"You know what I never understood?" I asked, flying alongside my rag-tag group of companions towards our destination, "Why did none of the lot of you ever have a vision about Palpatine's minions? Sure, Sidious had cloaked himself with the Force or whatever, but even Grievous and Dooku? Even their underlings?"

"From what I now know, perhaps things were simply meant to be that way." Shaak Ti sighed. "The Force on this planet is… potent. While it does not let me experience visions of any sort, as I previously informed you, it does allow me to get… impressions. Feelings, of a sort. It's why I have decided to always be by your side."

"That doesn't answer my question." I pointed out. "Are you trying to distract me?"

The now-human rolled her eyes. "If only it were possible… my point being, that not all people have reality-altering powers like you."

"True enough." I grinned, looking back toward our companions. "If only you knew how much…"

The former Jedi master sighed. "I think I have an inkling of an idea…"

I rolled my eyes, channeling greater reaches of my power to increase our speed. "Anyway, plot's plot and all, but I think we've wasted too much time. My shadow clone will be able to last in case the worst happens, but yours won't." I quickly accessed the [Map] feature of my system menu and scaled back, watching our progress with contemplating eyes. "We're still three hundred and twenty-five kilometers away from Hidden Rain. Once we've dealt with the more human of our adversaries, you lot are returning home with a shadow clone of mine, while I handle… other matters."

"Absolutely not." Muramasa burst into our conversation. "Have you forgotten what we decided before we left?"

"I don't know if you lot can survive in space." I pointed out. "I am headed to the moon soon after, and I don't want to put you lot in an environment you may feel puts you out of your depth."

"The moon." The immortal blankly stated, then sighed. "Why does that not surprise me as much as it should?"

I rolled my eyes, sticking my tongue out. "I guess you just know me well enough." I looked over at the rest of our little troupe, who had their eyes trained on me. "Anything to add, Sasori, Kakuzu?"

"It is… odd, to have to defer to a child." Kakuzu noted with his eyes narrowed. "However… it is a feeling I believe I will soon learn to live with."

I nodded. "Good. That should give you practice when you become part of the Uzumaki Clan. Speaking of which," I created a shadow clone, "go find Karin and her family, Tayuya and her family, Juugo's clan, and Sakon and Ukon if they have a clan, them too. Offer them whatever and bring them to the Leaf." Another shadow clone popped into existence next to me while the other fled in a burst of black lightning. "It's your job to speak to Hiruzen about our new arrivals. If I know myself, I'll get them there in about twenty or so minutes, so hurry up." That clone saluted before vanishing silently.

"Wait, did I hear you correctly?" Muramasa said, jerking back in surprise. "You're getting them to join the clan? Won't the leaf be against welcoming missing ninja of other villages into their fold? The last checked, our village wasn't that sort."

'Our' village. Oh, Muramasa… "Sure. But against my speech-craft, not even the most skilled courtier can hold their ground."

Sasori studied me with an unnerving gaze. "You… are unusual."

"Thanks."

"I did not mean that as a compliment."

"He knows." Shaak Ti and Muramasa chorused, in fond exasperation. I simply rolled my eyes and sped on.

Yahiko looked at Konan with a worried expression as she held on to Nagato, the latter carrying her towards their underground hide-out. They were the last three to survive their Akatsuki, and it stung something fierce. In the months it had taken fighting the good fight, they had become… close. Family, one could say. Their victory against Hanzo rang hollow, echoing the cries of their comrades as they fell.

"Well, well, well…"

Yahiko did not wait, he immediately charged three kunai with chakra and threw them towards the voice before even looking. He felt more than saw his weapons curl away from their intended target, then stop mid-air. He landed on the branch of a tree and looked up.

Hovering in mid-air was a strange group of people. He could recognize none of them, but he could feel their strength enshrouding them in an invisible haze. Oddly enough, the most dangerous seemed to be the child in the center, barely four or five years of age. His eyes were pitch black, and the darkness seemed to emanate from them, clouding a good few centimeters of skin around the eyes themselves… a Dojutsu.

"Yahiko, it's rude to attack someone before you know who they are." The child chided, and the darkness in his eyes faded away to show a mismatched pair of green and blue, the green one glowing with an ethereal quality, staring at him reproachfully. "What if I was a friend?"

"Our friends are dead." Nagato spat, his ripple eyes glaring at the boy. Yahiko wondered why almost all of the entirety of the group was focused on him when Nagato was there… everyone in Rain knew that he was the real threat, and not Yahiko himself.

"What about family then, Uzumaki Nagato?" the boy asked, tilting his head. "My cousin?"

Wait.

What?

"What?" Nagato asked, eyes wide.

The boy shook his head. "It took me so long to find you- Holy crap! That girl is injured!"

And in a moment, he was within their guard.

Yahiko's eyes widened. That speed… it was beyond anything he could ever hope to achieve. His hands were just bout to reach for his holster when he noticed exactly what the boy was doing.

"Let me look at her!" The child snarled when Nagato made to intervened. "I'm a healer!"

That made both boys freeze. A medic ninja…

Maybe…

"Then please… help her." Nagato asked first before he could even open his mouth. Yahiko turned a suspicious gaze on the child, who carefully cradled Konan's unconscious face in his hands. The kunai that were still hovering where they had stopped mid-air fell to the ground in a clatter, and his green eye stopped glowing. However, his blue eye began to glow as the rain, which had been pouring from the sky-hole above, seemed to halt in its tracks when it came near. Slowly, the water coalesced around his hands and began to glow a bright shade of blue that almost matched his eyes.

"Oh, thank Kami, it's nothing I can't heal." The boy sighed in relief, waving his hands in entrancing motions that the water seemed to obey. Yahiko would have loudly protested if it were not for the visibly healing wounds on Konan's face.

"Who… who are you?" he asked instead, eyes wide. Konan's injuries, as much as it pained him to admit, made him almost certain she'd never be able to see in the future. To perform healing of such a degree at such an age…

The boy looked up from Konan's rapidly healing visage and smiled sadly at him. "I am Uzumaki Gundan, from the Village Hidden in the Leaves. I came here to find a member of the Uzumaki clan my technique was leading me to, but…" he sighed, turning back to look solemnly at Nagato. "It seems I know why the technique was faltering. Being so close to you… I can feel the chakra fighting between itself and the foreign energy… I was not wrong."

A sensor like him? "'Foreign Energy?" Yahiko asked, almost in alarm. He only knew a few reasons the term could come up. Given that the boy – Gundan – was looking at Nagato…

"Those… are not your natural eyes. Someone implanted those eyes into you, Nagato." He informed them, and Yahiko could feel it as his friend's world shattered.

"I… what…"

Predictably, Nagato was all out of words. After all, what could one say when the very reason the flame of their hope kept alight was reasoned to be false? Nagato was driven, somewhat, by his eyes – they gave him the strength to protect and cherish that which he deemed most important.

Now…

"We can't just take you at your word." Yahiko groused, but internally he wasn't so sure. He always felt something off about Nagato's chakra, specifically around his eyes, but he always thought it was to do with the sheer power that was the Rinnegan. He steeled himself and focused – Nagato's eyes felt like they were a bright flame, much brighter compared to the rest of his body. Once again, he had always assumed…

But then he realized that the eyes, however godly in their capability, drew energy from Nagato to use, and the chakra reading should have always been the same.

"Of course. It would be foolish of me to assume you would." Gundan shook his head in what looked like a somber wistfulness. "But it is the truth. The only reason I was not here sooner is that the presence of whoever originally owned those eyes was too overpowering to the technique. It gave me your general location, but then I was forced to rely on other means to locate you. And even then, that was shaky at best."

"A technique that allows you to find anyone?" Yahiko asked, surprised despite the situation. That the Hidden Leaf held hold over a ninja with such a technique…

"Of course. Would you like to see?" Gundan asked with a beaming smile, then held up his hand. Black dust appeared from nothing and came together, forming a cylindrical stick in his hand with one end larger than the other, and laid innocuously in his palm. "Point Me – Uzumaki Nagato."

The stick swiveled and focused on Nagato tensely for a moment before it shook from side to side as if it were sentient and confused.

"This reaction… it's never happened with this technique before." He pointed out. "Now for a comparison… Point Me – Yahiko."

The stick swerved to point at Yahiko in the same tense fashion, although this time it did not waver at all.

"See? That's how it's supposed to work." Gundan nodded down at the stick that lay flat on his palm. At some unseen signal, it seemed to droop, as though there was some life in its dead form that had drained out. "To waver like that, it would mean that the identity of the person is not fixed. Either the target has mental issues, or there is an energy infusion from a foreign entity, or the target is not… wholly made up of himself."

Nagato blinked down at the boy. He still seemed very out of it. "I… see…"

Yahiko felt his heart drop, but he gently pulsed his chakra to not alert their guests but still break any illusion upon themselves. There was none.

"Anyway," Gundan clapped, some joy returning to his eyes. "We can talk about all that once we're back in the Hidden Leaf. Oh, you're going to love the place! The people are fun to be around, too, except this one white-haired creep who keeps trying to peek on the women's baths." He babbled, and Yahiko felt himself stutter – he knew that 'creep'. "He's tried to cop a feel on me a couple of times too."

Yahiko could have imagined it, but he felt several of the people in their entourage tense at that. Weird.

"Anyway, so yeah. You're going to have to deal with a bunch of people to live there with us, but-"

"No."

Gundan paused in his tirade, then reared back as if slapped. Yahiko felt for the kid – if somehow he could find a family of his far someplace, and he found them, and they didn't want to return…

"But… why, Nagato? You've got cousins in the Leaf! Your clan is going to restart over there! Oh, wait, it's already started." The boy suddenly turned to the side, towards the direction he knew the village to be in. "One of my Shadow Clones just dispersed. Three Uzumaki families and two entire clans have been recovered."

"There is a disturbance in the Force." The woman with them tilted her head to the side, eyes closed. "Oddly enough… someone is crying about paperwork…?"

"Two clans." The man with the sword and fancy kimono cut in the Uzumaki style spoke in a monotone as if struggling to wrap his concept around it. "Two clans from… the Hidden Whirlpool village?"

"Yep." Gundan beamed. "One of them has a terrible affliction, though I managed to cure it with seals. They can go into their other form on their own will now – it's kind of what the deal-maker was when they agreed to move to the Leaf. The other one seems to have been found on the way, but they were headed to the Leaf anyway, so we just happened across them."

Something off flashed across his face for a moment before a much wider grin spread across it. "Scratch that and make it seven families and four clans. Apparently, there was a whole enclave of Whirlpool survivors hidden amongst the Southern Bluffs."

"The disturbance in the force just grew louder." The woman seemed to be trying to stifle a smile… and failing. "I believe, since it's so clear, I can recognize it easily…"

"Eh, once he comes down from his depression, I'm sure Lord Hokage will see the advantage that three new bloodlines can give to the village." The boy shrugged.

"Wait… you didn't tell him. Of course, you didn't tell him. Why would I think otherwise?" the man with the sword who spoke earlier laughed, almost deliriously. "Let me guess, you also haven't told him that you're bringing Sasori of the Red Sands and Kakuzu of Waterfall back with you either?"

Nagato and Yahiko tensed. They knew those names. Hell, anyone with half a brain about them who thought to look at the Bingo Book once in a while to see who to avoid knew those names. Konan still lay blissfully sleeping in Nagato's arms.

"Of course not." Gundan waved him off. "But now that you mention it, I probably should."

Any doubts Yahiko has about the boy's story suddenly dispelled just as he created a clone and had it vanish.

A few seconds passed in silence, during which Yahiko wondered how creating and vanishing a clone could get a message across what had to be a huge distance.

"Hiruzen is not very pleased with you." The woman said, face shining in mirth. "The induction of rogue ninja into a village they were not a part of before is not frowned upon entirely, but not well received either." She smirked, then. "Of course, being they are the highest caliber of ninja around does ease things."

"Given how recently you've joined us, one would think you wouldn't have time to find out this information." Gundan said with a pout.

"Yoshino is a very good teacher when she wants to be." The woman simply replied.

Gundan shook his head. "Oh well, we can see about that sort of stuff when I get back. Anyway," he turned back to the two of them with much higher spirits. "So there we are! Once we get back to the village, the Uzumaki Clan – which is already set up, by the way, should see an increase in number. It… it would mean a lot to me if my family weren't far away when I know they're there!"

Nagato lowered his head and glanced to the side. Yahiko could almost see the conflict under the surface, roiling and threatening to overwhelm him. The sheer plea on Gundan's face wasn't easy to look at either.

"I'm sorry… brother… but I cannot." Nagato spoke, at last, raising his head and looking right at the boy who gathered the Uzumaki Clan under his banner. "This village is not just a collection of buildings to me… it's my home. It is a home I have fought for, shed blood, sweat, and tears for… a home I have lost friends for." He clenched his eyes and looked down at the ground. "How would they feel if I was to just… and Yahiko and Konan are my family, too! They have been more to me than I could ever ask for. I just… I can't decide to leave it all behind and be happy somewhere else while they remain here! Besides, the Hidden Leaf is one of the major reasons we are in this position in the first place! The three major countries that surround us use our village as a battle-ground, uncaring of the lives they uproot in the process! How could I possibly swear allegiance to such a place?!"

Through his words, Nagato seemed to grow more and more incensed. However, on the other side, Gundan seemed to grow more and more morose. There were tears in the child's eyes now, and suddenly Yahiko flashed back to the tearful children on the streets of Rain begging for their dead family to come back to them. The three of them were orphans, too, after all.

Gundan turned away and tried to inconspicuously wipe a tear. Yahiko felt for him, he really did, but what Nagato said was right. Nagato grew up here, and in his (or not, apparently) godly eyes, this was his home. It wasn't right to ask him to just up and leave like this.

He was about to say something to soothe the child, but he got cut off when the boy turned around and glared at Nagato with eyes as black as midnight – the same Dojutsu he had activated before. "How dare you…"

Nagato almost reared back. "Excuse me?!"

"How dare you judge my village based on the actions of a cowardly few?! Those eyes you have in your sockets might give you great power, Nagato, but they don't let you see very well, do they? Every village has its black sheep! That's the whole reason there are missing ninjas in the first place! You can't expect a large group of people to simply fall under one banner without any differences, whether ideological or moral! If there was a traitor in Rain, right now, would you think your whole village is a group of traitors just waiting to strike?! Huh?!"

Nagato remained silent.

"Answer me, Rinnegan-bearer! Why do you judge an entire people based on the actions of a few?" Gundan yelled, clearly outraged.

"He's right, you know." A quiet voice spoke from Nagato's arms, and everyone there turned to look at Konan, who has her hand on Nagato's shoulder and was looking at him. "Wasn't Jiraiya-sensei from the Leaf as well? Can you really compare him to the Leaf ninja who killed your family, Nagato?"

Nagato looked at Konan with a conflicted expression. The two had some sort of non-verbal conversation which made Yahiko smile softly.

"That doesn't change the fact that Rain needs me here." Nagato sighed, clearly accepting defeat, and set down Konan next to him. "We are in the dead middle of three major world powers, all of whom have only tentative cease-fire agreements in place right now. If that were to suddenly change, what then? Who will be here to protect the village?"

Silence descended upon the gathered ninjas as the open-roof cave around them seemed to get a tiny bit darker. Nagato loved Rain. More than the Hidden Rain itself, he loved its people and did not want them to go through the pain he did. What could convince him to leave?

Yahiko was not blind, and so was not Konan, who looked over at him with solemn eyes. Today was a horrible day for the three of them, and Nagato had been on the brink ever since the first of the Akatsuki died. He had a pure heart, but if he walked on this path any longer…

"I have a solution." Gundan spoke softly, apparently accepting Nagato's nonverbal apology. "The main problem is the placement of the village. The entire country of Rain is barren due to the last war, and people are afraid to leave the village. You took care of Hanzo… so you're its new leader. It is your decision, and I won't force it on you-"

"I'm not going to force these people to abandon their lives and homes and travel to the Leaf, brother." Nagato spoke, resolute in that at least. "It is simply not done. We of Rain are far hardier than that! If we cared about our lives more than the village, then we would have left a long time ago!"

Gundan regarded him for a few minutes, then his eyes returned to their normal blue-green form. "I did not ask them to abandon their homes. I only asked if you would very much mind moving the place."

The woman looked at him sharply. "If you do this, then you will have no chance of remaining anonymous. Your name will be plastered across all the Bingo Books in the known world. Do you even realize what this could look like in other people's eyes?"

"Nah. They won't know it's me." Gundan shrugged and grinned. "We have a person bearing a legendary Dojutsu right over there. He can take the heat for this. It's not like he's going to last long out of the spotlight, anyway. Everyone is going to notice him, and soon."

"I don't understand." Yahiko frowned, speaking after a few moments. "What do you mean?"

"Tell me, Nagato…" Gundan began. The woman shook her head exasperatedly, and the man with the sword looked up as if praying for patience from the Gods, "if your people had the chance to move this entire village someplace else, someplace better, would they take it?"

"He has outdone himself this time." Orochimaru mused, slinking out of the shadows after the crowd finally left the Hokage's Office. "Entire Ninja Clans and Civilian Families… all from the Hidden Whirlpool village. Sometimes, I wonder what is the extent that his impossible reach will take him to."

"I feel like just handing him the Hat and getting it over with." His teacher sighed, rubbing his eyes. "I should just set Jiraiya on full time 'Gundan-rumor-abatement' duty. The way that boy's life has been going on so far… it's just unbelievable."

"I think he's well on his way to graduating from being called 'Little Professor', don't you think?" Orochimaru mused, ticking off his fingers. "He's a master at hand-to-hand, illusionism, and now seals. Given his natural inclination to all the five elements and his… frankly unnatural learning speed, he'll have mastered it before long. His exquisite chakra control will see him master medical techniques fast as well. He's a marksman with any projectile weapon and a master of swordsmanship. And then, he has his bloodline… which could negate having to learn chakra-based elemental techniques entirely. TO say nothing of the changes he has brought about our village… now four clans larger due to him; with three valuable new bloodlines – the Konton Clan's natural chakra absorption (which, if I may add, he developed seals on the spot to control), the Karamiau Clan's strange body-melding, at least where twins are concerned, and the Sekiei Clan's so-called Crystal Release."

Hiruzen just sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"However, both of us know he will never accept the position while his friends are not Jonin. The Leaf's Seven, as they're now being called, are a very popular group amongst the ninja and civilian population alike – they are all adored and admired for their strength and teachers." Orochimaru smirked. "However, we can't just hand out promotions to the lot just because we want Gundan to become Hokage."

Hiruzen startled. "Even you want Gundan to become Hokage, Orochimaru?"

"Hiruzen-sensei…" Orochimaru sighed. "Please don't ask me to explain. Just know… that I would accept only him as my Leader, and no one else."

Hiruzen appraised his favorite student with narrowed eyes that eventually softened with mirth. "You're still sore about the fact that he can beat you without using his more powerful techniques, isn't it?"

Orochimaru hissed, but his pale face gained some color. "Sensei…"

"Lord Hokage!" An ANBU suddenly materialized in front of his desk, kneeling. "We have an emergency!"

"What is it, Tora?"

"We have spotted a large mass of earth approaching the village… and… Lord Hokage…"

"Well?"

"It seems to be the entirety of the Village Hidden in the Rain!"

"…. I'm going to personally wring that brat's neck!"

"This is beyond the scope of even I!" Nagato murmured, trying to break a non-existent illusion, as his people called them, on himself.

"This… is not even the least of what he is capable of, in all honesty." Shaak Ti answered, maybe enjoying herself a tad bit. Jedi were people too, and they too knew humor.

She could feel the very planet vibrating in pleasure, not physically, of course. It always amazed her what this planet's Force was like… not even Felucia was this enveloped by the Force! She only wondered what Maris would have thought of being here. Of course, now that she knew this planet's lore, she knew perfectly well that Maris would just be considered another bloodline-holder.

She cast a sideways look at the Wanderer, who seemed to be effortlessly pushing the entire landmass across the sky. Not a drop of sweat in sight, and not the slightest sign that he was deeply concentrating… indeed, Legion was quite the accomplished… being, she supposed.

Remembering instructions levied onto her, she unfurled two maps, one of the Leaf village, and one of the Rain village, all color-coded to mark certain buildings – civilian houses, shinobi accommodations, Kage towers, and other such things of note. She used the force to hold the maps side-by-side in front of he who she swore allegiance to. "I trust you have a plan?"

Of course, she needn't have asked. Legion never did anything without a plan unless blindsided, and she dared say that the metaphorical ball was entirely in his court. "Hidden Leaf is made of wood. Hidden Rain is made of concrete. I didn't promise these people more segregation, Tisha."

Shaak Ti almost sneered at the name. She gave up her Togrutan heritage for this… being, but her name was one thing she wished to keep. It helped to know that at least Legion knew her true name, and was certain to know how this false annotation made her feel.

She kept her silence and watched as he created a shadow clone that then morphed into Nagato's image. It then flew out of the building they were currently in and hovered a few feet in front of them, and directly above the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

Then, he splayed his arms.

Buildings shuddered, then rose out of the ground. A shockwave, originating from the Hokage Monument, spread out, sending the entire village, still intact, further away and spread out more. A gesture saw the monument itself rise higher, and then the buildings grouped, leaving conspicuous and deep blank holes.

"Brace yourselves!"

The landmass that was once the Village Hidden in the Rain split into almost individual buildings, that then reorganized themselves in a fashion known only to the Wanderer. However, it soon made sense as they slowly descended, almost perfectly filling up the empty spots, and the walls of the other village combining with the new to form a new seamless village-wide border. She absently wondered, if it were day-time and people were about, and Legion had not already worked his magic, how would they have reacted?

She barely reacted as the building they were in, along with the ripple-eye boy and his friends, the Amekage Tower, sunk neatly into place extremely close to the Hokage Tower, almost brushing up against each other.

"There we go!" Legion crowed, and his shadow clone almost reacted to his voice as it zoomed to his side in a flash of black lightning, then burst into a cloud of smoke. "Two fully combined village in one, I present to you, the new face of the Village Hidden in the Leaves!"

"You… even were I to oppose you, I would never have stood a chance… would I?" Nagato asked shaking his head. "I am honored to make your acquaintance… brother."

Legion beamed, and Shaak Ti knew enough of him to know this one to be from his heart. Opposite to what anyone might think, considering his prowess, he was very soft-hearted, not more so to anyone that baby Naruto himself. "Oh, please, that was nothing…" he brushed it off, although he was blushing as if he were in a competition to be called a tomato.

"I know not of any other who could lift an entire village… and then split apart another… and then integrate the two almost seamlessly." Sasori offered, eyeing Legion as if he were a piece of meat.

"Indeed… little boy. That display… is worthy of recognition." Kakuzu almost purred. "Although, I must insist we spar sometime at our full potential… perhaps after you give me the initial deposit you promised?"

Shaak Ti did not like this at all. Her mothering instincts were screaming at her to get the Wanderer as far away from these two men as possible, although she did not completely know why.