Chapter 19
The Second
Land of Lightning
Hidden Cave
He walked alone through the cave, it was a private place where no one else would dare go, the battle had been bad and he had been wounded and drained of his Chakra but even so, the plan went off without a hitch and all of his goals had been achieved.
He reached the innermost part of the cave and took his place in the centre and went through the Hand Signs needed for his Jutsu.
His body groaned in protest but it complied and activated the Jutsu and his form flickered and his consciousness was sent elsewhere as he closed his eyes and saw through fuzzy eyes.
As always whenever he used this Jutsu, that demonic-looking statue loomed over him and he was stood on one of its fingers from its chained hands.
"It is good that you're here Ku I know you are recovering from the battle." Their leader Rei said with his strange eyes.
"Well, when you told me everyone was coming for this meeting I had to appear no matter what." Ku replied as his gaze swept over the other 8 members that were here apart from him and their Leader Rei.
"About time you showed up." One of them Hoku said with his arms crossed, it appeared he was a tall man and stern.
"Now, now there was no rush." Byaku played peacekeeper with his arms folded calmly behind his back, he was shorter than a lot of people here and he had an old wizened voice.
"Kukukuku, this is the first time we have all been called at once." San pointed out with a creepy laugh that echoed throughout the empty cave.
"Enough! We were called here for a reason, be silent and listen." Gai ordered them.
"All of you calm down." Rei said gently but there was an undercurrent of steel in his tone which made everyone pay attention.
'He has some charisma.' Ku thought watching their leader who was not standing on one of the fingers like the rest of them instead he floated in mid-air between them all.
"Our ranks are now filled with our final 2 members; Gyoku and Ao with them our ranks are filled and we have a member in all 5 great countries along with drifters who can travel to the minor countries." Rei revealed gaining everyone's interest.
"When I first approached each of you it was not without reason, all I wish for in this world of ours is peace. I wish for a peace where children no longer have to fight and die, a world where we do not give birth to children just to send them to die on some blood-soaked battlefield." Rei said honestly revealing his once hidden intentions.
"That's why we're here for peace!?" Ao was confused and even seemed offended, Ku could tell he was a young man.
"Yes, though I chose some of you for sheer ability and fighting strength, I know some of you truly wish for peace especially those of you who fought in The Great War." Rei said as he opened his arms.
"Kukukuku, so an idealist then, how rare." San chuckled though he did not seem to be mocking the idea.
"The Great War was hell for everyone." Gai said with his arms crossed, his voice seemed to have a hiss to it as if he was wearing a mask of some kind.
"Indeed." Rei agreed with a nod. "But now I wish for a general update of your situations."
"Shu you first I am most interested in your information." Rei requested turning to a tall member who had been silent the entire time but it was clear that he was watching everyone with great interest.
"The Uchiha have solidified their alliance with the Hyuga, as of right now the situation in the Land of Fire is deteriorating. The Fire Daimyo has stopped sending missions to both the Uchiha and Senju out of fear of them starting another war, as of right now the Senju are gathering their subjugated Clans in the eastern part of the country while the Uchiha are going the more diplomatic route and attempting to create a web of alliances in the western Land of Fire. As of today, there has been no outright fighting since the Senju attempted to disrupt the Uchiha-Hyuga alliance but the signs are pointing to a huge military buildup and then war." He reported, Ku noted his voice was completely unemotional and flat in tone, even though he sounded young.
"That is not good." Byaku said what they were all thinking as the older man brought a hand up to his chin.
"Is there any way to diffuse the situation?" Hoku asked in his usual straightforward manner.
"We have a few ideas but nothing concrete at the moment." Rei spoke up.
"We need to redirect the Senju's aggression, ever since Senju Nawaki's ascension as Clan Head the Senju are split between two internal factions. One is the warlike party led by Senju Nawaki however there is a peace faction led by his passed over older sister Senju Tsunade as of now the peace faction has always been weaker but since the Great War they have been gaining strength." Their new member Gyoku finally spoke up, Ku thought he sounded a little dour.
"How do you know that? I have heard of no such thing." Byaku asked curiously.
"I currently have a spy within the Senju Clan, though they are a low ranked member they still hear a lot about the tension in the upper echelons of the Clan." He revealed casually.
"Hm, that's impressive, boy." Even Gai was impressed by Gyoku's network.
"Indeed, is there any way to apply pressure on the war faction and have the peace faction gain more control?" Hoku spoke up again.
"As of right now no. But I have been thinking of a plan to redirect the Senju's aggression." He replied.
"What are you thinking?" Rei asked curiously.
"Our best choice is to attack the Senju with a third party and shift their attention, not to a Clan but a group, there are many Mercenary Ninja in the Land of Fire with a grudge against the Senju for taking their work or destroying their Clan and scattering them to the winds, with enough money we could gather these people and have them harass the Senju on every border except their western one with the Uchiha, this would force them to deploy their forces to suppress these attacks and deplete manpower and equipment." Gyoku explained and Ku found himself agreeing with the plan even though it involved basically sacrificing other Ninja.
"How do we even get them to do that especially since we're just asking for them to die? Are we loaded or something?" Ao wondered and he sounded very young probably the youngest person here.
"I have been slowly building a treasury for the Akatsuki since before I even founded it however, it is difficult to accrue funds for an organization that doesn't exist I have been turning in bounties for the most part." Rei admitted, which was not a surprise, each Ninja Clan had their own network of spies and some even overlapped with the others but no Clan in the world knows about the Akatsuki as technically they haven't done anything as an organization instead of was just people acting as they would.
"So we do have enough to entice these third parties into attacking?" Hoku was straightforward as always.
"Yes, with money and the promise of revenge it should be enough even if I find it distasteful." Rei admitted.
"Sometimes distasteful things must be done for a brighter future." Shu said surprising everyone present.
"Yes, I agree." Rei said with a smile though it was hard to see with his high collar.
"Now onto the next person." Rei announced and he moved onto the person next to Shu.
This was how most of the meeting went with each member offering updates, occasionally a problem would be raised and they would brainstorm a way to solve it between them and eventually it reached Ku's turn.
"The Kinkaku and Ginkaku Clan's were successfully baited into attacking the alliance meeting between the Bofu and Yotsuki Clans and in the ensuing clash the leaders Momonosuke of the Kinkaku and Fujitsubo of the Ginkaku were killed, as of right now the Bofu and Yotsuki are moping up what's left of their attack force and are planning an attack on their own headquarters in order to crush them completely and replace them with vassal Clans to watch the southern border." Ku reported keeping his tone even and detached.
"So everything went perfectly then, those agitators were completely neutralised." Gai said with satisfaction.
"Not without cost, both of the leaders of the Bofu and Yotsuki took wounds and that's not mentioning the dead from the battle." Ku said somewhat icily.
"Sacrifices must be made." Gai waved him off.
"So the plan was a success and the two most belligerent Clans in the Land of Lightning will be gone soon." Rei said nodding.
"I believe we have replaced one problem for another." Ku said catching everyone's attention.
"What do you mean?" Byaku asked him curiously.
"I have good information that A leader of the Yotsuki is planning to overthrow the Daimyo and rule the Land of Lightning as his own fiefdom." Ku revealed shocking all of them into silence.
"That-that is suicide, a Ninja Clan seizing control of a country! Madness!" The usually calm Byaku was shocked and it appeared he even dropped something from his mouth.
"Have they learned nothing from The Great War!" Hoku was outraged.
"That bullheaded fool." Gai commented shaking his head.
"We need to put an end to that line of thinking right away." Rei said the obvious thing but it came out as an order rather than the usual suggestions he would offer.
"I know, I have agents in high places and I am working on blunting his ambitions and if that cannot be done then I will move onto sabotage." Ku said. The moment he found out about this he had already begun moving his pieces into place.
"Good, we cannot set a precedent of Ninja assassinating Daimyo and taking over countries, that would definitely spark a new war, only this time it would include the Samurai and the Daimyo as well." Rei seemed happy at his initiative.
"I can offer the support of some of my agents as well." Gyoku offered.
"That would be appreciated." Ku nodded at the man.
They continued talking for a while longer as they discussed everything else not related directly to their own situations and orders this was mainly a general update of the state of the world for more minor issues and the like, nothing as stressful as attempting to stop a war between two of the strongest Clans in the world or stopping one man's attempt at taking a country.
"Good luck to all of you, may the new dawn shine." Rei finished the meeting with his customary goodbye and the collection of Ninja nodded and one by one they disappeared as they ended their Jutsu.
Ku did the same and his awareness was returned to his injured body.
"That was enlightening and horrifying as well." He commented as he turned around to leave the cave.
"Ah, bright." He said as he stepped back into the light, Ku had entered the cave but it was Bofu Darui who left it.
'It wasn't worth mentioning that mysterious infiltrator, probably just a Kinkaku or Ginkaku member who was sent in first.' Darui thought as he reflected on the meeting.
"Time to get to work." Darui commented as he made his way back to his Clan Compound.
Land of Lightning
Cave
Drip Drip Drip Drip Drip Drip
The water fell steadily from the ceiling, from the stalactites and finished their journey by either hitting the floor or the body laying on it. The cave was damp and dark but it was at least hidden.
Drip Drip Drip
The person laying there moved as the water dripped onto his face starting stirring from his unconscious state as the cold water hit him.
Drip Drip
"Argh." He groaned and brought a hand up and wiped his face.
"Urgh." He continued groaning as he sat up as pain shot up his leg and radiated from his shoulder.
Blue eyes opened and Naruto took stock of his situation. He was in a damp cave, he was still alive but he was injured and needed treatment overall he was alive and mostly well which was a huge plus after being blown down a waterfall.
"How did I?" He wondered out loud, his memory was fuzzy after the Explosive Tags went off.
'What did I do?' He thought forcing his brain to try and remember.
Then it came back to him in a rush after he fell off the side he used the Hyoton to freeze part of the waterfall and slow his fall and after he slowed down enough he jumped into a cave using the ice platform he created as a springboard.
"That hurt." He remembered hitting the hard stone floor of the cave after the jump.
He looked around and saw that the man he had grabbed onto was just a few feet to his left near the cave mouth.
"Good." He muttered with a very hoarse voice.
Naruto went to get up and walk over to him but his legs had no strength and he had to crawl over to the downed man. When Naruto got closer he could see that he was breathing though his breaths were shallow and his lips were blue from being cold, Naruto had resistance to lower temperatures ever since absorbing the Hyoton.
"Still alive good." Naruto whispered as he placed a hand on the man's chest.
"Not the best conditions but he's going to die soon." Naruto talked to himself.
"I should alert Samui first." Naruto muttered as he remembered one of the alterations that he did to her Seal, it was nothing serious just a simple proximity detection that when activated made the seal go hot or cold depending on how close Samui was to Naruto just like the old children's game.
"Fuinjutsu: Kassei-ka!" Naruto held the tiger Hand Sign as he activated the hidden function of his Counter seal against the Tsuki Fuin.
'I hope she understands what it means, I forgot to tell her before we moved out.' He thought sweating.
"Right now you." Naruto said as he looked at the unconscious man.
Naruto took out a kunai and cut his shirt open and revealed his body. After putting the kunai away he went through a familiar sequence of Hand Signs and then placed both hands on the man's stomach.
"Chimera Jutsu!" He called out as he activated the Jutsu.
The black Fuinjutsu covered both of his hands and began to spread over the unconscious man's body and began to sink into it heading right to his Chakra Coils to extract his Chakra directly.
Like always it was a relatively quick process with the extraction of live Chakra taking less time than using it on a dead body since he the Jutsu did not have to 'catch' the dispersing Chakra instead it could just take it right from the Coils themselves.
"Gah!" Naruto let out a sound of pure pain as the Chakra and DNA were integrated into his body.
The Chimera Jutsu was painful on both the user and the 'victim' at first the victim is in agony due to the Jutsu taking their Chakra then the user is in pain as the Jutsu integrates the foreign Chakra into the body.
"Guh." He started panting as the Jutsu entered the final stage.
Soon enough it was over and the black receded leaving an untouched looking body and Naruto was heaving over it as the fever began to start.
'I hope Samui can get to me soon.' Naruto thought as he crawled away from the now dead man.
A shock of pain erupted from deep in his torso and forced him into small spasms.
'Maybe using the Chimera Jutsu injured wasn't the best idea.' Naruto thought as he lay there on the cold floor.
Another spasm of pain rocked his body and he gasped and moved onto his back and looked at the craggy ceiling.
'Please get here soon.' Naruto thought before the pain made him blackout.
With Samui
Samui had been ordered by Kaizen to scout the surrounding area for any remaining Kinkaku or Ginkaku Clan members while their leader recovered from his fight with the monstrous Leaders of said Clans.
Right now she was down the mountain in a rocky area checking for any traps that the Kinkaku or Ginkaku might have left as they retreated upon seeing their leaders slain.
Samui held back a gasp when a cold feeling emanated from the Seal on her collarbone.
'What is that!?' She thought alarmed and checked down her shirt to see her seal glowing a soft blue colour.
'It's not painful, is this something Naruto did?' She asked herself as she contemplated what to do.
She was not expected back at the Bofu Compound until nightfall and it was only midday right now so she had plenty of time to do things beyond scouting for a scattered enemy force.
"I'm lucky that so many of the others were killed otherwise I'd have a partner." She said aloud.
Samui jumped off the rock she was resting on and moved east and the Seal on her collar began to get warmed and she realised just what it was that Naruto had done to her seal, there was an old children's game called hot or cold where a group of kids would get together and one would be blindfolded and the others would hide then call out hot or cold depending on how far away the blindfolded child was away from their friend.
"I just have to follow the heat then." Samui realised as she jumped over rocks and sprinted across the flat areas.
It took her far longer than she wanted to spend searching but eventually, she found where the waterfalls from the Bofu Clan's compound hit the floor and became a river, more than a few caves were dotting the mountainside so she had to rely on the seal to correctly guide her and eventually she did find the right one.
"Naruto!" She gasped at seeing him writhing on the floor, she made sure to step over the dead Bofu Clan member and then run over to him.
"Naruto! Are you okay!" She asked though it was a useless question as he seemed to be unconscious despite the energetic spasms.
"He's badly wounded as well." She took stock of the deep cut in his left shoulder and leg as well as a few shallower ones.
'Lucky I came with a proper first aid kit.' Samui thought as she pulled it out of her pouch and went to work.
'Where could I hide him while he recovers.' She pondered to herself as she restitched the shoulder wound.
"Ah! That place!" She remembered passing an Inn near hot springs as she scouted around the place.
"I can get him there without anyone knowing." She smiled at the idea while she worked on healing him.
It took a few minutes for Samui to patch Naruto up enough for travel but once she did, Samui carefully picked him up by wrapping his arms around her neck and grabbing his legs. Then after getting him comfortable she took of out of the cave leaving Musu's dead body alone in the cave while she took Naruto somewhere safe.
Naruto had gained his second Kekkei Genkai and with it carved another tale in his legend that was still in its infancy, the future still held much for the young blonde to experience.
AN:
Here we are Chapter 19 one away from the big 2-0 this fic has actually caught up to my other one Bleach SSR which currently has 20 Chapters written though that one is uploaded weekly since it was supposed to be my main project Naruto the Chimera has overtaken it somehow.
I really enjoyed writing the beginning half where they discussed the political situation of the world, it was originally supposed to be much shorter but the scene got away from me and ended up larger.
Anyway hope you all enjoyed it and look forward to more, and can you guess which Akatsuki member is who, I decided to keep their names secret since in this world the Clan comes first so it's better for them to go by codenames which if you didn't notice are just whatever is on their rings.
Translations:
Ku=Sky/Void
Rei=Zero
Hoku=North
Byaku=White
San=Three (3)
Gai=Sign Of The Boar
Gyoku=Jewel/Ball Also Black King in Shogi terms
Ao=Blue/Green
Fuinjutsu: Kassei-ka=Sealing Technique: Activate
Tsuki Fuin=Moon Seal