Eiji was wandering out of town.

It was the first time in a long while that he was alone.

After running into difficulties in the discussion with Jiraiya, he somehow managed to recover and came to an agreement where the plan only slightly deviate from what Eiji originally planned.

But he needed to wait for Konoha and the other Shinobi villages for the responses first.

And after that, he would need again for Jiraiya to get the Shinigami mask and release the Hokage's souls.

When it came to Sasuke, there was no reason for him to intrude on Sasuke's reunion time with his parents.

So in short, he had a lot of free time for the first time in a while.

He thought about slacking off and get some rest from all he went through, but on the same day, he got information concerning what happened to Kumogakure.

It didn't change the fact that he still needed to wait, but now he felt a bit of regret about fucking the timeline up.

He was outside on a plain at the border of the Land of Iron with no one around.

'After learning about the nature of Divine Jutsu's at the Dragon Temple, I didn't create one because I never planned to sacrifice myself...but with how things are going, the world might end and it would be partly my fault I guess...' - Eiji scratched his head.

He decided to take responsibility and create a suicide Justus akin to the Eight Gates or the Reaper Death Seal - just in case.

'Hmm...this might take a while...but why do I have the feeling I forgot something?'

Somewhere a fuming Ukon was waiting for Eiji...

"Weird that the boss called for us to gather all in person...that reminds, didn't he call Tobi too a while ago?" - Kisame had his typical shark grin.

"...if we have to meet in person, something important must have happened." - Itachi

"I hope it's something interesting since we'll lose the track of our target if we leave this area now." - Kisame

Itachi didn't say anything, but he noticed his feeling of unease.

With Danzo being dead and Sasuke not being in Konoha anymore, the only reason he was still in Akatsuki was to continue to spy on them.

But he noticed how his illness has gotten even worse again, so he needed to make sure that he could meet Sasuke in the near future.

The problem however was now that something weird seemed to have happened in the Akatsuki, so he needed to look out for that.

'...whatever this new variable may be, it's best to just see for myself what it is...' - Itachi's gaze was deeper than usual.

At the Hokage office.

"I see..." - Tsunade tried her best to remain professional in front of Yamato, but she couldn't hide wrinkles that appeared on her forehead.

First Kumo and now even a resurrected Madara!

Silence.

After it became unbearable, Yamato did a fake cough and asked: "So...will Konoha go to war with the Shiki Ryuu now?"

"This depends on what Jiraiya will report to me after his meeting...and I really hope that there is a good explanation from the Shiki Ryuu's side...sigh...whatever call Kakashi for me, he should be fully recovered by now."

"Yes." - with that Yamato left.

The moment he left Tsunade instantly slammed at the table, breaking it in half.

"Uhm...you should calm down Lady Tsunade..." - Shizune said carefully.

"CALM DOWN?! THIS DAMN EIJI UNLEASHED SOMETHING WHICH CAN THREATEN ALL COUNTRIES CARELESS AND I SHOULD CALM DOWN?!" - Tsunade

"To be more precise it was Sasuke..." Shizune

"YOU THINK SASUKE WOULD DO THAT ON HIS OWN?!" - Tsunade

"..." - Shizune thought it would be wiser to just remain silent.

"Huff...huff..." - Tsunade breathed in deeply to calm down.

Like with perfect timing, this was the moment Kakashi entered: "You have called?"

"Yes...it seems like Sasuke won't return in the foreseeable future, so you'll get a new member for Team 7."

"I don't think Naruto and Sakura will be happy about that, but I understand...so, who'll be the new member?" - Kakashi

CrusadeAgainstFurries

Sorry about the chapter being later again. Anyway, I'll try something new for this arc where Eiji will go into the background and Itachi will be the "main character" for this arc. I might fail spectacularly, but if I don't shoot for the stars why even try, right?

Today's chapter, I'll try to release it today as well, but if not it will be by tomorrow.