"The true body actually got trapped… Still, once it completes its metamorphosis it will become unimaginably powerful. A shame that if we'd also taken the Sage of Six Paths' power at the time, the true body would be even closer to perfect. But you can't be too greedy. When the true body returns, it will have a place in any world it goes to. Looks like I have to push myself too, or I'll fall too far behind the main body—even if we are one and the same." In Konoha's Uchiha compound far from the Land of Water, Meruem's other clone, Musashi, spoke.
The moment Meruem was trapped, both the gold cicada gu on Naruto's head and the clone in the Land of Water learned of it.
Meruem had anticipated the possibility, but hadn't expected the Sage of Six Paths to be this strong. He'd thought he could break free quickly; now it seemed it would take some time.
Fortunately, he had laid contingencies in advance, so the overall situation wasn't compromised. The Land of Water still had a large cadre of squadron-leader-class Chimera Ant elites and countless Chimera soldiers, with top-tier combat power including the now-stronger Youpi.
Don't think the three Royal Guards can't grow stronger. If squadron leaders can improve, how much more the already superior Royal Guards. It's just that Pitou hadn't been reborn long, and Pouf's true strength was unclear within Akatsuki.
As for Youpi's growth, it was monstrous. In the original, his biggest weakness was movement speed. Now his speed was blazingly fast, and he trained his strength constantly.
It was hard to imagine how strong he was now. In the entire Land of Water, aside from Meruem, he was the strongest.
One Youpi could easily take on a pack of top squadron-leader-class Chimera Ant elites.
Even if Hashirama Senju were revived, it was hard to say who would win in a straight fight—though Youpi couldn't use chakra, so he couldn't match Hashirama in secret arts.
By tier, they shouldn't be far apart—assuming Hashirama wasn't in Sage Mode.
In the Land of Fire, the strongest was Uchiha Musashi, with fearsome kenjutsu and taijutsu and a mutated Mangekyō Sharingan, plus dozens of elite Uchiha shinobi.
As a side note, the seeds planted in the Land of Waves back then had sprouted. That village still couldn't compare with the Five Great Villages or even second-tier villages, but it could barely be called a third-tier hidden village now.
It had trained quite a few capable shinobi. The strongest for now were only special jōnin, but at least they ranked in the shinobi world—even if near the bottom.
Though the power base couldn't match the Chimera Ants in the Land of Water, within Konoha Musashi had firmly established himself.
Especially with Sasuke and Naruto—who, without going all out, were both near Kage level—also answering to Musashi.
Of course, if those two exploded with power, even Musashi would find them tricky.
Compared with the Hokage faction's Anbu, which had suffered heavy losses and was only just recovering, and the Root that had been wiped out,
Uchiha Musashi's status and influence in Konoha were substantial. The Nine-Tails' jinchuriki Naruto answered to Musashi now, and with Musashi guarding him the elders couldn't lay a finger on Naruto.
At times, even Tsunade's words carried less weight than those of the Uchiha clan head.
That infuriated Tsunade—and something else infuriated her even more.
Her personally taught pupil, Haruno Sakura, had become infatuated with the Uchiha prodigy Sasuke.
Sakura's talent far exceeded Shizune's and she was the most qualified to inherit everything from Tsunade. And yet she'd been charmed away by the Uchiha again. How could Tsunade not be livid?
Akatsuki had begun the tailed-beast capture plan: first, Sunagakure's Kazekage Gaara was taken, and Granny Chiyo sacrificed her life to bring him back one-for-one.
With Sasuke and Naruto's help, Akatsuki didn't have it easy.
But one thing changed—Sasori of the Red Sand didn't die. Against a fully unleashed Sasori, even Sasuke and Naruto couldn't win easily. Sasori, unlike in the original, had no death wish; instead his fighting spirit was high.
His attacks were so vicious Naruto nearly died of poison.
All told, Sunagakure, which had been badly wounded during the Konoha Crush, lost another advisor elder and dozens of elite shinobi in this Akatsuki raid. Its strength waned again. The only consolation was that the Kazekage survived, leaving hope for recovery.
At the same time, Kumo's Two-Tails Matatabi was captured. Konoha's Asuma also died, which enraged not only the Raikage but Konoha as well.
Asuma was an elite jōnin of Konoha, and the Third Hokage's son.
Before Kumo could act, Konoha organized a kill team led by Kakashi and Shikamaru and several elite jōnin.
What seemed a sure victory ended in a crushing defeat.
Because Hidan had been eliminated early, the teammate paired with Kakuzu and wearing the Three-Tails ring was Pouf.
Though a lovestruck fanatic, Pouf was no fool. Most importantly, he was extremely powerful. Konoha couldn't kill him without paying a price.
Pouf and Kakuzu didn't get along, so he didn't act until Konoha had destroyed Kakuzu's five hearts, then overwhelmed Konoha's elite with his power.
Only Kakashi could stand against Pouf; while the other elite jōnin were strong, Pouf didn't care about mere squadron-leader-level opponents.
After finishing the mission in Sunagakure, Naruto and Sasuke encountered Orochimaru on their way back; he still hadn't given up on Sasuke's body—
or rather on Uchiha bodies—but he didn't dare provoke Musashi in Konoha, and he didn't fancy other Uchiha vessels.
Naruto didn't even need to act—Sasuke with Mangekyō taught Orochimaru a lesson. You might wonder: Orochimaru should be on Sasori's level, so why did even Naruto nearly die against Sasori, while Sasuke handled Orochimaru alone?
Sasori had used hidden trump scrolls not seen in the original, and even the Third Kazekage's body was torn apart by Naruto's Rasenshuriken. Orochimaru, meanwhile, wasn't going all out and was countered by the Sharingan.
Soon after dealing with Orochimaru, the two ran into Deidara seeking revenge on Sasuke. The matchups then were Naruto vs. Sasori of the Red Sand, Sasuke vs. Deidara.
Sasuke finished Deidara with genjutsu and went to help Naruto.
Deidara took it as a humiliation and later came alone to seek revenge again.
Unfortunately, though Deidara's destructive power was tremendous, in a duel he was no match for Sasuke.
He couldn't withstand Sasuke's genjutsu, and his strongest clay techniques were countered by Sasuke's Lightning Release.
He was bullied even more miserably than in the original—so much so that even Naruto couldn't bear to watch.
Imagine everything you have being completely countered by someone else.
In the end, Naruto and Sasuke returned safely to Konoha, but along the way—whether by fate or not—they took a few of Orochimaru's subordinates with them:
Uzumaki Karin and Hozuki Suigetsu. As for Jugo, Sasuke really couldn't take him while Orochimaru still lived.
Karin and Suigetsu were discontent with Orochimaru, so they left easily; Jugo was a different case.
Musashi approved of Sasuke's talent poaching. As for Tsunade objecting to letting unknowns into Konoha? Ignore it. The Hokage was half-figuratively sidelined now. With those feeble Anbu? If not for Guy's Eight Gates and Tsunade's high standing in the village, Musashi might have forced her to step down.
Kisame and Itachi's team subsequently captured the Four-Tails' jinchuriki.
Those rogue jinchuriki had it rough; aside from the Eight-Tails and Nine-Tails, the rest were taken with barely any effort by Akatsuki,
with hardly any injuries.
"Heh, Akatsuki is moving. Let them strut for a bit longer." Uchiha Itachi, I'm truly looking forward to your fight with Sasuke soon.
Sasuke without his Sharingan was solidly elite jōnin. Once he used Mangekyō in battle, even you might not be able to handle him.
As time passed, the Five-Tails, Six-Tails, and Seven-Tails also fell into Akatsuki's hands. Again: despite being the nuclear weapons of the Naruto world, the jinchuriki couldn't inflict any real damage on the enemy.
It showed how pitifully weak these jinchuriki were.
Since Sasori hadn't died, Deidara didn't pair with Tobi disguised as Obito. Instead, Tobi and Pouf formed a temporary team.
A clownish Tobi and a lovestruck Pouf—no comment.
Pouf completely ignored Tobi's act. He had long sensed the fool in front of him was no simpleton. Not knowing his aims, Pouf didn't expose him—he wasn't wholeheartedly devoted to the organization anyway.
In the end, only the Three-Tails, Nine-Tails, and Eight-Tails remained.
Akatsuki, famed across the shinobi world, finally suffered a major setback when trying to capture the Three-Tails: all rank-and-file members on the mission were annihilated.
Even Sasori of the Red Sand and Deidara, assigned to capture the Three-Tails, failed and were captured.
Kirigakure in the Land of Water then announced that the captured Akatsuki members had been executed.
"Kirigakure, is it… Itachi, Kisame, it looks like this time I need you two. Tobi, Pouf—the Eight-Tails may be up to you. And I will go to Konoha myself." Pain's Deva Path—one of Nagato's Six Paths—opened its Rinnegan and spoke.
(End of Chapter)
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