DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything from the Naruto universe.

Thinking (+ flashbacks, "Mito speaking to Kurama - his name now known but not given - in her mindscape," etc.)

Emphasis

Bijuu, etc. speaking

Bijuu, etc. thinking

Jiraiya was spending time with his grandson, deciding - oddly enough - that he was NOT going to turn the kid into a pervert when a grayish-black bird with a bad attitude and worse mouth began tapping on his window. "Just a minute, you horrible thing."

Once the window was open, 'Ruto-chan took a circling dive over most of the living room and Sora-kun who was laughing delightedly. "That's Mito-nee's parrot, isn't it? 'Ruto-chan! Come back here!"

"Don't mention to anyone that it's her bird, okay, Sora-kun? Few know."

"Okay, gramps!"

Jeez: hearing that name or something similar thrown at him without having "Ero-" stuck to it by one of his bratty godchildren was something that it would take time to get used to. He liked it, though!

While Sora tried to get the bird to parrot back his name, Jiraiya grimaced as he looked at Mito's latest coded intelligence. Terumi Mei was, indeed, the Kiri Rebellion's leader, and a one-eyed Ao - yeah, Jiraiya was pretty sure that he knew who that guy was - although he was unexpectedly alive and Terumi's advisor. Plus, Mito had a request:

Require means to funnel important item to leader

What could Mito possibly want to pass to Terumi Mei and why?

.

The Resistance/Rebellion (the name depended on who one asked) was a mess. Mito knew it, Mei knew it; "Lord Ao" (otherwise known as "That Guy") denied it out loud - but it was obvious that they were desperate.

Mei seemed smart; she and her advisor had good strategic instincts, but the Land of Water was vast and consisted of hundreds of islands aside from the main ones. Those with a Kekkei Genkai had fled Kiri and headed to any of the many islands that made up the country (if they didn't flee it entirely,) and the Rebellion's leader was having a difficult time gathering a sufficient force of the shinobis Yagura put in their Bingo Book as rogues to fight for their cause.

Mito felt for Mei. She really liked Terumi Mei so far and wished that in some perfect world she could tell her who she was AND just hand over the Terumi Clan's scrolls she'd dug up in Uzushio. But that was impossible - at least for now. The Hokage's daughter couldn't get Konoha involved in Kiri's mess any more than Obito already had.

And who knew what he was doing here? Obito had repeatedly been in what Mito guessed was the same ROOM as the must-be-insane Mizukage, though, and that couldn't be a coincidence. If Obito could put a genjutsu on KURAMA, the Nine-Tailed Fox, he could certainly do the same to a shinobi, right? Jinchuuriki or not!

Man, there will be hell to pay if the Resistance learns that Obito put a genjutsu on their Mizukage, causing all of these deaths and chaos. HOPEFULLY, that's not what happened, though. MAYBE Obito was in Kiri because he was taking advantage of an already-nutso Yagura.

But, seriously, Mito thought: why would a Hidden Village Leader want some of his strongest, most valuable shinobi and shinobi clans eradicated? It made no sense. The fox-masked kunoichi figured that Obito was influencing him - or maybe even controlling Yagura.

And how the hell had Obito gotten so strong? How had Obito even been healed from what sounded like fatal wounds?! Mito was a damn good medic and from Rin and Kakashi's reports, it seemed impossible. Soon enough, however, she'd learn what secrets his formerly crushed body had, Mito promised herself that. (It was a promise she'd been repeating to herself for years.) SOMETHING had happened to Obito that wasn't natural: Mito could tell that from his chakra the last time he was closer to her than ever. It was… "different," for lack of a better word, and yet…

The man with the Mizukage that had attacked her family and Konoha was definitely him. That other chakra or… whatever it was was attached to him would have to be dissected. Mito thought of her father's words: that Obito might be being controlled by a jutsu or perhaps whatever's "grown on him," for - again - lack of better words but she'd have to see that to believe it.

And then she still might kill him. She'd at least pound and capture his mass-murdering ass!

Obito had to be stopped.

Although that's not so easy now, Mito thought sourly. Obito - that bastard - had disappeared from Kiri again before she even got out of the shower when she'd touched up her hair color the previous week. The rogue Uchiha was only in Kiri for a minute or less; she wouldn't have been able to run to him had she been ready for their fight. –Mito had to repeat that in her mind to reassure herself, a lot, since then. Overwhelmingly, she felt like she'd fucked up and blew her chance to get him all in a quest to stay incognito.

What a mess.

"You look like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders," Mei said as approached the fox-masked Konoha ANBU with a cup of tea.

Mito reluctantly grinned behind her mask and took a rather loud breath. The island they were currently stationed on wasn't beautiful by any means but the sunrises and sunsets were stunning. "I'm still just... waiting for my target to show up again!"

"I always wished that I could teleport," Mei sniffed as she stared over the ocean in the direction of Kiri. "Ha! It sure is burdensome to track, too - which is yet another benefit I hadn't considered of such a jutsu."

Mito nodded and Mei sat down on the sand beside her. "That's for sure. How are you today, Mei-sama?"

A little lighter, thanks to you. Mei had a strong feeling that Fox was an Uzushio descendant considering that she was from Konoha. Konoha had supposedly been Uzushio's main ally. She'd only met a few Uzumakis when her grandmother, a full-blooded Uzumaki, had been alive, but Mei's blood seemed to sing when she was near Fox as it had when she was near her extended family so long ago.

It was something that her advisor, Ao, was concerned with. Mei was a damn good kunoichi, however, and understood that anyone could become an enemy (Yagura had proven that) but Fox had only aided them thus far, she had to often remind him. The stubborn man! And there was no doubt in her mind that Fox would do almost anything to get her hands on and kill that Uchiha she was hunting.

It was obviously personal for her and the masked kunoichi didn't deny it.

Mei understood why Fox had not gone after the Konoha rogue directly although Ao argued that she could have. Had she, however, Fox would have had to fight through both sides of their war to get to the Uchiha, considering that he was close to the Mizukage. Mei found it disgusting that Yagura was collaborating with a foreign rogue nin. She took a deep breath, happy that Ao was dealing with those unruly Chunins for now. She had a request that Ao didn't think wise - although she knew that Ao wanted their end goal sooner, too, so… Perhaps she wasn't so different from Yagura, after all.

Ha!

"I have been told that you're an excellent sensor. I have thought about this a lot, Fox, and wonder if you'd help me find our scattered forces." Her side of the fight was running out of money and their manpower was down. Hesitancy, hope, and waiting, Mei felt, were no longer options they could afford.

Mito nodded absently to herself, figuring this would come up. "Battling him with the strongest force available only makes sense."

Mei wanted to seal this down before Ao got back to her and had one of his little fits. "We could… make a deal. –A better deal than the one Ao has in mind for you, hmm?"

Mito couldn't help but smirk underneath her mask. Ao wasn't exactly her greatest fan. "I can only imagine what he wants from me."

Mei hummed. "Ao has proposed sending you after the club Yagura wields. As a test."

Mito sweatdropped. "Ha! You know: if I were to get it, I would keep it!" She'd seen the big pole-like club that Yagura had once kept near him when she visited their country as a child: the first time, she thought it was some kind of deep-sea fishing hook. "A 'club:' what a shitty weapon: it makes sense that he'd use something a thug might have on him."

"It is most problematic," Mei said in irritation. She was glad Fox made her distaste for the Mizukage clear. "Yagura's mastery over water is, naturally, complete. He often funnels his chakra through the club, creating a shield with water which repels jutsus."

"That's… handy," Mito commented after a beat, imagining such a thing. "Like a mirror?" Mei nodded and it made sense: water could definitely do that, couldn't it? –But she already knew that! Mito had been trying to do something similar with ice by combining her water and wind chakras but it wasn't strong enough to hold up solidly to some of Asuma's higher-ranked fire attacks. And it didn't repel much of anything! There was supposedly a clan out there - here in Water Country, in fact - that had an ice Kekkei-Genkai but Mito hadn't come across any of its members that she knew of.

She had been overthinking her jutsu, hadn't she? Son of a bitch! —Well, it wasn't like it was the first time she'd done that.

Mito thought more about what Mei wanted from her. "I could do that: the sensing thing, not the club thing, necessarily." Although now I'd like to get my hands on that club: I bet it's made with some seriously great chakra-conductive metal - which isn't cheap. "Maybe I could help in exchange for safe harbor - er, passage - to grab my target - and/or a future peace treaty?"

Mei thought about it and scoffed - but quickly explained her reaction. "What could Konoha want with the Bloody Mist?" She looked up to see Fox's dual-toned eyes staring at her thoughtfully for several moments. Sometimes, like now, those eyes made her feel exposed.

"Is it true what they say about Academy graduations here?" Mito asked softly, tracing her finger through the wild grass sprouting through the sand.

"Yes. It's a… recent requirement. Most drop out upon learning that they will be required to participate in and solely survive a slaughter of their classmates. –They seek training elsewhere."

Mito couldn't believe that a sane leader would allow his Academy students to kill each other: his upcoming shinobis and children. It made no sense! "Do you intend to keep the requirement after you - if you are able to - take over Kiri?" Mei urgently shook her head. "Good! Then trade, for one."

Mei didn't follow for a second. "I'm… sorry?"

"What could Konoha want? –Trade: always. Plus peace. You know, a future ally and all of that." When Mei only studied the cup in her hands, Mito continued. "I'm no diplomat, Mei-sama. I just know that all hidden villages should want peace for their people; 'peace through strength' and all of that stuff makes sense. I would think that having a strong ally would make one stronger."

Mei nodded, agreeing with her completely. Having Konoha as an ally would be incredibly helpful to what she hoped would be the New Kiri. "You shall have it," she pledged with her head held high, a gentle smile on her face - and then glared toward Ao who had been spying on their conversation. "You already have safe harbor, considering my countrymen and comrades whom you've saved. I am grateful," she said with another bob of her head. Ao jumped out of his hiding place, beginning to lecture her and Mei really did want to kill him this time.

Mei looked so infuriated with him that Ao decided, in the end, to shut his mouth. Why does Mei-sama have to be so terrifying and HOW could she trust a - a foreigner?! A jinchuuriki?!

"Now, now, Ao-san," Mei soothed with a threat that only passed between the two of them, "we've secured our first alliance!"

"She said that she's not a diplomat! She doesn't have the credentials to provide those assurances!" Ao groaned when the fox-masked kunoichi just shrugged her shoulders in a "what can ya do?" fashion. She was horrid and irritating. And from Konoha. And a jinchuuriki! He couldn't use his stolen dojutsu in her presence and that also bothered him.

"So," Mito began, wondering if her father would kill her for offering up something like that - and if Mei and Ao were communicating telepathically as they continued to stare each other down. Ao was sweating! "Who am I looking for?"

Mei turned to her, delighted to begin although she had morning plans. "Anyone with the chakra levels of… what I suppose you might call a young Academy student."

"Non-civilians," Mito confirmed, already reaching her senses out. Over the past week, Mei had convinced her that she wanted to gather anyone she could to her cause and even pardon those on the Mizukage's side once she won the war: something Mei was sure she could do if she could rally the needed manpower behind her. They supposedly had some big guns on their side but they were spread thin. "Some of those I locate will probably be on Yagura's side: it's not like I can tell the difference." I probably can tell if they lie about which side they're on, though.

"Don't worry about that," Mei said with a glint in her eyes that passed to her advisor. "Yagura has marked those who are his."

"Mei-sama!"

"Marked?" Mito asked, repulsed by the idea and ignoring This Guy. "Great," she snarked. "Historically, I've read of other societies marking those they persecuted, not marking their own other than giving them something like our hitai-ates. …I guess we can try this." Mito wasn't planning to hand Mei everyone she could sense, especially not kids until she was confident they would be safer with them than at the mercy of Yagura. Again, she wished that she could simply trust Mei but that was out of the question. It, sadly, wasn't the world they lived in.

".2 clicks Northeast of here, directly: one Jonin-level with three at Genin level. I don't think that they're family, but they might be." They were all at least teenagers. Silence followed what Mito had said.

"That's it?!" Ao shouted in disbelief.

"What?" Mito asked, a smirk under her mask. She really didn't like This Guy although she kinda liked fucking with him. "You don't want to check it out to see if I'm right or not? –We can see the island they're on from here! I thought you wanted to test me?"

Ao seemed to have trouble deciding which kunoichi he should be more angry with. "You're coming with us!"

"That's fine." Mito knew there were fewer people on the nearby island, anyway, and the only so-called patients she had were the kids she was chasing around trying to do check-ups on. "But I'm not fighting unless my target shows up."

"Very good! First, however," Mei began, "have you ever surfed?"

Ao had a cow and Mei threatened to kill him if he didn't shut up. That was normal stuff, but Mito didn't understand what the rebellion's leader meant. "I've run across water: that's how I got here."

"Ao! Bring us two boards!"

"You cannot be serious, Mei-sama! In my day…"

"Shut up, Ao. And I am serious! And I swear: if you don't bring me two I will… Just bring me the damn boards!"

Less than a half-hour later, the two women were in wetsuits, Mei giggling at the way Mito was inspecting the surfboard as if it might be a disguised shinobi. "What's this thing made of?" Mito asked.

"Something called Fiber Glass that we'd like to replicate. The first of these boards washed up on our shores many years ago but those were made of wood. We still find those now and then - and refurbish them!"

"Hum," Mito said, finding the strange boards to be pretty but innocuous enough.

Mei began her surf instruction. "Set it down on the sand… Good. Now let's practice the moves you'll need to get into a standing position while on the water."

Mito looked at her as if she was crazy but followed along - pretending to paddle(?) while laying and then sitting on a strange thing on the beach - not understanding why anyone would "ride the waves" when they could just jump or walk over them. Or just go under them for God's sake!

Would chakra reach through these boards to help her do this? She didn't want to overload one and break it: it sounded like these were valuable items. Even though she'd saved a little money over the years, things with high monetary value frightened Mito, truth be told. "I don't want to hurt the board. I… have a lot of chakra, ya see."

"Don't worry about that," Mei said, clapping her hands together with a bright smile. "You don't use chakra; that's what makes it fun! Oh: you should probably take off your mask or it could get lost in the surf. I don't mind if you henge your appearance, Fox-chan."

"Mei-sama!"

"Will you be joining us, Ao?" Mei asked the man who'd just yelled her name - again -with narrowed eyes. She looked back and snorted when she saw that Fox had taken off her mask and made her appearance look like an unimpressed and quite famous Senju Tsunade's for a moment before laughing wickedly at the way Ao paled and took a step back. Fox then henged into a pretty woman that seemed somewhat familiar but Mei assumed that it wasn't her actual appearance.

Mito henged into her mother but kept the purple hair.

Ao glared at the jinchuuriki and then bobbed his head at his leader. "I will remain by your side." He couldn't believe he was allowing this.

He did enjoy, however, Fox repeatedly falling on her face as she tried to stand on the surfboard once in the choppy water, complaining about it since she couldn't "properly feel my elemental affinity through the board." By the end of the day, they'd not only surfed together but also gathered two more small families and their allies to join the Rebellion.

And months later, they had gathered a huge force.

And FYI: by then, Mito was one hell of a surfer, too!

.

Having been alerted by a Hyuuga cop, Minato teleported to a clan that seemed to be at war with itself. He quickly Hiraishined to his deceased wife's best friend - one of the only Uchihas he had a marker on - who was standing and shivering over her husband's body. "Mikoto-chan: what is going on?!" Mikoto almost moved to attack him but Minato only raised his hands, seeing that she was in shock. He noticed that Sasuke was unconscious in the corner and moved to check on him.

Mikoto, too, ran to her son, desperately relieved that the Hokage had arrived. "It- Itachi did something to him! A Genjutsu!"

"Itachi-kun?" Minato asked, in disbelief that the pacifist Uchiha heir would ever hurt a hair on his beloved little brother's head.

"Minato, that man is here! The one who killed 'Shina! Itachi's… SIDED - that man: Obito-san must have done something to make Itachi side with him," she nearly word-vomited. "The Elders have wanted a coup; wanted to use Naruto-chan: I tried to warn you!"

Minato's expression turned to stone. "You did," he said icily. He put a barrier seal down and asked Mikoto to remain inside before flashing to the roof of the empty police station: the highest building in the district. Pulsing chakra through the tattoo on his arm, he alerted the remainder of his ANBU operatives in the village (and sent a clone to stand guard over his sleeping son.) The rest of his elite forces arrived within seconds and he explained what he'd been told. "Move to incapacitate and capture, not to kill: we don't know which side any individual has taken. T&I will sort this out later. Are we clear?!"

"Hai!"

The ANBU sunshinned out in all directions and Minato flashed to a training field near the Naka River, knocking out several Uchihas who were fighting and leaving his ninjas to sort them out. Shakily placing his fingers on the ground, he reached his senses out. "There you are, Obito."

Obito got the scare of his life when his former sensei appeared in front of him, moving faster than he could: teleporting almost twice as fast as he'd once moved against him when they battled before. And Obito knew that he had gotten faster, too! Within seconds, he'd booted that annoying (and wounded) Uchiha Shisui at him upon his late arrival and teleported away with the heir to the clan.

Obito panted and let out a pained chuckle after tugging Itachi through his Kamui dimension. "Yondaime is troublesome, ne, Itachi?"

Oh, how Itachi wanted to kill this powerful rogue. Not only had he forced him into this horrible situation, but years ago he'd also killed his Genin teammates, his godmother, and had attacked the village. The Elders had moved last night to… Itachi closed his eyes and relented. At least his mother and Sasuke were safe - and so was Shisui, whose existence he'd feared he would have to end today. To think that Shisui made me promise to kill him last night if… He hid a shudder when he realized how much blood was on his hands, literally and figuratively.

His family and the clan would survive, however. Itachi silently committed to stopping this man from hurting them or the village more than he already had. Considering the organization the man said that he led, he needed information. "Where are we, Obito-san?"

Obito sneered from behind his mask. "I am Uchiha Madara: get that straight… Stripling." –Madara used to call him that, thinking it amusing for some reason.

Itachi waded into the water, stripping as he did. You are delusional and must be stopped.

.

The seal Mito had shown her was quick, easy, and could be used exactly one time. After Mei put it on those aligned with the Rebellion, it would disappear into the skin and never show up again. What it would do was send an electric pulse through the person wearing it that would indicate that it was finally time to attack.

Mito was stealing glances at Mei, who was pretty damn intuitive with seals, as she applied more of them at their latest, temporary HQ. Yagura and his side of the war had been oddly quiet lately. Mito was also half-listening to Utakata's terrible pickup lines (more like jokes) while chug-chewing her fifth cup of instant ramen and re-reading a sappy but much-loved novel, Lost At Sea" Lost In Love, when a large chakra signature arrived that she KNEW had been with the Mizukage all of this time. She lunged, jumping on the shinobi with a chakra-powered fist that landed right next to his head. "Surprise, asshole!"

"Fox, WAIT," Mei shouted. "Don't hurt him! He's on our side!"

Mito doubted that but Mei was in charge here since this guy obviously wasn't Obito.

None of the ninjas moved: the one in the crater that had just been created because he couldn't. That shinobi thought for several seconds that these were his last living moments!

He was surrounded by a flowing purple veil and thought, for a moment, that he was on his way to the Pure Lands (or more likely Hell, he thought when he considered it more,) thanks to a crushed skeletal system.

Through the veil, indeed: pureed, it seems.

Mito looked at the cold metal she hit and smirked as she sat up on the larger man while he tried to breathe. "That's an awfully big sword ya got there, shinobi. Trying to compensate for something?"

Zabuza gawked as he tried to get his wind back, realizing the purple he'd been enraptured by was this crazy chick's hair. "You… You broke my sword, you bitch!"