That Nara... | Naruto Fanficiton

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"I'll have you begin the process of strengthening Zetsu," 'Madara' told Kabuto.

"Of course, but first we have to extract intel from Yamato," Kabuto replied in a tone that seemed like he was mocking 'Madara's hurry to get things done, "only you can't kill him, ok? I need him if you want me to make the Zetsu stronger."

"It would be really easy to extract intel if I used the rinne ningendo jutsu.. but then of course, he'd die," 'Madara' said. I stared at the pair as they simply brushed off Yamato's life like it was nothing.

"Are you sure we need him alive to make Zetsu stronger?" he asked.

"Yes," came Kabuto's low and slightly sketchy response. He sounds like he's planning something else. But what?

"I'm using a drug on him that I created that'll keep Hashirama's power inhibited," Kabuto told 'Madara', answering some kind of unspoken question. I glanced back to Yamato to see that what I once thought were ropes, was actually a sandy scaled snake, it was biting into Yamato's hand and coiled perfectly around his wrists.

Yamato's gaze flickered to me, and I gave him an apologetic frown in response. After learning that Yamato's wood style would be unusable now... I can't really help him out.

Of course, I want to help the guy, but I can't. I have much more valuable information in my hands compared to Yamato and unlike Yamato, I haven't been trained to be able to block out another person's roaming in my mind. I can fight off the Yamanaka clan's jutsu, that's about as far as I can go. Not to mention, I don't think I'll be able to take Kabuto and 'Madara', fake or not, alone.

Yamato's clouded gaze made me think he probably came up with the same conclusion.

I'm sorry, Yamato. You'll just have to endure this, and I'll try free you later on.

"But don't worry," Kabuto brought my attention back to the scheming pair, "I'm not going to use it on the Zetsu. Anyway, even without the rinnegan's power, we can extract all the information we want with my truth serum and your sharingan."

Bastard, using one of the most powerful form of genjutsu to get information. What a cheap trick. A smart one but cheap.

"Then once we know who exactly we're facing, we can select our worst enemy to send out against them," Kabuto continued his planning, "there's simply no waste in us using our chakra when we don't need to."

Lazy, cutting the corners bastard.

They disappeared from sight, and I relaxed.

"Shikarei! Shikarei!"

I jumped as a voice basically bounced off the walls of my mind.

"Choro?"

"Yeah! Oh, thank god you're still alive."

"Of course, I'm alive, what did you expect?"

"We heard that you and Yamato were both captured by the Akatsuki."

I hummed as Inoiché's voice chimed in.

"More like Yamato was, I'm here undetected for the ride. From the way they've been talking, it sounds like they've created a lot of Zetsu clones. You've got to be careful."

"Yes, Team Anko found that out not too long ago. We've adjusted our strategies accordingly."

"Make sure you're ready for anything, Shikarei. You're in the heart of the enemy right now. Be careful."