"Lord Nawaki?"
Black Zetsu asked, having watched him space out there for almost a minute now.
"Ah, yes, you were speaking about the Head of Intelligence in Kumo, correct, the one the Zetsu is impersonating?"
Nawaki had been absentmindedly aware of what Black Zetsu had been talking about, but was more focused on the memories of his past.
"How likely is it that the Zetsu gets discovered?" Black Zetsu asked, his voice rasping in the dark.
"It's not a matter of if, but when," Nawaki replied flatly. "The heads of most intelligence departments carry far too much valuable information. They all use fūinjutsu memory locks to prevent leaks in case of capture. The more extreme versions will destroy the targeted area upon tampering, just like the Caged Bird Seal. The less extreme ones lock down the mind, requiring the village Kage to release the seal manually. When questions start being asked, and the Zetsu doesn't have the answers, it'll be discovered."
Nawaki explained, beginning to walk further into the underground cavern alongside Black Zetsu.
"The only reason this plan worked is that the Head of the Kumo intelligence department is highly respected and holds real authority. The information handed to them about Konoha wasn't necessarily wrong. After all, the best lies always contain a hint of truth. Give information to a man like the Fourth Raikage, and he'll see what he wants to from it; it's his biggest and most fatal flaw aside from his anger."
A cold smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth.
"The fact that the Zetsu will be discovered is also part of the plan. The Raikage won't be able to stand by. Once he realizes what is happening, he will rush off to stop his brother. By the time that headstrong fool returns, the Two-Tails will already be ours, and the Raikage will be left to flail and break stuff like the raging moron that he is. If we're lucky, he might even start problems with the other villages."
- With Kakashi -
Blinking in and out of consciousness, Kakashi caught brief glimpses of Sasuke supporting him as they moved through the recognizable forest surrounding Kakashi's house. The teenager was clearly struggling, but he kept moving ahead, dragging his battered sensei while battling a fever that appeared to worsen with every step.
A few minutes later, Sasuke came out of the treeline and through a clearing. He caught a brief glimpse of a few kids playing nearby before his legs finally gave out. He collapsed to the ground, dropping Kakashi. The sight of the bloodied ninja instantly panicked the children, sending them running off in terror.
The commotion quickly drew the attention of civilians and shinobi alike. A woman in a jōnin jacket came forward, quickly moving to calm the frightened kids and get the details.
"All right, start over," Kurenai Yūhi murmured gently, crouching down to their eye level. "One at a time, tell me what happened."
"Two guys just fell out of the trees over there! One of them has blood all over him, and the other one looked super sick, and then he just went splat on the ground!"
Kurenai's eyes widened slightly at the frantic description. She patted the little boy's shoulder to reassure him before standing up, her sight instantly shifting toward the border of the woods where the children were pointing.
Kurenai leaped up to the roof and saw both figures. The shock of spiky hair was all too familiar, but it was covered in blood, and he looked an absolute mess.
Rushing over to both of them, Kurenai checked their pulses. She breathed a sigh of relief, finding they were both alive. She raised two fingers, and two shadow clones materialized on either side of her.
"Inform Lady Tsunade immediately," Kurenai ordered the first clone. "You, go to the hospital and bring back-up."
Both clones nodded and vanished from the rooftop in a blur.
Tsunade arrived in a swirl of leaves a minute later.
Without a word, Tsunade dropped to her knees beside them. Her hands lit up with green medical chakra as she began checking Kakashi first. Blood was dripping steadily from his mouth, and a quick scan revealed the scale of the damage. He had multiple broken ribs, fractures throughout both arms, and internal bleeding. She forced her chakra into his torso to stabilize his lungs before the broken bones could puncture anything vital.
"Kurenai, keep others back," Tsunade ordered, her voice rigid with focus.
She shifted her stare to Sasuke. The boy was burning up with a blistering fever, his skin flushed and his breathing ragged. Tsunade laid a hand on his chest, but the symptom caught her off guard. She couldn't identify what was causing such a sudden, aggressive spike in temperature; the fever reminded her of Kakashi's serum, but Kakashi wouldn't give his student the serum while outside Konoha dealing with an unknown threat.
Right on cue, a squad of medical ninja rushed on the scene, dragging two wheeled stretchers behind them.
"Get them loaded up, now!" Tsunade ordered. "Careful with Kakashi; he has multiple fractures and internal damage. Keep Sasuke stable. We are moving them to the intensive care unit immediately."
The medics moved with skilled efficiency. They lifted Kakashi's deadweight body onto the first stretcher, taking care not to aggravate his broken arms or ribs. Two more medics picked up Sasuke and laid him on the second, wheeling them both forward as Tsunade led the charge back toward the hospital.
Kakashi briefly twitched awake at the sound of a ding, his eyes growing wide and accepting the reward instantly.
*Ding
Your chakra has acted as a catalyst for something that shouldn't have happened yet.
Description: Sasuke's Six-Tomoe Rinnegan
Reward: Bloodline enhancement
[Reward Accepted, body will shut down to integrate these changes]
Kakashi read half of the last sentence before he passed out again, not catching the words Tsunade had been shouting at him, not knowing he'd be out for a very long time.
- With Naruto -
"Hmm?"
Naruto looked up, tracking a brilliant streak of white-yellow light as it cut across the sky and slammed directly into a far clearing of snow. The impact shook the frozen ground and resounded with a loud impact that echoed off the mountains
"Whoever that is has an absurd amount of chakra," Karin said, walking up beside him. Behind her, Killer Bee was held tight, completely bound by her Adamantine Chakra Chains.
"It's likely the Raikage," Naruto sighed. He rubbed the back of his neck, completely exhausted. He didn't want to get into another fight, but the world appeared to love tossing trouble straight at his feet. Without another word, Naruto closed his eyes and began gathering nature energy until his sage reserves were full once more.
"He's coming this way," Karin warned, her eyes tightening beneath her glasses. "And he's moving incredibly fast."
The snow in front of them erupted. A blue flash of lightning tore through the clearing, spraying a wall of white powder and ice shards into the air as the Fourth Raikage slammed into the ground.
When the cloud of pulverized snow settled, A stood tall in his Lightning Release Armor, his chest pounding with rage. His hair was spiked wildly from his own electrical current, and his eyes were full of fury.
He didn't look at Naruto. His gaze locked instantly onto Karin's glowing golden chains winding around his brother.
"Bee!" A roared, his deep voice panicked.
Bee didn't answer, his body slumped heavily within the tight coils of the Adamantine Chains. The sight only pushed the Raikage completely over the edge. The blue aura around him flared violently, melting the snow around his feet into hissing puddles of steam.
"Release him this instant, or I will bury you both in this tundra," A hissed, his voice sinking to a dangerous rumble as he slid into a low, predatory stance, ready to launch his signature Lariat.
Naruto stepped in front of Karin; he met the Raikage's murderous glare with the toad sage mode eyes, raising a Flying Raijin kunai.
"Calm yourself, Raikage. He's alive; I didn't have to spare his life, but I did. Don't push this further than it needs to be."
A's jaw clenched tightly, his lightning armor sparking violently at the sight of the kunai. Seeing Minato Namikaze's signature weapon in the boy's hand only escalated his rage.
"You dare threaten me with the Yellow Flash's technique while holding my brother hostage?" He growled, the snow falling from the sky vaporizing instantly under the raw heat of his chakra. "You have three seconds to tell her to drop those chains, Namikaze, or I will test just how fast you really are."
Naruto's blue eyes changed into an icy glare that was much colder than the land of snow ever thought of being.
"It would seem words are worthless with you."
A's lightning armor flared, the blue electric current crackling so loudly it drowned out the howling winter wind. He didn't answer with words. Instead, his body turned into a streak of pure light as he launched himself forward, closing the distance in a fraction of a second.
Naruto didn't hesitate. Thanks to the increased sensory perception of Sage Mode, the Raikage's blistering speed felt predictable, even normal. Just as A's massive fist was about to cave in his ribs, Naruto threw the three-pronged kunai straight up into the air and disappeared in a yellow flash.
The Raikage's punch hit nothing but empty air and snow, creating a massive shockwave that blasted through the clearing and sent a wall of ice flying into the distance.
A fraction of a second later, Naruto materialized directly behind the Raikage, catching the falling kunai out of the air with his right hand. A buzz echoed out as Naruto wrapped the metal in a razor-sharp coat of wind chakra, making the steel glow with a slight, lethal hum. Before A could even pivot his body to counter, the tip of the wind-wrapped blade was already resting firmly against the back of the Raikage's neck, easily going through the outer layers of the lightning armor.
"I told you," Naruto whispered, his voice dead calm right next to A's ear. "Don't push this."
A went rigid. The humming of the wind chakra scraped directly against the skin of his neck, a natural elemental counter slicing effortlessly through his lightning shield. The blue armor around his shoulders sparked unsteadily, but he didn't dare move his head.
"You're arrogant, boy," A hissed, his voice sounding a quiet rumble, though his eyes darted sideways, trying to track Naruto's position in his peripheral vision. "You think a neat trick and a sharp knife make you untouchable?"
"I think it means I can kill you before you finish turning around," Naruto replied, his grip on the kunai steady. "I don't want Kumo as an enemy, Raikage. But if you force my hand, I will leave the Hidden Cloud without a leader today."
Behind them, Karin kept her stance solid, the golden chakra chains tightening slightly around a still-unconscious Killer Bee. She watched the standoff with a small smile, proud and another emotion that she pushed down.
A's jaw ground together. He was trapped. A kid had entirely neutralized his signature speed.
"Now that I have you here, I want to say some things."
Naruto spoke up, ready for anything at any time.
"You were set up; I didn't know before, but the brief chat I had with your brother made me sure of it. You're here because something happened, right?"
A narrowed his eyes; this kid was smart.
The pieces were finally starting to fall into place in his mind. He was only out here in the snow because that 'thing', whatever that pale, white creature was, had perfectly impersonated the head of the Kumo intelligence department. It had fed him false reports. The entire thing had been designed from the very start to lure him away from the village.
"An ambush," A muttered, his tone lowering as the rage in his chakra network began to cool into a harsh, calculating realization. "The white creature... it set a trap to pull me out of Kumo."
Naruto didn't lower the wind-wrapped kunai, keeping his Sage Mode eyes focused on the back of the Raikage's head. "Then you're finally starting to understand. If you're out here letting your emotions control you, who is left back home to protect the village? Or the host of the 2-tails?"
"What?!"
A's lightning chakra calmed down, the bright blue shroud fading around his shoulders. Naruto took a step back, but he never lowered his hands or let his guard down.
"Who would target Yugito?" A demanded, his voice held a tight mix of panic and confusion. "She's the third strongest ninja in Kumo. An S-rank shinobi with a destructive Fire Release. Defeating her isn't something just anyone can do."
Naruto's Sage Mode eyes remained fixed on the Raikage. "The Akatsuki doesn't send just anyone. They hunt Jinchūriki for a living, and they know exactly how to counter her, and she is completely alone right now."
Behind them, Karin kept her grip tight on the chakra chains binding Killer Bee, her eyes moving between Naruto and the now-stalled Raikage.
"Karin, hand him over," Naruto said, his eyes never leaving the Raikage. "The Raikage needs to leave now if he wishes to try and save this Yugito."
Karin looked in surprise but didn't argue. With a sharp flip of her wrists, she loosened the Adamantine Chains and effortlessly tossed Bee's heavy body forward toward his brother. The golden chakra links faded into light mid-air.
A was shocked, completely caught off guard by the gesture. He quickly reached out his arms and caught his brother. A ran a rapid scan over Bee, noting that while he was heavily injured, the Eight-Tails had likely healed the most serious, life-threatening damage.
'He did this to Bee?'
The Raikage wondered, a cold sweat breaking out under his collar. He looked over his brother's battered form, then back at Naruto. He had a sudden wave of grim gratitude that the young man possessed a cooler head than his own. If Naruto hadn't chosen restraint, A knew he would likely be dead right now simply because he had underestimated the boy and acted rashly.
- Chapter End -