Chapter 56: A Different Source

The sun had only just begun to set, dying the sky and even a portion of the landscape a bright red. Observing the scenery, Chiriku turned to watch as the monks in training were led off to bed while the entrance to the Fire Temple was sealed.

As the head monk, it was his duty to watch over the temple. Only after everyone had finished their duties, would he be allowed to rest and even then, it would be minimal at best… Not that Chiriku minded. He understood that it was necessary and proudly endured it.

Slacking off was not something that he could allow… Sadly, however, there were more than a few monks in training that would gladly neglect their duties if they knew they could get away with it.

Then there was the more problematic monk in training… The child of his former teammate. The other monks had grown wary of the boy ever since the 'incident' nearly a decade ago. Some had even suggested expelling him from the temple with a few others suggesting more extreme options. All had been shot down.

The Fire Temple remained open to those who needed it and Sora was definitely in need. Despite the fact that he had once destroyed the temple, Sora would always have a place here. Chiriku would make sure of that.

"Chiriku!" One of the monks called out.

Glancing towards the Monk, Chiriku turned his attention towards the entrance to the Fire Temple and saw something that set him on edge. The Fire Temple's sealed wall had been penetrated in a way unlike any other.

In a manner befitting of a ghost, a masked man simply stepped through the sealed Iron gate, only stopping when he found himself surrounded by several monks who all took a defensive position.

"I don't know who you are, stranger, but the Temple is currently closed," Chiriku announced, calmly walking down the stairs. "You would be wise to leave before any harm befalls you."

"That does sound like a valid course of action," The man hummed deeply. "One which I will not be taking. I've come here today because to answer a few questions."

Coming to a stop at the base of the stairs, Chiriku glared at the masked man. "Such arrogance. You've entered my home uninvited and now demand answers. If you do not choose to leave now, then you will not be leaving at all."

Ignoring Chiriku, the masked man casually looked around the temple. "I've heard rumors that this temple houses a great beast, one that I am fairly interested in… A pseudo Jinchuriki!"

Chiriku's eyes narrowed as his palm slipped through the masked man's head without a hint of resistance.

"I see, so you do house a pseudo Jinchuriki," The man noted calmly.

"Elder Kanero, ensure that the lower ranked monks are evacuated and… Send a request for aid to Konoha," Chiriku ordered. "I feel that this fight may spill into the rest of the temple."

The masked man disappeared in a blur of speed, appearing in front of the elderly monk with his hand wrapped around his neck. "You seem to have been here for a while. Tell me who the pseudo Jinchuriki is?"

"It's a young monk in training called Sora," The elder replied monotonously. "He…"

Darting forward, Chiriku managed to separate the masked man from the monk, placing himself in between them. "Genjutsu," Chiriku noted before dispelling the illusion. "Elder Kanero, are you alright?"

"I am," The monk in question nodded, rubbing his neck.

"Then please continue on to evacuate the temple… And send a request for aid to Konoha," Chiriku added. Turning back towards the masked man, he took a relaxed, almost welcoming stance as the figure of what appeared to be an angelic woman formed behind him. "You have spent the last of my good will and will not be leaving this temple alive."

"I never intended to leave without a fight," The masked man hummed.

As he took a step forward, the angelic figure behind Chiriku morphed into something demonic. An angry face glared down as hundreds upon hundreds of punches rained down, slipping through the masked man's body.

"That is a fairly useful technique. You bombard your opponent with hundreds of punches, completely overwhelming them while also giving no opportunity to counter attack. Had I been anyone else, I likely would have been overwhelmed," The man said, casually walking through the technique.

Stopping in front of Chiriku, the masked man waited as the ethereal punches harmlessly passed through his body, before suddenly striking Chiriku, sending him tumbling backwards onto the stairs, dispelling the entity behind him.

Grunting as he pushed himself off the cracked stairs, Chiriku winced as he once more took his stance. He'd managed to block the blow, but in the process, he'd ended up with a broken arm.

"How disappointing," The masked man sighed. "I came here today for two reasons… To discover if the rumors were true and to test my bodies capabilities against the best your temple has to offer. It's a wonder that you've survived as long as you have, especially with a thirty million Ryo bounty on your head… Or have you only survived this long because you've hidden behind these walls?"

Growling, the angelic figure formed behind Chiriku once more before it instantly morphed into its hate filled counterpart.

A nervous energy hung in the air.

Sitting on his bed, Sora watched as a few of his fellow monks in training anxiously crowded around the door, trying to get it open, not that it would do them any good, he'd already tried that years ago. The elder monks had already sealed their room for the night.

Something was happening outside, but it was anyone's guess as to what exactly it was. For all they knew, Master Chiriku could simply be holding a demonstration for the older monks… As unlikely as that was.

Hearing a loud click as the door to the room was opened, the monks watched as one of the elders entered the room.

"What's going on?"

"Quiet," The elder ordered. "Everyone, please follow me, we're evacuating the temple. I will explain everything once we're at a safe distance, but first… Is Sora here?"

"I am," Sora announced, stepping forward. "What's this ab…"

"No time for questions," The elder interrupted. "Follow closely, boy. We're leaving right now."

Turning around, the elder monk took a single step out of the room only to let out a pained grunt as something pierced through his feet, before he was able to react. The wooden floor suddenly came alive as sharp branches of wood shot up off the floor, piercing through the elder, killing him nearly instantly.

Several more branches grew from the floor. Interlocking, they separated him from all of the other monks in training.

Stepping back in shock, Sora gasped, only to find himself an arm wrapped around his body as another forced a wet rag against his mouth. Struggling in his captor's grip, he managed to look over his shoulder and found himself staring at a strange plant-like creature, half its body black while the other half was white.

"Stop struggling," The black half growled as its hand began to merge with his face. "This will only take a second."

Sora let out a scream as he redoubled his efforts to break free, only to feel the fight leave his body. His eyes glazed over as his vision began to narrow, rapidly being engulfed by darkness.

"It seems that the rumors were true, the Kyuubi's Chakra does live within you," The black half growled once more, its hand almost fully fused with his face. It leaned closer with what appeared to be a grin on its face "You will serve as a suitable replacement."

Barely paying attention to what he was told, Sora's gaze drifted over to the other monks in training who were attempting to break through the wooden barrier. Closing his eyes, all tension left his body as he drifted off into the darkness.

I yawned softly as I made my way down an old path. The sun had only just begun to rise and, instead of getting some more sleep, I had to meet up with Jiraiya. It was so early that even Kurama was asleep, although that was actually unrelated. Merging with his Yin half had been a mentally exhausting endeavor, one which he chose to sleep off.

They did have over a decade and a half of conflicting memories after all.

Entering Training ground 7, I looked around, taking in the minor changes that had occurred since I'd last been here. It wasn't anything major… A few of the nearby trees had been cut down and the river looked a bit wider, but other than that it remained largely the same.

"You sure took your time getting here… I'm starting to think that Kakashi's bad habits have actually begun to rub off on you. You're not gonna start reading my book while wearing a mask, are you?" Jiraiya hummed, leaning against one of the training posts. Catching sight of me, he raised an eyebrow. "Maybe not… What's with the new cloak?"

"I thought that since you're back, I might as well wear it," I said smugly. "After all, Ma made it for me after I mastered Sage Mode."

That was actually a lie. The truth was that, throughout all my time training with Bee, fighting Shinnō and cutting the freaking Shinigami's belly, I'd simply run out of jackets… However, I wasn't going to give up the chance to brag about my accomplishments to Jiraiya.

Blinking, Jiraiya scratched the back of his head. "Sorry, I must have misheard you. I could have sworn you just said that you mastered Sage Mode."

"I did," I replied, briefly switching to my Clone's Sage Chakra, before switching back.

Jiraiya let out a short laugh as he shook his head. "I should have expected as much coming from you. The rate at which you pick things up never ceases to amaze me… Let me guess, Shadow Clones?"

"Pretty much," I shrugged. "It did take a full weekend. With Pa's help I was able to fully master it… By the way, you might want to try using Shadow Clones to gather Natural Energy while you fight." That would at least allow him to put up an actual fight while he waited to enter Sage Mode.

"Unfortunately, I don't think that'll be possible for me. Sage Mode requires a large amount of Chakra to begin with. If I were to make a Shadow Clone, I probably wouldn't have enough Chakra to properly absorb Natural Energy," Jiraiya reasoned. "As interesting as discussing Sage Mode with another Sage is, there is something else that I need to talk to you about."

"You're leaving again," I guessed.

"Got it in one, kid," Jiraiya snapped his fingers. Grabbing a scroll from his vest, he tossed it over to me.

Catching the scroll, I slipped it open, only to find myself staring at a bunch of indecipherable text mixed with various symbols.

"You can't make heads or tails of it, can you?" Jiraiya asked, smirking. "I couldn't either at first. What you're looking at is an old cipher that was used exclusively by Kumo during the Third Shinobi War."

"But what does it say?" I asked, looking over the nonsensical text.

Taking the scroll back, Jiraiya held it against the training post he had been leaning on, allowing it to fully unravel. "It's coordinates mostly," He said, pointing to various different sections of the scroll. "Along with a description of who to be on the lookout for."

"Nothing else?"

"Nope," Jiraiya shrugged. "It might seem like there's more there to be decoded, but that's just the cipher. The less information, the more text and vice versa, it was especially effective on Dojutsu users who relied on their bloodline to decipher texts. It worked for a time until the cipher was finally broken by Shikaku Nara."

An encryption that could even fool the Sharingan, now that caught my attention.

Rolling the scroll up, Jiraiya slipped it back into his vest pocket. "I received the first one a few months ago from one of my informants and decided to follow it on a whim. I met up with the person described in the scroll, an A-ranked Missing-nin from Kusa who just so happened to have been offered a spot in the Akatsuki."

Wait, what?!

"The Akatsuki's recruiting new members?"

They were down by two members thanks to Tsunade and myself. They hadn't even been able to acquire a single Biju, so I suppose it made sense that they would try to replenish their numbers.

"It seems so," Jiraiya nodded. "Not that they've been very successful, I made sure of that myself. So far, each scroll has led me to a person, sometimes even a group that's been contacted by the Akatsuki. Not just anyone can get a hold of this information, it has to come from an inside source."

There was really only one person in the Akatsuki that I could see leaking information to Konoha. Itachi remained a loyal Shinobi after all… But why now of all times was he choosing to actively work against the Akatsuki, he never really did that in the main timeline. unless… Danzo's death might have led him to take a more proactive approach to ensuring his brother and the village's safety.

"It changes quite a bit, doesn't it?" Jiraiya chuckled. "The… only… Thing… I…" He trailed off as he stared up at the sky… More specifically at the bird that darted towards Tsunade's office. "A bird that moves that fast always means trouble. It looks like we'll have to pick this conversation up at a later date."

As it turned out, the Fire Temple had been attacked by a masked assailant. The message hadn't gone on to describe what he looked like, but it did mention that he walked through the temple's sealed iron door as if he were a ghost.

The message only arrived now and travel to the Fire Temple would take at least a few hours, but since I had the Hiraishin, travel time was rarely an issue for me nowadays, especially since I had taken to leaving my Kunai sprinkled around the countryside.

"Looks like we're here," Jiraiya announced, coming to a stop. Observing the outside of the temple, he let out a short whistle "This place doesn't seem to have changed since I was last here."

"You've been here before?" I asked, looking up at the temple. It didn't seem like there was any damage done to it, but that was only from the outside.

"Don't sound so surprised. With how much I've traveled in my life, there aren't that many places that I haven't been," Jiraiya hummed. "So, should we knock or…" He trailed off, looking to our third teammate for this short mission.

Ignoring Jiraiya's question, Asuma swiftly made his way up the stairs and placed his palm against the sealed iron door. Pulsing his Chakra, the doors released a clicking sound and remained closed. A handful of moments passed before the doors let out a groan as they slowly began to open.

Passing through the large iron doors, I glanced around the interior and found that it remained mostly untouched. There was very little damage besides a few broken stairs and a destroyed garden. The inhabitants on the other hand… That was a different story.

Nearly a dozen monks lay dead, strewn about on the ground with even more severely wounded. Their injuries were tended to by the younger members of the temple who somehow managed to avoid the fight.

"Stop," A shaky male voice ordered. "Out… Outsiders are not welcome here. Turn around and leave. Or… You'll have to deal with us."

Turning towards the voice, I would have laughed if the situation hadn't been so grim. Standing to the side, ready to fight, was a group of ten monks, the oldest of which couldn't be more than fourteen while the youngest seemed to be nine.

"We're allies from Konoha," Asuma explained, turning towards the group. "We only just heard of the attack and came immediately. Where's Chiriku? Can you take me to him?"

The group eyed us suspiciously, before their eyes landed on the sash Asuma wore around his waist.

"Come with us."

Following the small group of monks up the temple stairs, we came to a stop at the top where several sets of large pillars stood, holding up an equally large roof. A beaten and bloodied monk sat, propped up against one of the pillars, watching over the temple.

"Asuma, huh," The monk wheezed as he looked up. "I knew they would send you."

"Who are… Chiriku," Asuma realized. Kneeling down in front of his old friend, he began to inspect his wounds. "We need to get you to a hospital right now!"

"Too far… I wouldn't make the journey," Chiriku said blearily. "Listen, there's something I need to tell you. The man who attacked us used a strange Jutsu… One that prevented any of our attacks from landing. He… Took Kazuma's son."

"Sora… Why would anyone want to kidnap him?"

"There…" Leaning forward, Chiriku devolved into a coughing fit, spitting up a small amount of blood. "I've kept a lot hidden about him for his own safety. Years ago, the Fire Temple was all but destroyed… It was Sora that did it. He… Lost control of himself and transformed into an all but indestructible monster."

I shared a look with Jiraiya. Sora sounded suspiciously like a Jinchuriki, but that couldn't be right. He definitely wasn't one, unless…

"When he transformed into this monster, did he gain a cloak of caustic Chakra that began to burn his own skin?" I asked.

"Now really isn't the time to be asking for details," Asuma said.

"No, it's alright," Chiriku coughed. "He's right to ask for such details. Your suspicions are correct. Sora is a Jinchuriki… But he's not a naturally occurring one. After the Kyuubi attacked Konoha, someone collected the remnants of its Chakra that lingered and sealed it in Sora when he was a child."

"That's not good," Jiraiya muttered.

No, it definitely wasn't. Why wasn't anyone else told about this? This had the potential to screw quite a few things over. Obito now had access to Kurama's Chakra… One of the things I'd gone out of my way to prevent by killing Kabuto and Orochimaru.

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I closed my eyes and thought it over. "The Kyuubi has to be sealed last, if the Akatsuki tried to seal it first, they would run the risk of damaging the Gedo Mazo. We should still have some time."

"That's a relief," Chiriku sighed. "Asuma, I have a favor to ask… Rescue Sora and return him here… To his home."

"I will," Asuma promised.

"Thank you." Chiriku breathed a little easier. "I believe that this is it for me. I will see you all in the Pure Land."

"Yeah, no," I said, forming a Shadow Clone. "Sorry, but you're going to be sticking around here for a while."

Reaching down, my clone grabbed a hold of Chiriku's shoulder and the two of them instantly disappeared.

"What… What did you do?!" Asuma asked.

"I sent him to the hospital in Konoha where he'll be treated by a clone of the world's greatest medic," I answered. "I can use the Hiraishin after all."

I had wanted to use it earlier, but decided to wait and listen to Chiriku's story about Sora. He'd managed to survive his wounds for hours on end, a few minutes wouldn't change much.

Forming several more Shadow Clones, I spread them throughout the Fire Temple, having them prioritize the most gravely injured first before moving on to those with lesser injuries.

Stabbing one of my Kunai into the pillar, I turned to watch as my clones began transporting the wounded monks. Depending on who was left, it might be for the best if I just bring everyone back to Konoha for now. Leaving a group of young monks alone here after their temple was attacked didn't exactly seem like the right thing to do.

Sitting in a dimly lit room, Obito stared down at his arm as he clenched and unclenched his hand. It was an odd sensation, being whole again. At this point, he'd spent more of his life with Hashirama's synthetic tissue replacing his missing limb than he'd ever spent with the original.

And it wasn't just the arm either. Entire organs that had once been replaced by Hashirama's artificial tissue had been fully regenerated. Without Tobi attached to his body, he would no doubt feel the need to eat once more.

His original arm was a lot sturdier than the artificial one and could take far more punishment without the tissue breaking down into a gelatinous form, but at the same time, it felt a little uncomfortable. There was far too much sensation in the right half of his body. He missed the slightly numb feeling of Hashirama's artificial tissue.

Even his missing eye had regenerated… Although it wasn't anything special… It wasn't even a Sharingan. He would have to see about replacing it when he had a little extra time. The Izanagi was far too useful of a technique to not have up his sleeve after all.

"Shinnō did remarkable work," Black Zetsu cackled as he rose up from the ground. "To be able to regenerate a body so thoroughly… It's a pity that he chose to remain separate from the Akatsuki. He would have been beneficial to our cause unlike others who have done nothing but drag us down."

"Aw, lay off Obito, he was just playing with himself," Tobi said.

Obito sighed. Tobi always found the worst ways to describe what he was doing. Standing, Tobi's body wrapped itself around him once more. "I take it that you're finished with your project."

"I have," Black Zetsu answered. "You may come and see what I've done. Be sure not to touch anything or the past twenty four hours will have been for nothing."

"Lead the way."

Watching as Zetsu sunk into the ground, Obito followed suit.

Stepping out of a wall much further underground, Obito found himself in the room they'd been using to store the Gedo Mazo when Nagato wasn't using it.

A massive plant stem grew out of a deep underground lake. Embedded in the stem, only a few meters above the water was a living clone of Hashirama, its body cultivated from the chunk of flesh Madara had stolen decades ago.

There was, however, a new addition to the stem. Resting a little below Hashirama was Sora, the pseudo Jinchuriki that they'd taken from the Fire Temple.

"This is what you wanted the pseudo Jinchuriki for?" Obito asked blankly, looking down at the root system below. "To make a few extra Zetsu clones?"

"That is not all it does," Black Zetsu growled. "It's rigged in a way that allows me to cultivate the Kyuubi's Chakra. The boy's Chakra flows into the clone which flows back into the boy, any excess Chakra is used to passively produce White Zetsu Clones."

Obito looked at the project in a new light. He'd thought that Black Zetsu had simply planned to drain the boy of all his Chakra, creating a few thousand more clones, but this would end up creating a much larger amount spread out over a longer timeframe.

"As the Kyuubi's Chakra grows, so too will the rate at which White Zetsu's are produced, adding Biju to the Gedo Mazo should increase that rate as well," Black Zetsu continued. "The boy can be used as a battery for many useful things… All we have to do is wait."

If adding more Biju could increase the rate at which they produced White Zetsu's, then they were going to have to see about doing that as soon as possible.

It was about time for the Akatsuki to step into the light once more and while they fought and weakened the villages, an army would slowly grow under everyone's feet.

And that's chapter 56 done.

I had a few issues with this site on monday, but everything seems to be working now.

Just letting you know, if I'm ever unable to post here for whatever reason, the next chapter will always be available on my P word account without needing any form of subscription.

Obito kicks the crap out of Chiriku, Zetsu turns Sora into a rechargeable Chakra battery to help form his army, Jiraiya's been getting mail from someone that Naruto suspects is Itachi and Naruto nopes Chiriku's death and sends him straight to Konoha.

Anyways, I'm up to chapter 63 on the spooky P word website.

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I go by the name of ThatKircguy. Just copy the name and paste it in the Patty Rio On search bar. It'd help me out immensely, but don't worry if that's not your style. I will be uploading weekly, so it's not going to be stuck there permanently.

Also, I post my original stuff there as well. It's nothing much, just two short stories for now, but I'll post more as I write them.

The next chapter will be posted on the 24fh of January.
See you all then dudes and dudettes.