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After the long conversation with the Raikage and learning where he now stood on the matter, Midorima finally set out from the Hidden Cloud Village.
On one level, there was little reason for him to remain. His primary goal in coming here—reaching an understanding with the Six-Tails and gaining access to its power—had already been achieved. That partnership was now in place.
Beyond that, he still needed to gather more intelligence on Akatsuki: whether, aside from Deidara, there were other members still unaccounted for, what their current movements were, how many tailed beasts they had already secured, and so on.
The Six-Tails' identity made the situation especially delicate. Once Akatsuki collected the first five beasts, the Six-Tails would almost certainly become their next obvious target.
Of course, ordinary members posed little threat. One or two at a time would be manageable.
What Midorima truly wanted to avoid was Pain himself showing up in person.
Even with his current strength, fighting all six Paths of Pain at once would be anything but easy.
Not long after leaving the Hidden Cloud, Midorima came across a band of mountain bandits in the middle of torching a small village. He dealt with them swiftly and without much effort, then used a simple Transformation Technique to alter his appearance slightly—enough to avoid casual recognition—before continuing northward. He crossed the Land of the Moon and the Land of Hot Water, eventually arriving at the Hidden Sound Village, where he first reunited with Jūgo.
The village was on high alert. The moment Midorima approached, archers on the watchtowers trained their bows directly at him.
"I need to see Tayuya," he called up calmly.
"You think you can just demand—huh? Where'd he go?" The shinobi on duty started to shout him away, only to blink and realize the man who had been standing there seconds earlier had vanished completely.
Midorima didn't bother arguing with the perimeter guards. Using a quick body-flicker technique, he bypassed their defenses entirely.
Against one of the five great villages such an infiltration might have required more finesse, but the Hidden Sound Village had been founded by Orochimaru after the Second Great Ninja War. Its roster of truly elite shinobi was thin, and even its jōnin were nowhere near the level of those from the major villages. Slipping inside was almost trivial for someone of Midorima's caliber.
He had visited more than once before, so he navigated the village's back routes with ease and soon reached the residence where Tayuya and the others were staying.
The moment he dropped from the rooftop, a furious shout rang out.
"Who's there?!"
Jūgo burst from the building, curse seal already flaring along his skin. Behind him came Tayuya, Sakon, Kidōmaru—and to Midorima's genuine surprise, both Tsunade and Kabuto.
The group's expressions ranged from shock to outright hostility. Weapons were drawn in an instant, all pointed directly at him.
"Who sent you? Akatsuki?" Tsunade demanded, her tone icy.
Midorima peeled away the Transformation Technique disguise and gave a small smile. "Just me."
The shift was instantaneous. Every face that had been twisted in anger or suspicion melted into stunned recognition.
"My lord—if you were coming back, you should have told me! I would have come to meet you properly," Jūgo said earnestly.
Midorima shook his head. "No need. Right now it's better if I don't move around openly."
"What happened?" Tsunade asked, lowering her guard slightly but still watching him carefully.
"Shouldn't I be the one asking that?" Midorima countered. "Why are you here in the Hidden Sound Village? And Kabuto too. Did something go wrong?"
"It's a long story," Tsunade sighed.
Once everyone had filed back inside and settled, Tsunade sat cross-legged on the floor and exhaled heavily. "Let me start with why we're here. The conflict between the Hidden Sound and Hidden Leaf was full of inconsistencies. And honestly… the Leaf was in the wrong first. I wanted to help clean up the mess however I could. That's all."
Midorima's gaze shifted to Kabuto.
Kabuto rose, walked over, and knelt formally in front of him. He bowed deeply until his forehead touched the tatami mat.
"If you hadn't told me where to find the director, I never would have seen her again. If you hadn't instructed me to bring our photograph, she probably would have killed me on sight. I will never forget the debt I owe you."
"Uh… Danzō was the one who told me," Midorima said with an awkward laugh. "I was basically just the messenger."
"But he would never have told me," Kabuto replied, straightening. "Even so, when we finally met, she was already ill. In pursuit of greater medical knowledge, I remembered the research Orochimaru had conducted here. That's why I came to the Hidden Sound Village."
Midorima nodded slowly.
There was no denying Kabuto's extraordinary talent in the biological sciences—perhaps even rivaling Orochimaru himself.
In the original timeline, the successive deaths of everyone Kabuto had trusted had warped his psyche until he eventually became an ally of Obito.
Now, however, he had not yet fallen that far. Perhaps he never would.
Midorima glanced around the room. "Where's Shizune?"
"She went to gather intelligence. She should be back soon." Tsunade studied him. "But enough about us. Why are you using a Transformation Technique to disguise yourself? Are you hiding from someone?"
"Who else would it be? Akatsuki, obviously."
Midorima gave a tired smile and recounted everything that had happened since parting ways with Tsunade.
Although Jūgo had already given the others a rough summary of events in the Hidden Mist, hearing the full story directly from Midorima—the person at the very center of it all—carried a different weight.
He went on to describe his meeting with the Raikage.
When he reached the part where A accused him of exaggerating Akatsuki's threat simply to manipulate the great villages into helping him take personal revenge, Tsunade let out a cold snort.
Midorima then explained how Akatsuki had ambushed him and Killer B, how both had managed to escape, and how the organization had ultimately stolen the Two-Tails from the Hidden Cloud.
The room grew tense as he spoke.
"In short, that's the situation," Midorima concluded, taking a sip of tea to soothe his throat. "Akatsuki stole the Two-Tails and attacked Killer B. The Raikage is finally taking them seriously, but the recent Five Kage Summit accomplished almost nothing. He's worried that calling another meeting would be met with resistance from the other Kage. Right now he's looking for the right opportunity to act. As for me—I'm concerned Akatsuki will turn their attention to me next. That's why I'm disguised and came straight here to meet up with Jūgo."
"Akatsuki is getting more and more brazen," Tsunade muttered, brow furrowed.
"Yeah. But one thing is certain: the 'Madara' in Akatsuki is not the real Madara. And I have a theory about his true identity." Midorima took a slow, deep breath.
"Who?" Tsunade asked immediately.
"You shouldn't be asking me—I'm not that familiar with Leaf shinobi. But I have some suspicions. You might be able to figure out who he is based on a few key details." Midorima leaned forward slightly.
The intelligence he had gathered so far was enough to point toward Obito. There was no longer any reason to withhold it entirely.
Whether Tsunade would actually arrive at the correct conclusion depended entirely on her own deductive ability.
"I've fought him twice," Midorima began. "Both times he used Sharingan-level techniques. Every attack I landed should have connected—yet the moment before impact, my strikes passed straight through him as though he wasn't even there. I still don't know whether he was reducing the probability of being hit or shifting my attacks into another dimension entirely."