"Shikaku?"
He looked to the side- and blinked when he saw me.
"We have a problem."
"They actually managed to contain you?"
"I can break out any time I want to." I floated up and down for a moment. "But every single second that I stay in, they expend a massive amount of Chakra keeping me in."
"They don't know you can get out." Hiruzen realised.
"Exactly." My grin stretched a little wider. "And so long as they don't; they'll try to keep me in. At this very moment, there are ten Jonin -ten Shinobi with Chakra reserves equivalent to the average Konoha Jonin- draining themselves dry powering that seal. All ten of them will burn themselves out in an hour."
Shikaku's head tilted to the side. "Amegakure does not possess much in the way of military power. Powering that seal would require 240 Jonin each day, every single day that you stay in."
"A simple numbers game. It takes about three days for the average Jonin to recover their Chakra completely after they've expended all of it. Keeping me contained indefinitely would require, at minimum, 720 Jonin doing nothing but draining themselves dry, and then spending the next three days recovering. Konohagakure could do that, but Amegakure..."
"Keeping you contained would bring down their military strength so drastically that they'd leave themselves almost completely defenceless." Shikaku looked up, thinking.
I nodded- which basically meant that I rolled forwards and back slightly, since I was a floating little void with glowing eyes and a glowing grin.
"But, back to the Akatsuki," Where the important things were happening. "I have information. First: another one of their members, who was known as Hidan, is dead."
Shikaku frowned. "Hidan. Hidan the Jashinist, formerly of Yugakure? Hidan the apparently immortal?"
"Yes, to the first and the second. No, the last. " I spun around, facing him. "I ripped his soul out of his body, and he died just like all the rest."
I turned to face Hiruzen again. "Second: the apparent leader of the Akatsuki is actually a puppeted corpse. It contains no soul, and receives Chakra from a number of large piercings embedded in its body. It has the capability to manipulate gravity to some extent, including generating powerful blasts of gravity."
Hiruzen nodded.
"Thirdly," I continued. "Another member of the Akatsuki is known as Obito Uchiha." The Sandaime's pipe snapped in his hands. "This Obito Uchiha is, in fact, also the very same being who helped Itachi kill the Uchiha clan."
Hiruzen stared at me for a few seconds, before slowly placing the remains of his pipe down. "Obito Uchiha is dead."
"Whoever this Obito Uchiha is," Because I certainly didn't know the man, after all. "The person that I met possessed the Sharingan, and was named Obito Uchiha."
"You're absolutely certain?"
"Yes."
He sighed.
"Hokage-sama..."
Hiruzen held his hand up, forestalling what Shikaku was going to say. "I know."
He stood up, moving over to stare out over Konohagakure.
"Drich." I focused on him. "Where is Kakashi Hatake?"
I frowned, concentrating.
"With Gai, at Training Grounds Two." I returned to grinning.
He nodded. "Ryuu, inform Kakashi to meet with me an hour."
One of the ever-present ANBU nodded, blinking away in a Shunshin.
Hiruzen sighed. "I am far, far too old for this." He turned around. "Can you tell me where the other members of the Akatsuki are?"
"Only two." Couldn't... sense Itachi, Kisame, Obito or Konan. "Deidara, and another, as-of-yet still unidentified member of the Akatsuki are engaged in combat with the Kazekage Gaara, and a number of other Sunagakure Shinobi."
He nodded.
I could go help-
Could I go help?
I tapped the Darkness, drawing upon a small amount of it- which came slowly, and not nearly with the ease that I normally wielded it with.
But it did come.
I could help, but not as much as I might normally be able too.
I absorbed that little piece of Darkness, letting my little wisp form grow by just that much.
"He may require assistance." I noted. "The other members of the Akatsuki, while they did not join the battle, were still in the area when Obito brought me to Amegakure. I don't exactly fancy Gaara's chances against the entirety of the Akatsuki. They're a powerful bunch."
Hiruzen nodded, still looking out over the village.
"Indeed." He turned around.
There was steel in his eyes, his face set in stone. "The Akatsuki have become too much of a threat."
Always a sight to see.
Hiruzen in serious-mode.
My grin stretched a bit wider.
Pulse.
I frowned, turning to the right.
Well, that's not good.
"Gaara was just rendered unconscious."
The Ichibi didn't seem very happy about that.
"Can you keep track of him?"
"I should be able to."
And who... are you?
Deidara had taken Gaara out to some place in the forest, where a Heart that I had never seen before had taken him.
Another member?
Deidara... was leaving, quickly flying off, outside of my range.
What are you doing?
Zetsu?
Why would Zetsu take him alone?
Pulse.
What the fuck is that?
I saw... something. Something strange, something which contained an immense amount of Hearts and Souls, something large.
Is that... the Gedō Mazō?
Why would that statue have-
Pulse.
I shuddered, my entire form vibrating.
My eyes widened.
No. No, that can't be right.
Far, far away, I saw a Heart and Soul float upwards.
"Drich?"
The voice seemed so far away...
Gaara's Heart and Soul.
I vanished into a Corridor of Darkness.
The rattling of chains was the first thing that greeted me when I appeared.
Second was the source of those chains, a gigantic, demonic state, none other than the Gedō Mazō itself.
Third was the Ichibi being dragged into the mouth, little more than a massive wave of Chakra rapidly being consumed.
"Tell me." A voice rang out.
I turned around, and beheld the sight of a tall, red-headed man clad in an Akatsuki cloak.
One which I recognized as Nagato.
Nagato himself.
Not Nagato's corpses, Nagato Uzumaki.
He glanced down at me, a pair of Rinnegan eyes staring down at me, dispassionately.
Nagato is fully healed. Nagato's body is full healed.
My grin vanished, fading away into nothing, leaving only my glowing eyes on my face.
"Do you feel fear?"