Chapter 40

TSUNADE SENJU

The Fourth Hokage of Konoha found herself back in her office in front of none other than the last Kage and her sensei, as he appeared rather frustrated and enraged over her recent decision.

"So, our guess was right. The silver-haired shinobi was indeed Ohashi," he reiterated, and she nodded. She had returned first with their force still making the journey under the command of Shikaku, yet as Hokage, she couldn't stay away from the village for so long despite the village having her sense and Jiraiya to deal with any important matters.

"Yes," she replied and saw him frown as he raised his hand.

"Yet you let him stay in Ame, especially after all the effort you put in just to recover him. How could you do that?" he said sounding exasperated though he wasn't the first person to react like that, Shikaku had acted rather similarly.

"It was at his request, one which I found rather reasonable," she replied and saw her sensei's eyes narrow.

"You don't run a village like this, Tsunade," and she stilled. Did he really just say that.

Him! She was enraged as she frowned and spoke in a cold tone.

"You have no right to say that to me!" she spoke in a cold tone warning him of any further escalation, yet he refused to take the hint.

"I say that through experience. First you let Orochimaru leave the village and now this. This is extremely detriment…."

And that was enough. She let go of her chakra, and felt it rage across the room as she silently whispered.

"That is enough." She said as the whole room shook because of her chakra. Her own sensei looked her in the eye, refusing to budge.

"And letting Danzo operate with impunity was for the good of the village," she struck back and saw him relent as he gritted his teeth.

"I made a mistake, but…."

"But nothing," she said, cutting in.

"You are partly responsible for the ordeal Ohashi found himself in, and my decision to let him stay in Ame was not made out of a sense of guilt or faulty judgment. It was a decision based on several factors and reasons," she replied, shutting the door to this whole discussion.

And she was not even lying, yes she did have a soft corner for the grey haired Hatake boy, yet the descion had not been motivated by emotion. Ohashi's presence in Ame would help stabilize not only Ame but the whole continent, and if his intentions about changing the world as we know it was true, then who was she to stand in his path?

"And as far as Orochimaru is concerned, you share the blame for that as well. You and I both know of his association with Shimura and what he did for the man. How could I possibly trust him after that. This was the best way to settle this whole affair," she replied and saw her sensei's eyes narrow.

"You refuse to trust your own comrade, yet on the other hand, you put enough trust in a budding brat to let him not only stay but lead another whole village. Going so far as to change the terms of the alliance between the two villages," he complained, and she nodded.

"I do, and I don't owe you or anyone else any explanation for any of my decisions. Not until they become determinantal to this village," she replied rather coldly before she leaned back.

"Now, that will be enough. I have a lot of work to catch up on," she replied as she watched her sensei give her a nod as he stood up.

And as he reached the door, she called out once more.

"And sensei, the day I feel that my deskins have become a threat to this village," she said as he glanced back at her.

"I will step down the next second," she said and watched him walk out of her office, leaving her alone to sigh in the silence as she recalled the last conversation she had had with the grey-haired shinobi.

0000

OHASHI HATAKE

Ohashi watched as the torrent of fire clashed with the massive tidal wave, encasing the whole clearing into a thick cover of smog. He could sense the Kiri forces coming to a halt as the massive jutsu was repulsed, as a single person moved forward, his chakra signature the most prominent amongst the whole nearly two hundred strong force.

Ohashi closed his eyes as he molded his chakra once more, and then as he took a step forward, the thick cloud of steam parted, separating into two columns as it cleared a straight and clear path for them.

"We are saved!" "He is here!"

He heard the forces of Ame celebrate behind him, yet though, unlike them, he wasn't so elated at the moment.

The man walking towards him, leading the Kiri forces, was none other than the Third Mizukage, Akihito Yuki, a man who was anything except ruthless.

He glanced back, flaring up his own chakra, and the commotion died down in an instant as he gave a simple command.

"Don't follow me," and as Shiyori tried to say something.

"That is an order," he said as he began to walk forward toward the Mizukage.

The Kiri forces were two hundred strong, and he was quite confident that he could take them on, yet the battle would be bloody, and right now, neither of the villages could afford any further loss of life.

So, the two of them came face to face, and he watched as the man's eyes first went to the red Sharingan in his eye.

"That eye, how do you possess that eye," he questioned in a sharp tone, and Ohashi raised a brow.

"It's a memento of someone who taught me the reality of this world," he replied, and it was answer enough.

"Why are you here, Mizukage, and why have you brought your forces to our border?" he questioned, looking the man in the eye. He was a head taller than him and held his gaze as he looked at him, up and down, trying to gauge him.

"So, you are the man who brought the infamous Hanzo to his knees, I must say you aren't what I expected," he uttered in a unbothered tone, and Ohashi didn't react as the man continued.

"And as for why I am here with my men, I believe there is only one answer tot hat question," he said as his chakra flared up, roaring and cackling, the very ground beneath their feet cracking as he let it rampage violently.

"And we both know what that is!" he finished, and Ohashi let go of his own chakra, and the ground between them tore up, as their chakras clashed violently, as either refused to back down.

"Ohh! So, you do have some bite in you," he said with a small smile, as Ohashi's eyes narrowed as he began.

"I have no desire for further bloodshed, Mizukage. It would be better for you if you pulled back your forces and returned to your village. This war has gone on for long enough, and enough blood has been spilled, let us stop it," he said in a cold tone, trying to warn the man.

"And what I don't," he teased as he took a step forward, and Ohashi's temper flared up. The man was testing him, and he increased the pressure of his chakra and felt it overpower the Mizukage's as sweat began to drip down the man's face.

"Then I shall slaughter you and your men. I shall show no mercy and kill and kill and kill until this whole area is basked in the blood of your men," he roared and saw the man's will falter at those words.

"You think you can beat me! Me, the Mizukage!" he snarled, and Ohashi looked him in the eye.

"None of the Five Kage have ever ventured into Ame, for they knew the consequences of facing Hanzo the Salamander, a man I slew. Do you really wish to test your mettle against me, especially when your allies have already pulled back," he said, trying to Ame the man see reason.

And he saw the man still at those words as his mind raced to realize the implication behind them. And then, when it clicked, he snarled angrily.

"Iwa!" he cursed the Village hidden in stone as he pulled back his chakra, yet his glare remained levelled at him.

"So, be it then," he said, and Ohashi gave the man a nod, as the man turned away from him, Ohashi's eye spun, the red in it lighting up as he turned his back on the man when suddenly he stilled as an Ice spear burst through his chest.

"LEADER!" he heard shouts as he glanced back and found the man staring at him.

"Ohnoki may be too scared to face someone like you, but I am not him. You do not scare me, you fool!" he said as a cruel smile appeared on his face, and Ohashi wished that the man had decided to listen to him.

Yet no matter, through the pain he opened his mouth as he spoke up.

"Ohnoki may or may not fear me," he began, and he watched as the man's eyes widened.

"But you should!" and then with that, his whole body dissolved into water as he appeared behind the man, his Sharingan spinning in his eye as he tried to cleave through the man's body.

Yet he was quick enough to dodge, though not quick enough as blood sprayed out of the man's arm as he jumped back, and his forearm fell to the ground with a thud.

"You!" he snarled angrily as mirrors of Ice surrounded them, forming a dome over them.

"You shall learn what it means to be the Mizukage," he snarled as he took a step back, vanishing inside one of the mirrors, his reflections now appearing all around him.

"Suiton: Thousand Needles of Death!" he shouted, as he was bombarded with a flood of needles, which he dodged, as the water rose up from the ground, dancing around him as it captured all the needles and then when the attack ended.

"I don't have time for this!" he said as his chakra flared up and rippled through his body as a green hue came over him.

"Shomon. KAI!"

0000

Back near the cave of Madara, a squad from Konoha, led by none other than Minato Namikaze, landed, as the three-man elite unit came to a halt. And as the yellow flash rifled through the seemingly abandoned ruins,, he found no trace of what he had come looking for.

The body of Madara Uchiha was gone!

As the Yellow Flash faced this dilemma, his sensei found himself on Mt. Myoboku once more, as he stood in front of the Great Sage Toad, who seemed to be in a rather somber mood, something rather unlike the usually jovial toad who spoke up.

"The balance of the world has been disturbed. I Had a dream again last night," he spoke up. The white-haired satin perked up at those words.

"What did you see!"

"Death! I saw Death! Of Everything we know at the hands of the man who first bore eyes red as blood!"

0000