"Konan, we need a distraction."

Shirou and Lunea were making slow progress as the crowd around them erupted into chaos.

Then, the Konoha shinobi kicked into gear. Earthen walls grew from the ground, bisecting side streets from the main street, of which ninja started appearing from. The panicked crowd were quickly funneled into the directions the shinobi wanted, and the street was clearing out fast.

This was bad. The Konoha forces were well-prepared in the event of an evacuation for the masses, leading them to the Konoha bunkers. Soon, Shirou and Lunea would be forced to follow the crowds once the streets cleared up.

"Get ready. Zetsu's coming in with a batch of clones." The slip of paper replied to Shirou.

Suddenly, a group of Konoha ninja arrived on the scene to support the first responders.

Then…chaos.

Konoha ninja started attacking Konoha ninja, and the evacuation protocols were interrupted as a fight broke out.

The sudden outbreak of chaos only returned the crowd to a state of panic as they couldn't identify which shinobi were allies and enemies.

All the while, Shirou and Lunea quickly snuck past the chaos.

It was all planned out ahead of the Konoha invasion. Zetsu's clones had the ability to mimic the appearance of people, which he used effectively in distracting the Konoha forces.

Zetsu's role was to counter the forces by copying the appearance of as many of the Konoha shinobi and then use it against the rest, thereby wrecking total havoc to the communication lines and cohesion of the village ninja.

Fights erupted around them and the pair of infiltrators easily made their way into the disguised ROOT building.

Once inside, Shirou and Lunea ran into a number of civilians. Unlike the panicked people outside, the ones inside were calm and rather…organized.

ROOT Shinobi under disguise, very bad ones at that.

The pair and the group of civilians stared at each other until Shirou killed one with a traced kunai.

Both groups quickly devolved into chaos as the civilians showed their true identities and fought the intruders. An attempt was made to activate the alarm, but Shirou and Lunea stopped them.

The last body flopped on the floor after one nasty smack from Lunea broke his neck.

Shirou traced the undercover location for the entrance, and upon finding it, immediately led both down into the secret passageway into the underground stronghold.

Moments later, Zetsu clones popped out of the ground to replace the eliminated ROOT shinobi to buy the duo more time.


Everywhere. They were everywhere.

Minato watched in horror as the arena collapsed into utter chaos as Konoha shinobi seemed to attack their fellows. Half of the civilians had been evacuated before what was assumed to be reinforcements suddenly attacked the ninja in the stadium.

"Please hold on while I evacuate the rest!" Minato urged them while he grabbed as many civilians in the VIP box and flashed away to the bunkers.

A projectile whistled through the air, and was intercepted as golden dust flew into the air. Then, more dust congested until a barrier was formed against the hail of ice coming from one SS-ranked criminal.

"Any plans? We are up against Esdeath." Sasori asked while summoning a group of puppets.

"My chains could work, but that doesn't stop her attacks." Kushina suggested from the side.

"How about we seal her away? Jiraiya isn't here but I should manage."

The rest looked at Orochimaru, who was quickly checking for the required materials on his body. "We don't have any other method of delaying until Minato comes back."

It was a plan as good as any at that point.

While the group hid inside their shell, Tatsumi morphed into his dragonoid form and quietly snuck beside the barrier. The Kriegsmarine sisters had informed him that the red-haired Suna shinobi was the easiest to beat, being a puppet.

As such, he would try to even the scales by eliminating Sasori first.

Tatsumi nodded to Esdeath, who grinned as she manipulated the ice shards on the golden barrier to spread.

Rasa, who felt the disturbance outside his shield widened his eyes as the barrier suddenly froze in a certain area, ice appearing inside, then shattered.

His golden dust cocoon had been breached.

A dragonoid with long tail and wings appeared in the middle of the group and smashed a fist into Sasori, launching him far away. An audible crack was heard by everyone as Sasori's main puppet body found itself damaged from one powerful punch.

Tsunade retaliated by throwing a heavy jab, which Tatsumi blocked with his hand. The impact of their strength releasing a miniature shockwave.

The rest dispersed as the two powerhouses started unleashing blows on one another. Their exchange could be felt from the impacts generated by their fists.

A shower of ice crystals peppered the entire area, intercepted by a newly reformed golden screen from the Kazekage.

"Surely you can do better than that." Came the taunting words of Esdeath.

To Rasa's shock, his golden dust barrier started freezing at a rapid rate, ice spreading from the middle outwards. He willed the sides to abandon the frozen area, dropping the chunk of ice and dust.

"I can't keep putting up barriers if she continues to freeze them." He grunted.

"I'll take the lead. Orochimaru, Kushina, come with me!" Hiruzen barked as he unleashed a fireball straight at Esdeath. Everyone watched as the fireball weakened the closer it came, the strength of Esdeath's icy aura draining the power of the attack. Esdeath simply slapped the remains of the jutsu once it reached her, still content to stay on the rooftop.

Golden chains suddenly erupted from the ground, shooting towards her from different directions.

At first, Esdeath attempted to freeze them, but the strength of the chains overpowered her half-baked attempt. She was forced to move and avoid the entangling attack, buying time for Orochimaru and Hiruzen to jump on the rooftop, followed by Rasa and Kushina.

Heinrich and Eugen dashed at the group of four and tackled Hiruzen and Orochimaru, identified as the greater threats among them. Orochimaru snaked out of Eugen's arms, while Heinrich was able to push back Hiruzen from reaching Esdeath.

The Sandaime hissed in pain as warship-level strength smashed into his armor, launching him off the roof, only to be saved by flying puppets.

Kushina and The Kazekage were forced to try and delay Esdeath while Orochimaru danced around Eugen's powerful fists.

"I'm expecting payment after this, Sandaime Hokage." Sasori pleasantly stated as his puppets carried the old veteran back on the roof.

"We can discuss the details later. For now, please assist us."

Hiruzen and Sasori were forced to dodge as Heinrich unleashed some magical blasts from her turrets. The warship backed off, preferring to retreat than to tackle two S-ranks alone.

Sasori gave chase, eager to see more of the interesting weapons being used by the warship.

Suddenly, the roof below him exploded, a reptilian humanoid smashing through after being launched by the more experienced fighter in Tsunade. Sasori was forced to disengage as the interruption bought enough time for Heinrich to prime her cannons and fire a barrage at him.

Using the opportunity, Hiruzen unleashed a shower of earthen rocks at the new target. Tatsumi flapped his wings and maneuvered himself midair to avoid the projectiles. Only to get tackled by Tsunade who had finally reached the rooftop.

A loud smash was heard as he was thrown down into the roof, bursting back into the stadium.

"Tsunade, stay. We can't afford to split up." Hiruzen informed his student.

Tsunade may have seen it as an advantage to weaken the opposing party by taking away one member, but even with the remaining 5, the Konoha faction had trouble facing Esdeath and her 2 allies.

A distance away, Kushina and Rasa were easily being beaten by the extremely powerful Esdeath. Despite their golden dust and chains working in tandem, Esdeath was able to easily dodge the attacks and push the pair back.

The two regrouped with Orochimaru, who couldn't shake off Eugen. Between them, he was faster. But Eugen's large weapons made it hard for him to escape.

As it was, there was no way for him to prepare the seal for Esdeath.

Then Heinrich reached the rest of her group after safely retreating from her three opponents, who also reunited with theirs.

A flash beside Kushina announced the return of her husband.

Tatsumi, who had been out of the fight, had returned as well, hovering behind his team.

"I'm back. Thank you for holding on." Minato uttered as he readied his tri-pronged kunai for a fight.

"Finally. I was tired of holding back while waiting for you." Esdeath grinned.

"After all, we need as many of you distracted."


Itachi's eyes narrowed.

This man was an undiscovered threat. Even after all the information Konoha had gathered about Akatsuki, nothing mentioned about a powerful Mokuton user in the organization.

Around him, the forest shook and grew alive as the plants and trees tried to ensnare the Uchiha.

Itachi returned fire by unleashing a large wave of fire on his surroundings, burning the greenery. Immediately, he turned around to block a stab coming from the monochromatic Akatsuki member.

The two danced, trading blows until Itachi disengaged. He activated the Mangekyou and tried to burn his opponent using the Flames of Amaterasu, but the sneaky man just melted into the ground.

Therein lied his problem. Itachi had no way of actually keeping the man in place. Even genjutsu using the Mangekyou for some reason couldn't work on the Akatsuki member.

Little did he know that Zetsu has had prior experience with the Mangekyou. His main body was tanking the illusions head on, which he countered by keeping multiple clones around the battlefield. These clones were integrated into the forest, transferring information from their senses to help Zetsu combat the Uchiha prodigy.

Meanwhile, Itachi himself was being herded by Zetsu, distracting him from discovering the true intention behind the assault.

'I need to find a way to escape this man.'

Much harder to plan accordingly when Itachi had little to no clue about the true extent of the enemy's abilities.

The man had Mokuton, and while it was countered by his strong fire jutsu, the battlefield advantage was overwhelmingly in the favor of the Akatsuki member.

His Sharingan was little to no use, and the more powerful techniques were only burning through his chakra reserve.

But the biggest problem was his inability to land any real impact on his opponent. The black-and-white figure easily melted into everything around them, making it nigh impossible to hit the intruder.

The longer Itachi was stuck here, the worse the situation would get.


Shirou traced the stronghold walls around him.

In return, a blueprint of a considerable area around him returned, giving him an idea of the passages and rooms.

"The rooms in this area are used minimally. The more important locations must be deeper."

Lunea had led him to this area because of the ambient mana being highly active in the area, probably a result of all the traps and alarms inserted in the walls. But the traps were easily deactivated once Lunea ate the mana in the area.

Yes, as phantasmal beasts, Lunea and her kind use ambient mana from the world for sustenance.

"Have you felt Tobi's energy nearby?"

Lunea shook her head. For some reason, Shirou had asked her to notify him if she caught on Tobi's scent or energy. What she did notice was that each time they neared the elusive member, Shirou would divert them in the opposite direction.

Was he trying to cover more ground? But that didn't make any sense. If the trio united together, Tobi could easily scout any location the duo found interesting and accomplish their tasks faster.

No, it must've been something else.

Lunea had seen Shirou glance in Tobi's direction multiple times, and while it wasn't obvious, something had changed.

Shirou was looking at Tobi like a threat. It was subtle, not anything anybody would've noticed, but Lunea had spent nearly her entire life in the company of Shirou. The telltale signs of him studying an opponent were there.

What happened to make the change? Lunea didn't know.

But her immaturity decided to rear its head.

"Why are you avoiding Tobi? He's a friend."

Shirou glanced at Lunea as they continued towards the next location she pointed out.

"I have a bad feeling."

A half truth. Shirou wasn't a natural liar, but experience from his old life had sharpened his skills to a considerable extent.

"But why?"

"Isn't it a bit suspicious for an Uchiha to be working with us against Konoha?"

Now that one was a lie, but Shirou pointed out one fact that everyone had seemed to gloss over during the planning phase.

Nobody cared enough to question his allegiance, and Shirou quickly jumped on the oddity. It was his first real clue to the underlying workings of the organization.

Tobi had been part of the organization far longer than anyone had, being one of its founding members along with Pein, Yahiko, and Konan.

But for some reason, he had never been asked for input regarding the activities.

Especially when Tobi controlled much, if not all, of the information Akatsuki collected. Even Zetsu, their secondary infiltrator, deferred to him.

With such an important role, why wouldn't his input be requested? Even after all these years.

But after enough digging, Shirou confronted the two sisters.


"Heinrich, Eugen. Tell me what's really going on."

Lunea was spending time in the pocket reality with Lunulupae, leaving the trio some privacy.

"You heard what Pein said, we're scouting out Konoha for the invasion." Eugen stated while stretching.

The meeting had ended a few days ago, but Shirou took some time to collect his thoughts and connect some clues.

"Don't act like I didn't notice anything. Especially that monster we've been meeting on."

Heinrich and Eugen froze.

When Pein invited them to the organization, it was Eugen's gut feeling that let to the discovery.

The Gedo Mazo statue had been inactive since time immemorial. They spent years studying the creature and had failed to discover anything about it.

Nothing mentioned the monster even in the oldest records in Nihonn.

It was only through sheer luck that Eugen had identified it as a corpse. Her magic specialized in controlling the physical form, an opposite of her sister's spiritual control. It was barely enough to stumble across the telltale signs of a once-living body.

After finding out about the corpse, Heinrich and Eugen confronted Pein about it.

After that meeting, the two had joined the Rinnegan User's faction.

"W-what?"

Therein lies the problem. Shirou had never told the sisters about the true extent of his tracing ability. They knew he could analyze objects, but only assumed it extended to their general physique.

Much less the history.

"Why is Akatsuki hiding such an abomination?"

Shirou didn't need to go into details about the power behind it. The creature was easily a world-class threat. Far stronger than even Primate Murder in his previous life.

The thing was easily comparable to a Planetary Type, carrying enough power to destroy a planet.

When Shirou joined Akatsuki, he investigated what little information he could get his hands on.

Missions, history, and members. Even going as far as purchasing information from other parties, despite being part of Akatsuki himself.

All of it pointed towards a criminal organization funding Pein's efforts to overthrow Hanzo in Amegakure.

All except for one thing.

The gigantic eldritch monster he traced.

The first time Heinrich brought him to meet the leaders, even if it was only through a magical ring, Shirou already identified the meeting location as a vital datamine.

Especially the statue.

So once he was brought to the real location, the first thing Shirou did was trace the statue.

The only thing that stopped Shirou from blacking out was his previous experience with his counter guardian's memories.

Shirou stared down the two girls, both of whom were looking at him differently.

"Shirou…what do you know?" Heinrich hesitantly asked.

"Akatsuki is a criminal organization, hiding an eldritch monster that could wipe the continents. Members are comfortable with meeting on what is theoretically a doomsday device, and the ten rings we carry are suspiciously marked on the creature's body."

Heinrich and Eugen's eyes widened at Shirou's discovery.

"Pein and his team are the leaders, yet Tobi, who is also a founding member, has no visible power in the organization's operations. He is our best spy, having access to all the information Akatsuki receives. Yet I have not seen Pein ask for his input in anything. Such a powerful role for what purpose?"

Then Shirou went in for the kill.

"The statue is connected to the nine Bijuu. Suspiciously, Konoha has one of them."

Shirou silently cocked his aria, prepared to counter both Heinrich and Eugen if a fight broke out.

"Is ROOT just a cover to hide your plan with the Konoha Jinchuuriki?"

The Bijuu had appeared in the corpse's memories, but Shirou couldn't tell them that. It would mean exposing his ability.

The information he had laid out was dangerous, nowhere else could anyone find such information. So the only people who know it must have some intention if they had the corpse in hand.

Heinrich and Eugen's reaction was enough to tell Shirou that they also knew what it was.

The sisters were his only chance. Shirou doubted he could approach the other members, much less their leader, Pein.

"What do you intend to do?"

There were only two plans in Shirou's mind.

One, destroy it.

But with Shirou's current ability, Akatsuki would probably kill him faster before he could erase the damn thing.

Two, disable it.

Same problem. Even if Shirou could move the statue into his soul, Akatsuki would destroy him before his full Aria was chanted.

"..."

The silence was enough of an answer for the sisters.


The stadium was a frozen glacier.

Collateral damage was rampant after the fight spilled out on the streets.

On the other hand, at least their side had the advantage.

Minato dodged another ice wave by flashing to a nearby rooftop. The street below them was utterly frozen in its entirety by one very dangerous SS-rank. It took Jiraiya and Hiruzen's combined mastery over the fire element to even counter Esdeath's ice magic.

Immediately after flashing, he was forced to move as a large ice shard smashed into his position, absolutely decimating the rooftop.

Once Jiraiya had arrived, the tables had turned on the Akatsuki members.

Esdeath may have been an SS-rank, but 4 versus 8 was too much to ask for.

Minato watched as Rasa manipulated his golden sand into going after Esdeath, only for the wave to turn into molten liquid as it was barraged by superheated High-Explosive shells from the pair of homunculi.

"I'm going to run out of golden dust if those two aren't dealt with soon." Rasa complained.

Once Akatsuki was pushed on the back foot, Heinrich and Eugen had switched into support roles, covering angles that Tatsumi and Esdeath couldn't defend from.

The ninjas had learned that attacking the sisters from range proved nearly impossible. Kunai and shuriken were shot down by miniature anti-air guns while ranged jutsu were destroyed by the sheer strength held in a single cannon.

And the sisters had eight of them.

To avoid being barraged by the oversized cannons, some of the S-ranks had to split off from Esdeath and Tatsumi. But those efforts ultimately failed as the pair of homunculi delayed them long enough for either the dragonoid or the ice demoness to reach them.

Akatsuki may have been outnumbered, but they were far from losing.

Minato threw one of his tri-pronged kunai at Esdeath, then flashed once it reached within arm's distance. He appeared beside the woman, Rasengan in hand.

Then promptly flashed away.

Had he stayed any longer, Minato would've found himself frozen in the grasp of Esdeath, who had baited him into attacking at her opening.

The excited grin on her face was all he needed to see. Had he been frozen there, Esdeath would've only been disappointed in the lack of a challenge.

But while Minato teleported away, Hiruzen and Jiraiya unleashed a stream of fire at her. Esdeath simply waved her hand for an ice barrier to grow from the ground, blocking the flames. Orochimaru's hands popped out of the ground and grasped her legs, followed by Tsunade coming in with a powerful jab.

Esdeath twisted in place, gracefully dodging the attack while also attempting to pull him from his place. Orochimaru held strong, locking the woman in place. Finally, his efforts paid off as Kushina was able to reinforce the trapped demoness in golden chains.

Sasori used the opportunity to blast a thin stream of high pressure water at Esdeath, but the stream was frozen before it could reach the SS-rank.

Suddenly, everyone was forced to back off as another wave of destructive energy beams raked the area.

Again, the two sisters had managed to cover Esdeath.

The dragonoid reappeared and tackled Kushina, weakening her focus on the golden chains, which were easily shattered after Esdeath froze them.

Minato flashed to his wife, slamming a kick into the side of the Akatsuki member, launching him backwards.

"They're a distraction! We need to find out where the true attack is!" Minato shouted.

The four Akatsuki members were doing such a good job in locking down the S-ranks from Konoha, buying time for their hidden objective.

"Minato, you are the fastest here. Leave the fight to us." Orochimaru urged as he summoned a set of snakes to attack Esdeath.

"No. I can't leave, my Hiraishin is distracting Esdeath from pulling any of her stronger attacks. Someone else has to go!" Minato urged.

Esdeath was nigh impossible to beat. It took a combined effort between the S-ranks to hold her down long enough for one attempt. The only other chance they had was if Minato could flash in and land a hit. Even with all his speed, Esdeath was simply too good a fighter that she was able to counter Minato's Hiraishin.

At the same time, Esdeath couldn't really unleash a powerful attack. The moment she charged one, Minato would be right at her side with a Rasengan or a kunai.

The fight pretty much boiled down to who could land a hit on the other side's strongest.

Strength vs Speed and Numbers.

And while they had the advantage, Akatsuki was winning. Each second wasted here was another second for their real objective.


Another explosion erupted behind them, shaking the foundation of the entire base.

Shirou and Lunea had been provided with enough explosive tags to nuke the hokage monument off the face of the world, but that was more than enough for Shirou to use on the ROOT base.

He had planted the explosives around key weak points of the ROOT fortress and detonated them as they left. The members of the base would be hard pressed to stabilize it after the crumbling foundations collapsed.

As difficult as it was to fight wave after wave of ROOT shinobi, easily comparable to Kabuto's base ninja, the destruction of their base meant that they were now out of the equation, too busy salvaging whatever they could from their headquarters.

Now that the easy part was over, now came the hard one.

The next few minutes would define if his efforts paid off, or ultimately crumbled before his very eyes.

Escaping.

Shirou and Lunea had emerged near one of Konoha's bunkers near the hokage monument. They were in the forest some ways off the path, but the roaming shinobi would easily spot the two teenagers. Even without their cloaks, any patrolling guards would be put on guard after seeing the blood stains on their clothes.

They could play off as injured civilians, but that image wouldn't hold up after they were checked for injuries.

The pair of Akatsuki members hunkered down in some dense foliage and changed attires as they studied the situation. The new clothing matched the surroundings, providing them an extra degree of cover, but what they needed was an escape route.

It was not looking good. There was too much shinobi patrolling the area.

"Konan, we've sabotaged the ROOT base. We are now somewhere near the Hokage Monument. There is a bunker nearby which we can't avoid. There are too many Shinobi for us to slip through, can you ask Zetsu to send some clones to distract them?" Shirou whispered to the slip of paper.

Konan on the other end received the transmission and replied. "Affirm. Asked Zetsu to relocate one contingent of his clones to cover you."

One contingent was a hundred clones.

That should be more than enough.

Suddenly, Lunea whirled around. "Shirou, there is a group of shinobi coming our way! We can't avoid them!"

Had they been discovered? No, the both of them immediately suppressed their mana output the moment they left the ROOT base. Which meant that this was a group patrolling the area.

A few scenarios ran through Shirou's mind. None of them good.

There was too much distance between them and the village walls. Making a run for it would be impossible once communications reached other Konoha shinobi. Unlike the rest of Konoha, no Zetsu clones were sent to this area because it wasn't a priority. Here, the Konoha shinobi were organized and prepared.

Fighting it out wasn't an option either. Shirou and Lunea together couldn't possibly outmatch the larger Konoha force. Not to mention that they weren't at peak condition after their battle with ROOT.

Shirou glanced at Lunea. Her safety was at stake here, more important than his. She was too young to die.

He could buy time. Long enough for Zetsu's clones to arrive.

A small wistful smile appeared on Shirou's face. Again, here he was, risking his life for another.

'Seriously. No wonder my aria changed.'

Heinrich and Eugen would probably never forgive him for breaking a promise. Lunea would be heartbroken, but she would escape.

He wouldn't.

But he had a better chance.

Shirou had kept his swords a secret. In the past few years, the only time he's trained with his swords were within his reality marble.

They were his ultimate trump card should he ever find himself in danger within Akatsuki.

Heinrich, Eugen, Lunea, nor Lunulupae knew about them.

As far as they knew, Shirou could only create simple kunai and shuriken.

So it came as a surprise when Lunea suddenly sensed a new object appear behind her, something far larger than the normal kunai Shirou produced. Not only was it larger, but it carried a different smell, courtesy of the unique magecraft it carried.

The Black Keys of the Executor known as Kotomone Kirei stabbed into the shadow of Lunea, immobilizing the girl.

Lunea froze, eyes widening as she found herself locked in place by some unknown magic.

Her eyes darted back to Shirou. "W-what? Shirou what's-"

Lunea found herself unable to make any sound as another mystic code silenced her. Followed by others joining in a batch around her, completely masking her presence.

"Konan. We've been discovered. We need assistance."

He tucked Konan's slip in Lunea's pocket then gave her a soft smile. It was the same smile Shirou used to hide his emotions when they saved people.

And Lunea absolutely hated it. It was a mask Shirou put on when he wanted to present a calm exterior.

"Sorry Lunea, but I can't let you get captured."

Realization dawned on the phantasmal beast.

Shirou wasn't going to hide with her.

He was going to fight the shinobi.

'N-no…Shirou, NO!'

"Don't worry. Konoha doesn't aim to kill. I'll find a way to come back."

That was a lie and Lunea knew it.

Shirou disappeared into the foliage, reinforcing his body and accelerating off into the distance.


Tatsumi coughed up some blood.

Despite using his pseudo-dragonoid form, he was slowly losing to Tsunade.

The famed medical nin from Konoha was a rare opponent he faced that could somehow negate his powerful physique. Not even Esdeath could manage to make his body ache this fast, and she was already monstrous, capable of beating him in strength.

Tsunade wasn't just trading blows with him, no, she was stabbing nerves and joints at specific areas. Tatsumi may have been able to hold her back before, but he was steadily losing ground. He could ignore the aches in his body, but it was starting to slow him down against the other S-ranks.

On the side, a wave of golden dust was intercepted by a vollet of high explosive shells, scattering the particles in a wide area.

Hiruzen took the opportunity to cast a whirlwind, drawing the particles back, then suffusing the golden dust laced whirlwind with electricity and directing it towards Esdeath, who simply smiled and avoided the attack by floating on a piece of ice.

Kushina attempted to shoot her chains at the SS-rank, but she was forced to cancel the attack and dodge debris thrown by Tatsumi.

"Assault team. You need to attract more shinobi from Konoha. Shirou and Lunea are surrounded."

Esdeath's grin widened as she turned to her partner. The message was clear. She expected him to stop holding back.

He sighed. Tatsumi had made it a point not to use his full dragon form. The only time he's used it is with the other dragons, or when Esdeath wanted a real fight.

But circumstances were different. If he held back here, then his allies would be in danger.

"Esdeath, buy me some time."

The woman laughed, then froze the entire battlefield around her. Suddenly, the opposing group of S-ranks were carried up into the air by Rasa's golden dust as a massive radius around Esdeath suddenly burst into ice.

It was a world of ice.

Trees, streets, entire buildings, all shining in pristine blue as they were suddenly blanketed by powerful ice magic.

Large shards of ice forced the group to defend themselves midair. Without any buildings for cover, Esdeath was free to launch attack after attack, giving the ninja no time to retaliate.

The Kazekage grunted as a small fragment of ice touched his platform, and slowly spread from the point of contact. He quickly dropped the section it managed to freeze.

"We're trapped here. I'm losing more golden dust from each ice fragment that reaches us."

Minato considered his options. "I can teleport us, but bringing your golden dust would tire me out."

"So you're saying I have to abandon it? Esdeath would freeze all my dust if we do." Rasa grunted. That would mean one less S-rank to help deal with Akatsuki, but as it was, they were going to be taken out by the insane ice barrage Esdeath had.

"I'm afraid we have to agree with Minato." Even the Sandaime could see no other choice to avoid a slow defeat.

"We'll have to re-engage after teleporting. The problem is that all the Hiraishin kunai in the area had been frozen too. So we'll be teleporting from one further out."

"Fine, fine. Get ready." Rasa surrendered.

The golden dust molded into a ball, enveloping the 8 shinobi in a defensive cocoon, but also stopping them from intercepting the incoming projectiles.

The superstructure shook as large shards of ice smashed from outside, and ice started freezing the exterior.

But it was enough. Everyone hung on to Minato as they were teleported to the Hokage tower, where Minato had a Hiraishin tag located.

The next moment, Esdeath's shards finally managed to pierce the ball, breaking it open to find nobody inside.

"How bad is it, Konan?" Eugen appeared, a hint of worry in her voice.

"Shirou's moved to intercept them. For some reason, Lunea isn't moving."

Beside them, Tatsumi had started growing into his dragon form.

Minato had transported the group to his office in the Hokage tower. From there, they could see a large portion of Konoha, and the entire battlefield they fought in.

The group took a few moments to catch their breaths, but a large shadow growing in the distance caught their eyes.

Kushina felt a sudden spike in the air. Beside her, the others turned their eyes at the direction of the power as the air suddenly thrummed once. Then again, and again, like a pulse.

They saw the silhouette growing in size, matching the change in the atmosphere.

Around them, the environment's ambient mana thrummed alive, as a primeval beast appeared. The atmosphere around them prickled on their skin, hairs standing on edge from the friction.

It was too late.

Their hearts drummed in their ears, throats suddenly parched.

Akatsuki…didn't just send an SS-rank.

They sent a monster too.

Kushina felt her stomach drop from the scene.

From afar, towering over Konoha, scaled limbs larger than a building, body wider than a face on the Hokage Monument, jaws carrying teeth visible from their location…

…stood a dragon.

"""Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"""

Three Sannin shouted at once, summoning their respective contracted beings.

A toad, snake, and slug appeared in puffs of smoke alongside the S-ranked Shinobi.

But even the dragon dwarfed the trio of summons.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu."

Another puff of smoke and Monkey King Enma appeared.

"I'm calling all available shinobi to help us." Minato flashed away.


Shirou was running.

Around him, a perimeter of Konoha forces had been established.

The ninja were fast, but Shirou's reinforced body was faster, giving him some fighting chance.

He had donned on his Akatsuki cloak to make sure all the attention was drawn to him, pulling any shinobi near Lunea away.

Trace on.

Shirou's perspective changed, Mana Sight exposing the brief locations of the people around him before he shut it down. His eyes protested with a small ache after so much repeated use since his infiltration of the ROOT base.

He changed his route, avoiding three teams who prepared a hidden ambush.

Now that Shirou was working alone, he finally had some leeway for his objective.

'Damn it. Where is he?!'

Akatsuki intel had gathered data on how the ANBU operated. The leader, Kakashi Hatake, was in charge of the defense, which meant he was in the middle of Konoha leading the ANBU forces.

But Shirou's target wasn't the leader of ANBU. No, it was the second-in-command, who was supposed to be coordinating the protection of the bunkers.

Itachi Uchiha.

Shirou had put so much effort into planning for this meeting. Spending nights away from everyone to work on the execution.

He had purposely manipulated the original route of escape, ditching the first exit for one that was close to the bunkers.

Shirou didn't want to, but this was his only chance to contact outside parties. After this opportunity, he wouldn't know when the next one would appear.

That was the reason he left Lunea behind. That way should Akatsuki ever learn of his betrayal, the girls wouldn't be dragged down with him.

There was a reason Shirou avoided regrouping with Tobi. Next, he purposely left Konan's tracking slip behind, so that the Zetsu clones would locate Lunea. There was none in the area, which left Shirou free to conduct his plans.

With them off his back, Shirou had a small window of opportunity.

The Gedo Mazo had to be destroyed.

And to do that, Shirou needed assistance. The only other group of people that could possibly help destroy the Gedo Mazo was here.

In Konoha.


Shirou stood across Pein, his mind furiously analyzing what he learned.

Akatsuki wasn't bad, or at least not all.

In fact, it was Pein's faction who wanted the Gedo Mazo gone.

Tobi came to Pein with the idea of forming an S-ranked organization to achieve both their goals.

An agreement.

Pein would be the leader, and Akatsuki would be his tool to finally remove Hanzo from power. In return, he would help Tobi gather the Jinchuuriki for a weapon, one strong enough to force peace.

Jiraiya's teachings nearly stopped him from accepting the deal. But having an eye on the most dangerous weapon under a man who had an unknown doujutsu was more important.

At the time, Pein still hadn't learned of the Mangekyou.

"What do you want me to do?"

Heinrich and Eugen had sent him to meet Pein for answers. They had been recruited long ago to assist Pein's faction in building a resistance against the Gedo Mazo.

Pein had been planning to betray Tobi since the very beginning.

"During the assault on Konoha, avoid Tobi and Zetsu. Then find a way to contact Jiraiya-sensei."