Invictus

by Raging Smurf

When I died, I never thought I'd get a second chance at life, let alone another chance as the protagonist of an anime. Getting another chance in a world with Snake pedos, heart thieves, and peepers with doomsday capabilities wasn't a part of the memo. But I ain't selling my life cheap, that's for damn sure. Male OC NarutoInsert. Chapters 1-4 prologue.

47. Hard Love

New chapter is here and we get to see what Ashina was up to while Naruto, Rin, and the other Genin were locked in their respective fights.

This is 29k words long, and for good reason.

A truly massive thing is revealed, something I've hinted at from Ashina's POV a couple times and a few other parts. I'll give my reasoning at the bottom. The reasoning is very long.

---

Right after Ashina ran out of the arena.

Good thing my clone mapped out the area. Ashina thought, rushing through Konoha's red light district as The Raikage and both Kumo Jinchuriki pursued him.

The Raikage didn't get his denseheaded self down fast enough to intercept Itachi, so the man was chasing him instead.

Leaping up to the roof of a building, Ashina made multiple Kage bunshin and triggered the storage scrolls his clone had filled with water from the river during the night and planted different ones throughout the village in preparation for the invasion and when he severed the connection to Orochimaru.

The water exploded out and he barked an order at his bunshin, setting a precursor of his main plan to keep Konoha out of the way of his vengeance/Self appointed mission in motion.

Each of his Kage bunshin manipulated different portions of the water and sent it at the three Shinobi pursuing him, most of the Jutsu being water dragons.

The 'herd?' of dragons rushed forward, tearing apart a few buildings in the process, and crashed into his three pursuers, the Raikage getting broadsided by one.

Shouting at his clones to continue to delay the three, Ashina jumped from one building to the next, trying to reach the temple.

Jumping down as he saw a direct path through a street to get to the temple, Ashina saw a purple haired woman holding off several Oto Shinobi, multiple bodies convulsing around her from what appeared to be some kind of poison.

She's marked by Orochimaru. Ashina realized, sensing the foul chakra of the snake sinking its fangs into her chakra.

The handful of Konoha Shinobi with her spotted him and charged, kunai drawn.

Idiots. Ashina thought, shifting water chakra around him and vanishing from sight.

Ashina rushed straight at them, not caring about being quiet. His fist struck the face of one, knocking her out cold. Another was caught in a headlock when he twisted and jumped, wrapping his legs around his head and rotating his body weight to bring him down. The last barely dodged the point blank water Jutsu he spat at him and retreated, catching the attention of the trench coat wearing woman.

With a growl of exertion, she broke through the defense of the Oto kunoichi she was fighting and buried a kunai hilt deep in her temple, the woman collapsing in a boneless heap.

"You have got to be kidding me!" She shouted at the remaining Konoha Shinobi, "You can't take down one guy?!"

Ashina fought the urge to roll his eyes when the other Oto nin looked relieved at his arrival, assuming he was an ally.

"I'm not here to save you, Oto nin," He growled, manifesting a golden spear, "I'm here to purge your kind from this village."

Without hesitation, Ashina blitzed towards them, spear raised.

Vaulting over the shocked still woman, Ashina pressed his spear into the ground and flipped forward, spinning his body like a top as he made a half seal, shooting several water senbon out of his mouth.

The only ones struck were the Oto nin he aimed for, the nearly half dozen of them falling to the ground with several deep wounds from his attack.

One managed to rush towards him and slashed at him with a sword, but Ashina shifted out of the way in a blur of movement, swung upward diagonally, taking the man's leg off mid thigh, and swung to the right, taking his head clean off. Ashina then turned back around and narrowed his eyes.

As he got the feedback of his pursuers overpowering his bunshin, he looked to the woman.

"Be sure to stay alive. I plan to rip that brand off your neck." He then leaped up in the air, making a single hand seal as he saw a version one Bijuu cloak surrounding the Nibi Jinchuriki.

Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu.

A dragon formed from the water on the ground and shot towards the blonde, who shot a fireball at it in response. The resulting explosion shook the ground and caused mist to form throughout the whole block, hiding everything.

Focusing with his sensory abilities, Ashina felt the Konoha kunoichi rush towards him, her chakra slightly stained by Orochimaru's.

Without a single care in the world, Ashina made a single half seal, molding the water on the ground into several senbon, sending them at her.

She managed to twist and evade in an impressive display of flexibility and agility, still running at him unscathed.

Be that way. Ashina thought, making another half seal to make multiple Mizu bunshin from the water beneath them, the six copies of him managing to trip her up.

The kunoichi swung at them with her kunai and sent a stream of snakes at him from her sleeve, trying to bind him.

He let them wrap around him and pulsed his bloodline ability through the tenketsu points of his chest, shredding them.

A growl of rage escaped her and she tore through his Mizu bunshin, taking a punch to the face from one and a couple minor cuts.

Lazily flicking his hand to form a blade, Ashina diverted her stab, kicked at her gut, only to be avoided as her spine seemed to contort so she could flow around it.

"A female Orochimaru at last." Ashina laughed, his opponent's chakra flaring in rage.

"I am not him!" She growled, attacking him in a blur of movement to the outside viewer.

With no time to waste, Ashina deflected all the attacks in a blur of blade movement, punched her in the throat, and drove his other fist into her gut, driving the air from her lungs.

She collapsed forward and fell to her knees, coughing like she were choking.

"If I wanted you dead, I would have removed your head from your body." He said, twisting her to have her back facing him. He then tore her trench coat away to try and get to the mark on her neck.

The woman struggled in his grip and pulled out a kunai, stabbing at him. Ashina took the hit to his chest and twisted slightly to yank the kunai out of her grip, the weapon still lodged in his chest.

"That was rude." He said, looking at the now exposed mark.

This is your pride and joy of seals, Orochimaru? Ashina thought incredulously. This is your insurance policy on not staying dead? It looks like I was right about the bleeding effect to modify this poor child's chakra network. She feels almost like you did all those years ago.

"I wish I could say this'll only hurt a bit," Ashina said truthfully, holding her in place with an ironclad grip, "But that would make me a liar."

As he went to press his fingers on the mark, another fireball came from the end of the street where the Kumo trio were held up with his bunshin.

Lifting his hand up to make a half seal, he sent a blast of water out of his mouth to extinguish it, mainly to ensure the girl didn't get incinerated. The two jutsu clashed and a snap hiss sound echoed down the street, the water being turned into steam.

Said girl that was protected by him, being a complete and total sweetheart, thanked him by burying a kunai hilt deep into his groin and tried to roll away.

Having felt no pain at all, Ashina sent a water whip at her, pulling her back to him.

"I'm going to cut your balls off and shove them down your damn throat!" She screamed at him, brown eyes blazing in anger as she kept punching him in the gut.

Ashina tightened the whip of water around her, pulled the kunai out of his crotch and stabbed himself where his heart would have been, causing her eyes to widen.

"I'm under a Henge." He said flatly, dropping the illusion that hid the cracks and the blackness of his eyes.

The woman's eyes widened in shock and no small amount of fear.

"W-who are you?" She asked fearfully, her voice shaking in horror.

Ashina couldn't help but laugh at the question he had been asked multiple times by not just her, but others since he had been actively trying to kill Orochimaru and protect his grandchildren.

"I already told Itachi when I desecrated multiple graves yesterday." Ashina laughed, assuming the explosives and seals he placed at certain graves didn't go unnoticed. Sakumo didn't deserve to have his soul dragged from the afterlife to fight for Orochimaru or others in the future, so he sealed his remains in a scroll that could only be opened by Sakumo's blood relatives.

"Ah, yes, Itachi is here," Ashina said as the woman tried to break out of his grip, "and he plans to target Jinchuriki."

"I'll fucking kill him before I let him get to Rin or Naruto." She growled, causing Ashina to look closer at her.

"You know my grandchildren?" He asked, smiling as he thought of them.

It seemed like fate chose that time for his two bunshin sent to the Hyuga compound to pop, giving him their memories.

You worthless simpletons. He scowled. His bunshin were supposed to make sure the Hyuga were neutralized. They were the only ones who could see through the technique he was going to use.

"As much as I'd like to hear about the grandchildren I wish to speak with, I'll need to make this quick." He then pressed his fingers into her mark, causing it to flare.

She started screaming like a brand was being applied to her, her chakra and body thrashing in his grasp. The screaming had him gritting is teeth as he cursed himself for not doing it faster to spare her this level of pain.

I can feel you, Orochimaru. He pulsed chakra into the seal, twisting it to begin the process of ripping Orochimaru's essence out.

Before Ashina could begin extracting it, he felt the last of his bunshin sent to delay get killed and the Raikage came rushing towards him.

"Where's Itachi?!" He roared, his arm outstretched to grab him as he flashed towards him.

This just gets better and better. Ashina seethed, kicking the writhing woman aside.

"East side!" Ashina roared back, stabbing at the Raikage's arm to ward him off, "Now back off or I'll rip the cat out of her container again!"

Ay shifted out of the way of the slash and pivoted to shoot back towards his two subordinates, the female one sending looks that varied between terror and rage at him.

"Come here, Neko-chan," Ashina grinned viciously, daring the newest Jinchuriki of the Nibi to attack him, "Does hers want a bewwy wub?" He wiggled his fingers and pulsed some chakra in them, making them glow.

The last time he touched the stomach of a Nibi Jinchuriki, it had rather... explosive results.

The moral: Don't let an Uzumaki pet a cat belly.

The blonde stepped forward like she was going to fight him, but B put his hand on her shoulder.

"Stay out of my way and I won't kill any of you," Ashina said, preparing to reach the temple, "I'm going to kill Orochimaru and you can have fun killing Itachi and his partner. Someone is currently fighting Roshi on the outskirts."

The someone currently fighting Roshi had extremely large reserves. Enough where Ashina barely had to focus to catch a glimpse of it.

"What the hell is an Iwa nin doing here?" Ay demanded, not even thinking of the possibility of that.

"Beats me." Ashina shrugged, preparing to move again. "Try not to get killed."

Ashina Shunshined away, trying to get to the temple.

After tearing his way through Oto and Suna nin after crossing multiple streets that were where constant fighting was occurring, Ashina reached the temple, a smile on his face.

The smile melted off his face when several signatures closed in on him, one specifically like an inferno raced towards him. Before he could even throw up his arm to stop it, he saw a green blur fly towards him.

"Dynamic Entry!" A voice shouted, a kick striking his face so hard he felt his head twist 720 degrees.

He got launched across the street from the momentum of the kick, skipping like a stone several times and crashing into a building with so much force that the wall shattered, loud shrieks assaulting his hearing.

Ashina looked up and realized he had smashed into the village brothel, judging by the skantily clad women cowering under the bar and the scent of perfume.

"Ladies." Ashina said politely, reaching up to his twisted head. "I'd look away." He then twisted his neck around twice to relocate the artificial vertebrae, a loud crunching noise and feeling vibrating in his head.

After the shrieks of horror quieted down, Ashina rose up and marched back outside through the hole he made, positively livid.

"Where are you, you spandex wearing sombitch!" Ashina roared, a chakra blade in hand.

A man in green spandex appeared in front of him, a visible chakra halo around him.

"A Gate opener," Ashina tilted his head mockingly, "I never did manage to create a stable seal matrix to plant on someone and get it to work without burning the recipient to ash."

The man maintained a ready stance, his hands raised in a proper taijutsu form.

"I know who you are, Uzumaki Ashina." The man bowed respectfully, "But you are a puppet for Orochimaru and I, Maito Gai, shall help free you."

Ashina growled under his breath.

Of course Hiruzen warned his Jonin about him being resurrected, but not that there was a plan to break his connection to Orochimaru.

And Maito Gai obviously knew nothing of how an Edo Tensei behaved when its will was subverted.

"If it isn't one thing, it's three." Ashina rushed towards the man, needing to get to the temple and grab both masks.

The two clashed and Ashina was surprised by the man's speed of movement. It wasn't the same as the Raikage, but it was extremely fast.

The two exchanged blows, each of them dodging the hits because of either a chakra blade being slipped in or the possible strength could knock them back.

Several punches were blocked by Ashina, his body arching back to avoid a sidekick from the obviously skilled taijutsu fighter.

Ashina countered with his own offensive, leaping over Gai's head and swinging a chakra blade at his shoulder. Gai pivoted on his leg and a kunai flashed in his hand, deflecting the attack. Ashina manifested another blade and twirled in a deadly dance of golden death, trying to bring the man down.

Maito Gai managed to avoid or check most of the attacks by grabbing Ashina's forearm or punching the inside of it, only being clipped twice throughout the sequence of attacks.

Ashina forced a scissor kick away from him, causing Gai to plant his hands into the ground to twist his body and leap over Ashina, swinging at his head with his heel.

Ashina twisted to the side and backed away, stabbing forward with an intentional overreach to get a slight opening and let himself get kicked in the chest, opening up the chance for him swing a chakra blade in his off hand at Gai's leg. Gai seemed to predict it and twisted his entire body, swinging his left leg to divert the chakra blade as his other struck Ashina's chest.

The Uzumaki's eyes widened in shock and he was propelled up in the air, even further away from his prize.

Twisting in the air to face Gai, Ashina blurred through a constant stream of hand seals, shooting large water projectiles at Gai.

Gai ran to avoid the attacks as they impacted the street he was on, the stones cracking from the force of the water striking them, and leaped forward, spinning to jump over some debris in the street. Every attack was narrowly avoided and the Konoha Jonin rushed towards where Ashina was going to land.

Ashina felt his rage at every complication grow. For decades, he had prepared. For decades, he had studied the mysteries of chakra to discover physical evidence concerning the truth about the Uchiha and their greatest secret; a secret that he only recently discovered evidence that the Senju may have also shared with their rivals.

"I will not be stopped!" Ashina roared, making a Kage bunshin and having it turn invisible with orders to stay out of the way.

Ashina felt a gravity seal on one of the walls of the buildings and he grinned as Gai blitzed towards him.

"Mark him!" Ashina barked at his clone, making a hand seal to activate the tag.

All it took to modify Naruto's seals to respond to his chakra was to pulse a small amount of chakra into a specific point of the trigger for it to respond to his chakra. It also helped that his grandson had chakra similar to his.

The gravity seal activated just as Gai reached him, both being caught in it as the building the seal was stuck to groaned as stress was put on the wood and stones. Ashina was more prepared for it and managed to wrap his arms around Gai's leg that had spun around to hit him before the two men fell to the ground.

Gai gritted his teeth and tried to break free, but Ashina held a death grip on his leg as he wrapped his own legs around Gai's arms.

"Your 'Dynamic Entry' death kick hurt," Ashina growled at the man, "And I'm supposed to be dead!"

Ashina shouted towards his clone to deactivate the seal and mark Gai in the one area that wasn't covered by that infernal seal resistant fabric that made up his spandex.

His head.

The gravity seal deactivated as the clone Shunshined straight towards them, slamming his hand on the crown of Gai's head to mark him.

The seal took hold and the chakra being pumped into his tenketsu from the opening of the multiple Gates was funneled into the seal, pulling him from his physical state.

"My strength." Gai said incredulously, Ashina pushing him away as the man was silent in shock at his technique being disabled.

"Try to break that seal, and your head will explode." Ashina said flatly, pushing his sensing out.

The seal would only work for 10 minutes at a maximum before it crumbled. Few seals that are applied like that will function for long, even less when the Inner Gates were in use. He just needed Gai to stay out of his way for a short window.

The invasion force in this section of the village had been neutralized, judging by the lower number of chakra flashes and the signatures closing in on him.

Why does the emotional state of these ANBU feel off? Ashina wondered, preparing to tear his way through the Shinobi in front of him, Konoha nin or not.

The masked individuals in front of him were a Yamanaka and Aburame, judging by how their chakra felt.

"I'm not in the mood for this!" Ashina shouted, making several Kage bunshin.

The two, with several other masked Shinobi, charged at him or sent a mixture of fire and wind jutsu at him.

Ashina blurred through hand seals and pooled water in his gut.

Suiton: Suijinheki.

He spat water out from left to right and a wall of water formed that encompassed the entire street, stopping the storm of Jutsu crashing towards him. As the water withstood the onslaught, Ashina turned invisible and ran, ordering his bunshin to distract them.

More than one managed to race towards him and he bit back a snarl as he jumped up as he ran down a market street, grabbing ahold of a pole. He spun until he let go and was sent flying towards the three that pursued him, roaring as he pulsed chakra into his hands.

He crashed straight into one and cratered the road slightly, driving several punches into the man's masked face.

The two others rushed at him to force him off, but Ashina almost absentmindedly made a hand seal as he punched forward, shaping the water on the ground into Mizu bunshin to cover the spots where he could sense the two.

His copies delayed them long enough for him to drive a chakra blade into the Shinobi's eye hole in the mask, his opponent falling still.

Ashina made three hand seals and pulled the water from the bunshin towards him, using an original Jutsu.

Suiton: Rotating Water Dance.

The water spun around him at a velocity that had it screeching, finally exploding out in extremely sharp blades of water. The water tore the two completely to shreds and tore chunks out of the ground around his feet, the buildings around him having deep lacerations in the stone from the high velocity water tearing into them.

Ashina shook his head and he ran once more.

He Shunshined in a straight line to a separate street and ran towards the temple, his sensing picking up nothing.

He practically roared in rage as he felt something slippery slither across the ground seconds later, chasing after him.

Nara! He growled, running as fast as his body could handle. Just as he began to outpace the shadow, multiple signatures came in and converged on him.

A giant, meaty ball of Shinobi came rolling at him, followed by several Hyuga.

A compressed ball of water from Ashina's mouth struck the Akamichi dead on, causing him to veer off course and smash through an abandoned food stand. The Hyuga were shouting where he was at as he didn't have complete surprise with his water refraction jutsu.

A Branch member, judging by the mark on his head, got in his way and lashed out with a Juken strike at his throat, trying to close of the tenketsu between the brain and body, no doubt.

Honestly not caring, Ashina punched directly at the hand, felling the tenketsu in one of his fingers close as his fist broke the fingers and hand of the Hyuga.

Idiot. He thought as he jumped over the Hyuga and kicked him in the back to be propelled further.

Still in the air, Ashina went through hand seals again, forcing the tenketsu in his hand to violently open.

Suiton: Suijinheki.

He twisted to plant his hands as he hit the ground, somersaulting forward and blasting water behind him, forming another wall to cover his back.

Ashina rolled with the momentum and kept on running, remaining invisible to the others.

To catch a Hyuga with it, he needed them to have not seen him as he used it. It left an extremely faint outline only seeable with the Byakagun and he knew from experience that a Hyuga could overlook it if caught off guard.

He could see the temple, so very close.

Activating the temple's seals to trigger them, he had his implanted seal in the matrix shut off while everything else activated, causing a catastrophic failure.

The seals vented all the chakra in them as a safety measure to stop them from exploding, causing a flash of chakra that acted as an ocular flashbang against both Uchiha and Hyuga.

He heard the Hyuga shout in pain and the others that got around the water wall lost their guides to see him, his path now open.

Kicking the door down and waiting for the warm feeling of fire chakra to build up from one of the pursuing Shinobi, Ashina made two hand seals and kneaded oil in his gut.

Suiton: Water Oil Bullet.

He shot the flammable liquid out of his mouth and immediately turned, rushing towards the wall of masks, ignoring the footsteps of three men that entered some time ago and the crack in the floor.

The explosion from the fire jutsu and oil had him grinning in triumph, his fingers now wrapping around the mask he needed.

Putting it on, Uzumaki Ashina felt Nature chakra flood into him, his body feeling more natural than it had since his resurrection.

He could almost delude himself into thinking he was actually alive again from how his chakra felt with the Senjutsu enhancement.

Grabbing another mask, he kept it tucked in to his chest and used a Senjutsu enhanced jutsu with his other hand.

Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu.

The blast of water would have been more aptly called a tidal wave from the volume of it, the force of it tearing the wall away from the temple and gave him an exit.

His sensing was so much more enhanced after the influx of Nature chakra that he could count all the current battles between S-rank Shinobi and the Jinchuriki. Roshi was currently locked in combat with somebody with Bijuu level reserves, with Itachi closing in, a fragment of his chakra over a couple miles away with the Ichibi Jinchuriki. Killer B, Yugito, and the Raikage were almost there, causing Ashina to smirk.

But Naruto was on his own, a Kaguya, by the feel of the chakra, was closing in on his location. Another chakra signature was next to the Kaguya, but the other didn't have the same echo of Orochimaru's chakra.

He will need help. Ashina thought grimly, making more than one bunshin souped up on Nature chakra to assist his grandson if need be.

Ashina made several other Kage bunshin and sent them to different corners of the village, each one holding a massive amount of nature chakra to manipulate the water in the storage scrolls he planted more easily.

Oto and Suna were about to find out what the hellscape he made during his last remaining days alive in Uzu was like. A mist that was laced with Nature chakra to conceal his invisible clones, with plenty of standing water to thicken the mist and to make Mizu bunshin to stab them from behind as they flailed around blindly.

Ashina was pulled from that line of thought when he felt something in his sensing.

Hiruzen's chakra was extremely faint and Hashirama was right next to him, Orochimaru's chakra no longer staining it.

Well done, old man. Ashina thought as he raced towards Jiraiya who was locked in a fight with Orochimaru on the south side of the village.

The Snake Sannin needed to be killed first. Roshi would be second.

And Uchiha Sasuke would be the third one killed.

---

Hiruzen collapsed in a boneless heap, coughing up blood as his back struck the ground.

I did it. He managed to think through his clouded thoughts, the whole world spinning.

He'd managed to sever the connection Orochimaru had on the Shodai, the man's eyes looking at his in horror at what he had done.

"Hiruzen!" Hashirama exclaimed, trying to help his student.

"It's," Hiruzen coughed, glancing down at the gaping wound in his side, "It's alright, Sensei."

"No no no," Hashirama pressed his hands on the wound that he inflicted on the old man, "You're not going to die."

Hiruzen had demanded that Jiraiya pursue Orochimaru instead of helping him subdue Hashirama. Orochimaru needed to be killed to protect the village and Jiraiya was likely the only one who could kill Orochimaru in single combat other than him.

But Hiruzen's body had failed him as he and Enma fought to defeat Hashirama. He overestimated what his aged body could do and Hashirama had slowly started to take the edge in their fight, his endless stamina being his greatest advantage.

Enma had stopped his transformation and reverted into his normal form to assist in taijutsu and hold Hashirama in place as Hiruzen placed the mark, but the Shodai had managed to break away at the last second as Hiruzen had his hand out.

With a soft murmur of 'Victory, at any cost', Hiruzen had lunged forward with the tag given to him in hand, slamming it into Hashirama's head right as his Sensei had driven a knife hand into his abdomen, sinking elbow deep through.

And that was how Hiruzen ended up in this situation, weak and tired, with his mentor frantically trying to save him.

"You're not going to die yet, old man." Hashirama said, his hand glowing green without making a sign.

Enma was staying back several feet, pacing back and forth in worry.

As Hashirama pressed his hand on the wound, Hiruzen started groaning in pain.

The blood that was flowing out at a frightful pace began to slow, the burning agony of the injury being less horrific.

Hashirama kept it up until his chakra started fluctuating, causing a spurt of blood to come from the wound.

Hiruzen bit into his cheek to prevent from crying out, his vision spinning from the pain.

"My current state is making it difficult to keep the healing stable." Hashirama said worriedly, pulling his hand away, "I can't think of any other way to slow the bleeding without causing more damage."

"Cauterize it." Hiruzen moaned, not wanting to die just yet.

Asuma, I'm sorry we haven't seen eye to eye. I should have tried to be a better father after Biwako died. I'll fight to live to see you marry and have children of your own. Hiruzen made a silent prayer to anyone listening that he could live through this. He knew the injury probably destroyed something, but he wasn't ready to die. His rest could wait.

Hashirama nodded and extended his left hand towards Hiruzen's mouth.

"Bite down, Saru." Hashirama said softly, "This will hurt."

Hiruzen gave his mentor a tearful look and bit down on his hand, preparing for the pain he'd only felt once when he was in his early twenties.

The Shodai made a half seal with his right hand, manipulating his chakra into a fire nature and ignited his hand, pushing into Hiruzen's side.

Hiruzen spasmed and screamed as he bit down, his teeth sinking into the reanimation's hand.

The sizzle of his own flesh and the scent was awful to his senses, but not as much as the pain he felt from his insides being lit on fire.

The last thing Hiruzen saw before he passed out from the pain was Hashirama's face breaking out into a smile, his voice reassuring.

---

"Get back here, coward!" Jiraiya roared, breathing deeply as he clashed with his former best friend once again miles away from Konoha. There fight had dragged them out far enough where he was beginning to struggle with finding specific signatures.

Not since Hanzo had Jiraiya had such a hard fight. Orochimaru was just as slippery as before and it took every ounce of knowledge and experience he had accumulated for over 40 years to keep himself from being killed by the snake Sannin.

He was still in Sage mode, but he could feel the burn in his tenketsu and he had just summoned Gamabunta after Orochimaru summoned Manda, the two going at it.

Maybe I should have let Kakashi stay with me. Jiraiya thought for a moment, but shook that thought aside almost as quickly as the thought had hit him.

Jiraiya wasn't a sensor, but Sage mode gave him sensory abilities. He had felt Rin's chakra and Naruto's, and they were in separate areas.

Naruto seemed to be fighting someone with strange chakra that was marked by Orochimaru's in a way that was similar to Mitarashi Anko's. But Rin was even worse. Four signatures had been closing in on her and the Genin she was with and Jiraiya had demanded that Kakashi go to them to help them while he would finish Orochimaru.

Jiraiya didn't care about himself at this point. Naruto and Rin needed to be protected at all cost, especially Naruto. He had been wrong about himself, Nagato, and Minato. But he refused to be wrong about Naruto.

"No matter how many times you kill me," Orochimaru chuckled, spitting out some blood as he held his sword in a defensive position, "I will always return."

He'd 'killed' Orochimaru three times, but the snake had come back each time by crawling out of the broken carcass that was his body, a new one free of injury.

"I know you can't keep it up." Jiraiya replied, his fists raised to finish the fight, "That little vomit technique of yours eats through chakra like an Akamichi at a buffet."

Jiraiya heard Orochimaru scoff at his statement.

"And I always wondered why Ashina deemed you his favorite between the two of us and shared some of his seal techniques." Orochimaru said with a hint of sarcasm.

"Because I was the most honest about who I was and am." Jiraiya replied sharply, his eyes fixed on Orochimaru's.

"You fear death," Jiraiya said, "And I truly wish Sarutobi-sensei and I had the strength to kill you years ago. You are the monster you are because we let it happen."

Orochimaru simply laughed.

"Are you proud of your creation, Jiraiya?" Orochimaru smirked, baring his teeth slightly.

That question almost hurt Jiraiya. Orochimaru would never understand the things Jiraiya would have done during the wars to protect his best friend.

"I was always proud to be your friend, Orochimaru," Jiraiya said to the man who had been someone he would have died for, "Everytime you scolded me for being an idiot or a pervert, I cherished those moments. The stupid things I convinced you to do when we were kids."

Jiraiya's fists clenched.

"But we are no longer children." Jiraiya said coldly, "I will kill you and I will ensure that you will never sink your fangs into Naruto or Rin!"

His coat stuck to him from sweat and he had multiple bruises all across his body, but he was still in fighting shape and was not going to back down.

"Then show me your resolve, Jiraiya." Orochimaru hissed, rushing towards him and slashing at his face.

Jiraiya ducked under the swing by Orochimaru, lashing out with a kick at Orochimaru's ribs.

The two men exchanged punches and slashes, Jiraiya coating his hands with Senjutsu enhanced chakra to stop the hits from the Sword of Kusanagi cutting through his hands.

A quick substitution with an Earth clone that was bisected by Orochimaru had Jiraiya sinking into the ground, blurring through hand seals.

Kaiton: Goryuka no Jutsu.

Jiraiya blasted a fire dragon out of his mouth from the earth, tearing clean through towards where he could sense Orochimaru.

He rose from the ground and sensed that Orochimaru had leaped up into the air with the assist of chakra, making hand seals to cast his own jutsu.

Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu.

Orochimaru blasted a sizable amount of water from his mouth, preventing the fire dragon from incinerating him, but the Senjutsu assisted Jutsu still left burns on his legs, his pants blackened and smoking.

As the one Sannin touched the ground, Jiraiya went through hand seals again, making two earth clones, and did so again, firing a fire jutsu straight at Orochimaru.

Kaiton: Ryuka no Jutsu.

A more concentrated version of the Grand Fireball Jutsu, the one Jiraiya used had him pinpoint shooting fireballs at Orochimaru as he rushed towards him, blade in hand.

Orochimaru ran through the hail of fire and either struck them with his sword or used his inhuman flexibility to avoid the others, clashing with the bunshin Jiraiya made.

Pulling the seals he had prepared ever since he had learned from Hiruzen that Orochimaru was going to attack the village, Jiraiya flung them towards the area around Orochimaru, who just killed his last earth clone.

Another set of hand seals and another fireball aimed at Orochimaru later, Jiraiya activated the triangle of seals and the snake Sannin sank under the ground after making a single hand sign.

The seals activated and the fireball was held in place right above where Orochimaru was at, each seal trying to pull on the condensed ball of fire chakra and seal it.

Making another set of hand seals, Jiraiya pressed his hand into the ground with a shout.

Doton: Doryuha. (Earth Flow Wave).

Jiraiya felt where Orochimaru tried to shift away and clenched his chakra around the Earth where his presence was, shooting it up in a spike and twisting it to throw Orochimaru into the suspended fireball.

Jiraiya saw as the snake Sannin wrapped a cocoon of snakes around him as he was flung into the fire, the seals powering down after holding the Jutsu in place.

The smoke cleared and Orochimaru was standing, scorch marks on his shirt and parts of his face and hair burnt, his eyes flashing a golden yellow.

The snakes protected him and were in an ashen pile around him, clearly dead.

Without hesitation, Jiraiya made hand seals and leaned forward, pulsing chakra into his hair and he felt his scalp tingle when Ma and Pa pressed their hands on his head.

Senpo: Kebari Senbon.

His hair spiked put and the whistle of thousands of senbon filled the air as he struck out at Orochimaru with the Jutsu, the technique almost impossible to dodge with speed alone.

Orochimaru blasted an intense gust of wind at the first ones to divert their trajectory and sank under the ground again, extending his blade towards Jiraiya several meters.

Jiraiya used the same earth jutsu as before and tried to eject Orochimaru from the earth, but the man had learned from before. The snake Sannin jumped from the earth and already had his hands up in the final seal for a Kaiton jutsu only a few meters from Jiraiya.

Kaiton: Karyu Endan.

A constant stream of fire flew from Orochimaru's mouth and Jiraiya frantically shifted his hair to protect himself, the scent of scorched hair filling the air as the flames struck him.

The Sword of Kusanagi tore through the shield of white hair and Jiraiya barely managed to avoid the blade from piercing a lung, the steel glancing across a rib instead.

Groaning softly, Jiraiya backed away and flung several kunai with exploding tags attached to them through a small gap in his barrier, triggering them as he retracted his hair.

Orochimaru, having avoided the explosion, slashed towards him again, having blurred right in front of him.

Another bout of taijutsu against kenjutsu occurred, the clang of steel hitting nature enhanced fists echoing. Jiraiya still felt the steel give him extremely shallow cuts, and they were building up, but Orochimaru would tear through his kunai easier than his hands when in Sage mode.

After he caught the blade from an overhead strike, Jiraiya yanked it towards him and drove his forehead into Orochimaru's face, his Hitai-ate taking the hit.

Orochimaru hissed in pain and pulled away, blackish blood coming from his nose.

Orochimaru shot forward again and twisted to avoid the Rasengan Jiraiya shoved towards his ribs, bringing his blade down towards Jiraiya's shoulder.

In a display of speed enhanced by Senjutsu, Jiraiya twisted and pushed his wrist guard against the blade, forcing it to shift away as the white haired man drove his foot into Orochimaru's leg.

The crunch of bone breaking echoed across the flat terrain and Orochimaru took several punches to the face and chest when he staggered as his leg gave out.

Another Rasengan from Jiraiya came towards him and Orochimaru avoided his heart being torn out, but his lower ribs took the hit, his shirt and side getting shredded.

A kawarimi with a mud clone aided in Orochimaru's avoidance of another kill shot, but Jiraiya wasn't going to let him go.

Blurring through hand seals, Jiraiya signaled for Ma and Pa to help him out.

Katon: Gamayu Endan.

He spat fire out of his mouth and the wind and oil combination from Ma and Pa had the fire growing in size.

Orochimaru wasn't able to avoid it from the hits he took and made his own hand seals, planting his hands on the ground.

Doton: Mud Wall.

The wall of earth that rose from the ground took the hit, but Jiraiya shot forward, sensing exactly where Orochimaru was.

Pushing chakra into his hand to overpower a Rasengan, Jiraiya leaped into the air several meters with the assistance of chakra and smashed his hand into the weakened wall.

Oodama Rasengan.

The wall exploded and Jiraiya flung several explosive tags through the dust cloud, detonating them as they reached Orochimaru.

Jiraiya felt Orochimaru's chakra flare like the tags struck and he took a deep breath.

He raced towards him, Rasengan in hand, and let out a shout of rage as he drove it through Orochimaru's chest.

It turned out to be the real Orochimaru because Jiraiya felt his arm tear through his chest cavity and his arm buried itself almost shoulder deep as the snake vomited blood all over his chest, collapsing backwards.

Again, the Sword of Kusanagi managed to land a slash to him as Orochimaru fell backwards, a freshly bleeding wound leaving a darkening stain on his left pant leg.

The Toad Sannin pulled his arm out and tried to not shiver in disgust at the blackish blood that covered him, the stench worse than normal human blood.

Jiraiya didn't look back at the corpse, Shunshined away and rushed towards Gamabunta to assist him, the toad boss barely keeping up with Manda.

Damnit, I have only a temporary opening until Orochimaru catches up. He thought, shouting at Gamabunta as a signal.

Gamabunta, who had just swung his tanto at Manda to keep him back, jumped in the air without hesitation, the ground shaking from the action.

"Hurry and do it now!" The toad shouted.

Jiraiya went through the hand seals needed and forcefully grabbed at his chakra.

Doton: Yomi Numa. (Swamp of the Underworld).

Jiraiya used a sizable amount of his reserves to turn the vast expanse of flat area into a thick mud and managed to catch Manda in it, the snake hissing as he started to sink into the field of mud.

"Die, Manda!" Gamabunta roared, landing on top of Manda and trying to stab the snake in the head, the two in a death fight while rolling around in the thick semi solid liquid.

Jiraiya turned and saw a now completely healed Orochimaru running towards him, rage in his features as he made hand seals.

Kaiton: Gokakyu no Jutsu.

A ball of fire was expelled from Orochimaru and came shooting towards him, the velocity higher than most.

Jiraiya responded with a fireball of his own, wind assisting it from his toads.

"We can't take much more, Jiraiya-chan." Ma said as the two fireballs crashed into each other with a resounding boom, a miniature mushroom cloud being the result.

Jiraiya was close to coming out of Sage mode due to his chakra getting lower, but Orochimaru looked almost as tired as him.

They had fought throughout the day, the sun beginning to set already. From the rooftop, to the streets, to the outside of the wall, and finally the flat plains outside of Konoha, they had constantly fought a brutal battle to the death. If not for their mid to higher end Kage reserves, the two Sannin would have keeled over from exhaustion long before now, but they still were capable of fighting.

"If you two have to, get out of here," Jiraiya breathed, sensing Orochimaru was still ahead of him.

Jiraiya suddenly felt Orochimaru sink into the ground and was coming towards him.

Making an Earth clone and planting several exploding tags on it, Jiraiya ran towards the edge of his swamp jutsu, planning to engage Orochimaru once again.

Orochimaru rose from the ground and stared at Jiraiya, sword still in hand.

The snake Sannin rushed towards Jiraiya and slashed at his head, trying to take his head off. Jiraiya easily dodged the attack and shifted to the side to avoid another hit, maintaining a light step to avoid the sword. A constant game of attacking, dodging, and disengaging occurred between the two, both men's attacks equally as deadly in their own right.

The earth clone rushed towards them and Jiraiya ducked under a swing, kicking his legs out and nimbly jumping off of Orochimaru's blade as the clone exploded.

His ears slightly ringing and his foot burning from the sword's edge cutting into the bottom of his foot, Jiraiya saw a more visibly injured Orochimaru come at him, chaining together several attacks.

This time, Jiraiya was finding it difficult to match the speed of attacks and he took a few hits to his leg and his arms, trying to land a critical hit before Orochimaru could.

A Senjutsu assisted punch could break ribs, while the Sword of Kusanagi could extend and sever limbs with just a twist.

A punch from Jiraiya was blocked by Orochimaru's left arm as his sword arm straightened to stab at Jiraiya, the two landing hits.

Jiraiya's fist shattered Orochimaru's forearm, while Orochimaru's blade extended and dug into Jiraiya's arm, the snake Sannin being sent flying.

Jiraiya didn't celebrate the small victory and instead looked at his shoulder, gritting his teeth as his breathing caused the blade buried in it to shift a little.

Jiraiya hissed as he pulled the sword from his left shoulder, a swear leaving his lips as blood started to stain his jacket. He flicked his fingers to ignite some fire on the end of them to cauterize the wound so he didn't bleed out, another growl escaping him as the sizzling sound reached his ears.

With a muttered "Eat this." he reached into his jacket and took out an exploding tag, strapped it to the hilt, and spat on the blade as he kicked it away.

The sword glowed and flew back to Orochimaru, the man catching it.

Jiraiya detonated the tag and frowned when 'Orochimaru' exploded into chunks of earth, an earth clone taking the hit.

The blade flew back to Orochimaru after it was flung away from the explosion, the blade a ghostly blue through the smoke and dust.

"Just like Naruto-kun." Orochimaru laughed through the smoke, emerging untouched by the explosion, but his left arm hung uselessly to his side from Jiraiya's punch.

"Always a truly resilient opponent, aren't you, Jiraiya?" Orochimaru said coldly, his eyes flicking towards Manda.

Gamabunta managed to get the upper hand due to the mud working against Manda more so than Gamabunta, the toad now strangling the snake.

Orochimaru clicked his tongue as Manda disappeared in a puff of smoke, going back to Ryuchi cave to avoid getting killed.

"Run like the coward you are!" Gamabunta shouted, hitting his chest tauntingly.

Gamabunta, for lack of a better word, looked like death warmed over. The toad was favouring his left side and the eye that had a scar running through the lid was almost swelled shut, blood flowing down it from a cut.

The toad seemed to realize his predicament and tried to pull himself out of the mud, scowling at the difficulty.

"Just give up," Jiraiya said tiredly, looking at his equally as tired opponent, "It's going to go down to the wire on who is going to kill the other, but Gamabunta is still here, while Manda is gone. You don't have the chakra to summon another snake to contend with him."

Orochimaru had the nerve to laugh at him.

"That would be the case, but you forget that I am immortal," Orochimaru threw his arms out, the center of his left forearm flexing like an elbow should, "If you do kill me, I will simply return. And I have no weaknesses," Orochimaru's smile twisted into an even more sinister one, "But you have two."

"And what are those two weaknesses?" Jiraiya asked, ready to rip Orochimaru's head off his shoulders, despite the ache in his bones and muscles and the scent of his own blood and Orochimaru's clinging to his clothes.

Orochimaru kept smiling.

"Minato's children."

Jiraiya's fists clenched and he glared at Orochimaru with golden toadlike eyes.

"They are stronger than anything that you throw at them," Jiraiya said fiercely, "Especially Naruto."

"Ah, yes, Naruto-kun," Orochimaru smiled, "I almost convinced him to join me."

Jiraiya refused to believe that. Naruto would never join Orochimaru. He saw how he acted. He was kind and good like his father. The only similarities he had with Orochimaru was that he was intelligent and used a sword.

"I won't listen to your lies, Orochimaru." Jiraiya growled, ready to get started again.

"I said almost, Jiraiya," Orochimaru mock scolded him, "He made his opinion known when he attempted to kill me, even after he somehow survived having his head removed with this," Orochimaru raised his blade as an example, "So I sent my most competent servant to kill him."

Jiraiya stiffened at that, the thought of somebody Orochimaru hand picked to kill Naruto fighting him hammered into the man the need to kill Orochimaru and help his godson.

"You won't be able to save them both." Orochimaru laughed, that unsettling laugh of his coming from his forked tongue, "Unless you leave now. You can't defeat my subordinate and those I've sent to capture Sasuke-kun. And Itachi is currently here to capture Jinchuriki."

"I don't believe you." Jiraiya gritted out, taking a step forward to resume the fight he feared would be their last.

"He's telling the truth." I voice said behind him.

Jiraiya wheeled around and saw a sight that had him letting out a sigh of relief.

Uzumaki Ashina appeared behind him, his form shimmering into existence.

"Ashina." Orochimaru spat, raising his sword in challenge, "Of course you decide to show up now, out of all times to."

"Sorry I was delayed," Ashina shrugged, his body relaxed, "It took me fighting a spandex wearing taijutsu freak and several Jonin to get here with this." He pointed to the mask on his face, another held in his left hand.

The mask that somebody tried to steal so many years ago, only to be killed and turned to stone in the process, now adorned Ashina's face. Unlike some of the other masks that were made in the image of Oni, this one was in the shape of a dragon. It was also made of metal, the grey steel faded noticably with age while the gold adornment on it still looked in good condition.

Even if I can't see them, the seals etched in the interior are beyond my understanding.

He could assume it enabled a Sage to continuously absorb nature chakra while in the middle of combat, but he knew he wouldn't be able to replicate it if he was given a hundred years and the promise of having Tsunade in a maid outfit as a reward for doing it.

Jiraiya realized something in that moment.

"Why didn't I sense you?" He asked the Uzumaki, the man's golden eyes turning to his.

"I can wrap Nature chakra around me to hide my signature," He replied, "Even from other sages."

Ashina then turned to Orochimaru.

"I know precisely how to replicate the ability you covet, Orochimaru," Ashina laughed at the look that made its way on to Orochimaru's face, "I just want one thing in return."

Jiraiya had never seen a more hungry look on Orochimaru's face in his life. What was this ability that Ashina mentioned?

"Tell me what you want." Orochimaru stated without hesitation, "I will destroy Iwa if you wish it. Do you wish for Roshi's head? I will give you your freedom and you can seek vengeance on those who destroyed Uzu. What do you want?"

Ashina seemed to sag in on himself.

"I want my family back," He muttered, "I want my wife. I want my children. I want all the grandchildren I lost because I decided that killing a man was more important than focusing on my clan. I killed the man who has the ability you covet, Orochimaru," A steely tone emerged from Ashina's mouth, his chakra spasming in rage, "I outlived the strongest Senju and Uchiha in history."

"I can bring them back." Orochimaru offered, "I can resurrect as much of your clan as possible."

"I would never have them become a imitation like I am," Ashina snarled, "There is only one way I can truly have them in my arms again." Ashina's eyes glowed with power and his chakra was saturating the air, "Tell me the name of the leader of the Akatsuki and I will tell you how it's made!"

This was obviously something Orochimaru and Ashina spoke about, but the context eluded Jiraiya.

Jiraiya could tell Orochimaru felt cornered. Orochimaru couldn't fight the two of them. So Orochimaru hissed out a response that had Jiraiya shaken to his core.

"His name is Pein."

What? Jiraiya thought in shock, realizing this was colossal. They never had a name for the Akatsuki leader, and Orochimaru just out and said it.

"Now, your end of the bargain." Orochimaru hissed, ready to fight, "I will not let this be the end."

"End?" Ashina asked with a raised brow, "Oh, the journey doesn't end here." A devilish grin could be heard behind the mask.

Jiraiya recognized those exact words when he had asked Ashina years ago what he thought about death, given that the man had seen a great deal of it and was in his nineties.

"Death is just another path. One that we all must take."

Orochimaru realized what was going to happen and made a hand seal, laughing in that disturbing manner that he did when Ashina didn't move to attack.

"You thought you could kill me, Ashina?" The pale man laughed, staring at him, "Remember, it was I that summoned you. It doesn't matter that you severed my control. You still can be sent back to the afterlife."

Seconds passed, but Ashina still stood there.

"Sent back?" Ashina laughed mockingly in response. "Remember who trained the man that devised this Jutsu. Did you not think my clan, the greatest seal masters of all, couldn't think of a backdoor into taking control of a summoning jutsu for a human soul?!"

The snake Sannin went through the necessary hand seals to release Ashina specifically, but he still stood there.

Orochimaru truly digested what had just happened. His greatest weapon was truly taken out of his control.

"How?" He breathed.

"I'm not telling. With the way the world works, you'll come back from the dead if I tell you and use the information against me. And I'll ask again, just as I did when you had me locked up in that bunker on the northern region of Hi no Kuni, where did you get that specific blood sample?" Ashina asked the last part with a frosty tone, "I can count on one hand how many people other than me knew about that sample, and I'd still have 4 fingers."

Jiraiya noticed how Ashina worded it. He wanted the information about his blood's location known to him. Perhaps so he could be called upon again by Konoha if need be.

Orochimaru, without taking his eyes off of either of them, slammed his hand into the ground after going through hand seals, splitting a sizable portion of the Earth in two to try and escape.

But Orochimaru immediately stiffened as he turned to run, two seals forming all across his body that glowed from red to black.

The slanted yellow eyes of Orochimaru widened as he tried to thrash around and escape from the trap.

"What did you do to me?" He gritted out, still fighting to break free from the seals restraining him, but his chakra was too depleted to overload it.

"I made my bunshin invisible and had a portion of Nature chakra in them to completely mask their presence," Ashina explained shortly, "And they just marked you. How fortunate that Jiraiya forced you to expend enough chakra where you can't shatter them with ease like you could have."

Jiraiya, even if he saw how Ashina was in complete control of the situation, was still ready to resume the fight in case something happened. He would leave nothing to chance.

The masked Uzumaki walked towards Orochimaru slowly and took his mask off, holding it in his right hand, preparing to do something.

"You are going to die, Orochimaru," Ashina said flatly, "And Hiruzen still lives. Your legacy will be that of a creature that crawls in the dust. You may bite at my heel, but I shall crush your head, snake."

With Orochimaru straining to break free, Ashina struck him across the face, the slap being a relatively light one, but the Senjutsu enhancement to it had a tooth flying from Orochimaru's mouth.

"You wish to know what it is like to see the world like I do?" Ashina asked amusedly, "You asked me what it felt like to slowly die to Nature chakra consuming my body and how death feels when you resurrected me weeks ago, as well as what being a sensor like me is like when you were a guest in my village."

Orochimaru spat out the blood and glared at Ashina, his mouth shifting.

"Try and grab at me with your tongue, and I won't tell you the secret to reality that I learned when I died."

Orochimaru seemed to reconsider his plan, now that it was known.

"It's strange, for I don't think I can give you a satisfactory answer, Orochimaru. Some would think that the mysteries of the universe are revealed to you upon the passing of your soul into the afterlife."

Ashina chuckled mirthlessly.

"Perhaps you were expecting some surprise," the Uzumaki said coldly, "for me to reveal a secret that had eluded you, something that would change your perspective of events, shatter you to your core."

Ashina seemed to gather himself and opened his eyes once more, the violet orbs seeming to gaze at eternity.

"There is no great revelation, no great secret. There is only you."

Ashina stepped forward and shoved the mask on to Orochimaru's face, the mask taking hold.

Orochimaru eyes rolled into his head and he started spasming, his chakra network flaring horribly in a way that Jiraiya wished he could stop looking, but he didn't.

Jiraiya watched as Orochimaru was screaming for it to stop, to show mercy and to kill him.

But Jiraiya did nothing.

As Orochimaru slowly petrified into stone, Ashina visibly grimaced and put the other mask on, a ghostly chill striking Jiraiya down to his bones.

Ashina's chakra seemed to dim and a shimmering thing appeared behind him, a gust of wind rustling his hair.

Ma and Pa gasped as a ghostly silhouette appeared behind Ashina, robed and holding a knife between its teeth.

Jiraiya struggled to draw breath, images that were in his nightmares were being dragged to the front of his mind as his Senjutsu sensory ability saw absolutely nothing from the creature.

All the Wars. Tsunade screaming at her grandfather's death. The smoldering ruins of Uzu. Minato and Kushina's bloody and pale corpses, their faces far too flat and cold.

Jiraiya fell to his knees and tried to steady himself as Ashina was visibly shaking, moving his hand up to his face.

The Shinigami mimicked his movements and pulled the blade from its mouth and lowered it towards its stomach, where Ashina was visibly shaking.

Letting out a shout of emotion, Ashina slashed horizontally with a chakra blade, tearing open his stomach. The Shinigami mimicked the motion and tore its own stomach open, something bright and luminescent flying out of its stomach.

Right as Jiraiya's Sage mode deactivated from his low chakra, he felt the glimpse of the light. And tears sprang from his eyes as he realized what that light was.

"Minato."

With shaking hands, Ashina tore the mask off and let out a scream, falling to his knees and sobbing as the Shinigami vanished.

"Make it stop. Make it stop." The Uzumaki moaned, the ground shifting as his chakra was shaking uncontrollably like his body.

Ashina was gibbering nonsense as Jiraiya managed to recover from feeling the presence of the Shinigami and looked at a now silent Orochimaru.

The sight was a grim one.

Orochimaru was completely petrified, his body solid stone. The way his hands were clasped around his throat was enough to have Jiraiya turn away from the body, not wanting to imagine the look of terror that would have matched the screaming.

Ashina managed to pull himself together and stood up, his eyes flicking to the mask he threw.

"That mask is the most wretched thing I've ever touched." He spat, walking towards the petrified Orochimaru unsteadily. "I'll be taking this back." He grabbed the mask from Orochimaru's face and put it back on, his eyes shifting back to a golden colour.

Ashina then stooped down and picked up the Sword of Kusanagi, inspecting it.

"I'll be needing this for a moment." Ashina muttered to himself, pressing his palm on the base of the blade to plant a seal.

The sword glowed blue, then to gold, and finally back to blue. Ashina pulsed chakra into it as a test and the blade stretched to his command.

"Definitely useful for an Uzumaki in need of a legendary sword." Ashina said to himself, muttering something under his breath about a late birthday present.

Ashina eventually turned to face Jiraiya, glowing eyes looking at him speculatively.

"What was that you and Orochimaru were talking about?" Jiraiya asked, still shaken by the Shinigami.

Ashina sighed and looked at Jiraiya, making several dozen Kage bunshin.

"It can wait. I can feel Hiruzen's chakra and it's extremely faint. You need to get him to an Iryo-nin. I'll handle taking care of Naruto and Rin." Ashina promised.

Jiraiya was relieved at that, giving Ashina a look of gratitude.

"But do me a favor, Jiraiya." Ashina's voice got uncharacteristically harsh, chakra pulsed in his legs indicative of a Shunshin.

Jiraiya looked directly at Ashina, waiting for the dead man to speak.

"Who do you think is the one touched by prophecy?" Ashina looked straight at Ma and Pa still perched on his shoulders.

Ashina was one of the few, Hiruzen being the only one alive currently, that he had confided in about the prophecy made by the Great Toad Elder.

"I know you scolded me about me thinking myself the prophesized one when I told you it," Jiraiya said irritably, "But I was the first to sign the toad contract in generations."

"And I crossed blades with Gamabunta back when Madara was an infant." Ashina countered, "How's the scar near your eye, Gama-chan?!' Ashina shouted at Gamabunta, who was still in the mud.

Gamabunta sent him a rude gesture and disappeared in a large puff, the chakra used to summon him having run out.

"Prophecy means nothing, Jiraiya," Ashina said, "I stumbled across Mount Myoboku by accident, not by fate. I saved one of the snakes of Ryuchi Cave by chance, not fate. Chasing after a prophecy to deliver you from the encroaching darkness only emboldens the cowardly to run off and let some poor kid clean up their messes."

Jiraiya remembered the arguments the two of them had during their talks, but he was unmoved in his belief that somebody would come and would usher in an age of peace.

Ashina had scoffed at prophecy and said it was pointless and stupid the moment Jiraiya had broached the subject for the first time.

"But I witnessed someone of your blood that had something mythical." Jiraiya replied, needing Ashina to know this about Nagato. "It validated what the Great Toad Elder said."

"Oh really?" Ashina asked, almost with an admonishing lilt, "And what mythical something did someone of my blood have? When did you discover this?"

"I discovered it a couple years after Uzu was destroyed," Jiraiya said quietly, "An Uzumaki boy named Nagato possessed the Rinnegan."

Ashina made no sound, just standing perfectly still.

"Describe the eyes." Ashina requested with a whisper, his face obscured by his mask.

"Purple and ringed. He was about ten years old when I found him with some other orphans in Ame. The war hit Ame hard after you were killed and the tide swung in Konoha's favour."

Jiraiya gave as fast as a rundown as he could about Nagato, including some of the abilities he showed and his mastery of all nature releases at age 10 or 11.

"They couldn't have been his eyes, Jiraiya," Ashina shook his head, "The Uzumaki and Senju don't have dojutsu ever."

"Well this one did." Jiraiya said, noticing Ashina's posture shift.

"And where is he now? This... Chosen one?" Ashina asked with derision, "I'm sure he would have restored the Uzumaki clan and brought peace to the world. But Orochimaru informed me of a Third Shinobi War and my clan is still on the edge of extinction."

Sighing, Jiraiya answered.

"He is dead."

Ashina ran a hand through his hair and shook his head.

"A pity. War takes anything with impunity, especially the good."

Ashina then abruptly perked up.

"Well, thinking about it," Ashina flipped the Sword of Kusanagi up and balanced the edge on his index, "It validates the theory I had that the Sage was a real person, not just a legend, and that we descended from him, but a ten year old Uzumaki having the Rinnegan doesn't add up with any of my studies."

"Studies?" Jiraiya raised a brow in curiosity.

"It will take hours we don't have to explain. I have a vault in Uzu that has every scrap of notes I've ever made on Fuinjutsu and other projects I had. It requires a sage descended from me to open it."

"How did you even manage to pull that off? And why?"

Ashina's eyes narrowed.

"The information I had in there could have eventually resulted in this," He gestured at the mask, "Being accessible to those who would destroy Konoha. This mask regulates the intake of Nature chakra to match your chakra reserves while on the move. I was in Sage mode for a week because of this."

Before Jiraiya could ask why Ashina didn't make more for his village, the man seemed to read his mind.

"It took me 7 years to make the original one work properly. It was the one that was disintegrated with me," Ashina winced at the last part, "And this one, a copy, took a year with all my schematics organized. It's tailored to my chakra alone. It's even more temperamental than a Hiraishin marker. Even identical twins aren't compatible."

"I have so many questions," Jiraiya said sadly, "If an invasion wasn't happening, we could talk for hours."

"I know," Ashina replied with regret in his voice, "I'm truly sorry for what must be done."

"Take care of Hiruzen, Jiraiya." Ashina gave a farewell wave, "He has suffered and given enough already."

With that, Uzumaki Ashina vanished in a swirl of leaves, his destination unknown.

Jiraiya took a deep breath and readied himself to run, turning his head to look at Ma and Pa.

"Go back to Mount Myoboku if you need to," Jiraiya said, his tone truly grateful, "I wouldn't have survived Orochimaru without you."

The fight had shaken him. His former friend, despite how much it rankled him to admit it, was the strongest of the three Sannin. Jiraiya could match him blow for blow like few others could, but the only thing that gave him the possibility of killing Orochimaru without dying himself was Sage mode. But even then, they were on a course to end up killing each other, despite Orochimaru's claims of immortality.

Thank you for killing him for me, Ashina. Jiraiya thought gratefully. Hiruzen and he were of the few that were capable of killing him, but Jiraiya would have always felt some level of guilt if he killed Orochimaru, or if he let his Sensei carry that burden on his soul.

But Ashina took the burden of his former friend's death away.

The two old toads gave their farewells and disappeared back to the home of the toads, leaving him all alone.

I must get to Sensei. Jiraiya ran towards the last place he felt the old man's chakra, getting to the rooftop where the fight began after racing through the village that was still fighting against the invasion, aiding where he could.

He spotted the Nidaime on one end of the roof, being restrained by some type of seal, and Hiruzen, along with Hashirama and Enma, on the side closest to him.

Please, Kami, don't let him be dead. Jiraiya thought fearfully, rushing towards the old man that was the closest thing that he, a clanless orphan, had to a father figure in his childhood.

"Sensei." Jiraiya slid across the ground, leaning over the extremely pale old man.

"I managed to treat the injury I caused him." The Shodai said sadly, gesturing towards the ugly wound on Hiruzen's abdomen that had been cauterized, "But I fear his age and his low chakra will make it worse."

"He won't die." Jiraiya glared at arguably the most powerful Shinobi in history, daring him to challenge him.

Hashirama sighed and looked at his brother, then back to his student and Jiraiya.

"My brother always said I was a dreamer," Hashirama looked at Hiruzen's chest rising shallowly, his eyes still closed as he slept, "And he didn't always mean it in a good way."

Jiraiya listened to what Hashirama was saying, knowing he wouldn't hear it again.

"Was everything I did worth it?" Hashirama asked, almost to himself, "I fought and killed so many people to protect my clan, my brothers, and Tobirama, the only one to outlive me, died not long after I did."

Jiraiya started to get concerned about Hashirama, but the dead man kept speaking.

"I killed my best friend," Hashirama whispered, "And for what? My clan will die and the Uchiha are almost extinct. I wasn't allowed to remain in the afterlife and not know of such horrid things. Instead, I'm standing here, watching my brother mindlessly tear at his bindings while I try to make sure my student doesn't die."

"He's going to live," Jiraiya snapped, refusing to let the Shodai fall into a state of depression, "Ashina said something about how the old are entitled to some degree of intolerance towards the next generation's failings. He said that one cannot allow the betrayal of past sacrifices. I'm 51, Hashirama-sama," Jiraiya remarked, "I've fought in two wars, fought alongside your granddaughter, and my team laid waste to many of the retreating forces that destroyed Uzu. I went from the deadlast of my class to being one of the strongest of my generation; A Sage!" Jiraiya refused to look away from Hashirama.

"I didn't give up when things got hard. I trained the man that would end a war by taking the Nidaime's Hiraishin to a completely different level and became the Yondaime Hokage. I didn't give up when he died to protect this village, Hiruzen didn't give up when his wife was killed that same night or when he had to lead this village again. I just killed my best friend," Jiraiya said, not wanting to get into the technicals, " The one who resurrected you and betrayed this village. And I'm still going to fight. I think in this case, I'm the one entitled to a bit of intolerance towards you betraying your student's sacrifices!" Jiraiya gestured towards an unconscious Hiruzen.

Hashirama was silent for several long moments, not speaking at all as he gazed at Hiruzen.

"Only three others have spoken to me like that in my entire life," He said quietly, "And unlife as well." He added unnecessarily, "My father when I was a child, Madara when we spoke about things, and Tobirama when he said I was acting foolish."

Hashirama slowly smiled at Jiraiya, his demeanor no longer sunken in.

"You're right, Jiraiya. The shock of how the years have changed things and what has happened to Hiruzen was a difficult thing to comprehend. Thank you for reminding me of what is important. The Will of Fire has not dampened within you."

Relieved at getting through to Hashirama, Jiraiya gingerly reached into Hiruzen's pocket to pull out the seal tag to free Tobirama, who was still operating under Orochimaru's base orders of attacking anything.

Walking towards the restrained Nidaime, Jiraiya planted the seal on his neck, releasing him.

Tobirama stopped trying to break out and stood still, looking up at Jiraiya.

"Would you mind removing the chakra seal on me?" Tobirama asked, gesturing towards the seal that restrained him.

Jiraiya nodded and made a few hand seals, punching the seal with a pulse of chakra to break it. The seal shattered and Tobirama was freed, standing up and rushing towards his brother and Hiruzen.

Kneeling down, Tobirama shook his head as he looked at his student.

"Always willing to make a sacrifice," Tobirama said sadly, "even nearly 50 years after you said you were ready to die to delay the Kinkaku force."

Tobirama then looked at his brother.

"Our village is under attack, elder brother," His tone was as cold as ice, "Do we have it in us for one last fight?"

Hashirama made a single hand seal, a Kage bunshin appearing.

"Watch over Saru." Hashirama instructed the clone, standing up with the sound of his armour shifting. "Yes, Tobirama, it seems the village we created needs our help."

The two then turned to Jiraiya, the combined attention a little uncomfortable from the Senju brothers.

"You understand what is going on better," Tobirama stated simply, "We will follow your lead."

Jiraiya couldn't exactly describe the feeling as he saw two figures he'd always viewed as Titans from history books deciding to fight alongside him. It was always him that was the one viewed as the top dog, but these two men emerged from a childhood of nomadic movement and chaos and forged a stable world that helped improve the lives of many, one being considered the most powerful Shinobi in history.

Despite his tiredness, Jiraiya knew he could face off against most Shinobi and still come out on top.

But before he could tell them where to go to combat the invasion, Tobirama twitched.

"The seal deactivated." The white haired Senju said, "Ashina needs assistance."

With that, Tobirama slammed his palm into Hashirama's arm and marked him, flashing away in a similar manner to what Minato did.

He arrived back about 20 seconds later and looked between the two of them.

"North West outskirts between the trees and plains," He said quickly, "Three Jinchuriki, the Raikage, an Uchiha, and a wielder of Samehada are fighting. The Uchiha has the Mangekyo Sharingan, elder brother," He gaze flicked towards Hashirama, "We'd best be cautious."

Tobirama looked less bothered than Hashirama at the statement, but he still said it with a guarded tone.

Hashirama, on the other hand, clenched his fists and looked straight at his brother.

"Can your chakra handle flashing us there?" His voice brokered no nonsense.

"No," Tobirama shook his head, "Whatever Orochimaru," He said the name distastefully, "Did to bring us back has left my Hiraishin travel rather rough. I'm not confident that I can teleport another that isn't me."

Jiraiya focused in on how bad it sounded. Itachi was there, and Hiruzen had told him the details of the massacre of the Uchiha.

Reaching into his pocket, he grabbed a small container that held soldier pills, pulling one out and popping it into his mouth to replenish some of his chakra, regardless of the nausea he'd feel tomorrow.

"Ready." Jiraiya said, glancing at Hiruzen.

"Saru will be fine." Tobirama assured him, his eyes then narrowing as he looked around, "It seems Ashina-sensei has enveloped the village with mist to hide his bunshin. I'm pleased that he managed to do that."

Jiraiya had sensed Ashina's chakra cover Konoha like a shroud when he was fighting Orochimaru and had seen the mist as he leaped across the buildings to get back, but he hadn't realized why Ashina did that until Tobirama spoke.

So that may have been what he did at Uzu.

"I will see you in a short while." Tobirama said to his brother and Jiraiya, flashing towards Ashina.

---

Itachi raced towards where he and Kisame were to meet up to ambush Roshi, already hearing the sound of combat.

Damnit. Itachi cursed himself for making a detour instead of going straight to Kisame.

He had made a Kage bunshin and had the Ichibi Jinchuriki dragged to an area in the event that Roshi were captured, just to make sure the Akatsuki was delayed in capturing tailed beasts if one was killed.

He prayed that he could find a way to 'accidentally' kill Roshi. He'd rather not kill a boy Sasuke's age, but he would if he had to.

Reaching the area where the flashes of chakra could be seen by his Sharingan and his ears could pick up the sounds, Itachi sped forward to get to Kisame, the man launching a flurry of shark shaped water projectiles at Roshi.

The Jinchuriki avoided them without much issue and his eyes focused on the newest arrival, glancing between the two.

"I don't know what you fools want with me, but I've fought and survived things much scarier than you." The red haired man said, his chakra flaring.

Glancing across the landscape, Itachi saw that there was already a great deal of standing water, already ankle deep, that looked different to his Sharingan compared to normal water, meaning it was water from Kisame's Jutsu so far. There was also blackened slabs and chunks of rock spread across the area, looking like cooled volcanic rock.

The fight must have been prolonged to a degree. Impressive for someone to fight Kisame with no knowledge on his abilities.

Itachi, without taking his eyes off Roshi, spoke to Kisame.

"What is his fighting style?"

"Lava release, just like we thought." Kisame grunted, his sleeve singed and Samehada balanced on his shoulder. "He can hardly touch me, but he didn't reach this age without knowing some things."

"Know things?" Roshi laughed, his hands up and ready to fight, "I fought against the Uzukage in his own stomping grounds and still survived. You might have killed a Daimyo, Hoshigaki, and you might have killed your clan in the dead of night, Uchiha," Roshi spat the two statements, "but I fought a monster and fought my way through corpses to kill the Uzumaki. Two S-ranks are nothing compared to what I lived through."

So it does seem that Roshi knows about Kisame and me to a degree. But we must make this quick.

"We must make this quick, Kisame," Itachi warned, "I've been discovered."

Itachi heard Kisame growl under his breath about another complication and readied his sword, pointing it at Roshi.

"Then we better hurry."

Roshi threw his hands out and gestured for them to come at him.

"Come on! Show me what you can do!"

The Jinchuriki then went through hand seals, blasting lava from his mouth at Itachi and Kisame.

Kisame responded with a water bullet, extinguishing the lava with a loud hiss and the chunks of earth fell to the ground.

Before the lava even completely struck the ground, Itachi Shunshined directly towards Roshi through the vapour screen, avoiding the steaming rock and the older man averted his eyes.

Not a fool then. Itachi clashed with him, sending several punches and kicks at Roshi to bring him down.

Despite being old enough to be his grandfather, Roshi was forcing Itachi to move at full speed, the man being more than capable at taijutsu.

Roshi nimbly avoided several punches and ducked under a kick, slashing a kunai at Itachi's face. The Uchiha avoided the kunai and finally managing to land a hit on the man's face after lashing out with his own kunai to twist his arm to the side and smashed his left fist forward.

Roshi's head jerked to the side and Itachi grabbed at his face to force it up to look into his eyes, prepared to use a Genjutsu.

With a growl and a flaring of his chakra, Roshi's body glowed and was completely covered in lava, a tail coming from behind him.

Grimacing, Itachi let go and Shunshined away, gritting his teeth from the burn on his hand.

"Kisame!" Itachi barked, needing a distraction to check the damage. His partner obliged and fired a water bullet in the shape of a shark from his mouth, the projectile roughly the size of a wagon.

Roshi blurred through hand seals and pressed his hands into the Earth.

Doton: Mud Wall.

A wall rose up to intercept the water jutsu, the shark exploding against the now cracked wall.

Inspecting the damage to his hand, Itachi was relieved to see that other than the normally pale skin having a shade of pink to it, there was no other damage to his nerves or muscles in his hand.

The last thing he needed was for more injuries to be accumulated. Kakashi was more dangerous than he expected, and Uzumaki was also a capable irritant to him.

Itachi saw Kisame close the distance between him and Roshi, firing another water Jutsu at the weakened wall to shatter it.

Suiton: Water Severing Wave.

The extra chakra Kisame added to it ensured the blade of water tore clean through the wall and revealed Roshi, who was standing on lava with no difficulty.

Itachi watched as Kisame leaped over the shattered wall and the lava, twirling Samehada at Roshi's head as he flipped, landing out of range of the molten rock.

The hit was diverted by a kunai Roshi pulled, but the impact still made him take a step to balance.

Focusing on the little details, Itachi surmised that Roshi was going to try and maintain a distance and try to exhaust them via Ninjutsu fights until others showed up so he could make an escape.

But Kisame was practically inexhaustible on chakra and Itachi wasn't an idiot by any means on using Ninjutsu.

His lava cloak prevents taijutsu as a route to overwhelming him, so Genjutsu from me and Suiton jutsu from Kisame will work best.

With that decided, Itachi waited for Kisame to extinguish the pool of lava Roshi surrounded himself with before he weaved his hands into the proper pattern for a Genjutsu.

As Roshi avoided a swing from Samehada, Itachi casted the Genjutsu.

The Iwa nin froze and Kisame managed to clip him, the lava dissipating on the left side of him as his chakra was devoured by Kisame's sword.

The Genjutsu was broken a fraction of a second later and the Jinchuriki retreated, looking between the two.

Roshi called on more of his tenants power and a chakra cloak appeared around him, two tails of chakra trailing behind him.

"Be prepared, Kisame." Itachi said, his eyes narrowed in preparation for a faster fight.

Hopefully it won't require the use of Amaterasu or Tsukuyomi. My vision already is partially blurred.

His eyesight wasn't terrible, far from it. But the range of his vision at extreme distances was beginning to get worse, a frightening prospect.

His illness, if it hadn't been treated, might have caused it to worsen even more, but he had thankfully been treated.

Roshi let out a growl and charged at Itachi, the grass where his feet touched igniting from the lava that wreathed his body.

Kisame intercepted and swung Samehada at Roshi, but the shorter of the two ducked and swerved out of the way, firing a ball of lava point blank at Kisame, and twisting to fire one at Itachi.

Samehada, whose bandages had started to come off, hissed as it blocked the lava, before Kisame twirled the blade in an impressive display of speed and expertise in wielding the weapon to sling the liquid rock away from him.

Itachi Shunshined put of the way of the lava ball of lava aimed at him as his vision picked up Kisame's movements, his hair swishing in the wind.

Or, at least, what was left of it. Half his ponytail was cut off when the first of three red haired Jinchuriki he'd had the displeasure of encountering had wrapped his fingers through it and jerked.

Only two people ever yanked his hair enough to hurt him in his life. Sasuke as an infant and Uzumaki Naruto.

Itachi focused and hit Roshi with another Genjutsu as Kisame used his off hand as a signal, taking a step back just before.

Roshi again stiffened and shattered the Genjutsu, but it left Kisame with an opening to slash at the man, a bleeding slash on his left arm now there.

The strategy was working. With Kisame running defense and close range, Itachi could focus on Genjutsu and ensuring the two could conserve chakra to make a non-stop escape soon.

But of course, nothing in his existence ever went the way he planned. He didn't expect to be the youngest ANBU captain in history, he didn't expect to watch his best friend kill himself, he didn't expect to murder his parents and hurt his brother.

And he definitely didn't expect the Raikage, his Jinchuriki brother, and Kumo's other Jinchuriki to show up.

Itachi saw as the Raikage, his body covered in lightning, shot straight at him in a blue flash.

Itachi picked up the movement, but his body moved slower. He was able to avoid the punch that he was sure would have taken his head off, but it was still nerve wracking how bad the situation had gotten all of a sudden.

The Raikage circled back around and shot towards Kisame and Roshi, the former noticing it and swinging Samehada.

Ay punched the sword and drove it into Kisame's gut, sending him flying. The Raikage's lightning armour fluctuated and he staggered slightly as his speed lowered from his chakra being bit into by Samehada, giving Itachi a fraction of an opening.

Making hand seals, Itachi formed and coaxed some chakra in his gut to heat up, just like fire.

Kaiton: Gokakyu no Jutsu.

He shot a ball of fire from his mouth and instantly Shunshined away towards Kisame, not looking at where the Jutsu hit.

As he turned, he spotted the two Kumo Jinchuriki eying them, while Roshi slowly backed away as he looked between the two opposing parties.

Ay had obviously avoided the Jutsu, looking untouched from the Jutsu that left a blackened corridor of scorched Earth in its wake.

The speedster stared at Itachi, avoiding his eyes, and towards Kisame, glancing at his sword.

"I almost doubted what that shriveled up ginger said when he told me you were here, Itachi," Ay spat his name like it were poison, "But it seems I was right to trust him. You Akatsuki types aren't exactly subtle when we know you're here."

Itachi didn't react to the Akatsuki part, knowing that the organization was known about for their efficiency. But the first part had him thinking.

The only person Itachi could think of that fit that definition was Uzumaki Ashina, but why would the man want him to be locked in a fight with the Raikage and the two Jinchuriki? Ashina knew he wasn't a traitor and Itachi couldn't understand what the dead man wanted. Ashina hated him for choosing the village over his family, but he himself chose to let him leave without sounding the alarm to protect his own grandchildren from the Akatsuki.

"It seems we've had a misunderstanding, Raikage-sama." Kisame said suddenly, lowering his sword.

What are you doing? Itachi thought to himself, refusing to take his eyes off the Raikage.

Kisame continued speaking.

"We were contracted by the Tsuchikage to drag Roshi back to Iwa. We planned to apprehend him after the exams were over, but this surprise attack complicated things."

Ay actually laughed, then spat down at the ground.

"Try better, or I'm going to rip your head off," At then turned to Roshi, who was trying to slink away, "Stay where you are, monkey, or I'll break your legs."

Roshi stopped preparing to run, but looked ready to bolt at any opening.

"Why bring Uchiha Itachi then?" Ay demanded, refraining from looking at his eyes.

"In case I needed to get into Konoha discreetly to apprehend Roshi," Itachi replied smoothly, stepping forward a step, "I am quite capable of entering a village I am familiar with."

Ay looked between the two of them, then glanced at his brother and Nii Yugito. He then threw his head back and laughed.

"Do you think me a muscle head and a fool?!" He shouted, lightning flaring across his body.

My eyes can keep up with his movements, but I only have two ways to get through his armour, but it will hurt my eyes and possibly kill him. Itachi thought, his eyes flicking towards the two Kumo Jinchuriki.

Kisame can weaken the Raikage's cloak with Samehada, while I can try and face the two Jinchuriki. Roshi will escape, so that means my bunshin needs to kill the Ichibi Jinchuriki, unfortunately.

A Jinchuriki needed killed, and Roshi and Gaara were the two easiest to justify killing.

Itachi's thoughts lasted perhaps a second or two, because Ay began speaking again.

"I know why you want Roshi," Ay growled, "It's because your organization is after Jinchuriki."

Itachi saw Kisame out of the corner of his vision twitch, his grip on Samehada being adjusted.

How does he know that? Itachi thought frantically, the day getting even worse.

"What would make you think that?" Itachi asked, keeping a cold and detached air, "If Konoha informed you, it is likely biased fro-"

"I know about the Akatsuki, Uchiha," Ay snapped, "You and Hoshigaki, Deidara and Sasori, and Kakazu and that Jashinist."

The world almost seemed to spin as Itachi absorbed the information. All the planning by Tobi to stay under scrutiny was all for nothing. Kumo knew about these things, which probably meant Konoha did as well.

"Stay and fight, or scatter and regroup later?" Kisame asked simply, glancing at Itachi.

A foot race with the Raikage would be useless, and three vengeful Jinchuriki would be extremely difficult to outrun. If there was a backup team, then Itachi and Kisame could have regrouped with them to hopefully get away.

Looking towards Ay and B, Itachi noticed the wounds and dried blood on them, as well as B holding his arm a little closer to his body and Ay's left arm, which he had led with, meaning it was his dominant hand, was sagging slightly like there was a localized gravity seal on it.

If Roshi runs, we can fight them off and escape.

"Samehada is more useful against the Raikage for now," Itachi responded, his Sharingan taking in every detail of Killer B and Nii Yugito, "I will combat the Jinchuriki."

With that said, Itachi blurred through hand seals faster than any could see and launched a jutsu at them.

Kaiton: Goryuka no Jutsu.

A fire dragon was sent roaring at the group of three, obscuring them from sight.

Kisame was immediately in motion as Itachi sent the fire jutsu and went through hand seals, planting his hands on the ground, his chest expanding as he inhaled.

Suiton: Bakusui Shoha. (Exploding Water Shockwave).

A multilayered wave of water rose up to several meters in height, Kisame riding the wave as the massive influx of water went racing towards their opponents.

The Raikage flashed towards Kisame, jumping up to swing at him. Kisame put Samehada between himself and Ay's punch, his entire body arching from the impact of the hit.

Samehada practically purred from the intake of chakra, Ay's cloak flickering noticeably.

That was the last thing Itachi saw before he clashed with Killer B, a kunai drawn to clash with the taller man. The Jinchuriki of the Hachibi drew five blades and twirled to attack Itachi, his movements unpredictable.

The Uchiha's Sharingan was able to give him the means to see the attacks, but there was no pattern to them, only unadulterated chaos.

Right as he was starting to get accustomed to the chaos, Yugito slashed at him with claws, her fingernails lengthen and pupils slanted like a cat's.

A swift pivot and a front flip off of one of B's swords had him avoiding the two from swarming him, his body twisting midair as he aimed at B's back.

Kaiton: Gokakyu no Jutsu.

The fireball was narrowly avoided by B as it exploded against the ground, glassing the earth despite the standing water across the landscape.

Yugito charged at him and started slashing, sparks coming from his kunai as he deflected the claws.

Itachi was forced to draw a second kunai and read the movements with his Sharingan, trying to get an opening before B circled back from avoiding the fireball.

Spotting an opening after ducking under a set of claws aimed at his throat, Itachi leaned further back and kicked at her elbow, making contact and kicking out with a blind kick from behind.

Yugito hissed in pain and B backed away from the kick where Itachi knew he was going to hit him.

I must be quick. Focus, Itachi, for Sasuke.

Steeling himself, Itachi focused on the rage, the despair, the feeling of guilt and inadequacy he felt when Shisui stepped back and fell into the Naka. Sasuke's screaming.

His eyes opened and he felt the ache of his Mangekyo activate.

Disregarding B for a moment, Itachi made a gamble and rushed at Yugito, needing to force her out of the fight for now.

He used a discreet Genjutsu to tweak her sense of depth perception and lashed out with a spinning kick, flinging both of his kunai at her as he did so.

The kick was stopped by her raising her arm, but the kunai managed to still hit her from the Genjutsu impeding her vision.

One opened up a sizable slash in her shoulder, while the other was diverted slightly, cutting open in her side.

Yugito screeched at a hair raising pitch and slid under his trailing leg, staggering some.

Flipping forward, Itachi felt one of B's swords whistle past his head as he twisted and flipped another kunai in his hand, stabbing at Yugito's back.

The blonde Jinchuriki blindly swung at him and managed to hit his kunai, one of the claws scraping against his knuckle. The woman spun with her swing and he saw the opening. The wounds he managed to land had her sending a wrathful look at him.

Specifically, his eyes.

Casting an ocular Genjutsu with the assistance of his Mangekyo for added potency, Itachi struck her with it and her eyes rolled back in her head, collapsing backwards.

B roared in anger and was all over Itachi, an endless storm of steel and fury.

Itachi had an additional kunai in his other hand now and he felt his eye pounding from activating his Mangekyo, fighting the urge to grab at his face.

A flurry of slashes and stabs as B twirled managed to slash at his sleeve and he kept retreating, sparing a glance at the others.

Ay was fighting more conservatively and was sending Raiton Jutsu through the water to try and shock Kisame, who was able to ward off a close quarters encounter with Samehada.

The arc of electricity from Ay slamming his fist into the water around him raced towards Kisame, who jumped up from his high ground and balanced on top of Samehada, letting the sword devour the lightning before it hit him.

Itachi refocused on B and kept diverting the hits, noticing that B's injury to his shoulder was no ploy. The blood on his jacket was definitely his.

His Sharingan picked up the slight shift of chakra in B's left arm as it started to crackle in preparation for charging his blade with lightning.

Itachi feinted like he was going to stop the attack, but twisted his arm back, dropped the kunai, and twisted his fingers into a half seal in a blur of speed, sending a poorly formed gust of wind out of his mouth.

The gust barely staggered B, but it left Itachi the chance to stick the kunai he dropped to his foot and flung it while pushing wind nature chakra to the sole of his foot.

Itachi twisted his body with the momentum and flipped backwards, using a Shunshin to get away.

The wind laced kunai broke the blade B blocked it with, the sword already having several chips in its edge from before the two started fighting.

After getting to a sizable distance away, Itachi took stock of the situation he was in and noticed that Roshi was gone, much to his displeasure.

Kisame and the Raikage had steadily moved further away as Kisame manipulated the water to keep him on a higher ground than the Raikage and was pulling out all the little tricks he could to prevent from being electrocuted. To think that Kisame could find a way to go up against his natural affinity's weakness and still avoid severe injury had Itachi impressed.

B was staring straight at him, while Yugito had regained consciousness and her chakra kept flaring, her hair seeming to shift around.

"B," Yugito gritted out, her eyes squinted and her hand on her temple, "Tell 8 it's time."

B nodded and his chakra flared seconds later, a chakra cloak with three tails forming around him.

Yugito's chakra flared even more and her entire body was wreathed in blue flames. She hunched forward on all fours and the flames formed into a flaming cat with yellow and green eyes, two tails swishing behind her.

Things had gotten even more complicated.

The Nibi was several meters tall and the water surrounding the flaming cat was rapidly vaporizing and turning into steam, obscuring the two from him.

But it wasn't chakra infused, so he could still see the chakra outline of both with his Sharingan no problem.

The Killing Intent directed at him with the assistance of Bijuu chakra from the two of them had him narrowing his eyes in concentration.

Yagura was more difficult. Itachi thought, looking at the female Jinchuriki.

B was going to be difficult, but Itachi knew what exactly to do.

Glancing at the broken blade hilt on the ground, Itachi Shunshined straight towards it and grabbed it, pivoting and running away from the two without attempting to fight either one, directly towards Kisame.

Seeing Kisame finally get reached by Ay, Itachi sped up and pulsed wind chakra into the broken chakra blade.

"Kisame!" Itachi shouted, getting Kisame's attention as the former Kiri nin took a kick to the gut from the Raikage.

Itachi's Sharingan picked up the blood that came from Kisame's mouth as he sailed through the air, his partner noticing the two Jinchuriki on the Uchiha's heels.

Itachi rushed straight towards Ay and the two clashed, Itachi stabbing at him with the stolen blade. His wind release wasn't strong enough to pierce through the lightning armour, but Ay didn't know that. Ay shifted to the side and sent a chop at Itachi's neck, the younger of the two twirling and ducking under it.

Judging by the churning water beneath the two and the sounds of explosions behind him, Itachi could guess that Kisame had engaged the Jinchuriki. With Ay being more cautious from fighting Kisame, Itachi could continue to hold him off until Kisame could pull Yugito from her Bijuu transformation with Samehada.

Itachi kept running through plans to counteract Ay without the Susanoo or Amaterasu, thinking of an idea.

The Lightning Cloak had to be able to allow air in, which also meant heat could be transferred through.

Yes. That will work.

With an extended swing that transitioned into a backflip, Itachi weaved seals with his off hand and sank into the ground, manipulating the earth underneath him to crumple so he could shoot through it.

Ay chased after him and started smashing the ground violently to flush him out. Itachi, having copied hundreds of Jutsu and done what he could to be extremely competent with elemental release, made multiple earth bunshin and had them as a distraction to delay.

He rose up from the ground several meters away, covered in water and dirt, and made 3 Kage bunshin, tossing the wind blade to one and ordering it to attack the Raikage.

Ay ripped an earth bunshin clean in half as he spotted Itachi and his bunshin, rushing towards the one with the wind chakra pulsed in his brother's broken sword.

Itachi's other two Shunshined in opposite directions, preparing his plan.

Blurring through the required hand seals, Itachi tightened his brow and shaped the air around him, flinging a small tornado at the spot where his bunshin had intentionally gotten into a suicide lock with Ay.

The clone exploded as intended and the concussive wave caused Ay to take a step back, the tornado engulfing him.

Itachi's one bunshin to the right sent a fireball at the tornado, the fire chakra feeding off the wind to produce a spinning twister of fire around the Raikage.

The other bunshin used up its entire supply of chakra to make a wall of earth around the tornado, disappearing in a puff as the earth responding to its command and locked away the Raikage.

Preparing for the Raikage to break out, Itachi was not surprised when the Earth Wall that was wrapped around like a ring exploded around 10 or 15 seconds later, revealing the Raikage.

Ordering his bunshin to pop to give him his chakra back, Itachi saw the unbridled rage on Ay's face.

The extreme heat had resulted in his skin to blister in certain parts and his Kage cloak was scorched, especially at the hem.

Judging by the heavy breathing and sweat pouring off of him, the heat had impeded his breathing when he was trapped.

"You fight tactically, I'll give you that." Ay snarled, tearing his singed, diced, and bloodstained coat from the day of fighting away from his chest, revealing his top half completely, "But Namikaze did as well, and he was faster."

As Ay prepared to charge him, Itachi heard a roar and a boom.

Turning, Itachi saw Kisame slamming Samehada into Yugito's shoulder, the sword's bandages gone and its scales had cut into Yugito's shoulder.

With a scream, Yugito's Bijuu transformation disappeared and reverted to a one tailed cloak as Samehada feasted on the chakra and she collapsed to her knees.

With a flaring of Killing Intent and a shout of rage, B landed a brutal punch to Kisame's face, sending him flying with Samehada still buried in Yugito's shoulder.

Ay ignored Itachi for a moment and rushed towards the two, a blur of crackling blue, and grabbed ahold of Samehada, ignoring the growling blade as its hilt bit into his hand.

"Fucking parasite!" Ay roared, stomping on it repeatedly, the growling eventually turning into whimpering. The sword shifted away from Yugito and Ay flung it away, clenching his bloody fist.

Kisame pulled himself out of the water and stood on it with chakra like the rest of them, his hand covering his openly bleeding face.

Kisame got to Itachi and wiped the blood off his face, glaring at the two Kumo nin still in fighting shape.

"I need Samehada, Itachi." Kisame managed to slur, blood dripping from his mouth still.

Itachi inspected the damage for a moment and saw that B's punch had fractured something in Kisame's face.

"Can you still use jutsu?" Itachi asked, assuming the answer would be a yes.

Kisame tapped his foot against the water that was now several inches deep, indicating that he didn't need to blast water from his damaged mouth.

"Roshi is gone." Itachi said, still waiting for their opponents to make the first move.

Itachi thought Kisame tried to say 'No shit', but he couldn't tell from how Kisame was speaking.

Ay turned to B and said something, the Raikage holding Yugito up, her face pale from the wound in her shoulder and a fair portion of her chakra devoured.

B looked at the two Akatsuki members and a Bijuu cloak appeared again, but it thickened, with tentacles coming out.

"Bow before Lord Ichibi, temes!" B shouted, transforming into a version two Bijuu cloak with six tails.

Staring at the man lauded as a perfect Jinchuriki, Itachi cursed his lot in life. Kisame blinked for a moment and glanced at Itachi, a questioning look in his eyes.

"Eyes?" Kisame looked at Itachi's Sharingan, his own flicking towards a transformed B.

Itachi nodded grimly, realizing this would require him potentially subduing B with Amaterasu.

I'm sorry. Itachi thought as he closed his eyes, reopening them with the pattern of his eyes shifting.

---

"We really should talk, Uzumaki Naruto."

Moments like these were when I wished I could have just stayed dead. No Kurama sealed in me, no Orochimaru interested in me, no Itachi, and above all else.

Uchiha fucking Obito wouldn't be standing in front of me without a single care in the world.

I didn't need to feign how tired I was and I collapsed on all fours, my reflection a disgusting one as I looked at the standing water from all of my Jutsu.

My hair was completely stained with blood. The only part of my entire face that wasn't was my eyes.

"Rest easy, son," Obito, who wasn't wearing Akatsuki robes, but had his orange mask, said with kindness that had me wanting to tear his throat out, "You've had a busy day. You're fortunate to be all in one piece."

I remained on my hands and knees, trying to contact Kurama to warn Rin, but I couldn't do it without feeling like my head was being split open.

"I don't know who you are," I managed to say, preparing for the most terrifying choice of all, "But boy, am I glad to see you."

Obito seemed relaxed, and it scared me.

"Fighting a Kaguya should not be taken lightly." Obito seemed to lightly reprimand me, putting a hand on my shoulder as he knelt next to me.

I shivered as my left hand clenched around the last exploding tag I had left in one of my pockets on my chest, ready to blow myself up if I felt like I was going to get sucked into his dimension.

Obito seemed to think otherwise and didn't do anything, only helping me sit up.

"Tell me, young Naruto, what brings you out this far?" Obito asked kindly, standing up but leaning a bit to not tower over me.

I truly despised his voice. It wasn't the poisonous kind that I always visualized it as. It sounded kind. Almost cheerful, if only I didn't know what the creature in front of me actually was.

"Uh." I managed to say, a venomous thought going through my head. A thought that made me feel like I was drowning.

A hooded figure taking her from me. The hood falls back.

"Rin is only Rin, alive!"

"Look at me! There's nothing in my heart!"

"I will never forget you. Don't let anyone, not even me, tell you that."

I'm sorry, Rin.

I clenched the tag and smiled up at Obito, peering at the mask that covered the face of the person that I had fantasized about killing for almost 7 years now.

I was actually grateful that I couldn't sense his foul presence. I might just jump the gun and blow myself up instantly instead of forcing him to use Izanagi with the stolen eye he has hidden by blowing both of us up.

"This kid my age," I managed to say, still looking up at him, "I think he's searching for his teammates, but I've never seen such devotion in a genin before."

Obito didn't say anything, obviously not catching on to what I was saying. Because how could he?

"Uh, he claims to be the teammate of Uchiha Obito. Does that name mean anything to you?"

My knuckles creaked from how hard I was clenching the tag, words going through my head.

And ne gelæd þu us on costnunge, ac alys us of yfele, soþlice.

Obito tilted his head at me, my eyes roving over his body in preparation for an explosive death.

"Uchiha Obito?' He asked aloud, looking away.

To think my grandfather killed himself in the same way. Was he as terrified of death as me?

And yet, the menace of the years, finds, and shall me... Unafraid.

"Obito," He said quietly, turning to look back at me, "Now that's a name I've not heard in a long time. In a long time."

It hopefully unsettled him. I wanted him to second guess all the steps he took to conceal his identity.

"I think my Sensei knows him," I said shakily, "He said he was dead."

I could almost hear the smile behind Obito's mask.

"Oh, he's not dead. Not yet."

The sunset looks beautiful.

"You know him."

I'm sorry, Kakashi.

"Well of course I know him." Obito laughed, his voice turning predatory.

I love you, Rin.

The world truly was a beautiful place, even if there were hideous people in it. The sunset would look like the exact shade of orange that Rin loved by the time she hears I'm dead. I hope she enjoys the sight of it before she hears that her big brother isn't coming home.

"Judging by how you're speaking, he's the next on my list to kill." Obito said flatly.

What? My mind completely froze, my hand still clenched around the tag.

Whatever game Obito was playing, he kept it up.

"And get your dick beaters away from that tag in your shirt." He said irritably, "I don't plan on seeing you turn yourself into a pulpy mass."

I managed let out a gasp and tried to back away, my mind racing.

"Don't play games with me, Obito!" I screamed, pulling my arm out and holding the tag next to my head. "I know it's you. I know everything! You surviving! Zetsu bringing you to Madara! Madara not dying! Your Rin dying!" I was practically sobbing in terror, now that another shot of adrenaline woke me up from my fatigue.

Obito tilted his head, looking either confused or shocked.

"What?" It sounded like shock.

"Zetsu is playing you," I managed to stammer out, jabbing at the tag next to my temple as a warning, "And I'll blow myself up if you use your Kamui bullshit!"

"I will not do anything, child," Obito assured me, his hands up in a placating manner "Just tell me how you know of the things you are screaming about. I'm not this Obito person you speak of."

"Liar!" I growled, pulling my broken blade out of its sheath and aiming the jagged end at my spinal column, "I felt your chakra the moment I was born. You took my parents from me! Your chakra is like Hashirama's in your right arm and leg and your left eye is in Kakashi's head! I can sense your chakra." I lied at the last part.

Obito started laughing.

"Bluffing only works if your opponent believes you, Naruto." Obito seemed to shimmer.

At the shifting of his body, I triggered the tag.

The tag fizzled out and puffed, the blood drenched ink from me beating Kimimaro to death destroyed it.

Without hesitation, I stabbed my own broken sword at my throat.

An invisible force that felt similar to a hand gripped my right arm, keeping the broken blade from killing me.

Screaming, I pulsed a chakra blade in my left and stabbed at my face. It was stopped by another invisible force that felt like a hand as well.

Obito shot towards me and in one movement, ripped my severely damaged armour and blood soaked shirt away, revealing my chest and stomach.

No! No! I screamed, trying to twist away. Fox! Tell Rin to run! Tell them to run!

My eyes almost rolled in my head from the pain of me trying to contact Kurama due to the two Gates located in my brain being overly sensitive to chakra.

Kurama evidently heard something, but I couldn't tell. It was too garbled.

Obito's fingers glowed and he punched the seal, causing me to scream in both pain and terror.

I collapsed to the ground and curled up in a ball, expecting Kurama to tear his way out of me in a few seconds.

But it never came.

My seal was burning, but I knew the feeling. The feeling was like what Jiraiya did to it.

Like what I did to Gaara.

"Now that I've prevented you from killing yourself like I did," 'Obito' stood over me, his body shimmering again, revealing a red haired man with violet eyes, "Will you explain what the hell you were going on about?"

I was still restrained, but the two things that were invisible shimmered and were revealed to be copies of the red haired man.

Looking closer, I recognized him.

Red hair like mine, a neatly trimmed beard, and eyes that looked eerily similar to Rin's.

With my entire body shaking from expecting to die just seconds ago, I stammered out one word.

"G-grandfather?" I asked, wondering if this was Uzumaki Ashina.

The man I assume now was Ashina smiled, his eyes shining with emotion.

"Ah," He sighed, stepping away along with his bunshin and looked up at the sky, "I never thought I would hear that again."

His voice sounded like glass. So fragile and delicate.

He eventually looked back at me and looked apologetic.

"I'm sorry for scaring you. I needed to make sure you didn't lash out with the Kyuubi's chakra." He gestured towards my stomach, "Your reserves are low."

I managed to get over my shock and glared at him.

"Why did you Henge as that asshole out of everyone in existence?!" I demanded, whimpering as my chakra shifted with my anger and made the seal overlap burn.

"Pardon me for not realizing that the Tobi bastard Orochimaru told me about was the one that killed my granddaughter, judging by how you were speaking." Ashina replied coldly, "The one time you saw me was when I was bodily launched away and I was just freed from Orochimaru's control. The Raikage came after me promptly. Would you have still tried to blow yourself up if you thought it was Orochimaru's puppet coming after you?"

"No." I responded irritably.

"Doubtful," Ashina scoffed, "You didn't even hesitate to go from fighting that dying piece of meat," Gesturing towards the battered corpse of Kimimaro, "to killing yourself. But I Henged in the way Orochimaru described Tobi when he gave a sample of my blood to him."

Ashina then explained how Orochimaru told him about the Akatsuki and that Tobi was a part of the group, hence why he made himself look like the man to inform me of the appearance of the man. He just had the misfortune of not knowing about Obito.

I'd ask about that later, but I wanted to defend why I was ready to blow myself up.

"I wasn't going to let you rip the fox out of me," I said, my hands were still shaking after I actually triggered the seal and had tried to stab myself twice, "I'd rather be trapped in the Shinigami's stomach."

"Ah, yes," Ashina deadpanned, "The Shiki fujin. Whichever ancestor of ours devised that jutsu and the mask to reverse it can go pound sand."

I raised a brow in question, causing Ashina to answer.

"First off," He explained with a massive smile on his face, "Orochimaru is dead. I petrified him with Nature chakra. Second, I grabbed the Shinigami mask from the Temple here and freed your father's soul."

I was breathing heavily in shock. Orochimaru dead? Dad is free?

"What else?" I asked weakly, my mouth dry.

"The sword of Kusanagi is my late birthday present to you, especially since you broke your sword." He gestured towards the hilt in the hands of the one bunshin that stopped me from stabbing myself.

It took me some time, but I managed to calm the racing of my heart and asked a question without my voice cracking.

"How did you know about my dad? And what did you mean about Orochimaru and Tobi?"

Ashina went on to explain how he had been resurrected nearly two weeks ago and how Orochimaru had tried to enlist his willing help.

He pretty much had a plan in motion for a week that involved freeing Tobirama and Hashirama to stop Orochimaru, and Obito had evidently told the Snake Sannin about Itachi killing his clan to stop a civil war.

The plan to free my father's soul from the Shinigami evidently was on the fly, simply because he had accidentally put on the wrong mask when trying to figure out which mask was the correct one.

"I almost wanted to," Ashina admitted, looking down, "I did a great service to Konoha and had willingly shared insights in Fuinjutsu with them. And I was rewarded with betrayal from the clan heads. The mothers and fathers of the current ones."

Ashina's fists were clenched and he was pacing back and forth.

"But I would not harm innocent people to sate the desires of an old man."

My grandfather then looked at me.

"Please tell me how you knew that Uchiha Obito is the identity of Tobi."

I sure as hell wasn't going to tell him the real reason, but I'll give the answer I had cooked up almost 4 years ago in the event that I had to reveal it.

"I don't know why," I started, "Not even Sarutobi-jiji or the Yamanaka could think of why, but I was completely aware of my surroundings and could remember when my mom was pregnant with Rin and me."

Ashina grimaced.

"I shouldn't be surprised by the insanity of our clan's abilities at this point, and I'm not going to question the seemingly random things we have. But remembering being squeezed out of your mother sounds particularly hellish." He looked downright sympathetic at the last part.

The familiar feeling of nausea hit me as I remembered it, the sensation making my skin tingle.

"I'm sure the feeling of going in will be much more enjoyable for you then being forced out when you get a girlfriend." Ashina offered with slight embarrassment, causing me to scowl.

"In what world is that helpful?" I asked indignantly, recoiling in disgust.

"I'm simply trying to be a good grandfather," Ashina rolled his eyes, "It would be a pity if you can't enjoy life to the fullest without remembering a frightful experience."

I didn't want to hear this, let alone from my dead grandpa.

"Can we drop it?" I almost begged.

"Sorry." Ashina said, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, before looking directly at me again, "But continue on how you know 'Tobi' is Uchiha Obito'."

I continued with how I was an excellent sensor, which Ashina hummed in satisfaction at, and explained how Obito's chakra felt similar to Kakashi's eye.

A couple small details, like how Kakashi had an implanted Sharingan, were mentioned.

'So Sakumo did name his son Kakashi." Ashina smiled, "I hadn't spoken with him for a year or two before I died, but he said he wanted a boy and to name him Kakashi."

Ashina then narrowed his eyes, turning towards the east.

"We still have plenty of time." He then turned back to me. "Now tell me how you knew of Madara's survival after Hashirama supposedly killed him and who this Zetsu is." His eyes reminded me of Rin's when she confronted me about something and I fought the urge to shrink away.

"I," I started, knowing he wouldn't relent, "I dreamed it."

Ashina gave me an unimpressed look.

"You sound exactly like my son at age three when I asked him how the cookie got out of the jar and ended up in his mouth. 'It fell out'." Ashina's voice raised in a mock high pitch like a child, "I dreamed it'." He used air quotes.

"The Great Toad Elder had dreams." I started to say, but I swore Ashina rolled his eyes so hard that they could have almost gotten stuck.

"Of course Jiraiya fills your head with such bullshit," Ashina looked genuinely pissed, "That was an extremely vague 'dream' that applies to practically every legend of a hero the civilians liked to read about." Ashina started pacing again.

"Jiraiya, the orphan, clanless, deadlast that learns to be great through hard work and to prove himself worthy of the princess," His voice pitched again and he mock swooned, muttering something that sounded like 'my granddaughter' and 'castration', "Namikaze Minato, the same thing, except he was a genius and worked hard to be worthy enough to be the Hokage. And he stole the heart of the exotic princess from Uzu." Ashina's voice was dripping anger as he looked at me with a cold look in his eyes.

"The tragic lost prince of Uzu. A genius who is rarely seen each generation. The last of my grandchildren with our hair, a Bloodline ability that has only manifested in three other males in our clan's history. Container of a demon that seeks to destroy the village you call home. Rejected at every turn for your sacrifice."

Ashina obviously took the stuff Orochimaru told him to heart.

"Stop." I whispered, looking away.

"Beset on all sides by nations that will try to kill you because of your lineage and power," Ashina ignored me, still talking, "A shadowy organization of Shinobi that pursue you... and your sister." Ashina walked straight up to me and pulled me to my feet.

He looked straight into my eyes and sighed.

"I'm not sure how a human could have dreams of events that happened in the past or future," He stressed, "But the means to see the future did happen, at least in the case of the toads."

Ashina let go of me and tugged at his hair, pacing once more.

"Orochimaru told me about your father and everything that's happened since I've died," He looked at me sadly, "I was only trying to show how one can be biased about their own background to see themselves as some prophesized hero."

I nodded shakily, the way Ashina explained it was unsettling.

"Despite my doubts about being able to see past or present events, it did happen once in my experience." Ashina paused and took a deep breath.

"The Toad Elder warned Gamabunta about being careful towards intruders," Ashina explained what he said previously, "You do know who Gamabunta is, right?"

I nodded and he continued.

"One of the hatchling snakes of Ryuchi cave, where the snake summons dwell, explored outside the cave and was taken by a hawk. I happened to sense it and shot the hawk down with a jutsu when I was in my twenties," Ashina looked wistful, "The hatchling was grateful and I asked her where her home was. She ended up giving terrible directions and I spent a month wondering until I stumbled across Mount Myoboku by accident... With a snake perched on my shoulder."

I couldn't help but laugh at the visuals of how this story was leading.

"Gamabunta freaks out and attacks me, thinking I'm a new snake summoner and has discovered their home," Ashina flicked his finger, creating a golden chakra blade, "I end up fighting Gamabunta and gave him that scar on his face as a memento." Ashina snickered, "He learned his lesson to not trifle with a redhead after that."

Was that why Jiraiya never broached the subject about me signing the Toad contract? Is Gamabunta petty enough to tell me to screw off because I'm a redhead Uzumaki?

"So what happened?" I asked, intrigued by the story. This was stuff never covered in the anime or manga.

"It took another month to get the little gaki home," Ashina smiled, "But the snakes were ever so grateful and offered me a favour in the future. I asked for a vial of venom from the Snake Sage and she accepted, even if I had to insist that I wasn't wanting to learn from her."

Ashina looked thoughtful and seemed to peer at me closer.

"I wonder." He thought to himself.

"What?" I asked.

"I might have a theory on how you are able to see glimpses of events like Gamamaru," Ashina looked thoughtful, "I'll explain at the end. I'd rather talk with my grandson about himself and his little sister. A shame she isn't here right now," Ashina remarked sadly, "She looked almost exactly like Kushina when I saw her fighting." His eyes had a faraway look for a moment, before he blinked and looked back towards me.

Relieved at this, I took my time to tell my grandfather about the two of us, our likes, dislikes, our friends and how the world was different.

Ashina listened intently, his eyes alight with interest throughout me telling him about us.

"But why did you infiltrate the Hyuga compound?" I asked him, genuinely curious.

Ashina scowled and clicked his tongue.

"Long story short, my intellectual property was stolen and used to make the seal for the Branch house after I told them they could tickle a certain part exclusive to the male anatomy with a kunai when they offered to buy my services."

I shook my head at the statement and fought back a smirk.

"Jiraiya and Jiji said I was a lot like you. I think I know what they meant by that now."

"Are you a member of the Creed?" Ashina couldn't keep a straight face and laughed at the absurdity, "That was something I came up with in a drunken haze when I finally convinced Tobirama to drink. It was hilarious."

Ashina then launched into a tale about his student's first time getting wasted.

"That pub was singing an iconic song weeks after that infamous night of debauchery and made its way back to Hashirama, and I thought he was going to pass out from laughing," Ashina's eyes were alight with amusement, "The lyrics went like. 'What shall we do with a drunken Senju er'ly in the morning?"

Ashina started singing the song completely, eventually stopping when one of the bunshin whistled.

"Fine. Fine, I'll explain a few things." Ashina grumbled, looking back at me, "Your Bloodline ability, have you figured out how it differs from the Adamantine chains?" Ashina asked.

"I know nothing about the ability except that it lets me make a chakra blade similar to Rin's wind blade." I replied, "And the chains aren't any better on me knowing."

Ashina nodded his understanding and went on an explanation.

"The Adamantine chains bind and suppress foreign chakra," Ashina said, "But what we have is a more offensively inclined type. It's more limited, but it can do something unique that the chains never could."

I leaned closer, paying rapt attention.

"Train it enough and you can counter all nature releases with it. It acts like a jack of all trades counter to the different elements, having no weakness. Wind blades will eventually break against it if you're clashing blades, lightning armour like the Raikages will be pierced, and earth will be cleaved through. But the final potency is something that saved my life."

Ashina took a deep breath.

"Do you know what the Susanoo is?" Ashina then seemed to reconsider, "Nevermind. You either do and will lie out of fear, or you don't, so I'll just tell you. The Susanoo is a humanoid chakra construct that an Uchiha with a certain type of eye can manifest around them. It can hold up to S-rank Ninjutsu and is extremely difficult to fight against." He then pulsed a chakra blade in his hand, "This will pierce through it if done correctly."

I wasn't able to ask how because Ashina kept speaking.

"Our chakra, even the ones who don't manifest Adamantine chains, is special in how it reacts to other people's chakra. It naturally 'dominates' it, so to speak. Our clan's seals are especially potent because of this, being able to smother other types of chakra on an almost kekkai genkai level. I assume that the chakra blade is an offshoot version spawned from a certain Yin chakra mix that seldom occurs in our clan."

That was something Hiruzen mentioned to me, on how it might have been related to my Yin chakra levels compared to the average Uzumaki.

"So now that you are aware of the possible reason our Bloodline abilities manifest, do you want me to give you my theory on how you know certain things you're scared of telling me, perhaps because you have no context for them?"

Sighing, I nodded.

"Good," Ashina said, "But first, you and Rin have two halves of the same tailed beast inside you. Is there a sort of 'Bleeding Effect' in sensations or thoughts?" He asked, "Can you feel an injury or sometimes feel when she's frightened?"

"Yes, and we can have full conversations," I answered, "But not with this stupid seal on my stomach." I pointed at where he had placed his seal on me.

"That can wait," Ashina said with some annoyance, "You're in too bad of physical condition to go fighting the S-ranks currently fighting anyway."

"Who is currently fighting?" I asked curiously.

"Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame were fighting the Raikage, his brother, and the newest Jinchuriki for the Nibi. Bossman, actual Ashina," The bunshin said, "Is probably busy killing Roshi as Tobirama and Hashirama are helping the Kumo group."

I managed to catch the part about Roshi. Wasn't he one of the Iwa Jinchuriki? The Yonbi?

"Why is an Iwa Jinchuriki here?" I asked confusedly, "And why kill him?"

Ashina scoffed. "Probably here to spy and see why the Raikage came here with both his village's Jinchuriki, or something." His eyes then seemed to glow slightly and his face tightened. "Roshi killed my son. Blood demands blood as payment."

I almost felt sorry for Roshi. Almost.

"Sucks to be him." I said simply, not having much else to say.

"Quite." Ashina agreed.

"But you were saying?" I reminded him, causing him to nod.

"Your 'dreams' of Madara surviving, how did you see it?" He asked softly, sounding different from before in his tone.

I was going to lie. Ashina was being extremely weird about this and I would give half truths. I'd already had a plan to make something up if certain knowledge that I shouldn't possibly know was revealed from the first few weeks of me being 'awake'. That something being some vague mentioning of how the Toad Elder could see the future.

"Third person perspective. It was like flashes of events that lasted a few seconds. I saw him get stabbed in the back by a bunshin of Hashirama."

Tobirama had been told by Hashirama how the fight went at The Valley of the End afterwards and had then told Hiruzen years later.

"And then I saw him climb out of a coffin and made himself vomit."

"Anything else?" Ashina asked desperately, walking towards me, "Anything where he was old? What did his eyes look like? Was he scarred? Tell me, Naruto, please!" He grabbed ahold of me and was holding me tight.

I pushed him away and staggered, my shoulders hurting from his grip.

"Just tell me why you're wanting to know this!" I demanded, "I kept getting flashes of crap I never witnessed and I was too scared to tell anyone because I thought I was going insane like everyone said I was when my Yin chakra kept spasming when I was little!" My voice was raised at the end.

Ashina clenched his fist and his voice was cracking as he looked at me.

"Because I killed him less than two weeks before I died."

The sentence didn't compute. My mind simply couldn't comprehend what my ears had heard.

Madara was killed?

"Mind running that by me again?" I asked, sitting back down to not fall over from shock.

Sighing, Ashina stooped down and crossed his legs, whistling at the other bunshin.

The others spread out and kept a defensive formation, doing something with the water on the ground to shift it around.

"Approximately ten years after Madara was supposedly killed by Hashirama," Ashina began, his eyes flicking towards the sky, "I had finished perfecting a seal matrix that would allow me to maintain Sage mode, which is when you draw in Nature chakra to enhance your body and Jutsu, to ensure that I would not have to sit still to enter the state and could maintain it for several days at a time."

My entire focus was on my grandfather. This was what made this world an AU from Canon. This was where the perfect mirror reflection was struck and shattered, leaving a spider web of cracks in its wake.

A discordant note.

"The first time I put it on, I was put in a coma for three days from the backlash of receiving half the continent's chakra straight to my sensing ability." Ashina grimaced, likely remembering how unpleasant it was, "But I got a flash of chakra that was intimately familiar to me from a separate part of the continent. Madara's chakra, combined partially with Hashirama's."

The range must have been astronomical.

"You could feel it from that far?" I asked incredulously.

"For all of 3 seconds," Ashina huffed, "I ended up pissing all over myself and I was out of it for a few days after coming out of the coma. My wife told me I kept repeating the same nonsense over and over." His brow furrowed in thought, "Something about requiring something for my bunghole. I kept accusing them of threatening me and talking about a lake I came from."

Ashina then muttered something that vaguely sounded like corn, but I couldn't tell.

"Anyway," Ashina refocused, continuing with his tale, "Madara survived fighting Hashirama, and my son in law had fallen ill at that point, too weak to fight in the second half of the First Shinobi War."

It's still hard to think that the man in front of me, who currently looked too young to be my dad, was technically over a hundred years old.

"I looked where Tobirama buried Madara's corpse and found that it was empty, so I contacted Tobirama months later and requested that he bring the best of his students, including Hiruzen, Kagami, and Danzo," Ashina's demeanor dimmed, "I did not tell him the reason. I was worried that word would leak that Madara was alive and get to him, making him go into deeper hiding."

I still remained still, listening to everything.

"Madara knew. He had to have. If Tobirama and I took point, with Hiruzen, who was nipping at Tobirama's heels in power and skill at that point, with two S-rank Shinobi like Kagami and Danzo, we could have killed him then and there," Ashina swallowed and his eyes glistened, "Tobirama and I had fought him before and knew how he fought. Madara was stronger than me, but he could never kill me without leaving himself vulnerable to Hashirama or Tobirama when I did secretly fight alongside them years later."

"You fought him before?" I asked, catching how he worded it.

Ashina nodded.

"I fought him once before peace was made between the Senju and Uchiha. That first time, I was alone. He came close to killing me after a prolonged battle, but the number of seals I planted on the battlefield beforehand ensured that I escaped with knowledge on how he fought. Rather foolish of me to think I could kill him, the first time," He admitted, before continuing, "The next time I openly assisted the Senju was when the Uchiha were decisively defeated after Tobirama killed Uchiha Izuna, Madara's brother." A breeze blew Ashina's hair around, covering his forehead.

I coughed as the wind blew the smell of blood back into my face, the gust also causing me to shiver.

"I'm grabbing my shirt and jacket," I said, standing up to grab the armour and jacket ripped from me, "Couldn't you have been a little more careful?" I asked, sliding the slimy shirt back on, pulling the armour back on with some difficulty.

"I didn't want to see my grandson die," Ashina replied sadly, "You look far too much like my eldest son when he was your age."

I nodded my understanding, sitting back down.

"Could you continue, please?" I requested kindly, starting to get a little nervous about how long this would take.

Ashina nodded and continued.

"Somehow, it was discovered where Tobirama and I were to meet up and where I would be honest about what happened months prior when I managed to get the Senjutsu mask to work. The information was leaked, probably an agent of Madara's in the village, to the Kinkaku force, who attacked Tobirama's squad while a second group of less than stellar Shinobi attacked me." Ashina's face twisted into a cruel smirk, "They weren't identifiable as human after I finished testing out the mask."

Ashina then explained how he made the mask work, specifically how the snake venom he got from the Snake Sage acted as a 'lightning rod' for the Nature chakra and allowed him to manipulate the environment to a degree.

"What happened to the mask?" I asked excitedly, the thought of using it being too enticing.

"The first one was destroyed when I died," Ashina answered, "While the second is on bossman's face right now."

That sounds good.

"It's tied to my chakra," Ashina cut in, giving me a side eye look, "It will kill anybody that isn't me."

Nevermind.

"But Tobirama was killed," Ashina said softly, "And I always wondered whether I could have prevented it."

Ashina scratched at his head, pushing his hair back in a similar way to me.

"I still hunted Madara, but he had already vanished and I couldn't find him. It took another 20 years of discreet investigations before I found him again." Ashina's teeth were clenched and his chakra flared, "News had reached me of a coalition of Shinobi villages coming to destroy Uzu. Instead of staying there and assisting the defenses set up personally, I left and delegated it to my sons and a few others." He looked away from me, "I was always better at seals than others."

Ashina then laughed all of a sudden, the sound a hollow one.

"It feels like it was just last month. Here I am, 94 years of age, thinking it would be a marvelous idea to fight against someone I couldn't kill in my prime, but do it when we're both old men."

"Well," I said, "To be fair, you did kill him."

"After nearly 20 hours of fighting and after I consumed 4 soldier pills that caused me to vomit blood so I didn't get petrified by the mask," Ashina narrowed his eyes, "I lost count of how many broken bones I had and how much blood I lost. I caught him completely by surprise and had over one hundred seals that individually were worth my weight in gold. I could seal anything short of a Bijuudama in them and I still barely killed him with every advantage I had." Ashina's jaw was clenched.

"My left hand was hanging by tendons, three toes and part of my foot gone, third degree burns on my chest, several broken ribs, and a great deal of internal bleeding and other injuries I lost count of."

I was pretty sure the horror in my voice matched my expression.

"How the hell did you even survive to get back to Uzu?" I had to ask. How the hell could a guy as old as him survive that?

"Over a week of Iryo-ninjutsu to put my broken carcass back together," Ashina replied simply, "Tsunade would have fixed me up without any damage after about two weeks of work and Hashirama might've done it in a week." He then huffed, "I cut corners on fixing myself up and probably ensured that I would've died within a month from how I 'fixed' certain things. That's also why I didn't enter Sage mode until the last day of the invasion. I was barely holding together once I got back."

And I thought I was resilient.

"How did you get through the pain of running back after a patch job?"

Ashina chuckled darkly.

"Rage is one hell of an anaesthetic."

The next thing I heard was the thing, out of all other things, that had me stunned.

"And his chakra is still alive in the village right now."

I blinked in confusion and tilted my head.

"What?"

Ashina narrowed his eyes once more.

"My chakra sensing is unmatched, save for one or two others. An example; there is another Uzumaki girl that is clustered around weaker signatures. An evacuation bunker for civilians."

"Karin." I murmured.

"So that's her name." Ashina said with a sigh, "Her chakra feels similar to a friend of mine's. I hope she's her descendant. She was a truly kind soul, Kimiko was."

Ashina then abruptly shifted his posture, laughing loudly.

"Rin," He managed to say, "Karin."

His eyes then flicked towards me.

"Who is Hurin?" He asked, stressing the last syllable.

I nearly choked on my spit in shock, my eyes widening.

"What?" I managed to wheeze.

"When I broke Orochimaru's connection temporarily, I ran to here and made sure the mask worked," He explained, "Then I broke into your house and left a few notes, I hope you liked that little note I left, and then I infiltrated Hiruzen's house, getting through the defenses and guards without raising the alarm."

Honestly, I don't fault the Hyuga from freaking the hell out about my grandfather restraining them. He's like a freaking wraith.

"It's the name of the guy who broke into the Hyuga compound last year." I answered, trying to calm my racing heart.

"Yes, well," Ashina was still smiling, "Hiruzen had an encrypted notebook on his bedside that has different details this 'Hurin' had revealed. Of course, the encryption used was one that he learned from Tobirama, who in turn learned it from me."

I remained silent as Ashina seemed to grin further.

"The details were extremely vague, words that made no sense were added into it. I'm proud that the little monkey wasn't complacent with my cypher, but it meant I only understand the first part."

I did not like the way he was looking at me.

"And?" I raised a brow, trying to sound casual.

Ashina was pacing again, wiping at his face as he started wringing his hands.

"One of my grandchildren may have escaped," His voice audibly cracked, "I had 4 children and 21 grandchildren, Naruto, and even more great grandchildren." His breath had quickened, "And there may be one that lived. Someone who knew me, called me Papa Ashi."

I felt like a dull knife was tearing its way through my chest. I inadvertently gave my severally traumatized and heartbroken grandfather false hope that a spark of something that was, still remained.

"But this grandchild abandoned you and Rin." Ashina wiped at his face, "I don't want you to search for him. Let him do what he wishes and waste away if he wishes. None of my grandsons were like that, but losing everything causes part of you to die." He murmured, trying to make sense of why a grandson of his wouldn't help family.

The silence was an uncomfortable one, so I spoke up.

"What did you mean by Madara's chakra being in the village?" I asked, worried by what that meant.

Zetsu could tell who was a reincarnation of Indra or Ashura. If Ashina was an extremely skilled sensor, could he have picked up Sasuke's 'scent'? I really didn't need my extremely dangerous grandfather getting it in his head that he needed to kill Sasuke.

"I won't doubt it if you call me crazy," Ashina said, "I thought I was going insane when I first felt it."

His eyes were staring straight into mine.

"Uchiha Fuji was the most dangerous Uchiha of his generation. I infiltrated the location the Uchiha were at by using a water refraction Jutsu that made me 'invisible' by bending the light around me."

"Like Tsuchikage Mu?" I asked, the way Ashina was able to sneak into the Hyuga compound made sense now.

"He did it like me," Ashina muttered, "But yes. Fuji was recovering from injuries he incurred during a battle with several Senju, including Tobirama and Hashirama's father. I succeeded in killing him and I felt his chakra fade into nothing as he died, just as all chakra signatures feel at death."

I waited patiently as he was making hand gestures as he explained, almost reminding me of how Rin would do that sometimes.

"But colour me surprised when a teenager with the same feel to his chakra turns up in the form of Uchiha Madara, having been born the same year I killed Fuji."

I couldn't help but flinch at my fear being confirmed.

He was able to sense Indra's chakra in them.

This Fuji guy was evidently the one before Madara and my grandfather killed him.

"How would that be possible?" I asked, trying to not sound knowledgeable on this.

Ashina adopted a thoughtful look on his face. "I'm not quite sure. I spent years devising a means to summon a soul back from the afterlife into a new vessel, which I think inspired Tobirama, when he was apprenticed to me, to create the Edo Tensei. I only tried it out to see if that was how Fuji did it."

You poor bastard. I thought, knowing he was definitely not going to find out the truth behind it.

"I succeeded in proving that someone could be killed and be reborn," Ashina said, "But not in the way that happened with Madara."

My breathing quickened and a felt a cold chill, trying to not shake.

"Orochimaru managed to get it to work." Ashina sighed, turning away from me.

Ok. Ok. I tried to calm my breathing. That's what he was talking about.

Ashina then explained the details of what Orochimaru did, and how it was a flawed concept.

I learned more about the curse mark Orochimaru used than I ever thought possible. It also made sense of how Anko's chakra was changed to reflect Orochimaru's partly from a bleeding effect.

Honestly, Ashina basically discovered how the mechanics of whatever the hell Indra and Ashura were doing could work, but they probably did something involving some weird 'Hagaromo is our daddy' BS that let them reincarnate without some type of seal or Curse mark as an anchor.

The show didn't clearly state how they did it aside from one promising to keep fighting for eternity if he had to and the other stating the same about stopping it.

"And who is this Uchiha?" I asked with my voice devoid of emotion, "This seemingly unkillable guy? Itachi?" I asked the last part with some worry.

Ashina shook his head.

"When I was resurrected, Orochimaru informed me of two Uchiha being alive, but this Obito who goes by Tobi is a third. Based on his age, he might have been who I thought Madara was reborn into, but that theory died when I put on the mask."

He knows it's Sasuke.

"Is Uchiha Sasuke a rather cold boy?" Ashina asked, "I'm sure you would know him, given that he's on Rin's team."

No. I don't care if you hate me. I'm not letting you hurt Sasuke.

"He's not like Madara," I shook my head. I was not letting my grandfather kill Sasuke, "His brother tortured him and hurt him, but he wouldn't kill a friend. He wouldn't hurt either of us."

I gasped as the Killing Intent from all the clones present were directed at me.

"He already has," Ashina growled at me, "He has the Mangekyo Sharingan and used it when he fought Rin! Your sister! My granddaughter!"

Trying to breath through the images of me choking on blood and everything fading to black, I managed to digest what he said.

"What?" I choked out, trying to make sense of it.

"My ability to sense gives me a unique insight into the flow of a person's chakra and their emotions, Naruto," Ashina's voice was cold, colder than I'd ever heard, "The chakra of somebody with the Mangekyo Sharingan is uniquely stained by death and anguish."

I don't know how Sasuke could possibly have it. Rin was safe. Hinata was safe. I wa-

"S-sasuke." I managed to choke out, my eyes on his as Orochimaru stabbed me.

Cold steel swinging horizontally. The soft slink as it passed by me. Darkness.

"He," I managed to say, shaking horribly, "He saw me get my head cut off."

Ashina looked unsurprised at the statement, meaning Orochimaru told him.

"Is he your friend?" Ashina asked, reigning in his Killing Intent.

I took in a deep breath after I felt like a weight was taken off my shoulders, eventually clearing my throat.

"Yes." I replied, "He's one of my closest friends."

"Then this will hurt you deeply," Ashina remarked sadly, "But I'm going to kill him."

"No!" I shouted, forcing myself up and glared at him, "I don't give a shit about what you've said. Sasuke is not Madara. He's a kid that got dealt a bad hand in life and I reached out to him."

"Hashirama reached out to Madara when they were children," Ashina responded coldly, "Look where that led to."

Before I could speak, Ashina spoke again.

"I thought it was only this nameless Uchiha that kept somehow reincarnating into other Uchiha, but that changed when I put on the mask two weeks ago."

He looked truly lost.

"Madara said I would accomplish nothing by killing him, that removing his head wouldn't stop him. That he would come back when I was dead."

Ashina then took a deep breath.

"He said that he was destined to save the world and that I would fail in saving my clan like he failed to save Izuna." Ashina then adopted a different look. "He said he and Hashirama were destined to kill each other."

"Why does this matter?" I demanded, "I'm not going to condemn Sasuke for something he hasn't done. He's my friend. Do you want me to kill him?"

"You and Rin will die if you don't kill him." Ashina said simply, making me flinch.

That made me angry.

"Don't manipulate me," I pointed a finger at him, "I don't take kindly to being jerked around because I love Rin."

"I checked your birthday," Ashina stated, "October 10th, and Sasuke's was a few months prior. Hiruzen really does need security tightened around the records section. But both Hashirama and Madara were born within a couple months of each other as well."

"Your point?!" I demanded, refusing to humour the thought of killing Sasuke or letting Ashina do it.

I honestly should have expected the answer.

"Madara wasn't the only one to reincarnate."

Even if I knew it was a distinct likelihood, it still felt like I'd been dunked in ice water when I heard it.

"Hashirama?" I asked quietly.

"Yes." Ashina nodded, his voice still frosty, "Two types of chakra from people long dead that impose the will to kill the other on the newest hosts. If only one was reincarnating, then I'd say it's a sort of automated summoning jutsu on someone's chakra that was alive decades or centuries ago, aimed at specific genetic and chakra markers for a viable host to not be rejected."

Ashina was so far off the mark from his own bias from seeing things through the lense of Fuinjutsu, but his knowledge in summoning things and his sensing sounding like Karin's made him partially right.

But that didn't mean I'm gonna go along with either him or Ashura's will in fighting Sasuke.

"I won't do it," I whispered, looking down, "I'll fight whatever the hell chakra it is from telling me to kill him. And I'll make sure he won't kill me either."

Ashina closed the distance and put a hand on my shoulder, stooping down to look at my face, just inches away.

He honestly looked like he was dreading his next words. His eyes were full of sympathy and regret.

The next sentence was like a knife to my heart.

"You don't have Hashirama's chakra mixed with yours, Naruto," He whispered, his eyes so familiar.

"Rin does."

My breathing stopped and the world started spinning.

No. I refused to believe it. The hair. The love for orange. The temperament. The affinity. Coincidence. Lies! Not Rin! Not my sister.

"No." A truly pathetic voice whimpered, sounding completely foreign, "No."

I realized it was my voice.

I collapsed to my knees and started crying, Ashina holding onto me as I wept at the injustice of my life.

"I'm so sorry, child." Ashina held me tight, his chin resting on my head.

It wasn't fair. Rin doesn't deserve this. Sasuke didn't deserve this. Nobody deserved to live in this hellscape, to only lose everything.

The only reason I knew it hadn't been hours since I had fallen to my knees was because the sun was still shining, casting its rays down towards the earth, the water around us looking like shimmering gold.

Ashina slowly released me and I was somewhat recovered, having let out all the accumulated terror of the day.

I had been resigned to Rin being 'Naruto', even if it was only confirmed now. But the confirmation combined with me being almost killed by Gaara, Kimimaro, and thinking Obito was here had me at a massive emotional breakdown that finally reached a head.

"S-sorry that I, well-" I looked at my grandfather, or at least the bunshin of him.

"I reacted terribly when my son died, Naruto." Ashina replied quietly, "There is no shame in letting all the heartache, fear, and terror out."

Ashina then adopted a pensive look.

"Chakra tends to imprint certain characteristics on people, similar to cravings for food when organs are transplanted." He seemed to narrow his eyes. "Your 'dreams' of Madara and Obito may have been from you and Rin having a mental connection from the Kyuubi's two halfs. A type of connection similar with the two of them could work if Hashirama's chakra from whatever Madara and Obito did to themselves was returning to the portion of Rin's chakra that is like Hashirama's, and it is being interpreted as dreams instead of a memory recall like what a Kage bunshin does." Ashina's voice was animated by the end like he made a massive discovery.

I put my nose against my shredded sleeve and blew out, clearing out my nose from the previous emotional moment.

"Then why would I have the dreams instead of Rin?" I asked.

"Simple," Ashina smiled, "Your Yin chakra and your abilities as a sensor. You had that strange photographic memory in infancy, combined with a bleeding effect with Rin from the Kyuubi, and you now have the reason why you, out of your sister and Hashirama, could get feedback from Madara and Obito."

Ashina then made a little victory dance that was very out of place.

He eventually stopped and seemed to sober up, grimacing noticably.

"Will you kill Sasuke?" He asked quietly, a veil of sadness over his face.

"No," I answered swiftly, "I'll make sure he doesn't end up like Madara."

Ashina sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "I'm sorry for putting you on the spot like that, Naruto. It is still fresh in my mind, the death of my family. I broke away from Orochimaru and put on the mask in the hopes of feeling my little Kushina-chan's beautiful twins."

Tears were in his eyes as he was speaking.

"I wanted to feel the good wrought from the deaths of everything I knew. You and Rin are proof that we lived, that our clan would not end with death and bloodshed," His breath shuddered and he walked towards me again, "Your hair. Rin's eyes. I loved you the moment I was told you existed. I wanted to feel the light that was my grandchildren again."

I grabbed ahold of him and hugged him, the first time I took the initiative to embrace him.

He hugged me in return and ran his fingers through my hair.

"I would be a hypocrite if I demanded that you listen to me about Sasuke when I refused to listen to my own father when I thought he was wrong. I knew Madara, but you know Sasuke. If you say he is a good boy, then I will trust my grandson."

I felt my entire body relax now that Sasuke was safe.

The two of us held each other for some time, eventually breaking away.

"I will need to disperse soon," The clone said, giving me a regretful look, "I'm sorry for burdening you with so many things, and for making a terrible demand. I only wanted to protect my grandchildren."

"I understand," I replied, knowing that Ashina didn't know the whole story and he thought the worst in Sasuke, "But I know Sasuke. It's going to take more than a little chakra to make him be bad."

Ashina nodded and formed a chakra blade, prepared to pop himself.

"Wait," I said, holding up my hand so he would pause, "Why not just have this in an encrypted note, like what you said the Hokage had? Why tell me about our Bloodline ability, our chakra and seals, your story and how you fought Madara in person?"

Ashina genuinely laughed.

"I see so much of myself in you, Naruto. You would have tried to fight when you were in no condition to. I got to speak with my grandson, feel your chakra up close while you were awake, and I helped equip you and Rin with knowledge to truly survive whatever Madara had in store with using Obito. That's why I stalled you, to protect you from being a dense headed idiot like I am."

I couldn't help but laugh slightly in return, knowing he wasn't wrong at all.

"But speaking of Obito," I said, seeing his eyes narrow, "I think I can do something to delay or throw off his plans to steal Bijuu."

With the chakra blade extinguished, Ashina tilted his head in curiosity.

"How?"

A genuinely evil smirk appeared on my face as I explained.

---

The real Ashina felt the memories of the bunshin come back and he had to take a knee from the intensity.

He was getting a headache from the emotional feedback. Edo Tensei weren't supposed to get bunshin feedback induced headaches.

I tend to break the rules of reality when it seeks to shaft me. He hissed internally, standing up after it subsided.

Being invisible had its uses and spying on Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame fighting the Kumo trio for a moment had him impressed with the Uchiha.

But if he were honest, Itachi was better than Izuna, even without using a Susanoo.

With Roshi finally fleeing, Ashina could kill him without any interference from Itachi or Kisame.

Based on what the memories from the bunshin were, Ashina grudgingly accepted that Uchiha Sasuke would not die. It rankled him, but he would trust his grandson.

The way Naruto spoke of his dreams was enough to tell him the boy was omitting details, but he wasn't going to press. The theory his bunshin came up with, the construct being a copy of his own mind, was the most plausible one there was from a Fuinjutsu perspective, even if it made him feel like he was grasping at straws.

Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.

He had deactivated the chakra seal he put on Tobirama the moment his bunshin popped as a signal for his student to flash towards him, which the man did and Ashina explained what had been going on in the fight, telling Tobirama that he needed to inform Hashirama and Jiraiya that they needed assistance.

Tobirama had then flashed back and said they were on their way and that he would fight another Uchiha like the old days.

With a warning of caution that Itachi was extremely capable, Tobirama rushed towards the waterlogged location of a collosal battle occurring, leaving Ashina on his own.

As he ran towards Roshi's signature, Ashina was running through the extended conversation his bunshin had with Naruto.

To be burdened with visions is horrible. I truly wish he wasn't burdened with it.

If he had time, he would do what he did best and tinker around with seals in an attempt to discover what in Kami's name caused his grandchildren out of anyone else to be the ones cursed with either seeing visions of their enemies or having some dead bastard's chakra mixed into their's like a thrice damned parasite.

To whoever thought my granddaughter was a good choice for being touched by such insanity, you're an arsehole.

That chakra could easily be generations old. His son in law had it, and now the daughter of the little girl he remembered bouncing on his knee as a toddler had it.

The entire thing stank of his family being cursed.

Was it my actions that caused this? Is my blood and the blood my descendants carry cursed?

"I truly am alone." He muttered to himself, the wind whistling in his hair as he rushed towards Roshi, the feedback of his bunshin in Konoha slowly trickling in.

Large swaths of the streets were flooded with water and his bunshin were weaving hand seals under the cover of mist to form Mizu bunshin from seemingly everywhere, killing the Suna and Oto nin who would dare attack the village that housed his grandchildren.

He eventually saw a flash of red on the horizon and he grinned, thinking of the plan his grandson gave his bunshin.

Kill Roshi. Then approach Hatake under a Henge. But make sure I have bunshin already in the bunker I was held in by Orochimaru to get the blood before Obito.

Naruto told him how Kamui worked, having seen it when Obito massacred the Kiri nin after Nohara Rin was killed.

Obito would definitely want his blood back, and a trap could be set for the Uchiha spawn.

Again, the theory of the cells and chakra of Hashirama harvested by Madara echoing towards Rin, being detected by Naruto in the form of visions because of the Kyuubi connecting them, sounded outlandish even to him. But it technically could be a reason for why his grandson saw things and had a violently unstable Yin chakra issue as an infant and child, something that didn't happen to him or other Uzumaki.

But he never told me how Madara survived. Ashina thought grimly. I managed to pull Madara's good eye out of his head and tossed it to the side before I took his head off. Unless this Zetsu creature was there and stitched his head back on, whatever that is.

Madara's right eye had still been milky white and he definitely was slower than before, age having hurt him more.

Naruto had claimed that this Zetsu thing was some type of extension of Madara's will similar to a bunshin, with a mix of Hashirama's cells and Madara's, but he knew his grandson was hiding something.

He really wanted to press Naruto and demand to know what he was hiding and why, but the sight of his grandson screaming and crying when he was told that Hashirama's chakra was intertwined with his twin sister's stayed his hand.

Between knowing a secret or causing pain to a scared boy that looked so much like him and adored his little sister, he knew what he'd choose everytime.

Focus, Ashina. You can save them. You're a dead man that needs rest, but just one more day. Obito will try and search for the blood in the bunker, and I'll be waiting where he least expects it.

Uzumaki Ashina got within range of a visibly injured Roshi and smirked predatorily, gripping the Sword of Kusanagi even tighter.

This'll be fun.

---

Roshi was clutching a stitch in his chest as he ran as fast as he could, mindful of the jarring of his arm as he traversed the grassy plains outside of Konoha.

The mission was technically successful in part, specifically learning the pedigree of the boy.

The redhead is definitely Uzumaki Ashina's descendant and the girl is his sister.

But that mattered less than the information Ay had revealed in his presence about the Akatsuki hunting Jinchuriki.

Onoki had contracted out certain sensitive missions to the Akatsuki from the results and pricing being unmatched, but the knowledge of a secret goal was frightening.

Son Goku. Roshi spoke to the Jinchuriki sealed in him. Can you think of a reason for why anyone would hunt Jinchuriki specifically?

The two had previously shared a common hatred for one another for years, up until the Fall of Uzu.

Few things create a bound of understanding that forms into a friendship better than almost getting killed constantly by a swarm of vengeful redheads with nothing to lose.

"No," The monkey replied, "The midget will need to hear this though. The Akatsuki cannot be trusted."

Roshi nodded and kept on running, relief filling him that the two Akatsuki members were held up by the Raikage.

Call it a sixth sense, but Roshi dove to the side, twirling on his undamaged arm to right himself.

A sword that looked extremely long and was wreathed in gold retracted back from where it almost struck him, back towards a masked man.

The man was over 50 meters away from him and he hadn't known he was even there.

"Roshhiiiiiiiiii!" An inhuman scream came from the throat of the man, a hair raising level of Killing Intent rolling off of him. "I have been waiting for you." The voice was feral with rage.

That mask. Roshi thought in horror, taking a step back.

"You." You managed to breath out.

"I am surprised if you would have forgotten me," Uzumaki Ashina snarled, "After I killed your unit, and you left me for down in Uzu."

Ashina was dead! How could he be standing in front of him, his hair more red than his own?!

"You cannot imagine the depths I would go to stay alive, fueled by my singular hatred for you." His voice kept that animalistic growl to it, his blade held in the same stance he created and his eyes glowing that sickly yellow that they did when he was drenched in the blood of Roshi's men during the battle decades ago.

Roshi vaguely heard Son Goku swearing in the back of his mind as he adopted a taijutsu stance.

Now would be a good time for the Akatsuki to intervene.

Roshi resigned himself to a very painful death, facing off against some unnatural wraith that refused to die in some abominable way.

---

END CHAPTER

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The moment I decided that Uzumaki Ashina would be a character in this fic, his background was decided. He was to be the shatterpoint of how this world isn't the canon one.

Naruto was going to find out about Rin truly being the Naruto of this world, and this way is a controlled one that fits with why Ashina was always wary of Madara.

For those that think Ashina is equal to prime Madara and Hashirama: He isn't.

Madara was old when Ashina attacked him. Ashina was old too, but he's an Uzumaki, 'nuff said. You got an old guy that hasn't trained or stretched his legs from paranoia of being discovered, and then an older one who has a much longer lifespan who has been preparing for years to kill the one guy who is trying to hide.

And yes, Ashina is stupid for not asking Hiruzen or even trying to ask The Sannin to make a detour to help him or reveal Madara's survival, but think of how personal this is to him. He sees Madara as the same creature that caused turmoil in his family because of Fuji causing the catalyst of the Hyuga Branch Seal, and Hashirama falling ill early. Then Tobirama is killed. It's personal for him and he wants to be the one to kill Madara.

This is my rationale on Madara's age at the point Ashina fought him.

Based on how old Hiruzen was, being a young child at the time, Konoha was founded at least 60 years before the series began. Subtracting 12 years for Sasuke's age, Madara canonically died about 50 years after Konoha was founded. It's never specified about the ages of Hashirama, Madara, Tobirama, or Izuna, but assuming that Tobirama was a year or so younger than Hashirama, like Izuna was to Madara, and judging by how Hiruzen and Minato were the two youngest Hokage's to be appointed, the war between the Uchiha and Senju was resolved in their late twenties, with the official forming of the ninja villages not long after.

With the trend of marrying and having kids younger during conflict, its safe to say that Hashirama had his first kid in his early twenties and Tsunade's parents were a similar age when they had her, making Hashirama roughly early to mid forties when he became a grandpa, add about 5 more years to teach Tsunade gambling and spoiling her rotten, and you might have a decent estimate for when he died from whatever illness came over him after his fight with Madara. I just assume he was sick for several years and it slowly degraded.

I wrote in this that Tobirama was killed shortly after Hashirama died, but I think he canonically died a couple years before Hashirama, but I couldn't be sure so I made the decision to have Tobirama be the last Senju brother alive.

Doing the math of my timeline: Madara is about thirty something or a little older when he returns to Konoha with Kurama. He gets 'Killed' and lays low for the time being. The butterfly effect of Ashina experimenting with Senjutsu reveals his survival ten years later and Ashina attempts to have an A-Team with him to finish Madara off, the plan obviously turning into the fustercluck that was Tobirama dying.

At this point, Madara would be in his late forties to early fifties. And he hasn't awakened the Rinnegan yet, so he doesn't have broken abilities and he's got a busted right eye from the Izanagi and is laying low while Ashina is the only guy in a position to possibly kill him because of Konoha being locked in a war with the other villages and the old guard of Uchiha and Senju from the Warring States are old, making it difficult for Hiruzen to possibly give aid as a new generation transitions into conflict.

Madara lays low once more and Ashina finally finds him again about 20 years later. Ashina is about twenty years older than Madara and Hashirama, making Madara seventy something at this point.

Ashina, having prepared for years to kill Madara, fights the guy he couldn't kill years prior because his body simply endures aging better than Madara's, and the bad right eye mixed with constantly staying under the radar and not training leads to a demigod becoming a simple 'Monster of a Shinobi.' Hiruzen was still considered the strongest living Kage at 70. Madara would have still been a monster compared to 99% of Shinobi at seventy something.

Even with a constant level of Nature chakra, a means to pierce a Susanoo that a one eyed Uchiha would need to put a little more focus in making, and constant physical and mental preparation for the fight, Ashina still almost died fighting him.

You can guess how or who ensured Madara didn't stay dead.

So brief version: Prime Ashina can't beat EMS Madara from Warring States, nor Prime Hashirama. Old Ashina barely beats old Madara, the two being much weaker than their prime versions, with Madara having a significantly steeper decline.

So anyway, this is the end of the chapter and a massive portion that made this 'verse AU from canon is revealed. The next chapter marks the end of the invasion arc. Later.

Raging.