Chapter 16 The Emperor, war promises and a massacre

"Jiraiya will no doubt try to go to Amegakure to speak to Nagato unless something happens that keeps him grounded," Naruto said to both Naoki and Naori. He was sitting on his throne, watching the two with an expressionless mask. "Warn Nagato about this. We don't want a nuisance ruining anything."

Naoki found it amusing that Naruto would call Jiraiya a nuisance given that he had just been sitting with the Toad Sage, sharing a drink with him while talking about the past. He wasn't going to point this out as it appeared the emperor was no longer fooling around. "Do you think he would leak anything to either Kumogakure or Iwagakure?"

Naruto shook his head. "But he will try to stand in the way," he said.

Jiraiya was a hypocrite and would not doubt try to stop things in the quest of his peace. But Naruto did not care for the man's peace. He didn't care what his father would have wanted. He had made his own choice as Minato had made his own to sacrifice himself for the sake of Konoha. For the sake of the Uzumaki, he would step on the throats of the Kages and make them obey him. If Jiraiya was going to stand in the way, he would be removed. Nagato would even do it himself.

He was much more merciless than he was. He was just cold, Nagato was brutal.

"Konoha has already been warned. It does appear that Sunagakure will not make any movements, unlike Konoha. The village is very nosy. They haven't made any movements in the Sound country, but they will surely do it once they learn of it," Naori said.

"Guren will deal with it without involving us. You will offer her the support she demands," Naruto said calmly. "We have been talking about war for a while now… we must now make sure it happens. If Onoki and Ai are being slow to act, we must force their hands."

"They are actually meeting soon to discuss their strategy," Naori said.

Naruto could not hide his smile upon hearing those words. He was glad that Naoki had told him about this. He could go on and make a small show. He hasn't been stretching his muscles in quite some time. A small exercise with the Kages would not hurt anyone. Besides, if it could intensify things, Naruto would gladly ruin their meeting. "Do you know the location?"

"Naturally," Naori said.

"We will go there and I will have a small sparring session with them. I should give them some reasons and make them mobilize quickly. They are acting too slowly for my liking. I am getting bored now. If nothing happens, I am most likely to attack one of them myself," Naruto said.

"You must not get too excited, Your Majesty. If you do that, it will change the direction we decided to take," Naoki was quick to say.

"Directions can be changed any time. Besides, I am the emperor; if we want to do things different, we will do them." He paused for a moment. "But I will restrain myself. I will certainly explode in the battlefield though. I will be forgiven," he said with a shrug.

"I wonder about that," Naoki said in thought. "Do you want me to go with you?"

Naruto shook his head. "You annoy me these days… Naori will move with me. You can never know what happens there. It will be good to have some back-up…" he paused and stared at the two with a cold look on his face. "You two revealed yourself to a person from Kumogakure and I remember specifically telling you not to interfere."

There was silence. They looked at each other and Naoki spoke. "Well, we didn't interfere. We just observed, coincidently, it happened while C was watching," he said with a weak smile.

Naruto stared at the man for what looked like eternity. "You are lying, Naoki… I dislike that kind of thing about you. You think you know me best and tend to act knowing that I will be fine. Normally, if things don't backfire, I am fine with it, but when things go wrong, and when I have told you not to move, it displeases me very much."

Naoki's smile vanished but it was Naori who responded. "Has something happened, Your Majesty?"

"Why do you two think that I kept you away and introduced myself as the Emperor with Haku and Guren acting as my guards while you are my real guards? Sometimes you act too much for your amusement and don't consider certain possibilities and scenarios." Naruto shook his head. "Nothing happened, but you appear in conversation as C reported you to Ai. Naoki, I know it was your decision to go out… if this happens again, you two are done."

"Understood, your Majesty."

Naruto offered no reaction to this. "How is Haku doing?"

"He is moving slowly and the Wind Daimyo isn't," Naori said.

"Naoki, remind him that he needs to act decisively or else I will have the Daimyo eliminated. I know I gave him the responsibility but if he is unable to handle it, I will do it for him. Guren would have just removed him from the picture if he could not listen," Naruto said in thought. "Then again, just removing him will complicate things with Kirigakure."

"Indeed," Naoki said. "We could try other methods of exercising control," he suggested.

Naruto thought about it for a moment before nodding his head. "Present the method to Haku as an option and see what he will do. Naori, you will come to me and we will travel to have a little bit of fun with Onoki and the Raikage."

"What about your meeting with the Council, your Majesty?"

"I no longer have interest in going," Naruto said in a flat tone. "But I do have to go to make them obedient, don't I?"

Council Chambers

Politics was a hardcore game. Yoshino had observed it from many nations. It was perhaps much more cruel than the game shinobi played. At least in politics no one was really an enemy. Today they could fight, and tomorrow they'd be partners trying to win an office together. The game of politics was like that. It was dangerous. It was a game filled of lies and propaganda. It wasn't the kind of game Naruto could enjoy playing. No, his Emperor was a shinobi and while he had his moments, he was not a politician. He did not have the patience and attitude to play it. Appearances were everything in politics. Most often Naruto did not care for it. But it wasn't to say he didn't know how to play his cards.

The Council was filled up with old geezers who've been playing the game of cards for a number of years. They had nothing better to do than to play cards when the clan was playing extinct and many of their clansmen scattered throughout the Elemental Nations. They were trying to play their hand with Naruto. They were trying to play politics with Naruto. It was a dangerous game. Yoshino respected them but he did not follow them. They'd taught him many things. Hell, they even taught Naruto certain things about Uzumaki arts. Though, neither can claim to be teachers of Naruto when it came to Fuinjutsu in general.

Yoshino looked around the round table for a moment before his eyes stopped at the old man who raised him. He nodded towards the old man, but said nothing. They played this game. They said nothing toward each other in public. Perhaps it was the old man's presence in the Council that was driving them to push him towards the throne of the Uzumaki Empire. Yoshino did not deserve it and he would not admire it. He had his own throne, and it was the helm of Uzushiogakure and the Uzumaki clan.

"Yoshino, it has come to our attention that you were the one who proposed that Haku be put in his current position. He is indeed a bloodline holder but he isn't Uzumaki." The old, yet firm voice of his 'grandfather' said.

Naruto had yet to arrive. He was not late. He would come in time for the meeting to start. They just started early each time. "Yes, that was my proposal," Yoshino said with a nod.

"Why would you propose something like that? Naruhiro could have played that role."

"Naruhiro would not offer his Majesty the kind of protection he requires. That aside, I require Naruhiro's services here in Uzu."

"Protection?" There was a snort. "It isn't like Naruto needs any protection from anyone."

"Regardless, that is what we have determined and it shall be so," Yoshino said. He was not going to budge. He was not going to become a puppet of these people.

"You have changed, Yoshino. If you cannot see things in the same light as we do, we will train someone else to take over Uzushiogakure and groom that person to become the next Emperor."

"I suggest you start training someone now because I don't plan on being leader of this village for the rest of my life. As for who becomes the Emperor, as far as I am concerned, Naruto determines who succeeds him."

"Rules can be changed any time."

"Besides, Naruto will not live a long life if he still plans on releasing the Kyubi. He has already used some of his life-force to get himself where he is."

Yoshino was not going to tell them that everything could be offset if Karin was successful in her experiments. With Kabuto in the mix, it was going to be a success and Naruto would get a chance to live a long life worthy of someone with Uzumaki blood.

"That may be true…" Yoshino stopped when the doors flung open and Naruto slowly walked into the Council chamber, alone with an expressionless look on his face.

Naruto took his rightful seat and placed both his hands on the table before speaking. "I won't take much of your time. We just need to sort out a couple of issues and remind everyone of their roles and everyone will go back to their jobs – well at least some of us who have jobs."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"No one here has forgotten the rules we established. Each one of us consented when the rules were formed because we believed they were the best for the Empire."

"Perhaps we should be reminding you of the rules we set up, Naruto."

Naruto shook his head. "If you people have not forgotten the rules, what is all this politicking? Not long ago, there was the word that this Council wanted Yoshino to be emperor and now my decisions are being questioned. I have to say, it wounds me that you people would turn on me so quickly."

"Don't take too much on things you hear from the street."

"But if Yoshino was the Emperor, we would not complain."

"You are more suited to lead us through war and once war is over, you can fold to the sidelines and allow Yoshino to rule. We don't trust your urges. You might lead us into another war just for your amusement."

These people were never in agreement with the thought of going to war again. No, they wanted nothing to do with it. Even no, they had no say in it because they did not want to be involved. They never held contempt for what happened in the past. They just had fear. They were afraid of coming out of the shadows because they might suffer again. He had taken advantage of the fear to get what he wanted. Yoshino had been a big help because they seemed to have the same thoughts.

"That says a lot about your confidence in me…" Naruto ended up saying.

"Well, it was Yoshino's efforts that brought things to this level. Had it not been for him, we wouldn't be in this position."

Naruto looked amused. "Uzushiogakure is the land of the Uzumaki. This is our home. And because I respect this place, I made Yoshino its leader and you were all pleased with it. I don't even interfere with how Yoshino runs this village. You even made him the unofficial head of the clan But Nadeshiko, the Wave, Sound, Amegakure and others who have been financially supporting us, they are all me. I brought them to the table. You did not. Yoshino did not. The Empire is mine. And you will not tell me how I run it. You can do all you like with Uzu, but the bigger picture is mine and you don't have a say in any of it. I will rule until I die. My child will succeed me. That is the law I have placed and it shall not be changed. You are free to work around the rules we created, like meddling with my marriage affairs, because ultimately, clan protection and the survival of this village is your duty, nothing more. Remember this. If this attitude of yours, continues, I will have you all placed in orphanages in the island."

Onoki could smell the scent of treachery in the air: Perhaps not directly from the muscle-head parading as the Raikage, but from his people. Ai was not the kind of person who plotted to backstab people. He was a muscle-head who liked to show off strength. Onoki saw it as a disadvantage. The man was not able to use tricks that would save him time and valuable men. He was still going to work with this man. It wasn't because he really wanted to work with Ai; it was just the situation that forced him to working things like this. He could defeat Uzushiogakure on his own, but he could not afford to go to war alone. Ai would have his men march over to Iwagakure.

The past actions have not been forgotten. Ai still thought he was the one who tried to kill him. Even to this day, Onoki still denied it. He had been many things. Ordered some nuisance to be removed from the picture, but he had not done something as stupid as to order someone to kill the Raikage. If he wanted Ai to be dead, he would have done it himself. Well, there wasn't even a reason for him to wish for the Raikage to be killed in the first place. Iwa's traditional enemy has always been Konoha. The Leaf didn't even get along with Kumo.

He had brought around 30 shinobi with him, compared to the Raikage's 17. This was still a neutral place and there was no one else close by. A tent was set up for the two leaders to talk and once everything was set, they sat facing each other, the Raikage glaring at Onoki.

"No matter how you look at me, I am still not going to admit having attempted to kill you. If I was going to try to kill someone, it would have been someone in Konoha," the Sandaime Tsuchikage said in a calm tone.

"I'm no longer concerned about. It might be that you have been telling the truth when you said you didn't plan anything. But it still doesn't change that it was your shinobi and you refused to take responsibility for them," the Raikage said sternly.

Onoki shrugged. "Taking responsibility would be admitting that I did it and I am not going to do that," he said. "But this isn't why we came here."

Ai was silent for a couple of moments before speaking. "Uzushio has taken one of my Jinchuriki and sent someone to inform me that it is war."

"The same was done to me but they had taken my granddaughter. She was brought back, but useless as a shinobi. She can't do anything at this point. It doesn't change that they had taken her and want war with us. I suggest we put on hold our little problems and focus on Uzushio. We cannot afford to underestimate them. In the past, it took three great nations to work together and apparently that was still not enough," Onoki said.

"You are not going to attack me while my forces are moving towards, Uzushio, are you?" Ai demanded. "I really can't trust you with anything."

"Neither can I, but we have to agree that Uzushio is the bigger threat now. We even have a greater opportunity to do everything now since they have no allies in any of the Great Villages. Konoha won't be forced into doing anything but we could force the Hidden Mist," Onoki said. "Regardless, we are still going to attack them and this time, we will ensure that we destroy them."

"Destroy them?" the Raikage shook his head. "My village is still interested in having an Uzumaki. I will be taking some of them to Kumogakure."

Onoki shook his head. This has always been the case with Kumogakure. Their struggles with Konoha have been because they always want to take power by force. The Hyuga incident was even birthed because of this attitude. "If you are taking some, then we will also do it. But since I can't trust you, our forces will have to invade Uzushio together. You can't move in before we are in position to do so."

"I'm not against that; you might decide against invading and march to our village while we are busy with Uzushio," the Raikage expressed with suspicion.

Onoki sighed; one ones. "How many are we each contributing? We can't move all our forces. Our villages will still need to be defended."

"Ten thousand each," the Raikage said. "20 thousand should be enough to crush them and intimidate anyone who will try to get involved. We are not precisely positive that Konoha will just sit back. They might think after Uzushio, we will be coming after them. You can't forget that they have been preparing for war for the past years."

Onoki frowned thinking about this. He always liked a Hidden Leaf that was focused on 'peace' rather than wars. No doubt the village had recovered and its shinobi were strong once more. The village has always had a record producing the finest shinobi. "No doubt it will be a threat in the near future," he said.

"Perhaps when another Kage comes in, but Tsunade is a student of the Sandaime Hokage, she won't be doing anything reckless to start war. The Leaf of the old would have already marched out with its forces ready to take us both," the Raikage said.

Naruto landed in a loud boom as he crashed into the ground. Large amounts of dust picked up around him for a couple of moments while the shinobi around took their attack positions. When the dust cleared, Naruto started walking towards the shinobi in a relaxed manner, unbothered by the fact that they had their weapons drawn up and ready to attack him. In his eyes, their threat was minimal. He could not sense any chakra that made him pause to think twice. Thinking of this, he halted for a moment and narrowed his eyes behind him: there was the Iwagakure group behind him. The front was covered by Kumogakure shinobi.

"I didn't think you'd be arrogant enough to appear here," Onoki said as he appeared, floating above the ground, with Ai just behind him. They had just stepped out of the small tent they'd been having their discussion.

Naruto only shifted his eyes to look at Onoki. He did not address at the Tsuchikage's statement. "I forget that you can fly," he said. "I have to say, I am rather envious of this ability. I can manipulate the air currents around me to propel myself into the air and float for a little while longer but it is not flying. If we were not enemies, I would have you teach me this ability of yours."

Onoki was annoyed that Naruto had chosen to ignore him and speak about his ninjutsu instead. "I see you are truly the same brat who came to Iwa and still didn't blink when I threatened to destroy Uzushiogakure."

"Why are you even bothering to talk to him, Tsuchikage?" Ai demanded. "We should just capture him now. And we will be done with this war."

"Who will take me if you capture me?" Naruto asked, just out of curiosity. Both of them did want him dead and would want to kill him themselves. They were probably going to fight for him.

"That is a valid question but we won't be drawn to have this argument," Onoki said in a firm tone.

"I wasn't trying to have you argue. In fact, I am happier if you can work together. Even now, I would be happy if you could team up and attack me. The Raikage doesn't want to talk. But I think such people talk easily when they are in battle," Naruto explained lightly. "I am happy to indulge you. Besides, I do want to hear your thoughts."

"You think you can take on two Kages by yourself?" The Yondaime Raikage said with a snort.

"Hmm… I don't know it I can do. I think I can but I am here to test it out. I don't know my limits because I haven't had anyone to challenge me." Naruto said calmly.

"Ridiculous," Onoki said going through hand seals. "Doton: Goremu no Jutsu!" Onoki spat out mud from his mouth. The mud hit the ground before starting to take shape.

Naruto was not able to watch it all as the Raikage was upon him in the blink of an eye. The man's right foot slid through the ground in a quick motion, heading towards Naruto's feet. The blond reacted by jumping up slightly to avoid the leg sweep. As if he had been expecting this movement, Ai threw a right punch towards the blond's gut. Naruto's reaction was just as quick; he caught the punch with both his hands.

Ai's pushed chakra into his feet to strengthen his muscles before using Naruto's momentum against him. He pulled, twisting around, using Naruto's hold on him to drag the blond along his movements. He hurled the blond towards Onoki's golem.

'Hmm?' Naruto's eyes didn't even open widely as he saw what he was heading towards. The golem was slowly balancing its feet, its right punch positioned alongside its right side, ready to smack him. His eyes shifted quickly to Ai and then to Onoki before holding out his right hand. He created a fist before swinging it towards that of the golem. The two fists collided in midair and a second later, the golem's arm shattered. The rest of its body followed suit.

Naruto had no time to recover and position himself as the Raikage flashed beneath him and tried to kick him up into the sky but Naruto had already measured up the man and Onoki before he decided to act against the golem. Before Ai's kick could connect with him, Naruto flashed away, and appeared a couple of feet behind the Raikage, standing gracefully.

"I didn't think you'd work well together. This is very interesting…" he said. "Shall we talk about our war? Your obsession with power Raikage and Onoki, your stubbornness and refusal to listen to other people."

"What about the war? It is your war not our war. Don't pretend that you didn't want this," Onoki said while flying towards Naruto. "Doton: Kengan no jutsu!" He encased his right fist with a rock. It was a huge fist that he slammed towards Naruto's face when he got closer.

Naruto folded both his hands across his face to block the punch. He gritted his teeth as the punch collided with his defense. It was no good and sent him sliding backwards in speed. Ai took advantage of his and flashed behind him, right hand held out cutting through the air in lightning speed. He seemingly cut through Naruto, but the blond turned into smoke but blood still gushed out. An Iwa shinobi fell down, the right side of his gut bust open. Ai didn't even blink: he just turned his attention towards Naruto, who was standing between the Iwa shinobi.

"I will not pretend this isn't my war. But you two deserve every bit of what is coming to you. I don't dislike the Raikage as much as I dislike you, Onoki. But still, you two are going to war with me and we will fight this. Are you not curious about my reasons?"

"You bastard! That was cowardly!" the shinobi closest to him shouted while trying to punch him. He had used a replacement jutsu. He was always thinking steps further in the battle. You did need to know what would happen if you reacted in a certain manner.

Naruto leaned back slightly to avoid the punch. It just went past him in the blink of an eye. Before the shinobi could even do anything else, Naruto gripped his face with his left hand. "You cannot afford to react with such anger in battle, otherwise, you move recklessly. The others created their distance while you decided to jump in and this is what happens."

Naruto heard a buzz of lightning. The Raikage was in front of him, surrounded by his lightning cloak. The man was above ground, he looked to have just jumped towards him as his body was positioned slightly horizontally with his right foot aimed to slam into his gut. The moment it seemed like Ai was about to touch him, Naruto burst into gusts of wind. The Raikage crashed into the ground in a loud boom.

Naruto appeared some distance away but he was forced to stretch out both his hands to defend himself as walls burst out from the ground and started to press against him. Both rock solid walls collided with his hands and started to press. Naruto frowned when the pressure became too much. His hands burst through the walls before they slammed into him in a brutal explosion that shattered the rocks.

When the debris cleared, Naruto was still standing there, but looking messy with dust all over him. He was given no time to dust himself as the Raikage flashed in front of him. The man's feet crashed into the ground as he used all the force he could before driving a right punch towards Naruto's chest. The blond's movements were fast enough to surprise Ai: he folded both his hands just across his chest just in time for Ai's fist to slam into them. The brutal punch sent him rocketing backwards.

Naruto flipped twice to regain his balance but when he touched down the ground, he was still being pushed back by the momentum of Ai's punch. "He hits rather hard," he said to himself as he felt discomfort on thin arms.

Ai rushed towards Naruto once more. He went airborne for a moment before crashing down towards Naruto, his right leg outstretched, aimed at slamming the back of his foot on the blond's forehead. Naruto once more held out his hands on defense. There was a loud crash when the attack connected. The ground burst, with Naruto's feet getting buried into the ground. The moment this happened, two hands made from rock burst out of the very ground and grabbed both his legs.

'No good,' Naruto said sensing movements from the Raikage. He didn't want to dish out free hits. He was no masochist.

A violent gust of wind with cutting ability blasted off around Naruto, cutting through the rock hands and forcing Ai to depart from him. The Raikage landed just below the Tsuchikage and looked at himself: that was dangerous. Had it not been for his lightning cloak, he would have received some massive cuts.

"I guess it is my time to be on the offensive. Perhaps I will motivate you to be a little serious," Naruto said before taking single step forward. Gusts of wind started to pick up around him before turning into a full blown out tornado that surrounded him. The tornado became so massive that it rose high into the air and started pulling things towards it.

Onoki instincts kicked in and he flashed his eyes to his left side: floating above the air was Uzumaki Naruto and another just above him. The one above him had a Rasengan on the palm of the right hand. "I figured the Raikage was most likely to dodge this given his speed," the blond said before slamming his jutsu into Onoki's back.

The Sandaime Tsuchikage hardened his skin to avoid damage from the Rasengan. When it slammed into his body, it did no damage as the Naruto on the side grabbed him by his right foot and then twisted around. He slammed him into the ground like a bullet, along with the weight of his body, Onoki crashed with a loud boom, creating a crater on the ground.

One Naruto flew towards the Tsuchikage in speed with a Rasengan at hand. But as he got near, Ai appeared from behind and slammed a forceful punch on the blond's back. He turned into a cloud of smoke.

The real Naruto flashed behind the Raikage with a wind enhanced punch aimed at the back of the Raikage but it never connected as the man disappeared in a blur.

"More speed," Naruto thought before blurring away as well. The moment he landed on the ground, he was surrounded the both Kumo and Iwa shinobi. Naruto's eyes just moved around for a moment before he spoke. "I am quite effective when I attack. I have learned a bit of your abilities. But still I did not have the desired conversation I wanted. Well, no matter. The next time we meet, it shall be in battle," he said before taking a couple of steps away from the trembling shinobi. He then disappeared.

The shinobi fell down on their knees, breathing heavily as they did.

"Well, that was dull," Darui said as he walked into the scene.

"How can you not be nerved after being subjected to that sinister chakra?" C questioned, hand on his stomach. That was dangerous. He thought such sinister chakra belonged to murderous beasts but the emperor was very much capable of exuding one. It was beyond human.

"I didn't say I wasn't," Darui said. Quite honestly, that was unnerving. If he had to face a person with such murderous intent, he'd have not gone through the hassle of a fight. He would have just given up.

Ai ignored the talk of his subordinates and turned towards Onoki who was dusting himself. "I may have underestimated him. It was apparent that is was just playing around." He said sternly.

"Playing around? He did not even bother calling this a battlefield and was not even the least serious," Onoki said in a bitter tone.

"Dangerous foe that we have both clearly underestimated. But this is more reason we must fight this war," Ai said in a hardened tone. "I will prepare my shinobi for battle. We have a war, Tsuchikage."

"Indeed," Onoki said. "I have already sent out some shinobi to sound a warning to Amegakure. I have heard that it has some connections with Uzushio. If we can remove them without having to fight, it clears the path for my shinobi."

"We will go through the sea and land," Ai said. "But I expect to hear from you soon. Move out as soon as you can so we can discuss progress. We will should meet at the Land of Hot Waters within a week."

"You don't need to tell me that."

Naruto was walking slowly with both his hands, folded across his chest, Naori walking beside him. The distance was safe enough that those two forces would not think of giving chase. Besides he was certain that he had removed his scent from the battlefield and no one would be able to follow his movements.

"Were you satisfied?" Naori asked the emperor.

"No even a little," Naruto said with a slight shake of his head. "But it does look like the battle will be interesting. I am most looking forward to face the Raikage. The only complaint I can have about him is that he doesn't have the ninjutsu arsenal. He depends too much on his incredible speed and strength to fight. Onoki has interesting ninjutsu. He didn't use his most powerful weapons, but he is slow. Old age, perhaps."

"It seems like you were most interested in analyzing their fighting styles with experience than encouraging them to move quickly," Naori suggested.

"You think so?"

"It appears so," Naori said with a nod of his head. "But that is not a bad thing at all. I think you are most likely going to engage them in a different fighting style when you face them in war though."

Naruto shook his head. "I am going to go all out. I did not learn all my ninjutsu to keep them hidden. I learned ninjutsu to use it. But when facing someone like the Raikage, it becomes a bit useless because of his speed. Regardless, it will make things interesting."

Konoha

Kakashi had informed him that overuse of the Mangekyo Sharingan would turn him blind but Sasuke had not listened. And now he regretted that choice. He knew what he needed to do to cure his eyes. But Itachi's eyes were nowhere. Someone had taken his brother's body before he could recover from their battle. It had been something that bothered him and now he knew why it had happened. He was starting to think that perhaps Naruto had something to do with it. Itachi had warned him to be cautious of the blond.

It could no longer be kept a secret. He has been fighting secret battles for Konoha over the past couple of years and it was now taking its toll with his eyes starting to show him blurriness. If he continued in the same fashion he was, he was going to be completely blind.

When he entered into the office, he found the Godaime Hokage sitting with Jiraiya. It didn't matter that the Sannin was around. "I need to take some time off," he suddenly just said.

Tsunade would have been annoyed with Sasuke's attitude if she wasn't already used to it. The more he spent time doing the dirty work and in the darkness, the more silent he became. He was like a ghost in this village. One rarely saw him. The Godaime Hokage leaned back to her chair and stared at the Uchiha. "Why? Last time I asked you to rest, you said you didn't need it."

"I need it now," Sasuke said quietly.

"You are not answering my question and I won't release you unless you work with me," Tsunade said in a stern tone.

It wasn't like he was going to keep it hidden from the Hokage. There was a possibility that she could help him, temporarily as it may be. The permanent solution was getting Itachi's eyes. "My eyesight is deteriorating. I have been over using the Sharingan over the past and it has put massive strain on my eyes."

Tsunade fell silent. "Not a good time to be getting blind," she said.

Jiraiya nodded to this. "Any time now, war could be happening. You are needed to be on your toes in case you are needed."

"I will be there when I am needed, but I need to take it easy."

Tsunade was silent for a couple of moments. She had heard about this problem before. But she had never had the chance to study it herself to see if she can come up with a solution. This represented a chance for her. If it was a sickness, it could be cured. But it was something that turns the eyes old or genetic, she wondered if she could help it. Old age could not be cured. Instant healing was good, but it reduced the life of a person gradually.

"How long?"

"A couple of months now," Sasuke admitted.

"And you didn't think it was important to tell me this?"

"I didn't think there was something you could do about it. There has never been any record of anyone being healed from the blindness. The only way to correct it is taking the eyes of someone with close blood relation. In my case, I could take Itachi's eyes or those of my parents." It was not just curing the blindness but he would also awaken the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. With it, there would be no pain with Susano or Amaterasu.

Tsunade frowned. "But we still haven't been able to recover Itachi's body," she said. "I will give you your time off. Rest for a week, and then come back to me. I will study this problem and see if I can come up with a solution. We cannot afford to have you going blind in this time."

It would be frustrating to be staying at home with blind eyes while Naruto was running rampant in the shinobi world. Sasuke could not have that. He would go even if he was blind. It was better to die there than just sitting at home, unable to see anything. "I will come," the Uchiha said before walking away silently.

Once he was gone, Tsunade sighed. "Just when you think everything is going well, this happens," she said with a shake of her head. "Do you think Naruto knows?"

Jiraiya looked thoughtful for a moment before responding. "I don't know hime. I don't know. I don't know anything with Naruto, anymore. I sat with him for than an hour talking about our days together and he didn't even let slip a damn thing or even give me a hint. I still can't tell what he is thinking."

"But if it isn't Naruto, then who took Itachi's body?"

"The Akatsuki?" Jiraiya suggested. "He was a member of the organization and they probably took him because they didn't want him to be turned anywhere because of what he had in his mind. Or maybe it was Naruto who did it. But if we are saying that it was Naruto, we have to come to the agreement that Naruto was watching the battle or at least had someone observe things for him."

Tsunade adopted a thoughtful look for a moment, "Well, given everything, it would not be far-fetched," she admitted. "But why would Naruto even go that far? I know he was never good with Sasuke, but he isn't a petty person."

"You're forgetting the best trait about him," Jiraiya reminded the Godaime Hokage. "Naruto is a calculating person. If it was him, then we can speculate that he was waiting for this moment."

The Godaime frowned. "I hope that is not the case," she said in thought. "I read a message from the Mizukage. She wants to meet to discuss Uzushio. She has had connections with the emperor and I know he was recently there. She probably knows what they are after."

"You should meet her, maybe you can get something out of her," Jiraiya said. "Naruto isn't going to say anything to us. But the reason he has bothered with Kiri is because they are a major trading partner for Uzu and Nadeshiko. He also would not want to have them as enemies."

"I will try to arrange something, but I don't want to move things now. I can send Shikamaru there. I can't leave Konoha now with what is happening out there. Iwagakure and Kumo are mobilizing. We don't know what they'll do when they learn of our movements."

Uzushiogakure

The war room: it was indeed time for war. The battle lines were already drawn, and now they had to position themselves to defend and attack their enemies. Nagato looked around the dimly lit room. He was in his holographic image, alongside Konan. Yoshino, Naoki and Naruto were also in the room. He had been impatiently waiting for the day to come. It was finally here. They could finally realize their dreams, but they needed to navigate through the chaos first.

"What is happening?" Nagato asked.

"Iwagakure and Kumo are mobilizing. We calculate that the first wave of attack will probably be at Amegakure. They will probably be trying to test you when they do so or just clearing the path for their main force." Naruto said. "It is likely that Iwa will do this. They are far closer. Kumo will most likely move in the sea and land."

"Then we are free to crush them."

"Without mercy," Naruto said with a nod. "I will come to join you afterwards. For now, we remind ourselves of this dream and our responsibilities to make it happen."

"How are you planning to handle Konoha once this is all over?" Konan asked. "They are not going to agree to anything that happens to both Kumogakure and Iwa. If they don't agree, we will have problems and trying to maintain the balance and peace."

"It would be a disaster if we end up needing another war to manage things. The other three cannot be allowed to turn on us," Nagato said firmly.

Naruto had not thought of the possibility that such a thing could happen. Would Gaara and the Mizukage actually sit together and decide to go against the tyranny of the Emperor. An insane part of him thought the very was ridiculous. But he could not deny that Nagato and Konan do raise rational questions.

"Konoha will resist, but I doubt the Mizukage or Gaara will enter into an agreement that sees them waging war on us." Yoshino responded while Naruto was still thinking.

"Their personalities would not allow them. That aside, as long as we are reasonable in what we do, there should not be any threat of war. This means that we must be diplomatic in our means and must strive to engage the others in our actions. Kumo and Iwa must be given the 'independence' to give them a sense of freedom. If we are too strict and reject them a chance to breathe, they will stab us the moment we show weakness.

"This is why we will do things in a manner that they can understand, a manner that leaves the villagers and shinobi without reasons to worry. Suspicions will always be there, but we must not give them ammo to attack us. The challenge will be to ensure that there is no civil arrest. Of course, the same measure you took in Ame must be taken," Naruto explained after had gathered his thoughts.

"Would it not raise questions and rebellious attitudes amongst the villages if it becomes clear that we are purging those who disagree with us?" Konan asked.

"I'm sure his Majesty will use a more subtle method that does not make things very clear. People can be killed without bloodshed. Politics will be given power for such situations. Aside from that, we are done with preparations in the island. Once things are set, we will allow the Kages to be the judges and we carry out those judgments. We just have to ensure that we give the Kages the authority but yet remain politically powerful enough to make them listen to us." Yoshino explained.

"If things are done this way, we rule discreetly. It can perhaps be a secret that only the Kages know but we will of course employ an agency, with the specific purpose of guarding secrets and dealing with anyone who tries to release them," Naori said. "If things go according to plan, we create a manageable world."

"Zetsu's threat?"

"It does not diminish. He has warned me that Madara will return to this world. We will be cautious of this. If we had moved quickly, we would have taken his body but Zetsu moved faster. Regardless, if we be on guard, we can manage things." Naruto said. "For now, it is war."

"We will be on the lookout for Iwa's movements. If we see them, they will be destroyed." Nagato said before disappearing.

Naruto was silent for a couple of moments before standing up. The other people with him followed him out of the war room. It was silence until he stepped out of the Leader's tower. He looked up for a moment before starting to take the direction of his compound. "Suna should not be a problem. But the Daimyo might be problems. All of them must be silenced. Their political power will offer a wall that we don't need."

"We are working on that," Naori said. "The only issue that remains is that of the Water country. We have yet to hear anything from Haku regarding his mission."

"Summon him," Naruto ordered. "Go now."

"Hai," Naori was gone within a second of the word leaving his lips.

"Should we be concerned?"

Naruto shook his head. "Haku is trying to work out diplomatic means. He probably went to Kiri and had a pleasant chat with the Mizukage. I don't disagree with that. I am also interested in seeing how his method works. However, there is a time limit we must work within."

Yoshino could understand this. He knew that Naruto understood Haku's position quite well but he still needed to be ruthless in his decisions. Perhaps Naruto brought him in because there was no one like the Ice user. They were all willing to do anything but Haku could consider his emotions. Perhaps it was the destruction that ruined the nation. Well, the shinobi anyway: Civilians lived the normal life.

"Will my position change?"

Naruto shook his head. "When have I flipped flopped on you, Yoshino? I don't usually say this, but all this would not have been possible without your efforts. I will honor my promises to you." His eyes narrowed towards the man. "If I turn on you, you can always organize a revolt."

Yoshino smiled. "You'd kill us all," he said.

"You know that is not true. I love the Uzumaki. My younger days were filled with an obsession for this clan. I swore to restore the glory of this clan and make it even greater; destroying it is not in blood." Naruto stated calmly. "Let not one hear I just said that or else I will have serious problems in the near future."

"I can imagine that," Yoshino said with a laugh. "I will manage the elders. You don't have to concern yourselves with them. It is indeed true that you are not a full blooded Uzumaki, but it does not make you any less of an Uzumaki. They know that, but I think they are more or less concerned about your recklessness. Regardless, when I met you, I did have plans to have this village restored. I lacked the will to do anything. Because of you, I developed that will and this village was born. As long as it is my duty to protect it, and lead it, there will be nothing more I want, not your throne."

Once more, Naruto's sharp eyes turned towards the man beside him. He closed them for a long minute before glancing at the way ahead. "I have never doubted your commitment, Yoshino." He said. "Our task will be large in reshaping this shinobi world once we take over. We must author a system that will last. I expect you to continue to play your role. Of course, I will not bother you as much as I did before I assumed my responsibility."

"It will be a challenge worth tackling," Yoshino said. "I have met someone. I would like for you to meet her not as the emperor but as my cousin. We are family, and I don't have anyone else, it would mean much if we could do this… with her Majesty."

Naruto looked thoughtful for a moment. "Tell me the date and I will call Karin to come back."

"I will have to get the best drink first. But I will let you know," Yoshino said before bowing slightly and then he was gone.

Family, huh? Just thinking of this, Naruto decided to turn towards the Memorial Wall. Within the ruins left untouched, there was a large wall with the names of the Uzumakis lost in the invasion. The name of Kushina Uzumaki was not there, but his grandparents were there. Naruto would have a family of his own, but he had never belonged anywhere. Had this not happened, he would have belonged somewhere. Maybe his relatives would have come to Konoha to fetch him. No, the Sandaime would have sent him to them knowing that things would be difficult in Konoha. But the invasion destroyed everything. By the time he was born, he had nothing.

It was cruel that even his father had no living relatives.

But he belonged here. He belonged with the Uzumaki. This was his beloved home. Konoha could be destroyed by the Kyubi once more, and he wouldn't blink. But for this village, he would bite into his life-force to protect it. This was his obsession, his greatest love.

"What?" He asked and Naoki materialized on his right side and whispered.

"Iwagakure is moving towards the Rain. It is a force of about a 1000 shinobi. They are not the main army. I think these ones are just to clear the way for the main force to pass through the Rain without any troubles."

"A 1ooo? That is more by an excessive amount than I had thought," Naruto thought. "How long till they reach the Rain?"

"With their pace, tomorrow morning."

"Is Nagato already aware?"

"Yes," Naori said. "Both he and Konan have already prepared. They will not allow them to get closer to Amegakure. It is their desire that Ame not suffer any losses in this war. They want their village to remain in peace even in this war."

Naruto tilted his head to the side. "Nagato is going to go all out to face the dangers then," he said. "His shinobi will only move in when there is danger. It is rather careful measures from him. Well, no matter, as long as he holds on, I won't complain."

"On our side?"

"Kumo is likely to move round 2000 through the sea and the rest through the land. But they are not moving quickly. I assume they are still waiting for Iwagakure." Naruto said before falling silent. "Can we watch the Paths of Pein cause havoc and still come back here without anyone reaching both the Wave and Uzu?"

"Yes," Naori said.

"Then we will depart for the Rain. I want to watch the Paths in action. I'm sure Nagato isn't going to go the battlefield despite regaining most of his mobility."

"All thanks to the power of the Kyubi and Karin," Naori said. "Should I inform Yoshino?"

"Yes…" Naruto said with a nod. "He will make all necessary arrangements with his men."

The Following Day

Rain Country

Kitsuchi looked ahead with mixed feelings. He had enough men to cause Amegakure to reconsider things. The village has never been considered that powerful. But there was a word that the leader of the Akatsuki resided in the village. Regardless, he still had to clear the path for the main force. They could not move through this country if it was not subjugated. Onoki didn't want a situation of the last were shinobi were lost because Hanzo would attack them.

His movements came to a halt when he sensed something. "Halt!" He shouted as he looked up into the sky.

There was a large bird coming towards them with speed. He held his hands together, ready for anything. He was not expecting to encounter anything before seeing Amegakure. Something jumped from the bird and crashed into the ground just in front of him and his men in a resounding boom that caused large amounts of debris and dust to pick up. It took a couple of moments for the dust to clear, and when it did, the Deva path was on one knee, inside a crater. Konan slowly descended with her wings flapped. She hovered above the ground and stared at the army from the Stone.

It was just the two of them for this battle. Nagato had decided so. He didn't want to reveal any of his abilities when it was unnecessary. There was still a long way to go and many more battles to fight. "There are a number of them," she said.

"The Sandaime Raikage is said to have stopped about 1o 000 shinobi, do you think we cannot stop 1ooo?" the Deva path asked while still on one knee.

Konan shook her head. She was quite aware of just how destructive Nagato's power was. She turned her focus towards the enemy. "Shinobi from Iwagakure, what is your purpose?" She already knew that. Maybe it was pointless even asking but she felt she had to go through this first.

"We are here to request a way for Iwagakure to safely pass through this country and secure a line of supplies," Kitsuchi said to the two. If a battle could be avoided, he would take that option.

"Denied," Nagato said through the Deva path. "I suppose if we asked you to leave now, you would not do it…"

Kitsuchi shook his head. "The others are already planning to march. We cannot go back without a good response," he said in a firm tone. Onoki had trusted him to do this. If he had to go through these two to get things done, then he would do so. Still, these two did make him cautious. It was just the two of them, and did they think they alone were enough for them?

"Konan, talking is pointless," the Deva path stood up. "Let us finish this quickly," he said.

Konan nodded and then started to dissolve into paper sheets.

The path jumped into the air before blasting towards the enemy forces in great speed. He crashed landed at the heart of them both hands stretched out. "Shinra Tensei!"

Boom!

Kitsuchi could only watched, wide eyed as an explosion from within went off, blasting his men into the air along with chunks of earth. He could see many of them being blasted into the air, screaming and shouting. The debris forced him to jump back and close his eyes slightly. When everything cleared, he saw that were hundreds of his men once stood only one person stood in a large crater.

He gritted his teeth; so many men gone in just one attack. What was that attack even? Who were these people even? He didn't know anything about them. But they were obviously powerful and what was with that doujutsu? It was unlike anything he had ever seen before.

He twisted his head to the side when he heard the sound of a shrill from a bird. The large bird that had carried their two opponents was speeding just above the ground in massive speed, heading straight towards him. "Doton: Chidokaku!" he raised the ground below him, causing a large rock pillar to sprout out and stretch along with him. The birth just crashed into the rock, and blasted through it.

His men scrambled to get out of its path as it sped towards the orange haired nin. Pain jumped onto the back of the bird before it took to the air. It dropped something, and then they all realized it had dropped those flashing things as it moved past them.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

A couple of explosions once more rocked through the battleground, some of his man getting caught while some used Doton to create rock formations around themselves. The explosions had some flames about them and took about a minute to clear. When they did, it was devastation to his men.

He held out his right hand seeing a butterfly fly slowly past him. It did not land on his hand, but seemingly stretched its wings and a dreadful feeling swept through his spine. When he looked around, he could see thousands of those butterflies flying around his remaining men.

"Ex-" Explosive tags, he wanted to warn his men, but a chain reaction just started to occur before he could finish. The butterflies started to explode one by one. The entire explosion of thousands of explosive tags caused even the ground to shake as the Iwa men were covered by a large column of flames.

"You think that was enough?" Konan asked.

"There are bound to be a handful that hid themselves beneath the ground," the Deva path said calmly. "They won't be worth even finishing. We could even let them go."

Could, Konan thought. But they were not going to do that. Nagato did not have mercy.

The walls around Kitsuchi crumbled down. His upper body had some burns, his breathing slightly labored. He looked around, he could see hundreds of bodies lying around, being burnt by flames. What were these kinds of tactics? This was not war. This was not a battle. This was just a massacre. These people were just intent on killing them all without wasting their efforts fighting them.

He needed to survive this and send a message to Iwagakure about these abilities.

He held his breath and dissolved into dust.

"I was expecting to see the paths dance around this place," Naruto suddenly said as he appeared behind both Nagato and Konan.

Neither looked at him as the Deva path responded, "It was the most efficient way to deal with them."

"I don't disagree with that," Naruto said. "I was just looking for a battle. But admittedly, the fireworks were quite lovely to see. Your unique ability continues to impress me, Konan," he said with a smile.

Konan did not respond to Naruto. "There are still survivors, Nagato."

Naruto sighed. "She continues to be cold towards me," he said in a sad tone. "They need not die. I wish to test the facilities I have made in the island. They will become fine specimen to see if the bars can hold and the seals are as efficient as I was told. We shall call them, 'war criminals.'" He said.

"Then our job is done here," the Deva path said. "Iwa will likely bring more shinobi or choose another path. We might even have Kumo shinobi coming here. We must prepare the grounds around Amegakure." The path said, walking past Naruto.

The blond remained in one place but only his eyes moved as he watched the path leave. "We will contact you in case that happens," he said calmly.

Later

Uzushio

Haku cautiously walked into Naruto's office within the compound. The blond was standing by the back exit, with a small bird on his right shoulder. He was just standing there motionlessly but Haku could feel his presence. He stopped for a moment at the desk and saw that the work was already done. Well, he didn't like ignoring his work. He stopped beside the blond before asking.

"I was not expecting you to sum-"

He was not able to finish as he was suddenly grabbed by the throat with an iron grip and then picked up into the air. His eyes widened in shock, seeing that it was Naruto who was doing this to him. He couldn't get the words out of his mouth but the cold look in Naruto's eyes made his heart beat quickly. Haku grabbed Naruto's hand and started to freeze them, causing the blond to drop him. Haku fell on his knees and coughed a couple of times while holding his throat.

He paused, he hadn't sensed a killing intent. When he looked up towards Naruto, the blond wasn't smiling but he wasn't looking at him coldly either – it was just his indifferent mask. "You just tried to freeze the blood within my veins," he said.

"You were strangling me," Haku said as he got up. "I say you deserved it. I should have just frozen your entire hand."

"That would have been unpleasant," Naruto said. "You are very comfortable around me that you would let your guard down completely. Your shock was earnest."

"Was this a test?"

"You trust me this much, and I have trusted you by giving you much responsibility. You are very kind and I like that about you. You offer something that I cannot offer. You will be the voice that offers reason. Once this war is over, if you ever feel that I am going overboard, don't hesitate to use your abilities to stop me. I sometimes take things too far. Today becomes the last day you ever see me do something like that to you," Naruto explained with some emotion. "But that isn't the reason, I called you here. I want progress on your job and I won't accept lack of it."

"I have already spoken to the Wind Daimyo but I need some more time. I have already shared my discussion with him to the Mizukage. I am going to talk to him again soon, and we will try to finalize things. If he listens to the advice of his people, and facts, we will have an agreement with him."