Chapter 54
OROCHIMARU
For two years, Orochimaru had lived the life of a cripple. His sensei's technique had robbed him of his ability to mold chakra using his arms. It was a great humiliation for him to scurry away from one hiding hole to another as those accursed Konoha ninja continued to tail him.
Yet Konoha was not the only one hunting. He had made too many enemies, and now he stood with one such enemy. He had joined the Akatsuki with the hope of getting his hands on the eyes of Itachi Uchiha, but reality had settled in quickly.
Even as a child, Uchiha Itachi had been special, and that had not changed. Within just a few years, he had surpassed him, making it impossible for him to lay a hand on him, and so he had hoped to use his brother, the young Sasuke Uchiha.
But his plans had been foiled once more, and he was forced to choose a different host. A Hyuga boy, who held the same promise as the clan killer himself. His choice, while forced, had been right, and Hikari Hyuga had proven himself to be as much of a menace as the clan killer himself.
Still, his plans were foiled as the boy found a way to break his cursed seal, freeing himself of the shackles Orochimaru had placed on him. He had tried many a thing to heal himself, and yet it was all futile.
The sealing technique used by his sensei had cost him his very life. It had not just sealed the tenketsu of his arms in the physical sense, but it seemed as if he had lost a portion of his very soul. The only way to counter that was for him to find and merge with another being, as he had hoped to do so with Hikari Hyuga, or to find a way to heal his very soul.
"This is that Hyuga boy's work, isn't it?" he questioned, as he examined the back of the Akatsuki leader, and the tension within the room was palpable, and that one-eyed Uchiha stood behind him, along with the Angel of Death, Konan.
"How can you tell?" the one-eyed Sharingan user asked, and Orochimaru wondered exactly what he was hiding under that mask. The man went by quite a few names, and to most he was simply Tobi, yet to a select few he offered a different name.
A more dangerous and significantly ancient name. Madara.
Which one was his real name? What secrets was he hiding? What was his purpose?
There were so many questions, and he had spent quite some time pondering over them over the last two years, and he had found a few answers over the years.
"Because I have felt his handiwork before," he answered, as he looked at that stone back once more.
"In over a decade, he is perhaps the only shinobi to have broken my cursed seal," and he had done so using a similar technique.
"His senjutsu training is still incomplete, but much like everything else he does. He is quite creative in his use of it," and to use one of the chakra rods to transmit senjutsu back to Pain's real body was something few would even think to attempt.
Few would even figure out the truth about Pain's real body, and yet he had not only done that, but if Pain's condition was anything to go by, he had nearly killed him.
Him. Pain. The leader of the Akatsuki. The very shinobi who had defeated Hanzo single-handedly.
"Can you heal this?" Konan, the so-called angel of Akatsuki, questioned from behind. Her patience running thin obviously.
"Partly," he answered truthfully, and with the Sharingan focused on him, it was futile to lie.
"The effects of senjutsu are rather drastic. I can heal the damage to his body, but healing the tenketsu is an entirely different thing," and the girl frowned as she turned towards the masked man.
"You said that he could help?" and the masked nin did not say anything as he continued to look down at him.
"I am afraid if you cannot heal him, then your life is of no value to us...," and her body began to change, and despite seeing it over a dozen times, Orochimaru still found himself impressed by her technique as paper began to fold into shuriken around her.
Kabuto jumped forward and put himself between them in the anticipation of an attack.
"Wait," the masked nin's voice cut through the air as the blue-haired girl turned towards him.
"He is still not done speaking," and Orochimaru smiled.
"Indeed," he agreed, as he gazed at his slumbering form once more.
"Healing the damage to his body would allow him to function restore full bodily functions. The destroyed tenketsu mean that he won't be able to transmit chakra in the same way as before, but I do have a solution for that as well," and yet it was one that would tear him apart.
"What?" questioned the girl from Ame.
"I could expand the tenketsu that remain. It would allow him to push out the same amount of chakra as before, though only for one puppet," and so this would be the end of the Six-Paths of Pain.
"The why didn't you mention it before?"
"Because expanding the tenketsu is no easy feat," and it was the masked nin who cut in now.
"The whole procedure would be excruciatingly painful. And with Nagato's condition, he just might very well die from it," and that was a possibility indeed.
"Yes, indeed. Given his condition, I would say there is a fifty percent chance that he would not survive the procedure," and now her eyes widened.
"Fifty percent?" she gasped, and that was the deal.
"There is no way..."
"I will do it," and he had thought that the red-haired shinobi was asleep, and yet the sound of his coughs interrupted them all again.
"GUGH! GUGH!" and the girl immediately rushed to his side.
"Nagato, you are awake?" and he nodded.
"I am," and the man was thin and frail, and barely clinging to life out of pure spite.
"Nagato, you have done enough! Please, let us handle the rest. We cannot have you risk your life like this," the girl pleaded, and the usually lifeless angel was now full of emotions.
"I have to do this. I must do this," he answered as he met her gaze.
"Our ultimate goal is near, and if it must cost me my life, then I must not hesitate to offer it," and so the decision was made, and the girl could only bite her lip in frustration.
"What will you need?" the masked nin asked.
"The procedure is a complex one. I would need the full use of my arms and my chakra if I am to have a chance at success," he began.
"The deal was that Nagato would heal you after the procedure," and he shrugged.
"I was unaware of the severity of the damage before. If I am to succeed in healing him, I must have the full use of my arms first," and that was only possible through one of two ways.
Either through the Rinnegan, or through that mask.
"I will do it," Nagato began.
"No. You can not. If you use chakra in your current state, you could die!" the girl raged, and so they were at an impasse.
"Well, I am afraid she is right. You are in no condition to use chakra as you currently are. The mere fact that you are still alive is a testament to the Uzumaki blood that runs through your veins," he finished, before he turned towards the masked nin.
"However, there is one other way to heal my arms?" and now he had their attention.
"What?"
"It is risky, for we would have to return to Konoha for it...."
0000
JIRAIYA—The Toad Sage
Days turned into weeks, and Tsunade's condition refused to wake from her slumber. After Kumo's offer, Iwa had followed in soon after, and now a date had been set for the Five Kage summit, the first since the end of the Third Great Ninja War.
They were all set to meet in a month's time. And with Tsunade still in a coma, the daimyo had wanted to officially announce him as the Rokudaime Hokage, but he had stalled such plans in the hope that his old teammate would wake up.
Though he could only delay such plans for so long until the announcement and ceremony became a necessity. The agenda for the Summit had been set already, and each of the five great nations was to nominate a squad of three elite shinobi to deal with the menace of the Akatsuki.
This combined group of fifteen shinobi would work together to bring the evil organization to heel. It was the first time that the five nations would be working together, a feat which few had ever thought possible.
But it was happening. The force of fifteen would be led by a one shinobi, and he intended to be that leader. Still, his recent conversation with Hikari had given him a new headache, for if they were to move against the Akatsuki, then they needed to know who exactly was pulling the strings.
Officially, the group was led by none other than Nagato or Pain, as he had coined himself. But Jiraiya and Hikari had their own suspicions, and believed that the masked man was the one pulling the strings.
Who was he? What were his intentions? What secrets was he hiding under that mask of his?
They knew so little about him, but it was time to change that.
"An S-ranked mission," and S-rank was not usually a mission given to such teams, but he knew of no one more suitable for the task.
Team Gai had both the experience and the necessary skills for this mission. Gai himself was an exemplary shinobi who could go toe-to-toe with any S-ranked nin, and was most suited to it, given that they would be going into the hostile territory of Iwagakure for the mission.
"Yes, and so you are not allowed to share the details of your mission with anyone. And by anyone, I do mean that exactly," he warned, as he looked Gai in the eye.
"Officially, your team will be heading to Iwa to deliver the invite for the Five Kage summit to Ohnoki, but while that is a part of your mission. Your real mission is to investigate the ruins of an old battle site," and if Hikari's suspicion was right, and the masked nin was indeed him, it would complicate everything.
The mere thought was preposterous, but the more he thought about it, the more all of it made sense.
"Investigate ruins?" questioned the kunoichi.
"Yes, to be more exact, your mission is to locate and bring back the remains of one of our fallen comrades," and by now, Gai had figured out the truth.
"The ruins should be a few miles East of the Kanabi Bridge," and this just confirmed it for him.
"Obito," Gai whispered, and his team frowned at that name.
"Obito? Who is he?" questioned the thick-browed Lee.
"He was one of my former classmates. A friend, who died during the Third Great Ninja War," he began, and though Guy may not be the smartest shinobi alive. But he had been friends with Obito and was able to make the connection rather easily.
"I think I remember it now. He was one of Yondaime's students," and it was Neji Hyuga who spoke now, and the Hyuga kid had become a jounin in the two years since the exams.
Once, he had filled with rage and hatred, but the shift in the clan brought by his brother had mellowed him out. Now, he stood shoulder to shoulder with Hinata Hyuga, the future clan head, and was one of the most integral voices within the Hyuga clan.
"Yes, he was one of Minato's students. During the mission, one of their teammates was kidnapped, and during the rescue mission, Obito Uchiha died after being crushed under the rubble. To this day, we have not been able to recover his body. But with the truce between Iwa and Konoha active now, it is time to bring him home," and he did not tell them the real reason, nor did he ask.
"None of you is allowed to discuss the mission with anyone else. You will report to me, and only me. Is that understood?" and they nodded.
"Yes, Jiraiya-sama," and Gai obviously wanted to know more, but in the end, he held his tongue and left the room with his team. Jiraiya sighed as he considered the implications of this mission.
Hikari had given him two names regarding the identity of the masked nin, and each was more damning than the next. One of them was a former student of Minato's, and the other belonged to a man who was a founder of this village.
Madara Uchiha.
It was an unlikely name, and for decades now, they had thought him dead as a consequence of his duel with the Shodaime Hokage. But Hikari had his reasons, and while he could dispatch the team to search for Obito's body, getting to Madara's body was an entirely different matter.
The Hokages were each buried in a special tomb, which was sealed such that only a Kage could enter it. And unless Tsunade was to wake, or he was to inherit the title, the keys would remain lost to him, and along with them the truth.
Still, they had a lead now. And Jiraiya was going to pull on this thread until the entire thing had unraveled itself.
.
.
.
And days later, on the outskirts of the Village, a group of shinobi emerged and landed on the decrepit floor of an abandoned temple.
"Are you sure about this?" the Sanin turned towards the masked nin.
"If I do this, it will surely alert Konoha's shinobi," but he did not stop.
"Do it," he ordered as he led the rest out of the temple.
"Leave Konoha and its ninjas to us...."
0000
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