Behind the Waterfall

#55 Timelines

Within a day replies to Jiraiya's questions began to arrive. Naruto and Fuu were basically staying in the Hokage's office full time, while they helped sort through the various reports. Although most of them had nothing of value, there were a few letters that were set aside for further inspection. There had been a big argument among the Hokage and his head Anbu, when the first few messages came and suggested that Danzo had been free for at least two years, that time had been extended to almost four with the arrival of more reports. It seemed that the old war hawk was traveling around the lands, visiting everywhere without any real discernable pattern. As expected of a man of his skill, nobody knew his plans or had even seen him meet with someone, the only times he had been spotted were when he was alone, presumably on his way to another of his destinations. It was peculiar to see that he had not shown up in any of the big villages over the years he had been at large.

Now Naruto and Fuu were still sorting through the last few messages, while Hiruzen and Jiraiya were going over the timeline where Danzo had gone trying to identify his plan.

It seemed that there was nothing that still tied the man to Konoha. But there had to be a way that he got his orders to the root shinobi still loyal to him. Inoichi had found a few names in Homura's memories, most of them were active in the Anbu but a few were also Jonin. Hiruzen had immediately called for his two most trusted Anbu captains to discreetly pull the disloyal shinobi from any important tasks. Although he had yet to give them new tasks, everyone agreed that it would raise suspicions if the shinobi loyal to Danzo would suddenly stop receiving orders.

"So, he leaves the village some two years ago, not alerting anyone and then just travels around the world? That doesn't seem right." Hiruzen sighed, summarizing all they could piece together.

"Yeah, we are missing something. Although I don't really know what it is." Jiraiya agreed, rereading another of the reports.

"Wait a minute. This is the third report that mentions the Akatsuki in the same timeframe as Danzo." Naruto announced, handing the sheet of paper to the Hokage.

"Really? That is a strange coincidence. Can you look for other reports mentioning the Akatsuki?" The white haired leader asked, as he read the one in his hands. Naruto and Fuu nodded, quickly reading over the last few reports before taking a scroll from the pile they had previously discarded.

It didn't take them as long since they had already read the reports once and only needed to find the ones talking about the Akatsuki. Two hours later, they had managed to construct four different timelines: One that followed Danzo and the other three following different teams from the Akatsuki. It seemed undeniable, everywhere Danzo had been in the last year, a pair of rogues had been there as well.

"But what would he want with a group of rogues? They don't even have a goal he could usurp." Fuu asked, looking at the paper where they had sketched the timelines.

"Well, they actually have a goal." Jiraiya stated, after looking to the Hokage for permission.

"I wanted to tell you two when you were leaving, since you are important for their plans. The Akatsuki have gathered a group of incredibly strong shinobi together from all over. They have one goal in mind, as far as we can see: Gather all bijuu." The sannin said.

"Why would they want all bijuu?" Naruto asked, knowing very well, that an organization with members like Itachi would not be easy to deal with.

"I don't know. But their leader has to be extremely powerful to be able to keep all of these rogues in check. I honestly don't really want to know what that person plans to do with all bijuu." Jiraiya answered.

"You don't know the leader of the group?" Fuu asked, a bit surprised.

"No, we don't." The Hokage said, matter-of-fact-ly.

"Isn't Itachi Uchiha your spy in the organization?" The raven haired girl asked, earning a concerned look from Jiraiya.

"What makes you say that?" The Hokage asked, not denying the accusation but wanting to know how the girl had found out.

"Well, the first clue was when you told Jiraiya to contact every contact and he questioned if you really meant every, this told me that there was at least one contact that was incredibly valuable and that was most likely very deep undercover. Then you seem to know a lot about this organization, its goals and so forth which to me suggested that you had an inside man. Lastly there was way too much detail in Itachi's timeline, that wasn't in any of the scrolls I had looked at, of course all of that detail could have been in the scrolls Naruto had sorted, but that was highly unlikely." Fuu explained, Naruto smiling slightly at the quick thinking of the girl.

"You are really good at observing people." Was Jiraiya's only comment as he looked to the Hokage.

"I guess now you know. It doesn't really matter. Yes, Itachi is still working for Konoha. However, we are not in regular contact with him, since his position is way too dangerous should he ever be found out. The only reports we get from him is when he manages to get away from the organization for a while." Sarutobi stated, taking out a few scrolls he had in a drawer in his desk.

"These are from Itachi, they are the most detailed records we have about the members." He said, handing them to Naruto.

"Thank you. We will return them when we have worked through them." Fuu said, sealing them into a storage seal on her belt.

"So, back to the important thing at the moment. What would Danzo want with the Akatsuki? He doesn't have any real value he can add to their organization as far as I can tell." Naruto asked, taking another look at the sketched time table.

"Well, it is true that he doesn't really have access or information about any bijuu, as far as we know, however he has a lot of values that can help almost anyone who knows how to correctly use him." Jiraiya stated.

"He has a lot of knowledge about Konoha at the least, as well as his knowledge in infiltration techniques and interrogation. With just that, he would be an asset to every plan, but he can do so much more, there is a reason why I have kept him as my advisor for so long." The Hokage continued, earning concerned looks from Naruto and Fuu.

"Okay, we understand why the Akatsuki would take him in, but why would he join them?" The black haired girl asked.

"Well, I honestly have no idea, the only reason I could think of would be to hurt me, but I don't think he would be do something as drastic as joining the Akatsuki, since they would hurt Konoha as well and everything he has ever done he did because he thought it was right for Konoha." Hiruzen admitted.

"So basically, we agree that he has probably joined Akatsuki. Did Itachi already send his reply to your question?" Naruto asked, since the Hokage had said to also request information from him.

"Not yet. But I don't know when he will even get the message." Jiraiya replied.

"Wait, doesn't Danzo know about Itachi?" Fuu asked, causing Hiruzen's eyes to widen.

"Damn it!" He cursed, flaring his chakra. Almost immediately a squad of Anbu appeared in front of him, hands on their weapons. The Hokage quickly made sure that none of Danzo's shinobi were amongst them before starting to issue his orders.

"I want Inu and Cat to assemble their squads immediately. This has highest priority." Momentarily two of the Anbu disappeared again.

"Get me Tsunade from the hospital." Another masked shinobi disappeared, leaving only the captain of the squad.

Hiya Dragons,

Well new year same old me, that concludes this chapter. I hope you liked it and would love to hear some feedback. As for the question, again there is none, although I already have one for the next chapter ready.

Dedication this time once more to @SolarusPhoenix for commenting on the last chapter.

So yeah, that was it for today.

Take care and stay safe,

Peace,

Gleam-eyes