Kakashi felt the cold dread solidify in his gut. "Collect the Tailed Beasts?" He sucked a sharp breath through his teeth, the words tasting like absurd, dangerous insanity. "Yuto… do you have any idea what you're even saying?!"
A faint, almost bored smile played on Yuto's lips. "It's you who don't understand the situation, Kakashi-sensei." He shook his head lightly, as if explaining something simple to a stubborn child. "Just put Naruto down. Gently. And then you can walk away."
"Not a chance." Kakashi's voice was flat, final. His grip on the unconscious Naruto tightened. "Whatever scheme you're—"
Thwip.
A line of fire seared across Kakashi's vision. He didn't see the blade move; he just felt the burn and threw himself sideways on pure battle-honed instinct. A spray of his own blood arced through the air, spattering the grass.
"Huff… huff…" Kakashi landed hard on one knee, his arms now slashed and bleeding. He stared, wide-eyed, at the boy.
"My, my. You dodged at the very last second." Yuto flicked his wrist, casually shaking the blood from his blade. His expression didn't change. "That scrap with the Cloud ninja must have sharpened your instincts. I'm… mildly impressed."
He took a relaxed step forward. "I'd really prefer it if you weren't so stubborn. Rolling over an ant without crushing it…" Yuto's smile was chillingly placid. "…that's a surprisingly difficult level of control to maintain."
'A monster.' The thought was crystal clear in Kakashi's mind. This wasn't a rogue ninja; this was a force of nature wearing a familiar face. He was completely outmatched. One wrong move, one second of hesitation, and it was over.
'This is bad. Really bad.'
Swallowing hard, Kakashi's good hand subtly crept into his robes, fingers closing around a cold cylinder.
—
*Mist Envoy, Guest Hall*
Yagura, the Fourth Mizukage, sat stiffly on the tatami, the low table before him doing little to ease the tension in the room.
"Lord Mizukage," Mei Terumī murmured from her place at his side, her brow furrowed. "The Leaf village is in an uproar. Are you certain we shouldn't… act?"
"Be still, Mei." Yagura didn't look at her, his gaze fixed on the far wall. "Picking a side is… unwise. This isn't our fight. We wait for it to blow over."
"Won't that in itself make us look suspicious?"
"Let them be suspicious! Our conscience is clear—"
BOOM!
The heavy door to the chamber splintered and exploded inward, cutting him off. The sound of screaming Mist ninja guards echoed from the hallway below.
Yagura shot to his feet. "What is the meaning of this?!"
"L-Lord Mizukage! They're—!"
"No need for announcements!" a voice thundered.
The Fourth Raikage, A, burst into the room, his massive frame radiating fury. Right on his heels were Hiruzen Sarutobi, Ōnoki of the Stone, and the smirking Orochimaru.
"The Fourth Raikage?" Yagura's eyes narrowed, his composure cracking. "What is this?"
"Still playing the innocent?" A snarled, driving his fist through the low table and sending splinters flying. "Hand over our village's Jinchūriki and Tailed Beast, you bastard!"
"Trying to play the fisherman who reaps the reward, Mizukage? That was a greedy move, even for you," Ōnoki added, floating just behind A's shoulder, his voice like grinding stone.
"This was your plot, Yagura," Hiruzen stated, his tone cold and final. There was no question in it.
"???" Yagura could only blink, his mouth opening and closing soundlessly for a moment. "What in the world are you all talking about?"
His Tailed Beast was a curse he desperately wanted to be rid of. Why would he snatch another?
"Denying it?" A roared, getting right in Yagura's face. "Is Hōzuki Mangetsu not one of your Kirigakure ninja?"
"And Fuguki Suikazan," Ōnoki chimed in, his eyes sharp.
"Hōzuki Mangetsu? Suikazan? They're dead! They've been dead for years!" Yagura shot back, his confusion giving way to anger.
"And yet, they seem to have come back to life" the Kazekage (Orochimaru) purred, a sly, smile on his lips. "And in the process, they made off with the most valuable assets of both Kumo and Iwa. Explain that, Lord Mizukage."
"That's impossible! The dead don't just—"
"Ah, but I do know of a way," Rasa (Orochimaru) interrupted smoothly. "It requires little more than the corpse of the deceased. To think a shinobi of your village has mastered the Second Hokage's forbidden art... tsk tsk."
"This is a false accusation!" Mei Terumī stepped forward, her voice fierce. "Our entire delegation has been right here in this hall all day! Every one of us! How can you possibly claim we orchestrated this?"
That gave the other Kage a moment's pause. She had a point. Basing this entire crisis on the identities of two dead men was flimsy. Was the culprit someone else entirely?
FWOOSH!
As the silent tension stretched, a brilliant flare shot into the sky over the Hokage Monument, exploding in a shower of red light.
—
Thwip.
Kakashi grunted as another kunai found its mark, this time in his shoulder. His arms hung uselessly at his sides. He had no choice; he let Naruto slump to the ground.
A boy with pale eyes and a Konoha headband walked past him—Neji Hyūga. Without a word, Neji dragged Naruto onto a stone platform behind them, the action deliberate and unhurried. As Neji's right hand began to glow with a faint blue light, visible tendrils of red, malevolent chakra began to seep out of Naruto.
"How careless of me. I didn't account for you having a signal flare." Yuto's tone was light, almost amused, completely at odds with the scene. He didn't sound concerned in the slightest.
"Hayashi Yuto!" Kakashi ground out through the pain. "What is this really about? What do you want?"
"Exactly what I said. To gather the nine Tailed Beasts. To give them their freedom," Yuto replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Freedom?" Kakashi was baffled. It sounded like the naive idealism of a child, but delivered with the coldness of a executioner.
"Why should they be nothing more than weapons? Caged and used by humans?" Yuto's lip curved. "Seems a bit cruel, doesn't it, sensei?"
"And this isn't cruel?!" Kakashi's voice was raw, his eyes fixed on Naruto's pained, unconscious form. "You're killing him! Do you know what happens when you extract a Tailed Beast from it's Jinchūriki?!"
"It's a necessary cost," Yuto said, his smile never wavering. "True liberation always requires sacrifice."
"You're insane!" Kakashi roared, straining against his injuries.
"Sasuke," Yuto said, his voice dropping its casual tone. "He's yours."
Shing.
Sasuke drew a sword from his back. His eyes held no hesitation, only a cold resolve as he brought the blade swinging down toward Kakashi's neck.
Clang!
The sharp ring of steel on steel echoed. Another kunai had intercepted the blow, held in a steady, familiar hand.
"Itachi?" Sasuke's voice was colder than the metal he held.
"Sasuke..." Itachi Uchiha took a shallow breath, then turned his dark, intense gaze past his brother to the boy in white. "Hayashi Yuto. It's time we settled this."
"Settled?" Yuto let out a soft, dismissive laugh. "You want me to settle a score with a loser like you?"
Tsukuyomi!
Itachi didn't waste a second. The moment Yuto's eyes met his, the tomoe in his Mangekyō Sharingan spun. The world dissolved into a nightmare of crimson and black. A crucified Yuto appeared before him, bound to a post.
"For the next seventy-two hours, you will experience agony beyond human comprehension," Itachi stated, his voice flat and hollow in the genjutsu world. A long, black sword manifested in his hand. "This is the price of your arrogance."
He drove the blade forward.
"Is that so, Itachi?"
The figure on the cross shimmered. The features melted and reformed, the hair darkening, the youthful face aging into one lined with weariness and pride. A pair of matching Sharingan eyes stared back at him, calm and disappointed.
"Father…?" Itachi whispered, his step faltering.
"Was it my arrogance that made you raise your blade against me?" Fugaku Uchiha asked.
The world seemed to lurch. The form shifted again, contorting into Yashiro Uchiha, his face a mask of terror and pain. "It hurts, Itachi! Why won't you save me?!"
"Ahh—!"
Itachi stumbled backward, clutching his head. The perfect world of his Tsukuyomi shattered like glass. He fell to one knee in the real world, a single trail of bloody tears tracing a path down his cheek.
He looked up, his breath coming in ragged gasps. Yuto hadn't moved an inch.
"Do you see now, Itachi?" Yuto asked, looking down at him with detached, almost clinical indifference. "Your proud genjutsu is utterly meaningless before my Kyōka Suigetsu."
_____
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