Chapter 10

The invasion of Konohagakure was a failure in the end.

Orochimaru and his subordinates left immediately after the battle with The Third Hokage had ended, leaving Sunagakure with the decision to either continue, attempt to flee, or surrender.

Without their Jinchūriki Gaara being the main force as planned, and with them finding out that Orochimaru assassinated their Kazekage before he arrived at Konohagakure, they decided to surrender, regretting ever allying themselves with the Konohagakure S-ranked rogue shinobi Orochimaru.

So the invasion ended as a failure for Sunagakure. Orochimaru on the other hand, succeeded in what he wanted to achieve for the most part.

He planted the seed of corruption in Sasuke Uchiha for power and was able to kill his teacher, Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage. Killing and then impersonating the Fourth Kazekage was just something he did to achieve his goals.

The Sunagakure shinobi who surrendered were subsequently detained and soon to be thoroughly interrogated, including their Jinchūriki Gaara, who needed to have Jiraiya re-tighten the seal to ensure no other problems would arise.

Although all of this was second in most people's minds.

Their Hokage was dead. Their pillar was gone when needed the most, killed by one of their rogue shinobi and one of the Legendary Sannins who has even more infamy to him now.

But the Hokage's death was just one of the many things hanging heavy in the air. The damage to the village itself and the death toll of both shinobi and civilians had everyone's hearts filled with sorrow.

Not only did they need to rebuild and bury the dead, but they had no one to lead them, no Kage to cushion them in this time of need. So they began to imagine who would become the next Hokage. Most thought that Jiraiya would be the new Hokage. He was a well-known Legendary Sannin, powerful, and smart, at least on the inside.

This man was also a student of the Third Hokage and the teacher of the late Fourth Hokage. He was already in the village and could currently be found peeping on women in a hot spring for research purposes since he was a popular author of romance novels. A perfectly valid reason no doubt.

When the Village's Chief Counselors approached him while he was researching, they told him to become the next Hokage, but he instantly declined. Instead, he suggested that Tsunade, also a student of the Third Hokage, would be a better fit. She was the granddaughter of Hashirama Senju, the First Hokage who founded Konohagakure. She would fit being the next Hokage better than him.

The only problem was that Tsunade had not been in the village for quite some time, and her current location was unknown, which was the problem given by the counselors. So Jiraiya, having quite the knack for information gathering and being dead set on not becoming the Hokage, put himself forward to find her, but only if he could bring along Naruto Uzumaki with him. They agreed, to which Naruto also readily agreed, but only because Jiraiya promised Naruto to teach him a special technique.

The search for Tsunade was now beginning, and now that things had begun to calm down and the rebuilding process was underway, a Konohagakure Jōnin, Might Guy, just remembered something he had put to the back of his mind due to the invasion.

He reached into one of his pockets to bring out a now crumpled piece of paper, recalling the small child who seemed to want him to have this item. Then he recalled seeing the same child retreating alongside Orochimaru after the barrier that made them unable to intervene in the battle between their Hokage and Orochimaru fell.

Unraveling it, he was faced with a note like he had expected to see. Yet when he began reading it, he felt his eyes begin to widen more and more to the point he forced himself to stop reading it in public and mask his facial expression.

At this moment, he wished to have a Hokage to take this information to, but for now, he would need to find other Jōnin to share this with. He would also involve Jiraiya in this, the closest thing they would currently have to a Hokage, but he also didn't know where this person currently was either.

So he went to find Kakashi first since he was there when he received the letter. If he ran into Jiraiya, then all the better, yet he ended up quickly finding Kakashi jumping across the top of the buildings, rushing his way toward the outskirts of the village.

"Kakashi, what's the rush?" Guy asked him while tailing the person in question, who turned and responded quickly while still moving forward. "A couple of rogue shinobi have infiltrated the village."

Hearing this, Guy felt his heart drop, though this wasn't from hearing what Kakashi just said, but from what he had read earlier from a certain note. And so he followed Kakashi.

They soon began to hear the sound of battle, arriving to see Asuma, Kurenai, and two people in red-clothed robes facing each other.

Asuma was facing a person who had blue skin and what looked like gills on their neck and strange eyes. Kurenai faced a black-haired man who had the Uchiha clan's Sharingan. Their battle had made its way onto the nearby flowing river which passed through the village.

Both looked as if they weren't doing very well in their respective battles.

The shark-like person suddenly began hand-seals for a technique. Kakashi saw this and immediately unveiled his Sharingan to mimic the technique and activate it at the same time as the other.

'Suiton: Suikôdan no Jutsu!' (Water Release: Water Shark Projectile Technique!)

Both techniques clashed and canceled each other out, to the shark-man's surprise. He witnessed the same technique not only being used against him but at equal strength.

Kakashi suddenly appeared in front of Kurenai, while Guy appeared in front of the already surprised shark-like man with a heavy kick already in motion. He barely managed to raise his sword, Samehada, to block and was sent flying back a couple of meters.

"Kakashi, Guy!" Kurenai shouted in relief. These two formidable figures were very strong and had beaten her and Asuma fairly easily, much to her embarrassment.

"Kakashi Hatake," the man with the dual Sharingan said, turning towards Kakashi while also noticing a shadow clone next to his own.

"Impressive," the shark-man began, regarding Kakashi and noticing that he also held a Sharingan of his own, "That's why he has the same technique as mine. I never thought I'd see someone other than Itachi with those eyes. That said, you must be the copy ninja, Kakashi."

He turned back to Guy, regarding him now. "Though who are you?"

The question slightly hurt Guy's pride, yet he did not allow it to show. "I am Konoha's Prideful Green Beast, Might Guy! Kakashi's one and only rival!" He proudly stated, seemingly full of vigor.

"What a funny outfit. Are you like an exotic animal?" The shark-man, who was the closest one here to fitting that criteria, asked.

"Don't take him lightly," Itachi calmly said to the other. Once a part of Konoha, Itachi knew very well that Guy was more powerful than he looked and let on.

"This is surprising," Kakashi said, regaining Itachi's attention. "The two people at the tea shop ended up being Itachi Uchiha and the mysterious Kirigakure shinobi, Kisame Hoshigaki, one of the 'Seven Swordsmen of the Mist'."

"Well, well, you know my name. I'm honored," Kisame said, showing off his 'smile' of serrated teeth. "I heard you and little Zabuza had fought before. Hehehe, here's an opportunity for me to do some slicing-"

"Kisame," Itachi interrupted, turning to look at him again, "quit messing around!"

The sudden intensity of Itachi's words and gaze surprised him, making him lose the idea of going on a battle frenzy.

"You will take too long if you fight with him. If you take too long, other shinobi will arrive. Don't forget our mission. We didn't come here to get injured."

"Oh? What's this mission you're here for?" Kakashi asked, fishing for intel like the Anbu he was raised to be.

"We are looking for something," Itachi said in response, for some reason not caring about giving sensitive information to enemies, despite also once being an Anbu under Kakashi.

"Looking for something?"

"You're looking for Naruto, aren't you?" Guy suddenly asked, his words catching everyone by surprise. "Or more like your organization, the Akatsuki, is looking for the Kyuubi inside of him."

Everyone present was dumbfounded at the words Guy spoke, each for a different reason. Itachi and Kisame were surprised that everything Guy said was true. Kakashi was surprised that Guy knew the same information he had only recently learned, while Asuma and Kurenai were surprised at the information itself.

Silence pervaded the area for a moment until Itachi regained his calm demeanor. "It's a shame to leave, but staying here is meaningless. We are not here to fight a war, after all."

"Tch, I finally got excited, that's too bad." Even if they knew why the two of them were here, they had already been found out and could no longer continue anyway. Both Itachi and Kisame suddenly flickered away, leaving the four Konohagakure Jōnin to themselves.

"Shouldn't we chase after them?" Kurenai immediately asked.

"No. We are already spread thin as it is without a Hokage and recovering from the recent invasion," Asuma said in defense of not going after them.

"Agreed. We can't spare anyone right now," Kakashi said to back up Asuma, then turned towards Guy. "Guy, did Jiraiya also give you information about the Akatsuki?"

When Jiraiya returned to the village for the Chunin Exams, he met up with Kakashi and gave him all sorts of information regarding Orochimaru, who had been a part of an organization called the Akatsuki.

It was a growing organization that had so far only recruited nine S-Rank missing-nin, all of them wanted criminals from different villages who had taken on espionage-like activities.

Orochimaru had recently left this organization, yet there was still one more Konohagakure wanted criminal in it, Itachi Uchiha. Recently, this organization had grouped its members into two cell groups, sending them off to various places to do many things, and one of them was theorized to be the capture of the Kyuubi.

This information was what Jiraiya knew and had handed down to Kakashi. Did he also give other Jōnin the same information?

"No, he didn't," Guy responded, confusing Kakashi even further. "Kakashi, do you remember that kid from when the invasion began? The one who looked like a younger you but with black hair?"