Naruto: Akatsuki

The Third Shinobi World War continued to rage on as the year swiftly passed by.

The casualty continued to rise—especially for Konohagakure. To accommodate, they began to put even the young children upfront. The matter of ethics have long been passed, and what mattered the most for each participant of the war was to seize the victory, for victory was the best way to protect their own.

In this situation, the state of Amegakure came out as a variable. One man, within one night, drastically weakened its military force. Though Hanzo's name still served as a factor that prevented a blatant takeover like how Iwagakure performed on Kusagakure, the damage onto the outskirts of Ame rose due to the rise in the number of invaders.

Konoha saw this as a chance, for Ame won't be able to maintain its neutral stance any longer. Offering a hand to Ame and making peace with Suna, they quickly formed an alliance to fight against the combined force of Iwa and Kumo. It wasn't a hard thing to do on Konoha's side, for Ame and Suna were gradually accumulating damage and wrath from the uncaring moves of Iwa and Kumo.

'Yahiko... you,'

And so, Imagine Jiraiya's surprise when he saw Yahiko standing by Hanzo's side with a forehead protector of Ame.

Though he didn't outright call Yahiko out to give Hanzo any wrong idea, he did conclude that the rumours regarding Akashi were true in the end.

'Akashi... what exactly happened?'

Jiraiya grimaced.

The matter regarding Akashi was a complete mystery to Jiraiya. After the incident in Ame, Akashi, strangely enough, continued to act as Jiraiya's network and send him the information—crucial ones at that—at a regular interval.

Jiraiya could only think that Akashi was waiting for a chance to talk with him, and that there was something that he was missing from underneath.

But either way, Jiraiya was no longer sure about Akashi being the supposed Child of the Prophecy.

Conflicted, he turned the other way and gazed at the young man with long, jagged blond hair.

Namikaze Minato, the Yellow Flash and his apprentice.

'...Perhaps, yes, Minato. You are the one.'

Over the year, Jiraiya's doubt in Konohagakure—no, the whole idea of being a ninja and fighting a war—grew.

Cycle of hatred. Jiraiya understood that such a thing existed, and he understood the reason for its existence. However, he didn't know what to do about it.

Perhaps that was the reason why he taught children, so that they may grow into capable adults and show Jiraiya the way that he sought after. Perhaps that's why he is holding tightly onto the concept of the 'Child of the Prophecy' spoken by the Great Toad Sage.

...He was getting nowhere with his thoughts—

"Stay focused, Jiraiya. This isn't the time to get lost in thoughts."

From his left, Hiruzen, the third Hokage, spoke sternly, bringing Jiraiya out of his daze.

"Geez, you speak as if I'm some sort of kid."

Grumbling, Jiraiya frowned lightly and looked around.

Currently, there were in the Land of River, the land that was located right in between the three nations.

"I hope we aren't late."

Just then entered, the sharp-looking man with messy dark-blue hair, the third Kazakage.

"...To think a day like this would've come..."

With him stood an old-aged kunoichi, Chiyo, the well-known poison and puppet expert of Sunagakure. Though subtle, her eyes held a vivid hatred against Konoha, and she wasn't trying to hide it.

"He is..."

However, those two weren't the ones which Jiraiya noted. Instead, it was the third individual, a supposed teen with red hair, whom he locked his eyes on.

'...Sasori of the Red Sand.'

He has heard quite a gruesome stories regarding that fellow. Being Chiyo's grandson, Sasori held an incredible talent regarding poison and puppetry himself. Stories said that his violence knew no bound, that his feats shed enough blood to cover the entire dune in red.

If Konoha had Minato, Suna had Sasori.

"Now that everyone arrived, let's begin the real talk, shall we?"

And now, with Hiruzen starting the conversation, the meeting has officially begun.

Little did Jiraiya know, that a week after, the third Kazekage will suddenly disappear from Sunagakure and Sasori will go rogue.

__________

"Sasori of the Red Sand..."

"I knew that guy was going to something like that one day or another. I mean, look at the information we get about him!"

"Shush, watch your words."

"What's there to stay silent for? We are protected by the hidden village of our own, Yukigakure! Suna folks won't dare to do anything with their Kage dead."

"...He may still be alive, you know?"

"Yeah, as if!"

Within the snowy streets of the Land of Snow, people were bustling. With the land far away from the site of battle, perhaps this region was one of the safest area for civilians to live by in current times.

Steams arose as a big ramen stall operated. People spoke among themselves while enjoying a meal from table to table.

Within this environment sat one man with a messy brown hair and beard. As if not caring of his surroundings, he greedily gulped down a bowl of ramen in an instant, indicating how starved he was.

"Oi, brother,"

Watching the antics of the man, the ramen chef who momentarily was on a rest spoke up, garnering the man's attention.

"You don't seem to be around here with the clothes you wear."

"..."

Looking down, the man checked the snow-covered, wet cloak that he wore.

"Don't worry, it's not the first time that I came across folks like you."

Shrugging as he leaned his body forward, the ramen chef continued,

"Wars here and there, the world today really is unlivable for common ones like us. In that sense, this area is great, if you ignore the cold weather."

"Hey, chef! That weather part is pretty huge, ya know!"

One man then shouted jokingly, and many people laughed. Getting a chuckle of his own, the chef shouted back,

"Never mind, pretty huge indeed! But hey, there's also a good part of it. It isn't as easy for those ninjas from the outside to invade our land, I heard that tons of them died from the weather!"

"What's funny though, is that 'Red Blade' is also speculated to be somewhere in this land."

"Hah, you still believe in that nonsense?"

And just like that, the chef who attempted to strike up a conversation with the man was lost in another conversation with others.

Watching this amiable exchange between the people, the man who finished his bowl scratched his beard and let out a light yawn before standing up. Next to the empty bowl was the appropriate sum of money, which the chef noticed.

"Leaving already? Well, don't die too quick, alright?"

Not bothering to reply, the cloaked man ignored the chef left the stall.

Just outside, there was a snowy street where people walked without any concern.

The man, no, Akashi, took in a light breath.

Being alone meant many things. It meant that you had no one to rely on but yourself. It also meant that there was no one for you to trust, and that you had to be suspicious of anything you found out of place, no matter how small it was.

And if you were a notorious criminal with a jaw-dropping bounty on your head...

'Kai.'

Forming a seal, Akashi let out a huge burst of chakra. In an instant, the scenery around him crumbled, and what was left to him was nothing but a small ramen stall behind him with no one but the same ramen chef inside, cooking for none.

Yes, it was a genjutsu. It was an obvious one at that, so obvious that even a genin would notice easily.

Ironically, this genjutsu wasn't meant to harm Akashi. Instead, it meant to give him the information that he sought after.

After all, that ramen chef, in truth, was one of the informants in Jiraiya's network. The ramen served at Akashi contained no venom, and this meal served as a symbol of temporary trust between the two.

It was a give-and-take. Akashi exposed his exact location to Jiraiya, and in return, received the information.

'Death of third Kazekage, three-way alliance, Sasori of the Red Sand, and... the information of me being around here has already been spread.'

It wasn't that surprising, considering how widely spread the underworld network of each hidden village was. Primarily, this was the reason why Akashi entered the Land of Snow, because, unlike the other hands, the eyes here were scarce.

What made him wonder was, why accentuate the case of Sasori of the Red Sand?

It was as if...

'...This person is trying to target me.'

Akashi sighed as he rubbed his forehead, filled with fatigue.

Nevertheless, he moved his heavy body, walking through the snowy path where no form of life was present.

Interestingly, as he walked by, no footprint was left.

__________

"On the outside, we are allied to Kumo, fighting against Konoha and recently, Ame and Suna as well."

A group of ninjas were seen dashing through the woods. They, wearing forehead protectors of Iwagakure, exhibited nothing but seriousness.

"The war has been brought to a tie for now, but it won't be long before we begin to push again. The issue lies in the aftermath—how will we divide gains with Kumo?"

The supposed leader of the group spoke as they continued moving.

"Our Tsuchikage-sama is willing to take on all methods to minimize our losses and emerge as the leading nation of the world. He deduced that be it during the war or after,

the recruitment of Akashi of the Red Blade is crucial."

"On the outside, we issued a bounty to Red Blade for his action of siding with Konoha and killing our own. Now, however, he is wanted by Konoha for killing Shimura Danzo of all things. If we play it right, this man... will become a great weapon at our hands."

One of the ninjas at the back nodded before asking,

"We are aware of all this, for the details were given to us. What's the point here?"

"...The details have changed by a little."

The leader's eyes narrowed,

"It isn't just us who are trying to recruit Red Blade from behind. Things have gone... a little chaotic, it seems."

"...Who else?"

"Kumo, Kiri, and Suna as well.

...If anything, embrace yourselves for a blizzard—strong one at that."