Nawaki's jaw tensed as he stared at the door Akira had vanished through-the weight of what he'd done slammed into his chest and left him stiffened in place.
"What do I do…?"
His question came out in a small breath, barely audible. He looked sideways at Fugaku, but there wasn't any clarity behind those eyes either.
"What should we do?"
Fugaku's mouth moved faster than his nerves could handle. "M-Maybe… Lord Akira was joking?"
"Ha ha…"
Kakuzu's dry laugh cut through the tent.
"Lord Akira doesn't joke about things like this. If he says you're the new head coach-then that's it. Final. He won't even ask how you're handling it. And by tomorrow? The whole camp will know we've switched leadership."
Nawaki sucked in through his teeth-sharp and loud.
It had seemed so easy to just talk things through. In the back of his mind, he'd figured Akira would step back in if anything went wrong. Kakuzu's tone erased that possibility altogether. The door behind them felt locked. Permanently.
It felt like loading into the final boss fight with nothing equipped but the default gear-and no clue what the controls even were.
"Oh my god…"
His hands gripped the edge of the table. "How are the two of us supposed to take on the Mist Ninja?"
"You're thinking too small," came Kakuzu's flat response from the side. "Akira didn't ask you to just fight Mist Ninja…"
Both Nawaki and Fugaku turned to look at him-eyes widening in sync.
"Wait-what?" Nawaki bent forward slightly. "What do you-?"
Kakuzu gave them no time to follow that thought through.
"You're not just fighting Mist Ninja... you're fighting the entire Water Country. That means two hundred Jōnin, close to ten thousand Chūnin-and don't forget the Genin scattered among them." He leaned back just enough for the words to sink in. "Oh-and the Lightning Country's forces are coming too."
Fugaku-usually calm-visibly cracked at that.
"How is that even possible?"
His training as future clan leader hadn't prepared him for this scale. As someone close to Hokage-level decisions-he knew troop distributions well enough to know how bad this situation was turning.
"With our numbers alone-we're barely covering the border. You're telling me the Lightning Country isn't even damaged? That means we're holding off two nations by ourselves."
"There must be reinforcements," he added grasping for logic. "Someone from Konoha-another squad?"
Kakuzu scoffed again.
"As Supreme Commander of the Eastern Front, Akira knows exactly how many allied units we've deployed." He tapped his knuckle on the table. "It's just us here-and some minor border patrols at best. A few dozen? At most."
His tone chilled over.
"The Hokage has no intention of sending backup against Lightning."
"Asshole!"
Nawaki's palm slapped down hard on the table surface-loud enough to make Fugaku flinch beside him.
"This isn't strategy-it's suicide…"
He stopped himself after saying it out loud-but the words rang true too clearly for him to walk them back.
Fugaku wasn't immune to the weight either. He glanced down, lips pressed into a thin line-then slowly spoke as if reaching into memory himself.
"Before the last battle… Akira asked me: 'What would you do if you were Hokage and your strongest shinobi refused to follow your orders?'"
Nawaki looked confused for only half a second-but Fugaku answered himself before Nawaki could interrupt again.
"Weaken them-until they become obedient."
Nawaki fell completely silent at that. Dead air stretched between them before his whisper finally slipped free:
"We're… the disobedient ones."
His throat tightened-regret crashing over his face as realization settled in. "All this time Akira's been warning us we might die… and I thought he was just being dramatic."
He tried calming his thoughts-grabbing for one final excuse-
"But no-Hokage wouldn't just abandon us like this. He must've made arrangements! Someone has to be coming. And my cousin-he…"
His words ran out midsentence as another truth clawed up behind them-carving into him without mercy.
What was Akira really?
His cousin had always stayed home… hiding from everyone, barely registered as anything but eccentric. Nawaki had joked about it often enough-but there was also no title, no position, no external validation for that man besides his bond with Mito and his intellect in war rooms.
Now?
Now it felt like Akira had seen through everything long ago-but said nothing while letting them walk willingly toward their own slaughter.
Fugaku leaned against the wall next to him-his expression unreadable as he exhaled slowly through his nose.
"Akira probably knew everything from the start," he said without looking at Nawaki. "Staying inside… acting lazy… handing us control wasn't delegation-it was disclosure."
"A test," Nawaki added bitterly. "And I laughed at him-for years-for being some shut-in loser."
Soft footsteps broke into their silence before either could speak again.
Instinct kicked in.
They both turned sharply-and saw Akira returning at the head of several high-ranking command officers trailing behind him.
"Uncle…!"
"Lord Akira…!"
Both voices cracked as their chests tightened-their relief twisted with shame and panic in tandem. Akira raised one brow at them immediately-caught off guard by their faces and tone.
"I was just being lazy for five minutes… what happened? Why does it look like you're about to cry?"
Neither of them could answer properly-they simply rushed forward together, urgency bubbling up inside them faster than they knew how to contain it.
"Uncle! I already know your secret!"
"…Hm?"
Akira's brows furrowed hard-the shift in his posture immediate as chakra stirred around him in reflex. With one quick handseal, he threw up a barrier wall-cutting off sound and vision from those outside it.
"What did you find out?"
His caution made them both straighten quickly. Nawaki was first to respond-carefully lowering his tone:
"The Hokage… he's planning to wipe us out."
"That's it?" Akira asked flatly.
"That's it," Nawaki replied without hesitation.
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