''You are leaving,'' it was not a question, but an observation. Mei was looking at Naruto who was getting dressed, he had already taken a shower before that. It was still early in the morning, she was in no hurry to go to work. She had thought he would at least stay for breakfast. But a woman was not going to get everything she wanted. How disappointing.
''Yes, I have two problems to deal with today - they should be dealt with by the end of the day. For that to happen, I need some time to meditate before looking to dealt with the,'' Naruto responded quitely. He had told Obito that he would not see the end of today. He would hunt the man down and torture him. He also had to deal with Iwa shinobi. They will be good for genua pigs though.
''Ah, so much for a lovely morning,'' Mei heaved a sigh as she got out of bed. She looked at her blond, it would have been a little better if he pretended to check her out. But he never makes the effort. Sometimes she wondered if he really was normal. ''What do you have to deal with?''
''I have to kill a nuisance and test something with Iwa's army headed towards Otogakure,'' Naruto responded so casually, that you would not guess to think he was actually talking about killing someone. More to that, Mei knew that the army was surely going to see some impossible things.
''Iwagakure is planning an attack on Otogakure? I had thought the Tsuchikage would do something like that. It seems he has beat the Raikage to it since I have not heard anything about him. I have no doubt that A is aware of Ohonki's army heading towards Oto,'' Mei responded not too surprised about the matter.
''He is aware of this. He must be waiting to see how Iwagakure will do.'' Naruto responded calmly. Jiraiya too had to know of this, so the Raikage was also aware. The man would not do anything untill he could see the battle between Oto and Iwa. Too bad he was not going to get it. Iwa would face an immovable mountain and that mountain would crush them.
''You know this will raise the tensions that already exists. Iwa and Kumo will all think that Konoha is becoming too strong. They will feel threatened, Konoha already has allies in Suna and Kiri,'' Mei stated looking straight at Naruto.
''There is nothing to worry about. I will handle everything,'' Naruto responded with a small wave of his hand. He had finished dressing up by now. He walked towards Mei, and kissed her on her forehead. ''The next time I appear it will be with Yugao.''
Mei smiled warmy. ''You know, I could get used to this,'' she said in a sweet tone.
Naturally, Naruto looked at the woman with an impassive expression for a moment. But his lips twitched into a small smile. But he did not say anything, though. He just disappeared.
''It sure feels different from when he was still a jackass. Well, he still is, he is just getting a little better with other people,'' Mei muttered to herself with a soft smile. A question sneaked into her mind that made her smile. 'What if these was all just a phase? She had no doubt that there was some kindness in Naruto's mind. Or perhaps she just misunderstood something in him as kindness.'
Mei shook her head, ridding of the troubling thoughts. Since she was already up, she may as well take a shower and resume the usual order.
Three hours later (Otogakure)
''This place has the kind of quiteness that attracts me,'' Naruto said, loud enough for everyone close to him to hear him. But there was no one close to him as he spoke those words. There was little activity within this palace, this makes this place much more toleralable than other places. It was surely a place for him to dwell. He walked into the office that housed Guren with his natureal look on his face. But he was surely calm given all the meditation he had been going through for the past three hours.
''Naruto, good, we have been trying to get hold of you. Zetsu has not been appearing here over the past days and we have enemy alert coming towards us,'' Karin stated looking straight at the blond.
''But by your presence here, I guess you already know of the problem,'' Guren stated. She knew that the blond would be here because he knew of the impending problem. It was a bit of a relief to see the blond. There was no way to get hold of him. That had brought her to think that she really need something that could connect her with him. But still, it was a bit unsuall for Zetsu to disappear for a while. He was always checking up now and then. But this time, he had not stepped a foot into her office.
''I know of the problem,'' Naruto responded as he took a seat.
''How do you suggest we handle this? Otogakure cannot protect itself from the army Iwa has heading towards us. And the special corps won't be here for about a week. The normal shinobi are still deep within their training,'' Guren spoke, in a firm tone. It seemed that she had grown attached to this village than he had thought. The thought that another village may attempt to crush 'her' village seems to be putting her on edge. Naruto did not comment on it though.
''I will deal with it. You just have to continue with the normal order of things,'' Naruto spoke, with a wave of his hand.
That said it, the case was closed.
''Have any of the projects Zetsu brought been started, yet?''
''No,'' Guren shook her head. ''We have still been sorting out a few things, and how we are going to finance everything. We may own a lot of business, but they don't make billions in a month. Financing the projects would take much of Oto's funds, and in this state, I would rather not have that. We are at a critical moment that we cannot allow anything to go wrong. Everything needs to go perfectly. If things are not handled well, we may find ourselves in deep trouble.'' she explained carefully so not to offend Naruto since he was the one who planned for the projects.
''With the funding currently availabe, we can only start building, no, expanding the shinobi quarters. Anbu quarters have already been completed, so has the special corpts quaters. The residents of shinobi has been build, but it is not enough to accomodate all the men we have spread across the Elemental Nations,'' Karin added holding a file closely. Whatever that she was holding seemed to be very dear to her.
Zetsu had left some details in the reports he gave him. It seems having to limit his reliance on Zetsu was a good thing. He could see that without him, he would be totally lost. ''Karin's, department will have to wait. The research building will be moved somewhere. I imagine that the building for hosting guests, and your reasearch facilities, would be the ones requiring much funding given the equipments each would need.''
Guren nodd. ''The reaseach facility would cost a lot of money. The technological equipments that Karin is planning to have from the Snow country cost a lot of money. And her own personal Lab will be demanding, financially to equip. There is also the fact that a huge portion of the facility will be built underground,'' she explained lightly, with eyes slightly narrowed towards the red haired Uzumaki girl.
''To be able to conduct ground breaking experiments and research, I need all that I need,'' Karin defended herself in a firm tone, she sent a slight glare to the other woman.
''Your ''needs'' will leave the village bankrupt. I have shown you our financial structure.''
''I saw it and there is enough finances. You just want to use the money for expanding the village since it seems that more people want to live in here.''
''I want extend because when people come here, they will have to buy the land. And I don't want to do something like that. Leasing out standing buildings will ensure that we keep the land and continue to receive money. No one will buy much land and start to become brave enough to challange our authority,'' Guren explained, now glaring down at Karin.
''But if we sell, we get quick funds and all the projects can proceed without any problems,'' Karin argued.
If Naruto was amused, he did not show it. ''Guren does have a good point, and her reason carries more weight.''
''What?'' Both Karin and Guren spoke at the same time. And they both had different reasons.
''To add, to that, Guren is the 'leader' of this village and has done remarkebly well to get this village where it is. She does what is best for her 'child' while you are more worried about research,'' Naruto added, earning a betrayed look from Karin and a grin from Guren.
''How could you? I thought we were family?''
Naturally, Naruto merely shrugged. ''Nothing has already been decided, yet. Guren, you can leave a land that will be put for sale. The Land of Sound is huge, but you can also build houses for the purpose of leasing them.''
''What of the Sound Daimyo? Now that I think of it, I last heard of him when Orochimaru was still alive.'' Guren said in a thoughtful look. She had been used to do doing everything she wanted without having to worry since Orochimaru ''owned'' this place.
''The Sound has no Daimyo. There will only be one leader of this land. When it is included as part of the Land of Fire, it will be remained again to the Land of Rice Fields.''
''You are going to have this land under the Fire country?'' Guren asked, showing her surprise in the move.
Naruto shook his head. ''I never said that. I said it will be part of, not under. The Fire country will have no control over it,'' he explained lightly. ''Karin, if you were listening to me, you would have heard that I said your facilities will be moved.''
''Where to?''
''Uzu, I was thinking of having you move there, but it seems that you really want to be like Orochimaru. That is not to say that you won't be moving into the island. You will still do that, and it will be your home. Aside from being your home, it will be used for research and experiments.''
''Yes!'' the Uzumaki exclaimed loudly. She almost fell off her seat. ''An island all for myself to do whatever I want. This is trully a dream come true,'' she wiped a tear off her left eye.
''I was planning on moving into this palace and making it my home. But you have made it your home, have you not, Guren?'' the woman gave a slight nod. ''I have to change my plans again, since I had planned for you to leave with Karin in Uzu. But it seems that this is your home. You will remain in charge of this village. I will build myself something in the Uchiha compound.''
''Isn't it still inside of Konoha?''
''The Uchiha compound is secluded from the rest of the village. This makes it living there tolerable and it is no infested with Anbu. The compound is a holy ground. It is unlike any other places within Konoha. However, it will not be my home. I will build myself a majestic palace in the sky.'' Naruto paused for a moment. ''You should begin making plans for Uzu. But you will have to see it first. I will take you there, soon.''
''I will be in charge of this land, Karin in Uzu, what of you?'' Guren questioned looking straight at the blond. She was indeed curious to what he planned on doing. He was giving them places to rule, she had thought he would take over her soon.
''There is much that I have to do. And Konoha still needs to be repaired, if it is willing. Besides, I would rather not bore myself with the kind of work you do.'' Naruto gave a light response to the question. ''Uzu will require much work to do. But you will just have to built living quaters and the research facility. There other projects in here can be stopped. You will only build the structure and equip your own lab, we will see about the rest afterwards.''
''Before, I forget, I received a letter from the Kazekage, he wishes to speak with me,'' Guren stated carefully.
''Speak to him. You have shown that you are a capable leader, you no longer need my permission to do the job of the leader,'' Naruto spoke.
Guren smiled in appreciation. ''Thank you,'' she said.
Naruto shrugged, again. ''You may also have to speak with Konoha,'' the blond stated. ''Oto is not the only village in this country, Guren send each village leader a message to inform them who leads this country.''
Guren nodded.
''This Country will not be remained the land of rice fields only, It will be named, The Imperial Kingdom of Rice Fields. Oto will be its Capital, and you will be charge on the whole country as well as the capital.''
''Imperial Kingdom? I like the sound of that,'' Karin stated with a small smile.
''If I can get the other villages within the country to follow me, I can make them prosper like this place.'' Guren added, smiling.
Naruto was not oblivious to the fact that Guren presented her words in a way that sounded like she was the one to make everything possible. ''Things will become messy from now on. But don't allow it to affect your work. I will handle all enemies while you continue to ensure that this country thrives,'' he was gone after that. He did not see the huge satisfied smiles on the woman he was speaking to.
''Looks like we all get what we want,'' Guren stated with a grin on her face.
''Naruto praised you more than once, which itself is a miracle. And he also gave you free reign in this country. And I got an island, and get to built my own research facilities. Yes, I am happy.'' Karin added with a smile.
''What do you mean 'facilities?'' Guren asked with narrowed eyes. ''I only know of a facility? Not facilities. And if you don't tell me everything I might give you little funding. If you have forgtten, I will remind you; Naruto gave me free reign over everything in this country.''
Karin glared.
Later
Fang country; the army from Iwagakure had matched into the country and were moving close to the borders of the Sound. But it would take some time to get there given their pace. It would be foolish to spend all their energy in running towards the battlefield. If they lost all energy on the way, what would they fight with? Going into the battlefield without energy would only lead to their defeat.
They were not expecting much of a challenge though. If Intel they had been given was correct, it would be an easy job to defeat Oto and claim victory. The village had no military power to protect itself. Their leader was impressive, but it was nothing special or anything that would bring about fear to them. They would not become overconfident though. Becoming overconfident would only lead to arrogance, and that would surely be their downfall.
''Halt!'' the man leading the pack yelled, causing all men to stop in their tracks. He had seen a black hole open just in front of them. He did not know what it was, but they could not avoid it, hence he had stopped his men.
''What is it?'' another asked looking at the portal carefully. It was not every day that space was ripped apart in front of you. It was not something normal to be seeing.
''It looks like a portal,'' one muttered.
Just after that, Naruto appeared from the portal before it closed. He had slowed his appearance considerably to make a good entrance. He had never tried it before, but he just thought making it a bit dramatic would make things interesting a bit. He narrowed his eyes at the hundreds of men in front of him with arms folded across his chest. He gazed unto them in his iconic impassive look.
''You!'' one yelled at him, pointing a finger.
''Get out of our way fool. We have a mission to complete!''
''Damn, we were not told this guy would appear. Didn't you hear what he did in Kiri? We are all going to be slaughtered!'' it was not very surprising that there was gone be a coward in the group. Fear was a beast that could bring anyone to their knees. When one was consumed with fear, there was no moving forward.
''Shut up!'' That was the leader, silencing everyone. ''Remember your training! Regardless of how powerful he is, he is still a man, and can be defeated!''
''Hai!'' was a resounding respond the leader got from his men.
''Uchiha Naruto; you should not have crossed our paths. But I cannot say that it is a coincident that you just happen to appear when we are on our way towards Otogakure. Could it be that you are behind, the village? Our Tsuchikage was suspecting something of this, but he could never prove it,'' apparently, the leader was a smart man. Naruto was quick to notice this.
''Interesting,'' he stated, speaking his first word since appearing. ''It appears you are not stupid. But I have little interesting in indulging your curiosity.''
''It is fine then. We can just make you tell us what we want. We have been training vigorously over the past years. We were being prepared for such situations. History will not be repeated. What your Yondaime did back then will not happen again,'' the man seemed confident in his words. The others seemed to nod in agreement with him.
Naruto took out the three-pronged kunai he knew they would recognize. ''You mean when he used his thing?'' he could see their gazes harden. ''Minato became famous by slaughtering a bunch of weak fools wearing Iwa headbands. Well, you could say that it was genocide he committed. Interesting isn't it? A simple leaf was able to grind down a rock into nothing but sand which was blown away into the desert of Suna. That must have been one hell of an entertaining show to watch,'' to add on to that, he was smiling.
''Bastard!'' it seemed they were ready to bisect the blond.
''Don't be tricked into losing our calmness'' the leader soothed calmly. ''Battle formations,'' within an instant, they readied themselves. ''Surrender now or face your doom. But I would rather if you did not surrender so we can humiliate you.''
Naruto was no longer smiling. He was now looking at the army before him in disdain. ''I have already thrown myself before an army and attacked it head on, So I have done something like this, and slaughtered everyone who was lucky enough to be on the path of my jutsu. Since I have done this, I no longer have interest in doing it again,'' he paused for a moment. ''How should I go about this without...hmm?'' hundreds of Kunai went flying towards him.
He did not move though. ''Shinra Tensei,'' he repelled all the kunais away from him. The blast was not that powerful. He had only put little power behind the jutsu. Its purpose was to repel the kunais so that he was not pierced. It would be annoying to be dodging the weapons with pure speed. Given their numbers, he would not have managed to dodge them all.
''Dammit. What the hell was that?'' one of the men yelled looking straight at the blond before them. Naruto was still folding his hands across his chest. He had not looked threatened, even for a second when the Kunai went flying towards him. And to show why he was not threatened, all the projectiles flung towards him were repelled by some force.
''This is not in the Bingo book. I don't know about any technique that can do that. What we know is the Sharingan, Mokuton and ridiculous fire jutsu. This was not in his bingo book entry,'' another stated. Naruto had been put inside Iwa's bingo book, but it had yet to be shown anyone outside of the village. In fact, the new bingo book was only available to a select shinobi.
''Don't lose focus. If we do that we will be Kiri all over again. I do not need to remind you that Iwa does not need another humiliation in the hands on Konoha. This will not do well to our image and pride. No matter, we have to stand firm. The battle has yet to even begin!'' The leader of the army stated in a steel voice laced with full confidence. There did not seem to be any hidden fear within the man.
''If I wanted to I would play with you while I break down your confidence and fighting spirit. But that will require me to sweat, a little, over you. I don't want that,'' he paused for a moment watching their reaction. Before he could say anything, the leader spoke again.
''You sound confident that you can deal to us the same damage you did to the Yondaime Mizukage's army. But let me assure you, we are not weak like those mist shinobi. We are strong, and it is us who will break your confidence and parade around the world with your head,'' there was a sick grin on the man. He was already picturing Naruto's head on his hands.
Really, the man should differentiate between a dream and a fantasy.
''Stronger than Kiri..? I see. I guess you will be guinea pigs then,'' his Susano'o flashed to life and stood tall, with him inside of it. He did hand seals simultaneously with his Susano'o. ''Tengai Shinsei.''
It was then that the sky became dark, and something blocked the path of the sun. Clouds had already formed above the army. They all looked up sensing something. A sense of dread began to fill them as something, big, seemed to be coming down towards them. No one moved for or said anything. The feeling in their guts just could not allow them to do anything other than stare into the heavens, and waited.
''What the hell!?'' one of the man yelled as a large meteorite appeared above them. The thing was ridiculously huge. There was no way of stopping such a thing. They simply could not believe what they were seeing. This was one of the things that you did not just dream off, even in your nightmare. Who could have thought that a large meteorite could come down from the sky? It was just ridiculous thinking about it.
''Holly...'' another muttered falling down on his knees. This was unbelievable. They were not even expecting to clash with Uchiha Naruto. But even so, they had been alerted that they could clash with him, thus every known abilities of his was drilled into their heads. But there was nothing about this. This was not even ninjutsu. Perhaps they were in some sort of Genjutsu.
Someone seemed to have the same line of thoughts with him. ''Is this real, or are we in some Sharingan Genjutsu?'' it was possible for the Genjutsu of the Sharingan to trick them. The doujutsu was notoriously known for its power Genjutsu. What he was seeing just did not seem real. It was unbelievable. This had to be an illusion.
''It feels real. Yes, it is real. This is no genjutsu,'' he was a sensor. If it had been a genjutsu, he would know regardless of how powerful it may have been. It was real, and the bastard blond had pulled it. He had felt his chakra spike considerably when he was going through hand seals. But it was perhaps nothing compared to how much chakra the blond had.
''This is ridiculous. We can't outrun this thing. It is too big for any of our jutsu to destroy it. Is this even ninjutsu?''
There was one thing common in all these man who spoke; fear.
The thing was getting closer, and even though they could not outrun it, they started to run around in all directions. One man in the mist of others knew that they could not outrun this thing. He glared murderously at Naruto. ''Bastard, you will kill us all. Even you can't survive this.''
''You said you were stronger than Kiri. This is something stronger than what I did in Kiri. Let us see if you can survive this. I highly doubt it though, but if you do survive, you will be crippled, emotionally and physically,'' Naruto responded as his Susano'o disappeared. ''Don't complain. You said you would humiliate me, you said you were not weak. If you are strong, you stand firm.''
''You will burn in hell for this!''
Naruto had already opened a portal beneath him. ''If I do go, I will ensure to be your king in there, and I will make you miserable.'' He was gone after that.
A bunch of Earth jutsus were thrown into the fray as the large meteorite crashed down the ground and crushing everything beneath it. Its crash shook the entire Fang country and also in the Sound country. Some in the Fire country felt it given that it had happened close to the borders of the country. It took a while for a everything to settle down.
In the land of toads, Jiraiya had wide eyes and he was shaking slightly. He had been dangerously close to the thing since he had been moving with the Iwa army in a close distance. He had been using his camouflage jutsu to hide from sensors. He had done a good job in hiding, and Naruto appeared.
He had moved a bit closer so that he could see things perfectly. But Naruto had just done something that was impossible. He had never seen anything like it before. He had lived past two wars, and nothing had come close to what he had seen today. Had it not been for the toads, he may also have been crushed.
The Sage toads looked at the Sannin worriedly, as they knew the blond had the power to change the world. And without doubt, he was going to change it.
Naruto appeared above the large rocks that had been part of the meteorite he had pulled down into the atmosphere. It had crashed down and broken into some pieces, large pieces in that matter. It did not do any good to the surrounding landscape. Naturally, the blond smiled looking down at the destruction. ''This is beautiful. It would have been even more beautiful if I had used it on a strong foe.'' his eyes narrowed at his right as he sensed some chakra. His eyes could see very well.
There were about 50 survivors. They must have buried themselves under ground, he thought going into a distance were they could see him. It was applaudable that they had survived. The leader of the group was amongst them. But none looked to be in a position to fight. ''C-commander, is t-that man a g-god or a normal shinobi?'' the fear from the voice could not be hidden from the voice of the trembling man.
''I-I don't know, but he is not normal,'' the leader responded in a defeated tone, laced with fear. His former confident tone was all but a memory. In one swoop, the confidence was gone. But for somehow, it seemed to return as he forced himself to stand up. ''But we are still alive. We will fight until we are dead!'' his previous fear was all gone.
''It seems there is one strong willed one,'' Naruto stated looking down at the survivors. ''It is unbearable for a leader to watch all his men die in front of him while there is nothing he can do to stop it.''
''What are you getting at?'' the leader did not have a good feeling about this.
''Most of your men are dead already. There are only 50 left now, and I will make you watch them perish helplessly,'' Naruto raised his right hand, before the man could figure what was going on, a black hole formed under him and it sucked him inside of it. ''He should be in a perfectly little world where he can watch everything.''
''M-monster. You will pay for this.''
Naruto was not fazed. ''Very unlikely,'' he responded calmly. ''For the second part of this test, I should try another impossible feat,'' he muttered before holding out both his hands. ''Chibaku Tensei,'' he said as a black sphere went up to the sky. ''This one will do.''
The ground began to shook was earth chunks, regardless of the size; they began to be lifted up into the air. The remaining 50 were also lifted up into the sky as the black sphere pulled everything towards it. They could do nothing to stop the flight as more rocks piled up into the sphere to create a large ball of rocks in the sky. The thing stood high above the sky in a size that almost rivaled the one of the meteorite he had pulled down earlier.
''It looks nice when you are the one making it,'' Naruto said to himself looking above the sky. ''Next time I should make one doubling the size of this one if I am making only one,'' he paused for a moment trying to think if he could leave it there in the sky. He decided against that.
His perfect Susano'o flared to life in seconds and flapped wings before jumping into the sky in a movement that caused a shockwave to strike where it had been standing. He ground shook because of its take off, but Naruto did not mind all that. The Susano'o got hold of its blade as it reached its target. The sword was swung in a blur, something that was unbelievable because of the size of the Susano'o. The sword hit its target with so much power that seemed to distort the air around it. The Chibaku Tensei was split in half by the monstrous Susano'o, and it began to break apart.
Naruto deactivated his Susano'o and looked up as it rained rocks. He watched it all for a few moments until it settled down and the ground became still. He snapped his fingers and a portal opened above him, and a shaken man fell down. ''Report to Ohnoki what you have seen.'' He stated turning around to leave.
''I don't t-take orders f-from you,'' the man snarled furiously.
Naruto turned around to face the man. In a blur he appeared before him and kicked the man hard across his chest sending him flying away into a considerable distance. By the time he hit the ground, he was out, cold. ''I wish there was more of them to test more jutsu.''
But there went anymore of them for him to test his jutsus on. But it was no trouble; more opportunities like this were to surely come up in the future. He would use them effectively well to test things. He could not use them test his limits since they were not worthy of it. He would dance with the Kages soon. As soon as Ohnoki hears of this, he will be bubbling with anger. The world would know of it soon. It was another humiliation in the hands of Konoha. The villagers would not like it one bit, so will that stubborn fool. But he was not worried about anything.
Naruto looked up into the sky, the atmosphere had really settled down. With all that he had done, the earth had taken a beating, but it had calmed down. The piles of rocks and holes were still present. It was a sight that was somewhat exciting for one who loved the thrill of a battle. Despite everything, he had not battled anyone.
He could not call dropping a large meteorite on a bunch of Iwagakure shinobi fighting. That had been the usual order of his training. He had accustomed himself with the Rinnegan and all its powers before he even awakened. Madara had more knowledge with other things, but he had also done his research for find more information. It was not only the Rinnegan that he had knowledge off, he also was adept to most if not all known abilities of the Mangekyou Sharingan. The Mangekyou alone was a very powerful weapon. It could do things that were extraordinary.
Perhaps Madara was right to say the eyes were blessed.
A swirling vortex made him stop looking at the sky and at the vortex. He was already familiar with Obito's Kamui. He could never mistake the man's presence with anything. He had also almost forgotten that he had to settle a score with the masked Uchiha - almost being the key word. ''You are here,'' Naruto said lightly, folding his hands across his chest.
''It seems you have been busy here,'' Obito said looking around the place. He went back to Naruto's statement. ''I thought I would save you the effort to look for me and present myself to you.''
Naruto looked at Obito, straight into his yes. He was not surprised to see the man armed with a gunbai on his back and a new mask that showed both his eyes. The Rinnegan was also not surprising. ''You seem well prepared for a battle with me. Didn't Zetsu tell you that I would not be fighting you?'' He did not mention anything about the Rinnegan. It did not really matter to him if the man had the eye or not.
''So you are aware that I have been speaking to Zetsu, yet you continued to trust him. You even handed him the Rinnegan, and by that look it seems you were expecting him to give it me,'' Obito stated calmly. He was a little surprised of this. He had not suspected that the blond could think about something like that given how much he seemed to trust Zetsu with everything he owned.
''You never lost contact with Zetsu. You have always been speaking to him, even before I met Madara. He also can go anywhere he likes and you can do the same. Who is not to say you met every now and then?'' Naruto paused for a moment. ''I trust Zetsu with the things that truly belong to me. I know he will never put anything that belongs to me at risk. Anything I have use off, he will not touch. But you should have known that already.''
''The former Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi is not so stupid after all. I had been thinking you could be easily manipulated. Zetsu had done well to befriend you and he did so much that you could even trust him enough to pose as you,'' Obito stated in a smooth tone. He seemed to speak in a mocking tone when he started talking, but it changed as he went on.
''I am beyond manipulation,'' Naruto responded simply. ''But you should not think that Zetsu is loyal to you. He only speaks to you because it serves the purpose of his master.''
''You are a fool to think you are beyond manipulation, especially since you lived with him when you were a little boy who was looking for affection. He gave you the affection you needed and was like a hero to you as he gave you the power to protect yourself, and something which you needed the most, family. I have to say, Madara did play the part of a grandfather better than I would have thought. Perhaps I ought to give him an award the next time I see,'' the last part was said in a thought. But it was said loud enough for Naruto to hear it.
''Hmm?'' Naruto's lips twitched into a small, a bit cruel smile.
''There should be no reason to smile. The reality is that you were a little emotional boy who was broken because Konoha hated him. You could have been easily manipulated by anyone at that time. It is a bit amusing that Madara asked you to be Hokage of the very same village he ''saved'' you from, and the village you despise'' Obito had his own smile as he spoke, but it was hidden by his mask.
''You are indeed correct, I was just a little brat who needed some love, and I have you to thank for all that. You were the one who made the Kyuubi attack Konoha. But then again, I would not have been standing here,'' Naruto responded calmly, his smile never fading as he spoke.
''Don't give me all the credit. I really wished Minato sensei had survived, he was a good person. However, even if you had still gotten both your parents, Madara would have still come to you,'' Obito replied. The smile he had could be seen through his eyes.
''I see,'' Naruto responded shaking his head. ''Well, I guess it is not too surprising.'' He paused for a moment. ''It does not change your punishment though. But before that, let us look at this; you say I was just a little brat who could be easily manipulated when Madara took me in, what about you then, Obito? He saved your life and had white Zetsu gossip all about his grand plan. When you wanted to leave, he told you that you would return. And you did return. But that was after you had watched your best friend pierce your ''girlfriend'' through her chest by his prized jutsu.
Poor love struck Obito was so heartbroken at Rin's death that he lost all control and slaughtered those around him, before returning to Madara to request that he be trained in the ways of the Moon of the Eye plan. Madara was quite effective despite being at that age. I mean he had manipulated those Kiri shinobi and set up everything so that Rin could be killed and you would watch that happen.
I have to admit, I could have never planned anything like that myself. Poor little Obito did not have the heart to kill Kakashi. But he could not live without his girlfriend. He could not live without his beloved Rin. Rin was all that mattered. When she was gone, poor little Obito snapped and kneeled before a waiting Madara. My grandfather must have been pleased to see all things work according to his plan.''
''I have grown tired of this useless talk. I will rid of you and prepare to the Moon of the Eye plan,'' Obito stated after a few moments of silence. He had not commented on anything the blond had said. There was no lie in anything the blond had said, a part of him knew that.
''Don't you mean you want to rid of me so you can finally be with Rin? So you can finally get that kiss you always wanted from her? Do you know what would be amusing? It would be if Kakashi had stolen her first kiss,'' Naruto, never stopped giving his small, cruel smile. Despite the lack of outward physical reaction from Obito, he knew the man was having some emotional troubles. ''But let us get this over with.''
Naruto rushed towards Obito in full speed. He appeared in front of the masked man and attempted to punch the man straight to the face, but his punch phased through the man. Just as it did, Obito suddenly caught Naruto's hand on his wrist. The blond merely smiled though. Before Obito could figure out why the blond was smiling, a shock of electricity hit him from his hand throughout his body. Had he been a normal person, he would have surely been fried. The electricity Naruto had released was very much powerful. It could be rated as A-rank. And a normal shinobi would be paralyzed for a few moments.
But Obito was only paralyzed for a second, before jumping away from the blond. Naruto did not attempt anything. ''You have armed yourself with the Rinnegan and the Sharingan. But - as Madara told you - the true power of the Sharingan is locked when both eyes are used. You cannot use the true power of your Sharingan because it is missing its other half. You cannot handle the power of the Rinnegan that is why you only have one. But because you only have one eye, you cannot use its full power. Your Mokuton is also half-cooked. Your power is not enough to match mine, the Rinnegan does little to change that.''
Naruto charged at Obito again. He attempted a kick at the man, but Obito was equal to his peed, he jumped away for avoid the blow. Naruto moved faster again, and formed a Katon Rasengan; he disappeared in a blur of speed and appeared in front of Obito. The Rasengan seemed to phase through his chest, but before it could that completely, it disappeared. The result was Obito's cloak blowing up on his chest where Naruto had ''hit'' with his Rasengan. Obito jumped away from the blond, again.
''You see, Obito, I have studied Kamui for a long time now. I studied it from both your eyes. Using my own Sharingan, I have discovered that both your worlds and Kakashi are connected. But it should be obvious given that they are your eyes and it is the same technique. I could never enter your dimension because my Mangekyou could not. But, my Rinnegan could. All I needed to do was for you to use Kamui with my Rinnegan activated twice to be able to invade into your dimension. I don't have to explain to you how I was able to hurt you. I am also positive that you can also invade my dimension since your Sharingan has those capabilities,'' Naruto explained lightly.
''That still means nothing. I had expected you to have figured out the workings of my jutsu. It is no surprise to me that you can counter it,'' Obito responded, not too concerned by this development.
''As expected from a student of Madara,'' Naruto responded calmly. ''You cannot defeat me Obito. I can counter everything you throw at me. Both our Rinnegans make Ninjutsu useless. How do you supposed you can defeat me?''
''I have that sorted. I don't have to tell you, I just need to show you.''
With that, Obito disappeared in a blur and appeared before Naruto. He swung his gunbai towards the blond, but the attack seemed to be a farce as the gunbai phased through the blond. Just as the gunbai passed, a sharp root appeared out of nowhere at and rushed to pierce through Naruto. But the blond did a quick Shinra Tensei to repel the attack. Obito was not moved as he seemed to have become intangible again. He moved back from the blond, but just after that, large trees sprouted from the rock beneath Naruto. Naruto quickly disappeared in a burst of speed.
''I already told you, Obito, I will not dance with you. You are not my equal. You are nothing more than a mockery to those of us who have both Senju and Uchiha DNA. You don't even deserve wield Madara's Rinnegan. Nagato was able to use it well, that is why he never told you to take the eyes from him. He knew that you could not,'' Naruto paused for a moment. ''I know that should I kill you, you might sacrifice your right eye to use Izanami to rewrite the reality. You may even do it as Madara did when he was killed by Hashirama.''
''What do you plan on doing then?'' Obito almost sounded interested in actually hearing the answer from Naruto. But of course he was not. The blond was being awfully talkative today. He had said more words to him than he had ever said before. Perhaps the blond was in a good mood.
Naruto answered, anyway. Even though he knew Obito was not interested. ''I will deactivate your Sharingan, permanently, and I will seal the Rinnegan to ensure that you don't use it. I have already told you that I don't plan on fighting you. So, I will take away all your weapons and then talk with you. Ensuring that you cannot use your Mangekyou will come at a cost.''
''It is not possible to do something like that. And even if it was, it would cost you to deactivate your Sharingan, permanently like mine.''
''It is possible. Even though I expected Zetsu to give you the Rinnegan, do you think that I would leave it as it was without tempering with it? I do think that Zetsu knows I did something, he may not have told you.''
''You are rather talkative, today,'' Obito said trying to figure out what the blond had done to the Rinnegan that gave him confidence. He was curious; it could be tricky and possibly spell something bad for him. He was not going to take any chances. Perhaps if he stalled for some time the blond would tell him what he did and he would be given enough time to work around the problem. He could not solve what he did not know.
''You think so?'' Naruto said holding out his right hand. He had not noticed that he had been talking much more than he usually did with Obito. ''Well then, let us get with this started again.'' The blond then walked towards Obito slowly. The masked Uchiha did not move an inch. He merely held his gunbai on his right hand firmly as the blond made his way towards him.
Just when Naruto had gotten close to him, Obito swung his Gunbai across Naruto in a speed that made it impossible to dodge even more to the fact that Naruto was very close to him. Obito knew that the blond had not had not expected him to attack and he could have used the same tactic as before when he allowed the gunbai to phase through him. The gunbai smacked Naruto in the phase and sent him flying away. But Naruto flipped several times in the air before landing down the ground.
''You are being a bit hasty in your attack all of the sudden. I just wanted to get close to you for a few seconds,'' Naruto stated, but Obito was not listening, he rushed towards the blond in fast speeds. When he had gotten close to Naruto, his eyes locked with Naruto's. Naruto merely smiled. ''Shinra Tensei''
Obito was not blown away like the last time. But Naruto was not done. As the attack was still blowing, he brushed off the hair on his right eye and revealed it to Obito. Unlike the left which was the Rinnegan, the right was just a Mangekyou Sharingan. Naruto held a single hand seal. The right Mangekyou spun around wildly for a few seconds while Obito was frozen in place. He could not move for a second.
'What the hell?' Obito thought trying to move. He was intangible; he could not have been touched by anything. But he could feel that he had lost his intangibility. The vision on his right eye became blurry before disappearing and he found his movement again. He jumped away from Naruto. He could see that it was the same with Naruto, his right eye had closed.
''To ''Kill'' the other Mangekyou, I have to sacrifice my own. But I need you to use it while you had eye contact with mine.'' Naruto responded allowing his hair to fall into place.
It was actually real. His Sharingan was no longer activated. He tried activating it, but nothing happened. He just could not activate it. But if Naruto sacrificed his right eye, it would weaken him, he did not think the blond was capable weakening himself. Naruto was proud of his power; he could not sacrifice it even if it meant killing him.
''What did you do?'' he already knew the answer but this was just unreal. His whole fighting stance was based on his Intangibility. He always made battle strategies based on the ability of his right eye. Without it he would have to change his battle plan. But he would not be the one to have lost something; Naruto also lost his right eye.
''I took away your right eye at the cost of mine. But don't think I have lost one of my eyes. I replaced my Eternal Mangekyou with my original eyes. I replaced it this morning. But this means that I only have one remaining eye from my originals,'' but it did not matter anyway. He could take back the eye he replaced this morning later on after all this. Moving about with half power of his power would not do well with him.
Obito gritted his teeth. He would have to do with the Rinnegan only. On the good side, Naruto could not use his Susano'o with just one of his eyes. But he did not know about the Rinnegan. Still, both could not use their full power, which was good for him. ''I had certainly not expected things to turn out this way. You had planned for this more than I had thought,'' he admitted quietly.
''Now then, shall we get to the other part?'' Naruto held out his right hand. He formed a Rasenshuriken and began to charge towards Obito. He then threw the jutsu towards Obito who had tried to move away before he threw it. But the jutsu moved a faster that would require one to be fast as a Raikage to dodge it.
Without his intangibility, he could not let it phase through him. It made him realize how he relied too much on his Sharingan power. He had never thought that he would lose it one day. He also could not dodge it because of the speed. Another thing that had made it impossible to dodge was that Naruto had closed the distance between them before throwing the jutsu. He knew that the jutsu was powerful, so he was forced to use the Rinnegan to absorb the jutsu. But the fact that Naruto had said he did something to the Rinnegan made him hesitant, but he was left with little choice. ''Gakido,'' he held out both his hands.
He never saw the smirk on Naruto's face. He did see it after he had absorbed the jutsu, but the blond was already holding a hand seal. ''To activate everything, I needed you to absorb my chakra my using the Rinnegan. We can begin the main show now.''
Chakra receivers sprouted around Obito's body, this left him immobile and frozen. ''When did this happen?''
Naruto ignored the question. He moved closer to Obito and removed his mask. He jumped back to get some distance. ''Are you being rhetorical?'' He finally responded.
Obito gritted his teeth. ''If you could do this from the beginning, why did you even sacrifice your Sharingan?''
''I just wanted to take away your prized eye and I was interested in seeing if the jutsu really worked. See, I had yet to try it before.'' Naruto stopped before continuing. ''Let us introduce the next the character of this play,'' he snapped his fingers and a portal next to him. A woman at the same height of Naruto stepped out, looking a bit nervous.
She looked straight at the man in front of her as if she had not seen Naruto. ''Obito? What is going on? What happened to you?''
''R-rin?'' a wide eyed Obito stuttered. He quickly recognized the concerned tone he had missed so much from her. It could not have been a genjutsu; the Rinnegan could tell him that. Genjutsu did not work on with the Rinnegan activated. It was not sealed as Naruto had said. ''N-no, you are dead.''
Rin looked confused. ''What are you talking about Obito, are you referring to the incident with Kakashi?''
''No, you are dead. I saw you, I held your corpse in my hands after you had been killed.''
Rin walked over to Obito and hit him on his forehead. She smiled at him. ''Don't talk like that,'' she seemed to be scolding him like she usually did when they had still been a team.
Naruto interrupted the show by pulling Rin towards him. The sound of chirping birds that Obito remembered too well came to life. ''Don't think that this is just one of Zetsu's clones. You see Obito, as your Rinnegan can tell you, she is quite alive.''
''You allowed me to take these eyes so that I can see everything clearly. You knew that if I did not have the Rinnegan I would merely assume that she was just a clone, not the real thing,'' Obito gritted his teeth, glaring down at the chirping birds on Naruto's right hand.
Naruto did not deny it. ''The Rinnegan gives you a precise view of reality. Yes, nothing can be hidden from the Rinnegan, it sees all truth - these are the eyes of legend after all.''
''How..?''
Naruto knew what Obito was asking. ''Everything looked real back. Kakashi killed Rin; he failed to keep his promise to protect your precious woman. Even more to it, Minato was not there when there was trouble, as always - I do believe this is the reason you had Kurama attack Konoha. After venting out your anger, you held her corpse; you smelt the stench of her blood. Yes, she was dead. You never dared to think that it was a genjutsu you had your Sharingan activated, so did Kakashi.''
''Are you saying that the incident that happened long ago was a genjutsu?''
''Not at all,'' Naruto responded shaking his head slightly. ''It was real, and so is this. Life and death is in the hands of the Rinnegan, you should not forget that.''
''Who brought her back?!''
''I don't know...'' Naruto shrugged. ''This is how it happened back then, isn't it?'' Naruto held out his right, which was still crying in a heap of chirping birds. He had still managed to hold the jutsu while he talked to Obito. He moved to strike Rin through her chest - the woman had wide eyes at this, just like last time. Obito could not have that, even though Naruto's chakra was restraining him, he still managed to push it back for a moment.
Naruto was only amused when Obito jumped in front of him to take the blow through the chest. He had expected the Uchiha to do something like that. The chidori pierced through his chest, but he was still alive. ''I knew you would do something like that.''
Obito only glared. Rin went to him, giving him that look of worry she always did. Back then, he had always insisted that he was fine, but how could he say it now? ''Are you alright, Obito?''
But before she could say anything else, or he could muster a response, an orange blade pierced through her back. And her eyes became wide again. ''This is the second time you have failed to save her. You are a failure Obito, pathetic even. Back then you blamed Minato for not being on time to save her. Yet you were alive, why didn't you save her? Even now, she is going to die, who are you going to blame for your failure? Will this only steel your resolve to initiate Tsuki No Me? If so, have you forgotten that you can't do anything?''
If that was not enough, Naruto ripped her apart, but not before driving his right hand back through her chest, removing her heart. Obito could only watch in horror, as Naruto crushed Rin's heart like it was anything. Naruto then made sure that nothing of her was left. When he was done, he kicked Obito like a dog on his chest, leaving the Uchiha to fall down on his back.
''Poor Obito - his girlfriend was accidentally killed by his best friend, his sensei could not save her, neither could he. And so with her death, he wished to create another world where she could be alive. You also wanted Kakashi to live in this new world because despite everything, he is still a friend to you. What a cruel and kind child you are.''
Obito gritted his teeth. He was out of options, but, ''When Madara returns, he will end up killing you. Even if I die now-'' Naruto crashed his foot on the Uchiha's chest, shutting him up.
''Don't think too far, Obito. I have not yet done anything. I thought this would be enough to punish you, but it is not. I will save your soul, for now. When I become God, I will revive you, and then take you back to the beginning. I will make you watch Kakashi kill Rin over and over again. I will make you experience what she felt when it happened. You will experience how she wished you could save her, how she was disappointed that you allowed yourself to be killed and left her alone. You will watch her die, and each time I will make you feel helpless, I will make you beg for me to stop it or save her.''
La.....
''Well that was certainly worth all the trouble,'' Naruto stated looking down at Obito's corpse. He felt oddly happy and a bit more alive with Obito now dead. The trouble and his sacrificial of his right eye had been worth it. Akatsuki was dead at the moment. But there was still Kisame. He was just one man, so he could be handled as time went on.
''I have to agree with you. That was certainly interesting. I had never thought I would see Obito looking like that,'' Kabuto stated as he appeared a bit away from Naruto. It was a good thing to keep his distance away from Naruto. That is until he played down his card.
''Kabuto,'' Naruto said turning to face the man. ''I am not very surprised to see you here,'' he stated looking straight at the man before him. ''I was supposed to have killed you some time ago. But it seems like that you are like your master, Orochimaru. But I will make sure that I remove you.''
''My, my Naruto, there is no need to be hasty.'' Kabuto said, never grinning as he went through hand seals. It would not be well for his health if he did not do an insurance to ensure that Naruto did not move towards him. The blond could kill him, and he was not looking forward to that. He had escaped death once; he would rather not be in a place where he had to escape death. He did the Edo Tensei, which Naruto quickly recognized by the hand seals as he had done. He was a user of the jutsu, he could very recognize it.
A coffin sprouted from the ground and stood still in front of Kabuto. When it opened, Uchiha Madara could be seen, with his eyes still closed. It took a few moments before the man's eyes snapped opened and he stepped out of the coffin. He looked down at his hands to see his current state of body before looking around. ''I had thought either Obito or Naruto would revive me using the Rine Tensei. But it does not matter anyway,'' the man muttered looking around the place. ''This landscape does bring back some memories.''
''Obito is currently dead - he has not been dead for more than an hour,'' Kabuto reported with a smug grin on his face. ''...and I don't think your grandson would have revived you since he does not follow your footsteps.''
''Who are you?'' Madara asked narrowing his eyes at the former subordinate of Orochimaru. He could solve being revived in this state. But it was a little surprise to see that he was revived in this state. But nothing was out of plan. The fact that Obito was dead did not surprise him at all.
''I am Yakushi Kabuto. I have been working with Obito over the past months,'' Kabuto responded giving the legendary Uchiha a slight bow.
Madara said nothing. His eyes moved until they were locking with Naruto's. They seemed to be on a staring contest. Naruto did not seem the slightest surprised to see his grandfather brought back to the living world. But Madara was the first to speak. ''You certainly are my grandson,'' those were the words he could say to the blond.
''I had expected that I would be seeing you again, grandfather,'' Naruto stated calmly. He turned his eyes to Kabuto. ''Why did you this?''
''Nagato is dead, so is Obito. And you don't like me very much. I have no place to hide, but with him I can even the score,'' Kabuto replied with a smug look on his face. He held his ace now. He had stayed with Obito long enough to obtain some valuable data that would be beneficial to his research. But with his benefactor dead, he needed someone else to back him up before Naruto made his move.
''You think you can control Uchiha Madara? Foolish child,'' he did not seem angry or anything. ''I have allowed you to live long enough.''
''Are you forgetting something, Naruto? If you kill me, the Edo Tensei will not be undone and I am sure you do not want your powerful grandfather walking about the nations,'' Kabuto spoke in a smooth tone, while Madara watched everything with an unreadable look on his face. He knew that Naruto would not care for such thing. It was a matter of how he would deal with Kabuto.
''I do not care about that, grandfather can live, he and I have a score to settle. You will die here,'' but he did not seem like he was going to attack Kabuto. Naruto turned to his grandfather. ''Zetsu should be making his appearance in a few seconds.''
Naruto was proven right was Zetsu appeared after a few seconds. He did not seem to side with anyone though, as he appeared from a distance away from the two Uchiha's. However, both Naruto and Madara knew who the thing was loyal to. ''This is certainly interesting.''
''I cannot say that I am surprised to see you, Madara. Well, I would have revived you rather soon given the situation in this world. Your presence is quite needed, and I have no one to call an equal - only you have what I have.'' Naruto stated, repeating what he had already said, walking towards his grandfather with an impassive gaze. He then sat down on one of the rumbles, looking straight at Madara.
''This is to be expected,'' Madara stated, folding his hands across his chest. He was not the least surprised that Naruto expected this and was not even showing a tiny bit of surprise. In fact, he seemed a little bit excited by this. But that was also to be expected. ''Well, at least you are not a failure like him,'' he stated referring to Obito - who had his soul ripped away from him by Naruto.
''I was never a failure to begin with. But if the complement is coming from you, I will take it - not that I have little doubt of my abilities,'' he paused for a moment before going on. ''I have to say, it feels a little good.''
Madara did not comment on that. ''I would have liked it if I was brought back using the Rinnegan. But I guess it can't be helped.'' He could not feel his blood in this body. He wanted his real body, in that state he could feel pain, a body that could get tired. An immortal body would not even do it if he wanted to become the Juubi's Jinchuriki.
''Don't complain, Madara. You could not have been brought back at a better time than this. Obito is already dead, your eyes are waiting for you - you just need another pet to give you a new body,'' Naruto explained lightly. Well, he was certainly not going to do that for him, even if he had the power to do so.
It should not be a problem for him to find a pet. And Naruto had no Bijuu inside of him; he was not late for anything. It would have been a little troublesome if the blond had taken any of the Bijuu. ''You are giving them without a fight, I expected that. You are bored without any equal after all.''
Naruto nodded. ''I can't fight at full power with anyone. And I have grown tired of throwing useless jutsu around. I am sure you would also be bored if you had no one you could call an equal.''
''I had Hashirama during those days. He certainly did best me,'' He was not even the slightest bitter about the fact that Hashirama could defeat him, even with perfect Susano'o. Hashirama possessed a ridiculous amount of chakra that he was not afraid to say was more than his. If Naruto did not take his training lightly, he could have certainly grown to possess chakra comparable to his former best friend.
''Yes you did. It is a pity that he is not here, I want to fight him too and see what he can do exactly,'' Naruto stated, he had entertained the thought of fighting the Legendary Senju. And if he were to be honest with himself, the thought excited him.
''Hashirama never disappoints. Well, you could bring him back if you want to...'' He had no doubt that Naruto could pull out the Edo Tensei. Hashirama's corpse was still sealed in Konoha; the blond could access it and do what he pleases. It would certainly be a blast if the three of them gathered for a last dance.
''Or you could do it,'' Naruto looked at Kabuto, and then at Madara. ''Should you not take care of that before we can talk?''
Madara did not respond in words. His Susano'o sprang to life, and Kabuto found himself being pierced through the chest by one of its blade. ''Foolish child - He thought he could actually control me.''
''Children are naive to the things that they do not fully understand regardless of how intelligent they are.'' Naruto paused for a moment before continuing. ''Now let us get to business.''
''I see the situation in this world has not bettered. Not that I expected it to. In this reality, there will always be conflicts, winner, and losers, and the result will be something like this,'' he said pointing at what remained of Naruto's jutsus. ''You have killed some, and those left behind, will seek revenge, they will come after you to kill you. No doubt they will die, but the hatred will still remain to those left behind. And it will be an endless cycle of hatred.''
Naruto was quite for a few moments. ''You are certainly correct. There is no way in this world that a human will forget hatred. There will always be evil, yet there will always be good. In a world where the strong and weak exist, there will always be light and darkness and the two are bound to collide. I understand why you chose Tsuki No Me. Within the Tsukuyomi, there will no chance for evil, or darkness. Infinite Tsukuyomi is the only place to where humans can live in understanding of each other.''
This was a bit unexpected. Madara never thought that Naruto would understand fully. What he was certain of was that Naruto was not naive, but the blond had never seemed thrilled about Tsuki No Me. ''...but..?'' He was also certain that there was a but...
''There is a flaw in Tsuki No Me,'' Naruto stated, firmly.
Madara seemed interested. ''Come on with it then...''
''Hagoromo died despite being the Jinchuriki of the Juubi. You will also suffer the same fate, and when you do, the Juubi will be freed. Since all humans will be trapped within the Infinite Tsukuyomi, there will be no one to stop it from doing what it pleases. And I am positive that the Juubi will destroy all humans, trying to retrieve its chakra. And when it does, it will be the end of the human race.'' Naruto looked up at the skies. ''Yes, the Infinite Tsukuyomi will bring an end to the world.''
This did not come as a surprise to Madara, he knew everything that entailed Mugen Tsukuyomi, he even taught Naruto about. Nevertheless, he always had an answer for everything. ''Like you said, Hagoromo died because he was mortal despite all his powers. If I don't wish to die, I have to become Immortal.''
''You do not have the answer to immortality, grandfather. Being the Jinchuriki of the Juubi will give you a long life, but you will age like everyone else. And when you do, you will die like everyone else. Being the caster of the infinite Tsukuyomi, you won't be ''suspended'' like everyone else. Since you will use Nativity of a World of Trees, everyone else will be able to live forever due to the life force of the tree. However you will not. You are the only one who can live in both the Genjutsu and reality. There is also something that you forget; we are not the only once in this world. And even if you do make yourself immortal, you can't be arrogant enough to believe that you will hold back the Juubi for all eternity – the more you use its power, the more its influence over your body grows.''
''I don't suppose you have the answer...''
''I do have an answer to immortality. I will tell you about it when we dance for death. And I don't think whoever planted the Shinju to begin with will be happy about the situation.'' Naruto said, smiling a little. Oh, it made him proud knowing that he knew more about the world than Madara did. ''Now, tell me how I came to be. Obito called my mother a rejected Uchiha, I am curious about that.''
''I see, I never told you about it back then. Well, it would have made things a bit difficult if i did,'' Madara stated, as he too, sat down, away from Naruto.
''You can start talking now. Only you have that information.'' Naruto was serious, Madara could tell. ''I know for certain that you were not interested in anything of this world. You could have never thought of making a child within the world you loathe unless there was a reason behind it.''
''A reason..? Yes, there was certainly a purpose for the birth of your mother. When I left Konoha to pursue my dream, I soon realized that time was not on my side. I could not have anyone to take things up for me. If I died without having trained someone to take up Tsuki No Me in my place, it would be an end to my dream and this reality would continue to corrupt this world.
With that in mind, I looked for an Uzumaki woman and swayed her. I have to say, it was not that difficult, especially when she wanted a child badly. I wanted a child of my own because I saw no one capable of initiating my plan. I knew for certain that a child born of me and Uzumaki would be a powerful child. That child would be the one I train to continue with my plans as my life was coming to an end.
I waited patiently for the child to be born but I was left disappointed when the child turned out to be a girl. A girl was not what I wanted. And so I rejected the woman and her child to look for someone who I could use. Your grandmother also rejected my blood flowing through Kushina's veins. She made sure that Uchiha genes inside Kushina never dominated. I did not really care since I had already rejected them.
But I did keep an eye on them from far, just in case something happens.'' Madara explained lightly, looking straight at his grandson whose expression had not changed as he talked, not even the slightest.
''I see - so this is why Obito called her the rejected Uchiha. Well, that is understandable, you rejected her after all. Funny, Konoha also rejected me as her hero,'' Naruto stated, cocking his head. ''Despite Kushina being useless, you still kept an eye on her. No doubt this was done so that nothing could happen to her. Despite your outward appearance, you would not have allowed your only child to be killed.''
Madara did not comment on Naruto's words. ''You must have been mad when Obito called your mother a rejected Uchiha.''
Naruto did not deny anything. ''I was angry, a little. But there is nothing to be angry about now since I know for certain that it is the truth. Now go on.''
''After the plan to make a child to take from me failed, I waited for years. That is until I found Obito and shaped him. While at the same time, I knew what was happening to Kushina - I knew she had been made the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi. But it did not matter since she possessed a strong life-force that she would survive if the Kyuubi was to be extracted from her.
When I found out that she was going to have a son, I waited patiently to take you away from her. But of course, she would have been allowed to raise you until I could take over. The night you were born, Obito went on his own and decided to destroy Konoha with the Kyuubi. At that time, he was not aware that Kushina was my child. For Obito, this world no longer mattered, he did not care what happened to it since he had lost 'his' Rin.
I could have sent Zetsu to take you after everything. But I wanted to see how you would develop being the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi. Despite going out on his way, I still allowed Obito to start with Tsuki No Me while I worked on you. For the first years I watched your every move inside Konoha. It was not pleasant watching, but it proved to me how cursed this world is.
After I had seen enough, I then took you in. I sent Obito away. While teaching you what was necessary, I realized that I should have taken you from Konoha that night the Kyuubi was sealed in you. By the time I took you, I could no longer shape you into a shinobi I wanted you to become. Even with how Konoha treated you, you were a kind child. But that kindness could still be discarded like it was never there. Even if you cared, you can still harm and kill. You are kind just as you are heartless.
My death in your hands only intensified this - I was certain of it. I knew for certain that you were capable of ignoring everything around you, even your own feelings.
When I saw the kindness in your heart, I knew for certain that you could not become what I wanted you to become. Since I knew you could erase the kindness, I could have shaped you. However, I realized something wrong with you. But I still trained you and allowed Obito to have his fun. If Obito was smart, he could have gathered all the Bijuu before you got too powerful for him to handle. But he decided to play around and see if my efforts with you were worth it.
I did know for certain that you would kill Obito, and I would be revived. Zetsu was also there to ensure that if Obito strayed too far, he would have to be reprogrammed. My idea of you becoming Hokage was to put you into a position where you could see the true colors of this world through your own eyes. Then perhaps we may come to an understanding, but it appears not. Well, I had also planned to fight with you - it would have been boring if I was revived without anyone to rival me.''
Naruto nodded, calmly. ''As I said, I would have revived you anyway. It is not just for a battle, but you are useful... We will get to that at a later date,'' still, he was not surprised that his grandfather knew him this well.
''Interesting,'' Madara stated, curious to how Naruto planned to use him. ''It does seem our battle will be even bigger than the one I had with Hashirama.''
Naruto nodded in agreement. ''What stops me from being excited is that despite being alive, you are still dead. I will be happy when you are not in that state.''
Naruto had already said he was not going to use the Rine Tensei, so it was no use trying to convince him otherwise. ''Do you really plan to become Hokage?''
''I wanted to. But my patience with Konoha is wearing thin. Like you said, even if I wanted to, I can still discard it if it becomes a problem for my plans.'' Naruto stated, rather calmly, still facing his grandfather. ''''You said you noticed something wrong with me, what was it?''
''You see, when I found that I could not manipulate you like I did with Obito, I searched you thoroughly trying to find out how to get you to behave. You were capable of smiling to someone honestly this minute and still kill the same person the following minute, you hated Konoha, yet you could still live in that same village. I told you to become Hokage, yet you entertained the idea of leading a village you so despise.
I asked myself, how is this possible? To answer the question, I questioned how you handled your emotions towards Konoha. With how much you loathed Konoha for what it did do you, you could have snapped at burned the village long ago. Yet, you still lived there. I was led to realize that you should have really snapped long ago when Konoha was still bullying you or maybe when I told you about your parents. But you did not.
This led me to realize that you were different. To stabilize yourself, your emotions, to manage things well in a way that you would not lose yourself and become unstable due to your traumas, you divided yourself into three; Uzumaki, Uchiha and the other one I never saw.
You kept Uchiha in the front most of the times, but sometimes Uzumaki took control. The day you could not control him was your birthdays. Uzumaki represents your, pain, suffering and your other emotions, while Uchiha has nothing of those. He is just indifferent towards everything, cares for nothing. I do believe that over time, you lost the ability to control this personality and they ended up merging, giving a little light to Uchiha Naruto.
The third personality is the one that escaped my eyes, but I know it is there. I do wonder how your mind handles all these. Well, it could be that the third is pulling all the strings tied behind Uzumaki and Uchiha.''
All that Naruto could say was, ''Interesting. Is something like that even possible? Can someone really form multiple personalities like you say?''
''If you did it, then it is possible.''
''You must be bitter about the fact that I am beyond your control, despite the fact that I am here because of you. But that is irrelevant. It no longer matters since we are here,'' Naruto did not confirm or deny anything about what Madara had said.
''It is relevant. My failure to control you has led to this situation; you won't just sit back and allow me to capture all the Bijuus to initiate my plan. You are going to stop me from doing what I want. This is ''your'' world, after all.''
''My world? What makes you say that this is my world? I don't know of its origins, I don't know how everything came to exist in this world, how can this world be mine?''
''It is fine if you don't want to play,'' Madara stated, waving his hand dismissively. It was obvious that Naruto was not going to indulge on the subject further to lead him into revealing something.
''Your observation is almost right. But do not make it sound like I have a personality disorder - I have nothing of that. When you say that I have three personalities, you make things a little creepy.'' Well guess he was going to talk. ''As you said, I was a kind child in the beginning, but there was some darkness that laid deep inside of my heart. I have never really given much time to explore it all. I am emotionless when I choose to be. I can deny myself what I feel, even though my heart says otherwise.
The fact that I have emotions means that I am human, normal like you. You are not emotionless; you feel excitement, anger, and pride. I also feel those things. What makes us different is that my heart is still capable of loving, unlike yours. And there is also the fact that I can flip a switch to shut down my emotions - I must admit that it has become difficult these days since I have attached myself to others.''
''That is to be expected,'' Madara responded calmly. He had a feeling that Naruto hated all the emotions he felt. He felt that the blond no longer wanted to be human. ''Once you have formed bonds, it is not easy to break them, especially given someone with your background. Despite having me, you were still quite lonely. But I don't think you realized it since you always kept focus on the objective rather than trivial things.''
''It seems so,'' Naruto conceded. ''Emotions really do spiral out of control sometimes. And it is a problem for someone young like me who is not experienced. But they do have their uses.''
''They are the easiest way to manipulate people, but you refrain from doing that. I do wonder why though. You are not bound by principles formed in this world, you certainly have no care for morality, yet you don't like manipulating people.'' Madara looked thoughtful for a few moments before continuing. ''Even though you may not have different personalities, as I had assumed, there is still something dark inside your heart. You have admitted it to me countless times that your heart is cold, what stops you from manipulating other people?''
''It is not that I don't like the idea, but what I do not like is depriving people of their free will. I am not against manipulation, if it suites my end, I will engage in it. But free will is something that I respect. However, my concept of free will is quite different from the world's point of view - I will always give options, even if they are limited. This is why if I wanted to initiate the Mugen Tsukuyomi, I would offer it is dinner at the table, and give people a choice to eat it or not. My actions will depend on their choice.''
''That would still not be fair and who is to say you will not only offer options that will suite you?''
''Let us say for an example - if I put Konoha in the same position as they did to me, if I make them suffer the same torment as I did. I would ask them in the end if they wanted to take revenge for the torment or if they would rather have their tormenter apologize and move on...''
''If they say revenge, you will also tell them that they should have no complains if you seek revenge because that is exactly how they would react - you do to them what they wish to do to you. Do you plan on doing that to Konoha?''
''Who knows?'' Naruto merely shrugged. ''Wouldn't that be fair, though? If you want revenge, then you should not hold any grudges if someone seeks revenge against you. If you kill, you should be prepared to be killed, if you hate, you should be prepared to be hated. This is just the way I see things. It is a win-win for both sides.''
''But it does not end the cycle of hatred.''
''Hatred is something that will be ended easily. I do agree with you that men are vile creatures, if they are not shown the way, they will continue to be evil, even when they know that they are doing wrong.'' Naruto paused for a moment. He found himself suddenly losing interest in the train of his conversation with Madara. ''Do you know what is funny, grandfather?''
''What is it?''
''You are so proud of manipulating others that you never saw that someone was also manipulating you. He did not use darkness to manipulate you, no, he used your love. This plan of yours was formed when Izuna died. Even before that, you have lived and trained to protect your little brother. You could have joined with Hashirama before your brother died, but he told you no. If you had joined with him back then, he would have healed Izuna, and things would have turned out differently. Izuna was your love, and when he died you hated reality and chose to seek a world of dreams. Aren't you like Obito in that regard? No,'' Naruto shook his head. ''Obito only wanted to live with Rin again, but you truly wish for peace. Perhaps your actions have not been manipulated by your love for your brother,'' he contradicted his thoughts and answered his own question before disappearing in a flash of yellow.
Madara looked at Zetsu. ''Naruto has developed in a way that I have not thought would be possible. And it seems that he may have already surpassed me,'' he paused for a moment. "Can I assume that he has the Gedo Mazo?"
Zetsu nodded. "And I don't think he will allow you to summon it."
"That is fine - I will just allow him to collect all the Bijuus for me. Naruto may be strong, but I know the workings of his own body more than he does. I "created" his body after all..."