While Jiraiya went to see one of his informants again, Naruto had retreated to their quarters. After the involuntary meeting with Konan, they had set up one of Naruto's wooden hideouts a little way from the border in the Land of Grass.
Sure enough, through various seals and barriers, Naruto took the opportunity to summon clones, who quickly got to work with the help of the Hiraishin. One disappeared to Fuu to tell her about the plan while another met with the agent in charge of the Kusa sector. While Naruto had rescued Karin, and she was already hiding behind the eddy currents in the new village, Karin's mother was still there. A situation that Naruto wanted to change. All this time, his people had been looking for evidence so that they could act, but with Karin's disappearance, those in power became suspicious.
His agents observed that the village leader went so far as to detain them in the main building. Constant surveillance and only a few corridors outside were the order of the day for the last Uzumaki in the village.
However, there was a good side to all this: she was treated better, got more food, and had to heal less. As a result, it was decided to continue observing for the time being. That changed a week ago. The agents reported that the woman was being held in one of the rooms and was apparently being drugged regularly. It was only yesterday that clear noises followed, noises that forced the head of the operation to contact Naruto. Unfortunately, due to Naruto's constant movement from one village to another, this proved to be difficult. Fortunately, however, Naruto was able to make contact with him.
"My lord, we are fairly certain that they are trying to force the target to procreate with one of the village shinobi. Apparently, they needed medications and the like to make her fit again."
The Agent told the clone who dispelled after giving the agent a Hiraishin marker.
Naruto was seething. What his agents told him, just the possibility that tonight Akane might be the target of Zosui, a Kusa council member, made his knuckles turn white as he clenched his fists. This Zosui seemed eager to impregnate Akane. Loyal new Kusa soldiers who, with the Uzumaki genes, might finally be able to stand up to the big villages.
The blonde was deep in thought about resolving the situation.
After the invasion of Konoha and the failed coup in Suna, the political situation in the elemental nations was tense. How he would love to get Akane out with a clone and raze the entire complex to the ground with paper bombs.
Unfortunately, this would create a power vacuum, which would probably involve Iwa and Kumo. No, he needs a distraction. If anyone lays a hand on Akane, he'll lose at least that hand. Jiraiya said he would need at least two weeks to visit all his contacts. So at least two weeks to find a way to protect Akane and get her out of there.
The whole thing reminded him strongly of the affair with Gato in the Land of Waves. Taking out a Zosui shouldn't cause too much of a stir, after all, the bingo book had a sizeable bounty on his head. But he wasn't the only one; the entire council in Kusa had given the plan their nod. After they had lost Karin, they realized how important and essential the Uzumaki's healing abilities were for their shinobi forces.
Who was to say that if Naruto cleared Zosui out of the way, the next one wouldn't follow? Akane would have to disappear at the same moment, no traces should point to him or Konoha. But if Akane were to reappear, it would soon become clear what had happened. Consequently, Akane would also have to disappear.
The blonde shinobi broke out of his meditation and took out his notebook. He leafed wildly through the various pages until he came to his notes on his mother's invention. The seal that turned Mikoto Uchiha into Hatsumi Uzumaki. If he could manage some kind of permanent change to Akane's facial features, then Akane could disappear from the scene and emerge as a new person with a new identity. Uzu was relatively safe because of the barriers, but spies might come across her at some point, as he might have missed something too.
Naruto immediately began to record various ideas on a new page. A clone came out of nowhere and summoned the analysis scroll to use data from the henge. Perhaps he could generate something more flexible straight away. However, with the necessary adjustment to the performer's chakra network, it made the formula a lot more complex, but if Naruto was determined to do one thing, it was to develop this seal at the thought of what he could do with the seal. Save various transformations perhaps? He loved the art of seals!
While Naruto was working on his new seal, Konan had returned to Nagato's side. In Nagato's private rooms, a secure room that even Zetsu and Obito could not enter, she had asked him for a chat. The redhead, who was connected to various machines, the real Nagato and not the unapproachable figure he embodied with Yahiko's body. There in the rather barren and cold room that was mostly occupied by Nagato, the Rinnegan looked into Konan's orange pupils. Nagato immediately opened the conversation. "You wanted to talk here, Konan. Why?"
Konan nodded briefly as she began with a rather neutral expression. "I met the vessel of the nine-tailed one. I also met our old teacher. Jiraiya and he are probably on some kind of training trip. It was an unfortunate coincidence that they met and defeated some of our members."
Nagato's Rinnegan almost bored into Konan as he raised a brow. "This is not news for your god, Konan. I do hope you have news to justify your precautions."
Konan would probably sigh if she wasn't Konan. So she just nodded and looked back at him, unabashed and even defiant. "Even if you have godlike abilities, Nagato, you're not." As Nagato was about to begin, Konan raised her voice. "If you were, you could have saved Yahiko. Now let me finish."
And finish she did. She told him everything Naruto had told her.
Nagato's features had already hardened at Konan's mention of Yahiko. When he then listened to her description of Naruto's words, which possibly indicated that he was simply being taken advantage of, his chakra erupted briefly. Closing his eyes and taking several breaths, he brought himself back under control. "I had accepted that this snake from Danzo would join our ranks to make up for losses," he pressed out between his teeth. "Now you've given me enough evidence to question everything this Uchiha told me. Let alone what the other had promised me as he gifted me with this power."
Konan's features remained motionless as she listened to him and when he finished, she tilted her head only slightly. "The question we have to ask ourselves is, are we fulfilling our, no Yahiko's plan with what we are doing or are we condemning the world to even more destruction in the end? The destruction that we swore to end at his grave?"
Both exchange glances that speak of past pain. Konan continued. "Yahiko would not have wanted us to bring peace that extinguishes all life."
Nagato lowered his eyes, thinking of his best friend. The friend who gave his life for Konan when that same Danzo, now wearing a cloak with the red clouds, lured them into an ambush. This legend Naruto Uzumaki spoke of, what if he was right? What if Nagato betrayed the memory of his friend if he went ahead with the plan?
"You said that Naruto was ready to talk? I think I could quite convincingly order Zetsu and Obito to replenish our ranks. I could send Tendo with you to talk to Uzumaki. You said he was Sensei's student?" A curt nod from Konan confirmed his statement as Nagato continued, "Even though I hardly believe that a mere boy has the power to bring about the necessary changes, I should at least hear him out and make sure his version is true before we deviate from our current plan. "
Konan nodded. A start and probably the right approach. Even if she somehow had the feeling that Naruto was not only convinced of his version, Nagato's reaction to the hint that these came from the Uzumaki archives gave her hope that senseless murders would soon come to an end. She had sworn to follow her longtime friend everywhere. She even put up with his god-like airs and graces, but here she was. There was a spark of Nagato in his pain. A spark that gave her hope of getting her friend back before their time in this existence came to an end.
Naruto Uzumaki found himself deep within the borders of Kusagakure. His mission was simple: gather information on the Land of Grass's hidden village without being detected. He spent the last seven days planning this infiltration, carefully selecting his disguises and practicing his techniques and seals to ensure success.
The first thing he noticed about Kusagakure was its sheer size. It was larger than he expected, with sprawling buildings and winding streets that seemed to go on forever. As he moved through the village, he used his cloning jutsu to create multiple copies of himself, scattering them throughout the area like a swarm of insects.
Each clone had a different persona, from an elderly woman carrying groceries to a group of young children playing tag.
Naruto also made use of his henge technique, transforming into various animals such as birds and insects to avoid detection. His chakra suppression seals were applied to his clothes, ensuring that any stray chakra emissions would be masked by the surrounding environment. He moved stealthily through alleyways and behind buildings, taking note of everything he saw.
As he approached the main tower of the village, Naruto could feel the tension in the air. The guards here were more alert than those further into the village, their senses honed to detect any intruders. He watched as they patrolled their posts, eyes darting back and forth for any sign of movement.
Despite the danger, Naruto pressed onward. His clones continued to move through the village, gathering information while his transformed self remained hidden in the shadows. As he drew closer to the tower, he noticed a series of tripwires and pressure plates embedded in the ground. Clearly, these were meant to trigger alarms or traps if disturbed.
Finally, Naruto reached an elevated position near the top of the tower. From here, he could see over the wall surrounding it. Here in this very building was the leadership of Kusagakure.
Besides Zosui, there were also Hotsui and Kotatsu, these three were the loudest of the faction to forcefully impregnate Akane. Many within Kusa simply go with the flow. So Naruto mainly observed the three leaders of this movement. So far, his plan was to eliminate one of the three. To take his place and turn the other two against him accordingly, smuggle Akane out during the upcoming turmoil and cover his tracks with fire.
He wanted to keep casualties as low as possible so that the surrounding nations would not make such a big fuss. Of course, even this small matter would cause a stir, but Naruto was sure of one thing: he could not in good conscience watch a member of his clan suffer any longer.
It all began with an alter ego that Naruto created for himself. With the help of his new seal, which allowed him to keep his henge for a long time, and a battle, he took on the identity of an elderly man in the village. This man had long made a name for himself as a gardener of dangerous plants. But his profession had taken its toll. He had been bedridden for weeks. Parts of the village had taken care of him, as he had helped many in the past with his knowledge of healing herbs before younger people replaced him or even the Uzumaki himself took over the worst cases.
Thanks to a Sharingan Genjutsu, he was now in a painless coma. After a brief analysis, the blonde shinobi had determined that his condition was irreversible and had decided that if he would use his identity to infiltrate, he would give him a gentle death. But for the moment he would need to stay alive for his plan to work.
Using all his information, Naruto finally made it to the area where Akane was being held in the second week. Unfortunately, she was still unconscious from the drugs they had given her to make her more compliant. Her Uzumaki blood had made it even more difficult and so it had to be done over a longer period of time.
Now, according to what Naruto could gather, she was quite compliant. It wouldn't be long before they started their breeding program. So he left in the form of the old man and stood in front of the bed, using a diagnostic jutsu. The results shook his resolve to do this as quietly as possible.
Not only had they used various means to deprive her of her will, but his jutsu also revealed various changes to her uterus. Apparently, they had prepared her in such a way that it was almost certain that not just one egg would be fertilized, but two or three.
Regardless of the fact that she could probably damage the birth severely if she didn't get professional help. Naruto had the feeling that they would cut the babies out of there if they could get fresh blood. Not even the efforts of Kumo, whose previous Kage had ordered the kidnapping of an unsealed Hyuuga, had that ruthlessness. At least not if he was to believe Jiraiya's stories.
The blonde, now gray-haired ninja shook his head and quickly retrieved his sealing equipment from one of his hidden tattoos. Time for the contingency plan. With practiced strokes, he drew an inverted version of his Hiraishin marker on her wrist. That way, he could call her to him in an emergency and no one would know where she had disappeared to.
It was similar to the summoning jutsu for familiar spirits. But instead of requiring a mutual contract, it was more like his Hiraishin markers. But this one was for resummoning everything to his position instead of him moving to those markers at the speed of light. Now Naruto just had to, he got to hide the seal with the usual formula and a bit of channeled chakra. As his senses alarmed him of a presence, he was able to let the supplies disappear back where they had come from before the door creaked open.
"What are you doing here old man?" A man with fair skin, combed back and shoulder-length black hair entered the room. He wore a slightly loose Yukata. The Grey eyes fixated on Naruto in his disguise and the look of surprise was on him.
"Zosui-sama" He imitated the voice of the old man and bowed slightly while he used the cane for support. The cane was his transformed Katana and everything that did not let the usually blonde shinobi to hyperventilate that he got caught because he trusted his instincts so much. He got careless, again. "You know I am not as well, but I wanted to make sure I do my part before Shinigami-sama takes me"
Zosui did not look satisfied with his answer in the slightest and got a bit cautious. He tensed and if he had his gear on he would have used a Kunai to show it. "What do you mean old man? Just yesterday you slept through the whole day and now? What did you even do? If you fucked up our efforts I will be most displeased."
Naruto cringed and tried to not let it show on the wrinkles his face showed. Leaning on his cane even more "I assure you I did no such thing, young man. I just made sure the effects would last a bit longer with a bit of my herbs. You youngsters sometimes are just so impatient."
Zosui frowned but in the end, he nodded and pointed at the door and the disguised Naruto nodded and slowly moved to the door. As he passed the Kusa nin, the man kicked the cane away at the moment Naruto shifted most of his weight to it. Naruto's reflexes kicked in before he could think about it. Instead of falling face first, he flipped and looked into the knowing face of Zosui. "Shit." Using a quick Shunshin and a followed-up Hiraishin as he got hold of the man he teleported them to a remote clearing in Kusa.
Looking at the slightly shocked nin he used the time to summon clones to make a barrier.
Shifting his cane into its original form but staying in his disguise he looked at Zosui.
"I might have killed you anyways" These were the more Naruto-like words as Zosui tried to look for a weapon, as the man recognized his weaponless state.
Unleashing an Earth spike at the blonde boy who dodged effortlessly Zosui asked his question next. "Really? And why do you think you have a chance of doing so? I may have no weapon but I am still one of the best Kusa has to offer. I may not know how you got us here but I will torture it out of you."
"You wanted to rape her weren't you?" Naruto asked barely above a whisper.
"Yes, and I would have loved every second of it. That bitch would finally have use again for us after that excuse of a Kunoichi of her daughter managed to get herself killed in the exams." Zosui spat back.
"I see." Naruto had his hand on his sword holding it with his left. Using the thumb to slightly open it. Using his quickdraw he pushed the sheath backwards and with a small distance Shunshin and pure speed cut off Zosui's right arm getting a scream out of him. Naruto stood behind him and looked over his shoulder as he flicked the blood from his Katana holding it to the side.
"You asshole! How dare you! I will crush you" He snarled at the blonde. Naruto just turned around raising a brow.
"Yeah? You do? Can you do one-handed hand seals? Do you have any weapons?"
The disguised blonde looked at the stump that was still bleeding and then back at Zosui. The Kusa Nin looked like he realized his situation, and put his hand on his bleeding wound to try and use pressure to still the bleeding.
"Wait. We can talk right?" Zosui began to stutter as it hit him when he realized that he was helplessly at the mercy of his adversary.
Naruto let his disguise fall showing off his Sharingan that spun hypnotically. "Do you really think I'm going to let you and your friends get away with forcing a member of my clan to breed with scum like you?" His three tomoe's transformed into the swirl of his Mangekyou form. "You will tell me everything I need to know so I can not only erase this idea from the heads of your friends. No, I will really fuck your operations up. You can believe that."
Luckily the barrier would mute all the screams of the Kusa nin that sang like a bird after Naruto started extracting the information he needed to impersonate Zosui. After nearly four hours of excruciating pain for one of the two persons in the clearing, Naruto looked down at the mess. The stump had been cauterized by his blade using some Katon chakra. The rest of his body had cuts and bruises everywhere. The face was unrecognizable.
"You and your friends should never have come up with your hare-brained idea. I would have gotten Akane out, maybe offered you a deal, and no one would have gotten hurt. Look where your violence has gotten you! Your time in this world is numbered. Soon the Shinigami will claim your soul and judge you. What do you think would have happened if your plan had worked? The five great villages have spies everywhere. Either the children would have been kidnapped and killed." Naruto shook his head and looked at the pile of misery with a deep sadness. "Last words?"
Zosui looked back at the blonde and a hint of amusement was seen in his gaze. "You are … naive... if you … if you thought we three were responsible. For this idea." Under great pain, he chuckled before the chuckle turned to some blood that he had to spit out. The bruised face and swollen eyes looked at the blonde in a last act of defiance. "The snake will get you, he gets everyone. He already transferred the funds for .. that Karin girl. So we had to de… deliver."
With a cry of rage, Naruto swung his sword. He unleashed a wind blade that was filled with fire chakra. As he decapitated Zosui, his body immediately caught fire and in less than a minute, the ninja was reduced to ashes.
"Hey Kit, you okay?" Kurama called out and waited for the blonde's response as he ordered some clones to clean up and erase all evidence of the battle and his stay in this part of Kusa.
"It is always the actions of individuals that bring disaster to the masses, Kurama. Whether it's Orochimaru, Danzo, that masked Uchiha or Madara." He sighed as he sat down powerlessly and watched his clones at work while he continued to talk to Kurama in his mind. "Or Kaguya. Even Hashirama. I thought those three were just misguided, greedy for power and wealth. In the end, they were just puppets of others. Who told me that my plan would work? Even if I attack the key positions and succeed in eliminating them, who's to say that something worse won't follow?"
Now it was time for the Fox Spirit to sigh. "You can't, Naruto, even with all of his abilities, Father couldn't prevent all of this. He could only hope that his descendants, with the help of Ninshu, would be able to continue his teachings and maintain the balance. Always remember that the shadow cannot exist without the light and vice versa."
In the outside world, Naruto could only nod. "Well, that means I need to teach my descendants to do stuff the right way." He said with a weak smile.
Only for Kurama to huff in amusement. "For that, you would need to have such. Mate with others of your kind you know? Why not go back to that mature woman that taught you? I mean she showed that she knows how to handle the mating"
Even if Naruto was not in his mindscape at the moment he could see the fox smirk at him with his inner eye. "Stop it Kurama. Cut it out will you?!" Naruto blushed. But with this bickering his mind was distracted from his deeper musings for the moment.
It was late in the evening when Naruto, disguised as Zosui, made his way to the tower in the center of Kusagakure. He had agreed with the other two and invited them to drink and play cards. No sooner said than done, the two shinobi and Naruto were sitting in a dimly lit room. Empty bottles were piling up and the red cheeks of Hotsui and Kotatsu showed that they had already drunk a lot of sake.
They were playing Oicho-kabu, a game in which the goal was to reach the number nine as quickly as possible. They changed the dealer randomly. Naruto was playing against Kotatsu. The atmosphere was rough but cheerful, just like Naruto wanted it to be.
Naruto just lost another hand a good batch of Zosui's money. Using that as a good excuse, he raised Zosui's voice. "You wanker! Did you two come up with this shit to scam me out of my money because I got to fuck the bitch first?"
Inwardly, Naruto winced as he spoke the words, but outwardly, he was trying to get at the drunken ninja who felt cheated out of his money. He stood up and overturned the table with the cards and the sake while the other two shouted angrily.
"What's wrong with you?"
"What's the matter, sore loser or what?"
They both shouted in confusion. Naruto let a kunai slip into his hand and took a step towards the dealer Hotsui.
"You're cheating by giving him the better cards and calling me a liar." Faster than Hotsui could react, he sank the kunai into his skull. Kotatsu jerked his arms backwards, completely shocked as he slipped away from Naruto. In front of him, his features turned a hundred and eighty degrees and he also had a kunai in his hand.
"Zosui! Have you gone completely crazy? Was the sake too much for you?" Shortly after that, he attacked. He tried to swing the kunai towards Nartuo's head to cut him, but the alcohol made his movement imprecise. Both of them made a lot of noise, which caused another Kusa ninja to appear on the scene. Naruto positioned himself so that he kicked over one of the oil lamps. He noticed the onlookers who immediately shouted fire, but did not dare to intervene in the fight.
The fight that followed was more like a bar brawl and had nothing of the graceful, if deadly, fight between two shinobi. The fire from the oil lamp and the smoke spread slowly. Shouts from outside grew louder. Calls for water against the fire and orders to evacuate. Calls for council members who might be able to stop the fight. Everyone was shouting over each other. It was complete chaos. Again and again, Naruto shouted obscenities to maintain his cover.
"Zosui-sama, stop it, it's just a misunderstanding!" came from a part of the crowd.
Naruto could only smile to himself as he replied loudly while dodging the kunai once more. "The bastards wanted to sleep with the red bitch before me. Because I was chosen by the council and they didn't think they could rob me of my savings. But not with Zosui!"
Kotatsu tried to raise his voice above the commotion, "This guy has gone completely crazy! Help me before the fire takes over the whole tower and burns everything down." At that moment, Kotatsu had a moment of clarity.
"Shit, the Uzumaki, the drugs immobilized her and she's in the next room." He barely dodged an attack from Naruto, but unfortunately for Kusagakure, his words were drowned out by the commotion.
As Naruto plunged his Kunai straight into Kotatsu's stomach the fire was everywhere. Most of the commotion had already left and tried to contain the fire. Now Naruto would have to deliver his masterpiece. Using a clone with a specially prepared Henge. A third person crashed into the room. With a snake mask on his face and the outfit of the elite of Orochimarus forces, he backhanded Zosui into the next room. The room where Akane was kept. The next moment he threw a paper bomb directly after Zosui that exploded shortly before grabbing the shocked Kotatsu.
The two landed on the square in front of the tower, the top two floors of which were smoking. Kotatsu slipped backwards in panic when he saw the person, one of Orochimaru's henchmen? This is not good, when Orochimaru sends one of his people, it usually means that he is not satisfied with something. Kotatsu and the rest of the villagers got his answer right away.
"My lord is very dissatisfied with your delivery times. Kotatsu. Now I find you fighting and wreaking havoc. He will be so displeased when I get back to him."
The man shook his head before looking back at the villagers. "In the name of my Lord, the Lord of Snakes, I will punish these idiots. Be glad that I won't ask for more compensation after you screwed up so badly."
A moment later, Senbon pierced Kotatsu's throat, the snake venom on it causing Kotatsu's muscles to stop working. His heart stopped almost immediately before the apparent Oto Ninja melted into the ground like mud.
As the villagers, half shocked and half relieved at what had happened, dealt with the fire, it soon became clear that three members of the Kusa Council and the last of the Uzumaki had perished in the fire and its aftermath. Rumors of a disagreement fueled by alcohol caused the fight to escalate and an Orochimaru overseer showed up to execute the last survivor of the three for his failure. All in all, nothing new for the village hidden in the grass.
They had thought that with the idea of the Uzumai hybrid offspring, they would finally be able to step out of the shadows of the larger villages and make a name for themselves. In the end, the council was just glad that they didn't have to give away one of their artefacts like the last time. The Kusanagi had been in the possession of the Sannin since the last failure. No one could have stopped him, the Sannin had always been good with words.
It sounded better to pay him a tribute. Something he could take himself if he wanted but the other way they had the illusion of choice.
Far away from Kusa's problems, Naruto had just handed Akane over to one of his clones. He would travel with her in a stasis scroll directly to Uzushio to hand her over to the doctors there. The blond shinobi could only hope that they would be able to remove all the drugs from Akane's system so that she could be Akane again. But after all the excitement, he retreated to his cave with his thoughts.
There, he waited for Jiraiya. He even called Kiezu to help him practice the meditations he would need if he wanted to become a sage. His clones were still stationed in disguise in Kusagakure and the surrounding areas and had pricked up their ears to see if his plan had worked. So far, everything seemed to be going according to plan and it was almost sad to see Kusa drowning in self-pity. But then Naruto remembered their plans and his pity was understandably limited.
On the day Jiraiya should return to the hideout Naruto felt the marker go off that he had gifted to Konan. First sending a clone to check the situation he quickly switched places with him and stood before Konan and Tendo-Pain. For the first time, he saw eye-to-eye with a wielder of the Rinnegan. Kurama gasped but stayed in the background of his mind. Subconsciously Naruto activated his Mangekyou Sharingan. Using a relaxed stance he nodded towards the leaders of Amegakure and the Akatsuki.
"I didn't think you would be willing to talk. Not after all the losses I've inflicted on the organization. It just makes me even happier that there still seem to be people out there who are interested in finding a solution." The blonde joked.
Konan was her usual stoic self as was the Tendo-Pain. He was the one who answered for the two of them. "We needed some time to double-check all the facts. For the moment we are inclined to listen as fellow students of the same teacher, an outstretched hand to shake so to speak."
Naruto nodded. "Thank you guys. Well, let's talk then?" And that they did. Naruto explained his story again. All of it and in even more detail this time. His unfinished business with Orochimaru and Danzo that he wants to settle. The warnings about the ten-tails. Kaguya, Naruto did everything to try to make Pain understand what he was about. The Tendo-Pain frowned.
"You have very good points Naruto-San. I may have my observations about who could be the main responsible individual for the revival of the Rabbit Goddess. His name is Zetsu. A former Kusa Nin, regarding to himself that is, calling himself the Will of Madara, but." Pain paused. "One of my abilities is that I can see through lies. While I can't pick up a straight lie from him, I always have this feeling that there is more than meets the eye with this Zetsu."
Naruto looked thoughtfully in the direction of the other two. "Thanks for the warning. But what do we do next?"
Konan answered this time. "Nagato and I discussed this. We will try to distract the main actors. Recruiting more Nuke Nin to our cause for the moment and collecting bounties. Keep them all busy so to speak. As long as you are reportedly on the move that will work. After the end of your trip, we will need to adjust our plans. Maybe even getting rid of the more megalomaniac ones."
Naruto sighed. "Well let us just hope that the time is enough. I hope to meet the others so I can communicate with them and help them if needed. I will try to lay low, but I just have this feeling that you will need to restart your efforts soon. I think this Zetsu or Tobi person will get restless and do stupid things if not. Maybe start with Gaara again. Send Sasori and Deidara with this Zetsu person maybe. I can flash to Gaara's location anytime and with his blessings and his siblings they won't be easy to fight against on their home turf."
After further exchange of strategies and information and ways of communication, Konan and Pain said goodbye and disappeared with the help of Konan's paper technique.
Far away in the capital of the Land of Fire, a gifted man with several bandages and a walking stick met with a nobleman in one of the teahouses. In a side room, Danzo nodded to the man opposite him. It was also Danzo who opened the conversation. "It is unusual to receive such requests, but I understand that you are dissatisfied with the development of the empire. The Land of Fire should subjugate all others and if our shinobi are incapable of doing so, other forces will have to help. Let's talk about the methods..."