I do not own Naruto, Kishimoto does.

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"Tobi-Sensei I'm so bored! Where is this guy?!" Asami yelled trailing a few yards behind Obito.

"Asami, I already told you he is hiding out somewhere in this area. I don't have an exact location…" Obito explained, "but we already searched the majority of the search area so it shouldn't be to long." He glanced behind to see a not convinced Asami narrowly miss a branch. Maybe we should travel by the ground. That's the eleventh time she's almost whacked her head, Obito thought to himself. Over the past few months, he's found it hard having to care for another person, in regards to training and making sure they were safe. In Asami's case make sure she didn't bite off more than she could chew. She always found a way to get into situations in which she more than likely would die if it wasn't for Obito. To Obito it felt that she was comfortable having him as a safety net to see where her skills were against stronger opponents. Even though Obito didn't hold that much back when he sparred with her.

In the end he had no one to blame but himself. He was the one who convinced Yahiko to start taking bounties to help fund the small time Akatsuki, and he agreed to have Asami come with him to take in these bounties. Most of the bounties the Akatsuki took were mostly low-level bandits, however Obito choose to do the ones on rogue shinobi since they paid more, and because he is currently the only one in the organization who can take the high-level contracts.

Despite the fact that Asami has had multiple brushes with death, Obito can't deny that her strength has grown exponentially. Obito would place her as high chunin level as of right now. He did feel a sense of pride at her growth since it was only thanks to his tutelage. He did enjoy teaching her and even the other Akatsuki members. There weren't many members, only around 25. However, the only ones with real promise were the three young founders and Asami. Yet none could compare to him. Oddly enough he was on a completely different level. It was only odd since he was never the strongest person back in Konoha, he hated to admit it but even Kakashi was stronger than him. Now however, Obito knew he could beat Kakashi without breaking a sweat, even with him having his other sharingan. He even believed he could give Minato-Sensei a run for his money.

The truth was whatever Madara did to heal Obito, helped make him stronger. And with Kamui he was almost unbeatable, how could you beat an opponent who you can't hit. And along with the jutsu he has learned from Madara's memories and the jutsu scrolls Zetsu brought to him, his arsenal has grown by 70%. Even though Kamui was a powerful jutsu, he has deduced that only downside for it was that he has to be touching the target to transport it into his pocket dimension. He figures that maybe his other eye has the ability to use Kamui at a long distance. It was truly remarkable how powerful the mangekyo sharingan was, and in his case, it was combined with mokuton. He was truly the combination of Senju and Uchiha powers. He was exactly what Madara wanted him to be; another him.

And yet with the gift Madara has given him, Obito was also given his own hardships. He was manipulated, well still being manipulated because there was the constant presence of Black Zetsu. And worse of all Madara orchestrated the death of Rin, as a tool for his manipulation. It would have worked, but in Madara's haste to make sure his tool was well informed before his death he gave Obito all his memories. And now with those memories Obito chose to repay his debt by leaving Madara in the afterlife.

When Obito thought about it, it was far better than Madara deserved. He got to stay away from this world of hell, while Obito still had to live in it. However, he had a plan, he was going to change this world with the help of the Akatsuki. They were going to bring peace, so far, the plan was to become powerful enough to broker peace among all nations while helping the smaller nations to stabilize. He figured if they can keep the smaller nations from being poverty stricken and filled with violence they would be able to stop the five great nations from using them as proxy's for their wars. That was a way to start the process of bringing peace.

But as of now they needed money, which is what brought him to trying to capture and S-Class criminal from Kusagakure who only went by the name of Touma. He was part of their Anbu where he killed his entire squad and their village's leader before disappearing with large sums of money and a prized artifact. It was also reported that he gave information to Iwa to help their invasion, witch directly caused the need for Obito's Kanabi Bridge mission where his life was changed forever.

Him and Asami were currently in the top northwest region of Hi No Kuni, close to their border with Kusa. Obito considered himself decent at tracking, but he had a shadow who was better at finding people. Obito had sent Zetsu clones to find Touma, unfortunately they haven't found him yet, but he knew he was close. It was only a matter of time.

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Kakashi stood on a branch of a tree over viewing the clearing where his Anbu squad are supposed to meet with a squad of Kusa Anbu. They were to help them hunt a missing nin named Touma, who has expanded his murder spree from Kusa into Hi No Kuni. Which is why Konoha has gotten involved. Minato-Sensei felt the need to offer Kakashi's squad to help bring in Touma, since he once was one of Kusa's strongest Anbu.

Kakashi's team was a four-man squad led by a man who went by the code name, Sakana. Rounding off his team was Fukuro, Raion, and lastly him who was going by the name Inu. This was Kakashi's fourteenth Anbu mission, the other thirteen were a success. Kakashi so far has found a morbid sort of enjoyment with the Anbu. He was able to block off his emotions in a way he wasn't able to do on Minato-Sensei's team. Thankfully his guilt was also suppressed since Rin wasn't there to remind him how much he failed his last team.

He hasn't really gotten to know his new team; all they did was train and complete their mission with the minimum amount of communication. As far as he could tell Sakana was a strict but fair leader, a very stoic man who put the mission above all else. Fukuro and Raion didn't say much they just focused on their assignments. Same as Kakashi. Even with the lack of camaraderie among them their squad was a well-oiled machine. They were climbing up the ranks thanks their quick completion of missions with minimal casualties and collateral damage.

Sakana raised his hand signaling that the Kusa Anbu were nearing. Kakashi immediately prepared himself for the possibility of an attack as four Kusa Anbu landed in the clearing in front of Sakana. One of them a burly man with brown spikey hair pointing from behind his mask stepped towards Sakana. Kakashi instinctively grasped one of his kunai.

The burly man raised his right hand, "I'm Kan the captain of this squad and your contact for this joint mission."

"Pleasure, I'm Sakana," Sakana said as he shook Kan's extended right hand.

"Thank you for the help, Touma has been troublesome for us."

"It's no problem. We have received reports that he killed six people in a small village northeast of here, I'd like us to see if we can pick up a trail from there."

"That is fine. I suggest we send two into the village while the rest keep a perimeter outside of the village. Do you have someone who specializes in tracking?"

"Yes, Inu!" Sakana yelled. Kakashi jumped down from his tree branch quietly landing to the right of Sakana. "This is Inu, he is our tracker."

Kan nodded and raised his left hand. One of his Anbu walked to Kan's left standing in front of Kakashi. She was short almost the same height as Kakashi, making it clear that she was young. "This is Komugi, she is an excellent tracker."

"Okay, so we will send these two into the village to pick up a trace and hopefully follow them to Touma." Sakana confirmed.

"Yes." Kan nodded to both Kakashi and Komugi who disappeared towards the village.

They reached the outskirts of the village and Komugi stopped.

"One second." She said as she started going through hand signs, "Soton: Kafun Toresu no Jutsu." A swirl of pollen twisted around Komugi and then flowed away from her into the village looking like it was carried by the wind. "If Touma was here the pollen will pick up any trace of him," she explained.

"How does that work?" Kakashi asked.

"Pollen especially before the springtime is spread out throughout the entire area. Most people fail to realize that it can get on everything and when it does it happens to attach some of your cells, my kekkei genkai allows me to be able to track the cells through the pollen. However, I need to have an original source to track, but since Touma was once one of us I have plenty to track from."

"Do you still have something that once belonged to Touma?"

"Yes," Komugi reached into her pack and pulled out a Kusa headband, "here it was his."

Kakashi took the headband with a thanking nod and flowed through hand signs, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu." In a cloud of white smoke, a pack of ninken appeared.

A small brown pug raised his paw, "Hey Ka- uh Inu, what do you need?" the pug asked with a surprisingly deep voice.

"Hey Pakkun, I need you to see if you can find the scent of the owner of this headband. He is a S-Class missing nin." Kakashi said lowering the headband so Pakkun could smell it.

Pakkun sniffed it, "Okay we'll go see what we can find." They ninken took off in different directions.

"Now it shouldn't be long until we find Touma's trail." Kakashi stated.

"Yes, it would seem so. Come let's investigate the area where the murders took place, it's possible we could also find something there." Komugi said jumping towards the village.

Kakashi took off after her, "What kind of jutsu does Touma use?" he asked.

"He uses Katon, Doton, and a kekkei genkai Soton that lets him turns blades of grass into sharp projectiles that can tear through someone quickly and fatally." She responded.

"That's concerning; we need to figure out a way to nullify his Soton."

"He has trouble with futon, its able to knock the blades of grass of their trajectory."

Kakashi landed on a roof thinking of how to counter Touma's jutsu when he noticed a white swirling mask landing on the roof across the village's pathway. A young girl with reddish brown hair and brown eyes landed next to him. Kakashi's eyes widened as he focused on the masked man. He wore a large black cloak with dark red trimmings, a hood covered his head hiding the long spikey black hair that Minato-Sensei described. The girl wore the same cloak except the hood was down. The masked man stopped suddenly and turned his one eye hole bearing down on Kakashi.

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Obito froze on the rooftop staring in disbelief at a Konoha Anbu who had the silver gravity defying spikey hair of his former teammate. Of course, he'd be in the Anbu now, Obito thought.

"Asami, take the left and leave the village immediately." Obito ordered.

"Why? Wait why are you using your mean voice Tobi-Sensei?" Asami asked.

"Now Asami!" Obito hissed.

"Fine." Asami said in huff before jumping away. Obito turned back towards Kakashi and the Kusa Anbu who stood next to him. Of all the places. Obito waited until Kakashi jumped from the roof towards Obito. He quickly took off the opposite way from where Asami ran off to. Obito herd the Kusa Anbu yell after Kakashi, who sounded just as young as both he and Kakashi.

Obito quickly threw smoke bombs to cover him as he ran. He was confident that he could beat Kakashi and the Kusa Anbu, but it would just be a waste of time. He learned from one of the Zetsu clones that Touma was just outside this village. He didn't have time to fight these two, or he could risk losing Touma. Obito quickly used the smoke screen to jump down into an alley that he took to the right, which lead outside the village.

He glanced behind to see that Kakashi was still on his tail. Oh right he has my damn sharingan. Obito turned around and threw three kunai at Kakashi making him jump out of the way. He then threw another two at the Kusa Anbu who was trailing behind Kakashi, asking why he was chasing Obito. He jumped back up on the roofs and hopped outside the village where he quickly turned into the thick forest.

He ran a few meters before a mud wall erupted from the ground in front of him. Obito used his Kamui ability to run through Kakashi's jutsu. Obito then heard an explosion several meters away to his right. He knew it had to be Asami, she always found a way to get into some kind of trouble. Obito took off towards the explosions source, with Kakashi and the Kusa Anbu still behind him. Obito turned around stringing hand signs, "Mokuton: Mokusatsu Shibari no Jutsu!" Wooden tendrils flew out of Obito's arms and wrapped around Kakashi and the Kusa Anbu restraining them. Obito released the jutsu watching as they fell to the ground attempting to escape from their restraints.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" He heard Asami's voice yell before there was another explosion. He quickly ran towards her voice where he found Asami avoiding sharp blades of grass that nearly hit her. A few yards in front of her stood a man with dark green hair and eyes. He was tall and muscular, with a large scar that extended from the top left of his forehead down to the bottom right of his jaw. He was wearing a Konoha flak jacked with black shinobi pants and dark blue shinobi sandals. Obito recognized the man as Touma.

Touma ran at Asami sending more blades of grass that forced her to spin to her right where Touma kicked her in the stomach. Obito quickly used Kamui to appear behind her catching her before she crashed into a tree.

"I thought I told you not to fight someone without me." Obito whispered to Asami.

"I'm sorry Tobi-Sensei, I just ran into him and didn't want to risk him getting away." She responded. Obito grunted and set her down. He stood up and faced Touma.

"Another nosy rodent. I suggest you and her leave before I kill the two of ya." Touma said in a rough voice.

"There's no need, you wouldn't be able to do much damage. However, the bounty you have will cause a much more remarkable effect." Obito responded. Suddenly ropes wrapped around all three of them, with the appearance of eight Anbu, four from Konoha and four from Kusa including Kakashi who was now free from his wooden restraints.

"Don't move Touma!" A burly Kusa Anbu yelled.

"More and more rodents! How many more do I have to exterminate before you realize you have no chance of taking down a predator!" Touma yelled as blades of grass surrounded him tearing off the ropes before hovering in the air pointing outwards towards the Anbu.

Obito shifted his weight to his left foot before Kakashi appeared behind him with a kunai to his throat, "You're not going anywhere." Kakashi stated coldly. Another Konaha Anbu appeared in front of Obito a katana pointed at him, "Yondaime-Sama has some questions for you." He said.

"It seems I'm not the only one being sought after, what say you and I help each other before you and I finish what your friend started." Touma said with a sadistic smile.

Obito eyed the situation carefully, he couldn't be captured now, and he wasn't ready to have his Madara persona out in the open just yet. Kakashi was being overly cautious about him, how he wished they would underestimate him like they used to. He was strong now and his presence only solidified that fact. He needed them to underestimate him so they wouldn't catch on to what he was doing. If they did now and continued to investigate him it would only spell problems for him and the Akatsuki. He knew Kakashi and Minato-Sensei only had their eye on him because they thought he was some kind of mastermind, they weren't wrong. However, he needed it to seem like he wasn't in charge of anything, that he was a subordinate which would cause them to focus more on who was leading him. He needed to be ignored and underestimated like he was when he was with Konoha. So he can go unnoticed like he once was. The question was how, maybe it was the way he acted, load and obnoxious. Then a figurative light bulb lit up in his head. He underestimated Swirly back in the cave with Madara because of how he acted, he didn't realize how useful he was even as a clone. He knew a way to make it seem like he wasn't that important of a person.

"Tobi-Sensei what do we do?" Asami asked in whisper.

Damn it Asami, how many times did I say not to say my name in front of others. A smile crept on his face, actually this could work.

"Tobi thinks it's a great idea!" Obito exclaimed in a high cheerful voice, "with the bad man we can take down the mean Anbu!"

"What are you-" Asami began to ask before Obito shouted with glee.

"It really is a great idea! Great, great, great! Let's do it Touma-Senpai! Ninja Art: Escape no Jutsu!" Obito yelled before using Kamui to escape into the ground leaving the rope and appearing behind Asami.

"What the hell?" Kakashi exclaimed. While everyone else including Touma stood in surprise at Obito's actions he quickly cut the ropes off Asami and then used a small stick to whack Kakashi on the back of the head.

"See Tobi helps! Tobi is a good boy!" Obito happily yelled. Touma grunted before sending his blades of grass towards the Anbu. They quickly jumped out of the way.

"Whatever, let's take them out." Touma said.

"Okay Touma-Sempai!" Obito yelled.

"I'm not your sempai!" Touma yelled back as he fought off three Anbu.

"Sure you are!" Obito quickly dodged a punch from Kakashi and then pushed Asami out of the way from a katana.

"Careful, careful my young student! Tobi won't be here all the time. But we do have Touma-Sempai so we will be okay!"

Touma attempted to use his grass blades to impale one of the Kusa Anbu who used a futon to blow them away, as another Kusa Anbu moved to his side about to stab Touma. Obito used Kamui to appear in front of the attacking Anbu kicking him into the Konoha Anbu with the katana.

"Watch out sempai, if you get hurt then we can't get dango. And Tobi wants dango. Dango is for good boys and Tobi is a good boy. And my student wants dango too! Don't you want dango, Touma-Sempai?" Obito said, beginning to annoy everyone fighting except for Asami who was currently stifling a chuckle.

Suddenly the sound of chirping birds filled the air, recognizing the sound Obito turned to Kakashi who was running towards him as another light bulb lit in his head. A way to finish this fight quickly so that he can get his bounty. With a smile on his face, Obito let Kakashi run right through him as his Chidori tore into Touma's side who was being engulfed by a large swarm of pollen. Touma yelled in pain throwing Kakashi off of him. Touma then fell unto a knee covering his left flank with his hand trying to stop the flowing blood.

"Oh no Touma-Sempai! Bad Tobi." Obito slapped his head for effect. "Sempai, do you want me to get us out of here?"

Touma turned to Obito and grabbed his shoulder, "Yes!" he yelled. Obito smiled before sucking up Touma into Kamui. He then ran to Asami letting the attacks go through him, he grabbed her and sucked her into Kamui as well. A kunai then flew tearing off a piece of Obito's cloak.

"That was a close one, you almost got Tobi!" Obito yelled before waving and disappearing into Kamui.

When his vision steadied, he saw a puking Asami.

"What the hell was that Tobi-Sensei?" She yelled.

Obito ignored her and walked over to Touma who was inspecting his wound. "You are a pretty good with that jutsu, you could be a lot of help. How about we stay together? What is this place?" Touma asked.

Obito let one of the wooden rods erupt from his palm and stabbed Touma in the heart. "I'd prefer the bounty, thankfully it pays whether your dead or not. Let's head home Asami."

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Danzo sat behind a wooden desk reading over some scrolls, using only the small amount of light offered by a lamp. As a figure began to rise from the stone floor. "Hello Danzo." The figure said. Danzo looked up from the scroll.

"Who might you be?" Danzo asked.

"I am Black Zetsu and this is White Zetsu, we are Zetsu." The figure spoke referring to a white half of him that had yellow eyes and green hair, and the other half which was pitch black with a yellow eye. Both halves had a large plant like structure around them.

"What brings you here?" Danzo asked, confused by this stranger.

"We only come to offer information that may prove useful to you." Black Zetsu answered.

"What is the price of this information?" Danzo asked eying Zetsu.

"It's offered freely."

"Why?"

"Because, the information can help keep the current system in place."

Danzo stared at Zetsu trying to figure out what he is trying to do, "go on."

"There is currently an underground organization based in Ame that is gathering power to overthrow your friend Hanzo."

"Why would they want to do that?"

"Hanzo wishes to work with Konoha, this organization does not. They want to make Ame a superpower that is able to oppose and destroy Konoha."

"What grudge do they have against Konoha?"

"It seems Konoha shinobi killed the parents of one of the organization's founders which governs their hatred for your village. It wouldn't be much of a problem however they are steadily growing in size. I believe it would be a couple of months before they are capable of overthrowing Hanzo and maybe a year before they have enough power to stand up against you and Konoha."

"Why should I believe you?"

"Go ahead and ask Danzo about a group named the Akatsuki, they say they want peace but what they really want is to make Ame the sole superpower in the world."

"And how did you come by this information?"

"I've been spying on them for months now. Do with this information with what you will. I'd suggest you take them out quickly before they become a problem. I do hope you make the correct choice Danzo." Black Zetsu said before disappearing back into the floor a smirk on both halves.

Danzo raised his hand a Root Anbu appeared before him, "Head to Hanzo in Ame, tell him to meet me in two days at our usual location. Tell him there is something important we need to discuss.

"Yes sir." The Root Anbu said before disappearing. Danzo leaned back into his chair beginning to plan on what to do with this new information.

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Sorry for the delay I've been busy. My daughter was born and then school started not to mention work picked up. I'll try to get back on a consistent schedule now that I've gotten used to things and figured out how to correctly manage my time.

I hope you guys like the new chapter, things are coming to a head for the climax of this first arc. Kakashi and Obito finally ran into each other, sorry that it wasn't much of an interaction, but Obito had something else he had to do. Also, sorry I'm not good at writing action scenes so the scene was cut shorter than I'd like.

We also got the first glimpse of the Tobi we know and love, I don't know if there was a canon reason to why Obito took on that persona but I figured it was a reason like that, and managed to put it into the story.

Thank you once again for reading, please leave a comment letting me know what you think!