Chapter 56
"WHY!" the Uchiha boy screamed at Jiraiya, as they sat in the Hokage office once more after that declaration of war.
"WHY DID YOU LET HIM GO!" and Jiraiya sat there with his hands folded infront of his face, as the jounin commander chose to answer the enraged Iryo-nin.
"There were at least five S-ranked ninjas in that group. Engaging them at that time could have led to devastating damage and consequences for the village," and he was not much happy at the choice forced upon them either, but Konoha and its people had suffered enough.
"Lies! LIES!" Sasuke Uchiha shouted as his fists balled up, and the scarlet Sharingan spun ominously in his eyes.
"These eyes of mine can see through all your lies," he uttered out through gritted teeth as he looked straight into the eyes of the Rokudaime Hokage.
"I have had enough of these lies. That old hag promised me the truth, but she refuses to wake up," and there was genuine frustration in that voice.
"For years now, I have had questions about that night, and no one in this village has ever given me an answer. So, let me ask you directly," and those red eyes spun as he turned to the Rokudaime Hokage.
"Is Itachi Uchiha still a shinobi of this village....."
0000
OBITO UCHIHA
The plan was over. Initially, he was supposed to gather all of the Bijuu without revealing himself as the hidden architect of the whole affair, but with the Five Great Nations joining hands, he was forced to improvise.
The Akatsuki itself had been trimmed down over the course of the last two years, and if it was not for his own timely intervention, Pain would have been dead by now and the plan decimated.
It irked him that he was forced to rely on the likes of Orochimaru for his plan, but he was left with no other choice. He may have boasted confidently against the Konoha shinobi but the truth was that a combined force from the five great nations could destroy all that he had built over the course of a decade.
It could undo decades of work, and Obito could not let that happen.
"I had no idea that you were going to declare war upon the Five Great Nations like that?" the Snake Sanin questioned, but he was not in the mood to listen to his hubris.
"Your arms, are they healed?" he questioned, and the man raised them and gathered chakra in them, as a wicked smile erupted on his lips.
"Indeed, they have," and the seal on his arms was now lifted.
"Now it is time for you to keep your end of the bargain," and the contents of it were not exactly what he had told Nagato and Konan.
"I already have," and while he was indeed going to help him heal Nagato's tenketsu, it was evident to Obito that Nagato and the Akatsuki had reached their end. Orochimaru may be able to heal Nagato to some extent, but Konoha already knew all they needed to about those eyes and his powers.
In any subsequent fight, he would be at a great disadvantage. And so, he believed it was time to be rid of him and take some drastic measures.
They still had to obtain some four bijuus, and if the Five Great Nations were allowed to come together as they intended to, it could very well mean the end of the Project Tsuki No Me.
And Obito would never let that happen.
Obito raised a brow at his answer.
"Shoe me then," he prompted, and the golden-eyed sanin bit his thumb and cycled through a series of handseals before he thrust his hand onto the ground.
"Special Summoning Jutsu," and with that, the ground shifted as five coffins rose up behind him, and removing the seal on his hands had come with an added advantage, for it also freed all of the souls trapped within the Reaper Death God's belly to escape.
The sealing jutsu was a kinjutsu known only to a select few individuals, and the Reaper Death God had the souls of perhaps the four most powerful shinobi of this era dwelling in its belly.
Souls that were now free for him to revive and rely on for his plans.
CREAK! And four of the lids shifted and fell down on the ground with a thud to reveal the faces of the Four Hokages.
"I never thought that I would ever see such a gathering," Orochimaru whispered, and Obito was no different, for infront of him stood titans of the ninja world who had shaped the world into what it was.
"With these four shinobi, retrieving the rest of the bijuu will now be quite easy," and over the years the Snake Sanin had perfected the technique of the Nidaime Hokage, and each of the shinobi standing infront of him was now even more powerful than they had been during their peaks.
"And you are certain that you can control them?" Obito questioned, and Orochimaru nodded.
"Of course, I can," and the man had been humiliated by the young Hikari Hyuga, who had somehow found a way to defeat one of his seals, and so he had worked tirelessly to improve upon his fuinjutsu to make sure that he would never face such humiliation ever again.
Obtio's eyes then fell to the last coffin whose lid still remained intact, and as he walked forward, Orchimaru joined him.
"And this is the final card," and he did not need to remove the lid to know what lay underneath it, for he had been the one to give the Snake Sanin the material required to summon him back in the first place.
"Your precious little trump card," Orochimaru added.
"I still cannot believe that he had fooled us all, but what else should I have expected out of a man who had rivalled Hashirama Senju himself," and Obito's head snapped towards him.
"I can hardly imagine the power he must have wielded," and Obito did not remove the lid.
"Don't worry," he said, looking into those golden eyes.
"You won't have to wait long to find out," for Nagato had run out of usefulness, and if the plan was to succeed, then he needed to take some drastic measures.
"Indeed, but not if we don't take care of the pests lingering here," and his pupils tilted towards the shadow to their side, and Obito did not need to look to know exactly who lingered within that darkness.
He had hoped that such a time would not come. But it was here, and suddenly the wall behind him erupted as dark flames began to burn the very stone of the wall, and Obito finally turned towards the shadows as he found himself staring at those ominous red eyes.
"So, you have finally decided to show your true self," as Itachi Uchiha finally stepped out of the shadows, with blood dripping down his face.
"So, it is true indeed," Itachi Uchiha whispered, and this was the first time they would be confronting one another.
"Physical attacks really are useless against you," and they were indeed, and alone, even Obito would hesitate to face him, but he was not quite alone.
"Still, I have other means of dealing with you," and the Mangekyo spun ominously as he was reminded of the epithet.
"The man who can burn through fire itself," and he could deal with him, but why go through the hassle when he had a perfectly capable soldier to do it for him.
"Orochimaru," he called out.
"Why don't you show me the effectiveness of your toys?"
0000
JIRAIYA—The Toad Sage
Days passed, and the information regarding the masked nin's ultimatum was conveyed to the rest of the Hidden Villages. In the end, the ultimatum had only further highlighted the threat posed by Akatsuki and their villainous plans.
The threat had only emboldened the Five Kages into cooperation, and he was set to leave for the meeting in a day as the representative of Konoha. Tsunade had failed to recover in time, and in the end, the Daimyo could wait no more as Jiraiya was coronated as the Rokudaime Hokage of Konohagakure.
And just after the ceremony, he was offered all of the privileges and powers of a kage, yet he was interested in only one such privilege.
Gai and his team had returned from Iwa with their report, and their findings were as damning as he had feared. They were unable to find any remains of Kakashi's old teammate, and while there could be a dozen explanations for that, Jiraiya was more convinced of the one most prevalent.
Obito Uchiha was still alive.
And just the thought of that made his blood rage as he thought of all the atrocities he had committed. It was nearly impossible to think that the little boy who had looked up to Minato and Kushina had been the very cause of their demise.
The very thought tore at his heart.
But there was no other explanation for it all. And so, the question turned into why from who? Obito used to be a little joyful and helpful kid. He had once dreamt of being the Hokage, and yet now he had turned his back on both his village and his friends.
For what? For who?
Was it even really Obito behind that mask, or was it another being simply using his body?
Jiraiya had walked through the darkest parts of the shinobi world and knew that there were many techniques that could be used to control the body of a dead person. Hell, there were even techniques to revive a dead person, and so the possibility of one such technique being used to control his body.
It had to be that. Had to be, for Jiraiya could not imagine that bubbly little boy turning his back on Minato and Kushina.
Still, with the mantle of the Hokage now his, he had access to the tombs where the Hokage had been buried, and he walked through the intricately designed chambers until he walked up to the only grave within that room which did not belong to a kage.
Gai's report had confirmed his suspicion, so he practically had no reason for being here, and yet, for some odd reason, he had to see this for himself. He had to be certain.
And so, he stood in front of the grave of one of the founders, and placed his hand on the seal just so that he could satiate his anxious mind. The sea began to unravel at his touch, and when it was fully 'open', he pushed the slab to the side, expecting to see a rotting corpse, and yet what he saw made his eyes widen.
"What the hell is going on here...."
.
.
.
And so, days turned into weeks, and a troubled Jiraiya stood at the gates of Konoha beside two of his strongest shinobi.
"I leave the village in your care, Shikaku," and the Nara clan head nodded.
"Be safe," and with Gai and Kakashi leaving with him.
"Still, when that Hyuga kid shows up, I want you to give him my message."
"I will...."
0000
And now it begins! Shit is about to blow up big time!
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