The sudden collapse of the barrier stunned the two figures alongside Yugi. Just as she prepared to attack again without hesitation, another red-hued barrier quickly sealed the fortress.
"Damn Konoha. All they know is how to hide in their turtle shell," she growled, frustrated.
With a low curse, Yugi exited Tailed Beast Mode. Landing atop a tree, she panted lightly. Her fair skin was now flushed with an unnatural crimson—a clear sign of the strain from maintaining her transformation.
Like Shisui, she was still young and hadn't yet mastered her full strength. Controlling the power of the Two-Tails, Matatabi, wasn't second nature yet. If she had already mastered the Tailed Beast Bomb, this kind of barrier would've fallen in two shots—three at most.
She cast one last bitter glance at the now-transparent barrier, then turned and left with her team of Kumogakure Jonin, heading toward the border outpost of the Land of Fire.
Once they had withdrawn, Shisui ordered a Hyuga ninja to confirm their retreat. Then he gathered the remaining Konoha forces and departed from the fortress, moving quickly to regroup with the main army.
"We must inform Lord Orochimaru immediately."
…
"Lord Orochimaru, we've received word from Kakashi's team," the ninja reported. "They encountered an unknown enemy. Three members of the barrier squad were killed, one seriously injured. They failed to activate the fortress's defense."
Orochimaru paused for a moment as he was laying down a barrier array. He frowned slightly. "Unknown enemy? It wasn't Kumogakure?"
Fugaku nodded grimly. "Apparently not. According to the report, the enemy used some kind of strange space-time ninjutsu. They never even saw his face."
"Send them to me directly once they return," Orochimaru said. His tone was calm, but his eyes narrowed with interest before he turned back to his work.
When Kakashi's squad failed to report at the scheduled time, Orochimaru had already suspected their failure. Fortunately, the direct confrontation with Kumogakure had played into their hands. The decoy fortress had proven surprisingly effective—perhaps Kumogakure had retreated once they realized they'd been deceived again.
That gave Konoha just enough time to complete the setup of the new barrier. Despite the unexpected variables, the strategic goal had been achieved.
With the blueprint of the previous decoy fortress still intact, the construction of the real barrier went smoothly. If all continued as planned, the final setup would be done before dawn.
Of course, much of the credit went to Orochimaru himself. As a master of barrier techniques, his personal involvement accelerated the process. If it had been left solely to the barrier unit, who knew how long it might have taken?
"Still... what a shame," Orochimaru muttered, licking his lips with a tinge of regret.
In truth, he had hoped Kumogakure would keep pressing the attack. While it would've meant heavy casualties, it also would've sped up the war significantly.
Orochimaru had always preferred slicing through flesh in a lab to commanding soldiers on a battlefield. The intricacies of scientific research fascinated him far more than war strategy.
"Looks like you could use a little help," a voice echoed suddenly in his mind.
His hands jerked instinctively, and the formation node he had just finished nearly collapsed. His expression shifted ever so slightly.
Fugaku, who hadn't yet left the room, caught the change and frowned. "Lord Orochimaru, is something wrong?"
Orochimaru shot him a cold glance but offered no reply. Seeing that, Fugaku could only withdraw with a puzzled expression, returning to his duties within the fortress.
"Djinn, when did you wake up?"
A puff of smoke rose behind Orochimaru, gradually forming a vaguely humanoid figure with a wide grin.
"Last night, just before you used the 'Yamata no Orochi' technique," the Djinn replied cheerfully. "You were busy, so I figured I wouldn't interrupt."
Orochimaru's expression soured. It felt like the Djinn had once again leeched off his forbidden techniques for free.
"Don't be so stingy. I'm here to help, after all," the Djinn chuckled. "Even though Konoha currently holds the upper hand, Kumogakure isn't the only threat. A certain someone has joined the battlefield—someone quite troublesome. If the war doesn't end soon, that person might ruin your plans."
"A troublesome individual?" Orochimaru frowned, recalling the strange report Kakashi delivered—an enemy with space-time ninjutsu whose face no one had even seen.
"That's right," the Djinn said, nodding. "It's him. The mastermind behind the Nine-Tails Rebellion. Uchiha Obito—the one who awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan."
"Obito Uchiha?" Orochimaru let out a small, intrigued sound. He knew the name.
Back when he was competing with Minato for the Hokage position, he'd dug deep into Minato's past. If memory served, Obito had been Minato's student—just like Kakashi.
Which meant Minato's own pupil had orchestrated the Nine-Tails attack, murdered his master and his master's wife, and was now meddling in the war against the village.
Even Orochimaru found the logic twisted beyond comprehension.
Seeing Orochimaru's thoughtful silence, the Djinn shrugged. "It's the Uchiha. Their brains aren't exactly... stable. They act one way in normal life, then flip completely during an episode. It's not worth overthinking."
Orochimaru nodded slightly. Human nature had never followed fixed formulas. He didn't need to understand Obito's motives—only that he was now an enemy.
Besides, the Djinn's words aligned with his own long-standing hypothesis: the Sharingan was an incomplete bloodline limit. To maintain its power, it demanded a cost—and the Mangekyō even more so.
Perhaps the infamous emotional volatility of the Uchiha clan was, in fact, a kind of hereditary mental illness.
He shared the theory with the Djinn. Though the spirit had no research background, his knowledge of the world was vast and often insightful.
"A bloodline disorder... You really are ahead of your time," the Djinn mused, stroking his chin.
In the world he came from, mental illness wasn't studied much. He was surprised Orochimaru had connected the dots.
"But here's something interesting," the Djinn added. "Kakashi also has a Sharingan, and he's not an Uchiha. That means the cost to him should be even greater than normal."
"If we observe how his body and psyche have changed since receiving it, we might discover something new…"
He trailed off for a moment.
Uchiha gained strength through emotion—hatred, love, rage. But what if the Sharingan, in turn, amplified those emotions? Maybe someone who hated would become more hateful, a lover more attached—a feedback loop where the eye fed the feelings, and the feelings fed the eye.
If that was true, it was no wonder so many Uchiha spiraled into obsession or madness.
But Kakashi was different. He didn't have Uchiha blood and couldn't even deactivate the Sharingan. It was always on, always draining him.
And yet… human emotions were fleeting. Even hatred or love, no matter how deep, couldn't burn forever.
So how had Kakashi maintained it for so long?
Then the Djinn remembered a book—"Make-Out Paradise"—written by Jiraiya, a best-seller across the shinobi world.
"It actually makes sense," the Djinn said, suddenly animated. "He's a young man, and that book… well, if nothing else, it keeps him stimulated."
He laughed. "I used to think he clung to it out of depression, to distract himself from a cursed fate. But maybe it's because when he reads it, the strain from the Sharingan lessens. It becomes easier for him to endure."
After a moment of silence, Orochimaru responded, his voice laced with dry amusement.
"Djinn… your mind really does work on a completely different level."
________
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