The Empire Of Uzushiogakure: The Tale Of The Bringer Of Happiness

The Kage Summit Arc

Chapter 18: The Summit: Part lll:

Memories…. And The Snare!

An Hour Before The Summit, Uzushio, Goa Kingdom District, Sakura Haruno's Apartment…..

The Pink-haired Cipher Pol agent sighed as she unlocked the door to her spacious two-room apartment. She lived in an apartment in the third floor of a twelve story building owned by Ameyuri Namikaze. Her apartment was very plain, with simple white walls and ceiling, along with equally plain furniture, due to the fact that she lacked the creative imagination or just didn't bother decorating it.

She took a couple of steps inside her house and began to take off her creepy mask. However, her hands abruptly froze in the middle of the act as her eyes briefly glowed red. She sensed that she wasn't alone, someone else was in the apartment.

She immediately disappeared in a swift movement and reappeared at the kitchen's door in an instant. Her finger already pointing at the back of the intruder who was rummaging through her fridge.

"Tobu Shigan (Flying Finger Gun). " A sharp compressed air shockwave fired off from the tip of her finger at an incredible speed. But, the intruder managed to dodge the fast attack without even turning around, simply by moving their heads to the side, which resulted in the fridge getting pierced through and heavily damaged by Sakura's Shigan.

"What the…!? " The intruder exclaimed as they jumped to their feet and finally turned around, allowing Sakura to see who they were.

"Mito?" Sakura blinked.

"Oh! Shishishi! It's you, Sakura! " The red-haired Vice-Admiral grinned, waving at the person she considered to be one of her best friends.

"What are you doing in my house? You destroyed my fridge! " The Cipher Pol agent grounded with annoyance.

"Well, I ran out of food and so I decided to get some from you. And it wasn't me who destroyed your fridge, you're the one who shot a Shigan at me. " Mito pointed out with a smirk. Sakura sighed again and massaged her forehead to ease off the headache.

"You always do this, breaking into my apartment and stealing my food. You're taking full advantage of the fact that we live in the same apartment building. " The Cipher Pol agent accused her friend, folding her arms over her chest and glaring at Mito.

"Friends are supposed to be there for each other. It's my luck that your apartment is just two floors above mine. " Mito retorted with a bright smile. Sakura's glare softened a bit, and she smiled a small smile shortly afterward, sighing and shaking her head.

"Whatever, what's done is done. Come on, bring whatever you found in there to the dinning room; I'm hungry, too. " The Cipher Pol agent stated as she walked out of the kitchen, followed by Mito who was carrying several plates of meat, rice and vegetables. They sat on pillows on opposite sides of the short-legged dining table.

"The way you're eating is unlady-like, act like the princess you are. " Sakura scolded her friend, watching her devour piece after piece of meat. Mito just shrugged carelessly in response.

"I'm not a princess. How many times do I have to tell you that, you stubborn badger? I revoked my status as a princess since the moment I joined the Marines. I'm a Navy soldier, a Vice-admiral, nothing more and nothing less. " Mito replied strongly, annoyed with Sakura's insistence on her royal status, which she herself denounces.

Sakura hummed as she took a bite of her fish, looking at Mito's eyes with an unwavering stare.

"Even so, you're still the blood-related sister of the Emperor, everyone is aware of that fact. You are a princess, that's something you just don't have any control over. " The cold way in which Sakura stated that fact made Mito growl with anger.

"I can control it, and you're a proof of that… " She pointed a finger at her friend, who furrowed her eyes with confusion.

"….. You don't treat me like a princess, nobody in the Marines thinks I'm better than them just because I'm royalty. I never used my royal status or my connections with the higher-ups to rise up the ranks. I became a Vice-admiral because I earned this rank by my strength, sweat and blood. I moved away from the luxury of Mariejois and came to live here, and I never asked my brother or my other relatives for money, I feed myself by the money I made from my job. None of my friends - especially you- treat me any differently because I'm a royal, I don't have bodyguards following me around, and I don't have butlers catering to my every whim. After all of that and you're still calling me a princess!? No, Sakura! I'm not a princess, and I don't want to be one, nor do I want to be treated like one! " Mito slightly raised her voice at the end of her rant and unconsciously stood up in her angered state.

"Calm down, I wasn't implying anything of what you just said. All I wanted to say was that as a royalty, you should carry yourself a certain way, or have some table manners at least. " The Cipher Pol retorted calmly, her eyes emotionless as she gestured for Mito to sit back down.

The Vice-admiral took a deep breath, calmed herself down and sat down once again.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you in your own house, Sakura. But, I just don't want you to always expect me to behave like some high and mighty royal, that's just not me. I'm not saying that I hate my family, but that lifestyle just isn't what I want, and they understood that and accepted my decision to lead an independent life, just as Mito, not princess Mito. You understand me, don't you, Sakura? " Mito asked, her eyes clearly telling Sakura that she needed her comfort now.

"Of course I do, what kind of a best friend would I be otherwise? I completely understand why you and Hanabi decided to leave Mariejois to lead independent lives , you here in Goa and Hanabi in Dressrosa. " She allowed a very small smile to appear on her face and patted Mito's shoulder reassuringly. The red-haired girl smiled brightly in return, appreciating the gesture.

"As a matter of fact, I met Suzumebachi on my back and she told me that you and the rest of the Vice-admirals were punished by Okashida (Boss)." Sakura added with a smirk, to which Mito just pouted childishly.

"Yeah. Tayuya-nee was mad because we abandoned our posts without informing her, so she made us do 200 push-ups while having three large boulders on our backs. She's so evil sometimes. " She whined.

"So, there you have it, Okashida didn't treat you any differently from the rest of your colleagues. Isn't that what you wanted? " The smirk on Sakura's face got wider when Mito didn't answer and chose to act like she didn't hear the question.

"So, what was your mission in Konoha this time? Menma told me that your mission was super important, tell me, what was it?" Mito asked excitedly.

"That's classified information. I don't have the authority or the permission to tell you. " Sakura's expression and tone of voice completely changed into a serious and frosty demeanor.

"Awww, come on! I won't tell anyone, I promise! "

"That's not the point. My job decrees that I can't tell you any information regarding my missions without a permission from a Chief or from Commander Tsume herself. I take my job very seriously, Mito. " Sakura repeated with the same cold tone.

"You're just as uptight as Tayuya-nee. " Mito pouted once again and folded her hands over her chest as a sign of annoyance.

"Thank you. Being compared to Okashida in anything is a great honor for me." Sakura smiled a little, but only a little.

'I didn't really mean it as a compliment. ' Mito sweat dropped at the irony.

"Whatever, I don't want to know anymore. Where did you meet Suzumebachi anyway? " Mito asked after a few seconds of comfortable silence.

"I was coming back through the sky using Geppo (Moonwalk) and Soru (Shave) when I saw her ship heading to Nami no Kuni. So, I stopped to say hi and catch up with her. " Sakura answered.

"You left a clone back in Konoha, right?" The Vice-Admiral asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Of course, I did. I'm a seasoned Cipher Pol agent, Mito. " Sakura replied sternly, feeling slightly angry at Mito for thinking that she could make such a rookie mistake.

" So, that's why I couldn't find her in Marineford. I was looking for Suzumebachi to have a friendly duel with her. She's a great friend, until she gets angry and turns into that scary persona of hers or turn you into a baby/old person. " Mito said cheerfully, although she sweat dropped at the end of her speech.

"She helped us a lot during our time training under the Higher-ups, remember? " Sakura asked as her lips quirked upwards.

"How could I forget? I will never be able to forget the beatings she gave us during our Observation Haki training, Kabuto-nii did nothing but laugh at us the whole time. " Mito responded with clear displeasure.

"I can't thank her enough; without her help, I would've never become the girl who can't be caught off guard. Thanks to her, Okashida and the others, I have one of the highest levels of Observation Haki in the entire Empire. " Sakura smiled softly and Mito couldn't help but mirror that smile with one of her own. This emotional side of Sakura, regardless of how minuscule the amount of emotions she displays, is something that only Mito and a select few get to see.

"I still can't believe that our training under them ended just a few months ago. Physical training, Rokushiki training, Haki training, devil ability training, those were some tiresome years. " Mito said wistfully.

"Yeah…. " Sakura whispered in agreement, as they both reminisced about the grueling years of their training.

Flashback Snap One… Three Years ago…

"Alright then, rookies. Rear-Admiral Mito Namikaze and CP9 agent Sakura Haruno…. " The usually laid-back Admiral started, drawing out his words as he often does, and holding up a thick wooden sword. The two 11 year olds looked up at his towering form with determined faces. They were in a clearing in training ground 11 in Wano district, which was a large, city-sized forest.

"… You've done well up until now in your Observation Haki training. Both of you managed to evade all of my attacks with the stick while being blindfolded, but that's only the basics of Observation Haki, you haven't even scratched the surface yet. Your friend, Shion, managed to see a few seconds into the future just a few days ago. You two still have a long way, and to reach that level, I have to raise the difficulty and the intensity of your training." The Admiral smiled down at the girl standing beside him when he finished talking.

The girl had shoulder-length brown hair with a single lock falling onto the right side of her face and going over her right eye just a little bit. She had steel-grey eyes with orange markings in the corner, and small eyebrows. She wore a ruffled white v-neck shirt under a coat draped over her shoulders. Dark purple trousers which had a thin white stripe on the sides and ended in a ruffle just below a pale yellow and aqua blue star on each knee, and brown high-heeled boots that have bronze buckles attached by dark purple straps just above each ankle.

"This is Rear-Admiral Suzumebachi. She's the leader of the Kamizuru clan which occupies a section of Cocoyashi district. " The Admiral introduced the girl with a smile.

"Hi!/hello." Mito and Sakura greeted the Rear-Admiral, one with enthusiasm while the other had a neutral tone. The girl just smiled and waved.

"Hi, pleased to meet you Mito-san, Sakura-san. "

"I suppose you know each other, if even slightly. You heard about each other before, but you never met, right? " The Admiral asked, to which the three girls nodded.

"Well, now that the introductions are over, let's get to business. Suzumebachi here is an extremely fast Kenjutsu user, her speed is comparable to the wind, to the point where she can't be seen. Her physical strength is equal to yours, she's as much of a physical monster as you two, so don't underestimate her. Her ArmamentHaki is also close to the level you two have right now. All you have to do is to try and evade or block as many of her attacks as possible for the next two hours. " The yellow-suited Admiral stated with a faint smirk.

'So this is Maken (Demon Blade) Suzumebachi. I've heard a lot about her, she's not going to be an easy opponent. ' Sakura thought, narrowing her eyes at the deceptive smile the girl wore.

'This is going to be interesting.' Mito grinned in excitement for the upcoming spar.

"However, there's some rules to this training session. Both of you are highly trained fighters, so I'm pretty sure that your eyes will be able to at least keep up with Suzumebachi's speed for a few minutes. Also, your high-level Soru and Gear Second techniques are equal to or even faster than Suzumebachi, I'm positive on that. If the two of you used any of these things, then this training session will be useless since you won't learn anything new from it. So, how are we going to fix this situation? " The Admiral asked rather tauntingly as his smirk grew wider. Both Mito and Sakura felt a foreboding feeling the moment they saw his expression.

"Ohhh~ I figured it out. You will be blindfolded, and you're not allowed to use Soru or Gear Second. " The Admiral said with a fake happy smile in front of the crushed looks of his adopted little sister and her best friend.

"But, Kabuto-nii-… ouch! " Mito held her forehead in pain after Kabuto swiftly flicked it with a Haki-coated finger.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. It's Admiral, Mito. I'm your nii-san only outside of work, now I'm Admiral Kimoru, make sure to address me as such. " Kabuto admonished half-seriously.

"H-Hai, Admiral! I'm sorry if I overstepped my boundaries, sir! " Mito exclaimed with the utmost seriousness and respect, saluting her superior. Sakura just shook her head at the interaction, she would've killed herself before disrespecting Tayuya-Sama or Tsume-sama like that.

"It's fine. " The Admiral smiled a closed-eyed smile, though his grey lenses overshadowed his eyes.

"Admiral, with all due respect, how can we fight her with so many handicaps placed on us?" Mito asked again, but this time with a more professional tone.

"You're not supposed to fight her. " Kbauto replied with a mysterious grin. Suzumebachi elaborated when she saw their confusion…

"You only have to dodge and block my attacks. "

"Now, lets start…. " Kabuto said cheerfully as he handed Suzumebachi the wooden sword. "You're not allowed to use Soru as well, or your Devil ability, Suzumebachi. I don't want them to suddenly get turned into children. "

"Understood, Kimoru-sama. Although I wanted to use Durandal, but I guess it will be dangerous if I did. " Suzumebachi replied with a wide smile, causing the other three to sweat drop.

'You guess? ' They thought simultaneously.

"This is an important part of your training, rookies, and I mean all three of you. If you manage to see even a slight glimpse of Suzumebachi's aura in your minds-eye, you have to tell me immediately. Because, if you managed to do that, you will be on your way to perceive even faster speeds, with intense and dedicated training, I'm sure you will be able to perceive Kin's speed, Samui's speed, and even mine and Yugito's in a few years, just like Shion. " Kabuto stated with an encouraging closed-eyed smile, and the three girls grinned back, feeling his words reigniting their confidence in themselves.

"Now go and make me proud. " He added as he gave the blindfolds to Mito and Sakura. The girls nodded with determined expressions as they went to stand on either side of the clearing, Mito and Sakura on one side and Suzumebachi on the other, the distance between them was 50ft. Mito and Sakura put on the blindfolds and assumed their respective fighting stances.

"Focus all of your senses and Observation Haki on Suzumebachi. Feel her presence, her emotions, and try to predict her moves. " Kabuto advised from the sidelines.

"Ready, Mito-san? Sakura-san? " The Rear-Admiral asked as she coated the wooden sword with Armament Haki.

"Yes! " Mito answered energetically, while Sakura just nodded mutely.

"Awaken…. Hakuba! (White Horse)." The moment Suzumebachi finished saying her command, her entire demeanor changed and her face took on a demonic appearance. Her face became shadowed, her eyes became completely white, and her mouth opened in a permanent sneer with no teeth showing whilst smiling. Sakura and Mito tensed when they sensed those changes.

'What's happening? Her power-level skyrocketed so suddenly. Without our eyes and techniques -Soru and Gear Second- she's stronger than both of us. This is going to be a hard battle. ' Sakura contemplated, biting her lip.

'What's with all this malicious aura? It's like she got swapped out with an evil spirit or something. ' Mito thought, tensing her muscles. Suddenly and without any warning, Hakuba's presence vanished from the radar of their undeveloped Observation Haki'.

"Wha-? " Mito's shocked exclamation was cut short when she swiftly raised her Haki-coated arms in an X-shape to block the sudden swing of Hakuba. The collision of the Haki-coated sword and Mito's own Haki caused a moderate Shockwave and black sparks to explode from the point of impact. Mito gritted her teeth as she struggled to hold off the Kenjutsu user, but after a few seconds, she was flung backwards and crashed through several trees behind her.

'Mito?' Sakura felt the Shockwave and her friend's presence leaving her side two seconds later, all of this happened in the span of three seconds. However, only a fraction of a second later, she, too, had to quickly raise her Haki-coated forearm to block a downward swing from the airborne, smiling Maken. Another Shockwave generated from the point of impact, causing the thick branches of nearby trees to get torn off and blown away by its strength. The ground beneath Sakura's feet started to crack and crumble from the pressure.

'Kabuto-sama wasn't joking, she's a physical monster. Her Armament Haki is formidable as well. How are we supposed to deal with her with all the restrictions he placed on us!? ' Sakura gritted her teeth -just like Mito- and felt her forearm shaking from the impact of Hakuba's attack.

'Their Observation Haki is good enough to perceive and react to Suzumebachi's attacks and block them at least. But, that's still not enough, they have to get better. ' Kabuto thought as he witnessed Hakuba disappear and attack Sakura's body in so many places and seemingly at the same time. Of course, he could clearly see Hakuba's movements in a slow-motion thanks to his very advanced Observation Haki, but to anyone else -Sakura and Mito- it seemed like the wind itself was attacking them, their Haki isn't good enough, yet.

His eyes flashed red momentarily as he sensed a very familiar presence behind him and turned around to gaze at the person with a grin. It was a woman around the same age as himself. She was a fair skinned, slender young woman with brown eyes and straight, dull green hair. She wore the standard uniform made for the female agents of Cipher Pol, which consisted of a long-sleeved short black dress over a fishnet shirt and stockings along with black gloves and high-heels.

"You have a day off or something, dear? " Kabuto asked.

"Yes. I don't have any work today, so I thought I should come by. " The green-eyed replied with a bright smile, but she frowned soon afterwards when she saw the beat-down the two blindfolded girls were receiving.

"You're being too harsh on them, Admiral. " The woman scolded him as she sat on the ground and leaned her back on a tree.

"They have to get stronger, Hanare. " Kabuto responded with rare seriousness.

"They just finished the first stage of their Observation training a few weeks ago, this training is too advanced for novices such as themselves. " Hanare glared half-heartedly at her laid-back boyfriend. Kabuto sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"They can do it, I know they can."

"They're children, Kabuto. " His girlfriend grounded, a bit miffed by his nonchalant attitude. He smiled at her and walked over to lay down on the grass and put his head on her lap, staring up at her annoyed face with his a wide grin.

"Children have to grow up at some point, don't they? Now, can you be quiet? Your lap is too comfy, I think I will take a nap for a while. " He responded with a quiet chuckle, closing his eyes in preparation to go to sleep. Hanare sighed and smiled at him softly, combing her hand through his hair.

"Why did I have to fall in love with a lazy bum like you? " She asked jokingly.

"Because I'm just that charming, of course. " He grinned his signature lopsided grin, without opening his eyes.

"Hush, you!" Hanare tapped his forehead not so gently with her knuckle while giggling.

While the two were immersed in their lovey-dovey moment, Mito and Sakura were getting a heavy beat-down by Hakuba. Shockwaves, bodies flying and destroying the forest in the process, and sparks of Haki, all could be seen from far away and for hours on end.

Kabuto and Hanare were woken up four hours later by Mito, who shook them awake.

"Admiral, wake up! We did it!" The young Rear-Admiral shouted excitedly.

"You did what? " Kabuto asked groggily while rubbing his eyes.

"We saw that aura thing!" Mito responded with a bright grin. The Admiral and the CP7 Chief blinked down at her, their brains still processing what she just said.

"Ohh~ you did?" Kabuto drawled as he smiled at the three girls with pride. Mito and Sakura were both banged up, their clothes were in tatters, they were covered in bruises and cuts, some parts of their bodies were even swelling. Suzumebachi on the other hand was pretty much the same, though she deactivated her Hakuba personality. The part of the forest in which they were training was completely leveled and destroyed.

"Describe what you saw, Mito. " Hanare ordered with a stern voice, noting Kabuto's taunting smirk, as if he was saying: "I told you so, " with his eyes. Kami, that man can be so infuriating at times.

"Shishishi! I saw a tiny blue flare darting around in correspondence with Suzumebachi's movements. " Mito answered attentively.

"I saw the same thing. " Sakura added with a proud smirk.

"So, you did. You've done well, this training session is over, we've reached our goal. " Kabuto stated with a thumbs up, causing the three girls to beam at the praise.

"Suzumebachi, what did you do back there? We were blindfolded, so we didn't see anything, but your overall power jumped several magnitudes so suddenly. " Mito said as she turned to face her fellow Rear-Admiral.

" I have a split personality. My other personality, Hakuba, is stronger than the regular me."

"Can we see it?" Sakura asked with intrigue. Suzumebachi shrugged and did as she was asked.

"Awaken… Hakuba. " She transformed into her alter ego, which made Mito and Sakura stare at her with shock and awe.

"That's one scary face, if I've ever seen one. " Mito commented nervously.

"Indeed." Sakura agreed with her wholeheartedly.

"Next time, we will have a three-way fight between the three of you. You will be allowed to used user faster techniques, but all three of you will be blindfolded. " Kabuto announced with a smirk, delighting in the despair on their face.

"But-…! " All three girls started, but he cut them off.

"See ya!" The Admiral partially transformed his body into light, effortlessly lifted Hanare off of her feet and held her bridal style, and then flashed away towards Cocoyashi, the Cipher Pol Chief letting out a surprised gasp when he did so. He left behind three groaning girls at his wake.

Flashback End.

"Those were good days." Sakura said with a strained smile.

"No, they weren't. They were hellish days, and I hope we won't have to do that again. " Mito deadpanned. Sakura dropped the fake smile immediately.

"You're right. " She nodded with a tired sigh. They stared at each other and then chuckled, or laughed in Mito's case.

"What's so funny? " Hanabi asked as she entered the room.

"What's with you people ending up in my apartment today?" Sakura asked with a twitching eyebrow.

"I came to visit Mito originally, but when I didn't find her in her own apartment, I knew that she would be here, pestering you. " Hanabi retorted with a smirk while sitting down next to her adopted sister, who lightly punched her shoulder in mock annoyance.

"How's Dressrosa, Hanabi?" Mito asked curiously.

"Same old, same old. Ameyuri-nee is not in the district at the moment, so Amaru and Yome are organizing the Coliseum matches instead, Amaru is not in a good mood, let me tell you that much. " Hanabi answered with a giggle.

"Where did she go? " Sakura asked her own question.

"She's in Impel Down right now. I don't know what's she's doing there. " Hanabi replied with a shrug.

"Oi, Badger! Did you know that Naruto-nii went to the Kage Summit today? " Mito asked Sakura excitedly.

"Of course, I know that. There's a war coming, and you have to be responsible for yourself, Mito, we don't want a repeat of the Land of Ice incident. " Sakura said with a serious tone, staring straight at Mito's blue eyes.

"Don't worry, Sakura. I won't put myself in such a jeopardizing position again. " Mito assured her best friend with her own serious expression.

"You're brother has all the pieces exactly where he wants them. The Kages…. " The Cipher Pol agent smirked and held up one finger.

"Orochimaru…. " Mito added with her own smirk, holding up two fingers.

"… And the Akatsuki. " Hanabi held up three fingers.

"All he needs is the perfect moment to make his move and announce to the whole world… " Sakura started.

"Checkmate." All three of them said at the same time, smirking at each other.

30 Minutes Before The Summit, Forest Near The Samurai Bridge, The Land Of Iron….

Naruto, Kabuto, Tsunade and 50 other Marines of various ranks were leisurely walking through the snow-covered forest towards the Samurai Bridge. However, the three high-ranking officials suddenly stopped a few feet away from the bridge as their eyes glowed red for a second or two. Naruto wordlessly lifted his hand up as a sign for the Marines to stop.

"Use your Observation Haki, soldiers. " Tsunade ordered sternly. All of the Marines' eyes flashed red and then they collectively looked at the ground ahead of them.

"There's landmines ahead of us. " One of them muttered.

"Not only that, but there's a group of Shinobi hiding among that part of the forest. I don't know how many though. " Another one added while looking at the same direction Kabuto was staring at.

"Seventy." Naruto and Kabuto answered at the same time, smirking.

"A large group is heading towards the bridge. " Tsunade stated with closed eyes. " Kimoru, deal with it. " She ordered the Admiral when she reopened her eyes.

"Hai~" Kabuto drawled with a lopsided grin and pointed his finger at the trees which the Shinobi were hiding in. A concentrated energy-beam fired from the tip of his finger like a laser, at the speed of light . The laser moved in accordance with the movement of his own finger, cutting the trees and burning them, which resulted in a massive explosion that encompassed that entire section of the forest, subsequently killing all of the Shinobi who were hiding in there, they didn't even have enough time to know what killed them. He then walked over the rigged ground in front of them, causing the landmines to explode and shred his body to pieces, but he quickly reformed himself thanks to his Pika Ability (Glint Ability).

The group of 500 Shinobi lead by Orochimaru finally reached the Bridge and stood on the opposite side of the Empire's entourage.

"Orochimaru…. " Naruto seethed upon seeing the man.

"Naruto-kun, it's been sometime. " The snake-like man chuckled. But, he suddenly lunged at Naruto in a quick burst, his lower half having turned into that of a Snake. His trusted sword, Kusanagi, sticking out of his mouth to impale the Emperor.

However, in the half-way point between him and Naruto, Orochimaru glimpsed a bright yellow light beside him in a split second, and the next thing he knew was that he was kicked almost a hundred feet away into the eastern side of the forest, rocketing through more than a dozen trees.

"Too slow." Kabuto said with a smile after he kicked the Sannin away.

Around the same time, Tsunade's eyes were glowing a purple glow as her body was engulfed in a similar purple aura.

"Soldiers, take to the sky! " She ordered the Marines as the entire forest, the ground and the Samurai Bridge itself started break apart and levitate in the air.

"Hai, Fleet Admiral! " Her troops answered in affirmation and used Geppo in conjunction with Soru to fly away.

The poor Shinobi who were standing on the bridge either died from falling off of it into the valley below, or were crushed when Tsunade mashed the bridge, the earth and the forest together to form a massive ball of rubble above the area. The ball was large and high enough that the Kages themselves and almost all of the citizens of the Land of Iron were staring at it in shock from all over the country.

The eyes of the Empire's entourage flashed red once again as they sensed two additional presences heading their way, they all glanced up at the sky to see who it was. From the eastern side of the forest, a white clay dragon came flying towards the area where the Samurai Bridge used to be. Two Akatsuki members were riding on its back, one had red-hair and the other was blond with his hair covering one of his eyes.

"What is that thing supposed to be, Deidara?" The red-haired Akatsuki member asked. His voice and expression were emotionless since he was a puppet in reality, if he was a normal human being, his expression would've been that of shock.

" I don't care, Sasori! How did my art fail!? The landmines didn't kill even a single one of them! " The man named Deidara raged.

"Maybe-" Sasori didn't get to finish his sentence, as his partner unintentionally interrupted him.

"Guh!" Deidara suddenly exclaimed in pain and held his arm tightly as blood seeped out to drench his fingers from the hole which appeared in his arm. Both of them weren't able to see the yellow beam that pierced Deidara's arm, although Sasori was able to see it briefly flash past them just a fraction of a second before Deidara's exclamation.

"So, you're the idiot who planted the landmines ~. " Kabuto drawled as he fired another beam from his finger, this time piercing the dragon they were riding on and causing it to explode. The Akatsuki members were able to jump off before the explosion, since the dragon took a few seconds before actually imploding. Luckily for them, the clay dragon was close enough to the ground, and so they landed a few feet away from Orochimaru's corpse.

"So, Onoki did hire the Akatsuki after all." Naruto observed.

"Emperor, please continue to the Summit, we will take care of these annoyances." Tsunade requested as she put her hand on Naruto's shoulder from behind, her eyes and body were still glowing that purple glow. Naruto turned his head around to look at her with surprise.

"But, Oro-" He started, but Kabuto interrupted him.

"Go, Naruto. What kind of lousy bodyguards will we be if we didn't actually do our job? We will be there when the Summit starts, this wouldn't take long, you know that. " He said with an encouraging smile, waving his brother off.

"Alright, then. I'm waiting for you, kill them all. Orochimaru isn't dead yet, you do know that, right? " Naruto asked with a teasing grin.

"Of course, I know. I sensed that his life-force is still there. " Kabuto answered with his own grin.

"Marines, protect your Emperor at all costs. " Tsunade shouted her command to the airborne Marines above her.

"Understood, fleet Admiral!" They responded with salutes.

Naruto nodded and then took off to the sky towards the building in which the Summit will be held, followed by the rest of the Marines and leaving Kabuto and Tsunade alone, facing the two members of the Akatsuki and Orochimaru. Speaking of Orochimaru, his corpse withered on the ground and then regurgitated a new body of Orochimaru, with no injuries on it.

'If I hadn't set up my unique body replacement Jutsu before going into this battle, that single kick would've killed me instantly. But, it took a lot of my Chakra to heal those injuries. ' Orochimaru thought, sweat sliding from his forehead as he stared at the Admiral.

"So, you did survive ~. That's a good trick, but how much Chakra did you burn through to pull it off? Hmmm~? " Kabuto smirked and raised his leg towards the direction of the Sannin and the Akatsuki members.

"Let's see how many tricks do you have to escape death, and for how long, shall we~? " His smirk widened, the light coming from his leg illuminating his glasses.

TO BE CONTINUED…

And another chapter is done! I actually wanted this chapter to be longer than this. I wanted to expand upon the flashbacks and add more training flashbacks, but I thought that it wouldn't be good to have an entire chapter of flashbacks, I did that before and it wasn't received well by the majority, so I guess this formula is better, scattering the flashbacks throughout the chapters instead of having them all lined up one after the other.

I also wanted to get to the Ameyuri part in Impel Down, but I guess I will save that for next chapter or the one after it.

Author Explanations:

*Every time a character uses Observation Haki, their eyes will glow red. I guess that's better and more easy than writing "They're using Observation Haki" every single time.

*Suzumebachi is a filler character that appeared in the Anime.

*Suzumebachi has the skills and the abilities of both Jewelry Bonney and Cavendish. Ino was a very good candidate for taking up the roll of Cavendish when I first started writing this story, not only because she's blonde, but also because she's vain just like him. Unfortunately, she's not on the Empire's side so that couldn't fly, actually that made think…. Do you want Ino to stay on the opposite side? Or do you want her to be on the Empire's side? Vote in the reviews!

*There are several clans that relocated to the Empire, Shizuka and Suzumebachi's clans are just two of them, and there's more. And her clan dealt with insects in the Anime, so….. You know where this is going.

*The reason why Kabuto said that Mito and Sakura can track Suzumebachi's movements with their eyes alone if only briefly, is because back in pre-timeskip One Piece, Luffy was able to keep up with and track both Kuro and Bellamy despite their fast speed. And since Mito has the physical capabilities of Luffy, she can do the same.

*Hanare is a filler character that appeared in the Anime. She hails from Lock Village in the Land Of Keys, the Shinobi of that Village are specialized in espionage according to the Anime, hence why she is a Chief in Cipher Pol, most of her Village's Shinobi are also part of Cipher Pol. She's Kabuto's girlfriend, for more information about her, I recommend reading my story (Origins Of Legends: Rise Of A Predominant Empire) chapters 6-7.

I hope I will be able to update the next chapter as fast as possible, I'm just as hyped for it as you guys are!

Guess I don't have anything else to say other than see you in the next chapter!

Sorry for any spelling or grammatical mistakes.

Please wait for the next update and I hope that it will be soon, thank you for taking the time to read this!

Thank you for your reviews, both the positive ones and the negative!

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Facebook name: Kudo Shiho (obviously).

Kudo Shiho Out!