3.9

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[Alexander's POV]

My team was being more useful than I expected them to be. Much more so. And that was probably what God was trying to teach me.

Jordan had told us about something I didn't even remember. Well, it was somewhere in my memory, but memories from before the Super Soldier Physique were different from those that came after.

It gave me Eidetic Memory, allowing me to remember basically anything, but for old memories I have to actually think about them, or something related to them, for the memory to surge.

And for Hanzo, a minor character in Naruto, not much came naturally to me about him. But Jordan had reminded me of something great we could use against him.

The only problem was that it was quite far from us, it was in another country, and while I would be able to get there in a matter of hours once I fully healed, I didn't want to move away from the Ame Orphans.

As useful as my team is proving itself to be, I am still the main firepower of the team, and without me the Ame Orphans will certainly die, because God will do everything it can to kill them.

For the same reason I didn't want to send Konan, who could fly with her Paper technique, as I had a feeling God would find a way to kill her. After all, wouldn't our mission be too easy if we could just have them hide or run away?

But the solution had come in the form of another teammate of mine, a newbie.

Claire. She was an athlete, and quite the competent one as according to her, she ran many marathons, and might have even participated in the Olympics, if not for God's Game of course.

So, we sent her to get the advantage we would certainly need to bring down Hanzo. Of course, the possibility of her dying on the way, or of her not being able to bring this advantage for some other reason existed, but it was our best shot with our current resources.

Of course, while this plan could help, it wasn't the only thing we would rely on. It was more secondary in nature, actually.

For now though, I needed to convince the Ame Orphans, who had been deep in discussions for the last few hours, that going to war against Hanzo and overthrowing his regime was the best thing for this country, and by extension our group.

I had been in meditation for six hours when I had finally healed to a satisfying amount. It wasn't perfect yet, as most of my skin was still either charred or very sensitive, and my insides still hurt, but I had returned to full fighting capacity.

It would be painful, but possible.

The medics were impressed, but the Ame Orphans were looking guilty, because despite my impressive regeneration, my entire body was covered in burnt marks, despite the new skin. The fire had burned too deep, and I would bear the scars for the rest of my life, looking like half a monster.

Well, that's if God wasn't there to heal me at the end of the mission. Or the Super Soldier Serum in my veins working every second to restore my body to its peak.

But I did not want to relieve them of their guilt so soon, because I could use it.

Waking up from my meditation, I approached the large table in the middle of the room, on which all three of the leaders of the Akatsuki were leaning.

They all looked at me, so I questioned, "Have you made a decision?"

I knew they had not, but I still asked. And with my question, Konan's face suddenly turned exhausted as she answered, "Nagato doesn't want to fight, and Yahiko is one step from marching on Hanzo's mansion."

I smiled, and asked, "Have the news of the attack reached all your men?"

Konan nodded, replying, "All seven of our bases have been warned, and all of our men are converging to our location. However, to make sure they won't be attacked on the way as you were, they will all be using hidden paths, and thus will take longer. The nearest should arrive in a couple of hours, while the latest should arrive in around a week."

7 bases, the last of which will arrive at the end of the week… Strangely coincidental with our mission.

Yahiko added, "We don't want to give Hanzo a reason to fully prepare for war either, so they will be gathering at our headquarters, while we will keep his attention centered on us."

I scratched my jaw, commenting, "So the longer we hold on, the more forces we will have at the ready. And you tell me you still hesitate whether to attack or not? You think we have a choice?"

Yahiko sent a pointed look at Nagato, who still looked unconvinced, so I shook my head and continued, "With the way things are, Hanzo will keep sending his men after us, and will naturally exhaust his forces. For us, the wisest course of action would be to exhaust his forces on us for the following week, and when all your men have finally gathered, we overthrow him with everything we have."

Nagato argued, "But if we go to war with him, how would we be any different from the rest of them?"

I snorted, "Hardly anyone is like Hanzo the Salamander, and I'd wager that most people would be much better than him. Besides, I already told you. If we try to hide, Hanzo won't hesitate to poison the entire nation to hunt us down, simply because we represent a threat to his power."

Nagato still looked like he had grievances to address, but Kyusuke suddenly ran in the room, exclaiming, "They're here!"

My body tensed by itself as I almost entered the unlocked mode by instinct, as it could only be our enemies.

Yahiko, Nagato, Konan and I quickly ran out of the room, joining with the rest of the group as we approached the windows.

Night had already fallen, and it rained, as it always did in this country, so we could hardly see anything. However, I could feel a few gazes on me, coming from the outside.

Taking a deep breath, I did not smell anything, but I still warned, "Careful of poison."

Yahiko shook his head, replying, "They can't force us out with poison. The only one capable of launching a large quantity of poison is Hanzo, through his salamander summon. For his men, they mostly use venom on their weapons, or traps."

That was good news, as it would make defending this place easier.

Suddenly, several fireballs appeared from the forest, targeting us. On the side, Yahiko made several hand signs and spit out a large wall of water to stop the fireballs.

Because they were rather small, only the size of a human head, the fireballs were drenched, but it was only to reveal shurikens hidden within. The ninja stars pierced through the wall of water with ease, and were heading for us.

Extending my hand, I used Force Push, and all the Shurikens were forcefully stopped in place, dropping to the ground harmlessly.

Nagato looked at me strangely, which I expected, since this looked quite similar to one of the techniques of the Rinnegan.

But now wasn't the time for interrogations as this was only their first attack.

Several more Jutsus were fired our way, while what looked like a literal army started running at us.

Chris, whose aim was accurate as ever, shot down several of the incoming ninjas, only for them to start dissolving into different elements.

Those were clones!

At the same time, I entered unlocked mode, and felt my instincts warn me. Turning around, I spotted several figures clad in shadows, already within the building!