Trials of Faith

Karrafear

Summary: SEQUAL to Faith in Humanity and Restoration of Faith; PG-13. 2 and half years have passed and now is the beginning of the trials of Faith. Chapter 11: Scenes VII

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Disclaimer: Naruto is an anime and manga series created by Masashi Kishimoto. It does not belong to me; I'm simply using the characters and plot for my own creative devices.

"Demon's talk", /Thoughts/, "Speech", 'Speech emphasis', ((FLASHBACK)), Titles, (Author's interruptions)

Yes, I am still alive. I can't believe I'm getting back onto this after 5 freaking years.

I had lost my passion for Naruto when the whole Naruto/Sasuke – Hashirama/Madara - Asura/Indra plot happened. I hated it with a passion to the point I actually stopped following the Naruto manga for a time. Somehow, someway, it was due to your incredible reviews and support that I'm getting back into this again.

Be warned though, I will deviate from the Cannon series quite a bit from this point on. There will be war much sooner, there will be death. I will try to make it quick, and there will hopefully be NO SUPER STRONG GODDESS KAGUYA!

Chapter 11

"Welcome to Konoha. I hope you have been successful in your endeavors to help your people." Tsunade raised her hand in gesture to invite her guests to sit down on the chairs available.

Samure (the resident seal master), his friend Daiku and Shizune all sat comfortably on the chairs facing Tsunade.

Raising her eyebrows slightly in confusion, Tsunade continued. "I thought for sure that Kageru would accompany you back. No offence, but this was her project, and this alliance is with the Sound village, not a ragtag group of nomadic shinobis. Mind telling me what's going on?"

Samure shrugged. "Kageru is busy organising the Sound Village's military. News have travelled to us that all the five great nations are joining hands to fight Akatsuki. As an ally of Konoha, she needs to step up as well. Sound doesn't have the resources that Konoha does, but at the very least, she can offer up a number of shinobis to help with the cause, and organising them into mid-range, long-range and short-range fighters, or into categories of Ninjutsu, Genjutsu or Taijutsu specialities. I'm not sure if she herself will be participating, or not though. Hence she sent the rest of us ahead to start setting up the healing seals here, and where-ever you need it to be."

"Hmm.. Not a bad idea. I'm not surprised that her forces are not ready yet. It's not easy when you've just lost a village leader and half your troops walk off the job." Tsunade nodded understandingly.

Shizune then stood up and pulled a scroll out of her sleeve. "Tsunade-sama. This is all that I was able to find regarding Orochimaru's plans with Konoha, I think you will find them most interesting (1)." She handed the scroll to the Hokage.

Tsunade wasted no time unrolling the scroll. Soon, both her eye-brows rose in surprise. "I can't believe this. Orochimaru was helping him for years. All those experiments were condoned?! All of those deaths, even the eyes! And what's this about cells from my grandfather!? ... This is the proof that I've been waiting for." She muttered breathlessly, before her eyes darkened in anger. "That traitor..."

Narrowing her eyes in concentration, she refocussed on her guests. "I'm sorry to cut this meeting short, but it looks like I have something urgent I need to focus on. Shizune will show you to the Konoha hospital, please choose one of the free operating rooms to set up the seal. I'll be sending the two Konoha shinobis affected by the curse seal to you once you are ready. In the meantime, please enjoy your stay at Konoha."

Firmly dismissed, it didn't take long for the guests to leave her office. The moment they were out and far enough away not to hear here, Tsunade yelled. "ANBU!"

Instantly, four figures emerged surrounding their Hokage.

"Get me a direct call with the Daimyou of the Fire Country; I also want a reverse summoning set up for me to forward him something highly classified. It is important that it gets to his eyes and his eyes only this instant! Get me Jiraiya, Nara Shikaku and Dokudes Juubei NOW!" As commanded by the military chief, all for Anbu guards scattered to do their duties.

Not a minute later found Jiraiya, Nara Shikaku and Juubei strolling into the Hokage's office.

"Good, you're all here. I've got wonderful news." She grinned sadistically at them, which gave all three men the creeps.

"Uh… did you win the lottery again?" Jiraiya tentatively asked, afraid that the end of the world was upon them.

"No, you IDIOT!" Tsunade threw a book at her old teammate, who ducked in fear. "Shizune is back from the Sound and with the others who can recreate that seal to get rid of Orochimaru's curse seal. Not only that, she found some incriminating evidence of Danzo definitely having contact with Orochimaru, for a long time. The Uchiha massacres lead to secret implantations of Sharingan eyes onto Danzo's arms, and there was even a mention of stealing and implanting my Grandfather – Senju Hashirama's genes into Danzo as well. Turns out Orochimaru's first invasion into Konoha was facilitated by Danzo, the invasion that lead to Sarutobi's death! This is proof of treason against Konoha right here. Not only that, Orochimaru somehow had incriminating evidence that Danzo had dealings with Hanzo the Salamander near the end of the third Shinobi war, against Konoha policy and the Fire Country's national interest at the time. That's proof of treason against the Fire Country, not just Konoha. This is what I've been waiting for. I've got a conference call set up in five minutes with the Fire Daimyo. Jiraiya, I want you with me at the call. Nara, I want you to organise the ANBU to ready themselves for a raid against the Root. Juubei, can you spare me some people to join in on the fight. This must all go right or we're gonna land ourselves in a civil war. We have one chance to clean out all of Danzo's influence and the root of his disease, and we better make it count."

Within minutes following Tsunade's announcement, everything was prepared and ready to go. All they need now is the final approval from the Fire Daimyo.

Tsunade stood firmly facing her superior counterpart on the giant computer screen, who looked vaguely pale as he continued to read through the scroll that Tsunade had reverse summoned to him for his confidential perusal. Finally, he opened his mouth to ask tentative: "How accurate is this information? How sure are we that all that is written here is truth?"

"110% My Lord, I would stake my life on it." Tsunade answered without wavering. "For too long, Danzo had acted in his own self-interest, and he has too much influence with the other Konoha Councillors. He has remained untouchable politically for too long. But this... This is treason. Against Konoha. Against the Fire Country." Taking a deep breath, she asked once more. "My Lord, we must act, and act now."

The Fire Daimyo slumped his shoulders at the certainty in her voice, disheartened at the news. "Alright." Closing his eyes, he firmed his resolve. Reopening his eyes with a determined gaze, he gave his command. "I give you my approval to eradicate all of Himura Danzo's influence within Konoha and within the Fire Country. Politically and financially, he is stripped of all his power and resources. His assets are to be frozen, and all of his former power of governing authority is withdrawn. Please place both Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura under house-arrest effectively immediately. Until a full investigation is finalised as to what their involvement are (if any) in the incidences written on this scroll, I cannot trust them to act on good faith for the interest of Konoha. I will send a scroll with these instructions with my stamp of authority by the hour. Tsunade, I want you to weed out everything that man has touched and destroy it all. Give me a final report when you are done, understand?" His voice was strong, his gaze unwavering. This was the most powerful man in Fire Country (2).

"Understood, Sir!" Tsunade saluted the Daimyo and nodded to the side to cut the conference call.

Less than an hour following the Daimyo's directive, forty Anbu, Jounin and Tokubetsu Jounin shinobis were standing before Tsunade in preparation for the raid. She had already sent Asuma and Ibiki to place the former Councillors under house arrest as per the Daimyo's orders.

Kakashi had 'procured' Sai (against his will) and provided him to Yamanaka Inochi in order to do a memory scan to find out where the Danzo's hidden Root bases are hidden inside Konoha. The mind invasion broke Sai's mind, but Inochi was confident that with the help of the Dokudes family, he could mend Sai's mental health back. In the meantime, the information he gathered about Root was absolutely critical for Tsunade's forces in order to raid the hideout hidden deep in the Hokage monument and surrounding forests.

"Listen up men! We are about to embark on an SS-Class mission to rid Konoha of an internal threat. A threat so dangerous, it has the potential to throw Konoha into a civil war within itself. We are to find and eliminate this threat and all its related influences. This is a directive straight from the top, the Fire Daimyo himself. As stated before, this is a SS-Class mission. All records of this mission will be erased effectively immediately, this mission did not exist, it never happened. If you die on this mission, you will be listed down as MIA (Missing in Action) for the allocated time period before being registered as presumed deceased. Your families will never know you died on this mission." Gazing deep into the eyes of every soldier standing before her, she continued with her final orders. "Complete the mission and don't die. Move out!"

Jiraiya in the lead used Anbu hand signs to signal to the rest of his entourage. /Main Target at base of Hokage Mountain. Beware of Bloodline users. Root numbers unknown. Possible B to A rank Ninja. Use Caution. Follow my lead./ It didn't take them long to reach their destination.

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"Lord Danzo!" A white cloaked Anbu with a standard mask barged into Danzo's office, interrupting his quiet tranquillity as he was reading a report.

"What is it, Fuu?" Danzo growled lowly, hating to be interrupted when he actually had some quiet time to himself. "Didn't I send you out to chase down Kabuto who was sighted near the Konoha's borders recently?"

The Anbu bowed low on his knee in apology. "You did, Lord Danzo. But I have urgent news! 35 minutes ago, I felt an agent's mind break due to the mental invasion of a Yamanaka mind walker. It was Agent Sai, who was assigned to Team Kakashi. I immediately doubled back to inform you of this incident. I do not know what the Yamanaka mind invasion has found out about our cause, but I am sure that Agent Sai's mind is broken and all the secrets he held will be available to the invader."

A split second of silence later, Danzo stood from his chair. "Dajim, Tera, Torune, Terai (3)! Gather the troops and call for all hands on battle stations. We are about to be invaded!"

Just as he said his words, the security alarm started ringing all around the compound, signalling that the invasion has already begun. Danzo glared with his full fury. "Soldiers! Hold your ground and kill the invaders."

Danzo ran out of his office entrance. Before long, he was surrounded at all sides by his own troops, it didn't take long after that for him and his men to encounter the resistance group. Eyes widening in surprise at who was leading the invaders, Danzo growled. "What is the meaning of this? JIRAIYA!"

Having pierced several Root Anbu members with laser sharp needles from his hair, Jiraiya faced Danzo unflinchingly. "By order of the Fire Daimyo, you are sentenced to death, Danzo." He simply replied. "You have nowhere to run to now. All your bases in the Fire Country are being raided right at this very moment!"

Upon hearing his response, three of Danzo's Anbu guards immediately stood in front of their leader and took the blunt of the weapons, be it Kunai, shuriken, swords and even explosive tags thrown at them. The resulting explosions was so large that it took down quite a few Root Anbu forces and partially caved in the hidden entry way that everyone was fighting within.

Unfortunately, the explosion also gave Danzo and two of his guards the opportunity to escape during the chaos. Knowing the hidden passages like the back of his hands, Danzo lead his two guards through another secret entrance and made their way out; only to be confronted by members of the Inuzuka family and their pack of dogs waiting for them.

Danzo released a torrent of wind at his opponents, forcing them to duck away from his technique and allowing his small group to escape once more. Fuu, one of the surviving guards threw down a smoke and sting bomb, effectively hiding their sent from the tracking animals. Torune who is running ahead of Danzo and Fuu, suddenly signaled for his leader to stop as there was an unexpected opponent before them.

Surprisingly, the one standing in the way of their escape path was not a member of the Konoha hunting party.

"What are you doing here, Yakushi Kabuto?" Danzo demanded, feeling slight tension as he could feel his pursuers following him not far behind. In just one night, he has practically lost everything he had spent his entire life building. He did not know what the hell kind of information Tsunade presented to the Fire Daimyo, but for the Daimyo to call for his head in an instant, even after his long years of service for Konoha and the Fire Country, it must have been some highly incriminating information about his past conduct.

Opposite him, Kabuto who undid the hood of his dark cloak, smiled and shrugged with confidence. "I heard from a reliable source that you have Uchiha Shisui's eye transplanted into yourself. Shisui's particular ocular Jutsu allowed him to enter other's minds, and make them go through phantom experiences and manipulate them. It was so top-notch that one never even caught on to having been manipulated." Giving the old man a sadistic grin, the spectacled spy continued. "Now that is a useful tool to have. You now have two choices going forward – live by joining me and the Akatsuki and go against Konoha, or I kill you now and collect your precious eyes from you dead body."

The cloaked man shrugged in nonchalance. "After all, my benefactor only needs the eyes, not the body." He finished with an unnerving smile, as if daring Danzo to say no to the proposal.

"Hmp. And do you think you can take all three of us at one go?" Danzo sneered in reply.

"Oh... I'm not alone." Kabuto smiled once more, as two shadowy forms emerged from the woods behind him. "I'm with friends..."

Danzo's eyes widened upon seeing who Kabuto had brought with him. "How?" He asked in shock, as he witness the animated bodies of two very deceased persons standing before him.

"Edo Tensei of course." Kabuto glanced at his two creations fondly. "Now make your choice, Danzo. Join me and Akatsuki, and I can take care of your hunters. Don't join me and the results... well, as I said, I only really need your eyes."

Danzo took a moment to think over his options, he glanced briefly at his only two surviving Root members, knowing that all other members of the Root division would fight to the death, just to give him a chance to escape. There was no way around it. Even with Fuu and Torune fighting with him, it would still be very difficult to win against the Legendary White Fang (4) and Hyuuga Hizashi, brother of the Hyuuga Hiashi, a renown Jyuuken master. Finally making his decision, Danzo looked back at Kabuto unflinchingly. "I will join."

"Good. Good, then let us be on our way." Turning to his side, Kabuto opened his arms in invitation.

"Sir, the trackers are right behind us." Torune interrupted suddenly. He had left some of his Kikaichu bugs on the trail and they were telling him that their followers were not far behind and would catch up to them soon.

"Hatake Sakumo, Hyuuga Hizashi. Please take care of our pests." Motioning for Danzo to move, Kabuto started walking away. "Let us be on our way now, Danzo. My benefactor is not so patient."

Stilling for half a second, Danzo started moving after Kabuto, hoping that he would get a chance to kill the deceptive young man and somehow make his case directly in front of the Fire Daimyo. Perhaps he could even manipulate the whole situation to place himself in a possitive light, as if he was framed by Tsunade's fake information.

Having made some distance away from where they had originally stopped and discussed their options, Danzo was just about to make his move when a half white/half black man emerged from the ground before Kabuto. The man was wearing an Akatsuki cloak.

"Oh. You didn't kill him." A disappointed sound escaped the Akatsuki member. "Madara only needs the eyes."

"Yeah, I know. But I just can't be bothered right now." Kabuto shrugged again, completely unfazed by the other man. It was as if he had full confidence in himself, or that he knew Akatsuki would not punish him even though he didn't follow their orders.

Danzo gulped minutely before he refocussed his attention. /I didn't think Kabuto would be working with Akatsuki. This is bad... But not all is lost. I'm still alive. I can still manipulate the situation to meet my needs. Even if it is from within Akatsuki./ Danzo thought determinedly.

Whilst a few hundred metres behind them, a fierce battle raged between a deceased Hyuuga and the famed White Fang of Konoha on one side, and Jiraiya of the Sanin with a group of forty highly trained Jounin, Tokubetsu Jounin and Anbu operatives on the other side. Unfortunately for Jiraiya's side however, facing the Hyuuga's ultimate defence kept on pushing his forces back from pursuing Danzo further, and Hatake's Sakumo's deadly sword strikes coupled with his range of various elemental attacks kept bogging down his forces, draining them of their chakra and keeping them too busy to pursue their real target. Only 15 minutes of fighting later, the reanimated forms of Hyuuga Hizashi and Hatake Sakumo suddenly retreated, abruptly using shunshin to escape detection.

Even the Inuzuka member's famed noses couldn't follow them further. Jiraiya's team couldn't track the scent of Danzo beyond Konoha's borders, and they had no clue that the man had somehow met up with Kabuto and Zetsu, a member of the Akatsuki.

"DAMN IT! GOD DAMN IT!" Jiraiya punched the ground in frustration, knowing full well what kind of threat Danzo was with his knowledge of Konoha's security, now all in the hands of the enemy. Just thinking about what this would all mean is giving him a headache. Growling in anger, Jiraiya finally turned to his remaining troops.

The good news is that none of his troops had died, and he sure wasn't lying before about all of Danzo's bases being destroyed all at the same time. The bad news is that many of his troops were injured, some severely incapacitated at the moment. But with Tsunade and the Dokudes working together, this event would not remain a loss for his team.

"Alright men. Mission Failure. Let's report back to the Hokage." With a flick of his wrist, both he and his men darted away as the ninjas they were, towards home.

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Two days later, Anko and Sasuke found themselves eyeing a complicated seal drawn from floor to roof in one of the spare operating rooms within the Konoha hospital.

"Soo... this is the seal that will get rid of the curse seal on my neck?" Anko asked tentatively.

"Yup." Samure grinned as he waved confidently at her sceptical look. "Trust me. I've done this dozens of time with Orochimaru's other experimental specimens. It works fine." Nodding at the seal, he continued. "It's originally one of the Uzumaki seals, so you can bet it's powerful. But I've augmented it so the cost in chakra is not so high. You will feel a little weak afterwards, but you'll recover soon. You will lose the boost in power that the curse seal normally gives you when you are in fights, but once you get use to that and build up some extra strength and stamina, the differences are negligible. The only thing you can't do is transform into your cursed state anymore."

Tilting his head to the side, Samure thought of something else to say in addition. "However, if you really want to keep the transformation provided by the curse seal, I do have a way around that. I did this for the former Sound four members, who now work for Juubei and the kuunoki refugees. They didn't want to lose their transformations since it gives them such a great boost in power and ability. So again, I augmented the seal to destroy Orochimaru's soul fragment (5) inside the curse seal and get rid of any harmful effects, but leave the transformation as is. Mind you, it's still a curse seal that have detrimental effects on your body in the long term, but if you think you can handle it..." the man shrugged. "Who am I to tell you 'no'?"

In the end, Anko opted in for the full cancellation of the curse seal on her neck whilst Sasuke tentatively asked for the half-seal version, having decided to keep his winged transformation due to the edge it gives him in battle, similar to the Ex-Sound four members.

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At the Hokage Tower, Tsunade was drowning her sorrows in alcohol. Surely, with the mess she has to deal with on a daily basis, she deserves to be drunk on the job once in a while. Unfortunately, today was also not her day. Before her stood Hyuuga Hiashi, the current head of the Hyuuga Clan, and Hatake Kakashi, the infamous Copy-Cat Ninja, both of whom she was about to give them the bad news.

Taking one final gulp from the bottle, Tsunade steeled herself to explain why she had called these two men here. "Two days ago, I permitted a mission to raid Danzo's hidden bunkers of Root Ninja. We were meant to kill off all of his reserve troops and recover any weaponry. What we found, I will not disclose. However, there was enough evidence to get the daimyo to order immediate termination of Danzo. Unfortunately, Danzo escaped the purge. More importantly, he had help. Yakushi Kabuto was seen in the vicinity of Konoha recently and was scented being near Danzo when the man escaped. We tried to pursue the two but were held off by two men. Two deceased and reanimated men using the same Edo Tensei technique, that Orochimaru used over three years ago against Sarutobi Sensei."

Having stayed quite throughout most of the speech, Kakashi couldn't help but inquire. "Who were these men, Hokage-sama?"

"Hyuuga Hizashi and Hatake Sakumo. Both disappeared after holding off my troops for long enough to let Danzo and Kabuto to escape." Tsunade answered grimily. The silence that followed was thick; no one wanted to hear that a precious family member had been brought back to life only to be used against their home.

"We now have a conundrum, gentlemen. If Kabuto was able to revive Konoha's White Fang and Hyuuga Hizashi, who else is he able to revive using the Edo Tensei technique? Has he already revived other potential soldiers? What are his current forces of dead soldiers? Will they all be from Konoha or other nations as well? Worst yet, we believe he now works for Akatsuki; the same Akatsuki we are trying to take down with the rest of the Great Nations." Each word that left Tsunade's mouth caused more anxiety in the two men that stood before her.

"I'm going to have to bring this up with the Shinobi Five Nation Alliance. This is going to go down like a lead balloon." She concluded with another big gulp of alcohol.

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Itachi frowned at the wet paper he held in his hand. Behind him, he could hear Akiko stifling her laughter. His frown deepened. "This is not a laughing matter." He muttered.

Giving up trying to hide her giggles, Akiko gave out a hearty laugh at her companion. "It's hilarious! I can't believe you're now water natured! It's the opposite of your previous Fire Nature as an Uchiha."

"Yes, I am aware." Gritting his teeth, Itachi continued to frown as the full implications of this situation came to ahead.

This meant that all of his Fire Elemental Jutsu repertoire will be weakened considerable. The body that he currently inhabits is water natured, the opposite of what he was used to. He'd need to relearn nature manipulation and rebuild his catalogue of Justus, especially his collection of Water Jutsus. He also lost the Sharingan and all of its abilities. He felt as if he is restarting as a Genin all over again. At least he hasn't lost his reflexes. Having spent the last few weeks rebuilding his chakra control, stamina, strength, balance, shuriken and kunai handling instincts as well as his Taijutsu skills, Itachi is happy to say that at the moment, he would probably rate as a high Genin or a low Chuunin in power. If only his new body was Fire natured, then he wouldn't be in such a disadvantaged situation.

Sighing and shrugging his shoulders in defeat. /Well, nothing I can do about it now./ He thought to himself. "So" Glancing back and looking at his partner, Itachi asked. "What should I do?"

Akiko gave a final giggle before she smiled at him. "I'll just ask Mishizu (6) to station with us for a bit to give you some basic training. Maybe you can even learn a bit of water bending as well (7). With your Sharingan eye, I'm sure you've previously copied the hand seals of Water Jutsu you've seen before, especially that big shark man you use to always hang out with. It's just a matter of remembering what those hand seals are, and practicing it. As long as you work hard, I'm sure it won't take you long to get the hang of things." Grinning happily, she hopped toward his side. "In the meantime, how about I give you a crash course on how to become a Sage, using Nature Chakra instead."

Slowly, Itachi grinned back at her confidently. "You're on."

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"Tobi is on an adventure! Tobi is on an ADVENTURE!" Sang the hyperactive shinobi as he hoped from branch to branch, driving his battle partner in the air bonkers.

Deidara gritted his teeth with a vengeance. /GOD DAMN IT! WILL HE JUST SHUT UP! Why am I stuck with this IDIOT AGAIN!? I so miss Ruri, she was so much calmer and useful than this dead beat! Why oh why do I have to do this mission with Tobi of all people?!/ Deidara lamented mentally. Both he and Tobi had been sent to the North, to infiltrate Kumo and collect the Hachibi Jinchuriki, who just so happen to be the Raikage's younger brother.

/Just because I've been the most successful collector of Jinchuriki so far, does not mean he can work me to the ground like this. Can't I get a vacation or something?! Man, I don't get paid enough to put up with this shit./ Deidara continued to grumble mentally and completely missed the entrance of a new ally.

"Yo! Where are you two headed off to?" A voice called out to the two.

"Hey! Hey! It's Kisame!" Tobi voiced in surprise and happiness. Disappearing and reappearing by the Shark man's side, he patted the man's bandage wrapped shoulder. "Looking pretty good for a dead guy, Kisame-sempai."

Kisame swatted Tobi's hands away. "Who the hell are you calling dead?"

Deidara lowered his bird summon to the ground just before their formerly missing comrade. "You were late getting back, and the boss wasn't happy. Zetsu couldn't find you either, so we all thought you died. What the fuck happened?" He asked directly.

"Well, it was a surprisingly difficult battle (8)." Kisame consented.

((FLASHBACK))

Kapasu Juro (9) had been a weak ninja when he first entered the Kuunoki Chuunin Exam, with no will nor ambition to fight let alone live the life of a ninja. However, having watched his teammates (Harate Echiko and Harate Eiji) killed and maimed right in front of him by Hoshigaki Kisame, the boy's outlook on life changed drastically. Gone were the fear and reluctance against fighting; and physically, the boy looked like a hardened warrior. All his muscles were firm and distinct, eyes ever glaring and cold as he focused completely on Kisame.

"Hoshigaki Kisame. By the name of the Godaime Mizukage, I, Kapasu Juro will take your head..." The boy stated almost tonelessly.

Kisame glanced at the boy and almost laughed out loud. "Yeah, you and whose army?" He asked jokingly, not believing that this boy was a threat to him.

Juro said no more, he simply pulled out the sword he carried from his back and aimed it at Kisame. Kisame's smile slipped when he recognized that sword.

"That's the Tsunami no Sakebu (Wave's Cry), where did you get that sword from? Last I heard, it was still with that old dog that follows the previous Mizukage around like a loyal pet." Kisame asked with a serious tone of voice, but Juro did not answer.

In a blink of an eye, Kisame raised his own sword to block Juro's. Unfortunately for Samehade, the Tsunami no Sakebu emits no external Chakra at this point and therefore, there was no Chakra for Samehade to absorb. Like all famous swords of the Mist, the Tsuname no Sakebu can resonate with its weilder's Chakra, but unlike other swords, this sword contains that Chakra inside itself, not leaking any out, which makes it incredibly difficult if not impossible to absorb the Chakra out of the instrument. After this initial clash, the two swordsmen jumped away only to shunshin to another site of the clearing to clash swords once more. This time, Juro was in the air slashing down, whilst Kisame was beneath him blocking. In another split second, it was Juro who had his sword raised in a block as Kisame slammed Samehade against the thin looking sword in a diagonal slash. The two swords were locked and their two wielders glared at one another. The two swordsmen clashed a few more times before they backed away from each other once more to reassess the situation.

"Looks like I'll have to take this up a notch." Kisame muttered and suddenly multiple spikes slashed their way out of the bandages that once held Samehade's sharp edges back, revealing the true form the sword. /It has been such a long time since I've fought a real swordsman. Alright Kisame. Let this fight just be between Swordsmen's, no Ninjutsu or Genjutsu. Let's see what skills you have, kid./

His opponent, not to be outdone, also released the true form of the Tsunami no Sakebu. With a flick of the boy's wrists, the segmented parts of the sword suddenly disconnected from one another, elongating the sword's sharp edges and moving in thin air, as if it too had a mind of its own (10). With another flick of the wrists, the whip like sword parts twisted around and flew straight towards Kisame. But the Shark man was ready, he took aim and slapped Samehade against the opposing sword, directing the tip of the whip-sword upwards and away from his main body, then he quickly ran towards his opponent, hoping to attack the boy whilst his sword was aimed away at the moment.

Juro did not seem concerned however. Moving the arm that is holding the handle of his sword left and right quickly, he manipulated the end-half of his whip-like sword to twist in front of him creating a twisted but strong shield blocking Samehade as it slammed down towards him. Using his Chakra manipulation within the strings holding the sword parts together, Juro pulled back the tip of his sword, forcing it to do a sudden u-turn and fly straight back at Kisame, aiming for the man's back.

Seeing that his assault was blocked, Kisame rotated his body and using his body weight, he pushed Juro (sword and all) to the right, forcing the boy off his feet. In the same rotation, he twisted around just in time to back-hand the sword tip of the Tsunami no Sakebu away from his back once more.

Being pulled off his feet by the bigger and stronger enemy, Juro twisted his body in mid-air, completing two whole rotations. As a result, the Tsunami no Sakebu twisted with his body creating a cocoon around him, protecting him when Kisame attempted to jab at him with Samehade again. Instead of successfully shredding the boy, Kisame ended up batting the metallic cocoon (surrounded by his sword) away as if he had batted a ball away.

Releasing himself from his protective cocoon, Juro twisted and used chakra on his feet to absorb his landing onto the ground. Once he got his footing, he prepared for his next move. Holding tightly to this sword on the right hand, his fingers then started vibrating and undulating quickly. So quickly was its movement, that it creates a rippling affect. Soon, his wrist was vibrating, followed by his lower arm, then his upper arm and shoulders (11). Eventually, it looked like his entire right arm was rippling, it was rising and falling so fast it looked like there were after images. Following in the pattern of his vibrating limb, the Tsunami no Sakebu also started rippling in thin air, creating a soft humming noise as it shook in the air, along with its wielder.

"Well, well, well. It's been a loooong time since I've heard the Tsunami no Uta (Wave's Song). Looks like I'm in the presence of a master." Kisame praised even as he tightened his grip on Samehade.

He may have been one of the strongest members of the Seven Mist Swordsman, but that title is not entirely accurate. He's more of a Ninjutsu specialist than he is a swordsman (12). If you are only comparing swordsmanship skills on its own, this Juro character has him beat. There are only a rare few people in the world who had ever made the Tsunami no Sakebu sing, and Kisame is not of one of those people. His strength lies in his Chakra capacity, and high synchronization rate with Samehade, to the point where he could merge with the demon sword. But as a swordsman, he pales in comparison to his other compatriots, like Zabuto or this boy.

The fact that the boy had mastered this rippling effect and was able to make his sword sing, it's a true showcase of the boy's skills.

"Dance to the rhythm of the waves". Juro spoke for the second time to Kisame before he prepared his next attack. Pulling his rippling arm straight up towards the sun, the effect was immediate. The Tsunani no Sakebu flipped up and then zig-zagged up and down in a twisted vertical fashion towards Kisame in an un-predictable, almost rotational manner, all the while still rippling and producing that humming sound as it moves through the air. Kisame tried to block with Samehade but due to the rippling affect, the opposing sword seems to bounce, screech against Samehade and redirect itself at Kisame from a different angle, all within a split second, resulting in a deep cut to Kisame whenever he was unsuccessful in his blocks.

Juro was relentless in his assault; he controlled his sword with precision and made his whip twist around Kisame, constantly cutting him deeply in spots that the man was unable to protect. Each contact by the rippling whip felt like something had drilled across his skin, clawing shredded marks across his flesh and leaving deep wounds. If it wasn't for Samehade constantly feeding Kisame Chakra to heal himself, he really wasn't sure how much worse he would fare against his opponent. /Okay, this isn't getting me anywhere. He's definitely the better swordsman. I can't win if I continue like this. Now's the time to throw in some Ninjutsu)./

Dodging another strike as best he can, Kisame tried to escape the whip surrounding him to give himself some space to perform his specialty Ninjutsu, but Juro wasn't going to give him a chance to escape. Somehow, Juro sped up his rippling arm technique, which caused his sword to move even faster. In just one blink in time, Kisame suddenly found himself slashed in several areas. When before he could still see and somewhat counter the attacks, now it felt like he was being attacked by invisible drills all across his body none stop. /I've got to stop this sword technique somehow./

What he came up with wasn't the best plan but it was the only one he could think of. Angling his body, Kisame somehow aimed it just so, that he ended up with the tip of the Tsunami no Sakebu stabbed right into his shoulder. Using one hand to grip the rippling head of the sword to stop it from escaping, he used Samehade to try to stop the undulating of the rest of the sword parts as he rushes his way towards his opponent once more.

Surprised at Kisame's sudden move, Juro was not prepared when Kisame slammed Samehade into his chest and shredded it pretty badly. Unfortunately for Kisame, Juro also used the last of strength slash back at Kisame with his sword. Eventually, both swordsmen were severely injured, losing large chunks of flesh and bleeding literary everywhere.

With Juro now incapacitated (suffering a shredded chest to the point where his ribs/chest plate and some organs were visible) and dying on the ground (13), Kisame had the painful job of pulling the head of the Tsunami no Sakebu out from his shoulder. The tip of that sword was shaped in such a way that it was easy to stab in, but difficult to pull out. By the time Kisame managed to pull the sword out of his shoulder, his shoulder was almost completely ripped off from the rest of his body.

((END FLASHBACK))

"I got pretty badly injured and lost a bit of blood, so I hid myself to recuperate. Anyway, enough about me, what are you two up to?" Kisame finished his story.

"We're hunting the Hachibi! It's gonna be an adventure! Tobi is a good boy, so boss asked Tobi to do him a favor! Do you want to join in the fun, Kisame-sempai?" Tobi asked in a childishly excited voice.

Thinking over it a bit, Kisame shrugged. "Sure, I've got nothing else to do."

Deidara frowned at him, glancing specifically at the bandaged shoulder. "You sure you can handle that?"

Kisame nodded at the man. "I'm fine."

Turning, he headed towards the north again and heard Tobi following behind him in a skip, whilst Deidara obviously floated back into the air. "So, anyone else heard anything about Itachi? I couldn't find him after the battle." He mentioned briefly in question.

It was Deidara who answered back surprisingly. "No news at all. Even Zetsu couldn't find him. It is assumed that he died. Just like we thought you died."

Thinking about it briefly, Kisame shook his head. "Nah... That man has a strong will to live. I'll keep on believing that he is in fact alive. For now..."

It didn't take the three long to reach their destination.

"According to Zetsu-san. The Hachibi is located at the Lightning Gorge training. Should Tobi go in there and scare the Habibi out? Should he?" Tobi hopped as he stepped beside Kisame.

Pausing without looking at Tobi, Kisame's gaze focused straight ahead. "No need. Looks like he was waiting for us." Standing before him was none other than the Hachibi Jinchuriki, Bee.

Recognizing the Akatsuki cloaks worn by the two men standing before him, Bee confidently waved his arms around. "When you've got power to spare, you shine, you glare! The Eight-Tails is the quintessential Killer Bee! Hip-Hip Hurray!" Before he could say anymore for his introduction, a white spider form fell on his face and exploded at point blank range.

"Don't forget about me, ya Bitch. I'm your actual opponent here!" Deidara shouted down from his height in the air, hating the fact that he was completely ignored.

"Ahh. Don't feel left out, there's enough of him for all three of us to share." Kisame laughed at the former Stone Ninja. "But looks like he's more interested in fighting me than you, so why don't you let me have a go first. You're more of a support type fighter anyway." Kisame stepped forward towards to the Jinchuriki.

Above him, Deidara could only grit his teeth and glare. "Che."

Bee managed to survive the small explosion at point blank range with no superficial injuries. Pulling out eight of his swords, he flung them into the air and then caught each of them on any available body part – teeth, neck, underarm, behind the knees, elbow and hip. Jumping towards his enemies, he started spinning, creating a human chainsaw heading towards the two standing Akatsuki members before him.

"Whoa!" Tobi jumped away into safety, whilst Kisame blocked the assault with Samehade, who was enjoying feeding on the Chakra running through all the swords from Bee.

"I dance like a butterfly. I'm the 8 Tails, I sting like a bee." Bee happily rap as he continued to coordinate all 8 of his swords to fight against Kisame, he released a bit more chakra on his swords to try and overpower Kisame, but that only led his chakra to be consumed by the demonic sword. Completely focused on his fight with the former Mist Shinobi, Bee was again distracted when another spider fell on his back. But this time, instead of waiting for it to explode, Bee stabbed it with one of his available swords and ran lightning enhanced chakra through it, neutralizing the explosive element before flinging the spider away from his body. Unfortunately for Bee, whilst he was busy dealing with the spider, Kisame was able to jump away to give himself some breathing room. At the same time, he flung Samehade at the Jinchuriki who had to dodge the dangerous weapon.

"Hmpt. Supporting fighter my ass! Looks like you can't even handle him yourself. If you were that injured from the previous fight, I'd suggest you leave this to me!" Deidara arrogantly commented, feeling tired of saving his ass all the time. He wasn't even Deidara's partner in crime. If Tobi wasn't such a wimp in straight out fights, Deidara wouldn't have to be do so much work.

"Sorry for the inconvenience, I will now take this fight more seriously." Kisame apologised, which surprised all his compatriots. When Bee released more chakra, creating a seven tailed chakra cloak around him to protect him, both he and Kisame ran towards each other. Bee made to jump over the Shark man and attack from behind but once again, all of his chakra was eaten by Samehade. As a result, the sword grew in size and eventually ripped its way out of the bandages.

Having his chakra absorbed multiple times now, Bee thought to himself as he calculated how much chakra he actually lost to the thing. /So the amount that thing can eat in one go is six tails worth of chakra. Well, let's go with version 2 then. Hachibi, lend me a hand will ya?/

In an instant, Bee's body turned black and took the form of a horned bull with the lower body of an octopus. /Instant Bijuu transformation?/ This thought rang through all the Akatsuki member's minds as they witness the work of the perfect Jinchuriki.

"LARIAT!" With a single jump, Bee slammed his elbow into Kisame's chest, breaking his rib cage and chest organs, flinging the man to slam against a giant rock across from him. Even whilst this was happening, Samehade was happily gulping down on Bee's new chakra transformation, forcing Bee to return to his previous normal chakra cloak.

/To be able to take me back into this version, that sword must really have a high endurance when it comes to eating./ Bee thought to himself.

"Kisame-Sempai!" Tobi transported himself to Kisame, standing in front of him, as if protecting him from the Jinchuriki. Even Deidara was surprised at the power of the attack. Kisame was bleeding profusely against the rock, his chest area bloody and decimated.

"Now you really did it." Surprisingly, Kisame wasn't fazed at all by his injury. "When I'm facing an amazingly strong opponent, I'm also getting stronger in the same proportion. I won't tire and I won't die. That's why I've been called the tailless Bijuu." Before everyone's eyes, his seemingly devastating injuries started healing, soon, there was only a small blemish on his bluish skin. Nodding his head to the side, indicating to Tobi to leave this fight to him, Kisame lifted his hands to create a hand seal. "Suiton: Big Water Wave Bombing!" A lake full of water burst out of Kisame's mouth and formed a gigantic round body of water submerging both Kisame and Bee. Tobi simply transported himself out of the dimension, whilst Deidara remained high up in the sky. Grabbing the ridiculously large Samehade, Kisame started merging with the demonic sword, fusing together and forming a monstrous shark like body.

Bee tried to escape the watering prison by heading out towards one side, but he found that the body of water was moving with Kisame as the center. So when Kisame followed him, the body of water expand towards his direction. Changing direction, Bee started heading up, hoping that he'll blast out of the globe from above. Behind him, Kisame increased his speed to catch up to the Jinchuriki. As the two beings raced towards to the top of the body of water, the formation of the water prison also changed, elongating with them to from a strange cone like shape. The cone like shape got thinner and thinner as the two moved further and further up, thinning out the walls surrounding the two fighters and possibly giving Bee a chance to escape. Kisame couldn't let this happen, so focusing more chakra into his technique, he changed the shape of the water prison once more, making it into a complete sphere and having it float in the air (14) instead of sitting on the ground and moving wherever he goes.

Seeing his chance of escape disappearing, Bee turned around to face Kisame once more. The two bodies slammed into each other inside the water. Kisame's body formed spikes and stabbed into Bee to try and suck Bee's chakra, and Bee formed octopus tentacles from his behind and grabbed onto Kisame with suckers. Bee used his physical strength to punch and kick Kisame's body from his own, releasing him from the spikes on Kisame's body. Upon freeing himself, he summoned forth a large cloud of ink, staining all the water black and completely blinding all views within the watery prison. Unfortunately for Bee, when Kisame is fused with samehade, he can feel other people's chakras.

"Suiton: Goshoku Zame! (Water Release: Five Shark Feeding Frenzy)" Five shark summons appeared in the water and was just about to attack the swimming Bee.

Bee knew he was in trouble and had to use his ultimate technique. He summoned forth all of Hachibi's power, taking on the form of the 8 tailed bijuu himself. The chakra of the bijuu was so potent that the shark summons was immediately destroyed. But releasing so much power whilst still remaining inside Kisame's prison is only giving Kisame more chakra to absorb. Bee knew it was a double-edged sword and he must act fast in order to finish this fight. Focusing all of his potent chakra into a single point, Bee prepared his Bijuu dama (Bijuu bomb).

Watching the decimation of his sharks and knowing that the Jinchuriki was preparing for one final attack, Kisame summoned forth more sharks, over a 1000 of them. "Suiton: O Zame Dama! (Water Element, Giant Shark Bomb)!" The 1000 shark summons rotated among themselves creating a giant twister inside the water, all heading towards Bee. /My Giant Shark Bomb is no ordinary water blast. It absorbs the target's chakra to grow bigger and stronger. The stronger the enemy's technique is, the stronger my technique becomes!/

"Bijuu dama" the single black bomb released an unimaginable amount of power, blasting away the water prison instantly, but as it smashed against Kisame's Giant Shark attack, the sharks seem to absorb some of the potent energy released by the bomb and grow bigger. However, even Kisame's sharks couldn't absorb the entirety of the Bijuu Dama. That one technique destroyed the entire water sphere, and without water, even Kisame's sharks (as big as they've grown due to absorbing the Hachibi's chakra) dissipated into thin air, sending their left over chakra to Kisame. With the watery prison gone, both Bee and Kisame fell to the ground. Bee was unconscious, but Kisame felt very high with all the amount of chakra he had absorbed.

Deidara caught the unconscious form of Bee in the grip of his giant clay bird's talons and Kisame simply summoned a bit of water to soften his landing on the ground. Annoyed that his mission had been completely taken over by Kisame, Deidara snapped at the others. "Oi. I'm taking the Jinchuriki back to the base! I'll see you all when you get there." Without any further backward glance at the other two, Deidara took off.

"But Deidara-san! Tobi is faster! Tobi can instant transmit to base!" Tobi cried out to his sempai. He looked at Kisame with giant anime eye drops rolling down his eye hole. "Why did Deidara-sempai leave Tobi alone. Tobi doesn't like to be alone!"

Kisame shrugged. "He's probably ticked that I got all the action. It's okay though, I'll walk you back to base, or better yet, you can transport the both of us back to base." He commented neutrally.

It was at that moment that they were interrupted Zetsu, who emerged from the ground. "Sorry to interrupt, but I'm going to have to borrow Tobi for a bit." The black and white man smiled eerily at the two.

"Oh oh! Tobi is wanted? Tobi is important?!" Tobi bounced in excitement.

"Yes yes. There's someone I want Tobi to meet." Zetsu answered then asked the other. "So will you be able to walk back by yourself, Kisame? You've already finished the mission."

"That's fine, I might see if I can find some info on what happened to Itachi-san." The shark man shrugged at the aloe vera man.

"Good good. So we will see you later." With that said, both Zetsu and Tobi disappeared using Tobi's space time Ninjutus, leaving Kisame to make his way back to the base on his own.

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"What was so urgent that you needed to take me away from following up on the retrieval of the Hachibi, Zesu? You know how important the Jinchuriki is for us at this crucial time." Madara demanded.

"I know, but Kabuto has invited another guest to join Akatsuki and considering we are running out of live members, I thought it prudent to bring this to your attention sooner rather than later." Zetzu answered with narrow eyes.

The two entered a darkened hallway only to be met with two other men. One was obviously Kabuto but the other... Madara narrowed his eyes at the older man.

"Kabuto, why have you bought Shimura Danzo to my base?" His voice was dark and threatening.

"I just thought you might have a use for Shisui's eyes, at least for now." Kabuto shrugged.

"Indeed..."

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"What's this about Killer Bee!?" The Raikaga was in no mood for bad news, but that was what he's hearing.

"Sire. Sincere apologies for our incompetence. Jay and I noticed Lord Killer Bee fighting not one, but three Akatsuki members, though most of the attacks were against the former Mist Shinobi, Hoshigaki Kisame. He was overwhelmed and taken by another member of Akatsuki, former Stone Nin – Deidara. We tried to follow but Deidara had taken Lord Killer Bee into the sky and we were unable to keep up. Hoshigaki Kisame seem to be travelling by foot back to their base, and Jay is following them as we speak. The third Akatsuki member, whom I could not identify due to him hiding his face behind an orange mask. He just disappeared into thin air." The Chunnin reported to the Raikage as quickly as he could.

In hearing this news, the Raikage punched his own writing desk, splitting it in two before he started yelling orders to his staff. "Notify the United Ninja Alliance. Tell which ever village is closest to go after my brother. Also have them follow up on Jay's whereabouts to give him back up against that Fish Face. We've already lost Yugito, and I'll be damn if I lose my own brother. I'm going to hunt these Akatsuki down myself!"

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Having sent Deidara out with Tobi to the north to face the Hachibi, Pein and Konan were slowly making their way towards Konoha. Both knew that the Kyuubi Jinchuriki was not currently residing in Konoha. However, with Zetsu unable to find the boy, they had no choice but to make the first move and await the boy to present himself. Considering that Konoha is also a refuge for the Kuunoki survivors, there is a realistic expectation that the last Uzumaki would do anything to protect his people, both Kuunoki and Konoha citizens.

Konan pushed Nagato's chair into a hollowed tree, the six paths guarding them on all sides as they travelled. Finally stopping once they were hidden inside the tree's hollow, the skeletal Nagato turned to Konan. "Can you do me a favour, Konan?"

Konan gazed surprisingly at the pale, surprisingly weak man in the chair. "You only have to ask, and I will provide. What is it you want me to do, Nagato?"

Nagato glanced briefly away. There was worry in his eyes. "Can you please go back to the Hidden Rain Village and find out where Madara is keeping Ruri?"

Konan's eyes dipped in confusion. "Why are you so worried about that woman?" She asked suspiciously.

Nagato tilted his head down. He was silent for a long time. "I've been having dreams..."

His words were perplexing. /What does that have to do with Ruri?/ Konan wondered, but she waited for him to continue his explanation.

"They are more like memories. I remember seeing Ruri, but she was only a small child under my care. I was an old man." Nagato stated, eyes frowning in concentrating. "I don't remember everything. And for a long time, I thought they were just that, dreams. But they are becoming more vivid, more real."

Taking a deep breath, Nagato closed his eyes. "I remember seeing a girl with long red hair strapped to a table (15), and Madara sitting beside her. He was old, the original Madara. Not this fake one."

Konan was surprised by his story.

"I remember pain, and a hand reaching towards me, trying to pluck out my eyes." His voice wavering. "I remember dying."

Opening his eyes once more, Nagato looked at Konan pleadingly. "I don't know who I am anymore (16)."

Konan did not know what she could say, she only leaned forward and gave her long-time friend a gentle hug. "I know who you are. You are Nagato. My best friend. My family. My home."

Nagato hugged her back as best he could. "Thank you Konan. But I need to know the truth. Am I really Nagato? And Who is Nagato? Who am I before? Where did I get these Rinnegan eyes? Ruri would know those answers. I was going to ask her when we first recruited her but I was afraid of what she would say. I was afraid of who I was, and the implications of what I've done."

Nagato once again looked at Konan with pleading eyes. "How do you think I knew the secret of the 7 high councillors of the Kuunoki? These dreams, no, these memories, they are true. If they are true, then what that does that make me?"

Konan nodded in understanding. "Alright. I'll go find her."

"Please be careful, Konan. I can't lose you too. With Tobi to the north and Zetsu out looking for the Kyuubi Jinchuriki, hopefully, there is no one to stop you from reaching Ruri. But please... be careful."

"I will." With those words, Konan scattered into a million origami paper, folding themselves into small paper cranes and fly back the way they came, towards the hidden Rain Village.

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In the great city of Rain Country, a single piece of paper landed lightly on the ground, followed by another, and then another. Soon, a plethora of small square and perfectly white papers littered the grounds, climbed the walls, entered any opened windows, flying through open rooms, and exiting buildings once more. Paper was everywhere, floating through air and touching every surface, passing every nook and cranny.

Paper entered drain pipes, the sewerage system, and investigated all the underground caverns and passage ways hidden underneath the great city. Paper slipped between wall spaces among and between the sky scrapers, checking every window and every room, ever looking, ever watching, searching for something.

And one lucky piece of small paper slipped itself between a tree root and the stones that made up a wall structure deep underground. Finally, it has found what it was looking for.

A few moments later, that single piece of paper is followed by a flood of other pieces, all exactly the same size and colour. Together, they folded into one another and soon the form of Konan takes shape. Konan gazed impassively at the thin and malnourished form imprisoned before her. She waits patiently for the other to acknowledge her presence.

"Why... are you... here?" A dry and raspy voice whispered, obviously suffering from a lack of moisture for some time.

Taking pity on the former Akatsuke member, Konan floated forward towards the other. In her hand, she held a bowl made of paper, and in it water. Slowly, she tilted the paper bowl in order to let the little amount of water drip into Uzumaki's dry throat. Ruri drank slowly, savoring the much missed moisture on her lips, her tongue, her mouth and finally her throat.

After a long few minutes of drinking, followed by Ruri moving her tongue around within her mouth and rework the appendage once more. Ruri opened her eyes and focused on the other women. "Why are you here? Zetsu and Madara will know and they will come." She warned.

"It doesn't matter what Zetsu and Madara will or will not do. I'm only here for answers; answers only you can give, Uzuamki Ruri." Konan stated calmly and with determination.

Ruri nodded her head, as much as she can whilst the vines clutched at her neck tightly. "Okay. What do you wish to know?"

Konan's eyes softened slightly. "What happened to Nagato? What did Madara do?"

Ruri gave her a weary smile. "Shouldn't you be asking who is Nagato?"

Konan's eyes darkened then. "So you already knew."

"Of course I did. I'm the Lady Oracle." Ruri's smile turned sarcastic, as if her words were the biggest jokes in the world. What was the point of being the Lady Oracle if you can't change the future?

"My uncle, Uzumaki Tenka, took custody of me, my sister and Kaga when we were very young. This was not the norm. Of course, at the time, my mother went insane and was being imprisoned herself. We were all orphans with no close Uzumaki family left. Those who lived in Uzushio had been decimated, and their bodies and souls devoured by the life stream. I had thought, at one point, we were going to be last." Now, it was Ruri's turn to look sad.

"My uncle did his best to raise us on his own. He wasn't that old at the time, age-wise, but he did look old. That I remember. I always thought it was the stress. His eyes could see more than me. He could see what was going to happen, and he couldn't change it. What it must have been like to see your own death, know it with every fiber of your being that you will die, and also know exactly when, where and how you will die, what you will feel when you die, all of it. I was young, and I could not comprehend it; how alone he must have felt." Moving her eyes away from Konan, there was a small amount of tears glistening in the corners of Ruri's eyes. "We were both members of the Prophet house, but to tell you the truth, as talented as I was in the arts, I could not see my own death. Even now, I do not know if, when and how I will die... But my uncle knew his."

"Once, he had trained me and Kaga to an appropriate level, he left us. He left the Kuunoki. And for the first time in all our history, the 7 Councillors did not object for a member of the Uzumaki Prophet family to die outside the Kuunoki, and not have his body returned for the Life-merge ceremony. He did not tell us what was happening, why he left. And for a long time, I did not understand. I did try to use my gifts (the Yochigan) to search for him, but I could find nothing. He was just gone, disappeared. It wasn't until much later that I realized my gift was blocked by the very system I'm using in order to see the past and the future – the life stream. The 7 Councillors manipulated the life stream so that no information about my uncle's whereabouts would flow to me." A bitter smile slowly grew on Ruri's face. "That's when I realized I needed to destroy the whole system, in order to be free."

Looking up at Konan, Ruri's smile changed from being bitter to a sudden empty smile, a fake smile. "It was a set up. Uncle Tenka went to Uchiha Madara, in order to delay his plans, to delay everything. Madara had captured Uzumaki Kushina, the then holder of the Kyuubi, but Uncle interfered with the seal. He made it so that it could not break, would not break, not until the time was right anyway. Madara and Zetsu defeated and killed my uncle, and then they tried to revive him again. That life clone is Uzuamki Nagato. His eyes however, belong to my uncle Tenka. Somehow, during the transplant of eyes, it activated the legendary doujutsu – Rinnegan. Nagato was to become their puppet from the very start. His life, like mine, was staged; forged and manipulated into becoming exactly who we were supposed to become."

"Eventually, the seal in Kushina weakened over time, and it broke at the exact destined time it was supposed to... when my sister resided in Konoha, when my nephew was born." Ruri finished her story with a sad shake of her head. "Now you know the truth. We both played our parts perfectly. In trying to protect our own loved ones, we... we lost ourselves."

Konan remained silent. Now, she understood why Nagato had felt that he needed to recruit Ruri. At the time, she did not understand her comrade's decision. Why would he go so far to recruit someone so difficult to recruit in the first place? None of the others had received a personal invite from Nagato either. At a subconscious level, Nagato knew Ruri was family. And family required you to go the extra mile. Ruri too, Konan finally understood the disjointed personality of the once Lady Oracle once she was out of her cage. Having lived her entire life under the pretence of obedience, it must have been so overwhelming to be free for the first time. To be free to choose what you want to do, and know that it was your own choice, not one put on you by others.

Decision made, Kona summoned forth some of her paper pieces, folding them to create sharpened edges and formed paper shurikens. They spun as they flew towards the vines holding Ruri in place. Within seconds, they sliced through Ruri's confinement and Ruri fell to her knees on the floor, having not expected the sudden move. She looked up at Konan with a grateful but also fearful look. "Madara and Zetsu would not let this go. I am still useful to them. By freeing me now, you would make an enemy of them."

"I was never their ally. I am only the ally of Nagato." Konan answered succinctly.

"I see now where your loyalties lie." A third voice rang out from behind them. Immediately, both Konan and Ruri turned their gazes to the intruder of our conversation. Both felt their nerves rise at the sight of Tobi standing firmly with his single Sharingan eye glaring at the two women.

Glaring back, Konan fully manifested her true body and turned around to face Tobi. Without looking back at Ruri, she ordered the other women to escape. "Make your escape now, Ruri. I will hold Madara off for as long as I can."

"No, it should be you who should escape. You need to go back to Nagato!" Ruri snapped back, knowing instinctively that she was nothing more than a burden to the other women, and that Konan should be the one to escape.

"I will not allow a member of Nagato's family to be hurt. You are family, and as his friend, it is my duty to protect you. Go!" With those as Konan's last words, she flicked her arms up and instantly, an army of paper filled the room, obscuring Tobi's gaze on the two women. Ruri found herself wrapped up into a paper mummy and quickly moved out of the enclosed cavern. Konan too had slipped her way outside the confines of the room, quickly making her way outside.

Unfortunately for Konan however, Tobi used his spare time Ninjutsu to suddenly reappear before her in mid-air. Konan flung several paper shuriken at Tobi only for him to turn transparent allowing the paper shuriken to fly through him. Konan's form dissipated into paper again only to reform closer to the water's surface of the river that flows around the main city of Rain Country. Once again, Tobi re-emerged before her, stopping her escape.

Forming paper wings behind her, Konan launched herself at Tobi, flinging a multitude of paper shurikens at the man. And once again, none of the paper shurikents touched Tobi, until the moment he reached up and grabbed Konan by the throat. Instantly, she formed a paper sword in her hand and made to stab Tobi. Tobi used his other hand to grab Konan's wrist that was holding the paper sword. Around them, paper swirled, and she activated the explosive notes that she hid inside her storm of flying paper.

/She hid Explosive Tags!/ Catching the distinctive seals glowing on some of the paper, Tobi activated Kamui in order to suck all the explosives away from him. But he was only partially successful. Having never thought that Konan would be this strong, he had underestimated her, and in his folly, he lost one arm (the arm that was holding her neck), and the other hand was severely burnt. Glaring at the moment, Tobi couldn't help but taunt. "Seems you were planning to blow yourself up just as I was sucking you in, and to take me down with you. But you failed. I was faster than you. I managed to suck away the explosion. Though I did get hit a bit. You were also saved because I sucked it away... You ought to thank me. "

Calmly, Konan lifted her hand up towards Tobi. "Madara. You have played with our lives for too long. This time, I choose freedom. It is my choice to fight you. It is my will alone to take you down to hell with me. I will not allow you to manipulate and hurt Nagato anymore!" With these words, the river beneath Tobi's feet split open like the parting of the seas, and below the watery surface, Tobi could see millions upon millions of explosive tags hidden beneath the river. His eyes widened in disbelief as he started falling towards the bottom of the river.

Tobi tried to recall his body back into his own dimension with Kamui, but he quickly noticed how Konan is controlling the explosive tags to fly towards him and attach to his body. Had he tried to teleport, he would have needed to materialise fully into this dimension and that meant giving Konan a chance to blow him up. However, he couldn't stay in his semi-intangible state for too long either. 5 minutes is the maximum length of time he can stay in this form between dimensions, allowing people to see and hear him but not allowing anything to touch him. Having run out of time, Tobi cracked open the other side of his mask, revealing his second Sharingan eye; just in time as all the explosives tags started exploding around him.

Minutes went by and all you could hear was an unending symphony of explosions, one after another creating a cacophony of noise and destruction. Eventually, even Konan ran out of explosive tags and she allowed her Sacred Paper Emissary Jutsu to wither and die, letting the river flow back to the way it was before. "It is done, Nagato." She panted as she said these words.

Unfortunately for her, Tobi re-materialize right behind her and stabbed a broken pipe right through her heart. "Yes, it is done, indeed. Thank you for all your years of loyal service, Konan."

Gritting her teeth, Konan grabbed hold of the pipe, holding Tobi in place. Using her will, she summoned forth her paper wings once again and arched them towards Tobi, hoping to stab him whilst he was fully materialised in this world. Dodging the paper wings stretching to stab him, Tobi jumped back.

Releasing her wings and forming two swords, one in each hand instead, Konan staggered slightly in her attempt to swing at Tobi with her paper sword, hoping once again to stab or slash at him. Tobi ducked under her swing and kicked at the pipe that was still protruding from her chest. Konan yelled out in pain, momentarily losing her concentration on the formation of her swords. Tobi took this opportunity to trip Konan by swiping at her feet. Losing her balance Konan toppled over and fell into the river, having lost her concentration on balancing her chakra to keep her on the water's surface due to the heavy blood lost.

Tobi drove his lone and burnt hand beneath the water to follow in her descent, and grabbed onto her throat once more. As he squatted on the surface of the river, Tobi tightened his grip on her throat with his burnt hand, willing her to drown sooner rather than later.

Konan tried to struggle, tried to summon any last ounce of chakra to her aid. But with the blood lost, the pain, and the lack of oxygen, she soon suffocated whilst glaring at her opponent on the other side of the water. It was like a mirror image (17). He - who was darkness, was standing in the sun; she herself - whom she would like to think is light, is submerged beneath the water, being suffocated by the darkness that surrounds her. How poetic. This is a reflection of her world. Every day was a struggle to maintain her light in a world of darkness. Has she proven her existence? Has she proven that even her tiny bit of light can live in this darkened world, can thrive and beat back the darkness?

Finally losing her battle for air, Konan died due to a combination of strangulation and suffocation. Tobi released his grip on her neck and allowed Konan to slowly drift down into the bottom of the river of her home.

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In a tunnel far away from the river, Zetsu hovered over the unconscious form of Ruri. Sure, the former Lady Oracle had tried to make her escape, but she had been imprisoned over the last 3 to 4 weeks, receiving limited food and water. Not to mention she was incredibly low on chakra, having most of her chakra absorbed by the vines that held her prisoner. It was easy for Zetsu to overwhelm her in her weakened state.

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Miles away, on the border of Fire country, Pein gazed worriedly at the origami flower in his hand. A gift from his dear friend from so long ago. It was a paper rose given by Konan when they were children, held together by Konan's will and chakra. It was in that moment, as he watched transfixed, the paper flower wilted right before his eyes, and then it disintegrated. Without chakra holding its form together, the paper from over two decades ago rotted away to nothing.

Pein knew then, that his friend was gone. Tilting his face to the sky, he was glad that the heavens opened up and started raining on his face, allowing his own tears to join them in their descent to the earth. For a long time, Pein mourned in silence. But soon enough, another emotion manifested inside his ribcage. RAGE.

Perhaps heaven had felt what he felt, and decided to grant his wish. For before his eyes, Tobi materialized through Kamui with another man in a dark cloak standing behind him. The man was still missing an arm and a cracked mask. He looked like he'd been through hell, a sure sign that it had been him whom had fought Konan.

"You killed Konan." The six paths of Pein and Nagato all glared at Tobi with unholy rage.

"You betrayed me." Tobi answered with just as much coldness in his voice.

Before the two could launch into their fights, the third interloper removed the cloak covering his face, revealing himself to be Danzo, who unlike before did not have bandages covering his eyes. One eye was black, the other had the Sharingan. Pein glared at his two opponents, but without him realizing it, Danzo's Sharingan eye was special and it was already having an effect on him. After all, this eye once belonged to Uchiha Shisui. And even with Pein's Rinnegan eyes, he was susceptible to Danzo's Mangakyo Sharingan eye's manipulation.

Silence reined.

A good half hour later, both Danzo and Tobi blinked their eyes in tiredness. "It is done. It may have taken two Mangakyo Sharingans (18) but we have managed to overcome and now control the Six Paths of Pein."

Walking towards Nagato and his surrounding undead soldiers, Tobi gave his orders to his former comrade, now puppet. "Go to Konoha. Destroy Konoha. Seek the Kyuubi Jinchuriki and bring him back."

"Hai."

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Bee twitched, quickly gaining consciousness with the help of his bijuu's healing. Unfortunately for him, Deidara was already prepared for this and jabbed him with a needle full of special tranquilizer, guaranteed to knock a Jinchuriki out for several hours, if not a day. /Thank God I still had these special shots that Ruri had prepared before she disappeared!/ Deidara thought to himself as he looked at the empty syringe. As a medical specialist and a master in demonic chakra, Ruri had prepared a few doses of these injections, purposely made to combat a Jinchuriki's quick restoration. They were able to keep a Jinchuriki weak and unconscious, and Ruri had given him a few syringes just in case. With the latest jab he had given the Hachibi Jinchuriki, that was the last of the lot he had.

Deidara sighed again, missing the one partner that he worked well with. If only he could figure out where she had disappeared too, he thought to himself. It seemed quite suspicious that none of the other Akatsuki members asked after her. She was the Lady Oracle, sure she hadn't been working with them for long, but during the short time that she did work with them, she did a good job. Not to mention, Pein went through all the trouble of getting her to join in the first place, it seems illogical that no one was going after her or even curious about her disappearance. Of course, she could be dead, but Deidara was annoyed that no one had decided to tell him anything. He humped in annoyance at the whole situation, completely baffled and focused in his own thoughts, he was not paying an ounce of attention on his surroundings. That was why he was completely caught off guard as a shadow above him grew bigger and bigger before it darkened his view. Looking up, he saw two gigantic human hands mere meters away from him.

"Baika no Jutsu! (Multi-size Technique)." Just a few seconds ago, Chouji had jumped off one of Sai's Ink bird summons directly above Deidara and his hostage. He and the others on his team had followed after them when they had spotted Deidara's flying clay bird from a distance away. Konoha had received the missive from the Raikage just an hour ago, and a search and rescue team had been organised to pursue the enemy soon after. On the team was Hyuuga Neji (who had the best eyes to sight the enemy), Sai (though still recovering from his mental breakdown some weeks ago, he is a very valuable member on the team with the use of his ink summoning), Nara Shikamaru (who is the team lead of this mission and the one charged with capturing both the Akatsuki enemy and rescuing the hostage), followed by last but not least Akimichi Chouji.

With a giant falling down on top of him, Deidara had no chance to escape. Even if he tried to move away, there was just no time for him to do so. As Chouji's giant of a body slammed into Deidara, summon and all, Chouji used one hand to grad Deidara tightly, trapping his arms and not allowing him to move them. Chouji's other hand took hold of the unconscious form of Bee.

"Katsu!" Deidara mentally directed his only existing clay summon to self-destruct, but unfortunately for him, Chouji's body is too big for the explosion to have much effect on him.

Within seconds, gigantic Chouji body slams onto the hard ground, literary slapping Deidara's trapped form onto the surface of the earth as part of the impact. Whilst the other hand held onto Bee as gently and firmly as he could. When Chouji impacted the earth, it caused quite a big earth quake, flattening the ground below him instantly and caused a large plum of dusk to fly up into the air. Less than a second after the impact, Chouji released his technique and quickly shrunk back to his normal body size. Sai's bird had also swopped down towards the ground, allowing both Neji and Shikamaru to drop onto the earth. "Chouji, you okay?" Shikamaru called out as he couldn't see his best friend anyway in the dust cloud.

Cough. Cough. "I'm okay. Gonna stay here with the Cloud nin. You guys go after the Akatsuki guy."

"Kay. Stay here with Sai and don't move." Shikamaru ordered as he quickly followed in Neji's shadow. With his Byakugan activated, Neji was the only one who could find where Deidara had landed and both Neji and Shikamaru were needed to incapacitate the bomb user.

"Ugh..." Deidara groaned in pain. /Everything hurts.../ he complained mentally as he slowly tried to drag himself up onto his feet even though his head was ringing. He knew that he had to move now or else he was dead, and dead men can't produce any art no more. Slowly and with unsteady motions, Deidara pushed himself up with one shaking hand, only to notice that both his legs were crushed in the impact and were not responding at all. /Well... Looks like this is the end for me./ He couldn't really concentrate due to the shock and pain of the impact, but he knew that if he couldn't move, he would only be a sitting duck. /Oh well...Let's go out with a bbbiiiiiigggg bang then./ His pale, tired and pained face morphed into a sadistic grin.

Hearing the rushing footsteps of his incoming enemy, Deidara raised both his hands with their mouths wide open in preparation. He then spat out several explosive birds all in mid-flight soaring straight to his enemies. Neji didn't even pause in his rush, as he quickly and efficiently used his Jyuuken moves to lightly tap against each of the clay birds flying towards him.

"Wha?" Mouth open, Deidara was completely shocked at how efficient Neji was in injecting his own chakra into Deidara's clay constructions, completely neutralizing Deidara's ability to activate the explosives inside. He thought only lightning users could neutralize his own rock affiliated abilities, but he was wrong.

Following up from neutralizing Deidara's portable bombs, Neji closed in on Deidara and within moments, he closed all the Tenketsus on both Deidara's arms, disabling the man's ability to form more explosive constructs. However, even with his arms and legs disabled, Deidara wasn't completely vulnerable. Opening his mouth, Deidara released a hidden clay spider construct which quickly jumped onto Neji when he tried to block the creature. "Katsu!" Though small in size, the explosive construct still packed quite a punch with regards to power. However, with the explosion going off at point blank range between the two fighters, both Deidara and Neji were knocked back by the force of the explosion. Deidara suffered a few more tumbles with newly singed eyebrows and hair. Neji suffered a burnt arm due to him protecting his limb with chakra in the split second before the explosion occurred.

"Ghhrrr" Gritting his teeth, Deidara tried to move his arms anyway to tear away his shirt and activate his final jutsu. He did manage to tear away the shirt, revealing a sealed mouth on his chest but before he could unseal the mouth and release his ultimate technique, he found that he couldn't move.

"Kagemane no Jutsu (Shadow Imitation Technique), Success!" Shikamaru finally revealed himself, having attached his shadow to Deidara's, immobilising the man immediately.

/Shit! I can't move./ Deidara's mind was travelling at light speed trying to find a way to escape his binding in order to enact his final attack.

"Shikamaru, don't let up on the Kagemane!" Neji warned as he still had his Byakugan activated to watch and anticipate Deidara's actions. "He's trying to escape and enact an attack. That seal on his chest has some very disturbing chakra routes throughout his body. I don't recommend piercing it with your Kage ? and I'm not sure if killing him the normal way will not accidentally activate whatever jutsu he has prepared anyway."

"So if Kage Nui (Shadow Thread) and the Kage Kubi Shibari no Jutsu (Shadow Neck Bind Technique) doesn't work. I'll just use something else." Narrowing his eyes in hidden anger, Shikamaru commented his suspicions. "You're the one that went after the Kazekage, didn't you?" He asked suddenly.

"So what if I did." Deidara spat out his words in fury towards Shikamaru; he was still trying his best to move his arms in order to release his seal.

"In that case, this is for making my girlfriend cry." Shikamaru muttered under his breath with a suspicious amount of malice. He changed his hand seals whilst still holding the Kagemane no Jutsu (Shadow Imitation technique). Slowly, the shadows beneath Deidara grew larger and larger in size. The texture of the shadows also gradually changed to a more liquid nature. The flowing shadow moved with a lingering rippling effect; unhurriedly, the shadow leisurely climbed up Deidara's broken legs, up his chest and along his arms.

"Wha... What are you doing? What is this?!" Deidara panicked but he couldn't do anything. Eventually, even his head and whole body was covered in the black mass, but still the shadows grew until it formed a perfect sphere of pitch darkness with Deidara somewhere inside.

"Mukage no Jutus (Shadow Void Technique) (19), Complete." Shikamaru stated as the round sphere gradually shrank in size. It grew smaller and smaller until it eventually disappeared, leaving no trace of Deidara behind, as if he never existing in the first place.

"What was that move, Shikamaru?" Neji whispered in awe, having never seen such a technique before. "That man just... disappeared. He dissolved in your shadows."

"That's exactly what this technique does. It 'nullifies' matter, changing 'something' into 'nothing'. No particle, no dust, no sound, not even his soul is left. This technique devours everything." Shikamaru concluded softly, before shaking his head and returning his attention to his injured team mate. "Let's get you and the others back to Konoha. I'm sure the Raikage will be pleased that we managed to rescue his brother."

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"Deidara is dead. And we've lost the Hachibi too." Zetsu announced into the darkened cavern.

"Doesn't matter. War will come to the Shinobi Villages soon regardless. They are not yet ready for us, but we are already prepared." Tobi declared confidently, though he was frustrated that so many things kept on going wrong today. Behind him leaning against the wall nonchalantly was Kabuto, smirking quietly in his corner.

"Remember our deal. Once you are finished, you leave Konoha to me." Danzo spoke out, glaring at his two 'temporary allies'.

"Hump. Whatever is left of Konoha once Pein is finished you mean." Tobi shrugged. "Don't worry, I keep my promises." Tobi stepped forward before his rag tag group of men. "From now on, we are at war." He declared firmly, having his sights on destroying all nations once and for all.

END

I was originally planning to end Deidara and Kisame earlier in the fight against Bee. But when I actually started typing, the story wrote itself into a different plot. Why does this story fight me so? It really has a mind of its own.

But at least things are moving along quickly now. Danzo's out of Konoha and working with Kabuto and Akatsuki. Next Chapter is Mind-controlled Pein in Konoha, and Kisame finding Itachi - what happens then?

I'm hoping that I will have this story finished in another 2 to 3 chapters, plus an epilogue. Fingers crossed. This time, I actually do want to finish this story.

REFERENCES

(1) Proof of exchange between Danzo and Orochimaru with regards to the experiments, and implantation of Sharingan eyes and the cells for Senju Harashima. This is confirmed in Naruto Cannon, volume 49, capture 454

(2) I hated the wimpy, weak looking Fire Daimyo in the Manga Cannon. I'd like to think that he's just hiding behind a facade.

(3)These are real Root Anbu members, from Naruto Cannon

(4) I never did understand why Hatake Sakumo was not reanimated through Edo Tensei. Makes it difficult to write his fight scenes though, because I don't know how he fights.

(5) Orochimaru is DEAD. He is NOT going to be REVIVED like in the Cannon series.

(6) One of the Gate Guardians

(7) Since I've got Fire Bending, why not include Water Bending as well. Sasuke has fire, Itachi now has water. Yes, it's ironic.

(8) The fight that was missing from Trials of Faith, Chapter 8

(9) Follow on from Trials of Faith Chapter 8. One of the Mist Ninjas that participated in the Kuunoki Chuunin Exams

(10) Design based off something between Renji Abarai's Zabimaru (From Bleach) and Ham's metallic whip blade (from 3x3 Eyes) Volume 32 Chapter 3. The effect is more like Bunchu's Kinben (from Houshin Engi) though. Feel free to google images for these weapons.

(11) Copied from "Rippling Ophelia" of Claymore

(12) I've been doing a bit more analysis of how Kisame fights (in order to write these fight scenes). These are just my thoughts. He seems to favor Water Ninjutsu and his shark summons more than proper sword techniques. Kisame only ever uses Samehade to block and suck Chakra or swings it around to shred his opponents. He doesn't show a lot of finesse or swordsmanship techniques. Even Sasuke uses his sword more in cannon than Kisame does.

(13) Haven't made up my mind yet whether Juro should die or not. Any opinions anyone?

(14) I'm not sure if Kisame is able to make such a giant floating sphere of water, but considering he was able to create a small one with his shark summon instead, I'm assuming he can do this with this technique too, just need more Chakra.

(15) Uzumaki Kushina

(16) Mentioned in Trials of Faith, Chapter 9. Nagato use to be Uzumaki Tenka

(17) I really liked that image. When I first read the fight between Konan and Tobi, it seemed a bit pathetic to me. She was the only female Akatsuki member and yet she showed no Taijutsu or Genjutsu skills, wields no weapons except for fragile paper wings. I wanted to show Konan as someone who can fight dirty, who is willing to go that extra mile; someone with a strong conviction of her own.

(18) I always wondered if it was Sharingan versus Rinnegan, who would win. In this case, I'm assuming that with 2 Mangakyo Sharingans, Pein's Rinnegan would lose. And now, he is under Tobi's control.

(19) The fifth technique in the Kage Michi (Ways of the Shadows) which is an originally list of techniques developed by Kaga, and now passed on to Shikamaru. You can learn more about these techniques on my website. This is also the first time I've let Shikamaru use this technique.

Final Comment: I have no idea when I can get the next chapter out. So sorry in advance if I don't update in a soon-ish manner.