The Truth!

The interaction sent a chill through the rest of the group's spines as the two silent powerhouses battled psychologically; throwing their killing intent at each other trying to make a point.

"You're in no condition to fight," Konan deduced after looking K over. He stood tall but she knew it was simply for show.

"You're in no position to make demands," K was growing frustrated with the world's interest with Son Goku. He was also growing dissatisfied with the attention that the boy brought, but it was his sensei's request to take care of him. He would protect him.

K and Konan weren't known for talking, it was their sheer presence that always attracted people to them throughout their lives.

Chi-Chi's jaw was nearly clattering as she inched forward into the cold exchange, but something was troubling her, and it had been for a while.

Both stoic presences turned to look at the little girl with a hint of curiosity.

"Why?" Chi-Chi started, not being able to get a full sentence out at first. She balled up her first slowly as she entered their field of thick killing intent, "Why Goku?"

At first, Konan merely blinked in response to the child having the courage to step to her, radiating her own little intent. She lowered her head solemnly and shut her eyes, "Son-kun, he is not from pure earth. He's a deviant from a distant planet that has been sent here to avoid his fate." Konan opened her eyes and they were filled with passion as she spoke, "With his arrival to our planet, he brings unwanted attention, problems, his destructive ways, and soon the earth will end up like his home planet; nonexistent."

K simply listened.

Chi-Chi was shaking with anger but also speechless.

"Son Goku is only one example. There are countless others that have littered the earth. They're funneling in their weaponry, drugs, and much more. The invasion of Konoha was a glimpse of the kind of dystopian ways they practice," Konan was all too familiar with what the 'deviants' she spoke of were capable of. Her history was full of experiences with them, "Earth is the last pure, decentralized planet left in this universe. We must protect it lest it end up under one rule, being slaves for the rest of our existence like the others."

"Slaves?" K raised a brow.

"Yes, slaves. There's a band of so called space pirates destroying planets from the ground up and enslaving entire races of people to labor for their cause," Konan let up her killing intent as he walked toward Chi-Chi and offered her hand out to the genin, "That's why I want you to know that the Akatsuki are not evil, we're here to keep you free."

There was silence between the two, as all eyes were on them as they waited to see how Chi-Chi would respond.

The hand that was offered was left untouched by Chi-Chi, she looked up at Konan with her own fire in her eyes, "Goku is different." She retorted to all the negative things Konan said about 'deviants,' with a determined look on her face, "He actually cares about our village and the people around him. You can't take the actions of a few and apply it to every alien! If that were true then humans are no good either!"

"That's an interesting way to look at it," Konan retracted her hand after offering peace to Chi-Chi, "There's a system in place to stop no good humans, but not one for extraterrestrials and that's why we need to exist. The path we're following is a dark one, I simply want to offer an alternate."

"You and the akatsuki are bunch of evil losers who don't know anything!" Chi-Chi screamed out.

"Don't say I didn't warn you, child. If we were on the wrong side of justice, how come your village didn't tell you about people like Son Goku? About the meteor that crashed outside the village? Or the strong alien presence within your —"

All of the Kumo shinobi cleared a path for Roshi as he suddenly sprung forward with his palm extended outward. There was a blue glowing seal igniting in his hand that made Konan's eyes widen, "Odoroki Kamehameha (Surprise Kamehameha)!" The old man was deceptively fast and Konan had no time to react as she was forced backward into the thick woods by the instantaneous energy wave blasting her.

K took the lead now as they rushed back to their ATVs, given the situation they would have to flee even though Goku had yet to return. The vehicles burnt rubber as they all swerved off down the road and tried to create distance between them and Konan.

The black haired shinobi turned them away from the border, so they couldn't be followed back to Kumogakure.

He furrowed his brow when he rotated his ATV and saw the very child he wanted to keep hidden approaching on his own vehicle, along with Bulma. There was something else missing, and it was the baby that had a big hand in helping cause the mishap they were in at the moment.

They both slowed to a stop, because naturally both of them had questions.

"Where is Happa?" K asked with a visibly frustrated look on his face.

"A pale snake like guy stole him from us," Bulma said in place of Goku.

K stared long and hard, past Bulma and Goku as the implications of that info weighed heavily on his brain. She didn't have to say his name for him to know who she was referring to since he was infamous in the ninja world. He just wondered what business the legendary sannin had with the baby Goku took from the stadium.

"Why are you guys going away from the border, we need to leave right?" Goku wondered aloud, interrupting K's thought process.

"We need to re-"

They were all snapped back into reality as all of their ATVs began to sink into the ground. Roshi grabbed K, Goku grabbed Bulma, and the other two genin jumped away from the vehicles as they were being eaten into the ground. However, it wasn't a mud pit, or quicksand.

It was paper.

A blue bun of hair was the first to appear from the pit of paper as Konan slowly ascended from the ground. The right portion of her face from the cheek up was completely missing and the inside of her face was showing, but instead of flesh being on the inside it was destroyed sheets of paper that were slowly being replaced, and regenerating her appearance.

Her tattered garments were also being restored, and the same stoic eyes locked on Goku, "You've finally decided to join us." She took slow steps forward, not sinking to the bottom of her pit unlike the ATVs that were just destroyed. "I've come to retrieve you."

"Retrieve me? Over my dea-" Goku was about to charge right at Konan, but a surprising stiff arm from Roshi put him flat on his bottom. "Oi!"

"I know I can't reason with them," Konan continued, "but maybe you can understand. N understood, that if he didn't come; the people he cared about would die in the process. The Akatsuki are trying to make the world a better place. We can do this without violence if you simply come with me." The blue haired woman tried to come off as sincere as possible but none of the Kumo-nin budged an inch.

"N isn't as important," K alerted her. Everyone around him felt a bead of sweat drop down their forehead at his unhinged bluntness.

"If you want Goku, you have to go through us." Roshi's tone had drastically changed, going from the happy teacher to a hardened shinobi who wouldn't fail his mission. Despite the seriousness, he laughed as he stepped toward Konan. "It's been a long time since I cut loose, almost a quarter of a century."

Chi-Chi looked to K, "Cut loose?"

K nodded, "Roshi is the strongest shinobi of his time."

All of the genin were in shock as they watched their sensei getting into a fighting pose. They knew he was strong, but they never heard any of Roshi's battle stories.

"Before the Third, it was actually Roshi who was chosen to be the Raikage, but he refused," K revealed another bit of information.

Mao's eyes widened, 'how old is he!?'

"I refused the seat because at the end of the day I am a teacher, and I exist to help shape the kids into those kind of leaders," He said with a smile. "I believe Goku can be that special one day, so there's no way in hell you're taking our boy!"

For the first time during their encounter, Konan displayed an emotion. It appeared to be sadness, "Very well." Unlike Raditz And Vegeta, she felt bad having to fight and possibly kill to complete her mission. Under any other circumstances her and the Kumo-nin would have no reason to cross blades, and she could tell they cared deeply for Goku.

It's the life she chose however.

Roshi dashed in her direction quickly and threw the first punch, she skillfully avoided as they continued to dance around the forest floor. His eyebrow twitched as he threw fast and powerful punches, every time he grazed her, her body would quickly dissipate before she could take damage.

She leapt a few meters away from Roshi the moment she found a chance to, throwing five paper shuriken. They were blocked from anything lethal as Roshi ran, he lifted his forearm to guard himself. The sleeve of his top was ruined, but underneath no blood was drawn, and he didn't show any form of pain. He was still advancing.

He extended his arm out as he charged toward her, "Lariat!" Roshi experienced a sudden spring in speed as he tore through the distance between them, swinging his arm forward.

Off in the distance the children watched with K, but he turned away, "We're leaving."

"But what about Roshi!?"

K said nothing else and began limping away.

Goku hated to see his sensei struggle so he swept the man off of his feet without his permission. There was no argument, surprisingly.

The rest followed suit as they ran away so Konan had no chance of actually capturing Goku.

Roshi was in Konan's line of sight and for the faintest moment, he saw her eyes avert back to Goku, "If you were one of my students, I'd tell you to pay attention!" Had Konan noticed in that instant, she would have seen Roshi's entire body slightly crackle with electricity, but all she saw was him disappear. Her reflexes weren't fast enough to adjust her body or block. The hermit appeared behind her, throwing his fist forward so quickly and so powerful; the pressure created a blast of wind that blew Bulma off her feet as she ran and the forest shook when the hit landed.

He attacked from behind but his fist could be seen coming out of her chest.

They stood in silence, Roshi holding his form to keep her from moving at all.

"You should be dead," Roshi admitted. "No one's ever survived that punch."

"I understand," Konan said quietly, "but this situation was manufactured for me to win. Pay attention."

Sheet by sheet, she began to fade away into the forest. There was only one sheet left, and it was stuck to Roshi's hand. He simply sighed as he watched the seal for the paper bomb burn down before he could properly react.

Not too far from where Konan and Roshi fought, Bulma was skidding to a stop as she noticed something, "Guys!" With every step they took, a piece of paper would dislodge and slowly float away. She looked around and noticed the trees were moving in a weird manner, and she was right to notice because clones of Konan began walking out of the trees and forming a circle around them.

They were all backed into each other. Chi-Chi's first instinct was to punch the ground with her enhanced strength to ruin the clone's footing, but ultimately she was met with the same struggle from before.

It was paper.

It withered away gently despite the amount of force behind her fist.

Goku ran forward and tackled a clone out of existence, smashing it with a chakra covered shoulder, thus starting an all out brawl between them and the clones.

The saiyan boy worked a little harder than his teammates as he excellently displayed his footwork while he avoided the clones, and also managed to hoist K over his shoulder. It freed up one of his hands, covering it in chakra and punching it into a clone's face; completely obliterating it back into useless sheets of paper.

The clones were only a distraction though, and the two jounin were the only ones to notice.

"Look up!" K exclaimed and Goku snapped to attention.

An arm made from the papery array going around had attempted to grab Goku from behind as Konan materialized.

"That's the real one!" A voice could be heard from behind them, and they looked to see Roshi flicker quickly into the scene. He looked slightly bigger than he did from when he began the fight, his now sleeveless shirt revealing the veins slightly bulging in his arm. He swiftly moved past Goku and landed a punch that connected with Konan's jaw that sent her flying. "Keep going, I'll catch up!"

He knew she would actually materialize the moment she tried to grab Goku.

Roshi shifted his hands behind his back and took a moment to sniff the air three times to try to make out a scent, it wasn't long before his activity was cut short by sharp sheets of paper flying by and grazing his skin all over. Konan began to materialize in front of him and her face was as cold as ever, while Roshi was actually snickering.

"You laugh, why?"

"I don't want this to escalate any farther, so I have a proposition for you! If you refuse, I'll show you no mercy," Roshi insisted, and Konan stood there in silence. The old hermit lowered head and his sunglasses slowly slid down to reveal his raised eyebrows and a slight sparkle in his eye, "Show me that hot body under your cloak and you can have Goku!"

Luckily no one else was around to hear his offer since the rest of the group had already fled.

The two of them stood in the center of the clearing for an entire minute. Not a word was said.

It was safe to say Konan wasn't taking him up on his offer.

"Fine then, I'll show you something instead," Roshi's hands were now back at his sides as he got into his martial arts pose. The forest once again started to shake, the debris and paper started to rise from the ground, and Konan's interest had been piqued. The man had been holding back his strength and he was slowly uncapping the lid on his energy, as crackles of electricity began to spark around him. "In order to come home unscathed, I invented this technique long before you were born! It has five levels!"

Konan let the old man continue his explanation.

Roshi held up his hand, the one she placed the paper bomb on and showed the small scratch that it left, "At any point in time, there's millions of chakra controlled electrons traveling through my body that boost my strength and speed. You should be proud that made that one scratch, unfortunately it'll be the last!" He laughed as he said it and brought his hands to his side.

The blue haired woman was about to move in once more, but when she visibly saw aura starting to flicker off of Roshi's skin she paused.

The forest continued to shake and Roshi let out a strong yell, as the electricity around him started to crackle even harder and a light shroud of aura was surrounding him, "I'll give credit where credit is due!" Roshi pointed out as he got into a stance for him to move from, "Recreating this entire forest environment out of paper is amazing, and I'm sure you planned months for this moment, but you can't plan for me! This is level two!"

Roshi flickered out of Konan's vision and she moved to defense, wings sprouting from her back and taking flight to avoid being obliterated by Roshi's punch that followed when he flickered back into her sight.

The old man dashed in the opposite direction, using the tree to help him get higher as he leapt into the sky. Konan lifted her hand above her head and a lance began to twirl into existence. She was quick to launch it at Roshi, but instead of piercing him as he flew through the air toward her, it disintegrated as it came in contact with his aura.

The instant between the lance coming in contact with him and Roshi actually closing the distance felt like a lifetime for Konan, as she watched him cock his arm back. The hermit launched it forward and rocked her jaw with a great amount of force, and it generated the same air pressure as before.

Konan dropped out of the sky, regaining her bearings in mid air, but couldn't stop herself from skidding as she hit ground once more. The part of her face Roshi had destroyed with his punch was failing to reconstruct.

There was paper scattered in every direction thanks to Roshi's punch and he noticed she was slower to regenerate because of it. He left no time for her to think and flickered out of sight once more. Konan furrowed her brow anticipating what came next.

She started to get used to his fast movements, seeing a small spark before he actually appeared, but she couldn't successfully avoid him. Roshi's fist came flying in, but instead of nearly destroying her skull like he had done before he stopped just short of her nose.

They were silent.

She was confused.

He smiled.

Roshi opened his palm revealing it was covered in chakra. She leapt backward but came to a hard stop when Roshi appeared behind her. He seemed to be mumbling something as he moved his hands. The woman took to the sky once more, but everywhere she moved; Roshi was already a step ahead. His movements were sharp and quick, and he had every chance to attack her, but instead she only heard the words he was chanting coming from every direction.

The man was so fast that she was beginning to see afterimages of him, each image projecting a different hand gesture.

Soon a ringing sensation began in her ears, and a strange feeling started to wash over her entire body.

She moved to release what she thought to be genjutsu, but suddenly her vision was beginning to get hazy. The paper wings that were flapping so fervently before were slowing down and she was now falling down to the ground.

Roshi chuckled as he finally stopped moving around in flashes, holding out his arms as Konan fell into them, "Saimin No Jutsu." She had fallen under his hypnosis, "You're covered in oil and you can't move. Now you will sleep."

Parts of the forest now began to wither away into useless paper, and even Konan herself was reverting back to her actual human form.

Konan was sound asleep in his arms. Roshi let up his shroud of energy and reverted back to his scrawny old man appearance. He set her down on the ground in the center of the clearing, "I'll spare you, so you can relay this message." Roshi reached inside his flak jacket and threw a card on Konan's still body. It was a simple white card with 'turtle' written in kanji on it. "You can come back for Goku soon, I guarantee he'll be ready. What I cannot guarantee is that he'll be as merciful as I am."

The old pervert put his hands behind his back and raised a brow.

This was his golden opportunity.

A deep voice bellowed throughout the clearing, "You should have killed her."

"Oh?" Roshi turned to see a group of five shinobi entering from each side to surround him. He recognized one of them, "N?" He looked at the blonde child tugging at his drawstrings without a care in the world.

"Yo," He said simply and waved at the old man.

"Damn that lady, just tell where Son Goku is, un!"

XxX

Next Chapter: The Master Puppeteer!