the Akatsuki and on top of that, end up fighting them," Danzo asked the ninja in front of him? "Your mission had nothing to do with them. So what happened?"
Shikamaru sighed. He knew that Danzo didn't like Naruto, or anyone member of Team 10 because they supported Naruto, but he also knew that Asuma was a strong shinobi and as such, was a valuable asset to the village. One which will be hard to replace.
"It turns out, that the people who killed Asuma's friend, and the ones we were sent to find… were the members of the Akatsuki," Shikamaru explained. "One of them, has a hots for money, and that was the reason they killed that monk. He was also interested in Asuma because of his bounty, and from the moment he saw him, he didn't want Asuma to escape. We all fought as best we could, but it seems that the guy we fought… Hidan… is immortal, because we cut-of his head, and he was STILL talking," Danzo's eyes narrowed at that. He never heard of that kind of immortality, which seems to go beyond even what Orochimaru came up with. "Then, the other guy, whose name was Kakuzu, was able to stich up Hidan's head and the guy was as good as new. Then there is the fact that Hidan has the power to reverse the damage dealt to himself, to someone else. He needs to take the victim's blood first, though. That's how he killed Asuma sensei. He stubbed himself in the chest, and Asuma got the damage, even though there was no outside wound."
Danzo was very interested in this, Hidan guy. The type of immortality he has is exactly what he would need in order to rule Konoha forever, and to be able to take over the EN and rule it as well. He will need to send some of his ROOT to investigate and find Hidan, in order to capture him, so that he can be studied.
Then there is Kakuzu. Danzo knows of him. A former Taki ninja, who tried to kill the First Hokage, but failed. That guy is almost 100 years old, and if he is still alive and in such a fighting shape as Shikamaru and the others said, he also must have some kind of immortality.
Danzo groaned in his head. Those two were probably the worst type of enemies Team 10 and the other ninja he sent on that god-forsaken mission, could fight. They most certainly have no power in order to take out opponents like those two.
Danzo was thinking for about 5 minutes, while the ninja in his office were standing quietly, and waiting to hear what the Hokage would say.
After five minutes, Danzo spoke. "You have two days to prepare yourself," he said to the remaining members of Team 10, who looked at him with raised eyebrows. "I'm assuming you want revenge for what happened to Asuma, right," they nodded? "Well then, I'm giving you a chance. I will send the three of you, along with Kakashi, Sasuke and few of my ROOT. Your mission will be to find and capture Hidan and Kakuzu, before you bring them here. You said that they are hard to kill, which is why I want you to just capture them and bring them. That should be much easier then killing them."
Shikamaru wasn't so sure about that, but he didn't say anything. He was just happy that he has a chance to go after those two, even if he has to work with Kakashi, Sasuke and the ROOT. While he can tolerate ROOT members, as they are just emotionless tools, he can't stand Sasuke and Kakashi.
Ino, Chōji and Shikamaru nodded, before they left the office. The other ninja went their own way, to prepare for the funeral… that is, if there is going to be funeral, as there is no body to burry.
XXX
Asuma found himself in the office of the Whirlpool's Leader, standing in front of who he learned to be Alessandro's clone under transformation. Along with the two of them, Tayuya was also in the room, as well as all the other girls Naruto turned into human/hollow hybrids, or pure hollows. The only ones not there are Saeko and Naruto himself.
Asuma was very surprised by everything he saw so far, and is even more surprised by the fact that Alessandro has pretty much created a group of S and SS-Rank kunoichi from all over the EN, under everyone's noses, and with no one being the wiser.
Seeing this group of people in the office, and assuming that they are all around the same level as Alessandro, who, by the way, Asuma didn't know how powerful truly is, but could guess; Asuma couldn't help but wonder if the EN would survive if Alessandro decides to take over.
Sakura was also in the room, and she was barely able to stop herself from saying something unwanted. She wondered why Asuma was there, and wanted to ask, but she knew that she can't really say who she is, until she was allowed.
"What happened?" Szayelaporro asked.
Tayuya then went and explained everything she knew, and Asuma filled the blanks. Once they were finished, Szayelaporro sighed.
"So, it's the Akatsuki again," he said. "I got to hand it to them, they sure know how to be around and mess with everyone's business." Szayelaporro then looked at Asuma and sighed again. "I guess since you are with us now, you should learn few things, but most of them can wait except one, which is the most important. What you need to learn is that Alessandro Starrk doesn't exist," Szayelaporro said, getting raised eyebrows from Asuma.
Asuma was surprised by the revelation, but then he remembered that Tayuya said that she and Alessandro are both Uzumaki, and then he understood that Alessandro came up with a fake name to hide that he is an Uzumaki. He did wonder though. From what he knew, Uzumaki all had red hair. It's their clan's trait, just like the Uchiha's black hair and black eyes for example.
But then, there was Naruto Uzumaki, who was half Uzumaki, and had his father's blonde hair. Yes, Asuma knew who Naruto's parents were, just like many others in the village, but most of them didn't care and only saw him as either Kyūbi itself, or as a reminder of that night.
Not counting Naruto, Asuma has never seen nor heard of any other Uzumaki who didn't have red hair. And now, there is this guy, who goes by the name, Alessandro Stark, in order to hide that he is Uzumaki. Asuma wondered why he is doing that if he is as strong as he thinks he is.
Alessandro, or whatever his true name is, is an Uzumaki, and has the same shade of blonde hair as Naruto used to have. If Asuma didn't know any better, then he would have thought that Alessandro is either Naruto's older brother, or Naruto himself. But as far as he knew, Fourth Hokage and Kushina Uzumaki didn't have any children before Naruto, and certainly not one who looks like he is in his mid-twenties, which would mean that he would have been born when Minato and Kushina were around 15 or 16 years old. Now, while that is possible, it is unlikely, as at least he would have heard something about that child. As for Alessandro and Naruto being the same person, that appears to be even less likely, since Naruto is dead, and even if he is alive, he should be 15 years old, not around 23 or 24, which is the age Asuma assumes Alessandro is at.
"If Alessandro Starrk doesn't exist," Asuma spoke. "Then who is he?"
Szayelaporro smirked. "We are Naruto Uzumaki, of course."
Asuma almost had a heart attack.
XXX
Naruto walked into the palace which belonged to the Daimyo of the Land of Rivers, and now, it belongs to him, with one of his blood clones, residing there and acting as the Daimyo of the Land of Rivers.
Naruto has unintentionally, forgotten about this blood clone when he was making plans on which blood clone will watch over which part of the EN, which means that he wouldn't have a part of the continent to watch over.
Naruto thought about it for a while, and came up with an idea.
He is not sure, but it would be highly improbably that the EN are the only continent in the world. He assumes that there are others, and he wants to explore them and see what's on them.
Thus, it was time to visit the first blood clone he created.
"Well, well, well," a very familiar voice came from the end of the hallway and from the chair at the head of the hallway. "I almost thought you have forgotten about me."
Naruto smirked. "Actually," Naruto spoke. "I did."
His blood clone scowled, and when Naruto approached him, and took a look at his blood clone's form, he was surprised when he saw the he looks like Ichigo Kurosaki. "Why do you look like that?" Naruto asked.
Blood clone Naruto shrugged. "I wanted a change," he said. "Kurosaki's appearance seems to be well accepted by the people here. They quite like it."
"Is that so?" Naruto questioned and the clone nodded.
"So. To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" Ichigo asked, as he stood from his chair, and walked down the hallway, Naruto following him.
"I was making some plans a while back, and I admit, I completely forgot about you," Naruto said, making his blood clone look at him with raised eyebrows.
"I thought you were joking," Ichigo questioned?
"No, I'm not," Naruto said. "You are the first blood clone I created, and I decided to leave all the blood clones to live their lives instead of releasing them. Since I plan to rule over the EN as an emperor, I thought to leave the blood clone to watch over some parts of the EN, and make my job easier. You understand?"
Ichigo nodded.
"Now, the problem is that since I forgot about you, I don't have any part to leave to you to watch over, but I still don't want to release you, so I came up with something else." Naruto said.
"What would that be?" Ichigo asked.
"I want you to leave the EN and see what's in the outside world." If Ichigo thought of all the things that his original would want from him… this was most definitely not one of them. "I'm sure that there are other continents out there in the world, and I want to know about them. You are the perfect option to send, as I'm sure you will enjoy it more then to be stuck in one place."
"How nice of you to think of my wellbeing after forgetting about me for three years." Ichigo said with heavy sarcasm in his voice.
"Oh come on," Naruto said. "You can't say that you didn't enjoy living in this palace for the last three years while not doing anything."
Ichigo looked at Naruto for a few moments without saying anything, before he sighed. "You've changed," Ichigo said, getting raised eyebrows from Naruto. "You're not like the last time I saw you. You are less serious. It looks like you've mellowed down a little bit… didn't you?"
Naruto looked at his blood clone with narrowed eyes, before he smirked. "Not that much." Ichigo smirked back.
"We'll see about that," Ichigo said. "But even if you did, it's not a problem. It might actually be a good thing, as it means that there is much less chance of you destroying everything. It would be really boring living in the EN if you went through with your original plan."
"It sure would be," Naruto agreed, before he smirked once again. "Not to mention the amount of beautiful girls which would have died in vain."
"I hear you man," Ichigo said with his own smirk. "You should see the girls I have around me every single day. It's getting ridiculous."
"Hahahaha," Naruto laughed. "You tell me, when I spent a lot of time with Tayuya, Taya and some other, equally beautiful girls."
"So you did find more girls on top of Tayuya and Taya?" Ichigo questioned.
"Yes," Naruto replied. "There are quite a few of them, and they are all very beautiful, talented and powerful. All in all, they are perfect."
"Hm, it makes me wonder how the other blood clones are doing," Ichigo wondered.
"Oh they are doing fine," Naruto said. "They were all able to get themselves some girls, even Tier has some girls. I tell you, I've ended up the only one without any girl, and yet, I'm surrounded by them. It's ridiculous."
Ichigo shrugged. "Well, we did live for over a millennia without any interest in opposite sex, so I can't say I'm surprised that you are having trouble accepting the girls. I've also had that problem, but since I'm always in one place and always surrounded by hot girls, I was able to deal with it."
"And I've traveled all over the EN for the last three years, and as such, I didn't have a chance to settle down," Naruto frowned. "I guess I'll have to settle down in Whirlpool for a while."
"You do that." Ichigo said.
By that point, the two of them were standing at the big garden with flowers at the back of the palace. They both went quiet for a while, just enjoying the scenery, and quietness. It was finally interrupted by Ichigo, who sighed. "When should I leave?"
Naruto looked at his blood clone and said. "Not for a while," Ichigo raised his eyebrows at that. "Stay here until I take over the EN. After that, when another blood clone takes over for you, you can go."
"Fine," Ichigo said. "But I'm taking my girls with me. There is no way I'm leaving them behind."
Naruto smiled. "That's fine with me," he said. "Use this time before you leave to find some information on the other continents. There must be something somewhere, which can give you some information. You should also build yourself a big ship which can carry you everywhere, as you won't have any other means to go to other continents."
Ichigo nodded. "Don't worry," he said. "I'll take care of everything."
Naruto nodded.
"But anyway," Ichigo spoke again, and smirked. "Let's go. I want you to meet my girlfriends."
Naruto smiled and followed his blood clone back to the inside of the palace.
XXX
The last of the two-tails chakra was sucked out from the Yugito Nii, thus, her body fell to the cavern floor. She was dead.
"The two-tails has been sealed away," Pain commented. "Only four more left."
"Finally," Hidan moaned out, as he was stretching his neck and limbs. "This took forever. Come on Kakuzu, let's go. I want to do some killing in the name of Jashin."
"No," Kakuzu suddenly said. "We are going to go and find Alessandro Starrk. I want to repay him for that kick. And he also has a very high bounty on his head, so it will be perfect replacement for the bounty of that Leaf ninja we killed, but lost due to Starrk's interference."
Hidan hmed. "Now that you mention it, I do also want to have revenge against him… Yes, he will be a perfect sacrifice for the Jashin."
Before any of the other Akatsuki could say anything, Hidan's and Kakuzu's projections disappeared. The rest of the Akatsuki looked at each other, and Saeko suddenly sighed. "Well, they are dead." She said and then looked at Pain, who looked back at her with raised eyebrows, while the others looked in either surprise or shock. "You might as well start looking for replacements, because they will not be coming back. Trust me on that one."
Saeko was the only person who was really in that cavern, while the rest were just projections. So, she jumped from the finger of the statue, and landed next to Yugito's body in an instant, again shocking some members of the Akatsuki, as to them, it looked like she just teleported.
Saeko picked up Yugito's body, and tossed her over her shoulder, showing a surprising amount of physical strength, before she opened a Garganta, and walked through it without saying anything else.
The other members of the Akatsuki who were still there, watched in stunned silence at what they have just seen. None of them have ever seen such a jutsu, and were all wondering what that was.
"Now that is one hell of a Space-Time Ninjutsu," Kisame said while looking at the place where Saeko opened what looked like black hole and just stepped through it, disappearing from everyone's sight. "I've never before seen or heard of something like that."
"Neither have I," Pain added. "She didn't use that in our battle. It makes me wonder, why? It's certainly an interesting move."
"It might not be meant for battle," Itachi said sounding disinterested, but he was in fact, very interested. "Maybe that's why she didn't use it in your battle."
"Maybe," Pain agreed, but he was not so sure. He decided to investigate this more closely, as he doesn't want surprises. He will just have to find a way on how to do it, since Saeko, doesn't have a partner, and will be working alone. She is most certainly skilled enough to capture any jinchūriki on her own, Pain was sure of that ever since she almost defeated him.
In the end, he decided to task Zetsu with keeping a watch over her… if possible, which he suddenly doubts after seeing that Space-Time jutsu, but he has to try. Right?
"You are all dismissed," Pain addressed to the other members of the Akatsuki. "We will meet again once we have our hands on the three-tails, which should resurface very soon. Tobi and Zetsu, you two are to take care of that."
Zetsu nodded, while Tobi said nothing and was completely quiet, which surprised everyone who thought he will start yelling some crap like he usually does. Now though, he seemed to be deep in thought.
'That woman is very dangerous,' Tobi thought in his head, while on his face, beneath his mask, there was sweat rolling. 'Very, VERY, dangerous!"