Observing the clash of personalities between Haya and Sukoru had quickly become the highlight of Naruto's day. His little sister had been making strides in learning the various social cues necessary to interact with normal people. However, she tended to retreat in on herself when presented with something unfamiliar or uncomfortable. Haya was most certainly one of those things.
The silver bundle of pure energy had long put the business of her clan behind her in favour of awe at her new sister-figure. The very fact that Sukoru seemed so withdrawn, in stark contrast to most of the female-figures in her life, only seemed to encourage her. Sneaking up on the blonde had turned into her new favourite pastime when the older Namikaze wasn't around; although the first time she did this hadn't been so humorous, as it was a potentially lethal incident.
Sukoru still had some difficulty not equating surprises with ambushes.
Still, it was worth all the awkwardness to watch Haya zip around the room, pelting the former Root-nin with peas launched from a spoon. The look of sheer concentration, occasionally marred by exclamations of childish frustration as Sukoru easily slapped the makeshift projectiles away from her without looking up from her reading, was priceless. Anko had taken to subtly helping the girl, manoeuvring Sukoru into situations where her concentration was split before releasing the little demon on her.
The house hadn't felt so alive in months.
Naruto's hand whipped out, catching a deflected pea just in time to stop it ricocheting of an ANBU's mask. "Morning Tora."
He couldn't gauge the man's reaction from behind the mask, but the slight clearing of his throat told him enough to make him smile.
"Sir, the alarms in tunnel five have been triggered."
The good humour immediately drained from Naruto's face. "Right, get the teams in position as planned."
The ANBU touched his chest in silent acknowledgement of the order before vanishing as suddenly as he had arrived. The red-haired Hokage drummed his fingers along his thigh for a moment, catching the look Anko was giving him from across the room. She mouthed 'Danzo?' questioningly, suppressing a frown when he nodded back. After a moment though she gave a small smile of encouragement, conveying with her eyes alone that she would watch the girls while he was gone.
With a final smile of thanks Naruto mimed her a cheeky kiss before vanishing from the house. Thankfully the girls were too engrossed with their vegetable-themed conflict to notice.
Out on the rooftops he could already see the signs of his orders being carried out. The civilians, and even most of the shinobi, wouldn't noticed anything different, but there was a certain flow to the movement of the ANBU flitting across the rooftops. The quiet repositioning of key shinobi was supposed to be low key; it was a dangerous tactician they were dealing with. Still, Naruto couldn't fight back the satisfied smirk as Danzo rose to his bait. The man clearly thought himself above the Hokage, but pride was a vice that Naruto intended to punish the man for.
The days following Sukoru's rescue had been an embarrassment for the Black-ops as the extent of Danzo's operation had been revealed. Miles of underground tunnels and bunkers, rivalling the civilian shelter system itself. The fact that all of this had been happening literally under their noses, for who knew how long, was like a punch in the gut to anybody who presided over the village's safety.
The survey of the complex had been thorough, with every nook and cranny scoured for any hint of where Danzo may have gone, and just what he was doing down there. The answers, mostly, were unsatisfying. The old politician had covered his tracks well. However, Naruto knew from experience that no contingency was perfect, and if he left the man an in to finish the job, he was bound to snatch the chance.
While the ANBU searched the complex from within, Naruto called in a favour to have the facilities searched from above with the Byakugan. The Doujutsu usually wasn't too good at seeing through a certain thickness of earth, but that could be compensated if the user knew what to look for. A few of the more secretive escape tunnels – and what a security nightmare those were – had been located by the Hyuuga, and purposefully ignored by the ANBU.
Danzo, or one of his agents, had just strolled right into one of them as if he owned the place, and Naruto was going to let him know just how big of a bear trap he had stepped in. Already ANBU were shifting about, relieving those whose skillsets were more inclined towards capture so they could flood the complex. Really, the man had been so overconfident with his special ward system that could counter the Hiraishin.
A better Fuinjutsu user would have known to layer their defences, instead of trying to weave them into a single, more complex matrix. It was certainly stronger, but far less secure. Once Naruto had access to even a small part of the seal, he had access to all of it. Currently the silent alarms that should have been going off with the intrusion of that many ANBU were deactivated, as were the Hiraishin blockers.
As If to prove as much, he suddenly appeared alongside a small group of ANBU headed by Komachi, racing through the tunnels to their designated staging ground. No words had to be spoken and they were completely nonplussed by his appearance, simply carrying on until they were in their designated positions. They waited there, each second seeming to stretch on endlessly, until Naruto received the signal that everyone was in position.
He made a simple motion with his hand before straightening, taking a moment to set his features into a congenial smile, and walking around the corner.
"Evening Danzo."
The figure sedately making their way through the streets was distinctive in their almost single-minded path towards the centre of the village. The ANBU had flagged them quickly, although none could explain or account for where the person had come from. In their simple dark robe and wide-brimmed sugegasa, their figure and any other discernible features were indistinct. Despite their innocuous appearance, even the surrounding civilians parted for them, feeling the indistinct weight of the figure's movements.
ANBU didn't interact with the citizenry as a rule, so it was with curiosity that they watched a nearby Jounin meander his way over. The figure didn't seem inclined to stop for him until he purposefully cleared his throat.
"Can I help you…" He tried to peer under the hat, but the figure's long hair and effeminate features were obscured by the tassles dangling from the edge; he couldn't make out much about their appearance.
"You will move out of my path." The voice didn't help much either; it was monotone and completely androgynous, if a bit on the deeper side.
The Jounin frowned lightly, but tried to keep his face jovial; it didn't do to upset the civilians if a situation was brewing. "I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to step to the side for a moment for a quick chat, alright?"
The reaction from the Root operatives Danzo had brought with him was predictable to the point of banality. Two immediately rushed the threat while one dropped back to cover Danzo's escape back down the tunnel. Naruto didn't even have to move as the first was neatly dispatched by a flurry of electrified senbon, dropping him to a twitching mess on the floor. The second learned nothing from his partner's fate and began rushing through handseals.
The moment his hands came up though, a thin strip of earth whipped out of the ground, wrapping around the operative's wrists before suddenly yanking him back down to the stone floor. His mask was shattered by the impact, revealing the face of an unconscious young teen with mousy hair. The last of the operatives, at least in this room – if the other ANBU had done their jobs, the rest were being systematically captured throughout the rest of the complex – was brought up short when the walls suddenly sprouted wooden limbs, reaching out to tangle him up. Tenzo sprouted out of a thick bough like a flower a moment later, promptly knocking the root-nin out before he could activate the seal on his tongue.
All of this had happened seamlessly without Naruto having to lift a finger.
"That's better don't you think?" He asked the man who was only know turned around to face him again, features seemingly nonplussed. "A bit more conducive to a conversation."
"It seems you have been more successful than I had estimated in getting young Sukoru to reveal Root's operating procedures," Danzo mused calmly. "I assume then, you also know that I can activate every operative's suicide seal with a moment's thought?"
Naruto just grinned. "Oh, please go ahead, I'm actually quite curious about which is faster. Your thoughts…" he idly flipped a kunai produced from thin air between his hands "…or my hand?"
Danzo gave him a distainful look down his nose, but his silence was telling.
"So, about that talk?"
The ANBU on the roof tensed slightly as the figure in the middle of the road continued to remain put. The civilians were beginning to notice the brewing situation, a few subtly moving into side streets, and a circle had begun to open around the stranger and the Jounin.
"Please, I must insist you step to the side of the street for a moment, you are causing a disturbance."
The figure merely glanced about, ignoring the ninja and instead taking in the nervous glances of the people around them. "Even here, the people know when they are in a greater presence." There was no visible sign of it, but the stranger seemed to affirm something in their head. "This is far enough then."
By now the Jounin was visibly tense, hand straying to his kunai pouch as even more citizens got the message and began to stream away from the potential fight.
"Did you just think you would get away with it? All these kids you've stolen from their families?" Naruto's tone was conversational but his eyes were cold as he glared at the man. He had wanted to control himself a bit more, to play this out a bit. Looking at Danzo though, it brought back that surging anger he had felt upon first seeing his sister in full. It was all he could do not to just end the man where he stood.
"You are such a disappointment," Danzo said slowly, eying up the redhead as if he had all the time in the world. "Your father, while idealistic and naïve, was an apparition to our nation's enemies, a bulwark against the thought of attack." The man grimaced. "Face Konoha, and you face the Yellow Flash. I thought this might lead to a generation of weakened, reliant shinobi, but then came you. You, Itachi and Shisui; such promising talent all too quickly taken under the wing of Hiruzen's damnable ideals."
"Is this spiel going anywhere or…"
Danzo ignored him, straightening as though he were giving one of his speeches to the shinobi council. "I had maintained hope you three would prove me wrong, that, outside of my influence, others might come to understand the necessities of our work." Something that might have passed for wistfulness drifted across the old man's face. "The roots, feeding the leaves. But no, when Shisui proved difficult and Itachi too patriotic…" Naruto's eyes narrowed a fraction "…I was left with you."
"I'm quite fond of the arrangement myself," he quipped, more by reflex than anything else.
"You have your mother's wit, if nobody has ever told you that before," Danzo continued, lip twitching with distain. "Another promising asset so uselessly wasted, but Mito always was a political player of unequalled skill. No, I knew that if I wanted an Uzumaki, there was only one way. I don't believe I was the only one to benefit from the Kyuubi attack, but when Shinobi can't make the best out of a crisis, we are hardly fitting of the name."
By now Naruto's hand was itching to launch the kunai into the man's throat; cut off his monologuing the old-fashioned way.
"Those who endure…" Again, that strange melancholic expression twisted his features "…perhaps the only thing Hiruzen and I ever truly agreed on."
"Really, I'm starting to think this is just the rambling of senility. If you're stalling for time, I feel I should let you know that any and all of your agents are being rounded up as we speak."
Danzo's visible eye narrowed slightly. "I don't doubt, you and your father shared a certain prodigious talent for tactics. Strategy on the other hand, that was always Hiruzen's game. As for stalling? My boy, you haven't the faintest idea. You think me foolish enough to place myself in such a vulnerable position without contingencies? I am so many steps ahead of you it's almost laughable. Why did you think I chose now of all times to return?"
There was no longer any doubt that this was an incident of some sort. ANBU had actually congregated on the street, and it was always a bad sign when a Black-ops member touched Konoha soil. The figure still stood there, calmly, even when the Jounin was anything but.
"Remove your hat and cloak, then lie down on the ground, hands where I can see them!"
The figure paused a moment, considering the order. "Very well, this has gone far enough." They removed their hat, carelessly tossing it to the side. Many of the ANBU watching grimaced at the sight beneath.
"Konoha shall know Pain."
"I admire the bluster Danzo, I'm sure whatever you've planned is just spectacular," Naruto drawled, motioning for the accompanying ANBU to file into the room and surround the man.
Danzo himself seemed unruffled, glancing at each of them in turn as he was slowly surrounded before returning his attention to Naruto. "It is unwise for a leader to leave his village unattended for so longer… there are visitors knocking at the door."
Naruto only had a moment to furrow his brow at the cryptic statement before the entire room shuddered from some titanic explosion above them. Dust and pieces of the ceiling rained down in showers, forcing Naruto to dive to the side, tackling one of his operatives out of the path of a chunk of falling masonry. By the time he had regained his bearings, Danzo had vanished. Naruto had a sinking feeling he wouldn't show up again; they had secured every exit, but this was Danzo's base at the end of the day.
More pressing matters required his attention though, and after a lightning-fast sweep of the room to check on his ANBU guard, he flashed back up to the surface.
It was pandemonium. Shinobi flitted this way and that, sometimes carrying civilians away from scenes of carnage as what looked to be enormous summons animals carved messy paths through the village. Other teams of ANBU were struggling to contain the beasts, missing the large chunk of their force Naruto had brought down into the tunnels. It had all the trappings of an invasion, but there was no sign of the opposing force.
He managed to flag down a passing kunoichi – the bright red hat slung over his back was good for that at least – to give him a situation report.
"It's the Akatsuki. We tried to stop one of them but he… he summoned more; summoned them, like contract animals. They're too powerful, they keep swatting aside people who try and stop them and-"
Naruto raised a hand, silencing the woman immediately. "Calm down." After a few shaky breaths, she managed that. "Now, how many are there, where are they and what are they doing?"
It took her another moment to comport herself, looking a little red in the face after realising how she had been addressing the Hokage. "We think about six of them, Hokage-sama, they scattered as soon as they were summoned and right now it looks like they are trying to cause as much chaos as possible."
Naruto processed all of that as quickly as possible. Six Akatsuki? That was a lot of fire power; he hadn't thought they even had that many members left. Still, what did a handful of shinobi, even ones that powerful, hope to accomplish in the middle of a village? An actual attack was out of the question, which left it likely it was a diversion. The Akatsuki's known goals were the bijuu, but coming after him in the middle of his own village was either the height of arrogance, or suicide.
His eyes narrowed dangerously; he wasn't the only Jinchuuriki in the village.
"Most of the ANBU are underground, start spreading the message to divert the summons animals instead of trying to destroy them, keep them in a contained area until reinforcements can arrive. Continue with the evacuation, anyone not dealing with the animals helps with that; if my village is a battleground I want it exactly that, as few innocent casualties as possible."
"And the Akatsuki, Hokage-sama?"
"Leave that to-"
"Actually," a whimsical voice cut in, "if I could have a moment of your time?"
Naruto barely had the time to be alarmed before a hand clasped his shoulder. It felt like the world turned to treacle as he felt the unmistakable sensation of a space-time technique take-hold. Not wanting to find out what would happen if he let it, he flashed to where he knew a nearby hiraishin tag was placed; the village was littered with them.
When he reoriented, he saw it was another member of the Akatsuki, the cloak was unmistakable. However, the orange mask, swirling to a singular eye hole, chilled his blood. He would recognise that description anywhere.
"Aww," the man chided playfully, "You ruined my little surprise. I had this awesome thing planned out where we'd zip away and I'd get to monologue all villainously and you could be the dashing hero, and everything!" The man's entire countenance shifted abruptly, straightening from his childish slouch to bring the kunai he had placed against the kunoichi's neck even closer, drawing a thin red line across her throat. "The hard way then?" Even his voice had darkened, taking on a deeper, far more serious tone.
"I think you'll know where to find me, Hokage-sama," he mocked, just as his entire body seemed to warp and twist in their air, spiralling in on itself and taking the kunoichi with him until they vanished with a whisper of displaced air.
The redhead cursed, head darting this way and that as he fretted over his options. The village was under attack and he couldn't just abandon in to go chasing after one man. But then, he had some sense of just how dangerous that one man could be, and to abandon that kunoichi to her fate was like a knife in the gut. People at least were reacting to the invasion, there were troops on the ground and Konoha was hardly lacking strong shinobi; but strong enough to fight six Akatsuki members?
He took a deep breath to calm himself, Hiruzen's words on trusting in the people under him flashing through his mind. Jiraiya was still in the village, Tsunade was in the village, Kakashi, Gai, the ANBU, his students… all of them were strong. In that moment he resolved himself; the Akatsuki weren't fighting individual shinobi, they were fighting Konoha. He apparently had his own fight, and with that in mind he turned his attention to the top of the monument, where he knew the masked man would be waiting.
He would have to make this quick.
Pein walked through the village slowly, the streets around him a scene of devastation. His cloak billowed slightly as the concussive force of one of the Asura Path's weapons sent shockwaves through the air. The defence the village was putting up was pathetic; with their vaunted Hokage's attention diverted they were disorganised and routing. They couldn't even organise enough to contain the Animal Path's summons, let alone stop him.
No force, however great, could stand before Go-
"Dynamic Entry!"
Pein didn't even have the time to finish his thought before the Deva Path was caught by a thunderous kick that sent him careening back across the street. A great plume of dust and smoke rose from the crater he had made in a nearby wall, before that too was pushed back by a wall of invisible force.
"Yosh! The Green Beast of Konoha is here villain, prepare to be destroyed by the awesome fires of Youth!"
Pein took one look at the ridiculous specimen of a man before ignoring him entirely, directing the Asura Path to deal with him. However, before the mechanical body could unleash a barrage of destructive explosives, a crackling blade of lightning burst through its chest.
"Raikiri," Kakashi muttered dispassionately, tossing the now limp body to the side and turning to eye up the real threat. From his revealed Sharingan, it was clear the Copy-nin was already taking this seriously.
"Ah, eternal rival! That was a most unyouthful sneak attack, you should always announce your presence with fiery zeal!"
Kakashi blinked lazily, never taking his eye off the Deva Path. "Sorry Gai, did you say something?"
The spandexed man visibly recoiled in pain, tears suddenly streaming down his cheeks. "As hip as ever my friend! But I shall not be outdone!" He sobered up again, squaring himself against Pein and settling into a deceptively average Taijutsu stance. "The Akatsuki has befouled my home, and if I am unable to defeat them here, then-"
His further ranting was cut off when Pein grew irritated by the asinine display, lifting a single hand and blasting Gai across the street with much greater force than he had been kicked.
"Shinra Tensei."
Kakashi's eyes narrowed imperceptibly, doing his best to analyse what had just happened, but even his eye drew a blank. The man's Chakra was strange, more like a cloud within his body than flowing through the usual pathways. There had been a brief concentration around the eyes when he performed his technique, but as for what he had actually done? The Sharingan simply drew a blank.
"Fancy name for a simple technique," he hazarded in his usual drawl; when in doubt, stall for back-up. Something told him he may be in a little over his head here.
"With it alone I have the power to level this pitiful village, you have far more immediate concerns however."
Kakashi's eyes widened as he heard movement behind him, leaning to the side just in time for a black canister to shoot past his head. Again, Pein raised his hand and the resulting explosion splashed harmlessly against some invisible shield in front of him. Kakashi wasn't so lucky as the sheer force of the blast threw him back. He had just enough wherewithal to twist his body out of the way of a silvery blade, landing with grace on the other side of the man he thought he had already killed.
"So, since when does a hole through the chest not put someone down?" he mused nervously, noting that the bald Akatsuki member in front of him looked immaculate; even his robe was undamaged. "That just seems unfair." His Sharingan caught another of the figures, a stocky man with the same orange hair and piercings as the apparent leader, retreating back into a side alley.
Acting on that intuitive sense that had served him throughout his career, he flashed through a series of hand seals faster than most could blink and sent a large fireball hurtling after him. It was intercepted by a plump man bearing the same hair and markings. As Kakashi watched, his technique dwindled away to nothing before the man's raised hands. At that he could only grimace.
"Any other broken little trick's I should know about?"
"I am not so easily done away with fiend!" Gai bellowed as he broke free of the rubble he had been buried under, glancing around furtively at all the new faces. "What is going on here Kakashi?"
Spotting an opportunity, the silver-haired jounin motioned after the fleeing figure. "That one Gai, go after him!"
"Yosh!" Gai acted without hesitation, pumping his arms at his sides as he was suddenly enveloped in a green corona. Two of the Paths moved to intercept but he shot right past them in an emerald blur, taking off after the fleeing Naraka Path.
Which, of course, left Kakashi standing there, surrounded by the other three. They looked none too happy about the development. Without any outward sign of communication, the tubby one that had intercepted his technique darted off after Gai, while the one Kakashi had already killed once launched himself forward. His hands seemed to fold back like some impossibly complex puppet, revealing two spinning, serrated blades.
Kakashi squared himself to redirect the blades with another Raikiri, aware of how much of a dent that would put in his reserves, only to have his vision filled by a mane of white hair. The world was filled with the deafening screech of a Rasengan ploughing into metal, before the Asura path had a hole punched through it… again. The apparently mechanical person stood there a moment, Jiraiya's arm elbow deep in its chest, before weakly swinging at the Sannin only to slump to the side.
Kakashi felt like burning the rest of it for good measure.
"You go after bowl-cut, I got this one," Jiraiya muttered softly, his voice lacking any of its usual mirth as the older man turned to face the Deva Path, face grim. Kakashi idly noted that Jiraiya could actually be quite commanding when he dropped the Kabuki act, before racing after Gai. After all, if Jiraiya couldn't handle this guy, what chance in hell did he have?
Jiraiya didn't take his eyes off the orange-haired man as the Copy-nin raced off; the man seemed likewise intrigued by him.
"Yahiko," he acknowledged softly.
"Jiraiya-sensei," Pein returned, sounding almost bemused.
Naruto had no Hiraishin markers in the small forest atop the Hokage monument, so he arrived in the little clearing in a small whirl of leaves. He stood atop a tree branch, staring down the masked man and wary for any traps he may have set up. The man himself just stood there, the now gagged kunoichi held up by her hair with the kunai at her throat. She was trying to compose herself, gaining a hopeful smile at seeing her Hokage arrive, but she was still trembling slightly.
"Hmm, did I get the wrong one?" The man asked, once again adopting that childish persona. "You're not Shunshin no Shisui, right?"
"Stop messing around," Naruto said, dropping to the ground and walking forward cautiously, attention split between the mask that set his teeth on edge, and the kunai hovering ponderously like a tiny sword of Damocles.
"Oh, but messing around is the only fun you can have in this dull, broken world, isn't it? I would have thought you'd learn at least that from your pretty fiancée."
Naruto twitched slightly, but refused to rise to the bait. "What do you want?"
The man tutted shaking his head like a disappointed parent. "No, no, too soon. We have to draw this out. Really, it's like I'm dealing with an amateur. First, I make my grand, monologuing speech where I lay out my plans along with all the hideously evil atrocities I've committed. Then you make a pithy retort while laying some unseen trap. I make some grand gesture, allowing you to rescue my hostage in the nick of time, followed by our amazing and climactic battle, determining the fate of the village and all the lives in it!" He finished with a sweeping gesture of both hands, momentarily bringing the kunai away from the woman's throat.
Naruto just grit his teeth, eyes darting about the clearing for any hint of an advantage. "If you insist."
The man's voice lost all its playfulness in an instant. "Well, now I'm not in the mood anymore."
His hand fell like a pendulum and time seemed to slow to a crawl as Naruto rocketed forward, pulling every ounce of speed out of his legs as physically possible. It took him two strides to streak across the open ground, leaving tiny craters where his feet met the ground. Just before the man could slice the kunoichi's throat he tackled her backwards, the kunai leaving a neat scar across the Hokage hat instead.
When he rolled to a stop, cradling the woman in his arms he knew something was off when the man refused to press his attack. He almost missed the faint hissing from the blood pounding in his ears, but he caught it in time to rip off the kunoichi's headband and fling it towards the man, sheltering her with his body. It exploded a moment later, pelting him with dirt and little clumps of earth and leaving an incessant ringing in his ears.
The man strolled out of the smoke cloud without so much as a hair out of place; Naruto could almost feel the grin beneath the mask.
"That's more like it! A heroic rescue, quick-thinking and a devious trap reversal. Now I know I picked the right guy."
The Hokage bit back a snarl, using his opponent's flair for the dramatic to give the kunoichi a quick once over. She seemed alright, if a bit frightened. Without flourish he pulled out one of his kunai, stuck it in the ground and vanished in a flash of red, depositing the woman amongst the surprised gasps of one of the civilian bunkers before flashing away again. The man hadn't moved in the brief moment he was gone except to mime looking at a watch.
"What took you?"
"Oh, don't worry," Naruto said, doing his best to keep his voice even, "you have my full attention now." He launched forward again, a large Rasengan swirling into place over his palm as he moved. The distance between them might as well not have existed for all the time it took for him to cross it, driving the grinding ball of Chakra right into the man's chest.
Only for it to pass right through.
"Oh no, it appears that…" the man started, only to trail off when he realised the Namikaze hadn't overbalanced and fallen through his body like most did. Instead he stood there, holding the screeching ball of Chakra right inside his chest cavity, a small grin starting to spread his whiskered cheeks.
The redhead met his masked opponent right in the eye and allowed himself a small, vindictive smile.
"You're not the only one who's done their homework."