"Ready..." - said Kurama as he shook his head and walked in the direction of the unconscious Raikage with B on his shoulder.
"How is he?!" - exclaimed A as he stared at the ginger and then at his younger brother.
"Calm down, he's fine..." - replied Kurama as he used a tail to wipe off the sweat that ran down his forehead - "B-san will wake up in a few days... although he will be exhausted and will not be able to get out of bed for a week or two".
"It doesn't matter as long as he's okay," sighed A as he thanked the redheaded man again and again for saving his brother.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go inform the girls about the situation," said Kurama before disappearing in a red flash.
" Sir..." - muttered a Kumo shinobi as he looked at the Raikage - "Your instructions..."
" Count the casualties, both Kumo's and the allies'..." - A responded seriously as he sighed with regret - "After that I want you to call all the families affected... we have many sacrifices to commemorate..."
". . ." - The shinobi was silent as he knelt in front of his leader before retiring.
* * * * *
"You shouldn't have used that on that woman, Nagato..." - said Konan as she looked at a malnourished red-haired boy who was connected to a strange machine - "Without the Reibi, Menma has no value to us..."
"I know... but I did it anyway because he still has value as a pawn" - responded Nagato with neutrality as he watched his childhood friend - "We better prepare for the worst, Konan... I've had a bad feeling lately..."
". . ." - Konan frowned when she heard this because she understood that things were about to become murky for them - "Ok... I'm going to prepare for the worst..."
"For now, just act normal, although I want you to keep an eye on this Uchiha now that we have confirmed that he is not Madara," said Nagato seriously.
"As you command," replied Konan as she left, not noticing that the red-haired man was starting to vomit blood - "This is much worse than I thought... if this continues, I won't have much longer before I die..."
* * * * *
"It is an interesting development... don't you think, Obito?" - said Zetsu as he watched the green-haired woman smiling next to Menma - "Who would have thought that our leader had so much sense of humanity left?
"It doesn't matter, as long as things don't get out of our control, nothing matters," responded Obito with neutrality - "In fact, this makes things a little easier for us"
"True... the weaker Nagato is, the easier it will be to obtain his Rinnegan when he is no longer needed" - answered Zetsu as he burst out laughing - "But we'd better leave that topic and concentrate on the current situation... with the captured Hachibi, we only have two left... the Nibi and the Kyubi..."
"The Kyubi is out of our reach for the moment while the Jinchuriki of the Nibi remains inside the Barrier that covers the Uzumaki clan" - said Obito with a scowl as he put his hand over his right eye and felt his anger grow - "We just have to find a way to make Nii Yugito leave the mansion and go to an open place, after that, there would be nothing left"
"That would leave us with the Kyubi... I honestly never thought that things would get so complicated" - snorted Zetsu irritably, after all, only one entity was standing in the way of his goal.
"If we capture the Nibi, we will kill two birds with one stone" - answered Obito while looking at his partner in crime - "If we kill Nii Yugito, we will make the Kyubi lose control of his emotions and with that, we will be able to get those flames with his chakra".
"Right... I had forgotten that little detail" - Zetsu nodded as he began to come up with a plan - "Although we will have to operate for a while because it is obvious that if we attack now, they will feel that something is wrong"
"Exactly, for now, we will concentrate on killing Orochimaru to get the last piece we need to enter the last phase of our plan" - responded Obito while squinting - "When we have Edo Tensei in our hands, we will take a short break to recover our wounds and increase the number of our army..."
"It seems perfect to me..." - nodded black Zetsu as he burst out laughing - "Well... I'll go look for Orochimaru's location to eliminate him once and for all because with his death, we'll also be rid of the possibility of him reviving the previous Kage... but well, do you think you can use your Kamui to send us to that place when we find him?"
"I'd have to concentrate and pray my eye doesn't explode," answered Obito as he frowned, "because I'm sure Nagato won't help me"
"Right..." - Zetsu nodded as he looked at the Uchiha - "But I'm asking you if you can do it... Yes or no"
"I'm almost sure I can," responded Obito with a scowl, "but after that, I won't be able to do anything for a few weeks, even months because of all the pressure I put on my Sharingan..."
"Hmm... I think I have a quick solution to your problem..." - said Zetsu as he looked at the Uchiha with a smile on his face - "In fact, the trip to Oto may serve us more than you think..."
"Speak..." - responded Obito seriously.
"It's simple... we just have to get the Hashirama cells that Orochimaru is using to experiment" - answered Zetsu with a smile - "You already possess Madara's DNA, after all, he gave it to you so that your eye would not lose power..."
". . ." - Obito was silent for a few seconds before he burst out laughing - "True... but Madara's DNA is concentrated in my left eye..."
"One Rinnegan is more than enough, don't you think?" - Zetsu asked as he shrugged.
"Right... Let's go with your plan..." - Obito answered with neutrality - "If I manage to wake up the Rinnegan, then the possibility of my eye exploding is a small price to pay"
"Okay, then I'll go get that snake right away..." - said Zetsu as he disappeared.
". . ." - Obito was silent for a few seconds before walking out of the room.
* * * * *
Kurama appeared in the middle of the mansion room after leaving B with his older brother because he felt that the girls would be waiting for him.
"You finally show up, Kuro-chan!" - exclaimed Kushina as she saw the red flash appear in the middle of the room.
"Sorry for the delay but the thing is that B-san needed me to use a technique that called for a lot of concentration," responded Kurama tiredly.
"Kurama-kun... your chakra..." - said Hinata as she opened her eyes in surprise.
"Side effect of the technique I used" - replied Kurama while sighing and looking around - "I am sure the original will feel it when I fade away... I just appreciate that I didn't consume all my Chakra or things wouldn't have turned out so well"
"How is B sensei?" - asked Yugito with concern.
"Out of danger" - answered Kurama while leaving the details out of the conversation - "Although it's possible that he may not wake up in at least a week, at most a little more than a month".
". . ." - Kumo's girls were silent for a few seconds before sighing with regret, although inside they were relieved that their Sensei and friend was safe.
"How is Tsunade-sama?" - Shizune asked as she looked at the red-haired boy.
"She's fine the chances of overcoming our problem have increased considerably during these weeks," responded Kurama as he looked at each of the girls. " The percentage is now 20% and increasing"
"It's good to hear that..." - sighed Kushina as the others put their hands on their hearts to try and calm down.
"Okay, I've briefed you on the situation..." - said Kurama's clone as he looked at the women - "If the boss's calculations are correct, then the situation of Tsunade would be stabilizing within one or two months"
"Tell Tsunade and Kuro-chan that we miss them..." - said Kushina as she watched the clone nod before disappearing into a smokescreen.
"At least now we can relax a little" - said Mikoto as the others nodded.
"For now we just need to continue training," said Kushina seriously. "I'm going to create a new training area inside the barrier so that we can practice without danger of Akatsuki attacking us, and I'm going to expand it with my Seals.
"Sounds like a plan," Tsume nodded as she looked around, "I know our training inside the [Hyperbolic Time Chamber] was impressive but now that we can't use it, we should do it the old-fashioned way"
"I think we should divide ourselves into groups" - answered Mikoto seriously while looking at her ' sisters' "
"I agree with Mikoto-chan, if we practice as a team the training will be much more productive" - nodded Kushina while the others looked at each other - "We will split up depending on what we will practice, Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, extreme physical training, and so on"
"Hai!" - exclaimed the girls firmly as they began to comment on what they would be training to get a training partner.
*****************************
Sorry for the delay, I had to go to the hospital today for my last hand check and as soon as I arrived, I had some other things to do.