So...hi...guys *Dodges rotten fruit* I apologize for being a lazy ass again, basically I finally got my copy of Naruto Shipudden Ultimate Ninja Storm 4, and I got sucked into it for ages. Hell, I still am. This is partly because it features my favorite Naruto character prominently (Obito), but also because it's just plain amazing. So, if take any more long breaks, it's likely because of that game. Oddly enough, one of the story bits in it was titled "A Beast Roaring In The Tragic Rain", which matches the ending of the previous chapter, and it also fits with it for other spoilery reasons. A cool coincidence, I think. Plus I've gotten back into other stuff, add school to the mix and I've had little time for writing. Rest assured though, this story will be completed someday.

Anyway, enough of that. Here's the aftermath of Zira and Tobi's murder.

Zira stood in front of Simba, ready to accept her and her follower's exile. She had confessed to the murder of the prince earlier-not only that, but she was proud of it. Tobi was nowhere to be found, apparently off to take care of some business. The only one who knew of Tobi's part in the murder was Konan, and she had been silent since Nala's death. Behind Zira were her followers, children, and Kiburi and Kiujanja. Lying next to Simba was Sarabi, with Kiara in her paws. The Akatsuki lions were also present, with the exception of Nagato and Konan who were at Pride Rock caring for an oddly sick Umande.

Exile.

This was the thought running through Vitani's head as she looked up at Simba's stern face. She was still numb, so painfully numb to what had transpired some hours ago. Kopa was gone, gone, gone. Vitani couldn't remember exactly what had happened, but when she woke up to find blood spattered around her, and Kopa gone, she had assumed the worst. The worst had happened, Kopa had been killed-by who, she didn't know. All Vitani knew was, her heart had shattered when she heard the words come out of Simba's mouth.

Next to Vitani stood Nuka, who was similarly conflicted. He hated himself for chasing off Mheetu, but at the same time was glad to have his mother praise him for once. After hearing word that the queen was also dead, Nuka knew for certain that if he and Mheetu met again, they'd fight-possibly to the death. For now he just sat, dejected, the fresh scars on his chin forever branding him as a traitor in his own mind.

Kovu was blissfully unaware of what was happening around him, sleeping peacefully at his adoptive mother's paws.

"You have been found guilty of the crime of murder, Zira. You have been given the punishment of exile, only because of your children. If you or your followers ever set foot in The Pridelands after this day, I will deal with them personally. Now go, and never return." Simba snarled, and the posse of lions before him turned and began the trudge to the border. Zazu flew above them to ensure they would comply properly.

When they had gone, Sarabi spoke to her son.

"Simba-what about Kiara?" The former queen asked with a glance at the sleeping gold bundle

"She-she will become the crown princess. I'll have Rafiki present her as such in a few days. Kiara-she's all I have left of Nala and Kopa..." Simba stifled a sob, and Sarabi embraced her son. They stayed that way for a few moments, harkening back to days when Simba was just a vulnerable little cub.

When they pulled away, Simba bent his head down and nuzzled his daughter.

"Kiara, from this day on I swear, I will never let anything bad happen to you, not ever..." He whispered

Nala had been given a funeral, and buried at the base of Pride Rock. Konan had stopped by the grave to grieve, still horribly missing her best friend. She'd not spoken a word since Nala's death, still seeing Tobi's red sharingan in her mind.

Meanwhile, Nagato was tending to Umande in Pride Rock's cave. The cub had been badly sick all day, moving little and shivering fiercely. Rafiki had checked on her earlier, but had merely sighed and said that there was naught he could do for the time being.

Making his way towards a cave was a certain one-eyed lion, along with a vicous-looking lioness. Tobi hadn't forgotten about Nagato's rinnegan, not at all. He'd merely had to wait for an ideal opportunity to steal the eyes. Zira had given him a follower with specific skills so that Nagato could be distracted, giving Tobi the opening he would need.

When Tobi had heard Simba's roar of anguish earlier, it had eerily reminded him of himself. He'd flashed back to his younger self, a broken-hearted boy who'd butchered dozens upon dozens of shinobi until the clearing was sodden with blood because of what he'd witnessed. A very small part of him had felt pity for Simba, but Tobi had quickly dismissed the thought. He wasn't Obito anymore.

Tobi heard a gasp, and saw a lioness had seen them. He grunted with annoyance, and swiftly used kamui to teleport and slash her throat. The old, creamy lioness fell with a thud, and Tobi spoke.

"He's in there...you know what to do." Zira's follower flinched, but complied and went into the cave silently.

Nagato sat, looking down at a whimpering Umande.

"D-daddy...what's happening to me?" she asked

"I'm not sure...just stay strong Umande, get some rest. I'll keep you safe." Nagato said, nuzzling the cub

"Tch." Nagato whirled around as he heard a noise, and Zira's follower pounced on him. She bit into his throat, and held onto it with an iron grip. As the lions wrestled, Tobi padded up to them slowly. Nagato couldn't get the lioness off him, and so focused his rinnegan on her. Umande had curled into a ball, trembling with fear. Tobi moved behind Nagato's head, and reached his paw down while Nagato strained to focus his genjutsu.

"AAaaaagh!" A cry rent the air as Tobi swiftly yanked Nagato's left eye out, and then went in for the other one. Nagato had been shocked out of focus, dazed to find he was half-blind. He screamed again as his right eye was also pulled out, and blood spurted through the air.

Nagato writhed in agony, clawing at his bleeding sockets. Tobi signaled for the lioness to release Nagato, then disposed of her with a quick blow to the neck.

"There, she'll take the fall..." He murmured, and glanced at the terrified cub

"Hmph." He grunted, deciding to just leave the cub to wallow in despair

With Nagato's eyes clutched carefully in one paw, Tobi used kamui to return to the shinobi world-the eyes would have to be stored immediately.

After Tobi left, the traumatized Umande at last lifted her head. Tears streamed down from purple, ringed eyes akin to the ones that had just been stolen from her father.

Zira sighed as she surveyed her new home. The Outlands were a dry, desolate place. The only life that seemed to inhabit them were swarms of termites, who'd build impressive structures to serve as homes. There was very little water to be found, the same went for food. Zira growled bitterly when she took in the sight of them, but decided they would provide adequate shelter from the sun.

When the pride was inside the largest termite mound, Vitani approached Zira.

"M-mother?" She whimpered

"What?" Zira snapped

"W-well...I-I know Kopa was killed and...I think it's my fault."

"What?!" Zira was perplexed

"Wh-when I woke up, there was blood all around me...and on me. You see, I-I went into this weird tree a little before that and-" Zira continued to listen with interest as Vitani poured out her troubles

Apparently, she'd gone into a tree and smeared a drawing of Kopa with red powder, and Vitani believed it connected to Kopa's death. She thought that since she had smeared the drawing, she had also killed Kopa.

An evil smirk spread across Zira's muzzle as her confused daughter finished her tale. This would be a perfect opportunity to cleanse the doubts in Vitani's mind.

"Oh, there there...now, I'm not sure what happened myself. Kopa and I had a chat, I had to go and investigate something, and when I came back I saw the scene you described. Perhaps you did kill Kopa, and for that..." Zira had pulled Vitani to her, acting almost motherly

"...I am so very proud of you." She finished

"Wh-what?" Vitani gasped

"You see, Vitani, Kopa was not the sweet, innocent cub he led you to believe. He was evil and corrupt, just like his father." Zira said, and saw her daughter take these words in

"B-but I loved him!" Vitani broke out in sobs, and Zira soothed her with a paw

"You may have loved him, child, but he did not love you. I could see through his lies the moment I talked to him. Kopa just wanted to use you, and in the end, Vitani, you gave him what he deserved." Vitani slowly stopped shaking, and when she turned to look up at her mother, her eyes held a hard glint

"I...I'm sorry mother. I should've believed you. I'm just glad that liar is gone!" She spat, and Zira smirked with pride

'Ah, Scar, see how she is now free of Simba's taint! Vitani will make a fine soldier, indeed.' With these thoughts, Zira continued to feed her daughter lies, and watched as Vitani's heart continued to harden and break at the same time.

(A/N: To clarify what's going on here, Tobi's popped back and forth between the shinobi world and the TLK world to deal with various things, including the murder of Danzo.)

"So, you got Nagato's eyes?" Zetsu said as he saw Tobi approach the laboratory, something clutched in his hand

"Yes, with surprisingly little difficulty. Using chi for jutsu in that world may be an inconvenience, but it certainly aided me with taking these." Tobi replied, looking at the shelves in front of him.

Dozens of eyes were afloat in bubbling yellow liquid in containers, each one from an Uchiha. Tobi wouldn't admit it, but the eyes unnerved him sometimes. They were, after all, once part of many of his relatives.

Tobi grabbed an open container, and slowly dropped the rinnegan eyes into it. Satisfied that they would remain preserved, he clamped on the lid and placed it in a drawer beneath the shelves.

"You know, Sasuke seems to be getting restless. I suspect he means to leave the Akatsuki sooner or later." Zetsu said

"Hm, that is of little concern now. He has already disposed of Danzo, all I need him to do is cause a little distraction at the Five Kage Summit, and then he shall be free to go off and do as he wishes, as long as it does not conflict with my plans." Tobi replied, and turned to Zetsu

"Zetsu, I shall be going back to the other world in a moment, to take care of some loose ends. When I return, make sure Sasuke has been sent on his way." Zetsu nodded, and Tobi used kamui to teleport back to the "Lion World."

Something was floating along the river. This something was a lion cub, half drowned and barely alive. The river had carried him far from where he had fallen into it, and he would likely not last much longer.

The cub came to rest against some rocks close to the shore, vaguely aware of his surroundings. He began to crawl, painstakingly slowly out of the water. When he had done so, the cub coughed up water and wheezed. As he flopped onto the ground, the cub strained to recall what had brought him there. Try as he might, however, the lion cub only found hazy fragments in his mind. The cub's ears perked up as he heard a sound.

"What the hell?!"

Dun dun du...oh, you get the point. Anyway, to clarify how Umande awakened the rinnegan, the "Blue liquid" she'd swallowed was a chi=enhancing elixir, which is what made her sick. Combine that with the trauma she witnessed and her father's genes, and she awakened the rinnegan. Suffice to say, it's very weak and she does not yet know how to properly use it. Tobi will be done with the TLK world eventually, and you'll know when he's left for good. He can't stay forever-he has a war to start, after all. Next chapter we find out where that voice came from, what happened to Kopa, and some more aftermath stuff. The chapter after that will be a time-skip. Drop a review if you want, and see you next chapter!