Chapter 2: Aftermath
Woah! That was crazy! What was happening?" says Naruto. Sakura, Sai, Shikamaru and Naruto were also present in the trial, this is the first time ever they've ever saw someone from the Hidden Leaf since their exile. "It's genjutsu, you idiot!" says Kurama. "Genjutsu?" Naruto trying to figure out how Isshin cast the genjutsu on everyone in the room. "The sensory types can't detect any anomaly within this vicinity, either he's extremely good at hiding his chakra, or he's able to cast a long distance genjutsu, presumably all the way from Konoha. Either way is no easy feat." Sai speculated. "It must have something to do with the lightning strike that happened earlier. I can feel something was off since that happened. He probably uses the light and sound of the lightning as a medium to cast his genjutsu. The skill required for this level of subtlety of the jutsu casting is unlike anything I've seen before, not to mention that it's a genjutsu that he's casting, this guy's chakra control is on another level." Sakura added. "Hmmph, this guy is good..." says Kurama. "Still, I can't recall that I've seen this guy in the village before". says Sakura. "Sai, you were part of the Root. You recognise that face as one of Danzo's secret club members? " asked Sakura. "I'm afraid that I have to say no...I never saw that face during my time in Root either. I've seen every Root member's face, except for one." says Sai.
"Who's that person?" asked Sakura. "He exists more as a myth rather than a real member amongst Root. In fact I'm not sure if this guy really exists or not. He's the deadliest member in all of Root, he is Danzo's top assassin, his closer, his best tracker, he holds all of Danzo's darkest secrets. If you looked at the files on mission assignments of Root, you'll find many missions were actually theoretically impossible to accomplish, but somehow someone among us managed to pull it off. But as far as I can tell, no one inside Root have that kind of skill, the only explanation is that there is a hidden member of Root that we don't know of. This myth was originally spread by one of Danzo's inner circle members, he was one of the members who managed the document files of Root, on one occasion, he noticed an extremely old file of an unknown Root operator, the information of the document was all but erased, except of a codename: 零"Rei" (Zero). There has been speculations that this "Rei" is the our mysterious Root member. But that is the only evidence we ever got. Nobody has ever seen "Rei", or anybody who does has most probably had their memories wiped after their encounter with him. Who he really is, perhaps only Danzo knows" says Sai. "Alright that's enough ghost stories for today Sai, I'm starting to get chills behind my back. Sheesh..." says Naruto. "I've...seen this guy before." Shikamaru finally breaking his silence.
"What!?" says Naruto. "Where did you seen him?" asked Sakura. "Tokugawa Isshin, that's a name that I've heard only once..."
*Flashback to 3 years ago, in the Hidden Leaf village
Shikamaru have just finished his daily assignments and walking down the streets during the afternoon. He came across the park, and he notices a group of his fellow colleagues were playing chess during their free time. Shikamaru approaches the group. "Hey Shikamaru." one of the Chunin greets him. "Hey", Shikamaru replied. "Mind if I joined in?, says Shikamaru. "Of course, just make sure that you'll go easy on us." says the Chunin. "(Sigh) What a drag, whatever..." says Shikamaru. A few moments later, Shikamaru wins every single round against the group in the game of chess. "Damn Shikamaru, thought you were supposed to go easy on us..." says the Chunin. "I am going easy on you." says Shikamaru with a smug. "Well it's fun playing with you Shikamaru, but we gotta go, got another mission later in the evening." says another Chunin. "Hey Isshin!! Get your ass up! Stop slacking off, you useless waste of space." says another Chunin as he looks at a man in Chunin uniform who's been sleeping on the park's bench since Shikamaru joined in the group. "Who is that? I've never seen him before." asked Shikamaru. "Oh, that's Isshin. Bastard's been slacking off the whole day. He just recently got his promotion to the rank of Chunin, barely. The guy's been stuck at the rank of Genin for years, and if you looked at his performance during the Chunin exams, let's just say he got his flak jacket through pure luck." says one of the Chunin. "Damn fool hasn't done a thing close to useful. Can't defend himself in a fight. I bet even a freshly graduated Genin can kick his ass, and on top of that he's lazy, I don't know why he chooses this job, or how he graduated in the first place says another Chunin. "It's no wonder that you've never heard of him." says another Chunin. "Well I won't say he's completely useless, at least he brought us chess game this afternoon, hahahaha..." laughs another Chunin. "Forget about him, let him sleep, if he's late again, we'll cut his payments and split it between ourselves." says the Chunin. After the group left the park, it's just Shikamaru sitting there with the chess still on the table. Isshin finally woke up from the bench, "Oh, they left. Huh, oh well...what should I eat for dinner then?" says Isshin. As Isshin stands up and prepares to pack up the chess game and leave, "This chess game is yours?" asked Shikamaru. "Yes..." says Isshin with a laid-back attitude. "Fancy a game?" asked Shikamaru. Isshin looks at Shikamaru with a serious, firm gaze, then turns back into his playful attitude and replied, "Seeing that I most likely won't join those idiots on the mission tonight...alright, just one. Losers pays 30,000 ryo, a standard C-rank mission payment, deal?". Shikamaru was a little shocked by the confidence that this man has, no one except his father has ever beaten him in a chess game. "Deal." says Shikamaru.
After half an hour. Sweat has started to come out from Shikamaru's forehead. Every single move he made on the chess board has been countered by Isshin with absolute precision. The more he make his move, the more he feels like he's been moving according to Isshin's design. "What is this? It's like he can see the future, it's as if the entire game is controlled completely by him. Not even my old man is this good." Shikamaru thought to himself. After another 5 minutes, Shikamaru's chess pieces were nearly all eliminated and he found himself in a dead end. "(Chuckles) Looks like someone's just earned his barbecue dinner tonight". says Isshin. Shikamaru pays him as promised. "Even if you didn't win, I gotta say, that was some nice playing, you're pretty good". Isshin gave Shikamaru his compliments and left.
*Flashback ends, the scene turns back to present day
"What?! Shikamaru lost a chess game? How is this possible?" says Naruto with a shock in his face. "That's the only time I've ever had any interaction with Isshin, I guess he remained low profile until he took over the office of Hokage." says Shikamaru. "I actually did some digging on him, he came from a normal family, his parents ran a grocery store, his family has zero ties to any clans, his background couldn't be more normal. But from the way I see him move on the chess board, I can already tell that this man has an extremely sophisticated mind and is at least 5 steps ahead of everyone. He is not who he pretended to be. I just did not expect that he became the Hokage all of a sudden", Shikamaru further added. "Smart enough to beat Shikamaru in a chess game, while pretend to be an incompetent idiot in front of the public eye. This Isshin has something more than meets the eye.", says Sai.
"Whoever this Tokugawa Isshin is, I have a feeling that something big is gonna happen in the Shinobi world with him involved. Come, the meeting's over, Lord Gaara is waiting for us outside." says Sakura.
As hundreds of the summit's attendees walked out of the hall, the group left the hall as well, the weather outside has calmed itself down since Isshin's presence left, outside among the crowd they found the four Kage, their bodyguards, and Konan. The group approached them. "Ah, Naruto, Sakura, Shikamaru, Sai, you guys are here.", says Gaara. "Lord Kazekage", Sakura greeted him. "I think that will be all for today, my fellow Kages, keep in touch, we will discuss about this more in the future." says Gaara. The other three Kage nodded. "We will have further investigation of the mystery behind this Isshin guy once we headed back to our village, and we must be prepared whatever he's up to. We mustn't underestimate him." says Ohnoki. "I have some intel regarding the background of Isshin, it's not much but it's a start, I will later pass on the details to Lord Kazekage to send the intel to all of you." says Shikamaru. "You know of this individual, Shikamaru?" asked Gaara. "I only met him once, and the intel I had on him is extremely vague, but it at least can give us a surface level of understanding of who Isshin was", says Shikamaru. "Thank you, Nara san, for not hiding this from us. Frankly speaking, I was a bit skeptical on whether you former Konoha Shinobi(s) would assist us in investigating him, but seeing your decision to share info with us, I am relieved", says Mei.
"We never abandoned our identities as shinobi of the Hidden Leaf, but the current Hidden Leaf is completely different from what we used to know, everything about it is almost completely alien to us, and we intend to relearn everything. Also we know little to nothing about this new Hokage, he could potentially be an even more dangerous individual than Danzo. Before we're able to fully understand the mystery behind this man, we can't return to our home." says Shikamaru. "Thank you for the lending of the location for this meeting, Konan." says Gaara. "Don't mention it, Lord Kazekage. I want to thank you all for choosing the Hidden Rain as the organiser of this meeting as a sign of accepting us as a sign of friendship, despite our past history with the Akatsuki." says Konan. "Speaking of the Akatsuki, has anybody else heard of them since the last two years? It feels like they have completely disappeared from this world since the death of Pain", asked Mei. "Any thoughts on this, Konan?" asked Gaara. "After the death of Nagato, I fully expected that Madara would come to the Hidden Rain and steal Nagato's eyes, I made my preparation for that day to come, but it's been two years, and he never came...I tried to take the initiative, by finding Madara first before he finds me, but I've searched every corner and found nothing. I should be happy, but as long as he's still out there, I can never let my guard down." says Konan. "Boss's orders, my men have also been tracking the Akatsuki's trail for the last two years, and they found nothing as well. The other two members, Zetsu and Kisame, have also vanished without a trace", says Darui, the Raikage's right hand man. "Could this have something to do with this Tokugawa Isshin?" says Temari. Temari's question stunned everyone in the conversation. "Yes, that's right. The Akatsuki vanished some time after Isshin's rise to power. A criminal organisation that big of a threat wouldn't just vanished like that." says Kurotsuchi. "Damn, it looks like one mystery haven't even solved, countless other just keeps poppin' out from this Isshin, how many secrets does this guy have?" says Naruto.
"If that's the case, I suggest we better head back to our own village and start working. Too many mysteries to unravel, we got too much work to do. I make my leave at once. Come Naruto, Sakura, Shikamaru, Sai". says Gaara.
The four Kage subsequently made their way back to their own village.
One week later, at the Hidden Sand Village. Gaara received a message from the Hidden Mist...(to be continued)