Chapter 50

OROCHIMARU OF THE SANNIN

Orochimaru had never considered himself to be an extraordinarily complicated person. In fact, he felt that his goals had always been simple and easy to note. 'Learn every jutsu in the world' was an ambitious goal, but a simple one. 'Make sure no one can kill you before you achieve your main goal' was another simple goal. Time spent dead, in captivity, and then under genjutsu had helped him see through the folly of his ways. Not his goals, of course. But in his intended process. Why had he spent so much time and effort going about things in a way that even he had known was less than optimal.

His goal had been learning every jutsu, even kekkei genkai, in the world, so why had he built up a village and then invaded Konoha. Sure, Hiruzen was a thorn in his side, but the old man hadn't gotten close to affecting his operations in a decade. Even better, old age would have killed him eventually without Orochimaru ever having to lift a finger. As for the Sharingan, there was no need for it. Sure, Itachi had shown just how strong a sharingan could be, but that was but one prodigy that had come from a clan of hundreds. If the sharingan was so great, why had they not been able to prevent their slaughter at the hands of a thirteen-year old?

Even if it was everything he believed it to be, there were more efficient ways at acquiring one. He'd known that Danzo had kept more than a few in storage. He wasn't Kakashi Hatake. He could implant a single eye without crippling himself. Even Kakashi Hatake's famous eye would have been an option if he ended up choosing not to go after greedy Danzo for whatever reason. Besides, there was still the realisation that the only jutsu the sharingan would help him with learning were the kind of jutsu that he already found laughably easy to learn. The true gems- kekkei genkai- would still remain beyond his grasp. Time spent alone and thinking had revealed the real source behind his illogical pursuit of Uchiha Sasuke- wounded pride. He wanted to take Itachi's brother as revenge for the disgrace he'd received at the man's hands.

But now, he realised that his goals were beyond such petty emotions. He had bigger fish to fry. That was why he was going along with this scheme of Jiraiya's for the time being. The cursed seal the Toad Sage had bound the both of them to was an interesting and intriguing bit of fuinjutsu, but nothing that couldn't be worked around with the right frame of mind.

He walked into the room and flexed his killing intent to draw order to the place. Suddenly, creatures that had previously been attacking each other stopped in their tracks. He beheld them, and resisted the urge to shudder at what he had wrought with his own two hands. These abominations. They weren't human any more. There was a reason he had them cast aside to prisons all over the land and far from his notice. Out of sight would be out of mind.

"Kneel" He commanded, and every single one of them dropped to one knee instantly. If not for their less than suitable appearances, this would have been the ideal workforce to build his village atop. They had seen the worst of him. They knew to fear him, and they knew it intimately. He never had to threaten them to secure their loyalty. Their minds came up with threats more inventive than he could ever have.

"Back to your cells. You will not move until I have need of you" He said, and then swept away- trusting that his orders would be obeyed. He had promised Jiraiya an army for when they needed to make their assault on Konoha, and he would deliver on that promise. He'd at least help his old friends gain their village back before he betrayed them for the last time. The seal on his forearm scaled his skin in warning, but he ignored it with ease. It was a careless thought, however. He was lucky that the seal would only alert Jiraiya when he broke it and it took its due from the both of them.

"Kabuto" he said, stopping in his tracks at the entrance to the hidden base. His former protege phased out of the wall as if it were not even there.

"Master" He said, dropping to a knee.

"You have done well in my absence." He praised, and just as the boy looked up at him, he filled the cavern with lightning chakra. Kabuto's screams echoed across the space, making a smile spread across his face. When he was sure that the message had been sent, he deactivated the jutsu. Kabuto's body fell to the floor, limp and smoking. Anyone else would have been long dead from that kind of treatment, but he could already see the brown burnt skin beginning to fall to be replaced by more normal skin.

"I know you can hear me. It was bold of you to attempt to take the reins of Otagakure in my absence. But never forget that this village. This land. Even you. Are all mine. Do not overstep again, Kabuto" he said.

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama"

"Good. Now I have a mission for you."

XXXXXX- SASORI OF THE RED SANDS

"Red clouds over a still dawn" He said, using the words to activate his sleeper agent within the Hidden Waterfall Village. The nondescript chunin suddenly turned and stabbed his fellow border patrol officer in the neck, holding on to the body until the man was well and truly dead. "What are my orders, Sasori-sama?" He asked.

"Take us into the village" Sasori replied, gesturing to himself and his partner who had somehow not yet gotten himself killed.

"Right away, Sasori-sama"

He resisted the urge to wiggle from discomfort as they passed through the waterfall tunnel that led into the village. It was the same entrance all shinoobi of the village used, so it gave him no. cause for concern. The only issue as that he'd never learned to swim. Growing up in the desert didn't afford one with much of an opportunity to learn a skill like that. He had to assign much of his agency to his brainwashed spy, and if anything went wrong, he'd entirely be at the mercy of another.

When they finally surfaced, he smiled with relief. He showed none of it through Hiruko however, remaining stoic and composed as ever. "So this is where Kakuzu and Hidan met their ends" His partner commented and Sasori resisted the urge to scoff. The so-called Zombie duo had proven that nothing was truly eternal as they died in combat against the reunited Legendary Sannin.

"Take us to the girl" He ordered, and his spy began to lead them. The entrance was deep in the shadow of the great tree that covered the whole village, but the girl apparently lived even closer to the village centre. Kakuzu's failed attack had led her to being moved into the same building that housed the village leader.

"So how do you want to play this?" Noel asked as they began to move and their cloaks began to cause a stir. It would only be a minute before they ended up surrounded by Waterfall Shinobi. Weaklings, one and all, but annoying in large numbers.

"Destroy indiscriminately. Maybe that will draw the Jinchuriki to us before we even have to get to her" He replied, hiding a smile. This jutsu of his had helped him take over a whole country. What was a small village in comparison to that?

His estimation turned out to be wrong. It took almost two minutes, and right in the middle of the group of shinobi that surrounded them stood a girl with green hair and wings of pure chakra sticking out of her back. "Surrender, Akatsuki scum. We have you surrounded" One jounin said. He'd be last to die for his audacity, Sasori decided. Watching his friends fall with no resistance would-

His thoughts cut off as the man's body was suddenly cleaved in half. Noel had disappeared in the space between seconds and had cut the man in twain with a knife hand. Sasori scoffed inwardly. He'd gotten much faster at activating that lightning armour of his.

More and more shinobi poured out of the woodwork as he noticed the circle that surrounded them getting wider and deeper. He fished out a familiar scroll from his robes and deactivated part of Hiruko's panelling to allow chakra flow from his core into the puppets once he unsealed them. "You will get the privilege of dying to my greatest technique." He told them before Hiruko's tail tossed the scroll into the air.

"Red Secret Technique: Performance of a Hundred Puppets" He said as the puppets suddenly appeared in the sky. A few of the shinobi took steps backwards but he just smiled in anticipation. This was going to be fun.

He spread his attention through all his puppets and they blurred into motion. At the same time, Noel flickered and appeared in the middle of a group of Waterfall Jounin.

XXXXX- FU THE NANABI JINCHURIKI

"They're endless" She said, with stress in her voice as she grabbed a hold of another puppet and ripped it in half. It managed to scratch her, but Chomie could deal with the poison. Those two things- their seemingly endless numbers and the poison- were the things that made this puppet army so dangerous. She floated in the air and considered trying again. Every jutsu had a weakness. With this one, it was obvious. The man in the centre of the storm who directed the puppets.

The only problem was that the second she went after him, she found herself surrounded by dozens of puppets. And even Chomei had struggled with dealing with that much poison so she'd been forced to bail from the attempt. Even worse than the puppets causing chaos was the man wrapped in lightning cutting a bloody swathe through loyal shinobi of Takigakure.

"Chomie" She said out loud. 'Yes?' She heard within her head.

"Can you ramp up a bit? We need to deal with glowy mcsparkpants over there" She said 'Gladly' Her inner voice spoke out.

She felt her body become filled with strength as she saw everything through a red tint. She knew that if she looked behind her then there would be five wings floating behind her back and each one would be a glowing red. Six tails were the best she could muster and control, but doing that would be overkill since she could only maintain it for about five minutes. Not nearly enough time to deal with both men. After she lost it, she'd be out of the fight for good. Five tails were preferable.

She turned towards the man in the lightning cloak and dove right at him. He sensed her coming and turned but it was too little and too late as she crashed into him and shoved him into the ground before pushing his body along the ground for a few feet. They came to a stop when his feet were able to plant themselves into solid stone and halt their momentum. He moved his hands from where they'd been trying to pry hers from his cloak and instead thrusted a punch towards her face. She smiled savagely and shoved her head into his knuckle instead. The headbutt had no effect on either of them but it shocked him for long enough for her to remove a hand from his cloak and use it to punch him in the midsection. He was driven even further into the ground. As she prepared another attack, she found it blocked by a wall of black.

"I still have some use for him" the puppeteer's voice spoke out. Behind him floated a face she'd seen in a much older bingo book. The same one that had the last mention of Kakuzu. That was the third Kazekage.

"No She's mine" Sparky said with a raised voice before lifting himself out of the hole she'd punted him into. He reached down and unbuttoned the cloak he had around his body, revealing a form fitting outfit similar to the standard uniform for Kumo jounin. She smiled at him while inwardly scoffing. She'd almost killed him in one swoop. If he thought they were equals, then she'd be sure to disabuse him of the notion.

Red chakra around her, she flew at him again. This time he was fast enough to block the first punch sent for his head. She used her flight to increase manoeuvrability as she swept through the air and sent a axe kick right for his head. He crossed both hands above his head to block the kick. The ground around them shattered. She pushed off him in an incomplete black flip that had her face to face with him for a second. That was all the warning he had before she flew right into him.

Arresting her momentum the moment she hit him, he was sent flying. She banked to the right to avoid a group of iron spikes that had been sent to where she'd been. She turned back to the Third Kazekage with a snarl on her face. What was he doing here? How was he even alive?

She flew right at him, dodging all the spikes and blocks that rose in her way. She shifted and flipped to crash into him with a kick. Another iron sand wall appeared in front of her. It didn't even shift with all the force she put into it. She flipped again to come face to face with the shield and shoved a bunch of Chomei's chakra into her fist. "Eraser blow" She said, forcing a dent into the shield, but little more as it remained in place. She changed course, sailing around the shield in a swift bank before flying at the man himself.

Closer to him, she realised that everything was not as it seemed. His skin wasn't skin. Not really skin at least. It was some sort of resin or glue that covered wood. He was a puppet. A puppet of the third kazekage? A human puppet? What the actual fuck? She was so confused that she didn't notice the two cubes of iron sand about to slam into her from either side. Not until it was too late, at least. She turned to either side, and despaired. She wouldn't make it out in time. Both platforms were too large.

She started flying up, accelerating to her peak. It wouldn't be enough, she knew. Or she thought. Suddenly, there was someone in the trap next to her. Shibuku. He held her hand and threw her upwards, the extra boost being enough for her to escape. Not him though. Both cubes separated to reveal nothing but red. He'd crushed Shibuku to nothing. Shibuku. Her first friend. Her only friend. Her everything.

"I'll kill you" It took her a second to realise the guttural scream had come from her as she saw red.

XXXXXXX- SASORI OF THE RED SANDS

"Well, that isn't ideal" He thought to himself as seven wings formed behind the Nanabi Jinchuriki. The red chakra surrounding her thickened until it became too dark to see through. Her eyes, previously a brilliant orange, were just a bright white. The creature across from him breathed out a fine mist that exploded in a bright light. He felt his optical sensors overload from the stimuli. While recalibrating them, he shifted to his chakra sonar for perception.

It was barely in time to move the third Kazekage away from being crushed to pieces by an overpowered blow. The wind force from it still tossed the puppet backwards a fair bit. He took advantage of the distance and withdrew what remained of his puppet army from the battle against the Taki shinobi and sent them at the greater threat.

He had each one emptying their poison stores in gaseous form as they fought against the jinchuriki. She still had to breathe, even in this state, didn't she? His hypothesis seemed to fail as she fought through the army with almost no noticeable slow down. These creatures were beasts. He commanded the Third Kazekage to join the fight again. Multiple spikes of poisoned iron sand slammed into her side. They failed to penetrate the thick chakra surrounding her form but it was enough of a distraction for one of the puppets to get close enough to shove a hand towards her face and unleash its entire poison stores at point blank range.

She ripped it in half all out instantly, but the damage had to be done. She was slowing down. More attacks from the Third Kazekage and more poison kamikaze runs from his puppets had her reeling, and thrashing from place to place. She was struggling to keep up. Of course she was. And now, his partner just had to ruin everything.

He saw Yatsuki before he intervened and rightfully pulled his puppets away from her. His hotheaded partner crashed into her form from behind. They flew towards the ground, but then the creature's tails reached out and began to wrap around his neck. His chakra output skyrocketed as he went into the second stage of the lightning armour. He grabbed the tails around his neck and pulled them off as the jinchuriki began to weaken. Hr punched it in the face once. Twice. It tried to reach out with a blow. He dodged to the side and hit it with two quick jabs to its midsection. Tails reached up, and failed to grasp anything but air. Another series of punches sent the jinchuriki stumbling backwards.

It was a systematic disassembly. He fought the jinchuriki in quick taijutsu that sent it reeling. Nothing it did could work, and each of his attacks hit with devastating strength. Sasori was unsure it would have been this easy without his poison slowing it down meaningfully.

XXXXXX- HYUGA NEJI

He had never been so thoroughly outclassed in his life. He and Sasuke had thrown everything they had, all their jutsu, their taijutsu, ninjutsu, and genjutsu prowess were displayed to the limit but it only ever succeeded in making the woman across from them chuckle and ramp up her own power to match. Now, they had given it all they had and were on their last legs. He knew the only thing keeping the Uchiha standing was the pride he held. The indomitable pride that would never allow him all to his knees and give up. Foolish pride. Neji resisted the urge to smirk. He was much the same, after all.

Too blinded by his pride to give up, Sasuke weaved a set of five seals much slower than Neji had ever seen him top it. The fireball he sent flying after the woman was about to the size of a beach ball instead of the cottage sized balls Neji knew he was capable of when he got into the groove. She merely leaned to the side to allow the jutsu pass her by, and then faster than Neji could perceive, she appeared in front of his teammate. She tapped him on the forehead with a single finger and he fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Your turn, Hyuga" were the last words he heard before succumbing to unconsciuosness.

He woke up in a tent. A familiar tent. It was the same one that the medical nin had set up all those weeks ago for treating the wounded, across from him was a bed that contained his teammate. Sasuke was still unconscious, more or less dead to the wall. Neji tried to stand up, only to find that his body was essentially paralysed with pain. Every part of him was exhausted. A medical nin entered the tent and rushed to the side. The glass of water she offered did little to quench his thirst, even if it was heavenly in its refreshing properties. It look him three glasses to stop feeling like his throat was screaming at him with its soreness.

"Wh-what happened?" He cursed himself for the stutter. What was that?

"Captain Fu found you and your partner unconscious before he engaged the Jusagakure head shinobi. He killed her, of course. And now here you are. We've taken the village, and are moving even further in land." She replied, with her glowing hands placed on his chest.

"Can I speak to him?" He asked. He needed to know what was going on. He needed to find out why they were moving further inland. Surely that couldn't mean what he thought it did. If it did, it was against orders, and also completely insane.

"Sure you can. He said I should let him know the second one of the two of you wakes up" She replied while standing up, done with her diagnostics. "I'll go get him now" She said as she walked out of the tent.

Further inland had to be a mistaker from her part. Maybe she hadn't understood the marching orders that she'd be given. Neji was certain of it. They were to take Grass and return home. Those were the orders he and Sasuke had been given. They were Danzo's students. If anyone would be getting fake orders, it wouldn't be them.

"Captain" He said in recognition as the blond haired man walked in. He made a token attempt at a bow. The man was still his superior officer, after all. And given that he'd killed that woman while both Neji and Sasuke had put in their best efforts and failed to land so much as a scratch against her.

"Hyuga Neji. You failed the mission assigned to you." He said.

"Kusagakure's head jounin was much more powerful than we were led to suggest" he replied, indirectly suggesting that it had been the fault of the man across from him. After all, where else had they gotten their intelligence from.

"I agree. She was only a few steps below the level of a Kage of one of the Great Five. I dare say she'd have killed me if my own partner had not been on hand to help." He said with a chuckle. Neji's face didn't crack at the terrible attempt to create some sense of camaraderie.

"The Nurse said something about moving further inland." He commented, trying not to sound accusing.

"Yes. After taking Kusa, we received new orders."

"New orders that directly contradict the old orders?"

"Precisely. That is the way of things. Some personnel were reshuffled across the army. We had some new assignees and some old assignees were returned to the village. I am now in complete control of this Battalion, and our orders are to take the Land of Rain or die trying. We will secure another avenue into Sunagakure." He said, and Neji was confused out of his mind.

"Didn't we already have a way into Suna. The land of Rivers?" He asked.

"After the Kazekage's assault on Iwa, the Land of Rivers solemnised a treaty with the Land of Wind. Shinobi of Sunagakure now operate with impunity across the land of Rivers. Our agents already report that multiple outposts have been built across the nation. Attempting to attack Suna through that avenue would be costly and stupid. We'd first have to dislodge the village's existing presence in the Land and then replace it with our own before pushing into the Land of Wind proper. We'd be bled dry of both men and resources if we tried that. We'd get outselves stuck in a protracted conflict with Suna in another nation, and give Mist or Cloud a target for their rapid militarisations." He said. Some thought had clearly been put into it. Neji couldn't see why they needed to go to war with Suna in the first place, but that was not his place to comment on. What he could comment on was the chosen tactic.

"But attacking through the land of Rain means we'd have to contend with Hanzo the Salamander. Last I checked, we don't have three Kage level ninja to hold him off this time." He posed.

"Hanzo the Salamander is dead. Godaime-sama is certain of it. We only have the shinobi of Ame to contend with. Prepare yourself, Hyuga Neji,. Amegakure will be ours by the end of the month."

It was a hard march. Once he was cleared by the medics, Neji was expected to join in on the march across the Land of Grass. Ninja armies moved differently from Samurai or other conventional forces. First of all, they moved quickly. And secondly, they moved in spurts. Spurts of high speed matched with long periods of stillness as they waited for the scouts ahead of them to plot the best routs and for the reserve behind them to cover their tracks.

A ninja army had two priorities; speed and stealth. In most situations, it was unacceptable to even consider allowing one to suffer in favour of the other. Generally, if speed was prioritised over stealth, then something was very very wrong. The wars among Shinobi were known as Secret wars for a reason. There was the unspoken but very binding agreement to ensure that as much of the war as possible was kept from Civilian notice. That was why even during times like this, the Konoha mission office worked just as usual. Business first. War later.

He scouted forward a few kilometres at a time with the aid of his byakugan, making sure that nothing untoward was a waiting for them in their approach. They were still within the territory of the Land of Grass so it was unlikely that they would meet anything more than the little token resistance that had been outside of the village eon patrols when they had taken it, but that was no reason to get sloppy. These practices would become even more essential once they crossed the border right at the edge of his vision.

He returned to the main group and relayed his findings to Captain Fu with quick sign language while Sasuke stood next to him. Silent and sullen. He'd been in a mood ever since he woke up. Neji could accept that there were shinobi out there that he'd be no match for. Not for a while, at least. He'd had the pleasure of watching the battle between Gaara of the Desert and the Tsuchikage during the Invasion of the Leaf, and he'd been confronted with his limits. Both men had expended more chakra than he had in his whole body with just pone jutsu. He'd learned then and there that Kage were gods among men, and since the Kusa Head Jounin had only been a few steps below that, he could stomach the loss.

Not his partner, however. Sasuke remained committed to his foolish pursuit of a man who stood on the same level as Kage. An S-ranked Criminal. Uchiha Itachi had been S-ranked at 13. Uchiha Sasuke didn't even qualify as mid-jounin level at 15. It was harsh, but true. He wouldn't point hit out. Discretion was the better part of valour in the end, but he did know that he'd thoroughly disabuse him of the notion if they ever got the chance to face Uchiha Itachi. Sasuke would be lucky to be a stumbling block in the path of a monster like that.

Fu nodded at his report and then signed for them to continue their path. Neji and Sasuke were the tip of the spear for much of the run, using their doujutsu to make sure that the path was unmolested. Redundant since they'd already scouted ahead. But no one could accuse Captain Fu of lacking in caution. Quite the opposite, to be honest.

When they arrived at the border, it was clear without any markings. It was like there was a barrier demarcating where the land of Grass ended and where the Land of Rain began. At the edge, it was even more unnatural. The way the rain began right at the edge of the border. And it wasn't even a soft drizzle. It was the kind of rain that pelted you with enough force to be mistaken for hail. Neji had placed a hand across the border to make sure the rain was as real as it appeared. And it had been.

"I'll take point hence. You and your partner should move to the reserve. You still aren't at 100% so expecting you to face off against the border patrols would be cruel" Captain Fu said with a smile that was so painfully fake that it would have failed to even fool Hinata. He walked with an even more sullen Sasuke to the back of the line as the army marched into the Land of Rain. They were forced to slow down their run to account for the unfamiliar geography as other members of his clan scouted ahead with their Byakugan to make sure they wouldn't fall into any traps as they marched into the village's territory. Amegakure was only a few dozen kilometres from the border so they'd be able to make it to the village's shadow by the end of day.

XXXXXXX

In hindsight, it should have been obvious that they were walking into a trap. No border patrols, no traps or mines, or anything. A village that had lost its biggest and only deterrent wouldn't have been so lax with their security. That was why when one of his cousins called their attention to a figure floating in the sky, Neji felt his heart drop into his stomach. He had a bad feeling.

A feeling that got even worse as the figure floated downwards to reveal a hauntingly beautiful woman with white wings that looked to be made of paper spread out from her back. Fu called out orders as a single fireball was sent flying at her. The jutsu washed across the paper wings but failed to have any effect. The look on the woman's face. Neji didn't need his byakugan to see the disdain she regarded them all with. That should have been the second sign that things were going to go wrong. But it was until the paper wings spread pout fully and began to pepper the gathered unit with paper shuriken that it sunk in for the rest of the army.

Not a single shuriken hit its target but that mattered little when they began to explode at random. Screams of pain echoed across the field. Sasuke weaved seals just as most of the army did. All long range ninjutsu sent at the woman failed to connect as she flew around them like they moved in slow motion. All the while, her own attacks landed with devastating effect. Neji couldn't believe his eyes. A single person was fighting an army, and they were winning.

But that wasn't the worst thing to happen. A man suddenly appeared in their midst. Neji was one of the first to notice him. His cloak of black and red standing out even to his Byakugan. He was too slow in sounding the alarm however. The man slammed a single hand on the ground and with a massive puff of smoke, creatures began to appear. First a pair of giant dogs as large as any boss summons Neji had ever seen. Next came a massive caterpillar that reared up before slamming on the ground, crushing quite a few shinobi under its bulk. After that came a chameleon. Only Neji's byakugan allowed his see the invisible creature as it moved through their lines, causing chaos with every step. A bird-like creature followed that took to the skies immediately. The summoned creatures caused a massive distraction as the woman's paper bombs continued to fall uninterrupted. A shuriken flew at him but he sent it to the side with a quick gentle fist tap. It exploded a fair distance away. By his side, Sasuke's eyes were wide as he watched the entire army being massacred by two shinobi.

Neji knew there was only one thing to be done. He wasn't a coward, but he knew there was only one thing to be done. This was a failed effort. He grabbed his partner's arm and made a single gesture. Sasuke hesitated. Perhaps that hesitation would have cost him his life in a different world. Here, Neji just turned to retreat and dragged him along for the ride.

He could still see the army in disarray as another man in a similar cloak appeared and sent half the army flying just by lifting his hands. By the time Fu sounded the retreat, they were already a fair bit away. Neji figured that since a retreat was sounded at the end, they wouldn't be deserters. Either way, he watched as one by one, every single fleeing member of the battalion sent into the land of rain was killed. Some of them died in groups. Some made it farther than others. Some died to paper shrunken falling from the heavens. Some died to summon animals. Some died from being sent off their feet by waves of invisible force. Some more died to strange canisters that a third man fired from his arm. Some died quickly. Some died slowly. They all died, in the end. Neji and Sasuke ran like the hounds of hell were at their heels.

Even when they crossed the border back into the land of grass, they didn't stop. Neji had to deactivate his byakugan to conserve chakra and still they didn't stop. They ran until their legs felt like they would fall off, and even further.

He could barely see in front of him when they ran into the land of fire. All he remembered was collapsing in the hands of a man with a scar across his nose. Sasuke had collapsed earlier on.

XXXXXX- THE DARKNESS OF SHINOBI

He stared at the letter in his hands. The missive that a chunin had nearly run himself to death crossing the land of fire in hours to deliver to him. Part of him wished to decry it as a lie. Forgery. But the code that he himself had invented stared at him on the page. The code that he'd taught both of his new students. It was written in Neji's cold and precise writing. The flowery script the Hyuga preferred cast aside by a man who had no loyalty to clan over village. An entire battalion. Two thousand loyal shinobi of Konoha led by one of his own personal guards. Dead.

Ame. The land of Rain was a gift that never stopped taking it seemed. The descriptions of the shinobi that had coimmmited the massacre made his teeth grind. A nasty habit. But one he'd taken it up more and more after he'd taken up this hat. The thing he'd looked forward to for so long. Oh how Hiruzen laughed at him from beyond the grave. A perfect plan. Years of waiting. Decades of putting the dominos in place. Making sure that every contingency was taken care of. And then when he finally let the first domino fall, his delicate house of cards blew up right in his face.

First was failing to kill the Kazekage. The brat deserved the hat clearly. Especially after the daring first attack on Iwa. He had acted just like a Kage then. Bold, decisive, and effective. A shame that he had not been born in Konoha. A bigger shame indeed that their own Jinchuriki had been so useless. Useless under Hiruzen, and now missing under his rule. Not missing. Taken. By Hiruzen's accursed students. Orochimaru, Jiriaya, and Tsunade. Nothing would have given the old monkey more joy than watching them begin to work together again. The fact that it was against him probably made Saru even happier.

But at the end of the day, those were just minor irritations. His plan had been going ahead even despite the failures. But now there was another wrench in the wheel. Akatsuki. Sometimes he wished he could visit his past self if only to smack some sense into him. Those children should have been assassinated as a matter of utmost priority. But instead he'd chosen to leverage their lives for a closer relationship with Hanzo. He'd taught that in helping the man dispatch one enemy of Konoha, then he could get close enough to him to dispatch another. It had been a perfect plan in his mind. Two birds with the same kunai. A foolish plan in hindsight.

The brats Jiraiya taught had lived. Lived and become S-ranked shinobi in their fullness, it seemed. A woman with paper techniques that had killed hundreds. Multiple shibnobi with purple ringed eyes. The Rinnegan. If he never saw that accursed doujutsu again, it would be too soon. His memory took him back to that day as a cold feeling ran down his spine. That monster. He would never forget it. The abomination that the Rinnegan user had summoned in his despair. If such a creature was going to be used to levy war against Konoha, then measures had to be taken. Steeper measures than before.

He took a scroll out with a quick movement and began to move his brush across his. He wrote with quick sure movements, never hesitating over a word. Think twice, act one, he recited his Sensei's words as he wrote the order for both his students to be transported back to Konoha once they were cleared to be moved. Another scroll ordered a medical squad to be sent out to their position on the border. Neji had been well enough to draft the missive himself but the fact that Sasuke was still yet to regain consciousness was a worrying sign.

After writing out both orders, a quick application of his element dried out the ink and he gestured for the Root shinobi who waited in the shadows of the office to send both to their recipients. He stood and began to walk for his next target.

"How is it coming along?" He asked, staring at the boy across from him. His pale skin appeared unhealthy in the dim lighting of the tunnel within the tunnel. The most secret part of his already secret Root Base.

"Very well, Hokage-sama. The jutsu should be only a few weeks from being operational." He said.

"That is unacceptable, Sai. Unacceptable. This jutsu is vital for Konoha's security. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama. But I can not learn the seals any faster. Forgive me for my failings, Hokage-sama"

Danzo scowled. He could not fault the boy. The Edo Tensei was the culmination of decades of study from his Sensei, the greatest Fuinjutsu master the world had ever seen. It was a testament to the boy's genius that he was even able to decode the jutsu after only a year of singleminded focus. But it wasn't fast enough. It would never be fast enough. The enemies were already at the metaphorical gates, and that had a likelihood to stop being metaphorical the more time they wasted on this.

He sighed. He had to. This was one situation where he had to break his own rules for the good of Konoha. He formed a simple ram seal and focused on the seal he knew was inscribed on the boy's scalp, beneath his hair and covered with a genjutsu that forced all to divert attention. "Fuin: Kai (Release)". He said, and he slumped.

Danzo sighed again. He hated having his time wasted. He poked the boy with his cane. A poke, not a stab. All the same, he rose from the floor jolted to wakefulness.

"Hokage-sama? What happened?"

"Nothing. Look at the seal now and tell me how long it will take for you to decipher and replicate the technique" He ordered.

"Oh. This is easy Hokage-sama. I'm almost done. I'll have it down by the end of the week" was the reply. He smiled, even while inwardly fearing that he'd created another problem to solve the one in front of him. But that was the weight of the hat. It was the burden he bore as Kage.

He turned and retreated from the cavern. Edo Tensei would solve all his problems.