NARUTO POV:
"Hey"
Naruto jumped in his seat, turning quickly to see Sasuke walk into the tent.
"What's up with that?" his friend asked, sitting beside Naruto.
"nothing, just on edge." Naruto muttered, pinching his brows to relieve the incoming headache.
"You've been skipping on breaks haven't you?" Sasuke frowned.
Naruto sighed.
"Well I can't just sleep in bed when I know there's things to be done."
"Burning yourself out won't help anyone. Remember, you're our best shot against the Mizukage."
"Yeah, so no pressure" Naruto muttered. "anyway, what's going on?"
"Buntan Kurosuki."
Naruto sat up straight at that.
"There's been no news about her for like a month. What's she up to?"
"She's dead."
Naruto stared at Sasuke, mouth wide open.
"You're saying that one of our biggest problem…is dead?"
"yes."
"the one I said was probably puppeteering Yagura?"
"yes."
"The one whose brother is one of the seven swordsmen?"
"her name is not going to change."
Naruto nodded, leaning back in his chair with a sigh.
"How exactly did she die?"
"Her and her husband were accused of treason, but the execution was behind closed doors. Autopsy revealed that their wounds were weird though, like part of their bodies were twisted, according to Ao."
Naruto body suddenly lurched forward, courtesy of Kurama's emotions suddenly flaring.
'Do you remember what I said about the masked man who used me against your village?'
Naruto blinked, the sudden booming voice in his head not helping the headache.
'His technique was passing through things, and he could teleport using vortexes he released from his eyes!'
He stood up straight, the chair clattering as he realised what Kurama was implying.
'You're sure it's him?'
'I was going to bring it up a month ago during that first Hashira meeting, but I thought a vague feeling would just get you fired up for no reason. If Yagura is being controlled rather than manipulated, then it has to mean that Isobu's under control too. Only one person alive can do that.'
'…Madara.'
'I still don't know if it was him. All Uchihas feel the same to me.'
"…Naruto?"
Naruto blinked, and he was back in the tent, chair on the ground and a tense Sasuke in front of him.
"What's wrong?" Sasuke asked.
"The guy who killed them" Naruto began "might be the one behind the Fourth Hokage's death 15 years ago."
Sasuke's eyes widened.
"Are you sure?" he questioned "Wha-that's just…holy shit" he whispered.
"I need to see those bodies" Naruto said as he grabbed his cloak that said 'Wind' and put it over his shoulder "Kurama will be able to feel the residual chakra used in the Jutsu used to kill the two."
Sasuke nodded, following him outside.
"The execution was held in the Kiri encampment, a half a day out from Murabasho if we go fast."
"Who's going back to Murabasho?" Shikamaru asked through a yawn as he joined them, walking beside Sasuke.
"Me" Sasuke and Naruto said at the same time.
"that tells me more than a normal answer would" he said with a sigh as he turned back towards the tent "I'll meet you at the gate in 15 minutes."
Naruto stopped in his tracks.
"This is more of a personal outing than work" Naruto said "We'll probably be back by tomorrow morning."
"Yeah, and I'm coming" Shikamaru said, not budging "Tell the rest too. There's no way the Hashira will let our leader go do something probably stupid without being there to join in"
With a smirk, he went back into his tent.
"cheeky bastard" Naruto muttered with a smile as he turned back to walk towards where Haku and Hinata were sparring.
"he's not wrong though" Sasuke said "that guy has an annoying habit of being right most of the time"
"annoying is correct" Naruto muttered "come on, let's gather em all up."
.
.
"So we distract, you go in and look at corpses, and then we all get out?" Sakura questioned as the group hid themselves behind a big rock near the little village-esque area the Kiri shinobi had built around a tower made of earth and bamboo.
"yeah, pretty much" Naruto muttered
"for a temporary camp, that sure is a fancy tower" Sasuke muttered.
"this plan is dumb" Sakura protested as the rest of them started to take out the necessary material to cause flashy displays.
"it's going to work, so it's fine" Shikamaru scowled as he set up the balloons with clown afros.
"Haku, you're with me since you're the sneaking expert here" Naruto said as the two of them jumped away from the group.
"at the signal, we run up the tower and enter through that window."
"What's the signal?" Haku questioned, looking slightly disappointed that she didn't get to use the confetti spinning cannon Sakura had made on the spot.
"the giant smoke cloud that's gonna look like an upside-down angry face."
"…of course."
.
.
'It's his chakra!' Kurama roared in his head, and Naruto had to physically hold his right hand down with his Kushoton-enhanced left arm to stop the chakra flare from alerting the entire camp.
'THAT BASTARD WAS HERE! AND HE'S PUT ANOTHER ONE OF US UNDER HIS CONTROL!'
'KURAMA!/ 'KURAMA!' Liebe and Naruto shouted together 'Calm down!'
Naruto heard what sounded like deep breaths before Kurama's spoke again.
'…sorry.'
'Hey, we'll save your brother alright?'
'You're probably going to have to kill him for that.'
'…Then I'll kill him, alright?'
' I'm counting on you.'
'Weird way to save.'
'shut up.'
"BIJUU-DAMA!"(Tailed beast bomb)
Both Naruto and Haku's eyes widened as they heard those words.
Naruto blasted the wall with a Rasengan, jumping out to see a red beast with three tails fire a small ball of purple chakra to the rock where the Hashira had hidden to plan earlier.
"Shit" he cursed "Haku, get to the others and find an escape route. I'm engaging Yagura before he finds them."
With that, he jumped off, channelling Kurama's rage from earlier to enter the three tailed cloak in seconds.
"RASENGAN!"
Yagura (in his Version 2 form) jumped back with a roar, literally going through a couple of unfortunate Kiri shinobi.
"Yo" Naruto said, his voice gravelly with Kurama's influence "This is the first time we're meeting, Yagura."
Yagura's posture changed, going from all fours to standing on his two legs, and the red shroud faded to an orange cloak of bubbling chakra.
"You have me at a disadvantage" the child like Kage said "You know my name, but I can only guess yours."
Naruto narrowed his eyes.
"Go ahead, guess."
"Uzumaki Naruto. The king of the pests my army is facing."
Naruto nodded.
"That was either insanely good luck, or you've been expecting me."
"Of course I have. You think that information about those corpses was a leak?"
Naruto's eyes widened.
"then…you're aware that there's an illusion on you?"
"Illusion?" Yagura questioned "my associate might have a Sharingan, but he does not control me. He just told me that any reports that indicate his presence would bring you to me, and he was right."
'I can feel Isobu's chakra being docile. His will is definitely being supressed right now.' Kurama growled.
'Ok. I might have to go four tails, so stay alert.'
"It's rude to ignore someone" Yagura said with a frown.
"Sorry, I was talking to my…friend. I'm sure you get it."
"I really don't" Yagura said, suddenly pulling out a coral staff "I've never made contact with the three tails."
'with both their minds so warped, I doubt their mindscape even exists.' Kurama mused.
Naruto felt Sakura's chakra flare 7 times.
'time to go man.'
"well" Naruto said as one of his tails bat away a stray water ball Jutsu "it's been fun but now I've got to go."
Yagura sneered.
"and you think I'll allow that?"
Naruto nodded "yeah, cuz the paper bombs planted throughout this encampment will go off in about 2 minutes, and as much as you seem like the uncaring for his subordinates type, I think all these people dying wouldn't be nice."
"You would die too" Yagura said, taking a step back.
"Please" Naruto snorted "We both know that you and I will be fine, thanks to this" he gestured at the tailed-beast cloak bubbling around his body.
Yagura tensed, before taking another step back and nodding.
"We will fight eventually."
"Name the place and time."
"…the village near where you fought that battle last month. That is where you officially became my headache, so it's only fitting that that be where I end you."
"Sure. One week, the village near Murabasho. We'll settle the matter."
With that, Naruto disappeared in a cloud of smoke, revealing himself to be a shadow clone.
Yagura had no reaction, simply dismissing his cloak and ordering his shinobi to find those paper bombs.