"Naruto," Hiruzen called out before I could teleport out of his office. "Itachi..."
"Yeah, yeah, I remember," I nodded to the old man, confirming I wouldn't kill the red-eyed prick, since he was technically Konoha's spy.
My body vanished in a flash, reappearing on a green clearing by a small lake. Four bodies immediately came into view. Two in the distance: Guy was fighting with nunchaku against a hulking, blue-faced Akatsuki shinobi, who in turn was fending him off with a massive, bandage-wrapped pole of a weapon.
The third body was Kakashi, who could barely stay on his feet in front of the last one: a guy also in an Akatsuki cloak, with black hair, lines across his face, and an activated Mangekyo Sharingan.
That last one's eyes met mine.
"Lost?" I asked with dripping contempt, and then amusement flickered in my eyes when the Uchiha tried to cast a genjutsu on me. Unsuccessfully.
I wanted so badly to say: "Genjutsu at that level doesn't work on me." But unfortunately, that would've closed off a convenient escape route for Itachi. And I needed to leave that door open for him.
"Naruto..." Hatake rasped. "They're Akatsuki. And they came for you."
"Really?" I raised an eyebrow at the Uchiha, then at Guy and Kisame going at it off to the side. "Doesn't matter, either way. I'll handle everything. Get some rest."
At my words, Kakashi... just dropped. Apparently, Itachi had used Tsukuyomi on him just recently, his Mangekyo's illusion, which had most likely kept Hatake's mind trapped for days in genjutsu, torturing him. That was why my "sensei" was so completely wrecked.
Rather than continuing to toy with the Uchiha, I blurred toward the other Akatsuki member: Kisame. At speed, my fist slammed hard into the blue-skinned man's ribs, and my knuckles immediately felt the bones cracking beneath them. In the same motion, twisting, I grabbed the handle of Hoshigaki's blade with my other hand.
The whole thing took less than a second.
Boom! The air exploded from breaking the sound barrier as I stopped dead, while Kisame went tumbling across the clearing.
"Naruto!" Spotting my presence, Guy nearly clocked me in the head with his nunchaku.
"The one and only," I replied, then frowned and looked down.
The bandaged sword had bristled with spines angling toward the handle, swelling up. This wasn't just a weapon; it was a living creature. And it didn't appreciate being taken from its master, immediately trying to extend spikes from the hilt. They pressed against skin covered in Sage Chakra and went absolutely nowhere.
My hand clenched harder, forcing the sword to writhe.
"Know your place..." Bloodlust pressure rolled off me in waves, and from my hand flowed chakra saturated with hatred. The creature instinctively absorbed it and practically sizzled in pain as its entire body was corroded from the inside out. "Hmph. Parasites these days..."
I cut off the chakra flow and gave a satisfied grunt as the sword stopped writhing and simply trembled in fear.
Meanwhile, Guy gave me a stern nod and turned toward Itachi. His expression darkened considerably when he fully registered that Kakashi was out of commission.
"If I were you, I'd run," I said, turning my head toward the Uchiha. A hint, along with it.
And he caught it.
Caw! Caw! Caw!
Without gracing us with a single word, Itachi's body dissolved into several crows that scattered in every direction with a chorus of cawing.
"He abandoned his partner?!" Guy blinked in disbelief.
"Gone," I confirmed.
Genjutsu still didn't work on me, and I had seen how Itachi had fled a moment ago, leaving a clone in his place. But the illusion was enough that Guy never noticed the switch.
We both turned to Kisame, before he could run too.
But running wasn't exactly simple for Hoshigaki at this point...
The swordsman without a sword, barely hauling himself to his feet, hunched over and spat a clot of blood from his mouth.
The ribs I'd broken had punctured a lung.
"I've been seeing a lot of people puking blood lately," I remarked with all the emotional investment of someone reading a weather forecast. "Everyone around me is so fragile."
Kisame's lips pulled back in a smile, revealing shark-like teeth. Not at my joke. His eyes were looking through me, toward the spot where the Uchiha had been standing.
"Itachi-san..." Hoshigaki sputtered, hunching over. Then his eyes refocused on my impassive face. "It... comes so suddenly. So... ingloriously. Just..."
Mid-sentence, Kisame's hand snapped into a pouch inside his cloak and yanked out a hidden kunai. All so he could immediately drive it into his own gut!
But...
"You're too slow, too," I said flatly, already standing right in front of him, having stepped out of a spatial displacement in the span of a blink and caught Kisame's wrist through the cloak.
From my palm, black fuinjutsu lines spread immediately, binding the soon-to-be prisoner in place.
Once that was done, I tossed the swordsman's body to Guy.
"Take him in. I'll deal with Kakashi."
Catching the load, Maito shot a worried glance back at his "rival," still lying crumpled on the ground.
"Can you heal him, Uzumaki-san?"
"I'll do what I can."
After Guy hauled Hoshigaki off, I sealed the sword, and my threads lifted Hatake's body.
"Didn't think I'd be putting the new techniques to use this soon..." My eyes lit up as the Mangekyo pattern surfaced in them.
The threads gently lifted the unconscious patient's eyelids, giving me a direct channel to his mind through his eyes.
From there, using my own developed methods along with abilities I'd observed in Sasuke's and Shisui's eyes, I gained fairly deep control over the mind of my test subj... that is, Kakashi. I began erasing the memories of the torture, the days upon days of being stabbed with a blade. Then, pressing my hand to his head, I used a medical technique to physically saturate his brain with vital energy and kick-start accelerated restoration processes. He'd be completely fine within a few dozen minutes.
Slinging Kakashi over my shoulder, I teleported to the hospital and dropped him off there.
Beyond the healing and the memory wipe, I'd been able to sort of "ask questions" of Hatake's brain and get answers about how this whole situation had come together in the first place. Turns out, Kakashi had spotted Itachi and Kisame infiltrating the Leaf from the very moment they entered. He'd decided to tail them. However... along came Guy, who, already having noticed his "rival" doing some stealthy tailing, decided, as was customary for those two, to "compete" and started tailing the two Akatsuki as well. Then Maito got spotted. A fight broke out. After that, an ANBU stationed at the sensor array came bursting into the Hokage's residence, having detected the skirmish and reported who exactly was fighting whom.
Which was what Hiruzen and I discussed after yours truly delivered the "sensei." Back in the Hokage's residence, I noticed I'd been hauling a lot of people down to Konoha's cells lately. Zabuza and Haku, Orochimaru, and now Kisame on top of them. The old man, for his part, launched into a full-throated hymn of praise: oh, two whole S-rank ninja had infiltrated the village! The kind that two other S-rank ninja couldn't handle right away, and yet one very humble blond showed up and sorted the whole thing out in a matter of minutes. After which, Hiruzen decided to deliver an entire lecture on the importance of understanding one's own power and the consequences that could follow from its use. All material I was completely familiar with, so five minutes in, I made my exit, citing urgent business.
This urgent business was, naturally, a snack run at my favorite pastry shop. I kicked back after a job well done and thoroughly indulged my gluttony.
Meanwhile, the Hokage had work to do. A lot of it. The Sand shinobi situation alone required no small amount of diplomacy and headache to spin everything in a way that favored the Leaf.
Gaara and the late Kazekage's children were interrogated, and what came out confirmed it: they genuinely believed they'd been acting on their father's orders. The Kazekage himself had apparently been going back and forth on whether to actually go through with the alliance with Orochimaru against Konoha... And deliberated right up until he couldn't anymore, apparently. A Konoha delegation found his body out in the sands. That revelation only made it more transparent that the Sand shinobi had been played, and they looked utterly gutted by it.
In practical terms, things with Sand were already heading toward the plan Hiruzen had mapped out. Future peace, alliance, the whole package. But since this was politics, the Hokage would be fielding Suna's ambassadors for a long time yet, working through every petty little detail. Hard to envy the old man.
As for me, after my snack I teleported to the rock with the Hokage faces and settled at the edge of the cliff, dangling my legs over the drop. Below, a view unfolded across Konoha's layered greenery and buildings of varying heights. An excellent spot for philosophical musings, which started rolling in right around lunchtime.
My position, how I perceive myself and how others perceive me from the outside, is shifting. I'm not blind to that.
Once just an ordinary person, I've arrived at a point where the entire world has to factor in my reaction before taking almost any large-scale action. Anything touching the Leaf, certainly. The world of spies is full of spies, and word of my capabilities will spread fast. And this... can bring both complications and advantages. The world is much more willing to bend the knee to someone comparable to a god...
And there's a deep satisfaction in that. But... as a human in my past life, as always, it's never quite enough.
Evolution and selection are inseparable. The ones who survive are the ones who are stronger. The ones with no ceiling on their hunger! Their drive to live! My road isn't finished. I've covered considerable ground, yes, but there's farther still to go. Loneliness doesn't chain my heart, because I know how to fight it. Mortality won't condemn my spirit to death, because I have things that bring me joy.
Keep moving. If only for the simple ability to live. Because the enemies really will come...
"Ha, better not jinx it," I thought, and right then my eyes caught a flock of crows beginning to gather into a large formation. Cawing, of course. "Crows are supposed to be omens of doom, aren't they? No sign of Itachi nearby. But... I don't put stock in omens. Shifts in barometric pressure signaling rain, though, and birds changing their behavior because of it? That I'll believe."
Bringing it back to enemies, "soon" is a flexible word. The Otsutsuki, for instance; I've still got a couple of decades before they show up, if I'm remembering right.
My rest was over. Time to get to what I'd been putting off. I need to get stronger.
And I have a modest little to-do list for the near future.
Orochimaru's Cursed Seal... I saw its potential the moment I laid eyes on it. Now that I understand the nature of Hashirama's Sage Chakra, that potential has grown even further. And from this comes a logical idea: study the Sage Chakra of Snakes and Slugs as well, for the full set. After that, I'll need to combine my knowledge again and create a second stage of physical enhancement. Step forward once more and become something even greater.
Beyond that, immortality... I understand that I can give my loved ones an immortal body. But their souls will still age... Exactly how soon is unclear; the data's too thin. The Otsutsuki live for millennia, and I have solid evidence that this soul-aging is, to some degree, tied to the physical vessel. But there's still not enough data! And I don't want to shelve this indefinitely. What if I can't figure it out and simply run out of time... I think it would hurt me deeply to watch the inevitable fading of Hinata or Sakura. So I shouldn't put off the search for a solution.
To summarize. Start with what can be done faster: visit the Snakes. I can swipe the summoning scroll for the Ryuchi Cave from Orochimaru. After that, I need to find a certain alcoholic and use her help to visit the Shikkotsu Forest. The Slugs, in other words. Then I need to launch a series of experiments with souls; the material isn't a problem, thankfully. And in parallel, keep developing the second stage of the physical enhancement.
Rising to my feet, I gave Konoha a smirk.
"Time to get to work." My lips curved into a smile, and my body vanished in a flash of teleportation.
Interlude: Sarutobi Hiruzen
The Hokage exhaled with a sigh and closed the folder, setting it aside.
It was the evening of the day after the attack on Konoha, and only now had all the necessary paperwork been cleared away and affairs brought to an ordered, predictable flow.
"For the next... day or so, Sand is handled," the old man noted inwardly with a creak, then swept the room with his gaze.
In the spacious office, behind a massive desk buried under mountains of documents, sat not only the ruler of the village, but also two advisors: Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura.
Sarutobi, no fool, had decided not to drown in the work alone and put his former teammates to use as well. The work wasn't strictly within their usual purview, but they were trusted people.
Surveying his companions, Hiruzen's thoughts drifted toward trust, relationships within the village, and, as a consequence, toward the question that had exploded across everything with deafening noise: a certain blond and the coexistence of Konoha's elite alongside him.
There were certainly other pressing issues, like the Sand situation. But the Uzumaki question was no quieter.
It had become apparent that Naruto had cemented himself as a central figure in the village. In all likelihood, a future Hokage; his ideology about world conquest and tyranny hadn't been widely advertised... But given his power, comparable to Hashirama's, everyone understood that the era of this particular man might simply never end. Not that the heirs of Hashirama's creation would have objected to that the least. Even if he genuinely wanted to conquer the world... Well, the situation would've been strange in its own right, because as long as he remained so young, even accounting for Naruto's strength, everyone would simply start looking toward Hiruzen, since he was still his guardian and had significant influence over him. And since the Third was widely respected, the expectation that his ward would pull something truly critical for Konoha and the world was considered unlikely.
Oh, how little they... But those were matters for a future no one could yet see, not even Hiruzen.
In any case, certain attitudes toward him had already been formed, and couldn't be said to have changed much at this point. Consistent, once again. And the picture was as follows: the Ino-Shika-Cho alliance was neutral; they had no conflicts with Uzumaki, and there were no grievances between them. With the strongest clan, the Hyuga, everything pointed toward Uzumaki simply marrying into them, and whatever opposition existed there was in the minority and consisted mostly of elders. The Inuzuka, another important clan, had similarly found no cause for conflict with Uzumaki, leaving their position much the same as Ino-Shika-Cho.
Regarding Naruto's actions and ambitions, he had earned enormous respect for his valor... as well as fierce disapproval for refusing to finish the Sand matter. But the latter came from only a handful of particularly sharp jonin on the council. Plus some grumbling from certain members of the old guard. Which was aimed more at Hiruzen than the blond, really, telling him to keep both eyes on the boy.
But continuing on the subject of alliances. Hiruzen himself had for years been considered to belong to the same camp, as had the advisor Koharu. By this point, the second advisor Homura, reading which way the wind was blowing, being a practical man and possessing a certain trust, mostly in Koharu rather than Hiruzen, but trust nonetheless, had also gradually drifted from neutral into that same camp.
Mitokado had a far harder temperament than Hiruzen, but his reasoning was sound: if Koharu, far more temperamentally similar to himself, had found her footing with someone who turned out to be monstrously powerful and extended him genuine trust rather than actively developing plans for his removal, then the second advisor could do the same. Their shared cause was ultimately one: the good of Konoha.
But there was one small, easy-to-miss blot on this picture.
"So, what do we do about the Danzo threat?" asked the gray-haired old man with the perpetually grim face. He had a matching gray beard and oval spectacles. This was Homura. "We still haven't been able to find him."
After a thorough reading of Orochimaru's memories, it had become clear that Danzo was still active, even if his situation was bad... But he still had resources, and that was precisely the sort of figure who could move against Naruto.
"A dangerous, uncontrolled variable," as a certain someone would have described him. Danzo was too rigid to consider bonds and trust sufficient, recognizing only absolute loyalty. That was the fundamental difference between him and Hiruzen, and even between him and the other advisors.
"Have either of you come up with something better than rotating ANBU squads?" Koharu asked the two of them.
"The cost will be significant," Homura sighed.
"It's worth it," Hiruzen echoed the gesture. "The threat may not come from Danzo alone. Your proposal works, Koharu-san."
The Hokage agreed, addressing his colleague with respect. To himself, he still called her "Koharu-chan," and in years past, he had occasionally let it slip. But after she took up the position of advisor, he had to endure a severe ordeal, followed by a long period of recovery for his back, and the old man had learned to show more respect.
Returning to the topic at hand:
"Three operatives per person, isn't that excessive?"
Hiruzen, having learned about Danzo, was troubled by the possibility that he might harm Naruto. If not directly, then through the people close to him. And from there had come the thought that Danzo wasn't the only one who might think along those lines. Koharu's proposal was around-the-clock ANBU protection for everyone important to Uzumaki. Not literally everyone, of course. Sakura's parents, the Uzumaki couple, and basically that was it. The Hyuga needed no such arrangements. But even so, the level of protection she was proposing was extraordinarily high; even the Daimyo's own immediate family didn't have this. Because the ANBU in question were to be drawn from no lower than special jonin rank.
"Just right," Hiruzen confirmed.
"When we make this decision, we need to be clear about what we're actually doing," Koharu observed, her eyes narrowing. "We are not primarily protecting this boy's loved ones. We are protecting this world from Uzumaki."
A synchronized sigh escaped the two old men. That argument was the one that closed the discussion. The framework had been drafted today; the Hokage would sign the paperwork tomorrow. But that still wasn't everything...
"Orochimaru," Mitokado raised the next topic. "What have you decided, Hiruzen?"
A pained expression crossed the old man's face.
"I don't want to... I can't have him killed."
The other two moved to interrupt, but the Hokage stopped them.
"Because there's another way. We give him to Naruto. Only he can contain him... and put him to use for the benefit of the world."
"You do understand who you're wanting to hand him over to?" Homura asked uncertainly.
"Konoha was attacked not only by Sand's shinobi but by Sound's as well. And no one can find them."
Koharu's support was cold and to the point. Neither of the two advisors was actually opposed to this solution. But only because, in their estimation, Orochimaru's fate under those terms might not differ meaningfully from death.
"I will ask him not to kill Orochimaru. And I believe in his mercy."
To that, the advisors could only offer a collective "uh-huh" and go along with it. In their view, if Hiruzen's excessive trust in Uzumaki were to lead to negative consequences, those would fall on Orochimaru alone. It didn't concern the village, so let it be.
With that, all the major matters of the village had been resolved. What remained were details and the long, monotonous grind of the state apparatus, and the Hokage in particular.
Though beyond them, other parties too had their own views on the events that had touched the world stage.
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