answers to reviewers questions or statements:
Fenrir44: No, but an Uzumaki will be in Pītā's harem.
CRUDEN: That's what the next chapter is for.
Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel or Naruto characters seen, mentioned or used.
"Your a real fucking idiot, you know that?!"
Pītā rolled his eyes for what felt like the hundredth time since he and Anko, against all odds, had somehow evaded Orochimaru and made it to the tower at the center of the Forest of Death several hours ago. Anko believed it was because of her 'mad skills' at evasion where's Pītā believes the Sannin had let them go. Why he did it was a mystery for another time, right now Pītā was just relieved that Anko wasn't harmed by their former mentor. Sarutobi was just relived that they were both alive, as were Kakashi, Gai who than went on a tangent of how youthful it was that he faced down as great and malevolent man and walked away. After Pītā's wounds were seen to, Sarutobi assembled the current Chūnin and Jōnin present within the tower to discuss what their next move was now that Orochimaru has made his.
"Pray tell, how I'm an idiot Anko?" Pītā said as he adjusted himself on the bed he was assigned while Anko paced back and forth in front of him, her coat hanging on a chair beside his bed.
The purple haired beauty stopped and glared at the young jinchūriki and pointed to his bandaged side with narrowed eyes "You almost fucking bled out because you for whatever reason, decided to take on Orochimaru all by yourself!"
"To be fair, I didn't seek him out, he kinda found me" Pītā chuckled before he winced as his stab wound acted up again 'Okay seriously, why is this taking longer than normal to heal?'
He was still healing faster than a regular human but it was much slower than usual, by now the wound should be a faded scar. at this point, Pītā was beginning to believe that the Rokubi was angry with him for some reason and was purposely slowing his healing down. What the massive spider had to be pissed about now Pītā could only begin to guess, but something tells him the bijū will make it know, and soon.
'Can't wait' Pītā thought dryly as Anko sighed and sat down in the chair beside his bed again and looked at him with a worried expression.
"You really scared me back there Pītā" she said as she reached out and took his hand into both of her's and rubbed a thumb across the back of his palm.
"I'm... I'm sorry" Pītā said with a frown "I didn't mean to"
"Just-" Anko began before she took a deep breath and slowly exhaled softly though her nose "Next time let me know when you plan to take on that asshole so I can back you up"
Pītā quirked a brow of amusement at this "You, back 'me' up?"
"Hell yes I'm backing you up" Anko smiled as she lightly punched Pītā on the shoulder "I have every right to that bastard's hide, same as you. Hell I probably have more right than you"
Pītā snorted at this "What? Just because he left a permeant hickie on your neck that automatically entitles you to having more of right to kick his ass?"
"Yes" Anko said with a nod before she gave him a coy look "although, I may show him some, not a lot, but some mercy for giving me his curse mark"
"Why?" Pītā asked.
"Well... your cute little scientific mind was all so curious on what it was and how it worked" Anko said as he voice dropped to a low sensual whisper as she leaned forward until their faces were only inches apart "All those late nights alone together, you having me take my shirt off so you could get a better 'look' of it"
"If I remember correctly, I said you didn't need to strip down for me to study it" Pītā said with a sweat drop "You just did it because you were a hormonal teenager that was using my attempts to study what Orochimaru did to you and make sure it had no disastrous side effects as a way to seduce me and steal my innocence like a thief steals money"
"Details, details" Anko giggled as she slowly climbed into his lap, being mindful of the wound on his side and pressed herself against the man "And if I remember correctly, you loved every minute of it"
Pītā couldn't stop a blush from growing on his face as he felt Anko press her 'assets' against his chest. The purple haired bauety licked her lips as she leaned forward and planted a quick kiss on Pītā's lips before she planted another, lomnger, more heated on. Pītā's hands were just starting to reach up to grip Anko's curves when they both heard someone approaching the door to the room from outside. Tempting as it was to continue and give who ever walked in a show to remember, Anko quickly climbed off of Pītā, but not before giving him another heated kiss.
"I'll be back later lover boy" she whispered in his ear as she cupped the bulge he was sporting under the covers of his bed "Count on it"
"C-Can't wait" Pītā stuttered as he held back a groan at the feeling of Anko gripping him so hard before she stepped back and took a deep breath just as the door opened to reveal-
Kurenai.
'Annnnd hello awkwardness' Pītā thought with a sigh as the Jōnin took a single step into the room before stopping at the very obvious sexual tension in the air.
It also didn't help that she saw the way Pītā adjusted himself on the bed to help better conceal his erection.
"Am I... interrupting something?" Kurenai asked with a frown on her face as her gaze flickered between the two, though whenever her eyes drifted to Anko, they'd grow a tad bit colder.
Anko noticed this and smirked a little as she placed a hand on her hip "Maybe, maybe not. Why? Hoping to join in and make our duette a hot steamy threesome?"
Both Kurenai and Pītā blushed at Anko's remark, causing the former to begin to sputter as she attempted to offer some sort off retort to the bold woman's suggestion and the saucy wink that followed it. This caused Anko to giggle as she blew Pītā a kiss and a wink and sashayed towards the door, stopping for only a few seconds to give Kurenai a very obvious once over before she let out a low whistle followed by a 'meow' and continued on her way pass the blushing woman. Neither Pītā or Kurneai said a word as Anko closed the door, leaving the two alone for the time being in complete awkward silence.
"Soooo" Pītā said after a few moments "How's things been?"
"Good" Kurenai said as she rubbed the back of her neck and glanced over her shoulder at the door that Anko went out and fought down a shiver at the memory of the woman's eyes raking over her body "I wasn't aware that you and Mitarashi-san were... close"
"Eh, you can sorta thank Orochimaru for that" Pītā said with a shrug.
"Are you two..." Kurenai let the sentence hang as she waited for the dreaded response she knew as coming.
"Together?" Pītā asked with a raised brow before he shook his head "No, we're just... very good friends that's all"
"Good friends that have sex still" Kurenai said as her eyes flickered to his covered waist.
"Actually, it's been several years since we've had any... sex" Pītā coughed out the last word with some embarrassment "We had a bit of a falling out and it's only recently she's begun to show any kind of... interest, like that"
"Was this before or after we slept with one another?" Kurenai asked, her eyes darkening slightly as she watched his reaction carefully.
"After, funny enough" Pītā replied honestly.
Even though the two weren't dating, she's still bothered by the fact that there's now apparently another woman either entering or has already entered the equation. Kurenai was no stranger to intimacy with members of her own gender, Asuma was rather excited by those few times she invited another woman to their bed when they dated, but... well she was hoping to have Pītā to herself for a while, at least until she got her affairs in order and decided whether she wanted to pursue an actual relationship with the man or simply keep it to casual sex. For her having to possibly shar him with another woman, be it occasionally or frequently...
Kurenai shook her head in attempt to end that trail of thought, she'd cross that bridge when she came to it. Right now she was here to see how Pītā was fairing after his brush with Orochimaru in the forest.
"How are you holding up?" she asked as she approached Pītā's bed and sat down in the chair beside the bed.
"Eh, not too bad all things considered" Pītā replied as he gestured to his bandaged side "I'm actually surprised that this was the worse I got from that fight"
"Perhaps your stronger than you give yourself credit for" Kurenai said.
"Debatable" Pītā said with a chuckle before it died down and looked at Kurenai with a more serious expression on his face "So, what's the Hokage's plan? He gonna cancel the Exams?"
Kurenai shook her head at this as she leaned back in her chair and folded her arms under her bust, pushing it up slightly "No. After careful consideration, he's decided to keep them going. Mainly because he'd need the agreement of the leaders of the other villages that are participating to cancel them"
"Does it need to be a unanimous vote?" Pītā asked.
"Sadly, yes" Kurenai said with a nod.
Pītā sighed at this "Well... crap. Guess we're just gonna have to deal with his pale ass running around than"
"why would he so blazingly attack you like he did?" Kurenai asked as she leaned forward "What'd he hoped to gain from such a move?"
"Honestly, I think he just stumbled across me and decided to entertain himself" Pītā answered as he rubbed the back of his head "Much as I hate to admit it, I'm really not all that special for him to come all the way here"
Kurenai nodded at this, but a frown remained on her face "So, what would bring him out here than?"
"Take your pick" Pītā said as he nodded towards the room's window that showed him a view of the Forest of Death "We have some pretty remarkable kids running around out there. The last living loyal Uchiha, two gifted Hyūga in the forms of you and Gai's students. And that's just on our side, no telling what little tricks some of the teams from the other nations have here"
And than there was also Fū, Pītā doubts that she's escaped the Sannin's notice. If nothing else, her bijū is the only one he's never had a chance to study and his curiosity might be too much for him to resist.
"And also... 'him'" Kurenai said with a dark look on her face.
"'Him' who?" Pītā asked, feigning ignorance, he already knew who 'him' was.
"The de-... Uzumak brati" Kurenai corrected herself as she looked away from Pītā's face "He's bound to be off interest to the rogue Sannin"
'Given Orochimaru's apparent alliance with Uzu, it's a possibility. Though it might be more Uzu is interested in Naruto than my old mentor is' Pītā thought.
While Orochimaru was a seeker of knowledge, and a jinchūriki being a well of such things, he'd long concluded that trying to study one in ways that he normally studied other Shinobi and Kekkei Genkai users that capture his interest and attempt to acquire such abilities was far too dangerous to attempt. Even with Orochimaru's level of skill at Fūinjutsu, his strongest of seals won't be able to stop a bijū that's determined to fight back with everything it has and than some once he starts to literally cut into their host.
'I could barely keep the Rokubi from lashing out and impaling him through the head when he started to examine my seal' Pītā thought as he grinned at the memory.
He never heard the man scream quite as loud as he did that day, and probably no one else for the matter either, his former teammates included.
"Do you know how long until you recover?" Kurenai asked as she gestured to Pītā's bandages.
Pītā sighed in exasperation at this "Jeez woman, give me some time to recover before pouncing. Don't wanna risk re-opening my stiches!"
"You know you'd love it" Kurenai said with a coy grin and a wink.
Pītā couldn't help but roll his eyes at this "Whatever you say Kurenai... whatever you say"
Her response was a light smack on the arm that caused them both to break out into a fit of laughter.
...
He's grown careless, complacent, arrogant even.
His mission was simple, locate the man that was ferrying supplies to a Rebel cell and eliminate him and destroy the supplies. It shouldn't have taken no more than a week to accomplish, three days to get there, one day to find and execute his mission, and three days to get back.
Instead he's been gone for almost eight days!
'The Mizukage will not be pleased'the man thought with a tired sigh as he slowly approached a massive compound that was located along the northern shores of Mizu no Kuni's largest central island, Tennou no Shima.
The compound, fortress really, served as the personnel retreat for the Mizukage when he wasn't dwelling within Kirigakure far to the south on the opposite shore of the island or staying at his personnel residence at the contry's capital.
The fortress looked even larger given the short stature of the man approaching it. He almost looked like a child at first glance, but a closer look would quickly reveal that was not the case. Short, messy, grey hair with the left side being spiked up a little while the right side simply hung a bit over a hardened face, pink, pupiless eyes that gave him an almost dead emotionless look and a stich like scar that started just below his left eye and reached all the way down his cheek. His attire, a grey long sleeve shirt that has since been torn and burnt in several places, a black pants that were in a similar state and dark brown boots that looked to be torn and ripped gave the man the impression that he just walked out of a warzone.
Which given the state of the land, wasn't too far off.
Just as the man reached the main entrance to the compound, several ANBU, all clad in black, bone white masks with the Kiri symbol colored red, appeared and surrounded him, weapons drawn.
"Yagura... Karatachi…" the short man said with a tired sigh as the men searched him while several other ANBU, hidden, concentrated on his chakra to verify it was him and he wasn't laced with booby traps.
After several minutes, the ANBU were satisfied that Yagura was who he says he was no threat to the Mizukage. They silently stepped aside and allowed him entry, though throughout the whole interaction, Yagura could feel the sneers of disgust, loathing and hate for him radiating off them. He resisted the urge to acknowledge their existence anymore than he had to, it was easier that way.
'I'm in no mood for their insults. I'll be hearing plenty from the Mizukage soon enough' Yagura thought as he slowly made his way through the compound's main entryway and into a large open courtyard that was occupied by dozens of black clad ANBU and almost twice as many Midnight blue armored Samurai.
As Yagura made his way through the courtyard, his enhanced hearing began to pick up the whispers. It felt as if every eye was on him as he slowly made his way towards the main building of the compound, and that was just from the humans, he could practically feel every recently installed security camera almost silently following him, recording his every move. By the time Yagura had made it to the main entrance and the two large metal doors, each four feet thick and re-enforced with seals strong enough to withstand all but the most powerful of S-rank jutsu, Yagura's patience was close to snapping.
He hated being watched being whispered about behind his back, especially when he could hear the whispers. When he was younger, it was easier to ignore, easier to write them off, but now... now it seemed he ever heard was the whispers, be it from his 'allies' or his enemies. Even when he was on assignment alone, he could feel himself being watched, observed, studied.
'But of course... can't risk their weapon making a break for it like the other one' Yagura thought darkly, coming to a stop in the doorway as he glared at the ground with an intensity to rival the late Madara Uchiha.
"Get moving already" a voice spoke up from behind Yagura, causing him to look over his shoulder to see that it was one of the Samurai that addressed him.
Their hand rested on the hilt of their Katana and their helmet's eye holes seemed to bore into Yagura's pupiless eyes for several long moments before they were forced to look away. No one but the Mizukage could ever hold his gaze, a fact he took some pride in. It meant he didn't have to look others in the eye long, long enough to see their hate, to see their fear and disgust. He could feel that plenty enough on his own.
Without another word, he continued into the compound as the large doors began to close behind him with a thundering click. The hall looked as if it were made from the stone of a sea side cave, the smell of sea water in the air also added to the illusion that it was a sea cave rather than a building one was in. The lighting was low, as if Yagura was wearing shades and it created long dark shadows and caused darkened corners to appear even more so.
All in all the inside gave off an ominous feeling.
'The Mizukage sure does love theatrics' Yagura thought as he arrived in a massive chamber with a large body of water at the center of it.
And there, standing on the water, looking down into it's dark watery depths, was the Mizukage himself.
The Mizukage had changed very little since Yagura first met the man years ago. His hair was more gray but he still radiated power and carried himself like a man a third his actual age. Even Yagura, as strong as he was couldn't best the man, even if he resorted to using the Sanbi's power to it's absolute max, which he's tried in the past. How this man could hold his own against a bijū of all things was a mystery Yagura had tried to uncover but met with failure.
His freedom, it would seem, will have to come when the man finally dies of old age... however long that can take.
'Hopefully it's soon' Yagura thought darkly as the Mizukage stared at him with cold, unblinking eyes as he approached.
Yagura fought down the urge to shiver under the dark gaze of the Mizukage.
Once he arrived at the pool's edge he kneeled before the Mizukage and waited for the man to speak first. If Yagura tried to get the first word in, it usually ended badly. He focused his gaze on the calm surface of the dark pool as the Mizukage's eyes stared hard at his small body before he made a loud grunt.
"Your a day late" he said, increasing the tension in the room even further than Yagura thought possible.
"Forgive me Mizukage-sama, I... I was overconfident in my mission" Yagura said carefully "I overlooked or outright ignored certain parameters of the mission assigned to me"
"I can see that" the Mizukage growled out in anger and annoyance as he stared at Yagura's injured form "It's been some time since I've seen you in such a state. All that aside, you've done well enough. As a reward, I've decided to allow you to visit Kiri for the upcoming founders celebration festival"
"Thank you, Mizukage-sama" Yagura bowed his head even lower, ignoring the pain in both his legs and his lower back as he remained kneeling on the cold, hard stone floor "Your too kind"
The man nodded as he turned to leave before he stopped for a moment and glanced back at the young man "Be sure to have those wounds taken care of. It'd be a shame if my greatest asset died from either blood loss or infection. I don't care of your beast does it or one of the healers here, just get it done"
"At once Mizukage-sama" Yagura acknowledged his superior before he watched as the elder man vanished in a small vortex of water, leaving the young jinchūriki alone.
After several seconds, Yagrua slowly stood up, hissing in pain as some of the scabs on his legs reopened and began to bleed. He felt something in his lower back shift, likely a slightly dislocated vertebrate moving. It truly was a wonder that he survived his recent engagement with the Rebels, or at least one of the various cells that now operated within the country. There were so many running around that Yagura had stopped keeping track of which ones he was facing as they all began to blur together. Some were remnants of the various clans that possessed Kekkei Genkai, others were rebelling because of the claim of corruption within the political hierarchy of not only Kirigakure, but within the court of the Daimyō himself. Than there's the groups that wanted to overthrow the current Mizukage and replace him with their own.
Sometimes, it seemed there was a rebellion for just about everything.
'I wonder if half of them even remember what their fighting for' Yagura thought as he slowly made his way to where the healers for the compound were located 'I know I don't...'
Normally Isobu would handle his injuries but the latest skirmish forced him to draw upon a large amount of the bijū's chakra, enough to enter version two of the chakra shroud for almost three full hours. His opponents were composed of almost an entire squad of former ANBU with the skill to match. On several occasions, before Yagura was forced to call on Isobu's aid, he'd been nearly killed by a well placed trap or the simple fact that the five of them were overwhelming him with their remarkable teamwork. But in the end, they all perished, be it from his nearly unrivaled utilization and skill of Isobu's chakra or the fact that they assumed that since he was a jinchūriki, he'd rely almost entirely on his bijū's power to fight like his predecessor was reported to do.
'Proved them wrong... mostly. Though the it did little to protect me from the thousands of paper bombs they hit me with and burying me under several tons of rock' Yagura thought with a wince as his legs felt like they'd give out at any moment 'Isobu, are you awake?'
'Hmm.. mmm...'
Yagura almost smirked at the light snoring the turtle like bijū was making and decided to let the ancient being be. It was than that Yagura noticed he had arrived at the healer's quarters and quietly entered and saw several 'nurses' sitting around a small table with various medial reports before them. One of them noticed Yagura, standing there in torn bloodied clothes, his hooked club seemingly painted and dripping with gore and paled as if he were the Shinigami.
It wasn't very far off depending on who you asked.
"Y-Yagura-sama!" one of the nurses said in a terrified voice as she and the rest sprung to their feet and gave him a very deep bow before they rushed ot him "W-We're so sorry Yagura-sama, we were-"
"It's fine" Yagura said in a tired voice "Just see to my injuries and you can return to... whatever to was you were doing"
Years ago he tried to befriend them, on account that he P-... his former associate, were frequent visitors and guests of the healers. But their fear of him, or more specifically the bijū' within him, had made that next to impossible. It was the threat of death from the Mizukage that kept them here, kept them seeing to his wounds... and kept them from attempting anything that would be deemed unwise or suicidal.
"Thank you" Yagura said as he sat down and let the nurse begin her work on his most grievous wounds, mainly the scabbed over scars on his legs that had begun to bleed at an alarming rate and caused him to start to feel a bit light headed.
Yagura shook his head a little to keep his mind from drifting and turned his attention to the window and watched the clouds outside slowly but surely drift across the sky, like foam in the ocean. And not for the first nor the last time, wondered why his brot-... why the 'other' got to leave, and he was left behind.
Left behind to suffer.
...
Ever since Obito agreed to aid Madara in accomplishing his plan to bring peace to the world, few things could truly bother him anymore. He had become numbed to the world and everyday grew to hate it a little more and make him all the more eager to wipe it away. But one thing that did annoy him, was being summoned to the Mountains Graveyard like a dog by one of his... associates.
Obito had no idea who the man was or what his real name even was, all he ever gotten out of him and Madara before the latter's death was that he'd taken to calling himself Ishika. He was powerful, that was for certain, easily stronger than him and even more skilled. The only advantage Obito knew he had against the man was Kamui but even than the two men were both fully aware of it's limitations. Limitations that Obito, ruefully thought, that Ishika helped uncovered during the early years of his apprenticeship under Madara through 'training'.
"Your late" Ishika said as he stood on top of the mountain that sat over the Ōtsutsuki clan ruins the two, along with Zetsu, have been using as a sort of headquarters.
"I was busy" Obito said as he finished materializing behind the man with a frown under his orange spiral mask.
"I'm sure" Ishika said as he looked over his shoulder at Obito with a blank look on his face.
At least, Obito thought it was a blank look, it was hard to tell considering the man's entire lower portion of his head was covered by a metal mask that looked like a rebreather from Amegakure almost. But instead of small pressurized tubes along the sides, tusk like blades were present and there was an engraving of a snarling mouth around where the man's own would be. It gave him a rather frightening appearance though it looked quite overly dramatic in Obito's opinion.
'He'd and Kakashi would've gotten along swimmingly' Obito thought with a dark grin under his mask before it fell and he sighed as he folded his arms across his chest "What is it you wanted to speak to me about?"
"Can't I just call you here to talk?" Ishika said as he turned fully towards Obito and tilted his head to the side "It gets quite lonely out here all by my lonesome"
"If I recall, you chose this because you wanted nothing to do with anyone but yourself and to a lesser extent, me and Zetsu" Obito reminded the other man with a snort.
"Perhaps I've changed my mind since than" Ishika countered.
"What do you want Ishika?" Obito demanded, his patience with the enigmatic man dropping.
"Are you aware of Orchimaru's latest actions?" Ishika asked, unmoved by the annoyance the Uchiha was exhibiting.
Obito blinked at this, wondering how the man before him knew before concluding that Zetsu likely told him "Yes, I and Pein are aware of the snake's movements"
Orochimaru, as Obito had quickly learned, was a oddly sensitive topic around Ishika, especially after the man went rouge. Obito once questioned Zetsu about it after receiving no response to any of his inquiries to Ishika himself and all he learned was that the Sannin and Ishika had 'crossed paths a few times' over the years. He had no idea what that meant but he concluded their interactions between the two was less than pleasant given that when Ishika first learned that Orochimaru had joined the Akatsuki, he went straight to Nagato himself and demanded the Sannin be killed.
'Perhaps he's the reason Ishika needs that mask to keep his face from literally falling apart' Obito thought with grim amusement.
"Do you believe Uzu will be a problem in the coming days?" Ishika asked, unaware of Obito's thoughts "If so, we need to move now and eliminate them while we still have the advantage"
"I doubt it'll get that far" Obito said with a wave of his hand "Most of the people and techniques that could be a problem for us died during it's destruction years ago. And Kushina is far from the kunoichi she once was. With the Kyūbi since removed from her, her power has dropped significantly"
"She could've regained some of it since than. And she's quite skilled in Fūinjutsu" Ishika stated.
"It'd be hard for her to utilize such skill when I use Kamui to drop her into my dimension and leave her there to die" Obito said.
Ishika hummed and nodded at this "Good, I'm pleased to see that your prepared to face her in the event she gets in our way. Be a shame you ended up dead because you underestimated her a second time around"
Obito bristled at the comment before he composed himself "Of course... I do learn from my mistakes"
"What of the rest of Akatsuki? What were their reactions to Uzu's apparent return and Orochimaru's alliance with them?" Ishika questioned.
Obito shrugged "About what I expected. Most of them aren't too concerned for them though Hidan has expressed in a desire to slaughter them all in the name of his 'God' and Sarsori has already implanted several agents within their ranks through the ones he's placed in Orochimaru's own to gather more intel"
"Who is concerned with their revival? I'm curious" Ishika stated.
Obito's eyes narrowed at this "Itachi for one... and Pein for the other"
"Interesting... very interesting..." Ishika hummed in thought.
"Do you think they'll be a issue?" Obito asked.
"At the moment no" Ishika shook his head "Kushina from what I've been told seems more interested in exacting her 'revenge' on Konoha for 'abandoning' her and mistreating her son. Honestly, her plans could prove to be beneficial for us as the war that'll break out between Konoha, Suna, Oto and Uzu will allow us to better apprehend the Kyūbi, Rokubi and Ichibi jinchūrikis. Assuming they don't perish of course and we're forced to wait for the three to re-constitute themselves later on"
"Has it been decided who will retrieve them?" Ishika asked.
"Itachi will acquire the Kyūbi jinchūriki, Deidara the Ichibi. And Kismae has volunteered to retrieve the Rokubi. With great enthusiasm I might add" Obito revealed.
"I'm surprised that you didn't decide to capture the Kyūbi jinchūriki" Ishika said with a slight narrowing of the eyes "To make up for the disaster that was your previous attempt to obtain it. Your stronger now, so it shouldn't be a problem this time around, no?"
Obito was forced to bite down the retort that was on the tip of his tongue and instead decided to respond with silence. Ishika seemed amused by this before he turned his attention back to the graveyard of massive skeletons and waved his hand through the air.
"You may go now"
"I'm not some damned dog you can summon whenever you wish" Obito bit out.
"No, but I am your superior as per Madara-sama's instruction" Ishika responded as he turned back towards Obito with a hint of warning in his voice "And I do not summon you whenever I wish, only when I feel there are things that need to be discussed. Such as this"
A spike of killing intent radiated from Obito before it was quickly and harshly overwhelmed by a spike from Ishika himself. The masked Uchiha tensed and his lone visible eye widened slightly at the dark oppressive atmosphere from his fellow masked nin. Several seconds ticked by until Ishika's intent vanished just as quickly as it sprung up, leaving Obito to relax slightly.
"Do not push me boy... Madara-sama isn't here to shield you from me and I'll have no qualms removing you from the board if it comes down to it" Ishika warned.
"The feeling's mutual" Obito all but hissed in anger at the other man before he activated Kamui and began to swallow himself up in it's vortex "Keep me up to date with your progress of the Zetsu army and your attempts to find a suitable extraction process for the jinchūriki"
"And me of Orochimaru's movements" Ishikra responded and watched as Obito teleported away, where he didn't know and in hindsight, could care less. Once he was certain that the Uchiha was gone, he turned his attention to a specific spot on the ground and grunted "You can come out now Zetsu, he's long gone now"
"We know. He's headed to Kiri to observe their Civil War" a dark voice responded before a large Venus flytrap like thing emerged from the ground before splitting open to reveal humanoid like being.
It possessed green colored hair that reminded Ishika of dried grass and half a mouth on the left side filled with sharpened teeth. The entire right side of the being was completely black with the only distinguishing feature being a eye, giving it a alien appearance compared to the somewhat human left side. Iskika watched as Zetsu continued to rise from the ground, garbed in the black, red cloud spotted, cloak that all members of the Akatsuki wore. Once plant like being's feet were visible and above ground, the plant like extension that made up most of the upper half of Zetsu split a little more.
"Why did you call us here Ishika?" the black half of Zetsu demanded while the white half simply sighed in exasperation "Now is that anyway to talk to sweet little Ishika-kun? Especially since he's working hard to improve our 'brothers'?"
"I called you here to talk about him" Ishika nodded to where Obito once stood.
This seemed to gain both halves attentions "Oh/Why?"
"I fear that as we grow closer to reaching Madara-sama's goal, he may decide to... act on his own" Ishika spoke with a sigh.
He wasn't worried that Zetsu would report this conversation to the Uchiha, they've been working to achieve Madara's Project 'Tsuki no Me' years before Obito ever came into the picture. If it truly came down to it, Ishika knew that the odd plant being would side with him over Obito, especially if the brat's actions threatened their end goal.
"Why do you believe this?" Black Zetsu asked, though with his voice it sounded more like a demand, which it probably was.
"For one, his reasons for aiding us, his motivation to see this plan through, all stems from some girl he fancied as a child" Ishika revealed with a frown under his mask, or as close to a frown he could make with over half his lower jaw and part of his upper missing "And the plan all hinges on Obito convincing Nagato, or at the very least, using the brat's Rinnegan to resurrect Madara so that he can become the jinchūriki for the Jūbi. What's to say that Obito won't instead have his precious 'Rin' resurrected instead?"
Zetsu hummed in thought at this, it was something it has considered and even spoke to with Madara before his death, but Obito's actions over the years had never given the plant like being any reason to think that the young Uchiha would betray Madara's plan. After several moments of silence, the Black half spoke.
"Do you think he needs to be eliminated?"
Ishika shook his head at this "No, not yet at least. Much as I hate to admit it, Nagato and by extension all of the Akatsuki are more loyal to him than me. In their eyes, I'm just someone that you have work with them on occasion"
"We could change that, convince Obito-kun and Nagato-kun to roll you into the Aukatski" White Zetsu said with excitement in his voice "You'd make a wonderful addition to the group, especially with your abilities"
"We still have to recover the tenth ring from Orochimaru before we can think of adding any more members.. or eliminate a current one" Black Zetsu countered.
"That will not be necessary" Ishika stated with a shake of his head "We can't risk killing off a member now. We're too close to begin the first stage of the plan"
"Perhaps once we begin the hunt for the nine jinchūriki?" Black Zetsu offered "We're bound to lose a member or two here and there with how powerful some of them are. And try as hard as he might in hiding it, Itachi's health is slowly deuterating by the day"
White Zetsu nodded in agreement "As is Nagato's"
"Shut up" Black Zetsu interrupted his White half.
Ishika snorted at the two's bickering "Perhaps, but for now I just want you to keep a closer eye on him when you can. Most of my attention is still on the perfecting the rest of your brethren and I can't afford to deviate from my work at the moment"
In all honesty, Ishika doesn't believe they'll need the Zetsu army, but Obito had convinced them that the villages wouldn't sit idly by as their jinchūriki were taken from them. Once the first several are taken, word will quickly spread about the Akatsuki's actions and will take measures that'll make it too difficult for any two members to apprehend a jinchūriki barring the likes of Nagato.
"You truly think he'll betray us once we've acquired all nine of the bijū?" Black Zetsu questioned.
"Not for certain, but I'd like to make sure that everything goes according to Madara-sama's plan. We're too close to suffer any complications" Ishika said.
Zetsu hummed before nodding with the White Zetsu speaking for both halves "We'll let you know if he starts to... deviate, from the plan"
Ishika nodded and watched as Zetsu slowly retreated back into the ground before turning his attention towards the towering skeletons of the long dead creatures that made up this 'Graveyard'. Everything was coming together nicely, the Akatsuki under 'Pein' was it it's peak and have gained enough influence, wealth and power that once they began their move against the Hidden Villages, they'll be able to gather up most of the jinchūriki before word gets out of their actions. He just needed to make sure that Obito stayed the course and if he can't...
"Than he can reunite with his precious Rin in the afterlife" Ishika decided with a nod before he turned on his heel and began to make his way back down towards the underground chambers where the Gedō Mazō was stored along with the various chambers storing the slowly growing Zetsu army.
It was still a waste of time and resources, in his opinion.
...
And done.
Next chapter, Anko decides to play sexy nurse while the Chūnin Exams continue... and Orochimaru meets with his 'ally'.