Ren landed lightly between Fugaku and the masked man, the cracked stone beneath his feet crunching as he straightened. The moment he arrived, both Fugaku and Obito halted their movements, the air between them tightening with restrained intent.
Before either of them could speak, Kyoshiro's voice cut through the tension like a blade.
"Fugaku, you bastard!" he shouted, veins bulging at his temples. "You dare seek help from a Senju? Have you forgotten whose fault it is that the Uchiha are in this state to begin with?!"
He jabbed a shaking finger toward Ren, his eyes blazing with fury.
"It was Tobirama and his disciples who pushed us to the edge of the village! Who isolated us! Who turned us into watchdogs instead of leaders! And now you bring his grandson here for help? You don't deserve to be clan head! You don't even deserve to call yourself an Uchiha!"
The gathered clan members murmured, anger and hesitation rippling through the crowd.
Ren, meanwhile, simply rolled his shoulders, stretching as if preparing for a long spar rather than a battlefield negotiation. When he finally spoke, his tone was calm and almost disarmingly sincere.
"You know," he said, scratching the back of his head, "I'll start by apologizing for what my grandpa did."
That alone drew stunned looks.
Ren continued, unhurried. "But… you can't really blame him either, can you?"
Kyoshiro sneered, about to interrupt, but Ren spoke over him.
"I don't know how many of you know this," Ren said, his gaze sweeping across the Uchiha gathered there, "but when one of my grand-uncles was around my age, he was surrounded and brutally killed by multiple grown Uchiha men."
The murmuring faltered.
"So yeah," Ren went on, voice steady, "you can imagine how much hatred that planted in my grandfather's heart. And honestly? I don't even blame you for that either. You were at war. People die in wars. That's what wars are, kill or be killed."
He shrugged slightly.
"There's no moral high ground there. Just survivors deciding what the world looks like afterward."
Ren's eyes shifted back to Kyoshiro.
"So while I don't agree with everything my grandpa did to your clan after the war, he wasn't exactly wrong either. He won, and the victor decides the rules. What was wrong was that he passed his extreme paranoia down to his disciples."
His tone sharpened just a bit.
"And that is where your anger actually belongs."
The crowd went silent.
"If you really want revenge," Ren continued, "then your targets should've been Danzo and the Third. They're the ones who kept that mindset alive. They're the ones who turned suspicion into policy."
He raised a hand, palm outward.
"But here's the thing, you don't even need to do that."
Kyoshiro frowned, confusion briefly piercing his rage.
"Danzo dies tomorrow," Ren said plainly. "Publicly at that, the Third will step down not long after. And when that happens…" he tapped his own chest, "…I take over."
That caused an immediate stir.
"When I do," Ren said, his voice firm now, carrying across the compound, "I will make damn sure the hatred against the Uchiha ends."
He gestured broadly.
"I'll make your contributions public, all of them. No more shadow work with no recognition. No more whispers behind your backs. The police force will no longer be made up solely of Uchiha, so you stop being the village's favorite scapegoat. Other clans will shoulder that burden too."
Kyoshiro's breath hitched slightly.
"Only when everyone shares responsibility," Ren went on, "can we actually move forward. No more founding clans fighting each other over grudges that should've been buried decades ago."
He took a step forward, eyes locked on Kyoshiro.
"I give you my word, as Ren Senju," he said slowly, deliberately, "that I will ensure the Uchiha regain their rightful place in the village, not as tools, not as suspects, but as one of its pillars, as a founding clan, as one of the strongest military forces Konoha has ever had."
Then, finally, Ren extended his hand.
"So," he asked quietly, "what do you say? Do you want to keep spilling blood over old ghosts… or do you want to stop this here and move forward with me?"
The compound fell into stunned silence, every eye fixed on Kyoshiro's trembling form and the outstretched hand waiting in front of him.
Before anyone else could so much as draw a breath, the masked man moved.
Space twisted.
Obito's body dissolved into a spiral, vanishing as if reality itself had been peeled away, and in the very next heartbeat his hand reappeared inches from Ren's face, fingers hooked and angled to grab.
Ren's head tilted just enough.
The gloved hand sliced past his cheek, missing by a hair's breadth.
The sudden movement sent a ripple of shock through the gathered Uchiha. Some gasped. Others flinched back instinctively, their Sharingan tracking the exchange but failing to fully grasp how close it had been.
Obito did not slow.
His anxiety bled through the calm mask he wore. Ren's words had been dangerous, far more dangerous than any blade or jutsu. He could feel it. The hesitation in the crowd. The doubt creeping into Kyoshiro's eyes. If he allowed even a few more moments, the rebellion might fracture before it ever truly began.
So he acted.
As he phased through Ren's counterstrike, his voice boomed, deep and distorted, carrying unnaturally across the compound.
"The words of the Senju are not to be trusted!"
His arm swung again, this time solid, forcing Ren to lean back and pivot.
"It was the Senju clan who pushed us this far," Obito continued, each word sharpened with deliberate malice. "It was their rule that caged you. Their systems that branded you traitors in your own home."
Ren sidestepped another swipe, the wind of it brushing his hair.
"Unless blood is drawn," Obito declared, "nothing will be solved. Unless you offer your head for peace," his masked gaze locked onto Ren, "this rebellion will not end."
The effect was immediate.
The crowd stirred violently, anger reigniting like embers doused in oil. Shouts erupted, Sharingan flaring brighter as old hatred surged back to the surface.
"Blood for blood!"
"Down with the Senju!"
"The ancestor speaks the truth!"
Ren clicked his tongue softly, irritation flashing across his face.
"Tch."
He ducked under another attack, twisting on his heel and snapping a kick straight toward Obito's groin, fast, precise and brutal.
Obito phased instinctively, the kick passing through empty space.
Ren landed lightly and straightened, rolling his shoulders as if shaking off mild discomfort rather than having just avoided instant death multiple times.
He sidestepped again as Obito lunged, chakra flaring briefly around Ren's feet as he moved with unnatural fluidity.
"Shut up, you vermin," Ren continued, eyes narrowing. "You're nothing more than a love-crazed fool clinging to a world that already rejected you."
Obito's movements stuttered for a fraction of a second.
Ren didn't miss it.
"Your anger at the world?" Ren went on, ducking low and snapping an elbow upward, forcing Obito to phase again. "Valid. Losing everything tends to do that to people."
He pivoted, avoiding another grab.
"But don't kid yourself," Ren said, voice dropping, turning razor-edged. "It doesn't erase what you've done. The villages you manipulated. The wars you nudged into existence. The lives you ruined for a 'grand plan' built on corpses."
For the first time, Obito said nothing.
His heart grew colder, the fury behind the mask tightening into something dense and suffocating. Ren wasn't shouting. Wasn't grandstanding. He was stating facts, facts Obito had buried beneath ideals and masks.
Ren met his gaze squarely.
"So yeah," Ren said calmly, "I understand why you hate this world."
Then his lips curled into a thin, dangerous smile.
"And that's exactly why I will kill you eventually."
The words landed heavier than any punch.
Obito surged forward again, abandoning words entirely. His role here was never to convince Ren, or even to defeat him. All he needed was time. Time to keep Ren occupied. Time for chaos to bloom elsewhere.
His true plan would only begin when Danzo escaped from the village, that's why he even bothered to come here, it was definitely not because of Ren's taunt, Obito had convinced himself.
Ren sensed a faint disturbance in the flow of events, like a thread being yanked taut somewhere far away.
But he didn't look away from Obito.
"Fine," Ren muttered, chakra rising around him in a sharp, coiled pressure. "If you want my attention that badly…"
He raised his stance, eyes alight.
"…then I'll give it to you."
~~~
Outside the Leaf Village, beyond the reach of the barrier and the glow of lanterns, an entire army stood ready.
Rows of shinobi filled the open ground, most of them were jonin, and a few Chunin who were elite specialists pulled from every division that could be spared. Armor plates were adjusted, weapons checked for the final time, chakra signatures kept low but steady. The atmosphere was heavy, not with fear, but with anticipation. Everyone here knew this was not a normal deployment. This was an extermination.
At the front of the formation stood Choza Akimichi, arms folded comfortably over his massive chest, his broad frame planted like a fortress. Despite the tension hanging in the air, his expression was relaxed, almost cheerful, as if they were about to head into a routine patrol rather than a night soaked in blood.
He let out a loud laugh, the sound booming across the ranks.
"Oi, oi, lighten up a bit, you lot!" Choza called out, turning his head slightly as he glanced over the assembled forces. "You're all standing there like you're about to be marched to your own funerals."
A few nervous chuckles rippled through the army, quickly dying down.
Choza gestured lazily with one thick hand. "The real mess is inside the village already. Whatever hell is breaking loose, it's happening there. What we're doing out here is simple, make sure nothing crawls out and nothing crawls in. That's it."
He turned his head and clapped a heavy palm down on the shoulder of the man beside him.
"Alright, Kakashi. Your turn."
The pat landed with far more force than intended.
Kakashi Hatake stumbled half a step forward before catching himself, boots scraping against the dirt. He shot Choza a sideways glare, his visible eye narrowing slightly.
"…You trying to knock me unconscious before the fight?" Kakashi muttered.
Choza laughed again, unapologetic. "What? You're still standing, aren't you?"
Kakashi ignored him and stepped forward properly, positioning himself in front of the formation. As his gaze swept across the army, something settled into place inside him. These weren't strangers. He had fought alongside most of them at one point or another, missions, border skirmishes, war fronts. Familiar faces stared back at him now, waiting.
He hadn't expected this responsibility so soon.
But then again… with everything changing, maybe this was inevitable.
Ren's shadow loomed in his thoughts. With the direction the village was heading, Kakashi knew rest was no longer an option. Whether it was Jonin Commander or ANBU Commander, Ren would drag him into leadership sooner or later. This, right here was a test run.
So he straightened.
His voice, calm and even, carried cleanly across the field.
"The enemies we're facing tonight aren't an army in the traditional sense," Kakashi began. "They are shadows. People trained to hide, to wait, to strike when you think you're safe."
His eye hardened.
"They are the products of Danzo Shimura's will. Root shinobi raised to obey without hesitation, without morality. Every one of them is dangerous."
Murmurs rippled through the ranks at the name, quickly silenced by Kakashi raising his hand.
"Our mission is simple," he continued. "Ensure that none of them leave this battlefield alive."
The weight of his words settled heavily.
"There is no need for mercy," Kakashi said bluntly. "If even one escapes, they become a problem later, a bigger one than they are now. These people do not surrender. They do not defect. They only wait."
He paused, letting that sink in.
"So don't hesitate. Forget morality, if one can't handle the opponent, push forward with two, if a Chunin cannot fight a Chunin, a Jonin will rush ahead and deal with the opponent. Our task is just one, kill."
Then he began issuing orders.
Teams were reorganized into layered formations, sensor units spread wide, strike teams placed between them, sealing specialists embedded at key points. Rotations were assigned. Fallback zones designated. Signals agreed upon in case communication failed.
Choza listened quietly now, nodding in approval as Kakashi spoke with precision and clarity, every order sharp and purposeful. His presence here was partially for keeping an eye out for unexpected changes, but more than that it to observe Kakashi's command, he knew more than Kakashi, he knew that Kakashi would eventually take over his smart friend so he observed carefully.
Once the explanations were finished, Kakashi gave a final nod.
"Move out."
The army split smoothly, flowing into the darkness in disciplined silence. Small units peeled off in different directions, vanishing into the trees, the hills, the shadowed paths that led away from the village, some of them attached themselves to many entrances of the village, to ensure none escapes from inside either.
As the last teams departed, Choza cracked his knuckles and looked toward the distant glow of Konoha's lights.
"Well," he said lightly, a grin tugging at his lips, "looks like tonight's going to be noisy."
Kakashi adjusted his headband slightly, his gaze fixed forward.
"Let's make sure it stays outside," he replied.
~~~~~
{Now that all the relevant parties have been introduced the fights will finally begin, the one I'm most excited is Yoru vs Danzo, and I guess many of you are too, so hold tight, I'll make sure to drop a banger.}