Sasuke is late..." - Ukon was scratching his back while sitting in a Shiki Ryuu teahouse branch with Eiji in a small village.
"He has to carry a coffin, so give him a break..." - Eiji looked at the vast amount of letters and sighed.
Chisato was nagging him to return to their headquarters since he essentially dumped all his current Shiki Ryuu work on her.
But saving the world was more important in his mind...probably.
Anyway, this village was on the way from Sunagakure to the location of the meeting with Orochimaru, while the headquarters were in an entirely different location, so he decided to meet up with Sasuke here.
"...but I'm bored...I want to fight someone..." - Ukon
"That's why I always say tell you to settle down and find a wife..." - Eiji resumed their conversation half-heartedly and absentminded.
"A wife? Why would I need something like that?" - Ukon
"You know...to do - " - Eiji stopped since someone entered the teahouse.
"Welcome, dear cust-" - an employer rushed in to greet, but the person just ignored her and went to the table where Eiji and Ukon were drinking tea.
"It took you a long time, Sasuke..." - Ukon complained.
"Hmph." - without really answering, Sasuke put the coffin down he was carrying on his back and set down next to them.
Eiji gulped down and only stared at the coffin.
"Sasuke...is this really it?"
"Of course."
With hesitation, Eiji stood up and approached the coffin.
But before he opened it, he looked around.
Currently only they and the employers were inside the tea house, so Eiji said: "Guide us to the VIP room and don't let anyone come in!"
"C-certainly..." - since Eiji didn't reveal his identity, the employer was suspicious if they had enough money to pay for the VIP room, but she kept silent.
The employer showed the way and Eiji and Sasuke started to follow her, while another employer carried the coffin reluctantly.
When they were in the VIP room and the employers left, Eiji stood in front of the coffin.
"What are you waiting for? He isn't alive if that's what you scared for." - Sasuke
'Scared, huh? If he knew what kind of monster that is...wait, Sasuke is a monster himself."
With a sigh, he finally opened it.
'It's really him.' - Eiji just continued to stare at the corpse in the coffin: 'If I destroyed the corpse now...I could save a lot of future trouble...sigh, unfortunately, I can't do that or else the future will be doomed...'
"Who's that?" - Ukon couldn't read the atmosphere, or he just didn't care.
"Madara Uchiha...Sasuke's ancestor." - Eiji
"So just another Uchiha? What's so special about him?" - Ukon
"In my clan's history, he is considered the strongest of all Uchiha's to ever exist..." - Sasuke
"Strongest, huh...even if that's the case, what do we need a corpse for?" - Ukon
"Well, currently other than a bargaining chip, he doesn't have that much worth. But with Orochimaru's Edo Tensei..." - Eiji
"Orochimaru..." - when Ukon heard that name, the air seemingly freezer around him.
"Yes, as I told you already, we gonna meet up with him, so you'll get your revenge there." - Eiji
"I won't go with you. You said that with Madara's corpse, I could get Itachi out of Akatsuki - so I will take the corpse and go on my own if you want to waste time with Orochimaru instead." - Sasuke
'I only said that, since he wouldn't listen otherwise...' - Eiji started to think of a way to get Sasuke to join him.
"But how will you find Akatsuki? You know, Orochimaru is an ex-member, so he probably knows a way to find them." - Eiji shamelessly didn't mention that he knew that Pain was in Amegakure or other ways to find them.
"Hmph, you think I wouldn't know? I have my own ways of finding them, so I won't waste my time with you guys anymore." - Sasuke
"But you won't be sure that they would honor the deal." - Eiji
"I'm strong enough to deal with every one of them." - Sasuke
"I know that...I was rather referring to Itachi...are you sure you could ensure his safety? Because I doubt that they would just let one of them go just like that." - Eiji
"Then...why the hell did I go through the trouble of finding that corpse?" - Sasuke started to get angry.
"Well...I have a plan." - Eiji smiled.
Damn...why do we have to go to the Land of Iron? It's cold there and a godforsaken place!" - Hidan was complaining loudly, while he and Kakuzu were on their way to the Land of Iron.
"Boss told us to get rid of Itachi's brother so that he doesn't become a hindrance later on. Also, there will be Orochimaru who we have to deal with..." - Kakuzu
"But isn't it better for Itachi to dealwith his brother on his own? Why the hell dowe have to do it?" - Hidan
"I wanted to get the bounty on the "Lost Hokage", so he sent us." - Kakuzu
"You with your bounties again...if it weren't for that we already could have captured thetwo-tails...also are you sure that the meeting will be in the Land of Iron?" - Hidan
"The information probably came from Zetsu, so it has to be true...also we get to take out Orochimaru, so don't complain." - Kakuzu
"Orochimaru, eh...that snake-bastard made fun of Jashin-sama...alright I take on Orochimaru." - Hidan
"Keep his corpse intact, he has a huge bounty on him." - Kakuzu
"Oh, not again. If I hear you speak one time more the word bounty, I will offer you as a sacrifice to Jashin-sama!" - Hidan
"Hmph, try it!" - with that Kakuzu blockedHidan's approach scythe and one of their usual "arguments" started.
Meanwhile, a small frog was looking at those two travelers before jumping into a pond.
At another location, the same frog jumpedout of a vase of water.
"You're back?" - Jiraiya, who was sitting in a forest on a picnic blanket, stopped writing in his book and used a seal for Genjutsu.
Then he saw what the frog heard and sawin form of a Genjutsu.
'It's problematic that Akatsuki gets involvedtoo...but thanks to that it was easy getting the location and date...I should inform Tsunade!' - Jiraiya got serious.
"Lady Tsunade, it's a letter from Lord Jiraiya!" - one of the shinobi's stationed at Konoha's letter-receiving station, rushed in.
"Thank you. You may leave now..." - Tsunade instantly opened the letter.
"With Akatuski getting involved, this changes our position of staying by the sidelines..."
"Should I go and call the Anbu Commander?" - Shizune realized the severity of the situation.
"No need. Jiraiya said that he will go to the meeting as well. I don't know if it's because he is concerned about Naruto, or because of Orochimaru or to get more intel of Akatsuki, or all together, but with him being there I can rest assured that this will end up going well. Anyway, we now know the location and date...butit looks like Kakashi is still recuperating so we will have to do without him, unfortunately...call Naruto and Sakura here."
"WHY HAVE YOU SUMMONED ME, GRANNY TSUNADE?? I WANTED TO SEARCH FOR PERVY SAGE SO THAT HE CAN TRAIN ME!" - Naruto obnoxiously shouted with a finger pointed at Tsunade, while Sakura who stood next to him, tried her best to not hit him.
"Granny?! Sigh...I don't have time right now for this...listen: We have information that ShikiRyuu and Orochimaru are gonna meet up in 4 days." - Tsunade
"Shiki Ryuu...this guy again!" - memories from the last mission instantly surfaced in Naruto's mind and he started to curse and hit the air around him.
Sakura ignored Naruto: "Orochimaru? This is our chance to get Sasuke back!"
When he heard that, Naruto stopped his antics and got serious: "Sasuke..."
"That's right. On this mission, you'll most likely run into Sasuke." - Tsunade
Both Naruto and Sakura showed determination in their eyes.
"But that's not all. Akatsuki is getting involved as well - so your mission is: First, to get to know why the Shiki Ryuu and Orochimaru are meeting up, secondly, capture Akatsuki alive oreliminate them, and lastly, capture or eliminate Orochimaru!" - Tsunade
"Not retrieving Sasuke? You said that we will most lik-" - Sakura was interrupted by Tsunade: "That will depend on Sasuke's stance."
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT?!" - Naruto
"That's...a bit complicated...well, you'll see for yourself."
"?"
"...and that's how it is. Do you have any further questions?" - Tsunade asked.
"With Lord Jiraiya being there, is there really a need for us Anbu to participate as well?" - Yamato who was in his Anbu uniform asked.
"Normally I would agree with that, but I have a bad feeling about this..." - Tsunade
"I understand." - after saying that Yamato continued to stand silently, seemingly waiting for something.
"Speak, what is it?" - Tsunade
"I'm concerned about the fact that this Anbu squad that I will be leading is full of former Root-members..." - Yamato
"Sigh...with Danzo's death they are all completely loyal to Konoha, so there shouldn't be any problems." - Tsunade
"It's not about their loyalty, it has more to do with their personalities...I know we Anbu are a bit special and there are many odd ones among us and that it shouldn't matter normally, but it seems they are just wired completely differently which makes teamwork...a bit hard." - Yamato
"Hmm...I'm aware of that. But that's why I try to mix the teams up so that they learn to integrate better with the ordinary Anbu. If we keep dividing the squads into former-Root members and ordinary Anbu, it might make working with them in the future even harder." - Tsunade
"Alright." - with that Yamato left.
Tsunade stared at where he was a moment ago while thinking: 'I really have a bad feeling about this...but with Jiraiya being there I'm probably overthinking things...'
"..."
Naruto kept starring at the Anbu squad members with his usual face when he is annoyed or suspicious.
After getting ready for their mission, Naruto and Sakura were supposed to meet their "team-members" for this mission just outside Konoha's main gate.
But Anbu aren't really known for being talkative, so it was an awkward silence with Naruto gazing at them with a grimace.
"NARUTO! CUT THAT OUT!!" - Sakura punched him on his head.
"Ouch! But Sakura! Why did Granny Tsunade send those weirdos with us? If Kakashi-sensei can't come because he is still recuperating, then why didn't she send Shikamaru's team or Bushy Eyebrow's team with us?!" - Naruto
"Sigh..." - she just ignored him and with a smile, she approached the Anbu members: "Sorry for my team-member. My name is Sakura Haruno, and I'm looking forward to working with you."
The Anbu-members only nodded before telling sequentially their codenames, but nothing more.
"Naruto!" - Sakura
"Hmph!" - he crossed his arms and then suddenly started to shout: "LISTEN HERE!! MY NAME IS NARUTO UZUMAKI! YOU BETTER REMEMBER MY NAME, SINCE ONE DAY I WILL BE THE HOKAGE!!"
"..."
"...alright. This should be enough for the introductions for now. I'm this Anbu-squad's leader and will be in charge of this mission. I believe the Hokage told you this, but normally Anbu and non-Anbu don't work on the same missions together. However, because of the mission's importance, this is an exception. So I hope you'll stay discreet about what happens on this mission and about everything which might expose our identities." - Yamato (in his mask)
"Of course!" - Sakura smiled while dragging Naruto next to her.
"...yeah..." - Naruto
"Okay, if you are ready, let us embark now. Our destination is the Land of Iron!" - with Yamato's words they disappeared from Konoha's front gate.
"Lord Orochimaru...are you sure? The Shiki Ryuu is not to be underestimated and they should know by now that we are gathering forces and preparing a trap, which might result in them canceling the deal," - Kabuto looked at all their forces which will be participating in the event.
Orochimaru smiled: "That's precisely why I'm preparing such a force. If we only came by ourselves, they would be even more suspicious, but if they believe that they know about our "trap" beforehand they will be confident and walk straight into our "other trap. If you give your opponents the feeling that they have the advantage, it becomes easier to read them."
"...I understand. I will start preparing the other arrangements then." - Kabuto left Orochimaru alone.
'Soon, not only will be Sasuke mine...but I'll pay you back for all the humiliation and trouble you gave me, Eiji Nakamura...' - a dangerous glint could be seen in Orochimaru's eyes.
"...what are you thinking about?" - Sakura walked to Naruto, who gazed at the stars while they were camping and then sat next to him.
"We're gonna finally see Sasuke...but what if he doesn't want to return to Konoha?" - Naruto
"This isn't like you...wouldn't you say something like: "I'll get him to return no matter what! Even if I have to drag him to Konoha myself!"?" - Sakura
"...I know...but I don't know if I'm strong enough for that...I trained with pervy sage for 3 years, but I'm still..." - Naruto
"You know...we both have become splendid Shinobis...we even were acknowledged by Kakashi-sensei...but the same goes for Eiji. It's obvious that he didn't just sit around and trained as well - and Sasuke probably too...it would be naive to assume otherwise..." - Sakura
"...so what are we supposed to do?" - Naruto
"But we have something which those two don't have...it's comrades who trust each other. If you are not strong enough to drag Sasuke yourself back, then I'll help! If we two are not enough, then Lord Jiraiya will help!" - Sakura
"...you are right. Hup!" - with that, Naruto suddenly jumped up and with a smile said: "Thanks, Sakura! Let's take Sasuke back and kick the asses of Orochimaru and Akatsuki!"
Meanwhile, at the same camp, the Anbu were completely silent. This wasn't because they were Anbu: Anbu are people as well, and overtime when they went on many different missions together, they could get friendly with each other. Furthermore, who doesn't like to have a friendly chatter to pass time? Instead, it was because most of them were ex-roots...
"Sigh..."- Yamato looked at the Anbu member and hoped he would find someone he knows, who isn't an ex-root to converse with, but his hopes were shattered.
'Damn...I wish Kakashi was here with us...hm? It's the ex-root who often draws in his book and uses those drawing jutsus...I already worked with him a couple of times recently...it looks like some of those ex-roots actually have some sort of personality...' - Yamato was bored so he went to Sai.
"Jo! Looks like we are on the same mission again." - Yamato
"Yes." - Sai said that and continued to draw.
"..." - Yamato didn't expect the conversation to end this fast.
"Cough...you are an ex-root member, right? Even though there are some differences and we might misunderstand each other sometimes, we are still Konoha comrades, so I'll be relying on you." - Yamato
"Yes." - Sai
A vein appeared on Yamato's forehead and he smiled dangerously under his mask: 'Those damn ex-roots! Having some sort of personality my ass!' - with that he went back to his sitting spot and sulked for the rest of the night.
"Why is the meeting place a bridge? Couldn't you come up with something better?" - Ukon complained to Eiji, who were both inspecting the meeting place a day before meeting with Orochimaru.
Sasuke wasn't there, since he thought of it as a waste of time, so he stayed in the hotel nearby.
"Well, I choose it for good reasons, so trust me." - Eiji picked his nose while looking at the Samurai Bridge where Danzo and Sasuke fought at the original timeline.
"Aha, and they are?" - Ukon wasn't convinced.
"It isn't as cold here as the rest of the Land of Iron and I always wanted to see that famous bridge."
"..." - Ukon wanted to kill Eiji at this moment.
"Anyway...let's head back."
"Huh? Already? But we didn't look if Orochimaru placed traps or something around here..." - Ukon
"Nah...that scummy snake bastard is definitely planning a trap, so it would be a waste of time. And small traps won't bother us anyway..." - Eiji
"Then...why the hell did we even come here?!" - Ukon
"Well...you'll see tomorrow." - Eiji
"You are always seeing shit like that...but as long I get my revenge I don't care...though, your plan seems bulletproof to me, so I really don't get it and still think this was a complete time-waste." - Ukon
"It's always better to have a backup plan." - Eiji said that smilingly, while a small fresh breeze suddenly blew at him.
"Oh, you are finally here...took you long enough...hihihihi" - Jiraiya sat on a rock and greeted the Konoha force with a red face while giggling.
"THIS IS AN IMPORTANT MISSION AND YOU ARE READING ONE OF YOU ERO-BOOKS WITHOUT A CARE!!!" - Naruto pointed at Jiraiya while shouting.
"Hey...we have to wait anyway, so can't I read to kill time? Anyway, so...who is the leader of you?" - Jiraiya turned serious and looked at the Anbu.
"That would be me, Lord Jiraiya." - Yamato
"Hmm...alright...as you know, the date is tomorrow. Until then the most important thing is to not get spotted by either of the parties. In the meantime, I will gather as much information as I can. For now, only the Shiki Ryuu moved to the meeting place today, but didn't do anything and left as quickly as they came. The status of Orochimaru's force and Akatsuki is currently unknown..." - Jiraiya
"Hey, pervy sage! Can, you train me until tomorrow?" - Naruto
"Hmm...that would be impossible...we can't risk it since it might alert one of the parties and we have to stay alert the whole time...I know it's an important mission for you and that you feel uneasy, but I wouldn't be able to raise your strength with only 1 day of training anyway. So better make sure that you are in top-form for tomorrow instead." - Jiraiya
Naruto heard that and gritted his teeth.
"Naruto..." - Sakura looked at him with a worried look.
The next day, Hidan and Kakuzu who were hiding on top of a tree, watched from afar at the bridge.
"Damn...why do we have to hide? I hate this!" - Hidan complained
"Did your brain erode with your religious teachings? If we don't hide, they will just run away...just wait until they are together or fighting each other." - Kakuzu said grumpily.
"What did you say? In the first place, it's your fault that we were assigned this shitty mission!" - Hidan was reading his scythe and Kakuzu prepared himself too.
"Both of you cut that out..." - Zetsu suddenly appeared.
"Tsk...it's you. Hey, shouldn't it be around time that they arrive?" - Hidan
"My clone can see "The Lost Hokage", Uchiha Sasuke, and the other Shiki Ryuu member...they are almost here...remember, Uchiha Sasuke is the most important target!" - Zetsu
"What about Orochimaru?" - Kakuzu
"He and his force are still nowhere to be seen..." - Zetsu
"Are you fucking with me? He has the most bounty on him and I only voluntarily asked for the mission was because of him." - Kakuzu's voice turned even more grumpy.
"No...he will definitely come...besides there seems a Konoha force nearby..." - Zetsu
"What, a Konoha force? It's good that there are so many sacrifices for Jashin-sama...but this seems like it will be a lot of work..." - Hidan
"How many, and do they have any noteworthy individuals?" - Kakuzu
"One is one of the Sannin, Jiraiya...the other is the nine-tails Jinchuriki...the rest is a full Anbu squad..." - Zetsu
"The hell? The nice-tails Jinchuriki? That's lucky...wait, didn't you mention how we should capture the Jinchuriki in the order of their tails, because of the balance or something?" - Hidan
"Who cares about that you idiot...this tuned into a suicide mission with 2 Sannin here...hey Zetsu...I'm outta here. This is too difficult even for me..." - Kakuzu was ready to leave.
"...they are here..." - Zetsu looked at the bridge, where the trio consisting of Eiji, Ukon, and Sasuke stood at one end of the bridge.
"Tsk, can't leave now...let's continue to hide and see where this goes, Hidan." - Kakuzu
"Hmm...looks like the snake-bastard is late..." - Eiji picked his nose.
"This bastard...now when I'm so close to my revenge..." - Ukon pressed his fists.
Sasuke was silent and had his eyes closed, but after a few seconds, he opened them and looked towards the horizon.
A huge snake approached their location from a distance, destroying everything on its path.
Soon, the three could see two silhouettes on top of the giant snake's head - it was Orochimaru and Kabuto.
Eiji moved his hand instinctively towards his new sword.
The event was about to start!
With a loud sound, Manda stopped at on end of the bridge and lowered its head so that Orochimaru and Kabuto can jump down.
Orochimaru, with his usual smile, started to walk towards Eiji's group on the other end of the bridge with Kabuto following him.
But Eiji's group didn't move to meet him in the middle of the bridge, but just continued to stand there without saying a word.
'This shameless bastard...' - for a slight moment Orochimaru's smile froze and a vein appeared on his forehead, but it quickly disappeared and went back to his usual face.
Why did Eiji let Orochimaru walk all the way towards him, even though he was the one to suggest the trade?
It was simply to mock Orochimaru!
"...sigh...I don't know if it's braveness or just sheer stupidity..." - Kabuto whispered to himself while touching his glasses.
"It's neither...in my entire life I've never seen a shinobi as shameless as him...but this will end today! Our forces should have arrived by now and should be on standby..." - Orochimaru's smile grew larger.
Meanwhile at the location where the Konoha forces were...
"Sasuke...damn! Why is he with that bastard? I thought he was with Orochimaru!! What's this about, pervy sage? Explain that!!" - Naruto tried his best not to shout.
"When he disappeared suddenly 3 years ago, it was concluded by Konoha's investigation force that he went with Orochimaru's henchmen who were lurking in Konoha at that time...but over the years rumors about a red-eyed monster from the Shiki Ryuu crept up, but it were only rumors and we had no evidence, so I didn't tell." - Jiraiya
"But!!" - Naruto was about to shout, but Jiraiya looked at him sternly and said: "Listen...Sasuke being with the Shiki Ryuu instead of Orochimaru doesn't change our mission - our goals are still the same. So stop thinking about useless stuff and concentrate on your mission! This also applies to you, Sakura!"
Sakura who was completely absorbed in her thoughts since she saw Sasuke, "woke up" through Jiraiya's words.
"...right...sorry..." - she breathed deeply in, and her eyes showed her focus.
"Lord Jiraiya..." - Yamato suddenly got close to Jiraiya, but Jiraiya interrupted him: "I know. I will deal with it alone, while you make sure that this brat over there doesn't do anything stupid..."
Yamato looked at whom Jiraiya's eyes moved to when he said that, and after getting who he meant, Yamato nodded.
"Alright, Naruto...I'm heading out for a bit, until then listen to the Anbu squad leader's orders."
"Ha? What do you mean with hea-" - before Naruto could finish, Jiraiya already disappeared.
"It fills my heart with joy seeing so many known faces together...I really looked forward to seeing you again, Sasuke...and you, Ukon...for a filthy traitor, I have to applaud you for not hiding in a corner at the end of the world and having the guts to stand in front of me...and lastly you, Eiji...you always seem to get in my way, no matter what I plan or do...no one achieved to give that much trouble except you..." - Orochimaru and Kabuto stopped at a not too far and not to close distance and greeted them.
Ukon was biting his lips and tried his best to not jump at Orochimaru and Sasuke just looked at him silently with a cool face.
Eiji stopped picking his nose: "Well, this is a bit awkward...when I do business I usually greet with a handshake, but I think we would just try to kill each other if we come too close, so let's just skip that. I'll go straight to the point: did you come here to do business or just simply to fight?"
"Hehehe...this is entirely up to you..." - Orochimaru looked at Sasuke: 'There is no way Sasuke would agree to it, so the trade won't happen...but in the off-chance that Eiji really wants to trade Sasuke and found a way to restrain him, I don't have are reason to refuse...I can just kill him and Ukon after getting Sasuke...though that of course will never happen.'
"Hmm...that sounds reasonable...alright...it also should be about time..." - Eiji
"?"
"BLURGH!!" - suddenly Sasuke fell on the ground and started to vomit.
"As you can see, I poisoned him in the hotel...of course it's nonlethal, but it should suffice to just take him with you." - Eiji started to smile brightly.
"...what?" - Orochimaru absolutely didn't expect this and his smile froze completely, leaving him with a dumbfounded expression.