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A few minutes passed. No one spoke.
Akira glanced around the silent room and said flatly, "Since no one objects, I'll take that as agreement.
This meeting is adjourned."
He rose and strode toward the door. Just before stepping out, he suddenly turned his head and looked at Homura Mitokado, who had also gotten to his feet.
"Oh, right. That forty billion ryō? I'd better not find out you squeezed it out of the civilians. Otherwise…"
He flicked a finger.
Boom.
The wall behind Homura Mitokado exploded open, a hole two meters tall blown clean through it. Through the gaping opening, the outside scenery was plainly visible.
"And make sure the money's delivered quickly. Don't make me visit the Mito clan in person to collect."
With that final reminder, Akira walked out.
Fugaku Uchiha hurried after him.
The remaining clan heads stared at each other, speechless.
What were they even supposed to say?
Hiruzen Sarutobi sat in his chair like a stone statue, expressionless, not even bothering to offer a token remark.
Seeing this, the other clan leaders began filing out one after another, all except Hiashi Hyuga.
They'd only come to watch the show anyway. Free entertainment. Front-row seats to a disaster.
And after this meeting, one thing was clear.
The Uchiha clan were targeting Konoha's upper brass. As long as the other clans didn't do anything stupid and provoke them, the Uchiha had no reason to go after them.
When gods fight, mortals suffer. Best to stay far from the center of the storm.
Even the Ino–Shika–Cho alliance, traditionally aligned with the Hokage, chose neutrality after witnessing Akira's terrifying strength.
Nara Shikaku was the last to leave. He glanced back at the Third Hokage's rigid silhouette and sighed inwardly.
With a monster like Uchiha Akira around, Konoha's skies were bound to change.
Soon, only three men remained in the conference room: Hiruzen Sarutobi, Homura Mitokado, and Hiashi Hyuga.
Every one of them looked grim.
They'd planned to use this meeting to scheme against the Uchiha.
Not only had they failed, they'd lost one of their own in the process.
Bang!
Homura Mitokado slammed his palm onto the conference table. Cracks spiderwebbed across its polished surface.
"This is outrageous! Lawless! He wants me to hand over forty billion to the Uchiha? Over my dead body!"
Hiruzen frowned. "Homura, you know exactly what kind of person Uchiha Akira is. Do you want the Mito clan to follow the Shimura clan into ruin?"
After a pause, he shook his head and added, "Endure it. If something has to be sacrificed, then sacrifice it."
"Damn it! So I just bow to that bandit?!" Homura Mitokado's teeth ground together. His heart ached.
Forty billion.
That wasn't pocket change.
"Rizen, you're the Hokage! Are you just going to let a village elder be robbed in broad daylight?!"
In his agitation, he shifted the blame squarely onto Hiruzen.
Hiruzen's brows knit together. "What's that supposed to mean? You're blaming me?"
"I was giving you signals the entire time! How is this my fault?"
"You're the Hokage. You should've spoken up instead of sitting there doing nothing!"
"Spoken up? So he could extort me too? Would that make you feel better?" Hiruzen shot back with a sneer.
Seeing the argument about to spiral, Hiashi Hyuga stepped in, his voice low and steady.
"Enough. Arguing won't change anything. The real question is how to deal with Uchiha Akira. Are we just going to let him trample all over us?"
Hiruzen snorted. "He's arrogant and reckless. People like that always get what's coming to them."
Homura Mitokado's eyes lit up. "You have a plan?"
"Not yet. But give me time. I'll find a way."
The two of them stared at him, unimpressed.
So you've got nothing. Then why say it like you do?
Hiruzen noticed their expressions and huffed.
"You don't trust me? No matter how invincible Akira looks, everyone has a weakness."
To reinforce his point, he added, "Even Madara Uchiha, whose strength once dominated the ninja world, was defeated by the First Hokage."
They didn't have anyone like the First, but still—
"As long as I find Uchiha Akira's weakness, it will be his end. And the Uchiha clan… they won't escape their fate."
He finished confidently, then coughed.
"For now, we endure. Don't provoke those lunatics."
Both men sighed. If you can't afford to fight, you keep your head down.
Then Homura Mitokado's expression turned grave.
"Set Akira aside for the moment. There's something more important."
"More important than dealing with him?" Hiruzen and Hiashi exchanged looks.
Homura Mitokado took a deep breath.
"That forty billion. The three of our clans should split it."
Hiruzen suddenly straightened, as if remembering something urgent.
"Ah. Homura, I need to return immediately to think about how to balance the Uchiha situation. I'll take my leave."
Swish!
Hand signs flashed. He vanished in a Body Flicker.
Hiashi followed suit instantly. "I need to inform my clan to keep a low profile and absolutely avoid provoking the Uchiha. It's urgent. Elder Homura, excuse me."
He disappeared just as quickly.
Left alone, Homura Mitokado's face turned livid.
Weren't they allies?
The moment he mentioned sharing the burden, they ran faster than anyone.
Plastic allies. Completely unreliable.
…
Meanwhile, Hiruzen returned home, retrieved a scroll, and hurried off again.
Before long, he arrived at a deeply hidden underground base.
Fewer than twenty people were stationed there, all of them his most trusted confidants. Though small in number, the laboratory equipment was cutting-edge—among the finest in the shinobi world.
This was his secret department, created for one purpose alone:
To deal with Uchiha Akira.
He handed the scroll to a researcher.
"These are materials on the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal and the Caged Bird seal."
He paused.
"Combine the principles of these two restrictive forbidden techniques. I want a curse mark capable of resisting Mangekyō Sharingan genjutsu."
His gaze hardened.
"All prisoners in the village jail are at your disposal. No matter their crimes, they're experimental material now. Use them as needed."
"Don't disappoint me. The sooner you produce results, the better."
"Yes, Lord Third. We won't fail you."
The researcher hesitated. "But if we want rapid progress, we'll need far more test subjects. The prisoners alone won't be enough."
Hiruzen frowned. "Not enough?"
"Not nearly."
A long silence followed.
"Then we'll find more," Hiruzen said coldly. A vicious glint flickered in his eyes.
"Perhaps it's time I learned from Danzo's methods."
For the sake of eliminating Uchiha Akira, any sacrifice would be worth it.
—
At the same time, on a massive tree at the outskirts of Konoha, space began to warp.
A figure emerged from the distortion, cloaked in black with red clouds, an orange spiral mask covering his face.
Through the single eyehole, a crimson Sharingan gazed down at the village.
Large sections of Konoha lay in ruins. Buildings collapsed. Construction crews swarmed through the debris, hard at work rebuilding.
It looked like the aftermath of a full-scale war.
"What happened? Was Konoha attacked? Did the Uchiha launch their coup early?" Obito Uchiha asked the air beside him.
A giant pitcher plant rose from the ground, leaves peeling back to reveal a half-black, half-white face.
"We've gathered the intel," said Zetsu. "A few days ago, Hiruzen initiated the Uchiha extermination plan. Unfortunately for him, things didn't go as expected."
The white half chuckled. "Not only did the Uchiha survive, but Danzo Shimura was turned into a limbless stump. Quite the twist."
"An accident? What accident?" Obito asked, brow lifting.
White Zetsu grinned. "Want to know? Tell me what it feels like to take a dump and I'll—"
"I don't have time for your nonsense," Obito said coldly.
The black half spoke in a hoarse voice.
"It was Uchiha Itachi's younger brother. Uchiha Akira. He appears to possess the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan."
"That night, he manifested a complete Susanoo and wiped out the Shimura clan."
White Zetsu sighed inwardly. So close to learning what taking a dump felt like… Black Zetsu was no fun at all.
Obito fell silent.
"If I'm not mistaken, Itachi's little brother is seven years old."
His visible eye narrowed.
"You're telling me a seven-year-old awakened the Eternal Mangekyō?"
He didn't believe it for a second.
After all, awakening the Mangekyō at seven years old was already the stuff of fantasy. An Eternal Mangekyō? That was downright absurd.
"It sounds unbelievable, I know," Black Zetsu said with a helpless shrug. "But the intelligence we gathered is exactly that.
"When we first got the report, we were just as shocked as you are. We verified it again and again from multiple sources. There's no mistake.
"That night, a Susanoo over two hundred meters tall rose into the sky. Anyone with eyes could see it."
Obito fell silent for a moment before giving his verdict.
"In that case, this so-called Uchiha Akira is one hundred percent an impostor."
He frowned. "But since when did another pair of Eternal Mangekyō eyes appear in the shinobi world?"
Black Zetsu tilted his head. "Obito, don't tell me you don't believe that a Sharingan capable of manifesting a complete Susanoo would be an Eternal Mangekyō?"
"Hmph. Of course I don't." Obito snorted coldly. "Throughout Uchiha history, only one man ever awakened the Eternal Mangekyō: Madara. Until I see it with my own eyes, I won't believe it."
He paused, then said decisively, "We'll test him. I want to see for myself whether this Uchiha Akira truly possesses the Eternal Mangekyō."
Black Zetsu looked at him in surprise. "Oh? You're going to make a move personally? That doesn't sound like your style."
In his memory, Obito was just like him, someone who preferred pulling strings from the shadows. Since when had he become this proactive?
"This guy appeared out of nowhere and might possess the Eternal Mangekyō. We need to find out exactly what he is," Obito said after a brief silence. "If we don't, he could create unnecessary variables in our plan."
He added calmly, "Of course, I won't be the one testing him. My existence isn't something that should be exposed too early."
Definitely not because I'm worried about things going sideways, he muttered to himself.
"If you're not going yourself, then you're sending someone from the organization?" Black Zetsu asked.
"Of course not. The organization was only just established. Every core member is a valuable tool."
His voice was indifferent.
"Until I've squeezed every bit of use out of them, I won't waste them carelessly."
To Obito, every member of the Akatsuki, including its leader Nagato, was nothing more than a tool to collect the tailed beasts. And tools had to be used efficiently.
"As for who to send…" A faint curve touched his lips. "I just thought of someone perfect."
"Meet me at Konoha Prison. The person I'm looking for is there."
With that, Obito activated Kamui and vanished from sight.
"Konoha Prison, huh?" Black Zetsu murmured. "I think I know exactly who this 'perfect candidate' is."
"Huh? Who?" White Zetsu scratched his tuft of green hair, confused. "I can't figure it out at all."
"Stop talking. You'll see when we get there."
Black Zetsu couldn't be bothered explaining to someone with such limited brainpower. Taking control of their shared body, he slowly sank into the ground while White Zetsu wore a deeply aggrieved expression.
…
Deep inside Konoha Prison.
Darkness and dampness defined the place. Despair hung heavy in the air.
The inmates locked here were monsters of the worst kind. And there was only one ending for them: to slowly wither away in agony.
Shimura Danzo, whose crimes were beyond counting, was imprisoned in one of the innermost cells.
His jaw and tongue had been ruined. He could no longer eat.
To keep him from starving to death, he was kept alive on nutrient infusions.
Slash.
Kakashi pulled his short blade from Danzo's mutilated body. He flicked the blood from the steel and slid it back into its sheath.
Throughout the entire process, his expression never changed. He looked like a machine, devoid of emotion.
A fellow guard sighed. "Again? Kakashi, do you hate Danzo that much?
"I don't mind you torturing this bastard, but if you accidentally kill him, we'll be the ones who have to answer for it."
"Relax," Kakashi replied evenly. "I know exactly where the line is. I won't let him die so easily."
"Maybe. But I'm the one who has to bandage him up every time. You know how troublesome that is?"
Despite the complaint, the guard took out bandages and walked toward the cell to dress Danzo's wounds.
He had barely taken two steps when his pupils shrank sharply.
"Kakashi! Watch out!"
In truth, he didn't need the warning. Years of fighting had honed Kakashi's instincts to a razor's edge.
In that instant, he sensed danger descending upon them.
"..."
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