Chapter 57: A Change of Scenery

Standing in a large, dimly lit room, Nagato's Deva path clapped his hands together, molding the necessary Chakra required for his technique.

"This meeting is hereby called to order," He announced as several shadowy projections fizzled into existence around him.

"It's been a while since we all gathered like this," Kisame mused aloud. "I think the last time was after the failed assassination in the Land of Iron."

Deidara grunted and looked away.

"Oh, it seems that I've touched a nerve," Kisame grinned. "Do you have something to say, Deidara? Maybe something about your part in that failure?"

Deidara shot a harsh glare towards the former Kiri Shinobi. "Watch it fish sticks," He snapped. "You weren't even there… I had to deal with the Raikage and two high caliber Jonin."

"Don't try and weasel your way out," Kisame taunted, grinning. "You had your chance and failed. If I had been there, the Kage would be dead and we would have long since obtained those two Jinchuriki."

"Oh, really," Deidara smirked. "Then what about the time you and Itachi confronted the Kyuubi Jinchuriki? From what I hear, he was a Genin at the time and you failed to capture him… Worse… You were forced to flee and were even wounded. If you can't even win a fight with a Genin, what chance would you have with a Kage?"

"…You're a mouthy little brat," Kisame commented, glancing at Itachi. "Do you have anything you want to say on the matter?"

Eyeing his partner, Itachi gave a small, almost unnoticeable nod. "Rank doesn't indicate skill or power. Although the Kyuubi Jinchuriki was only listed as a Genin, he was faster and more powerful than most Jonin… He was also in possession of a skill set that countered ours fairly well and went on to kill Orochimaru. That is all I have to say on the matter."

Deidara gave a short, amused hum. "It seems I've touched a nerve, Kisame," He mocked. "Especially if you need your partner to come to your aid."

"Perhaps we should meet up after this meeting, Deidara," Kisame suggested, shifting dangerously. "I can show you just how much help I truly need."

"Enough," Nagato's Deva Path commanded in a monotonous tone. "There will be no fighting among members, need I remind you that we've already lost two. We are here to discuss how we will move forward, not failures of the past."

"I wasn't planning on killing him… I was only going to remove a limb," Kisame muttered softly.

Looking over Kisame, the Deva Path turned its attention towards Zetsu who had been silent throughout the argument.

"How have the recruitment efforts gone?"

"They've been a complete failure," Black Zetsu growled out his answer. "Nearly everyone we've approached has been killed by Jiraiya of the Sannin. He appears to be well informed."

"The only new member that we've managed to gain is Tobi," White Zetsu continued. "Everyone else was killed."

"Jiraiya, huh," The Deva path hummed.

"He isn't the only one that is causing issues," Black Zetsu added. "The Kyuubi Jinchuriki has become a massive nuisance. Through his time spent in Kumo, he's learned how to use his Biju's Chakra properly and he has managed to master the Fourth Hokage's Jutsu, allowing him to teleport anywhere he pleases so long as he leaves a marker behind."

"He currently has his markers spread across Konoha, Kumo and he might even have one in Suna with the attempted Coup," White Zetsu chipped in.

That was an issue.

A perfect Jinchuriki was already a big enough problem in itself, never mind the fact that the Kyuubi Jinchuriki had mastered the Hiraishin. The full power of the Kyuubi, paired with the ability to teleport… They would need to be extra cautious when dealing with him, Nagato might even need to step in himself.

"It seems that brat has become even more problematic since last time," Kisame commented, a shark-like grin forming on his face. "But, Jinchuriki aren't an issue for me." He hummed, grabbing the hilt of Samehada. "I wonder how much Chakra I'll be able to shave from him."

"It won't be enough," Kakuzu intoned.

"Care to explain what you mean by that?" Kisame asked, glancing over at Kakuzu.

"It's just as I said. Absorbing the Kyuubi's Chakra alone won't be enough to bring its Jinchuriki down," Kakuzu explained. "He still has a full arsenal up his sleeve. Throughout my life, I've fought many powerful Shinobi, each wielding devastating techniques, but his… Uzumaki Naruto's… They're in a class of their own. They're almost comparable to what Senju Hashirama was capable of."

"The more Chakra that my opponent has, the better I am at countering them," Kisame replied. "If what you're saying is true and he is capable of using that much Chakra, then I will look forward to my next fight with him."

"Kakuzu is right to be wary of him, Kisame," Black Zetsu growled.

"Yeah, we managed to catch the end of his fight with the Sky Nation," White Zetsu chimed in. "He blew the whole thing up using some kind of Lightning Style technique… For a second, it looked like the sky had been broken. Even you would die to from that."

It seemed that everything was circling around the Kyuubi Jinchuriki. The alliance between Konoha and Kumo, the failed abduction of the Nanabi Jinchuriki and now the Sky Nations destruction. Much like Jiraiya, the Kyuubi Jinchuriki appeared to have developed a habit of interfering with the Akatsuki's plans… Although, it seemed to be limited to nations that were allied to Konoha.

They would both need to be dealt with first if they were going to be able to hunt the Biju in the Kumo and Suna, but… Such a fight would likely end up killing a few of the Akatsuki members and they didn't really have any to spare at the moment.

Perhaps it was a question of timing. There were still four Jinchuriki unaccounted for outside of Konoha, Kumo and Suna. They could always deal with Jiraiya and the Kyuubi Jinchuriki when it was time to collect the rest.

The shadowy projections of the various Akatsuki members fizzled out of existence, leaving the hall empty with the exception of the two remaining founders of the Akatsuki.

A few more arguments had broken out, but such was the nature of S-rank missing-nin. The only thing that kept them from killing each other, besides the fact that they physically couldn't, was Pain's presence… And speaking of.

Turning towards her lifelong friend who was currently puppeting the body of the deceased member of their trio, Konan let out a short, pained sigh. The sight of Yahiko's body being used as a puppet used to be jarring, but now it only left her feeling tired.

Nagato had specifically kept him around to serve as a reminder for what they were working towards… A world without wars, one where the people would realize what their greed would cost others… And themselves. A world that Yahiko himself helped build… even if it was only through the use of his body.

"You seem to be lost in thought, Konan," Nagato's Deva path noted. "Is there anything that you want to talk about?"

Konan nodded silently. "I'm worried about the direction the Akatsuki is heading… Maybe it would be better if we talked face to face."

"There's no need for you to make the trip," Nagato replied. "What's bothering you?"

"Madara," She answered immediately. "The Akatsuki was originally formed to bring peace to the world, a goal I still believe in today, but Madara's actions concerning the Sky Nation… How he helped them use those civilians as fodder doesn't sit well with me."

The Deva path stoically observed her. "There were always going to be casualties, Konan, we both knew that… It will be worse once we finish collecting the Biju and use the weapon… But, after its use, an era of peace will follow."

"I understand that," Konan sighed. "But there's a difference between casualties and what Madara helped happen. Those people didn't die from some type of conflict, they were abducted, had their minds stripped from them and used to fight a war they had no part in. It was a step too far. Madara proved that day that he doesn't want what's best for the world, he wants what's best for himself."

"…I can see where you're coming from," Nagato conceded, giving the matter some thought. "As far as I'm aware, there are no further plans to use civilians in that manner again. Madara won't be able to go behind our back either. The technique used was created by Mukade."

Konan nodded her satisfaction, glad to have Nagato on her side concerning this. While they couldn't fix what had already been done, they could at least prevent it from happening again in the future. Except… Maybe they could. Maybe everything could be set right.

"Do you ever wonder how different things would have been if Yahiko was still alive?"

"I have," Nagato admitted. "But I can't allow myself to get caught up in the past. I need to focus on the future, that's what he would have wanted. Why do you ask?"

Konan gave a small smile. "I'm just reminiscing."

"I see," He hummed. Turning to leave, he stopped by the door. "You were the one sent to retrieve Mukade… Did he really die in the attempted Coup?"

"He did," Konan answered.

Nodding, Nagato's Deva path left Konan alone in the hall.

Patting her cloak, Konan felt the scroll she had stored in her pocket. She would need to go over it a few more times in order to understand what Mukade was planning, but from the little that she had figured out, there was a chance that she could set everything right.

Tsunade let out a tired sigh as she looked over the scrolls splayed across her desk, their content a little too important to leave in the hands of one of her clones.

Being a Hokage wasn't easy. Thanks to her use of Shadow Clones, the workload had been cut down dramatically, but the memory feedback could make a day feel like it had been stretched into a week or even a month if she was especially busy.

A few weeks had passed since the attack on the Fire Temple and everything had settled down once more. Most of the injured monks had made a full recovery with only a few having succumbed to their wounds. The only real issue had stemmed from Obito abducting Sora, the Fire Temple's pseudo Jinchuriki.

Outside of the fact that Obito now possessed a portion of Kurama's Chakra, which was a problem in itself, there was still a whole political spectrum she had to deal with. The Fire Temple was technically a military force that existed as a second entity in the Land of Fire, although it held a more ceremonial role nowadays.

Much like how Konoha functioned with the Hokage being the leader, the Fire Temple answered directly to Chiriku who in turn answered to the Fire Daimyo. The monks were used to guard places of perceived importance and on occasion were used to protect the Fire Daimyo in place of the now disbanded twelve guardian Shinobi.

The temple itself wasn't that large, hosting around a hundred monks in total… Less now due to Obito's attack. That in itself wasn't the problem. Not informing anyone that they had a pseudo Jinchuriki as one of their students was the problem.

From an outsider's point of view, it could appear that the Fire Temple was planning an attack and while that wasn't the truth, the Fire Daimyo had asked for her to investigate the matter. It hadn't been that big of an issue, but it did take up valuable time and divert a few resources away from Konoha. Temporarily stalling her plan of sending a tracking team after Sora.

And now she had to deal with something else entirely… A request sent from a foreign nation. It wasn't bad news… Quite the opposite actually, it had the potential to help her with something she and Naruto had been working towards, but it also meant that she would soon have an abundance of paperwork.

"Call Shizune, Anko and Naruto to my office," She ordered one of her clones. "I have a mission for them." Hopefully she wouldn't have to deal with any month long days.

"On your left!"

Raising my arm, I managed to catch a high speed punch moments before it hit my face. Staring into a pair of fully matured Sharingan, I grinned. "You're just not quick enough," I taunted.

Sasuke smirked and used my grip as leverage as he brought his leg up far faster, landing a clean blow on my chest, forcing me to take a small step backwards. "I wasn't aiming for your face."

Not bad… Not bad at all. He'd really improved since I'd last trained with him. It seemed that Sasuke had truly pushed himself in my absence if he was able to keep up with me in my base speed.

"You're a lot faster than before," I hummed, wiping the dust from my shirt. "But you're not quite strong enough to land a meaningful blow against me." He definitely wouldn't be able to beat me with Taijutsu alone, Bee's weighted training routine had seen to that. Now if he had used a blade, things would have been different.

"We'll see about that," Sasuke replied. Locking hands with me, Sasuke strained as he attempted to push overpower me. His Curse Mark flared and began to spread across his body, increasing his strength, but it still wasn't quite enough to do anything meaningful.

Gripping his hand tighter, I stepped forward, forcing Sasuke backwards. His feet dug shallow trenches in the ground as he attempted to push back. Lightning sparked loudly in his hands and coursed down my arms, forcing me to pause for a moment.

I had wondered when he would start taking this seriously.

"You're going to have to do better than that," I hummed, nullifying his lightning with my own.

"I already am," Sasuke smirked. "You've grown a little predictable, Naruto. Don't forget, you were the one that insisted you could take on all of us."

Realizing what was going on, I looked up just in time to see a grinning Fu barreling towards me with a smaller than average Rasengan in hand, the loud skittering of her wings drowned out by the crackling sound of the lightning.

They'd managed to time that perfectly.

"Got you!" Fu cheered.

My cloak shifted as one of Kurama's large tails sprouted from my back, shielding me from Fu's Rasengan. Wrapping around her, the tail reared back and flicked her high into the air.

"What would you do without me?" Kurama sighed dramatically. "Try to not lose in too embarrassing of a way."

'Love you too buddy.'

Feeling one of my arms weaken for a brief moment, I turned and caught sight of Sakura who had grabbed onto me, her hands coated in medical Chakra that screwed with the sensations in my arm.

Breaking free from my grip, Sasuke's sparking fist impacted my face, causing me to take a stumbled step backwards.

Moving to counterattack, I stepped forward into Sasuke's next punch, allowing it to strike me as I lashed out with my own attack, landing a kick to his gut that sent him skidding back, clutching his stomach.

Spinning on the spot, I grabbed onto Sakura's outstretched arm. Lightning Style Chakra sparked to life in my hand, stunning her.

Hearing the distinct skittering of Fu's wings, I looked up to see her charging towards me with a Rasengan in her hand once more.

Coating my hand with Earth Style Chakra, I reached up and grabbed onto the spiraling orb. The ground cracked beneath me as the Rasengan began to destabilize, eating away at the armor in my hand. Clenching my hand closed, it finally detonated, sending Fu and myself flying away from each other.

"Don't you think that you're taking this a bit far?"Kurama deadpanned.

'It's just a spar,' I thought back as I stood back up, the skin on my hand having already regenerated. 'Besides, Fu wasn't exactly using a fully powered Rasengan, it barely managed to grind through my Earth Style armor.'

Hell, even if it had been a full powered Rasengan, it still wouldn't have done any lasting damage. The only thing I really had to be on the look out to avoid was S-rank techniques.

Forcing his way to his feet, Sasuke let out a strained grunt as he held his stomach. Having recovered from being stunned, Sakura hurried over and began to apply healing Chakra to his wound.

"Fu!"

"On it," Fu called out, dropping down from the tree branch she'd landed on, landing next to him.

Watching as the two rapidly cycled through their hand seals, I raised an eyebrow. A combination technique? Fu was proficient with Wind Style techniques while Sasuke knew Fire and Lightning. It wasn't hard to guess what they were planning on doing.

Clapping my hands together, I exhaled a massive stream of water as they launched twin streams of wind and fire my way, creating a raging inferno of fire. Hot steam engulfed the training ground as the two techniques met. The combination of fire and wind proved to be too much and began overwhelming my technique.

Taking a moment to mold more Chakra, I stomped my foot down, releasing a pulse of Earth Style Chakra that caused the earth to erupt in front of me, sending large amounts of dirt into my water stream, creating my own combination technique.

With the addition of earth, my stream of water became much harder to evaporate, allowing it to cut a line through the inferno, extinguishing it, before finally impacting the trio. Coating them in a thick layer of warm mud.

Grunting as he wiped the mud from his face, Sasuke glanced towards Sakura who wasn't anywhere near as dirty thanks to her being positioned behind him. Seeing the ground ripple beneath him, vines shot out, wrapping around the three of them, pulling them down to their knees.

"I think that's enough for now," Kakashi announced, stepping out of the forest as I allowed the vines to loosen. "Why don't the three of you go get cleaned up so long. You can try again after a short break."

"Can't we keep going?" Fu pressed eagerly. "It's not like a little mud will slow us down."

A new voice made itself known as a figure landed in the training ground. "Trust me," Anko called out, her coat fluttering behind her. "You'll want to get that mud out of your hair before it hardens."

Forming a seal, a wave of pressurized air burst from Fu's body, spraying mud in all directions. Ducking out of the way, some still managed to spray across the side of my clothes. Looking over to Anko, it seemed that she'd also been hit by a little.

"Heh, sorry," Fu apologized, sheepishly rubbing the back of her head. "But I'm completely clean now, so that means we can continue, right?"

"Yeah, no," Anko replied, flicking the dirt off her coat. "I came here to collect my partner," She continued, shooting me a smirk. "We're to head to the Hokage's office, there's a new mission waiting for us."

Fu whined as Sasuke and Sakura struggled to step out of the tangled mess of vines and mud.

"Any idea what it's about?" I asked.

"Not a clue," Anko hummed.

Tsunade generally preferred to have us do the higher ranked or more secretive missions, so whatever it was, it would be important.

"Well… I guess I'll see you all some other time," I said, glancing towards the trio I'd just fought.

"It's a pity that you have to leave so suddenly," Kakashi chimed in. "I was hoping to see how much you've improved with your ability to use Elemental Chakra… Perhaps another time."

That sounded a lot like he wanted to test himself against me. I'd heard of what he'd done in Suna, so I was definitely up for seeing how much stronger he'd become. "I'll let you know when I'm back," I nodded.

Grabbing onto Anko's shoulder, I focused on the marker that I knew was nearest Tsunade's office and we disappeared in a flash.

Leaning against her desk, holding a clipboard in hand, Tsunade looked up as Anko and I entered her office. "Right on time," She hummed. "It seems the third member of your team is running a little behind schedule…"

"Sorry I'm late!" Shizune burst through the office doors. "I was busy finishing up a surgery, but I'm here now."

Shizune was coming too? I was really beginning to wonder what this was about.

Waiting for a few moments to ensure she had our attention, Tsunade grabbed a blue scroll that had been resting on her desk behind her. "Earlier today, I received a message from a foreign nation… Kirigakure of all places. It seems that the nation has finally stabilized after their civil war and the acting Mizukage has reached out to us in order to ask for assistance."

"Isn't Kiri notoriously known for being a ruthless village that double crosses its guests?" Anko asked, skeptical of the request.

"They have done that in the past, but that seems to have changed with their civil war coming to an end," Tsunade explained. "They've begun to reform themselves and have changed quite a few things in their village, including their graduation exam."

Right, that whole 'killing your classmates' thing. Both morally reprehensible and pragmatically wasteful. How any village could think that cutting their graduating class in half was a good idea was anyone's best guess. The fact that Danzo thought it was a good idea just proved how idiotic it truly was.

"Kiri is currently sitting in a precarious position. They have far too much to lose by betraying us," Tsunade continued. "The village has lost track of its Biju and has asked for our assistance in finding them."

"But why us?" Shizune asked.

"Besides Kumo, Konoha is known as the next best knowledgeable source when it comes to Biju," Tsunade explained. "And it just so happens that we're a little bit more approachable than Kumo."

I let out a snort of laughter at that. If Ay heard that, he'd be more than a little pissed.

"Alright, I'm in," Anko replied. "But I want it on record that if a war does break out between Konoha and Kiri, it wasn't any of our faults."

"Noted," Tsunade smirked.

"What?!" Shizune asked, turning towards Anko. "Don't you think you're being a little too relaxed about this?"

"Eh, not really," Anko shrugged. "If Kiri does decide to use this request in order to lure us into a trap, then we'll just fight them off and leave," She said, pointing her thumb towards me. "And if they don't then there's nothing to worry about."

Shizune sighed, giving up. "We're not going to be traveling by boat, are we?"

Tsunade shook her head with an amused look on her face. "We've got a few better options than using a boat… Specifically, the Hiraishin. All we need to do is send a marker to Kiri."

I rolled my eyes. It seemed that all I ever used that technique for was traveling long distances… Not that I was complaining. Spending weeks sailing across the ocean on a boat didn't exactly sound like a good time.

"It will take some time before the marker arrives in Kiri," Tsunade continued. "Probably around a few weeks, depending on the weather."

"Actually," I began. "I might have an idea on how to shorten that to a few hours, but I'll first need to check in with the Raikage to see if it's alright." Mabui had been able to send one of my Kunai to the Genbu… Sending one to Kiri shouldn't be that big of an issue.

Since the civil war in Kiri had ended, that meant Mei was the Mizukage now and that Yagura had died with Isobu following along after him.

The Sanbi was likely still reforming, so it was safe for now. Utakata on the other hand… He could honestly be anywhere. Finding him would go a long way to getting Kiri as an ally.

And that's chapter 57 done.

The Akatsuki has a meeting which goes fairly smoothly, considering that they are all S-rank missing-nin., Konan begins to question if the ends justify the means. Naruto has a little spar with Team 7 and Tsunade gets a message from Kiri, asking for assistance concerning their Biju.

Anyways, I'm up to chapter 64 on the spooky P word website.

P
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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 31st of January.
See you all then dudes and dudettes.