Chapter 108: Chapter 22
An agitated Gaara woke up an hour after he was tucked into a safehouse on the edge of the River/Fire border. Naruto had doped him with a chakra disrupting serum so he didn't launch an immediate attack.
"Who are you?" He sounded like a small, terrified boy, rather than a Kazekage. Fear could do many things, few of them good.
"I may look different now, Lord Kazekage, but you know me. I adjusted your seals years ago…."
"Taro? You look nothing like Taro."
Naruto laughed at Gaara's tone of voice. Even the Kazekage seemed to be a fan of Taro's legend: the man who'd stopped a demon, killed the Snake Sannin, and done who knows what else. It had been perfect to use Jiraiya to stage Taro's death. The gossipy man had spread around what he knew of Taro long before he realized that the battle was too strange, too staged.
"Your brother is a puppeteer or was some years ago. I am also a puppeteer, self taught. Taro was one of my creations. I rode inside him and appeared to the world as a tall, experienced ninja when I was in truth a fourteen year old kid."
Gaara's open mouth was just a bit funny.
"No. No, puppeteers can't do that, can they? Kankurou can't."
"It's a choice. Your friend Sasori," here Gaara's face darkened and tiny fragments of dirt and sand on the floor began to move haltingly, "rides in the belly of his puppet, if my sources are correct. Your brother carried his puppet on his back; Sasori's puppet and my former puppet carried each of us around."
Naruto was not about to admit that he could control puppets remotely from a great distance. But it was no great loss to admit that he had once rode around inside Taro to help disguise his age – after all, it was a technique he planned never to have to use again.
One was only pitifully young once.
"Why did you save ne? How did you know I was gone?" Gaara was smarter than Naruto remembered. He wasn't Kazekage just because of his demonic tenant.
Naruto paused before answering. It wasn't a plesant answer no matter how he sugar coated it.
"I placed a spy in Suna. I knew that the Akatsuki were uncommonly interested in jinchuuriki, so I had someone watching you. He caught the last bits of your abduction, contacted me, and sent someone to follow along behind you to see where they took you…."
Gaara got angry at this. "You expected them to do this? To try to kill me?"
Naruto shrugged. "Yes."
"And you had a spy in my village? For how long?"
"Years."
"A spy in my village for years…and I didn't know about it. I know about all the spies. I know who reports back to Iwa and who to Kusa and who to Kumo. I know this because it's my business to know this. But I did not know about your spy. What are you, whatever your name is?"
"For now, call me Taro. It will save questions."
The no-long-scared Kazekage looked ready to kill something.
"Tell me about these…'Akatsuki.'"
"They value the power of the bijuu. My 'spy' does not know what they will do with them once they're collected, but he knows it is to be some type of weapon. There are supposed to be nine or ten members all told, and I just learned a few hours ago about the special rings they wear. My primary 'spy' had withheld that information from me. They aim to kill you and take the Shukaku, if you didn't already understand that…."
"Who? Who are they?"
"Your captors? One was a fellow Suna ninja, Akasuna no Sasori…."
"That was really him, wasn't it? Until recently, I thought it was just a bad tale that parents would tell their children. 'If you misbehave, Sasori or Gaara will get you.'"
"Ah, but you are real, Gaara. Just as Sasori is real…."
"I understand. Now. But I do not know why I am in this cave."
"Assuming we weren't watched or followed – 50/50 chance I'd say – this will keep you safe for the immediate future. You needed to rest and heal. And we needed to have this conversation, Lord Kazekage."
"You aren't telling me something. There is a price for your help, I assume."
"Yes, there is a price. But you get to choose what you'll pay. It isn't a permanent cost, either. So, you will either nominate a deputy to serve Suna until Akatsuki is dealt with and go into hiding…or I will nominate a deputy on your behalf and you will go into hiding."
"What!"
"The choices are clear. I have made a horrible mistake leaving the jinchuuriki actually exposed to the Akatsuki…a mistake I shall remedy. I wanted to use you as a type of bait so that I could stalk my own prey, but I almost allowed Sasori to gain what he wanted at the cost of your life. It is too dangerous even for someone like you to be out in the world…as that man has probably spent some years preparing to confront you in addition to his normal range of skills. He'd probably developed special ways of dealing you're your sand…as I put together ways of dealing with his best-known weapons. Shortly all the jinchuuriki I know of, save that blasted eight-tail who must be gifted at evasion, will be safe and replaced in their public lives by…acceptable surrogates…."
Gaara had nothing to say. He did wave his arm, expecting a wall of sand to attack this crazy person speaking with him. Nothing happened.
"Stop it. Your chakra is disrupted for a period of time…."
"How?"
"A mild poison refined by Tsunade of the Sannin. I stole a set of her private lab books from Konoha many years ago." The Hokage had had them among his personal papers in his office when Naruto ransacked it. Kabuto, before his well-deserved demise, had further refined Tsunade's formulation…but Gaara didn't need to know that.
"The poison won't last forever. When it wears off, I'm gone…and you've got yourself an enemy, Taro."
"Well, I'd rather avoid that last bit. Why don't I let you observe a few things? You can make up your own mind about how to assist with the Akatsuki. If you have a well-informed third option, I am not averse to letting you help."
Gaara nodded.
Naruto felt a bit of pride. He'd tried and tried to think of a way to force Gaara and the Suna forces to help against the Akatsuki. It never worked in the mental wargames he played…but this did. He forced Gaara off the field…and the young Kazekage would do anything to return to the war.
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Sasori finished his report to the Leader and the other members. Few of them understood the problem with another destroyed ring. The technique of the Demon Sealing Statue was a secret to almost everyone, even many of the main Akatsuki members. Orochimaru's betrayal still guided many security decisions in the organization.
The Leader understood the problem with the missing rings. Beyond him, the dope Tobi – hiding a vicious Uchiha Madara – understood even better.
"That is…disappointing," the Leader said. "Inform us why you left the One Tail behind? It has set our plans back…."
"I understand, Leader. But I needed a bone to throw to a rabid dog…."
"Certainly you, Sasori, could have handled this ninja," Hidan said in an almost respectful tone of voice.
"He had just disabled my most powerful human puppet. With that puppet I could have used the magnetic sands to restrain the One Tail – as iron sand can beat the traditional sand he could call upon – and provide for a safe escape route. Without it, I had to give the Nine Tails a reason to remain behind while I fled…."
"No one's that strong," Hidan said, far less respectful this time. "Send me. Send Kakuzu. We're not afraid of a damned thing."
"Tobi thinks Sasori is the best." The odd little muppet seemed to point an accusing finger at Hidan.
"Well, Jashin thinks Tobi would be a good offering. Shall I come to the cavern you're in right now and give you to my Lord God?"
"Tobi thinks Hidan is a bad ninja…." With that, Tobi squeezed his hand…and a hundred kilometers away Hidan's throat was crushed.
"…and now Hidan is off with Jashin."
The Leader shook his head at 'Tobi' but said nothing. Over the years, 'Tobi' had killed three Akatsuki who annoyed him. It made recruiting rather difficult once a few stories got out. Evil ninja of a certain caliber tended to trade stories rather than exchange blows when the occasionally got together to drink and gossip. Once Gogo of the Claw and Hiro Takeda from Tea Country mysteriously died…rumors got out about the last 'clients' each of them had worked for. People stopped responding to queries from a plant headed man formerly of Grass Country.
If Hidan's death got out – or if Hidan were missed by outsiders – it would hard to refill the gaps in the organization. They had no swordsman of Kisame's caliber now even years after his death; they had a powerful Uchiha in Madara but they didn't have anyone with such a public reputation as Itachi. Now, Deidara and Hidan were dead…both killed by Akatsuki members. Konan, Zetsu, Kakuzu, Madara, Pain, and Sasori were all that remained.
The unstoppable plan Madara had presented all those years ago to serve Pain's goals – world peace enforced at the edge of a kunai – had ground to a halt. It was no longer unstoppable.
Some days Pain wondered whether it was a mistake to have gone with Madara's plan. There were days when Pain wondered if that bastard Uchiha cared for anything other than the Nine-Tailed Fox. He seemed bored when the others were discussed, but the hunt for Uzumaki Naruto always got 'Tobi' interested.
Kakuzu finally broke the awkward silence. "Deal with Tobi later, Leader. For now, I wish to discuss my former homeland, Hidden Waterfall. We've assembled the mercenaries there. We're paying them now from our treasuries but we're not getting any value from them. I propose to journey there to…train them."
Leader listened and then nodded. "An excellent proposal. With the increasing difficulty of sealing the bijuu we may need to fall back to a less desirable plan. Unleash hell on the world and then offer 'protection.' We can bankrupt the Elemental Nations, send them into poverty, and destroy their ability to wage war forever. The caveat is that we won't have the ultimate weapon in reserve as a threat, however…."
Tobi started up again. "Tobi thinks the bijuu are pretty. Tobi thinks Akatsuki should have the bijuu, so much pretty chakra."
"Thank you, Tobi," Leader said. "But we've delayed matters for a decade already. It is time to begin. We'll train the mercenaries and harden them, equip them with chakra armor and the rest. Then the other members can work on acquiring the bijuu. It is foolish to hold off on both parts of the plan just to acquire the jinchuuriki."
Tobi looked agitated, but said nothing further.
"Kakuzu will go…as will I…."
"And Tobi!"
"And Tobi. Sasori will begin putting out feelers to recruit more senior members. Zetsu will take up surveillance on the One Tail. We had to release him once; I would be sure we can reacquire him on demand. When we return from Waterfall we will reassign teams and track down the bijuu quickly…."
"What about the rings?" Konan quietly asked. Even though Leader hadn't said anything to her, she knew what her task was – to keep an eye on Madara's plots and plans.
"We will need to redesign the jutsu. The rings speed up the technique and allow several persons to be involved. There are alternative methods…slower methods…that we could use. I will think on it."
Leader stopped talking and looked at the ghostly images in front of him. Fatigue was setting in amongst his troops. "Dismissed."
The images faded out. Pain wondered again if he should get rid of all this…and return to his original plan. Have Konan and the Six Paths of Pain perform the devastation needed to affect peace.
Mercenaries and money, levels and stages and plots…blah, it was all too convoluted. Peace through hellish, unrelenting war: that was a contradiction Pain could understand.
Beast Realm could summon hellish animals until the shinigami ate everyone's soul. God Realm…well, that path could do most anything. The other paths could lay waste to a country each.
It was an…alternative plan. Perhaps he'd be able to speak with Konan about it soon. Madara was getting increasingly unstable. If Uchiha Madara had to die for Pain's plan to work…well, Pain could find a way to kill Madara this time.
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Jiraiya, Godaime Hokage, took the unusual step of leading the small force himself. His spy network had let him know of Gaara's kidnapping – and he had mobilized the force within hours. He'd had to reassign several missions and recall a few people only a couple of hours outside of Hidden Leaf.
The small expeditionary force had himself, seven jounin, and four chuunin in it. Tsunade, along with the Sandaime, were taking care of things back in Hidden Leaf. (One of Jiraiya's first acts was to recall Tsunade, pay off her gambling debts, and install her in the hospital to remedy the various turf wars and training debacles they had going on there. The Slug Sannin hadn't been happy…but she had returned in exchange for the debt forgiveness.)
The problem was that the Hokage and his force arrived in Suna about the same time when a strange looking ninja helped Gaara off a medical litter held up by Shadow Clones and escorted him to the gate.
"Kazekage?" Jiraiya said.
An extra pale young man turned around and nodded his head. "Lord Hokage, what brought you here?"
"I thought our ally had a problem," the Hokage said.
"Our alliance is strained at best. The reparations Hidden Leaf demanded after the invasion have destroyed our economy to this day. Then this…. Don't tell me you had a spy in my village."
Jiraiya almost took a step back at Gaara's vehemence. "I won't."
"You're here," Gaara said. "You might as well come in. Do you wish to attend, Taro?"
That got Jiraiya's attention. The small young man didn't look anything like that massive 'Taro' puppet he'd fought and 'killed' all those years ago. Was this what his godson looked like? It was possible to see a bit of Minato in this young man…maybe.
"I will stay for a moment to ensure you're well situated, Lord Kazekage."
Jiraiya began to fling out questions immediately, but Gaara waved them away. He walked away, into the village, in silence.
Five minutes later the group was sealed in the Kazekage's office. Gaara nodded at Jiraiya and the older ninja let loose.
"What the hell happened? My…source said he'd spotted Sasori. And then I get here and you're back."
Gaara frowned. "Sasori was here. I was kidnapped. This ninja, Taro, apparently has a better spy network as he arrived to rescue me more than a day ago."
Jiraiya stared at the tallish, blonde ninja. "You. You were the puppeteer who kept me prisoner all those months?"
Naruto just nodded.
"The Sandaime Hokage told me your real name. You kept asking me about Uzumaki Naruto…about why I never helped him when he was younger…and you are Uzumaki Naruto."
Naruto shrugged and did not bother to correct the man about his proper family name. "Old man, don't make me regret sparing your life. You were useful to spread the story of how you'd killed Taro, my main puppet identity at the time. But now…now you're just annoying."
"If it means anything…I'm sorry. The Sandaime is sorry. He would like nothing more than to speak with you, Naruto…."
Naruto tilted his head and then sighed. "We have time for pleasantries later. We must discuss what role, if any, that Hidden Leaf will have in the upcoming operation."
Throw out a tantalizing, confusing piece of intel…and the sucker bites.
"Catch me up, you're talking about Step Seven and I don't know what Step One is yet," the Hokage said.
Gaara smiled. "I think he meant to make you feel stupid, Lord Hokage. He is talking about following a lead that might avail us some intelligence on the Akatsuki."
"I'm listening…and interested."
"I'm unsure whether you're trustworthy, to be honest," Naruto said. "But, if Gaara…."
"Just tell him," the Kazekage said.
"I have some limited information on a possible Akatsuki base. It appears that they or a large mass of unconnected mercenaries have taken over Hidden Waterfall…."
"Oh, no," Jiraiya said. "It was a tiny village, but it had some truly beautiful women."
Naruto's lips pursed in aggravation. "Gaara and I have been discussing the best way to place Hidden Waterfall under observation. I know a bit about some of their other members, but what I've heard about two of them leave me very nervous."
"Who? Itachi. I could kill Itachi," Jiraiya boasted.
"Your information is old, Toad Sannin. I have made Itachi my newest prisoner…just like you once were."
"I demand you release him to me, to Hidden Leaf. He is a traitor…."
Naruto laughed for a brief moment. A mocking laugh. "Bullshit. Ask the other Old Man. What he did, he did with full sanction. Besides, he's of more value to me as he is than anything you could offer in exchange."
Jiraiya settled back down into his uncomfortable chair.
"Then who? Why observe Hidden Waterfall…why not storm it with an army from Leaf and Sand, kill them all?"
The Hokage had gotten more ruthless as he'd aged…but he was still vastly uninformed.
"Well, won't that be amusing," Gaara said. "If Naruto's information is correct, then there are a few ninja possibly at Hidden Waterfall who are an entire magnitude more powerful than anyone in this room."
"Bah," Jiraiya said.
Naruto waved him quiet. "Could you have battled the Shodai Hokage and not lost? One of the reputed Akatsuki did just that…and another has reputedly slain Salamander Hanzo, the man who you and your two teammates couldn't best at your prime."
"Hanzo's dead?"
"This is going to be a long meeting, isn't it?" Gaara asked. "I need to eat."
In truth, the Gaara puppet required no food at all. But the Shadow Clone running the puppet decided to give Gaara a deep cover. The real Gaara was unhappily watching this conversation from a protected bunker. His comments kept the Shadow Clone running the conversation, from Gaara's end, correctly.
The jinchuuriki was rather upset about the arrangement…but he was far less vehement than the Two Tail and the Seven Tail. Naruto had trouble keeping enough Shadow Clones nearby to keep those puppets functioning. Naruto had long possessed bases near to each known jinchuuriki so it hadn't taken much time to arrange the kidnapping operations…but keeping things together was a different story.
Naruto, as he refrained from injuring Jiraiya out of anger for the man's continuing arrogance, knew he needed to deal with Akatsuki quickly. Keeping seven different jinchuuriki confined against their will was not easy…and it wouldn't last for long.
Naruto tamped down his instincts just to go and deal with Hidden Waterfall himself. He was powerful, it was true, but he knew he needed some sort of ally to assist him. He had no idea what this Pain and Madara were truly capable of.
He would have to trust Jiraiya at some point if he wanted to be free of this plague following him around…and he would need to release the other jinchuuriki soon, as well, least one or more of them figure out a way to escape…and cause some real havoc.
A/N: In this AU, there is a very good reason that Grass Country expels S-ranked ninja. They really are crazy, most of them. The more powerful, the crazier they get. Pain, at least, has had Konan to keep him somewhat grounded…compared to Madara. Thankfully Naruto's neuroses haven't manifested like Sasori's or Madara's. More to come.
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