[Three Hours Earlier]
At two o'clock in the morning, when all was silent, members of the Akatsuki stood before two great shinobi villages.
They had split into two teams.
The first team, Pain and Konan, was heading to Kumogakure to capture the Eight-Tails jinchūriki, Killer Bee.
The second team, Uchiha Itachi and Kisame, was heading to Konoha to capture the Nine-Tails jinchūriki, Uzumaki Naruto.
With Tsunade's return and Kakashi's Mangekyō awakening, while the Fourth Raikage A was still in a coma, overall, Konoha's combat strength was greater than Kumogakure's.
Pain had originally planned to go to Konoha himself, but the usually easygoing Uchiha Itachi had, for once, voiced an objection. He gave one reason, "I know every defensive layout in Konoha. If I go, I can take the Nine-Tails jinchūriki without alerting anyone."
To Pain, that wasn't much of a reason.
Defensive layout?
With one Super Shinra Tensei, there wasn't a single defense in existence that could stop him.
But Pain thought of Itachi's current mental state.
Ever since receiving a secret letter days ago, learning that Tsunade had refused his request to return to Konoha, Itachi's condition had been unstable.
Capturing the Eight-Tails and Nine-Tails before the war was merely to strengthen Akatsuki's forces.
But compared to those two beasts, Itachi's role in the coming war was far more important.
So even though Pain thought of many reasons to refuse, in the end, he said nothing. He simply nodded and wished Itachi's team success.
———
Uchiha Itachi stood on the streets of Konoha, gazing at the home he knew so well.
He had walked every street here.
Up ahead was a takoyaki stand with pretty good flavor.
Two blocks away was a cake shop, he had once bought Sasuke's birthday cake there.
Back then, Sasuke wasn't even tall enough to see over the counter. He had to stand on tiptoe but still couldn't see the cakes, so he grabbed Itachi's leg with both hands and begged his brother to lift him up…
"Itachi-san, are you reminiscing?" Kisame asked.
"Yes."
Itachi didn't deny it.
Kisame shrugged. "Lucky you, to have good memories. Whenever I think of Kirigakure, all I can recall are things that aren't very pleasant."
"Lucky…"
Itachi mulled over that word but couldn't think of a proper response. In the end, he just shook his head and followed a precise path, heading deeper into the village.
They moved slowly, sometimes pausing, sometimes doubling back, seemingly aimless but deliberately avoiding every patrol, both visible and hidden.
After about twenty minutes, Itachi knocked out the ANBU ninja assigned to watch Naruto, then entered the boy's room.
Naruto suddenly woke up, pulling a kunai from under his pillow.
The moment he saw the Akatsuki cloaks, orange-red chakra flared across his skin, the Nine-Tails Chakra Mode activating instantly.
Because he had awakened the Nine-Tails' power early during the Cloud Village raid, Naruto was no longer the underachiever he'd been in the original story.
He had trained to control the Nine-Tails' chakra, learned the Rasengan, and during the chaotic "April of the Land of Water," he had even joined battles under Jiraiya's command.
Seeing Naruto forming hand signs, Kisame chuckled. "You're not seriously thinking of fighting us, are you?"
Forget one layer of flimsy tailed-beast chakra, even full transformation couldn't stop him; he'd already captured several such beasts himself. Shaking his head, he decided to end the fight quickly.
"Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
With a rapid series of poof, poof, poof sounds, Naruto's duplicates multiplied within the room at lightning speed. In less than half a second, the space was packed tight, squeezing Kisame and Itachi from all sides.
Crash!
Glass shattered. A flood of clones spilled out the window, the real Naruto hidden among them.
He landed lightly on the ground, grinning in relief.
"Got it!"
But before the word finished leaving his mouth, the ground beneath his feet shifted. The stone tiles quickly turned into skin, the patterns of the earth morphing into palm lines. The surrounding buildings and power poles transformed into giant fingers.
Naruto snapped his head upward, a Mangekyō Sharingan hung in the night sky, staring down coldly at him,
"Brat! Wake up!"
The Nine-Tails' chakra erupted violently within him, disrupting his chakra flow and snapping him out of the illusion.
But it was already too late.
Naruto was still in his bedroom, hadn't even left his bed, still clutching the kunai from under his pillow.
Itachi's hand was already touching Naruto's forehead, two fingers gently pressed between his brows.
"Sleep. When you wake up, everything will be over."
Bang!
Naruto fell heavily back onto the bed, unconscious.
"Mission complete."
Kisame walked over, hoisting Naruto onto his shoulder. "Do we head back the same way?" he asked.
Itachi was silent for a moment. He stood by the window, looking toward the distant Hokage Tower.
From this angle, he could see that the lights inside were still on.
It was the final stage of wartime preparation, Tsunade was most likely still working.
"I have something to take care of," Itachi said at last.
He added quietly, "Personal business."
"I must kill Tsunade. Only by killing her can I stop Konoha from joining this war that will engulf the entire shinobi world."
"If Konoha stays out, then after all the great nations and villages suffer heavy casualties, the one that preserves its strength, Konoha, will naturally become the strongest. It will once again hold power over the world's balance."
"And I… will be able to return to Konoha."
"You can go back first," Itachi said.
Kisame gave a small laugh. "Aren't we teammates? Since when do teammates leave each other behind?"
"Besides, if I go back alone and accidentally trigger Konoha's alarms, that'll probably mess up your plan, won't it?"
Itachi gave Kisame a long look. After a moment, he nodded slightly.
The two left Naruto's house, scanned the area, and found a tall building.
The night was clear and bright, the moon high and sharp. From his robes, Itachi drew out a special telescope and peered toward the Hokage's office.
Inside, Tsunade was holding a stack of documents, frowning deeply in thought.
Adjusting the focus, Itachi locked the view on her, then closed his eyes. The three tomoe spun rapidly, dark blood dripping from his tightly shut eyelids until, at last, "Amaterasu!"
Black flames erupted.
But what burned wasn't Tsunade a kilometer away.
It was a kunai, flying straight toward him.
The kunai sliced through the night sky, striking the telescope dead-on, blocking Itachi's line of sight. It didn't stop there, it kept flying inward, aimed directly for his eye.
Itachi turned his head just in time, but not fast enough; a shard from the shattered telescope glass cut his cheek, drawing a thin line of blood.
The kunai, now wrapped in black flame, clattered onto the rooftop. The fire spread slowly, crackling faintly as it burned.
Itachi looked toward the direction the kunai had come from.
From the shadows, the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, stepped out. He glanced down at the broken telescope, then at Naruto slung over Kisame's shoulder. His face revealed no emotion, only a quiet sigh.
"Itachi, your vision has grown narrow."