Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

CHAPTER 39

"Just a little bit longer!" Minato bellowed into the windstorm that Naruto's clone was commanding like the mad conductor of an unhinged orchestra of chaos. The swampy lake hidden in the deadlands of Kiri frothed beneath the efforts of the four best fūinjutsu users Konoha's ANBU had to offer. But the talents and efforts of the seven man squad tasked with the Sanbi's retrieval were completely disregarded by the savagely fighting bijū.

"Not all of us are chakra freaks!" Kakashi bit out of clenched teeth, his hands were trembling as he struggled to hold up his corner of the four pointed fūinjutsu formation that was attempting to surround and capture the raging Sanbi while still maintaining his stance on the churning water's surface.

Naruto was fueling the vast majority of the chakra for the complex sealing array that Team Kakashi plus his parents were attempting to complete, which would seal the half mad Three Tailed Demon into a sturdy urn covered in binding arrays to keep him protected and securely hidden from the Akatsuki. But hearing the desperation hidden in Kakashi's sarcastic comment, Naruto dug deeper and thrust an orange chakra arm at Dog, enveloping him in bubbling bijū chakra and hopefully sustaining him for just a bit longer.

Kurama! Tell Isobu to chill out and stop fighting back, we can't do this much longer!

He's scared beyond sanity, every time I try to reach out to him he just raves about 'the man with the red eye' and throws me out of our shared mindscape. Aside from physically subduing him I cannot make him stop.

Naruto cursed freely in his mind, ignoring the quick glare from his father who was also locked into his Bijū Mode and listening with his half of the Nine Tails. Instead Naruto looked over at Hime, her newly emerged Tenseigan glowing with power as she poured her chakra into the water to create a whirlpool that opened the heaving waves of the lake in a hollow vortex that descended all the way down to the bottom of the lake where Isobu was attempting to barricade himself.

"Hime! We're gonna have to do this the hard way!"

Her white Owl mask nodded infinitesimally from the serene lotus position that she was somehow maintaining upon a floating orb of solid water.

Hinata channeled her meditative sharp focus into melding the earth's natures together with her divine dōjutsu. With the same skill with which she had knit together muscle and bone, coaxing the rebirth of a wounded body into creating new tissue, she now wove her chakra into the very elements of nature itself. Her eyes saw deeper than any mortal's as she nourished the environment and landscape to burst into an abundance of growth, feeding their existence with her own divine essence, a perfect balance of natural elements and chakra.

The only sign of her increased strain was the pulsing of the veins upon her face. Instantly a forest of thick stemmed kelp erupted from the lake's bottom, ensnaring the legs and tails of the thrashing Sanbi like handcuffs on a prisoner. Behind her, also standing safely upon the sphere of water, Naruto's kage bunshin took a wider stance as he continued to blow the Genjutsu-inducing fog away from the group of Leaf ANBU with his fūton jutsu.

So strong already, Naruto thought in unabashed awe as the vines of wet seaweed as thick as tree trunks held down the otherworldly power of the Sanbi. Even in the mere week since acquiring her Tenseigan, Hinata had found that the name of the eye was no exaggeration. By incorporating her well honed talent for stimulating regrowth via healing, she had discovered that she could give life to all kinds of natural wonders, birthing beautiful and supernaturally strong plants, trees, mountains, and waterfalls. In a show of undeniable genius and self discipline, the Byakugan Princess took to her blessed appointment as a Scion with the grace of a flower bursting into full bloom. Her heart and soul was the amalgamate of her power and the flora and fauna of the world responded to her chakra enhanced encouragement with an eagerness that bordered on worship.

From her floating perch Hinata saw that the Sanbi was safely secured within the flexing tangle of lake weeds, and with a shift to the kneading of her chakra the muddy lake bottom heaved, spewing upwards with climbing rock formations that lifted the chakra demon out of the deep well of the whirlpool.

Overhead Sai hovered on one of his ink birds, fighting the gusts of wind to stay steady while holding the urn meant to contain the Three Tails. Next to him Yamato was also deep in concentration, but his face suddenly changed into one of acute distress as he called out to the others below.

"Deidara is approaching! He's probably sensed the large amount of chakra output and is headed this way. We need to wrap this up, ASAP!"

"No surprise there, a blind and deaf civilian could sense this clusterfuck," Kushina snapped. Her chains were tethering she, Minato, Naruto, and Kakashi together as they continued to fight to maintain their positions in the four cornered sealing array. They didn't need complete stillness, but anything less than apocalyptic chaos was helpful.

In a last ditch effort to secure his freedom, the Sanbi did exactly what they had tried to prevent him from doing: he opened his armored maw and began charging up a massive bijūdama, aiming it straight at his perceived attackers.

"Motherfucker!" Kakashi yelped, his Sharingan aiding him in barely dodging the demonic ball of destruction that was launched in his direction. His corner of the array faltered and the glowing symbols of the chakra projection warbled like an unsteady top before dissipating into a haze of useless effort.

"Shit!" Naruto hissed, assessing his chakra stores and trying to determine if he had enough left to simply overwhelm the frantic bijū with his own clones. To his dismay he found that he had already burned through two thirds with this first attempt, and that Isobu was just getting started as he charged up another catastrophic ball of chakra. Naruto looked around him at his father, mother, and Dog, who were all panting with chakra exertion as they determinedly fought to resurrect the four corners of the seal once more. He glanced at Hime, who was flushed below her mask even in the damp atmosphere but still hanging in there, and Sai and Yamato, who were the team's last hope of escape should everything go to hell in a handbasket. His confidence started to waver as his usually indomitable optimism flagged in the face of the reality that this insane chakra titan bursting with anger and fear was winning.

I need some help here Kurama, Naruto begged his partner, we are at the end of our rope and the Akatsuki is closing in. How do we save your brother? Naruto could feel the restless pacing of clawed paws and the snapping swings of Kurama's nine tails as he begrudgingly offered up his best plan for saving his most gullible and wounded little brother.

He needs a jinchuriki.

Naruto's eyes bulged in shock at the unexpected statement, he looked over at his father, whose head was cocked in an equally stupefied expression. Kurama crossly ignored their surprise and bellowed out his explanation, eager to end Isobu's torment.

A jinchuriki could contain him better than an inanimate chakraless object. It would take less effort and time to seal him into a human who was capable of balancing his chaos with their own chakra than into an inert vessel like that stupid urn. He needs a soothing companion, not a prison.

Naruto and Minato's eyes locked through their white masks and over the thrashing waves, each wordlessly asking the other with their gaze who would be the best person to reign in the panicking Sanbi. Another bijūdama shot out of the clawed mouth of the enormous monster, and Kushina landed between them as she dodged out of the line of fire.

"Snap out of it you overgrown sea turtle!" Kushina snarled as a few more chains shot out of her back and around the Sanbi's mouth in an attempt to clamp it shut. "We're just trying to help you dammit! Now chill the fuck out like a nice little demonic entity and I'll promise to feed you all the crabs I can find, okay?"

The father and son looked at each other over her dancing red hair. Naruto pointed his hand at her in askance, Minato nodded in hesitant assent. Inwardly they asked in unison, Kurama?

Ugh, I guess. At least she knows the drill. Isobu always was a mama's boy, he'll probably love her overbearing personality.

Nodding at one another in unified decision, the Namikaze Seal Masters changed their stances to face the snarling Uzumaki standing between them.

"Kushina, Darling," Minato said in an overly sweet way that made her snap her head in his direction. Instantly noting the saccharine tone of his voice she frowned.

"What the hell are you planning?" she asked in an annoyed tone, clearly suspicious of his raised hands which were held up in a placating manner. "Spit it out! I'm kinda busy here!"

"Dear, you know I love you right?" he started, almost losing his balance on a particularly nasty wave.

He could just picture the way her red eyebrow was probably twitching under her mask. "Minato…"

"And I think you're amazing," he continued bravely.

"Minatoooo…." The grating of her teeth was audible even above the storm.

"And I would never do anything to intentionally endanger you." He used his best blue puppy dog eyes impression, which was rather ruined by the ANBU mask, but it seemed like the right thing to do.

Storm forgotten, Kushina planted her hands on her hips and squared up to her husband. "The fuck are you getting at?"

"OH FOR THE LOVE OF KAMI!" Naruto finally screamed in frustration, barely dodging another hurtling mass of chakra that Isobu had somehow managed to fire out past Kushina's clenching chains. "JUST HOLD STILL!"

In a flash of hand signs, the father and son launched into a sequence that had Kushina's jaw dropping. Her mind flashed first with shock, then resignation, then determination as she understood the dire nature of their predicament and her unique duty as an Uzumaki to not only salvage the mission, but also save her precious people.

As they approached the last few hand seals in the chain of chakra coded enchantments, Kushina stood up tall and smirked with the confidence of a woman who would never shy away from a fight. Settling her mind into the state of inner awareness that would allow her to absorb the shock of the jutsu while combining the things that she had learned from her son in this supernatural second chance at life. She used her final seconds to prime her soul to receive this bijū with the open minded acceptance of a parent welcoming a lost child home.

Opening her arms, Kushina laughed at her boys' discomposure. "Why didn't you just say so?"

The world flashed with a blinding conclusion to the binding seal, and the waters surged as the efforts of the shinobi to restrain the formidable beast suddenly were cut free as it disappeared, making them clash into the nothingness that echoed across the now empty lake. Kushina gasped and keeled forward, her whole body feeling like it had been stretched and retracted beyond the laws of physics. Minato was there in a heartbeat, catching her in his arms before the long strands of her hair even brushed the surface of the water.

"How do you feel?" he panted shakily, huffing with his own exertions and fear that the hasty sealing might have harmed Kushina's network. He flipped up his mask and did the same to hers, needing to see her face and read her thoughts in order to settle his bounding heart.

"Full," Kushina exhaled between her own shallow breaths, peeking up at him through a single squinting eye. Her open mouth tipped up in a small smile as she sucked air into her churning body. "It's like…riding a bike, right? You never…really forget." With a shaky hand she pulled up her shirt to reveal the swirling seal upon her abdomen. It was nearly identical to Naruto's but had not been created using the Shinigami's assistance this time, since the Sanbi was nowhere near as overwhelming compared to the Kyūbi, and with two Seal Masters pouring chakra into the construct it was solid as a safe.

"Admire the new ink later, guys. We got company closing in fast," Naruto interrupted, appearing at their side with his arms around Hinata. The clone who had been controlling the wind jutsu leapt up to join Sai and Yamato on the hovering ink bird, and with a nod of understanding that the mission was complete, the kage bunshin flashed away with them. Naruto and Hinata immediately did the same, but as Minato secured his wife in his arms and focused his senses upon the kunai that he had left at the rendezvous site a safe distance away, an unexpected hiraishin marker flickered into his awareness.

Horror filled his mind as he looked over his shoulder and saw the clay bird that carried the blond Akatsuki that Yamato had tagged…and a masked face that he would never forget.

It's him.

Fury such as he had not known since the night of his death erupted within him as Minato realized who it was that rode upon that bird. Turning to face the approaching chakra construct Minato glared with righteous ferocity blazing upon his unmasked face as he stared straight into the eye hole of that black cloaked monster until he could see the gleam of a Sharingan flashing in response.

"I see you," the Yondaime hissed at the man who had orchestrated the death of his wife, forced him to sentence his son to a childhood of lonesome misery, robbed him of his dream to create a peaceful empire out of Konohagakure, and nearly destroyed the village and all its inhabitants. The stories of Itachi clicked in Minato's sharp mind, and he realized that his killer was in fact the same Akatsuki who had murdered the innocents of the Uchiha, hunted the jinchuriki like animals, and even now plotted with the Devil Danzo himself.

Kushina groaned in his arms, snapping Minato out of his uncharacteristic bloodlust, and with a final savage glare, he flashed away in an intentionally unmistakable yellow flash of his Flying Thunder God.

"Kuso!" Deidara fumed, punching the semi-solid back of his clay bird, nearly detonating the thing beneath them mid-air. He ducked, expecting his partner to lash out at his careless outburst, but no blow came. He glanced over his shoulder, thinking that Tobi was perhaps merely preparing to explode in indignation over their lost prey, but blinked at the frozen posture of the man behind him. If he didn't know any better, he'd say the guy was trembling.

"Oi, you ok, hm?" he asked in a tone of forced annoyance, turning the large bird back toward the Akatsuki base.

The orange mask hid Tobi's emotions perfectly, and his silence just made Deidara shrug as he refocused on leading them back to report yet another failed bijū capture. Underneath the solid cover of his concealing mask, the man with the red eye was gaping in disbelief.

Impossible, he—they—are supposed to be dead…


He watched her with a furrowed brow as she reiterated her final directions to the pale boy that he thought he remembered being Naruto's ANBU teammate. The poor guy looked as tired as Tsunade. Team Kakashi must have returned from the Sanbi mission tonight, and this was the final bit of the mission debrief. Jiraiya sucked on his teeth as he noted the way her shoulders slumped just a bit more than usual, and the listless way she waved her hand at the boy in dismissal.

Tsunade sighed heavily as the door of her office shut behind Sai, kneading her temples and finally acknowledging the presence that had been lurking outside her window for the last half hour.

"Come in already Jiraiya, you're too old to be crawling around the sides of buildings in the middle of the night."

His wooden geta clapped loudly against the floor of the Hokage's office as he landed and whirled around to point an accusatory finger at her scowling face. "Be nice to me! I had to put up with the Emo Duck Butt and his banshee Uzumaki invading my love hotel with all their bloody angst and tragic backstories suffocating my mojo! I deserve a mission stipend for the verbal abuse that girl put me through. No one since Kushina has screamed that loudly over my beautiful stories. What is it about the Uzumaki genes that makes them all hate my glorious art? She burned PAGES of my research Tsunade!"

His whining rant was interrupted by snorts of laughter, and he relaxed his scowl to see Tsunade clasping her bosom as she leaned back and flat out guffawed at his exaggerated declaration of misery. Her tearing eyes failed to notice the small satisfied smile that crossed Jiraiya's face as she giggled away her stress.

They settled into their chairs, Tsunade ribbing him over his lecherous hobby and he faking a broken heart at her harsh words. Tea was poured and the mood turned somber as they each updated the other on the growing list of enemies under their careful watch. Jiraiya whistled through his teeth when Tsunade told him about the Sanbi Mission.

"So Kushina is a jinchuriki again, eh?" He huffed an empathetic exhalation as he imagined the kind of chaotic night Minato was having. "At least they have Naruto there as well this time. Between the three of them they could tame just about any beast Kami could create."

"We can only hope," Tsunade added ruefully. "I doubt Danzo will wait much longer. I gave Sai permission to inform him about Konoha obtaining the Three Tails. Now with you here we are as prepared as we can be for him." She rubbed her face in anxious exhaustion, messily combing her bangs out of her eyes before focusing on Jiraiya's thoughtful face again.

"We will be ready." Jiraiya said firmly, and Tsunade couldn't deny the comfort she drew from his resolute statement and the faith behind it. I missed this, she admitted to herself, looking regretfully at his empty cup and realizing that he would be leaving soon.

As if reading her mind Jiraiya sighed dramatically and slapped his hands upon his thighs, groaning like an aged grandfather as he pushed himself to his feet and declared his intentions to stay at the empty apartment he kept on the edge of town until she was in need of him. But as he passed by her chair he rested a hand on her shoulder as she stared at the cooling tea in her own cup.

"Are you okay Hime?" he asked gently, and her throat constricted against her will at the genuine concern in his voice.

Shaking herself out of her melancholy mindset, Tsunade shrugged in a way that she hoped looked like staunch resolve and not the heart fluttering shudder at hearing him call her that childhood name.

"Of course! I am Hokage now, Jiraiya. I eat, sleep, and breathe boring paperwork, and I'm just anxious for all this cloak and dagger crap to end so I can finally sink my fist into someone's face." Her grin had a bit of a tremble at the corners, but Jiraiya had learned long ago that she did not appreciate having her weaknesses pointed out. So he plastered an equally broad smile on his own face, gave her shoulder a squeeze and turned to make his customary exit out of the wide window and into the night.

Seeing him preparing to leave filled her with an unwelcome wave of loneliness, and Tsunade spun around and reached automatically for her tea cup, wishing desperately that it contained something much much stronger. Just as her finger brushed the rim the cup cracked, and her eyes filled with horror as the brown liquid slowly seeped onto her desk like blood leaking from a broken body.

"Jiraiya," she called out sharply just as he was poised to leap away. He turned with a curious look on his face, frowning at the way her hand shook as she abruptly slid her tea cup away.

"Stay," she asked, without any of the bravado that normally colored her harsh way of commanding him, and something within him chilled at the edge of fear in her voice. Her brown eyes lifted to his, making him catch his breath at the vulnerability he could see in their warm depths. But the ominous moment passed as she once more—how many times had she done that over the years?— forced her insecurities down and shot him with a gentle smirk.

"The Senju compound is so empty at night, you might as well come eat with me. There's no point in both of us being alone."

Jiraiya stared at her for a beat, easily seeing underneath the mask of his oldest friend, and his heart swelled with the same overwhelming desire to comfort her that had always plagued his soul. But the years were thick upon their backs, weighing them down and making them bow under the burden of their existence and memories. He looked at her, as she fidgeted with the scrolls upon her desk and nodded to himself. I see you, Hime.

Plastering his normally jovial smile on his face he bellowed, "Only if you let me cook us dinner! You may be able to whip up any remedy in the medicinal world but you can't make a decent meal for the life of you."


Sai blinked several times as his eyes adjusted to the abrupt darkness of the long tunnel that ran underneath the village. The descent out of the early morning light helped to reset his brain into the mindset of Root.

Cold, blank, empty. By the time he was walking through the door of Danzo's office, his whole persona had shifted into the robotic calm of his childhood.

"Report."

"The mission was successful, Danzo-sama. The Sanbi is now Konoha's."

A twitch of Danzo's mouth that could be mistaken for a suppressed smile was the Root leader's only external display of pleasure. "And where is the urn now?" he demanded, flexing his hand atop the knob of his cane.

"Under watch of the Hokage's ANBU." Sai's carefully worded responses were delivered swiftly, his hesitation could be seen as a potential lie. After returning from their mission late last night he had spent extra time with the Hokage, rehearsing his answers to all the questions they anticipated Danzo asking. Giving the Root Leader just enough intel to feel satisfied without becoming suspicious.

Danzo grunted, "The Frog and Panther ANBU I assume?" Sai curtly nodded in confirmation and forced himself to take smooth easy breaths as his leader narrowed his gaze upon him.

"And have you discovered their identities yet? You have been working with them for nearly a year now."

Sai blinked, a millisecond of furious thoughts raced through his head as he scrambled at the unexpected question for the perfect mixture of truth and lie that would keep him in this dangerous man's favor. His answer could spell life or death.

"Hai, during this last mission I was able to confirm their identities, in part."

The brow of his exposed eye raised in anticipation as Danzo leaned forward in his chair.

"They are distantly related to Naruto, he found them while traveling with Jiraiya throughout the Land of Fire. Descendants of the refugees from Uzushio, the red head is an actual Uzumaki herself."

"I see," Danzo's gravelly voice murmured thoughtfully as Sai stared at his face, looking for any signs of his intent with the information. But nothing was revealed in his hard features, and he merely settled back into his chair and brusquely dismissed his double agent.

"Do not bother looking for the Hyuga child," he added as Sai turned towards the door. "She is out of the village for her Final Test, and will not be available for your normal sparring session."

"When will she return? I need to accommodate my ANBU schedule." Sai didn't bother to wonder if Hanabi would survive Root's Final Test by successfully killing her partner. The boy she had been paired with was nowhere near her power level, Sai's training had assured that. But her absence would provide Hinata with the perfect opportunity to execute her release of the Caged Bird Seal without fear of being interrupted by the Root Hyuga.

"They left yesterday, I will summon you when she returns and you may continue preparations for the Hyuga Operation."

Danzo sat unmoving as Sai snapped a smart bow and slipped silently out of his office. When the door clicked shut he turned his head to the side and spoke to the wall behind him.

"The trap has been set Hyuga, follow him. You know the signal to instigate the attack?"

The bookcase slid to the side and Hanabi stepped out of the hidden shadows of a small tunnel, dressed in an expensive traditional kimono befitting the daughter of a Clan Head, a drastic departure from the black and gray uniform she had worn since the day she arrived.

"Hai Danzo-sama." This time, she did not bother to hide her smile in his presence.

Danzo stood as the hidden tunnel entrance closed once more, exiting his office to go check the details of his operation and ensure that everyone was prepared. There was nothing quite like the thrill of anticipation on the eve of battle. The simmering adrenalin made everything feel more potent, more real, more alive.

His building suspicions of Sai's wandering loyalty had now been confirmed with the ridiculous explanation of his 'discovery' of the ANBU's identities. Danzo had nearly snorted at the blatant lie by his betraying agent. He himself had spent years sending out small teams to eliminate all the remnants of Uzushiogakure's refugees that crawled through the underbellies of the ninja world. They were a crafty and untrustworthy breed, far too interested in the mysticism of chakra than the usefulness of its power, and their unique ability to hoard the bijū was extremely inconvenient to organized government. Besides, there was no way that idiot Toad Sage had managed to find two ridiculously talented shinobi from that clan of spiritual fanatics just wandering aimlessly around the Land of Fire.

But no matter, his plan was in motion. Soon he would be Hokage, and the masks would be ripped off of all Tsunade's minions.

"Fū," he barked as he turned a corner of the hallway leading to the open cavern that housed the legions of his agents. "Have the Akatsuki confirmed the receipt of my message?"

"Hai Danzo-sama," the Yamanaka agent immediately flickered to his leader's side. "The battle begins tonight."


Hinata swept down the hallway, her formal robes swirling around her as she determinedly strode towards the Council Chamber. The late morning sunlight flickered across her regal form as she passed each open window, the alternating light and shadows capturing her elegant and powerful figure in a series of images like the approaching salvation of a rainstorm to a barren land.

The white eyes of every man in the meeting rose to her face as she entered the room, the restless murmuring instantly ceasing upon her arrival. Hinata could sense Sai's presence outside the window and took comfort in it. He had insisted on being here to support his teammate in Naruto's stead, the Namikaze being immersed with his father and Kurama in the daunting task of aiding Kushina and Isobu with their first day as partners. Sai couldn't do anything to help Naruto with such a unique task, but Hinata would never decline his support, even if it was just his silent cheering. He had booked it straight to her room at the compound as soon as he was out of the Underground, knowing that the faster Hinata could operate, the greater the likelihood of her success. Now he waited with a never before felt level of anticipation thrumming in his chest, surreptitiously watching as his teammate prepared to rewrite the history of an entire clan.

Hinata took a deep breath and waited as Hizashi took his seat at the head of the table, Neji and the rest quickly followed suit as they all were anxious to see the reason for this emergency meeting. She stood straight and tall, a flush to her cheeks being the only hint at her pounding heart, her pearly gaze steady but sparkling, as everyone focused upon her.

Without uttering so much as a single word, her delicate fingers reached up and gracefully pulled away the hair from her face. Her chin lifted proudly as gasps swept through the Council. She did not bow as murmurs turned into shouts. She did not tremble as fingers stabbed through the air at her pristine forehead.

"It's gone! She is unsealed!"

"She is alive and unharmed? How is this possible?"

"Who did this to you? We demand to know everything!"

"What are your motives? Do you intend to take the position of Head away from Hizashi-sama?"

Neji pounded his fist on the table, annoyance filling his voice as he nearly growled at the uncharacteristic chaos of the Hyuga Elders' reaction. "Be still! Let her speak! Hinata-sama has called this meeting in order to explain everything, so let her do it!"

The truth was a heavy burden to unload, and not everyone could carry its weight without being crushed by its many parts. Hinata was well versed in the narrow-mindedness of the older generation of Hyuga Elders, and her desire to help them did not overrule her wariness. She had left her naivety behind long ago, and so as she carefully explained how Naruto had helped her reconstruct the destroyed key to the Cage Bird Seal by combining her own unique Main Branch chakra signature with his mastery of fūinjutsu, Hinata left out all the details of the waterfall and her Tenseigan. She was eternally grateful that Naruto and Minato had been able to rework the successful sealing array down to its most basic form with the help of her newly awakened dōjutsu, making it possible for her to apply it en masse without any need for the chant, or…nudity.

"Namikaze Naruto has given me a condensed version of the seal key, that I can now easily apply to every Hyuga, and activate with my chakra in order to remove the Caged Bird Seal from all of us forever," she ended her summary with a strong emphasis on the last word, anticipating that it would be challenged by her next statement. Hinata swallowed thickly and licked her lips, bracing for what would be the most difficult selling point of her whole proposition. "I have also been given a new Seal of Protection that will function exactly like the previous one, but without the possibility of any interference by another person's chakra. It will keep the Byakugan safely within the Hyuga without the risk of forced subordination."

Several men were instantly lurching to their feet, some crying out accusations of her blatant attempt at stealing power, some demanding to be unsealed on the spot, some simply yelling that they refused to allow a jutsu from another Clan to be placed upon their body. Hinata stood firm under the blast of their ignorance, calmly waiting for her moment.

"I volunteer to be the first." The white cloth that covered his forehead plopped onto the council table as Hizashi rose from his seat, the voices dying away as he passed by one Elder after another and approached his daughter. He smiled down upon her beaming face, his eyes crinkling with wrinkles created by years of kindness, but the gleam in his eyes was like a child preparing to receive a much coveted gift.

"And I," Neji's voice was much more stern, and he didn't hold back a few scolding glares as he marched to his father's side. But his cheeks were flushed as he faced his sister, his own excitement at standing upon the brink of freedom nearly making him bounce on his toes.

Hinata looked at her family, tears filling her eyes as she pressed her hand to her heart, nearly bursting with pride, gratefulness, and joy. This was all she had ever wanted, to free them. To ease their burdens and unite what was broken. With a watery smile she mouthed the words thank-you to them, their support and trust a treasure she would cherish forever. Reaching deeply into her draping sleeve she withdrew the fine brush and ink from Naruto, and with barely a tremble dipped the bristles into the indigo liquid.

The tension in the air was thick as everyone watched with bated breath as Hizashi and Neji bent to allow her to paint the seal upon their foreheads. A few simple strokes was all that it took, and Hinata carefully positioned herself with her back to the staring Council, hiding her Tenseigan from their judging eyes. With three hand signs and a gentle pulse of chakra, Hinata could feel her sight deepen, her temples tighten as the vessels throbbed and swelled beneath her skin. Her network buzzed with energy as she channeled her consciousness into the arrays, easily dividing her focus between the two seals. A fourth and final hand sign, and her voice echoed through the room, "Kai!"

The ink washed with light, a pale purple glow dancing across their brows and evaporating in wisps of fading mist, a gentle exorcism of an atrocious curse. Hizashi and Neji exhaled harshly, wonder filling their faces as they looked in awe at one another, touching their clean foreheads and blinking at the sight they had only dared to imagine. The Elders were utterly speechless, having expected a magnificent display of grotesque metamorphosis that mirrored the dramatic burning of the Caged Bird Seal application.

Hinata bit the inside of her cheek to withhold her smirk. Her desire was not to grandly display her overwhelming power and bully the Council into bowing to her plan, but to demonstrate the effortlessness of freedom. This natural state of being should not look unattainable, but like something as perfectly organic as breathing. The gift of freedom, of equality, was not a costly favor to be ransomed out of the clutches of others, but a right of existence.

Sai watched from the shadowed side of the outer wall, peeking through the high window where he hung by his chakra from the rooftop as one Elder after another scrambled to line up before Hinata and present their bared foreheads to her inked brush. Strategically bowing her head as though needing to focus, her eyes were hidden by the fringe of her hair as she rapidly flashed through the hand signs once more, and within seconds exclamations of joy were filling the usually frigid room.

From his position on the other side of the glass, the somewhat muted liveliness allowed a much more suspicious sound to reach Sai's ears, and he was instantly pulling a kunai from his thigh holster and darting around the corner of the building where gurgling cries of pain could be heard. What he saw froze the blood in his veins. Down below stood a familiar figure, her hands clasped in a jutsu of her own, as her Byakugan drilled into the two guards who fell onto their knees clutching their burning foreheads. How did Hanabi get here? Danzo, does he know?

He tore back across the rooftop to try and cut her off, diving through the nearest window into the Council Chamber in a shower of broken glass. Ignoring the offended gasps of the Elders, who had now transitioned from admiring their new freedom to heatedly debating the merits of the new Seal of Protection, Sai spun to face his teammate. Hinata whipped around, her shoulders going rigid at the sight of his intense expression.

"She's here," he hissed in a tone of urgency.

First confusion, then horror washed over Hinata's face, sapping the warm flush from her cheeks as her eyes widened in perfect understanding of his words. Instantly she flashed over to Hizashi and Neji, placing a hand on each of their heads. Just as the door to the chamber slammed open, grabbing everyone's attention, she embedded the new protective seal upon the tenketsu on the back of their scalps. Sai slid back into the corner, hoping to gain an element of surprise by blending in and attacking from behind if needed.

While the Council of Elders cried out in confused alarm at the continued interruptions, Hizashi, Neji, Hinata, and Sai all braced themselves for the barrage of jutsu and Root agents that they expected to see pouring from the doorway, courtesy of a snarling creature with malevolent eyes full of hatred.

Instead, a child lingered calmly at the entrance of the room, beaming with haughty glee at the stunned faces of the gathered Hyuga. Her poise was picture perfect, her long dark brown hair combed away from her bare forehead and trailing down her back in shining tresses. Her petite frame was swathed in the richest silks and tied with an ominously familiar obi of deep burgundy that Hinata would know anywhere.

She herself had meticulously washed that exact sash before delivering it to Ane-sama, her chubby fingers chapped by the harsh laundry soap. The woman had glanced at the item, then up at her timid face, and rejected it, telling her it was wrinkled and to go wash it again. Hanabi saw how Hinata's gaze lingered on the heirloom around her tiny torso, and lifted her chin in smug satisfaction. The intended effect of her efforts was undeniable, she was a perfect miniature of the former Honorable Wife, and she knew it.

"My name is Hyuga Hanabi," her youthful voice rang clearly and confidently through the chamber. "Firstborn child of Hyuga Hiashi and Hyuga Ane. Heir to the Main House. I have spent years in hiding, afraid for my life, after my father was assassinated for his power. But I will not wait any longer to claim my heritage and stand up against the jealous brother and his spawn who have usurped our sacred traditions for the sake of revenge. I will not allow the Hyuga to fall into the hands of murderers."

Despite her innocent appearance it was obvious that Hanabi knew full well the weight of her accusations. She walked between the cluster of Elders, allowing them to ogle her likeness, her eyes, her robes, her visual testimony to the truth of her words.

"Liar!" Neji barked from the end of the room, his feet crunching upon the shards of glass as he took an intimidating step forward. He did not care if she was a girl, a child, or a Hyuga, she was here for one purpose only, and he refused to allow her to succeed.

"Am I?" Hanabi smiled sweetly at him, but her eyes glinted with spite. The mockery sparked at Neji's strained patience, and he moved to lunge at her and drag her away from ruining this pivotal moment that they had worked so hard to orchestrate. But Hinata was faster, grabbing his arm and holding him back. In her mind, this was not a rogue nin that they could simply banish, or an enemy brimming with weapons and threatening genocide. She had already scanned Hanabi and the child was unarmed, not so much as a single kunai was on her person. She saw before them just a brainwashed girl who had never had the benefit of a decent role model for a single day of her life.

Hinata turned to face this enigma of family and foe contained within the slightly older face of the toddler she remembered racing through the halls of the Main House, her laughter echoing through the cold chambers. She is still so young. Only seven? Eight? She should not be condemned by the burden of hatred that others have placed upon her shoulders.

"The time for separation is over, Hanabi," she said gently, but with a tone of grave solemnity. The reckoning of Hinata's laissez faire approach to Hanabi's feelings had come, and she intended to hide nothing of her beliefs or intentions from this girl any longer. "We are one House now. One Clan. One Hyuga. Even you."

Hanabi's cherubic façade wavered, anger briefly making her frown. "I will never share a name with a murderer," she spat out. The ice in her voice made Hinata gulp as it resonated with the frosty echoes of Ane-sama's authoritative tone. The child had always been unusually talented at mimicry, and the fruition of it was striking everyone in the gut. Even the Elders were blinking in shock at the uncanny resemblance between Hanabi and the deceased Honorable Wife.

"A harsh accusation coming from you," Hizashi's tone bordered on threatening as his eyes narrowed in blatant suspicion. "Do not deny that you are the one who has been activating the Caged Bird Seal of the innocent Hyuga." His words caused murmurs to spread through the Council members, as the obvious culprit of the cause of their troubles was revealed.

"They were just Branch House," Hanabi shrugged without shame, gladly accepting the guilt of the crime that only solidified her claimed identity. No one else but an unsealed Main House Hyuga could have committed such acts. Her small hands folded into her sleeves as she assumed the stance of a pious lady, straightening up to her full, if diminutive, height. "They had forgotten their place, forgotten our traditions. We can reestablish those traditions again, right now. With those of us here becoming the New Main House."

Several of the Elders' eyes widened at this brazen suggestion. The idea of the uneducated and lowliest grunts of the Branch House suddenly being elevated to the same status as themselves had never been a popular point of Hinata's campaign for a New Era of The Hyuga. There was order in the social division that had defined the roles of each and every Hyuga. Despite the exceptionally harsh leadership of Hiashi, the efficiency of his policy of enforced rank and obligation was undeniable. He founded a productivity of operation that fueled the machine which drove the Hyuga Main House into one of the most coveted upper echelons within the Land of Fire. And while the Council admitted that some of the lower born had perhaps suffered; their name, their prestige, had flourished.

The power of simply being called Hyuga was never the same after Hiashi's demise. Hizashi's politics and strategies did not utilize the same ruthless dealings as his brother, and the Clan's connections with several powerful people had been lost. The Hyuga's status had declined, and the looming possibility of sharing a table with the scullery maid instead of the Daimyo's daughter was a bitter reality for the elitist Elders to swallow.

Yet here was a genuine descendant of that cunning man, glowing with the confidence of his legacy on her round face. A promise of a return to the glory days. A promise of actually becoming part of the Main House. A promise of power that had previously been denied them, now split amongst the few instead of divided throughout the many.

Hinata saw the expressions of the Elders' faces as the wheels turned within their heads and they weighed their options. Fear at the shifting tide of opinion struck her heart. She had worked so hard for her dream, for the Clan, for the desperate desire to prevent history from repeating itself. She could feel panic welling up within her as her mind raced to think of a way to stop this without having to resort to doing the exact thing she had loathed Hiashi for: forcibly exerting her will upon them all in a tyrannical show of power.

"Don't pretend you were not plotting the same thing, Hi-na-ta," Hanabi taunted, getting carried away by the growing number of approving looks she was receiving from the group of Elders. "This new 'Seal of Protection' that you are trying so hard to push onto everyone is just an excuse for you and your Hokage-hunting boyfriend to gain power over the most influential clan in all of Konoha."

Sai scowled at the obvious influence of Danzo he heard in her statement, her conspiracy laden accusation targeting the most likely suspicions lurking in the dark corners of her intended victims' hearts. The Root Leader well understood the way to twist words with truth by using any dirty piece of information to manipulate his audience. The fact that Hinata was openly involved with not only a non-Hyuga, but the jinchuriki of the very demon that had slaughtered half the village was still a sore spot within the unforgiving Clan Council. The respect that tradition demanded they show their Clan Head, who forbid any slander of the Namikaze jonin, had been one of the only things keeping the issue from blowing up the Council meetings.

"That's not true!" Hinata cried out, irritation combining with her growing alarm and causing her to raise her voice for the first time. "I have spent my entire life working to free the Hyuga. The only thing I ever wanted in return was to see my family released from this curse of hatred."

"Hanabi," Hizashi interjected sternly, trying to curb the increasing cacophony of the Elders' heckling arguments and opinions to maintain control of the situation. "Our father Hiroto-sama testified in the time honored way of the Hyuga that Hiashi was not the firstborn. Under neither the old traditions nor the new circumstances are you entitled to call yourself a Main Branch. The division of the Hyuga was obsolete the moment I became the Clan Head and declared it so."

"My father was ten times the Head that you are!" Hanabi snarled, her perfect poise cracking as her insulted pride broke through. "And my mother gave her life to smuggle me out of the compound with my grandfather. He died wanting me to fulfill my destiny as heir and lead the Hyuga back to their roots! Back to the time honored ways from which they have strayed!" The flush of her cheeks was becoming a red faced fury that caused Hanabi to clench her hands in barely restrained resent.

"Slavery is not a destiny," Hinata declared at an equally forceful volume. "There is no future in the old traditions."

"There is no 'Hyuga' without our traditions!" Hanabi screeched, her fisted hand thumping upon her chest. Her wild silver eyes flicked around the room, seizing upon the faces of the Elders that were still unsure.

"Look at the other clans!" she commanded, throwing her arms out in an encompassing gesture. "They all operate under a Clan Monarchy, but they lack the order of the Hyuga. They intermarry, interbreed, dilute their talents and their bloodlines until they are a mere shadow of their former power. The only ones who could ever compare to us were the Uchiha, and they were ultimately destroyed from within their own ranks. Just like what is happening to us at this very moment! With a sealed and submissive Branch House, such a thing would never have occurred."

"There are so many things wrong with what you just said I don't even know where to begin," Neji growled, but Hinata ignored him, closing in on Hanabi in a way that demanded she look her square in the eye. She was determined to take control of this situation before things got out of hand. She was determined to save everyone once and for all, even this broken child.

Hinata faced down Hanabi, not bowing a single inch but forcing the girl to look up at her as she planted her feet firmly and vehemently proclaimed the convictions of her heart.

"Forced subjugation is not a 'tradition'. Fear is not a form of respect. A seal of punishment is not a family bond. The Hyuga are powerful not because we cheat our way into positions of favor with nefarious deals, but because of what we add to Konoha. By building her up and making her stronger, we will bring ourselves higher."

For a beat the two of them stare into each others' eyes. Two daughters who are the successors of their mother's minds, souls, and images. Two heirs to the burdens of their Clan's corruption. As different as night and day, and yet both struggling to execute their own sense of justice with equal passion.

Hanabi was the first to break the uneasy standoff, crossing her arms and sauntering around Hinata's stiff figure. "Then why are you so insistent upon this new seal, oh 'savior of the Hyuga'?" Hanabi sneered as she circled her, a wicked smirk tilting her mouth. "If it truly is as safe as you claim, then apply it to yourself."

A tense silence filled the room as everyone waited for the rebuttal that was not coming. Hinata's jaw worked as she ground her teeth together in frustration. She couldn't seal herself because her Tenseigan was beyond the bounds of any fūinjutsu containment. To declare this truth would reveal her final trump card, thus exposing her to Danzo and his mutinous plans. The imminent civil war that lurked in the shadows of Konoha left Hinata scrambling to clarify her intent without incriminating herself.

She squared her shoulders and declared with steady resolve, "The seal is solely for our protection—"

"So is the Caged Bird Seal." Hanabi snapped, pivoting on her heel as she rounded upon Hinata.

Hinata's anger flared. "I would never harm a member of my family to enforce my will—"

"Hypocrite! Tell that to my father," Hanabi shouted in spiteful triumph.

"He was not your father!" Hinata screamed, making Hanabi gasp and fall back as if she had been struck. Her patience was beyond the point of any further diplomatic negotiations. Hinata's disgust at this farce of twisted facts aimed at derailing all hope of the Hyuga's freedom compelled her into spewing the ugly truth. "Ane-sama never bore a single child by that monster, who I will never call family. And I will never regret saving us all from his tyrannical rulership!"

"Lying bitch!" Hanabi shrieked, instantly flashing through a series of hand seals. Hinata dropped into a defensive stance, prepared to put this outrageous child in her place once and for all, but no attacks came. Instead, cries of pain filled the room as Caged Bird Seals instantly began to burn onto the heads of the entire council of Elders.

"Stop it!" Hinata demanded, chakra shooting down her arms and enveloping her hands as she took aim. A part of her cried out for the death of this harbinger of hatred, but even as she swiftly stepped into the lightning quick attack of her Gentle Fist, Hinata held back.

The girl glaring at her with her hands clasped in the activation sign was identical to the memory of the small toddler playing tea with her stuffed bear and petulantly mimicking her mother in a gross misunderstanding of what was normal and what was torture. Hinata's chest ached with the conflicting throb of anger and heartbreak and hope. She faltered, her need to believe in mercy winning out over her training to kill.

"Hanabi, please," she begged, her hand shaking with tension at the cries of the Elders and the encroaching presence of Hizashi and Neji on each side. "It doesn't have to be this way. The Hyuga are starting over. We can be together. We can be a family. All of us!"

"My family is dead!" Hanabi bit out, tears filling her steely eyes. "You took everything from me! My heritage and my revenge are all I have left."

Hizashi had seen enough. The wild storm of emotions that this confrontation had dissolved into had made it futile to try and argue any longer. Wanting to spare his daughter the burden of having to act as executioner once more, he stepped up behind Hanabi.

"Stop this right now!" he commanded with finality. "I will not hesitate to kill you!"

"I WILL NEVER STOP!" Hanabi yelled as she tried to sidle away from him while maintaining her jutsu, unintentionally edging closer to Hinata. Her chakra surged and the screams of pain crescendoed.

Suddenly her small body jolted forward. Hinata slammed her hands into Hanabi's back with a brutal burst of chakra that blocked her tenketsu, and the sound of Hanabi hitting the floor mixed with the whimpers of the Elders as her cruel jutsu released. She was conscious, but nearly limp from the closed off flow of chakra to her limbs, unable to do more than glare at Hinata as she propped her against the wall before turning to tend to the abused Council.

For the second time, Hinata unsealed the Council. No one refused the Seal of Protection this time, and within minutes they were all humbly mumbling their thanks. The vote for revolution was finally called, and freedom passed unanimously.

As Hinata prepared to spread her jutsu throughout the entire Clan, unsealing a large pot of ink from a scroll tucked into her obi, Hizashi gave orders for the guards to double the defenses around the compound. While Neji addressed another guard, giving him instructions to gather the rest of the Hyuga upon the Clan's training grounds for an orderly and swift conclusion to the Caged Bird Seal, Sai sat silently tucked away in the corner, his eyes solely focused on Hanabi.

At first Hanabi simply sat there, seething against the wall with tears rolling down her cheeks. But as he watched, her weeping ceased and her normally expressive features shuttered into a flat look that Sai was very familiar with. The blank look on her face was the one that she saved for Danzo, hiding her never relinquished anger and passion behind its mask. A fake. Disguising her true intentions…

Realization hit him like a bolt of lightning. She still has a plan.

Charging out of the shadows the world seemed to slow down around him as Sai zeroed in on her face, now straining in vein popping exertion. Her hand shook badly as she struggled to bring it up to her mouth, biting her thumb sharply. He reached her just as her arm sloppily smeared blood down the inside of her opposite forearm, and bold black lines appeared upon her pale skin. His arms wrapped around her as smoke began to seep from the openings of her robes. Her furious screams rang in his ear as he leaped out the window with her in a death grip. The bird that he had arrived upon swooped out of the sky, and Sai hurled her into the air as her skin began to singe and peel away. He watched, unblinking, as the ink bird soared high up into the air on chakra powered wings until the clouds obscured it from view.

The boom was delayed, hitting him in the chest with its sonic blast seconds after he saw the flash, and as his hair swirled over his hitae-ate, Sai heard Hinata sob next to him. Without hesitating or needing to wonder why, he held her in his arms as she cried, surprising himself at how easily he perceived the guilt and regret that fueled her pain.

"She was right," he said in a low voice. His dark eyes solemn as he looked down into Hinata's wet face. She needed to understand how the mind of such a person like Hanabi worked. How the same dogged determination that thrived in Hinata's own soul, also compelled the twisted perspective of Hanabi's beliefs. "She would never have stopped, Hinata."

She rubbed her face on her sleeve, beyond caring about the quality of the fabric that dried her tears. Sai sympathetically patted Hinata's shoulder as he watched her mourn a person who had hated her with a genuine grief and beneficence that he could only hope to one day possess.

"You cannot save everyone. What matters is that you gave her a chance, just like you gave me. The difference is that she chose not to change." Sai didn't bother offering Hinata empty words of feeble comfort that he did not consider useful. Directly saying the simple truth that he felt she needed to hear instead.

"She was so young," Hinata whispered, pulling away and heaving a hiccuping sigh as she looked up once more at the empty sky.

"Yes, but still old enough to kill. Old enough to make her own choice, just like I was at her age. Just like I continue to do, one decision at a time. You spared her life so that she could have the opportunity to experience the power of bonds instead of the teachings of Root. But she followed her own way in the end." Hinata bowed her head as she contemplated his statement, her shoulders remaining slumped in defeat. He wished he was better with words, better at offering comfort.

"We have to move quickly," Sai reminded her as gently as he could. "If she was here that means Danzo is about to begin his attack. We need to complete your task and notify Naruto immediately, his clones will spread the word much faster."

Hinata sniffled as she watched Sai pull his scroll and ink out and with quick and sure strokes of his brush send off a messenger bird to Naruto. An idea broke through the fog in her brain, and she grabbed her teammate's wrist before he could put his brush away.

A sad smile trembled on her face as she looked up at Sai's confused expression. "How fast can you copy a seal?"

His eyes squinted shut as he grinned in understanding, and his hands whipped through the air. Instantly, three ink clones were rising from his unfurled scroll, all armed with identical smiles. "I have been told that I am quite skilled with brush and ink."

"Thank you," Hinata sighed, as she forced herself to straighten her shoulders and take a deep breath. Now was not the time to give up. Now was the moment she has been preparing for her entire life. Her family's freedom and safety were at stake, and she'd be damned if anything or anyone got in her way of protecting them.

"Let's finish this, once and for all."


The sky darkened with the ever-present gray canopy of rain laden clouds that marked their approach to Amegakure, but to Tobi it felt more like a natural reflection of his inner turmoil. His denial had slowly morphed into outrage as Deidara's clay bird soared over the misty landscape back to the Akatsuki hideout, and the dropping temperatures did nothing to cool his boiling anger.

They were supposed to be dead. He had watched them die.

He distinctly remembered being pleasantly surprised at the complete lack of sympathy or guilt within him as he saw them say their last words to the screaming brat. It had been his complete indifference to the precise moment of their last breaths that had cemented in his mind the infallibility of his second existence. The undeniable final proof that he would never again be weakened by such pointless and weak emotions.

Initially, Tobi had thought that it was a fluke when he had not shed a single tear at Rin's death, the girl he had thought he loved even though she never looked his way. Between the adrenaline pumping through his new body after the vicious slaughter to leave no witnesses, and the physical exhaustion of the first test of his strange white flesh leaving him panting like a euphoric berserker, he had figured the debilitating grief and regret would come later.

But as he stood in the mud surrounded by butchered bodies, rain and sweat dripping down his face and mixing with the blood leaking from his red Sharingan, there was no sadness. All of the wild rage and bloodlust he had just experienced was so much more potent and intoxicating, so much more real, than anything he had ever experienced in his previous existence. An existence that had felt like another lifetime altogether, which was technically quite true.

He had paused in thought over Rin's impaled body as Kakashi laid unconscious next to her, fingers still twitching with the electricity of his chidori. No matter how long he stared at them Tobi had felt absolutely nothing but the faint resonance of Kakashi's horror at killing his own teammate, which spilled over to Tobi with the transformation of their shared Sharingan into the immensely more powerful Mangekyo.

The complete numbness in his soul was more impressive than the odd sensations of his new flesh. He could not even muster enough pity to kill the little prodigy and put him out of his misery. The thought had crossed his mind to take his eye back, but even at that point, so long ago, Tobi had known he needed something more than his old self. He needed something greater to satisfy the craving in his mangled soul. Already he had sensed that he was meant to be more. And Kakashi was just a useless prick hiding a pretty face.

Tobi had learned a lot from that first attempt at stealing a bijū, enough to know that he was shit at fūinjutsu, and very glad he had decided to practice on a guinea pig before trying it out on himself. The fact that it was Rin's team that had wandered into his little trap was just…so fucking ironic. And watching the high and mighty Hatake prodigy of his previous life absolutely destroy everything in his blind attempt to fix it had been simply glorious. Tobi had giggled like an idiot for days, making the rest of his little Akatsuki team look at him like he was insane.

Which, to be fair, he most likely was.

The possibility that he was more than slightly unhinged had first dawned on him the day after his death. The first day of his new life. He had awoken from a dream that he would have sworn was the afterlife to see three unknown faces staring at him. Instead of feeling shock, grief, fear, or anything even remotely normal, he only felt…amused.

As they had explained that he was some sort of reanimated science experiment of disgusting white flesh who should be eternally thankful to the lame looking red head with the creepy eyes, Obito had been only half listening. While the three kids swathed in black cloaks with red clouds had launched into a sermon on their lofty beliefs and goals, he had come to a thrilling conclusion of his own.

He was free.

No confining village, no overbearing clan, no judgmental teammate, no unrequited love, no failure, no nothing. Everything had been erased. He could have cared less about the war, his obligations, or his "friends". For the first time he was able to do whatever the hell he wanted to do.

The first few weeks he stayed close to the three member cult, or so he thought of them. They had found his body in the cave and decided his corpse would be the perfect subject on which to test Nagato's Rinnegan. Judging by the displeased looks they shot at him every time he opened his mouth to offer up an opinion, they were less than impressed by the outcome. Tobi, as he had told them to call him, agreed. He was pretty sure that a good chunk of his soul was missing, floating around somewhere in the afterlife and hopefully tormenting Kakashi for being too dumb to dodge a falling rock. Fucking 'genius' his half-formed ass. But beggars couldn't be choosers, so he had dutifully swallowed all their revolutionary garbage about Nagato being a god—such bullshit—and went to work regaining his power.

And DAMN was he powerful.

He had vastly underestimated how much his emotions had held him back. Over the following months he had participated more and more in their little Akatsuki organization, taking out groups of government backed shinobi that they told him were only out to suppress the people and steal their voice, blah blah blah. But those three nuts had some sick jutsu, and Nagato's Rinnegan were definitely badass, so he stuck around.

With each fight, each kill, each surge of his power, Tobi had felt alive. It was addicting, and irrational, and soon he found himself obsessively seeking out more opportunities to extend his high. When they had started talking about collecting the bijū to remove the five great nation's sources of power, something within Tobi had suddenly sparked.

He had endured the egotistical rants from Yahiko about the Legendary Three Scions and the chakra contained within the Tailed Demons with a sardonic ear. But when Konan had pointed out that his own Sharingan was a descendant of one of those powerful dōjutsu, his wandering attention had finally found something to focus on. What would that level of power even feel like? If that shrimpy Uzumaki with the implanted eyes from his dead parents' homeland could declare himself the savior who would 'spread peace through pain', then why not Tobi? Forget peace. With a Mangekyo Sharingan, a Rinnegan, and the Tailed Demons incorporated into his freakishly unique body, he could be as powerful as fucking Kami!

So he'd hatched a plan.

He had let Nagato maintain his pulpit, attracting a passionate but ultimately unimpressive group of rogue shinobi from Amegakure to support his propaganda. Meanwhile Tobi had set about practicing his jutsu, learning through trial and error how to capture a bijū. Rin had been his first attempt, and it had the double benefit of giving him the Mangekyo as well as furthering his understanding of what it was to be a jinchuriki. For his second attempt he figured he would go for the biggest prize. No risk, no reward, right?

The power of his Mangekyo had been ridiculous. Pulling the Kyūbi out of Kushina had been child's play. Minato had been putty in his hands, easily distracted by the disgusting brat that Tobi had snatched out of Biwako's arms, still wet and screaming his little head off. The supposedly almighty Nine Tailed Fox had succumbed to his genjutsu on the first try, and proceeded to level Konoha in a display of apocalyptic fury that made goosebumps ripple with delicious glee across the human half of Tobi's body. But, his former Sensei had become quite powerful himself over the years, and the fucking Flying Thunder God Jutsu was way more obnoxious when it was thwarting his plans instead of saving his sorry ass. Where was all that razz matazz when Obito was being crushed by falling rocks, huh? The brutal shut down of his building climax of power had filled Tobi with a burning rage that sent him screaming back to the Akatsuki hideout, swearing revenge upon Konoha for once more ruining his life.

Yahiko had intercepted him as he had teleported back to the hideout, seething behind his mask with savage bloodlust nearly blinding him. When the pious shit had tried to tell him to fucking chill out, that his plans were getting out of control and he needed to refocus on the goals of the group, Tobi had snapped. No one would ever tell him what to do again.

It's hard to find a body hidden in another dimension.

It's easy to corrupt an already twisted cult.

The tone of the Akatsuki changed overnight with Yahiko's death. Tobi honed his skill with words as fervently as his jutsu. Fortifying his plans with research he stole from all over the ninja world. He eliminated the useless rabble, recruiting a ruthless team of powerful shinobi to round out the new Akatsuki, allowing Nagato to be his puppet, as he pulled the strings from the shadows.

He infiltrated Kirigakure and took over the mind of their Mizukage like a parasite eating his free will, setting off a bloody coup that left them isolated and vulnerable to his machinations.

Soon the fruits of his labors had started to show. He collected several bijū, locking the jinchuriki into a coma-like state until he was ready to absorb them all.

While spying on his former village Tobi had picked up on the dark drama that surrounded Itachi. Within the ridiculously emotional kid he saw the potential key to unlocking the Eternal Mangekyo by eventually stealing the talented boy's eye along with his allegiance. The chance to cripple Konoha by volunteering to assist in slaughtering the Uchiha was just a bonus.

Orochimaru was good while he lasted, but The Snake was slimy and came with his own hidden agenda, so it was no great loss to see him go. His independent schemes had played perfectly into Tobi's greater plan anyways.

Things were going well.

Until the brat and his bitch showed up, killing Hidan, Kakuzu, and Sasori. Stealing his Uchiha. Kidnapping his jinchuriki. And now they had taken his Three Tails, with the help of those supposedly deceased shinobi. Tobi could feel his grip on everything slipping as one plan after another fell through. Lately Nagato and Konan had begun to challenge his ideas, saying that he lacked faith and needed to come back to his roots within the true mission of the Akatsuki. They claimed that his aggressive greed was superseding his loyalty to Leader. He should have known that self righteous Uzumaki would pull a "god-like" stunt like this to belittle Tobi and put him in his place.

It had to stop.

As Deidara's clay bird landed upon the rain slicked balcony of the skyscraper hideout which was topped by the effigy of a massive yawning demon, Tobi charged off its back and stalked into the dark lair. He stormed down the wooden corridor, anger rolling off of him in such intense waves that Zetsu's popped out of the walls to gape at his passing. He didn't even bother to be discreet about slamming open the hidden doorway into Nagato's inner chamber, and ignored Konan's cries of indignation at his stormy entrance.

"Why THEM?" Tobi snarled, his damaged voice choked with his fury.

"Show some respect Tobi!" Konan was pulling on his sleeve, hissing at him in a loud whisper that he wholly ignored. She yanked harder. "Nagato is meditating in preparation for your battle plan, the least you could do is allow him to rest!"

Tobi ripped his arm out of her grasp, leaping up onto the grotesque contraption that Nagato used to control his Six Paths, hanging onto the spikes like a deranged monkey to fire his accusations directly into the emaciated man's face.

"I get it, alright? You're powerful as all fuck and you can raise people from the dead. Point taken. But why the bloody hell would you resurrect The Yellow Flash and The Red Death of Konoha just when we are about to make a move on that village?" Tobi could feel the chakra rods buzzing angrily beneath his hands, but his temper was hot and he charged his own chakra back into the black rods, making Nagato's brow wrinkle in discomfort.

"I do not know what you are talking about."

The orange mask smashed into the wall behind Nagato's head, Tobi's chakra enhanced throw embedding it into the solid wall with an echoing crash.

"Then why are they ALIVE?" Tobi's screaming question caused the limp strands of red hair to blow back from Nagato's dull gray Rinnegan eyes, making them narrow at his unexpected statement.

"Impossible."

"Then I guess it's just a fucking miracle, eh? Because I just watched my bijū get implanted into Uzumaki Kushina as the goddamned Fourth Hokage flashed her away." The vaguely confused look on Nagato's face enraged Tobi even more than any resentful denial. He ferociously shook the chakra rods, making Nagato gasp and Konan claw at his black cloak, trying to extract him from his perch without hurting her precious cult leader.

"If you have something to say to me, Nagato, say it to my face!" Tobi barked. "Or can't you stand to look at my misshapen mug either? Y'know perhaps I am giving you too much credit. Seeing what a shitty job you did of piecing me back together again, there is no way you were the one who could have perfectly resurrected those two."

Tobi released the black rods with a shove of disgust, sweeping Konan to the side as he whirled around to go exact his anger upon something that would actually have enough of a soul to scream in pain. Nagato's deep voice echoed through the hollow cavern at his departing back.

"This was not the purpose for which I reclaimed you, Tobi."

Kami, he hated that man. He swore the guy purposefully lurked in this empty chamber just to hear his voice resonate so he felt like a freaking deity or something. All smoke and mirrors. That's all Nagato—all that the Akatsuki—was anymore. A couple of powerful shinobi with some shiny jutsu and granola doctrines. Those eyes were wasted on Nagato.

Tobi forced himself to breathe deeply, he had to remember his own goals, his greater purpose, he was closer than ever and this hiccup would not be the end of him.

"You are an acolyte of my design, a servant to my purpose. Apart from me you are nothing," Nagato was starting to rant. Tobi had to cut him off before this went into full blown sermon mode and Konan mummified him in paper to try and hold him hostage. Grabbing onto his right arm, Tobi ripped the white fleshed limb off and chucked it back over his shoulder. The splat of the moist substance as it hit the floor effectively silenced the would-be speech.

"That's all that I owe you. That's all you ever gave me that was useful. This 'existence' that you reclaimed me for is fucking blasphemy, not a blessed design. Even I know that much." He turned around, the empty sleeve of his black cloak slapping against his side as he stared coldly at Konan and Nagato. "I have paid my dues by serving you all these years with nothing in return. I have pulled my weight in this pathetic band of shinobi hippies by extending your 'doctrine of pain' to the furthest reaches of the world. People fear the name of the Akatsuki because of me. I AM THE AKATSUKI."

"You are out of line," Konan hissed, razor sharp shreds of paper floating out of her sleeves and folding into an array of deadly weapons that made Tobi snort in derision. Nothing could touch him unless he allowed it.

"Enough," Nagato's voice snapped with a fervor that was rarely seen from him these days, making them both look at him in surprise. "I have just received a message through the mental link with Danzo's agent. The Battle for Konoha begins tomorrow."

A smirk of wicked anticipation twisted the gnarled features of Tobi's face as he bent to retrieve the limp arm on the floor. Konan ignored his exit as she flitted over to Nagato to soothe him into his final meditation before he unleashed his power upon Konoha and stole the small army of bijū the village was hoarding.

Perfect timing, Tobi celebrated internally, I have some cockroaches that survived the last apocalypse that I'm dying to destroy.


OMAKE: After Naruto receives Sai's ink messenger sent from the Hyuga Compound

Naruto's clone raced through the weak midday light of the autumn sky towards the Senju Compound, not bothering to waste time with trying to sense Tsunade's presence but relying solely upon his intuition to pinpoint her location. Seeing the open window on the second story he charged up the side of the building, bursting into the room prepared to tear the place apart from top to bottom in search of the Hokage. The battle for Konoha had begun and it was his sacred duty to sound the metaphorical alarm and alert the leader of the village as to their dire situatio—

"AHHHH!"

At the clone's blood curdling scream the two naked bodies in the bed surged upwards, tripping over one another and the tangle of bedsheets to scramble for nonexistent weapons and stumble into shamefully poor battle stances.

"What? Who? Where?" Jiraiya was prancing atop the mattress, whipping around in search of the screeching enemy, his long white hair sticking up in all kinds of directions.

"MOTHERFUCKER!" the clone howled as he clapped his hands over his eyes in agony at all the grotesque flopping that he never wanted to see.

"Dammit Jiraiya, hold still! I can't see anything with you jumping around like that!" Tsunade barked, her arms barely containing her chest as she groped at the roiling blankets in an attempt to cover her heaving bosom. He blinked dazedly as his confused panic subsided, and both Sannin squinted at the dramatically wailing clone in the corner of the room.

"Oh Kami! WHY!? I can never unsee that! My precious eyes! I think they're melting in my head…I think I'm gonna throw up…"

Glaring over at the bawling shadow clone, Tsunade barely restrained herself from smacking it clear out the window and into next week. This was not the serene wake up she had wanted after such a gloriously satisfying night. Tightening the sheet around her torso she stalked over to where it rocked in dramatic agony. Her livid dismount from the bed unknowingly ripped the other end of the sheet out from under Jiraiya's feet, sending him crashing into a heap on the floor.

"Stop sniveling like a child and state your business! It had better be good too, I was hoping for another round to start this day off on a high note until you burst in here."

"You were?" A muffled voice asked hopefully from under the pile of blankets on the floor. This caused the clone to gag on his nonexistent breakfast before scowling up at Tsunade's flushed and disheveled appearance.

"I thought you gave up drinking!" It whined, pointing a finger at her accusingly as it slumped to the floor.

"I did! I still am—do—are—am?…Fuck Brat, just spit it out!" Tsunade snarled, steam shooting out of her ears.

The kage bunshin gaped up at her in frank horror. "Y-you mean you did that sober?!"

"OI!" Jiraiya's indignant cry of offense was much clearer as he popped his white head out of the morass of linens.

Tsunade was reaching the end of her already thin patience. The grinding of her teeth was much more intimidating than her morning breath as she growled in the clone's face. "You have ten seconds before I dispel you in the most painful way possible…"

The clone whimpered but didn't hesitate to reply. Robotically spewing out the information of the Hyuga Incident and Danzo's imminent attack as the two Sannin listened in shock before rushing to gather their scattered clothing and prepare for war.

Back at the Namikaze Compound, Naruto and Minato were hunched over the map of Root's Underground when Naruto suddenly screamed, grabbing his head and thrashing around in unbridled torture. Fear gripped Minato's heart as he reached for his heaving son and tried to steady him as he flailed and groaned.

"Naruto! Son! What is it? What happened?"

"DAMN YOU ERO-SENNIN!"