Land of Fields, in Orochimaru's secret base.
Orochimaru looked at the newly arrived Gusion and put on what he considered a kind smile. "Gusion-kun, you truly are full of surprises."
"What do you mean?"
Gusion glanced at Haku and Kimimaro behind Orochimaru. Zabuza hadn't brought Haku on this operation—Haku was still too young to be useful.
But here with Orochimaru, Haku was growing quickly, and Zabuza was happy to let Haku continue his training here.
In exchange, Orochimaru would study Haku's cells and run experiments on the Ice Release kekkei genkai.
"You single-handedly overwhelmed Kirigakure. Even Minato couldn't do that."
There was a subtext to Orochimaru's words as he watched Gusion's expression.
He didn't see any bitterness on Gusion's face. Gusion simply followed him toward the reception room, calm as ever. "The Fourth Hokage and I aren't the same type of shinobi. That's normal."
"Hehe, no need to be modest, Gusion-kun. Even one-on-one, Minato would lose to you—completely."
Orochimaru praised him, then shifted to business. "With power like yours, it seems our Konoha Destruction Plan can be moved up."
"Oh? We won't need the tailed beasts?"
That was what Gusion had in mind too; he wanted to hear how far Orochimaru had prepared.
"Tailed beasts are certainly weapons of war, but the Five Great Nations are on high alert now. Plus, Pain has restricted our movements. If we go hunt a tailed beast before attacking Konoha, the organization will punish us."
Orochimaru licked his lips. "With my Manda and Garaga, that's enough to break Konoha's legions head-on."
"What if Tsunade and Jiraiya return?"
Gusion countered. That wasn't impossible. Konoha also had Explorers; there's no way they couldn't sense the dark undercurrents of this world. They would definitely make arrangements early.
Setting aside their personal power, the best way to protect Konoha's faction would be to bring Jiraiya and Tsunade back.
Tsunade was a plain-and-simple Kage-level fighter. Jiraiya's strength needed no elaboration—he fought Pain's Six Paths for a long time with little intel. Among the Sannin, he was indisputably number one.
They had tremendous personal strength, and also gigantic summoning beasts, perfectly offsetting Gusion's and Orochimaru's.
"Hehe… Jiraiya, huh. Brings back memories."
At the mention of Jiraiya, an inscrutable smile crossed Orochimaru's face—who knew what he really felt about his old best friend.
Gusion felt the Sannin were just the previous generation version of Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura—only Orochimaru didn't grandstand like Sasuke.
"Gusion-kun, with your strength—you handled the Fourth Mizukage, a perfect jinchuriki. You won't lose to Jiraiya, will you? As for Tsunade, she's not a concern—her hemophobia isn't cured yet."
Orochimaru's tone turned sinister. "As for the so-called Professor of the Ninja World, that old Third—leave him to me."
"What a filial student."
Gusion smiled without mockery.
Orochimaru chuckled. "That old man should've been in the ground long ago. Better for me to send him off than for him to die in bed."
"Then it's settled. The Third is yours. The rest are mine."
Gusion didn't expect Orochimaru to take on many heavy hitters. His strongest technique was Edo Tensei; by himself, it would be hard to go head-to-head with the Third.
"Mm, I'm not done. This attack on Konoha isn't a rash decision—we have allies."
Orochimaru smiled. "And we have you to thank for making a huge scene in Kirigakure. Akatsuki's moves in Sunagakure, combined with your deterrent power, have made Suna anxious. They've sent envoys to Konoha to propose a Five Kage Summit."
"What does that have to do with our allies?"
Gusion asked, puzzled. Suna had just been rattled; now they were a potential enemy too.
"Sasori's subordinate, who was acting as a spy in that battle, was captured by Suna."
Orochimaru licked his lips. "He'll use false intel to lure the Kazekage out alone, giving me a chance to assassinate him."
Gusion rubbed his chin. "That assistant of yours? Is he reliable?"
"Relax. As a multi-faced agent, he's a professional. And his loyalty to me isn't about profit—it's faith."
Orochimaru smiled. "That's a loyalty more reliable than interests."
Gusion nodded. He didn't doubt Kabuto's professional skills. He only worried the Explorers in Suna would interfere—they knew Kabuto was a spy.
For all he knew, the future Sage Kabuto might already be dead. One could say that, operating with imperfect intel, Orochimaru was making a blunder.
But Gusion couldn't be bothered to warn him. Whether Orochimaru could successfully assassinate the Kazekage and bring Suna in as an ally against Konoha was secondary to him.
He didn't think much of Suna's two scrappy top fighters anyway. Was he supposed to pin his hopes on little Gaara turning into Shukaku and bulldozing Konoha?
Please. If Naruto's protagonist halo really popped off and the Nine-Tails came out, Konoha would truly be finished—that wasn't part of Gusion's plan.
…
While Gusion and Orochimaru discussed the details of destroying Konoha, in the Forest of Death in Konoha, two Uchiha experts were facing off.
"The Sharingan… Who are you?"
Itachi watched the masked man warily. He felt the other had just used a dojutsu—that wasn't an ordinary Sharingan, but a Mangekyo Sharingan like his own.
He knew all the current clan experts; he could identify them by their chakra alone. But he was certain he had no impression of this person.
Maybe he'd seen him as a child, but that was too long ago to tell.
After a quick chain of reasoning, Itachi roughly concluded the other was likely a Uchiha who disappeared during the Third Great Ninja War.
"Stop guessing. I'll tell you."
Obito looked at the young Itachi and pretended to be profound. "I am Uchiha Madara."
Itachi's pupils contracted. He hadn't expected that.
Uchiha Madara was recorded as the strongest in clan history. He and the God of Shinobi had swept the whole ninja world, founding the Five Great Nations.
But if Madara were alive, he'd be at least ninety, right? How was that possible?
Besides, Konoha's textbooks recorded that Madara lost to the First Hokage at the Valley of the End and died there.
"Uchiha Madara is dead. Who are you really?"
Itachi's voice dropped, his Sharingan slowly turning. He drew a kunai from his waist and took a fighting stance.
Whoever this was, masked and confronting him in the Forest of Death, he wasn't a friend of Konoha—he was an enemy.
"Believe it or not, my identity doesn't matter to you."
Obito said, "I'm here to tell you the truth about the Uchiha clan."
"What truth?"
Itachi's face stayed calm, but his heart rippled.
"When you return, go to the rear of the clan shrine and read the stone tablet left by the ancestors. Use your Mangekyo's power to see it, and you'll learn the truth."
Obito's voice was aloof, doing his best to act like an Uchiha forebear. "Once you know, you'll lose hope not just in Konoha, but in the entire shinobi world."
Itachi gave the masked man a strange look. "Why should I listen to you? Reading the tablet won't do me any good."
Obito froze. He hadn't expected that. Why wasn't Itachi following the script?
Normally, if someone told you your clan's thousand-year-old tablet held a shocking truth, could you resist checking?
"I'm not interested in truths. If the tablet was left by the ancestors, it's also ancient history. Instead of clinging to a past that isn't mine, I'd rather forge the future with hope."
Itachi raised his kunai, his Mangekyo spinning rapidly—Tsukuyomi activated at once.
Sharp as he was, he realized that the masked man appearing before him at this timing could very well be the mysterious figure who controlled the Nine-Tails and fought the Fourth Hokage.
If it hadn't come out that the Nine-Tails was controlled by the Sharingan back then, the Uchiha wouldn't have suffered even more suspicion and ostracism from Konoha.
So to Itachi, the man before him was an enemy he could never coexist with. If he could capture him, many things would become clear, and the rift between the Uchiha and the village could be eased.
Seeing Itachi manifest the Mangekyo, Obito silently cursed. He didn't yet know the powers of Itachi's Mangekyo.
The Sharingan is the mirror of the heart. When it evolves to the Mangekyo, its abilities reflect the user's deepest desires. Obito couldn't guess what Itachi would have.
Facing a fellow Mangekyo wielder, Itachi didn't dare hold back. He opened with Tsukuyomi.
If Gusion had foreseen this, he would have told Itachi not to use Tsukuyomi and to hit Obito with Shisui's Kotoamatsukami instead.
But there was no if. Itachi didn't know Obito's powers either—he simply unleashed his strongest genjutsu on instinct.
Though Obito had been a dead last back in the day, after Madara's tutelage his strength had skyrocketed, and his battle sense was top-tier. Sensing an unavoidable genjutsu dojutsu and realizing he couldn't dodge, he warped himself into his eye's unique other space just before losing consciousness.
In Itachi's eyes, his Tsukuyomi and Obito's distortion-and-vanish happened almost simultaneously.
Elsewhere, in Obito's other space, he collapsed, panting in pain.
Itachi's Tsukuyomi is peculiar. When the target is in front of him, he can precisely shape the illusion's world—like tying someone to a pillar and stabbing them slowly, over and over.
But if the target leaves his control range—as now—he can no longer choreograph the Tsukuyomi scenes.
Even so, Tsukuyomi doesn't end automatically. As a technique meant to shatter the mind, it will automatically manifest the target's deepest fears.
And so, in Obito's inner world, he was back to that pitch-black night.
First he saw his beloved Rin being killed again and again, driving him nearly insane; no matter how many times he rushed forward, he couldn't save her.
As he howled in rage, the scene shifted—finally not that rainy night.
But then he saw Kakashi and Rin holding each other, while he himself was tied to a tree, forced to watch them embrace and then do what cannot be described.
That loop played over and over, stretching to what felt like months or even a year in Obito's mind, pushing him to the brink.
In the end he still woke, flipping up from the ground drenched in sweat, soaked and miserable.
He didn't break free because his genjutsu prowess surpassed Itachi's, but because the eye still held a residue of Madara's power, which saved him at the critical moment by cracking the illusion.
Obito's face went dark, his gaze venomous. "Uchiha Itachi…"