Author's Note: Sorry I've been gone so long guys life has been crazy, so I hope you enjoy this chapter! I won't keep too much of your time though, so enjoy!
"Root" It was simple, but that one word said enough. The aura in the room shifted as all of the Anbu in there took another look around to make sure they were secure. Tsunade wasn't having it though, she poured herself a glass of Saki before downing it.
"Now what? The old warhawk hasn't done much, so what's going on?"
"Well he tried to kill myself and young Naruto here" Hiruzen said as the glass shattered in Tsunade's hand.
"God damnit Gaki, you haven't been home for 2 hours and already you have more people trying to kill you" Tsunade was aggravated.
Naruto's face dropped into confusion, "WAIT WHAT? Don't blame me I didn't do anything! I swear I just talked with Jiji and then they threw some poisoned senbon, thankfully I noticed it in time!"
Tsunade smirked, "I'm just pulling your leg Naruto, if this was Root they were acting on Danzo's orders which means it probably wasn't something you did directly. Sensei, what were you and the Gaki talking about before the attack?" Something wasn't adding up, and even though she may be a drunk, she was pretty damn smart too.
"Naruto had come to see me about a conversation we had a while back, and for some reason I can't remember ever talking about it with him. The bigger problem is that he is also feeling like he's having to force himself to remember the conversation. It's as if someone is trying to mess with our memories and this isn't good." He didn't speak for long but Tsunade sat for a moment thinking about this.
"I can't think about how someone could be altering both of your memories. The two of you in your own right are extremely powerful, so how could someone have done that to the both of you without getting caught. Does Danzo have any weapon you can think of that could let him do that?" Tsunade needed to know, because if he did this was very bad.
"Itachi mentioned a long time ago that he believed Danzo to have taken Shishu Uchiha's Mangekyou Sharingan. If that is true it would explain a lot, that eye had a lot of power behind it" Hiurzen said.
"Why the hell was an investigation never started!?" Tsunade was on her feet, Hiruzen went to answer but couldn't come up with one. He was at a loss as he struggled to remember why.
" I… i don't know, it sounds like something I would have wanted to do… but I don't know why it never happened." The man was worried… what all could have happened, could have changed.
"Ok that's it, I'm done sitting down lets go fucking find Danzo. I don't care if he's in the middle of his Root base. I've got questions and will get some answers tonight." Tsunade was done playing nice.
"I'll lead the way I know the fastest way from here" Naruto said, surprising both people. They didn't say anything though as they followed him. He didn't go far though, he walked downstairs to the basement, there was a hatch that he opened. Tsunade was seething when she saw this, but let the boy continue. Naruto was just happy he remembered the old plans he had found when going through Danzo's things in the future. They started walking down the hallway, going through many twists and turns, surprisingly there was no security. That just put everyone on a more high alert waiting for what could be awaiting them. They got into the base and were even more shocked, they didn't see anyone there. They all three split up searching the place trying to find someone, or anything that could incriminate the old warhawk. Tsunade took the higher level, Naruto the lowest while Hiruzen searched the middle levels of the compound.
Tsunade jumped all the way to the top in a single leap, and started walking around, she saw a patrol of Root and expertly avoided them. She then ran into the first room she saw and looked around. She didn't want to cause any unnecessary trouble if she didn't have too, plus she knew Naruto would most likely start the first fight and shake the compound. So until then she needed to gather whatever evidence she could. She looked around the room, but it was barren besides a bed and some clothes hanging on the wall. She sighed knowing this was going to take a while, the next three hallways were all the same, she kept going hoping to find anything.
Naruto wasn't having much luck either, 6 times he almost ran into root, he knew he could take them but he also remembered what Jiraiya taught him about being stealthy. He knew that even though he could take these guys on it wasn't a good idea, not if he could help it at least. He kept hoping into room after room, but it was like a labyrinth, everything looked exactly the same, it was driving him mad, he didn't know how anyone could figure out where to go. His head was hurting seeing everything the same so he went up one level and started looking around there. But he was ran into the same problem until he finally found something, a training room he looked around in there, it seemed pretty basic honestly. But then he saw the walls were covered in fuinjutsu, a suppressant seal that stopped any damage that would be done by chakra based attacks, he was honestly surprised with how good they were, it explains why there was no damage to the room in any way. He left the room but left a mental checkmark to use these seals when making his own training room. Naruto searched the next two floors but saw nothing, besides more root walking around, he was starting to get annoyed, but was also surprised that he had yet to be noticed by anyone. Something just felt wrong, but he couldn't just stop now so he kept searching determined to find anything.
The third was dreading his luck, he walked into the first room he found and right away he could tell it was an office, no one was in there which was good. He quietly closed the door and looked around, the office was very basic, not even a single photo. There was a desk with a chair, a couple of cabinets and that was it. He checked the cabinets, the drawers were locked but of course. He moved to the desk, there was a single folder on the desk and the drawers were locked with fuinjutsu. He cursed his luck, that was his teammates expertise but he didn't have enough knowledge to unlock this unfortunately. He opened the folder on the desk though but cursed his luck everything in there was blacked out so he couldn't see what was in there. However he realised that he could pick the lock on the cabinets and see what there was. It didn't take long for him to unlock the cabinets and see check what's in there. He combed through the folders every single time though it was the same thing, just another blacked out file. What I wouldn't give to have Naruto in here the man thought, he figured any evidence he would find would be in the desk drawers. But still the third persisted in checking every single folder in the cabinets.
It was all for naught he looked at every single one and found nothing, Hiruzen sat down in the chair and groaned to himself until he heard footsteps. His eye widened and he quickly jumped up and hid in the ceiling, it was cramped but it would do.
"You failed at the execution" It was Danzo's voice.
The root agent was standing at attention, mask still on "It was the Jinchurriki sir, he was able to sense the attack I'm not sure how."
"Explain, because now the third and Naruto know what happens which means the 5th won't be far behind. Why did you attempt assination on them? '' Danzo was very obviously furious with the agent.
"They started to remember things that they had forgotten. Things you changed with that Sharingan eye of yours my lord, your word was to assassinate anyone who started to bring up trouble with the things you changed. I was close enough to attempt the attack without having been noticed. I thought it was safe to attempt the attack, and I was wrong, luckily I got away and was able to contact you. You may have to resort to your kotoamatsukami to stop them" The agent stated, meanwhile Danzo sat still thinking deeply to himself ever since Orochimaru attacked years ago he has laid low, he needed to heal after helping fight Kira. He has just started to resume operations as normal again and now things are already going to hell. He didn't even know that the Nine tailed Jinchurriki had returned until now. He may have to put down the kid himself, as well as his teammate.
Danzo sighed, "Get with Torune and meet back here to shadow me. I'm going to head to the 5th's office. If I'm lucky all three of them will be in there and I can quickly finish up using kotoamatsukami so as to not over exert myself, I'll just have to be careful. Now get going I'll meet the two of you upstairs" The agent saluted and disappeared, Danzo unlocked his desk drawer with a single hand seal and opened the top drawer pulling out a folder. He closed the desk and re-sealed it before walking out of his office. Hiruzen quickly jumped back down to the ground level and snuck out. He needed to find Tsunade and Naruto quickly, he made two clones to go look for them while he also searched.
Naruto cursed his luck, while he was somehow amazing at gambling he was very bad at avoiding the root anbu. He's been lucky to not get noticed, but it's as if every corner he turns he finds more agents. He just may have to fight unfortunately. That was until he got a tap on his shoulder, he saw who it was and widened his eyes. The older man put his fingers to his lips and Naruto nodded and pointed upwards. Naruto nodded again and the man disappeared, proving to be a shadow clone. Naruto quickly made his way up, hoping that he could get out without being caught. Whatever Hiurzen found, he hoped it was worth it because he was hearing some good gossip while out and about the crew lounges. Naruto carefully avoided the guards as he made his way up throughout the installation, it took a few minutes but he found the third hokage. Tsunade was already with him.
"So what's going on?" Naruto asked the obvious.
"Not here we need to go somewhere private to talk," Hiruzen said as he led the way, the other two following close behind him.
"I swear to god kid, everything with you always becomes bad. For as much of a good luck charm as you claim to be, bad shit follows you like debt collectors follow me" Tsunade stated, she just wanted things to be better and it's been one fuck up after another.
"Just wait Tsuande, this is far worse, and it's my fault if anything" Hiruzen said.
Tsuande looked at the man with confusion, "Sensei..?" She was confused but followed the man she just hoped that all would be back to normal soon.
It took the trio longer than they wanted but they soon arrived somewhere safe to talk. The three sat down together and Hiruzen finally spoke. "This is all my fault, it leads back to the deaths of the Uchiha." Tsunade and Naruto both looked confused but let the man continue, "After I ordered the death of the Uchiha I thought I had my Anbu discard the bodies safely and it seems Danzo has gotten a hold of them… He took Shishu Uchiha's eye. He has kotoamatsukami, he has the ultimate genjutsu and has been using it on low levels over the years to change small things for him. I should have known something would have gone wrong, but he must've already had the eye and been using it on me. I would've made sure he wouldn't have done anything wrong normally and yet I didn't. He has been behind the scenes for years and years changing things, it's why the civilian side had so much power until you came into control Tsunade. The question is, how do we stop him."
Tsunade sat to ponder the question but Naruto was on his feet, "We beat his ass and arrest him!"
"As simple as that sounds, he has an army to back him up Naruto" Tsunade stated, she didn't need a war to break out in the middle of her village between root agents and whatever sleeper cells he had, it was too risky. "We need to collect actual evidence on him and attempt to arrest him when he's not surrounded by his army."
"We don't need evidence, Inoichi can read all three of our minds as proof of the man's treason as well as him keeping root active even though it's illegal. Him using kotoamatsukami against a hokage is treason enough." Naruto stated, the two kage were surprised they didn't think of that sooner, something that again bothered them. "We call a meeting that way he can't show up with his entire army. I'll use the stealth mode Jiraiya taught me to catch him off guard and we arrest him. Tsunade can get the warrant from T&I for his arrest and then we'll set up the trap." Naruto said in a display of intelligence that surprised the other two.
"That's brilliant Naruto, I'll summon Inoichi immediately, and hopefully by tomorrow we can have everything ready to go" Tsunade said, Naruto nodded, he hated waiting around but for now that's all they could do.
The damage surrounding the area was intense. All that could be heard was screaming, anger was behind every explosion that happened. "How the fuck does he know so much, how the fuck does he keep getting in the way? HOW THE FUCK DID NAGATO TURN ON ME AND ESCAPE WITH THE MOTHERFUCKER IN FRONT OF ME" Obito screamed as rain pelted his body. Furious couldn't even begin to explain how livid he was with everything. Every time he thought he was getting closer something changed. Every time he caught one jinchuuriki disaster struck him, it was almost as if the divine was trying to stop him. "As if god could try and stop me, ME! I'm fucking me"
A Voice snickered behind him, "Need a hype man much?" he said sarcastically
"I AM THE HYPE" Obito screamed as he punched a tree as hard as he could making it shatter into thousands of pieces while more grew out of his arm. Obito was breathing heavy, after a few seconds his breathing calmed, "I'm sorry, it's just been a lot to process the last few days. Zetsu, I need you to get in touch with Danzo, warn him if he doesn't help me get the nine tails I will lay siege to everything he loves, and also figure out where Pein is if you can."
The plant smiled as the dark half responded, "As you command master, we shall be there no later than tomorrow" Zetsu slowly receded into the ground glad to be away from obito. The man was starting to go crazy. But he could understand why. They needed three more jinchuuriki and then they were done. He was so close to bringing back his mother after so many years, Zetsu almost wanted to laugh with joy. He moved through the ground, he hated having to act like a slave for so long, but soon his mother Kaguya would be back. And then no one would be in the way. Everyone would be gone, he wouldn't have to hide in the shadows anymore, he could be with the one he loved for the rest of eternity again. He figured it would be another 2-3 years max, but with how much Obito is starting to lose it, he may not have to worry too much longer. He could smell war on the horizon. His body shivered as he excitement coursed through him, so close to having everything together.
Obito had called back what was left of the Akatsuki. Gathering the rest of the Bijuu would be impossible with the entire world on their shoulders now. It was time that Orochimaru did what was needed. It was time to declare war against everyone.
Obito walked into the room as he looked at who was left. Dediara, Sasori, Kisame and Orochimaru. The large organization against the world, honestly he liked his odds. "It's time for war" Dediara smiled, Sasori seemed to act like it was an inconvenience by it, Kisame smiled, he loved a good fight and Orochimaru seemed annoyed.
"So why am I here?" The last member asked, wanting to be back out in the world doing what he was originally doing.
"I need you to start finding powerful ninjas to be revived. If we're going to fight we're going to need an army, I also have 100,000 white Zetsu ready for land invasion, but they aren't that strong, high chunin at best, but their numbers will be helpful. The five kage summit is in 5 days time. In 5 days I will be declaring war against everyone. After that be ready to fight, for now take this time to get your strength back and relax." Obito said he turned away to leave but was met by Orochimaru.
"You want me to summon up ninja to be revived? Instead of using my power for Kira?" Orochimaru asked, making sure.
"You have a large chakra reserve but you are no sage, your reserves aren't infinite. Kira would drain you and make you useless. Put your talents to better use and summon up an army for me. Make sure you get Kinka and Ginku of the cloud, they have chakra dipped from the nine tails. If we get ourselves the rinnegan back from Nagato we can seal up those reserve nine tails chakra in place of the beast itself. Beyond that revive whoever you can, we need powerful allies" Orochimaru grinned knowing exactly who he should bring back.
"Oh Obito-kun this is going to be very fun. Just you wait" Orochimaru chuckled as his mind raced through ninja to bring back. He had already had Kabuto searching for DNA of old shinobi just in case Obito ever got in his way. It was just too perfect, he could knock off everyone on the chess board in one fell swoop as long as he stayed behind the lines and did nothing. It was hard for the Rouge nin to not laugh harder as everything was just too perfect for him. He was so close to being rid of all of his enemies, he could rebuild the world as his own if he did things just right.
Obito knew it was dangerous siding with Orochimaru, but the man still proved useful to him, as unfortunate as that was. He knew this war was better using the man on the off side he might switch on him. He couldn't risk that, Orochimaru knew too much but it was too soon to kill him off. He hated seeing that man alive, just his very existence felt wrong, but Kabuto, his right hand. That man was something else, something much darker than even Orochimaru, the two of them together just made his blood boil. Something about them was just wrong to human kind and he wanted to be rid of them both, but he knew he needed to bid his time because as ugly as those two beings were, they were undoubtedly useful. Hell Obito was still confused as to how Kabuto was even alive, the man's presence screamed evil more so than Orochimaru. Last he heard Kabuto had been killed by Asuma when Orochimaru tried to steal Sasuke… something was definitely wrong and he didn't know what it was.
Obito sighed as he rubbed his forehead taking a seat, this was too much to think about. Kabuto was alive and that was that. What he needed to focus on was getting ready for war, he was lucky that the Samehada came back to Kisame. That whole scenario still confuses him, but he didn't care enough to look into that freaky sword to figure it out. So much weird shit had been happening and so much had been going wrong, but he knew by going to war it was only a matter of time, for now he needed to find Pein and get his rinnegan back. It was time to collect what was his once Zetsu reported back to him. Obito lifted up his mask as he ate some food, he had to make another trip to Konoha soon to get some more ramen, his sensei's old teammate might not have been much of a shinobi but he made a damn good bowl of ramen.
Orochimaru arrived back in the land of grass and was greeted by many henchmen when he walked inside. Some terrified of him, some surprised to even see him back not knowing he had even left. He ignored everyone as he walked to his private laboratory to start researching. He was going to bring back some people for his own use and protection, so he needed to figure out how he was going to get their DNA. He needed to know the battles they fought, where they almost died, where they did die, where they were buried, anything and everything that could potentially help him.
The man knew he only had days to get everything together, luckily he already had enough shinobi to make a small war, but he needed stronger and better kage, and where else than the ones from his own village. He had the DNA of strong shinobi from Konoha, it wasn't hard during the last two great wars to collect such, but he needed more including if he wanted true protection from Obito, he knew the man's abilities and if he was able to bring back Madara, than he wouldn't ever be stopped. Orochimaru made sure that Kabuto destroyed any reanimates of the man's DNA that could have potentially been scattered, he just had to make sure that the Rinnegan didn't fall into his hands. He was lucky though, he had an army of white Zetsu that he could use how he needed to make Reanimation zombies to fight in this war. Being a man of high morals of course he would bring back family members for everyone, and lovers, Dan and Nawaki came to his mind, as well as Obito's father and mother. The white fang was a given, granny Chiyo, the 2nd Raikage, Tsuchikage, Raza of the golden sand. Oh Orochimaru was going to have fun.
He called out to Kabuto, a man he was happy he was able to somehow save, he can't believe that he thought the boy was dead, thankfully he was able to pull a miracle. When the boy came to him he gave him a list of DNA he needed to go and find, meanwhile he made seals for the zombies that were to come. This was going to be a glorious war of course, he couldn't wait to see who the victor would be, meanwhile he needed to move to a new base of operations. He knew of the perfect place, long since abandoned due to wars, and a great place to store everything he needed. He left a note for Kabuto to meet him at the Mountains Graveyard (Where Kabuto had his base of operations in the original series during the war). Orochimaru was smiling as he was watching everything fall into place for him, this war would be perfect for him.
Author's note: Hey everyone sorry for the delay in this chapter a lot has happened, being an EMT with my state being in lockdown due to covid has kept me busy working quite a lot. But I hope this chapter finds you all in good health. It's kind of all over the place and I apologize but I wanted y'all to see everything not just from Naruto's side because motions are being held everywhere and things are changing. I hope you enjoy this, leave a review!