Konoha's Dream Team

Chapter 18

"Pein, you let them go?" came the voice of Konan in the empty room. Empty, save for her and the Deva Path Pein. The man himself stood by the balcony, staring out at the village with his usual emotionless look on his face. He hummed in confirmation. "Why? You have never lost a battle before."

"This was no loss, a mere tactical withdrawal," Pein said simply. "The Kyuubi had barely even started using his full power, and yet he destroyed the Asura Path, the Naraka Path has nine broken ribs, and the Preta Path has a broken pelvis and three shattered vertebrae. I will need to recover and find a new Asura, and come up with a proper strategy. The Kyuubi is stronger than I had calculated, and so I underestimated him. It is that simple."

"I warned you."

The new voice, dark and mocking, made Pein look toward the corner of the room, to see the cloaked Tobi stepping into the light, his one-eyed, orange swirl mask still on his face.

"Tobi," was the only greeting Pein gave him.

"I told you that Senju Naruto was not to be underestimated. Even you, with all your power, isn't without at least a near-equal."

"Lesson learned," Pein stated, returning his gaze to the village. "It won't happen again."

"Hm, obviously, since you don't have an Asura Path for him to smash with a rhino again," Tobi quipped, which caused a barely noticeable twitch to appear under Pein's left eye.

Enemy or not, that was still a pretty damn impressive move, Pein had to admit. Disregarding that, though, Pein noted something in Tobi's voice, which made him glance at the masked man again.

"You admire him?"

"I have respect for him as a warrior," Tobi clarified. "All my sources tell me that he embodies the best of his ancestors' talents. Come to think of it, Kisame is practically itching for a fight against him. As such, if it were to come to it, even I would be cautious in a battle against him."

"I will come up with a proper strategy."

"See that you do. After this, he will surely never leave Uchiha Sasuke's side. Alone, they're bothersome. Together, they could be a great threat."

"As I said," Pein almost growled, a hint of emotion bleeding into his voice as he turned to give Tobi a dangerous stare, "it won't happen again."

Tobi stood there in silence for a while, but then chuckled, shrugging in resignation.

"Well, I wish you the best of luck, that I do. Remember, though, don't do anything rash."

The air around his eye-hole started swirling, a small wormhole that sucked the masked man into itself, leaving only his parting words in his wake.

"I still need you, after all..."

"So," Konan spoke up after a moment of silence, "do you have a plan?"

"Senju Naruto's greatest weapon is his Mokuton. He focuses on large-scale destruction to overwhelm his opponent," Pein said, raising a hand to his chin. "So we remove his ability to use it. His soft heart won't allow him to use it when faced with the threat of collateral damage..."

He turned around to look at Konan. He remained emotionless, but Konan had known him long enough to recognize the triumphant look in his eye, an idea taking shape.

"Especially if it threatens his fellow villagers..."

–

Tsunade was giving both Naruto and Ino a harsh glare as the two stood in front of her desk alongside Jiraiya, who was looking a bit exasperated, mostly because Naruto was looking as impudent and defiant as ever.