Chapter 47:
Black Zetsu was worried.
For a long time, his plans have been going fine. He has manipulated his way for centuries, in his quest to release his mother from her prison.
He started with Asura and Indra, the two sons of the Sage of the Six Paths, and ever since, he has done whatever was necessary to release Kaguya.
Ever since he managed to convince Madara Uchiha that he, Black Zetsu, is Madara's will, Madara has been on his way to enact the plan to activate Infinite Tsukuyomi, which would enslave every living being in the EN, and bring back Kaguya.
Madara and Zetsu both knew that Madara won't be able to do it, as he was barely alive after his battle against Hashirama Senju, and spent years living off of Hashirama's cells. As such, they needed another one, who will do all the necessary job, and once the time is right, that person will have Madara revived, so that he can become the Ten-Tailed jinchūriki, and activate the Infinite Tsukuyomi.
That was Madara's plan, and for that plan he has Obito Uchiha pretty much brought to him. All that was needed, is to manipulate Obito into seeing the things the same way as Madara. Once Obito was manipulated enough, Madara would die and let Obito do everything, until it was time for Obito to revive Madara.
Unfortunately for Madara, Black Zetsu was never his will, but Kaguya's. Zetsu never worked for Madara, but Kaguya, and Zetsu cares about Kaguya, not Madara. As such, Zetsu's plans with Madara, only went as far as Madara becoming a ten-tails jinchūriki, and activating the Infinite Tsukuyomi. After that, Zetsu would betray Madara and bring back Kaguya.
Unfortunately for Zetsu, and it's the reason he is worried; centuries of planning are now in danger because of Naruto Uzumaki, who has somehow become something which is more powerful than even his own Mother, and as such he is a threat to his plans to revive Kaguya, as Naruto is powerful enough to stop him.
Of course, even if by some miracle, Zetsu manages to see his plans to the end, and the Infinite Tsukuyomi is activated, he isn't sure if that genjutsu, as powerful as it is, would be able to trap someone like Naruto.
If Naruto isn't trapped in the Infinite Tsukuyomi, then even if Kaguya is revived she wouldn't be able to defeat Naruto. Zetsu, as much as it pains him, is aware of that, and will admit it to himself, but no one else.
Another problem for Zetsu is the fact that, Obito, has suddenly decided that he doesn't need Madara to activate the Infinite Tsukuyomi, and that he can do it himself. Technically, he is right, and Zetsu knows that. If Obito becomes the ten-tailed jinchūriki, he will have the power and ability to active the Infinite Tsukuyomi.
The problem is that, Madara is stronger the Obito, and it would be better to bring back Kaguya into Madara's body, instead of Obito's.
Obito isn't aware that Zetsu knows of his plans, as Obito thinks that Zetsu is Madara's will, and he is sure that Zetsu won't be happy if he finds out that Obito doesn't plan to revive Madara.
Of course, Zetsu is much better of a spy then Obito thinks, and he knows of Obito's plans. Unfortunately, Zetsu also knows that in a head-on battle, Obito would win, and he can only defeat Obito, if he strikes him when Obito doesn't expect.
Unfortunately, Zetsu is also aware that without Obito, his plans to bring back Kaguya would be set back for decades at best; centuries, at worst, and he isn't willing to take those chance, so he will have to do with Obito.
Still, even if there was no problem with Obito, there is no way to go around Naruto, in case Naruto decides to intervene. For now, Naruto has decided to leave Obito alive, out of simple curiosity, but Zetsu isn't aware of how would Naruto react if he knew the true plan. Zetsu has no idea, if Naruto would want to stop the plan, before it's even close to complete, or would he let it happen just to satisfy his curiosity.
Zetsu will just have to wait and see. For now though. Obito is about to proceed with the plans, by announcing the war against the Five Great Nations, at the Kage Summit in just a week's time.
XXX
Naruto is currently back in the New Whirlpool, and is in a meeting with Szayelaporro and all of his closest friends and allies, except Saeko.
Suzumebachi is also there, along with Koyuki and Serafall.
The reason they are having a meeting is because they have heard that the Fourth Raikage has called for a Kage Meeting, most likely to discuss the Akatsuki, and the fact that they now have eight, out of nine, tailed beasts. Even though the Akatsuki are half of their members short, they don't really need them that much now that they have eight tailed beasts.
Of course, no one knows that the Whirlpool Country was rebuilt, so no one called them, and even if the other nations know of the New Whirlpool being built, Naruto doubts they would be called on the meeting, as they are not one of the Five Great Nations, and only the Kage from the main five villages could attend the Kage Meeting.
Now, while the meeting of the Five Kage is not important to the New Whirlpool, Naruto and the others are curious to know, what will happen in that meeting and how would that affect the future as well as Naruto's plan to take over the EN.
Naruto doubts that there would be many changes, and the most he expects is that the nations might form a temporary truce, in order to combat the Akatsuki.
"Why are we here?" Tayuya asked the question, which was on the minds of most of the people in the room.
"Because of the Five Kage meeting, which is to happen in a week." Naruto responded to Tayuya's question, making her look at him with raised eyebrows.
"Why do we care about that," she asked? "We are not attending that meeting, and I doubt anything of real importance is going to happen at that meeting."
"We aren't attending the meeting, but the results of that meeting might affect us," Szayelaporro said. "The Akatsuki has acquired eight tailed beasts, and as such are a big threat to the rest of the EN. We are the only ones safe… unless you count the countries led by the other Blood Clones. Still, that leaves a great deal of the EN threatened by the Akatsuki, especially the great five, and they might form an alliance to deal with the Akatsuki. If that is to happen, we need to know as soon as possible so that we can make plans on what to do… if we are going to do anything, that is."
"What do you mean," Sakura asked? "Why wouldn't we do something in case the war between the Akatsuki and the rest of the EN starts?"
"Why should we," Naruto asked back. "If they kill each other it's better for us, as it would be less job and people to oppose us. The less people oppose us, the less we have to kill."
"But what about the innocent people," Koyuki asked? She trusts Naruto, but sometimes he is very hard to follow, as he is different than the rest of them, and he has no morals that the other people do. Koyuki has figured out a while back, that at this point in time, Naruto only cares about those close to him, those in his village, and taking over the EN. Those three things are the only things Naruto cares about, and he doesn't give a damn if majority of the EN is destroyed and many people die. They are not his people, so he doesn't care.
Koyuki though, has no idea that the current Naruto is infinitely better and milder compared to the Naruto from three years ago. That Naruto cared about no one, and only wanted revenge. So, as bad as she thinks that the current Naruto is, the old one, was much worse.
Naruto looked at Koyuki, and sighed. "I know how you feel, Koyuki, but it's either we leave the Akatsuki and the rest of the EN, which is not on our side, to kill each other; or, we will have to kill a lot of people with our own hands. Which one do you prefer?"
"I don't like any of the two ways," Koyuki said. "Many innocent would die no matter which of those two paths we chose. Can't we come up with a third path? One which will lead to as little death as possible."
"I can't," Naruto said. "If the rest of you can come up with something else, then I'm willing to listen. But in case none of you comes up with something, then we will simply let the war between the Akatsuki and the Great Five go on, while we will wait and strike at the end."
The others looked at each other, and few of them nodded. Those few, besides Koyuki, are those who think that they shouldn't just sit back and let innocent people die, and they also don't wish to kill innocent, if they can avoid it. They silently agreed to come up with a plan.
"Are there any news from your other Blood Clones," Taya asked? "It's been a while since we heard from them."
"Yeah," Naruto said. "They've been occupied with leading the countries to prosperity, and fending off the intruders from the other nations, who are afraid of the sudden progress few smaller countries have made, and are trying to take what is not theirs. Of them all, Grimmjow and Nnoitra have the least job, as they have completely taken over the entire eastern part of the EN. Everything from the Land of Water toward the east, is under their control so unless the Water or Lightning Country's attack them, they won't have any problems.
"Tier in the Sea Country is having some problems with the Water Country, as they are trying to regain their power after the civil war, and want to take over the Sea Country as their own. Unfortunately for the Water Country, they don't have the power to go after Sea Country, as long as Tier is leading the Sea Country.
"Ulquiorra and Coyote are having trouble with the Earth Country, who are attacking the Bird and Vegetable countries from time-to-time, but are unsuccessful. The problem there is that, Ulquiorra and Coyote can't strike back until it's time, and until then they will have to deal with Earth Countries attacks, without going for the kill, so to say. We don't want to attract attention to the Bird and Vegetable Countries because, as I said. It's not time yet.
"The only one left, is my double in the River Country. When he is not fending of bandits form the Gold Mine, he is enjoying his life with the harem he has made for himself. So, I guess he has no problems. He has also started to make plans for after the war, as I told him that I want him to leave the EN to explore the rest of the World, and see what's out there. He is preparing along with his girls, as apparently, he doesn't want to leave them behind."
"Would you leave us behind?" Tsunade suddenly interrupted Naruto.
"No. I wouldn't." He replied.
Naruto's girls nodded with a smile. They are satisfied to know that Naruto wouldn't leave them behind.
They then proceeded and talked about other things, among which is the talk about the construction of the palace in the New Whirlpool. Then Naruto spoke about his conversation with the Great Red, when he went to the Mount Lookout, and finally, Koyuki talked about her own country, which has made some decisions to change some stuff and make it better for them.
"The construction of the palace is going great," Tsunade spoke. "The main part, where you plan to live, is already built, along with the part where the Uzumaki Clan compound will be. All that is left for those two parts to be completely finished, are some small stuff, and to be furnished.
"As for the Guild Hall and the Academy, well, that still hasn't been started yet, but will be in the next few days."
"We agreed to build the entire place, and only then, to start furnishing it," Sakura continued from where Tsunade left. "We figured that it would be much simpler to do it that way, and we won't have to deal with the noises from the construction, and with the workers going all over the place, all day long."
"I have seen the progress, but I can't tell how long it will take for the whole place to be built," Naruto spoke. "Does any of you have any time-table, or something?"
Taya spoke. "According to the workers, if the construction progresses at the current speed, then they will finish everything up to furnishing, in about three months. After that, all we need to do is find and buy the furniture for the living quarters, as well as all the necessary things for the Academy, the Guild Hall and the Uzumaki Compound."
Satisfied with the answers, Naruto then spoke about what he talked about with the Great Red, and what have they agreed upon.
"The Great Red now knows that I have had a confrontation with the Dragons who have defected the Summoning Land, and has told me to keep watch over everything unnatural that might happen. He said that he isn't sure how the Dragons will reacts when they hear of Kaido's death, but he also said that if they do decide to retaliate, they will cause a lot of death and destruction, even if they are eventually taken out.
"He wants to face the leader of the traitor Dragons, though. It seems that their leaders is a Dragon called, Bahamut, and while he isn't as powerful as the Great Red, he is very close. The Great Red said that the two have always had problems with each other, mostly because Bahamut always wished to be the strongest and to lead the Dragon Clan, but the Great Red was stronger, and as such, Bahamut couldn't do anything.
"The only reason why the Great Red never went after Bahamut after the defection of Bahamut and the other Dragons, is because their battle will cause an untold amount of damage, which will draw the attention of everyone in the EN. That wont be a good thing, as the humans would most definitely turn against the Dragons, and even start a war, which they can't win.
"As such, the Great Red decided to simply leave Bahamut and the other dragons alone, and didn't care what they do… as long as they don't go around the EN, causing death and destruction.
"Now though, the Great Red told me that in the event that Bahamut and the other Dragons come after me, then I'm to summon him, as he wishes to be the one who will put down Bahamut, once and for all. As for the other Dragons on Bahamut's side, I can do with them whatever I want, as the Great Red stopped caring about them the moment they left the Mount Lookout."
Then came Koyuki's turn, and she spoke of her own country, and how while the Spring Country is very vast, it's basically an archipelago, and is not easy to go from one place to the other. On top of that, while it was called the Snow Country and was covered in show, most of the land was unused, and the settlements were very close to one another.
Now though, with the change of the climate, thanks to the generator, the temperature is perfect for the raising of the livestock and the agriculture. So, Koyuki has decided to make small villages on many of the islands on the archipelago, with the people moving there to live and to work.
With Naruto's help, they also agreed that some people who came to live in the New Whirlpool, will also move to the Spring Country, so that they can work as fisherman, as well as workers in ore mines.
Once that was all agreed upon, and since there was nothing left to talk about… for now, many left the room, while Koyuki and Serafall, along with Suzumebachi, expressed desire to have some fun with Naruto, as it has been a while. Surprisingly, Szayelaporro ended up joining them, as he is Naruto, even though he is under the transformation jutsu, and none of the three girls or the original Naruto, had a problem with Szayelaporro joining them.
