Inoichi's expression twisted into a frown. "You have... a strange mind."
"Oh?" Hiruzen asked.
"Zetsu's memories and thoughts are all... very disassociated." Inoichi said. "Kind of like what you'd get if you were constantly under a mind-altering Genjutsu, or being possessed."
"That might not be far from the truth." I noted.
"That other one, right?" Inoichi asked. "It might be, but... I can't find any memory that isn't like this."
A loud bang suddenly went through the room, all present immediately turning to face the source.
A stood up, hands on the desk in front if him. "Enough." There's a deep scowl on his face, teeth bared and eyes narrowed.
He is not, despite his appearance, truly angry. Irritated and annoyed, yes, but there's a glimmer of opportunistic desire that reveals the truth of this.
"I have tolerated the past ten minutes, but now my patience is at the limit. Hiruzen. Explain."
Hiruzen's head tipped to the side. There's a sharpness to his emotions that tells me that he realizes what A is trying to do. "Explain what, A-dono?"
A thread of caution wraps its way through A. His voice doesn't reflect it at all. "This nonsense with the Juubi-" His eyes dart to me. "- And that."
"I have a name, as you well know."
Hiruzen held up his hand, fingers splayed. "There is no need to be rude, A-dono."
A's eyes narrow.
Hiruzen raised an eyebrow in response.
"Perhaps a formal introduction might be warranted?" Mei asked. And, you know, I'd almost forgotten she was here with how quiet she had been.
She... actually wasn't seeking information. Not primarily, at any rate- she was still a Kage. Her desires held more along the lines of quelling this confrontation, with a spark of worry about the Juubi and the Akatsuki.
"Indeed." Hiruzen agreed after a moment, breaking off his staredown with A. "Would you be willing, Drich?"
It's not a request. "Of course."
I gather some Darkness. Not much, but I don't need much, either. My wisp form changes, collapsing into a ball before expanding, forming into a facsimile of my normal shape; a roughly humanoid figure covered by a cloak.
The cloak is even mostly the same. The body underneath definitely isn't, however. For starters, it doesn't even exist. The hands and feet are disconnected, floating in place where they normally would, but there is nothing outside of that. Even the head doesn't exist, though that is obscured by the darkness of the cloak's hood. The only light that pass through it is the light of my eyes, though even that was more of an illusion than anything else.
"I am Drich." I gave a bow. Low enough to be polite, not low enough to be construed as anything even remotely submissive. "I am the resident expert on the subjects of souls, spirits, and all things relating to both." Which is true. It just doesn't note the full depths of it. "I also deal with beings that most would consider abnormal, such as spiritual entities, non-baryonic lifeforms, and, as of about a week and a half ago, a murderously angry, gleefully genocidal Bijuu out to kill us all."
I straightened up, gesturing widely with an arm. "A problem which, naturally, concerns everybody who wants to continue living, and therefore, I would hopefully assume, all present."
The fact that I was told to introduce myself doesn't mean that I was going to volunteer anything actually useful against myself. I hadn't told anybody who didn't already know and I had no intention to start any time soon.
"Now, if you're done attempting to fish for more information than what you've gathered over the past decade, there is still the matter of an omnicidal Bijuu to discuss."
A glared at me. He was mildly more annoyed now. He was also hoping that he could intimidate me, but unfortunately for him...
Of the two of us, I was the nightmare.
"By all means." I stared directly back. "Keep wasting your time trying to glare me into submission. I am quite immortal. Long after the world itself has withered to dust, I will still be here. I can spare a few centuries for you."
"By the Sage of Six Paths, the last time I saw a pair of fools being so pointlessly dramatic, Indra and Asura blew up a continent. You are all fools." A deep voice rang through the room.
"Oh hey!" Naruto perked up, looking around. "Yinkura, you're still here!"
"Yinkura- oh." The Yin half of the Kyuubi sighed. "Boy. Just because I stopped speaking does not mean that I stopped being here. How unfortunate, considering it leaves me a first row seat to the idiocy of what is supposedly a group of the most powerful Humans in the world."
"Must you be so rude?"
"Is it rude to state the facts?" Yin Kyuubi asked. "They sit there, faced with the knowledge that a being more powerful than any they have ever known is attempting to regain its strength, that its method of doing so leaves them weakened, and destroys the fragile balance of power between you all. Armed with even the knowledge that everything they know and love could easily come to an end should they let it happen, what do they do?" He growled. "They sit there. And. They. Bicker. They try to gain knowledge and power, even at the expense of their ability to cooperate. Nevermind that both of those things are entirely pointless in the face of the Juubi." An almost... forlorn sigh, this time. "How someone as wise as the Sage of Six Paths could ever think that Humanity would appreciate his gifts is far beyond me."
Silence fell on the room.
Fitting.