53 The Devil inside part two

Outside Konoha

: Two weeks prior.

Orochimaru had doubts about being able to pull off the assault on Konoha. Assuming Rasa didn't get cold feet, he still didn't feel assured of winning.

Too many unpredicted moving parts. Danzo was completely silent and his ROOT Shinobi hadn't made contact with him, Kumo sent both Jinchuriki, which was atypical on its own, he'd recognized Roshi the moment he entered Konoha. One had a habit of remembering the S-ranks that they fought during previous conflicts. But the largest complication was something he couldn't chalk up to coincidence.

Konoha was somehow forewarned.

The traps in the forest were identical to the notes in Ashina's office in Uzu, and Anko didn't look surprised by his presence. She also wasn't surprised by his interest in a target, but she was surprised by it being the Uzumaki boy.

Speaking of the boy, he had a certain theory about why the mark didn't take, and it wasn't because of the Kyuubi.

But, it wasn't like he could test the theory. Not from the lack of material.

But still, it didn't hurt to look at the notes on his jutsu used to move his soul into another body.

Uzumaki Naruto was something else. The boy survived a beheading! He somehow got his head put back on and he survived. The fact he was the one responsible for that unfortunate situation complicated matters. Uzumaki Rin would be unwilling to join him after that, even if he did mark her.

If his theory was true, he'd need access to the sealed off vault in Uzu. Ashina was a sage, but he had no summons. If he, a Sannin, managed to make a curse mark that could give access to manipulating nature chakra, he wouldn't put it past Ashina to have managed it without any drawbacks.

Leaning back for a moment, Orochimaru closed his eyes and took a slow breath, exhaling just as slowly.

The quiet crackling of the fire was a welcome relaxing sound as he read through notes in one of many secret bunkers of his that was all across the outskirts of Konoha, with this particular one being unknown to even Danzo.

If not for his senses, he wouldn't have been prepared. The air shifted minutely and the temperature shifted behind him.

A kunai was flung behind him with his left hand as he dove to the side and made a kage bunshin with his right hand in a half seal, the construct exploding as a cover.

The sword of Kusanagi was now in his grasp and he whirled around, gazing at the unwelcome guest.

"I must say, you are a very difficult man to track, Orochimaru." A voice said from within the smoke and debris cloud from the explosion.

The body attached to the voice stepped out and Orochimaru tensed like a coil, ready to strike.

"What business does the Akatsuki have in Konoha?" Orochimaru hissed, seeing the customary black and red robes of the organization.

The fact that the masked individual had known the location and had seemingly teleported was unsettling, but Orochimaru was sure he could escape from or kill the individual in front of him.

"A cessation of hostilities with the Akatsuki." The masked man replied, sounding bored.

Orochimaru's mind was racing on why that was the case, but his eyes flicked towards a peculiar detail about the room in relation to the unknown individual.

The kunai was not visible, nor was there dirt on the man's robes from the explosion.

"Such a thing would not be offered unless you wish something from me," Orochimaru said, his eyes narrowed, "What does Pein want?"

The emissary uncrossed his arms and reached into his pocket, pulling out a vial.

"If you would put away your blade, we can discuss this as civilized people."

Orochimaru grinned, baring his fangs.

"Kukuku, that is truly ironic coming from an Akatsuki member, and one who hasn't shown the courtesy of giving his name despite so rudely breaking into my laboratory."

"Tobi," The now named individual stated, "And the request still stands."

Very slowly, not breaking eye contact, Orochimaru lowered his sword and set it on the wooden table beside him, the explosion doing no favours to the papers that were strewn about.

"Speak." Orochimaru said simply, adopting an air of relaxed boredom.

"The Akatsuki is prepared to let bygones be bygones if you aid us in a particular endeavor." Tobi spoke, lifting up his hand to display the unknown vial, a ring on the same hand's thumb, "That involves the acquiring of Bijuu."

Orochimaru gazed at the vial, then back to Tobi.

"What is in the vial?" He enquired, beginning to suspect what it was and why the Akatsuki would be desperate enough to go to him, a traitor to the group.

Tobi, without hesitation, tossed it across the room, the snake Sannin catching it without difficulty.

Peering at it, Orochimaru's eyes widened at the familiar script on the side.

They were preservation seals, specifically for biological material.

"Whose blood is this?" Orochimaru had a sinking suspicion of who it could be, based on the age of the chakra conductive paper that had begun to yellow.

Orochimaru could almost hear the smirk behind the orange spiraled mask.

"Uzumaki Ashina."

Uzumaki Ashina?!

That was not what Orochimaru suspected. He suspected it was the Shodai, or perhaps Uchiha Madara. The latter's body was never found by him, likely from the Shodai or Nidaime torching it so he couldn't be resurrected. But Ashina was disintegrated by whatever suicide jutsu he used nearly 30 years ago. Why on Earth would there be a blood sample of his that looked to be over 50 years old from the age of it?

"How did you acquire this?" Orochimaru asked, his guard remaining at its highest.

"The Akatsuki has many resources at its disposal," Tobi replied, looking unbothered, "And few have the uncommon skill and raw power to fight Jinchuriki."

A chill went down Orochimaru's spine involuntarily at the thought of what even a reanimation of Ashina could do. He was nearly decrepit when he fought and killed several S-rank Shinobi, including the Raikage and 2 Jinchuriki.

"You wish for me to use the Edo Tensei to resurrect him?"

"Yes," Tobi answered, "Pein wishes for you to use the Uzukage to spread chaos by attacking Konoha and subduing as many Jinchuriki as possible. Two members are already in Konoha, prepared to take advantage of the weakened and distracted Jinchuriki."

Thinking of who could possibly sneak into Konoha undetected, aside from himself, Orochimaru's eyes lit up and he smirked.

"One of them is Itachi, isn't it?" He didn't need to receive an answer to know it was true.

"Is he an insurance policy in case I go back on my word?" Orochimaru asked amusedly, "I dare say that he is a preferred target over me. He caused far more destruction than I did."

The response was a surprise to be sure.

"You have it backwards, snake," Tobi said flatly, "Itachi is, shall we say, showing potential disloyalty to the cause."

"Oh?" Orochimaru tilted his head, surprised by the prospect of Itachi being seen as a liability, "Is he another reward for my help? I think I've made a decision on a different target."

"There is no shame in admitting you were outsmarted and defeated by a 14 year old boy," Tobi said in a singsong voice, contrary to his otherwise cold and clinical tone, "He is cut from a different cloth of Shinobi."

"As to your query," Tobi seemed to shift back to the original tone, "Itachi loves his brother and is the reason he killed his clan."

Orochimaru wasn't expecting to hear that of all things today, let alone how he was being told it.

"It was ordered by Shimura Danzo after it was discovered that Uchiha Fugaku was unwilling to subject his clan to anymore abuses by Konoha."

"Oh," Orochimaru breathed out lightly, his face contorting into a look of glee, "That is why he did it. I knew the political climate was negative, but to be harsh enough to kill his clan. A civil war or the Uchiha breaking away from Konoha had to have been the catalyst."

The political landscape following the unleashing of the Kyuubi was a non-stop death spiral for the Uchiha, all the influence they built from dutifully serving Konoha vanished the moment rumours of the Sharingan being capable of controlling Bijuu came out. The refusal on Fugaku's part for the Sharingan to be tested condemned them in the public eye.

He was wrong about Itachi. He thought Itachi was like him, but no, he was like Jiraiya, Hiruzen, the Shodai.

He was a dreamer.

And he sacrificed for the village.

"If you had offered nothing but the knowledge of Itachi's motives," Orochimaru said with a grin, "I still would have accepted, but it looks like this will be a very productive alliance for the both of us."

This knowledge would explain many things that only now made sense, including the flat refusal of Danzo to press for Sasuke to be put in the CRA. Itachi was like the Shinigami, hovering over Konoha in the event his brother was harmed.

"You are aware why this knowledge is being shared?" Tobi asked, the single eye of his gazing at his two.

With this knowledge, Konoha's reputation would come crashing down. Another war would be started when the Daimyo inevitably pulled funding from Konoha and demanded Hiruzen step down or face all the other Shinobi villages turning against them. Clan killers were scum, but a supposedly good and righteous village that was actually liked by civilians in the capital killing entire clans would destroy everything Hiruzen fought to protect and build.

The chaos would be glorious.

The two Shinobi wars he fought in yielded countless experiments. Another war could give him access to many more to take advantage of. The Byakugan may be within his reach to study if the Hyuga left Konoha after finding out what happened to the previous Dojutsu users that predated their arrival in Konoha.

Orochimaru licked his lips subconsciously at the thoughts that this knowledge afforded him.

"Any stipulations on when I can make this public?"

"Only if Itachi betrays the Akatsuki," Tobi said, "If not, the agreement is null. The Akatsuki will benefit from conflict, but Itachi is useful to us as long as he is loyal."

"And if he targets me after I acquire the Sharingan?" Orochimaru raised a brow, spotting the small detail.

"He will be reined in by Pein." Tobi shrugged.

At Orochimaru's silent skepticism, Tobi sighed.

"In the event Sasuke is possessed by you, Itachi will have nothing other than the village he murdered his entire family for. If he tries to kill you for killing his brother, the Akatsuki will release the information of what happened, thereby ensuring Konoha's destruction. The Hidden Leaf lacks the S-rank Shinobi needed to combat the entire Shinobi system."

"Ashina's grandson would disagree." Orochimaru thought amusedly, relishing the prospect of Ashina being the one to cut the boy down to size.

"Ah, yes. Uzumaki Naruto. A rather peculiar little brat, isn't he?" Tobi seemed to have an interest in the boy.

"Is there any shadowy, unknown knowledge about the boy you are willing to tell me?" Orochimaru asked with false kindness, "We have been allies for such a long time. A grand 5 minutes."

"Are you willing to offer anything about him?" Tobi asked rhetorically, his voice bordering on a deadpan.

"He can survive being beheaded." Orochimaru said, eliciting a sharp turn of Tobi's head, "And he seems to be able to get under your skin with vague knowledge. Private knowledge."

Despite being a child killer and a murderer, Orochimaru had some standards. Anything personal said in confidence to him was kept a secret. He never told foreign nations about how Tsunade was petrified by the sight of blood, even if it would have been useful to him.

The fact that his Sensei told that boy something as private as his parents was something he refused to believe.

And the knowledge of his interest in the Sharingan, and how Itachi was out to kill him, was impossible for the boy to know.

"What knowledge?" Tobi asked curiously, shifting his posture.

"He was somehow aware that I had an interest in Itachi's body. It was not possible for him to know about my jutsu to such a degree that he knew I could possess others."

Orochimaru was good at reading body language, even if the target was wearing a mask and was as composed as this 'Tobi'. There was a chink in the armour as he mentioned the most recent tidbit.

He was unsettled.

"Is it possible Itachi already betrayed you?" Orochimaru asked rhetorically, "Itachi's successor as Konoha's strongest prodigy is the same boy that revealed that information to me."

Tobi's hand tightened and his gaze went to his, the glow of the fireplace making his eye almost glow in a crimson shade.

"Where is your Akatsuki ring?" Tobi asked softly, a predator coiled and ready to strike.

"On my severed hand, in a secret base, hundreds of miles away." Orochimaru answered smoothly, "Itachi never got ahold of it."

If Naruto was being fed knowledge about the Akatsuki by Itachi, then it could add up to Naruto's prodigious ability and the forethought to conceal his abilities until the opportune moment. But nothing Orochimaru ever encountered, aside from the rings used by the Akatsuki, could do that. No delay from letters, only a constant stream of information.

"You obviously slipped up somewhere," Tobi remarked coldly, "If given the chance, find out how he discovered that detail. If he did learn it from Itachi, kill him."

'Kill Uzumaki?'

"You would let me kill the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi?" Orochimaru asked incredulously, genuinely shocked by the abrupt shift in priorities. That would be the pinnacle of counterproductive.

"His twin sister is also a Jinchuriki." Tobi replied, "Uzumaki Rin is a Jinchuriki as well." his voice sounded tight at the last half of the sentence.

Orochimaru visibly scowled, despite trying to conceal it.

He couldn't very well mark her now, could he?! If it wasn't one thing, it was another. And as a certain Uzumaki liked to say when a seal complication arose.

If it isn't one thing, it's three.

"How did Namikaze manage to seal the Kyuubi into both of them?" Orochimaru was truly angry now, another plan ruined by a lack of knowledge.

"Perhaps there is a way to split Jinchuriki in half." Tobi offered, sounding uncertain.

"Easier said than done," Orochimaru said sharply, not caring for false politeness, "Nothing can split a Bijuu in half to that level aside fro-" He paused and sucked in some air in realization, "The Shiki fujin."

He'd heard Ashina talk to Jiraiya in private about it, with the help of a small snake summon of his acting as a spy.

He'd felt ashamed at the time when Ashina approached him in private about his deceit, and especially when the man scolded him. Him, an S-rank Shinobi, was scolded like a child for spying to learn. Orochimaru remembered pleading to learn more jutsu to protect his friends, honor and respect be damned. Ashina had given him the harshest look he'd ever been the recipient of and told him power meant nothing when you destroyed your relationships in the process.

Gritting his teeth at the memory, Orochimaru ran through how Namikaze could have possibly split the Kyuubi and seal both halves in his children instead of one half in himself as the jutsu was designed to do so.

He gave up after trying to think of how he could have, deciding he needed information.

"What do you know about Uzumaki Naruto?" Orochimaru turned sharply towards Tobi, his voice as cold as ice, "I offered information about his knowledge of my interest in Itachi. Does the Akatsuki have information?"

Tobi was silent for several moments, almost like he were debating an answer. After some time, he breathed in and answered.

"There is a vault in Uzu tied to Ashina's bloodline, and it requires a sage with Ashina's blood to open it."

"I already know that," Orochimaru snapped, his irritation at being unable to mark the Uzumaki girl still in his mind, "But if that is the case, why didn't you use this blood sample to get in?"

"I'm not a sage." Tobi said simply, brushing imaginary lint off his sleeve.

At the lack of other knowledge, Orochimaru sighed and let it go, knowing it was fruitless to stew over it.

"Is there anything else?" He asked, lifting up the vial, "I wish to reacquaint myself with an old friend."

"Keep him from killing any of the Jinchuriki." Tobi said, something slipping into his hand.

It turned out to be a smoke bomb when Tobi dropped it and a plume of smoke appeared, masking him from view.

After a few moments, the smoke cleared by and Tobi was nowhere to be seen.

Orochimaru looked at the empty space and then the wall, noticing something that stood out.

The debris was untouched, meaning Tobi had not moved at all. But the kunai he flung was embedded in the wall right exactly where Tobi's head was.

No visible mark on him, the kunai not making contact, and he seemed to appear from nowhere.

Whatever Tobi was capable of, it wasn't the Hiraishin. The temperature shift indicated wherever he came from was colder than the room and whatever technique he did pulled the warmth of the room away somewhat. The Hiraishin, which Namikaze used to appear behind him at one point years back, causing an unsettling feeling from the lack of sound and no shift in the air, was not like what Tobi did.

Reminding himself to research it later, Orochimaru went to exit the hideout and go to a civilian village outside of Konoha.

He needed a fresh sacrifice.

//////////////////////

Everything was ready. Precautions were set, as befitting a Kage level Shinobi whose last living experience was dying amidst a sea of enemy corpses. Orochimaru didn't plan on losing his head from Ashina lashing out at him.

With the seal anchor planted on the fresh corpse, a murderer that nobody would miss, Orochimaru blurred through the proper hand seals and pressed them on the corpse, backing away quickly.

A rush of potent chakra filled the room and shadowy parts began to engulf the body, forming a shape that Orochimaru only vaguely recognized.

'How old is this blood?' He thought in shock, gazing down at the reanimation as it started to take shape.

The last he remembered, Ashina didn't have crimson red hair like his descendant. It had turned almost completely white by the time he first met him.

Ashina looked like he might have been thirty, but that could be from him being an Uzumaki. The blood was over a half century old, and still fresh from the seals on the vial.

'I'm going to do something I'm going to probably regret.' He thought to himself, hoping what he was about to do didn't get him killed.

Orochimaru, student of the Kami no Shinobi, veteran of 2 Shinobi wars, and an immortal, reached out and poked Ashina's arm with his sword, almost like poking a dead opposum in the middle of the street.

He wasn't prepared for what came next.

A flash of purple chakra nearly blinded him and made his ears ring from the high pitched blast, causing him to stagger back a few steps.

The stone table that he strapped the vessel to house Ashina's soul cracked, the seals on it glowing intensely from the blast of chakra almost overloading them.

He managed to see the figure sit up abruptly, looking around swiftly.

The only thing he was able to make out through the near blinding flash was a familiar pair of intense violet eyes, almost glowing with a depth he couldn't fathom.

The slow turn of Ashina towards him almost felt like a horror film just from the slowness of it.

Uzumaki Ashina, first and only Uzukage, killer of Jinchuriki and Kage, looked at him with a flat expression.

"A-ashina-sama." Orochimaru said, cursing himself for stuttering like a child in front of the monster he just summoned into the world of the living.

Ashina's face curled into a snarl and he roared in rage, his entire body shimmering. Orochimaru threw up his sword in a guard position, but his mouth fell open in shock when Ashina shimmered once more and vanished from sight.

////////////////

End chapter

:

Orochimaru has no idea what the fuck he's done and Obito is making plans to leave Itachi out to dry if he even thinks about betraying him.

I looked back at the stuff where Naruto and Rin argue about stuff and I see it seemed too emotionally abrupt constantly. More than one person mentioned how it seemed like two opposite ends of the pendulum, with them screaming at each other only to make up with just words. I've looked at other parts where scenes went from rather light-hearted to almost instantly angst like that and I agree with how borderline unrealistic it is. It was supposed to show that the MC thinks he's calm, collected, and in control at times, but he's really much closer to the other end of the spectrum than he realizes. Looking back, it came out less than ideal. I'd already planned on not putting as much, if anymore, of that intense of stuff, now that Jiraiya is here as a stabilizing influence for Naruto, because it no longer serves a purpose that won't feel like I'm beating a dead horse.

So, anyway, this is a false cliffhanger because the rest of the chapter is beneath this fake Author's Note. Suckers!

//////////////////////

Instincts honed by over four decades of training, fighting, and killing caused Orochimaru to keep his guard up and duck his head, despite Ashina disappearing from sight.

The blind instinct to duck likely saved his head from being cut off by the golden chakra blade that was swung downward towards his head, with a few hairs being taken off.

Orochimaru swung around and twisted the blade away from him, a second making its way towards his chest.

In a fit of desperation, Orochimaru commanded Ashina to stop, but it only slowed him down for a split second. That split second let Orochimaru shift the blade to sink into his left shoulder and he slashed at the rough area where a human of Ashina's height's neck would be, hoping to sever the reanimation's head.

Ashina's body rematerialized and his head fell off his shoulders, eerily reminiscent of another Uzumaki that Orochimaru had beheaded.

Hissing in pain as the chakra blade lodged in his shoulder disappeared, Orochimaru grabbed the headless corpse with his good arm and flung it back onto the table, making a hand seal to reactivate the chakra suppressant seals and gravity seals etched into the stone of the cracked table.

Ashina's head rebuilt itself and the man immediately started screaming at the top of his voice, trying to stand back up.

"I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU ALL!" He roared, his chakra visibly twisting to try and break the seals.

Orochimaru, despite being a very powerful and capable Shinobi, was unsettled by the raw hatred radiating from the man.

Ashina eventually gave up after several minutes of trying, and did something that made Orochimaru even more uncomfortable.

He started crying.

He couldn't understand whatever gibberish Ashina was wailing about, but the man wept like he had lost everything in the world. Which, thinking about it, he did.

"Please," He moaned pathetically, rocking back and forth, "Let me die."

He kept repeating something else over and over again, as if he were praying.

"Make it stop. Let me die."

The Nidaime's notes never said anything about the Edo Tensei shattering someone's sanity if the reanimation was given more free will like Ashina was.

Steeling himself, Orochimaru approached Ashina, who was still rocking back and forth.

"Ashina-sama." He said respectfully, his voice soft, much like when he spoke to one of Ashina's great grandchildren in Uzu.

No response.

"Ashina-sama." He said clearly, still not getting a response.

He was about to speak again, but Ashina moved impossibly fast and leaped off the table again, a chakra blade in hand.

A swift reactivation of the security seals and a flexing of the telepathic link between summoner and summon had Ashina back on the floor.

"Fuck!" Ashina shouted, growling as he tried to push himself to a kneeling position.

"You almost had me believing you had truly gone mad, old man." Orochimaru said with a frostiness in his voice at being deceived.

"Almost?" Ashina, managed to force his head up to look at him, violet eyes shining with malice, "You feel like Orochimaru, yet you're not the same."

"I am nearly 30 years older and have achieved immortality." Orochimaru replied, causing Ashina to chuckle.

"You're a fucking idiot if you think switching bodies was the best type of immortality." The Uzumaki patriarch's grin widened at the stiffening of the snake Sannin's posture, "Oh, yes, I knew that was one way to technically live forever. But you missed something important."

"And what is that?" Orochimaru asked with a hint of curiousity.

Ashina did not answer.

"Answer me now!" Orochimaru said coldly, exerting his will on the man.

Ashina growled and clamped down his jaw, the sound of artificial teeth cracking was audible in the empty room.

"You," Ashina gritted out, fighting each syllable, "Cannot. Be. A. Sage."

Orochimaru scoffed, letting go of the leash he had on Ashina's will, taking a deep breath at the effort.

Holding onto Ashina's mind was like holding onto a hurricane, everything being absolutely chaotic and all consuming.

Orochimaru made sure to keep his distance from the man, not trusting him at all.

"Where are they?" Ashina asked quietly, looking down at the ground, "Where are my grandchildren? I saw the ships evacuate."

Orochimaru honestly didn't want to answer truthfully. Despite Ashina having some reason to try and kill him twice in the span of a couple minutes, Orochimaru didn't want the man to know his last stand was for nothing.

"Believe me or not, but I am sorry to tell you that the boats were ambushed and destroyed when they landed on shore. There were no survivors."

"No." Ashina whispered in a broken voice, "I don't believe you."

"Kushina made it safely to Konoha, but the ships full of civilians were destroyed. We failed to get there in time."

"We?" Ashina's voice continued to be weak.

"Me, Tsunade, and Jiraiya."

Ashina didn't respond, only looking down and clenching his hands every few moments.

Eventually, the man looked more closely at his hands, before his hand shot to his hair. Frantically, he grabbed at one of the shoulder length, crimson locks and pushed it in front of his face, causing his eyes to widen.

"How did you get my blood?" He demanded, his stare boring into his eyes, "Tell me, damn you!"

Orochimaru debated on telling him, but he eventually decided to because he himself was curious about Ashina's blood being stored for so long.

"A mysterious individual, whose identity I don't know, gave it to me. Why did you have blood stored for so long?"

"Was it an Uchiha?" Ashina bit out, his expression practically feral, "I will burn that clan to ash."

"You are in luck," Orochimaru said, pausing to let Ashina understand, "Only two Uchiha are alive today."

Ashina looked introspective, then his eyes flicked around.

"How old are they? Who is the oldest?"

"The oldest is 18." Orochimaru answered honestly, confused on why Ashina had that expression on his face.

Gone was the grief stricken and broken man. In his place was the monster that was feared for decades, even as an old man.

"Precisely how long have I been dead?" Ashina asked, "And are there any Senju or descendants of mine that are of the same age as the eldest?"

Orochimaru shook his head.

"Tsunade is the last remaining Senju and I only know of two descendants of yours that are alive."

Ashina's breath hitched, even when he didn't need to breath.

"Kushina?" He asked weakly.

"She was killed 13 years ago." Orochimaru said neutrally, aware of how much Ashina adored her.

Deciding to not let the man have nothing but negativity, Orochimaru went on to tell him about Kushina's twin children.

"She had twins. A boy and a girl. The boy has your hair, and the girl has her mother's eyes, similar to yours, come to think of it."

Ashina smiled softly, in spite of the situation.

"Their names?"

"Naruto and Rin." Orochimaru replied.

Ashina stayed on his knees, looking at Orochimaru silently.

"Please tell me what has happened since I died."

"It will take some time." Orochimaru said, which caused Ashina to slowly blink and seemed to sag further.

"I have lived longer than any other I know. Time is something I am intimately familiar with."

Orochimaru got the hint and said he'd be back in a moment to retrieve a chair. He wasn't going to stand throughout the night.

As he got a chair from another room, he question why he didn't just wait to resurrect Ashina with The Shodai and Nidaime to destroy Konoha. It would have been much simpler instead of almost getting killed.

'Perhaps it's something as simple as admiration.' Orochimaru thought. The only two people he truly admired in his life were Hiruzen and Ashina. Senju Tobirama had his respect for being the foundation of research and science that made his immortality possible, but Ashina trained Tobirama in Fuinjutsu and helped to stabilize the formation of Konoha, all while forming his own village and standing vigil over it and his clan for almost 70 combined years. Since before Madara and Hashirama were born.

Setting the chair down, Orochimaru sat in it and leaned forward, planting his chin on his palm.

"For the sake of my grandchild, Tsunade, and the grandchildren I haven't met, I will give you a proper warning" Ashina said quietly, but the iron in his voice betrayed his true thoughts, "Unless you give me an excellent reason, I will sever the hold you have on me and I will kill Hiruzen for forsaking me when I begged him to send aid. I will have my pound of flesh and I will start by killing both those Uchiha bastards."

Orochimaru smirked at the hatred Ashina now had, even if it seemed out of character. But what did he know, death changes people, at least those that had friends who died, not to mention those who actually did die.

"How fortunate," Orochimaru chuckled mirthlessly, "I too wish for my former Sensei's death."

Ashina leaned closer.

"Tell me everything that has happened."

/////////////////////

Now

.

"I will not help you." Ashina said coldly, repeating what he said every single day since he was first resurrected.

"Unless you tell me what is in that vault, and how to get into it, I will ensure that you murder your own grandchildren," Orochimaru said exasperatedly, tired of the constant threat, "Please, do not try and call a bluff that isn't one."

Ashina had rejected an agreement the moment he had heard the years following the Kyuubi attack. Not only had he been unusually focused on the details of the last thirteen years specifically, but he had also asked about how the blood used to reanimate him was given to him.

More than one thing was confusing on Ashina's priorities in learning, which included the two Uchiha, their age, temperament, and the behavior of his two grandchildren and how they differed.

"I may be willing to share if I trusted you with that knowledge," Ashina grinned, almost like it was an inside joke, "But I trust you as much as a rattlesnake with a 'Pet me' sign on it."

"Oh, your wit is always welcome." Orochimaru said flatly, reminding himself that Ashina had been downright civil for the most part and had refrained from being insufferable after he made a single comment about Orochimaru liking little kids.

"And I will find a way in there." Orochimaru said, eliciting a laugh from the red haired dead man.

"Not even Madara with his uncle's eyes could slip through that vault." Ashina said amusedly, "A Hiraishin anchor put in there wouldn't work. All space/time and teleportation jutsu are cancelled out by it."

Orochimaru caught that first part, about the uncle of Uchiha Madara.

"What about his uncle's eyes?" Orochimaru asked curiously.

Ashina smirked and leaned closer off the table. "The Sharingan has many abilities that exceed the simple form that copies jutsu, predicts movement, and casts Genjutsu out of the eyes."

Orochimaru felt his heartbeat quicken in anticipation at what he was about to hear.

"The rumours of me personally infiltrating the Uchiha clan and assassinating several members are true. Tajima wasn't happy when he found two of his brothers choking on their own blood. Not my fault that they didn't expect me to bend the light around my body with water to turn invisible."

"So that was what you did." Orochimaru stated, remembering some of the things said about the Nidaime Tsuchikage, "Lord Mu copied it?"

"Mu learned it separately like I did," Ashina clarified, "And water wasn't his affinity. It was unfortunate that he was killed along with Gengetsu. They both seemed to be capable Shinobi and Kage."

'Capable? They were some of the best of their generation.' Orochimaru thought, reminding himself that the happy go lucky old man he knew from before was the more mellow version of an assassin and killer that infiltrated the Uchiha, killed several, and escaped.

"But why infiltrate them?" Orochimaru pressed further, "What was worth potentially dragging your clan into conflict with the Uchiha?"

"The Uchiha needed to be destroyed, or at least their leaders," Ashina sighed, his eyes containing a faraway look, "I constantly asked for us to join the Senju in fighting them, but my father constantly rejected my reason. And by the time I became clan head, Madara and Izuna were adults."

"I doubt Uchiha Izuna was as dangerous to you as it sounds," Orochimaru said skeptically, "The Nidaime killed him and you are far better than Senju Tobirama."

"You don't account for many things, boy," Ashina said sharply, "If I had tipped the balance against the Uchiha, other clans would have allied with the Uchiha to prevent a power bloc that included the Senju with Hashirama at the helm and me as the Uzumaki clan head. The Yamanaka, along with the Nara and Akamichi, were already sniffing around to see if they could take advantage of a potential power vacuum in the event Madara and Hashirama killed each other." Ashina's face then displayed a small grin, "Not to mention that they underestimated how much longer Uzumaki live. They thought I was middle aged, hah! I outlived all the naysayers and all their children."

Orochimaru, even at the age he was now, had a particular love for history and how each moment echoed into the future. Uzumaki Ashina, in a way, would always be more powerful than him. He was from decades prior and wielded more power to change the world than the following generations. Each preceding generation had more power to shape the future than their successors by merit of having first try.

"But I have gotten off topic," Ashina said, "A history lesson on balancing the political structure of a dead era can be talked about later. I'm going to tell you about how I saw Uchiha Tajima's brother's eyes shift into something else that gave him the ability to phase through attacks after I killed his brother in front of him. At least until I killed him a few minutes later."

Orochimaru raised a brow, thinking back to the mysterious Tobi.

"Suppose an individual had a kunai thrown at his head and an explosion from a Kage bunshin detonated right next to him, and no debris stained his robes, no tearing, no blood, and the kunai was lodged in the wall right behind his head. This individual may have also teleported into a secret base nobody to my knowledge knew about. Would this person fit that criteria?"

Ashina's chakra progressively got denser and denser as the younger man's explanation went on, his Killing Intent making the air thick with fury.

"Describe him." Ashina said slowly, his fingers dancing on the table in a rhythmic movement.

Orochimaru described Tobi as best he could, including his hair colour, posture, tone of voice, and the information he gave.

Ashina was quiet as he processed the information, then his eyes shown with purpose.

He started pacing around, muttering about familial connection, genetic, and personality.

"I must be let out," He said, standing up from the table, "I must feel the chakra of the two Uchiha boys."

"And warn Konoha that you were brought back?" Orochimaru laughed, "I think not."

"This is more important than your petty vengeance, child," Ashina growled, flexing his will against the leash, "I thought Madara was a madman when he told me he would return when Hashirama and I were dead, but he may not have been as insane as I thought."

Orochimaru gritted his teeth and used his entire focus to keep the connection from breaking. He needed to use the seal tag to suppress his will.

"What are you going on about, old man?" Orochimaru was at his limits on tolerating Ashina's cryptic statements.

"Tell me," Orochimaru said stiffly, pulling on the connection with Ashina, "Why that matters."

Ashina growled and pulled as well, loosening the leash on his will.

"I will not give information to a fucking traitor!" Ashina snarled, flaring his chakra so intensely that the chains on his mind temporarily broke.

The now rogue Uzumaki rushed towards him, chakra blade in hand.

Orochimaru charged the man and engaged him in taijutsu, avoiding the slashes as he drove a fist into the redhead's face.

The hit staggered Ashina, giving Orochimaru an opportunity to try and slip a tag on him. Ashina leaned back and checked Orochimaru's arm holding the tag and the snake Sannin heard and felt his forearm crack from the impact of the Edo's fist.

The speed of Ashina went up significantly and Orochimaru retreated, several powerful blows slipping through.

"I will stop you before you take everything from me again!" Ashina snarled, another chakra blade forming in his left hand.

Orochimaru didn't have room to maneuver or use destructive jutsu to hold Ashina in line, and it showed.

Ducking under the swing, the Sannin managed to free his sword from his throat and clashed his blade with Ashina's, both straining to overpower the other.

"Hanzo could not kill me," Orochimaru gritted out, "I succeeded in surviving while your wretched clan is dead."

Orochimaru expected the animalistic howl and the kick that winded him, followed by the overextended swing.

Orochimaru twisted to the side and swung downward, taking Ashina's hand off.

Orochimaru went to step away, but the kick to his knee had him staggering as the wet crunch of the bone breaking echoed in the narrow corridor of the base.

Ashina, without hesitation, re-engaged him and drove several punches and kicks to his chest and face, a chakra blade sometimes slipped in.

The speed was astronomical, mid S-rank, when the man was a reanimation. Orochimaru was using all his taijutsu skill to duck and dodge the attacks he could due to the strength behind the hits.

Another punch slipped through and he felt his jaw fracture, followed by his sword arm being grabbed.

Ashina leaned forward and used a chakra enhanced punch to send him flying back into a wall thirty meters away, his ribs screaming their pain.

Orochimaru blinked and gasped, the pain almost as intense as when he fought Naruto.

Glancing to his sword, he blinked in shock.

His arm was gone!

The stump was at shoulder level and blood was pouring from the wound at a frightful pace, staining his shirt and the stone floor.

Ashina had grabbed his sword and punched him so hard his arm got wrenched from its socket.

It was in this moment Orochimaru knew...

He fucked up.

Ashina, holding his severed arm, laughed like a man possessed and blurred through hand seals, his chest expanding in preparation for a jutsu.

Suiton: Water Severing Wave.

A sharp blade of water chakra shot from Ashina's mouth at a blistering pace. Orochimaru barely ducked under it and felt the wall supporting him shatter, causing him to stagger.

With no other option, Orochimaru took off running, trying to get space between him and the vengeful Uzumaki.

He heard several puffs and the corridor he slipped into was bathed in a golden light similar to Ashina's blade, meaning he likely made Kage bunshin.

'I need both hands to deactivate the damned reanimation.' Orochimaru thought frantically, preparing to play the role of prey if need be.

Ashina likely suspected that he could fix his injuries somehow, meaning this was going to be difficult.

"Hissy hissy, little Orochi," The aforementioned man's voice echoed through the corridor, "Slither on the floor. Be good to Papa Ashi, or I'LL HIT YOU LIKE A WHORE!" The voice turned into a chorus of all the bunshin roaring in rage with the combined Killing Intent of them.

Orochimaru ignored the taunt and kept on running, needing to think of a plan to evade the fuck up he made.

//////////////////////

'You never did learn to not fuck with things you shouldn't, Orochimaru.' Ashina thought to himself, glancing back at the laboratory he just left as he was racing towards Konoha with the assist of chakra.

After covering a few miles, his chakra fluctuated and he stumbled forward, bouncing across the ground like a stone across a river, everything a blur.

"Fuck's sake, Tobi," Ashina growled under his breath, standing up and dusting himself off, "You always were a lazy bastard when it wasn't strictly necessary. I swear, Batsuma fucked a Nara before he railed your mother. Transplanted their fucking laziness."

Tobirama was the smartest student he ever had, but for Kami's sake, he couldn't be bothered to transcribe his work into a cohesive manner. 'Not my fault that others can't understand my intellect' was what he would say. Truthfully, he was probably too lazy to polish up his shitty record keeping on his more esoteric jutsu.

Ashina remembered telling him to tighten up the random chakra fluctuations that plagued the Edo Tensei when the reanimations had obscene levels of Yin chakra, but his student wasn't bothered by it, wanting to work on the Hiraishin instead.

'I must warn Konoha. Hiruzen must know that Orochimaru has brought me back.'

He had lied about hating Hiruzen. Much of his rage was a fabrication to get Orochimaru to give him information about the invasion, which only bore some fruit.

The wind was in his hair as he zipped across the landscape, beginning to recognize the area.

'I'm sorry, everyone.' He would have started crying if he physically could. 'I wasn't strong enough.'

His family and clan suffered because of the choice he made, a choice that no person alive knew.

He'd been out of Uzu when the coalition began approaching it. A single choice to venture out had cost him everything. His vengeance robbed him of saving them.

And it was all for Nothing in the end.

The pale moonlight illuminated Konohagakure in a pleasant light, the view an amazing one.

Four faces etched into the cliff, three of whom he personally knew. The fourth and latest one wasn't a face he personally knew, but he could guess who it was.

"Kami, you look flaky." He muttered to himself, leaping off the cliff and shifting some water chakra around him to hide his visual presence.

He eventually got to his target, avoiding all the icky living people, and pressed out his sensing, forcing through a flash of memory from another Kage bunshin being killed by Orochimaru.

He also felt the glee his bunshin felt. He'd managed to make several dozen of them, which was low compared to what he could have done if he were alive and in his prime like his body was now, but they were doing their job.

That entire bunker was turned into a horror show with his bunshin turning invisible and manipulating water chakra to make mist to blind the traitor even more so and his bunshin also made Mizo bunshin to irritate Orochimaru further.

Since the Edo Tensei required two hands, he was going to have a hard time fighting off his bunshin and deactivate the reanimation. Funnier still, his bunshin wouldn't disperse along with him. They'd need to be killed.

Shaking those thoughts aside, Ashina approached the mask temple where his clan's surviving masks were held, more than one made by his own hand.

"Hello." Ashina muttered, sensing that there were security seals that looked and felt similar to how Jiraiya or Hiruzen made seals.

Walking up towards the door, he pressed his hands together and made 3 quick hand seals, punching the seal on the door.

The seal fizzled out as it disconnected from the matrix, a replacement of his substituting its place.

Pushing the door open with a creak, Ashina walked into the decrepit temple, a certain item needed.

As he walked into the side room where the masks were on display, he looked down and saw three sets of footprints that were relatively fresh, the massive crack in the floor also about the same age.

The one set was obviously Hiruzen's, judging by the man's sandal size and how his gait was when he walked.

"70 years old now and you still walk like shit flinger." Ashina chuckled to himself, remembering how a young Sarutobi would get angry at him for calling him that. That was a life lesson for the little gaki. The best Shinobi in the world were assholes and sonsofbitches that got a thrill from messing with people.

Peering closer at the wall, Ashina scowled.

"Too many years of neglect. Half the damn masks don't even look safe to use... and which one is it, damnit?" He started pacing just a foot away from the masks, trying to gauge which one it was.

Trying one he hoped was correct on a gamble, Ashina slipped it on.

The first 2 seconds of wearing it, nothing happened. But what happened next had him frantically clawing at it.

'That's not it! That's not it! That's not it!' He started shouting in his mind, ripping it off and throwing it aside.

He'd had his sensory abilities active and he felt a void behind him, a very familiar one.

"Breathe in, man," He said to himself, hunched over as he tried to calm his thoughts, for he didn't need to breathe and he didn't have a heartbeat, "You're not dea-. Actually, no, you are fucking dead. But the Shinigami doesn't have you. You can still save them."

He slowly crept towards the mask and picked it up, walking back and setting it in its previous space.

That was the mask that would summon the Shinigami to partially meld with the summoner, giving the user the means to release whatever was sealed in it's stomach.

Not precisely what he was looking for.

Resigned to possibly causing a scene, Ashina sat down and crossed his legs, sitting completely still.

After several minutes, he was able to calm his chakra to a soft and flowing stream, his sensing reaching out into nature itself.

'I am one with nature, and nature is one with me.'

He began drawing nature chakra into his artificial body, mixing it with his own chakra. After an acceptable level of balance occurred for him to enhance his sensory ability with Senjutsu, Ashina opened his sensory third eye.

He caught a flicker from the mask two feet up and to the right of the previous mask.

Ashina rushed forward and reached to grab the mask, a triumphant grin on his face.

Pausing for a moment, he stuck the mask to his side with chakra and made a cross sign, pushing a substantial amount of chakra into making one Kage bunshin.

A copy of him appeared and gave a wide, toothy grin.

"As many as possible?"

Ashina nodded.

"I'm going to celebrate. Be discreet about getting the money. Go wild when you do have it."

The bunshin exited the temple and shimmered out of view, setting the stage for his mission.

Now that the previous issue was resolved, Ashina smiled as he looked at the inside of the mask, his eyes tracing the intricate seal work drawn with his own blood.

He put the mask on and he pulsed a small amount of his chakra into one of the seals, activating the extremely complex cluster that took years of development for him to get it to work.

Nature chakra rushed into the seal anchor, then directly into his body and he at last, for the first time in weeks, felt a part of his strength be restored.

"A painter gone blind," He mumbled to himself, clenching and unclenching his hand, "A composer gone deaf." He then reached out with his Senjutsu assisted sensing and saw. He heard. He felt.

He remembers this power, even if it wasn't what it was before. But all of Konoha could be felt by him. The chakra of the Earth wrapped itself snug around him and hid his individual signature from all sensors, while revealing them to his sight.

To the sensors, he was but another shrub or tree.

Laughing in joy at seeing like he once had, Ashina eventually started focusing on specific chakra signatures.

There were several bright chakra presences that had his chakra flaring in desire, a thrill and demand for bloodshed in his mind.

'Ichibi. Nibi. Hachibi. Roshi.'

Roshi killed his son. Roshi's unit delayed him in reaching Uzu, even if the vertically challenged irritant didn't realize it. And his eldest bled out in his arms the day he got back, begging to know why he left them.

"Why, Touchan?" Even a man in his seventies could sound like the little boy he'd bounced on his knee when he had more fingers than baby teeth when he had a nightmare, "You promised. Why did you leave us?"

"Tomorrow," Ashina told himself, restraining his gnawing desire to wrap his grip around the Jinchuriki's neck and squeeze until his head was crushed between his fingers, "Tomorrow."

As he focused his sensing on another bright signature, he stilled. His thoughts sharpened when he sensed it was a familiar one.

It wasn't possible. He was dead. Dead before he died. He saw and felt the light leave the man's eyes, but his chakra was there! Right in Konoha.

Ashina ripped the mask from his face and put it back on the wall with a little too much force than necessary.

Uzumaki Ashina vowed he would figure out what the hell was going on tomorrow, for today was a personal moment of freedom that he wasn't going to give up for anyone, that's for damn sure.

//////////////////

Itachi made his way to the cemetery, his mind adrift at what was going to happen tomorrow.

He'd told Sasuke about his friends' secret and he lashed out at him, instead of feeling betrayed by his friends. His little brother had promptly rushed to his home and, surprisingly, made a Kage bunshin.

The next hour or two involved Sasuke seeming to have a conversation with the bunshin, which had Henged as Uzumaki Rin.

Sasuke had eventually probably ordered the chakra construct to Henge as Naruto, based on it doing so.

Uchiha Sasuke, the boy he wanted to be killed by in the end, seemed to not blame his friends for keeping a secret and instead accepted it and walked to the Uzumaki's apartment. Judging by the smile on his brother's face, Itachi assumed he affirmed his friendships even further.

Getting to the cemetery, Itachi walked towards the memorial to his clan, the clan he murdered.

Glancing discreetly, he spotted a man with red hair kneeling at a grave, likely weeping.

Itachi left the man to his personal needs and approached two graves that were next to the monument.

Uchiha Fugaku. Uchiha Mikoto.

"Tousan. Kaasan." He whispered, fighting back the nauseating phantom scent of blood at the memory he last had of them.

Fighting through his self hatred, he began talking about how his life had been, almost like it was just another day after being given time off from ANBU missions.

He'd made sure to be careful to not get hurt. No, he didn't get any girl pregnant. No, he didn't have a girlfriend. No, kaasan, there's no girl. Tousan, I don't like guys. Stop pestering me.

He didn't know how long he was there, but the fact that this was the only time he'd ever been here actually felt cathartic.

Eventually, he got to the part about Sasuke.

"I can't do it." He whispered, a tear trailing down his cheek, "I can't hurt him again. I can't protect him forever, but I don't want him to be like me. I count the days by how much closer he is to killing me. When I can be free."

Sasuke made immense progress in just one short month of training from him, Rin also made leaps of progress. If this were a better world, he could say how proud he was of his little brother, and how he could proudly serve the village and his clan.

Itachi vowed he'd find another way. Sasuke will not be him. Sasuke will be better. He'll live and have a family, a wife and beautiful children who would be safe from the fabricated monster that their uncle was.

Itachi heard a slight intake of air to his side, causing him to glance out of the corner of his eye.

"Relation?" The red haired man from before asked, his violet eyes gazing down at the tombstones.

Itachi pondered for a moment, before shaking his head.

"Simply friends." He replied quietly, not elaborating.

"Hmm," The man mumbled to himself, his gaze still aimed at the stones.

"You a Shinobi?" The man asked, causing Itachi to turn and face him.

"I was." Itachi admitted, taking in the unknown man's features.

He was around 30 years of age and stood at an above average height. His hair was red and he had a neatly trimmed beard on his face, with violet eyes that for some reason were familiar.

The man's features softened as Itachi answered him.

"So was I." He said, sighing and taking a deep breath, "Civilians don't truly understand what we go through for their sake."

Itachi nodded grimly, remembering the kinds of things he did that not even animals would do to protect Konoha.

"If I may ask," the man said, looking curious, "What is your name?"

Itachi turned back towards his parent's names, pondering an answer.

"Izuna." He replied, thinking of the first name he could recall.

"Ah," The man chuckled to himself, "A strong name, for a strong Shinobi."

"Not sure about strong." Itachi replied.

"I recognize the stance you pulled," The man scoffed, causing Itachi to narrow his eyes, "And I almost missed the kunai being slipped into your hand when I surprised you."

Itachi looked at the man in a different light, now that he'd been had as a capable Shinobi.

Retracting the kunai into his concealed pouch on his forearm, Itachi pondered casting a Genjutsu on the man to knock him out.

'No. It would be overkill. He's probably wanting to talk and distract himself from grieving. Kami knows I need a distraction as well.'

"What is your angle?" Itachi asked, itching to activate his Sharingan and put the man down if need be.

"I simply wondered why a handsome lad like you is here among ghosts instead of engaging in the entertainment from the Chunin exams."

Itachi had no interest in the crowds, not being in the mood for that when he wasn't training Sasuke and Rin. Kisame, on the other hand, went out drinking most of the nights and had an all around good time over the last two weeks since more people came pouring into Konoha in preparation for the finals.

"I have nothing to celebrate." Itachi said, not elaborating.

"Oh, come on," The older man rolled his eyes, "You're what, 18? You should be making a girl scream your name and walk bow legged tomorrow, not grieving in front of ghosts."

Itachi did not appreciate the crass comment, feeling a headache beginning to build.

"Are you so deprived of amusement that you would seek to irritate me into fighting you?" Itachi asked, glaring at the man.

"I don't know," The man crossed his arms, "Is it working?"

Itachi clicked his tongue lightly and narrowed his eyes dangerously.

"You couldn't handle me." Itachi warned, running through the pros and cons of putting the man down hard. He could be slightly inebriated, which might be why the man was being stupid, but he didn't smell alcohol on him.

"I hate to break it to you, kid," The man laughed, "But you couldn't handle my descended left testicle, let alone me."

"I think you should leave." Itachi said coldly, truly annoyed by the man.

The man shrugged. "Whatever, Izuna, my daughter doesn't talk to me, so I just wished for a conversation."

"Perhaps her ignoring of you is a reflection on your insufferable comments." Itachi refrained from looking at him because his Sharingan might instinctively activate.

"Being dead makes it easy to ignore comments." The man said flatly, causing Itachi to freeze.

"I did not realize that." Itachi said apologetically, avoiding eye contact, "I am sorry."

"She would have said worse." The man waved him off, unconcerned, "Not like I said such things in front of her. It was always my friends and students that I spoke to in such a manner."

Itachi understood now why the man kept speaking.

He was lonely.

"Take it from someone who has lost everything, kid," The man began saying, a rather sagely tone used, "Closing yourself off to anything positive and good will eat at your soul. I have nothing left, the Kyuubi took my daughter from me, my family is gone, and my prize student died in my arms. But I look at the lights coming from the village, and I hear the celebration. They can live free of the hardships we dealt with for their sake. There will be generations because of what we have done."

'There will be generations lost because of me.'

"I will try." Itachi lied, almost humouring the thought of shocking the man by revealing himself as Uchiha Itachi.

"That's all I can ask." The man nodded his head happily, raising his hand up in a farewell sign used by the ANBU.

Itachi returned the sign, assuming the man was an ANBU before he joined up.

The man kept the smile and stepped within arm's reach.

"Give Tobi my regards, Itachi."

Before the sentence was completely out of the man's mouth, Itachi rushed forward with a kunai flying into his hand and held it at the man's throat, his Sharingan activated with 3 spinning tomoe in each eye.

"Who are you?!" He demanded harshly, his breathing sounding even harsher.

He leaned a little closer when the man simply laughed.

"Speak." Itachi warned, his eyes shifting in a different pattern in preparation for torturing the information out of the man.

"Can you really afford to damage your eye further, Itachi?" The man said, looking directly into his Sharingan without an ounce of fear.

How could he possibly know that? The only sensor he knew who might be able to tell from his chakra would be Uzumaki Naruto, given that the boy knew he was sick.

Itachi maintained his glare, almost seeing the red of his eyes reflecting off the violet.

"You are under a Henge." Itachi said suddenly, keeping the kunai at the man's neck.

The man dropped the Henge and the sight had Itachi's grip on his kunai slacken for a moment.

The whites of the man's eyes were black and his skin was cracked, almost like he wasn't made of flesh.

A golden blade of chakra appeared in the man's hand as he leaped back and batted the kunai aside, before charging at him.

Itachi clashed with the man and he managed to match his speed, the two dodging, punching and kicking in near perfect sync.

This unknown man was actually matching every movement of his. His speed was equal and he didn't have a Sharingan to aid him.

After close to two minutes of them almost rooted to the same spot, trading blows, a slight opening had Itachi driving a kunai through the man's chest, but the man didn't slow down and Itachi lost his grip on the kunai when his opponent pivoted to the right.

Itachi drew another kunai and cursed himself as he saw it move in slow motion, noticing it was the stupid toy that belonged to Uzumaki.

Rather than block it, the red haired man let it strike him, burying hilt deep into his temple.

Itachi backed away, horrorstruck at someone letting themselves die like that.

Much to his shock, the man didn't fall down like a puppet with its strings cut like all others Itachi stabbed like that. Instead, he glanced down at the kunai in his chest and glanced at the handle sticking out of his skull.

"That was rude." He said simply, sounding bored.

"What are you?" Itachi asked incredulously, "You should have died."

"You just answered your own question." The man said, pulling the kunai from his chest and tossing it back to him, "And why did you stab me with a toy? I can tell it was blunt." He then yanked the blunted kunai out of his head and looked at it for a moment, inspecting the stamp on the metal.

The man held up the kunai and had a confused look on his face. "Why did you stab me with a sex toy?"

Itachi blinked and felt disgust at that.

"That is a children's toy."

"That company stamp looks like an adult toy corporation," the man said, tossing it aside, "I would know this, unlike a brooding virgin like you."

Itachi ignored the comment and remained ready to fight. "How do know who I am and how do you know that name?" The idea that somebody knew the true leader of the Akatsuki by name was game changing.

"Not until you tell me where you got the sex toy from."

"It is not a sex toy!" Itachi gritted his teeth, annoyed by the absurdity.

"Virgin," The man said once again, "You are speaking to a man who currently has slept with more human females, alive of course, than how many times you've yanked your little pecker."

Itachi felt his headache come back in full force. This man was starting to truly piss him off.

"How do you know my name?" He demanded.

"You mean your name is virgin?"

Itachi flung a kunai at the man's head.

"I've been deeper inside women then that kunai is in my head."

Another kunai was thrown.

"A blind man could have hit my cock. Aim for something smaller."

Thunk.

"Still my cock."

"You are insane." Itachi said, not wanting to waste anymore kunai.

The lunatic, because he couldn't be anything else, removed the two kunai buried in his groin and tossed them back, the kunai in his forehead being ignored.

Itachi stepped to the side and refused to touch the kunai.

"This isn't my actual body," The lunatic rolled his eyes, removing the kunai in his head, "It's not like the Majesty of my manhood cleansed the impurities from your kunai." His voice then shifted to an extremely cynical kind, "I'm a puppet, just a body filled with the memories of a dead man."

"If you won't tell m-" Itachi began to say, but was cut off by the man.

"Answer one question, and I'll tell you everything."

Itachi clenched his fist and took a calming breath.

"Agreed."

The look on the man's face was truly disturbing.

"Why have you come to this place?" His voice lowered into a dangerous tone. He also gazed around like he were looking at Konoha itself and not just the cemetery, "Not simply to spy." His eyes then widened slightly, "Oh, you have a purpose here. Perhaps you are... protecting something?" He said in a poisonously sweet tone, "No. Protecting someone." The last word was laced with a light degree of Killing Intent and his teeth were bared in a vicious grin.

Itachi, without any hesitation whatsoever, Shunshined at him and took the man's head off in a swift slash from his tanto strapped horizontally at his navel.

The body toppled over, but what looked like torn fragments of paper and fabric reformed his head and the man stood back up again.

"So you do love Sasuke."

"Who sent you?!" Itachi snarled, every carefully laid plan of his beginning to crash all around him.

Only the Hokage and Tobi knew of the truth. Danzo, he had discovered, had finally died, even if it was a death he didn't deserve.

"Orochimaru summoned me." The man said simply, "To help kill Hiruzen and aid you in acquiring Jinchuriki for the Akatsuki."

"Liar," Itachi said flatly, "Orochimaru betrayed the Akatsuki."

"Just like you are?" The man raised a brow, "And I'm surprised you haven't asked who I am."

"Would you have given yourself several titles if I asked?" Itachi asked acidly, knowing the man would have undoubtedly commented about his supposed conquests.

"No," The man replied, "Actually, I would have stated my rank as a Shinobi and then my name."

Itachi prepared to have a name to go with the individual.

"Shodai Uzukage of Uzushiogakure. Uzumaki Ashina."

Itachi blinked slowly, unimpressed by the lie.

"You are not an old man."

"The blood used was from when your grandmother was younger than you," Ashina remarked, his eyes squinted, "And Orochimaru was told about the truth of why you killed your clan from the cinnamon roll masked cyclops that calls himself Tobi."

"He claims to be Uchiha Madara." Itachi added, which Ashina scoffed at.

"Orochimaru would be a shit smear if that were Madara. He never tolerated betrayal."

Ashina then looked down at the tombstone.

"Tobi likely suspects that you will betray him and had Orochimaru as potential clean up so you don't reveal anything."

Itachi's mind was racing to connect two and two together, not wanting to rely on Ashina for information.

Tobi never warned him of Orochimaru being brought back into the fold, even if it were a temporary alliance. The true details of the death of his clan meant Orochimaru knew that Sasuke was his weakness.

"Sasuke." He whispered, causing Ashina to nod.

"I was told many things when Orochimaru tried to convince me to aid him, including the fact that Konoha allowed the extermination of every man, woman, and child in the Uchiha clan."

Itachi looked away, ashamed of the action.

"You were an idiot." Ashina said simply.

Itachi whirled back to face the dead man and gave him a challenging look.

"I was thirteen," He growled, his eyes itching from his anger, "My father tried everything he could to bring a peaceful solution to the Hokage, but nothing seemed to work. He was so desperate to protect his family that he was willing to kill your grandchildren to protect us!"

"Ah, yes," Ashina laughed cruelly, "unleash a Bijuu and take the village hostage after deposing a Kage. Madara tried something similar to that and got rewarded with a blade through his back."

Itachi hated every second of this conversation and wanted to go back to how Ashina knew certain things, but Ashina had other thoughts.

"You chose the village over your family, which is something I can't forgive."

"You know nothing," Itachi accused, refusing to let pity get to him, "You didn't kill your mother and father. You didn't kill your family."

"My son died in my arms, my daughter died because she contained the Bijuu your previous clan head decided to fuck with. If you wish to play the game of seeing who has been dealt a worse hand in life, child, I will always win."

Itachi didn't care what Ashina said.

"Hashirama died, my student died, my entire legacy came crashing down and I lay all alone, covered in the blood and shit of the poor sonsofbitches that were ordered to cast themselves upon the cruel altar that is the Shinobi world. Being a sensor meant I felt the light vanishing from the people I killed. Being a sage meant I could feel a wound in the world seem to open from all the death I caused. And above all else," Ashina said grandly, his arms wide open, "I. Fucking. Died."

"People that say they'd prefer death over a certain event have never truly felt themselves die," Ashina said clinically, but his voice was shaky, "My own death was one of the worst humanly possible. Only getting your soul devoured by the Shinigami is worse than what I did. The pain was indescribable."

Itachi tried to look away from the haunted look in the man's eyes, but he couldn't.

"You can still save your brother," Ashina said gently, "You can succeed where I failed. So hold fast and fight for him like I fought for my family. Madara was greater when he fought beside his brother, Hashirama as well."

Ashina then explained everything he heard from Orochimaru, including the theory the Sannin had about Tobi's ability. He also mentioned that he needed to avoid Tobirama, given the man did not tolerate perceived traitors and especially Uchiha traitors. Everything Itachi needed to know to prepare for the attack was layed out.

Itachi then realized it was late and he was risking missing the scheduled meet up with Kisame.

"I must go." He said, but Ashina raised a hand to stop him.

"This is something you must tell Hiruzen and Jiraiya," Ashina then grimaced, "If neither survive, tell Tsunade. If you can't find her, tell Naruto and Rin."

Itachi was paying rapt attention.

"The traps in Uzu will not trigger from an Uzumaki, and the vault requires nature chakra and a descendant of mine's blood to open it. Jiraiya either received a message from me about the vault or he didn't, but he and Hiruzen must know something else."

What was about to be said had to have been extremely secret to warrant hesitancy.

"Tell me, please." Itachi requested.

Ashina sighed.

"Madara's body wasn't destroyed by Tobirama. And his casket is empty."

Ashina's chakra then shifted and he added one last thing.

"Cover your ears."

Itachi didn't hesitate to cover his ears and a near deafening explosion surrounded him, causing him to lose sight of Ashina. He promptly Shunshined away, not seeing the symbols etched in the different tombstones.

///////////////////

Ashina made his way into his prison and heard the sound of combat echoing throughout the corridor, until it went silent.

Ashina didn't bother trying to fight back when Orochimaru came around the corner, looking worse for wear.

A fist through his head put him down and Orochimaru shed like a snake, the sight unseemly.

"You will pay for your insolence." The man hissed, making a hand seal to re-establish control over him.

"Insolence?" Ashina laughed, "Hah. I'm an Uzumaki. I don't even know what that means."

Orochimaru reached forward and his hand sank through his chest, the small capsule of blood acting as an anchor for his soul being pulled free.

"Rest easy, Ashina," Orochimaru snarled, everything starting to glow, "I will make sure you kill your wretched grandson and I will laugh as Rin dies screaming when the Kyuubi is ripped from her."

Right as he felt his soul finally go to the afterlife, Ashina murmured something that he knew would have Orochimaru pondering it for some time.

"Day shall come again."

///////////////////

Actual End Chapter:

All the set up is over now. Ashina has been introduced and the finals and the beginning of the invasion will be next chapter. The POVs involving Obito, Orochimaru, Itachi, and Ashina will pretty much only be this arc because of their presence at this huge point. It'll go back to Naruto and the others like it was before.

And I know the pacing is slow, but I'm genuinely having fun building stuff up to what it is. I won't fault anyone if they drop the story until it gets further in. As of now, the story is going to be at about 1mil words when including Shippuden. And you know what.

That's fine with me.

This story is fun and I enjoy what I'm doing, even if there's a few parts I wish I could have done better.

Anyway, here's a new chapter and I hope you all have a wonderful day. Comments, even if it's a simple 'nice chapter' is truly appreciated.

Raging.