Hello people, I bring to you one of my longest chapters. Also, after this one, you could say that all of Kaeru's intricate scheming have come out. You can't imagine how happy I am right now that I finally got to write the conclusion to all that scheming. Though, if this chapter feels incomplete, don't worry, there's always an explanation.

Fun fact: I finally got the inspiration for the end of this chapter/arc while playing the Journey game. The OST was amazing.

By the way, enjoy all the foreshadowing for the next arc.

PS: This has been non-betaed.

(・・?) Kaeru (・・?)

Apotheosis

The Storm of Water and Leaves, as we all already know, didn't happen in one day. In fact, it took two days for the whole event, from start to finish, and then a couple years for its consequences to be properly assimilated by the whole world. (Yes, it was that big of an event) Some people however say that had Kaeru the weird Toad masked jounin been in Konoha and Kiri simultaneously (the Kage Bunshin jutsu existed for something after all), the Storm of Water and Leaves would have lasted two hours. And those two hours would have been ten minutes of actual kicking ass (be it Orochimaru's or Yagura's) and then one hour and fifty minutes of Kaeru being a smug little bastard over it to anyone being around said kicking ass time.

This, of course, wouldn't be taught in Konoha Academy's teaching curriculum, which was quite sad since it would actually keep the future genin very attentive. After all, who didn't like hearing about incredible feats of shinobi allying with their former enemies just to oppose a bigger enemy? And then, having a lone shinobi with no affiliation turn the tides over just because they didn't like said enemy's "way of life", whatever this meant. Thus, the future genin's curriculum only had the proper version of the Storm of Water and Leaves, the one with Konoha and Suna becoming temporary allies under the command of the ever elusive Kaeru and trying to pacify Kiri's rising bloodlust. Also, the whole affair with the Uchiha waking up from a long time illusion and Orochimaru laying low in Konoha sewers was glossed over since everyone knew about it.

After all, it was hard to forget the day where a gigantic toad, a just as big snake and a creepily tall slug decided to have a smackdown in the training grounds.

But that's just a mere detail in the events that happened during the Storm of Water and Leaves. To properly understand what happened (and get a good score during the history test in the Konoha, Suna and Kiri genin exams), one would need to go over what happened in Konoha and Kiri simultaneously.

As we all know, during the first day, many things happened in Konoha. Mostly tied to the Uchiha since an illusion was broken and the whole clan woke up feeling betrayed by Konoha. And also because their heir had been abducted by Orochimaru, along with two jinchūriki. Not that the Uchiha clan noticed it since they all thought, at the time, that Itachi had betrayed them.

But enough digressing about Konoha, let's go over what happened in Kiri that first day. The answer was quite easy: Nothing. On that fated day, the Mizukage, Karatachi Yagura, had done his usual Kage occupations, the Kiri nins had been busy trying to avoid betraying the Mizukage who hated betrayal more than anything else, the shinobi clans with a kekkai genkai had been happily ignorant of their future demise by some masked man (not Kaeru for once) and, most importantly, the guards at Kiri front door hadn't noticed anything strange in the waterscape surrounding the Hidden Village.

On that day, nobody had noticed the three shinobi resting in a small grove near Kiri. Nor did anyone notice the sudden chakra surge that irrupted on that grove and was promptly suppressed. Some historian, when told by one Uchiha Shisui of the Body Flicker and the Swift Silver Tongue about what had happened on that first day, had theorised that nothing would have changed if a Kiri nin had noticed that chakra flare. That theory was quite solid since everyone in Konoha could remember the day Kaeru had irrupted in the Village with a booming surge of chakra and, using the surprise and shock of everyone present, broken into the Hokage's tower and ripped off Danzō's arm.

So, nothing happened the first day. On the second day, however, many things happened in Kiri. While Konoha was in civil unrest because their police force had barricaded themselves in their compound with the Hokage, and their only leading figure was another Kage from the (somewhat enemy) Suna and there were distressing signs of Orochimaru doing unspeakable things again, Kiri and its Mizukage were having a very bad day.

But, as bad as it ended up, that day started quite normally. The sun rose in the sky early on (since it was summer) and the water sparkled beautifully, making any Kiri nin on guard duty squint their eyes from the sun glare. Meanwhile, in the tiny grove near the Hidden Village of the Mist, two seasoned shinobi from two different Hidden Villages were looking at their team leader.

The later, who was also known for always wearing a mask and being nicknamed Kaeru, was unmasked and smiling quite sunnily at them. And, as Baki had quite eloquently summed it:

"What the actual hell."

Kaeru, whose face was now totally unmasked and visible to the two other shinobi, merely tilted his head and smiled at them. Shisui blinked, his Sharingan recording every crease on the blond man's face (because Kaeru was blond, this was now confirmed. As was his gender. And eye colour, and so many other things) as well as the three stigmata on his cheeks. They were incredibly similar to Naruto's whisker marks. In fact, Kaeru looked like Naruto so much, it seemed as if the jounin was an aged up version of the jinchūriki.

"While I must confess that there were indeed some devilish magic related to my looks, this doesn't mean that you should be so shocked," the Toad jounin finally said with a cheery voice. "It's not like I always wear a mask."

"But you do," Shisui retorted with a calm voice. Which he wasn't. Calm, that is. His thoughts were running in circles in his minds, screeching things like "Naruto's? Brother? Father? No, he already has a father… Uncle? But those whiskers?" and the tomoe in his Sharingan were already beginning to circle, showing that his calm façade was just that, a façade.

"…" Kaeru's face darkened (because it was visible, unmasked! Screeched Shisui internally) momentarily before it lightened up like a lightbulb and the man smiled again. "Point taken."

"Can we go back to our mission?" Baki asked with a deadpan voice. He wasn't here to chat, but to do the mission his Kage had given him.

So what if the Toad jounin had taken his mask off? Most of the Suna nin wore masks to protect their face from the sand.

Kaeru blinked and seemed to remember that he wasn't out on a stroll but on a mission.

"Right," he exclaimed as he hit his fist over his palm. "The Seduce Yagura to the Light side mission!"

Shisui grimaced and glanced at Baki.

"Was that the mission name?" he whispered to his teammate.

"I sure hope not," the Suna nin whispered back.

"Anyway," Kaeru happily chipped in. "Let's go back to our plan."

The two shinobi looked at the blond with dubitative faces.

"You have a plan," Baki stated and, even if only his eyes were visible, his face was full of suspicion. (Those eyes were very emotive)

"Of course, I do have a plan, do I look like someone without a plan?" the Toad jounin complained.

Shisui and Baki glanced at each other silently. They both could remember how the masked shinobi had irrupted in their Hidden Village, threatened someone important in their council and then pretty much taken their jinchūriki under his wing.

That did, with a retrospective look over it, look a bit like a plan. Roughly.

"Whatever," Kaeru grumbled. "Here's the plan…"

囧

Kaeru's plan had been quite easy to remember.

Get out of the Uchiha compound, fetch some stuff, alert Haruno Sakura about an errand she'd to do herself, place some traps in the entrance of the sewers in the seventh training ground and then, get the hell out of there once he heard someone running in the sewers.

Easy to remember. But not that easy to follow.

The first part had been easy. Sasuke had followed each and every one of Kaeru's instruction to a T and ended up at the sewers entrance, which he had never noticed because who had even taken time to notice wherever where the sewers entrance? (This was a lie, Sasuke knew of this entrance because this was where Kaeru had taken the dobe and him into the sewers where they had met the weird pale boy. And where Sasuke had awakened his Sharingan. Those weren't good memories and Sasuke tended to repress them)

Thus, when dawn came, Sasuke had been hiding behind a tree in the seventh training ground, waiting for Haruno to come with her errand. The girl was late but Sasuke wasn't worried about it. Well, he wasn't worried that much. This was another lie, Sasuke was nearing a stomach ulcer because he remembered the Toad jounin telling him that each step of that plan was crucial and if he didn't follow through it, his brother could die.

Where was Haruno Sakura?!

Fortunately for the rest of Kaeru's plan (and for Uchiha Sasuke's budding stomach ulcer), the pink haired girl came in time to the seventh training ground. In fact, she arrived just as Sasuke was muttering to himself that people recommended by Kaeru couldn't be trusted, just like the masked jounin himself wasn't to be trusted.

"I disagree," the future kunoichi's soft voice interrupted Sasuke's grumbles and he swiftly turned around towards the newcomer, two kunai in each hand ready to be thrown. Haruno Sakura didn't blink at his sudden move and merely took two more steps towards the young Uchiha. "Kaeru is one of the few jounin in Konoha that we can absolutely trust."

"Of course, you'd say that," Sasuke rolled his eyes and harrumphed as he quickly put his kunai back in his holster. "You're his fangirl. Why were you so late?"

Haruno narrowed her green eyes in discontentment and slowly took a vial out from the hidden pocket of her pink kimono. It was quite a cute kimono, with green leaves and sakura blossoms on the helms, not that Sasuke would ever tell her that.

"I'm late because the whole Uchiha compound in lockdown affair meant that there were no policemen. As there were no police officers patrolling in the street, some nukenin abducted children and since then, the council sans the Hokage (who is in the Uchiha compound lockdown) has ordered a curfew for all civilians and students of the Academy. Therefore, Uchiha Sasuke, I am late because I had to escape from home, evade all patrols on my way to the Hospital, where I found traces that you'd been there earlier, and then go to the training grounds by myself in the dark. I think," she said with a soft and yet tremendously chilling voice, "I did quite alright by myself and my lateness should have been expected."

Sasuke blinked. This must had been the first time he'd heard Haruno talk that much. And, from what he could see in her fiery green eyes, she wasn't done yet.

"Also," she hissed while narrowing her eyes. "The one who always follows their admired person without ever helping them shouldn't be calling me a fangirl."

Sasuke blinked. Again. He had never felt so attacked in his life and it had all been done by a girl, smaller than him and wearing a pink kimono. This was truly changing his life views.

"Wait," he whispered. "I'm a fanboy?"

"And finally," Haruno ended while ignoring Sasuke's budding life crisis, "the one I admire isn't Kaeru-san. My true idol is Senju Tsunade. Which, thanks to you, I got to meet today. And for that," she finally glanced at her almost destroyed classmate and put the vial in his hands, "for that, I won't ask you what you're doing here, nor will I call an adult over."

And with this being said, she promptly turned her heels and walked away from the seventh training ground.

Left alone in the dark, Sasuke looked down at the vial and tightened his grip over it. His brother's life depended on this small thing and, for once, Sasuke would be the one to help his brother.

囧

The sun had risen and was already hitting hard. Just as hard as Uchiha Fugaku's words were hitting the Hokage. Not that Hiruzen would show any weakness, of course.

The current Hokage (that is, if the Uchiha didn't decide to kill him on the spot if his answers weren't good enough) sighed inwardly and glanced at the only window in the council room of the Uchiha compound. He could faintly see some branches of the trees in the interior garden and got momentarily lost in his contemplation. From the light outside, Hiruzen could deduce that the sun had risen and that, if Kaeru had been correct all this time, things were slowly getting in place for the grand finale.

'Not that I'll get to watch it,' Sarutobi Hiruzen, the God of Shinobi, smiled inwardly as he faced yet another wave of suspicious glares and attacking speeches from the Uchiha head.

Too bad Fugaku wasn't appreciated by Kaeru. The man would have been way calmer if the time traveller had taken some time to tell him everything about his plan.

Too bad, indeed.

But well, he hadn't been nicknamed the God of Shinobi for nothing, Hiruzen had been adverted by Kaeru and was ready. This was nothing compared to dealing with Danzō's betrayal.

"You say I authorized such acts," Sarutobi finally decided to take action. He joined his hands over his lap and watched quietly over the discontented people in the room. "Could you list them?"

Fugaku clenched his fists and hardened his glare. The Hokage had finally answered his interrogation. It was now time to uncover the ugly truth.

Of course, Uchiha Fugaku didn't know that, years after the Storm of the Water and Leaves, he would look back to such memory with a self-conscious frown and glare at whoever was closest to him during his reminiscence.

Truly, he should have been smarter and thought about the Toad masked menace in the Hidden Village before he decided to accuse the Hokage.

After all, hadn't the Uchiha clan been put under an illusion just when the man nicknamed Kaeru entered Konoha?

'No bad feeling, right, Kaeru?' Sarutobi smirked once he finished his elaborated tale about the future version of Naruto's (fake) involvement with the Uchiha clan.

囧

Meanwhile, just as Sarutobi Hiruzen sold Kaeru's hide to protect his, said masked jounin sneezed and glanced behind him, looking at Konoha's direction.

"That old man…" the man muttered under his breath.

Uchiha Shisui, who had been trying to psych himself up for his incoming task, glanced at him and furrowed his brows. He just couldn't get over the fact that he could see Kaeru's face so easily. Nor over the fact that the man emoted to easily. In the couple of hours that it had taken the three shinobi to go over their plan, Shisui had seen Kaeru's face morph into a sunny smile, a frown, some teary eyes and then a smirk.

Could it be that Kaeru wore a mask to hide how emotive he truly was?

No, that couldn't be.

Shisui shook his head and furrowed his brows. Kaeru had started to take some small and fast jumps to warm up. And, if Shisui remembered correctly, the blond would need to warm up since he was going to be the fast element in their team.

"Let's go over the plan one last time," Baki said from his spot in the grove. He had been going over and over his chakra strings and refining them till they were thin enough to be almost invisible under the sunlight. "I will go to the Mizukage's office as an official diplomat. While Uchiha-san is to remain hidden in my shadow."

"Yes," Kaeru said as he nodded his head with a sunny smile.

"And meanwhile, you will be…" Baki added with a raised eyebrow.

The Toad jounin shrugged and whistled happily.

"Nevermind," the Suna nin sighed (and Shisui totally related to that). "Then, the Mizukage will probably discover that something suspicious is going on and unravel Uchiha-san's illusion."

"Which, I beg to differ," Shisui commented lightly with an eyeroll. "My illusions are amongst the best in the shinobi world. Few could discover them."

"Yeah," Kaeru affirmed with a proud smile towards Shisui, almost like a proud father going over his son's feats. "Not even the Uchiha clan could discover they had been put under an illusion. One would need to have something akin to Uchiha Madara's skills or… be a really paranoiac jinchūriki."

"Point taken," Shisui inclined his head and took a deep breath.

He readied himself and started to weave his illusion. While most thought that the Uchiha clan could freely make any illusion and then cast it with no trouble, Shisui liked to take his time creating his illusion. Like a painter, he began with broad illusions concealing his appearance and likening his silhouette to Baki's shadow. Then, he added details, erasing all noise from his body (be it his breathing or even his blood flowing) and replacing them with some ambient noise that surrounded them. While this looked almost instantaneous, Shisui took his illusions seriously and always poured his soul in it.

"Are you in place, Uchiha-san?"

Shisui didn't answer out loud but simply wished a soft wind carrying a sound of bells. From the corner of his eyes, he noticed Kaeru smiling widely at him. The mysterious man looked almost proud and relieved, something that confused the Uchiha. However, since they still had a mission to finish, Shisui promptly focused back on his illusion and swiftly followed after Baki.

囧

Back in Konoha, three eminent figures were sitting in the council room in the Hokage's tower. However, they hadn't stayed all night in the room. In fact, Senju Tsunade, one of the eminent figures, had gone back to Konoha Hospital to take care of some important matters, like hanging out some truly important and rare serum to a small sprout of a kunoichi. The meeting had been quite fleeting and yet, the Sannin couldn't forget about it.

Mostly because the little girl's green eyes burning with ambition and admiration weren't easy to forget.

'I'll make Tsunade-sama and Kaeru-san proud, huh,' Tsunade thought to herself with a small smile. She was starting to understand Kaeru's insisting jabs at going back to Konoha, the Village seemed to have quite an interesting new batch of future genins. And, if this little girl stayed as intense and focused on her studies, maybe Tsunade would take her under her wing.

After all, one never had enough medic nin.

At the same time, the two other eminent figures, Jiraiya of the Sannin and Rasa the Kazekage were exchanging information over the missing children.

"Uzumaki Naruto, he just started his first year at the Academy, jinchūriki of the Nine Tails," the white haired shinobi started as he read his notebook with all the information he'd gathered in Konoha lately. "Shows a growing disdain towards rules and respects two persons in Konoha, the Hokage and Kaeru, the Toad jounin. Naruto has shown to be able to use some chakra techniques but hasn't used any jutsu yet. There are rumours that he could have contacts with Root, an old spying and protection cell in Konoha's sewers."

"That was quite a number of information of Konoha's secrets," the Kazekage noted quietly as he thrummed lightly the table separating him from the two Sannins. "Don't you suspect that I could use such information to destroy your Village?"

Jiraiya grinned at Rasa and closed his notebook.

"Even if I had those suspicions before, they are gone now," the Sannin told him seriously while still grinning. "Your son has been abducted too and you wouldn't leave him there. Kaeru wouldn't have let such a father alive."

Rasa huffed lightly and shook his head.

"I can see now why he goes around telling people that he was your disciple," the redhaired man commented. "You have the same shrewdness."

"Why, thank you," Jiraiya smiled and tilted his head, eyes narrowing and darkening. "Now, what can you tell me about your son?"

The Kazekage sighed and slowly considered what he could lose from such an exchange. On one side, he now knew many things about the Uchiha heir and the jinchūriki of Konoha, and nothing said he had to reciprocate such reveal. However, if he did, he would be in Jiraiya's good books. And, with his great information network, this could provide Suna in greater ways than merely knowing some of Konoha shinobi's weaknesses.

"Very well," Rasa nodded and glanced at the table. "Kankurō is close to finishing his schooling at the Academy and has shown a predilection towards puppetry and poisons, we were thinking of having Sasori of the Red Sand go and tutor him in his genin years."

"Wait! I didn't mean that son! Wait, Sasori?" Jiraiya blinked and spluttered as he tried to find the proper rebuttal to the Kazekage's information. "Didn't Kaeru and your son kill him?"

"Oh right, Gaara," Rasa faintly tilted his head and smirked at the Sannin, ignoring the latter's last question. "Same age as Uzumaki Naruto, he isn't going to the Academy since he doesn't have any wish of socializing with his peers in Suna. However, since the shinobi Kaeru visited him, he has been showing improving signs of socialization and less bloodlust from his jinchūriki seal. It seems that your disciple improved it, I still have to properly thank him for that."

"Good luck with that," the white-haired man muttered under his breath. "That brat hates being thanked. And wait a second, you didn't tell me what happened to Sasori!"

囧

The Mizukage's waiting room was weirdly empty. There was only one bench, pushed just in front of an open fire which was going quite fierily even if they were in the middle of the summer. The circular walls surrounding them were all uncovered and showed almost no decoration, proving yet another time that the current Mizukage didn't care for appearances and just wished for strength.

From his hidden spot, Shisui spotted two guards hiding under illusions themselves and he quietly brought yet another layer of illusions over himself. Those two were good but he was still the best, no matter what Kaeru said about being bested by a paranoiac jinchūriki.

"Baki of the Hidden Village for the Sand," a rough and yet somewhat young sounding voice announced gravely. "The Mizukage is ready to see you."

Like all shinobi from Suna, Baki didn't show any emotion and followed the weird looking man. The later had quite a weird skin, bluish and showing sometimes what looked like scales. Shisui followed swiftly after his teammate's steps and silently evaluated his possible opponents.

The two hidden guards hadn't been that threatening, as an Uchiha, he was pretty sure that he could turn their illusions around and trap them there long enough for his team to accomplish their mission. However, this blue shinobi was wearing on his back a weird looking sword. If it could be called a sword, it was almost as wide as the shinobi and covered with bandages.

Whilst the shinobi didn't have a face that Shisui had seen in the bingo books, he still remembered reading about the Seven ninja Swordsmen of the Hidden Village of the Mist. After all, the story of Might Duy fighting against the seven of them was an important one, since it explained a bit why Kiri and Konoha weren't considering becoming allies.

A flash of black near the entrance of the Mizukage's meeting room shook Shisui away from his thoughts and he directed his Sharingan towards the dais where the Kage was nonchalantly sitting over a comfortable chair.

At last, he could see the Mizukage. Yagura Karatachi was a young man, almost as young as Shisui and Itachi, with short messy grey hair and purple eyes as well as a distinctive scar going over his left cheek. However, it wasn't his appearance that caught Shisui's attention. Nor was it the tremendous chakra and ki flowing from his (quite small actually) body.

No, it was those purple eyes glaring at him that did it.

'I'm dead,' Shisui thought very eloquently.

"Who are you to dare intrude in my meeting room," Yagura asked with a cold and powerful voice.

Shisui didn't move and readied himself for the next step in their plan. However, he hadn't expected that Kaeru's somewhat well thought plan would soon enough go down the drain.

"Let's see, you could call me a traveller," an even colder and unfeeling voice answered the Mizukage's question from behind Shisui's back.

The young Uchiha felt a cold shiver run through his back and he turned around, his eyes widening in shock when he saw a masked man wearing dark robes standing next to the closed door. Weirdly enough, the stranger was wearing an orange mask with a spiral that ended at his left eye which, weirder still, was showing a Sharingan in its Magenkyō Sharingan.

'I'm so dead,' thought Shisui quite appropriately.

Just as Shisui met that eye, he quickly forced his own Sharingan into the Magenkyō and readied himself for a tremendous battle. He could already feel the tremendous thrall start and immediately started fighting against it. However, the power of that unknown Uchiha (for it could only be an Uchiha with such Sharingan) was stronger than his habitual opponents and Shisui was quickly forced to drop his illusion, making the forgotten Mizukage rise from his seat and approach them with a battle cry.

Just as Yagura did that, Baki reacted and promptly used the chakra strings that he had carefully hidden in the meeting room when he had entered it and quickly surrounded the Mizukage, using all his strength just to delay the jinchūriki's attack while his teammate dealt with this unknown Uchiha.

However, before Shisui and this stranger could even deal the first blow in their Magenkyō stare duel, a kunai with a seal wrapped around its hilt flew through the air and ended at the Mizukage's feet. Yagura glanced down and narrowed his eyes when he read the kanji written on the seal.

"Flash evasion?" he muttered to himself out loud.

Remembering that step in their plan, Shisui promptly threw all his smoke bombs at the masked Uchiha and swiftly turned around to face Baki. The latter looked quite grim under his mask and merely nodded to tell Shisui that he was ready. Then, just as the immense smoke was being weirdly sucked in and vanished by the stranger, the two shinobi surrounded Yagura and promptly stuck the 'Flash Evasion' tag over the Kage's robe. When the paper touched the clothes, the seal written on the other side of the 'Flash Evasion' seal began to glow and Yagura's body stopped moving as if he'd been petrified.

At the same time, a tremendous explosion echoed in the chaotic room and the two shinobi braced themselves while protecting the immobilized Mizukage. On the other side of the room, the masked Uchiha had gotten out of the smokescreen and was slowly advancing towards them. However, the explosion had slowed his progression since, irrupting in the meeting room from outside while evading blows from two of the famous Swordsmen of Kiri, Kaeru was rushing at him with eyes full of bloodlust.

"Time to go!" Kaeru screamed with a bright voice under his Toad mask. "The Mizukage is under my power now so…" he stopped talking and avoided simultaneously two swords while also giving the masked Uchiha a blow to his solar plexus. "Kindly go away."

Then, just as he finished his attack and message, the Frog jounin glanced at his teammates and threw three flash bombs.

When the shinobi from the Hidden Village of the Mist finally recovered their visions, they noticed two things.

One, their Kage was missing and so were those weird shinobi.

Two, a message had been written on the floor where they had last seen their Mizukage.

「 I'm recruiting Yagura to my World Peace Squad. I'll return him tonight. Don't worry, I'll feed him well. 」

囧

At the very same time that the whole 'Mizukage abduction' went down, another kind of incredible feat happened in Konoha.

Two jinchūriki allied their powers and fought against a Sannin without levelling a city.

But to properly understand how incredible this fight was, we all must go back to Uchiha Sasuke's feats. As a matter of fact, if the youngest Uchiha heir hadn't placed traps near the exit of sewers, nor had he prepared a special serum made by Senju Tsunade just for the occasion, the fight wouldn't have ended so well.

In fact, the young jinchūriki of the One Tailed Chakra Beast had been ready to just destroy the whole sewers system (he didn't know how badly this could have ended for the civilians, nor would he have cared of the waste reflux if he had known) and bring it down on the evil snake person who was trying to stop him and his brother and friend from leaving that damp place.

"Kaeru once spoke of people like you," Gaara commented as he glared (quite mildly for him) at the pale and long-haired shinobi.

"Did he really?" Orochimaru, the Sannin with the most terrifying feats at his belt, smirked at his future experiments.

"Hm," Gaara hummed while his sand slowly condensed around Naruto's sleeping body and Itachi's tense frame. "You're a snake afraid of dying. I can help with that."

"Oh really," the snake invoker commented.

"Yes. I can give you a short and painless death."

Orochima's smirk seemed to falter slightly and a soft amused snort echoed in the sewers.

"Sorry," Itachi apologized politely from his uncouth behaviour.

Orochimaru gritted his teeth and snapped his fingers loudly. It echoed in the empty sewers and a menacing hiss followed his snap. However, as sound as the hiss came closer to the part of the sewers where they were standing and glaring at each other, it suddenly stopped. The Sannin furrowed his brows and looked at the three children with suspicion.

They hadn't moved and yet, he was certain that something had killed his summoned snake. Who else could have done that?

囧

Hidden figures moved in the sewers, slowly circling the room and corridor where Orochimaru had stopped the abducted boys from escaping. Nodding at each other once all the future trouble had been dealt with, the figures quietly crept in the aeration shafts and readied themselves to act if the Sannin dared to attack the boys.

囧

A funny anecdote in the events of the Storm of Water and Leaves is that three jinchūriki had been abducted. And that among those three, two had stayed unconscious during most of the action, only waking up at the great finale.

Thus, as the Storm of Water and Leaves was nearing its end, Yagura opened his eyes in a grove and the first thing the abducted Mizukage saw was a smiling face.

"Yo!"

Yagura glared at his abductor and looked around him as he tried to sit up. He was tied but the rope had been tied quite loosely, making it very easy to just break out and leave. However, the fact that they hadn't tried to properly tie him up was intriguing to the jinchūriki.

"Who are you," he asked calmly.

From what he had seen in his meeting room, the Suna shinobi had come with an Uchiha, probably affiliated to Konoha then, and had asked for a meeting. Then, with the Uchiha hidden in his shadow (and it hurt that Yagura hadn't noticed till the last second that illusion), he had attacked yet another unwanted guest and then abducted him with a seal. Also, the smiling man facing him hadn't been in the room when it all went down.

Thus, his question.

"People like to call me Kaeru," the stranger told him with a sunny smile. It stretched those weird stigmata on his cheeks and made it look like whiskers, almost like a fox. However, as sunny as his smile could be, his blue eyes with slit pupils were cold and ready. It showed that the man named Kaeru was ready to fight if Yagura decided to unleash Isobu.

And, speaking of Isobu, the Three Tails Beast had been quite calm since the immobilizing seal had been dropped. In fact, the weird looking turtle had been almost humming in a corner of his mind.

Weird.

"So, Kaeru," Yagura decided to continue the conversation since attacking that fellow wouldn't answer his questions. "Why did you take me away?"

"Oh!" the blond man clapped his hands happily and nodded approvingly. "So you noticed it was to protect you? Damn, Yagura, you always were the smartest…"

The Mizukage noticed how the Uchiha on the team looked surprised and inwardly noted down the lack of information going in that team. This could be used to escape if things turned bad.

"Anyway," Kaeru shook his head and went back to the matter. "One of my contacts told me that he would act today so I had to move things a bit earlier than I wanted but, well, I couldn't let you become his puppet. That would have sucked, 'ttebayo!"

"Puppet?" Yagura repeated with an inquiring brow.

"'Ttebayo?" the Uchiha whispered in shock.

"Doesn't matter," the blond retorted with a shrug to the both of them. "Now, let's go over the next part of the plan…"

囧

At the same time, in Konoha, another jinchūriki opened his eyes. However, the situation he found himself in was way different than Yagura's. Mostly because Naruto knew, by scent alone, that he was in Konoha sewers and the only reason for such him to be in such place was if Kaeru-san's stories had been right all along.

Thus, following everything that the Toad masked jounin had taught him over the years, Naruto kept his eyes half closed and evaluated the situation. He could faintly see Gaara's now familiar red hair, as well as Sasuke's older brother, standing in front of him. So they were both there too. Good.

Naruto took a deep breath, taking note of every little thing that he could sense with his acute nose, and started smiling.

He could smell a faint trace of drying ink as well as leather. So they weren't alone. That was good news.

Sand and warm dust was surrounding him, Gaara had probably tried to protect him all this time. His smile stretched until it hurt, almost as much as the pang in his chest whenever he thought of his newfound brother protecting him.

But Gaara didn't need to protect him anymore.

Naruto opened his eyes wide and shouted as loud as he could.

"NOW SAI!"

And, just as he screamed those words, three things happened simultaneously.

First, some weird looking man (who had been standing in front of Gaara and Wrinkles) took a step back in surprise and two snakes came out of his sleeves. Second, Gaara's sand stopped covering Naruto's body like an armour and immediately surrounded those snakes till they were crushed to smithereens. And, finally, a pale face came out of the ventilation airshaft and smiled thinly at the blond boy.

Naruto answered the smile by a wave of his hand, and he watched with a happy smile a pale hand throw two smoke bombs from the airshaft.

The snake man's eyes narrowed as he followed Naruto's gaze and annoyance started to appear on his face.

Seems like that weird man hadn't expected to be interrupted. Which was stupid, Naruto thought, since ever since Kaeru arrived in Konoha, one had to always be ready.

But, well, Naruto wouldn't feel pity for that man. After all, he had kidnapped Wrinkles, his brother and him. The young Uzumaki narrowed his eyes as the smoke bombs exploded and started to make it impossible to see anything in the room. It was time to move.

Remembering where Gaara and Wrinkles had stood, Naruto took hold of their hands and swiftly started running. After all these years of visiting Sai and his brother in the sewers, he knew where to go and the nearest exit should be the one leading to the seventh training ground.

Naruto ran as fast as he could, tugging along his brother and Sasuke's brother. His steps weren't hesitating, even when it was so dark that he couldn't see, and he never doubted his way. He could also faintly feel Shin's presence around him, as if he was standing guard. Then, Shin's chakra stopped following them and Naruto knew that the snake man had tailed them.

But he wasn't afraid. Kaeru-san had always told him to be ready, he knew what he had to do.

As they neared the exit in the seventh training ground, Naruto stopped running and turned around to face Gaara and Wrinkles.

"There should be three traps around here," he told them with a quiet voice. "Kaeru-san keeps changing them so I don't know what they are exactly, but I know where they are placed, 'ttebayo. If we can't defeat that weird man, Wrinkles, you could push him in one of them."

Sasuke's brother gazed at him with a considering look. His dark eyes were shining in the faint light coming from the end of the sewers and Naruto couldn't help but wonder why he wasn't using his Sharingan. Could it be that his sickness was related to his eyes?

"Sounds like a good plan," Wrinkles approved in a soft voice. "Naruto and I could be the bait while Gaara uses his sand to push him in the trap. Then, we run to the Hokage."

Although running away wasn't the most elegant way to fight, Naruto knew that he didn't have a chance against that weird looking man. After all, he had seen how Sai and Shin never fought heads on with that stranger, and Shin could hold his own against Kaeru-san!

So it was time to do what Kaeru-san had always told him to do when he was fighting against a stronger enemy. Run and find stronger friends to kick their ass.

"Let's do this, dattebayo!"

"Hm," Wrinkles nodded and stepped close to Naruto's side, protecting him even when his Sharingan couldn't be used.

Gaara noticed that detail and approved inwardly. This new friend was a great person, he was glad the Toad masked shinobi had talked him into making friends in Konoha.

囧

A couple of hours had passed since Shisui had abducted a Kage from their Hidden Village. And he still couldn't believe that it had happened. In fact, he couldn't believe anything that had happened since he had left Konoha one day and a couple hours ago.

Firstly, he had dropped the tremendously important illusion on his clan, probably creating trouble in Konoha as he left the Hidden Village. But, well, since he wasn't there yet, Shisui tried his best to ignore the consequence of his actions.

Secondly, he had seen Kaeru's face. And it was eerily similar to the young Uzumaki Naruto back in Konoha, only with different pupils. Shisui had considered if it could be a kekkai genkai but he wasn't sure about that. What kind of kekkai genkai had slit pupils like a cat?
But still, he was intrigued about that similarity with Naruto's features. Could they be related?

And thirdly, there had been an unknown Uchiha with a Magenkyō Sharingan in the Mizukage's room. Shisui didn't have any memory of that stranger's voice but he knew that he was an Uchiha. Could he be from a faraway branch? And then, there were that stranger's actions. Why had he been using his Magenkyō, had he been trying to cast an illusion stronger than Shisui?

Which reminded him that, if Kaeru hadn't ordered him to drop his Kotoamatsukami on the Uchiha clan, Shisui wouldn't have had enough chakra to go against that stranger.

As always, it all came back to Kaeru's actions.

If the man hadn't irrupted in Konoha years ago, Shisui wouldn't have been ordered to stop following Danzō (because the War Hawk had been already arrested and punished). If Kaeru hadn't killed and uncovered a spy from Kiri in the Kazekage's council, Suna wouldn't have decided to become allies with Konoha (turning their jinchūriki from a beast full of bloodlust into a somewhat normal kid helped too). If Kaeru hadn't decided that Itachi wasn't fit enough for the team going to Kiri, Shisui wouldn't have joined them. Then, Kaeru wouldn't have had the opportunity to tell him to stop the Kotoamatsukami. And then, Shisui wouldn't have been able to stop that unknown Uchiha's Magenkyō.

Also, from what Kaeru had told the Mizukage, he had known that the unknown Uchiha would go to Kiri and contact the jinchūriki.

The way the Toad jounin had known everything since the beginning was scarier than Shisui could have imagined.

However, something scarier than that was happening under his eyes.

"So what do you think of it?" Kaeru pestered the Mizukage while smiling brightly at the grey haired man.

Yagura Karatachi, the great jinchūriki who had become one of the youngest Kage in the shinobi world, merely blinked.

"Having the jinchūriki become close friends and visit each others?" he finally said with a faint incredulous tone. "Do you even know why were the jinchūriki created?"

Kaeru merely snorted with contempt and shook his head.

"That was years ago!" he protested with a furrow of his brows. "We have to think of the future! Warring with Hidden Villages will only lead to the destruction of the oldest Hidden Villages. Believe it!"

"Like I would believe you so easily," the Mizukage retorted calmly. "You abducted me."

"It was to protect you and you know it."

"Then it was a shitty protection."

Seeing that the conversation was slowly turning into an argument, Shisui glanced at his other teammate and grimaced. Baki was currently sitting cross-legged on the floor and visibly ignoring whatever was happening around him. A thick 'Do Not Disturb' aura was floating around him and Shisui's grimace only grew. Why did he have such a teammate? He already had to deal with Kaeru!

"How about this," Shisui decided to interrupt the growing argument between his team leader and the Kage. "Mizukage-sama, we both bring proof that Suna and Konoha have allied themselves and accepted to have their jinchūriki fraternize. Wouldn't it be better for Kiri's future if you, as the Kage and jinchūriki of Kiri, presided such fraternization? Amongst this alliance, you'd be the oldest and wisest."

The Mizukage's purple eyes darkened as he considered Shisui's words, ignoring Kaeru's pout. The latter seemed somewhat annoyed that he had been interrupted into his fun, which made Shisui glare at him. Why was he trying to rile up a Kage famous for his bloodlust? Was Kaeru stupid, even with all his scheming?

"You have got quite the silver tongue, Uchiha," Yagura finally said as he glanced at the mismatched team. "And, if your… Kaeru were to be believed, you saved me from a terrible fate. For this, I shall meet with the Hokage and Kazekage to discuss a possible alliance."

Shisui widened his eyes in surprise and felt a warmth bloom in his chest. He had done it, he had avoided a tremendous war with Kiri and only by using his words. His father would have been so proud.

However, such a good moment could only be broken by Kaeru's words.

"See, I told you that you'd end up accepting my offer, dattebayo!"

"Have you always been such an annoying little shit?" Yagura sighed with annoyance as he massaged his forehead. (Shisui could understand, he had heard that Ibiki had killer headaches thanks to Kaeru's doing)

The Toad jounin shrugged.

Yagura, the fearsome Mizukage of the Bloody Kiri, glanced at Shisui.

"Has he?"

Shisui grimaced.

囧

Sasuke had almost fallen asleep when it all went down. Well, to excuse such behaviour, he had been awake for more than thirty hours and nothing had happened at all in the time he had spent laying in wait in the seventh training ground.

Thus, when he heard approaching footsteps as well as the distinctive sound of his traps being activated, Sasuke took a second to shake his drowsiness away and jump into the fray. But he was lucky enough that such second didn't drive the Toad's plan to a bad end. In fact, with that added second, it gave the weird redhead enough time to push a terrifying man into another trap and let the dobe and his brother escape from the sewers.

The mismatched trio ran out of the sewers and stopped in the seventh training ground, their eyes widening in surprise as they took note of all the traps and exploding tags that Sasuke had painstakingly put around the sewers entrance.

"Sasuke?" Itachi's surprised voice came out in a soft whisper before it was suddenly interrupted by a loud explosion.

Sasuke had been the one to activate an exploding tag and, just as he had planned, it provoked a reaction chain that surrounded the sewers entrance where the terrifying man, Orochimaru of the Sannin, had been momentarily caught in his last trap (a mix of a smoke bomb filled with a very bad smell and lots of kunai). The wave of explosions caused a cave in and, if Orochimaru had been anyone else, it would have ended their fight quite nicely.

However, since it was a Sannin, Sasuke knew that this was a mere setback to Orochimaru. So, he took advantage to the time he had gained with his traps and ran to his brother's side.

"Itachi-nii-san," Sasuke curtly said as he didn't have time to ask him if he had been injured. They would have time for that later, if they survived their fight against Orochimaru. "Take this."

He pushed a vial in Itachi's hand and took a deep breath. It was now time for him to do the hardest part of the plan.

He had to thoroughly and completely break his brother's heart.

囧

Just as the successful alliance team was heading towards Konoha with the Mizukage (who still hadn't contacted his Hidden Village because he estimated that would teach them to lose their Kage so easily), Shisui noticed Kaeru's darkening face.

"Why the long face?" the Uchiha asked while being inwardly amazed that he could actually see the Toad jounin's face. "I thought you'd be happy that we secured an alliance with Kiri without any bloodshed?"

Kaeru blinked, as if he had been shaken away from a trance and glanced somewhat timidly at Shisui.

"You know that I have been planning this for a long time," the blond started with a reluctant smile. "We are nearing the end of the plan and what is going to happen isn't that pretty. I am not very proud of it, actually."

Shisui felt his blood turn into ice.

"What did you do," he hissed with narrowed eyes.

"Nothing," Kaeru shrugged but there was an evident unease in his action. "I may have told Sasuke how Itachi could get his Magenkyō Sharingan."

The ice turned into fire and Shisui put his hand on the hilt of his sword. However, he didn't unsheathe it. They were still on an important mission for Konoha's future. He couldn't risk it. However, once they had been debriefed with the Hokage, Shisui would be free to exact his vengeance.

"Sasuke better be alive when we go back," he threatened Kaeru with a blood chilling smile. "Or I will skin you alive, again and again."

Kaeru merely nodded to his threat and put his mask back on his face. They were entering the Fire Country.

囧

Reports say that when Uchiha Itachi awakened his Magenkyō Sharingan, the wind stopped and the world held its breath.

The Uchiha prodigy had always been known for his levelheadedness. However, on the final day of the Storm of the Water and the Leaves, that restraint and coolness had entirely vanished. Itachi, who had been told that he had a terrible sickness and could die young, the prodigy of the Uchiha clan who had been suspected of betrayed them and whose little brother was his most cherished being, this Itachi who had been so close to his breakpoint, briefly stepped into his madness as he cried tears of blood over his brother's unmoving body.

The culprit of this atrocity, of extinguishing Sasuke's lifeforce, was gloating at him with a smug smirk, the still faintly beating heart of his little brother hanging limply in his bloodied hand.

Other reports say that when Uchiha Itachi used his Magenkyō Sharingan for the first time, time stood still and Orochimaru of the Sannin was completely defeated in mere seconds.

Of course, those reports could be exaggerations from the civilians who had heard rumours from shinobi talking around them. After all, hadn't everyone seen a gigantic toad and slug fight against a snake just as big?

However, the truth of what happened that day was sealed by the Hokage himself and nobody would ever find it out. Only those who had been present in the seventh training ground that day could tell and, after watching Uchiha Itachi lose his mind over the death of his little brother, none of them would wish to revive such memory.

Not even Naruto could smile about the memory of Sasuke opening his eyes and showing them that he had been using his Sharingan to fool them into believing Orochimaru had taken his heart out.

"I had to do it, Itachi-nii-san," Sasuke had softly explained through his chakra exhaustion. "Even with the cure, he could have bested you… You needed the Magenkyō."

Itachi's eyes had been red from all the tears he had cried over his brother and he had hugged Sasuke with all his strength.

"Never," he whispered with a broken voice shaking from his repressed sobs. "Never do that again, Sasuke, my foolish little brother."

Laying in his brother's arms, head swimming with chakra exhaustion, Sasuke merely smiled and nodded softly.

"Hm," he assented as he let the familiar scent of his brother wash over him and bring him to a deserved rest.

Next chapter will be the long awaited conclusion of Kaeru's first arc. Ain't that exciting?