Chapter 64

Chapter 64

Hiruzen walked up to the Hokage office with papers in his hands. He wanted to talk about new lessons he wanted to teach the students. It would take until the following year to finalize things, but he didn't have any objections to making medical ninjutsu mandatory. But the rest of the council didn't see it that way. Well, dealing with them wasn't that hard, even though he wished Kaen hadn't left it to him and done it himself.

"Kaen…" Hiruzen stopped at the doorway as he tried to enter the office. Kaen Uchiha, the Fifth Hokage, was sprawled on the desk with papers, everyone. A few milk cartons were on the table, and a few more were on the ground. At first, Hiruzen thought that Kaen fell asleep while working, but he could tell he hadn't done any work for the day. "Where is Kaen?"

"Nyaaa!?" Kaen jumped in his chair as Hiruzen woke him up and screamed in shock before gathering his footing and clearing his throat. "I mean, what are you talking about, old man? And you should walk in without announcing yourself before entering my office."

"Bakeneko, wasn't it?" Hiruzen sighed as Kaen's clone looked terrified that he had been figured out. "You know, I don't even care. Just don't leave such a mess."

Hiruzen left his papers for Kaen on the table and returned to his work. If Kaen didn't want to involve him in his schemes, he would not get involved. That didn't mean he would not leave loads of work for Kaen to finish once he returned. He will ensure Kaen is swimming in paperwork and regrets sneaking out of the village.

…

To reach the Land of the Water, one needed a boat. Kaen and his companions, or guards, sailed through the misty lands unseen to anyone. Even though Kaen genjutsu wasn't the best, it was enough to trick weaker shinobi and civilians. From the little they saw, it was as Kaen had expected: the civil war ravaged the land.

Fear was evident in people's eyes, especially for strangers. At every island Kaen stopped at, the land was only starting to be rebuilt. Some fishing villages he passed through were plundered and burned down to the point it was almost impossible to rebuild. Yet, it was the people who experienced the most damage. Apart from fear, Kaen could tell they were tired and sometimes resigned.

One could only imagine what horrors they have experienced. But Kaen didn't need to imagine. He knew exactly what some of the towns in the Land of the Water have experienced, especially those who harbored clans with kekkei genkai. The hunt for them was only the start that would end up with massacre and destruction.

"How much longer?" Hana asked, leaning on the railing of the boat. "Can't we go any faster? I am tired of this mist and wet air."

"It is not far anymore," Kaen replied as he continued to sail towards the meeting place.

"What should we expect?" Yugao, the most pragmatic of the four of them, asked.

"The Mizukage most certainly won't be alone," Kaen replied. "But she won't have many shinobi by her side. At most dozen or so."

"Why I am here again?" Anko lazily asked as she lay on her back. "I still had work back in Konoha, and I would have been more useful with Kakashi's team."

"And I told you before, once they need your support, you will go to them," Kaen sighed at Anko. He didn't wish for her to be concerned with matters of Orochimaru. "And I'd rather have you by my side."

Kaen, once again, sighed when Anko took her head away from him, probably in anger or frustration for not letting her join Kakashi's team. But Kaen had his reasons. He couldn't trust Anko not to be emotional while facing Orochimaru. He didn't wish to see her blame herself for whatever she would see in the Land of Sound.

Orochimaru using her feelings wouldn't be the worst thing, but Kaen could imagine Anko throwing her life away to kill Orochimaru. And Kaen couldn't let that happen. That way, he kept her in the village and close to him. Just as Kaen wanted to say something more to Anko, black smoke came into his sight as it neared and landed on his boat.

"Master," Kuro, his summon cat, materialized before him. "The island before you is where Mizukage-dono is waiting."

"I see. Good job, Kuro," Kaen petted the cat before unsummoning him and turning to his companions. "You heard him, be prepared."

Yugao, Hana, and Anko prepared to land on the island covered by mist. It was a small island with no port to land. From what Kaen could see, nobody seemed to live on this island. Leaving their boat at the beach, they walked deeper into the island. It didn't take long before they reached the middle of it, surrounded by thick woods.

"I know you are here," Kaen said, looking at every shinobi that tried to hide from his eyes. "You can't escape my eyes."

"I was only cautious of a trap," A woman with long auburn hair walked before Kaen. "I was surprised by your summon visiting me, to say the least."

"That was the only way to get your attention without anyone else noticing us," Kaen explained. "Should we begin?"

"You can begin by stating your purpose here," The Fifth Mizukage's attendant, Ao, said.

From what Kaen remembered, Mei Terumi was more open-minded, so it wasn't a surprise that Ao would be the one to show distrust. Kaen had to be careful of what he said, as he didn't want to reveal too much, but he feared they would notice that he was hiding things. But Kaen had already thought about it before coming here.

"Firstly, let me ask if you know the real reason why The Fourth Mizukage was killed," Kaen began. It was better to know what they knew first before making any statements.

"I wouldn't be surprised that it was under your orders," Ao replied, trying to antagonize Kaen.

"I will dismiss this comment as I will dismiss the Byugukan you possess, Ao," Kaen said coldly, stiffening Ao. "The Akatsuki might look like mercenaries working for the highest bid, but they have their own goals."

"The Tailed Beasts," Mei Terumi said, connecting the dots. "I heard that the Uchiha can control the tailed beasts."

"Then we are on the same page," Kaen replied. "Itachi and Kisame attacked Konoha too. They seemed to have come after killing the Fourth Mizukage."

"And the only reason we aren't blaming you for it is because Kisame was with Itachi Uchiha," Kaen didn't need to be perceptive to see that Ao didn't trust them.

"Enough, Ao," Mei Terumi tried to calm her subordinate down. "I think it is time to tell your true purpose by meeting us so secretly."

"I want an alliance," It said truthfully and straight to the point.

"An alliance?" Mei Terumi didn't dislike the idea, but she had reservations. "And proposing it so secretly is to avoid other villages finding out about it?"

"Konoha already has an alliance with Suna," Kaen explained. "If Iwa or Kumo finds out we are making other alliances, they won't stand still and consider us a threat. The last thing I want is to cause another war."

"And why should we even consider it?"

"Because you need help," Kaen told her. "On the way here, I have seen what the civil war has done to these lands. I am willing to give up missions from certain countries to you and make sure that trade with the Land of Fire goes smoothly with the Land of Water."

"That's more than I could ask," Mei looked genuinely surprised by Kaen's offer. "But what do you want us to give you for that?"

"Only one thing," Kaen said, looking straight at Mei Terumi's eyes. "The Three Tails."

…

Jiraiya was very shocked at the speed at which Naruto picked up Rasengan. It wasn't as fast as Kaen, but besides having a sharingan, Kaen's chakra control was above Naruto. But Naruto had something that most shinobi are missing. Massive amounts of chakra that would even put some kage to shame. Because of his bloodline of Uzumaki and the Nine-tails, Naruto had more chakra than he knew what to do with it.

So, even Uchiha would have been behind Naruto in learning something from scratch, especially when Jiraiya taught Naruto how to use his shadow clones to learn quicker by transferring memories once they disappeared. At first, it took quite a bit for Naruto to handle memories coming to his head suddenly and how to distinguish them. But the prospect of learning new jutsu made Naruto determined.

"We arrived, Naruto," Jiraiya said as they came into the town where he heard a strong-fisted gambling woman was residing. "Don't wander away from me."

"Beh," Naruto stuck up his tongue at Jiraiya. "It is you who keeps wandering away and doing perverted things, Pervy Sage."

"I was doing important research," Jiraiya replied defensively.

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto didn't believe it even for a moment. "Why is this Tsunade so important anyway that we must bring her back to the village."

"There are many reasons," Jiraiya said. "Firstly, she is a granddaughter of the First Hokage. Secondly, she is my teammate and student of the Third Hokage. But most importantly, she is the most talented medical-nin in the world. Her medical ninjutsu is renowned throughout the world, so show some respect to her."

Just as Jiraiya finished his words, a man came flying through the wall of the nearby building. Dust burst into the air as the man landed on the ground a few meters away. Even before turning to see where the man came from, Jiraiya had already expected what he would see. And to no surprise, Jiraiya found Tsunade baring her fist in the man's direction.

"I will show you how to cheat!" Tsunade looked furious as she strode to the man, now trying to crawl away.

"I didn't cheat, you just suck," The man cried out as he ran away.

Tsunade crossed her arms and huffed, looking a bit exasperated. Her faithful aide and student quickly came to her, probably after apologizing to the owner of the building. Naruto seemed to enjoy the show as he snickered next to Jiraiya. It didn't take long for Tsunade to notice them and grimace at them. She knew why Jiraiya was here.

"You haven't changed even a bit, Tsunade-hime," Jiraiya said, making Naruto realize that the lady he was laughing at was the person they were looking for.

"Jiraiya," she said, her voice a mixture of surprise and annoyance. "What are you doing here?"

"You know the answer to that," Jiraiya replied.

"Damn you and that genius student of yours," Tsunade cursed. "Does he want to cash in his bet?"

"Let's talk somewhere else," Jiraiya proposed as he felt too many eyes on them.

They quickly found a bar not far away and sat at the corner table. After introducing Naruto, Tsunade couldn't help but comment on how Jiraiya took the most problematic brats to tutor. Jiraiya could only imagine what headaches Kaen had brought to Tsunade when she taught him. The hostility she portrayed toward Naruto said more than Jiraiya wanted to know.

"Why now?" Tsunade asked.

"Kaen has become the Fifth Hokage," Jiraiya answered. "But that is not the only reason. The old man had a heart attack not long ago."

"Sarutobi?" Tsunade asked in concern before trying to hide it. "Well, he is an old man, so it isn't a surprise. Being a Hokage will do that to you. He should have quit it long ago."

"Hey, don't talk bad about Third Hokage," Naruto got angry at Tsunade's comment.

"Calm down, Naruto," Jiraiya had to hold the boy back for saying anything stupid. "Anyway, you coming back with, aren't you Tsunade?"

"I might be a sucker, but I am no sore loser," Tsunade grumbled in frustration. "I lost the bet to that brat, so I will keep my end of the bargain."

Jiraiya was relieved at her answer. He didn't know what he would do if she refused, and now he could be more assured about the old man's health with her back in the village. He had to leave Konoha soon, as the Akatsuki had made their move. It is only a matter of time before something big happens. He needed to find more information about them.

A.N. As always, If you want more, up to seven advanced chapters, you can support me on pa treon. com \ ironwolf852. And if you have any requests for stories, I will only take them on my pa treon.