Traitor?!?

Shikaku and Inoichi locked eyes for a moment, deciding if they could believe her words.

Returning his eyes to Mei, Shikaku began tapping his fingertips on one another.

Seeing that they were thinking, Mei leaned back in her chair with a slight smile.

"Do you have any proof of your claims? That Danzo was controlling the Fourth Mizukage?" Shikaku's voice broke the silence as his brows furrowed.

"Proof?" Mei's eyes opened in shock "Of course I have proof." Her eyes swept over her three guests.

"We all know my man was there that night, and the Uchiha Clan is dead." She paused for a moment, watching as they nodded in agreement.

"But, have you not thought something's strange?" Mei tilted her head to the side.

"What's strange? That your ninja killed our Elder?!" Inoichi barked from the side.

"No" Mei shook her head "How did Itachi single-handedly kill the most powerful clan in your village?" Mei's smile bloomed as she saw Shikaku's eyes bulged.

"That's the strange variable here. Is he so strong that he could kill them all before anyone even noticed the fighting? NO!" She slammed her palms on her desk.

"He had help! Help from the masked man, the same masked man who was chatting with Danzo." Her smiled faded as the next words came out her mouth "The masked man was a member of Akatsuki, and we have reason to believe Konoha is the one responsible for the creation of the group!"

"Preposterous!" Inoichi rushed to his feet.

Shikaku's brows furrowed but he remained calm.

Chozu remained silent as this wasn't his field of expertise.

"Oh? Did you not hear what I said?" Mei smiled sweetly at Inoichi as she closed her eyes, remembering everything Zitsu told her before he left.

"You, a member of Konoha intelligence division surely know. When a sensory ninja's skills are so great they can even distinguish relatives by their chakra signatures." Her eyes opened as she glared at the three men "If Konoha isn't the one who created Akatsuki then why is Itachi a member?"

"That's impossible" Shikaku shook his head.

"Please." Mei held up her hand "Allow me to finish. Why is Itachi, Orochimaru, and the masked man who happens to be an Uchiha members of Akatsuki? Not to mention your Elder was the one who gave Itachi the command and he just happened to request aid from his fellow Akatsuki member? Your Elder just happened to have a nice chat with that same member of Akatsuki?"

"If you were in that position would you not strike out at your enemies?" Mei chuckled "And you say my man killed your Elder? GOOD! I say we did you a favor, rooting out a spy of Akatsuki."

She looked at their stunned faces "Or do you still insist that your Elder wasn't the leader of Akatsuki?"

Shikaku looked at the shrewd woman before him, realizing her sweet appearance was only to hide her true colors. "Haa" He released a long breath "But that is all speculation from you."

"Do I have to verify everything for you? How about this." She crossed her arms in front of her chest "I'll share some valuable information. Danzo helped create the Akatsuki with Hanzo the salamander during the third war. You go investigate the members of Danzo's organization for yourself to see if what I said is true."

Mei rose to her feet "If even then you can't denounce your Elder as the one who created Akatsuki, controlled our Mizukage, and I might as well tell you he was behind the nine tails attack years ago as well. If you can't even find evidence after I've given you all the clues, then it proves you are protecting the Akatsuki."

Mei held up her hand "Please Ao, see our guest out." She turned towards Shikaku "When you find your evidence, I'll be sending my own delegation to the Leaf for answers, be ready."

The three men took one last look at Mei before following Ao out the room.

As the door closed, Mei collapsed in her seat.

"Lord Mizukage are you ok?!" Ruka rushed forward and began checking her.

"I'm fine, I'm fine, But that guy will be the death of me!"

Ruma grabbed her sword "Is there danger, Lord?" she looked around the room for anything suspicious.

"Uhhh" Mei shook her head.

On Nagi island by the time the fog cleared the sun was already high in the sky. After spending hours establishing order in the various towns, the Kiri ninjas on Nagi Island began gathering at Modoroki Shrine.

"This place shall become Kiri's base of operations on Nagi island." A lanky man with long black hair stepped forward and addressed the crowd.

Zitsu was able to recognize this man as the head of Kiri's intelligence division. He never got the chance to speak with him before, but Mei told him that he was good at his job.

"Let's get out of here guys, we are a battle group so there is no reason for us to stay here now." Zitsu looked at Haku and Emina. Grabbing Fuu's hand, he began walking away.

Before he could get too far, he heard a familiar voice. "Commander Masazumi, I saw him killing civilians in town, breaking a direct order from the Mizukage!"

Masazumi frowned as he heard the boy's words. Following his pointed finger, he saw Zitsukani.

Zitsu turned his head only to see Bunrakuken pointing at him with a slight grin. "Oh, interesting." He couldn't help but smile, interested to see where this was going.

"Do you want to die?!?" Emina yelled as she grabbed for her swords.

Haku's delicate brows furrowed as he heard the accusation. Fuu looked up at Zitsu with a tilted head, she was with him the whole time and never saw that, so she was confused.

Zitsu held up his hand to stop the two from taking action.

Even if they bicker among themselves, they wouldn't allow another to slander their leader. Emina's nose wrinkled as she crossed her arms in front of her chest. A smile bloomed on Haku's face but the air around him plummeted.

"That's a serious allegation boy, are you sure you want to report this?" Masazumi frowned as more people turned to look.

Bunrakuken's smile deepened as he nodded his head. "I know it's serious Sir, that's why I'm telling you. If you follow me I'll take you to the town!"

"Bunrakuken" Zitsu's voice sounded before anyone could move. "If you're slandering my name because of jealousy, I will forgive you."

Most ninjas in the crowd felt slightly puzzled as they heard his words, was he not the one being accused? Their puzzlement soon turned to shock as Zitsu continued to speak.

"But only if you cut off your right arm and leg. If you don't, I will kill you where you stand."

"See!" Bunrakuken snarled as he pointed at Zitsu. "He's threatening me because I'm a Genin, Commander Masazumi you have to help me!"

Every Genin's and Chunin's brows furrowed as they looked towards Zitsu. To think of threatening someone so openly.

Completely opposite of the Genin and Chunin, the Jonins were looking at Bunrakuken as though he was a fool. The members of their team might not know who organized and planned this, but how could they not? The Jonins were the core force of every village and one couldn't even become Kage without their approval. To them, Zitsu of the Shichibukai was just below the Mizukage.

As Bunrakuken saw Masazumi's face, he knew something was wrong. As he turned to look at Zitsu again, it was already too late. Looking down he saw Zitsu's hand placed on his chest.

Now that he could combine any two nature transformations, he should be able to become just as good, if not better than Hashirama using wood release, since he could use wood release together with Hashirama's cells. But for now, he lacked practice in earth style, wood release, storm release, and explosion release.

Roots began growing from Zitsu's hand and completely bound Bunrakuken.

"Wood Release: Wood Coffin"

The coffin fell to the ground leaving a long vine in Zitsu's hand to pull it with. "I've decided to take him with me." Zitsu turned around and walked away, dragging the coffin behind him.

Seeing him leave, Fuu ran after him and grabbed his arm. Emina and Haku looked around before following as well.

"Commander are you really just going to let him leave like that?!" A Chunin ran up to Masazumi.

"What do you know?! Not only did he do nothing wrong, we couldn't stop him anyway!" Masazumi glared at the Ninja before him.

Emina walked swiftly to Zitsu's side as she examined the coffin. "Smelly Guy what are you going to do with him?"

Zitsu thought for a moment before his face twisted into a smile "I'm going to experiment of course."

Emina frowned at his answer and backed away, completely losing interest. Haku continued to stare at the coffin, wondering what he would do.

The gang of four walked leisurely through Nagi Island and arrived aboard their ship. Because Zitsu didn't want to stay any longer, they set sail.

He could have returned much faster, but he had something to find out.

Editor: Scarlet Goddess