A/N: Hi everyone, I know it has been a while since I last updated so let me reiterate, I am not going to abandon this fic so no need to worry about that. It was quite difficult getting this fic out. It was actually finished since September , 2013, and editing it was slow, mainly because of some shit happening, my house was burgled twice last year and my laptop had to be replaced. In a nutshell, 2013 may just be the worst year of my life. I'm not going to say so far, because i definitely don't want to have a worse year than that. But I have said enough, I hope my hiatus didn't lower the standards you are accustomed to and if it did, please tell me so. So, as always, Read, Enjoy and Review.

Last time on Son of whirlpool

The first crop of students has undertaken the final tests to become genin of the storm. The test is most certainly nothing they had expected as it proved quite challenging for most. The next day, theformer oto ninja also undergo an examination to prove their worth. One in particular, Guren, shows some promise t be a jounin, but Naruto himself has to step in to tame her pride. She was no matche for him, in any way as she succumbed to him.

In the mean while, trouble approaches in the form of a konoha ANBU as he is the barer of some important news.

And now, the conclusion

FIVE DAYS TO WAR (PART 3)

"What did he just say?" Naruto asked as he turned to Hinata with shock clearly written on his face, "Did he just say that the five kages are meeting?"

"I know how you feel, Naruto-kun," she answered, her own shock evident in her voice before turning back to the ANBU, "how can we trust your word?"

"You are a Hyuuga by birth and you possess the Byakugan," he said to her, "If you must, remove my mask and see the truth of what I speak."

"That would be of no use if you were ordered to deliver a message, no matter how false," Akira said before sighing, "What are you going to do Naruto?"

Despite this, Hinata activated her byakugan.

"Where is this meeting being held?" Naruto asked.

"Forgive me, but I was permitted only the time of the meeting." The ANBU replied

Naruto thought it over for a moment, propping his chin and folding his arms.

"Release him," Naruto said to Akira before turning to the masked ninja, "your mission is a success, give the Hokage my regards."

With that Naruto walked out of the cell and out of the prison with Hinata, Akira and Tsubaki.

"Akira nee-san, how likely what he said was true and how much of an impact could it have for us?"

"Well, he most definitely is ANBU, and one of the Hokage's own too, not Danzo's since he didn't try to kill you after giving him that opportunity and a person doesn't make up a story like that," she said before coming, "you know how the current ninja system works and that because of past grudges, the five villages don't get along well with each other."

"Yes, it is nothing short of a miracle that the sand and leaf have such a good working relationship," Hinata said.

"A miracle by the name of Uzumaki Naruto, so I have heard," Akira smirked, "any way, the five great villages don't get along, Suna and Iwa have a very bitter rivalry, while Kumo and Konoha has a feud that goes as far back as the Nidaime Hokage, not to mention that Kiri hasn't forgiven Iwa for their treachery. There is also the fact that Kumo has a habit of stealing valuable people and items from the other villages and Iwa pretty much doubles crosses everyone if it benefits them."

Naruto's eyebrow shot up into his eyebrow at the amount of information that Akira had just provided him.

"How do you know so much," Naruto asked, "you haven't been head of the intelligence department for that long."

At that point Hinata and Akira stopped in their tracks in the centre of the village and stared at Naruto. Of course, this left Naruto confused at what was going on.

"What... is there something on my face?" Naruto asked while trying to rub away at any offending particle on his face.

This lead to Hinata sighing at him.

"Naruto-kun, this is all known information that any ninja would know," then she narrowed her eyes, "it's also part of the archive which you should have been studying."

He knew exactly what archive she was talking about; the archive that was left to him as the next leader of the ancient shinobi way, which detailed all the major happenings in the world of ninja since the time of the Rikudo Sennin. It was his responsibility to study it and know its contents, but of course, Naruto hated studying.

So, with Hinata giving him THAT look, he smiled sheepishly at her.

"Okay I will get to it as soon as this is over." He said, hoping to put it off a little longer.

"That's not going to be a good idea," Akira added in.

"W-what, why not" he said as they finally reach back to his office and closed the door.

"You asked how much of an impact the gokage summit could have on us," Naruto nodded, "it depends on what they are going to discuss, and there are quite a few things that concern all of them and two come immediately to mind."

"What's that?" Naruto asked.

"The Akatsuki," she said, "not only are they going around capturing all the Jinchuriki and bijuu to do who knows what with them, they also boldly attacked Konoha and they even kidnapped the Hachibi Jinchuriki right out from under the Raikage's nose."

"I remember that report," Naruto said, "I expect the head of the ones who did it soon; but what is the other reason?"

"You." She stated.

"Eh, what about me?"

"Well, you formed a new country by linking two; you beat back and humiliated the forces of Iwa, so the Tsuchikage would probably have a bone to pick with you. You assimilated two hidden villages and by default gained their secrets which, by the way, the other villages would kill to know the secrets of Hoshi's power. The other nations don't particularly have a grudge against you, but this village is growing very strong very fast and they want to know why, and if possible, put a stop to that growth."

Listening to this, Naruto grew still and began to seriously contemplate. He had expected this to happen, sooner or later. It had only been a single year and now he was being faced with the prospect of his village going to war. However, he could not jump to conclusions. So, with that though, he performed his trademark jutsu and formed a single shadow clone and when it was made, it went through a few hand seals before disappearing in a swirl of wind.

"Where did it go?" asked Hinata, recognizing the kagesochi no jutsu.

"To the mountain, to the archive; when it reaches there, it will make more clones and begin studying," he said before switching back to the subject at hand.

"Well, it doesn't really matter which they discuss, Naruto-kun and this village will be at the centre, he is the last jinchuriki after all and the Akatsuki would be coming for him next," Hinata said, "if it is the other, Naruto-kun is personal friends with both the Hokage and the Kazekage."

"That may be, but they would still have to chose what is best for their people and country." Akira said, delivering the hard facts.

"I really hope they are gathering to discuss Akatsuki," Naruto said before a mischievous smile found its way on his lips which didn't go unnoticed by the occupants of his office, "but, I bet I can find out right from the source."

(Wall separating ninja only zone)

Meanwhile, at the wall that used to be the gateway to the ninja only zone, stood Guren, and as usual, she was not pleased. She had received a note that morning informing her to be at this very spot. The note said that she were to meet with a person who would show her around and grant her access to the ninja only section of the village.

When she arrived, she noticed that she was not the only one who had been summoned as everyone of the ninja from oto who had been tested was there. As time progressed, they all left in groups of two or three each with the company of an Arashi ninja until only Guren remained. So, it was no surprise when a single orange haired kunoichi showed up, Guren was very tempted to impale the girl.

"Are you Guren?" she asked succinctly

"Yes, who are you?" Guren asked, patience having long left her.

"I'm Fuuma Sasame," she said, although she too was obviously not too happy about something, "I will be your guide today. Just shut up and follow me and you will learn all that you need to know."

The tone took Guren slightly aback, however, she soon regained her composure and glared at the girl who had already gone ahead to the wall and stood in front of what appeared to be a door way drawn by archaic symbols. Guren was about to give the orange haired girl a piece of her mind, but before she could even start, Sasme began to speak.

"This is the entrance to the ninja only section of the village," she began, "it's a space-time jutsu that was placed here by Naruto-sama. Before, there was an actual entrance here and you would have to go through the maze and move around the traps within, however, he found it not efficient enough and too risky, not to mention not secure enough. This also has the added bonus of having multiple entry and exit pathways. All you need to do is form the hand seals, think of your location and walk through."

Sasame formed the seals slowly to show her and then walked through the doorway to demonstrate. Seeing this, Guren simply huffed and followed the girl. As Guren emerged from the teleportation jutsu, she looked around and for a brief moment thought that she may have been transported out of the village and to a time long ago. Everything seemed too green and undisturbed even with the numerous foot paths that lead in all directions. However, what caught her attention was the amount of activity she saw with ninja of all type moving around.

"So this is where all the ninja in this village are," she thought, "But what is this place?"

Before she could query her findings, Sasame began to speak.

"Don't stand there, that is an active gateway," she said, prompting Guren to move, "this is the ninja only sector, this is probably where you would spend most of your time bettering yourself and-"

"I highly doubt that in my case," Guren said haughtily as she looked around, "is that all this entire place is for? What is that building?"

To say that Sasame's patience was being tested would have been an understatement. She managed to restrain herself though as she continued. This was a C-rank mission after all, even though she was acting as nothing more than a tour guide.

"That is the academy, the first group of genins just graduated. Come on, and don't walk off on your own."

At that, Guren scoffed, but Sasame took no heed to it.

"As i was saying earlier, this is the ninja only sector, only full-fledged ninja are capable of coming here on their own and from today you should be able to come here on your own as well," Sasame said as she led Guren along a path, "This part of the village is actually the original site of the village before Naruto-sama and Hinata-sama fully established this village and the system we follow.

Sasame continued to show Guren around and showing her the important areas such as the meeting hall and the places she was not allowed to enter such as the various department headquarters and of course, the special Jounin training grounds which were fenced off. Of course, Guren's curiosity was peaked once she heard this and decided to have a closer look despite the warning. Unfortunately for her, Sasame was more perceptive than she let on.

"Dont bother, the monsters on that side of the wall might kill you by accident in an instant," Sasame said before a smirk appeared on her face, "although, no one is stopping you, that way one of those guys would have to explain to Naruto-sama why his new Jounin is in the hospital."

Guren huffed at that.

"Speak for yourself," Guren responded before something else came to mind, "what's so special about these special Jounin anyway, they aren't even full Jounin."

Sasame, who had finally had enough of Guren's superior attitude, was suddenly taken aback by that statement.

"Oh, that's right, since you're new you don't know of our system and how it works," she said, an impish grin as she continued, "although that is kinda why I am the one assigned to you."

Guren didn't say anything, she just glared at her. Sasame soon lost her impish grin and began explaining.

"Ok, pay attention; I'm not going to repeat myself. The village is divided into five departments, assassination, hunter, medical, intelligence and general," she stated as if teaching a class, "even though anyone can join any department, each department has their own criteria for selection and promotion, and the medic department even have a somewhat different ranking system. Every ninja either chooses a department or is recruited based on their skill. You seem more suited for the hunter department, so after we're done, you should go see Kouga Kai."

Guren listened with rapt attention to everything that Sasame said. However, something about what Sasame said made her wonder.

"I see, but wouldn't that make some of the departments weaker and the members overly specialised?" Guren asked.

"Yes, that is, if the departments were completely isolated," Sasame responded, confusing Guren a bit as she lead her away from the special Jounin training area, "after graduation, all the genin are put in the general department and when they are promoted to chuunin, they are given the choice to enter one of the departments or stay where they are. But, to get to Jounin, village policy requires certain criteria - that I will tell you later on today - to be met."

"I see, but you said that the medic department has a completely different system."

"Yes, they have four ranks, and only the top two ranks can go on missions. Despite that, there is a rank outside all of that and supersedes all the other ranks, and that's-"

"Special Jounin," Guren said, cutting Guren off, "tell me about that, what is that and how do I attain it?"

"Whats the matter, not satisfied as a Jounin?" Guren did not respond, "Anyway, unlike other villages, where a special Jounin is a chunin with Jounin level skill in one or two areas, in Arashi, a special Jounin is a fully fledged Jounin with skills that far exceeds the normal or an ability that sets them apart. You're not one because we don't trust you yet."

Sasame had a rather smug grin on her face at her last remark. As a member of the intelligence department, and especially after being so close to the higher ups, she was privy to many unofficial information. She knew as amatter of fact that Guren would be able to make special Jounin however, Guren despite being a strong and powerful kunoichi, Guren was a former Orochimaru loyalist, one of the most devoted. Someone like that do not simply stop being loyal to someone just because they are dead. So as a result, she could not be fully trusted. Although, that was all speculations and precautions, in reality, Guren truly did respect Naruto, and would willingly lay her life down for him. Despite that, she had an image to uphold so she never let it show.

It was too bad really, that Guren also had a few bad habits that would hinder her, like her short temper, and jealous nature, especially when the man she admired was already surrounded by powerful ninja, two of the closes being the silent sharp eyed Tsubaki and the kind and gentle Hinata. Guren did not know as yet, but to cross either of these two could spell her instant death. She would come to understand that soon enough.

"What is that grin for, I am a Jounin and I would be surprised if you were even a chunin."

Sasame huffed at that, but didn't mention she was a chuunin to avoid swelling the shooton user's head more than it already was. But, there was another reason she did not mention her position. She was a member of the intelligence department and as Akira had repeatedly told them, they were the backbone of the village and should any of them become compromised, the entire village would be compromised. For this reason, they were all forbidden from revealing their affiliations and to further increase their anonymity, there were no physically identifying marks associated with the department.

She also didn't want Gurenl's head to become more swollen that it already was.

"Whatever, my rank is of no concern to you," she said coolly, "it's very difficult to become a special Jounin. First you have to become a Jounin, and then you have to surpass that. Promotions from genin to Jounin are recommended by the department heads and the council decides. However, only the kanshisha can promote someone to special Jounin."

"What kind of benefits are there to being a special Jounin, and how many are there in this village?" Guren asked, her intentions not very well hidden, "I doubt there will be much; there aren't that much ninja in this village."

"Knowledge and power; anyone capable of becoming a special Jounin are given knowledge and power enough to make them capable of defeating a kage or destroy a country. That's the rumour anyway, what I do know is that you have unrestricted access to everything and all departments in the village and even challenge one of the Juryuu no Arashi for their position," she lectured, "there may be more benefits, but the only special Jounin I know personally is uncle Danjo and he never tells us anything and Akira-sama, but she plays too much head games."

She mumbled something about secretive powerhouses and unhelpful department heads before continuing.

"There are only fourteen special Jounin though, not even the head of the medic department has that rank, and she's a pretty good medic."

Guren was disappointed by that revelation. She knew the village was small when compared to the great five, but that was simply ridiculous.

"So few and I was under the impression that this village was powerful," she said, "but it is no wonder that they couldn't wait to make me a part of this village."

Sasame laughed. It was slightly mocking, but there was actual mirth in it as well.

"I don't think you understand just how powerful a special Jounin is," she said, turning to Guren, "If people like Jiraiya of the sannin, Uchiha Itachi and Hanzo of the salamander were part of this village, they would be immediately classed as special Jounin. That is the kind of separation between Jounin and special Jounin."

This time, Guren's eyes widened. Now the number of fourteen didn't seem that small. How could a village have fourteen kage level or near kage level ninja? And then she remembered the kinds of people that were there on the day of her test. They didn't look all that powerful. Some looked strange and others looked out of place, like that childish woman that almost killed her opponent in the first fight. Then, something struck her mind.

"You mentioned something called the juryuu no arashi, what is that?"

"You're rather inquisitive. Trying to climb the ladder after starting at the top?" she quipped, "the juryuu is the ten most powerful ninja in the village and answer only to the kanshisha. They are his body and carry out his will. There are only two ways to become one. Either defeat one in combat, or be handpicked by Naruto-sama himself."

They finally returned to the same place where the first entered when Sasame paused and had a contemplative look on her face.

"I think that's where that rumour came from," she said, causing Guren to raise an eyebrow, "the current juryuu were all handpicked and they were nothing more than average Jounin and talented chunin at the time, but after six months they all pretty much became monsters."

Guren certainly had something to think about as they both left the ninja only sector. Guren was a proud kunoichi and nothing less than the best would ever do, not for her or the one she served, and she was his loyal and proud kunoichi.

Next day (Day 5)

Tetsu no kuni, a land formed from a natural rock formation known as the three wolves. The nation, like many of the smaller countries, did not have its own shinobi force, however, that did not mean that the country was not well defended; quite the opposite in fact. Their security did not come as a result of any agreement between them and any of shinobi villages. The shinobi villages stayed clear of Tetsu no kuni.

No, they were not defended by ninja, they were defended by samurai. Mighty, sword wielding warriors clad in armour and gas masks. They were the equal to any ninja and in some ways, superior. It was for this reason they were able to remain neutral to all the shinobi villages and also the reason why the gokage summit was held there, under the patronage of none other than the leader of the samurai Mifune, a highly respected samurai in his own right.

The actual meeting was held inside of a large pyramid shaped complex within a room with sheets hung from the sealing around the room baring the crest of the hidden villages with a U-shaped table with another smaller table positioned at the open end of the table. There were 6 chairs, five behind the large table and one behind the small one. Behind each of the chairs of the large table was a kage and behind the lone chair, was Mifune himself.

He took his seat first, as two men wearing black robes stood behind him, both looking like battle hardened warriors as they kept watch over the assembled kages as well as their ninja body guards sitting behind the sheets.

The kages too then took their seats, each indicated by the symbol of their village adorning each sheet.

"Place your hats on the table," Mifune said and the kages complied, "You are here because the Raikage has called this meeting."

The five kages, each like an expert poker player. None stared openly at the other and kept their eyes forward, however, that did not mean that they did not have eyes on each other. It was probably a good thing for Tsunade that they were not actually playing poker, her legendary luck giving her a clear disadvantage. But this game however, was one she could play as well as any of the others.

"My name is Mifune, I will be your moderator," Mifune continued by identifying himself, "The meeting will now begin."

Meanwhile, in an unknown place, killer bee belted his rhymes as he contorted his hands and danced to an imaginary rhythm in front of an audience consisting of a short man with eyebrows that interestingly enough looked quite similar to an enthusiastic Konoha taijutsu using chunin, and a rather large racoon.

He was not impressed with what he was hearing. He then stopped him then demonstrated to him the passion of what enka was about. Killer bee didn't quite understand, but took notes anyway in hopes of studying them later. However, before they could go any further, they were disturbed by the sound of footsteps. When they turned in the directions, they saw two men wearing lack cloaks with read clouds on them.

The Akatsuki.

"It's about fucking time." The silver haired one said, obviously angry, have you any idea how hard ti was to find you after that fucking stunt you pulled. You're lucky we can't fucking kill you otherwise I would be sacrificing your ass to jashin-sama right now.

"Shut up about your stupid god Hidan, I'm not in the mood," his partner said, as he pointedly ignored Hidan as he cursed him out "Say what you want, just don't get in my way.

Hidan was possibly even more livid than before, however, he soon saw a means to vent his frustration as well as full fill his religious obligations.

"Have it your way, I will just have to make do with that midget," Hidan said as he eyed the diminutive enka singer, hmm, I don't think jashin-sama will be pleased with sacrificing that bear."

Before Kakuzu could attack, they were forced to separate as the enka singer appeared above them wielding an axe almost three times his size, slamming into the ground where they previously were. The attack did not relent as he went after Hidan with a horizontal swing intending to cut him in half. He was surprised however, when Hidan showed surprising strength in blocking the attack by using his scythe to absorb the blow.

Hidan screamed out in pain however, since even though he blocked the attack, the force was still enough to break his arm, forcing him to leap away.

Meanwhile, Kakuzu was experiencing some resistance of his own. As he avoided the enka singer's first attack, he was then forced to avoid a mighty slash from the bear. Unfortunately for the bear, it was soon outclassed when it tried to take a bite out of Kakuzu and found his teeth to be striking something rather solid. Kakuzu had hardened his skin and was about to finish the animal when he suddenly broke contact, narrowly avoiding a charged pencil that pierced cleanly through a tree with little resistance.

He landed near Hidan and looked at the one who tossed the dangerous pencil, whose hands were still in the final throwing position.

"What a frightening guy, he appears to be an idiot, but he is a jinchuriki who has tamed his bijuu, is a master swordsman and his control over ration is excellent if he can use it to increase the piercing power of a pencil to a degree equal to or higher than fuuton." He thought

He was about to continue assessing the enemy when Hidan started speaking.

"You're not bad, maybe you might actually be a worthy sacrifice to jashin-sama after all. I don't … care about the bear though," he said, gritting his teeth in a mixture of pain and ecstasy as he set his own bone, "this hurts so fucking much, I can't wait for you to have a taste of this pain."

Like Kakuzu and Hidan, the enka singer had also regrouped with B and his bear.

He struck a pose.

"I don't know who you people think you are, but Ponta is a raccoon," the now named Ponta growled his approval, "and the only thing you shall feel, IS MY PASSION!"

The mood grew tense as they stared each other down, Kakuzu and Hidan tensed as they readied weapons to attack. Ponta snarled, the enka singer readied his massive axe and B… B started writing notes.

He knew how serious the situation was but he just could not pass up a good opportunity.

"Passion, so that's when you use it," he nodded to himself, "now I understand."

No one seemed fazed by it though, and as soon as he book closed, they all blurred into action.

Meanwhile, at the gokage summit, proceedings seemed to be going downhill rather rapidly. But, it is not something unexpected. These were the leaders of the five greatest military powers and to say they all pretty much had a bone to pick with each other would have been an understatement. While some would say that they downright hated each other, it would have been more accurate to say that they did not trust each other, not in the slightest, and these mistrusts and grudges were also well earned and cultivated throughout the years. The only two in the room that didn't have a desire to completely destroy the other was the Hokage and Kazekage, of course, that probably had something to do with the fact that they both had a neutral party that they saw as someone close enough to be family, one Uzumaki Naruto.

Unfortunately all this was a moot point since the Raikage's temper almost caused an international incident when he smashed the table with his bare fist. It happened right after one of the kages mentioned his brother as one of the few to have ever actually been able to fully control a bijuu. Of course, when a ninja as powerful as the Raikage acts, it was seen as a threat, and the body guards accompanying the other kages immediately sprang into action to both defend their kage as well as eliminate the threat.

However, before things could get any further out of hand as the ninja poised to strike, Mifune, being the neutral party spoke.

"We are here to talk," he reasoned calmly, before reprimanding the group, "please refrain from further acts of rudeness."

This seemed to have diffused the situation as each kage ordered the withdrawal of their ninja and the meeting commenced. The Raikage was the one to speak next, completely without regard or remorse for his previous actions.

"Iwa, Kiri, Suna, Konoha! Akatsuki is made up of missing nin from your villages, and that is not all," he rebuked, "I know that there are those amongst you, even former kages, who have used Akatsuki for their own purposes."

For the most part, there was no rebuttal as it seemed that everyone in the room were either guilty of his accusation or knew about it, however, to Gaara, the news of kages using Akatsuki came as a surprise to him.

"Used Akatsuki?" he parroted, even his stone like visage showing his surprise.

"I don't trust you, I had no intention of speaking with you," the Raikage continued as he continued to point fingers at the amassed kages, "I called you all here to find out where your true loyalties lie."

Despite this, Gaara paid no attention to what was just said; instead he appeared transfixed on the Raikage's previous words.

"What do you mean, 'used Akatsuki'?" he asked

"You're the Kazekage, hasn't anyone told you anything? Go ask your elders!" the Raikage said, this time literally pointing a finger at Gaara, "you used Akatsuki in your own war."

The room fell into a short silence that was broken by the Tsuchikage as he lectured to the young Kazekage.

"With the exception of that one upstart village," he grumbled something unintelligible under his breath, "the great nations are enjoying an era of relative peace, they are moving from military expansion to disarmament. As tensions ease between the countries, the threat of war becomes smaller. Military villages are a drain on a country's resources."

He paused for a second to allow his words to sink in. He couldn't tell if it was, though, Gaara's stone mask betrayed nothing. The other kages didn't care as this was common knowledge to them all.

"But there is a risk. What if a war suddenly broke out? They can't rely on untested ninjas in the heat of a battle," he continued, narrowing his eyes at Gaara, "They would lose the war..."

He left the last part hanging, and without missing a beat, Gaara picked up immediately on what the Tsuchikage was trying to get at.

"So one way of dealing with that, was to use a military force... like Akatsuki?"

The Tsuchikage affirmed with a smile.

"It would take time and money for a village to develop such a force, but Akatsuki was professional and could be hired for relatively little," he said, "not to mention, they always had good results."

"I don't want to hear it, Tsuchikage," the Raikage said, cutting off the Tsuchikage as he humphed in indignation, "Suna used Akatsuki to try and destroy Konoha; Orochimaru, but it's unclear whether he was still part of the organisation at the time. The former Kazekage and Hokage ended up losing their lives."

The Raikage did not stop there, as he continued to point fingers at all the kages in the room accusing them of taking part in the current Akatsuki situation. It went on until the Tsuchikage could no longer tolerate his attitude and was swiftly put in his place when he was reminded that it was because of Kumo's continued amassing of jutsu and power in a period of disarmament that the other countries were forced to hire Akatsuki in the first place. The Raikage did not take too kindly to having the tables turned on him in his self-righteous tirade of accusations.

"The Tsuchikage is right," Tsunade interjected, halting any further argument between the Tsuchikage and the Raikage, "however, no one in this room is without blame in some form or the other nor is there anyone in this room that didn't suffer at their hands in some way or the other. Konoha was nearly destroyed, and our former Hokage died, Suna too lost its previous kage and the current one almost lost his life defending his village, Kiri was plunged into bloody civil war due to the Akatsuki's manipulation, Iwa lost both their jinchuriki and so did Kumo. But most of all, eight of the nine jinchuriki was taken and we were all embarrassed!"

No one said a word after that. The Raikage fumed, but not even he could refute the Hokage's words. The Tsuchikage too was quiet, but unlike his previous quiet smug appearance, he seemed guarded for some reason, almost appearing as if he was hiding the right side of his face with the high collar of his clothing. This did not go unnoticed by the gathered kages, but they all chose to ignore it for now.

They were not the only ones. The Tsuchikages two guards also noticed his strange behaviour but had an idea of the reason behind it. They could only pray they were wrong, because if what they thought was happening were true, Iwa would have more than a hard time trying to explain it and if they were able to explain it, the embarrassment of the situation would brand their village for life.

Another person who noticed the Tsuchikage's behaviour was one of the Mizukage's body guards, Aoi, a man dressed mostly in black with seal tags for earrings and a an eye patch over his left eye.

"Something is up with the Tsuchikage," he said to himself.

However, the Hokage was not done.

"But despite all of that, there is a much larger problem that you all do not know of," her voice appeared almost grave at this point, peaking the interest of the gathered leaders and drawing their attention away from the Tsuchikage, "the leader of the Akatsuki … may be Uchiha Madara."

"That cannot be right," the Tsuchikage said in utter shock, "that man is long since dead."

"Our source is very reliable."

"He truly is a monster, that Uchiha Madara," the Tsuchikage said, face pale from the revelation.

At this point the entire room fell into silence, each pondering about their next move, especially considering that their enemy was the legendary and infamous Uchiha Madara, a personified demon in the world of the ninja rivalled only by Senju Hashirama, who most would consider the god of ninja.

It was at this point that Mifune would again decide to intervene and let his thoughts be heard. As the neutral party and host to this summit he felt that it was his duty to be the voice of reason. He was not wrong in that assumption.

"As a neutral country, I have to say, the leader of Akatsuki read the signs of the times," he began, "He used the stability and the suspicions of the other countries to increase his power. At this rate, even the land of iron..."

He left that hanging for a brief moment to let the gathered kages understand his point before continuing.

"But there is always a silver lining," he said, "it is rare for the five kages to come together like this. What do you say, until the Akatsuki is taken care of... what do you say to a five village alliance?"

"An alliance?" the Raikage asked in disbelief.

The kages did not see it coming, but while they were all suspicious of each other and very secretive, they could all see the benefit of an alliance.

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea," the Hokage said, liking the idea, but keeping a sharp eye on the responses of the other kages.

"The chain of command should be uniform," Mifune said, his gaze piercing as ever, "we want to avoid any further confusion."

Ordinarily, the Tsuchikage would have been among the first to voice his questions and concerns about this new development, after all, given his age experience and the fact that he was a kekkei tota, he considered himself the most important and influential person in the room, and all ego aside, he probably was, but at the moment, due to a certain problem, he was trying to draw as little attention to himself as possible.

He was no fool, he knew everyone in the room noticed his odd behaviour, but since no one had called him on it, he considered that all things were well. That is, until his little problem started to talk.

*This is a rather interesting turn of event, right Oonoki?*

The Tsuchikage was surprised, but he didn't let it show, but that did not mean he did not inwardly react. He was mad as hell.

"You damn brat, this seal that you put on me," the Tsuchikage thought, inwardly grinding his teeth, only to realise that while the boy could hear everything he heard, he could not hear his thoughts, "he has been using me to listen in on the meeting and is making me look like a spy. Maybe I can use this alliance to my advantage and take care of him after we have dealt with Akatsuki."

That certainly put a small smile on his face.

"So, I guess the question then would be who would lead this new alliance?" Gaara said in his bored tone.

Again, Mifune decided to intervene to settle the issue.

"You will only fight amongst yourselves, so I would like for you to respect my position as a neutral party," he said, gaining their attention, "I will decide who amongst you is best for the job."

*Hey Tsuchikage, do you think I could join the alliance too?*

"Cheeky brat," the Tsuchikage thought.

(back with killer bee)

Things were not going so well for killer bee and his friends. While he held his own and with time would most likely defeat the rag doll looking man, time was definitely not on his side. To make matters worse, he was also outnumbered, neutralising the unique advantage that his sword style would have provided. Also, his mastery over raiton was not much help considering this man seemed to be able to utilize all five of the basic elements. To further pile on his misfortune, dismembering, stabbing, or cutting the man was completely pointless as it appeared that he didn't register pain much and his limbs also seemed to move on their own when chopped off.

That still wasn't even the worse problem. Ordinarily, when met with an opponent like this, as rare as they were, one would use an absurdly powerful and wide scale technique to ensure that the opponent was destroyed beyond recognition and hope of ever putting their parts and particles back together ever again.

As the jinchuriki of the Hachibi and also having complete control over that kind of power, he was more than well equipped to do that, unfortunately, doing so would also result in harming his allies as well; something he was not willing to do. However, his opponent, on the other hand, had no such qualms and after a few minutes of fighting, started to do wide scale area attacks, completely disregarding the safety of his own partner. The surprising part came after, when his partner would get up, charred, cut and battered and only curse Kakuzu out; harmed but perfectly capable of fighting without hindrance.

In the end, Ponta and master Sabuchan was defeated and killer bee was left not only fighting two enemies at once who were not hindered by harming each other, but defending the downed enka singer and his pet.

There was one saving grace though; they were not allowed to kill him. That did not mean they couldn't brutally maim him though.

The fight was coming to a close now as Hidan recklessly rushed in to the group with his triple bladed scythe ready. Defending was pointless because as he neared them, a mask next to Kakuzu spewed a stream of fire while Kakuzu himself released a blast of wind, fanning the flames turning it into a wide area attack that allowed only one way of escape, up.

The combination attack, while it would not harm killer bee wrapped in his bijuu's chakra, would undoubtedly be the end of his friend, even if they could leap out of the way. He could fend off Hidan's attack, but that still left the flames, and if he took care of the flames, that left Hidan unchecked. It was a no win situation.

Hidan was near and ready to connect his strike, and the fires clouded kakauzu's vision, a loud metallic clank sounded out. Kakuzu smiled, thinking that the jinchuriki had decided to choose Hidan. But as he waited for the screams of pain, he noted that there wasn't any, unless he counted the sound of Hidan's screams as he flew back towards Kakuzu to land in a heap at his partner's feet.

The flame, which was previously a large wave of fire, had reached the target, but it started to die and blow away. Kakuzu's eyes narrowed as Hidan seethed on the ground by what they both saw.

Standing in front and to the side and the front of killer bee was two strange men. The one standing in front of him was a rather handsome looking man; one could even say he was beautiful, as far as men go. He wore a blue yukatta printed with purple Camilla flower and left partially open to show off his lithe yet muscular torso. His long hair fell down his back without any bindings. There was no equipment visible on his person, not even a holster of any kind. He turned and looked behind him at the other man.

The other man, unlike his flamboyant partner, was plainly dressed and seemed very nondescript and by the books as he held his hands together in the final seal of whatever jutsu he had done. Obviously it was this man that had stopped the fire technique.

"Tenoko, my friend, it seems we may have found or targets," he said returning his gaze to the pair of Akatsuki ninja, "their ugliness match the description perfectly. It's a shame I will have to soil my hands on them."

Kakuzu and Hidan merely looked at the two new arrivals.

"Oi, Kakuzu, who the fuck are these two and what the fuck do they mean by targets," Hidan said before a smile broke out on his face, "because I really want to kill that fucking pretty boy for somehow stopping me from making my sacrifice to jashin-sama."

"Shut up about your stupid god, Hidan," Kakuzu said eyeing the two, "I don't recognise the symbol on their hitai ite; they must be that new hidden village. It doesn't matter, you can kill them for all I care, they are interfering."

Hidan didn't need to be told twice, as he dashed straight for the pretty boy with his scythe raised high. However, he was shocked when, instead of performing some form of jutsu or even trying to avoid it, he instead caught the weapon in his bare hands. Upon closer inspection, his skin appeared to have a greyish lustre. Hidan's moment of shock cost him, as the handsome man doubled him over his leg with a mighty kick that saw Hidan skipping across the ground.

"The uglier one I left for you, according to our plan, Tenoko." the pretty boy said as he leapt after Hidan.

"Thank you very much, Mataza-san," he said sincerely before turning his attention to the patchwork Akatsuki, "thank you for not attacking while my guard was down Kakuzu-san."

This gave Kakuzu some pause.

"There is something wrong with this man." Kakuzu thought. No one was that polite. However...

"Don't mention it," Kakuzu said.

As he said this, dozens of black tendrils burst from the ground attempting to bind him and the jinchuuriki. However, killer bee had the presence of mind to get out of the way and gather both master Sabuchan and Ponta and get out of the way which was only possible due to the tendril being cut to bits by an invisible blade.

"Blades of wind," Kakuzu noticed, "that would make him a wind type. It's very rare to find one of those."

"Hey thanks, while I was in trouble, you came and saved me on the double, yeeeeeeea," killer bee rapped from the sidelines as he made a hasty retreat.

"Oh no you don't," Kakuzu said as one of his masks leapt off from his back and fired a ball of lightning at the retreating jinchuuriki.

However, Tenoko placed himself directly in front of the jutsu while making seals.

"Fuuton: shadanki no jutsu."

There was a distortion of the air directly in the path of the lightning ball causing the technique to sharply change direction and go upwards. Killer bee saw this, but he didn't stop to thank the man again and just continued running.

"Please forgive my intrusion, but while it is not part of my mission, I cannot allow you to harm the hachibi jinchuriki," he said politely with a smile as he removed a pair of kama attached to a length of razor chain, "Now if I may, I am Sasirama Tenoko, and I shall be your executioner."

"Executioner huh," Kakuzu said calmly as he released two more of the masks from his body joining the other two, "that would be your mistake."

Meanwhile, Mataza and Hidan had already gotten started and needless to say, Hidan was quickly approaching levels of frustration he had never been to before. Why? It was Mataza, he insulted everything about him. His lack of style, his ugly way of speaking and foul language, his poor sense of accessorizing, the useless weapon and to add the icing, his utterly ugly religion in which he served nothing but death. If Hidan had any reluctance in killing the man before, which he did not, it was certainly gone after that. Unfortunately, for Hidan, no matter what he tried, he just couldn't so much as scratch the heathenous bastard. Hidan had long since passed the point of coherent thought and was simply berserking at Mataza. While this may have been dangerous for most people, death had no meaning what so ever so there wasn't anything an opportunistic opponent could actually do to take advantage of his lack of defence.

However, Mataza soon got bored and Hidan's luck was running out.

Mataza jumped back, pausing the fight for a bit. He yawned, providing the proverbial straw which broke the camel's back which was the final bit of restraint Hidan had to not just outright kill the man.

"To hell with sacrificing you, I'm fucking killing you right now,"

With that, Hidan rushed in blindly again, this time with more speed, almost catching Mataza off guard. However, Mataza was able to read the direction of Hidan's large red weapon and catch it in his bare hands.

Hidan smirked at this, and instead of ripping the weapon out of Mataza's hand to draw blood, he quickly released his left hand from the weapon and smoothly produced a black pike from under his sleeve, and stabbed it into Mataza's unguarded stomach. He saw that Mataza didn't carry any visible weapons, and throughout their fight, he had not shown any signs of having anything hidden, which was confirmed when he stopped Hidan's scythe with his bare hands. However, upon stabbing Mataza, Hidan noticed something strange. He did not feel that initial resistance followed by a slower journey into soft flesh. Instead, he felt nothing but resistance, like stabbing a wall. His pike simply stopped.

At that point, he felt fear. Not for his life, there was no need for that. He had finally come across the one thing he thought he would never come across. A person he could not cut or kill. One may think that he had already been desensitized of that by partnering up with Kakuzu. He knew better, Hidan was no fool; Kakuzu was not a true immortal. Sure stabbing him in some places won't kill him and it was not even clear if cutting his head off will work due to the Jionu, but kakuzu was not truly immortal. He extended his life by adding other's to himself and in his current state it would take killing him five times to actually put him down, but for someone like Hidan, that would be pure ecstasy. How often does a blood thirsty person like that get to enjoy murdering a person five times?

Everyone could be cut and killed, no matter how powerful they were. All humans bled and if they bled he can sacrifice them, fulfilling his only purpose in life. This man was different.

"Why can't I fucking cut you?" he tried to retreat with his weapons but the pike was grabbed by Mataza and Mataza still held on to the scythe with his other hand, "you fucking heathen, let go so I can kill you."

"We were given very detailed reports on you and your partner," Mataza said, "you have no genjutsu, no ninjutsu and a taijutsu with so many openings. But you need my blood, unfortunately, this simple jutsu, tetsujouhi no jutsu was all I needed. You really are as brainless as a zombie."

At this Hidan's eyes widened and his brief moment of fear soon wore off. Not much things frightened a person who don't really have much to be afraid of or anything to lose. There is only one person who ever called him that.

"I'm going to kill him, i'M GOING TO KILL THAT FUCKING GOOD FOR NOTHING BASTARD," he shouted as he released both of his weapons and jumped away in order to surprise Mataza, "but you are first."

However, the scythe had a cord and it was still attached to Hidan. Mataza took the scythe and slammed in into the ground like a nail effectively putting Hidan on a short leash and tossed the pike back at Hidan. Not to be outdone, Hidan caught his weapon which was sailing directly for his throat. He smirked, that is until he felt something stab through his throat. He looked down at the pike in his hand and noticed that the metal had extended.

"Kinzokuton: Hisan kushi no jutsu" Mataza said, as he did a few more seals, "time to finish this Hijutsu: choutenjikai no jutsu."

Thin spikes speared out of the ground behind Hidan and pierced him swiftly from behind through his hands, shoulder, knees and kidneys. Hidan was now immobilised, and wracked in pain from the inhumane treatment of Mataza's Hijutsu: choutenjikai no jutsu.

"Still ugly, but you had no hope, I can manipulate any metal within my area," he lied, he could only manipulate pre-existing metal if he had his chakra in it, Hidan didn't need to know that though, "now this will be over shortly, Kinzokuton: yuugen no kensei."

As he said this, he pressed his hand to the ground and a single blade emerged. It was plain and without any distinct feature other than its shape showing that it was a standard katana without a guard or hilt. It didn't even have a hamon. He removed the blade from the earth and walked towards the pinned Akatsuki member who was cursing the filthiest way he knew how.

"I could make something more beautiful than this, but for what I am going to do next, this is enough."

With that, Mataza swung horizontally, taking the head of Hidan. He didn't die, in fact, Hidan kept cursing as his head was on the floor next to his body which was held upright by Mataza's choutenjikai no jutsu. Hidan even tried to bite him a few times when Hidan sealed the head away in a scroll.

"I wonder how Sasirama-san is doing?" he asked himself, "even though he is the best option outside of Tsubaki-san to deal with a ninja like that, Itachi-san did say he would have to kill him five times."

However, just as he said this, the clearing where they had first encountered the Akatsuki lit up in a tremendous conflagration of flames that soared to the air and spiralled back down at a target that Mataza didn't need to guess at.

"hmph," Mataza scoffed, "I hope he doesn't destroy the secondary objective. Returning the jiongu would be a beautiful way to end this mission."

Mataza simply strolled back to the direction of the raging flames. There was no need to rush. Tenoko had everything well in hand, and before he left he tossed a pellet at the body of Hidan and as he disappeared into the forest, it ignited in flames reducing the body of Hidan to ash.

Mataza was right, Tenoko had everything well in hand. The fires were now gone, revealing four scorched masks on the ground and a very singed, albeit, unharmed and immobilized Kakuzu. Tenoko's razor chain and kama were wrapped tightly around Kakuzu's waist and each kama was buried deep within the earth. It did not prevent Kakuzu from forming seals, but it kept him in place. Tenoko was not without injury however. He too was burnt and had several cuts littering his body.

"I see, you kept, the earth mask with you so you could use it to defend and then you used the other four masks in a combination attack to defend yourself," Tenoko analysed with a smile, "thank goodness, I didn't want to completely annihilate your body. How else would i have been able to return the jiongo which you stole?"

At this point, Kakuzu was beyond figuring out this man's motives. From the beginning he had realised that he was tasked to hunt him down and assassinate him. At first it was laughable and played with him a bit, but he soon realised that to be a mistake as the man across from him was far more powerful than he had expected and the way he used futon to even manipulate and defend against katon was something Kakuzu had never seen or heard of. When Kakuzu decided to take things seriously, it was already too late. The man had bound him in his chains during a taijutsu exchange and when kakazu had fired a wind and fire combination attack, the man had somehow took control of it with his wind chakra and returned it far more powerful than it was before. Now, Kakuzu was down to his final heart and he was still bound by chains.

He had to think quickly in order to turn the tide of this battle. He now only had earth techniques to work with, but that already placed him at a disadvantage, as with this man's level of control over fuuton he could probably cut through anything and the chains were keeping him firmly in place. Only the hardening of his body was what kept him from being torn apart by it.

Tenoko on the other hand, needed to finish this battle as quickly as possible. It was not that he was struggling; he was doing well and had already almost eliminated his enemy's arsenal. However, his enemy was the most dangerous sort.

An old ninja. The oldest in existence now.

It was well known that ninjas don't usually get past the age of forty and those that did either never really saw real combat, knew how to survive better than most or was someone that developed a fearsome kind of reputation like Hiruzen Sarutobi and Tenjuin no Oonoki. This man he was fighting was not only older than Oonoki, but suffered no mobility issues. The longer the fight went on, the more in Kakuzu's favour the fight would be. It was never wise to give someone like him opportunities. So, with that, he decided to finish it with a jutsu Naruto had taught him.

"Fuuton: araikaze bakuhatsu no jutsu"

It was not a fast jutsu, in fact, it was pretty slow, but it was still plenty dangerous, and due to the orbs that are produced by the jutsu going in all direction before converging on the target, it ensured that the target had no means of escape.

It was an agonizing way to die. The jutsu was slow and Kakuzu couldn't run or defend himself better than he already had. When it hit, Kakuzu was surprised to find out that the little orbs were vacuums and each tore a larger hole into him. However, Kakuzu would not go out so easily. He secretly let some of his threads dig into the earth and tunnel towards Tenoko. He would at least have the pleasure of ripping the fool's heart out before he died, and if he was lucky, kill him before the orbs Tenoko sent killed him.

"I'm afraid you are too late," Tenoko said as the final orb positioned itself and the threads emerged from the ground and start to rapidly bore into Tenoko's flesh, "you were a skilled ninja, and I thank you for this experience."

With a final blast, kakazu's heart was no more; the defensive technique he used to defend himself with could not withstand the consecutive bombardment of the vacuum spheres. Kakuzu was finally dead.

It was not long after, that Mataza had re-entered the clearing holding a rolled up scroll in his hands and looking at the damage done to the place he gave a glance too his fellow dragon as he just finished sealing away the body of Kakazu.

"Oh my, what a mess," Mataza said, "surely he was not that difficult?"

"Thank you for your concern," Tenoko smiled, as he rolled up his scroll and placed it in his pouch, "despite my advantage and his lack of diversity with his elements, he was an experienced ninja."

"Perhaps," Mataza said, tossing his scroll to Tenoko who put that away as well, "let us leave this place, my clothing is ruined and I need to change."

Tenoko laughed at his friend's words; his vanity truly was his biggest flaw.

"Yes, but I think we should-"

"YOU BETTER RUN SCARED LIKE A MOUSE, KILLERBEE IS IN THE HOUSE, Y..." was the rapping of killerbee as he re-entered the clearing, only to see the two Arashi ninja staring at him owlishly.

Killer bee's planned epic entrance failed and he sweat dropped lightly at that.

"Killer bee-san, jinchuriki of the hachibi, I presume?" Tenoko asked

To this killer bee began to rap an introduction to which Mataza's face contorted in open disgust and even Tenoko's eternal polite heart strained from saying and doing something rude. However, it was Mataza that spoke up.

"I think kanshisha-sama would want to know about this."

(Back in arashigakure- Naruto's office)

Naruto sat on the floor of his office with his hands in the ram seal as tribal looking markings wrapped their way around his left hand and up towards his shoulder. Sitting not too far from him on a sofa was Tsubaki and Hinata observing him as he executed his jutsu which allowed him to spy on the Tsuchikage. It was rather convenient that he didn't trust the diminutive leader enough to brand him with the seal. As a result they were now in possession of probably the best spy one could ever hope to get, the Tsuchikage himself.

Naruto sighed as he released the jutsu.

"How is it Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked, "did you find out what they are talking about and planning?"

"Even better, but before that, I-"

Naruto suddenly froze in place and looked as if he was suddenly drawn within himself as his eyes lost focus. After a few minutes, his eyes refocused and a broad grin came over his face.

"Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked, slightly worried, "is something the matter?"

"That's good, better than I expected," Naruto said, seemingly to himself, "I'm in the middle of something very important, I want you to escort him back to Kumo, when you are done contact Tsubaki so she will make arrangements for your immediate retrieval."

Naruto paused for a moment as if listening.

"I can't say for certain, but I can tell, there is something huge on the horizon."

After Naruto said this, his eyes once again began to focus on the objects around him.

"Couldn't be better Hinata-chan," Naruto said as he retook his position and started performing seals slowly, "I just got contacted by Mataza and Tenoko, it looks like there mission was a success, and not only that, they even managed to save the Raikage's brother, the Hachibi Jinchuuriki."

Hinata gasped.

"You mean,"

"Yup, Akatsuki is not only down two members, but they still don't have the Hachibi," Naruto said as he finished the last seal, "Tsubaki, I need you to find Itachi and have him ready to summon Tenoko and Mataza as soon as they contact you."

"Hai, Uzumaki-sama," she said as she left the room.

However, moments after the technique which Naruto was performing took effect he immediately started laughing. Not a large laugh, but something both mocking and mirthful.

"Isn't this interesting," he said.

Hinata didn't bother answering; she knew his words were not directed to her now. That did not mean she was not curious. She simply resolved herself to wait until Naruto was done intruding on the Tsuchikage.

"Naruto-kun, I think you're enjoying this technique too much," she thought as she saw the mischievous look on his face, "this is just like that time when you set up the Mizukage's spies. I don't think she ever forgave us for that."

Despite that however, that got a smile out of her. It may have made Kiri cautious of them, but it also made a point.

(Back with at the summit)

"So how about it? Won't you all let the Hokage be the leader of this new alliance?"

Everyone in the room thought about that for a moment, and for the most part it was a good decision. Tsunade is one of the Densetsu no sannin, granddaughter of the shodai Hokage, was taught by the third Hokage and is a medic nin without equal. There was also the important detail that Mifune mentioned about Konoha's kyuubi being the only one remaining. Her personality as a leader was also a strong point to her as well; in short, she was certainly one of the best options.

However, the Raikage most certainly did not agree to that decision.

"I refuse to be a part of any alliance that forces Kumo to reveal their secrets. That woman's gambling prowess is more legendary than her battle prowess," he angrily said, "I think I would have been a better option."

The Tsuchikage as well did not quite like the decision. As he was the oldest and most experienced person in the room he felt that he would have been the best option. However, currently, he had an annoying voice laughing in his head and commenting about how interesting the situation was.

"I disagree," Mifune said.

"What, why?"

Without saying a word, Mifune's point was made by simply pointing at the damage the Raikage had done to his desk in his earlier fit of anger.

"You are a passionate person and that passion is needed in a leader, however, you may be too guided by it," he said before turning towards the other kages, "as for the other kages, people would distrust Kiri due to the rumours of Akatsuki surrounding them and their own past, the Tsuchikage is too old and would not garner the proper respect and finally, the kazekage, who is my second choice only due to his lack of age and experience. The Hokage on the other hand, has known war like most of us, hails from the most prestigious line, is quite respected, even by all of you and is in possession of the kyuubi.

That seemed to have put an end to all disagreements. Tsunade however, did not seem too pleased with the decision as she got up slowly. However, before she could say anything, the curtains separating the kages from their guards opened and out walked the Kiri ninja with the eye patch. His unannounced disruption was not what was interesting about him. What was interesting was the bulging veins emanating from the eye patch like a certain doujutsu.

"Tsuchikage-sama," he began respectfully, "do you mind showing to all of us what that seal you are so desperately trying to hide is?"

"Seal? What do you mean Ao?" Mei, the Mizukage asked her subordinate.

"I noticed it a moment ago when it was reactivated, so I used my... gift to look closer," he said, "there is definitely something suspicious about that seal."

At this time, the Tsuchikage's two guards also leapt out causing all the other guards to take up defensive positions next to their respective kage.

"Is there something you would like to tell us Tsuchikage?"

One of the Tsuchikage's guards, the dark haired girl, was about to retort, that is, until a raised hand from the Tsuchikage stopped her.

"But grandfather-" she said.

"It's useless kurotsuchi," he said with a heavy sigh, "I might as well come clean."

In his mind however, he was anything but remorseful.

"This is the end of you brat" he thought, "I will manipulate the entirety of this new force into wiping you and that smug grin out of existence."

"I am not in control of this seal, in fact this seal is the work of the next worse threat after the Akatsuki to all of us," that got the others' attention. He smiled inwardly, "he was able to infiltrate my village and place this juin jutsu on me."

"What, how is that possible?" Mei asked shocked at the Tsuchikages words, "someone as powerful as you would not be so easily branded."

"I agree with the Mizukage," the Raikage added, "I don't believe a word this old fence sitter has to say."

"No wait, if its inside of the village of Iwa that the Tsuchikage would not be able to fight at his fullest due to his fighting style," Tsunade said, "furthermore, the Tsuchikage is nowhere near his prime and has mobility issues, a swift enough opponent with mastery over seals could possible pull it off."

"I see," Gaara said, not too convinced, "then who is this person that can not only brand you with a juinjutsu but make even you openly admit something that you would otherwise consider a sign of weakness."

The Tsuchikage grit his teeth at that. Not because he was insulted, although he was, but because it was the truth. That boy had humiliated him in a most decisive way. But he would get his revenge.

"You are right, this is a sign of weakness," he said, "but I am sure you all have heard of them, it's that new village that sprouted up in what they are calling new Uzu no kuni, their leader was the one that did this."

At this, both Mei and Tsunade jumped to their feet one in anger and the other in shock respectively.

"Oonoki, that man, did he have tanned skin, spike blond hair, and whisker like marks on his face," Tsunade asked and noticing the looks from both oonoki and the Mizukage who nodded, she sighed.

"Hokage-sama, do you actually know the leader of this village?" Mei asked, "my spies were not able to get anything on them, not even the exact location of their village, and we even ended up...; you must tell us what you know."

TSunade sighed.

"It looks as though Naruto has been up to trouble," she thought, "I'm going to ring that brat's neck next time I see him."

"Yes, I do know him, in fact, he is the reason why I cannot accept being the leader of this new alliance," she said, gaining shocked responses from everyone in the room, "because he is-"

"This seems to be really interesting," a voice suddenly spoke from within the room surprising everyone and putting everyone on guard.

No detail about the man's identity could be seen as he had an orange mask that had lines that swirled towards the only opening in the mask allowing him to see. Every part of his body was covered as he wore black gloves on his hands and covered sandals so not even his toes was seen. He also wore a black cloak, which made it quite obvious what this man represented; it was a black cloak with red clouds, Akatsuki. The only part of the man that could be seen, was his black hair, but black hair was such a common feature that it was a moot point and useless as an identifying feature. The only thing that could be discerned about him was that he was male due to the base in his voice.

The man sat quietly looking around as everyone stared at him, everyone wondering how he got there and those with sensing capabilities even more confused and slightly put off at how he could simply appear out of nowhere like that without their notice.

"Please, don't mind me," he said, without a care in the world as if he wasn't in a closed room with five of the most dangerous and powerful people in the current shinobi world staring at him, "please continue, it was getting good. I too am curious, who is the leader of that village."

"Who the hell are you?" the Raikage demanded, a few seconds away from activating his lightning armour and charging the mask wearing idiot.

The Tsuchikage was also curious, but he was even more curious as to the sudden quietness of the man controlling the seal.

"What, you guys got together to discuss about my little group and you don't even know me?" he said, sounding hurt, however, the aura around him suddenly turned dark and heavy, "well if you must know, I am Uchiha Madara and I would like to tell you about my goals, the moons eye plan."

Two words, representing one man, but the effects were instantaneous. Everyone's guards were tightened but the fear and defiance in their eyes were evident, and for the one man in the room who had actually met him, the fear was entrenched deep in his heart. Every ninja knew of Uchiha Madara, a ninja would have to be completely ignorant to not know of that person. So, it was no surprise that, even though they all appeared ready, not a single person in that room, wanted to fight.

"I have no interest in hearing the twisted plans of the Akatsuki," the Raikage bellowed, "I can't understand you people; just give me back killer bee.

"First you listen to my explanation," he said, unfazed in the slightest at the imposing Raikage, "I may comply depending on your answer."

The Raikage just about had it with him and activated his lightening armour

"Let's be calm about this, Raikage," the Tsuchikage said, "Let's hear what he has to say and make our decision then."

"Hm, it appears that everyone is ready to listen." He said.

"It certainly is a shock to hear that Uchiha Madara still lives," the Tsuchikage began, sounding far more respectful than before, "But why would a man of your calibre resort to such roundabout tactics. Surely with your power you could accomplish anything you want."

"The wounds from my battle with the first Hokage, hashirama were too deep... right now I am powerless," he said, "Right now I am nothing more than an empty shell of my former self."

Even saying that, no one was motivated to attack.

"So, this moon's eye plan you spoke of, is a means of returning to your former self," shi, one of the Raikage's bodyguard deduced.

"Well... that's one way of putting it," Madara said, "but that is not all that it entails."

"What are you plotting?" Mifune finally asked, "what exactly is the moon's eye plan."

Madara paused a bit at the direct question.

"I would like to take my time with this tale," he said, as he began to sit, "If you don't mind, I will just take a seat."

However, all he seemed to be doing was riling up the ninja, and those with less patience was the first to crack.

"We're asking you what this plan of yours is," Kankuro explaimed.

Madara turned towards him and held up one finger as he paused for dramatic effect.

"To have everything become one with me," he cryptically responded, "I mean to achieve a complete form in which all is united."

It made no sense. What he had said made no sense to all those gathered and it showed clearly on their faces.

"One with you...? all united?" the Tsuchikage questioned, "what does that mean?"

At this, Uchiha Madara's eye narrowed. They couldn't tell, but somehow they felt it.

"There is a stone monument passed down amongst the Uchiha for generations," he began, "even now it lies beneath the village of Konoha. Upon it are recorded the secrets left to us by the Rikudo Sennin. Without our eyes, it is impossible to read, and what more, the Mangekyou Sharingan can decode even more of it and the Rinnegan still more than that."

"Now this is getting ridiculous," the Tsuchikage said, eyes narrowed, "the Rikudo Sennin?"

"I speak the truth, the sennin existed," Madara defended, "and he left us this monument."

Before he could explain anymore, the Raikage's patience had run out.

"Enough of this dawdling," he shouted, "what has the rikudo sennin got to do with this plan of yours?"

It became apparent that this guy, Uchiha Madara had no intention to make his explanation short. He milked it for every single drop of anxiety he could get and made his explanation unnecessarily long. What unbelievable arrogance, yet could it be called arrogance if he was more than capable of making the five most important people in the elemental nations hang on his every word as he spoon fed them his plans come true? He told them of how the rikudo sennin came to fame by defeating the Juubi, and then split it into parts, he even went so far as to hint to Gaara what it was by saying that Gaara was once a host to one of those portions.

When he told them that they were part of the Juubi and that it was the complete form, Temarai couldn't believe it and questioned him stating that the bijuu only went up to nine. Again, like a father amongst children he lectured them.

Soon, however, it started to become clear. They started to realise that the Akatsuki was collecting the bijuu to recreate the Juubi, but what they couldn't figure out, was why. Why would he want to gain that kind of power? They questioned him, and the answer they received would forever be the linchpin in changing the future.

"I will restore the Juubi, and I myself will become the Juubi's jinchuriki," he calmly stated as if it was not a plan but as if it had already happened, "with its power, I will magnify the power of my eyes, to the ultimate level... and activate a certain jutsu."

"A certain jutsu?" Oonoki asked, "what jutsu is that, what are you trying to achieve?"

"A massive scale genjutsu, reflecting my own eyes from the moon's surface," Madara said, his voice sounding more maniacal as he continued, "the infinite Tsukuyomi. I will cast my genjutsu upon all humans living upon the surface of the earth, controlling all of humanity within that genjutsu; I will become one with that world."

At this time, the sound of a pin falling on grass would have sounded like a hammers strike upon an anvil. The silence was deafening. Yet, Madara continued.

"It will be a world without hatred or conflict. Everything will be one with me; everything united," he said, "that is my moon's eye operation."

Madara finally finished, whether he was smirking or patting himself on the back for his lengthy speech, no knew, but one thing they all did agree on, this man had to be stopped.

"To hell with that," the Raikage exclaimed, "I won't give the world to the likes of you."

"A peace born of illusions is nothing more than a lie," Gaara said, anger clearly on his face, "peace only holds meaning if it is created in reality,"

"What do you expect us to find in such a world?" the Mizukage added, "It would be devoid of hope, devoid of dreams; nothing more than running from reality."

"You say you want to unite the world, I heard that many times before," the Tsuchikage said, "but it sounds to me, rather than uniting the world, it simply sounds like you want to take it for yourself."

"You're delusional, and far more insane than pain was," Tsunade said glaring hotly at him, "a person like you is the worst kind; talking about peace while simultaneously destroying the world."

However, despite their strong rebuking, Madara only laughed at them.

"Hahahahaha, well, do you five kages think you can do any better? Surely you must have realised by now... there is no such thing as hope," Madara declared, "The concept of hope is nothing more than giving up; a word that holds no true meaning."

After Madara said this, it appeared as if he had finally finished playing with the kages as he stood up.

"Now, hand over the remaining hachibi and kyuubi and cooperate with my plan," he said, "otherwise war will be upon us."

"War?" The Raikage said, momentarily stunned before something Madara said occurred to him, "The hachibi...? What is the meaning of this, you already took..."

"We failed in the recovery of the Hachibi; he escaped from our grasp," Madara explained, "He has achieved true perfection as a Jinchuriki and as a shinobi... as might be expected from your own brother."

The Raikage deadpanned at this as Shi sighed in embarrassment and Darui, the Raikage's other bodyguard, sweat dropped in embarrassment.

"Ahhh... I knew it...I had a feeling it would be something like this." Darui murmured.

However, the Raikage was back to his usual brash self and practically spitting fire as he swore to make killer bee taste his iron claw for running away from the village to have fun.

"I will not hand Uzumaki to you," Gaara declared.

"Same here," Tsunade agreed with a nod of the head from the Mizukage.

"What say you Raikage?" the Tsuchikage, asked, his stance in the matter already clear.

"I will not hand over my brother to him."

"I may have no power myself, but I have the power of the beasts I have collected thus far," Madara said, not worried in the least, "you have no hope of victory."

"We will not abandon hope." Gaara declared.

"Very well," Madara said, fully expecting this outcome, "In that case I hereby declare... the fourth ninja world war."

"The fourth ninja world war?" the Tsuchikage said, "are you serious?"

"I am not fool enough to say a thing like that in jest," he said, to which not another word was spoken, "the next time we meet, it will be on the battle field."

With those final words, the man, Uchiha Madara disappeared into a vortex. Not even the sensors Shi and Aoi could sense his retreat. It was as if he simply dropped out of existence.

"Dear me," the Tsuchikage said, a pained expression on his face, "what now?"

"We need to form a shinobi alliance," Gaara said, "there is no other way to oppose the power of seven bijuu."

The Raikage glanced at the Kazekage.

"I recall you were against the idea, Raikage sama," the Mizukage reminded.

"It seems no harm has come to my brother, but I refuse to allow Akatsuki to have their way with us any longer," he declared, this time without bellowing in anger, "we form a shinobi alliance and settle this as quickly as possible."

"What about you Hokage," the Mizukage said, "you were mentioning to us that you cannot be the leader of the alliance."

"yes, especially if the key to my position is the kyuubi jinchiriki being part of Konoha," she said causing looks of confusion, "you see, Konoha is no longer in possession of the kyuubi, in fact, the leader of that new village the Tsuchikage and Mizukage mentioned is not a secret to Konoha."

"or to Suna," Gaara added in, "and if we are to be united in this alliance, then it is imperative that you all know that , the leader of that village is-"

*Uzumaki Naruto, shodai kanshisha of arashigakure no sato and jinchuriki of the kyuubi* oonoki heard from the inside of his head through the seal as well as from Tsunade who said it at the same time.

"I do not know what that seal does, Tsuchikage but we all have heard of your offensive against new Uzumaki no kuni," Gaara said, "Uzumaki is someone I would openly call a friend and I know him well enough to say that he is the kind of person that would do anything to protect those which he thinks is precious to him."

"He is someone I would trust even with my life," Tsunade said, "I am curious though, exactly what is that seal?"

To say that Oonoki was shocked was an understatement. To think that not only had he had a brush with the one and only kyuubi jinchuriki, but to also realise that he was already close allies with not one but 2 of the other big five kages, was quite unsettling news. He had almost made a war with him just for the sake of his pride. It seems what Gaara had said earlier in the meeting was true, the Tsuchikage had truly forgotten himself. But after what Madara had declared, all that abouth is pride was becoming irrelevant. He had started to remember.

*Tsuchikage,* oonoki's head snapped up when he heard Naruto's voice through the seal. It sounded unusually serious, *It seems as though the world is about to change. Do as you wish and I will support the best I can.*

"The seal allows him to monitor me where ever and whenever he likes," the Tsuchikage said, "it allows him to see and hear everything that I see and hear as well as allowing him to speak to me."

That caused looks of shock, amusement and embarrassment to go around the room. Tsunade and Gaara knowing the kind of individual Naruto was at heart knew that he probably used the thing to prank the poor old man. The thought even entered the Mizukages head when she remembered how effectively he had dealt with her spies with that ridiculous wild goose chase.

"Wow, I knew that old pervert taught him fuinjutsu, but to think he had gotten this good," Tsunade said to herself, "what else is he saying now? Naruto you and I are going to have a talk about eavesdropping later."

However, despite being intrigued with the kyuubi jinchuriki's obvious skill in fuinjutsu, the Raikage had more important things to deal with.

"Shi, select a search party at once and contact the village so that they can begin the search at once."

"Yes," Shi said.

"We should tell team Samui as well," Darui added, "Karui and Omoi was seriously down about all of this as well."

"Wait, Raikage," the Tsuchikage said.

"What is it Tsuchikage, the Akatsuki could be getting close to my brother as we speak."

"That's just it," the Tsuchikage said, the eyes of everyone on him, "this brat said not to worry about that, he has some of his best escorting killer bee to Kumo as we speak."

"What?" the Raikage exclaimed in suprise, "Shi hurry up and meet with them. Tsuchikage what else did he say?"

However, the Tsuchikage realised that something was wrong.

"Tsuchikage-sama," kitsuchi said, "the seal... it's gone."

The Tsuchikage simply raised a hand to his neck where the seal was but could only feel moisture running down his back and smeared on his finger was black ink.

"Looks as though the brat was honest after all," he said, "looks as though he is gone."

"At any rate," the Mizukage said, "in order to put a stop to Madara's moon's eye plan, we must on no account permit him to obtain the Hachibi or the Kyuubi."

To that they all agreed, however, the Tsuchikage also mentioned that, while Madara had the power of seven bijuu they should use the power of the Kyuubi and Hachibi as part of their army as well. However, Gaara staunchly refuted it reasoning that it was probably the main reason why Madara had declared war in the first place, to force them into revealing the two Jinchuriki. To further show that folly in that plan was that Naruto and killer bee were not the kind of ninja that followed orders like other ninja and Naruto himself was the leader of his own village.

The Tsuchikage was not too pleased about this, but Mifune then showed him that this new alliance also had potential for untold power and that even the samurai was going to join.

(back in arashigakure)

Naruto had ended his technique and instead of simply releasing the final seal, he had made another.

"Fuin kai"

Hinata who was still in the room with him looked at him curiously, and when she saw the look on his face, she started to worry.

"Naruto-kun, is everything alright?" she asked, "you told the Tsuchikage who you were and even the whereabouts of the Hachibi."

Naruto stood up, rubbing his arms working a few kinks out. He walked to the window and looked out at the village, his village.

"Hinata-chan, is this what it means to have the world on your shoulders?"

"What do you mean Naruto-kun?"

Hinata knew that the burden of leadership was heavy, and Naruto being not only the Kanshisha of Arashigakure, but also the new head of the ancient shinobi order, his plate was quite full. But up till now, he had done a remarkable job and bore the weight in stride. Maybe the reality of the situation was now setting in? What had happened at that meeting?

"You are strong, Naruto-kun, stronger and more powerful than just about anyone else," she said as she got up from the sofa and wrapped her delicate yet strong arm around his body from behind, "and sometimes because of that you take on so much responsibility on your own. You don't need to do that, you have lots of people who will stand with you no matter what."

Naruto said nothing as he leaned into her embrace and stared out the window, as if seeing into the future.

"A war is coming," he said, "a war in which I as the Jinchuriki of the kyuubi shall be the target."

Hinata stiffened at that, but she understood.

"Are you afraid, Naruto-kun?" Naruto nodded slowly, "what are you afraid of Naruto-kun?"

"I am the leader of this village, I have a duty to my people, to protect them and guide them in times like these, I cannot fail them Hinata, but I do not know what to do?"

"Even now, you think of your people and not yourself," Naruto heard someone speak from behind, only to turn and see Tsubaki, "it is for this reason the Raizoku clan stand at your back and swore eternal loyalty to you. You have formed strong allies and done something that ninja won't ever do, made friends. You are strong Uzumaki-sama, not because you are capable of defeating many foes, but because you care and are capable of seeing the target that no one can see."

Naruto looked thoughtful after hearing Tsubaki's words.

"See Naruto-kun, there is your answer," Hinata said, you have the loyalty of everyone in this village and everyone will do everything they can to protect you. If it is for your precious people, you will always know what to do."

Naruto smiled, and turned around to face Hinata, and without warning he kissed her passionately upon the lips, stunning Hinata instantly and leaving her momentarily dazed.

After seeing this, Tsubaki kneeled with one knee on the floor with her head bowed in a show of unquestioning loyalty.

"What are your orders, Uzumaki-sama?"

Naruto's smile then fell away from his face as a serious look descended upon his visage.

"Michiko!" Naruto shouted, causing his secretary to quickly enter the room.

"You summoned Kanshisha-sama?"

"Under my authority, Arashigakure, for the time being has stopped accepting mission requests, inform this to all our ninja and inform all those who are currently on missions that they must return within two weeks."

Michiko paled at the sudden order.

"All of them Kanshisha-sama?" she asked for confirmation.

"Yes, all ninjas of the storm must return to Arashigakure within two weeks."

"Understood," she said.

"Tsubaki, inform the juryuu no arashi that we shall meet tomorrow at the usual place at ten in the morning." Tsubaki nodded

"Hinata, summon the supreme assembly and have them meet me in the council chamber," he said as he turned away from the three, and threw on his haori, "oh and, Michiko..."

"H-Hai, kanshisha-sama," she stuttered, slightly shaken by the serious atmosphere,

"Send a message to the daimyo... the fourth shinobi world war, is about to begin."

At that, all eyes widened. They knew it was serious, but they didn't realise it was that serious.

"You have your orders," Naruto said in a commanding tone, the likes of which they hadn't heard since Akahoshi's attempted coup, "now go!"

With those final words, Tsubaki, Hinata and Michiko left in their own unique way leaving Naruto alone in his office. After a while he too left the office. He walked calmly, but each stride had purpose in them.

"War, huh," Naruto thought, "it looks as though I may have to speed up my final development ahead of schedule."

JUTSU LIBRARY

Fuuton: araikaze bakuhatsu no jutsu (Wind element: rough wind explosion)- The user sends small slow moving vacuum spheres that implodes on contact with the target severely injuring the person. The extent of the injury increases with the amount of spheres that contacts the person. The spheres are slow but they do not miss as a result as they can be controlled by the user.

fuuton: shadanki no jutsu (wind element: circuit breaker)- A jutsu that can be performed only by someone who has completely mastered the wind element and can manipulate it to the point of taking advantage of its properties. This technique guides the flow of electricity in a limited fashion away from the intended target. The effectiveness is directly proportional to the user of this jutsu's mastery of fuuton.

tetsujouhi no jutsu (Iron skin technique)- A defensive technique similar to kakazu's stone skin technique where mataza mixes metal into his skin making it highly durable and resistant to piercing and, cutting and concussive damage. Advance bloodline limit technique.

Kinzokuton: Hisan kushi no jutsu (metal element: flying skewer technique

Hijutsu: choutenjikai no jutsu (secret technique: butterfly display)

Kinzokuton: yuugen no kensei (metal element: limited bladeworks) - A technique that can only be done with the kinzokuton bloodline limit. The user would produce a raw blade from the ground. The blade has no attachments such as a handle and can only be held by those mataza allows. This technique is a limited version of a far grander technique.

A/N: I am not sure, but this may just be my longest fic ever. But from here, things will start getting a bit more exciting. Things will be happening and put into place. So until next time Read, Enjoy and Review.