Last time on Of Scrolls and Chains:
As he opened his eyes again he was welcomed by a very surprised Karin who sat there with Han drinking tea. "Naruto? What happened to your hair?"
Naruto blinked a little bit shocked at the reception. "Huh? What do you mean Karin-Chan?"
The redhead looked at the redheaded woman with pure confusion. He had not seen himself for quite some time.
"What do I mean? Have you taken a look in the mirror maybe? You changed…" she trailed off and blushed slightly as she took in the new appearance. Crimson red hair in a high ponytail, a strong face resembling the Yondaime Hokage. Bangs framed his friendly but hardened face. A black undershirt. Add a red Gi Style jacket, red pants a black belt, and Shinobi Sandals and you will have quite the picture of Naruto. he was standing around six feet with visible muscles all around. On his back, he had some medium-sized scrolls that were somehow attached to the belt. Also, he wore his sword now on his left side, visible in his belt, while his left hand held onto his staff. Without thinking about it Naruto summoned a clone and looked at him.
The clone summoned another clone. Suddenly all three Narutos pointed at one another in a triangle formation. "YOU'RE HAIR IS RED!" "WHAT?" they started simultaneously before Naruto dispelled them and was trying to come to terms with what he now looked like. The clothes he knew. He made them, as he noted that his older ones got too small, but the hair. Well, he had those red tips. Maybe he should ask his parents? But use the mentor scroll for something like this?
"Hey, Naruto-kun? Are you okay?" Karin's voice interrupted his train of thought quite efficiently. Naruto looked at her and nodded once. Karin smiled and put a strand of her hair behind her ear. "You look quite the Uzumaki now Naruto-kun." She said softly and not without an unnoticeable amount of charm.
Han chuckled. "Yes, quite the charmer for the eyes," He said good-naturedly. "Some tea? you must be exhausted after three weeks of constant work." He added pointing at the teapot.
Naruto looked between Karin and Han. "Three weeks? It felt more like some days. Well okay with the seal time could move at a different pace there. Could now be even more as they charge up so the Biju have time to rest…" Naruto rumbled on, more to himself than to the others.
"Naru-kun" Karin half-yelled to get him out of it. As he snapped out and looked at her he smiled apologeticly. Karin took and hugged him as she reached him. "You know you are cute when you rumble your Fuinjutsu theories." She half whispered. "Though, as you are cute you look even better now with the red hair and all those muscles. I and some others would love to welcome you back" she whispered seductively "but you took so long that the summit you organized, is right around the corner and we have not finished with all the preparation as the organizer was quite hard to get in contact with." She continued louder and with a smug look as one of her fingers trailed the side of his body.
Naruto gulped he had more than one reason as he looked into the eyes of Karin. She had quite an intense look on her. "Yeah… Yeah of course you are right." He stumbled over the words for a moment. He hugged her back before he looked at Han. "Now I would take some of that calming brew you offered Han."
All three of them chuckled before they sat down with some tea. Naruto explained what happened. He spoke with Han and gave him a scroll with everything they needed to prepare for the ritual to get his Biju started migrating. As a Jinchurikii Han and his Biju would create the contract together so a part of the Biju chakra would stay in him. So as long as Han lived he could decide who would be the next to sign the contract. That was also the way all other Jinchurikii would join the ritual. Even Bee had agreed to do it this way. With preparations on the way, Naruto concentrated on preparing for the arrival of the Kage and the Leader of Iron Country.
While Uzushio prepared for a possible future-defining moment, three people were standing in a big underground cave. The masked man looked at Zetsu. "Everything prepared?"
Kabuto nodded. "If you have the sacrifices I prepared some nice presents for our friends in Amegakure and to knock at the summit."
Zetsu nodded once. "I have enough prepared. Are you sure that they can't be absorbed after they have been sacrificed to the Edo Tensei? It would be bad form for such an attack to be stopped by the Uzumaki with one technique."
The masked man agreed. "Yes, a certain and unforeseen problem that was and still is. I still can't understand, why you did not have that covered Zetsu. I mean you know where you come from and you did not notify us of that big weakness. If I did not know it better I would have said that you wanted us to fail." He replied calmly.
Zetsu replied similarly. "I had not calculated that he would have that kind of mastery as my only available sources don't have those skills available to them. We should prepare now. The time window for the attacks is small and must be hit precisely. Kabuto will attack with his revived Ninja Uzushio. You, a few special Edo Tenseis, and Madara-sama and I will take care of Ame and the eyes. " Zetsu explained to the two others, his gaze fixed on the man with the mask.
The others nodded again. The masked person who Zetsu called Madara stood and looked at them. "We are very close to achieving victory. I won't have it any other way. I want you all to get in your positions. Kabuto I meet with you in the cellar." He disappeared in a swirl as Zetsu sunk into the ground and Kabuto nodded. They had met up in the basement shortly after and Kabuto had summoned the one Reincarnation that would make all the difference in Attacking Ame.
Nagato and Konan sat in the office of the Head of Amegakure. Nagato's office. Konan sat on the opposite seat and had her legs crossed. She had changed her usual Akatsuki cloak against the traditional outfit of a shrine maiden. The long red Kimono with the white shining through. The only thing that would differentiate Konan from an innocent would be her eyes. Those eyes that had seen death and misery. War and cruelty. Now they had new hope.
"I hope Hatsumi will bring good news. I am quite done with fighting and while I liked our time here in Ame in the end it was just the same. Kill those who are greedy, defend the helpless for Yahiko, and try to end this cycle of hatred." She sighed. "How long do we need to wait Nagato? How long do we still have to fight?"
The bespoken red-haired Rinnegan-wielding shinobi looked back at her and took a deep calming breath. "Konan, I know. I mean after Naruto helped me break out of my Kami Thing that I have I can look back and see things that went wrong. Also at how much is going wrong in our world. But everything is prepared I hope Naruto can accomplish the goal and get the Kage in line. Realistically speaking, there always will be those who want to use others for their benefit. As such there will always be hatred. And with hate, there will always be those who get hurt and want to take revenge. To establish a neutral fraction that is the arbiter is something that could work but even with his renown it won't be easy."
Konan nodded. "Yes, his father could stop armies advancing in his days by just his mere presence. He has so many more tools than his father. Alone the Kyuubi would …"
"Kurama." Nagato interrupted.
"What?" Konan was taken aback at the interruption of Nagato.
"Kyuubi is more like the race now as far as I understood. Kurama is his name. So give him the courtesy to call him by his name. I think it is time for us too…"
This time Nagato was interrupted instead of Konan it was through a big explosion.
He just looked into the eyes of his long-time friend before he and her together Shunshined out of the tower. What awaited them was something that they had not expected. Ame was burning. Anything they had tried to build was in flames. If that was not enough dead bodies lay in the streets most of them with slit throats. Konan had followed Nagato who used the gravitonal release of the Rinnegan. She had made herself paper wings and flapped them. The Person that stood in front of them was a ghost. The rebreather. Those empty eyes.
So many shinobi behind him.
"Nagato…" Konan started disbelieving what her eyes "What does the salamander do in our city?" She stated that she and he had reached a high vantage point that was looking straight at the army.
"This must be this Kabuto's work. Raising the dead from their peaceful graves." Nagato sounded quite angry but with the intensity of the sea. While looking calm he wanted to raise waves so high to sink every ship.
Hanzo stood on his salamander in front of his loyal followers. It was so easy to convince them to follow him again. He looked at the two flying opponents and he remembered them. "Nagato and Konan." started slowly. "As I was summoned back from my grave I was looking forward to this meeting. You killed me, threw over my government, and tried to kill my loyalists." A dark humorless chuckle. "I decided to use my second lease at life to return the favor. You would be surprised to know how many of your people hate you. Some made some trouble, sure. But as you can see most would love to go back to my reign. Now without further ado, you will die!" Jutsus got fired at Nagato and Konan but as he wanted to dodge he got punched in the back by the masked man.
"NAGATO!" Konan screamed as she witnessed her usually untouchable friend getting blindsided with a punch.
Nagato was thrown into the ground and Hanzo chuckled. "Look at you... Getting hit with a cheap attack like that" he mocked the red-haired Shinobi.
Nagato looked at Konan. "Deal with those traitors. Leave no one alive. I" he looked at the two biggest threats. Hanzo and the masked shinobi. "will keep them busy." His voice was stone cold like of his days as the feared leader of Akatsuki. Konan just nodded before a rain of paper shuriken killed some of the former Amegakure Shinobi. Nagato summoned two of his animals with the animal path sending them to help Konan before he absorbed a Ninjutsu out of Hanzo, just to dodge another attack of the masked shinobi. The three of them started a deadly dance. Hanzo used his poison. The masked Shinobi mostly tried to blindside Nagato with his chain.
"You can't hold against the might of Madara Uchiha and Hanzo the Salamander. Just die" The masked man screamed back as Nagato once again steadied himself after the use of his almighty push.
"You are no Madara Uchiha." Nagato replied calmly. Hnazo attacked but Nagato just absorbed the attack again. "You, did not think that Naruto would stop researching his parent's death?"
Using a chakra rod Nagato deflected the sickle from Hanzo and his almighty push dispersed the could of purple smoke filled with a deadly gas. While it took the masked man out of synchronicity with Hanzo, Nagato was still able to evade and counter most advances of the former leader of Amegakure.
"Even if that blonde brat figured out who I am, you are still alone here." not Madara spat in Nagato's direction. Who used a cannon to fire a chakra cannon at Hanzo, disintegrating him only waiting for him to reform.
Nagato moved to the side as the reformed Hanzo picked up his attacks again, this time he seemed to get stronger and faster and he knew that even with the Rinnegan, he would maybe get into trouble soon. He noticed that Konan had eradicated a quarter of her opposition. She looked beautiful like an Angel of death as she let her Paper rain down on the enemy. He just needed to get close enough to use the King of Hell but both evaded him as well as they could. While the both of them still had time to manage this fight one thing was sure the endurance of the Reanimation would outlast them and as it mostly sticks to evasion he would need a good plan to capture it first before he could suck the reanimated soul out of it. Konan and he should have taken Naruto up on his offer to move to Uzushio he thought.
Back in Uzushio Naruto looked at one of the new natives. This family he had rescued from a group of bandits that had stolen all their merchandise and after some talk no Jutsu, they had agreed to help with the big task of setting up a whole nation, well maybe the free housing was a big part of their acceptance. Hatsumi... Mikoto had overseen most of the process but now the daughter had joined the administration staff. They had moved to the new Building, and one of Naruto's clones had grown. A circular hall that could hold the delegates of over ten countries. Alarm seals all around for security and different meeting rooms. The two primary rooms would the the chamber of the nine which he was still constructing and the unity hall. The latter was a big circular hall with all the big fives emblems and of those smaller ones that already had joined Naruto's little alliance nobody knew until today.
"... the Konhoa delegation will arrive at around … Uzumaki-sama?" the secretary tried to get his attention failing with the first attempt she used one of the tricks Mikoto-sam had mentioned, that even in his adult form still worked. "Uzumaki-sama the Ramen is in danger!"
"Ramen, what? Activate the emergency protocols." Naruto blinked as he noticed his secretary trying hard not to burst into giggles. "Ah... She should never have told you that. Okay what did I miss" Naruto said while he joined the good-natured joke and the secretary explained all over again.
"The delegation from Konoha will arrive in around an hour and I thought you wanted to greet them personally. Kiri and Iron already have arrived. Lady Mikoto investigates why Ame had not answered our call. For the moment nothing suspicious in the reports of the patrol at the shore." She stated calmly.
Naruto had blinked once as he heard that Cousin Nagato had not answered the call. With Mikoto on her way to look after that he was not concerned in the slightest. "Good. Ask Karin if she wants to join me at the gates. I hate that I needed to dial down the seals. I need to key them all in and dial them up after the summit." He mumbled the last word at the same time as the secretary gave another nod.
With all those foreign chakras Naruto had to mostly deactivate the security seals of the outer part of the island. The Shrine with the Tori gate to the Biju Dimension and most of the housing for Naruto's new family was still protected behind strong barriers.
An hour later saw Naruto in his new gear and Karin in a very elegant but on some parts, alluring Kimono with the Uzumaki Insignia standing at the port. Naruto looked at Karin and smiled while the delegation of Konoha started to disembark. "You look beautiful Karin-chan."
Karin blushed just a tiny amount before she gave him a grateful nod. "Thank you but you need to focus now. You can think about me and what I wear under this thing after you finish with the summit." Much more quietly she added. "It is like chicken in Miso Ramen"
Naruto was the one blushing now before he had to turn his head as Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Kakashi stood before him in the second row he could see Hinata, Sakura, and Anko smiling.
Before Naruto could start Tsunade pulled him into a hug that put his face straight into her bosom. Karin used a loud cough for Naruto to entangle himself again. Jiraiya snickers and Kakashi gives Naruto a thumbs up.
The red-haired leader of the island took a step back before he used his official voice.
"Welcome to the reborn island of Uzushio. Be warned that you should stay in the area of the port and not venture further into the island without a member of the Uzumaki clan present, it could end deadly."
Tsunade blinked and this time not even Jiraiya started joking. Naruto looked at Karin who gave a nod and a small bow. "You better listen to Naruto. Before you are not keyed into the seals anyone trying to get behind the guest area will be burned to a crisp." She said without losing her smile that had quite the mischievous style if you looked closer.
"I like her" came Anko's voice from the second row before she was silenced by Tsunade's raised hand.
"Err Thank you Naruto and Karin isn't it?" The blonde paused before the other woman nodded once. "You changed everything here for the better. I only had pictures from my family archives to look at." Tsunade started and the delegation of Konoha and Naruto started to reconnect. Karin had kidnapped Hinata and Sakura for some tea as they were not needed for the summit and had just come to see Naruto again. Right after they had been shown to their rooms everyone prepared for the meeting.
The next day, Naruto surveyed the room. Most had sent a delegation except Iwagakure and Amegakure. He prepared to open the summit as his mind wandered one last time to Amegakure and his cousin Nagato.
Konan was struggling. After she had beaten so many Shinobi she stopped the count and had to renew her wings so often because of the blood flying around and impacting their effectiveness, she panted and tried to get some air into her lungs. She was not unscathed in her battle. Many cuts and bruises had formed on her skin and clothing. Parts of it had darkened from all the blood. A quick look at the other battlefield showed Nagato who still struggled against the reanimation of Hanzo who became stronger and stronger over time and also not Madara. Quickly she had formed another hail of paper Shuriken that mowed down another wave of attackers. Well part of them, at the beginning she was most effective with her moves but now with her getting exhausted and the enemy catching on to her skillset, it was getting more and more difficult. Maybe she would die here today. How ironic that would be?
As the woman was busy with her thoughts the exhaustion caught up with her and one ninja could slip behind her defensive wall of paper. Nagato noticed this and used his Jutsu to defend his lifetime companion. Why he did so even if that would mean to give up his stalemate with his opponents, he would not be able to answer, but it felt right. His Shinra Tensei was overpowered and while he managed to push her enemy back and crush some of them the chains got to him. He could harden his body at the right moment to not get cut in half but Nagato's most versatile Jutsu would need a minute to recharge. His other paths could not affect this Shinobi much as he could always make himself intangible.
The blue-haired Konan used the distraction to cut her opposition down. As she turned and wanted to join Nagato in his fight she screamed as she noticed his predicament. Chains had closed in on his body. The masked Shinobi had captured him.
"Finally. Now for the good part," The masked Shinobi said humorlessly as he grabbed at Nagatos face.
Konan started moving the moment she saw their adversary trying to grab Nagato's fabled Rinnegan. A Kunai appeared in her hand and out of desperation was thrown straight at his face paired with a scream out of pure anger.
Nagato knew that the pain would come and if asked he would liked to say that he would not have screamed as his eyes got ripped out of their sockets. But, he did. The pain was indescribable, even as quick as it was. The pulsating sensation after the blood gathered at the place where his optical nerves had been just seconds before. He heard chuckling.
"Look at this" he summoned a vial and put the eyes in only to seal them back again. Just the same moment he was hit by Kunais from two sides. "Aargh." Two women were the reason for the pain. The one had been there for the whole fight the other just arrived. The masked Shinobi was in a bad place, the Kunai hurt and ruined his moments. His eyes searched for the origins. First, they locked on Konan and the woman looked exhausted so she must be the reason for the one that hurt less. As he looked behind him he noticed the error of his idea to look for the new arrival. Spinning red eyes looked straight back at him. He knew that he had been caught in a Genjutsu the moment he noticed those eyes.
Mikoto had rushed and used every shortcut Naruto had prepared for such occasions. With all the speed she was still too late to save Nagato from getting his eyes ripped out. Her eyes transitioned into their Mangekyou state and were ready to catch the enemy in a Genjutsu. Summoning two clones that quickly moved to Nagato and Konan to gather them into a summoning circle a third clone had produced with a scroll. Mikoto could feel the Genjutsu weakening but she had to know who that person was that not only killed two of her best friends but also orchestrated so many bad things in the nations. She had no trouble defending against the reanimation with her Susanoo. Providing the needed blood for the evacuation Jutsu she used the last seconds of the hold of the Genjutsu for one last attack against the masked Shinobi.
With a crack, the arm of the Susanoo had cracked open the mask Mikoto nearly lost her concentration gathering the chakra for her Jutsu as they exchanged one last glance at each other.
"Obito?"
"Mikoto?" With that unbelieving whisper, the now unmasked Obito Uchiha witnessed as lightning engulfed the three and as he opened his eyes again they were gone. A swirl burned into the ground where they had been standing. Obito looked at the reanimation and gave him the order to secure the city before Zetsu appeared.
"You have the eyes?" the plant man asked without emotion in his voice and Obito nodded. "Have you seen a Ghost Obito? Don't let such little inconveniences distract you from the target now that we are this close to achieving it." Zetsu told him and Obito nodded slowly. He was still in a state of shock. Mikoto had been dead, wasn't she? That would change the outcome of his plan but with more Uchiha as possible opponents, it could be more difficult to achieve his dream of a perfect world. Zetsu took him out of his musings. "The army is making its way towards Uzushio. We have collected enough chakra to feed the Gedo Mazo. We may need to plan more time for the tree to grow but we can still achieve the ultimate victory" Zetsu said with much conviction. Obito gave him another nod before the two of them moved back to their headquarters.
"... and now I invite our host to say some words" Tsunade looked at Naruto. The different kage or heads of state had talked about how to deal with the state of the nations. How they wanted to address certain economic things. Also, after a heated argument, they noticed that they would need to work together against this new fraction that had managed to turn their daimyo against them. With most of the Biju disappearing they had lost much of their power.
Just at the moment, Naruto was about to move toward the speaker's desk a raven flew into the room. As his audience looked on Naruto unfolded the message and unsealed its content. His face got serious for a second and he summoned a clone. He just gave a short bow before he left the clone behind. The clone rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, so that happened. No need to worry for the moment just a family matter that came up." The clone started and some of the listeners mumbled but after the hours of talk, some of them just wanted to get this over with and stayed silent. "To cut the chase and not steal more of all your valuable time. You may have already gathered that I won't accept the Biju to be treated in the way they mostly have been treated after Hashirama handed them out like candy in the hope of achieving peace. As the past had shown us it had not helped at all to achieve peace. Even if I am just a clone let me make myself crystal clear." The clone said and his expression got dead serious. "All of the nine have decided that they don't want to be sealed away again and with some help, I created a new way for them to help us and get them their freedom. This generation of Jinchurikii will be the last."
And the room erupted into pandemonium. Shouts and Killing Intent flooded the room and the clone just sighed as the different guardians took out Kunai. He was just a clone so he was just fine but he would need to calm them down somewhat.
Meanwhile, Naruto had joined Mikoto in the medical wing. Konan rested on a bed next to Nagato and looked very concerned. Shortly after they had reached the safety of the medical bay on Uzushio her friend had collapsed. Naruto had his Rinnegan active, the veins around his eye bulging. Green chakra enveloped his hands as they scanned Nagato to his side and stood Karin with a clipboard making notes of his mumblings.
"... severe chakra exhaustion. How he could have still held against them is a riddle on its own. Ten minutes more and he would have died just from exhaustion. The pathways around his eyes look a bit like those of a Uchiha or mine. Maybe the longtime exposure of the Rinnegan mutated his chakra paths. Curious. Karin, we need some blood samples and also from the scar tissue. You may be sent for Sakura and Hinata. Before I can do my stuff the two of them would need to clean the eyes and collect our samples."
It took Mikoto two minutes to gather the mentioned two Kunoichi and another three to get them back and brief them on the emergency operation. Sakura was just a bit concerned.
"I just think Lady Tsunade would be a better mednin for this kind of operation."
"Shush pet" Hinata chided her and Sakura blushed just slightly. "Naruto wants to treat that in confidentiality. Also Ino, you and I are three best that Tsuande apprenticed in the last deace even Lady Shizune said so." Hinata replied calmly as she and Sakura disinfected their hands and sanitized them properly. Naruto stepped back and as he noticed that Hinata had the situation handled he did not intervene. The two Konoha Kunoichi finished preparations as Naruto used a seal tag to put Nagato into a medical coma. Mikoto and Karin stepped out and sealed the room. Hinata activated her Byakugan and was a bit shocked to see the mess of Tenketsu around Nagato's optical nerves. "You saw that right Naruto-kun?" She said as Sakura prepared to clean out the eyes.
"Yes, I did. That is one of the reasons I want you to take some samples of his nerves. I have the feeling after we remove the scar tissue I can do something to restore his eyes and even more." Naruto answered calmly.
Karin stood in the observation room supporting Konan who had been brought here by Mikoto and had not moved from the side of the other woman. Mikoto had just reported the Identity of the masked Shinobi. Obito Uchiha, a member of the clan thought dead in the third great shinobi war. Karin had sent a clone to put a dossier together while the three women watched the operation. Sakura had taken over the executive part while Hinata used her Byakugan to direct her cuts in a way that looked like a perfect synchronization of the two women. A complete trust that the other would handle it like she was asked to. Naruto looked mostly focused on the seal that held Nagato comatose while the two Kunoichi did their work.
Sakura put her knife away and Hinata used some gaze to catch the sweatpearls on her forehead. "Should have gotten everything" she said exhausted after around thirty minutes of cleaning out the eye socket of Nagato. Turning to Hinata she got a proud-looking nod and the two of them looked at Naruto expectantly.
"Good Job girls." He smiled and both stepped back to let him move into their position. His version of the Rinnegan investigated their work and he hummed in affirmation that everything looked good. He would never have gotten that out without damaging the surrounding area. But the tag team of Hinata and Sakura cleared everything out even the scar tissue. He summoned the power of the creation of all things before he slowly put his hands on the empty sockets. His imagination had a clear image of what he wanted to do and he could feel the chakra answering his call. "Girls, I need someone to connect those things with the optical nerves now" He called out over his shoulder and Hinata stepped up and with an activated Byakugan laid her hands on top of his.
Karin sighed in the observation room. "That minx, I told her not to flirt all the time." Konan was more shocked at the words of the Uzumaki than Mikoto who just had to chuckle slightly.
"Lady Karin, you should have known that she would do something like this if the opportunity arises." The former Uchiha Matriarch said as the three noticed that they stepped back from Nagato who had a pair of purple amethyst eyes filling out the sockets again.
"How?" Konan had some problems working through everything that had happened in the last hour. But before any of the women could answer Naruto and the other entered the room.
"Well, the operation looks like it was quite the success." Naruto started. "Thanks to Hinata and Sakura we have some samples for further study" he first looked at the young women before he gave Karin a nod who took the samples from Sakura.
Karin stepped to Hinata and hissed into her ear. "We will talk about your stunt over tea." She did not look amused in the slightest as Hinata gave her her best innocent look.
Naruto, who witnessed everything looked on and shook his head before he looked at Konan who still needed support from Mikoto. "With his chakra exhaustion, it was better to let him sleep some more. He should be stable. While for the moment he maybe lost his Rinnegan I have an idea that could help, well maybe but that is for the moment he wakes up again." He turned towards Mikoto. "Well done Hats…Mikoto-chan. Please see to it that my cousin is put into the family wing and connected to the regeneration matrix. I need to…" He stopped as he got an influx of memories. Mikoto explained the regeneration matrix to Konan as something that uses natural chakra and a filter to treat chakra exhaustion as she had noticed the empty look in Naruto's eyes and the sudden pause in his speech. "... yeah fuck." The red-haired young man just added before disappearing in a crimson-like flash.