The Kazekage sets out...

Kazekage Office - Sand Village…..

The Kazekage was taking a look through the scroll for the matters that required his attention before he left….

(Knock!)

(Knock!)

(Knock!)

"Come in!" Rasa (Fourth Kazekage) said.

The door opened to reveal an elderly woman with black eyes and lavender coloured hair tied in a bun, wearing the traditional Hidden Sand Village outfit which consists of a dark coloured, loose fitting outfit with a poncho-like top.

The old lady was one of the two elders and a former councilor of the sand village - Honoured Grandmother Lady Chiyo.

Granny Chiyo was an expert in puppet arts, medical ninjutsus, and poison concoction.

"Lord Fourth!" Chiyo greeted.

"Honoured Grandmother Chiyo!" Rasa lightly bowed his head towards her.

"Are you leaving now?" Chiyo asked.

"Yes," Rasa nodded as he stood up and put his scroll on a shelf nearby, after which he wore his Kazekage attire over his usual clothes.

"Are you really going to destroy the village you have a treaty with?" Chiyo asked trying to confirm the strength of the Kazekage's resolution.

"Honoured Grandmother!"

"I don't have a choice, after all the fool of a man who became the wind nation's daimyo is only capable of weakening his entire nation rather than opening his eyes to the truth…" Rasa explained.

"Explain!" Chiyo said.

"The daimyo delegated works to other nations which could be handled by the sand. He significantly cut the budget of the village and slashed the number of ninjas, thus reducing our military might!" Rasa said.

"If you are talking about military might, then don't you have your own son whom you intend to wield as a weapon of destruction?" Chiyo argued.

"It is not only about military might!"

"The wind nation consists of deserts only."

"There is barely enough fertile land to support the village, even less when it comes to growing herbs for medical uses."

"Our main source of income is the ninja missions that we hidden villages can delegate to our own ninjas."

"It is this income that we use to invest in trading activities and purchases of rare commodities from other villages."

"The income tax and various other taxes levied from the villagers can barely compare to this income."

"But this attack is not just about resources right?"

"You are using this opportunity to show the importance of the ninjas to the daimyo." Chiyo stared at Rasa.

"Yes, I am." Rasa agreed.

"This is not a recent problem Honoured Grandmother Chiyo," Rasa said.

"…" Chiyo stared at Rasa.

"You were there when all this happened Honoured Grandmother!"

"You knew that the only way we could tackle the reduction in the number of ninjas was to increase the quality of the existing ones," Rasa said in an angry voice.

Chiyo lowered her face thinking back to the time she pointed towards Gaara to be the next vessel of the One-tailed beast since the other two siblings were not compatible.

"Yes! Moreover, I regret it now."

"I only hope that he doesn't turn out to be like my grandchild…" Chiyo said in a low voice.

Rasa saw Chiyo lamenting over her actions, He knew there was something more she was about to add, but he did not want to change his intention of crushing the leaf.

"…" Rasa started to walk towards the door.

"DON'T JUST WALK AWAY RASA!" Chiyo shouted.

"You…." Rasa stared at Chiyo.

"What 'YOU' ?"

"IT IS YOU." Chiyo pointed towards Rasa.

"You never provided Gaara any parental love…"

"Sasori turned out like he is… because he lost his parents…" Chiyo paused.

"While I, his only kin did not pay attention to his feelings at all…"

Chiyo paused for a moment after which she continued….

"I know that I messed up my role in Sasori's life…"

"BUT YOU!"

"You never cared about your son…"

"You even put Yashamaru-kun in a very tough position of killing Gaara."

"He was only a child."

"But you made him lose the only kin he had in his life by making the boy kill him with his own hands."

Rasa lowered his head, unable to retort a single comment of Granny Chiyo's.

"Rasa!"

"I don't care what you intend to do in order to destroy the Leaf,"

"I will not even interfere with your plans because I am also counting on you to avenge both my son and daughter-in-law who were killed by the White Fang."

"However…." Chiyo paused.

"However…?" Rasa asked.

"You must take care of Gaara."

"You must make him understand the meaning of love once again." Chiyo insisted.

Rasa's gaze turned towards the family picture on his desk and the one with his wife…

("Karura….")

....

Rasa apologized to Chiyo and made a promise to take good care of Gaara.

Chiyo smiled in return following which they both walked towards the ground floor where Rasa's entourage was assembled to accompany him on the journey.

Rasa sat down in a palanquin that was held by Four jounins.

"Let's GO!" He announced.

"YES!!" His entourage responded back as they lifted him and walked to the gates of the village.

—————————————————

Few Hours Earlier….

In a lab located underground.

Kabuto was busy experimenting with the first Hokage's corpse which was strapped to a bed.

The corpse was struggling to get out of the seals that were placed all over the body.

Hah!

Kabuto used Hashirama's cells to try and bind the soul from gaining control of its own body, but he appeared to be losing to it.

"Not good!" Kabuto rushed to the nearby table to grab the Kunai with a red talisman and implanted it into the First Hokage's Corpse.

Soon, the body stopped wriggling and became stable.

(Whew!) Kabuto cleaned the sweat away from his forehead.

....

Kabuto approached Orochimaru who was sitting on an enormous chair in an empty room that was lit by a large lamp that was next to him.

"Orochimaru-sama!"

"The First Hokage can only be controlled if we use the Talisman to eradicate his emotions," Kabuto said excitedly.

"Hmmm….." Orochimaru stared at the space in front of him.

"What is it? Orochimaru-sama?" Kabuto asked in a concerned manner.

"Kabuto!"

"Will there be any reduction in the strength of the techniques it can potentially use?" Orochimaru asked.

Kabuto adjusted his glasses as he said.

"I can guarantee that there will be no reduction in strength, neither will there be any hesitation in his actions."

"He is a ruthless killing machine, once we release him," Kabuto said with a hint of mockery that was aimed towards those who were supposed to be at the receiving end of the First Hokage.

"Kabuto!"

"It's about time we leave," Orochimaru said.

"Okay!" Kabuto said as he walked past Orochimaru to the door.

"Kabuto!" Orochimaru called out.

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama!" He responded.

"Let's take that kid for a spin…" Orochimaru hinted.

"Your previous vessel is it?" Kabuto asked.

"Mm…." Orochimaru nodded while he gave a wretched smile to which Kabuto smiled back as he proceeded to do what Orochimaru had requested of him…

————————————————

At the entrance of the Sand Village that was situated between the two cliffs.

The Kazekage's entourage was passing through the entrance…

(Whoosh!)

Yūra landed in front of the group.

Rasa pulled aside the curtains and looked towards Yūra who half-kneeled on the ground.

"Kazekage-sama!"

"Mm." Rasa lightly nodded to show his approval.

"Reporting to Kazekage-sama, the Akatsuki never made an appearance near the village!" He said in a firm voice.

"Thank You for your hard work!" Rasa said as he gestured the jounins to continue ahead.

Meanwhile, a strange creature was flying in the sky….

The creature looked like a bird with its body and all, while it had a pig for its head.

The creature saw The Kazekage and his entourage leave the cliff, upon which it descended towards the ground in great speed…

Meanwhile...

Chiyo stared at the direction Rasa had departed in...

…..

As it kept descending, two figures came into the view of the strange creature.

KYAROOOO!!!!!!

The strange creature shouted as it landed on the finger of one of the figures.

"What did it say?" Sasori asked in a cold voice.

Deidara concentrated for a moment.

"My man!"

"Looks like the Kazekage had just left the village!" Deidara said.

"Good!"

"Now we just have to wait for him to meet up with Orochimaru on his way…." Sasori said.

"Hm!" Deidara agreed as he slipped his hand into the clay bag and gobbled up a considerable amount of clay.

(Chup!)

(Chup!)

(Chup!)

(Chup!) Strange sounds of chewing noises came out after which Deidara raised his hand.

Upon opening his palm, there was a bigger and a concentrated version of the earlier creature.

"Hm!" Deidara threw the clay into the air, following which he held up a one hand seal.

(Poof!) A massive cloud of white smoke appeared following which, a large version of the strange creature appeared again, except that its size was easily able to carry three-four people.

"Get on!" Deidara said as he hopped onto the creature.

Sasori also followed through, after which he stared into the direction where Rasa and his entourage left in.

"Let's Go!" Deidara said, upon which the creature took off to the skies.

————————————————

Elsewhere in the desert.

Three figures shot across the barren lands as they traveled at high speed.

The one in the lead was Naruto followed by Sasuke and Kakashi…

Naruto turned towards the back, as he looked at Kakashi.

"Kakashi-sensei!"

"Yes!" Kakashi looked towards Naruto.

"I can faintly detect a few chakras up North!"

"We must increase our pace to keep up," Naruto said.

"Mm." Sasuke and Kakashi nodded as they increased their pace once again.

Soon, Sasuke and Naruto were ahead of Kakashi by quite a margin, whereas Kakashi could only helplessly stare in dismay.

("Sasuke has become strong!") Kakashi thought as they raced across the dunes.

———————————————————

The Kazekage and his entourage traveled along the desert without any disturbances, until….

(Whoosh!)

(Whoosh!)

(Whoosh!)

Three figures appeared a few meters away from the group.

Orochimaru stared at the group that was walking its way over, while Kabuto turned towards the figure in between both of them.

"Are you ready…"

"Kimimaro?"