A certain part of this chapter made me uncomfortable, guess which. I'm pleased to say that this will be the last chapter i write on a laptop, i just got a PC in my room! It has a widescreen tv for a monitor! Sound is pretty crap though, everything echoes. I recently discovered that i'm addicted to the reviews i get for this story, which is another reason why this chapter was so difficult to write, because I didn't get my daily review! Hmph, whatever.

Disclaimer: No! No disclaimer til i get my review!

Their true nature

Gaara stepped out of the woods, back into Konoha. Tenten had disappeared from view & Lee stayed at his dojo. Gaara rubbed the back of his neck & looked up at the sky.

"I hope I don't have another awkward encounter like that."

But he'd barely formed this thought in his head before he heard a loud thud. He looked to his left & was surprised to see the sand formed up into a wall, with a figure embedded in it. He heard another thud & the sand dispersed, revealing a figure sprawled on the ground.

"Ouch... that hurt." Naruto said, a dazed look on his face.

"Naruto-kun?"

Naruto shook his head & leapt to his feet.

"HEY, GAARA!" he yelled, causing Gaara to flinch.

"Stop yelling." He ordered. Naruto grinned.

"Sorry." He said, rubbing the back of his head.

"That's fine." Gaara replied, "Is there something you wanted?"

Naruto blinked.

"Oh yeah!" he exclaimed, "I talked to Kaka-sensei & he agreed to see you!"

"Already?" Gaara asked surprised, "It wasn't necessary for you to do it immediately!"

"That's alright! We just got back from a long mission, so we get a couple of days off! Come on!"

Naruto grabbed Gaara's wrist & pulled him away, Gaara struggling to keep his feet on the ground.

They stopped in an open field with three large stumps sticking out of the ground.

"Man this place brings back memories!" Naruto said, grinning, "HEY KAKA-SENSEI!"

"There's no need to yell, Naruto-kun." Kakashi replied, appearing from behind one of the stumps.

"Huh? I don't believe it..."Naruto said, a shocked look on his face, "You're actually on time?"

"Well this is a fairly peculiar situation." Kakashi replied, giving Gaara an angry look, "I'd never have expected you to bring a member of Akatsuki who was seeking my help."

He turned to Gaara.

"Speaking of that, why exactly should I help you?" he asked, distaste evident in his voice.

"If you assist me, then I will give you information on the leader of Akatsuki."

"That's a nice offer, but a subordinate of the late Orochimaru already gave us his data on Akatsuki."

"Even if that's true, Orochimaru didn't know who led Akatsuki. You won't have any significant data on him."

Kakashi frowned & pulled out an old book from his pouch.

"Kaka-sensei, is this really the time?" Naruto asked, an exasperated look on his face.

"This is a copy of the book Kabuto gave us." Kakashi replied, flicking through it. When he reached the end, he looked up at Gaara, "You are correct, but why should I trust you?"

Gaara reached into his pocket & pulled out a small plastic wallet with a dark object inside. He tossed it to Kakashi, who caught it warily.

"A person close to myself managed to procure that." Gaara said, "It is a shard of something vital to the leader's jutsu. You can keep that, regardless if you help me or not."

Kakashi studied the black shard closely, before pocketing it.

"Alright then, we have a deal." He said, "What do you need?"

"I wish to learn what you know about shape & nature manipulation." Gaara replied, noting the cheesy grin appearing on Naruto's face.

"I already mastered that!" he proclaimed, proudly.

"Why would you want to learn that?" Kakashi asked, "It's not necessary for your fighting style."

"It's not for myself." Gaara replied, shaking his head.

"Your siblings? I don't think Temari or Kankuro need to know that either."

"It's not them. I wish to know how nature manipulation & Raiton chakra can work together."

Kakashi frowned.

"Raiton?" he repeated, "Why on earth would you need to know that?"

"I believe I can create a collaboration jutsu with the knowledge."

"I have never heard of a case where Raiton & Fūton have been used in a collaboration jutsu. I doubt it could be done with sand either."

"This jutsu is not for my own use."

"I see. So what do you want to know?"

"How can Raiton chakra be manipulated by shape manipulation?"

"Well, the kind I'm most familiar with is the surge. But with Raiton chakra, there are many possibilities."

"What about a chain?" Gaara asked, "That links between targets?"

"Chain lightning?" Kakashi said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, "That's an interesting idea, but it would be incredibly difficult to perform. Most likely it would be a one-shot jutsu at best. Plus you'd need to chain between conductors of electricity, but that should be no problem against Shinobi, they carry a lot of metal on their person. Hang on."

He pulled out several kunai & leapt high into the air, throwing the kunai at random spots. He landed back on the ground & rolled his sleeve back & flew through a series of hand signs. His hand was enveloped in blue chakra, in the from of a string of lightning, spiralling around his hand & arm. He dashed & struck one of the kunai, which exploded.

"Hmm." Kakashi said, "There is no way I can think of to direct the chakra from one target to another."

"I see... then how about a pulse?" Gaara suggested.

"That's a bad idea." Kakashi replied, "I tried something like that once, I ended up in hospital for a month with severe burns. No one is safe from that kind of attack, enemies, allies or the user."

Gaara frowned & thought to himself. It was then that Naruto had an idea.

"Hey, one morning, when I got out of bed, I sort of dragged my feet across the floor. Then I went to turn the tap on in my bathroom, but I got a shock. What do you call it when that happens?"

"Static electricity." Kakashi replied, "Hmm. If that could be moulded into a jutsu, what effects would it have on an enemy?"

Then his eyes widened.

"The Rasenshuriken!" he exclaimed, hitting his palm.

"What is that?" Gaara asked.

"It's my ultimate jutsu!" Naruto said, grinning.

"It's an S-rank Fūton jutsu." Kakashi explained, "But what's interesting is that instead of slicing the enemy, like most Fūton jutsu, the Rasenshuriken strikes the target with millions of microscopic chakra needles, attacking each individual cell. However, it became a Kinjutsu because it also damages the user."

"So then why are you mentioning it?" Gaara asked.

"If it can be replicated with Raiton jutsu, by using shape manipulation to turn the chakra into static, then it should be simple to recreate the effects of the Rasenshuriken. The difference is, Naruto-kun needs to use the Rasenshuriken as a close-range attack, but in this case, the static chakra should jump to the target, not even necessitating a direct hit!"

Gaara's eyes widened at the thought. He turned to see Naruto's reaction, surprised to see him moping.

"Kaka-sensei," He muttered, depressed, "you make all my effort sound useless."

"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun." Kakashi said, rubbing the back of his head, "But this is an interesting idea, could you create a Kage Bunshin? I'll probably need most of my chakra & I'd like to test this out."

"Sure thing!" Naruto said, depression forgotten. He formed a hand sign, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

A clone of Naruto appeared by the originals side. The clone ran off, making room for Kakashi, who began forming hand signs.

"Try to maintain it for as long as possible." Kakashi said, as he finished his hand-signs.

Unlike before, the chakra didn't take external form, but instead made Kakashi's hand glow blue, with a snow-crash effect, like when the holograms of the Akatsuki members were disrupted. Kakashi gripped his chakra-infused arm & ran at the clone, which looked more than a bit nervous.

"Chidori Gaidoku!" he called, throwing his open palm forward. A flicker of blue appeared from the gap between the two, which struck its target.

What happened next was a sight to see. The clone froze in its place, a blue glow emitting from it. Then the snow crash effect covered it, causing the clone to become difficult to see. Then a hissing & crackling noise could be heard as the clone flickered. The final effect was that the flickering increased, until the clone had completely disappeared, leaving only a singed scent in the air.

"Well, good marks for appearance." Kakashi said, before turning to Naruto, "How did it feel?"

Naruto shuddered.

"Uh, like when you're foot goes to sleep, it starts of numb, but then you get that sharp stabbing feeling all over, but it just gets worse. It's not painful, but really irritating."

"All right." Kakashi said, "It seems over all effective. Plus there's no surrounding damage & it's not too loud. Good for stealth missions. The only difficult part is maintaining it until you actually attack, or else you could end up just like that Bunshin."

Kakashi looked up to Naruto, a stupid grin visible through his mask.

"I have a new jutsu!" he proclaimed, like a child with a new toy, "Uh... why are we here again?"

Naruto sweat dropped. When he pointed to Gaara, Kakashi blinked.

"Oh, right!" he said, "Is that what you were looking for?"

"Yes, you were very helpful." Gaara replied, nodding in thanks, "I take it you would like to me to fulfil my end of the bargain?"

"Hm? Oh, later." Kakashi said, "I want to test this technique some more first. Then I'll take it to get ranked, I'll drop by some time tonight."

Gaara nodded, turning around to leave. When Naruto & Kakashi were out of earshot, he spoke.

"Did you get all that?" he asked.

"Yes. I could have figured it out myself, but it was a good plan to get a lab rat to test it out first."

"That was the general idea."

"I suppose I'll go practice with him then. Gaara-san, this better be worth my while."

"It will be, I assure you."

"I'll believe that when I see it. There's only one thing in this world you can depend on."

* * * * *

Konan stepped into the hotel room, where Gaara was lying on the sofa. He sat up when he heard her & looked up as she entered the room. He had to try his best to suppress certain desires as he saw her. She wasn't completely dry from her time at the baths & because of this, her clothes were tight on her skin. Despite his efforts, he couldn't hide the look in his eyes. Konan gave him a look herself.

"Like what you see?" she asked, seductively. Gaara blinked & looked away, faintest signs of embarrassment on his face. She laughed & headed into her room, leaving Gaara to cool off on his own.

"She's getting the upper hand here," he thought, "I can't let that happen. I wonder..."

A few minutes later, Konan returned to the living room dry & in a change of clothes. She turned to say something to Gaara, but faltered at what she saw.

Gaara was on the floor, meditating. But that wasn't what surprised her. It was the fact that he was shirtless.

"G-Gaara?" she said, uncertainly, but he didn't seem to hear. He just breathed in... and out... in... and out. Konan watched as his chest rose & fell, a strange feeling inside of her.

"Gaara?" she checked again, although for different reasons. When again he didn't reply, she cracked a smile.

"So that's your game." She muttered, quietly walking to his side. She reached out a hand and delicately ran her fingers across his arm. If she was expecting a reaction, she was disappointed. However, her disappointment was overshadowed by another sensation she felt from touching his muscular arm. But she was determined no too lose this little contest, she reached out with her other hand & stroke his neck. But it was the same case as before, she was the only one to react. She sat down behind him & tried again with his back, but to no avail. His cool skin felt nice against hers, which was steadily growing warmer. She tried again with his chest, feeling his strong muscles & shivering. She was more than a little frustrated that her advances were backfiring on her, she decided to get childish. But as her hand lowered, she heard a sound.

"Uh... Konan?"

Terrified, Konan slowly looked up. Kankuro was staring at her, a shocked look in his eyes. Konan's face flushed with complete embarrassment, she leapt away from Gaara, a horrified look on her face.

"It- it wasn't what it looked like!" she exclaimed, pressing herself against the wall.

"I don't know, it looked like you were trying to take advantage of my little brother." He replied, but he shrugged, "However, I could be mistaken... I'll ask Temari, just in case I'm wrong."

"No!" Konan cried, waving her arms. Temari would kill her, "That's not necessary, I was just fooling around!"

"That's what it looked like." Kankuro replied, seriously. Konan's face turned an even deeper shade of red.

"No, that's not what I meant!" she exclaimed, "Please, please don't tell Temari! I'll do anything!"

"Heh, heh. Just make sure next time you try something like that, don't get caught."

Konan was shaking with embarrassment as Kankuro left. He shut the door behind him & smirked.

"Heh, too easy." He said, heading back to the lobby.

Back in the hotel room, Konan had rushed into the bathroom to splash cold water on her face, to cool herself down. Gaara remained in the same position, unmoving, with no awareness of what just happened.

* * * * *

That night, Temari bought dinner from a takeaway, which they ate in the hotel room.

"Hey Gaara, guess what?" she said, "They had your favourite!"

She placed down in front of him a plate of salted tongue & gizzard. Gaara grinned & thanked Temari, not noticing the strange looks everyone was giving him at his choice of meal. Konan leaned over to Kankuro.

"Does he really like that stuff?" she asked.

"What, disappointed the first tongue in his mouth's not yours?" he asked back, causing her to blush furiously.

"What was that?" Temari asked from across the table.

"Nothing!" Konan replied quickly. Kankuro chuckled. They say down & ate their dinner, with little conversation occurring. Konan seemed to be the only one taking table manners into account. Gaara was hunched over his meal, mere centimetres away from his plate. Kankuro was slouching in his seat, picking bits of his food up with his fingers & popping them into his mouth. Temari was a little better, but she was leaning on the table, her head resting on her hand.

"Hey, Gaara." Kankuro said, "Tenten came to see me earlier. Thanks."

"How did it go?" Gaara asked.

"Well, when she found me, she was mad as hell." He replied, a small smile on his face, "But after I calmed her down, we got to talking, it was like old times again."

"So how are things between you two?" Temari asked, looking concerned.

"A little rocky, she said she'd be willing to be friends." He answered, "I guess that's more than I expected."

"I'm sure you two will be fine." Gaara told him.

"Maybe, but I won't be asking more of her, I've caused her too much trouble."

"In time, she may be the one asking more of you."

"You think so?" Kankuro asked, hopefully.

"She was never mad at you, it's taking her time to get over that fact. You may not even realise when things are like they were."

Kankuro smiled again & they fell back into silence. Gaara, who was first to finish eating, stood up.

"I'm going out, I'll be back in a while." He said, heading for the balcony door. When he was outside, he leapt to the roof & waited.

"So you're here." Kakashi said, landing on the roof.

"We had a deal," Gaara replied, "I don't go back on my word."

"I see. Then what can you tell me about your leader?"

"Have you found out anything about that item I gave you?"

"No. They're still working on it."

"Very well." Gaara said, leaning against a water tower, "The leader of Akatsuki calls himself 'Pein'. But that is just an alias."

"So then who is he really?"

Gaara took a deep breath. This was going to be difficult to explain.

"I once met the Rikudō Sennin." Madara said.

"How is that possible?" Gaara asked, "You may be immortal, but he was beyond even your time."

"His reincarnation jutsu was successful." Madara replied, "Anyway, this was before Konohagakure was born, I was what you would call a 'chunin', although such ranks hadn't been created yet. The elders of my clan had received word of a powerful artefact. This artefact was the Gedō Mazō, a statue capable of removing the souls of any living thing & to seal the Bijū within it. I was a member of a squad sent to recover this statue. We found the temple which housed it, which was said to be guarded by a holy order who would allow no-one to enter. But when we got there, the guardians were all dead, their homes burned to the ground. It appeared that another clan had interests in the Gedō Mazō. We entered the temple carefully, wary of traps & ambushes. But there were none. The ones who killed the monks were either very arrogant or insanely powerful. I myself was rather headstrong, I split off from my squad & sought the statue alone. I found the chamber containing the statue, but I found something even stranger. A single Shinobi stood before the statue. My Sharingan confirmed that he had aligned himself with the statue. But I must have made a sound, because he turned to face me. I saw in his eyes the Rinnegan, but at the time I knew of no such thing. One thing I did no, however, was the Uchiha clan in its entirety could not hurt this man, he was so powerful. I believed at that moment I was to die, but then he did something unexpected."

"What did he do?" Gaara asked, hooked on Madara's words.

"He smiled." Madara replied, "He looked me in the eye & said 'Not yet'. He formed a single, unrecognizable, hand sign... and he died."

"Pein is not a single person, he is seven people in total." Gaara said.

"What, you mean like another organization?" Kakashi asked, frowning.

"No. He is one man, but he has seven bodies."

"Explain." Kakashi ordered, folding his arms.

"Yeah, I think I want to hear this too."

Jiraiya appeared from behind the water tower & stood beside Kakashi, folding his arms as well.

"Very well then." Gaara said, giving Jiraiya a sharp look, "The leader of Akatsuki, the man who calls himself Pein. He is the owner of the Rinnegan."

"What- Nagato?!" Jiraiya exclaimed, shock on his face, "That can't be true!"

"You're correct, it can't." Gaara replied, "Because he isn't."

"Well which is it?" Jiraiya asked angrily, "You say the leader possesses the Rinnegan, yet it's not Nagato? Who else could it be then?"

"The leader of Akatsuki is..." Gaara said locking eyes with the two Shinobi, "The Rikudō Sennin."

Jiraiya & Kakashi both stared at Gaara in shock.

"You're insane." Jiraiya said.

"How do you expect us to believe that?" Kakashi demanded.

"Whether you believe it or not is none of my concern." Gaara replied, "However if you let me speak, I will try to explain it to you."

The other too both calmed down.

"Fine, go ahead." Jiraiya said. Kakashi nodded in agreement. Gaara told them the story Madara had given him, leaving out his name, of course.

"That hand sign... it was his reincarnation jutsu?" Gaara asked.

"The very same." Madara replied, nodding, "The effect of that jutsu is that it not only ends the users life, that is just preparation for the jutsu's true purpose"

"What is that?" Gaara asked.

"One day, I found one of his bases. Inside was a journal, which explained in detail the effects of Keiro no Hanasu, or as you called it, 'Paths Divide'. It stated that the purpose of the jutsu was to separate the users chakra & soul. These two then sought out newborn babies capable of taking them in. However, no newborn baby can survive having both a soul & chakra system taking over their body. The soul is reborn in one child & the chakra in another. Do you see the problem here?"

"The Rikudō Sennin would be reborn, but his power would belong to another!" Gaara said, eyes wide with shock.

"Essentially, but what is more, is that the baby's brain cannot yet handle the information his soul would be giving it. In other words, the baby would have to mature before he could remember anything prior to his rebirth."

"But, by then the child with his chakra could be anywhere." Gaara said, "He could even be dead."

"Yes, he foresaw this as well, it was the greatest risk to his jutsu. But in the end it was a risk he was willing to take."

"The Rikudō Sennin created a jutsu that would allow him to live through the generations." Gaara said.

"Why would he want to do that?" Kakashi asked, shocked by all that he'd heard.

"He did it to fulfill his ultimate ambition." Gaara replied, "He wanted to be a god."

"Wait!" Jiraiya exclaimed, "He wanted to be a god, that's what you said?"

"You see it now." Gaara noted, "The Rikudō Sennin was reborn in your students, Yahiko & Nagato."

"Your students?" Kakashi asked.

"I taught some kids ninjutsu a while back, so they could survive on their own." Jiraiya replied, a troubled look on his face, "It looks like that was a mistake."

"Not entirely." Gaara thought, thinking of Konan.

"So these were your students?" Kakashi asked, "Then does that mean...?"

"Yeah, I'd say they're at least on par with him." Jiraiya replied.

"At least?" Kakashi repeated, "You mean they're stronger?"

"If what Gaara-san says is true, then they may be the strongest Shinobi that have ever lived."

Jiraiya turned to Gaara.

"What else is there?" he asked.

"Anything else you can probably learn from that shard." Gaara said, "There is only one thing left that I will tell you."

"What is that?"

"Nagato is innocent. And I can save him."

Gaara turned & leapt of the roof, back onto the balcony. He entered the hotel room, where the others were still eating. He sat back in his chair & waited patiently for them to finish eating. When they were finished, Temari, Kankuro & Konan got up to go to bed. They were each about to enter their respective rooms when a voice spoke.

"Konan-chan molested Gaara." Kankuro said, shutting his door. Gaara & Temari both slowly turned to Konan, who looked like she wanted to die.