Tsunade groaned with displeasure at the feel of someone gently shaking her back to the world of the living. Per her request Shizune had come to wake her promptly at 6 o'clock the next morning. She knew they needed to go get supplies and get on the road but god sleep was so good.
"Just five more minutes..." She pleaded groggily.
"I'm sorry my lady, but we really must be going."
Tsunade let out a depressed sigh and reluctantly opened her eyes. The sun was just beginning to rise and the first rays of the day assaulted her eyes.
"Shizune, would you please get my things together and an outfit for the day laid out? I'll go get Sai and wake Suigetsu."
"Yes, my lady."
Tsunade gave a big stretch and forced herself to get up. She figured the short walk to the boy's rooms would help her to wake up a little bit, not to mention that if she had to be up at this godforsaken time of day so did everyone else. Since they had discussed leaving first thing this morning she new that Sai would likely already be up, in fact she wouldn't be surprised if he had already gone into town, gotten supplies, and come back. Suigetsu on the other hand would likely still be sound asleep and much more fun to wake up so she went to Sai's room first. She grabbed the doorknob and knocked softly.
"Sai." She twisted the doorknob and finding it unlocked she went ahead and entered the room. What she found surprised her, but also brought a smile to her face. Sai and Suigetsu were both sound asleep, partially on the bedroll, partially on the floor. It was clear that they had been up late, probably talking, and had fallen asleep. It made her happy to see that Sai was bonding with people, making friends. He had grown so much since joining team seven and had really proven himself as head of the Anbu. The village would be in good hands with this next generation, but that full responsibility did not yet rest on their shoulders, so she decided to let them sleep a while longer. She quietly backed out of the room and closed the door behind her. Once she got back to her room and changed into the outfit Shizune had laid out for her she headed downstairs where Shizune was waiting.
"Let's go Shizune." Shizune gave Tsunade a slightly confused look.
"Shouldn't we wait for the others."
"No, no, I decided to let them get a little more sleep. I figured we would go get the supplies and then come back and get them."
"That was very nice of you my lady."
"You know Shizune, you're right, and I think I should treat myself for my kind heartedness with..." She paused in thought for a moment.
"...some sake!"
"My lady! It's way too early for that!"
xxx
Sai was woken up by the feeling of something landing on his face. His eyes popped open as he went from completely asleep to completely alert. He wasn't sure exactly when he had fallen asleep and he had no idea what time it was. He was somewhat disoriented which was unusual for him. He immediately recognized the messenger bird that sat on his nose as one of the ones he had given to Sasuke. He sat up and quickly grabbed a scroll for the bird to land on. His sudden movement had disturbed the man that had been sleeping next to him. Suigetsu sat up, still not fully awake he managed to get out a few garbled words.
"Sai...wha...is...thing okay?"
"I got a message from Sasuke." That snapped Suigetsu into the present. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and waved for Sai to come over to him.
"What does it say?"
"Not much, it seems like he didn't have a lot of time to get this sent off." Sai sat down next to Suigetsu on the floor so that he could look over his shoulder at the message.
Maybe not Madara. Has army. Heading to island. Needs tailed beasts for infinite tsukuyomi, very bad.
"It would appear that Sasuke is having similar thoughts about Madara possibly not being Madara."
""Has army" doesn't sound good." Suigetsu chimed in. "And what's…infinite tsukuyomi?"
"Very bad." Suigetsu slapped his forehead at Sai's response.
"I know that! But what is it?"
"I'm not sure, perhaps Tsunade will know more." It was just than that Sai noticed that the sun had already risen, it was definitely past six. "It would seem that we woke up late." Sai stood up and got his clothes from the closet pulling his shirt on over his head. Despite his slender figure he was all muscle and his fitted undershirt only served to show that off. It tightly hugged his broad shoulders and biceps, his abs clearly defined even through the fabric. He pulled his vest on over his shirt and zipped it up, finishing off his outfit with his headband that bore the villages insignia. "Let's go. We can grab your things on the way out." Suigetsu nodded.
xxx
Sasuke sat in the boat with his back to Madara pouting internally. He still could not believe what he had ended up having to do in order to get that messenger bird sent. He had discovered the first time he used one there was two ways in which the bird worked. One, you could speak directly to it and it would retain the words, the second way was to grab hold of the bird like a pen and write out the message. The hard part about using those two methods was that he needed privacy. Which was exceedingly hard to find on a small boat in the middle of the ocean. Sasuke closed his eyes and frowned as he recalled the situation.
Right after he had finished talking with "Madara" about world peace all he could think about was how he was going to get the information to Sai. The more they knew the better they could prepare. That fact that he needed the tailed beasts for his plan meant that he couldn't kill Naruto or Killer B, at least not right away. The fact that he seemed to have an army was also concerning. How big was it? How many were coming to assist with taking Naruto and Killer B? Along with a thousand other questions. Finally, after about an hour he had come up with an idea. He had groaned internally as soon as the idea had popped into his head because he hated it and he also knew it was the only way. As soon as the sun had set he had stood up in the boat.
"What are you doing?" Madara had asked.
"I'm gross. I need to wash off." Sasuke had responded as he had started to undress. Madara had sat there in silence watching as Sasuke stripped down to his birthday suit and dove into the water. The only thing that had gone through his brain when he plunged beneath the surface was "shit that's cold!" He hadn't even thought about the water temperature. He held his breath and swam for as long as he could. He didn't care what direction he went. When he surfaced he took a deep breath and looked around. He could barely see the boat in the darkness, but it was far enough away that he felt he wouldn't be heard. He took the messenger bird out of the corner of his mouth where he had hidden it. He was glad that Sai had made them so small and easy to conceal. He quickly but quietly spoke into the bird and then released it into the night. Another good thing was that the birds were as black as Madara's heart so there was no way it would be seen in the darkness. A few moments later the boat had pulled up next to him, coming to a stop so that he could get back in. Kisame who had been pushing nonstop seemed glad to have the break even if it was only for a moment. For his sake Sasuke took his time getting back in the boat.
"Are you done?" Madara asked looking down at him from the boat. Sasuke dunked his head under the water one more time before climbing back in the vessel in all his naked glory. His butt was even whiter than the rest of him, almost to the point of transparency. It shined such a bright white that it could make the moon jealous. Whiteness aside, it was solid muscle and looked damn good. Sasuke couldn't help but wish Naruto were here, it would certainly make the situation a lot more fun, and his clothes would definitely be off for a much better, more fun reason. Sasuke shook out his dripping hair and put his clothes back on.
"I think you should go, you stink." Sasuke figured he wouldn't be able to get Madara to go in the water, but he figured he might as well give it a shot and try to get a look under that mask. After a few moments of silence, as he expected Madara made no move to get in the water.
"What are you waiting for Kisame? Get moving."
Sasuke opened his eyes and tried to focus on something else. It made him uncomfortable to think about his creepy traveling companion looking him over. It reminded him of the way Orochimaru had looked him over in that possessive, lustful way. Granted he couldn't see his current companion's eyes, for all he knew they had been closed, but he had a feeling they hadn't been, and the fact that he couldn't read Madara's intentions was almost worse. At least with Orochimaru he had known from the start what that pervert had wanted. Ultimately, regardless of how uncomfortable it had been to strip down it was worth it in order to get new information to Sai.
The more time that past, the more he realized that the Leaf was his home and that he cared. When he had told Naruto that all he cared about was him, he had been being honest, but he was beginning to notice more and more that he didn't just care about the village because Naruto wanted him to, but because he now felt a positive connection to it. Growing up it had been a reminder of what had happened to his family, but he had moved on from that. Not only was Naruto his family now, but the people who had been in power at that time were gone as well, the village was being remade. Day by day it was becoming more and more of a village he could be proud of and would happily fight to defend. Put that together with the fact that there was a growing number of people he cared about within its walls it filled him with new found purpose and drive. He imagined that this was how Naruto had felt all along, and why he had kept telling him to come home. Sasuke was finally starting to realize what "home" really meant. He would do whatever was necessary to protect that new found home, and family. A slight smile ghosted across his lips as he thought about how much he had changed in such a short time, and all because of Naruto. God, he was lucky. He couldn't wait to get his hands on that man.
xxx
It hadn't taken long for Sai and Suigetsu to find Tsunade and Shizune. He had told them about the message and they had all set out immediately. The meeting point was in the next town over in a tucked away run down brothel. They managed to make it to the meeting location in half the time. When they arrived, Gaara and the Raikage had already made it and the Mizukage had shown up just a few minutes after them. They all sat around a table tucked back in a private room. They were discussing the most recent message received.
"I wish we had some idea of how strong the army was, that way we could properly assemble troops ourselves." The Raikage's voice had its usual angry undertone.
"I agree, but even if it was huge, Madara has spies, if all of us were to amass our troops and head to the location of the tailed beasts it would be like a giant flag saying here we are, we know you are coming." Gaara responded. The Raikage let out a growl, but didn't say anything because he knew he was right.
"I think we need to focus on learning more about this Infinite Tsukuyomi. Based on the lack of information in this room related to it, I suspect that the details pertaining to it is known almost exclusively to the Uchiha clan. We should set our troops at home to researching it right away. We need to know more about that." The Mizukage chimed in.
"I agree, we need to make that our top priority. I think it would also be wise to send out troops to try and gather intel related to this army. We have been looking for Akatsuki hide outs anyways, we can just add this to the things to be on the lookout for. It may also help narrow down locations. If he really has an army, there are only so many places you could house one and have no one know about it." Everyone nodded at Tsunade's words. "On our way here we also talked about the possibility that we are dealing with one of Madara's disciples and not actually Madara himself. Reading Susuke's message only further confirms our suspicions."
"At this point, who he is doesn't really matter, but knowing what he is capable of." Everyone turned to look at Gaara as he spoke. "He clearly possesses enough power that he was able to convince everyone that he was Madara Uchiha, he is definitely from the Uchiha Clan. So, the question is, are we dealing with someone of equal, less, or more power than that. I think we should prepare as if he has superior abilities."
"Gaara is right, we can't assume we know what we are facing." Tsunade was about to continue but someone else starting talking before she could.
"Starting without your elder, this generation really is unbelievable." The Tsuchikage grumpily took a seat at the table. Everyone bowed their heads in acknowledgement.
"Our apologies Tsuchikage, but time is of the essence. We received new information from Sasuke." Tsunade handed the scroll over to the Tsuchikage to read. Surprisingly enough, Tsunade was actually the most diplomatic of the group. The Raikage had too much of a temper, Gaara, while quite cooperative and supportive of team work lacked the emotional connectability. He was logical and calculating, which was important, but he often came across as cold and uncaring because of his directness. The Tsuchikage was just plain grumpy and stuck in his ways, while the Mizukage could be extremely emotional. Not to say that Tsunade didn't have a temper of her own, but she could reign it in and control it when the need arose. This was one of those times. "An important detail that will be of great advantage to us is it sounds like he needs the tailed beasts alive."
"Indeed. On the way over here I gave much thought to where we should stage our ambush and I think I have identified the best location." Everyone turned to the Raikage. "There is an island in the shape of a crescent that is fairly close to where the turtle carrying Naruto and Killer B primarily inhabits. It has soaring cliffs that are impossible to pass except by flying over and outside of that there is only one way in or out. If we have the turtle stop in the bay there, it will be the perfect place to trap whoever this person is."
"Aren't you forgetting that he can teleport through things?" The Mizukage asked.
"He might be able to, but I doubt his army can." The Mizukage conceded. When the Raikage felt confident that there would be no more interruptions he continued.
"Once he enters the crescent along with his army we can block them in. If we also attack from atop the surrounding mountains there will be no way that he can stand against us. They will be vulnerable out in the open with attacks coming from all sides. The island is about two days from here, three at most. It requires some water travel so..."
"YES!" Suigetsu fist bumped the air interrupting the Raikage. Before he could do anything else Sai had grabbed Suigetsu and clamped a hand over his mouth. The Kage looked over.
"Please excuse the outburst, he has a...condition." Sai's signature smile never leaving his face. "It won't happen again." Content with that answer the Five Kage turned back to their discussion.
"And how are we going to get the turtle there?" The Tsuchikage asked crankily.
"We control it with a jutsu, so all I have to do is have it directed where to go."
"It seems we have a plan then." Tsunade piped in. "There is still some daylight left, we should wrap this up and get on our way." Everyone nodded their agreement. "Sai, please get with each of the Kage so that they can send any messages they need to back to their villages. We will gather some more supplies and head out as soon as that is complete. Please draft maps for us as well" She turned to address the Kage again. "I think it wise if we again all travel along different routes. Unless there is anything else anyone wishes to discuss, I think we should get to work." After a few moments of silence Tsunade gestured to Sai to come over. "Why don't you start with the Raikage. I'm fill going to fill in the Tsuchikage on what we discussed before his arrival." Sai nodded and everyone got to work.
It took a little over an hour to get all of the messages off and supplies gathered, but once it was done they all started out for the destination marked on their maps. In just a few days they would arrive and be able finally face the enemy. It was time to finish this.