A few days after the clan meeting, a small group of Uchiha members went to see the Hokage.
They stood tall and proud in front of Hiruzen Sarutobi's desk, asking for one thing—permission to hunt down Itachi.
Hiruzen listened silently, but inside, he had a terrible headache. He had expected this. In fact, he was surprised it had taken them this long to come to him about the matter.
After what Itachi had done, of course the clan would want justice. But letting them chase after him? That was dangerous for many reasons.
"Please, Hokage-sama, let us go after that traitor. Only then will the souls of our fallen brethren be at peace…" said Inabi Uchiha, one of the only surviving members of the police force and currently acting head of the clan.
For one, Hiruzen didn't believe they had any chance of defeating Itachi. If anything, Itachi would kill them—just like he had killed the others on the night of the massacre. That would only leave fewer Uchiha behind. Maybe just the children.
And if Itachi didn't get them, someone else might.
Even though Hiruzen had officially disbanded Root, he knew Danzo still had people loyal to him in the shadows. Old friends or not, Hiruzen no longer trusted Danzo. If the Uchiha made a move, Danzo's agents might take it as an excuse to finish what they started.
In fact, the whole situation felt like a trap.
Even Hiruzen himself could see how this would play out—fewer Uchiha meant a weaker clan, one the village could control. Wasn't that the reason for the massacre in the first place? Hiruzen had never wanted the complete destruction of the clan. His idea had been to remove only the hardliners—the ones planning a coup. Not women, not children. Not like what Itachi and Danzo had actually done.
But now, letting the remaining Uchiha act freely could bring even more chaos.
Then came the real problem—Shisui's Mangekyō Sharingan.
They had never recovered his body. His eye was missing. And if the Uchiha still had it… that was a threat to the entire village. With Shisui's eye, they could control minds, even the mind of the Daimyō himself. Hiruzen couldn't take that risk.
He looked at the Uchiha members in front of him and gave them the same answer he always gave when he was unsure.
"This is a delicate matter. Right now the village is weak after the loss of one of its founding clans. Konoha can't appear weak in the eyes of others," he said. "Give me more time. I will consider it carefully. Once it's appropriate, I'll personally appoint a team to go after Itachi."
The Uchiha left, clearly unhappy.
And in the silence that followed, Hiruzen stared out his window, knowing he had only bought himself a little more time before things boiled over.
...
Kakuzu was in bad shape.
He limped through the forest, dragging one foot behind him. His cloak was torn, burned, and covered in blood. Three of his five hearts were gone, ripped to shreds in a battle he'd rather forget.
Fighting Itachi Uchiha had been a mistake. A very big mistake.
"How can a boy that age have that kind of power?" Kakuzu muttered angrily to himself, remembering the horror of Susanoo. He was old enough to know that power—he had seen it before. "Damn Uchiha."
He spat blood to the side and kept walking, hoping to find a small town nearby. He needed to rest, stitch himself up, and maybe find a replacement heart or two.
Just as he reached the outskirts of a town, he saw something strange.
A kid.
A short kid, probably ten, wearing a badly made mask that looked like it came from a festival stand. He stood right in the middle of the road with his hands on his hips like some kind of tiny hero.
"Hey, you!" the kid shouted. "You look like the bounty hunter type."
Kakuzu blinked. Was this child trying to start a fight? He looked around, wondering if it was a prank. Maybe a trap. But he couldn't see anything suspicious.
"You got a death wish, kid?" Kakuzu growled.
The masked child didn't even flinch. He pulled out a small wad of cash from somewhere inside his jacket and waved it around like it was candy.
"I'll give you 10,000 ryō if you tell me where the bounty market is."
Kakuzu stared. Blinked in confusion.
Why would a kid like him need to know that? Was he trying to be a bounty hunter or something?
However… ten thousand?
It wasn't much. Definitely not worth killing anyone for. But it was still money. Enough for a new cloak. Maybe some bandages.
Kakuzu pondered a little before making up his mind.
"…Fine," Kakuzu said, sighing deeply. "Two blocks down, take a left past the ramen stall, go into the basement under the tea shop. Don't get caught."
"What? It was that close…!" the boy muttered, dazed.
Kakuzu gave the kid a deadpan stare as he took the money. "Don't follow anyone with a higher bounty than you can handle. Or you'll end up like me."
"Got it, boss…" The kid gave him a thumbs-up but didn't look all that excited. He slowly turned around and walked off, grumbling something about "pocket money…"
Kakuzu stood there for a moment.
"…What a weird brat," he muttered, limping toward the inn. "He's going to die by next Tuesday."
He watched Kakuzu walk away with a sigh.
...
Sukuna, by chance, had spotted the injured Kakuzu from a distance and quickly came up with a plan. Seeing that the man wasn't wearing the Akatsuki cloak was enough to know he wasn't a member yet. This was his chance to find the bounty market location.
If anyone knew, it would be Kakuzu.
So, Sukuna played it cool—mask on, voice serious, waving cash like a mini crime boss. Little did he know Kakuzu thought he was just some random kid playing ninja.
And it worked. Kakuzu gave him the location. Easy win.
But as soon as Sukuna heard it was just two blocks away—just two blocks—his heart sank. His eye twitched under the mask.
"Are you kidding me?" he grumbled. "Two blocks? I could've just asked any ramen guy!" He had asked, but none had known. Even with the place so close, nobody knew.
He stared at the empty spot in his hand where his money used to be. That was all his savings. All the pocket money he'd hoarded by selling those glasses, plus the coins he'd looted from those rogue shinobi he totally didn't feel guilty about cutting in two. Gone. Just like that.
"For ten thousand ryō I could've bought kunai… a week's worth of cooking supplies… even a better mask for this role-play thing!" he whined to himself.
Grumbling and muttering under his breath, Sukuna started walking toward the bounty market, still fuming.
"I better get a good bounty or else I'm losing it."
He had no idea how the place worked. But in his head, he imagined it being like something out of One Piece—a room full of bounty posters, grumpy hunters, and someone stamping papers with dramatic flair.
"Hope I don't have to go to the ocean though…" he mumbled with a chuckle.
...
Itachi too was injured. The fight with Kakuzu had taken more out of him than he expected. More than physical wounds, he had overused his eyes.
He had won—barely—but at the cost of severe damage. One of his ribs was likely cracked, and blood seeped through his Akatsuki cloak with every step. His Sharingan was deactivated; he needed to conserve his strength.
Moving away from the battlefield, he stumbled through the trees, each breath heavier than the last. He needed to find shelter—somewhere to rest, somewhere safe.
That's when he saw her.
A woman with short blue hair stood quietly in a clearing, her paper-like cloak swaying in the wind. She wore the same Akatsuki cloak as the masked man—black with red clouds.
xxx
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