Chapter 24
INTERLUDE
Kakashi found himself a bit taken aback by his brother’s sudden request. It had been around two years since the Uchiha massacre, and by now the initial troubles and tensions associated with it were beginning to vanish.
The Sandaime-sama had disbanded what little had remained of ROOT, or more accurately, what they could find of it. Many of the shinobi were allowed to enter ANBU, while those who sought to retire were allowed to do so after taking precautions.
Many had hoped that his brother’s resolve would weaken and that his sense of patriotism would overpower his vindictiveness, compelling him to take back his decision of retirement, but over time it had become abundantly clear that his brother was not going to back down.
He opened his shop, or ‘Pizzaria’ as he would call it, on the outskirts of the village near the Uchiha Clan compound. The cuisine, while delicious, was foreign and attracted few people, but Kakashi was grateful for his generous contributions to a specific orphanage with a rowdy yellow-haired boy.
“You want to leave the village?” He could not help but repeat the question as his younger brother nodded easily.
“Yes, and I need you to accompany me for this trip,” and that was even more strange, for despite his retirement, his brother continued to train his newfound Kekkei Genkai. He had named his visual prowess the Six Eyes.
It was an evolved Sharingan that was powerful enough to rival the legendary Rinnegan of the Sage of Six Paths himself. But that power came at a cost, and despite training for two years, his brother was yet to have complete control over his Kekkei Genkai.
“Me? But why?” Kakashi inquired.
“I might need you for some protection,” and he could not quite believe his ears.
“You think you would need protection?” he repeated, and Gojo waved his hand.
“You will understand. I have already taken permission from the Sandaime-sama, so I just need to know if you are willing to come with me or not?” and he would not deny him, but still he was curious about the details.
“And where exactly would we be going?” Kakashi asked, and his brother answered back with a toothy grin.
“Ame....” and of all the answers, he was expecting Amegakure was not on the list.
With the Hokage’s blessing, it did not take them long to reach the border of Ame. The village had been quiet for years and had cut itself off from most of the world. Any and all informants sent to the village would either end up returning with their brains and memories addled, or they would not return at all.
The Hokage-sama had explicitly forbidden them from entering the Ame territory, so they both came to a stop at the border as Kakashi turned towards his brother.
“Will you finally tell me why we are here?” he asked, and his brother smirked.
“Nothing much. I just wanted to remind some people that I am still here,” and Kakashi saw his brother reach for the bandages around his eyes as he began to take them off.
The bandage fell to the ground, and suddenly Kakashi could feel his brother’s chakra coming off of him in waves, and then the entire world shifted as he opened his eyes.
It was instantaneous, and the very air was filled with his presence, and it was obvious to him that his brother was not holding anything back. He was pushing his abilities to their limit, and he saw blood begin to drip out of his nose and his ear before suddenly a push came from Ame, and his brother’s presence was pushed back in the blink of an eye.
“AGHHH!” Gojo grunted as this new foreign chakra came at them like a strong gust of wind, forcing Kakashi to shield his face with his arms.
His brother fell to his knees, and his chest began to heave as he closed his eyes.
“What was that?” Kakashi asked as the pressure vanished.
“Well, it seems like someone decided to greet me right back....”
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Miles away, hidden in a cave, ten S-ranked nin gathered as the Akatsuki held its annual assembly. Their leader, Pain, had gathered them all to welcome their newest member and to give out new assignments.
Each and every shinobi within that room held the power to bring entire nations to their knee, yet they all bowed their heads to the might of their leader, who stood in the center.
Yet suddenly, the entire room perked up as a foreign chakra filled not just the cave but the entirety of Ame. Each and every shinobi within the room was startled by this strong presence, including the leader, and for the first time ever, the leader of the Akatsuki frowned in the face of this new enemy.
The cave was sealed, and no shinobi could break that seal. Yet despite that, it felt as if this stranger was able to see them all. No. Not just see. It felt as if he could dissect their very existence.
They were all S-ranked nin, yet they had no answer for this, until the leader himself raised his hand and whispered.
“Almighty Push...” and with a powerful blast, the domineering presence vanished as their leader addressed them all.
“Disperse,” he ordered as he looked out at the ten ninjas.
“I shall call an assembly again after I have investigated the cause of this disturbance,” and with that, the figures began to vanish, and none of them paid attention to how the usually chatty and obnoxious masked member of their group vanished at the same time.
Obito, or Madara as he proclaimed himself to be, appeared in the cave where the real Pain lingered in his weakened form.
“What was that?” the frail red-haired shinobi questioned, as the red sharingan of Obito began to spin ominously.
“I believe it was someone offering us a little greeting...”
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0000
ZOSUI—The Leader of Kusa
Kushakure was not a great village like Konoha or Iwagakure. But it was an important village nonetheless, because of its unique geography. The village was sandwiched between three nations of great import.
Konoha lay in the East, and in the North, it bordered Iwagakure. The two bitter rivals, each curried favor with their village, for they knew that Kusa was the only village that could offer them passage in case of war.
The leaders of their village were not shallow and had been rather cautious in making an alliance, for they knew that allying with one meant alienating another. Kusagakure was not weak, not at all, but it was not so strong as well to face the full might of either Konoha or Iwagakure.
But now, Konoha had forgotten their vows. He still remembered the day when the two Uzumaki clan members had walked into the village. It was not long after the Third Great Ninja War that the two of them found themselves in Kusagakure, and Zosui was quick to recognize the opportunity it possessed. Even if the mother was too old to be trained as a kunoichi, she possessed one of the red devils’ infamous kinjutsu, allowing her to heal people with her very being.
The girl, though, she was the real treasure.
Young and malleable, Zosui had plans of making full use of her. There was a reason that four of the five great nations had to come together to defeat a simple island nation. The Uzumaki were hailed as Red Devils, and not without cause. They were monsters given flesh, and no village alone could hope to match them at all.
The girl was meant to be the key to their power, yet Uzushio had long had an alliance with Konoha. The two villages were joined by more than words, so he was not surprised when he found himself visited by a retinue from Konohagakure.
Somehow, they had gotten wind of the two Uzumaki girls. The man introduced himself as Danzo, and so they struck a deal. Kusagakure would remain neutral during the conflict, and for this service, Konoha would not bother him with the girls.
It was a simple deal, yet one that Konoha was quick to deny the second it favored them. That girl was the linchpin of his plan to make Kusagakure great, and yet now he had been robbed of her by those damn tree huggers.
They denied any knowledge of the deal and tried to play him like a fool. But Zosui would not let them bully him and his village like this. It was rather daring of them to steal from him at this time, when their village had just been plundered by forces from Suna and Otogakure.
They believed that they could force his hand, but Zosui would not stand for this. When his demands went unanswered, he wrote a simple letter to the people of Iwagakure, offering them an alliance.
Iwagakure replied eagerly, and the village had spent more than a decade licking its wounds from the Third Great Ninja War and had long hungered for revenge. The treason offered them the perfect opportunity, and Zosui intended to use their opportunity to expand his own lands and push Kusagakure forward as a great village.
The initial response was eager, and the discussions moved ahead quickly. Iwa had prepared a force to attack Konoha, and now, as he found himself sitting opposite Kitsuchi of Iwa, they were discussing the finer details of their alliance.
“To protect Kusa, we will need a military presence within the village,” and Zosui would never let them have that, for doing so would mean surrendering their very autonomy.
“No,” he shook his head.
“Kusagakure is welcome to host bases along the border area, but nowhere else.” he completely rejected the demand, and Iwa would have expected that.
“And as a reward for our contributions, we would like to have a share of the land conquered or taken in any agreement with Konoha,” and the Iwa nin frowned.
“I believe you are counting your chickens before your eggs have hatched,” and now he frowned.
“What do you mean?” Zosui countered sharply at the veiled insult.
“I am saying that you are taking Konoha too lightly. Weakened as they may be, they still are a very powerful foe, one that you would be a fool to underestimate,” and Zosui scoffed.
“Powerful! They have just lost their Kage, and they have put a young face on the seat out of desperation. They have Kumo breathing down their necks up in the North, and once we launch an offensive, it would be the end of Konoha as we know it,” and how powerful could a village be if it had stooped so far as to rob other villages of their people.
“I am afraid you are informed on some parts,” the Iwa nin added.
“Since we are allies already, I believe I can share some of the latest intelligence we have,” and his own intelligence network was rather robust, but it was no match for the resources of Iwa.
“I believe the war up in the North has already ended,” and that was a surprise to him.
“How!” and the clashes had been rather violent according to his reports.
“Because of Gojo Hatake, of course,” and it was that name again.
“What about him?” he questioned sharply.
“I cannot offer you too much, but only a fool would dare underestimate him. That boy is Sakumo Hatake’s son through and through...,” but that did not matter.
Still, before even Zosui could answer, a guard rushed into the room, breaking all decorum.
“Master! Master! We are under attack,” and Zosui jumped to his feet at once.
“What do you mean by that!” he roared back angrily.
“The wall. It is being overwhelmed. There is literally a swarm attacking the wall,” and he should have expected this.
“How many?” he questioned, and the man hesitated before he answered.
“That is the thing, master. It is just one shinobi,” and he could not imagine how a single shinobi could be a swarm.
“He has somehow managed to create over a thousand clones,” and that had to be a lie.
“Impossible!” Zosui gasped.
“No single shinobi could ever do such a thing...” Yet in that moment, he felt a flair of chakra from above, but the warning came too late as suddenly the wall above them caved, and a massive beast landed on the ground, crushing the man who had just come to warn him about the strange invasion.
“One shinobi can,” the stranger answered in a booming voice, and Zosui was forced to raise his arms to protect himself from the debris. As the smoke began to clear, the form of the beast began to make some sense.
It was a toad, he realized quickly as the last of the dust cloud settled down.
“And his name is Naruto Uzumaki,” and Zosui recognized him easily even though he had never seen him before. The man had a white mane for hair and was striking a rather strange pose as he looked down at them all from above his giant toad.
“Jiraiya, the Toad Sage of the Three Sanin...”
0000
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