Still don't own Naruto
Chapter 88: Kabuto's Involvement.
In Konoha preparations for the upcoming war were going as smoothly as could be expected. Tsunade had split the village into two main team's, a team that was responsible for keeping up with the rebuilding of the village, and the other team that was organizing the shinobi population by rank and skill to give them a position within the joint village army.
At last count they had an army of seventy five thousand, but a group that large could not be contained within one single group. The solution was to divide the forces up into certain teams each under an over all commander chosen from the elite jonnin of the five shinobi villages and the Land of Iron.
Things had just been finalized between the villages and the rosters of what squads and where they would be stationed were about to be put up. It was for this very reason the members of Naruto's old class had gathered together to see what squads they would be put in. the first names could easily be seen. They were the company commanders.
They looked along the line to see who was leading each group and making up there minds on which team they would like to be placed in. The Ambush Company was going to be led by Kankuro Subaku of Suna. Medical HQ would be have Shizune from Konoha in command. The Sensor Company captain's would be Inoichi Yamanaka from Konoha, as well as Ao from Kiri. Then there was the divisions of the main army. The Joint Shinobi Army's commander general was the Kazekage Gaara.
After Gaara, there were the division generals. Division One general was Darui from Kumo, with Choza Akimichi as second in command. Division One was considered the Mid Range fighter division.
Division two was the close range division and there commanding general would be Kitsuchi from Iwa, and second in command would be Kurotsuchi from Iwa. Which Kurotsuchi would find difficult on account of Kitsuchi being her father.
The third division had the Konoha ninja all sweating and hoping to avoid it. The combination of General Kakashi Hatake and his second in command Miteo Gai was enough to cause even the most professional of shinobi to shudder knowing what to expect when on a mission with the pair. In the end most people didn't seem to care that it was a close to mid range combat group, they just wanted to avoid it at all costs.
Division four had another name that was familiar to the group of Konoha ninja. The General of the fourth Division was Garra, but that was not what had the group interested. It was Gaara's second in command that had their group whispering. Shikamaru Nara.
"Oh man, this is so troublesome" Shikamaru moaned when he saw his name up in large writing just underneath Gaara's.
"That is a massive sign of confidence, Tsunade-sama and the other Kage must value you amongst the top ninja in the joint shinobi task force. This could lead you to becoming hokage one day" Sai said.
"I don't want that job, was it so hard to place me in the intel division as a back room member" Shikamaru sighed.
"But Shikamaru you would probably get promoted from there anyway. Look at your father, he was made head tactician of the whole army" Choji said while munching on a bag of stress relieving potato chips.
"This is still far too troublesome, and because we are the long range figher division I will most likely be split up from Gaara so I will actually have to do lots of work, I don't know if I mentioned this... but this is just way too troublesome" the lazy Nara moaned.
The Final Division of the main army was Division Five, the special ops division. The general of division five would be Mifune.
"Man I hope I get division five! Special Ops sounds awesome, I bet they get all the difficult missions which will give me a chance to show how great I am" Kiba said.
"You idiot Kiba! don't treat war like it is a game!" Ino lectured.
At the end of the long lists there were several smaller list's erected. The first one read Daimyo protection and relocation squad, Commander Mei Terumi. Next up there was tactics and intel division, Commander Shikaku Nara.
The final list of names was a short one, only five names long but they made it rather visible even placing the pictures next to the name's. The final group that was put together was Team Jinchuuriki. And there was a sign next to them that read, emergency back up and Black Op's Division. Underneath the team name were the pictures and names of the five ninja who were sent to turtle island.
"Well no point waiting any longer, lets go find out where we are placed" Neji said and walked off to join the crowd that was gathering around trying to find their names.
Soon after the information was unveiled at various locations around the village making it easier to find their name.
(Unknown Location)
Kabuto had gone through some rather drastic changes, he began looking more and more like Orochimaru every day, but he seemed to be something far more than just a man with the former Sannin's cells in his body, he had changed so much that he was hardly even recognizable from the man who had followed his master around so religiously.
His hair had thinned and he no longer bothered to tie it back, leading to him cutting it short. He still wore the same glasses but the eyes behind them had changed, now he had yellow snake like eyes. But most shockingly of all he had grown what appeared to be a tail that was in fact a snake that traveled behind him as if it had a mind of its own.
Now Kabuto was about to play a very dangerous game, one that he hoped would get him possesion of the power he would need to become the strongest person alive and to gain what his old master could not. Immortality and the Sharingan.
But to do so he would need a large enough distraction and need to play his role perfectly. Which is why he left a trail of body's leading the team from Konoha that he knew was searching for him straight to Madara and the location of the Akatsuki.
"Hello Tobi... oh I'm sorry you go by Madara now don't you" Kabuto said as he landed on a large skeleton just as Madara approached.
"I am quite impressed you found me" Madara said his one visable eye narrowing as if to examine this new arrival.
"Don't you remember me? I've served as a spy in numerous countries, and I even spent some time working for the Akatsuki myself. Perhaps you should not underestimate what I might know" Kabuto said with a smug smile forming on his face that even made Sasuke's look tame.
"Ah yes I remember you now. You were one of Sasori's spy's and a traitor to the akatsuki" Madara said and the moment he finished his thought jumped forward to confront Kabuto.
Kabuto had to react quickly and jumped away so as to avoid what ever Madara had planned. "Summoning Edo Tensei!" Kabuto yelled as he slammed his hands to the ground and several large coffins rose up from the ground.
"It cant be!... Impure world resurrection!" Madara said, for the first time in years the masked member of the Akatsuki was shocked.
"That's right, a technique that only the Nidaime Hokage and Orochimaru-sama knew how to use... Now I make three. I have surpassed its previous users by quite some margin. This performance was just for you, I needed to earn your trust. I didn't come here to fight" Kabuto said.
"Then why are you here?" Madara asked.
"Isn't it obvious, I came here to join forces with you. You plan on starting your was soon, and I can bolster your fighting strength with the likes of Itachi, Sasori, Deidara, Kakuzu, and even Nagato" Kabuto said as each individual coffin opened upon hearing its name.
"You found Nagato's DNA? Where is his body?" Madara asked.
"I was unable to locate it, I found his DNA in the forests around Konoha, he left traces of his blood behind" Kabuto admitted.
"No Hidan it seems" Madara chuckled.
"Well no, there was nothing left of him to find, and technically he may not even be dead yet, with the amount of people he sacrificed who's to say how long he could live for as what ever tiny miniscule particles are left of him" Kabuto said with a smirk.
"Well it is quite a line up you have there" Madara admitted slightly impressed.
"This is nothing, not even anywhere near half! My full list of pawns are some of the strongest ninja to have ever lived" Kabuto said.
"And what do you want in return?" Madara asked.
"Sasuke Uchiha!" Kabuto stated bluntly.
"My my that boy if popular isn't he. What are you trying to accomplish?" Madara replied.
"Nothing in particular... My interests lie solely with learning the pure unaltered truth about ninjutsu. I need Sasuke-kun to fully answer my questions. I need a young, mostly healthy Uchiha" Kabuto said.
"And what if I say no?" Madara asked retorically.
"Well then there is always this" Kabuto said and he summoned another coffin. When it opened Madara's eyes went wide.
"Tha-that's... but how did you do this!" Madara stammered.
"Come now, did you really think I would come here empty handed, with no back up plan? You cannot refuse me!" Kabuto said.
"You Madman! How is this possible!" Madara said clearly shocked.
"Well that is my little secret. But you can relax, like I said I haven't come here to fight, and as it stands I haven't told a soul. I wonder if the Joint shinobi alliance would give me Sasuke in exchange for helping them in this war" Kabuto said.
"Hehehehe" Madara began to laugh as if he truly found the situation utterly hilarious.
"What's so funny?" Kabuto asked.
"Kabuto Yakushi. I honestly never imagined you had such potential. Any conflict with you would only serve to weaken my war fighting capabilities. And then you go and set all this up just for your meeting with me, quite a dangerous game you have played and you have had a good read of the board and picked your time to act perfectly" Madara complimented.
"And what of my proposal?" Kabuto asked.
"I accept your offer. Although I have one condition" Madara replied.
"And what would that be?" Kabuto queried.
"We wait until after this war is over before I give him to you. Until then I will be watching him day and night, I wont allow you anywhere near Sasuke until then" Madara said.
"I can agree to that, but make sure he stays safe, I don't want my valuables damaged, it would take all the fun out of breaking him myself" Kabuto said with a smirk.
"This is a war and he is a valuable piece, I still have a use for him, I need him to fight the Kyuubi jinchuuriki for me, it is a fight that I will find rather interesting" Madara said.
"Do you truly believe that Sasuke-kun can beat Naruto-kun, the Kyuubi jinchuuriki is completely out of his league" Kabuto said.
"Perhaps at the moment, but I will make sure Sasuke is far stronger than he is at the moment when the time comes for them to fight" Madara assured Kabuto.
"Very well then, we have an agreement. I knew you would be reasonable" Kabuto said.
"I'll reformulate my plan to account for your battle strength, lets go we have a war to plan out" Madara said and beckoned Kabuto to follow him.
All of the coffins closed and lowered themselves into the ground. 'Perfect, now I am sure that leaving the trail of bodies for those Konoha ninja to find was the right move, this war will start sooner than even you think Madara!' Kabuto thought with a smirk as he went to follow after the masked Uchiha.
While this was going on a team of four ninja from Konoha were inspecting yet another dead body.
"Just look at it, even all the way out here, it has to be either a trap or Kabuto is leading us somewhere" Anko said.
"In that case... Byakugan!" a Hyuuga member of the team said. Activating his bloodline limit the Hyuuga gazed off into the distance only to see Kabuto walking side by side with Madara.
"Mitarashi teichou, I have found him. But it's not just Kabuto! The masked man from the Akatsuki is with him as well" the Hyuuga said urgently.
"What are they doing?" Anko asked.
"They're walking together down some underground passageway" the Hyuuga answered.
"We need to inform Konoha right away, if this is where Madara is hiding then this war may be about to start" Anko said.
"I agree, we should leave and come investigate once we are given further orders" on of the other ninja in the group added.
(With Kabuto)
"So Madara, I have a favor to ask of you" Kabuto asked while they walked.
"Really and what would that be? I thought you were already given what you wanted when I agreed to hand over Sasuke after the war" Madara questioned.
"Oh that was simply the price for me joining you, I want one of the body of Zetsu's to use to experiment on. Ideally I would prefer a proper clone of Hashirama like the Konoha Anbu Tenzo, but your Zetsu clones will do, it wouldn't even delay the revival of the Juubi at all" Kabuto said.
"Well aren't we well informed... That bastard Orochimaru was sniffing around for more than just Itachi's eyes it seems" Madara fumed.
"You could say that, I also know that Zetsu here is the reason why you are going to be able to match the numbers of the joint shinobi task force. If not outnumber them, so one little living Zetsu clone shouldn't be too much of a problem right?" Kabuto asked.
"What's in it for me?" Madara said.
"I don't know, what do you want me to do?" Kabuto asked.
"I want you to capture one of the jinchuuriki, it doesn't matter which one, but I believe the key to capturing that brat of a Uzumaki is the Nibi" Madara said.
"So you want me to capture Yugito Nii, difficult as we have no idea where they are hiding the jinchuuriki and she will no doubt be highly defended by Naruto, Uzumaki Namikaze. Who I know is not someone to be messing with lightly" Kabuto said.
"I don't think it will be too difficult to find where the shinobi task force has hidden the jinchuuriki. I am expecting news from Kisame any minute now, he infiltrated their group with the help of the mentally challenged rapping fool brother of the Raikage" Madara said.
"Naruto-kun is a talented sensor, is it possible they have discovered him?" Kabuto asked.
"No, with the way Kisame has of hiding he is impossible to detect, not even Black Zetsu or myself can find him when he is hidden away inside of that sword of his" Madara stated. 'Although there is one possibility, if the boy was able to get control over the Kyuubi's chakra, should that happen he could be given the same ability as that detestable Mito Uzumaki in that he can sense darker emotions. If that is the case then Kisame is most likely dead, a one on one fight against that blond is not possible, at least not until I find where Konan hid the Rinnegan' the masked Uchiha thought without voicing his mild concern,
"Well then, when we find out where they are kept I will make sure to bring you back a gift, I am positive that they will keep Tenzo with the jinchuuriki because of his Mokuton, so he will also be a target of mine, and if I can capture him I may not even need a copy of Zetsu" Kabuto said.
"Very well follow me" Madara said and turned to lead Kabuto way down to what must surely be deep underneath the earth. There he walked up to a large white statue. That appeared to have a man growing out of it as well as several hands and legs sticking out at various places.
"The Shodaime Hokage! Hashirama Senju! Well in truth it is not quite that dramatic, this is something I grew from living tissue I stole from him during our battle. This has no mind of its own, which makes it perfect for me to use. Anyway, what I really wanted to show you is even deeper underground come" Madara said and once more led the former medic ninja deeper into the earth.
The pair came to a large room and Kabuto couldn't help but sit down in awe of the sight before him. "This is amazing! When did you do this?" the snake like man asked.
"There was a lot of risk involved, and it required far more of the chakra of the Bijuu, that were sealed within the statue, than I had planned. But the longer it takes for the Juubi to be revived the longer it will take for my plan to come to fruition" Madara said.
"Amazing... How... How many are there?" Kabuto stammered still not believing his eyes.
"Hmm I would say about... One hundred thousand, give or take a few thousand, I have stretched the chakra of the Bijuu I have captured to the limit so creating more would not be possible at the moment, but I think we will have enough, I don't see the joint shinobi army having this many, and these Zetsu have a few tricks up their sleeve, we will win this war, crush the shinobi alliance and then I will become complete" Madara said triumphantly.
(Island Turtle)
Naruto was training with his chakra cloak in an attempt to get better control over the Kyuubi's chakra.
"Kami damn it!" Naruto yelled as he destroyed yet another block that he was trying to stack with his chakra arms.
"You are way to rough yo! You need to get in the groove, you need to relax man, be smooth!" Bee said giving his own unique form of advice.
"I'm trying this isn't exactly easy, it feels like tying trying to slow down a hungry akimichi at an all you can eat buffet, it just cant be done" Naruto sighed.
"Don't complain, sucka your a ninja and a jinchuuriki, nothing is impossible muthafuka!" Bee Rapped in response.
Naruto just sighed and continued with his training. 'I hope we get a mission soon, this is such a pain' Naruto thought as he managed to stack two levels of the massive blocks before crushing the third massive slab of cement as though it was nothing but a twig.
'You are pathetic, how are you supposed to defeat Madara if you cant even stack a couple of slabs of cement. How sad can you get' Kyuubi's voice rang from inside Naruto's mind.
'Oh shut it Kyuubi, I don't need your rather unique brand of encouragement' Naruto replied.
'Encouragement? Far from it, I was simply commenting on how pathetic you were at using my chakra' Kyuubi said.
'Aw you just don't want to admit you want me to succeed, I get it. Don't worry I wont tell anyone that you are secretly nice' Naruto said knowing it was bound to infuriate Kyuubi to no end hearing him say that.
'Nice! I am the incarnation of hatred you accursed child, there is nothing about me that will ever be... nice!' Kyuubi roared much to the satisfaction of Naruto.
'Well we'll see about that, I bet one day you and I can come to understand each other, who knows we may even end up as friends' Naruto replied and carefully stacked a third and forth block up onto his stack.
Kyuubi was so angry he couldn't even reply, which in turn infuriated him even more. He had spoken to try and get some enjoyment out of taunting Naruto and his failure to control the amount of power he was using, but instead the little smart ass turned the tables on him. 'Accursed child, I will be free one day, and when that comes, I hope to be able to end you myself!' the fox thought to itself angrily.
Very slowly Naruto began to get the hang of his new power and by the end of the following day he was able to quickly stack nine blocks at the same time.
"Way to go Nine-O, now we can start to relearn your jutsu, but start with something easy Yo!" Bee said.
"Hm I guess I will try a Fuuton jutsu then" Naruto said and began running through his hand seals. "Fuuton: Great Breakthrough!" Naruto yelled and took a deep breath before exhaling a masive gust of wind that was far more powerful than any he had used in the past, even his sage enhanced Almighty Breakthrough was weaker than Naruto's jutsu. "What the hell! Should it be that powerful?" Naruto asked.
'Of course it should be, I am a Katon and Fuuton demon, so it stands to reason that your Fuuton element will be stronger when you use my chakra' Kyuubi said lazily.
'Don't you have anything better to do?' Naruto asked.
'Like what? Catch a movie at the local cinema, I am stuck inside you, there is nothing else to do apart from watch what is going on and commenting on it' Kyuubi replied.
'Fair point, so what about my Suiton manipulation, will that be effected at all?' Naruto asked.
'How the fuck should I know, no jinchuuriki has ever taken control of me before!' Kyuubi replied.
'Well I guess I will just have to try one out' Naruto stated and began running through some hand signs. "Suiton: Uzumaki Water Gun!" Naruto yelled out loud and shot a high pressured stream of water out of his mouth that seemed to spiral tight causing the water to almost drill into the object that the jutsu hit.
"Well that one was better, it wasn't over powered" Jiraiya said.
"Actually I put more power into that than the Fuuton attack. Because the Kyuubi is a Katon and Fuuton element and I am Fuuton and Suiton, my Fuuton attacks are far more powerful than my Suiton, so in the end I needed to pump more chakra into the Suiton jutsu than normal because the Katon chakra of the Kyuubi is opposed to it" Naruto said.
"I can dig, Hachibi has water and I have lightening, when we come together our attacks are frightening" Bee said. Which was roughly translated as he understood what Naruto was trying to explain.
(Unknown Location)
"There is still no word from Kisame?" Madara asked Zetsu.
"No, we still have not heard anything from him. Do you think they found him out?" Zetsu asked.
"Yes I have little doubt now that Kisame is dead, and the brat is a seal master so the trap placed on the scroll will not catch him out" Madara said. 'That damn boy, he is more trouble than he is worth, I should have killed him when he was only a minute old and I had the chance' Madara thought mulling over how major a set back this was. After all Killer Bee was present while A would have been going through the strength's and weaknesses of the Joint shinobi Army, the location where they were hiding the jinchuuriki as well as any other alternative locations to hide them would have been discussed, as well as what strategical locations they would be defending and why. Yes loosing Kisame without getting his information was a major blow to Madara.
"What do you plan to do now?" Zetsu asked.
"I need to go to Ame to pay a little visit to Konan, and of course I need to claim the Rinnegan. They were my gift to Nagato after all" Madara said.
"What do you mean?" Zetsu questioned.
"A family of Uzumaki's that were not living in Uzu, and you think I wouldn't know about it? No I knew about Nagato's family and their little secret for quite awhile. That's why during the second shinobi war I controlled a couple of Konoha ninja made them separate from their squad and forced them into Nagato's home. It was part of my plan, you see I knew if I wanted to be able to take control of the Juubi's power I would need the powers of the Rinnegan. And there was my chance, a young Uzumaki that was completely ignorant about his clan and not trained at all in the ninja art's. It was as if Kami had gift wrapped him for me" Madara said.
"Then why not take the eyes then and there?" Zetsu said.
"I wanted the boy to grow, to experience the pain and hatred in the world, but then a problem occurred. That accursed toad sage, Jiraiya, showed up and changed the boy back away from my path. I had hoped to make the boy grow up to despise everything about Konoha, and then that fool comes along and almost ruins everything. After that I had to play a longer game, I controlled people from the shadow's and manipulated the fool Yahiko into starting the Akatsuki. I knew full well that Hanzou the Salamander would oppose them thinking they were trying to seize power in Ame. Then I needed to convince Hanzou that he needed help, the help of the two faced schemer Danzo no less. My plan worked perfectly and Pein was born, someone that I could use and manipulate from the shadows keeping myself hidden while I had the Akatsuki go about my bidding" Madara chuckled.
"So the Rinnegan was the Kekkei Genkai of the Uzumaki clan. But how did you find out?" Zetsu asked.
"When I left Konoha all those years ago I went to Uzu in an attempt to gather support against Konoha. As you know they refused me, but what they didn't know was just how powerful these eyes of mine are. I saw right through the seal protected genjutsu they have protecting their family tree, although I needed the Mangekyo Sharingan to do so. When I did that I noticed some peculiar markings next to a few of the name's before I left I went to say farewell to the Uzumaki clan leader, well that's what I made to be the reason I went to see him. I used my sharingan to read his mind and there was the truth buried deep in his mind, the old fool didn't even know what I was doing. That was when my Moon's Eye plan was born!, I knew that the Rinnegan and the Rikudou Sennin were true and the tablet given to the Uchiha was legitimate, so that had to mean that the Juubi was real and my favorite pet was nothing but hot air in comparison" Madara explained.
"So you have been trying to accomplish your goal for over one hundred years?" Zetsu asked.
"Yes, but now I am so close to completing my goal, I will not let anyone get in my way now! I have gotten rid of everything else that could of opposed me. I set Iwa after the Uzumaki clan at the start of the Third shinobi war, I took out the Yondaime Hokage who once again saved that detestable village. For the past hundred years the elemental countries have been little more than my puppets. I knew that it was only a matter of time before the Uzumaki clan found out about Nagato, after all he was bound to show up on their family tree, so I skillfully informed the Tsuchikage that the Uzumaki clan were just as dangerous as Konoha and would need to be taken out of the picture if they were to even stand a chance in the war he was planning. It was a stoke of brilliance, and I was finally able to see the downfall of those peace loving bastards" Madara said happily.
"Amazing, and to think nobody has even known you were alive since your battle with the Shodaime Hokage" Zetsu said.
"Anyway, it is time to collect the final part of my plans for the war, I want you to keep an eye on Kabuto, make sure he doesn't go anywhere near Sasuke or Sakura while I am gone, oh and prep the eye chamber for Sasuke's transplant" Madara said as he began to disappear in a swirl.
"Of course Madara-sama" Zetsu said with a bow before his leader had completely fazed away.
End Chapter!