DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR ANY ASSOCIATED CHARACTERS
So the general reception of this story so far seems to be hot or cold. As in, you guys either hate it, or you love it. For those of you that love it, thank you for your support and all the follows and favs, it means a lot. As for those of you that hate it, you guys must be really motivated to make me feel bad about myself if you take the time out of your days to write these long reviews that only make me laugh. Not judging, but don't you guys have anything better to do? Seriously, imagine being so petty that you strop reading a story when something happens that you don't like. That's like stopping Game of Thrones because Ned Stark got his head cut off. Everyone hated that, but did you stop? No.
Apologies for the rant. Anyways, for those of you that love the story, please read, review, and as always, enjoy!
Chapter 8 - Explanations
Naruto and Sakura had pestered Obito for answers for several hours. Sasuke declined to do so, because being an Uchiha himself, he knew that the only answers they would get out of Obito would come at a time of his choosing, so there was no sense in begging for hours on end like his two teammates had been doing.
Overall, Sasuke was unsatisfied with how the recent fight had turned out. The teamwork displayed between him and Naruto was superb, yet it did little in the end. They had been completely at the mercy of the boy named Haku, and were only saved because of Obito and Zabuza's mysterious understanding.
Naruto felt the same as Sasuke. He wanted to be the Hokage and surpass his father, so the fact that he couldn't defeat his first real opponent left an unsettling feeling in the pit of his stomach, as if he had unfinished business somewhere.
Sakura was of a similar mind as the other two. She had done nothing for either of the encounters other than safeguard Tazuna. One could argue that she was completing the most important part of the mission, but she didn't see it that way.
They were all taking it different ways, as well. Obito was his usual emotionless self, but his Genin were all of varying states of mind. Sasuke was quietly brooding on his failure, while Naruto and Sakura pestered either Obito for answers, or Tazuna for information on the Land of Waves. They'd managed to get quite a bit of information out of Tazuna, but one word would be more than they got out of Obito. Their Uchiha sensei simply grunted in response to questions, that is if they got him to respond at all. More often than not, he simply ignored them.
They arrived at Tazuna's house late in the evening, just as the sun was setting over the horizon. It gave the water that surrounded the house a golden orange hue. There, they met Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter, and her son Inari, who seemed oddly averse to ninja.
They ate a small meal, rarely talking at all, for they were starving after the day's events. That fight had taken much more out of Sasuke and Naruto than they'd first anticipated, so the pair were out like lights shortly after laying down on the makeshift bedding that Tsunami had managed to make up in the living room.
Obito shot Sakura a look that seemed to say 'tomorrow', alluding to the answers that he'd promised them. The Uchiha then collapsed next to his two male students, appearing asleep to all those around him. He wouldn't move until after the house was completely quiet.
Sitting up, Obito made his way outside quietly, not wanting to wake the others. He sat on the edge of the dock and stared at the moon that reflected off of the water. It was beautiful, and he found himself thinking that Rin would enjoy something like this. Then it hit him: why was he thinking like that about Rin? He hated her...right?
Maybe hate was a strong word, but he hadn't thought about Rin without getting angry in years, why now? Had her nighttime visit stirred up past feelings from the old Obito? Whatever the case, Obito suddenly felt strange in his own skin, as if his thoughts weren't his own.
The Uchiha lost track of time, watching the moon rotate in the sky until it disappeared over the horizon just as the sky turned gray before first light. Obito finally seemed to realize that it was morning when the low hum of wood sliding on wood came from behind him.
The young boy, Inari, stepped out with a small fishing pole in his hands and sat on the dock a few yards from Obito. Once he'd cast his line into the water, he kept stealing glances sideways at Obito, who noticed each time.
"What's the matter, kid?" Obito said without looking his way.
"Grandpa said you defeated this really powerful ninja guy, is that true?"
Obito placed a few fingers to his chin. "He must mean those guys we fought yesterday. Yeah, I guess I beat one of them, why do you ask?"
Inari scoffed. "Don't think that makes you some kind of hero."
Now it was Obito's turn to look at the kid. Did he have something against ninja? From the way he was looking at them last night, and now this, it was starting to make Obito suspicious.
"Trust me, kid, I'm the furthest away from being a hero you can get without turning evil."
Inari looked genuinely curious at that. He'd expected Obito to deny the accusations and claim that he was some sort of powerful hero. After all, that had been his impression of ninja so far. They were either bullies, or they tried to be heroes. But the man before him with the red eyes was different. He made no attempt to claim he was a hero, rather he'd done the opposite.
"Your eyes must scare people," Inari commented, wiggling his dangling feet.
Obito let out a dry chuckle that was missing its accompanying smile. "Definitely can't be a hero if I have scary eyes, huh?"
"Hmph," Inari stood, retracting his line, and strolled back into the house.
Naruto and his two teammates had quietly observed the exchange, as they'd just woken up. Naruto had been almost certain that he would still find Obito asleep next to him, considering how late that the Uchiha was to everything, but that wasn't the case. From the look of him, he hadn't moved in a while, so they began to wonder if he had in fact had any sleep at all.
The three of them gingerly stepped out onto the wooden dock and approached their sensei from behind. Obito sighed as he felt their presence. "After breakfast," he rose and went inside, barely even glancing down at his Genin.
"He's avoiding us," Sakura crossed her arms.
Naruto snorted. "What gave it away?"
Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the back of Obito's head. There was clearly something that the elder Uchiha wasn't telling them, and Sasuke was burning to find out. So much so that he literally hovered over his sensei's shoulder, waiting for him to finish shoveling rice in his mouth. When Obito finally placed his chopsticks down on the table, he suddenly found a pair of hands on his shoulders, tightly gripping his flak jacket.
Turning, he saw Sasuke directly behind him. Obito sighed and rose to his feet, following the student into the living room, where Naruto and Sakura already sat. Sasuke made sure that Obito found a seat before be plopped himself down next to Naruto. The three Genin looked at Obito with expectant expressions, as if they were waiting for him to just spill his life's story.
Obito glared at each of them and spread his hands. "I'm only answering specific questions, kinda hard to do that without any."
"Cut the crap! You're gonna tell us exactly what you've been hiding about yourself!" Sasuke said sharply.
That struck the wrong chord with Obito. The room seemed to suddenly grow cold as a malicious presence took over the room in the form of Obito's killer intent. He stared at his Genin from behind the mask that was his sharingan.
"I don't have to reveal anything to you arrogant little shits if I don't want to. I'm the sensei, you're the students. Call it unfair if you want, but that's how the world works. Now, since I'm such a nice guy, I have agreed to answer your questions, but only ones that I feel like answering, you all got that?"
Three heads bobbed up and down rapidly before Obito released his killer intent, allowing the warmth to return to the room. Naruto cleared his throat and looked to Obito with hesitant eyes. "Um, well I guess my first question is what did you say to that Zabuza guy to suddenly make him friendly?"
"Not a bad first question," Obito said approvingly, following it with a small shrug. "I just threatened to kill him unless he turned on his employer. Do any of you know what that means?"
"You got Zabuza to deal with the man that wants Mister Tazuna dead!" Sakura realized with a wide grin.
Obito nodded once. "Correct. The duration of this mission should be relaxing, but we will still need to guard the bridge. Gato may have other ninja in his employ that could have taken out Zabuza and Haku."
"Where did you take him?" Naruto asked.
"I used the transportation technique to take him to my personal pocket dimension," Obito shrugged as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
"How?" Sakura tilted her head.
Obito ran a hand across his face. "I thought I just said the transportation technique? You know what, slow down. All of you pay attention, this will likely answer a few questions at once."
The three students nodded, and Obito cleared his throat. "Alright, the first thing you have to know, is that I have an enhanced version of the sharingan. Not all Uchiha are capable of awakening it, and the powers of each of them differ from user to user. There is a certain array that it can range between, but I won't divulge them, as it's not my place to say. These are Uchiha guarded secrets, after all. If you want more answers, Itachi is the one you must go to.
"Anyways, my eyes grant me the ability of transportation. I can send myself and any object I see into my pocket dimension at will. The only way out of there is with my eyes as well, so were someone to kill me in there, they would never escape. I can also transport certain parts of my body into this realm, allowing me intangibility on any part of my body I desire."
"Is that how you didn't die from that chain?" Sakura asked.
Obito nodded. "That's right. By transporting the part of my body that is in contact with something else, I can make the object or attack phase right through me. Of course I can use other abilities with my eyes as well, but I refuse to share them because I have yet to use them in front of you."
The three Genin sat in silence for a moment, absorbing all of the information that Obito had just laid out for them. They'd all known that Obito was powerful, after all, you didn't get a nickname like 'Fire Storm' if you were weak. But these new powers put him in a whole other league. Without them, he'd been able to defeat Zabuza as if he weren't trying. It made them shudder to think of how scary their sensei would be if he ever got serious.
Sasuke finally narrowed his eyes again at Obito. "There's something that you're not telling me."
"I already told you, it's not my place to tell. Speak to Itachi about it. He's the clan head, and these are clan secrets."
"Does that mean he has these special enhanced eyes as well?" Sasuke asked suspiciously. If Itachi did in fact have these eyes, he had some explaining to do of his own.
Obito simply stared at Sasuke. "Speak to Itachi."
"How does one obtain these eyes?"
"Speak to Itachi."
"Are there special requirements?"
"Speak to Itachi."
"How did you get yours?"
"Speak to Itachi."
"Itachi's not even here! You are! What, am I supposed to wait until we get back to the village?" Sasuke's volume steadily rose.
Obito blinked lazily at him. "Yes."
Sasuke threw his hands in the air, a gesture of resignation. "Fine! You're no help at all. All that so-called explanation did was give me more questions."
"I already told you, they're not my secrets to tell. If Itachi feels that you're ready to learn them, so be it. After he tells you, then you can come to me and ask me how I got mine, but only then. If I tell you now, you'll never understand. You probably still won't, even after
"But that's not fair!" Sasuke protested. "I'm a member of the clan, too, aren't I?"
Obito brought both hands up to rub his face. It was clear that his patience was running thin.
Obito laid back, placing his arms behind his head and using them as a pillow. "Would you stop complaining? I was going to start a new training regimen today, but if you're too angry with me-"
"No!" all three Genin said, their eyes lighting back up with eagerness that temporarily buried their questions.
Obito chuckled in his head. It was simply too easy to get these three excited. Each of them had specific needs, so he would have to tailor each one of their regimens to fit them, but it could be done. Sasuke needed to improve his reserves of chakra, and Naruto needed to refine his chakra control. Sakura needed to find out what she would be good at. With her chakra control, genjutsu or medical ninjutsu would be ideal, but he had a feeling that she would also want some combat-oriented jutsu to be able to support Naruto and Sasuke.
Obito sighed. It was going to be a frustrating next couple of days.
It had been a long time since a gathering of this magnitude had taken place. Though none of them were actually there, merely appearing as projections, it was rare to have all ten members of the Akatsuki in one place. Kakashi smirked when he saw the other apparitions shimmer into place around his own.
The meeting room was in a large, stone cavern with a circular stone table in the center. This was the usual meeting place, but Kakashi had a feeling that it would be changing in the coming years, especially once their plan started to carry itself out.
He and Orochimaru had oddly been the first to arrive, aside from the pair that had called the meeting. After all, Kakashi and the Sannin were partnered up, so it was only natural that they would arrive together.
It was always a mystery as to who the figure was that always flanked their leader. None of the Akatsuki had ever seen her in person, and they only knew that she was a woman because of the one-word answers that she gave their leader, even if they were few and far between.
Come to think of it, the both of them were a complete mystery. There were only a select few members of the Akatsuki that had actually ever met Pain in person, and Kakashi was not one of them. Orochimaru had been lucky enough, as he'd joined the organization long before Kakashi had. The Sannin's master plan currently revolved around somehow obtaining the Rinnegan that was implanted in the eye sockets of Pain, but Kakashi was skeptical of the snake's chances.
For Kakashi, he's spent nearly a decade fighting as a mercenary and assassin for hire until Orochimaru had tracked him down with Kakuzu and Zetsu. The three of them had managed to convince the white-haired ninja to join the organization, and just in time, too. Six months after that was when he infiltrated Konoha and murdered Shisui while he was busy fighting the other Uchiha.
Originally, the mission had been to abduct the son of the Yondaime Hokage, but Kakashi had made a calculated decision instead. After all, there would be plenty of chances to abduct a small child, but another chance to obtain the Mangekyou sharingan would possibly never have presented itself.
In hindsight, Kakashi still couldn't believe that Orochimaru had agreed to implant Shisui's eyes in him. The Sannin would have been more likely to kill him and obtain the eyes for himself, but perhaps Orochimaru was thinking in the long run. He probably figured that he could enlist the help of the now Mangekyou-wielding Kakashi to help him capture Pain's body. Personally, Kakashi would rather not aid the madman, but who knows how he'd feel whenever the opportunity presented itself.
The Akatsuki had felt like a new home for Kakashi. All the criminals, murderers, crazed madmen, and powerful shinobi. Half of them wanted to kill the other half, but some remained passive towards certain members. For instance, Orochimaru and Sasori got along rather well, at least compared to how Sasori treated everyone else. The two of them had been partners before Pain reshuffled the teams. Now, the puppet master drew the unfortunate partnership of the newest recruit, Deidara.
Kakashi had a grading system of how powerful he thought certain members of the Akatsuki to be. Granted, he hadn't seen the full extent of all of their abilities, but he felt certain that it was somewhat accurate. Pain was, of course, the lone member at the top of the pyramid. Kisame and the immortal Kakuzu were next. Then came Orochimaru, Sasori, and himself. The lowest tier held Deidara and Hidan, with Konan and Zetsu serving as wild cards. He had never seen either of them fight, and he'd only seen Zetsu in person whenever he popped up out of the ground to deliver messages from Pain.
He'd decided to make that list upon his arrival to the organization. Kakuzu used to be the sole member of the tier below Pain, but when Kisame had arrived after the death of Juzo Biwa, he joined the immortal. Juzo had been Kakashi's original partner, but a mission in Kiri had gone awry. The Mizukage himself had led the pursuing units, and Kakashi had decided not to tangle with the angry jinchuriki, especially after he went into Tailed Beast State. Kakashi had left Juzo behind to die, and the passing of the Executioner's Blade onto Zabuza Momochi had revealed the fate of the former Akatsuki member. After that, Pain had recruited Kisame, and the teams had been adjusted.
As the final two members, Diedara and Sasori, shimmered into existence, Kisame grinned, his sharp teeth and piercing eyes being the only distinguishing features of his holographic form. "What's the matter, the young artist keep you busy, Sasori? I thought you don't like keeping people waiting."
"I don't," Sasori rasped beneath the hunched form of his puppet, Hiruko. Kakashi only knew that the hunchback was in fact a puppet because Orochimaru had told him. In fact, the Sannin was probably the only member of the Akatsuki to have seen Sasori's real body beneath that thing.
"He threatened to kill me five times. He said if he had to do it another time, I wouldn't make it to this meeting," Deidara chuckled, makins Sasori bristle.
"Ha! I can see that. Were you scared, little Deidara?" Hidan teased.
Kakuzu turned to his partner, his deep voice sounding like two stones grating together. "Shut up, Hidan."
"Ah, some on, Kakuzu, lighten up! I swear, the only time you ever have any fun is if there's money involved," Hidan complained.
"Hidan, shut up!" Kakuzu growled again.
Orochimaru hummed with amusement at the inner conflicts between teams. "It's times like these when I'm grateful that we're partnered up, my dear Kakashi."
Kakashi rolled his two sharingan, but still managed a smirk beneath his mask. In spite of Orochimaru's perverse mind, he was probably still the most bearable member of the Akatsuki aside from Kisame. But the shark was a one man army, which would be why he flew solo. Kakashi sometimes found himself wishing to travel with the former Kiri shinobi, but then he wouldn't have constant access to Orochimaru's brain.
Since joining the Akatsuki, Kakashi had subjected himself to Orochimaru's experiments with Hashirama cells, despite the Sannin's warnings. Luckily, Kakashi's gamble had paid off, and his chakra reserves had swelled because of it. Add Shisui's Mangekyou sharingan in, and he had become exponentially stronger than he could ever hope to be.
He'd even managed to finally perfect the Chidori. It turned out that all he needed to use the jutsu to its fullest extent was the sharingan. It allowed him to see outside of the tunnel vision that he previously had, and gave him the ability to react to things much faster than he would be able to otherwise. He'd also been experimenting lately with the abilities of Shisui's eyes, and he was loving the results.
The most noteworthy ability of Shisui's eye was the Kotoamatsukami, an incredibly powerful genjutsu, almost completely unbreakable. The usual drawback would be a recharge period of ten years, but since Kakashi had been enhanced with the Hashirama cells, that period had been shortened to one year. Kakashi had only used the ability once, and that was in order to bring the Mizukage under the control of the Akatsuki as Pain had ordered. With the entire village of Kiri secretly under their control, they had a strong foothold in the shinobi world that none of the other villages were privy to in the slightest.
"I suppose," he finally responded to his partner.
"Enough," Pain's voice finally sounded, reverberating throughout the cavern and silencing all of the bickering. "This meeting was called to inform all of you on a new development. Suna has had some growing hostilities towards Konoha, and we are going to take advantage of it."
"Pitting two villages against one another, eh? That's low, even for us," Kisame commented with a mischievous grin.
Pain glanced around the room, his eyes resting on each member one by one until he settled on a certain white-haired ninja with sharingan. "Kakashi, your team is the most suited for this mission. Place the Kazekage under your control and use him to plot against Konoha."
"What exactly will we be telling him to plot?" Orochimaru asked curiously.
"An attack on Konoha. The largest scale possible. Orochimaru, your forces will also aid in this attack. Rumor has it that the Kazekage's own son is a jinchuriki. You may use his Tailed Beast to some extent if you wish. During all of the chaos, one of you will abduct the son of the Hokage. As he will be the most difficult of all nine to obtain, it is vital that we capture him first, before the Hokage catches wind of our plans," Pain said.
Kakashi nodded in understanding. He knew that the underlying tones of Pain's orders betrayed his thoughts. The leader of the Akatsuki was wary of the Hokage, and understandably so. He was arguably the strongest of the Five Kage, and led the village with the most elite Jonin of the five nations. If they didn't capture the Nine Tails jinchuriki first, it would be nearly impossible to do later on.
Kakashi was also thankful for the assignment, because it would finally give him the opportunity he needed to kill that annoyance of a former teammate. Obito had garnered quite the reputation over the years, something that hadn't gone unnoticed by the Akatsuki. Kakashi had almost come to blows with Kakuzu when the immortal wanted to go after Obito for his bounty. He'd managed to talk Kakuzu out of it, and laid claim to Obito's life, but he still kept a close eye on that particular team's movements over the years.
"One more thing, the upcoming Chunin Exams will give you the perfect opportunity to infiltrate Konoha without much suspicion. The attack must take place then. The rest of you, go about business as usual. That is all."
With that, Pain and his female companion wicked out of existence, closely followed by Zetsu, leaving the remaining seven alone. Hidan glared daggers at Kakashi, jealousy and hatred behind his eyes. "How come you guys get all of the action? I haven't gone on a rampage in weeks! At this rate, Jashin will abandon me!"
"Shut up about your religion, you violent halfwit," Kakuzu said, glaring down at his shorter companion. "Let's get out of here, we need to make some money."
"Ugh, fine! But promise me that I get the next cash cow you find for my ritual, huh?"
Kakuzu's only response was a low growl before he and Hidan disappeared. Sasori wordlessly followed, startling Deidara, who groaned. "Aw man, he's gonna be pissed."
Kisame chuckled as he looked to Kakashi and Orochimaru. "Guess the pair of you will be the first ones to nab us a jinchuriki. Word is the Nine Tails is the strongest of them, good luck with that."
Kakashi, Orochimaru, and Kisame left at the same time. The two partners woke up in a well-lit room in one of Orochimaru's hideouts. The Sannin's loyal aid, Kabuto, stood off to the side, taking notice when they woke.
"Lord Orochimaru, I take it the meeting went well?"
Orochimaru smiled at his subordinate. "Better than expected, in fact. We have us some new orders. While Kakashi carries out his end, I think that I have a job for you, Kabuto."
Obito leaned against a tree as he observed his three students. They were eagerly awaiting whatever training that their sensei had come up with, and Obito was completely dreading it. Sighing to himself, he opened his mouth to speak.
"Alright, listen up. Today's exercise will be on chakra control."
Three heads cocked to the side, and Obito's shoulders slumped. "I guess you three idiots think that your chakra control is already good, huh? Well that's only the case for Sakura. Naruto and Sasuke, yours is pathetic."
Sakura beamed at that, while Naruto and Sasuke simply scowled. Obito's expression didn't change, knowing that's what their reactions would be. "Alright, Sakura, have you heard of tree walking? Naruto and Sasuke can already do this exercise, but I'm confident that you can master it quickly."
Sakura shook her head, so Obito pushed off of the tree. "Watch closely."
Pressing his foot to the tree, Obito began to walk horizontally up the bark until he was hanging upside down, thirty feet in the air. Sakura's jaw dropped open while Naruto and Sasuke eagerly ran to their own trees. Soon, Sakura's two teammates and sensei were all looking down on her from separate trees.
Obito lightly flipped down, his eyes turning to Naruto and Sasuke. "Don't get cocky, you morons. Just because you can do this exercise doesn't mean that your chakra control is where it needs to be. The both of you will be doing a different exercise while Sakura completes this one. Give me a minute."
Obito approached Sakura, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Just because they are ahead of you doesn't mean that they're better, don't worry."
Sakura beamed at her sensei's words. In truth, she had was just about to become sad that her teammates already knew this exercise and she didn't, but Obito's words had brought her out of it. "Okay! So how do I do it?"
"Gather your chakra in the soles of your feet, then discharge it at a constant rate so that you will stick to the surface of the tree. Too much discharge will shatter the bark, while too little won't allow you to stick. Go on, give it a try."
Sakura nodded, closing her eyes to concentrate. When she opened them, she walked right up to the surface of the tree and placed her foot on it. Seconds later, she was sitting on the same branch that Obito had hung from earlier.
Naruto and Sasuke were so surprised by the ease with which their teammate had completed the exercise that they lost their concentration and fell on their heads. After all, it had taken the both of them nearly a week to finally be able to do it reliably. Obito nodded to Sakura when she leapt down. Unless she was mistaken, his sharingan showed a bit of encouragement and approval, even if his face didn't.
"I figured that would be easy for you. You already have greater chakra control than they do. If you can do that ten times in a row without falling, I'll give you your next exercise. I would teach you water walking, but you'd probably just get it on the same try again, so I think I'll save that one for Squints and Matchstick over there. I'll be at the stream, come find me when you're done."
Sakura nodded, a wide smile showing on her face as she prepared to do it again. Obito placed his hands in his pockets and began to walk to the stream that ran close to Tazuna's house. "Come on, you two idiots."
Naruto and Sasuke pried themselves off of the ground and ran after Obito, leaving Sakura by herself with the trees. The stream came upon them quickly. It was more of a quiet one, and it wasn't very deep, perfect for learning to water walk.
Obito turned to his two little brother figures and jerked his head towards the water. "Walk on it."
"Walk on it?" Naruto acted like that was the most ridiculous thing that Obito could come up with.
"That's what I said," Obito nodded. "Do you need proof?"
Sasuke and Naruto nodded. By now, they had learned to second guess everything that Obito ordered them to do. Enough D-ranks with false orders had drilled that into them. Their sensei nodded, having expected the answer.
Not even adjusting his posture, he simply turned around and stepped onto the water. Circular ripples flowed outwards with each step until he made it to the center of the stream. Turning back around, Obito sat down, crossed his legs, and stared lazily at Naruto and Sasuke.
The pair grinned, a silent challenge issuing between them. Whoever completed this first would have major bragging rights for the next few months. The two gathered their chakra in their feet, stepped out onto the water, and promptly fell in.