Naruto Shippuden Fan Fiction ❯ What a Lovely Turn of Events ❯ The first move is made ( Chapter 22 )

"Currently, the Kazekage, two other sand-nin and the three man leaf shinobi squad are headed to Konoha." White Zetsu was saying. "They've already been traveling at least two days, no rest stops. There's no way to cut them off or ambush them at this point." Black Zetsu finished.

"So they are planning on joining forces." Nagato muttered.

"We could always just attack the leaf now, while the Kazekage is there." Yahiko stated.

"No doubt they probably have messenger eagles on hold to send for back up, if we were to attack." Itachi said. "If they do bring in back up we'd be overwhelmed. We'd never win."

"We could always attack the messenger eagles first." Evelynn offered.

"Yes, but then they would probably send out squads of shinobi to travel to the sand village." Nagato argued.

"We could have four of us at the gate. Prepared for if they do that." Gina tossed out.

"Even then, there's no guarantee that we'd stop all the shinobi they'd send out." Shoto said quietly.

"What should we do then?" Konan turned to Nagato. The former turned to Zetsu.

"Go back and spy on the leaf village. Let us know as soon as the Kazekage leaves. We'll ambush them when they're at the half-way point between the villages. Once we complete that, we'll attack Konoha directly. Then we'll go after the sand." Nagato ordered. Zetsu only nodded and sunk into the ground.

"We should probably increase our training." Shoto stated calmly.

"I agree. We need to be at our best if we're going to be attacking the villages directly. Most of their ninja have far more experience than us." Gina said. She was sitting on the armchair in the living room, and had seven month old Nina sitting up in her lap. The baby could now say plenty of words, and was able to walk, although a bit wobbly.

"That's true. You'll start doubling your training tomorrow." Nagato said.

"What's wrong, Evelynn?" Sasori asked. He was currently sitting cross legged on the living floor, Adrian in his lap. The small boy way practicing controlling the puppet figures with chakra threads.

"Zetsu mentioned that the kyuubi-container wasn't in the village. If he's not, then where is he?" Evelynn thought out loud.

"The bitch has a point. Wouldn't it be kind of fucking pointless to attack the leaf if the jinchuriki bastard isn't there?" Hidan asked.

"I can't believe the idiot said something intelligent." Kakuzu muttered.

"Hey, I heard that, fucker!"

"They're right. There would be no point in attacking the leaf if Naruto isn't there." Sasuke drawled.

"Then again," Shoto started. "If he has no village to protect him, it might be easier to capture him. We destroy the village, and then ambush him when he returns."

"That could work. Unless he receives word of the village attack, and goes into hiding instead." Yahiko said thoughtfully.

"Maybe we should just go ahead and attack the sand first? At least if we take down their Kazekage then they would go down relatively easy." Itachi stated.

"Then again, he probably figured we would attack, if there was the chance we'd receive word that he left the village. No doubt they probably put up extra defenses." Sasori added.

"Everyone had extra precautions set up, anyways." Evelynn argued.

"Yes, but with him leaving his village's defenses are probably heightened even more so." Sasori explained.

"Sasori's right. So what do we do?" Itachi asked Nagato.

"We stick with the original plan. We'll ambush the Kazekage, and then attack Konoha. Once the leaf village falls we'll take down Suna, and from there we'll attack the other villages one by one." Nagato stated firmly. With that, the Akatsuki went about setting up morning training schedules, and talking over battle strategies.

-In Konoha!-

"Lady Hokage." Gaara bowed as they entered Tsunade's office. Shizune's team, Gaara, Temari, and Baki had just arrived, and wasted no time in coming directly to the Hokage. Kakashi's, Gai's, and Yamato's teams were already present. As well as Yumi, who would later join Shizune's team.

"Lord Kazekage." Tsunade nodded her head in greeting. "I'm sure you know why you're here, so were going to get down to business. Do you have any information on the Akatsuki?"

"All we know so far is that they travel in groups of four." Gaara started. "The new group we encountered had a girl with them. She seemed to fight almost exclusively with a katana. She used little to no ninjutsu, though she possessed chakra. We don't know if that means she isn't trained in using elemental or regular ninjutsu's, or she was just holding back."

"Is that right? It's very possible that they haven't trained themselves to use ninjutsu. Or that perhaps they don't know what chakra nature is, and therefore don't use elemental jutsu's." Tsunade muttered.

"They, Lady Hokage?" Temari asked. Tsunade's head snapped up, and she looked at them for a moment.

"Yes. As well as the girl that was added into the group you fought, one of my teams came across one of the Akatsuki's squad. That squad held Sasuke Uchiha, and a girl who goes by the name of Shoto. When they first fought her, she had no chakra whatsoever, but the second time they went up against him the girl possessed chakra. We have no idea how she suddenly gained a chakra system, or now long she's been with Akatsuki. It also appeared this girl and Sasuke were lovers." Tsunade explained.

"Sasuke? Isn't that who Gaara fought in the chunin exams?" Temari blinked in surprise.

"Yeah. Sasuke deflected from the village a few years ago, seeking revenge on his brother. We have no idea if Itachi is alive or not, but we do know Sasuke killed Orochimaru a little over a year ago." Shikamaru told her.

"Itachi Uchiha is alive." Gaara stated. "He was part of the group who attacked and captured Han's of Iwagakure. The other was a shinobi who specialized in water jutsu's. He possessed a sword he called 'Samehada', and the fourth member of the group wielded the rinnegan."

"Did you say 'rinnegan'?!" Tsunade snapped. Gaara just nodded. "The rinnegan user is Nagato. He's the one who killed his sensei, Jiraya. He's the current leader of the Akatsuki."

"Damn, and we let him get away!" Temari growled in frustration.

"There was nothing you could do, Lady Temari. Kankuro was wounded badly, as well as yourself, and Lord Gaara was running out of chakra. You had to retreat." Baki tried to comfort the woman.

"Wait, so now Sasuke is working with his brother?" Leia spoke up. She was currently sitting in the lap of her boyfriend, Kiba.

"It seems that way." Tsunade muttered.

"We have one more thing to offer you." Gaara spoke softly. Temari pulled out a scroll, and summoned one of Kankuro's puppets. In one of the hands was a piece of cloth. A few of the shinobi in the room smiled. Kankuro had pulled this exact same trick when he fought against Sasori. Sand-nin's did not believe in completely failing a mission.

"Well, Kakashi. Do your thing." Yumi smiled. Kakashi nodded, and summoned his ninja hounds. They sniffed the cloth, and on Kakashi's command were off to find a trace of the sent that came from the piece of Itachi's cloak.

The ninja continued to discuss briefly what they should do if Konoha or Suna was attacked. The other nations made it very clear they would have nothing to do with a war against Akatsuki. Gaara had assured the Hokage he had taken extra precautions for his village, since he would not be there for at least a week. They hoped within that week that Kakashi's ninja hounds would pick up the sent, and they could infiltrate the Akatsuki base before the organization got the chance to make an attack. Until then, all they could do is sit back and wait. A dark cloud hung over the room. They would be at war soon. That was inevitable. They only hoped that they would not be over thrown by the Akatsuki. Only time would tell.