72 Through the eyes of The Exile part two

'You are much more of a conversationalist than another Goku, Son Goku.' Ashina's voice echoed in Roshi's head, his seal continuing to itch horribly.

After Ashina had broken his arm and kicked him to the ground, Roshi thought it was the end for him. Uzumaki Ashina despised him and wanted nothing more than to kill him.

But, he had another plan for him.

For the last couple of days since the attack on Konoha, Roshi had been trekking back to Iwa to, as Ashina put it, warn Onoki of an existential threat to all the Shinobi villages and the continent itself.

If it wasn't for Son Goku telling him to cooperate, Roshi would have preferred death over bringing some type of spy into his village. It wasn't like Roshi could say no. Ashina claimed that being in the afterlife let him see events of the past, and that there was a plan to use the Bijuu as weapons against the Shinobi villages.

'Remind me again what technique you used.' Roshi muttered internally, fighting the urge to cringe when he felt emotions not his own flicking across his mind.

Ashina had been rambling on nonstop about things he did and how he did them, including ones about Jinchuriki seals that were extremely illuminating.

As well as incessant levels of singing that made no sense and random bits of madness.

'I injected chakra into your seal after I destabilized it.' Ashina explained, or what was actually a copy of him, 'If I didn't weaken the seal, I might have either shattered it accidentally or caused you to develop a split personality, but it all worked out.'

Definitely not an appetizing thought for Roshi.

"You know," Son Goku tried to change the subject partially, sounding uncomfortable, "You aren't exactly what I expected from a seal master."

'Too much of a lunatic?' Ashina asked amusedly, 'My madness stumbled into brilliance when I was exiled in all but name from my clan.'

"Hmmm?" Son Goku hummed curiously, beckoning him to continue.

'Something that only one or two people alive are aware of, but I didn't truly master much aside from Fuinjutsu until I was around 16, other than chakra control and other such things I had received training in. My clan didn't like my forward thinking methods."

'How did that work out to you improving?' Roshi asked, not knowing this.

'Selling seals and offering my services as a trade for Ninjutsu training, Genjutsu, and other things.' Ashina muttered. 'Doing so later means nothing when I already had large reserves by even my clan's lofty standards.'

"But how did that translate into exile?" Son Goku asked, wanting more detail.

'I called my father a narrow-minded fool and told him his path would be the death of our clan.' Ashina said simply. 'I think the last thing I said to him was... what was it? Ah, yes. Apathy is death.' The last three words echoed in Roshi's head with much more potency than the others.

'Bastard.' Roshi grunted, his face twitching from the headache.

'Heard that.' Ashina barked, sounding unrepentant. 'But I was told to leave, so I complied with my clan head and departed.'

There was more to it, but the unwanted guest in Roshi's head was unlikely to share more if he were pressed for more information.

They eventually crossed into the Land of Earth, the way clear of any impediment.

'I thought something similar when I killed the rearguard of your village's army.' Ashina said coldly, having read his thoughts. 'At least until I realized the rearguard was mostly rookies and children that were kept out of the deathtrap I made my home into. Then I held my son as he died.'

'I was doing my duty as an Iwa Shinobi.' Roshi snapped, grimacing as the ache from some of the partially healed injuries he received from Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame were jostled.

'And it is my duty as a father, grandfather, and Kage to bring vengeance upon every man, woman, and child who would take up arms against me and my own.' Ashina responded, not brokering any discussion. 'I would have let the world burn to preserve them.'

'Then why take mercy on me? A pity that you spared m-,' Roshi started to say, but a splitting headache hit him and he stumbled, stopping his speedy movement towards their destination.

'You think it pity that I spared you?!' Ashina thundered, a dark chuckle echoing in Roshi's head. 'It is not pity that stayed my hand, Roshi. I would wrap a ring of steel and death around your rotten village if I could.'

The rage and hatred Roshi could feel emanating gave way to a soft and cracked feel.

'I hate you and your village for what you turned me into.' Ashina said acidly, the chakra shifting around violently.

The shifting became more pronounced and Roshi suddenly felt a stab of pain in his gut, driving him to his knees.

With a restrained cry of pain, Roshi felt a burning sensation and he blacked out for a moment, his ears ringing.

By the time his vision cleared and the burning where his seal was located faded, he saw Ashina standing in front of him.

"H-how?" Roshi managed to grit out, forcing himself to a standing position.

"The chakra I'm made of can form into a bunshin." Ashina remarked, his violet eyes flashing. "I'd rather say this to your face, so to speak."

The contemptuous tone and Killing Intent radiating from the bunshin had Roshi shivering in spite of himself.

"A three man squad of a Yamanaka, Akimichi, and Nara were contracted by my father to track me down." Ashina said evenly, his eyes boring into his, "They were to request my return to my clan and take up the mantle of clan head from my terminally ill father. Do you know what happened?"

Roshi played along and shook his head.

"I still needed more information about topics that were pertinent to my interests for the future and refused, which caused the Yamanaka to try and jump into my mind to control me." Ashina let out a scoff at the end. "Nothing more stupid than mind diving into someone like me."

"That girl," Ashina shook his head, "Was a teenager and had no business doing what she did. She dug into my head like an idiot and stumbled across something very private to me."

"What are you getting at?" Roshi was concerned by the abrupt little tale, not knowing the importance.

"To protect secrets that would save my clan," Ashina sounded almost robotic as he spoke, "I killed her and the other two, blaming it on another group."

Was that why he was saying this?

"Surprising as it may be," Ashina sighed, "But she wasn't the only person I ever killed, but she was the first innocent one."

"I don't understand." Roshi said simply, not knowing why.

"I am beyond salvation," Ashina's voice held an icy tone that held no sympathy, "I looked upon my impending death in Uzu with a horror you could not imagine. I killed hundreds, including children, for the sake of my village. Do you know what I kept telling myself as my body slowly fell apart and I continued to kill the nin storming my home, even the ones who surrendered and begged for mercy?" The Uzukage stepped towards him and looked positively insane.

Not knowing what to say, Roshi elected to not speak.

"That it would be worth it in the end," Ashina whispered, his fingers glowing faintly as he tapped his right leg with them, "That it was necessary. But as the reality of my death was unavoidable, I was struck by how I had been the last survivor still fighting. The civilians had been evacuated, and all that was left of my plan... was to die."

Roshi continued to stay silent, not wanting to tempt Ashina into doing anything.

He'd already seen him turn people to stone and killed two Jinchuriki by shattering their seals. The man was as brutal as he was cunning.

"In my last night," Ashina continued, his eyes nearly vacant, "I justified what I did, and was going to do, for the sake of future Uzumaki. Uzumaki who, as one terrible moment revealed to me, were never going to exist."

Roshi still couldn't muster up a reply.

"He is broken." Son Goku surmised, sounding sympathetic.

"My time is over," The old man said, shaking his head, "It will be my grandson's duty to do what I could not. Right now, I do all of this for myself."

Ashina then pressed his hand against Roshi's chest, collapsing into a shapeless light and being funneled into his seal.

The sensation was less unpleasant, but it still wasn't enjoyable.

'A warning would have sufficed.' Roshi growled.

'Don't care.' Ashina replied. 'Move forward if you don't want me to kill you and Son Goku.'

"And deprive me of all of those stories you have told me at night?" Son Goku asked, not sounding enthused.

Son Goku took a shining to Ashina and the conversations they had, which Roshi ignored most of the time.

Although, the children's tales he told were interesting, or the stories that told moral lessons; parables, he called them.

'Do you wish to hear some more?' Ashina asked in response, sounding almost happy, 'I enjoy the one of the brothers reconciling very much so, more than their predecessors and the murder of one. Unless you want to hear others.'

"Tell me about the younger brother's sons." Son Goku requested. "You said it also had something to do with quarrelling siblings."

"Quarrelling" would be an understatement.' Ashina scoffed, jumping into the newest story with gusto.

For hours, there was no discussion between Roshi and the other two in his head, the two having their own talks, until Ashina suddenly broke the silence.

'Contact. 3 miles out.' He said sharply, foreign chakra snaking through Roshi's tenketsu. 'Both are strange... The one is Kakazu.'

Roshi slowed his pace and took a few breaths, frowning in thought.

'How do you know?'

'I can sense the environment through your senses.' Ashina explained shortly. 'I am still a sensor, even if I got sealed into a Jinchuriki seal's mindscape. The advantages of designing the seals in the first place should not be underestimated.'

This was going to be the end. Roshi knew it was. His death would come here.

'Your life is mine to end, not the Akatsuki's.' Ashina hissed, forcing his way out of the seal once more.

The fact that Ashina knew to exploit a Jinchuriki seal's ability to store nearly limitless amounts of chakra foreign to the host's wasn't surprising since he was the one who designed them, but storing a clone inside one was exceptionally impressive and frightening to think about.

'If only I had gotten seal schematics from Uzu.'

"It seems to get easier the more times done with this seal too," The clone remarked, suddenly vanishing from sight when he made a half seal with his right hand, "Be prepared to fight. This will be chaotic, and avoid getting nicked by the Jashinist. He can make an empathic connection of some sort that reflects his injuries on his opponent if he ingested their blood."

"How would you possibly know that?" Roshi muttered, seeing a blur of red and black on the horizon.

Ashina let out a snort.

"The same way that I know the names of the Bijuu and their Jinchuriki."

One of many songs Ashina sang was what he called the Bijuu song, and it was as insufferable as it was unsettling from how a man dead for over 25 years knew who the current Jinchuriki were.

Right as Roshi could make out the outline of red and black as two distinct ones, he heard Ashina let out a suppressed growl.

The two members of the Akatsuki reached them and Roshi prepared himself, his eyes flicking between them.

"The Akatsuki, I presume?" He asked, not ready to die just yet as he adopted a taijutsu stance.

"The Tsuchikage contracted us out to escort you to Iwa," The notorious bounty hunter Kakazu replied simply, sounding almost bored, "I can see you didn't complete your mission unscathed."

Roshi made a hand seal and shot a ball of lava several times his size at the man in response, aiming for the head.

Kakazu ducked under it, rolling to the side as his partner stared wide-eyed at what just happened.

"That was the same thing Hoshigaki said to the Raikage when we fought," Roshi said coldly, his chakra flaring around him as he prepared to face them, "You won't be taking me alive, Akatsuki."

This fight was going to be brutal, but Roshi wasn't going to take it lying down.

Hidan lost patience and shot forward, dashing towards him and swinging his scythe down towards him.

Taking mind of Ashina's advice, he shifted to the side and avoided the hit, coating his right arm in lava and striking Hidan in the side.

Hidan stumbled from the hit, his robes smoldering, but Kakazu reached Roshi before he could capitalize on an opening.

A solid punch from the missing nin from Taki had Roshi's arm jarring from him blocking it, a pattern of punches and kicks trying to breach his guard.

A jab at his face was diverted by him pushing it aside with his left, the soft whistle of Hidan's scythe behind him as he shifted to kick at Kakazu's waist.

The Jinchuriki of the Yonbi, ducked under the scythe swing, being rewarded with a kick to the face from Kakazu as he rolled forward and flung three kunai blindly to ward off an attack from behind.

Roshi Shunshined 50 meters away and abruptly stopped, pivoting 180 and blasting a stream of lava from his mouth, covering his lower half as well and running across the river of molten rock.

Hidan straight up ran from it, evidently not having a technique to counter it, while Kakazu seemed to have a black mass break free from him, wearing a mask, and shot a jet of water at the lava, Kakazu running at that moment.

The earthen armour still covered Kakazu as the two ran across the lava, Kakazu's side being cooled from the water.

The two clashed with a loud boom, a faint cracking and hissing sound coming from the Akatsuki member's forearms.

"It's gonna take more than a little heat to break through this." Kakazu said harshly, his left arm pulling away to form a seal while his right literally shot forward several feet.

The fist struck Roshi and caused him to stumble, not expecting black threads to be connected to the hand.

'Damnit.'

Roshi blinked the stars from his vision, his head still spinning from the hit.

The temporary opening gave Kakazu the time to make a hand seal, a Jutsu primed and ready for use.

Raiton: Gian. (False Darkness)

A bolt of lightning struck Roshi at point blank and sent him flying, bouncing across the ground and out of the protective river of lava he crafted.

Groaning, the oldest living Jinchuriki felt his back creak painfully as he forced himself up, his ears ringing and his balance gone.

Coughing wetly, he tasted the familiar coppery flavour of blood, that and the burn in his chest meaning he probably broke a rib.

'I think this is it for us, Son Goku.' Roshi thought internally, his breathing shallow as he dealt with the pain.

Being almost sixty years old, the fight with Hoshigaki and the Uchiha had taken its toll on him and he hadn't fully recovered from his injuries before now.

He might have been able to grievously injure or perhaps kill one of his current opponents and escape if he were at his best and prepared. But this wasn't the case.

Hidan and Kakazu closed the distance and Roshi prepared for what was likely to be the last exchange before he was restrained.

But before any of the three could do anything, Ashina rematerialized right behind Hidan and drove a chakra blade through his heart, causing the scythe wielding man to let out a shout of surprise and pain.

"FUUUUUUU-", A second blade from Ashina's left took his head clean off moments later, before he disappeared from sight once more.

Kakazu, in an impressive display of reaction time at the curveball served up, formed a shell of earth along his skin and darted away, firing a stream of flames around him as he disappeared from sight.

Roshi circled around and his peripheral picked up the ground shifting as Ashina presumably kicked off from said section of ground.

He was proved right when Ashina reappeared, several meters off the ground, and unleashed a stream of lightning that snaked towards an unseen target.

A stream of wind came from the circle of flames and cancelled out the lightning with a loud howl, the flames beginning to dissipate.

The Akatsuki member within stepped forward, his attention on the one who just attacked him.

"What kind of trick is this?" Kakazu demanded, walking through the diminished fire without issue. "Uzumaki Ashina is dead. Why is this... thing here?"

Ashina had opted to look like what he did at around the time he died, the armour the same. Being the age he was, Kakazu undoubtedly recognized the Uzukage and the invisibility technique he used.

"So certain of your knowledge," Ashina laughed, stalking around Kakazu like a predator, "I will tell you if you answer why you have Asahi's chakra signature mixed with the other four."

Kakazu matched Ashina's movements, his red and green eyes flicking towards Hidan's headless corpse. "Is Asahi the Uzumaki I killed that was headed to Konoha?"

Roshi decided now was an excellent time to try and recover from the hit Kakazu landed, hoping the clone of the most terrifying opponent he ever fought would actually deliver him from death, instead of being the deliverer.

"Stitch my head back on, you fucking heretic!" Hidan shouted, causing Roshi to do a spit take. "Stop talking to the ginger and fix my head!"

"That is mildly disconcerting." Son Goku said, mirroring Roshi's thoughts.

Ashina's violet gaze slowly shifted from Kakazu to Hidan, specifically his head.

"Interrupt my discussion with your partner again, and I will rip your spine out and fuck you to death with it." Ashina threatened quietly, his chakra simmering dangerously.

Kakazu let out a snort as Hidan was shocked silent by the foul proclamation.

"I will put your head back on in a moment, Hidan. Keep your mouth shut and I'll stitch it on correctly."

Kakazu then looked back at Ashina.

"Uzumaki Asahi." Ashina said in a clipped tone, "Shoulder length red hair and around my height. Used a sword. Quite skilled, and carried a package. Recognize the description?"

Kakazu nodded.

"An Uzumaki I killed heading to Konoha was carrying a sealed package, and he put up a damned good fight. So, I took his heart. A shame that he was strong, but nothing compared to you. If only I had your heart available, the progenitor of your clan's power."

Roshi maintained a healthy degree of readiness, reading the situation as best as he could.

Ashina let put a cold laugh, a chakra blade slowly manifesting in his hand.

"You have no idea what you caused by preventing that package from being delivered. No idea."

"I sold it to some ANBU that was wanting some Fuinjutsu samples from Uzu." Kakazu said amusedly. "Made a decent sum too."

"I believe I killed the person you sold that to." Ashina responded casually, "If that thing can even be called human."

Roshi spat some blood from his mouth, hissing at the pain radiating from his chest.

"Fucking stop talking and put my head on!" Hidan screamed, his head propped against his leg by happenstance.

Without breaking eye contact with Kakazu, Ashina fired a seal less water senbon at Hidan, striking him in the eye. The water tore through his eye and drew a scream of pain and rage from the cultist, a stream of profanity following.

"I haven't been laid in decades, Jashinist." Ashina snarled, "You interrupted me after I told you not to. Do not think that I'm picky on whether I fuck your skull or not after I desecrate your body."

Kakazu let out a dark chuckle at Hidan shutting up again, making Roshi think there may be a degree of antagonism between the two.

Almost like he didn't just threaten to do unspeakable things to a talking head, Ashina went on to speak with Kakazu once more.

"Asahi was one of my grandsons," Ashina's blade glowed brighter, gaining more definition, "I will be tearing out each of your hearts, and I will enjoy killing you five times over."

"I'm interested in seeing you try." Kakazu laughed, two black masses splitting from him and flanking him.

In a flash, several things happened. Ashina turned invisible and a jet of water was sprayed around him, forming into mist as he was no longer visible.

Kakazu started blindly attacking around him, flipping forward and shooting at Roshi, one of the black things rushing towards Hidan's body.

Before Kakazu got to Roshi, Ashina reappeared and slashed at Kakazu, the younger of the two barely fast enough to shift the attack into tearing a chunk out of his shoulder instead of taking a limb off.

Ashina then pulled back and vanished, firing several water senbon and blurring away.

The water pinged against Kakazu's earth armour, leaving a few cracks as the bounty hunter threw his arm up to protect his face.

Using the opening, Roshi took the risk and took off running, hoping to escape from the two factions seeking their own goals.

Ashina had told him enough information where he could warn Onoki, so it would work out. He could live.

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

The two adversaries exchanged attacks back and forth, one being distinctly defensive in preference.

Ashina batted aside a water blade shot from Kakazu's mouth, countering with one of his own that was followed by him sinking into the ground.

With a constant flow of hand seals, three water dragons formed around him, forcing aside the earth rather violently as they tore their way up to the surface.

Reshaping some of the water to form a tail on one dragon to grab him, Ashina flung himself high into the air, looking down at the battlefield.

Kakazu had wrapped a sphere of earth around him and tanked the hits, the earth severely cracked but still standing after the trio of dragons.

Remaining completely silent, Ashina wrapped a thin layer of water around him and refracted the light to make him invisible, straightening his body to shoot towards the defensive rock the former Taki nin covered himself with.

With a lance of golden chakra in his hand, he tore clean through the earth and discharged the water surrounding him with a half seal from his left hand, shooting it out in the form of hundreds of water senbon.

Kakazu had been completely caught off guard by the breach and barely protected his chest, or more specifically his hearts, from getting impaled.

He still was struck by dozens of senbon in the extremities.

Turning, Kakazu blindly lashed out with black threads from his off hand and punched through the earth, sprinting away.

Growling, the clone Shunshined towards him and slid under a kick as he got in range, slashing at Kakazu's leg.

The immortal jumped over it and avoided getting his leg severed, stretching his knee joint to try and strike his foe as a response.

Ashina rolled aside to evade the hit and kicked his leg up, propelling himself to his feet.

The taijutsu against kenjutsu bout started up again as Kakazu drive a fist towards his chest, Ashina still avoiding getting hit at all costs to not be dispelled.

In a constant flow of movement, Ashina was twirling his blade in a golden dome of defense, tearing through any of Kakazu's threads that tried to touch him, causing the bounty hunter to switch to a kunai and conducting wind chakra through it to lengthen his reach.

Hidan would be back at any moment, and Roshi must be stopped from reaching Iwa before he got back in his seal.

It was all because of the heretic and the soulless mercenary.

"You stupid son of a fuck!" Ashina's clone snarled, stabbing at Kakazu's right shoulder and letting the deflection from Kakazu's kunai propel him into a spin, his foot lashing out in a roundhouse kick.

The glory and splendor of your opponent not knowing all the tricks up your sleeve was a sight to behold, and nobody really knew the extent of his versatility with his bloodline.

Pulsing chakra through the tenketsu in his foot, a 6 inch blade of golden chakra sprang from it right as Kakazu threw his arm up to block the kick to his head, the blade cleaving through the earth armour and his arm.

A growl of pain was drawn from Kakazu as his hand and half of his forearm fell to the ground, the man withdrawing.

"Ragghh!" Ashina switched tactics instantly and launched an offensive, cutting and stabbing at Kakazu, the temporarily hampered S-rank nuke-nin taking several hits to his chest and remaining arm.

With a twisting of his blade after landing a hit to his chin, tearing at his mask to reveal the disturbingly wide mouth, Ashina pushed Kakazu's arm aside and stretched the length of his blade, driving it through a cluster of chakra and where Kakazu's left lung would be.

Kakazu fell to a knee as he gasped and coughed up blood, staining his damaged mask.

His earth armour cracked and fell away, indicating that his earth heart was the one hit by the stab.

Right as Ashina pulled away and raised his arm to cut Kakazu down, potentially killing one of the Akatsuki, Hidan screamed like a lunatic and barreled towards them, swinging his scythe wildly. Kakazu's one heart had evidently stitched Hidan's head back on.

"I'll kill you for cutting my head off, heretic!" He screamed, eyes holding a manic light to them.

Ashina raised his blade up to block the scythe, grinning maliciously in anticipation.

Right as Hidan brought his weapon downward, Ashina let his blade dissipate and took a step back, the blades of the scythe cutting into the ground instead of impacting his blade. Ashina then leaped forward, grabbing the grip of the scythe with his hand and using the sole of his foot to strike Hidan's shoulder, sticking to him with his chakra and yanking.

Hidan was pulled forward with a yelp of surprise and Ashina wrapped his other leg around the lunatic's head, pulling him closer as he slammed his palm into the cultist's temple, planting a seal at the point of contact.

The left eye of the man rolled back into his head as he spasmed from it being applied to his head, the seal funneling the electricity of the nervous system into it.

For good measure, Ashina severed Hidan's head again and ripped his spine out with immense effort, tossing it aside and absentmindedly pulling the ring off his finger as he started running at full speed to reach Roshi.

It would take Kakazu time to put Hidan back together, enough for him to hopefully reach Roshi at the speed he was going.

Focusing his sensing, the clone zeroed in on Roshi's signature after a prolonged period of running, spotting the glint of red that was his hair.

"There you are." He growled softly, his eyes narrowing when he felt two signatures behind him.

Both Kakazu and Hidan were closing in, the former forming a hand seal and splitting three of his hearts off.

The three fired Jutsu in tandem, including a fire dragon, water dragon, and a blade of wind flying diagonally at him.

Blurring through seals, Ashina pressed his hands into the ground and spat water from his mouth.

Suiton: Suijinheki. (Water Formation Wall)

Flipping forward and pushing himself in a smooth motion, he let the water guard his back as he kept running, knowing it would not hold for long.

The three jutsu crashed into his defense and a roar rumbled across the flatlands that was the environment, the concussive blast being felt from hundreds of meters away.

Another stream of attacks went through and Ashina Shunshined out of the targeted area, firing back at them with a variety of Suiton Jutsu as he sped across the area in different directions to not get pinned.

Basically a demented game was being played as Kakazu launched Jutsu after Jutsu at Ashina while he chased Roshi, all the while Hidan was shouting the virtues of Jashin at the top of his voice.

Another blade of wind was sent at him and Ashina blasted a jet of water at it, causing a snap sound like a whip cracking to echo across the landscape as the wind struck the water.

He only had a finite amount of chakra, and this wasn't helping. Even if the chakra used to make the clone exceeded that of most Kage, it would run out eventually.

Feeling the heart still in Kakazu crackle, Ashina stopped his constant darting around and focused, drawing water from the air to do something that was sure to cause a surprise. It also had the added benefit of requiring a comparatively low amount of chakra to pull off, so long as you knew what you were doing.

'Don't let your teachings fail me now, Iroh.'

As he predicted, Kakazu sent a bolt of lightning at him, which he didn't try to avoid.

Reaching out with his hand, Ashina cushioned the crackling blue bolt of energy and coiled it through the water around him, jabbing forward with his left arm and pointing the fingers of his left hand out and towards Hidan.

The lightning snaked through the tightly controlled water and arced over a hundred meters towards Hidan, who never even saw it coming.

The bolt struck Hidan in the center of his chest, his entire chest cavity exploding in a shower of claret, his head and limbs flying in all directions.

"Taste the rainbow, Infidel!" Ashina roared, pulsing a chakra blade into his hand and stabbing himself, disappearing in a puff of smoke.

One of the seals he designed acted like an anchor for chakra tailored to it. Chakra keyed into it was drawn towards it like lightning to a lightning rod.

The Kusanagi used this type of link, but with the sword taking the role of chakra being pulled towards a specific geographic point. The way chakra from a Kage Bunshin came back to the original was the non-artificial way it happened...

And it also happened to be what inspired him to make a seal that drew something to whatever had the seal on it.

Currently, Roshi had a seal like that put on him, making it impossible to escape from him. The fight with the Akatsuki was mostly to get a ring back.

After only a few seconds, the chakra of Uzumaki Ashina was pulled towards the seal and coalesced back into a proper form, reappearing in Roshi's seal.

Ashina jumped out of the seal, reached for Roshi and leaped forward, tagging his shoulder with a seal and getting behind him.

Roshi grunted and stumbled to the ground, his arm sagging noticably.

"Fucking die already!" Roshi snarled, launching a flaming ball of rock at the other redhead.

With it aimed at his chest, Ashina bent his legs to lean back completely horizontal, his hand whipping up to cleave the rock in half with a chakra blade.

Two perfectly sliced parts of rock flew past him and he jerked his momentum upwards, shooting towards Roshi.

With contemptuous ease, Ashina picked apart Roshi's one armed and fatigued defense, a kick slipping through and striking his face.

Roshi took a step back from the hit, looking dazed. Ashina instantly stabbed forward with his left hand and sank a blade into Roshi's good arm, stomping on his foot to hold him in place.

Roshi let out a howl of pain, falling forward into Ashina. The older of the two sent a punch towards the Iwa Jinchuriki's face, a faint crack coming from his jaw, and lifted his leg up to let Roshi fall.

With no sense of balance, Roshi fell on his back, his breathing ragged from fatigue and pain.

Ashina planted another seal on Roshi, his leg this time, and pulled him up to his knees, gripping his hair tightly.

"Fight against me, or try to escape me, and I'll cut your fucking head off." Ashina rumbled in his ear, pulsing a chakra blade through his fingers and gliding it across his cheek gently. "I have come too far to let this end any other way."

Roshi shuddered in his grip, watching impotently as a visibly irate Kakazu and Hidan reached them.

"Don't come any closer." Ashina threatened, staring at Kakazu specifically, "Or your prey will get a free hair cut."

The two came to a stop, Kakazu eying him warily while Hidan was practically chomping at the bit.

"I'm going to have fun sacrificing you to Jashin!" Hidan hefted his scythe up, ready to charge.

A bark of laughter came from the Uzukage's mouth, his teeth bared threateningly.

"Try being more than a cut of fuckable meat, heretic," Ashina said icily, "Then maybe your false god will consider you better than useless."

"You dare speak heresy?!" Hidan's eyes bugged out, his teeth clenched. "The ways of Jashin are the one true path in life!"

"Shut up." Kakazu glared at his partner, sounding sick and tired of the entire day. "I don't want to listen to your constant bitching."

"No, let the heretic speak." Ashina grinned, turning his gaze towards Hidan, "Your god is false, and you will burn in holy fire!"

Hidan was nearly foaming at the mouth, his eyes feral.

"You... you know nothing!" Hidan said, gripping his scythe a little more tightly. "You haven't even said who you follow."

"Unlike you, I actually died." Ashina laughed, flipping Hidan off. "And you would not know of my god, or my people. We believe we are the heirs of a spiritual tradition, given to our ancestors thousands of years ago."

Ashina grinned at the precise words said, he and only Naruto understanding it as a specific reference.

"We have made and kept covenants with our Lord to honour his laws. In exchange, we are promised eternal salvation after this life."

Hidan shook his head vigorously. "Heresy. Jashin, and the path of murder and destruction, is the one true God."

"Heh, well," Ashina tightened his grip on Roshi's hair, tapping his shoulder with his blade, "I'm not against wrestling with a god. Hell, it crossed my mind once or twice."

Winding up Hidan was definitely amusing, but time was of the essence.

"Both of you will leave, or I will kill Roshi." Ashina said simply, focusing more on Kakazu than Hidan. "I have been made... aware of your plans to acquire the Bijuu and do something with them. Care to illuminate me on what the plan is?"

Kakazu's eyes narrowed, his severed hand only partially regrown.

"You are bluffing." Kakazu stated neutrally, his body tensed and ready to continue their fight. "You put effort into preventing us from capturing him, so that means you need him for something."

"You would be correct," The clone said, grinning cruelly, "But my goal was to shatter his seal and release the Yonbi within Iwa, with the added benefit of denying you a Bijuu. What do have to say to that?"

The statement silenced the three men, only the whispers of the wind making a sound. It was beyond vengeance, bordering on a deep-seated mania hellbent on dragging everything down to hell with the Uzukage.

Roshi tried to shift away at the proclamation, but a firm grip on his shoulder that dug into his wound made him stop, a groan escaping him.

"No response?" Ashina asked rhetorically, "Then I see no reason to continue this charade and waste time."

Without hesitation, Uzu's patriarch stabbed into Roshi's neck and opened up his throat from ear to ear.

A wet and strangled gurgle came from Roshi as a spurt of blood came from the gaping wound, another following moments later as Ashina pushed him to the ground, still gasping for air wetly.

Kakazu and Hidan were both shocked at what just happened, their mission a complete failure from the brutal act.

"Say hi to the Yonbi." Ashina's fingers glowed and he tore Roshi's coat and shirt away, slamming his fingers into his seal and twisting before the two Akatsuki members could do anything.

A strangled howl came from Roshi's destroyed vocal cords as red chakra started spewing from the seal, his limbs spasming from the shock to his system as his chakra network tried to endure the strain of the lid on Son Goku's chakra starting to break.

"You bastard!" Kakazu roared, rage etching his features as unaligned chakra swirled in his tenketsu, "I'll be sure to rip your grandchildren's hearts out!"

A laugh devoid of all positivity came from Ashina's lips, his eyes flashing with an amethyst fire dancing in them.

"If I cannot have true victory," Ashina threw his bloodstained hands out, ready to fight again, "NEITHER SHALL YOU!"

Both Kakazu and Hidan Shunshined away, going in the opposite direction of what was about to be a freed Bijuu that wouldn't take kindly to being imprisoned again.

Once they reached a sufficient distance, the clone pooled as much chakra into its center as it could without destabilizing its structure, shifting the nature of the water to resemble oil.

When no more pressure could be built up, a massive stream of oil came careening out of his mouth and up towards the sky.

A few quick hand seals had the oil spinning in a vortex, resembling a hurricane in shape.

The clone then picked up Roshi and Shunshined away, turning and making a half seal to shoot a weak bolt of lightning at the massive wall of oil.

The flammable liquid was ignited and a loud woosh flattened the grass around it, a massive cloud of black smoke obscuring them.

Roshi was roughly dropped to the ground and Ashina's clone immediately went to treat the damaged seal, repairing the specific stabilizer he shattered.

It took about thirty seconds of fighting the constant flood of Bijuu chakra and shielding his fingers to not pop, but the clone managed.

Once the seal was repaired, the next task was his destroyed throat. A couple of hand seals later, the faint, green glow of chakra indicative of medical ninjutsu surrounding his hand, his fingers pressing against the jagged wound to knit it shut.

This took more precision, and it wasn't until a couple of minutes that Roshi was stabilized, along with his other injuries getting roughly treated.

Roshi moaned weakly, being too injured and fatigued from blood loss to do anything.

"Why can't you just let me die?" He asked quietly, his breathing faint and his voice gravelly from the recent patchwork job done on it. "Killing me kills Son Goku. Just do what you will and delay the Akatsuki. My death weakens Iwa as well. Just end it." He practically begged.

Ashina shook his head and hoisted him up, putting him on his shoulder.

"I put a safety feature in the seal," He said shortly, "If I pop, or if you get a certain distance away, it will crumble and release Son Goku."

Roshi went limp in resignation, truly defeated in both body and spirit.

"Now, let's keep going so I can warn Onoki of what the greatest threat to his village is." Ashina muttered, running towards where he could sense a faint chakra signature from the ring he made, picking it up off the ground and rushing back to Roshi. He finished his task by putting Hidan's ring on his finger.

A benefit to actually making these rings meant that he knew everything about them, including certain features only accessable to his chakra.

'The Akatsuki will feel the teachings born of debauchery and madness cooked up by the cesspit known as the internet of the 21st century.' Ashina grinned evilly, knowing he would enjoy what he was going to do.

With that, a Shunshin had the two racing towards Iwa, the trip mere hours from the destination.

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

"This demands retaliation!" One of Onoki's advisors declared harshly. "We cannot afford to wait for Konoha and Kumo to fortify their alliance and turn towards us. We must act!"

The proclamation of a cooperative relationship between Konoha and Kumo, Iwa's two greatest rivals, was just one of multiple headaches Onoki was subjected to, his face not betraying his inner thoughts.

Namikaze being almost confirmed to have two children, and both were Jinchuriki, along with being Uzumaki.

Uzumaki Ashina being resurrected, meaning he could be once more, which caused a terrifying thought to go through his mind when he first heard it...

Uchiha Madara was a possibility in that case.

None but himself in the room knew of this information, only knowing of Konoha and Kumo cooperating. The other information was from his own personal sources he'd cultivated after serving as Tsuchikage for nearly half a century.

Even the Earth Daimyo was present from all the chaos. The presence of the only person in the entire region with seniority over him would have been quite welcome if Akio, the Daimyo who had been his friend for nearly 50 years, hadn't passed on just a few short years ago, leaving his less than stellar grandson in charge from all the infighting.

Akio understood the necessity of patience, while his grandson was an idiot outside of climbing the ladder to power.

"Why have Iwa's forces not engaged in combat yet?" The Daimyo asked irritably, eying the longest serving Kage from across the table that had over a dozen people around it. "Formal declarations of hostilities can be secondary."

"Because I have given orders to be ready for conflict within our borders." Onoki replied simply, his eyes narrowed. "Offensive operations will not be instigated by any Shinobi under my command."

Defense in depth would be the only way for them to endure a prolonged war with Kumo and Konoha, should negotiations fail.

It eluded Onoki on why the two would work together. Konoha despised Kumo nearly as much as Iwa hated Konoha, the alliance coming completely out of nowhere.

"Understand the Daimyo's and nearly half of our concerns, Tsuchikage-sama," Another high rank Shinobi implored, the scar he obtained from a prior conflict years ago openly visible on his face, "Decisiveness is of paramount importance. Why else would they start to tone down theur forces on their borders than to attack us?"

Onoki shook his head jerkily, his patience wearing thin.

"We are in no position for open conflict, contrary to what most of you believe. Numbers cannot overwhelm both nations."

"Has age gotten to you?" The Daimyo asked incredulously, looking disgusted. "We could crush them if we do so now! Charge into Hi no Kuni while Konoha is vulnerable!"

Several nods of agreement and mutterings occurred at the sentiment, including Onoki's granddaughter, who was brought for her to listen in on how things were actually done.

Onoki slowly glanced towards Kurotsuchi, before his eyes went to the Daimyo.

'I will grow to regret bringing her today.'

"People who are anxious to bring on war don't know what they are bargaining for," He said slowly, his contempt for everyone yearning for it reflecting in his tone, "They don't see all the horrors that must accompany such an event."

Thousands dead, in the spring of their youth, while he was left to live and become more hunched, wrinkled, and arthritic; unable to find a proper successor.

These were times where he envied Sarutobi's seeming endless supply of S-ranks produced each generation.

"Grandfather!" Kurotsuchi practically shouted, stepping out of line and walking up to the table. "Stop being a coward! Namikaze has two kids and both of them are Jinchuriki. You're going to make my generation be shackled with dealing with them because you're scared."

The information about Namikaze's children was something he told her and explicitly told her not to breath any validity into it until confirmed.

His advisors all turned to him with varying degrees of shock.

"It is confirmed?" The Daimyo demanded, trying to sound intimidating in a room full of trained killers. "And I was not informed?"

"Unconfirmed until recently." Onoki replied simply, not even looking at him.

Onoki's attention was on his granddaughter as he gave her a sharp look, causing her to flinch.

"You speak out of line, Chunin." He remarked coldly, not even addressing her as his granddaughter, "You will speak when spoken to."

"Even your own family support this." The Daimyo scoffed. "Not to mention half of Iwa. They want war. Without Namikaze, Konoha would have lost the Third war. We can do this and prevent further losses in the future!"

Fools.

"How do you presume to combat four Jinchuriki, both surviving Sannin, Hatake, and their entire Shinobi corps, along with the Raikage and Sarutobi, hmmm?" Onoki demanded softly, silencing any dissent.

They didn't have the S-ranks necessary, plain and simple. Casualties would be in the thousands from hunting the mentioned ones on their own, not to mention how anything else could go. Kiri was finally stabilizing somewhat after the civil war and could very easily not remain neutral and side with the stronger faction.

A neverending game of death and bloodshed, with no end in sight after over half a century.

"I am tired and sick of war." Onoki sighed, "Its glory is all a lie. It is only those who have neither fired a Jutsu nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, for vengeance, for desolation."

"I sent Roshi to scout out Konoha's strength and get confirmation about rumours I had heard concerning a potential Uzumaki descendant of the Shodai Uzukage and rumours of the specter that is Namikaze's alleged child... The rumours have been all but confirmed recently, yet Roshi was not the one to confirm it and has not come back."

Whispers of concern and fear started coming from them, the previously combat happy group subdued.

"As every village by now knows, Konoha's chunin exams was when Orochimaru attacked Konoha to cause destruction and other motives we don't know."

The old man's gaze moved across the room as he paused to take a breath.

"Edo Tensei were confirmed to have been used by Orochimaru when he attacked Konoha, three were sighted as Senju Hashirama, Senju Tobirama, and Uzumaki Ashina."

The Daimyo's face rapidly paled at the reveal, including several others.

"Should Konoha be backed into a corner, I do not doubt that they will utilize that infernal Jutsu against us." Onoki said disgustedly, the abominable nature of it leaving a foul taste from just thinking of it.

He'd only ever witnessed it once as a young boy during the tail end of the Warring Clans period, and that was more than enough.

It wasn't until the second half of the First war, after Uchiha Madara's death, the death of the Fire Daimyo, and Senju Hashirama's illness that Edo Tensei were used, meaning the Nidaime Hokage had only been held back by his brother and threats from Hi no Kuni's government on conducting the practice.

The only confirmed time he did it during the First Shinobi War was when he was ambushed by the Kinkaku force, using dead enemies as puppets to protect his team.

Fortunate that he had been killed by the Kinkaku force before he resurrected more than just the four confirmed ones he did. He killed Ginkaku and a majority of the group before being killed himself.

"Konoha is uniquely equipped to fight every single village at once and still ensure that no one emerges the victor." Onoki declared firmly, "Only Sarutobi's morals and Namikaze prevented their use when we advanced through Hi no Kuni, make no mistake."

"I..." The Daimyo looked almost like a boy, seemingly at a loss, "Then what are we to do?"

Onoki hid the smirk that tried to creep up on his face.

'Just as I thought, a child out of his depth.'

"Wait until Roshi returns to debrief me on Konoha's strengths and weaknesses," He replied, "And then inroads into contracting experts in infiltration will be conducted, with your permission of course; it will be your money, after all."

The Akatsuki were definitely the best to contract out in the event of a war, but hiring them to clash with such a dangerous foe as a Konoha/Kumo coalition would cost more money.

But if that were the price to protect his granddaughter and Iwa's next generation, then so be it.

"As Tsuchikage, it is my decision," Onoki announced gravely, "And my decision is for us to continue preparing for a defensive war, at least until Ros-" He was interrupted by the doors being pushed open loudly, a Jonin frantically walking in.

"Tsuchikage-sama." The man bowed, trying to catch his breath. "Roshi-sama has returned. He was severely injured and brought back by an ANBU."

'Injured?' Onoki's eyes widened, ignoring the reaction of everyone else.

"How serious?" Onoki demanded, using his chakra to levitate himself to a greater height.

"The, uh, ANBU nin healed most of the injuries," The Shinobi said nervously, "He's stable enough to speak from what he said."

Onoki turned sharply to his left, staring directly at two people in particular.

"Shoji. Hiro." He addressed the two Iryo-nin in the room. "Be on standby in case he is being a fool that muscles through the pain."

A constant stream of orders from the Sandaime Tsuchikage had the room reorganizing somewhat as they prepared for Roshi's arrival.

'I pray he can confirm what my misgivings are and aren't.' Onoki thought to himself, pinging his chakra through the earthen floor with a featherlight touch.

A three dimensional image of the area came back to him when his chakra returned, giving him Roshi's location.

He was not far from the door, the ANBU right next to him, probably holding him up.

Seconds later, the doors swung open and they entered, three nin flanking Roshi, but the sight that Onoki was met with had his heart skipping a beat.

Roshi looked horrible, his clothing torn and stained with copious amounts of dirt and blood, his face pale.

But the visual absence of the supposed ANBU was the most alarming.

Onoki knew of only two people in all of his 76 years of life that could hide themselves from sight.

Without giving any warning at all, Onoki made a hand seal and flooded the entire floor with his chakra, commanding it to respond to his will.

Several spikes of earth shot towards the infiltrator, who seemed to avoid it, judging from the lack of blood.

"Breech!" Onoki roared, forming another hand seal and disintegrating an entire portion of the room, trying to kill who he suspected was Uzumaki Ashina.

He'd never hit an Edo with Dust Release. Perhaps it would actually kill it.

The room groaned audibly as a sizable chunk disappeared, but Onoki wasn't done. He formed several earth clones and sent them towards the Daimyo and his granddaughter, flying towards the center of the room.

Mist suddenly billowed from a specific spot, the location revealed. Another corridor of destruction was formed by Onoki, his eyes wide and his senses alert.

'Not in my village. We will both die before any harm comes to them.'

A high pressure hiss came from his left as a thin jet of water came flying towards him, the potency of it enough to tear through flesh and bone.

A casual hand seal had a column of earth rising up to take the hit, which it took with only a small amount of difficulty.

"Defensive formation." Onoki barked towards the Shinobi in the room, glancing at Roshi next, who appeared to be swaying from fatigue.

A massive ball of water came flying towards Kurotsuchi, his granddaughter's guards handling it with an earth wall.

The ball exploded against the wall, but the water reformed into hundreds of senbon a fraction of a second later, shooting out with a hair-raising whistle.

Most of the Shinobi present avoided injury, but two of his advisors were obviously killed, being shredded by the storm of razor sharp water. A few other Shinobi were also injured to varying degrees.

It also had forced Onoki to take his eyes off any movement and not focus on feeling for him through the earth.

Before Onoki could zero in on the newest location of the intruder, it was confirmed to be the Uzukage when said man reappeared next to Roshi and drove a golden blade of chakra through the spine of one Iwa nin, shooting a high pressure stream of water at another from point blank range with a half seal.

The water tore clean through the man's head, everything above the neck disappearing in a pink mist.

Both corpses hadn't even hit the ground before Ashina had his blade aimed at Roshi's chest, his violet eyes feral in rage as he stared at Onoki.

It happened in a flash, Onoki likely being the only one to track it fully.

"Hello, Onoki," Ashina's voice dripped with contempt, his off hand raised up in a position for making a hand seal, "You got old."

The Killing Intent radiating from him was to a level Onoki hadn't felt in decades, back when he fought Sarutobi just weeks after the man had hunted down and personally killed the last few members of the Kinkaku force, including the last brother, Kinkaku himself.

"And neither of your sons did." Onoki responded, smirking when Ashina's face twisted into a wrathful expression.

"No thanks to your worthless nin." He spat, his arm still steadily aiming his blade at Roshi. "I wonder if you would feel at least a portion of what I felt if I took Kurotsuchi from you." His eyes looked directly at his granddaughter.

The girl's dark eyes widened in terror, having already been almost catatonic from the Killing Intent.

'How could he possibly know that?'

Roshi.

Roshi had to have told him, probably from torture.

"I doubt you are here to say hello to an old friend," Onoki stated, his fingers itching from his chakra flowing under his skin in anticipation, "So why has a dead man sought an audience with me?"

"Simple," Ashina grinned, slowly backing up towards Roshi while being in a position to strike him still, "I plan to take from you what you took from me."

"I hope you try." Onoki narrowed his eyes, prepared to erase Ashina from existence. He could hit Ashina without hitting Roshi. He was skilled enough.

"I'm not sure you understand." Ashina tilted his head, flicking his wrist and cutting a portion of Roshi's shirt, revealing his lower abdomen, specifically the seal.

Onoki's blood ran cold as he realized what Ashina was getting at as he noticed the misaligned segments of the seal.

He had sabotaged it.

"For those that are unaware of what I am threatening." Ashina looked at the other people in the room that hadn't figured it out. "I'm threatening to tear out the Yonbi and unleash it."

Gasps came from everyone present, the Daimyo reacting the worst from being a civilian.

"Y-you can't do this!" He shouted, his entire frame wracked with tremors. "You're a damned monster."

Ashina gazed lazily at him, tilting his head curiously.

"You bear a resemblance to Akio," He ignored the comment, "Grandson of his?"

Ashina didn't wait for a response and turned to Kurotsuchi, a smile that promised untold horrors appearing on his face.

"I'm surprised you haven't pissed yourself in fear. You have more courage than some of the Iwa nin I killed when your parents were children."

Kurotsuchi gulped, but she had a fiery look in her eyes that overwhelmed her fear.

"My village is still here," She said, her hands clenched at her sides, "And you're just a man who died long ago."

"Don't." Roshi finally spoke for the first time, his voice raspy as he pleaded for the girl to not provoke Ashina.

"No," Ashina turned to look at Roshi, shaking his head, "I want her to be perfectly honest on what she thinks of me. She will probably be something of note in the future."

"So," Ashina looked back at her again, narrowing his eyes, "What do the academy teachers in Iwa say about me and my clan?"

Onoki was running through plans on how to kill Ashina, or rekill him, without killing Roshi in the process. But he was coming up short.

"You're a monster that killed kids, wounded and old Shinobi that weren't much of a threat to you." Kurotsuchi said defiantly, glaring at him hatefully, "And that you were going to join the war against us."

Ashina was quiet for several seconds, slowly blinking. Then, he laughed.

"The truth is, child," Ashina said almost affectionately, "That I killed children younger than you, and men and women not much younger than your grandfather. Your teachers were right about everything about me. I am a murderer and I enjoyed killing those who invaded my home and killed my family."

'Just a little to the left.' Onoki saw Ashina shift around on his feet to adjust his balance.

"Would you be proud of your grandfather if he killed thousands of enemy Shinobi that invaded your home?" Ashina pressed, focusing on the youngest girl in the room, "Would you proclaim to the heavens that you are proud that the blood of heroes flows within your veins?" He demanded, his face twisted into a snarl.

More Killing Intent flooded the room and Onoki felt his face tighten as instincts borne from decades of fighting reared up and demanded he strike.

Kurotsuchi looked uncertain at how Ashina compared himself to her own grandfather, at a loss for words.

"There is no truth in war, Kurotsuchi," Ashina said, still speaking with her, "There is no great revelation to be found from it. No great secret. There is only you; you will discover who you truly are when you stand over an enemy who begs for mercy, a child screaming for her mother." Ashina's eyes flashed as he was visibly shaking, whether in rage or despair, Onoki couldn't tell.

Kurotsuchi was shaking in fear for sure, realizing what Ashina was admitting to.

"I hold you responsible, Onoki," Ashina said coldly, his attention going back to him, "Both the Sandaime Mizukage and Nidaime Raikage are dead. You are the only remaining one that chose to kill my people and subjected thousands to a brutal death."

Onoki scoffed at the accusation.

"Don't delude yourself, Uzukage-sama." He replied mockingly, "You would have done the same to us if you thought it would have preserved your village. It is only natural."

Roshi letting out a wheezing cough, blood dribbling from his mouth.

"The internal damage won't be an issue for long." Ashina promised, a faint smirk on his face. "But there is something you should know about who is after your Jinchuriki and the others. The group known as the Akatsuki are not your friend. They attacked Roshi on two occasions."

Onoki glanced at Roshi, who nodded in confirmation.

"That is the only helpful thing you will hear from me." Ashina took a step forward, giving Onoki the chance to hit him with his Dust Release.

Right as Onoki was about to make the hand seal to do it, Ashina looked directly into his eyes.

"The thing holding Roshi's seal together is tied to my chakra," The man said, lowering his arm and letting the chakra blade disappear, "Killing me will shatter the seal."

Onoki didn't pay attention to the fearful reactions of the others, only having his eyes on Ashina and Roshi.

Killing his friend would get rid of all of Ashina's leverage, but it would result in Iwa losing a Jinchuriki and Onoki losing a friend.

He couldn't.

"My time is short, so I will make an offer to you, Tsuchikage Onoki." Ashina stepped closer to him, everyone else scrambling to get away from him.

They were perhaps 20 yards away at most, two old men who had seen too much of the world at its most debased.

"Kill Roshi now, or I will shatter the seal and let Iwa feel what Konoha felt when the Kyuubi was torn from my granddaughter." Ashina's violet eyes flicked towards Kurotsuchi for a split second before going back to Onoki's.

"No." Onoki said simply, "I do not negotiate with dead men. Has being dead after your failures taught you nothing?"

Onoki would be a liar if he said he wasn't curious about what the afterlife was like, but he wasn't going ask one of his village's greatest enemies about it.

"Dead?" Ashina raised a brow, snorting derisively, "Do you wish to know the truth of all reality that I comprehended at my passing?"

Onoki didn't acknowledge it at all.

"Everything, but nothing." The man said cryptically, "I will say nothing else of the matter."

Twitching visibly, Ashina seemed to switch moods.

"Choose. I kill Roshi painfully or you kill him as a friend should, with little pain involved."

'He's mad.' Onoki thought, noticing Ashina had been fidgeting slightly as he spoke, his eyes almost glowing as he practically chanted it.

"You have no true leverage, Ashina." Onoki smirked, "Killing Roshi leaves you with nothing to threaten us with, and destroying his seal... Should I ensure your actions you take right now be reflected in my actions when we capture your grandson and granddaughter, the last of your clan?" He asked pleasantly.

A feral look flashed across Ashina's face for a fraction of a second, before disappearing completely.

'So it is definitely true.' It had already been pretty much confirmed, but this saved another few weeks of time.

"I would have killed the world to preserve them." Ashina was breathing erratically, his fists clenched as chakra emanated from them.

Chakra began to leak from Ashina as his eyes darted across the room, taking in the sight of wounded and fearful Shinobi and the leader of the Land of Earth.

"As you would pass judgement on them," Ashina said steadily, wrath and fury running beneath his voice like an undercurrent that stained his chakra, "I have come to pass judgement on you all."

The way he spoke had Onoki prepared to do what he knew would haunt him for the rest of his life, a silent plea for forgiveness aimed at Roshi. The red haired man, already nearly catatonic from shock, gave him a look of understanding, his eyes closing for a moment.

"Do you wish to feel the teachings born of the Shinobi wars?!" Ashina demanded, looking at the entire room, "Of all wars?! Of all tragedies that scream across the continent?!"

The others began to cower away, frightened by the animalistic expressions and predatory Killing Intent coming from him.

"Let me show you, who have forever seen reality through this world," Ashina pulsed a chakra blade into his hand, aiming it at his own chest, "See it through the eyes of The Exile."

Onoki floated forward, flaring his chakra and made a hand seal, forming a protective shell of earth around most of the room, shielding them from what was about to happen.

Ashina made a hand seal that caused Roshi's seal to flare, before he stabbed himself with his own blade and disappeared in a puff.

It was a bunshin all along.

Roshi fell to his knees and clutched his gut as the seal broke, red chakra gushing from the seal.

"Kill me," He begged weakly, suddenly seizing up and letting out a scream of pain as the silhouette of a monkey began to form from the chakra, "Onoki, please." His dark eyes met Onoki's one final time.

'I'm sorry.' Onoki made the hand seal his mentor had trained him to use, combining three different nature releases and striking Roshi with it.

Roshi, the Yonbi, and the entire front of the room was disintegrated in an instant, what remained of the room becoming completely silent.

Onoki let out a shuddering breath at what just happened and what he did.

"Treat the wounded." He ordered sharply, turning towards the Iryo-nin. "Now!" He barked, causing them to be broken from their stupor and began healing the wounded.

The next half hour involved repairing the meeting area as best as possible and getting the wounded stable for transport, and a general state of emergency declared in the village.

"Total blackout." Onoki ordered the different members of his inner circle as they did their tasks. "Full military preparation and alert the rest of the ANBU that they will be needed."

Iwa had already taken a hit, and actual war hadn't been declared.

The procedures carried into the night, the leader of Iwa receiving no rest as he prepared his village for what would be a likely conflict.

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

"What do you mean Hidan lost his ring?" Pein demanded softly, already at his wit's end.

Kakazu just finished explaining that they were stopped by a bunshin of Uzumaki Ashina from capturing Roshi, the chakra construct tearing open Roshi's throat to prevent him from being captured.

The comment about the ring vexed him nearly as much as being forced to hunt down the Yonbi.

Someone had somehow hijacked the connection the rings had and launched a days long psychological attack on all the Akatsuki members.

"Hidan got ripped apart and had his ring stolen." Kakazu said gruffly, the entire gathering in an irtitable mood after what happened.

"So it was this dead guy that did all that shit?" Deidara asked, shaking his head and sighing, "Two days of screaming and singing... non-stop."

"You weren't the only one that had to deal with that, Deidara," Kisame reminded him, standing alone ever since Itachi's death, "It was all of us."

It started with a loud whirring noise in their heads, some unintelligible shrieks, and the words "BOW BEFORE ME"... more piercing, violent shrieks. "GUNS. NOT OUR AMERICA..."

They were then called homosexuals at a deafening pitch for hours on end.

After the constant and ear damning squall, constant profane lyrics to songs echoed constantly, followed by other maddening things.

"With Roshi dead," Pein brought it back to the previous subject, "We will be... delayed," He said the word distastefully, "For a couple years longer."

"This means our plans revert back to what they were before the Chunin exams in Konoha." Konan elaborated, "Moves on the Jinchuriki will wait until things start to calm down and if war breaks out between the two factions starting to form."

Madara had informed Pein and Konan that he was convincing the Kages of the smaller villages to be more adversarial with the major ones and cause more instability to foment conflict between the Big Five.

Escalation of conflict was a necessary evil, even if Pein hated it.

"Three rings are now gone." Pein let his displeasure be known in his voice as he levelled is attention towards Kakazu and Kisame. "Orochimaru's is unlikely to be found, and Itachi's will undoubtedly be studied if he was unable to destroy it. Meetings will become more sparse until we can ensure that we can't be eavesdropped upon by anyone other than the designer of the rings."

Madara had let it be known to Pein and Konan that he got the rings off of the corpses of S-rank Uzumaki in Uzushiogakure.

"This meeting is now over. The next will be two weeks from now. Lay low until then." Pein finished, cutting the connection.

His actual surroundings rematerialized and he turned to look at Konan, then to Madara.

"Have you finished the preparations?" Pein asked.

"For the most part." Madara replied, "Only time is required for the seeds to bear fruit. Iwa can be brought into a conflict with effort, but the distraction will pay off for us."

Pein glanced towards Konan, who remained silent as she focused on Madara.

"I will be absent for the next week," Madara chakra shimmered as he started to disappear, "I will contact you when necessary."

With that, the former Uchiha clan leader disappeared in a swirl, leaving the two remaining war orphan students of Jiraiya alone.

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End chapter:

Chapter took longer to get out than I expected, but whatever. Ashina's arc has ended in a bang, and the ramification will be felt in the future for a long time.

To anybody who asks why he did what he did and antagonized Onoki and the Land of Earth's head of state: Remember, this is a guy who outlived all but one of his children and most of his grandchildren, with Onoki being the only remaining person responsible alive.

Roshi was also the one that mortally wounded his eldest. He killed two birds with one stone. He weakens Iwa and gets his vengeance, while also screwing with the Akatsuki's plans.

Kaguya obviously isn't getting brought back, courtesy of Ashina killing Zetsu.

The non-English words he said in the Kamui dimension were in Sindarin, because I'm a druggy for LotR.

The way he kept the clone in Roshi's seal is already explained, so l won't repeat it. That's basically about it.

Here's a new chapter and I hope you enjoy. Comments are appreciated and I hope you have a wonderful day.

Raging.