In the real shinobi world, Uchiha Itachi had spent years working as a damn double agent without sending back a single useful piece of intelligence.
Inside Engraved Tsukuyomi, however, the exact opposite was true.
Itachi had sold out an enormous amount of Akatsuki's internal information to Kushina.
Akatsuki was different from the ideological conflict between the Senju and Uchiha. It was an organization built around a third philosophy entirely.
Its goal was to return the shinobi world to the era of the Sage of Six Paths, when everyone could freely choose their own preferences, whether they favored small animals or bond-type relationships.
That was why Akatsuki leader Pain's designation was Zero, while his second-in-command Konan was known as White Tiger.
One represented the bond-type side.
The other represented the furry side.
Even Akatsuki's two-man teams were supposedly arranged so that the partners represented different preferences.
Kushina stared at the intelligence Itachi had sent back and found herself increasingly speechless.
He had provided far too much information.
And far too much detail.
Why the hell did she need to know everyone in Akatsuki's personal preferences?
Still, since the information was already here, she might as well read it.
Pain and Konan's pairing had already been covered.
At first glance, Kisame and Itachi looked like two furry enthusiasts, but the truth was supposedly the exact opposite.
Kisame was practically half fish himself, yet preferred humans.
If anything, that made him a human enthusiast.
Itachi, meanwhile, had inherited the Uchiha clan's traditional appreciation for furry creatures and was particularly fond of fluffy crows.
However, when Itachi was eight years old, he had confessed his feelings to Uchiha Shisui right in front of Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Hiruzen had praised him as a bond-type shinobi capable of thinking from the perspective of a Hokage.
Ironically, Itachi was the traitor within Akatsuki, yet his personal philosophy was also the one that most perfectly embodied Akatsuki's stated ideal.
There was something strangely fitting about that.
According to Itachi's reports, Kakuzu and Hidan were known as the Immortal Duo.
Kakuzu relied on the tendrils of Earth Grudge Fear and had a habit of surviving even after people pierced his heart.
Hidan, meanwhile, used the Curse Technique: Death Controlling Possessed Blood, allowing his opponent to inflict the consequences upon themselves while he experienced the feedback.
As for Deidara and Sasori, one specialized in planting bombs at Site A, while the other relied on puppets.
White Zetsu and Black Zetsu were even stranger.
One was basically a plant and therefore perfectly suited to making practical use of waste as fertilizer.
The other seemed to have something wrong with his head, wandering around with severe mother issues and calling people "Mother" whenever the mood struck him.
Akatsuki's ultimate objective was to collect all nine Tailed Beasts.
They intended to release the Tailed Beasts from their jinchūriki and thereby undo the changes the First Hokage had imposed upon the shinobi world.
Back then, Hashirama had effectively suppressed every school of thought except bond-type ideology.
Other preferences, including the furry tradition that had once rivaled bond-type culture, were sealed away and pushed to the margins of society until mainstream shinobi culture no longer tolerated them.
Akatsuki wanted to break that seal.
Kushina rubbed her temples.
Her problem was that her own objective was different from everyone else's.
She supported neither the Senju-style bond-type shinobi nor the Uchiha-style furry enthusiasts.
And she certainly didn't support Akatsuki's philosophy of "Why choose? Take everything."
Her original goal had been to seal bond-type shinobi away just like all those other niche preferences, stripping them of mainstream legitimacy and finally restoring some peace and quiet to the shinobi world.
Now, however, the task felt impossibly difficult.
There were simply too many enemies.
Even Naruto couldn't understand her.
He had betrayed her too.
And then there was Minato.
Even that seemingly harmless husband of hers had been hiding things.
Kushina looked back through the old intelligence reports.
There was one enormous inconsistency in the records of the Night of the Nine-Tails.
Minato hadn't known who the masked man really was.
Kushina did.
Obito had already been thoroughly influenced by Uchiha Madara and corrected into a naturally kindhearted Uchiha.
Even his release of the Nine-Tails in Konoha had supposedly been intended to heal the entire village.
So why had he chosen to injure Minato?
It made no sense.
Had Minato genuinely never learned the reason?
Or had he deliberately hidden it?
…
Meanwhile, in Tanzaku Town—
Naruto had barely arrived when he noticed a commotion breaking out ahead.
According to the information he had gathered, his target, Tsunade, frequently appeared in places like this.
"Heavenly Foot of Pain!"
A furious shout rang out.
Several gamblers flew backward with shattered dice embedded in their faces before crashing to the ground, their conditions unknown.
A beautiful blonde woman then emerged wearing a green robe.
On the back was a large symbol consisting of a circle crossed by a diagonal slash.
NO GAMBLING.
This world's Tsunade had been taught from childhood by her great-uncle Senju Tobirama to learn from the Uchiha clan's natural kindness, righteousness, and hatred of evil.
Although Tobirama had fought the Uchiha during the Warring States Period, he had always deeply respected their innate goodness.
In fact, he supposedly hadn't even gotten Uchiha blood on his hands.
Even when he fought them, the only thing he had ever killed was Uchiha Madara's beloved ninja hound, Inuna.
Raised under those teachings, Tsunade had also grown into someone who hated evil with a passion.
After the wars ended, she voluntarily left Konoha and began traveling throughout the Land of Fire, cracking down on gambling halls, illegal entertainment, and other vice.
In Tsunade's view, Konoha already had the Hokage and the Military Police Force to maintain order.
The rest of the Land of Fire had no such protection.
So she would do it herself.
"Tsu—"
Naruto had just opened his mouth to call out to her when he suddenly spotted a figure who was both familiar and unfamiliar.
The masked man?!
Naruto immediately covered his mouth and disappeared into the crowd.
He watched the masked man exchange a few words with Tsunade before the two left together.
Naruto had no idea what to do.
Was Tsunade actually a good person?
Had the Daimyō judged her correctly?
Should he still give her the blood-written edict?
Naruto couldn't decide.
Because he had absolutely no idea what kind of person the masked man was in this world.
With no better option, Naruto decided to follow them first.
He slipped into an alley, gritted his teeth, and quickly entered Sage Mode.
By blending into nature itself, he hoped to make himself as difficult to detect as possible during the pursuit.
As for the masked man—
Uchiha Obito was deeply troubled.
He knew that Minato-sensei had been hunting him for revenge all these years.
If Obito hadn't still carried an important mission for the future of the shinobi world, he would gladly have surrendered himself.
But he couldn't.
Not yet.
Besides, he had already explained himself to Minato during the Night of the Nine-Tails.
Granted, he had done so while pretending to be Uchiha Madara.
But an explanation was still an explanation.
Unfortunately, Minato hadn't believed a word of it.
In this world, the Uchiha clan possessed advantages beyond even the Mangekyō Sharingan's unique ability and its third power, Susanoo.
They also possessed a Fourth Power.
The Fourth Power wasn't an ordinary technique.
It was closer to a rule.
Madara's Fourth Power, for example, was called Back to Basics.
Once activated, it dramatically strengthened all his ordinary ninjutsu and even Susanoo, but in exchange, his unique Mangekyō ability would be sealed away.
Obito's Fourth Power was called Future Vision.
It allowed him to glimpse the opponent he was destined to face in an upcoming battle.
And through that ability, Obito had seen something terrible.
If events proceeded normally—
Namikaze Minato would inevitably die.
But Obito had already abandoned evil and returned to the path of kindness and justice.
How could someone like that simply stand by and allow his teacher to die young?
So Obito had done everything he could think of to change that future.