Naruto: Tango with Death

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As I arrived at the Northern Gate, I saw Shisui waiting for me. His eyes lingered on me for a moment as I arrived next to him, and he said half jokingly, "You look scary in this outfit."

I placed a hand on my sword's handle, and said, "Anbu aren't there to babysit children."

Shisui shook his head and revealed, "I've seen many Anbu, but you look scarier. Maybe because you are smaller. I don't mean this as an insult, but you almost don't look human. You look more like a reaper than anything."

I rolled my eyes and said, "We have more important things to do, don't we?"

Shisui nodded with a sigh, and we both sped off.

Shisui and I being some of the fastest Shinobis in Konoha, what would have normally been a day long journey, was only a matter of a couple of hours.

Shisui and I both stood on top of one of the mountains surrounding Kumo, and looked at the village from the distance.

"It is my first time seeing another hidden village."

Shisui scratched his head as he said that, and I replied, "Me too. It is quite beautiful."

Shisui nodded slightly, before asking, "If you were Itachi, where would you go?"

I paused for a moment, before asking, "Can you tell me what happened before? Three days ago, when I left, everything was fine. Now, world's at war. What exactly happened?"

Shisui sighed, before saying, "Itachi's mission wasn't really that dangerous, it was only a simple information retrieval. Barely a B Rank Mission because it was taking place in the Land of Kumo."

I nodded, and he continued, "I don't know how, but Kumo somehow got wind of that, and the Raikage himself showed up. Itachi and his partner, Cat, fought against the Raikage, and while they were both injured, they managed to flee."

I frowned, and asked, "This seems a little… sketchy. Lord Hokage is the only one who knows everything Anbu does, and I can't exactly picture him tipping off the Raikage."

Shisui grumbled, "I know, but that's all we know. Anyway, the incident spread through Kumo, and quickly the rest of the world, and somehow ended up becoming an attempt of Konoha at starting the war early by kidnapping the Eight Tails."

"What the fuck?" I couldn't help but say those three words as I heard what Shisui said. None of this made any sense.

Shisui shrugged and said, "I know, it's weird. There is definitely something we don't know, but it doesn't really change anything. The war has already been started, and whether we understand how it started or not, our goal won't change."

I nodded slowly, although I tried thinking of how exactly things had unfolded the way they had.

Danzo was on a part of my mind, but I quickly stopped thinking in that direction. Danzo had often been vilified by Naruto fans, but it didn't make sense for him to do this.

No matter how screwed in the head Danzo could be, he truly loved Konoha, and everything he did was for its good. Well, his twisted version of good.

But pitting Konoha against the rest of the world was not good in any kind of good, we were barely defending against three of them, and soon a fourth one would join. Things did not look good for us, and it was a result that could easily be guessed by any random person, let alone a shrewd old man like Danzo.

Minato doing that wouldn't make any sense either, and I'm not being biased by his canon version. That's because no matter how much Minato could have secretly changed in this world, he was still the Hokage, as well as probably the strongest person in the world right now.

If he wanted to harm the leaf, there were so many more efficient ways that it would be laughable to think he was the one who initiated this.

Itachi intentionally revealing himself and launching the war was unlikely too, and I don't think any explanation is needed for him.

Even if he had the motivation of harming the leaf, or starting the war and believing it would do the Leaf good, he couldn't have possibly spread the news so quickly around the world.

I then tried shifting away my vision from Konoha, but this was a land of uncertainty.

I was familiar with all the changes that had happened in Konoha since I was born, but that is because I lived there. As for the rest of the world, drastic things could have changed and I wouldn't know anything about it.

For example, Madara could have really died and the Akatsuki could actually be what it was initially meant to be.

So instead of searching for theories that would probably wound up to be completely false, I decided to leave it to the side for now, and think about it later.

Shisui asked, "So, where do you think Itachi and Cat could have gone?"

I pondered for a moment before saying, "Itachi must have had the same ideas as us, and believed a leak came, possibly from our village, so he most certainly avoided our safe houses and passages to get back to the Land of Fire."

Shisui nodded, showing he believed the same to be true, so I continued, "Hiding in plain sight wouldn't be such a good idea either as Kumo has many sensors to search for them, and they probably read their chakra signatures back in the Raikage's attack."

Shisui sighed, and said, "Well, that's about everything I could guess."

I nodded slowly, before adding, "Cat is an excellent sensor, so they may have hidden themselves somewhere secluded. Somewhere void of life. I would go through the mountains if I were you. If you ever come close to them, Cat will feel it, and will send you a signal. If she isn't in a good enough state for that… well, you will have to comb every mountain range there is in the Land of Lightning."

Shisui smiled and said, "Thanks, Sukaina. Wouldn't have found that myself."

I shrugged and replied, "You didn't know Cat was a sensor."

Shisui nodded, before asking, "How long do you reckon you will be able to slow down the army? Because once they start attacking the fortress, I am not confident in sneaking my way past all of them with two injured people."

I hummed for a second, thinking about it, and eventually said, "Their army would initially take around a day to reach the fortress. I think I should be able to slow them down a day or two, so you should be able to get 2-3 days."

Shisui looked at me worryingly as he asked, "Will you be able to fight for the fortress if you keep them busy for three whole days?"

I snorted and replied, "Believe me, they won't be getting a wink of sleep either."

Shisui nodded, before sighing, "Give 'em hell kid."

I rolled my eyes and strongly patted him on the back, almost making him trip as I said, " I'll be fine, go now."

Shisui sent one last meaningful look at me, before disappearing.

Left alone, my gaze turned toward the gates of Kumogakure in the distance, where a large group was quickly forming. This was Kumo's Invasion Army, a 5000 men strong army gathered to invade the Land of Fire, and crush Konohagakure. Unfortunately for them, they were fated to never go past the Arehateta Fortress.