"You win this time, fool…" Those were the only words left behind in the wind as Itachi vanished into an explosion of crows along with the lit explosive tag on Sasuke's head.
Tachibana felt a little bewildered by his speed but did nothing to stop him from leaving since that was his goal in the end, to become someone that Itachi would leave alone, for now.
Yamato reached them all at this point so Tachibana finally let out a sigh of relief.
"We won…" Yamato whispered in disbelief before he turned towards Tachibana and questioned him, "How did you know that Itachi would leave if you threatened him with Sasuke's life?"
Sasuke too looked closely since he was bewildered, he'd already turned off his Mangekyo sharingan so no one questioned him about it, for now.
Tachibana shrugged, "I didn't really, I just guessed when he didn't directly kill the ghost impersonating Sasuke from earlier."
"Ghost!?!? Sasuke you're a ghost?!"
Sasuke elbowed Naruto before getting into a fight with him, not giving him time to think about what Itachi had just done, while Sakura asked the question on Yamato's mind.
"That being then that laughed so crazily… do you know him, Tachibana-kun?"
Tachibana gave them all a wry smile as he explained, "The Lord gave him some space to live inside my body to save me in case I got into some trouble I couldn't escape from… although not very overpowered, he is indeed quite powerful in his own right."
Seeing their wide eyes that looked like they couldn't believe what he was saying, Tachibana offered another suggestion, "I could show him to you if that's what you want?"
Suddenly a mouth opened up on Tachibana's face and spat out a response, "No. I won't see them… they are too weak."
Naruto shivered with fear jumping behind Sasuke almost instantly while Sasuke inched towards Sakura who herself hid behind Shizune, each looking at Tachibana with wide eyed fear.
Tachibana clamped on the mouth that had opened 'on its own' on his cheek before speaking softly, "That's him… I didn't want to worry you guys so I didn't tell you about it before, but yeah, he just lives in the same space as my body… nothing too complicated…"
"Does he have a name?" Yamato asked politely, wondering if he could dig up some information on the spirit if he knew the name since things like this had happened in the village once before with the Kurama clan's spirit that was their undoing.
Tachibana looked at Yamato with some surprise before speaking up, "His name was Gehrman Sparrow when he was alive, and he was known as the strongest pirate hunter."
"Pirate hunter… huh…" Yamato nodded before turning to them all and speaking quickly. "Let's leave this place. We don't know how many more of Kumo Shinobi will be arriving here soon. It's better we leave."
Everyone nodded but Tachibana, instead of following Yamato, Tachibana pulled out his trusted topaz silver pendulum and performed a divination.
His eyes rolled back and his head lulled into a soft sleep before words slipped out of his lips.
"We will face no problems if we leave for Konoha right now."
Tachibana repeated the statement seven times before looking back at the chain and then at Yamato and the others and nodding.
"We should face no problems on our way back to the village."
Yamato's tense shoulders inadvertently relaxed unknowingly as did Shizune's since the two of them were already half dead in this scenario with their chakra depleted and their physical energy to knead more chakra already dropping more than half.
Both of them felt their heads pounding and their hearts beating quickly in their chest until they heard Tachibana's divination result at which they looked at each other and nodded to take it easy.
Even still Yamato wasn't fully satisfied.
"Let's keep moving for now… we'll take a break once we get closer to the village… and during the nights."
With that everyone began to follow Yamato, rushing through the dense forests of the Land of Fire as they tried to escape from the recent past.
The silence gave them all time to think about Tsunade's death and while they didn't want to come to terms with it so immediately or even while they were still on a mission, they were forced to since no one dared to speak up.
Shizune's shoulders kept trembling in the cold as they rushed back to the village.
Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke all felt down and done with life, the only question on their minds at the moment was, "How strong does one have to become to live safely in the Shinobi world?"
And while Sakura and Sasuke's thoughts remained limited to the question, Naruto's went a step ahead, "Could I put a stop to all this if I became the Hokage? Could I stop people from randomly dying on missions like this if I become the Hokage? Could I end all wars if I become the Hokage?"
Yamato stepped up and placed a hand on Naruto's head and brushed it softly to help him calm down from an inevitable panic attack before looking at Tachibana who was taking it all rather well.
There was even a smile on the boy's face.
In a normal situation Yamato would've assumed that Tachibana was a spy celebrating the death of an enemy commander had he not seen just how distraught Tachibana had become once Tsunade had died earlier.
The smile Yamato assumed was an aftermath of the victory over a Tailed Beast and a tailless one, for now. A deserved smile if that was the case and Yamato nodded understandingly.
Only no one knew what was truly going on in Tachibana's mind right now.
'I could revive Tsunade using the messenger function of my system couldn't I?"
'...I also have a plan to finish the digestion of my faceless potion…'
'I need to create an identity that several people believe for my advancement ritual, and Tachibana is already one such identity.'
'The 'ghost that lives in my body' will be another and it will have the fool pathway set of abilities that I haven't shown to anyone else till now.'
'The final identity will be that of Mr. Fool.'
'This identity I will use to create a shadow Kage in the Shinobi world and also to create a stepping stone towards fulfilling my Attendant of Mysteries advancement ritual.'
'With Tsunade and Mito's help I'll create puppets that spirits can inhabit in the real world.'
'Then I'll set up a sight seeing system for those in their afterlife, in Pure land with Mito and Tsunade's help so that any dead person that wants to view the village through the sights of the puppets can do so at the cheap price of a unique jutsu or teaching that they can give to Mr. Fool!'
'This way I can introduce a bunch of puppets in the village that I control through the spirits and later down the line when the business grows large and we want to expand the sight seeing business from purely Konoha to the rest of the world we can rebase in Roran which was already a puppet only town before!'
'System, if I summon Souls from Pureland using the Sefirah Castle I don't need to go through the summoning ritual for the messenger right?'
'That's right host. But souls summoned that way will be severely weakened because the System will not be involved in shielding them from the pull of the dead and because the host is currently too weak to do so.'
'Hmm… they'll be normal? Well that just works in my favour doesn't it? That way most souls that travel to the world of the living won't have the strength to do anything other than sightsee. No trouble, no fuss.'
'And those that have it in them to cough up some serious cash for Mr. Fool can choose the method of forming a messenger ritual contract with me for the time being?'
'System can I regain a contract once I cancel it to form more contracts using it?'
'Yes, the host can do so. But currently the System only has energy to form ten contracts and that will be the limit until the host advances.'
Tachibana felt jubilant, only ten? Wasn't that just another way to say that he could allot ten premium slots for his world exploration agency?
As night settled, the pace of the group slowed down too and they finally came to a stop when Yamato gave them all the signal to stop and rest for the night.
"Can… that spirit take over you or come out of you whenever it wishes Tachibana-kun?" Naruto asked as the two of them sat around a bonfire first keeping guard in spite of Tachibana's divination saying they were safe. Or rather because his divination said they were safe for the night did Yamato and Shizune focus fully on resting for tomorrow.
"It can…" Tachibana said slowly, trying to spook Naruto. "...whenever it wants to…"
Naruto shivered before asking a different question once again, "...can it take over whoever it wants to?"
Tachibana did his very best to hide his strange smile before speaking, "It can… but once it leaves… the person it was inhabiting will live no longer… they'll be gone, erased completely until not even their soul remains."
Naruto *gasped* audibly before shirking a little away from Tachibana while whispering comforting quotes like, "It's alright… Tachibana-kun is a friend." as he stayed on guard throughout the night.
They journeyed back for another day and night before they reached the village once again.
And the village was in silent chaos.
News of Tsunade's death had reached via her slug leaving a pandemonium in its wake. However, one thing to write home about was the fact that the village itself was safe from Kumo's explosive bomb teleportation strategy. Apparently, Mito-sama's sealing barrier across the village had included stopping anyone from randomly teleporting things in.
…
Yamato looked at Shikaku and spoke with a sigh, "She died valiantly… protecting us all."
Shikakau, who had red eyes, looked at Yamato and spoke with a certain sense of pride, "You did good in getting her body back."
But Yamato shook his head, "It wasn't me… I only supplied the weapons in our last fight… if anyone is to be praised its Tachibana Rei… he did all the heavy lifting and brought us all back alive after that hell of a fight…"
"Do you have the bodies of our enemies, a Jinchuriki would be worth quite a bit?" Shikaku asked immediately.
"Yes. I already handed it over to the I.T department. I hope they'll be able to gain something from it."
"Good job… but is it true?"
"That Tachibana saved us? He did. He did the lion's share of the work in the fight, taking a Tailed Beast bomb head on and teleporting it back to the weakened tailed beast itself, it was quite the spectacle."
Shikaku nodded before asking Yamato another question, "Yes, but did Itachi really leave you alone as the report said? Did he leave you alone when you threatened to take out Sasuke Uchiha?"
Yamato stood a little guilty before speaking up to help shield Tachibana, "We didn't have time to think of a better strategy. I was down for the count and so was Shizune…"
But Shikaku shook his head, "That's not what I mean…"
"Then…?"
"... it's only a legend… but it is a known fact that during the Warring Periods, Madara became infinitely stronger after his brother died… the Sharingan's abilities he never used often before, now became as easy to use for him as breathing air. And then there's Danzo collecting the Sharingan… various root shinobi that were captured have been made to admit the truth in death, but it's all rather unclear at the moment. However we have vague inclinations that Sharingan has a step after Mangekyo and it relates to gathering the eyes of one's brethren."
With all the cards laid out on the table Yamato picked up the conclusion quick, "You mean to say… that he's saving Sasuke for until he unlocks his Mangekyo Sharingan and then stealing it like Madara supposedly did for Izuna?"
Shikaku nodded but Yamato shook his head again, "Impossible. Sasuke has already unlocked them, in fact as far as I know he did it in front of Itachi Uchiha."
Shikaku's eyes widened.
"But…"
"...is it really not possible that Itachi wished his brother no harm?"
Shikaku closed his eyes for a few seconds before opening them back up, "No… that night… that fateful night for the Uchiha Clan… it was a massacre that left none… not even kids or babies alive… Itachi can't have emotions left after that…"
"But he did leave us alone… not a hair harmed after we threatened to harm Sasuke."
Shikaku looked out the Hokage window with some confusion clear in his eyes before he spoke slowly, "There's something here we're not seeing… and I hope it isn't too late before we do."
Yamato simply nodded.
"Either way, warn Sasuke to stay away from Itachi because he might be after his eyes. Be sure to also tell him to take Itachi's eyes if the moment arrives though." Shikaku warned Yamato.
Yamato stood slightly open mouthedly before simply nodding once again.
"There are two more orders you have to relay to your team Yamato."
Yamato nodded, paying full attention.
"Firstly, Tachibana will stay in the village from now on until further notice. His divination ability is just too valuable to be let go in the face of war."
Yamato nodded, already having expected the order.
But it was Shikaku's second order that caught him off guard.
"We'll also need Tachibana to sign a contract with Tsunade's Slug Sage, Lady Katsuyu."
"Huh?" Yamato let out a rather dumb sound before Shikaku explained further, "We need Lady Katsuyu to become an information relay and the only person who has the qualifications to contract with the Slug Sage currently is Tachibana, we asked her and that was the response we got. And since Tachibana can't use her in combat with his little bit of chakra as a genin, he might as well use her as a relay for information delivery."
Yamato opened his mouth to question the decision but then said nothing and quietly turned away to return to his disciples and deliver the message to Sasuke.
Shikaku however sighed, being an interim Hokage was troublesome, too troublesome, hundred percent would not recommend.
…
Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke and Tachibana were all sitting inside Tsunade's house awaiting Shizune's call for Tsunade's last rites before she would be buried in the Shinobi burial grounds.
The atmosphere was solemn, even for Tachibana since this served as a reminder to him that not even the strongest got to live the longest in this world.
And while that wasn't going to stop him from pursuing the path of the strongest, it was definitely going to put a dent in his staircase to it.
A dent that required him to think unconventionally hence forth. After all, what of the joy of life if you were dead, you couldn't enjoy it then could you?
So Tachibana was set firm on his goal now to get stronger but as happily as he could. He would save those he could and protect those he could since even though they might have another chance at exploring the world through his newly developing sight seeing business, he did not have such a chance.
There was no one around to summon his soul once he died.
Once he died that would be it.
A final full stop to his life that he could not edit.
There was a soft knock on the door and Tachibana, being the closest to it, stood up to open the door first.
Only as soon as his hands touched the door knob a vision flashed in his mind and surprised him.
'Long white hair… Jiraya!?'
Tachibana opened the door with care and gentleness since the man on the other side seemed broken.
Jiraya's eyes seemed hollow and his body seemed weak.
But Tachibana didn't say anything even as Jiraya looked on at him with slight confusion but mostly a feeling of hollowness.
"She's in the backyard…" Tachibana said softly as he guided Jiraya to the impromptu Backyard that had been set up by Shizune for performing Tsunade's last rites.
Jiraya reached the door to the backyard and froze at it his already lost figure broke down like a kite without its string, falling loose and collapsing at the doorway itself.
His eyes didn't leave Tsunade's graceful and peaceful figure not for some leery reason as usual, but because he couldn't believe it.
He nearly crawled up to Tsunade's corpse at that moment as he grasped her hand with tear filled eyes.
Still Jiraya remained silent.
Shizune noticed Jiraya but stayed silent herself, partly out of shame that she had let her master die before her in combat and partly because she blamed the world for not taking her master's side and saving her instead of killing her.
She wanted to half grab Jiraya and ask him why he wasn't present there to save Tsunade but said nothing out of courtesy and also because she could see, see just how Jiraya was silently blaming himself for not being present at the time of her death.
In the end, Tachibana left the adults to themselves since he wasn't feeling very well. Instead he went back in to wait with his friends for the next orders.
And those orders came very soon.
"Tachibana, you're supposed to go to the command centre at the Hokage tower. Everything will be explained to you once again there, but you'll essentially form a contract with Lady Katsuyu to help in the village's communications."
Tachibana frowned, "I can hold well in combat, I think I've proven that, sensei."
Yamato shook his head, "While that is true, Konoha isn't down so bad yet that it needs children to fight for it. We have plenty of good fighters who can substitute you in combat. But we've got only one you with divination. And that can't be changed."
Tachibana sighed audibly before nodding and then saluting Yamato, "I'll be on my way then."
"Alright. But listen to this one new order first." Yamato said holding Tachibana by his shoulder to stop him from leaving just yet.
He then turned to the rest of the genin group and spoke to all of them, "This is an order from the interim Hokage-sama. If you are to find a dying Itachi, make sure you steal his eyes. Those eyes might allow you to use your Sharingan unhindered in some way, Sasuke-kun…"
Sasuke's eyes widened as an unanswered question from before reared its head.
'Was that why that man left us alone? Because he needed my eyes?'
With that Tachibana was free to leave.
He visited Tsunade once again in the backyard where he found Jiraya had vanished while Shizune was waiting for the call from the command centre to begin the burial procession.
Tachibana looked at Shizune and hesitated for a bit before asking her a question softly, "What… what would you like to say to Tsunade-sama if you saw her once again, Shizune-nee-sama."
Shizune looked up surprised before tears filled her eyes too.
She mumbled something for a bit as Tachibana leaned in closer to listen when she mumbled louder, "...mom… she was a mother to me that went unrecognised while she was alive…"
Tachibana's eyes widened before he nodded with red eyes and left the Senju house by himself.
Tachibana walked the mostly silent streets that were silent not because there was no activity on them, there was plenty of activity, but because they were captured by the mum of war.
He looked around himself and saw people's morale at an all time low.
People walked around with sad faces whispering about the lack of a proper Hokage and the betrayal of both the previous Hokage and the village's shadow.
That coupled with the latest news about Tsunade no longer being in this world was the final straw that had broken the camel's back.
Yet, Tachibana walked boldly towards the Command centre.
He knew well enough that the key to turning around the morale of all the victims of war was a decisive victory.
And he knew that he was the key to that victory with his divination skill.
And so with his head held up, Tachibana entered the Hokage office.
"Greetings Hokage-sama… you asked for me?" Tachibana said, looking at Shikaku.
Shikaku, ever the busy man, only gave Tachibana a passing glance before slotting him into busy work.
"Make sure you get accustomed to working here in the next few days… things are going to get hectic after that."
Tachibana nodded softly before performing a divination in front of everyone in the office.
"The war will begin officially from tomorrow."
Tachibana repeated the statement seven times before opening his eyes to look at the result, after which he mumbled, "Looks like I won't have a few days to get accustomed to the war Hokage sama… the war will begin tomorrow."
Everyone in the war room paled as they looked at Tachibana with surprise and a sense of dread.
"Anyway we can change the time when the war begins?" Shikaku asked immediately but when Tachibana performed another dream divination he had only one result.
"Not possible unless we attack the two attacking countries first Hokage-sama."
"Two?" Shikaku asked, clenching his chair tightly, feeling its weight very clearly at the moment.
"Two." Tachibana nodded, "Kumogakure and Iwagakure. One from the North East and the other from the North West."
…
In the Land Hidden in the Clouds A raged in his office.
"How could they kill B!?"
"B was supposed to be our trump card in this war!! How could they kill him!? Do we have information on what killed him at least?! Which shinobi was it that killed both him and Darui!? Was it Yamato!?"
"That seems to be the only valid conclusions at the moment since we found a large scale wood release jutsu at the site, but we also found a large scale water release justu at the site for some reason and while intel from the two new additions to our team suggests that Yamato is proficient in water release, he doesn't seem to be that proficient."
"A third party then? Kiri? Why is Kiri involved in this?"
"Unknown at the moment, Raikage-sama."
A breathed heavily as he controlled himself from smashing the desk in front of him for the tenth time today.
B's death had been a heavy blow to him but he was barely holding on because he needed to lead his nation to victory. So as long as things were moving on the right track he had to treat B's death as just another casualty in war, nothing more nothing less.
Emotions had no place in war. Not even if it was your brother that died.
He settled for placing his hands on the desk heavily to control himself before asking, "And what of their jinchuriki and that boy named Tachibana, did we get them?"
The messenger, almost afraid to reveal the result, trembled slightly before speaking up, "No Raikage-sama. Although more digging is needed because of the scale of the jutsu performed, preliminary investigation says we missed."
"So the advance mission was a complete and utter failure?" A asked with seething rage.
"..." the messenger trembled before whispering in a barely audible tone, "It would seem so Raikage-sama."
*BANG*
Another table flew out of the wall of the Raikage tower that night.
This time, along with the messenger who had come to report the grave news.
"I will have my revenge Konoha, just you wait. B's killing will be avenged… and until I don't have his body back, you'll suffer my heavy wrath."
…