52

Chapter 51: Time to Kill

"You're full of so much crap gaki." What a way to say good morning. Of course Jiraiya's comment could be understood once he heard what Naruto had told him last night about his little discussion with the Kyuubi, "Are you sure you weren't just having a really specific nightmare?"

Naruto let out a scoff as the two of them walked to the usual training waterfall of oil, not that they would be using it today, it was just where they had been used to training while there on the mountain, "I don't have nightmares Ero-kyofu. And I know the difference between a dream and my mind, especially when I woke up after the talk already with the chakra running through me. The Kyuubi was not lying."

Jiraiya could only shake his head at the thought of what was being presented to him, "How could the Kyuubi even learn to use it?"

A shrug came from his young blonde godson, "I don't know. I learned to use it. You said a massive reservoir of chakra was needed to do it, well that's all the Kyuubi is; chakra. It was stuck in my head with nothing to do but watch me train, it was going to get the feeling of nature chakra down too, same as me. And if you're talking about staying still to gather the chakra…" At this point he switched to giving the older man a deadpan look, "All the Kyuubi does is stay still for twenty hours a day at least. I'm pretty sure it has practice, more practice than me."

"That's really not very inspiring to hear Naruto." Jiraiya said with a grimace, "You're telling me the Kyuubi can use Sage Mode?"

"No!" Naruto said with eyes wide as he actually stopped walking for a moment, "Hell no! Not functionally at least!" He could actually hear the Kyuubi cackling inside of his head at the idea, "If it could do that then I'd say just let the thing loose right now because I can't beat it. It can't because it has to stay still to gather the chakra like me, and I can just take the nature chakra away from it like I was trying to get its actual chakra like normal." He shook his head just thinking about the idea and started walking again, "Are you insane? If it really could then do you think I'd be in this good of a mood right now?"

"Maybe?" Jiraiya answered unsurely.

Naruto rolled his eyes before responding, "If that really happened then I probably would have jumped off of the highest cliff on the mountain… and slit my goddamn throat on the way down. Because there's just no reason to keep on trying anymore."

"That's a really negative sentiment you know." Remarked Jiraiya dryly, but then he thought about actually having to fight the Kyuubi himself… and then to fight the Kyuubi with the ability to use Sage Mode… and then thought about a loose Kyuubi that could use Sage Mode functionally… and figured that he would probably do something similar. But there was nothing he could do but use the advantage that was granted to him and hope that the Kyuubi didn't find a way to make Sage Mode functional for itself, "What if the Kyuubi somehow starts learning how to do Sage Mode properly?"

"Then I'll stop using it. I have a second idea that's less convenient…" Naruto replied with a frown, "Not by much, but if it comes down to it then it's always good to have a backup plan. I had to get some help to come up with it, but that's what a support system is for isn't it?"

Jiraiya gave Naruto a strange look, "What support system?"

Naruto pointed at the communication tattoo on his shoulder, "The best kind. The cute kind of support that has high-level sealing knowledge." He saw Jiraiya nod in understanding before a lecherous grin spread over his face, "I don't like that look. What's with that?"

"So you can talk to your servant sweetheart eh?" Jiraiya said with a pondering inflection in his tone, "Do you ever talk dirty to her with that tattoo of yours? Maybe that's why she's so happy all of the time even when you're not there?"

"Yeah sure, because sex talk in morse code is just so great." Naruto said sarcastically, "You're an idiot sometimes, do you know that? I see why Tsunade-baachan hits you more often than not. You probably could charm the pants off of her if you weren't always acting like… well, you."

A sigh came from Jiraiya, "It's a long story gaki, one that you wouldn't get if I told you so let's save it for another manly bonding moment in the near future." The tone he used sounded serious so Naruto dropped it for the time being, "Now we're here." He said as they arrived in front of the waterfall of oil, "Now show me how this would work."

Naruto nodded and began to turn his attention inward, 'Kyuubi you're on, don't screw me over here.' He thought as he put his hands in the ram seal to help himself focus balancing the chakra that was about to run through his system.

"I can't screw you over stupid, I'm behind the seal and you can already control nature chakra so what exactly could I do?" The Kyuubi fired back before it went silent and started generating nature chakra. After a moment, Naruto's face took on the signs of him using Sage Mode; an orange pigment around his eyes, and a yellow toad-like eye with a horizontal bar pupil in the eye that wasn't covered by his contact lens, "Do you feel that?"

"Yeah…" Naruto replied out loud as he could feel the power going through him, "Let's play around with this for a bit and see just what we can do…" He turned towards Jiraiya who already had a smirk on his face, "…If you're up for it Ero-Kyofu?" He finished as he deactivated his contact lens, displaying his Sage Mode warped Sharingan.

The response was not only Fukasaku but Shima appearing on Jiraiya's shoulders, all sharing the same looks that Jiraiya had, "Yeah, why not?" He said as his features started to change to that of his own when he took on Sage Mode, "I've wanted to fight you for real for years gaki. Maybe now you can take enough punishment to make it fun."

At a distance on a ridge overlooking the area, Gamabunta, Gamakichi, and a whole host of other toads of various shapes and sizes were watching what they were about to see, "Are you sure this is far enough away?" Gamakichi asked his father as he sat on his head, still small enough to do so, "Naruto-nii is kind of notorious for, well… fucking landscapes up."

"This is fine." Gamabunta insisted, smoking his pipe before an explosion below them threw dust and debris into the air high enough to reach the top of the ridge they were all watching from, "Alright, maybe we should back up a little bit."

XxX

(Konohagakure no Sato – Hokage Tower)

The message from Suna had just been received only minutes ago about what had occurred on the outskirts of their jurisdiction. The bodies of Danzo's two bodyguards were found dead along with that of Kisame Hoshigaki. Danzo and Itachi Uchiha, Kisame's partner, were nowhere to be found, but signs of a great battle were found a short distance away from where the three bodies were located.

This did not give Tsunade an easy feeling as to the fate of the missing delegate. Danzo was not the type to allow himself to be taken prisoner, and he was on his way to Suna to boot, if he had escaped then he would have headed that way. That was rather bold of them to stick their necks out for someone that wasn't even a jinchuuriki like the other times they had been discovered and engaged in combat.

It was probably a personal vendetta of some sort, clearly from what Naruto told her of the black op given to Itachi. Damn it the Hokage needed to be briefed about crap like that when they took the hat… she should not have been told about this three years after she took over by someone that had nothing to do with any of it. Koharu and Homura got their wrinkled butts chewed out the second that clone Naruto sent to her dispelled for keeping that from her. She could understand some things being covered up and buried and kept from people especially like this, but not when there were still remnants of the damn scandal still out and floating around. If Itachi had killed them all, Sasuke included, then maybe he could have stayed… maybe a lot of this didn't have to happen. But Itachi would never have done that from what Naruto told him.

That fight Naruto intruded on was meant for Itachi to die. And with what actually occurred there certainly would have been means for a grudge to be held. The only thing he wanted out of the whole Uchiha Massacre was disrupted.

"I swear the brat needs to get his stuff together so he can take this damn job…" Tsunade muttered to herself as she sat at her desk thinking about what to do next. After a moment she began to write out a return message to Suna for Gaara, "Alright, we're not going to get a better reason to do this now without something catastrophic happening beforehand… Iwagakure isn't going to join the alliance so we might as well set the meeting date now."

Akatsuki could make too many moves and spring about all over the map. The shinobi villages that had come into the alliance propagated over the last few months needed to get together to come up with a solution.

XxX

(Undisclosed Location)

A crater formed in a stone wall as Madara punched it angrily, hearing the news that was just given to him by Zetsu, "Damn it Itachi…" The man was difficult to manipulate even with his spirit broken. When he said he would head to Suna so readily he figured he was back to the drawing board to find a new way to defeat him but would do Madara's bidding in the meantime. He never figured that Itachi was actually willing to go simply because of the man that had granted the go ahead for the mission that ruined his and his brother's lives would be heading that way.

Danzo simply was not a person of interest to Madara. He never had been.

The only thing Root had ever done against his Akatsuki always happened to be inadvertent. Naruto, Danzo's top trainee, was merely fighting for his life as he was a jinchuuriki. The pale boy and the girl he had a run-in with were only meant to back Naruto up and keep him protected, the rather large amount of Root shinobi that had bailed Naruto out of Amegakure were there in the first place to take down Hanzo before he was killed by Pein, getting Naruto out became their main objective when that became impossible and his and Jiraiya's battle became impossible to win.

Danzo and by proxy the Root that he led were of no consequence to Madara. They were to Itachi though… and it was enough for him to go after Danzo himself. He hadn't even taken any time to try his Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan before engaging the man, to try and find any of his techniques beforehand.

And now he was out a pair of spare Mangekyou Sharingan eyes. Danzo sealed Itachi inside of his body. There was no way to get him out to get at his eyes and Danzo only had a right arm full of useless ones. He even destroyed Shisui's eye prior to dying… the bastard. All he had to take away from Danzo's death was his right arm that had the Mokuton cells that he could find use for.

Not exactly a victory. Two steps forward, three steps back and all of that.

After taking Danzo's arm he let Zetsu take Danzo's body to Pein. The fool would do his little reanimation techniques and he would have a new Anima Path and would be back at full strength. No need to complain or sulk over the destruction of his spare bodies any longer, because Madara was tired of him sitting on his ass and doing nothing. There were moves that needed to be made and right now Pein and Konan were the only one that could do so.

With Zetsu sending Danzo's body he also sent new orders to Pein from Madara. An order he wouldn't have any trouble adhering to, especially since he would want to test his new body and all in actual combat. Sasuke's little lapdogs still moving around and whining for their master were getting to be irksome, it was mostly that girl though that worked his nerves. Give Suigetsu a sword and he would immediately leap up the ladder in terms of being a threatening shinobi. All he needed to do was hypnotize Juugo and that would solve that problem… if there even was one since if he still wanted revenge on Naruto and that might be enough to get him to work. Karin on the other hand was only good for locating general chakra signatures and healing the others. She wasn't much of a fighter at all and Madara needed fighters.

Maybe he needed to seek out this Kabuto they were so intent on destroying. This man was meant to test them, well in that case they failed the test. They hurried into the fight and were embarrassed by Orochimaru's old right hand man. Perhaps looking to employ the man was a better option than most right now? There was a need to stop the bleeding so to speak. And then there was another option altogether. It was experimental at best, but if it was done right not only would it buy him time to bolster his own forces it would weaken the homes of his final four targets.

XxX

(Amegakure no Sato – Pein's Tower)

Konan could tell by now when Pein was in a good mood. It was especially evident today as he had been sulking for the last month since the interrupted battle with Jiraiya and Naruto Uzumaki. When Zetsu presented him with the body of Danzo… well she didn't think she would ever again see the man actually smile before then, but he had put one on when Danzo's body had been lain at the feet of his remaining other bodies.

She thought she would feel better at seeing the man that had conspired with Hanzo to kill them, to see the man indirectly responsible for the death of her dearest friend Yahiko laying lifeless on the ground. She didn't know whether it was because she didn't do it herself or what, but she just felt hollow. It didn't feel like any kind of victory she was lead to believe it would feel like, it didn't feel like anything at all.

And from what Zetsu said it was time to move again. Time to adhere to Madara's will again… but whatever had been ordered by the man didn't seem to upset Pein at all, "Konan." The Pein that looked like her old friend Yahiko spoke to her, "I will be leaving the village for a short while. In the meantime I want you to send out a few messages to the other smaller villages that are sick of playing as the buffers and the whipping boys to the five major shinobi villages."

Konan nodded, "Which ones would you have me send word to?" She asked.

"All of them. Every single one." Pein told her looking over at her with his ripple-patterned eyes, "I want every minor village to be contacted. I want you to tell them to keep their eyes open, and to tell them that the time of the five dominating the many is over. They will see what I mean soon enough. It will soon be time for their pain to finally be reimbursed if they choose to join Amegakure."

Her eyes widened at the implication of what he was saying, "You want an alliance."

"Yes." Pein admitted freely. Of course his closest confidant would be able to tell what he was thinking, "The Five Great Shinobi Villages are doing the same. What they have neglected to do was to include or even consider the thoughts of the smaller villages that populate our world when they did so in the first place." The arrogance of the five nations that did so… of course they wouldn't consider the consequences of what their little alliance would do to the smaller villages, "They are probably already on edge over the matter and willing to take preemptive action. They can see what will become of the alliance and their fates once it is truly consolidated. As the lesser of the equation they will slowly but surely be phased out altogether."

The smaller villages worked in the areas where the larger villages wouldn't tread out of fear of stepping on another major village's toes and starting a major war. Places such as borderlines, countries that stood between the major ones, places like that. It was a considerably smaller living compared to the larger villages, especially since their funding from their daimyos were far smaller than their larger counterparts. But it was a niche that helped them survive once the pecking orders of the villages became clear cut decades ago.

If an alliance took place and there was no tension over operating zones for the major shinobi villages then there would be no use for the smaller ones that were before an important part of keeping the balance of power set.

So with the alliance everyone that started all of the major wars would finally be getting along… that wouldn't do the smaller villages any good at all. No tension meant that the larger villages would have expanded operating zones, which meant that quality and quantity could be taken over mere convenience for the clients out to hire shinobi. And if push came to shove when pressed the smaller villages would be unable to do anything significant about it. After all they couldn't win a war against one of the Big 5. Only one of the five major villages could defeat another as had been proven in multiple past wars.

Other than having fighting take place on their lands there was really no disadvantage to the minor villages when the big villages got into their wars unless they were directly aligned with one of the warring villages in which case they were the cannon fodder for their larger 'ally'. During wartime, missions for minor villages saw a surging uprise due to the fighting between the larger villages keeping them busy. The longer the war, the stronger that the minor villages grew.

Since the modern system of villages first began to take shape, no minor village grew as much as the two strongest, considered to be right on the cusp of being one of the big five. Those two were Kusagakure and Amegakure with Takigakure a distant third. Uzushiogakure used to be right there before the war that wound up destroying them. That put minor village growth in check after seeing what happened to the powerful village of sealing masters. If they could be destroyed then it could happen to any small village that didn't 'know their place' so to speak.

They were more or less bullied under the guise of treaties with the larger villages. No village stepped out of line to 'challenge' the Five Great Shinobi Villages or else they would be destroyed. It had happened already to multiple smaller hidden villages over the years.

But to be bullied you had to have some fear. And bullying wasn't effective without the muscle to back it up, which all the big villages had. Because the lesser villages were all scattered, they were more or less on their own when it came to their relationships with the larger villages around them. The fact that they routinely outnumbered the major village that hovered over them at least six-to-one meant nothing since they never tried to get themselves together. The quality of their ninja was also lacking when compared to the major villages.

They needed the muscle to make them believe that they had a chance.

That was something easy enough to prove when it came to something like this. With the world the way it was right now all Pein needed to do was push it along just a little bit.

"The Five Great Shinobi Villages will fall." Pein asserted with full confidence in this fact, "Their tactics of staying on top of the heap for so long will be what comes back to bite them once the smaller villages believe that they have nothing to fear." He and his amassed bodies walked outside to the ledge of the tower into the rain, "I will give them that belief that there is nothing to fear. Tell them that the man inheriting the power of the Rikudou Sennin is sending out the call for their assistance."

As the six bodies of Pein vanished from the ledge Konan's hands tightened into fists under the sleeves of her cloak, 'So you're going to start a war? Have your truly forgotten the reason we started this in the first place Nagato?'

XxX

(With Naruto – Mt. Myouboku)

The toads that had been observing the 'friendly battle' between Naruto and Jiraiya finally came out of ducking and hiding for cover as the sounds of destruction finally stopped. Hours of explosions and land being upturned finally brought things to a close.

"Is it over?" Gamatatsu asked shakily, hiding in the back of his father's vest. The contingent of spectator toads had long since abandoned standing at the edge of the ridge once all of the explosions started kicking higher and higher… since it became clear very shortly that being above the action didn't keep them from being drawn into it.

Gamakichi hopped down the side of the ridge to check on the two combatants that had been fighting below, "Let me check. I'll be right back." He walked over a ruined landscape. The only thing that was really still pristine was the waterfall of oil and the statues around it. Apparently the two had made a truce to not fight anywhere near it to keep it from taking damage. Gamakichi eventually came upon Naruto and Jiraiya laying in a large crater with Fukasaku and Shima hovering over them, "Hey are either of you two dead after all of that because it sure seems like someone should be."

Jiraiya let out a cough and sat up shakily with the help of Fukasaku, "I… have not had my ass kicked like that in a long, long time… and I'm not really counting the Pein thing… I technically beat half of his bodies."

"And then he ripped your arm off…" Naruto chimed in before a frown came over his battle-marked face, contact lens activated again now that the battle was over and his Sharingan wasn't needed, "And you and the elders still put the boots to my ass for a lot of that fight. You're definitely handicapable for sure Ero-kyofu." He finished, getting a laugh out of Jiraiya.

Gamakichi grabbed the beaten up Naruto and placed him on his back, "Okay Naruto-nii, I've got to catch up to you after seeing that. Maybe I should try to start training in senjutsu too?" The young toad mused to himself.

Naruto nodded, not that Gamakichi could see it with him on the toad's back, "Sage Mode is a monster… I think I'm tired… Me. I'm actually tired. I never get tired, at least like this. It's not just an 'I got beat up' kind of tired."

"Side effect of using Sage Mode for a long period of time gaki…" Jiraiya said informatively, "That's why it's only for when you need to bring out the big guns." He said, gesturing to the toad elders that looked slightly drained at having been channeling chakra for so long, "You feel the exhaustion when you let it fade."

'How you feeling Kyuubi?' Naruto mentally asked his tenant as the Kyuubi had been channeling chakra for Sage Mode just as long as they had been all by itself, and Naruto's list of ninjutsu only became more and more taxing on the chakra count. He had especially been abusing Haretsu Seigan (Burst Limit) to stay out of Jiraiya's reach when he could. Sage Mode turned that powerhouse into a whole different kind of threat.

"I'm not weak like you humans are." Kyuubi stated derisively at his human container, "Do you really think that your puny amassed ninjutsu could put even a dent in my own chakra reserves?"

'Yes?' Naruto thought in reply only to get a scoff from his large red inner demon. Ignoring that conversation for the time being, Naruto turned his attention back to Jiraiya, "So am I done? Is my training finished?"

Jiraiya couldn't keep the smile off of his face, "Yeah. You're done. It's time to go home." He then blinked and looked at their current situation, "…Right as soon as we can both stand up and walk in a straight line." He got a thumbs up from Naruto on Gamakichi's back in response.

Shima watched as Fukasaku showed surprising strength for such a little toad as he picked Jiraiya up to help carry him, "Well in that case I guess I'll make you two boys some home cookin' for the road."

Naruto and Jiraiya looked at each other and shared terrified looks before pushing themselves off of their toad assistants and used each other to stand up, balancing against each other to make sure they both stayed up, "No, no that's not necessary Shima-sama!" Jiraiya insisted, Naruto waving his hands in a gesture to show that it wasn't needed, "We need to get back to Konoha, who knows what's happened to that place since we've been gone!" They both then rapidly tried to hobble away, trying to disguise their injuries in vain.

Fukasaku just stared with a deadpan face, "Right… I guess I'll just go on ahead and take the portal to Konoha to get ready to summon them back." He said, grabbing his confused wife by the hand and dragging her away from the area.

XxX

(Kirigakure no Sato – Mizukage's Office)

Choujuurou stood in front of the beautiful Mizukage Mei Terumi, unable to meet her gaze directly as he did so, 'What on earth could she have called me here for?' He thought to himself, 'I'm all by myself, what's going on?' It was clear that he was fidgeting.

"Choujuurou I need you to focus okay?" Mei said warmly in an effort to get him to calm down. The boy was so jumpy most of the time, nervous about messing up anything, and things got worse whenever he was around her. He was chosen to take on the mantle of current Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist because he was talented, but that would only go so far without confidence. She seemed to be the only one that could make him get his nerve up, "This is important. There are raids taking place all over the countryside on Kirigakure outposts and there haven't been any survivors in nine different assaults."

The young man gulped but nodded anyway, "So you want me to go and search for whoever is doing this?"

"Yes." Mei confirmed for him, "I need you to take a team out to deal with whoever is doing this. I'm asking for you because you're the best of the current crop of potential Seven Ninja Swordsmen. You've already mastered using Hiramekarei and you've been the best at using Kubikiribouchou since it has been returned to the village. You're the most talented swordsman in the village."

"Why is it me that you picked to go?" That was the heart of his trepidation for going, but he would take the mission regardless. He simply wanted to know the criteria for him leading the team, "Do we know anything about the attacker that makes me the right person for this mission?"

Mei nodded and reached into her desk to pull out a file that she put down in front of him, "These are pictures of the wounds inflicted on our shinobi that had been attacked." She watched Choujuurou intently as he looked at the pictures, adjusting his glasses on his face as he started to get the picture as to why he was being sent, "Do you see why you're the one that must go?"

Choujuurou nodded with a stone-like look on his face, "But the man that owns the weapon that did this… he's supposed to be dead. Sunagakure sent word to every village in the alliance that Kisame Hoshigaki was killed in Kaze no Kuni a few days ago."

And Mei knew this. She had already returned a message to Tsunade in Konoha stating that she would attend a meeting in their village to go over the issue of the Akatsuki threat that seemed to be more than just a regional problem. If they were killing delegates and freely taking away jinchuuriki then it was high time something needed to be done, "You know what injuries from the weapon Samehada look like. Even if it isn't Kisame, there is someone out there with one of our swords killing our ninja."

'And as one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen it's my responsibility to bring them down and retrieve our weapons.' Choujuurou nodded firmly now that his task was lain out in front of him, "I'll find who's doing this Mizukage-sama. I swear I'll bring them down and bring Samehada back."

Mei smiled at hearing Choujuurou sound confident and fired up to go retrieve what belonged to the group he proudly represented, "You have free reign to select whomever you believe would be best for assisting you on this assignment. You can leave once you've done this. Good luck. I know you'll do a great job."

Returning her smile full-force, Choujuurou bowed before hurriedly making his way from the office to prepare for his mission. After he left, Ao poked his head into the office and looked back at the way that Choujuurou had gone in order to leave, "So do you think the kid's got what it takes to deal with whoever this is? If whoever's doing this is using Samehada then it might be a step or two out of his league. Just to be able to wield that sword… whoever is doing it has to be a monster."

Mei frowned at Ao, "I wouldn't go counting him out just for that. He's the only person in training that has met the criteria to take a place as this generation's next set of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen. If there's anyone that can match up with whoever is using Samehada it's him."

Ao sighed as he walked inside of the office and leaned against the doorframe, "I'm still not convinced. For a mission like this you need to send a ninja with foresight; if I had to say anything, it's that a real man is what you need for something like this Mizukage-sama."

Sadly for Ao however, in his little rant/statement only certain key parts of it were heard, 'Send… for a real man… It's what I need?' Mei simply put a pleasant smile on her face as she cut Ao off as he continued to rant, "Ao shut up or I'll kill you."

That stopped the ranting man in his tracks, "W-What'd I do?"

XxX

(Elsewhere in Mizu no Kuni)

"I've got to say… Madara certainly does know how to reward hard work… and Zetsu delivery service is mighty handy." Standing up from a low crouch outside of a recently sacked and destroyed observation point in the northern islands of the nation, Suigetsu sighed and looked around at his handiwork.

Fifty dead Kiri ninja lay all around the area, "Geez, why do these guys always attack first?" Suigetsu asked himself out loud, scratching his head, "All I'm trying to do is send a message that I want the other swords Kiri has in their possession." He said before shrugging, "Oh well. At least I actually get to kill the people I fight again instead of just holding back. If Sasuke were here all he'd say would be 'leave them alive' or some crap like that. It would totally cramp my style, right Juugo?" He asked, "Juugo?"

Suigetsu turned to see Juugo repeatedly punching a downed Kiri ninja with his piston-like right arm, pulverizing the rock underneath the ninja's head, "Die! Die! Die!" He howled in a manic tone of voice as blood and stone flew up with every strike.

The white-haired swordsman gave off a casually deadpan look at the barbarous sight, "Yeah… I don't think you really have to worry about that. People usually don't live when you turn their skulls into slurry." He then noticed Juugo stopped punching and his arm turned back to normal as he hurriedly backed away from the shinobi he had been decimating, "I'll take it you're back to normal now." Juugo nodded slowly, looking at his hands shakily, "Good."

"I don't get why we're out here waiting for your stupid sword-." Karin chimed in as she walked over with her hands on her hips, "You already have one so-." She was then cut off when Samehada was put right in front of her face.

"Don't say stupid things like that okay?" Suigetsu said with a bored look on his face, "Because you were in such a rush to go after Kabuto to 'avenge Sasuke' you got our asses kicked because we weren't ready. Not only am I getting better at using Samehada with all of the fighting we're doing, if I can get one of the other swords then that would be all the better for the next time we fight someone strong."

Karin backed away from the young man holding the creepy weapon, "What if we get killed out here while you're on your little scavenger hunt?"

A feral grin with his shark-like teeth came from Suigetsu, "Haven't you ever heard of trial by fire? If we get taken out by any jabroni that winds up coming after us then what kind of chance do you think we have at fighting a jinchuuriki, not to mention a jinchuuriki like Naruto Uzumaki. He isn't just sitting on his ass twiddling his thumbs."

"I'll kill that bastard!" Karin exclaimed angrily at the mere mention of Naruto's name, "I'll tear him apart for what he did to Sasuke-kun!"

Suigetsu shook his head, "Then you might want to start not sucking in a fight. The way you are, he can kill you with eye contact alone…" He then laughed at his own little joke. If the guy knew any genjutsu then he just might be able to, "…literally." He set Samehada on his shoulder, "I'll take either Hiramekarei or Kubikiribouchou at this point. Both would be outstanding though…"

Karin shook her head at seeing Suigetsu get all caught up in daydreaming about his stupid freak swords and looked over at Juugo, "I think we should get out of here and hide again. Juugo's freaking out at what his other half did and someone's going to be here soon after all of the ruckus you two made."

Suigetsu stuck Samehada to his back with a smirk, "Yeah, we made the ruckus because you never fight." He pointed over at the now docile Juugo, "Crazy serial killer Juugo is more useful than you in a fight." He teased.

"I was the one that cast the damn genjutsu over the people here so the idiots didn't see you coming until you two were right on top of them!" Karin replied heatedly, she was damn sure a useful member of the team, she was just the support. Suigetsu would realize that if he ever got messed up badly enough to need help… but then as long as he lived through it he would just put himself into a body of water and heal there, and Juugo was so unstable that healing him came with a risk of him possibly snapping while you were working on him.

A shrug came from the water-manipulating member of the team before Juugo spoke up, "Maybe we should get moving again now you guys."

Suigetsu nodded, "Yeah sure. We need to find another outpost to set up at just in case the murderous you decides to peek his ugly head out again so we can get some use out of your crazy side." He looked back at the completely ruined outpost they had just run through like a hot knife through butter, "Eventually they'll send someone with a sword knocking once they realize Samehada's the one doing this… and I'll be waiting."

XxX

(Konohagakure no Sato)

"So this is little Naruto-chan's house." Shima said as she was let into Naruto's new cliffside accommodations by Hamako who had been previously acquainted with the old female toad, "Didn't get to see much of this place last time I was in Konoha." She said in passing as she hopped down the stairs from the entrance into the main room that overlooked the whole village due to its placement on the mountainside.

Hamako followed behind placidly, "I'm sorry, there was just so much going on the last time you were here that there was no chance to show you Naruto-sama's home. To be honest he hasn't even been here yet either."

Shima hopped on the middle of the table in the living area, "Well that's about to change in just a moment so hold on." And in a matter of moments, a puff of smoke filled the room, clearing to reveal Naruto and Jiraiya standing there, "And there ya go. Back home." She waved to Jiraiya and Naruto, "Feel free to stop on back in anytime either of ya, you're both always welcome." She said as she disappeared to head back home herself.

"Home my ass." Naruto said, looking around with a confused expression on his face, "This isn't my apartment at all." He hadn't been gone long enough to forget what his own place looked like. It had only been for a couple of months, "First of all this is way too big to be my place, second of all you can see the entire Hokage Monument from my living room window." He gestured out at the sunset balcony view he had of the entire village, "This is like looking at the entire opposite thing… nice view though." He had to admit.

Hamako raised a hand to interject as Naruto kept looking out the window, "Actually Naruto-sama, this is your house." He turned around abruptly to give her a wide-eyed look only to be met with a smile, "You told me to keep your affairs in order… well between the work with the Academy that I do and the sealing tags that I sell and with all of the money you have from Sasori's bounty and the high-level missions that you kept taking we had money. A lot of money. Enough money to easily buy this entire house."

That wasn't even mentioning that he got paid at regular intervals while he had been on this long mission around the bulk of the ninja world as well. Getting paid for an S-ranked mission routinely did not give one empty pockets. Plus Kirigakure awarded Konoha financially for the return of Kubikiribouchou… and some of that went to Naruto's account as payment for his efforts per the Mizukage's request.

Jiraiya draped his lone arm over his stunned looking godson's arm, "Yep, and I live here too… rent free of course. I'm on the cusp of retirement and I'm taking liberties with my social security gaki. I'm a veteran!"

A nod came from Hamako to confirm this, "Oh but there's plenty of space, it's actually no problem at all that Jiraiya-sama lives here as well, honest."

Naruto's facial expression still hadn't gone back to normal, "So let me get this straight… you bought me a house while I was gone and moved all of the stuff in?" Hamako nodded happily to verify, "So this place with all of the space, and the huge view over Konoha, and whatever amount of bedrooms this place has-."

"Eight bedrooms." Hamako helpfully added.

"-Eight bedrooms." Naruto said taking back his last statement, "All of this is mine? As in it belongs to me?"

"Yes." Hamako said cheerfully before being met with Naruto's silence, putting a frown on her face, "Is that a problem master? Did I do something wrong? You're not upset are you?" She asked before she found herself swept into a kiss.

Quickly letting her go after his display of affection, Naruto threw his hands up in victory, "Thank you Hamako-chan! Yeah! I own a house! A big house! Not an apartment, an actual house!"

A smirk was on Jiraiya's face as he looked over at Hamako touching her lips serenely and blushing lightly, "Hey I know you're excited and everything about getting a house, and once you actually look around this place you're going to love it even more, but I'm telling you right now if you try to kiss me I'm going to throw you out of the window."

Naruto stopped celebrating long enough to give a dry look to Jiraiya, "Big deal, I can walk on air remember? Do you really want to start that? Because I know that you can't fly. Now can I please celebrate? I haven't had much to feel good about these days."

"That's another thing that I was meant to tell you Naruto-sama." Hamako said, speaking up in a rather quiet voice as her mood seemed to take a 180. The happiness in her face had disappeared as she couldn't look Naruto in the eye for what she was about to say next, "I don't know how to tell you this so I'll just come out and say it. *sigh* There's some news that came to us while you were gone. I'm afraid Danzo Shimura is missing… Hokage-sama thinks he's more than likely dead."

Jiraiya's eyes quickly panned from the servant girl to Naruto, trying to observe whatever emotion there was crossing the young man's face. There was none to be seen at the moment, 'Come on kid, don't do that freezing up crap you do whenever something's messing with you… say something. Do something. Anything…'

Naruto's eyes turned to the couch where he just went over and sat down. Hamako walked over and sat down next to him, putting an arm around him in a hug. He just sat there staring at nothing until he finally spoke, "So how did he die?" Naruto asked solemnly.

'At least he's willing to say something about it.' Jiraiya thought, thinking that this was at least better than the time he thought he couldn't beat the Akatsuki.

Hamako gave him whatever answer she had on the matter, "His guards were found in Suna; one of them a Yamanaka, the other an Aburame, both of them dead. Kisame Hoshigaki's body was found as well. And then there was the place where it was believed that Danzo had been fighting. Apparently it looked like a mess."

Naruto smirked weakly, "Heh, the old man didn't go down easy I guess." Even if they were all dead at least they took one of his more powerful enemies with them, 'You always were watching my back somehow weren't you Danzo-jiji. At least you went out in a fight. I think it would have hurt me worse if you died in your sleep or something lame like that.' He turned his blue eyes towards Hamako's amber ones, "So how are Sai- kouhai and Maki-chan? What's going on with them?"

"Sai-san and Maki-san need to speak to you." Hamako said with a serious look. Naruto could only guess that there was a power vacuum of sorts in Root now, and he knew that in the event of Danzo's death there was supposed to be a total recall of all dispatched Root operatives. He could only imagine the mess that probably was.

"I'll handle it soon." He told her, patting her on the thigh, "I'm fine though, really." Naruto stood up from his place on the couch and decided to go look for his room. He hadn't slept in a bed that could be considered his own in months and right now he really needed the rest, his mind was tired, "I need to go around tomorrow and get my butt chewed out. I guess that'll just be part of my tour."

Jiraiya had been quiet the entire time. It seemed like hearing of Danzo's death sapped all of Naruto's remaining strength from his body. Rest really was the best thing for him at the moment. He had been on the move nonstop with no downtime for quite some time. It was one hell of a campaign across the continent he had just been running, "Wait, why do you think you're going to get chewed out tomorrow when you meet up with your friends?"

Naruto turned and gave Jiraiya a haggard look as he started to list the reasons, "People thought I was captured after the fight with Pein. I never came home and continued my mission that we had taken earlier without even taking a team of people that anyone knew about. I globetrotted while people thought I was dead in a ditch somewhere. I've got secrets galore that my friends should be suspicious of by now. The team that no one knew about actually met my friends and then escaped from them so I could finish the mission without going back to Konoha with them. And oh, how about this?" He asked, turning his contact lens off to show off his Sharingan, "Keeping this a secret for as long as I can is going to be a pain in the ass."

Yeah, he'd have to run the gauntlet. Between personally reporting to Tsunade, facing down the friends that had gone on the mission to assist him, answering the questions about his fight with Sasuke and Itachi, and everything else he would definitely need to be well rested for that. "I see your point." Jiraiya said before walking past Naruto and putting a hand on his shoulder as the old toad sage went to his room, "Well good luck with that."

A sigh came from Naruto as he continued back, "Hey Hamako-chan, I don't know where I'm going or which room is mine."

"Do you want me to show you?" Hamako asked him, tilting her head inquisitively.

"That'd be great." Naruto said as he waited for Hamako to get up and walk over to him, grabbing his arm against her chest as she pulled him down the hall to show him, "Do you want to take a nap with me? I could use the company." He asked.

"Just a nap?" A delicate tilted eyebrow from Hamako belied a rather mischievous tone behind her words. Spending only a few hours with Naruto in Kumo was not enough to make up for the months that he had been gone for. Talking through the tattoo was a far cry from actually being there with him.

"Maybe when I wake up we can do something then if you still feel like it." Naruto teased her back, using a regular tone of voice so that she couldn't tell if he was kidding or not, "Who knows how long that'll be though.?"

"So mean Naruto-sama…" Hamako pouted playfully as she led him into his room. She could tell he was in one of his moods again though he was doing a much better job of playing this one off. Danzo's death actually did hurt him more than he showed, but out of respect for the man he felt he had to simply move along. He simply wouldn't outright grieve even if she or Jiraiya confronted him directly on it, so the next best thing she could do would be to cheer him up somehow, "Oh well… you can tell me all of the things about your trip that you couldn't recount through our connection. And I was so looking forward to seeing what you thought about your new bed."

"On second thought I might have enough energy for just one shot." With a serious face, Naruto quickly about-faced in his outlook clearly towards the positive after being presented with the same opportunity and having it shoved in his face. He had not had relations with a female in at least two months, give him a break, "…Maybe more than one."

XxX

(Shimo no Kuni)

Shimo no Kuni (Land of Frost) was a buffer nation that sat between Hi no Kuni and Kaminari no Kuni. This nation also bordered Yu no Kuni (Land of Hot Water), and both of these minor nations had hidden villages… so hiding oneself only meant that you had to find a concealed place at the border that others had to get permission to so much as venture anywhere near.

It also helped when there was no one that knew where you were going in the first place, but being somewhere that most others wouldn't readily venture was a big deal as well.

Which is why finding Kabuto Yakushi proved to be a tougher task then most would readily admit. Still, after his run-in with Naruto it was clear that the boy at least was willing to keep him at arm's length instead of just turning him in and reporting to Konoha brass at first sight. If he had then Kabuto's stay in his safehouse wouldn't have been nearly as comfortable as it had been, he probably would have been forced to flee a long time ago somehow. The way things had wound up being, it was more like he helped Naruto for his own gain and Naruto reciprocated the favor by not sending anyone after him.

A smile had to come to the man's face at that. It was strangely akin to Naruto's trainer's relationship with his master Orochimaru, though Orochimaru managed to kill that little working relationship very early on by making clear his intentions to destroy Konoha.

Kabuto had no such impetus to do such. He had other things he wished to do and Konoha had nothing to do with his goals.

This time spent just keeping to himself in the meantime did give him plenty of time to get down integrating the rest of Orochimaru's cells into his system. Even the little intrusion of Sasuke Uchiha's little gang didn't do anything to stop his growth in that department. It was actually invigorating to test himself for even a little bit against the trio. He figured that he had at least doubled in strength since fusing himself with the remains of his fallen master.

Yes, Kabuto considered his little amount of time spent in his safehouse to be something of a vacation. He could even experiment at his leisure as long as he was very selective with the people he took to do so. The thing about the smaller nations was that it was certainly easier to spirit people away with no questions asked, especially if one could do it correctly.

At the moment however, Kabuto was merely basking in the quiet and tranquility of his own company, sitting in his large hooded cloak that kept most of his face out of sight, "You know that even for someone as powerful as yourself, cornering me isn't exactly the best idea, especially on my own turf don't you… Madara?"

From the darkness of the large room that Kabuto walked in from, Madara did indeed step out, "So you knew I was here. That's really very impressive Kabuto Yakushi."

A grin spread over Kabuto's face, "So you know of me. That's not really good. You know enough of me to actually come and seek me out. I don't really like that you see, I'm something of a recluse, not much of a people person honestly." He shook his head seemingly in amusement, "I'm not even going to try and get into how you actually knew where to look for me."

Madara pointed at the sides of his mask, "You've just got to keep your ears to the ground you see… and listen for rumbling footsteps. I made a living out of making a ghost of myself, do you think I wouldn't know how to find anyone that hid like me?"

"And therein lies the question I'm really curious about." Kabuto replied amicably for a man that had just had his location discovered by someone he didn't have any dealings with whatsoever, "The question being; why are you here? Did siccing your rabid Sasuke-fans on me no give you the desired results?"

"They are of no major consequence to me." Madara admitted freely as he observed Kabuto's pale white scaly looking arms beneath his cloak, "You however, are a man of great interest to me. I have a need of skills like yours. They will come to help me in the coming days."

Kabuto let out a laugh and gestured around himself, "Do look like I really care much for fighting and delivering jinchuuriki to you, even for a price? Money? I don't have any kind of need for it. Land? I can just take that, and even then I prefer the smaller more concealed areas such as this." He could take over an entire country if he was bored enough and felt like it, though that was probably just the Orochimaru in him talking. "There's really not much of anything that you can give me that I would actually take in order to work with you. And when I say with you I do mean with you, because I won't work for anyone ever again."

Madara's single visible Sharingan eye narrowed behind his orange swirl mask, "You're awfully blunt on matters aren't you? I expected you to at least try to scheme something towards your advantage instead of dismissing me outright."

Kabuto merely shrugged, "You would have expected that, clearly. And who says I'm dismissing you? I never said I wasn't for hire Madara Uchiha… I just said that you probably won't have anything that interests me enough to work with you." He then smirked as he added something as an afterthought, "By the way, fear is not anything that would get me to work with you."

"You have no helpers." Madara noted about Kabuto's workings as he had found his way here and hadn't found a single underling.

"Underlings only get in your way and bring you disappointment." Kabuto noted glibly, "If there were any underlings actually competent enough to work for you and your ambitions then they wouldn't work for you at all, they would work for themselves. I learned that myself under Orochimaru-sama." He was actually a walking example of that. Yep, he and the entire village of Otogakure were both shining examples of opposite ends of both spectrums.

Madara had to agree with that statement. It was why Akatsuki had only been comprised of the very best, and why even when he had gotten it down to its ten main members he had only allowed them to work as Akatsuki openly after he had already lain the groundwork for his plans himself. Large organizations with too many members and too many pawns would end up collapsing around you quickly in a cloud of incompetence without getting a single thing done in the long term.

"You may not wish to work for money or status or even your own safety…" Madara said rather slyly to Orochimaru's former right-hand man and Sasori's former spy, "But you do wish to… discover things do you not? Tell me, how would bodies of the prime clans of the world suit you as a price?" He offered, "Not just of Konoha, though of them I of course have access… no I mean of all villages of all nations around the world. You must have inherited your former master's ambition for power."

Kabuto let out a chuckle, "If that's what you're offering then let's just say that it's a start." He turned his head up at Madara with his glasses gleaming in the low light, "Let's haggle about for a bit Madara. If that's your starting price then I'd love to see what we can actually work out in the end. But I do have to ask or I'd be remiss; what exactly do you need a man of my talents for?" This was something that Kabuto could work with. To play two sides against the middle instead of just dealing occasionally with the one to keep himself out of the line of fire, yes he would have to look into this opportunity that Madara had presented him with.

"Roughly the same reason that I originally desired Orochimaru for Akatsuki to be honest with you." Madara admitted before continuing to speak, "Though you perhaps are more dangerous than he is. You have more talents than just that, I'm certain. And I doubt that any reason you'll actually will yourself to work with me will be on the level."

Kabuto's face twisted in a smile, "I'll take that as the compliment that I'm sure it was meant to be." He then let out one last laugh as he thought to himself, 'About me working with you. Not everything is as complicated as I try to make them seem Madara as you'll see soon enough. Not every man has an agenda to do certain things. Some of us aren't looking for anything logical in the things that we do. We can't be outright negotiated, bought, or reasoned with. Men like me and Naruto Uzumaki are at opposite ends of this spectrum you see. Some of us are this way because they believe in a cause, because they have something that they feel is greater than themselves that they are willing to die for… and then there are men like me, that sometimes just want to watch the world burn.'

Madara Uchiha could bring the world to the brink of ruin. He wanted to see just how far along the man could get with a foil that was growing in strength everyday and had the resolve to do what he needed to in order to end him.

It would definitely serve to be a fun little show as far as Kabuto was concerned.

Sort of like a make-your-own-story kind of book… complete with an ambiguous set of endings to boot.