I'm back, so after chapter 599, I now have confirmation about who Tobi is. Now I just need to know exactly how he survived his apparent death and how he came to know Madara. Until all that is dealt with, I wont be updating Seals of Forgotten Time. I'll be focusing on the other stories, maybe even the dusty Blue Eyed Uchiha.

I'm also thinking about scraping Ninja Assassin, since its feedback was poor. I might bring it back, better than the original. But you have to tell me if you want me to or not.

Alright enough of my senseless rambling, for the few readers still with me, this chapter is for you.

Betrayal Chapter Thirty-Seven: The Same Break Before Destruction

(Kaminari no Kuni)

Minato groaned in phantom pain as the memory of his latest Kage Bunshin came back to him. 'Sorry clone, but an Aian Kuro (Iron Claw) at my age, is bad for my health.' he thought before leaping to the side, avoiding a lightning powered axe drop.

He didn't get a second of rest, because A was on him, intent on finishing the fight as fast as he could. "Come on Minato, we've been fighting for an hour. Why don't you give up before something happens neither of us could recover from?" A said slamming his fist into the ground, causing lightning to shoot from the ground, like geysers of electricity.

The Yellow Flash looked on in shock, as two dozen of the seals on his tri-pronged kunai were burned off, the kunai faired much better though just barely. "I cant do that, at least not yet." he said as he blurred out of sight.

A sighed in annoyance, "You're acting like a Genin trying to prove himself to his sensei." he said catching the younger fourth's leg. Only his superior strength prevented his hand bones from cracking.

"That may be, but to beat the fastest, you have to become the fastest." he simply said before he was slammed on the ground, and his clone was dispelled.

A rose an eyebrow, "You mean the masked guy? Are you taking him seriously?"

Minato appeared an inch in front of A, before throwing a series of punches. "Why not, I've fought him before I died. He was strong then, who knows how strong he is now." he said smiling as a few of his punches landed.

A cursed himself verbally, as he saw seal tags darken themselves on his chest and elbow. "Wait, you fought him?" A finished just when Minato vanished in a yellow flash. He felt a hand on his shoulder as the Namikaze landed gracefully behind the Raikage. He nodded forcing A's eyes to widen. "Then you have an idea of his skills? This is good, forget the fight for now and tell me everything you can on the way back to the village." A said just as dozens of ANBU landed around them.

"Thank Kami, you two are finished fighting." the leader said releasing a sigh of relief.

A and Minato chuckled in embarrassment. "The former Hokage was persistent wasn't he?" A said with a loud laugh, joined by the others.

Said former Kage, rubbed his head sheepishly with a nervous chuckle. "Well I was just keeping my leader on his toes." he said finding the sky to be interesting for a while.

(Cave Near Konoha)

Naruto silently looked at each of the Uchiha brothers, wondering what was going through their minds. They've been staring at each other for three minutes. He looked closely at Sasuke's Sharingan, to see if he could get an inkling of his intentions.

It was a blender of emotions going through those eyes, the main one being anger, for the obvious reasons. The red head, felt his vision being obscured by his demonic mate, Akane. "So are you going to watch them all day or are you going to have your own reunion?" she said directing his vision to the mouth of the cave.

Naruto nodded slowly, "Hm, yes, of course. Jiraiya of the Sannin, a few Akatsuki members and some others I don't know. This should be interesting." he said standing to his feet, with Haku comically hanging behind him. "Hime, I'm gonna need you to release me."

The ice maiden shook her head. "That's not going to happen. You're going to have to carry me for a long time before I'm satisfied." she said clinging to him tighter.

Naruto released a sigh before conceding. "Fine, give me your legs." he said wrapping her legs around his waist.

"WHAT! How come you don't carry me? You spoil her too much!" Akane whined with tears running down her face, while she pouted and crossed her arms.

Naruto looked at his lover, "What, no I don't."

"You're carrying her." Taifu said from his position.

Naruto's amethyst eyes glared at his brother. "Shut up, you're not helping." he said listening to Haku's giggles on his back. "Are you going to tell me why they are with you?" he said getting a better hold on his ice maiden.

Taifu shrugged his shoulders. "That is something you're going to have to talk to them about." he said causing Naruto to nod his head in agreement. He tightened his grip on Haku and slowly walked to Jiraiya, Nagato, and Konan.

"What do you want Sennin? Last time I saw you, I put you in a terrifying Genjutsu. You must want another." he threatened as his eyes begun to darken with malicious intent.

Jiraiya didn't back to from his godson's glare. "I came with a simple intention, joining your side of this fight. Surely you know that Tsunade has sided with the leader of Akatsuki?" he asked to which Naurto nodded.

"Please tell me something I don't already know, otherwise exit yourself from my sight." he said immediately turning his gaze up the two, obviously, former Akatsuki members. "Your business with me?"

Nagato and Konan had watched Naruto's contempt filled, and short talk, with Jiraiya and they didn't like how he talked to their sensei. But they didn't voice it, because they wanted to get straight to business. "Well, to make a long story short, I'm your cousin and I want to join you in your effort to destroy Konoha." Nagato said with a smooth voice.

They expected Naruto to break out in a smile and thank the heavens that he finally has family. But the previous blonde's expression didn't change a bit. "That's it? You expect me to act any different because we are connected by blood? I could give a damn if you were my father, oh wait your not, because my father is in Kumogakure by now. Don't even for a second think, that I care about someone claiming to be my family. Just because we're blood doesn't make us family." he spoke with conviction. He then pointed at Karin, "Why don't you try going to her and tell her you're her cousin. Because the same blood is pumping through her veins." he said turning around in time to see Sasuke charge at Itachi.

"Why!?" Sasuke yelled throwing right punch at his brother.

Itachi, easily, caught the punch and caught the second punch. "I see you're still not strong enough to avenge your family." Itachi said coldly before straight kicking Sasuke out of his grasp. "I thought I told you to that the next time we meet, you should have the same eyes as me."

Sasuke righted himself in time to land and slide on his feet. A tear fell down Sasuke's cheek. "For the longest, I've wanted to kill you. And don't get me wrong, I still want to wring your neck, but I also want to know the truth. So if you're truly my brother, you'll tell me. All I want to know is why?" Sasuke said as his Doujutsu bore into his brother's Mangekyou.

The two brother's resumed to staring at each other for a full minute before Itachi sighed, "This is not how I wanted this to play out. Keeping the reason for their death a secret is no longer necessary with you no longer being a part of the village. I killed the clan to protect you, my little brother." Itachi said confusing Sasuke and whoever else was listening.

"What does you mean, how could killing my parents and the rest of the family, possibly protect me!?" Sasuke yelled.

Even though he wasn't apart of it, Naruto hung his head in despair. Haku noticed this immediately and hugged him tighter.

"Because your so called family was getting ready to cause a civil war within the village!" Itachi yelled in anger at his own family. "Trust me, I loved the village, but I spared you, not because you were too weak to waste my time on, but because you were my little brother and I love you more than anything." Itachi said, not able to stop a tear from escaping his eye. "Ever since I learned of my disease, eating away ate my body, I realized that it would killing me easier for you. Unfortunately, that's no longer the case." Itachi said as his aura seeped through his pores.

His previously calm chakra, now seemed to be a bit more darker, due to its new demonic qualities. Akane had sensed this immediately. "You completely cured and tied him to your wavelength didn't you?" Akane whispered so only Naruto and Haku could hear. "That's why you grew weak." she said answering her own question.

Naruto nodded his head, keeping his eyes on his brothers. "It was the only way to keep my brother alive."

"Itachi was already strong, only Kami knows how strong he is now." the brunette on his back said leaning her chin on his shoulders.

The demon nodded again, "We could possibly have a very small glimpse at his strength if they fight."

Back to the Uchiha brothers, Sasuke had his eyes widened at how much stronger his brother felt. He was nowhere near his strength, so he knew a conflict, would only be a waste of time and make his injuries more serious.

"There's also another thing you should know Sasuke, I had a last line of defense, just in case an old man decided to finish the massacre. Naruto, the other little brother. He was supposed to guard and protect you from danger, sadly he failed. You weren't supposed to join Orochimaru, I know how you two were growing up, and it doesn't surprise me that you chose to do things your own ways." Itachi said directing the last statement at both Sasuke and Naruto.

Sasuke's eyes traveled to his old teammate. Naruto lowered his eyes to prevent himself from locking eyes with the avenger. He didn't want to know how just how much he failed, it was the only guilt he had in his life. "I was halfway across the country, before I realized that you weren't part of the group. My next attack on Konoha was really a search and rescue for you, but you weren't in the village and I got spotted. When I returned to the village I consulted with Akane that you needed to be found and she helped me with handpicking three of the fox clan's best tracker foxes." he said sensing that Sasuke was inching closer to him.

But before he could try to grab Namikaze's collar, the air around him grew colder. It was Haku's warning, telling him not to get any closer to them. "You eventually found my location didn't you? How long did it take you?" Sasuke said his anger evident in his red eyes.

Naruto coughed into his hand and backed up a little. "A week." he muttered before he continued. "Honestly, to tell you the truth, I didn't want to train you. So I left you with Orochimaru, you know, have him do all the work. I was actually thinking about using the same three tracker foxes to look for you again, when Itachi told me Gaara was being targeted." Naruto said looking at Itachi.

Itachi spared a quick glance at Nagato, knowing he was getting angrier about how much of a traitor Itachi was. "Hn." the man grunted.

Sasuke lowered his head as he began to think about Naruto, putting himself in his shoes. He came to the realization that he too would have left him to be trained by someone else. He calmed down, but everyone knew he was still angry, though it was no longer on Itachi or Naruto, but the elder's of the village took their place. "So the fossils of the village ruined my life. I'm going to kill them myself."

"Um about that, I kind of already killed Danzo. He was responsible for helping Hanzo kill Yahiko, so I got my revenge before leaving the organization." Everyone looked at the redhead with surprised looks.

Naruto flashed him a big grin, "You bastard, I wanted to kill that smug old man."

"And let you have all the fun? You already killed the Sandaime, you cant have them all." Nagato said uncovering his left eye with his hand.

"My village, I'll have whoever I want." Naruto said crossing his arms causing Haku to tighten her own grip around his hips.

A question came to Akane's mind and she cleared her throat. "I just thought of something. Why are you two so close to Konoha in the first place?" she questioned at both Naruto and Itachi.

"Oh that's easy… we're going to destroy it." he said like it was simplest thing in the world.

"And maybe even convert some people, who knows what could happen." Itachi added.

Akane had her mouth open at the casualty of how they said they were going to destroy an entire village.

"I was thinking about simply going full Kyuubi on them, but I changed my mind. This reunion got me into a reunion kind of mood." the crimson haired demon said. "So I was thinking about simply walking around the village and bump into a few people, slaughter a few more people and raid some refrigerators." he said spacing out as his hunger made itself known with a loud growl. Everyone shook their heads at this.

"Are you seriously talking about destroying Konoha?" Jiraiya questioned stepping forward with a stern look on his face. Naruto narrowed his eyes at the sage, before Jiraiya continued. "Do you really think I'm going to let you do that alone? I'm going with you." he said making Naruto's eyes soften.

Deep down the former container liked how the old pervert was trying to make up for attacking him during the invasion. He pointed at Jiraiya and Nagato, "You two are really trying to get on my good side huh?" he said before he rose his brow at Konan.

Haku noticed the look and quickly grabbed his ear, "Who do you think you're looking at like that?" she growled in his ear.

"Owowowow." Naruto sounded in pain as his head was pulled back a little. "I'm sorry Haku-chan, I wont do it again." he apologized as Jiraiya appeared beside him.

"I know what you're thinking kid, she's beautiful right." the old man whispered just enough that only Naruto could hear, even with Haku's close proximity, while also nudging him with his elbow.

Naruto scoffed in response, "I've seen more beautiful." he said just as Akane latched onto his arm on the other side of Jiraiya. "Like this one." he said indicating the queen of foxes with his head.

"What about me?" Haku whined in his ear.

"You too Haku-chan."

"So you're saying she's more beautiful than me?" Akane questioned releasing his arm to put hers on her hips.

"Uhhh…." Naruto stammered causing Haku to get off of his back to stand beside Akane.

"Who's more beautiful?" the brunette questioned with a stern glare.

Naruto continued to stammer while a few people began to snicker in amusement. "Uh oh, you dug yourself into a big ol hole." Taifu instigated from his spot against the cave wall.

Naruto didn't know what to say, so he just frantically looked around the cave, hoping it would help him with an answer. His eyes pasted Jiraiya first, who was snickering, then they hit Sasuke and Itachi who had blank looks, though Sasuke looked annoyed for some reason. Then they hit Sasuke's group, Jugo wasn't even paying attention, he was more focused on tending to a bird, who's feathers were wet. Suigetsu was snickering quietly, but he also looked annoyed. Karin, was still shocked that she was an Uzumaki and related to these immensely strong individuals, judging by their chakra signatures. The next was Konan and Nagato who also had blank faces, not wanting to be apart of this conversation. Though Naruto's superior eyes were able to detect a very small hint of a blush on her cheeks. Lastly his eyes landed on his demonic brother, who was letting out a big laugh at his predicament.

His eyes returned to his girls with an answer in mind, "Well its obvious now who's more beautiful… it's me." he said flashing a large grin.

The girl's faces went blank and everyone quieted down. They both shared a glance at each other, having a silent conversation on how to take the answer. "Wrong answer." Naruto heard from Taifu which made Naruto gulp in fear.

'I might have to book it into the rain.' he thought mentally getting ready.

The girls looked back at him, they were now in agreement. They started walking towards him, with their same blank expressions, Naruto couldn't read them at all. It was for a split second but he saw a crack of a smile on Akane's face before they reached him.

"I don't doubt that." they both said in unison before Haku and Akane kissed his left and right cheeks, respectively. Naruto released a breath of relief he knew he was holding.

"That's bullshit, Kanari would've killed me if I did something like that!" Taifu yelled in anger.

"That's because she's a crazy bitch!" Naruto yelled back.

Taifu lowered his head in agreement. "I know." he said softly, "That's why I love her." he added with a large grin on his face before he and Naruto began to laugh.

Sasuke cleared his throat, "Can we get back on track with the whole destroying Konoha thing now." he said with a hand on his forehead.

Naruto chuckled as himself was about to change the subject. "Sure of course, other than me walking lazily around the village we need a plan of action." he said as they all began thinking about a plan, pitching their ideas from time to time and adding that to the overall plan or forgoing it altogether.

(Kumogakure)

A breathed a breath of air he missed. "I'm back home." he said walking up to the welcoming party, who followed Kakashi and few other high standing members of the village. "Welcome back Raikage-sama, sensei. Where's Naruto? Kakashi asked with a lazy look.

"Probably busy thinking about how to effectively destroy Konoha right now." he said waving his hand of the subject. "That's not important right now, how's my village doing? Visually everything looks intact." A said looking around his village.

Kimiko stepped forward, making Kakashi gulp audibly. "Mentally, we're pissed off. This man is way too laid back to run anything. All he did was sit around the office, reading his smut." she said pointing a finger and glaring at the silver haired man.

A casually walked pass her and further into his village. "Now now, Kimiko, you know I don't like a snitch." he said playfully as the woman began to stammer.

Minato wrapped his arms around her and held her close. "That's Kakashi for you. He loves what he loves." he said with a soft chuckle. "I missed you." he said kissing the top of her head.

She returned the hug and added more pressure, "I missed you too." she said before hearing A's booming voice.

"Listen up people, the time is finally upon us. The time we've been preparing for, this is the time for war. Sadly its not going to be against Konoha, who's is in the process of being destroyed by our very own Naruto Namikaze. Or even Iwa, who's surprisingly on our side." he stopped to let them both cheer and mutter amongst themselves. He cleared his throat and resumed talking. "War has been declared by the leader of Akatsuki, who selfishly wants to rule the world." he stopped again letting them boo at the news. He chuckled as he felt the same way. "Obviously that's not going to happened because he has to face four of the major villages, along with our minor allies. Its literally the world versus him and we'll show him just why you shouldn't challenge the world." he said pumping his fist in the air as they all cheered loudly.

Minato stepped forward, with Kimiko still in his arms, "Naturally this speech is being given in the other major villages by their leaders. Maybe even the part about Naruto getting ready to destroy Konoha, which is a feat nearly impossible considering how much that village has been through, since the beginning of its creation. But if I know my son, he'll accomplish the task, he'll finish what the Kyuubi started." Minato said making the large group cheer in agreement.

A cleared his throat to regain attention. "We must remember, Akatsuki is still dangerous. Konoha wont be their only resource of troops, and that is what sets me on edge. We have no idea what the man has planned for this war."

(Amegakure)

The proclaimed Madara, over looked his village as they continued to ready themselves for both bed and war. It has only been about three or four hours since he finished his speech. He didn't know which, he wasn't paying attention to time. He knew they were trying to think how fighting Kumo, the new strongest powerhouse village, would play out for them. They had four Jinchurikis, the strongest members of Akatsuki, the remaining members of Kage-Ho, and not to mention their own ranks of various ninjas.

Madara turned his head when he sensed a chakra signature enter the room. "To what do I owe the pleasure, Kabuto-san?"

Kabuto walked into the only light in the room, illuminating his figure. Though there wasn't much to show, since he was only wearing his very dark crimson cloak that cover his entire being. Though something could be seen moving behind him. A large white snake emerged from below the cloak. It moved slowly, hissing its tongue for a while before reeling it back in. "Nothing that dangers you Madara-san." he said calling the man by the name he chose to call himself, but he knew better.

Madara turned to look at the other occupant. "Then what, pray tell, are you doing here?"

Kabuto removed his hood to show his new scaly face. He used his finger to fix his glasses, causing them to shine, "I'm here to end your search." Madara didn't say anything, only opted to sternly stare at Kabuto's new appearance. "I came to provide you with an army for your quest to invade Kumo and attack the other villages." Kabuto spoke with a smile on his face.

Madara narrowed his visible eye behind his mask, "I already have an army for those purposes."

"Surely you don't think the ninja of Ame really stand a chance against the might of Kumo? Even with Konoha's ninja you'll have a hard time with that task." Kabuto said with the same smile on his face.

Madara smirked behind his mask, "Then it's a good thing that's not all I have." he said walking pass the scaly young adult. "Follow me and I'll show you what I've been working on for quite some time."

Kabuto silently watched the man exit the room. The snake from before rose in front of his face and stuck out its tongue. Kabuto fixed his glasses again, as if he had a silent conversation with the snake. With that he followed the masked man to a flight of stairs.

It took five full minutes of descending down stairs before they came at a door. Kabuto glanced at Madara's mask hole, now knowing they were under the village of Ame.

After a while of tampering with the door, Madara opened it to reveal his 'project'.

Said room was filled, nearly to the brim, with copies of the white half of Zetsu. "This is about a hundred thousand copies of the white half of Zetsu. They all have the skill of an Elite Jounin. The ninja of Ame will simply serve as cannon fodder compared to these." Madara said filled with self-righteous pride at his creations.

Kabuto's scientific mind stood amazed at the multiple copies. He's seen Zetsu before and he was amazed at how the man was able to take two halves and make them whole. So in truth he made two hundred thousand copies to make the presented number. "Judging by the sheer number of them and if you were to be working on them continuously, I would say you made ten thousand a year for the past two decades, correct? Also it seems you've used cells from the Shodai Hokage to enhance their abilites." Kabuto deduced, seeing a large imprint of Hashirama's face on an even larger tree.

Madara grunted while walking to the nearest clone stroking its head. Said clone had its eyes closed, indicating that it was slumbering, like the rest of the clones, until there time came. "I showed my hand partner, now show me why you're really here." Madara said with a hint of exasperation at the man's stalling.

Kabuto grinned at the man's single mask hole. "Of course, all you had to do was ask, partner." the snake hybrid said taking out a scroll and unsealing the contents. "Partner, meet two of the strongest members of the ROOT program from Konoha. I'm going to demonstrate the technique I'm going to be providing you for the duration of this war…" he said as both of their bodies thudded against the ground, both incapacitated and restrained for good measure. "I found them spying on me some time ago, I don't know why, but I had a feeling they were going to be good for something so I kept them alive. Pick one to die and he shall be resurrected using the other's body." the hybrid explained as the bodies were revealed to be Fu and Torune.

The masked individual looked between both of the men before, with a simple kunai, impaled Torune's head, effectively killing him.

"Excellent choice sir." he said, his smile still plastered on his face. He blazed through a few hand seals, which were concealed underneath the long sleeves of the cloak, before slamming his hands on the ground. "Kuchiyose: Edo Tensei." (Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation) After that, Torune's body turned to dirt and ash before moving to cover Fu's body.

Fu's eyes snapped open and he begun to scream in immense pain. His eyes moved around the room at a frantic pace before the dirt and ash filled his mouth and covered the rest of his head. The screaming immediately stopped and the ash and dirt began to take color and shift to finally form Torune's body, with various additions added to it. Cracks around the body were seen, the previous white sclera turn black and the rest was his original color. Of course you couldn't see them because of the man's shades covering them.

With the technique complete, the reincarnated Torune stood to his feet. "Of course he isn't the only one at my disposal." Kabuto said forming a seal, causing a coffin to rise through the ground. The lid was removed showing somebody that caused Madara to widen his eyes. "I also have this one and thirty eight more. This one will, no doubt, keep you and I partners to make up for our trust issues." Kabuto said with his previous smile widening at Tobi's silence.

A/N: Finished with this chapter. I'm terribly sorry and blah blah blah. How'd you like that chapter. I am curious though how Kishimoto would explain to us how someone could survive a bolder crushing half of their body, and he better not say it was a flesh wound!

Hopefully this chapter will bring back most of the readers that used to read and review this story.

Also I was thinking about including a fight between Sasuke and Itachi and maybe even Naruto, but with Sasuke's injuries, Itachi's power up, and Naruto's overall awesomeness, it would've been pointless.

If you're wondering about Jiraiya and Nagato trying to get on Naruto's good side, that's because they want to simply be with their family and they don't want to fight family.

Okay Next Chapter, Naruto is finally going to deal with Konoha. The long awaited destruction is finally at our doorsteps, all we have to do is open the door. Of course I'm the one that has the key, just review to push things along. I learned that with a bunch of people actually reviewing, it makes me more interested in completing the next chapter for that story.