Chapter 5:
Synchronicity
-
Obito stared at the man, only now realizing he had instinctively activated his sharingan when the unexpected guests arrived.
"Wait, Madara?" Naruto uzumaki asked. "The guy whose ugly mug is carved into the Valley of the End?"
"Oh no, you're thinking of my buddy Hashirama. My handsome face is carved opposite his." Obito said, keeping to his character.
The two girls from Lightning stifled laughter from his joke while Naruto openly grinned.
"Okay. That one was good." Naruto admitted.
"Humor aside, I am very impressed by your information gathering skills Jiraiya." Obito said. "I suppose I'd be more impressed had I not know Itachi was your spy since day one, but impressed all the same."
"Wait, what?" Sasori asked.
"Wait, what?" Naruto asked at the same time.
The verbal match that Jiraiya had started, was now lost to him and he deflated in defeat.
"Are you willing to work together with the elemental nations for this crisis?" Jiraiya asked.
"Indeed." Said Obito. "We have been trying to lock down the western borders of Suna, but we are few in number and could use the extra hands. We'll share our plans if you share yours?"
Jiraiya nodded and motioned for him to begin.
Very well. Obito wasn't above putting his cards on the table first.
"Sasori and all three hundred of his puppets are stationed along this three kilometer corridor. One every hundred meters. Sasori and Itachi are holding up the southwestern front. Their fire and water combos will prevent spores from reaching the rivers that feed into the ocean. Kakuzu and Hidan are holding the northwest, forming a six man squad."
He saw Naruto confused by the math and was visibly trying to count how two people worked as six.
"What of Deidera and the other members?" Jiraiya asked. "I know you are ten in number.
"Ah, Deidera is running interference." Sasori said. "With his flying constructs he has the mobility to move between our teams and keep a watch on the battlefield as a whole. As for your former students, one of them is there."
He pointed to the flashes of lightning in the distant night sky.
"Former students?" Jiraiya asked.
"Ah. Your intelligence network failed to deliver you the identities of our organizations originators? Nagato Uzumaki and Konan. The former is there creating and controlling that storm. The latter as returned to the city hidden in rain to bring the forces therein to the northeastern front." Obito continued.
Both Jiraiya and Naruto were left speechless by the reveal he burried in there.
"Nagato is alive? And an Uzumaki to boot?" Jiraiya asked.
"There's another Uzumaki out there?" Naruto himself asked.
"Indeed. Two besides you, to my knowledge. Unless you count lady Tsunade." Obito finished.
"Grandma Tsunade is related to me?!" Naruto asked, still just as shocked as before.
"Focus, Naruto." Jiraiya said. "And what is your role in this fight? And what of the venus flytrap cannibal?"
Obito narrowed his eye at Jiraiya. So he knew of Zetsu, but had no information on him. Very well.
"The venus flytrap cannibal, is named Zetsu. His abilities to operate underground are invaluable. He is currently out there monitoring the enemies continued movement and mutations happening in the subterranean water ways and sewage from Suna. It is substantial." Obito said.
Jiraiya's eyes widened and he looked to Naruto, giving him a nod. The boy created a shadow clone before disappearing himself.
"Ah. You are spreading shadow clones to every corner of the battlefield. Information network?" Obito asked.
"Correct." Said Jiraiya. "Now everyone knows that they're burrowing and multiplying. And that the Akatsuki are allies in this."
"Perfect. I would hate for us to have any... misunderstandings." Obito said, allowing an edge to drip into his voice.
Naruto did the strangest thing then. He raised his hand.
"Um. Why are you trying to be intimidating? We're all kinda allies here... and you're not intimidating." The boy said.
Were it anybody else, Obito would have taken those as fighting words. But they boy said with with such earnest and genuine honbesty that Obito knew he meant it as an olive branch.
He couldn't help it. He laughed. A fully belly, keeled over, laugh overtook him.
"You... are absolutely right." Obito admitted between attempted at catching his breath. "This entire conversation has been posturing between us ancient men and it is ridiculous. Very well. I have a space warping ability that surpasses even that of the late fourth Hokage. I will take the boys clones o advantageous potisitons across the continent and he can propogate from there. Right now we are focused solely on keeping the infection here in the desert and gathering intel. Once the entire country is locked down on all sides, we go on the offensive and purge the alien invaders."
Jiraiya nodded.
"That's essentially our plan as well. We're nearly all in position on the north, west and south borders. Lightning nation may take another day and a half. Until then we intent to bring in the remaining Suna Shinobi here to cover the west with reverse summoning." Jiraiya said.
"Good." Said Obito. "We are woefully undermanned here, despite the higher quality of men we have. In the meantime, let me move the shadow clones into poisition. I am greatly diminished since my glory days, so I can't bring all of the Suna shinobi into their respective positions. But individual shadow clones? I can manage that."
Jiraiya motioned for the shadow clone to step forward where he created a new one to go with obito.
Sasori sends all of his puppets on his left side northward by 100 meters.
He tells the clone staying behind to take the position one hundred meters to his left, and now they will have a full coverage of the three kilometer area.
Jiraiya gestured for the Naruto clone beside him to step forward. It created a new clone, which nodded to Obito.
Nearby, Sasori raised one gloved hand and commanded half his puppets — those to his left — to shift north by one hundred meters.
“Clone,” he said, turning to the one staying behind. “Take the now-empty slot a hundred meters out. That gives us full coverage.”
And with that, the west was sealed — or at least, held.
-
The rain battered the plateau like a war drum — hard, fast, and without rhythm. Obito materialized in a silent swirl of space beside the orange-clad clone of Naruto. They arrived on solid stone slick with runoff, a windswept rise jutting from the badlands south of Rain.
Three figures stood at its edge. Teenagers, clearly shinobi. One was tall and stocky, with a fighter’s stance and a stubborn chin that jutted like a challenge. He had the scars of somebody who fought recklessl. The other two — a sharp-eyed kunoichi with two hand fans at the ready and a shorter girl with pigtails and thigh highs in a wary crouch. She looked like healer.
They turned as one and Obito saw their headbands declaring them as sand ninja.
“You don’t look like messengers,” said the big one, fists clenching. “Why are you here?”
“We could ask the same,” Obito said flatly. “This isn’t a vacation spot.”
The tall boy stepped forward.
“We’re from Sunagakure. Got orders to return to the village three days ago. We set out but then we got a second hawk with different orders: Do not return. Stay away from the city at all costs. No explanation. No intel. Just a contradiction.”
The kunoichi added to his explanation.
“We figured someone would come find us eventually. We just didn’t expect…” She gave Obito a once-over. “…this.”
Naruto’s clone scratched his head.
“Huh. Weird place to leave a team with no updates.”
“They were probably forgotten,” Obito said, tone neutral. “Or someone assumed they were already dead.”
That got a visible reaction — a stiffening of shoulders, a narrowing of eyes.
Before they could speak, the clone held up a hand.
“Hang on. Let me save us all some exposition.”
He slapped his palm to the ground. With a burst of chakra, a storage toad appeared in a cloud of mist and oil. A beat later, it belched three slick, oil-covered figures onto the muddy rock.
All of them were bald, robed in hastily fashioned garments of bark, petals, and thread. A girl with a ponytail stood first, blinking the rain from her eyes. Behind her, a tall boy muttered curses and rubbed his head, while the third — a small, quiet girl — simply took in the scene.
The kunoichi archer froze.
“…Matsuri?”
The lead girl blinked, then smiled in recognition.
“Yome? Sen? Shira?!”
Obito finally filed the names away. So the brawler was Shira, the tracker Sen, and the archer Yome. Forgotten edge pieces in Suna’s military puzzle.
Naruto’s clone created another with a pop and motioned to it.
“This one’s staying with you. Listen up — he’s got the whole download.”
Obito turned to leave, already tugging space loose around him.
“Wait—what’s this all about?” Shira called.
As Obito vanished in a spiral of chakra and wind, he heard the clone left behind shout over the storm:
“So anyways... Aliens!”
-
They arrived at the edge of a wound.
The plateau gave way to a vast depression in the earth, a crater miles wide and unnaturally smooth — as if some colossal, celestial hammer had smashed the world flat and then carved it clean with surgical precision. The stone was scorched black around the edges, but toward the center, it pulsed with a sickly green glow.
Spores. Faintly luminescent and already budding from the crater walls like malignant fruit. Fungal vines curled along cracks in the bedrock, their tips twitching unnaturally in response to the falling rain. The crater had reached all the way to the water table. It steamed faintly where moisture met still-warm stone.
In the far distance, the outline of Tonika Village — or what remained of it — stood as a ghostly silhouette. The buildings there had either collapsed or been overtaken by the green rot, the fungal infection now climbing rooftops like ivy.
Obito landed silently beside the clone, his single eye narrowing.
“This wasn’t here a week ago,” he said flatly.
“Nope,” the clone replied. “But we’re here now.”
He formed a quick sequence of hand signs and slammed a palm to the rocky lip of the crater. A storage toad exploded in a puff of steam — and from its mouth came six shinobi, all bald, all clad in lotus-weave robes.
Ameno emerged first, already directing the others before her feet hit the stone.
Koji followed with that loose-limbed walk of his, cracking his knuckles.
Shishio and Saya came next, sharing a quick glance before spreading out.
Sana pulled a scroll from her robes and unsealed several misting devices.
Mamushi, true to form, was already testing the soil, crouched with one hand deep in the muck and the other adjusting a vial of bright blue reagent.
They moved without needing instruction. The entire squad began working in silence, setting up containment, misting the walls, inspecting spore clusters, and coordinating with hand signs. Their movements had the crispness of those who had trained for this exact catastrophe — even if none of them had ever seen anything quite like it.
Obito gave a low hum of approval.
“Competent.”
“They’ve been through the wringer already,” the clone said, watching them with pride. “Suna survivors. They don’t need babysitting.”
Obito didn’t respond — but he didn’t argue, either.
Rain hissed against the growing heat from below. More spores began to glow. Far below, something shifted in the green.
“Time to go,” Obito said. “We’re on a clock.”
The clone nodded, made one last hand seal, and summoned a new clone to remain behind. Then he turned to Obito.
They vanished in a blur of motion — swallowed again by swirling space.
-
The storm churned around them like a living thing — not natural thunderclouds, but something forged from will and chakra. Lightning flickered in rhythmic pulses, not erratic bursts. Each flash was in time with a subtle shift in the six figures surrounding the central throne, suspended in the air upon the back of that eerie avian summon.
Obito stepped lightly onto the beast’s back, followed by the latest Naruto clone. The bird hardly reacted — long accustomed to its master's passengers.
Naruto gazed around in awe.
“Whoa… This is all you? That storm?”
The man seated on the throne — gaunt, pale, gaudy red hair still somehow regal — looked down on him with eyes like concentric voids.
“I am sustaining the central seal,” Nagato said simply, “but the Paths of Pain maintain the jutsu’s continuity.”
Obito inclined his head and gestured between them.
“Naruto Uzumaki, meet Nagato Uzumaki. You’ll serve as his personal relay for clone updates and intel transmission.”
Naruto blinked, staring. Then he tilted his head.
“Wait, wait. So you’re one of Pervy Sage’s old students?” he asked.
Nagato nodded, unfazed.
“Indeed. I walked his path… for a time.”
“And you’re one of my two living relatives?” Naruto asked, squinting.
Nagato gave a small smile.
“Quite. Myself and Lady Tsunade. If your next question is why I never retrieved either of you, it's because your loyalties to Konoha, and status as a Jinchuuriki, excluded you from being inducted into any potentially revived clan.”
Obito did not like where this was going.
He felt it coming when the clone’s brow furrowed.
“Nah, hold up. Madara said there were three — you, someone else, and Tsunade.”
Nagato turned his gaze to Obito.
Naruto did too.
Obito sighed, already turning away.
“Orochimaru has possession of a girl with Uzumaki blood. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you wasting your energy or starting a war over bloodlines. You had enough weight on your shoulders.”
The silence stretched.
When Obito glanced back, they were still staring.
“We will have a long talk about this later,” they said in unison.
Obito did not wait for further comment. With a swirl of chakra, he slipped into the void. It was a strategic retreat. For all of their safety.
-
The storm had finally broken.
Dawn rose over a desolate stretch of earth. The firebreak carved into the Land of Wind was now a graveyard of trees — ten kilometers of scorched forest, blackened and stripped to ash, as if nature itself had been burned out of existence.
Beyond the field of fire, the edge of Konoha’s territory waited like a breath held too long.
Then, the cavalry arrived.
First came Inoichi Yamanaka, his signature ponytail tied high despite the fatigue in his eyes. Behind him, Shikaku Nara and Chōza Akimichi strode side by side, their clansmen following in quiet solidarity.
Hiashi Hyūga emerged next with Neji and a dozen elders in formal robes, their expressions unreadable but their presence unmistakable and the remaining adults of their clan flanking them.
Gai, and Rock Lee charged in on foot from the southern bend of the trail, their bandaged hands and matching grins making them look like they'd sprinted the entire way for fun.
Genma Shiranui, Yugao and Raido Namiashi took up the rear Guarding Anko Mitarashi and Ibiki. The former wasmuttering curses and chewing something sweet, her coat stained with sweat and travel dust.
They gathered in the field beyond the firebreak, just before the healthy treeline. Wordlessly, campfires were built. Tents were raised with practiced movements. Rations were distributed — salted rice, dried fish, pickled plums. A few med-nin heated canteens to make tea.
There were no war cries. No cheers. Only quiet relief from a long journey made far too quickly.
Naruto’s clone — stationed there since the night before — watched it all from the perimeter, arms crossed. He smiled faintly at the sight of Rock Lee hugging his sensei, of Chōji devouring three meals in a row, of Ino handing out cups of tea while gossiping in hushed tones with Tenten.
A warm breeze passed through the broken trees. Naruto tilted his head toward it, feeling for once like the reinforcements had arrived not a moment too soon.
Then came Hiashi.
The Hyūga clan head approached with the grace of nobility and the stiffness of a man who had seen too much. His pale eyes fixed on the Naruto clone like a hawk measuring its prey.
“Mister Uzumaki,” he said. “Where is my daughter?”
The Naruto clone snapped to attention, caught off guard by the tone.
“Oh. Uh — right on top of that ridge, sir.” he said, pointing to a rocky outcropping overlooking the desert.
He wasn’t sure why, but something about Hiashi made him want to be extra polite. Maybe it was the posture. Or the voice. Or the fact that this was Hinata’s dad and Naruto had once seen him cut out a man's heart with wind-elemental infused strikes that didn't break the skin. Entirely internal.
Seeing a man perform a full heart surgery on an enemy in the middle of a fight inspired fear even in the bravest of men.
"Take me to her." Hiashi demanded.
Naruto obeyed, conjuring a shadow clone to replace himself and guiding Hiashi to his daughter.
They walked together in silence. Until Hiashi broke it when they were finally out of earshot of the camp.
"It pleases me to see you develop into such a competent young man, and playing such a pivotal role to this war effort." Hiashi confided in him. "I wish Fugaku and Mikoto were still here to see it."
Naruto had no idea how to respond, thankfully, his confusion and eternal need to resolve said confusion asked the questions for him.
"Who and who?" He asked.
Hiashi stopped and Naruto almost walked into him. The older man turned around with more anger on his face than Naruto had ever seen on the usually stoic Hyuuga clan.
"Fugaku I could forgive, but Mikoto? You don't know who Mikoto is?" He clarified.
Naruto shrugged.
"Should I?" He asked.
Hiashi's jaw actually dropped.
"Mikoto Uchiha. The woman who nursed you as a baby. The woman who almost became your legal guardian. Your. God. Mother." Hiashi asked with an increasingly pointed tone.
Naruto was reduced to jibberish trying to come up with an answer to this revelation, but all he could provide was another shrug.
"I'm going to kill some people when i get back to Konoha, I swear." Hiashi said under his breath before turning around and continuing back up the hill.
They returned to walking uphill.
Naruto was consumed with conflicting thoughts and emotions. Bouncing from positive to negative. He had a godmother! She was dead. He almost had a family! That family would have included Sasuke. That last thought made him shudder.
They soon arrived at the top of the ridgeo verlooking the prepared battlefields. From there they could see the spider web of trenches, traps and fortifications.
Hinata stood at the edge, her byakugan flaring and her entire focus on the horizon.
For somebody with eyes on the back of her head, Hinata sure was easy to sneak up on. Could Hyuuga only use telescopic or panascopic vision at once, not both at the same time?
"Hinata?" Hiashi called out.
She jumped, flinching more from surprise than fear. She turned and instantly bowed, lowering her gaze.
“Father,” she said, respectful and warm. “You’ve arrived safely.”
“I have.” Hiashi nodded, before giving her a long, unreadable look. “Your duties here are concluded.”
Hinata’s face faltered.
"The rest of the Hyuuga clan adults are here. You are to return to Konoha with Neji." Hiashi told her. "And act as clan head in my absence."
For the first time in Naruto's life, he saw anger on Hinata Hyuuga's face.
"I can fight!" She insisted. "I am ready for his war."
"I know you can, and I know you are." said Hiashi. "I am not sending you away for your safety. I am sending you back because leading the clan would be a greater challenge and test for you than this fight. I am aging, and should this war become greater than either of us imagined, it is better that I should die than you or Neji."
The young woman cooled off from that explanation, deflating of her righteous anger in an instant.
Naruto could relate. If anybody told him he couldn't participate in this battle he would have exploded. What counted as an explosion for sweet little Hinata was calm by Naruto's standards though.
She relented, nodding her agreement and walked between them. She stopped just after passing them. She then turned around.
"I am acting clan head?" She asked.
"Indeed." Hiashi said.
"As of right now?" She clarified.
"As of ten seconds ago." Hiashi confirmed.
"I see..." She said.
She then became lost in thought for a few moments, as if she were trying to come to terms with the power she now held or else how to wield it.
She then locked eyes with Naruto.
"Naruto... Could you pass a message to all the other yous for me?" She asked.
He gave her his award winning smile.
"Of course! Lay it on me." He told her.
She pointed to his left, at Hiashi. Naruto turned to look at the man only to feel soft, warm lips on his cheek.
He turned back to the woman who just bussed him on the cheek, his hand holding the place of contact like a mortal wound. For once her eyes did not leave his.
"Come back to Konoha alive." She said, repeating her message from the morning before. "Come back to me... alive."
She then turned tail and fled, hands over her face as if she couldn't believe what she had just done.
Naruto and Hiashi shared a confused look.
"I think I might have missed some things." Naruto confessed.
Hiashi held up a hand, his index and thumb close together as if to indicate a small amount.
"I was this close to sicking my matchmakers on you with an invitation to court her." He told Naruto. "This close!"
Apparently Naruto had missed a lot of things. He sat down to try and digest what he'd just learned.
"Well? Aren't you going to pass the message onto the other yous?" Hiashi pressed.
"Hm? Oh no. I'm holding onto this clone for an emergency. If morale drops down enough I'll dispel." He confided.
The real him could be dying on an icy wasteland, freezing to death and bleeding out. Should that happen the memories of the last ten minutes would get him up and fighting again in a heartbeat.
"I'll leave you to your meditations then." Hiashi said as a way of excusing himself.
He left Naruto then. And he made himself busy staring out over the horizon.
Was he smiling? He felt like he was smiling. Thank goodness nobody was around to see it because he was sure it was a very stupid looking smile.
That smile faded from his face when he saw plumes of sand and mud in the distance. It was soon followed by the ringing of bells in the camp below.
The enemy was approaching, the trenches were filling, and the weapons were being drawn.
The fight was here at last, hopefully all fo their preparations would matter.
-
Finally! We can get back to the violence. The fire and the blood and the dying.
I need to go watch a ton of filler episodes now to get more familiar with the Suna locations and characters. Starting with the Fu arc, because I have NO idea who Ameno, Koji, Shishio, Saya, Sana, Mamushi even are, just that they're from Suna. And I never fully watched the ffiller arc with Shira, Sen and Yome. Just the episode where rock Lee and Shira had their showdown.
Also, hopefully I'm not putting too much humor in this story? It does get REALLY grimdark later, but for this first arc it's orcs... I can't not make it hilarious!