Namikaze legend

Chapter 51: The Demon in the Shadows

(Few Days Later)

Naruto casually walked through his room after a hot shower, as he walked towards his bed he noticed his entire gear being properly placed on its warm sheets. It was still hard for him to believe that he was nearing towards the end.

He had worked all this time for the creation of the empire and now it was finally going to become a reality.

The young Namikaze idly wondered how things could have turned out differently if he had saved his friend at Shuri Castle, would he still be willing to create the empire? Would he still be willing to go this far?

There was no doubt in his mind that if Armin had survived then all of this would have turned out differently. Armin was his hero, his best friend...

His Brother...

He carefully put on his dark black t-shirt followed by his light blue pants. Naruto gently placed his sword on his back and quickly hid the weapon by wearing his Akatsuki cloak over his entire body.

Picking up the black colored face mask from his bed brought a lot of memories back into his mind. He still remembered the day when Shisui had handed him this gift which went on to become an invaluable part of him. This simple mask was the only shield that prevented people from seeing his pain, his guilt.

And he intended to take it with him in his final battle.

While picking up the rest of his weapons, he also noticed his family photograph lying idly on his bed. Naruto quickly picked it up and placed it inside his pocket, he couldn't afford to lose focus now. He had to be absolutely sure...there was no going back now.

After all this was for Armin's dream, and he would gladly die for it.

His eyes shifted towards his chess board, various pieces had been arranged in front of each other...everything looked in place, but the unique thing was that both the kings were standing in front of each other.

One move would determine the fate of the game...as well as the fate of their world.

Many pieces had been sacrificed till now, too many people had died in order to give this opportunity. But before that he still needed to do a few things...

A curt knock on his door brought him out of his thoughts, as he recognized the person's chakra.

"Come in"

Right after the command, Kushina walked in his room. She was dressed in her full combat gear, and was looking at him expectantly.

"Naruto, as you predicted Akatsuki is making its move. Pein has gone somewhere along with Zetsu..." said Kushina worriedly,

"What about the others members? And Madara?" asked Naruto curiously, this was certainly according to his plan.

"All of them are in the base, but I think Orochimaru is not in the base...his chakra is very small in comparison to his original capacity. I can feel it..." stated Kushina confidently,

"A shadow clone...I see. Kushina, did you gather all the evidence which I asked for?" asked Naruto peacefully, and she was a little intrigued by the amount of calmness in his behavior.

"Yes, here are all the photographs of all the members of the Akatsuki. I was also able to take a video of our meeting a few days back...it can definitely prove that the Akatsuki are after the Jinchuuriki and want to build some super weapon. Only Madara is not in these evidence...he has evaded all the traps which I had set to capture evidence, he's just too smart" said Kushina bitterly, as Naruto gave a small nod.

"It's not a surprise, he has been successful in evading capture for all these years. Don't worry, I've already taken steps to prove your innocence...I was not able to keep my promise to Armin and Kotetsu, but I will keep my promise which I made to you" promised Naruto faithfully,