AN: Hey guys, so first things first, I apologize if you felt this chapter was a lot of head hopping. I know Izaya wasn't in this chapter, but I needed to set up the start of the 4th GNW...Anyways, here is Chapter 43. And probably gonna put Chapter 44 up today as well.
Hello Everyone, GGDP brought to my attention about Kirigakure and Kimimaro's connection with the Kaguya Clan. I accidentally posted the wrong version of the chapter when I was editing. My apologies. Not much changed in this version, there was just some dialogue missed towards the end. Thanks for your understanding.
Chapter 43
Kimimaro and Kakashi sat in complete silence and boredom along with the other guards and advisors of the other great village's while the Five Kage continued their talks. A, the Raikage spoke at this moment, "Oi Mizukage, you should be ashamed. There are rumors going around that Akatsuki was founded in your village!" Mei sighed with an apologetic face as she said, "Well, now that we've come to this point there's no point in trying to hide it. There were rumors going around that the Fourth Mizukage Yagura was being manipulated in the shadows by the Akatsuki. Under his rule the Village Hidden in the Mist became even more cruel and corrupt. We in the resistance fought hard and eventually regained control. We wanted to suppress the rumors going around so as to try and rebuild the reputation for the Hidden Mist Village and stabilize the situation."
A continued to shout in frustration. "Hmpf. Konoha, Iwa, Suna, Kiri, Akatsuki was mainly formed from missing ninja of your villages! And now we learn that it might be Uchiha Madara behind the Akatsuki! Not only that. Mizukage, it was two shinobi of the seven swordsmen of the mist that attacked my brother Bee. Momochi Zabuza and Hoshigaki Kisame! Those bastards managed to escape. I still haven't paid them back for what they did! And Onoki, you even used and hired the Akatsuki in the past!"
Onoki sat in his seat with a look of annoyance before glancing at A saying, "Tsk. And who's fault is that? If only Kumogakure had stuck to the previous agreement for each nation to reduce their military might we would not have had to resort to using the mercenary group known as Akatsuki. Instead of honoring the agreement Kumo instead secretly expanded their military and stole secret information from other villages."
"What did you say!" A exclaimed with a glare while smashing his fist on the table in front of him.
Gaara let out a sigh before speaking. "We have all suffered at the hands of the Akatsuki. They have brought ruin, destruction, and pain to all of us. Orochimaru killed the Fourth Kazekage and attacked Konoha. Pain destroyed much of Konoha's foundation. Deidara destroyed many of Iwagakure's foundations as well. Kisame and Zabuza have dealt a heavy blow to Kumogakure, and the Fourth Mizukage was even manipulated by the Akatsuki. They have collected and extracted many of the Tailed Beasts for unknown reasons. We know that their power reaches far but we don't know how far. What do they plan to do with the power of the Tailed Beasts? And if it is truly Uchiha Madara behind the Akatsuki, then it is all the more reason that we need to decide how we shall proceed forward. It will be too much for any one nation to handle on their own."
Onoki smirked as he glanced at Gaara and then at A. "Heh. Kazekage, you are still a youngling. You gave a good summary and have an optimistic outlook, but even if you mean well you have not had the chance to experience the hidden dangers of political agreements amongst nations. As you can see, even if we come to an agreement here it does not mean that others will uphold their end of the deal."
The Raikage clenched his fist as a thick vein popped out of his forehead in annoyance and anger while he stared at Onoki's underlying meaning. Tsunade and Mei just watched in silence as the Tsuchikage and Raikage argued with each other for a bit.
"Tsk. A stubborn old rock and a hot tempered muscle head." Tsunade clicked her tongue as she silently mumbled to herself.
Gaara closed his eyes in deep contemplation before speaking once more. "In the end we cannot trust each other. If that is how humanity looks at the world, then we have no future."
Onoki raised his eyebrow at Gaara. "Hm? What is it you want to say?" Gaara paused momentarily in silence before looking straight at him. "Obstructing ourselves from understanding and trusting each other will only breed a world of fear. To submit oneself with no regard for what is right is something I find difficult to accept."
Onoki had a look of indifference as he responded, "You speak of such difficult matters as if it were easy. What does a brat that's still ignorant in governing his own village know? Feel free to take this opportunity to ask anything you'd like, your elders here will be more than happy to answer any questions you may have."
"Then let me ask you this." Gaara replied.
"Sure, I'll answer anything you'd like kiddo." Onoki said with an air of arrogance.
"When was it that you gave up on yourselves?"
"Eh?" Onoki was taken aback by Gaara's question. Mei smiled as she thought, what a pure-hearted boy. Tsunade also laughed inwardly and smiled thinking, good job Kazekage, putting that old stone in his place. Mifune noticed that the tension in the room finally died down a bit and so he chose this time to speak up. "Ahem. Well...As the representative of the neutral factions and as moderator for the summit I propose that we form an Allied Shinobi Alliance until the Akatsuki is dealt with."
"Allied Shinobi Alliance? Hm…" Mei whispered aloud as she contemplated the prospect.
BOOM!
"Eh?" All the Kage's let out a surprised expression as they felt the building shake. All the bodyguards and advisors jumped out to protect their respective Kage at this moment.
Swish Swish!
Kakashi and Kimimaro immediately appeared beside Tsunade in a battle ready stance.
"What's happening?" A questioned. Ao, one of Mei's bodyguards turned towards the direction of the commotion and activated his Byakugan. "Eh? It seems we are under attack. What monstrous chakra! It's the Akatsuki. Two members. Momochi Zabuza and Hoshigaki Kisame." Ao said as he relayed to everyone what he was seeing.
Hearing the names Zabuza and Kisame A became immediately incensed and shouted, "What?!" As he recalled how Zabuza and Kisame nearly captured Bee. He quickly disappeared from the room and charged out. Mei frowned as she felt partly responsible since both of the Akatsuki members attacking were from Kirigakure. She stood up and said, "Ao, Chojuro, follow me. They are missing ninja from our village and it is our responsibility to get rid of them."
"Yes." Ao and Chojuro acknowledged as they rushed out with her.
"What now Gaara?" Temari asked while Kankuro waited on standby. Gaara paused thinking momentarily to himself before saying, "Let's go take a look. If things turn bad we shall lend a helping hand."
"Mn." Temari and Kankuro nodded as they all left as well.
Kurotsuchi looked at Onoki before asking, "Well, what should we do?"
"Hmpf. The Raikage, Mizukage, and Kazekage went to deal with the matter already. There's no need for us to move. Besides, what if my back acts up again?"
Tsunade scowled, "Tsk, Kimimaro, Kakashi, come with me. I'll go incase there are any injuries."
"Yes." Kimimaro and Kakashi nodded as they followed her out leaving only Onoki and Mifune in the room.
Swish! Splash! Fwoosh!
Tsunade, Kakashi, and Kimimaro stood still as they saw the Raikage fight against the intruders in the giant hall they walked through just earlier in the day as it was completely filled with water like it were a giant lake. Kakashi stood there and marveled at the amount of water in the room. "To create so much water and fill up this giant hall requires not only an incredibly skilled Water Style user but also an enormous amount of chakra."
Boom! Splish! Splash! Ting! Bang!
"Tsk! You Akatsuki bastards!" A shouted as he stood atop the water after exchanging some moves with them.
"Hehehe, the Raikage sure is fast." Kisame commented as he stood atop the water with Samehada in his hand.
Zabuza stood beside Kisame with his executioner's blade in hand as he commented, "Hmpf. Let's just kill one of them and be done with it. Even with the both of us it'd be a tall order to take on all 5 Kage at once." Mei frowned as she said, "Since you've both delivered yourself to our doorstep you can forget about leaving alive." She quickly formed the hand signs of Dog, Boar, Tiger, Ox, Rat, Bird and said, "Lava Style Lava Monster Jutsu!" A large murky acidic fluid shot forth covering a wide area as she attempted to heavily injure both Kisame and Zabuza. Kisame quickly clapped his hands together, formed the Snake hand sign, and placed his hands in the shape of a shark opening its mouth as he said, "Water Style Super Shark Bomb Jutsu!" A gigantic shark made of water shot forth as it gobbled up the acidic fluid filled with chakra. The corrosive nature of the lava melted away the shark, however, the shark's absorption of chakra from the lava allowed it to repair itself and grow causing both techniques to cancel each other out in the end. Mei raised her eyebrows in surprise that Kisame was able to stop her technique.
At this moment the Raikage cloaked in his lightning armor dashed over to Kisame and struck with his fist prompting Zabuza to slash horizontally with his executioner's blade. A was inwardly surprised that Zabuza would slash at him like this since he was already so close to Kisame prompting a quick thought to flash past his mind, Hm? If he doesn't stop his sword swing then it would not only strike me but also cut his partner in half. A raised his left arm that had a giant gold metal armor brace on it to block Zabuza's strike whilst using his right fist and punched straight through Kisame.
PWISH! CLING!
A's fist struck right through Kisame's body as his left arm guard successfully defended against Zaubza's sword strike. The force from the sword strike caused the Raikage to fly through the air a few meters away and it also cut right through Kisame who turned into nothing but water in that moment.
"What? A Water Clone?" A remarked with anger. No wonder he didn't care that his sword would cut through his partner he mentally scowled.
While in the distance Mei shouted, "Water Style Water Dragon Jutsu!"
Kisame's real body also appeared in the distance as he shouted, "Water Style Water Shark Bullet Jutsu!" A Water Dragon and Water Shark crashed into each other causing a large torrent of water to spread outwards. It was at this moment that a bunch of sand appeared up in the air as Gaara said, "Sand Hail!" Sand attacked Zabuza and Kisame from above forcing them both to constantly shift their position. Kisame formed the hand sign seal of Confrontation and said, "Water Style A Thousand Feeding Sharks!" A huge wave erupted from the water below into thousands of water sharks effectively blocking the hail of sand and rushed towards Gaara, Mei, and A. Before anyone else could make a move Tsunade jumped down towards the watery battlefield and struck down with her fist on the water as she shouted, "HAAAAAAA!" The powerful force behind her punch caused an enormous cavity to appear in the water which forced extremely powerful waves to rise high in the air all around disrupting Kisame's technique. As the large wave rushed out from the cavity it continued to crash down towards Kisame and Zabuza.
At this moment Zabuza and Kisame finished weaving the same hand signs as they said, "Water Style Great Waterfall Jutsu!" A giant vortex of water kicked up around them and absorbed the incoming wave before shooting back out with even greater force and ferocity towards Tsunade, Mei, Gaara, and A. Kisame and Zabuza also dashed towards them with their swords in hand at the same time. It was also at this moment that Kimimaro, Kakashi, Kankuro, Temari, Chojuro, Ao, Darui, and C chose to intervene.
Kakashi appeared in the far distance behind Kisame and Zabuza as he formed the signs of Tiger, Hare, Boar, Dog and said, "Earth Style Earth Wall Jutsu!" A giant wall of earth rose up from the ground beneath all the water and up above it blocking Kisame and Zabuza's escape route. Ao jumped in front of the Mizukage Mei, C jumped in front of the Raikage A, Kankuro jumped in front of the Kazekage Gaara, and Kimimaro jumped in front of the Hokage Tsunade as Kimimaro also formed the hand signs of Ox, Boar, Ram and said, "Skeletal Wall Frame Jutsu!" A giant wall made out of bones as hard as steel rose up in front of the double waterfall wave created by Zabuza and Kisame as a large CRRRSSSHHHH sound was heard as the wave crashed into the skeletal wall. Everyone from Kirigakure was instantly shocked when they saw the massive wall of bones appear. Ao instantly recalled an event that happened a long time ago about a Clan that was able to manipulate their bones who had attacked the Hidden Mist Village and were supposed to have been completely wiped out after that battle. Mei also furrowed her brow as she recalled the same event and turned her head to stare at Kimimaro.
Temari unfolded her fan at his moment and said, "Wind Style Great Wind Protective Wall Jutsu!" A powerful force of wind intercepted Kisame and Zabuza's dashing form and blew them all the way back near the Earth Wall Kakashi created. It was also at this time that Kisame raised up Samehada in his hand to block a sword strike from Chojuro while Zabuza raised up his executioner's blade to block a sword strike from Darui.
Cling! Cling!
The sound of Zabuza and Kisame interlocked in a stalemate of sword strikes against Darui and Chojuro could be heard.
"Well, these guys aren't half bad." Kisame commented as he blocked a sword strike from Chojuro.
"Tsk. Forget the Kage's, we've lost the initiative now. Weakening them will have to come at a later date." Zabuza said as he parried a strike from Darui.
Splish Splash!
At this moment Zabuza and Kisame had their backs up against the others as Kisame smirked with a facial expression that showed how much of a pain he thought their situation was. He showed his sharklike teeth and said, "Well, it can't be helped. Who would have thought that they'd actually be willing to group together and help the other one out so quickly. In normal times they'd usually be thinking of ways to get rid of one another."
Onoki and Mifune also arrived at this moment as they felt it was taking too long for the other Kage's to come back. Before anyone could do anything else a swirl of distortion appeared by Kisame and Zabuza revealing a masked Akatsuki member who then sucked in Zabuza and Kisame teleporting them away. Everyone furrowed their brows as they stared cautiously at this man in front of them. "Yo. Everyone." Tobi said as he stood there in the middle of everyone's gaze.
"What are you doing here?" A asked.
"I had wanted Zabuza and Kisame to assess and weaken the power of the Five Kage a bit, even possibly capture or kill one or two of you, but it seems that even for them it was a bit too much to ask. I am here to talk now." Just as Tobi finished speaking the Raikage attacked him only for him to phase right through Tobi.
"I couldn't care less for what the Akatsuki's plans are." A remarked.
Onoki slowly floated down by the Raikage's side and said, "Calm down Raikage. Let's at least hear what he has to say."
Mei, still off in the distance looked at Tobi and asked, "You wanted to take us as hostages? For what?"
"So that my eye of the moon plan could be carried out without any complications."
Onoki chimed in at this moment, "I'm truly surprised that Uchiha Madara is still alive, but why would a man of your caliber choose such an indirect approach? With your strength you could make any plans go the way you'd want it to." Tobi turned his head to Onoki. "The wounds I received from my fight against the First Hokage Hashirama were too deep. Currently I don't possess much power. My existence now is merely a shell of my former self, so to speak."
C, a guard of the Raikage's stood out and said, "Then is this your plan to return to your original self?" Tobi nodded and said, "I suppose you could say that, but that isn't all there is to it." Mifune glared at Tobi asking with caution, "Then what are you planning? What in the world is the eye of the moon plan?"
Walking over to a ledge Tobi sat down in comfort. "I want to explain thoroughly so let me sit down for a bit...In essence, everything will become one with me. A complete being where all is unified."
This revelation caused everyone in the room to be shocked with wide eyes.
"Becoming one? All unified? What do you mean?" Onoki asked. Tobi narrowed his eyes as he proceeded to tell everyone his story, "The Uchiha stone tablet has been passed down for generations. On that tablet is a secret that has been written down by the Sage of the Six Paths long ago. In order to read it one must possess a special ocular power by using the Sharingan, Mangekyo Sharingan, and the Rinnegan, in that order one can decipher it."
Onoki scoffed. "Your story has gotten more unbelievable. The Sage of the Six Paths? Nothing but a fairytale."
Tobi shrugged his shoulders indifferently. "This is the truth. He existed and left behind the stone tablet."
Tsunade scowled. "What the hell does your plan have to do with the Sage of the Six Paths?"
Tobi took a glance at everyone ensuring he had their attention before saying, "Do you know why he became a legend and is regarded as a God among shinobi? That is the connection between the Six Paths and my plan. A long time ago he saved the world from a certain monster. Gaara, a part of the monster was actually once sealed away inside of you. This being was a combination of all the Tailed Beasts as well as the strongest chakra. The Ten Tails."
Everyone in the room felt a shiver of coldness run down their spine at the direction this so called Uchiha Madara's story was going. Tobi continued on, "The Ten Tails was made of Gaara's One Tails, Shukaku. Nii Yugito's blazing monster cat, the Two Tails, the previous Mizukage's Three Tails, Roshi of the lava element's Four Tails, Han of Iwagakure's Five Tails, the missing ninja Utakata's Six Tails, Fuu of Takigakure's Seven Tails, the Raikage's younger brother Killer Bee's Eight Tails, and Konoha's demon fox the Nine Tails. All of the Tailed Beasts are nothing more than beings created from the dispersal of the Ten Tails chakra by the hands of the Sage of Six Paths. The Sage of Six Paths created a certain Ninjutsu in order to protect the world from the Ten Tails and it is still being passed down in secret. The system of the Jinchuriki sealing technique. You see, the Sage of Six Paths was the Jinchuriki of the Ten Tails. To immobilize it he sealed it into his own body. He was worshipped as a God by the people of the world who were terrorized by this beast. However, when he dies the seal will break and the wicked chakra of the beast would be released once again. Fearing this, before his death he used the last of his power to split the Ten Tails chakra into nine pieces and spread them throughout the world. He then took the chakra-less body of the Ten Tails and threw it up in the sky sealing it into the moon."
Mifune frowned. "So you are collecting all the Tailed Beasts to gain this unfathomable power, but what will you do once you have that power?"
"I will resurrect the Ten Tails and become its Jinchuriki. By using that power I will strengthen my ocular powers and invoke a certain technique."
"What technique? What are you planning to do?" Onoki asked in wariness.
"I will activate a great Genjutsu using the moon to project my eyes. The Infinite Tsukiyomi. I will cast a powerful Genjutsu on all humans in existence. I will control all humans with that Genjutsu and unite the world. A world with no reserve or dispute. Everything will become one with me! One unity! That is my eye of the moon plan."
The Raikage was furious as he said, "Are you fucking crazy?! Like we'd hand over the world to you!" Gaara furrowed his brow and said, "An illusionary peace is nothing but deception. It will hold no meaning in the real world." Mei also frowned and said, "There will be no hopes or dreams, only running in that kind of world."
Onoki glared at Tobi. "Unite the world? It sounds more like you want to make the world your own."
Tsunade also clenched her fist and gritted her teeth. "You're insane! You're a fool if you think we'd just gladly step aside and do nothing about it."
Tobi laughed and laughed some more before saying, "Then what have you Five Kage been able to do? You should be able to understand this the most. There is no such thing as hope! Hope is the same thing as giving up. That is why there is no other way than to make it a deception. Hand over the remaining Eight Tails and Nine Tails and cooperate with my plans. If you don't, then there will be war!"
"The hell I'll give Bee over to you, you maniac!" A shouted.
"Hmpf! Over my dead body!" Tsunade shouted.
"I won't hand over Naruto to you." Gaara said.
"I feel the same." Mei commented.
Tobi sat in silence as he expected this kind of response. "Although I myself may not hold much power, I do have the power of all the Tailed Beasts I've gathered thus far. You won't be able to win."
Gaara glared back and said, "I will not throw away hope."
Tobi narrowed his eyes. "So be it! I hereby declare the Fourth Great Ninja War! The next time we meet will be on the battlefield!" He then disappeared in a swirl of darkness in mere moments leaving behind a very silent and stunned room full of Kage's and their guards and advisors.
"So now what." Onoki said breaking the silence.
"We must form the Allied Shinobi Force. It is the only way to match the combative power of seven Tailed Beasts." Gaara said.
"I agree. We can't let the Akatsuki keep doing what they want." Tsunade said.
"Fine. Let us crush the Akatsuki once and for all." A said.
"Mn. Very well." Onoki also assented before asking, "What of the Eight Tails and Nine Tails?"
"What about them?" A questioned.
"How should we deploy them in battle?"
Tsunade also chimed in, "True, their military might could possibly be capable of helping us turn the war into our favor early on."
A shook his head. "No. I refuse. Knowing Bee he would most likely cause more chaos on the battlefield than be much help. In fact, he doesn't really follow orders well so…Anyways, I propose we hide them for now."
Tsunade widened her eyes in disapproval. "What? Hide them? But this is Uchiha Madara! If we lose the initiative outright we won't get a second chance to turn it around."
Gaara stepped forward at this time. "Calm down Hokage. I agree with the Raikage. First off, this war that he proposed was most likely to draw out the Nine Tails and Eight Tails. In the past the Akatsuki have been quietly capturing the Tailed Beasts. This time they declared open war. They have caused enough strife and anger amongst the Five Great Nations already from their movements and are now an open target so they elected to just declare war. Their objectives are the Eight and Nine Tails. They probably want us to send them to the battlefield and may have some sort of plan or trap to capture them. Also, I may not know the Raikage's younger brother Killer Bee, but I do know Naruto. Naruto is just as likely to do something against orders and it may cause chaos or confusion on the battlefield. For now I think we should keep them hidden."
"I agree." Mei commented. She then turned to Kimimaro and asked, "Boy. Your technique earlier...are you from the Kaguya Clan?"
Tsunade was about to chime in but Kimimaro saw no need to hide this fact and replied, "Yes. I am the last member of the Kaguya Clan." Kakashi felt a bit anxious as to how the Mizukage and her entourage would react so he walked and stood by Kimimaro just in case. Mei put on a thoughtful look before turning to Tsunade and asked, "Exactly what does this mean?"
Tsunade sighed and said, "What does what mean? Kimimaro is a member of the Kaguya clan. Konoha didn't have anything to do with the Kaguya Clans attack on Kirigakure nor did Konoha plot to steal information and whatnot from Kirigakure. Kimimaro was abandoned as a child and was saved from a life of misfortune by a Leaf shinobi of ours. They made their way to Konoha and the Third Hokage took them in. He's unaffiliated with Kirigakure."
Kimimaro turned to look at Kakashi and asked, "Did I cause trouble?" Kakashi smiled and said, "Don't worry about it. Lord Fifth will handle this." Kimimaro could only nod.
Mei and Ao remained silent for a few minutes as they took in what Tsunade said while Chojuro just stood to the side awkwardly. At this moment Gaara spoke up and said, "Is there a problem?" Mei and Ao looked at each other with a look of defeat as they simply couldn't find a justified reason enough to pursue the matter. Especially after everything that just happened so Mei simply shook her head and said, "I was just curious."
Mifune walked forward as he coughed to grab everyone's attention and said, "Ahem. Returning to the main topic at hand. Hiding the two remaining Jinchuriki should not have a drastic impact on our collective strength. Remember that this is also the very first ever shinobi alliance between the Five Great Nations and its battle power is also unknown. It is possible that our collective might may be able to contend with and may be greater than the seven Tailed Beasts Madara has captured."
Tsunade clicked her tongue at the prospect of having to hide Naruto. "Tsk. Very well. Then where are we sending them?"
A nodded his head in approval of everyone's consent. "Don't worry about that, I already have an idea. A remote place in Kumogakure where Bee and I used to train. It is very safe there. Also, no Akatsuki members were formed from Kumogakure so there's little to no chance of there being a spy from Kumo to sell us out."
Everyone nodded in assent to this as Mifune said, "Very well. It is decided then. As the leader of the neutral factions and mediator of the summit I hereby declare the official formation of the first Allied Shinobi Forces of the Five Great Nations. As the Kazekage is too young, the Hidden Mist Village has mysterious rumors tied to the Akatsuki, the Hidden Stone Village have utilized the Akatsuki in the past, and Uchiha Madara was a founder of Konoha, that leaves the Raikage, A, as the best choice for position of Supreme Commander of the Allied Shinobi Forces."
"Very well." Everyone nodded in agreement.