A special thank you to my patrons:
—Jacob Mooe, kevin Williams, Jose Sierra, Archer, Acedia, kurtis newman, Jack, Little Sand Luca August, Kyle.S406, Alin Kadas, sediaz, Xanex44, Flavio Rodrigo.
You can read 30 chapters ahead of everyone on p@treon.
P@TREON - [email protected]/lessaservantofcosmos
(just replace the "@" with "a")
ps: Please support me on P@treon. I can really use your help!
————————————————————
Fortunately, through his sustained efforts over this period, Kazuki had nearly finished dealing with the accumulated work. Before long, he would be able to return to his preferred rhythm – busy at times, slacking off at others. With the prospect of soon being able to slack off firmly in mind, Kazuki gritted his teeth, suppressed his restlessness, and sat obediently in the Hokage's office, diligently working.
Knock, knock, knock!
A somewhat urgent knocking sounded at the door. Before Izumi could even move to open it, Kazuki proactively called out, "Enter."
"Lord Advisor, urgent intelligence from the Cloud Village," a member of the Intelligence Division announced, entering the Hokage's office with a scroll dispatched from the Cloud Village.
"The Cloud Village?" What kind of scheme was that man up to now? "Thank you for your efforts," Kazuki said with a slight nod. He accepted the scroll passed to him by Izumi and used the mutually agreed-upon cipher shared between the two villages to unseal it. The scroll safely delivered into the Advisor's hands, the Intelligence Division operative bowed and withdrew from the office.
"So, he really couldn't hold back." After scanning a few lines of the scroll, Kazuki burst into laughter. Izumi peered over curiously. A scroll marked as urgent intelligence from the Cloud Village should surely contain grave and serious matters. Why had Kazuki's reaction to reading it been to laugh instead?
"Ha ha ha ha... he must be absolutely dumbstruck." Kazuki hadn't anticipated that Obito would move so decisively to seize the sealed Sharingan. He had to admit – when Obito's brain wasn't cramping up, his thinking was remarkably lucid. He'd understood that he needed to start by targeting certain individuals. And so, Dodai had met with disaster. The enemy had infiltrated the intelligence relay base completely without warning; their arrival was abrupt, their strength overwhelming. The base's ninja hadn't even managed to mount an effective resistance before being annihilated to the last man. This indicated that Obito had personally participated in the mission to capture Dodai. The Cloud Village's scroll also mentioned the involvement of Kisame.
"..." After observing a full three seconds of silence for the unfortunate man, Kazuki laughed again. He could vividly picture the scene: Obito seizing the Sharingan from Turtle Island, unwrapping the seals upon it, obtaining the eye, shoving it eagerly into his socket – only to finally realize the eye wasn't his, and then standing there utterly stupefied. That scene must have been absolutely priceless.
"Ha ha ha..." The thought of Obito, that arrogant fool, being forced to swallow the bitter pill Kazuki had served him was simply too much for Kazuki to bear without laughing. Right now, Obito was probably exploding with rage. He wondered whether the other members of the Akatsuki had been informed that Obito had snatched back a counterfeit Sharingan. If they had, even the perpetually half-dead Nagato might have been tickled into a few hearty laughs.
The Akatsuki truly kept the nerves of the Five Great Shinobi Villages constantly taut. After pondering for a moment, Kazuki tossed the scroll aside, lifted his head, and instructed Izumi, "Send someone to notify Kakashi. Have him report to the Hokage's office immediately."
Aside from Kazuki and Orochimaru, no one else knew that the Sharingan Obito had obtained was a fake. This kind of operation – the sort so ridiculous it could make a man die laughing – was not something Obito, provided he didn't have a hole in his brain, would voluntarily publicize. So then, what would Obito do? Desperate to recover his real eye yet simultaneously consumed by humiliation and fury over this farcical blunder, where would he turn next? He would most likely set his sights directly on Kakashi. Perhaps he would attempt to extract intelligence about the true Sharingan from Kakashi. To have labored so painstakingly only to bring home a counterfeit...
"Ha ha ha..." Kazuki generally didn't laugh repeatedly at the same matter. But he simply couldn't help it this time. Obito's maneuver had truly been that exquisitely idiotic.
"Lord Advisor," Kakashi said, arriving at the Hokage's office upon receiving the summons. Standing ramrod straight before the desk, he regarded Kazuki – who appeared to be struggling intensely to suppress laughter – with a tilted, puzzled tilt of his head. Had something hilarious happened?
'Ahem! Alright, that's enough. I shouldn't go too far. Obito is pitiful enough already – how can I keep mocking him?' Kazuki repeated these mental suggestions to himself. He coughed loudly, pulling Kakashi's attention back. "Kakashi, read this scroll first."
"Yes, my lord." Kakashi caught the scroll Kazuki tossed to him, opened it, and began to read. His reaction was the polar opposite of Kazuki's. Whereas Kazuki had been clutching his stomach in laughter, Kakashi's eyes flew wide open in alarm. He exclaimed, "Lord Advisor, if this intelligence is accurate, then Obito has now acquired the complete pair of Mangekyo Sharingan. He will become far more difficult to deal with. We need to—"
"Ahem!!!" Kakashi, brimming with urgency, trailed off as he noticed Kazuki's peculiar expression – as if the man was desperately holding something back. His words died in his throat.
"Let me laugh for a bit first," Kazuki said, waving his hand.
Kakashi: "???" What exactly was there to laugh about here? The situation was at a boiling point – how could he still laugh at a time like this?
"Ha ha ha..." Though Kazuki had been trying hard to restrain himself, he ultimately broke. "Don't worry about Obito. What you need to worry about first is your own safety. For the immediate future, do not leave this building. You'll serve as my temporary bodyguard for a while." It took a good while before Kazuki could finally compose himself. As for why he had laughed so uproariously, he offered no further explanation.
"Yes, my lord." Though his mind swirled with questions, Kakashi obediently accepted the order. If Kakashi were to learn that what Obito had actually obtained was a counterfeit Sharingan, he would likely be struck completely dumb with bewilderment. This secret was best kept hidden for now, as revealing it could easily lead people to draw connections regarding Asuma's death. After all, Obito's Mangekyo possessed Kamui. If one merely cross-referenced the timing of Kakashi's Sharingan being stolen with the time of Asuma's disappearance, the truth would become all too apparent. Although Kazuki no longer feared the Third Hokage trying to stir up trouble, directly flipping the table and exposing people's secrets in private was, in the end, still ethically questionable. This secret was better kept buried until the Third Hokage drew his final breath.
After the Leaf Village, the other ninja villages each reacted differently to the urgent intelligence sent by the Cloud Village. Onoki merely gave a cold snort and tossed the scroll aside. Though he detested the Akatsuki and desperately wished to annihilate them with his own hands – to avenge his son and all the innocent villagers who had died in vain – he could no longer spare any attention for the Akatsuki. Winning the war was the Stone Village's most pressing necessity. Everything else could be set aside for now.
In the Mist Village, the manipulated Yagura received the intelligence scroll and simply acted as if nothing had happened. He didn't even bother informing the village's higher-ups. That intelligence scroll sank like a stone into the ocean, vanishing without a trace.
In the Sand Village, Rasa was consumed with deep worry while simultaneously grinding his teeth in hatred. If not for the Akatsuki, the Sand Village would never have come into conflict with the Mist Village, let alone plunged into full-scale war. Now, the war had dragged on for so long that the village had depleted nearly everything it could afford to consume. All that remained was the grim struggle of barely holding on. Yet, fortunately for the Sand Village, if they were barely holding on, the Mist Village was hardly faring any better.