***
"What happened to Madara-sama? Why hasn't he visited us in a while now? Is he upset regarding something we have done?" A blue haired lady with amber eyes asked Black Zetsu.
Black Zetsu shook his head and spoke calmly, "He is not upset. He has just been preparing to make a move to protect the rain village from certain new enemies that have shown up recently."
"Shown up recently? Do you mean the person that killed the Third Hokage?" The blue haired lady asked calmly. "I thought Madara-sama was the strongest and fought against the first Hokage to a standstill…"
"Conan!" A weak, frail looking red haired man held up by rods sticking out of his back quickly warned.
Conan held back her questions while looking at him before whispering, "As you say Nagato…"
While Black Zetsu felt like clicking his tongue internally and getting rid of Conan for good, externally he spoke flatteringly, "This enemy is beyond even the level of the first Hokage."
"Beyond the first Hokage?" Nagato asked, slightly confused and surprised.
"Yes." Black Zetsu nodded, not elaborating further before simply saying, "This matter concerns Madara-sama and he can handle it himself."
"Should we not recruit such a powerful individual ourselves?" Nagato asked simply, "Why not find out what he needs and help the Akatsuki grow stronger with it?"
But Black Zetsu shook his head, "Madara-sama has already met the man and he doesn't want to join us. In fact he is quite hostile and wants to end us and our plans."
Conan and Nagato remained silent at that information, each trusting it very little. But since they didn't have any direct way to disprove what he had just said they kept quiet.
"Anyway… Madara-sama will meet you again shortly in the future. So please look forward to it." Black Zetsu said with a creepy smile.
Conan and Nagato nodded before Black Zetsu revealed the true purpose of his coming here.
"Have you gotten news regarding what happened to Danzo?" Black Zetsu asked softly. His hands were trembling slightly but he controlled himself by clenching his fist.
Nagato nodded, "The black market spies that I planted in the capital informed me that after the rebellion, Danzo was turned into a dog mentally… he is currently being held in the ROOT base…"
"Hmm… it seems you don't have all the information…" Black Zetsu said slightly disappointed before explaining, "Danzo was turned into a dog mentally by an outsider, not by Konoha's people."
Nagato paused at that information before asking his question.
"But I heard that Konoha has the jutsu to do that to anyone right now?"
Black Zetsu shook his head, "Those are all fakes planted by Shikaku to muddle the waters and protect the reputation of the leaf village so that the other villages don't attack immediately."
"So? What do you want us to do?" Conan asked.
"I would like you to find out who exactly did that and have them join our fold."
Nagato looked a little unsure but nodded anyways.
They required members right now, the more people they could fill quickly, the better it would be for them.
So Nagato nodded, "I'll move the black market to keep an eye out for anyone that might seem like it and I'll also put out a bounty on his position so that we can get information regarding his movements."
"Good." Black Zetsu nodded before sinking back into the floor once again. "I hope you recruit them fast."
As Black Zetsu disappeared from the tower they were in, Conan turned towards Nagato.
"Do you really trust his words, Nagato?"
"We will know whether to trust him or not shortly when Madara-sama returns to meet us." Nagato said blankly, causing Conan to sigh in frustration.
"I am God Conan, with these eyes on me, nothing can touch me. Nothing can harm me. I will not let anyone stop us from achieving our dreams."
Conan sighed in frustration once and but still nodded faithfully. "As you say Nagato."
***
"What can I do for you, Orochimaru-sama?" Itachi said bowing low, his head sinking deep as he waited for orders.
Itachi still remembered exactly how this had all happened.
He had attempted to try out the split mind jutsu once again after the curse tongue eradication seal had been removed just to see if he could improve the jutsu to handle multiple tasks inside his head at once.
Only, the second he activated the jutsu the new personality within him made a good point.
'Aren't I alive too? I have a body, I have a soul and I also have a mind. What differentiates your body, your soul from being mine? So wouldn't stopping the jutsu now be equivalent to killing me?'
Itachi had frozen in shock and surprise after hearing his secondary personality say this.
Yes… after all… wasn't he just a personality trapped in a body too.
Could he really kill an innocent continuously just to experiment on it? Was he really that inhumane? Was that not against the teachings the Third Hokage had given him?
Was that not against the will of fire?
Itachi was only shaken up to this point, but the true nail in the coffin was when his secondary personality started talking about Sasuke.
'I love Sasuke too! I want to be able to fluff his hair too! Why do you get that opportunity and I don't? Give me the body! I want to be able to play with my brother too.'
This secondary personality was just like him!
It loved Sasuke!
How could he kill such a personality? Wasn't that just a crime? A cold blooded murder?
And so Itachi shifted his training grounds to the forest of death in hopes that no one would see him trying to experiment with the secondary personality inside his head to separate it and give it new life.
Even separating it into a clone was enough for now as long as it could move and think independently from him.
However, the research was proving harder than he had initially estimated.
Luckily for him, he had met the one person who was an absolute genius at research, Orochimaru, who was also parked in the forest of death.
"I can help you with that." Orochimaru said calmly, after noticing what Itachi was going through.
"You can?" Itachi asked with some hope since he was at his wits end but also a little afraid of the price. "What do you want from me?"
Orochimaru licked his lips and spoke eagerly, "If you have stayed with your brother alone for eleven years, don't you think your secondary personality should also get the same treatment?"
Itachi was about to violently react to that suggestion of separating from his brother when he suddenly clutched his head tight as the secondary personality shouted at him in rebellion.
'YES! WHY DO YOU GET MORE TIME THAN ME WITH MY LITTLE BROTHER!?'
Itachi immediately felt saddened and realised that he was simply being selfish.
He quietly looked back up at Orochimaru and spoke urgently.
"Can you do it? Can you separate us and give us a new body?"
Orochimaru licked his lips again, "That's what I specialize in."
"And what's the price? What do you want?" Itachi asked again, causing Orochimaru's lips to widen in a smirk.
"While your secondary personality stays here… you shall come with me to explore the world at large for exactly eleven years."
"Alright…" Itachi nodded after the urging of his second personality.
And so right now, Itachi looked up at Orochimaru as he experimented on creating a new body for his secondary personality.
***
You can now read 10 advanced chapters on my patreon for just $3!!! Thank you for your support everyone! pa treon.com/hooin_kyoma_au