Chapter 65

[Jiraiya]

Nobody expected the Raikage's actions, nor those of his brother. Their ally in the whole chaos, Orochimaru, looked wide-eyed as A and B rushed at him. Well, not at him, exactly, but at his resurrected warriors. The Raikage ran towards Tobirama Senju while Killer B charged at Rasa.

The assortment of ninja, Jounin, Anbu and Kage alike, didn't just stand by, of course. Strange as the Kumo ninja's actions were, they could still take advantage of that. Once the Snake Sannin was dealt with, they could see what was up with the Raikage and his brother.

Fortunately, Jiraiya, even with the commotion and the subsequent change of behavior of one of the major figures in the Shinobi World, the Toad Sage had continued with his technique. Hiruzen and him had worked on a counter to the Impure World Reincarnation ever since they'd heard that Orochimaru would be using the technique.

Even more fortunate was the fact that they had access to Tobirama's notes on the technique to try and look for a way to counteract it. The Jutsu was designed without any way to dispel it, yes, but that didn't mean that they couldn't find one regardless. It had taken both of them working together for a whole month and the technique needed a lot of hand seals and chakra, yes, but the results…

When Jiraiya finally finished the long series of hand signs, he rushed towards Hashirama Senju, who was being contained between a combination of his sensei, his sensei's son, Hatake and Gai. The previous God of Shinobi's eyes widened when the Toad Sage's palm pressed against his forehead.

The body of the legend started disappearing into dust and, surprisingly, a smile formed on his face.

"You did a good job, Hiruzen," Hashirama said to Jiraiya's sensei. "I am relieved that Konoha has you," Jiraiya looked at his teacher as he all but teared up at those words, looking years younger for a moment. The Toad Sage gulped, already feeling the strain of his previous fighting and now this technique. He turned towards Tobirama, his next target, and he wondered if he had enough energy in him to dispel Rasa too.

"Don't worry, Jiraiya," The current Hokage told him and he looked at him from the corner of his eyes. "I know we didn't expect to have to dispel more than two. I've already sent word to the Aburame to come and transfer chakra to you through their bugs."

The Toad Sage grimaced slightly at that. Bug chakra transferring wasn't a favorite of his but it was what it was. He'd take that over fighting against a Kage forever any day.

His hands started running through seals once more, preparing the technique once more.

"No! My plans!" Jiraiya heard Orochimaru cry out, clearly realizing that he was losing and losing fast. "You, traitors!" It said something about the Snake's mental state that he didn't realize he didn't have any ground to stand on with that statement. Even if he was right and Kumo seemed to have betrayed him. "I'll kill all of you, I swear!"

Jiraiya rather doubted that would come to pass. With how the fight was going, the Snake had little chance of living, let alone escaping Konoha. If anyone asked him, it was about time that his former teammate was finally caught and justice was delivered. He'd been given his chance, and he'd thrown it away without a care. It had taken some time for the Toad Sage to understand, but there was nothing that would bring back one of his best friends. He was just… lost, and there was nothing he could do to change that.

That didn't mean he wasn't grateful that someone else would be the one to deal with him though.

"Saru," Tobirama said once he was in the same position as his brother had been not so long ago, disintegrating as the Jutsu was dispelled. "I'm so proud of you, Saru. I made the right choice that day."

Truly, what a cruel technique Orochimaru had used. Some might see it as a good thing, to bring back the dead, to be able to speak once more. However, Jiraiya disagreed. Being able to interact with them again opened wounds that had long since healed, it was like losing them all over again, he knew just from the look on his sensei's face. Moreover, one had to wonder, were they really the same people they had known? Were they just echoes? Were they merely imitations? Were they something else entirely.

Disturbing, was what the Jutsu was, if anyone asked Jiraiya. He may respect the Second Hokage a lot, much of that coming from his sensei's own admiration of the man, but the creation of this monstrosity of a technique took away much of it. Even in the world they lived in…

He shook his head, it wasn't the moment nor the place to think that. Instead, the Toad Sage focused on his chakra reserves. The Aburame bugs were already crawling on his skin, transfering energy to him so that he could dispel Rasa and mark an end to the invasion that was going on around them.

While he waited, he looked to the side, watching as Orochimaru twisted and turned, snarling and cursing at everyone around him, bound with seals that he had prepared beforehand and had been given to Anbu ninja. The remaining Kage were all surrounding and containing Rasa. The Toad Sage frowned, however, when he noticed that Killer B wasn't around anymore. Where had he gone?

"Where is B?" He asked then, turning towards Kakashi who was standing next to him with his sensei's son. They were both ready in case support was needed, but everyone else seemed to have left already, going to help with the effort to finally end the invasion.

"Left to deal with the other Kumo Jinchuriki, apparently," Asuma was the one that answered, taking a drag of his cigarette. "We still don't know what's up with that change of hearts though," He added, looking intently at the Raikage.

"And you just let him go?"

"The Fourth Kazekage will be dealt with in a moment," Kakashi replied this time, looking as he always did, as if he wasn't affected by what had happened at all. "When that happens, there won't be anything stopping the Kage from fighting him and A if they try something. Besides, there's little reason to come and help here only to continue attacking."

"Something is going on," Summarized Asuma.

[}-o-{]

[Shikamaru Nara]

He was worried. Very worried, actually.

How? How was this woman still holding her ground? There was a Legendary Swordsman fighting her, nevermind Naruto's weird red chakra transformation which was just like hers. Moreover, Ino, Shino and Shikamaru himself were still trying to refrain her with their own techniques. So…

How?

He was so going to interrogate Eiji when this was all done. What the fuck was up with that red chakra that Naruto and the Kumo woman and man had? Why was it so powerful? How could they counter it?

"That doesn't look like something I can help with," The Nara heard besides himself and he had to agree with Kiba, who seemed to have come back. That could only mean that Hinata was safe and that was a great weight off his shoulders, at least.

"The Kiri genin are patrolling around, making sure that no one comes close to interfering in the fight," Shikamaru informed him before telling him how they were doing so and of the traps they had laid out. After all, the plan was…

"So, you want me to help them out, right?" Kiba finished for him right as he was getting to that point. Shikamaru nodded, making a mental note that the Inuzuka could be remarkably less troublesome when he felt like it. "Right… good luck over here," The boy said before leaving, and Shikamaru could see the worry in his eyes as he looked at the fight.

Was that real worry for Naruto and them? Was it fear for the woman? Was he worried for the village if they failed? All those questions plagued Shikamaru's mind for a second before he pushed those away. They didn't matter at that moment. What mattered was making sure that all his friends stayed alive and well…

Which brought him back to the fact that he couldn't do anything to help.

He'd thought he was making progress. Taking his fights seriously, learning more offensive Jutsu and deviating from his family techniques. He'd thought that would be enough. Ultimately, it was all more of the same.

Even if he was given a year, or two, or a decade, what would have changed? Nothing, Shikamaru realized. His training just didn't give him the tools to deal with people such as these. He knew, of course, that different people and different skills would be better applied in different jobs but...

But he still wanted to help. He still wanted to do something. He still wanted to fight with his friends. Not just help, not just plan… Because if that help wasn't enough, if his plans failed… He ultimately had been useless, hadn't he?

No, that wouldn't do.

Shikamaru needed something that gave him an edge, something to be able to participate in such fights. He needed a technique, like the one Eiji had been talking about, the Lightning Release jutsu he'd made and used that day. Something like Naruto's red chakra cloak.

And he'd get one, if it was the last thing he did.

"I hate this," Ino grumbled next to him and he wholeheartedly agreed.

"It is rather upsetting," Shino said then, and if they hadn't known better they would have thought him indifferent despite what he said. For them, though, "upset" didn't quite manage to encompass what the bug user was feeling, but they understood.

There, watching Naruto having to fight such a battle. Having to see as the blonde was smacked aside by the woman more than once, only to continue getting up and rushing back in. Looking as the Legendary Sword slashed so close to him too and having no guarantees that the man wielding it gave a damn if he hit his "ally" or not…

All those thoughts were pushed aside in an instant as a new development appeared.

With a loud boom, a cloud of dust rose right where the woman had been. Both Naruto and the swordsman jumped back and watched intently through the floating earth, waiting for a sign of their opponent and whatever had caused the disturbance in the first place.

Shikamaru's eyes looked around, trying to see if there was anyone that had passed through their perimeter and check if they were friendly or not. He didn't find anyone though, which meant that whatever that had been was either very good at hiding or was inside the cloud too. As it turned out, when the wind finally took away some of the dust, it was revealed that the second one was the correct guess.

It didn't reassure him at all though, because the man that Eiji should be fighting was the one that stood there, next to the blond woman. The man that Eiji had warned them was too dangerous.

Then, Shikamaru froze and made his mind repeat those thoughts.

That was the man that Eiji should be fighting.

"What happened to Eiji?" He mumbled, eyes wide as he felt the blood drain from his face. Both Ino and Shino mirrored him, pale as he'd ever seen them. They stared at the new arrival, intently, as if trying to pry from him answers regarding the wellbeing of their friend.

"Stop, Yugito," The man said and his voice traveled through the whole place.

'We finally got her name, huh?' Shikamaru couldn't help but think at that moment. It was… somewhat strange, to have been so focused on this person, so engaged in stopping her, and not know who she was, really. Regardless, he had more important things to focus on.

"B-sensei?" The woman asked, clearly confused and caught off guard by the simple order.

"The invasion was a mistake," He said then, this time shocking everyone else in the process. "And now Kumo ninja lives are at stake. You must help me put a stop to it. We have to tell our people to quit."

"But, B-sensei! A-sama's orders were-"

"Do as I said," The man demanded then, staring right at the woman, Yugito, through his sunglasses and her back straightened in an instant. "Our people's lives are already hanging by a thread."

"If you think we'll just let you go like that," A sword appeared between the two Kumo nin and Shikamaru had to applaud the swordsman's courage. He'd had trouble just battling the woman and with Naruto's help, but he still stood there in front of the two monsters in human bodies like he stood a chance.

For a moment, the man that was supposed to have the red chakra… 'Wait… those are a lot of swords,' Shikamaru finally noticed, now that he had a moment to focus on something other than stopping the woman. 'She called him B-sensei… Killer B...' Tha Nara's eyes widened.

"Are you sure, B-sensei?" The woman asked, ignoring the swordsman completely. When she received a nod in response, she turned to the man that was threatening both of them. "I'll stay here while you stop our people then. It wouldn't do to have… interferences, would it, B-sensei?"

Another nod followed and the man, Killer B, Shikamaru now knew, disappeared. Even with the threat he'd delivered, the Kiri nin obviously stood no chance trying to stop them. As such, he'd seemed to content himself with what they'd managed.

"Now I have to wonder," The swordsman voiced when the place fell into silence. "What the hell is going on?"

Shikamaru himself could only agree with that.

[}-o-{]

[Hiruzen Sarutobi]

"You expect us to believe," Danzo started with a very distrustful tone, not that it was without reason. "That you, a Kage, were controlled by someone else? Do you think we are stupid?"

Hiruzen was sure that, if the situation had been any different, he'd never have allowed his old friend to speak his mind quite so freely. Especially if he took into account that there were three Kage in the room besides himself. However, these were far from normal circumstances.

"I don't expect you to believe me," A replied, making a visible effort to remain calm, which, given what the Hokage knew of the man, meant a lot. "But that's the truth. Last thing I remember is looking at a..." At this, his eyes darted between Danzo and Hiruzen for a moment. "A Sharingan."

"... I hope you aren't trying to blame us, A," The Sarutobi voiced, and he was pretty sure that if he hadn't, the Shimura would have, but much more aggressively.

"There's two Uchiha that are alive. One is too young and inexperienced to have done this and the other..."

'The other is Itachi, who I know wouldn't do this, but everyone else doesn't,' Hiruzen thought to himself, making a show of considering what A was saying. Which he was, really, but not in the way everyone was. 'What if there's another Uchiha though… An unaccounted one… One that may have been the one behind the Kyuubi Attack.'

It was an improbable idea, but not an impossible one. If Hiruzen knew anything about the world they lived in, it was that the improbable could very well happen. 'Something to think about.'

"We can't just take your word for it. I hope you understand, A," Mei diplomatically pointed out. She acted as if she had always been a Kage, Hiruzen noted, which was very impressive by itself. He'd seen her change in expression a moment before though, and he would bet everyone else had too.

"And how do you propose we go about this?"

"A Yamanaka," Danzo pointed out instantly.

It was a way, yes, but not one that they would resort to in a normal case, not even an abnormal one, if the Hokage was honest with himself. Trying to get a Yamanaka inside the head of a foreign ninja was a major offense in cases like this, when they were trying to be diplomatic. Especially when that ninja was a Kage.

However, the Sarutobi thought it unlikely that Danzo cared. He was insulted, angry and, dare Hiruzen say it, worried. Insulted because he probably thought that A was lying, which might be the case. Angry because of the attack that Konoha had just suffered and the way the unexpected addition of Kumo had put everything in danger while he had been occupied coordinating his Root ninja. Worried… because the

"student" he cared about the most was put in danger. Not only that, but the state of one Eiji Satou was, at best, bad.

At worst, and Hiruzen suspected this might be the case, the boy seemed to have been abnormally affected by the Eight-Tails chakra he'd been exposed to in his "fight" with Killer B. The energy was a poisonous thing, the Hokage knew, but the boy had looked very bad. Either he'd been exposed to a lot more than they thought, or something else was going on.

It certainly wasn't helping his old friend's mood, that much Hiruzen knew.

"Very well."

The room fell silent then and there.

That hadn't been the response anyone had been expecting from the Raikage.

There were few possibilities for such an easy acceptance. One, A was very confident in his mind defences, which Hiruzen very much doubted since it was such a difficult and time consuming skill to develop. Barely anyone outside the Yamanaka themselves and people that were trained with the only purpose of being spies worked on such a thing outside of the very basics. Even Hiruzen himself was only considered better than average regarding that skill.

Two, he had found a different way to defend himself, which the Hokage doubted even more. There was a reason Yamanaka were considered almost infalible interrogation experts. If the person hadn't been specifically trained to block them off, then they just couldn't keep information from them.

And finally, the third possibility was that… A might be telling the truth.

Honestly, Hiruzen didn't know what to think if that was the case. Who would do something like that? Not only target a Kage with such a technique but to almost start another World War in such a way. And, more importantly, why?

[}-o-{]

[Danzo Shimura]

"What an absolute mess," He grumbled once, it was just Hiruzen and him standing in the Hokage's room by themselves. Everyone had left, the new brat, Terumi, and the old bastard, Onoki, were already on their way to deal with the consequences of the invasion on the people they had brought. A, B and Yugito Nii were all currently inside containment rooms sealed by Jiraiya himself while they waited for the Yamanaka interrogation to take place.

"You can say that again," Hiruzen nodded, grimacing as he took a drag of his pipe. "I knew this would be bad regardless, but this..."

"There's someone out there that can control Kage-level ninja," Danzo nodded. "It might even be more than A and B, which makes this even worse."

"Ah, so you saw Mei's expression when A mentioned that, huh?" The Hokage asked with a wry smile. Indeed, he'd seen it. The woman had looked horrified for a split second before schooling her features into a merely thoughtful look.

"Everyone that has heard anything about Yagura Karatachi knows that something happened there. He changed too much in a very short amount of time," Danzo mused. "You think this is the work of this… "Madara" that A speaks of?" He asked, disbelieving of the "Madara" part. Everything else though… Who knew?

"It's a possibility, and if this individual has been around for long..."

"Then they could be the ones behind the Kyuubi too… Tch, what a mess," Danzo repeated with a click of his tongue. It really was grating on his nerves, all that was happening. Furthermore, the situation didn't seem to be getting better anytime soon.

"Your annoyance wouldn't have anything to do with the state of your "student", would it?" Hiruzen asked then, and Danzo had a denial ready in a split second. Then, he paused and took a deep breath in.

"It might," He admitted reluctantly.

Years, he'd spent years teaching and training the Satou. Danzo had seen the boy grow from merely a dedicated student to being the top of his year and then so much more. Moreover, the boy had something that none other in his class had, an inherent ruthlessness to those that went against him. If someone proved to be a danger, they would be dealt with.

Maybe it was a stretch to say that no other had that. The clear example of this was the Uchiha, but not only did Danzo not trust anyone from that clan with anything at all, evidenced by what had to be done due to their plans of rebellion, but the boy was very clearly unstable even if he'd gotten better with time. No, that boy wouldn't do.

The Nara was an option, but those of the clan tended to be less than motivated and this one was no exception, even if he'd changed a bit through the years. The Aburame was another good candidate, but he lacked on one of the most important aspects, being a leader. So, Danzo's sight had settled in the Satou.

And the then student had shown him that he'd been right with every single test he'd given him. Mistakes were made, obviously, but those were easily outshone by the successes. With each of those, Danzo grew more hopeful and determined.

Danzo had finally found an heir to his cause.

The great tree would continue to have the unseen ones support it from beneath.

Now his chosen heir laid on a hospital bed with the medics having absolutely no clue as to how bad his condition was or when he'd wake up, if he woke up at all. It was annoying, it was infuriating and it was… concerning. It made Danzo want to kill the Snake himself and crush Oto, Suna and Kumo.

If only he could though…

"What are we going to do with Suna and Kumo?" He asked, his eyes going back to his old friend. Kumo could be let go if A's claims showed to have some truth behind them, but the price for them would be great regardless. Something like this wouldn't be overlooked, couldn't be overlooked. It would make the Leaf look weak and they couldn't let that happen. Not with the Kyuubi Attack fresh in everyone's mind still and now this.

If they ever needed to look strong, it was now.

"You won't like this, but I'm thinking about giving the Sand the same treatment we'll give the Cloud if A isn't lying."

"You can't be serious."

"I can," Hiruzen nodded, and it was only the fact that he didn't look happy at all that made Danzo stay silent and listen to him. What could his old friend possibly use to justify such a course of action? "Not only were they being deceived by Orochimaru impersonating their Kage, which already takes away some of the blame we could place on them, but some of their own Shinobi helped our people. Rather important Shinobi might I add."

"Rasa's children," Danzo said, unnecessarily as he narrowed his eyes considering that. People wouldn't be happy with just that. Moreover, Konoha couldn't very well extort anything from Suna, seeing as their poverty was the whole reason they had joined the attack in the first place. "An alliance, it's the only thing that won't cause us to look weak. One heavily in our favour."

"Indeed," Hiruzen nodded, taking another drag of his pipe. "We can push for one of Rasa's children to take over him as the Fifth Kazekage."

"You are thinking of the youngest, the Jinchuriki," Danzo realized, his mind starting to go over that scenario. "He's the only one strong enough to not be instantly challenged."

"That, and because he is the one that seems to hold a modicum of respect for our people. Or rather, one of our people," Hiruzen pointed out, and this time he was smiling. "Your "student" seems to have made quite the impression for young Gaara to have gone to his aid against such an opponent."

And Danzo was proud of that, even if that was rendered to almost nothing by the worrying results of that battle.

"You think it'll work?"

"With Kiri being our unofficial ally, Iwa being a reluctant one for the moment - and might I add that the other two siblings helped Onoki's granddaughter? - and Kumo still having to pay for what has been done, they will have no allies. Suna won't have much to do but accept whatever we tell them will be needed for us to "forget" this happened."

"Which we won't, but it will calm the waters somewhat," Danzo finished then, taking a deep breath in and nodding slowly. "Might be enough for the moment. Kumo though, those can and will pay a higher price. They had no reason to do this, and even if A and B were being controlled, someone else should have tried to stop them. They went along too easily."

"On that, we agree," Hiruzen accepted immediately, since he knew Danzo was right on that account. "Are you happy? Your "student"'s first contact outside the village is going to be a Kage."

"Quite so. Especially since another possible one seems to be Onoki's granddaughter," Danzo almost smiled. "It would be much better if he wasn't in a coma we don't even know he'll wake up from."