"Naruto..." - Sakura
"It looks likehe lost control...this is the worst timing possible." - Chiyo
Kakashi tried to muster all his strength and prepared himself.
He knew if he couldn't place the seal on Naruto, failing their mission would be the least of their worries.
But luckily, something appeared to distract everyone for a second.
"E-Eiji? Is that really you?" - Eiji instantly recognized this voice.
Meanwhile, Kakashi used the change to place the seal on Naruto's forehead.
"Tenten...isn't that?" - Lee
Eiji cursed inwardly but kept silent and Pakkun got to Kakashi's side.
"Eiji...I have a lot to ask you..." - Tenten wasn't hysterically like a certain orange and pink-haired duo always was when seeing their beloved Sasuke.
"Tenten, I knew he is your childhood friend, but he is currently a criminal wanted by Konoha..." - Neji said that, but his head was still filled with the Byakko he saw from a distance with his Byakugan.
"Neji, how can you say that?! He is still a former Konoha-comrade!" - Lee
"Can you please at least say...something, Eiji?" - Tenten tried her best to stay calm.
"Guys, don't forget our mission...even if he is wanted, saving Gaara has priority..." - Sakura
'Sigh...thank you, Sakura...I hope you all just scram...' - Eiji hoped silently that they would just leave him alone.
Naruto who returned to his normal selfstared at Eiji and said: "Mark my words, someday I will beat you up for good and you will apologize to every Hokage for being an insult to that title...let's go and save Gaara, everyone!"
Naruto was about to turn around, but Eiji suddenly laughed loudly: "This...is really the worst day in both of my lives...hehehe...I had enough of your shit, Naruto!"
"?"
Eiji suddenly stopped his laughter and gotso serious, that the air seemingly started to freeze.
"Naruto...you know there is a limit to your arrogance...despite me trying my best to hold back against you all and not trying to fight, you keep acting like you can do whatever you want...looks like I'll have to teach you some basic manners like the dog you are...Sage...Mode..."
Before he even finished saying his last word, he vanished and appeared next to Naruto.
"!"
Naruto couldn't even react, but he felt how Eiji grabbed his face with one hand and threw him.
And then before he even landed, Eiji was there again and punched him into the face.
"ARGHH!!!"
"NARUTO!!!" -Sakura
Naruto opened his eyes and saw thetransformed Eiji above him.
He gritted his teeth and tried to get up andfight, but another fist landed on his face.
"I don't care about your sad past or that you suffered because you have the Kyubi sealed in you...but it looks like you need a good beating to see reality..."
With those words, Eiji started to rain his fists upon Naruto.
But Sakura was already approaching Eiji from behind and was about to slam her fist at him.
Without looking, Eiji summoned snakes that trapped Sakura.
But the others weren't only sitting and watching either: Lee flew with a kick towards him, Neji approached from the other side and Chiyo connected her chakra threads on Naruto.
Though with Sage-Mode, Eiji could sense it and he just suddenly vanished again.
"Naruto...are you alr-" - Sakura, who with her strength only need a short amount of time to break out from the snakes, ran towards Naruto, but he suddenly vanished as well.
"This speed...can we even do something against it?" - Chiyo
Even Kakashi had trouble following his movements with his Sharingan.
"There, they are!" - Neji used his Byakugan to spot them.
But Eiji already smashed his fist a number of times again into Naruto's face in that period of time.
'Hm? I just felt something cracking...I better stop there...' - Eiji's hands were full of blood and he looked at Naruto.
Naruto's face was completely swollen, plus blood, tears, and snot were intermixed and made Naruto's face look like a slime-blob.
Seeing that, Eiji just shrugged his shoulders and thought, that Sakura can just heal him.
Anyway, beating Naruto up like that made him feel really great, however, he decided that he should search for his sword and then finally leave.
But before that, he said to Naruto: "Next time before you bark like a dog, make sure that you are actually the bigger dog."
Meanwhile, Tenten, who looked at it the whole time while biting her lips so strongly that blood flowed, finally made up her mind.
'I don't know what you see me as, Eiji, but I'm not someone you can just ignore anymore like that. I will get my answers from you, even if I have to fight you...' - she knew she had to go all-in from the start versus him, so she summoneda bunch of puppets.
Eiji sensed it with his Sage-Mode and looked at her with an unreadable expression: 'Tenten...'
Sigh...I know you probably have some questions, but it isn't the time for that right now..." - Eiji decided to not beat around the bush.
"...why do you have to be like this. You never tell anything and distance yourself from everyone...sorry I know you probably have your reasons, but I just can't keep watching anymore. You were looking for that, right?" - Eiji's sword appeared in Tenten's hands while she showed it to him.
'When did she...? Can she smell where weapons are or what?' - Eiji was conflicted since he didn't have to search for his sword now, but on the other hand...
"...what do you want?"
"I want to understand you...why are you doing all this?" - Tenten
"Sorry, can't tell you." - Eiji wasn't stupid enough to think that anyone would believe him that this is a fictional world, or based on one and that he somehow reincarnated there.
"Figures...I already expected that...the only thing left for us to do now is, to fight as fellow shinobi's." - Tenten's puppets took out what looked like guns.
Eiji was surprised seeing something like guns in this world, but he didn't seem to try to defend.
With a sigh, the puppets fired their guns at the same time, and kunai flew out of them at a ridiculous speed.
But Eiji didn't dodge and just let himself get hit.
"Interesting...you really improved a lot since the last time I saw you..." - Eiji started to pull the kunais out while his wounds already started to regenerate.
"I'm not finished!" - suddenly she appeared beneath his line of sight in front of him and got into an Iai-stance with Eiji's sword before drawing the sword.
However with Sage-Mode, he expected that, and just lightly moved his upper body sideways to dodge perfectly.
But what he did not expect was that after missing she used the rotation movement and switched the hands with which she was holding the sword, enabling her to slash again.
Blood flowed in mass while one of his arms was cut.
Eiji looked at his missing arm and Tenten and then suddenly smiled: 'It looks her Kenjutsu improved even more...even I wouldn't dare to switch hands while performing a technique...'
"You really surprised me there...you know what? You wanted answers, right? You can keep my sword until we meet next time, then I will answer what you want." - after saying that to Tenten, he turned around to the rest: "It was fun playing with all of you, but you are on a mission, right? Anyway, next time we meet, I won't hold back anymore and will kill you if you get in my way, so look forward to it."
Before anyone could respond, he suddenly disappeared.
'Next time, huh?' - Tenten looked at Eiji's sword.
While Sakura healed Naruto's face, Kakashi used the time to rest and was soon again in a state to fight.
During that time, Ningame arrived with Guy and Gaara on his back.
Sakura stopped threatening Naruto and rushed to Guy to examine Guy, but when Ningame started to report what happened, she took the antidote she prepared against Sasori's poison, which she researched when she treated Kankuro back in Sunagakure.
But even with the antidote, the poison already damaged his organs and it looked like it was too late.
Luckily Chiyo was there: after hearing that Sasori is dead, one of the things she sweated to deal with before she dies, was over and she used the One's Own Life Reincarnation Jutsu to "thank" Guy for dealing with Sasori.
But since he was still alive, she didn't need to sacrifice her life fully.
Soon he opened his eyes and everyone was jubilant until Naruto's crying reminded them of the other one: Gaara.
With his face completely swollen and full of tears, it made him look even more pitiful.
But like in the original timeline, this time Chiyo exchanged her life fully to resurrect him.
"..."
"..."
"What are you doing?" - Eiji looked at Ukon who was lying naked on a tree.
"Shut up, this explosion destroyed all my clothes!"
"Sigh...whatever, let's go. Today was a complete disaster, I just want to take a bath and go to bed."
"I can't move, because I ran out of chakra from using the Level 2 curse mark, so you'll have to carry me." - Ukon said that with a bored look while watching the sky.
"..." - Eiji moved his hand to where his sword usually is, but when he couldn't feel it he remembered that he gave it to Tenten.
But he really wanted to cut Ukon into pieces at this moment, so he started to gather his chakra.
"Hm?" - he stopped when he saw a letter bird flying to him.
He took the letter from its claw and read it.
"Hehehehe..." - Eiji suddenly started to laugh evilly.
"What's written there?" - Ukon asked curiously.
"It's from Sasuke, it looks like he really found it."
"Oh? Didn't you complain a while back ago that the chance to find it is slim and that if he doesn't make any progress on that, that you would just move onto another plan instead?"
"Hehehe, looks like I can be lucky for once too...Ukon, it looks like you may get your revenge pretty soon..." - Eiji smiled amused.
At Orochimaru's hideout, Kabuto stormed into Orochimaru's room: "LORD, OROCHIMA-"
"Just cut it out and tell me which hideout was destroyed this time." - Orochimaru sat in front of a desk with a giant map on it.
Kabuto looked nervously around even though there was no chance that someone could eavesdrop here: "It was the one, where his corpse is...and it looks like it's missing now..."
"You...don't mean?" - after realizing, Orochimaru gritted his teeth furiously.
It was one of his most important research subjects - in fact, it was so important that only he and Kabuto knew about it.
"But this isn't all..." - Kabuto held a letter in his hands.
"Kabuto, I'm really not in the mood for long explanations right now, so spit it out!"
"It's a letter from the Shiki Ryuu...apparently they want to offer us a trade..."
"A TRADE?! HAHAHAHAHA!!! After sending Sasuke to destroy one base after the other, and now even stealing "that", they have the guts to offer us a trade? Kill as many of their employers as possible, that will be my answer!"
"But, Lord Orochimaru...you should at least look at what they - no the leader is offering us..."
"Kabuto...I hope you know that you are treading on thin ice right now...alright, tell me and I hope for you it's something interesting."
"Eiji Nakamura wants to exchange Sasuke Uchiha for learning the Edo Tensei. He stated that he will make sure that Sasuke cant fight when the exchange takes place."
"Hehehe...interesting...this is most likely a trap, but we don't have a reason to not take the bait. It makes it easier for us to deal with them once and for all..."
At a cave, the Akatsuki were assembled - or at least their chakra phantoms.
"Deidara and Sasori are both dead." - Pain
"Those two, eh...? Who got em in?" - Kisame
"Sasori died to that Taijutsu Jounin from Konoha, Might Guy." - Zetsu
"Again that bizarre beast? And Deidara?" - Kisame
"It was the Lost Hokage." - Pain
"Eh...how interesting..." - Kisame
"He turned out to be more dangerous than expected, so from now on he will be considered as an enemy." - Pain
"I think recruiting him instead, would be wiser." - Itachi
"Given the information, we have on him, it's unlikely that he would accept...furthermore Sasuke Uchiha is by his side and they're likely searching for you."
"Uhh, that sounds bad for you, Itachi...so do we gang up on him then? The more the merrier, right?" - Tobi
"Hold up. He has a nice bounty on his head, so let me handle him." - Kakuzu
"Oh, not again. We don't have time for your bounties..." - Hidan
"Uhm, by the way, who do I pair up with?" - Tobi
"For now, join Kisame and Itachi until we find someone new."
"Oh, I'm looking forward to it, Itachi and Kisame senpai!"
"Welcome to our team, Tobi." - Kisame smiled amused.
"..." - Itachi
At the Hokage office in Konoha, Tsunade was knitting her eyebrows while listening to Shizune reading Team Kakashi's and Guy's report out.
'This is a bit troublesome...'
"Shizune, did the Shiki Ryuu do something that can be considered hostile against us after that?" - Tsunade
"No...not that I know of..." - Shizune
"Hahaha! You worry too much. Despite what all happened he is still a former Konoha shinobi, but more importantly, I didn't sense any darkness in him like with Orochimaru." Jiraiya suddenly appeared leaning on the door while saying that.
"Sigh...this is exactly why I'm so worried...you wouldn't know since you didn't really interact much with him back then, but with his shameless and frivolous personality he can make your life hard on a whim..."
"Well, he certainly is a unique fellow...anyway, since we are on this topic, I have to report something." - Jiraiya suddenly got serious.
"?"
"You see...when I was connecting intel about Orochimaru, I found out that he is going to meet up with Eiji and Sasuke." - Jiraiya
"What's the reason? They are like dogs and cats, even more than Konoha is with Orochimaru..." - Tsunade
"I don't know why they are gonna meet, but Orochimaru is assembling a huge force." - Jiraiya
"...could it be? You reported how Sasuke destroyed a bunch of hideouts, so Orochimaru probably couldn't ignore the damage and wants to settle it and used some bait for them to agree...but shouldn't they know that this is a trap? Considering it'stheShiki Ryuu, there is no way they wouldn't know too that Orochimaru is gathering his forces..." - Tsunade
"Hmm...I agree. This doesn't make sense for both sides...so what will you do?" - Jiraiya
"Do you know the date and location of the meeting?" - Tsunade
"This is something which is kept by both the Shiki Ryuu and Orochimaru strictly secret, so only a few individuals would know that..." - Jiraiya
"Sigh...let me rephrase it: can you find it out?"
"Hehehe, who do you take me for? I am the great Jiraiya, master of the toads and one of the thee legendary Sannin!" - Jiraiya made one of his iconic Kabuki poses.
"Yes, yes...anyway, do that fast: We can't ignore such an event, so I plan on sending Team Kakashi there." - Tsunade
"Hmm...do you really think that a good idea? They still don't know that Sasuke joined the Shiki Ryuu instead of Orochimaru...and from what I picked up listening to a moment ago, they seem to have had a bit of a disagreement with Eiji Nakamura."
"Don't you think it's about time that they know about Sasuke? He is part of their team after all." - Tsunade
"If you think it's a good idea, I won't pry further...but are sure that for such an event one team will be enough?" - Jiraiya
"Of course not. With the additional manpower we got after Danzo's death, we don't have to be frugal. I plan on sending a whole Anbu squad with them." - Tsunade
"Seems good, but let me give you a word of advice. It's an event between Shiki Ryuu and Orochimaru, so don't interfere until there is a good reason to do so." - Jiraiya
"I know that." - Tsunade
At Amegakure, at the highest point of Pain's tower, a space distortion suddenly appeared.
Without even looking, Pain knew that it was Obito who teleported with Kamui here: "Aren't you currently traveling with Itachi and Kisame?"
"I told them I had diarrhea and teleported from a toilet, so they don't know." - Obito
"What are you here for?" - Pain
"I'm sure you heard it already from Zetsu, but it looks like an interesting event is about to happen."
"That doesn't have anything to do with us."
"We wanted to deal with Orochimaru for quite some time now, and now that the "Lost Hokage" is here as well, wouldn't it be the perfect opportunity to deal with both of them at once?"
"This isn't like you...what are you really after?"
"You got me there...it's because Sasuke Uchiha will be there as well...I want to see his abilities, so send Hidan and Kakuzu there to mess things enough up to make Sasuke go all out..."
Pain didn't answer, but Obito was sure that he would do as he said, so he started to teleport with Kamui away.
Konan, who was watching silently, knew that with Hidan, Kakuzu, Orochimaru, and Shiki Ryuu being gathered at the same location, will result in a great chaotic battle!