Finale is next. O_O
Reina walked quickly, a stack of papers being held down at her waist as she rushed through the crimson-colored halls of the Hokage?s mansion. Her almond-colored hair, tied back in a long ponytail that went down half the length of her back, seemed to struggle to keep up with her pace, practically flying in the air behind her. She finally had the information that they needed, or as much as she could possibly get without any direct approaches.
Finally, Reina made a sharp turn, pushing her hand out to open the door to reveal a large room with a round table, several figures sitting along the rim of it. Kakashi sat at the head, in the directly opposite corner as the door, while scattered around other parts were Raiden, Deirous?who was, as expected, half asleep with his head buried into his arm that lay sideways on the table?Naruto?equally as inattentive?Sakura, Neji, Shikamaru, and a few other jounin who Reina had recognized, but weren?t exactly of high stature within the village (which made her question why they were even at such an important meeting).
Kakashi was the first to speak, motioning for Reina to come up and take his seat at the head of the table, ?The floor?s all yours.?
She nodded her thanks and then squirmed into Kakashi?s seat. Placing the stack of papers on the table, she found herself standing back up soon after sitting so that she could be seen from over the large pile, ?Please draw your attention to the map behind me,? she said flatly to the group. She backed to the map herself, picking up a pointer from the table in one hand and a document, showing a smaller version of this map of the world?or what parts of it were uncovered anyway?though with much more markings on it than the other.
?Well, as you know, there?s been a very large lack of activity from Akatsuki lately, if any at all, since Riku departed. Sensibly, we?ve decided to use this time to plan an attack on them. However, we?ve had difficulty doing so due to one sole fact: we don?t know where they are. Through a bit of deductive reasoning and a few conclusions, we?ve come up with a general, but more confined area within where they were. First off, we?ve speculated that Akatsuki?s hideout must still be somewhere in the Fire Country??
She was quickly cut off by Neji, ?So you?re saying that this entire thing is based off of speculation?? he asked curiously, ?If that assumption is incorrect, then this entire theory simply falls apart.?
Reina seemed to stiffen, ?Well, sensible speculation, anyway. The first part being that Nagato died a long time ago, therefore, that leaves the problem of Gedo Mazo, the statue used to collect bijuu. Only Nagato, because of his Rinnengan, could summon and therefore move the statue, however, as far as we know, the Rinnengan does not belong to anyone else thus far. The time span between when the first known user, the Sage of Six Paths, died and the time span in which the second user, Nagato, was born is so great that the Rinnengan likely won?t appear for a few hundred years, at the least.?
?So...?? Neji asked, still not quite understanding.
?So, it?s pretty safe to say that this new Akatsuki has Gedo Mazo. It hadn?t been moved from the Fire Country before Nagato?s death, and so it couldn?t have been moved. Therefore, they must be somewhere near the statue, and therefore, within the Fire Country. Even if they don?t have it, there?s not a doubt in my mind that they?re searching for it, which still brings us to the same conclusion.?
Neji seemed content with the explanation, so Reina, now breathing a bit more easily knowing that, went on, pulling down a wire that dropped a large map of the Fire Country over the original world map, ?Well, here?s what we?ve deduced so far. While Riku was on his way, he told us that there was a bounty hunter that came after him in the Lightning Country. This suggests that Akatsuki has few connections in the Lightning Country or areas near there, if they had to resort to paying a bounty hunter. Likely, they won?t be in the northeast parts of the Fire Country if that?s the case. Later on, we actually met up with this bounty hunter, and though we had actually come to him, he was, indeed, looking for Riku. This suggests that they are even further west, as at that point we were only slightly east of Konoha, so we can rule out the entire half of the country east of us.?
The crowd seemed fairly impressed, and it was Kakashi?s turn to speak, ?Good... so is there anything else that we can rule out.?
?Well... this is more speculation than anything I said so far, but... I?m willing to bet that they?re somewhere in the west portion of the country. Not as in generally west of Konoha, but the furthest west, not north or southwest, but the farthest that we can possibly go to the west. My reason for guessing this is because Nagato was the leader of Amegakure, so I?m going to guess that it was near the Rain Country, but still within the Fire country. However, this is still shaky as we don?t know if they?ve even set up near the statue, and it?s a bit likely that they haven?t, and instead just set up smaller bases with sentries near the statue. Akatsuki?s old base had been destroyed by Sakura and Lady Chiyo, so they must have moved it somewhere, but not too far from its original location...?
Everyone stopped suddenly, though. They could all hear it, on the roof. There was something up there, stepping on the top of the Hokage?s residence, as though it was trying to find a way in. The noise stopped, and Reina almost continued, until there was a large blast through the roof, a big abundance of dust and smoke producing from directly above the center of the table. Each person in the room jumped back from their seats, standing in different positions with kunai in hand until the smoke cleared. And as it did, they all wore a mixture of scowling and welcoming looks.
In the middle of the table, in the midst of the smoke, Riku stood.
Kakashi was the first to relax his demeanor, and as he spoke, the others followed, ?Quite the entrance eh??
?You know it,? Riku said, more than slightly proud.
Reina seemed more annoyed than happy at the moment, having just been on the verge of a breakthrough, ?Back to what I was saying, Akatsuki is probably somewhere near-?
Riku raised an eyebrow and looked her way, and then interrupted her, ?I was expecting a more enthusiastic welcoming committee,? and then his eyes widened for a moment as he realized what she had said, ?You?re searching for Akatsuki?s location? Ya see, this is exactly why you should send letters every now and then...?
Riku walked across the table towards Reina and the map, swerving around the large pieces of cement that had come from the building, and then hopped down from the table, walking past Reina and scanning the map with his finger.
He moved his finger around for a while longer and then jabbed it at a spot on the map, an area close enough to where Reina had guessed, somewhere near the border or the Fire and Rain country, but also seeming to slightly touch the Wind Country?s border, ?I don?t know what the place looks like at all, but that?s where they are.?
Everyone, prominently Reina, wore simply... awkward expressions. They had been searching for the location for about a year now; sending out scouts, reading nearly every book that mentioned Akatsuki in even a single sentence, and members of Konoha had tried their best to recall each and every experience that they had with Akatsuki, and here it was in black and white.
Reina held a mixture of emotions, relief, a bit of anger, and she couldn?t help but let out a small laugh from the irony, ?Congratulations Riku, you?ve just nullified an entire year of research with a few seconds of pointing.?
Riku smiled and shrugged, ?What can I say? When you?ve got it, you?ve got it.?
~
The rest of the previous day was filled with a bunch of welcome back remarks, and it seemed as though someone was building a reputation for Riku while he was gone, as quite a few of the citizens knew him, despite having only been in Konoha for only about a week before. Kakashi allowed Riku to stay in the residence still, though Raiden already had gotten a house within the village, with help from Reina and Deirous after completing numerous missions.
However, with Akatsuki?s location now figured out completely, things were moving quickly, and Kakashi was planning a small invasion. After Riku told them much of what he had learned about Akatsuki?most of the information coming from Shinru?s journal?Kakashi had spent the rest of the last day planning who would go, and said that this would be an invasion with only one main goal: to retrieve Shinru. From there, Kakashi seemed confident that Shinru would be the perfect ally, though Riku had wisely altered the story, giving the lame excuse that he had gone on many missions to roam through the hideout and had discovered much information by those trips, instead of telling them the true reason. A reason that Riku wasn?t completely ready to accept to himself, much less tell to others.
A reason that made Riku rather reluctant as far as this mission was concerned.
It was indeed a rather hasty decision, but they knew that as soon as Akatsuki would find out that Riku would return, they wouldn?t have a chance to strike first like this ever again.
Now he was sitting in the Hokage?s office, the group that would go already assembled: Riku, of course, Reina, Raiden, Deirous, Kakashi himself, and Shikamaru.
?Sorry to be so hasty, but we have no reason to wait any longer. You all know the plan right?? Kakashi asked, looking slowly from left to right to see the entire group. When they all nodded, he continued, ?Groups are set in pairs of two: Shikamaru, you?re with me, we?re covering most analysis, Deirous and Raiden, you two have to keep watch and cover us, Riku and Reina, when we find a way in, you two start the invasion. Remember, we?re not looking to battle anyone; you find Shinru, get him out of there, and run.?
?I somehow doubt it?ll be quite that simple,? Raiden pitched in wryly.
Kakashi shrugged, ?Wouldn?t be much fun if it was.?
The War Meeting
Reina walked quickly, a stack of papers being held down at her waist as she rushed through the crimson-colored halls of the Hokage?s mansion. Her almond-colored hair, tied back in a long ponytail that went down half the length of her back, seemed to struggle to keep up with her pace, practically flying in the air behind her. She finally had the information that they needed, or as much as she could possibly get without any direct approaches.
Finally, Reina made a sharp turn, pushing her hand out to open the door to reveal a large room with a round table, several figures sitting along the rim of it. Kakashi sat at the head, in the directly opposite corner as the door, while scattered around other parts were Raiden, Deirous?who was, as expected, half asleep with his head buried into his arm that lay sideways on the table?Naruto?equally as inattentive?Sakura, Neji, Shikamaru, and a few other jounin who Reina had recognized, but weren?t exactly of high stature within the village (which made her question why they were even at such an important meeting).
Kakashi was the first to speak, motioning for Reina to come up and take his seat at the head of the table, ?The floor?s all yours.?
She nodded her thanks and then squirmed into Kakashi?s seat. Placing the stack of papers on the table, she found herself standing back up soon after sitting so that she could be seen from over the large pile, ?Please draw your attention to the map behind me,? she said flatly to the group. She backed to the map herself, picking up a pointer from the table in one hand and a document, showing a smaller version of this map of the world?or what parts of it were uncovered anyway?though with much more markings on it than the other.
?Well, as you know, there?s been a very large lack of activity from Akatsuki lately, if any at all, since Riku departed. Sensibly, we?ve decided to use this time to plan an attack on them. However, we?ve had difficulty doing so due to one sole fact: we don?t know where they are. Through a bit of deductive reasoning and a few conclusions, we?ve come up with a general, but more confined area within where they were. First off, we?ve speculated that Akatsuki?s hideout must still be somewhere in the Fire Country??
She was quickly cut off by Neji, ?So you?re saying that this entire thing is based off of speculation?? he asked curiously, ?If that assumption is incorrect, then this entire theory simply falls apart.?
Reina seemed to stiffen, ?Well, sensible speculation, anyway. The first part being that Nagato died a long time ago, therefore, that leaves the problem of Gedo Mazo, the statue used to collect bijuu. Only Nagato, because of his Rinnengan, could summon and therefore move the statue, however, as far as we know, the Rinnengan does not belong to anyone else thus far. The time span between when the first known user, the Sage of Six Paths, died and the time span in which the second user, Nagato, was born is so great that the Rinnengan likely won?t appear for a few hundred years, at the least.?
?So...?? Neji asked, still not quite understanding.
?So, it?s pretty safe to say that this new Akatsuki has Gedo Mazo. It hadn?t been moved from the Fire Country before Nagato?s death, and so it couldn?t have been moved. Therefore, they must be somewhere near the statue, and therefore, within the Fire Country. Even if they don?t have it, there?s not a doubt in my mind that they?re searching for it, which still brings us to the same conclusion.?
Neji seemed content with the explanation, so Reina, now breathing a bit more easily knowing that, went on, pulling down a wire that dropped a large map of the Fire Country over the original world map, ?Well, here?s what we?ve deduced so far. While Riku was on his way, he told us that there was a bounty hunter that came after him in the Lightning Country. This suggests that Akatsuki has few connections in the Lightning Country or areas near there, if they had to resort to paying a bounty hunter. Likely, they won?t be in the northeast parts of the Fire Country if that?s the case. Later on, we actually met up with this bounty hunter, and though we had actually come to him, he was, indeed, looking for Riku. This suggests that they are even further west, as at that point we were only slightly east of Konoha, so we can rule out the entire half of the country east of us.?
The crowd seemed fairly impressed, and it was Kakashi?s turn to speak, ?Good... so is there anything else that we can rule out.?
?Well... this is more speculation than anything I said so far, but... I?m willing to bet that they?re somewhere in the west portion of the country. Not as in generally west of Konoha, but the furthest west, not north or southwest, but the farthest that we can possibly go to the west. My reason for guessing this is because Nagato was the leader of Amegakure, so I?m going to guess that it was near the Rain Country, but still within the Fire country. However, this is still shaky as we don?t know if they?ve even set up near the statue, and it?s a bit likely that they haven?t, and instead just set up smaller bases with sentries near the statue. Akatsuki?s old base had been destroyed by Sakura and Lady Chiyo, so they must have moved it somewhere, but not too far from its original location...?
Everyone stopped suddenly, though. They could all hear it, on the roof. There was something up there, stepping on the top of the Hokage?s residence, as though it was trying to find a way in. The noise stopped, and Reina almost continued, until there was a large blast through the roof, a big abundance of dust and smoke producing from directly above the center of the table. Each person in the room jumped back from their seats, standing in different positions with kunai in hand until the smoke cleared. And as it did, they all wore a mixture of scowling and welcoming looks.
In the middle of the table, in the midst of the smoke, Riku stood.
Kakashi was the first to relax his demeanor, and as he spoke, the others followed, ?Quite the entrance eh??
?You know it,? Riku said, more than slightly proud.
Reina seemed more annoyed than happy at the moment, having just been on the verge of a breakthrough, ?Back to what I was saying, Akatsuki is probably somewhere near-?
Riku raised an eyebrow and looked her way, and then interrupted her, ?I was expecting a more enthusiastic welcoming committee,? and then his eyes widened for a moment as he realized what she had said, ?You?re searching for Akatsuki?s location? Ya see, this is exactly why you should send letters every now and then...?
Riku walked across the table towards Reina and the map, swerving around the large pieces of cement that had come from the building, and then hopped down from the table, walking past Reina and scanning the map with his finger.
He moved his finger around for a while longer and then jabbed it at a spot on the map, an area close enough to where Reina had guessed, somewhere near the border or the Fire and Rain country, but also seeming to slightly touch the Wind Country?s border, ?I don?t know what the place looks like at all, but that?s where they are.?
Everyone, prominently Reina, wore simply... awkward expressions. They had been searching for the location for about a year now; sending out scouts, reading nearly every book that mentioned Akatsuki in even a single sentence, and members of Konoha had tried their best to recall each and every experience that they had with Akatsuki, and here it was in black and white.
Reina held a mixture of emotions, relief, a bit of anger, and she couldn?t help but let out a small laugh from the irony, ?Congratulations Riku, you?ve just nullified an entire year of research with a few seconds of pointing.?
Riku smiled and shrugged, ?What can I say? When you?ve got it, you?ve got it.?
~
The rest of the previous day was filled with a bunch of welcome back remarks, and it seemed as though someone was building a reputation for Riku while he was gone, as quite a few of the citizens knew him, despite having only been in Konoha for only about a week before. Kakashi allowed Riku to stay in the residence still, though Raiden already had gotten a house within the village, with help from Reina and Deirous after completing numerous missions.
However, with Akatsuki?s location now figured out completely, things were moving quickly, and Kakashi was planning a small invasion. After Riku told them much of what he had learned about Akatsuki?most of the information coming from Shinru?s journal?Kakashi had spent the rest of the last day planning who would go, and said that this would be an invasion with only one main goal: to retrieve Shinru. From there, Kakashi seemed confident that Shinru would be the perfect ally, though Riku had wisely altered the story, giving the lame excuse that he had gone on many missions to roam through the hideout and had discovered much information by those trips, instead of telling them the true reason. A reason that Riku wasn?t completely ready to accept to himself, much less tell to others.
A reason that made Riku rather reluctant as far as this mission was concerned.
It was indeed a rather hasty decision, but they knew that as soon as Akatsuki would find out that Riku would return, they wouldn?t have a chance to strike first like this ever again.
Now he was sitting in the Hokage?s office, the group that would go already assembled: Riku, of course, Reina, Raiden, Deirous, Kakashi himself, and Shikamaru.
?Sorry to be so hasty, but we have no reason to wait any longer. You all know the plan right?? Kakashi asked, looking slowly from left to right to see the entire group. When they all nodded, he continued, ?Groups are set in pairs of two: Shikamaru, you?re with me, we?re covering most analysis, Deirous and Raiden, you two have to keep watch and cover us, Riku and Reina, when we find a way in, you two start the invasion. Remember, we?re not looking to battle anyone; you find Shinru, get him out of there, and run.?
?I somehow doubt it?ll be quite that simple,? Raiden pitched in wryly.
Kakashi shrugged, ?Wouldn?t be much fun if it was.?
