Stone Village
The Third Tsuchikage, Onoki, was breathing heavily. In front of him, his former teacher, the Second Tsuchikage, Mu, was regenerating his body. Even though Onoki had managed to defeat him, he no longer had the strength left to perform the sealing jutsu.
But then, the fight ended abruptly. All around them, the reanimated ninja began to turn to dust and fade away. Onoki hadn't expected it. He watched as Mu's body finished reforming, only for him to stand still, making no move to attack.
"The real storm is coming," Mu said, looking at his student.
Just before the Reanimation Jutsu released him completely, he offered a final piece of intelligence as a reward for being surpassed. "Onoki, you can't afford to stagnate. Your current strength won't be enough for what's coming..."
With those words, he vanished into smoke.
Onoki's expression was grim. He had barely managed to defeat his teacher as it was.
How was he supposed to get any stronger?
He was nearly eighty years old.
Why was he still facing such immense troubles at his age?
And that wasn't even the "real" trouble his master had warned of. The current mess was already overwhelming.
The village was nearly in ruins. Iwagakure's most important weapon, the Five-Tails jinchuriki, Han, had been captured by the Akatsuki. The Four-Tails jinchuriki, Roshi, had been lost years ago. The village now had no tailed beasts left.
"Father..." Kitsuchi approached, his face grave as he prepared to report their losses.
"I've seen it all myself," Onoki waved him off, giving his orders with a tired voice. "Gather our people and sneak into the Hidden Rain Village. The Akatsuki's base is there. Even if you have to dig through the entire village, find Han's whereabouts..." He paused, remembering his teacher's warning. "On second thought, be careful. Act with caution."
He continued, "Also... check on Roshi's last known whereabouts. And monitor the other great villages. Judging by that man's style, he's probably after more than just our tailed beasts."
Kitsuchi quickly jotted down the orders.
Soon, the Stone Village's scouts began receiving news from across the ninja world. Just as they received their new orders, they learned that every major nation had been hit by Akatsuki attacks.
The Hidden Mist Village in the Land of Water had experienced the least chaos. Since the Three-Tails hadn't been sealed in a jinchuriki, their greatest loss was the newly reborn beast being captured by Nagato and Konan.
They had also tried to recover the Six-Tails jinchuriki, Utakata, but he had gone missing. Effectively, the Mist Village had now lost all its tailed beasts.
Things were slightly worse for the Hidden Sand Village. The One-Tail jinchuriki, Gaara, had only just been named the Fifth Kazekage before he was abducted by Deidara and Sasori.
The Sand's morale was crushed. Not only had they failed to protect their Kage, but they had barely been able to help in his fight against Deidara. Instead, the Fifth Kazekage had been forced to sacrifice himself to protect the village.
But the worst tragedy by far had befallen the Hidden Cloud Village. The mountain village faced its greatest crisis yet. Their home mountain had been sliced in half by Madara Uchiha's Perfect Susanoo.
The fate of the Fourth Raikage was unknown. Both the Eight-Tails, Gyuki, and the Two-Tails, Matatabi, had been ripped away on the spot by Madara. The Cloud Village was left without a leader, its broken remnants forced to hide on Turtle Island.
All the major villages that once dominated the ninja world, with the sole exception of Konoha, had suffered unprecedented blows. All of their tailed beasts had been taken by the Akatsuki.
Within a few short weeks, the terror of the Akatsuki had swept the ninja world. Every ninja now understood their horrifying power.
And all eyes turned toward Konoha. No one believed the Akatsuki would spare the Nine-Tails jinchuriki.
Naturally, that included Konoha itself—the only village left standing.
-----
Inside the Hokage's office, the Fifth Hokage, Tsunade, felt nearly suffocated by the pressure of the news pouring in. Konoha's ninja kept reporting on the awful state of the other great villages.
In the past, when these villages were rivals, their disasters might have brought a secret sense of satisfaction. But now, everyone in Konoha understood how dire the situation truly was. They knew they could be next.
"Lady Hokage..." The Hokage's guard, Raido Namiashi, looked at Tsunade's grim face and carefully sought her opinion. "Should we raise the village's alert status...?"
"..."
Tsunade silently nodded, though she already knew the answer—and so did every ninja present. What good would raising the alert level do now? Once, four Hokage working together had failed to defeat Shirou. And now, the peerless Shirou had Madara Uchiha by his side.
What was the point in even fighting?
Given Shirou and Madara's track record, if the Akatsuki attacked Konoha, the only question was how much of the village would be left standing afterward.
By now, every halfway-intelligent ninja in Konoha could see that the sheer difference in power could never be bridged with numbers or willpower.
The only small blessing was that the Nine-Tails jinchuriki, Naruto Uzumaki, was not in the village. As soon as Jiraiya heard that the Akatsuki had captured the other jinchuriki, he had immediately taken Naruto to Mount Myoboku.
There, he could train in Sage techniques and rely on the mountain's secrecy for protection.
But Mount Myoboku could only shield Naruto, not Konoha. With the Akatsuki's threat looming, Tsunade could only prepare for the worst.
"Everyone," she began, standing by the window of the Hokage building and overlooking her thriving village. "Prepare to evacuate the villagers at a moment's notice. Be ready—the entire village might become a battlefield and be turned to ruins."
"Yes, ma'am," every Konoha ninja in the office responded with a solemn nod.
A heavy atmosphere fell over Konoha. With the news of the Akatsuki's assault on the other villages, everyone was aware that they faced a crisis worse than any before.
Just then, late that night, someone came to see Tsunade.
A long-haired man in a hood slipped quietly into the Hokage's office. He stood behind Tsunade, his tongue snaking out to lick his lips as he smiled and greeted his old companion.
"Long time no see, Tsunade."
"Orochimaru?" Tsunade turned, her brow furrowing at the familiar sight. "You've been missing a long time. Why are you here? I don't have the time or the patience for a fight right now."
In the past, Tsunade would have already summoned the ANBU to arrest him. But right now, she just didn't have the energy. With the Akatsuki crisis looming, she couldn't afford to waste Konoha's strength on side issues like Orochimaru.
"But I'm in the mood..." Orochimaru smiled slyly, alluding to her current predicament. "I know the trouble Konoha is facing. What if I told you I could help fix it?"
"Don't be ridiculous!" Tsunade shot him an annoyed glare and replied coldly. "The last time you 'helped,' you resurrected my grandfather and the others to fight that man. And what happened?"
The result… was that Shirou had been fully revived. Now, no one could stop him, and no one would escape the reign of Shirou and Madara Uchiha.
"But Tsunade," Orochimaru said with a light smile, not holding back his words. "You have no way to solve the trouble about to hit Konoha. All I can offer is a straw, perhaps, but at least it's something for you to grab onto in your desperation, right?"
"..."
Tsunade fell silent.
"Now, summon Kakashi Hatake," Orochimaru smiled, tempting her. "This conversation could be overheard by the Akatsuki at any time. We need somewhere safe to talk."