Chapter 26:
Kakashi and Sasuke were standing in front of Danzo and the Elders in the Hokage Tower. They have just returned from Suna and are there to report about how the mission went.
Danzo and the elders looked at the two of them, and noticed that, while Kakashi looked tired and worried, Sasuke looked smug. It made Danzo wonder.
"What happened?" Danzo's question was short, but it carried the weight, and Kakashi knew right away that he and Sasuke are in deep shit if they don't manage to get themselves out of this.
Kakashi sighed, and explained what happened from the time Team 7 arrived in the Sand, until the three of them awoke lying on the grass in the Land of Rivers, some distance from where they fought against Sasori.
He then explained what Serafall told him, about they were saved by some bounty hunters who were following them since the Sand Village, and how they left while taking Sasori with them.
After that, a bunch of ninja from the Sand, led by Temari and Kankuro arrived as they were there to help, but they were late, as Gaara was already dead.
Kakashi said how seeing that Gaara is dead, and blaming herself for that, as she was the one who sealed Ichibi inside of him, Chiyo went and used a forbidden jutsu she created and revived Gaara, at the expense of her own life.
Once Gaara awoke and learned what happened, he was not happy, but didn't make a fuss, out of respect for Chiyo. Right there, Gaara told the Leaf ninja that they are free to go back to their village, as they are not required, and that next time something like this happens, they shouldn't risk their ninja for something that will not happen. Meaning, that Gaara has no intention of renewing the alliance between Sand and Leaf.
Seeing that there is nothing they can do to change Gaara's mind, and since their mission has failed and on top of that, Sai was dead; Kakashi decided that they should just leave.
Danzo glared at Kakashi and Sasuke, not happy one bit. "So you failed the mission," he growled, sending shivers down Kakashi's spine, and even making Sasuke unnerved. "Again?"
"Well… yes," Kakashi sighed, not knowing what else to say but to admit the obvious.
"Team 7 is considered to be the strongest team in the village," Danzo said! "And yet, in just few weeks, you have managed to fail TWO S-Rank missions, which were of the vital importance to the village! By failing in such a way, you have brought the shame upon the village, and have practically declared to everyone that we are WEAK, if team like yours is considered to be the strongest!
"So, tell me Kakashi. Why shouldn't I execute all three of you, and be done with it?" Danzo asked in the end, with narrowed eyes.
Kakashi gulped, and said. "Well, it's actually only two us left."
Kakashi's response surprised Danzo and the elders, and wondered what he meant by that. Then they remembered that Sakura is not there, so Danzo asked. "Where is the Haruno girl, Kakashi?"
"Well, you see. After we failed the mission, I decided that we shouldn't return empty handed," Kakashi explained. "I also realized during the battle against Sasori, that we are not strong enough to fight against the Akatsuki, and that there isn't anyone in the village who can.
"As such, I thought that Sasuke will be the only one among the Leaf ninja who will have the chance, but he will need a lot of time to train, or a big power-up immediately, which will shorten the distance between him and the Akatsuki and shorten the time he will need to train."
Danzo growled. "What did you do, Kakashi?"
Kakashi gulped and looked at Sasuke, who smirked and closed his eyes, drawing the attention at himself. Few moments later, Sasuke opened his eyes, and showed the Mangekyo Sharingan, instead of the regular Sharingan he used to have.
XXX
Sasori walked into another cave where he was met by Pain and Zetsu.
"What happened, Sasori," Pain asked as soon as he saw his subordinate. He was visited earlier by Zetsu, who informed him that Deidara blew himself up and destroyed everything in 10 km radius, so he assumed that Sasori was dead as well, since he was within the blast radius. "How did you survive Deidara's explosion.
Sasori sighed. "I survived because the cavern was close to the outside range of the blast that imbecile caused, so I was able to escape in time" he growled. "I was captured by some bounty hunters after that, who have been following the Leaf ninja, granny Chiyo and the Ice Devil, ever since Suna. Fortunately, I was able to give them the slip, part-way toward wherever they were taking me."
"That is bothersome news," Pain said. "Who were they? And how were they able to capture someone like you?"
"There were four of them. Three girls and one guy. One girl was being carried by the guy and was apparently unconscious, while I was being carried by the other girl. The third was just walking next to the one carrying me. I don't know who the girls were, but the guy though. He looks quite a bit different, but I was able to recognize him as Alessandro Starrk. An S-Rank ninja, who is in Oto's and Iwa's Bingo Books."
"Is that so," Pain wondered. "So he is a bounty hunter, ha? Interesting. How did you give them the slip? And were you able to find what they wanted from you?"
"They kept me sedated with a seal on the forehead," Sasori said, getting raised eyebrows from Pain and Zetsu. "But on the way, the seal malfunctioned and I was able to escape after a small battle where I caused a wide area destruction and lost a lot of my puppets in the process! I will admit that they were really powerful. All three of them would have been good addition to the Akatsuki if only they could be convinced to join."
"Ok," Pain said. "I will see if I can do something about that. But first, what can you tell me about what they wanted from you?"
Sasori shock his head. "I don't know," he said. "I didn't want to stick around and risk being permanently caught or killed. As I said, they are all S-Rank, and there were three of them. If the battle progressed for a little longer, I would have been defeated, so I escaped as soon as I saw the chance."
Pain looked at Sasori with narrowed eyes. All this seems a bit strange to him, and he thinks that there is something off about Sasori, but he can't figure out what. He will have to check that out later.
"Fine," Pain said. "Go and get some rest and try to rebuild your puppet forces as soon as you can. You will need them in the future, especially now that you are without a partner. I will send Tobi to work with you for the time being. I will also check out those three and see if they would be willing to join."
Sasori nodded. "I will be going to the Land of Grass in a few days to meet with my spy in Orochimaru's ranks. If Tobi doesn't show up by then, he can find me around Tenchi Bridge."
Pain nodded, and then his hologram disappeared. Zetsu followed after and sunk underground, after which, Sasori turned around and left.
None of them noticed a figure standing in the shadows of the cavern, listening to everything that the three Akatsuki have been talking about.
XXX
Naruto set in the office under the former Uzukage Tower, with a smile on his face.
Along with him, Tayuya, Taya and Naruto blood clone, who now looks like Szayelaporro, are also in the room.
It has been four days since Naruto, Saeko, Fu and Juvia went after the Akatsuki, and three days since they returned from that job.
Once they returned, Naruto had Tayuya use her Hollow Powers on Sasori, and made him believe that he was never brought there, but was able to escape from his capturers on the way to the Whirlpool.
The reason Naruto did this, is because he wants to have some spies in Akatsuki, and as such, he sent Sasori back there, thinking he went on his own accord, and then sent Saeko to follow him and spy on him from then on. Tayuya also implanted into Sasori's mind, the images of a supposed battle, and how Naruto, Saeko and Fu are all S-rank shinobi, and are worthy of the Akatsuki. This was done in order for the leader of the Akatsuki to get interested and offer them to join.
The plan is that once they are given an offer, Naruto and Fu will reject, while Saeko will accept, and will join the Akatsuki as their spy. The other Akatsuki will think that there was a falling-out among the three, and Saeko left them, so there will be no need to doubt her loyalty.
Naruto looked at Tayuya and said. "You know. If you weren't my cousin and ally, I would have killed you the moment I found out what your hollow powers were." Tayuya and Taya were shocked by Naruto's words, and looked at him with shocked eyes. The two of them noticed that even the Blood Clone was having the same thoughts as the real Naruto, just by the look on his face.
"B-But why?" Tayuya asked.
Naruto saw the fear in her eyes, and sighed. "Your powers remind me far too much of Aizen's," Naruto said, this time getting raised eyebrows from the two girls. They didn't know who Aizen is, so they were confused. Seeing their confusion, Naruto explained. "Aizen was the guy I used to work for while in Hueco Mundo. He was a Soul Reaper Captain who betrayed Soul Society and went on his own, in order to achieve his goals. His power was the power of complete Hypnosis, and allowed him to control all five senses of anyone caught in his power. Technically, once you are caught, you are all but done for, as there is no way to break out of his hypnosis. It's permanent, and as such, he can do with his victims whatever he wants. The worst thing is, the victims don't even know they are caught in his powers.
"Some parts of me hated Aizen more than anything else, and couldn't stand him, but were powerless because of his hypnotic powers, but also because of his skill and other powers.
"So you see. When I found out that your hollow powers are almost exactly like his, only used and activated in a different way, I almost went ballistic. As I said. If you weren't my cousin and ally, I would have killed you right then and there."
"You can't possibly blame me for something like that," Tayuya almost screamed! "It's not my fault my hollow powers mirrored by original powers in some way and ended up like that!"
"I don't blame you," Naruto said. "I was just precautions. As I said, there was no defense against Aizen's powers, and once you are caught, you are all but done for. Only someone far more powerful then he might have a chance of defeating him even when trapped under his Hypnosis."
"Are you more powerful then him?" Taya asked.
Naruto shrugged. "I am more powerful than he was the last time any of the Espada saw him. The thing is, that he became much more powerful after the death of the last Espada, and has reached the transcendent level. I'd say that at this point, we would be about equal.
"But that doesn't matter at this point. Not only that he is in a completely different world, but he was also defeated and sealed away. I doubt he will ever get free from the seal which was placed on him."
Naruto was silent for the next minute, along with the others, before he said. "Listen Tayuya. Aizen's hypnotic powers have made him nearly invincible, but have also made him quite arrogant, which in the end, was the cause of his defeat at the hands of a 15 year-old kid who ended up transcending the transcendent. I do not want you to end up like that, so I'm telling you now. Learn to control yourself and those powers of yours, and only use them when it's absolutely necessary.
"I promise you one thing though. If you end up starting to believe that you are invincible, and follow the same path Aizen did… I will kill you personally." There was a dark look on Naruto's face when he said that, and it made Tayuya and even Taya nearly piss their panties.
After a minute, Tayuya managed to calm down, and sighed. "Fine," she said. "I promise to learn to control my powers and not use them unless it's necessary."
Naruto looked at Tayuya for a few moments, before he smiled and said. "Good. Now, let's get back to business.
"As you know, I let Sasori go because I thought it might be better to infiltrate the Akatsuki, then to question Sasori. As such, Sasori will tell the leader of the Akatsuki about Saeko, Fu and me, and they will most likely approach us. Saeko will accept the offer and join them as our spy. That way, we will have access to the Akatsuki's plans and know for sure about what they are planning to do with the Biju once they capture them all. Once we have the clear picture, we will know how to proceed." The others nodded at the plan.
"Until then, we will continue with the construction on the country and with the training of everyone who has some power and plans to be ninja."
Tayuya, Taya and Szayelaporro nodded, and then they all stud up and left the office. They plan to go and check out how everything is going in the village and see where they can personally help.
XXX
The four of them spent some time, going around the construction sites, and the rest of the country so that they can see how everything is going, and to see if some plans have to be changed.
One thing they didn't yet agree on, is the new Kage Tower, as well as the emperor's palace. The reason they didn't yet come to a decision, is because they don't know where to build what, and didn't even know if the Kage Tower is necessary.
After few hours of going around the construction sites, Szayelaporro, Tayuya, Taya, Isaribi, Fu, Juvia and Sasame have all gathered in the office to discuss about the construction and about different plans to the future of the country and the whole of EN.
Those in the room, along with the Suzumebachi and Saeko who were not present, are the strongest people in the Land of Whirlpools, and are the ones who are giving orders and are doing the most important jobs.
"Where is Suzumebachi?" Naruto asked, as he hasn't seen her ever since he returned from the Land of Rivers after the failed mission to save Gaara.
"She decided to go and do some bounty hunting," Sasame said. "She said that it would be good way for her to train herself, as diversity in battling is always welcomed."
"Ok," Naruto nodded. "Well, then let's get to business. We need to talk about the future conquests of the rest of the EN. The eastern part is all but completely taken over by two of my blood clones, another of my clones is taking over the south of the EN, while few more are currently on stand-by and are waiting on how to proceed.
"Taking over the smaller countries will not be a problem, but I want all of your opinions on how to go in taking over the Big Five."
Everyone in the room looked at each other, thinking about the question and looking to see if anyone has some ideas. They knew that with their power, it won't be hard to take over the EN, and Naruto knows that. But, he probably wants another way to take over instead of just barging in and killing everyone who stands in the way until there is none left.
Naruto and Szayelaporro knew that they have changed a lot in the last three years ever since they came back to the EN. The them from back them, wouldn't have a problem with going and killing everyone in his path, but them of now, are different, they have mellowed down a little (not that much), and don't want to just go and kill, as they knew that innocent people will die if they go that way.
So, they are looking for a more 'clean' way of taking over, thus, the opinions of the others in the office are very important.
"Well, we can always let them exterminate each other," Taya was the first one to tell her idea. Everyone looked at her, and Naruto told her to explain.
"Well, most of the EN are now divided in alliances, and are preparing for war against each other," Taya said, and the others nodded, as they already knew this. "All we have to do is wait for them to kill each other, and then take over what's left. That way, we won't have to do much, and won't have to kill too many people."
"That's an OK idea," Naruto said, before he looked at the others. "Anyone else have some idea?"
"If we go that route, wont too many innocent people will die in the war?" Isaribi asked.
"Probably," Naruto nodded. "But if we go and take over everything ourselves without letting them kill each other first, then we will be the ones who kill those innocent people. I simply don't see how to take over without any collateral damage and death of the innocent."
They discussed for a while after that, and in the end, no one could come up with a better way then Taya's. As such, they decided to stay at the side, for now, and wait to see how things play out in the EN. In the meantime, they will try to come up with another way, in which there will be less innocent casualties.
"I have another thing we need to talk about," Naruto said, drawing the attention on himself. "You see. After we take over the EN, there will be only one country and no hidden villages, but there will still be people with chakra, and it would be a waste if they don't use it.
"So, since there won't be hidden villages, there won't be any ninja needed, but nothing in this world is perfect, and there will still be jobs which someone will have to do. So, I have an idea on how to deal with both the need of people to use chakra, and how to do jobs."
Naruto stopped and looked around to confirm that he has everyone's attention. Once he was sure, he continued. "I want to build guilds," he said, getting raised eyebrows in return.
"There would be several guilds all over the empire. Each guild will have a different name, and each guild will have one master. Ninja will be able to join any guild they wish, and if someone has a job they wish to have done, they will send a request to the guild.
"The guild master will go over the requests, and then classify them by Rank, just like now. The difference compared to how the Kage's give missions is that, all the mission requests will be placed on the board in the guild hall, and then every ninja will be able to pick the mission they want to do, instead of it being given to them by the master. Of course, the master of the guild can sometime give a certain mission to someone because they feel that only that someone will be able to do it. Also, not everyone will be able to do some higher ranked mission, but only those qualified.
"Anyway. Each mission reward will be given to the ninja who finishes the mission, and then each ninja will be giving a percentage of the mission to the guild, so that the guild can run itself."
Naruto again looked at everyone, and saw that they are all very interested in the idea.
"How will that be any different than it is now," Tayuya asked? "I mean, right now, all the hidden villages are mostly fighting so that they can prove that they are better than the others. If you go with that plan, what's to stop the guild from fighting each other, so that they can prove that they are stronger than the rest?"
"There will be rules of course," Naruto said. "Like, there will be a rule that forbids the fighting in-between guilds, and the guild which breaks the rule will be disbanded. We can also make some kind of a competition, in which all the guilds will compete. The best guilds will draw more attention and will be getting more missions, while the weaker guilds will have to try harder. This way, there will be no need for wars as each guild will have a chance to prove themselves in the competitions.
"We can also make a council, of a sort, which will be above all the guilds, and will be in charge of keeping them in line. They will be in charge of organizing the competitions, they will be the ones with whom new guilds will have to be registered, and they will be the ones who will deal the punishment on the guilds.
"The council will also be the second highest ranked organization, only below the government, which will be led by me as the Emperor."
Now, everyone was really interested in Naruto's idea. They all thought that it sounds really good, and is worth trying. It definitely sounds better than the current system with the hidden villages all over the place and them all fighting each other over nothing.
They would have talked more, but they were interrupted by the knock on the door.
"Enter!" Naruto said, and the door opened, letting Suzumebachi to enter inside. She wasn't alone though, and what came after her, had everyone in the room except Sasame widen their eyes and their jaws dropped on the floor.
"WHAT THE FUCK!" Tayuya yelled.