That's the Kazekage? You sure he will win? He doesn't look that strong..." - Ukon said while chewing on his arm.
"Who said that he will win?" - Eiji
"Huh? Why did you warn Suna of the upcoming attack then?" - he stopped to chew and looked at Eiji.
"Just to make the life of Akatsuki harder." - Eiji smiled amused.
"So you the one-tail? I sure underestimated your village's security. Must be probably cause Sasori's husband was found out beforehand...yeah."
"Even if he was found out, he won't be able to say anything they want to know."
"..." - Gaara
"Not really talkative...yeah."
Gaara wasn't in the mood to talk with Akatsuki and made the first move.
But it wasn't long until he was defeated.
In the original timeline, he lost to Deidar alone, and now with even Sasori here, he didn't stand a chance.
"N-no way! Lord Kazegake lost!" - Suna-nin who watched the fight quickly retreated to inform Sunagakure of Gaara's defeat.
"Making their life harder? It looks like you did the contrary and made their life way easier." - Ukon
"Well, excuse me. I didn't think he would be dumb enough to take them- oh, at least Suna-nins show up after he's defeated."
A group of Suna-nins appeared with Kankuro leading them.
"RETURN GAARA TO US, NOW!"
"Deidara, you go on ahead!" - Sasori
"I'm outta here." - Deidara took the unconscious Gaara and summoned a clay bird before hopping on it.
"STOP!!!" - shouted while Kankuro summoned his 3 puppets.
Other shinobis took out their kunais and waited for an opportunity.
"Sure brings back memories of my time when I lived in Suna..." - Sasori nonchalantly deflected every attack with his iron tail.
"You! Who are you?!" - Kankuro
"Uhm, I really think you fucked that up." - Ukon
'But nothing changed at all?! Just some more mob casualties! Damn you fate of this Naruto world!' - Eiji didn't show his thoughts and smiled amused instead: "Well, this was more or less the expected outcome anyway, just hoped those two Akatsuki fellows used a bit more chakra."
"Yeah...right. Do we head back now? You gathered your information, right? Seeing them fight made me want to have some fun too..." - Ukon licked his lips.
"No, we continue. Things will get even more interesting. Besides, I don't think Sasuke left a location for you to have fun..."
Hearing that, Ukon started to curse Sasuke again while chewing on his arm.
Naruto who after returning had a fighting match with Sakura against Kakashi was now complaining in front of Tsunade: "What? I'm not going on that kinda mission!"
"Eh? What, you got a freakin' problem?" - Tsunade asked with an annoyed face.
'Pleeease quit acting selfish...if she gets angry I'm the one who gets it!' - Kakashi complained internally.
"Geez...your personality hasn't changed one bit, Naruto..." - Iruka
"S-sorry, master! Just let me talk to him!" - Sakura tried to defuse the situation while shouting internally: 'YOU FOOL! YOU ONLY TALK LIKE THAT BECAUSE YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT HER WRATH IS LIKE! DAMN IT!"
"Hmph...the 3rd was way more understanding..." - Naruto
"CUT IT OUT DAMNIT!" - Sakura
But suddenly a kunoichi stormed into the office: "Fith! E-Emergency!"
"Huh? What happened?" - Tsunade
"We received word from the Sand! The Kazekage has been captured by the Organization, "Akatsuki!"
"!"
"Team Kakashi, I'm assigning you a new mission..." - Tsunade
"Excuse us, but we can't let currently anyone into the village..." - a guard blocked the way.
Eiji and Ukon used the transformation technique to look like ordinary citizens, but since the was an emergency in Sunakagure, not even civilians could currently enter.
Eiji smiled: "I understand that you guys have a slight emergency, but don't worry, we're a neutral party..."
"Neutral party?"
Instead of answering, Eiji took out a scroll with a signature.
"Y-you are with the Shiki Ryuu? I-I'm sorry...but can you wait a bit, we need to ask our superiors first!" - with that, one of the guards disappeared.
The transformed Ukon looked questioningly at the transformed Eiji.
"I know what you want to ask...we have to wait a bit before things get interesting...don't you think it's better to wait while drinking tea comfortably or do you want to wait in the desert?"
Since the Shiki Ryuu is known for its hard stance on neutrality, after some discussion they were let in. Of course, Sunagakure didn't want to have them know that the Kazekage was kidnapped so that someone might buy that information, but since there was a branch in the village, they suspected that they already knew it anyway.
They also weren't worried about them being impersonators, because in the past when some folks tried that, they were instantly crushed by the Shiki Ryuu and blacklisted from being able to buy information from them. After that, no one wanted to risk being blackmailed.
While wandering through the village to search for the branch, Ukon said: "You know, back then I thought you were crazy for trying to build an information brokerage...and that we managed to achieve all that in only 3 years is really crazy if you think about it..."
"I really don't want to hear you call someone else crazy...but to be honest, I didn't also didn't expect this to become this big. I guess we were just lucky. Just think about it...all the shinobi villages gathered information on their own and treasured it with utmost care. But it's just impossible to gather all information they need on their own, so they and their respective nation shared information to help each other. However, small shinobi villages weren't able to do that, which put them further at a disadvantage. That's why they employed the services of small brokers who would gather information on the 5 great shinobi countries. But such small brokers obviously aren't able to get relevant information, which left a vacuum of demand. Now, if someone were to fill this vacuum, what are the things they would need?"
"Just come to the point! You know I'm an impatient guy!"
"Oh come one, don't be like that...anyway there are two things." - Eiji stopped and raised two fingers: "Relevant information and power - both things we had. We had some relevant information because of our peculiar backgrounds: Me being the former Hokage and you a former elite bodyguard for Orochimaru. After selling high desired information to a bunch of people, we started to build up a reputation. And that reputation, in turn, got us more clients, which again raised our reputation which started to snowball. However, because of that renown, people started to target us - not only shinobi villages, but other brokers as well. This is where power comes into play. Except for Chisato, without sounding too cocky, we are all really strong - there aren't a lot of people who can beat us. After being targeted for some time, we also got a reputation for being strong. Now the small brokers were out of options, they couldn't compete with our intel and couldn't crush us directly - they were essentially out of business. They either had to look for another way to earn money or be part of us. This again started a snowball effect -"
Ukon who was only half-listening stated: "But that only gave us a monopoly over the small villages while the big fish continued to ignore us, right?"
"Sigh, you are asking like you weren't with us the whole time..."
"Not my fault. You always just sent me somewhere to defeat some trash...not that I mind though."
Eiji shrugged his shoulders and just continued: "Well, you aren't wrong. The information network of the 5 great shinobi villages is high-class, so competing with them was really hard. Fortunately right at that time, Orochimaru attacked us because of Sasuke, which gave us a good reason to publish information, which even shocked the big villages. With that, even though they were reluctant at first, occasionally some would turn to us. And since we always did a good job the number of times increased. But this was also the time when our small business suddenly couldn't keep up with the demand and I started to employ ordinary civilians instead of former intel-brokers. Thinking back, coming up with a plan on how to avoid spies and managing all that, was the most tedious stuff...but now at least it operates almost automatically. Though if I disappeared, all the snakes which are crucial would vanish as well and everything would collapse...eh, who cares, I'm already rich and didn't do it for money in the first place." - Eiji opened the door to the Sunagakure branch and entered it with Ukon.
When they entered the Shiki Ryuu tea house branch, what greeted them was a...tea house.
Other than selling information, it was an ordinary tea-house.
The reason was simple if even common people came to buy dangerous intel, chaos would erupt.
But more importantly, they wouldn't be able to handle that many requests at once!
"Welcome dear gues-" - before the employee could finish his greeting, Eiji took a badge out and showed it.
"Y-you are the Shiki Ryuu's master? I-I'M SORRY!!" - while saying that with a scared voice, the employee bowed in an apologetic manner.
"Why are you sorry? Did you do anything wrong?"
"N-no it's just..."
"Sigh, just guide us to a VIP room."
"C-certainly..."
'Since no one knows my real identity except for Sasuke Ukon and Chisato, that kind of reaction is to be expected...but aren't they way too scared?'
He didn't show his identity, since he didn't want to risk that people find out that he was the former Hokage.
The other reason was, that he or a shadow-clone of his could personally interview job-applicants, which enabled him to give them a "congratulation present" if they were to pass the interview.
This "present" was nothing other than a transformed small snake, stay with them as long as they are employed.
Those snakes were the main security tool: they would unnoticingly observe the actions and chakra of their targets, making it able to spot when someone is under a Genjutsu.
Furthermore, since they feed upon their target's chakra, they also wouldn't disappear after some time - though the amount isn't enough to cause the employees any harm.
After being guided to the VIP room, Eiji ordered some time while Ukon just leaned onto the room's wall and fell asleep.
'This guy probably only sleeps cause he is bored and not tired...speaking of which, until the Konoha forces travel here, it might take some time...' - lost in thought, Eiji drank his tea.
A few days later at the Konoha's gate.
"You all are to go on the same mission as Kakashi's team. Your mission is to head for the sand and support them with Kakashi's team. Understood?" - Tsunade
"Right!...A...ACHOO!!!" - Guy
"Have you a cold?" - Tsunade
"Nah, I've had hay fever for a while now...HAHAHAHA...Right! Everyone! Let's get to the Sand in one day!!" - Guy
"No! Sensei! Let's get there in half a day!!" - Lee
"What are they thinking? It takes three days..." - Neji
"Please stop talking nonsense like that!" - Tenten said to Lee and Guy.
With that, they departed for Sunagakure!
"I'm so bored...and with the whole village being on high alert, going to a bar isn't an option either..." - Eiji complained while laying on the floor in the VIP room.
"But you aren't old enough for alcohol...it might mess with your head if you drink while your brain is still developing..." - Ukon was also laying like a vegetable on the floor.
"I don't want to hear words like mess and head from you...besides, if you are old enough to kill because of your profession, you should be allowed to drink! Really...who made those dumb laws..." - Eiji
"But killing is fun...I don't know if it's the case for drinking..." - Ukon
"You should really stop talking about stuff like that, or else you'll have problems finding a wife in the future, ya know?" - Eiji
"A wife...Why would I need that kind of stuff?"
"You know...for things like -" - Eiji instantly got up from his "vegetable state".
With dead fish eyes, Ukon turned to him: "...What's wrong? Need to shit or what?"
"Nah, my shadow clone dispersed, it's finally time."
"Really? I hope this time I can have some fun as well..."
"Who knows? The future is always uncertain and with unlimited possibilities..."
"Always when you said that, nothing happened."
Eiji smiled: "Don't worry, even if you can't join, you'll see an interesting show."
In a gloomy cave, the Akatsuki prepared for the extraction of the Shukaku.
"From this point onward, it'll take 3 days and nights to complete. Everyone, also be mindful of your real bodies. Ok, now Zetsu, use your real body as a lookout. Use your largest range." - Pain
"I know." - Zetsu
"3 days, eh...? With Orochimaru gone, shouldn't we expect it to take a bit longer?" - Kisame
"If you really think so, then let's get started already." - Pain
"Hey!! I said you guys are going too fast!! We've been running non-stop for an entire day already!! Let's take a little break!!"
"Tenten, you lack discipline." - Lee
"!" - Neji
"Wait! Guy!" - suddenly a speaking dog appeared in front of them.
"Pakkun..."
...
"Kakashi ordered all eight of us ninja dogs to split up and search for the scent of the Akatsuki members separately. We discovered that they headed towards the river country between Konoha and Sand. Your group is closest to the Akatsuki heading from Konoha to Sand, so we came here." - Pakkun
"I see..." - Lee
"Follow me. I'll explain while we're running." - Pakkun
"Great! Everyone Let's go!!" - Guy
With that, they left, but Zetsu was spectating from within a tree.
"An enemy is approaching our hideout. He appears to be very skilled...his name is Might Guy." - Zetsu
"...who's that?" - Pain
"He's a Jounin from Konoha that uses Taijutsu. He's quite talented, so take care not to underestimate him." - Itachi
"...ah...that bizarre beast, eh..." - Kisame
"I'll use that jutsu..." - Pain
"Let me go instead...I've had a hard time finding my Jinchuuriki...and I've been starting to get irritated..." - Itachi
"No...I will go. I have a personal vendetta against that man..." - Kisame
"Indeed...after all, that jutsu is suitable for you as you have a large amount of chakra even for us "Akatsuki"...however, I'll still need to have thirty percent-"
"Another enemy is approaching." - Zetsu
"Can you describe them?" - Pain
"Two youngsters who look skilled. One of them is the "Lost Hokage" while the other is a former henchman of Orochimaru." - Zetsu
"The "Lost Hokage", eh...things get more and more interesting...why don't you take him on, Itachi?"
"Enough. Since it's the "Lost Hokage" it must be the Shiki Ryuu. Still...why are they suddenly starting to act so openly? They're probably planning something. Don't engage them, just continue to keep observing them, Zetsu."
"Yes."
"...! You are..."
"Do you know him, Guy-sensei?" - Lee
"Who are you?" - Guy
"..." - Tenten
"..." - Neji
"..." - Lee
"Ah, it looks like the "Bizarre Beast" is as dumb as one as well. Well, at any rate, I'd better refresh your memory..." - Kisame
"Hey, don't you feel how there is an interesting fight somewhere nearby?" - Ukon licked his lips.
"Nah, just follow me. It will be way more interesting..." - Eiji
"Really? After those last boring days, I really hope you are not lying..." - Ukon's tone started to get more threatening.
"Or else what? You think you are stronger than me? You want us to repeat our match? Anyway, just trust me...when did I ever lie to you?"
"Tsk!"
'...I just didn't want to risk meeting Tenten...things would be way too annoyingand awkward...' - thought Eiji.
At the cave.
"There is another...shinobi of the Leaf." - Zetsu
"Well...who's next?" - Pain
"! Everyone halt!" - Kakashi stopped running.
"!!" - Naruto
"...well, this is sudden..." - Kakashi
"...this guy...those eyes..." - Chiyo
"Uchiha...Itachi!" - Naruto
"See? Doesn't this look more interesting?" - Eiji
"Uchiha Itachi? Isn't that Sasuke'sbrother? If you knew he would be there...why didn't you let Sasuke know?" - Ukon
"Oh? You are actually caring about Sasuke?" - Eiji
"That's not it...it's just, it makes me question if you actually will keep your promise..." - Ukon's eyes shined dangerously. - Ukon
"Hmm...the reason is that this isn't actually the real Itachi..." - Eiji
"What do you mean?" - Ukon
"Well, seeing it yourself is better than me trying to explain it, so just watch..." - Eiji shrugged his shoulders and sat down to spectate.
Youknow...compared to Sasuke, isn't he a bit weak?" - Ukon said with a dark expression
"That's because this isn't the real Itachi." - Eiji
"You keep sayin' that, but- wait...who's that?" - Ukon
"Told ya so." - Eiji shrugged hisshoulders: "Anyway, let's just continue to follow them."
After defeating "Itachi", Team Kakashi andChiyo hurried to get to Gaara before Akatsuki finished extracting the Shukaku. But it was getting late, so they decided to camp for the night.
Chiyo sat in front of the campfire and thought about her past, especially her grandson Sasori, when Kakashi came to her.
"Let's finish our break soon, but before that, I'll be out for a bit." - Kakashi
"Out for a bit, eh?" - Chiyo
Kakashi's expression turned serious and get got closer and said in a low voice: "For some time now, I had the feeling that we're followed. I want to confirm if it's true."
"!" - Chiyo nodded imperceptibly and continued to gaze at the bonfire, but she was alert and ready if something happened.
On a tree, Eiji was laying in a bed made of summoned snakes, while Ukon stared at him with envy.
"Can't you make me one too?" - Ukon
"Nope, need to conserve my chakra in case something happens." - Eiji
"Then why did you make one for you?" - Ukon
"To shield me from surprise attacks, or did you think this is supposed to be a bed?" - Eiji
"You fuckin-" - he stopped because Eiji suddenly got up with a serious expression.
"Looks like we've been found out." - Eiji made his snake-bed disappear while thinking: 'Was it Neji with his Byakugan? No, Team Kakashi should only meet up with Team Guy thenext day, so he couldn't be in range...'
Suddenly a kunai flew towards Eiji, but since he was alert he dodged it.
"I thought it was Akatsuki who followed us but to think it was the "Lost Hokage" and a henchman of Orochimaru." - a figure showed itself and got into a battle-ready stance.
"So it's you Kakashi...how did you found out? I'm sure we stayed out of detection-range." -Eiji smiled amused, but moved with his handthe wealthy kimono, to reveal his sword.
"Intuition...now you have two choices,either you surrender or will have to face me." - Kakashi
"Intuition, huh? That's Kakashi for you...I'm honored that the famous Kakashi Hatake wants to fight me, but don't you think your priorities are wrong? Shouldn't you chase after Akatsuki instead?" - Eiji
"Since I don't know what your plans are or why you're following us, it would be too dangerous to just ignore you two." - Kakashi
"You want to know why we're following you?" - Eiji took out a scroll and threw it towards Kakashi.
"As you can see, we are with the Shiki Ryuu. We won't interfere with your Akatsuki business, we are just here to collect information." - Eiji
"Shiki Ryuu? Even if it's true, you are both wanted by Konoha, so I can't just ign-"
"HIAHAHAHA!!! FINALLY, I CAN HAVE SOME FUN!! I WAS GETTING BORED JUST WATCHING FIGHTS!!!" - Ukon who had a crazy expressioncharged at Kakashi while activating his level 1 curse mark.
"NO! UKON STOP!!" - Eiji bit gritted his teeth.
'This crazy bastard...' - he knew now, that a fight was unavoidable.
"Sigh...I guess we do the usual then?" - Eiji summoned a small snake and threw it towards Ukon, who was already attacking Kakashi with taijutsu.
'What is he planning?' - Kakashi was wary of the snake and made sure to stay out of range.
Ukon stopped his attacks to catch thesnake, but Kakashi wouldn't let a chance like that go to waste and charged with a Chidori at Ukon and pierced through his chest.
"It's over." - Kakashi looked at Ukon and with his Sharingan, it looked like Kakashi couldpeer into Ukon's very soul at that moment.
"Sigh, I really don't wanna do this...can we still somehow talk this out, Kakashi?" - even though he said that Eiji shot a wind bullet from his finger to get Kakashi away from Ukon.
After Kakashi had to dodge the wind bullet, Ukon looked at the hole in his chest area.
"!" - Kakashi knew something was wrong.
Instead of having an expression like someone about to die, Ukon instead had a crazy smile.
And then he saw it, the chest area of Ukon visible regenerated at an unbelievable speed!
'This will be a bit problematic...' - Kakashi looked first at Ukon, then at Eiji who was still only watching.
So the regeneration ability is because of that snake? So that's what that snake was for. It somehow merged with his body granting him this regeneration ability.' - with his Sharingan, Kakashi could see the chakra flowing from Ukon's hand to the regenerating wound. Since Ukon's left hand was white and full of scales, it was obvious that the snake merged there.
With that, it wasn't rocket science to conclude that Ukon's regenerative ability came from the snake Eiji threw earlier.
Though, Kakashi suspected that it was the snake's ability to merge with Ukon, which was actually the opposite.
It was Ukon's Kekkei Genkai that allowed him to merge that snake into his body!
'I can't afford to waste too much chakra here or use my Mangekyo...I need it for the upcoming fight with Akatsuki. But this regeneration ability makes it hard to finish him while conserving chakra...the other problem is the other one...he still hasn't moved except for the snake and that one air-bullet...should I just disengage as he offered? No, their actions are too suspicious! If they work with Akatsuki and would ambush us when we engage Akatsuki, it would be a disaster! I just need to drag this out until Naruto and co. come to reinforce me. They should already be on the way. With that, we'll have the numerical advantage and can finish this while conserving our strength...' - Kakashi stared with his Sharingan at Ukon who was now fully regenerated.
"NOT COMING?! THEN I'LL COME TO YOU!! HIAHAHAHA!!!" - with a crazed laughter Ukon charged at Kakashi again.
Meanwhile.
"..."
'Isn't that bad? I can't kill Kakashi, or else the future is completely doomed. I also can't just wait until he runs out of chakra, since he is obviously trying to drag out while waiting for his team. FATE!!! WHERE ARE YOU WHEN I NEED YOU?!... Should I just run and leave Ukon behind? Yeah, it's his fault for suddenly starting to attack in the first place...was nice knowing you, Ukon. Good luck!' - in his mind, Eiji said goodbye to Ukon and decided to run.
He turned around and moved not even a step before he stopped: "Tsk, aren't you way too fast?"
Eiji could see Sakura and Chiyo trying their best to keep up with Naruto, who was sprinting at full speed towards his location.
And Naruto didn't look happy, in fact, he was really angry!
That's because he is getting nervous and wants to catch up to Akatsuki to save Gaar as fast as possible, but now he loses time because of Eiji and Ukon in his eyes.
The problem with Naruto being angry is that he was powered up by the Kyubi's chakra because of that: He had fox eyes, and his whiskers grew thicker.
Eiji saw that and screamed internally: 'FUCK YOU FATE!! YOU CORRECT THINGS WHEN IT DOESN'T MATTER OR WHEN IT'S BAD FOR ME, BUT NOW YOU DON'T?! HEY, THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO FIGHT AKATSUKI, YOU KNOW?!'
"You said, Kakashi is currently fighting?" - Guy
"Yes, but he said that you shouldn't worry, he will take care of it. Your team should continue towards Akatsuki's hideout." - Pakkun
"Makes sense, every second counts...ALRIGHT!! WE WILL INCREASE THE SPEED!!"- Guy ordered energetically.
"What? Our current speed is alrea-" - "YES, SENSEI!!!" - Tenten was interrupted by a screaming Lee.
"..." - Neji
At the Akatsuki cave.
"Almost finished." - Pain stated calmy.
"I have something to report. It looks like one of the Konoha forces started to fight the "Lost Hokage" and his partner."
"Hoo...what an interesting development. But this is advantageous for us. We will be able to finish extracting the Shukaku without any interruptions." - Pain
"Wait...Zetsu...is perhaps Konoha's Jinchuriki in this group? " - Sasori
"Yes." - Zetsu
"Hmm...looks like a perfect opportunity to catch my second Jinchuriki...yeah." - Deidara
"No, he is mine. You already caught one, so stay back. I will join the fight and capture him myself...Itachi, what kind of bastard is the Kyubi Jinchuriki?" - Sasori
"..." - Itachi
"Tell him now." - Pain
"...at the very start, he'll be the one to shout loudly and rush at you." - Itachi
"Huh, what the hell?" - Sasori
"Mm? That's all? You have nothing more specific? Whatever, I'll just catch him myself...yeah." - Deidara
"Deidara you bastard...the assignment is one person to one beast, don't push it!" - Sasori
"Don't be like that...how about this? The first one to get there can cat-?" - Deidara was interrupted by the voice of Pain.
"It is done."
Deidara smirked: "Sasori, let's go join that fight and make it chaotic!"
"Tsk." - with that they instantly started to move towards the sealed entrance.
"Lee, come on now. Team Kakashi might be in trouble, so Sensei entrusted us with it..." - Tenten
"...alright." - Lee
"Looks like those brats left. This makes it easier for me to finish this quickly." - Sasori
"Sorry, but this won't be quick. And it won't be easy!" - Guy charged at Sasori.