When Makoto Nishikado vanished using the Flying Thunder God Technique in front of Kakashi and the others, every Leaf shinobi assumed he'd teleported inside the Four Violet Flames Formation to reinforce Hiruzen Sarutobi.
He hadn't.
He appeared inside the Hokage Administration Building, nestled beneath the Hokage Rock.
The advisory office, to be precise.
The two senior advisors, core members of the Elder Council, Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado, were hiding here. When Makoto materialized before them, they blinked in surprise, then stood.
"Makoto, what are you doing here?" Koharu asked.
"We're fine," Homura added. "Go reinforce Hiruzen."
They assumed he'd come to confirm their safety.
What obedient little workhorse.
Shame Sakumo Hatake and Shisui Uchiha weren't this obedient back in the day.
Makoto smiled pleasantly. "Advisors, Konoha faces an existential crisis. Aren't you going to join the fight? Sensei himself is out there, after all."
Both their expressions shifted.
The question bordered on insolent.
"As advisors, our duty is to remain in the rear and coordinate command," Koharu said, her tone clipped. "Much like Hiruzen did during the last Great Ninja War. Now stop wasting time. You don't want anything to happen to him, do you?"
Makoto couldn't hold it in. He laughed out loud.
Coordinate command?
What does the Elder Council have to do with battlefield coordination?
Honestly, the Third Ninja War was a joke in itself. Hiruzen Sarutobi, a Kage-level shinobi, sitting on his hands in the rear while sending Minato Namikaze and Orochimaru to the front lines.
A Kage-level ninja who refused to fight on the front was funny enough. But these two thought they belonged back here too? The four of them combined probably couldn't outthink a single Shikaku Nara.
If you're scared to die, just say so. No need to dress it up in duty and honor.
The laughter wiped the composure from both their faces. Something was wrong. They could feel it now.
"Makoto Nishikado, what are you standing around for? Move!"
Koharu's voice hardened. She dropped the familiar "Makoto" and used his full name.
The next instant, he was in front of her.
The Flying Thunder God kunai in his hand punched clean through her throat.
Koharu's mouth gaped open. Blood surged from the wound, flooding over her collar.
Beside her, Homura stared in disbelief.
"I've always wondered," Makoto said, twisting the kunai slowly, his tone as casual as small talk. "Tobirama Senju was brilliant. Sharp as they come. So how did he end up choosing you idiots as his students?"
Koharu couldn't answer. She could only stare.
"I'd planned to take my time with you two. Make it slow. But I'm on a schedule today, so consider yourselves lucky. You should be thanking me for letting you maggots die so painlessly."
She crumpled to the floor. Her eyes stayed wide open. Even in death, they burned with the indignation of someone who refused to accept it.
"Wh-what are you doing?!" Homura's legs gave out. He hit the ground and scrambled backward.
"Relax, Elder Mitokado. This'll be over soon." Makoto loomed over him, his smile warm and gentle. "Someone of your caliber, sitting at the peak of Konoha's power for half a century? You've had a good run. And I'm being generous enough to make it painless."
Homura's mind went blank with terror.
"Then... everything you've done up until now... it was all an act?"
From the age of eight to now? How was that even possible?
Makoto didn't bother answering. He raised the kunai high.
"Hiruzen won't let you get away with this!" Homura's voice cracked, a cornered animal lashing out.
Makoto's smile didn't waver. "Don't worry. Give it ten minutes, and he'll be joining you."
Homura's jaw dropped further.
The kunai came down.
He never spoke again.
Makoto spared one last glance at the two corpses. Maggots to the end. Then he vanished a second time.
Now he teleported to where he'd told everyone he was going: inside the Four Violet Flames Formation.
The battle between the Third Hokage and Orochimaru had ground into a stalemate.
Hiruzen had poured everything he had into temporarily driving back the reanimated First and Second Hokage, whose strength was at best twenty percent of what they possessed in life.
But the Reanimation Jutsu granted its puppets regenerative bodies, and even now the Senju brothers, shattered by explosive tags, were knitting themselves back together.
Hiruzen had seized the narrow window to press Orochimaru directly.
Makoto's arrival shattered the rhythm of the fight.
Both combatants froze.
One with joy. One with dread.
"It's Nishikado! He's here!"
"We've won! It's over!"
Outside the barrier, the ANBU 'cheerleading squad' cheered. With Makoto in the mix, the outcome was no longer in question.
Hiruzen Sarutobi allowed himself a genuine smile. "Makoto! Lend me your strength!"
But the man who arrived didn't spare a single glance for the master he once called the 'Sun of the Ninja World'.
Instead, he turned to face the ANBU stationed outside the barrier.
"Wh-what is it?"
Their skin crawled under his gaze.
In an instant, the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan blazed to life.
Amaterasu.
Black flames erupted across their bodies. One by one they collapsed, writhing and screaming, rolling across the rooftop in a desperate attempt to extinguish the fire. It only burned brighter.
"Black flames?!"
Hiruzen and Orochimaru both went pale.
Hiruzen had heard the stories from his own teacher. During the Warring States era, Tobirama's greatest rival, Izuna Uchiha, had wielded a terrible black fire called Amaterasu.
One of the Mangekyou Sharingan's most devastating abilities.
"Makoto, you..."
The Third Hokage stared at his student in horror.
The Mangekyou Sharingan stared back.
Why?
Why did his student possess the Mangekyou Sharingan?
Had he taken it from Itachi? No, that didn't track. The pattern was clearly different from Itachi's. Had he always had it? But his eyes had looked perfectly normal before. And why would he attack his own comrades?
In this single moment, Hiruzen Sarutobi drowned in questions he couldn't answer.
Orochimaru was equally stunned. The entire reason he'd chosen Sasuke Uchiha as his next vessel was to claim the power of the Uchiha bloodline.
And here was his junior, his own master's other student, already wielding the Mangekyou Sharingan. Worse, those eyes looked disturbingly similar to Itachi's.
"Orochimaru."
Makoto broke the silence. Both men snapped back to reality.
"Let's do this."
Their expressions inverted in the same breath.
Hiruzen's joy curdled into horror. "Makoto, what do you mean?!"
Orochimaru's horror blossomed into delight. "Oh? Little brother, are you saying..."
Makoto ignored Orochimaru entirely.
His gaze settled on Hiruzen Sarutobi. Flat. Emotionless. The eyes of someone looking at a dead man.
"Sensei."
"This is the best death I can give you."