Beta:

(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง

There was a pleasing warmth to Konoha.

On days when I had nothing to do—which were rare—I liked to sit in town and watch the civilians mingle about. I always placed a genjutsu over myself so no one would pay attention to me.

People were happy.

Children could run about the streets without a care in the world. Parents would not need to think twice about it. There were no vagrants slowly dying on the streets. In spring it smelled like flowers; in winter like wood burning from home furnaces.

It felt... unreal.

Dreamlike.

This was the peace I was seeking—this was the ultimate goal I so desperately craved.

And...

When I closed my eyes I thought maybe I could hear her among the crowd.

"My little sapling."

Are you watching over me?

Do you hate me?

Or do you... maybe...

The yonbi and gobi were the next two bijū to "disappear."

Both of them belonged to Iwagakure, and so it was Deidara who joyously volunteered to help capture them. He, along with Kakuzu and Hidan, did exactly that.

One, two, three, four, and five taken care of within one and a half weeks.

And Konoha was, thus far, none the wiser.

The rokubi had already been sealed in a special jar during the first civil war in Kirigakure.

Which meant only three bijū remained at the end of the week.

I vaguely remembered this process being much more drawn out in the original story. There were weeks of preparation in between, but that was not necessary here. We had spent years planning each and every step. We had destroyed two of the five major villages and infiltrated the remaining three.

Each time they sent in their own shinobi to investigate under the rain, the Akatuski or Acolytes dispatched them.

We were prepared.

They were not.

So close—so close—

Soon no more Red, Owari whispered.

(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง

Naruto and the others returned home earlier than expected. They were tired from their long mission in the desert, but they had plenty to report. They had wiped out dozens of illegal groups, and mapped out several hidden underground passageways they had found. Naruto theorized at least half of them belonged to Sunagakure previously, and the rest were created by slavers to move their merchandise without getting caught.

He, Sasuke, and Sakura were exhausted. Sasuke especially so since he spent most of the mission by himself and wasn't able to fully relax or switch off with anyone.

Itachi prepared them a very lovely meal to celebrate their return, while Raion praised them for such a job well done.

(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง

The night after the chōmei and hachibi were collected, Obito and I were called to Minato's office.

"There's been a call for a conference," said Minato when we arrived.

"A conference?" Obito asked, perplexed.

"Yes. With the other kage," explained Minato. "A lot of the bijū have been disappearing."

"What?" Obito and I said with (false—at least on my part) alarm.

"We're going to meet with the other kages in the Land of Iron to discuss it," said Minato. "I'm taking you two with me."

Obito frowned. "You sure? Maybe I should stay so Konoha has at least one teleporter."

Minato shook his head. "Naruto's back. He can reach me if he needs to. Having the kage convene in one spot makes for a prime attack by whoever is behind this, I'd rather have two of my strongest people at my side."

"Not gonna take Jiraiya?" I asked.

He let out a small chuckle. "You and I both know you two could run circles around that old man. Besides, I want at least one fūinjutsu master in the village in case the barrier becomes under attack."

Minato stood up from his desk, turning to face the window.

"This is going to be huge," he said. "I need you both at your best."

"Yes, sir."

Obito and I shifted our weight as we waited for Minato to dismiss us. Several minutes passed by before the Hokage spoke again. I could hear the frown in his voice as he said, "Everything feels so calculated."

"What do you mean?" Obito asked.

"The bijū..." Minato ran his fingers through his hair, sighing tiredly. "Do you remember the attack on Konoha?"

"Which one?"

"The one where Kushina," Minato stumbled briefly over her name, "died."

My heart clenched.

Obito put his hands in his pockets. "Yeah? It was done by a one-eyed Uchiha, right?"

"Yeah," said Minato. "Or at least—at least someone who has a Sharingan in one eye."

"You don't think it was an Uchiha?" I inquired, keeping my tone incredulous even as my heartbeat quickened.

"Danzō had a lot of Sharingan eyes implanted," he pointed out. "The Uchiha never set up a fail-safe like the Hyūga."

Obito scratched his cheek. "I suppose so, but they were really good with it. Good enough to—to catch you and a whole bunch of ANBU by surprise, right? They had to have received training, so they were probably an Uchiha."

"Probably," repeated Minato blandly.

"Why are you bringing that up now?" I casually tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear and idly asked him. "Have you found something out?"

"I don't have anything concrete," he admitted. "Just... a feeling. These bijū attacks feel... feel connected. All of them."

"One hell of a long-term plan."

"Two villages—two countries—were wiped out. One absorbed by a country we haven't been able to infiltrate in years." Minato's eyes narrowed. "Something bigger is at play. I feel it. We're being... orchestrated."

Obito and I exchanged stoic glances. Obito shrugged. "You're the smart one. If that's what you feel, then it must be true."

"Hopefully we'll find answers at the summit," I effortlessly lied. "Maybe the other kage have more information."

"Maybe," said Minato. "Maybe. We'll leave tomorrow morning. Dismissed."

(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง

The Summit was held in the Land of Iron, inside the samurai fortress. It didn't take us more than a few hours to arrive, and we were led by a group of samurai. They directed us to a room on the fifth floor.

There was a large oak semicircle desk with banners behind three seats. Each banner held a single kanji—Fire, Lightning, Earth—In front of each banner was a seat.

As there were only three kages left, there were only three seats, excluding the one set aside for the mediator.

Ay, the Raikage of Kumogakure, was seated furthest from the door. He had two Jōnin on either side of him. I did not recognize either of them, and one of them wore a mask with an Uzumaki swirl which I thought was odd.

The other kage was Ōnoki, the Tsuchikage of Iwagakure. Flanking him were two Jōnin from Iwagakure. I recognized one of them as his granddaughter—from the bingo book—but not the other.

Minato took a seat at the table. Obito and I stood on either side of him. Ay glowered at me, likely recalling the time I had returned his precious ambassador's head to him.

I smirked at him.

"It looks like everyone is here," said the old samurai upfront. "I am Mifune, our moderator. The Three Kage Summit Conference is called into order."

"Let's speak plainly," Ōnoki cut in. "We're here to address the disappearing bijū and the rise of power from Amegakure... namely the Akatsuki. Every shinobi Iwagakure has sent into Amegakure has disappeared under the rain."

"Konoha is in the same position," Minato admitted.

Ay scoffed at that, loudly. "The hell it is. Konoha's the only village that hasn't had to deal with Ame and the Akatsuki. You still have your bijū."

Minato's eyes narrowed. "Our defenses are impeccable. I would advise Kumogakure to revise theirs."

Ay slammed his fist on the table. "It has nothing to do with your defenses. It's because the Akatsuki belongs to Konoha."

Ōnoki's head snapped around to glare at Minato. "What?!"

"That's nonsense," Minato sharply rebuked, blue eyes glittering with disdain. "Konoha has never contacted the Akatsuki before. The last time we even interacted with Ame shinobi was during the Chūnin Exams years ago."

"Conveniently when Sungakure destroyed itself attacking you," snapped Ay. "Ever wondered about that?"

"Everyone knows Suna's demise is suspect," Minato coldly retorted. "But it has nothing to do with Konoha."

"It has everything to do with Konoha. It was orchestrated by the Akatsuki which is controlled by Konoha!"

"You're speaking out of paranoia, not facts," Minato said. "If you've evidence, please share."

Ay glowered at Minato. "Evidence, huh? As a matter of fact, I do." He raised his hand and the masked man stepped forward. "This is Uzumaki Rabu."

Rabu...? I thought, the name rung a familiar bell.

The man bowed in greeting to the kage. "Greetings. I am Uzumaki Rabu. I was once a member of the Land of Fire's Court."

Minato frowned at that.

"I," he said, "am a sensor."

I froze.

Oh no. Oh no. Oh no, no, no.

"Forgive me, I would remove my mask to properly prove myself, but this mask was specially made to block genjutsus," said Rabu, and I knew, I knew he was looking at me when he said that.

What do I do?

He had to die. He had to die before he said anything else, but could I move fast enough? He was standing right next to Ay, someone who was glaring hatefully at me.

I can't attack him.

I wasn't fast enough to kill him before someone intercepted me. If I attacked now, I'd be forced to attack everyone at the summit, including Minato and Obito. Both of them had access to teleportation and could instantly flee to Konoha and alert everyone else of my betrayal.

Violence was not a solution here.

Which meant I needed to rely on my wits and ability to persuade.

I morphed my expression into that of subtle confusion. I had to put on a believable performance.

It's fine. Minato and Obito trust me. As long as I present a logical argument, they'll believe me over some masked creep.

"While staying in court, I had the displeasure of meeting none other than Senju Naasica," said Rabu. "And I lay witness to her murdering countless nobles for no other reason than her deluded beliefs. When I brought this to the daimyo's attention, I was rebuffed and chased out. For years, I was hunted by a creature most foul while I investigated her."

Hunted? I didn't—Madara-ue, perhaps?

Rabu pointed at me. "She is behind the Akatsuki. She hides her evilness behind pretty smiles. But I can prove it to you."

"Prove what? That you're insane?" I shook my head, folding my arms over my chest. "Kumogakure lost the war, and every time they've tried to interfere with Konoha I've put a stop to them. This is nothing more than slander."

"I'm inclined to agree," Minato said dryly. "Where is your actual evidence?"

Rabu put his hands together in the tiger seal. "This. A technique I devised that will reveal all."

"An attack?" Minato immediately stood up.

Mifune and Ōnoki also stood up, enraged. Mifune snapped, "This is intended to be a peaceful conversation, restrain yourself."

"It will not affect anyone else here—only her!" Rabu said. "Fūin: Rirīsu!"

There was a sharp burning sensation in my eye. My hand flew up to cover it as the pain leaped to unimaginable heights. Despite all my years of training in pain tolerance, the sensation of having fūinjutsu seals forcibly removed from my body—so closely connected to my eye—was exquisitely debilitating. It forced me to lean heavily on my knees as I grimaced.

"See?" Rabu demanded loudly. "Look! Look for yourselves at what she hides!"

I hissed in pain.

"Naasica," said Minato softly. "Lower your hand."

I did not dare.

But suddenly a hand grabbed at my own and forcibly pulled me away. Unwittingly, I found myself staring into Minato's face as his eyes widened with realization.

Then recognition.

Then... it... clicked.

I could see the exact second where all the pieces fell into place in his head. All the connections so nicely tied together for such an unsavory explanation.

It was only a second. Really, barely a moment.

And then a Rasengan tore into my stomach and my intestines were shredded into messy bits that flew everywhere. Minato dug hard into my abdomen as blood shot up into my throat and filled my lungs. I retched, struggling to breathe as every breath I took was laced with my blood. I didn't even have the time to process how much pain I was in as the adrenaline took over and I reflexively swiped at his grip on my wrist.

Minato released me and I flew back into the wall.

My ears rang as I whiplashed against the concrete, the world spinning rapidly.

I'm about to die.

That was the only thought I could complete as I detachedly observed my position. Minato had delivered a traumatic blow to my abdomen and I had lost chunks of my stomach and intestines. Organ failure was imminent if I did not receive medical attention, not even taking into account the blood loss.

It was an exceedingly lucky thing that Minato did not know about my ability to teleport through wood. I had to praise my child self's paranoia for never revealing that.

I forced out an explosion of mokuton, destroying the room as I rapidly forced my wood to connect to the underground root network I had cultivated for decades. The second my mokuton transformed arm touched one of the roots, I pulled myself away and threw myself out of a tree in one of the parks of Amegakure.

I retched as my blood flood spewed from me, my guts spilling out onto the grass. Hazily, I could hear someone scream in horror—several people actually—but I was too weak to lift my head and see their reaction.

"KONOHA!"

"THERE'S A KONOHA KUNOICHI!"

Between one delirious blink and the next, I was surrounded. One of the Amegakure shinobi pulled a kunai out against me, but thankfully Kisame had arrived and kicked the shinobi away.

"Hey, hey, hey," said Kisame, swooping down. His face was blurry to me; everything became fuzzy and distant. "Hime—"

A familiar patch of red poked through my vision.

Kushina?

But that was all I could think until I passed out.

(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง

Obito

Obito returned to Konoha, pale-faced and covered in blood. He appeared at home, right in their dining room.

Kakashi stood upon seeing him, his eyes widening. Naruto dropped the dish he had been washing, and Sasuke hurried over to him.

"What happened?" demanded Kakashi.

"There—there was an attack on the summit," whispered Obito. "Amegakure attacked."

"Where's—where are the others?" Naruto asked hesitantly, a sudden sick feeling in his stomach.

Obito swallowed roughly, his Sharingan fizzing out to leave behind dull black eyes. "Hime... Minato and Naasica were both murdered. The Akatsuki killed them."

Then Obito tucked forward and passed out.