"You're… Yahiko?"
Tsunade's eyes went round. "Y-You're really Yahiko? You've grown so much!"
"Lady Tsunade, you know him?" Sogetsu's tone was cool as he slid half a step back. His right hand drifted to his hip; behind the white animal mask, three scarlet tomoe spun to life. "Forgive me, Lady Tsunade—but proceed with caution. He's likely a criminal wanted by Amegakure."
"Sharingan… An Uchiha, then."
Under that crimson gaze Yahiko felt, inexplicably, ill-at-ease. His brow creased. "ANBU of Konoha, we don't mean you harm. Holster the hostility. And don't forget—this is our village. You're the outsider."
Because of Jiraiya-sensei, he held a sliver of goodwill toward Tsunade. That grace did not extend to Konoha's ANBU. In Rain, most folks had nothing but resentment for the great nations—the Second War had turned their homeland into a battlefield. Many of Amegakure's orphans were orphans because of Konoha.
"A man wanted by Hanzo has no standing to say that," Sogetsu said, pride like a blade. "Lady Tsunade, gift-wrapping them for Hanzo would make quite a tribute, wouldn't it?"
"So the rumors are true—Uchiha are all arrogance." Yahiko was still a teenager; being baited, then offered up as a "gift," set his temper alight. "If you've got the guts, try it!"
"Gladly."
Sogetsu's fingers flashed through a seal; his tomoe whirled.
"I suggest you don't move." Yahiko's smile went thin. He pointed at Sogetsu's feet. "Look closely. Unless you'd like to be confetti, don't twitch."
Sogetsu glanced down. At some point, a fan of paper charms had cinched his shins—dozens of tag-edges fluttering.
The scattered paper shivered together into a human form beside Yahiko: a girl with pale-lavender hair, a paper flower at her temple, eyes cool as rain.
"ANBU of Konoha," Konan said softly, "we only wish to speak with Lady Tsunade. Move, and I'll take your legs."
"Enough."
Tsunade palmed her forehead. "We're not here to fight. Stand down, all of you."
"Don't worry, Lady Tsunade," Yahiko said gently. "Konan won't harm him. We mean no ill—"
"I wasn't talking to you, Yahiko." Tsunade sighed. "Owl, stand down. This is an Ame matter. We don't interfere."
Yahiko and Konan blinked. She told the ANBU to stop? But they had the upper hand—
"Yes, Lady Tsunade."
The ANBU in front of them rippled like a reflection—and vanished.
That creeping sense of being watched from behind sharpened into the bite of a knife. Yahiko and Konan turned, eyes widening.
"Genjutsu…? When—?" Yahiko's pupils pin-pricked. He hadn't even felt the moment the illusion took hold.
So this was Konoha's famed bloodline—the eye that made Uchiha feared across the shinobi world.
"Tell me," Sogetsu said lightly from directly ahead, slow-clapping, "who gave you the courage… to meet an Uchiha's eyes?"
Arrogant? Maybe. Accurate? Absolutely. Across the world, very few shinobi dared to lock eyes with an Uchiha.
"This one's on me," Yahiko exhaled, forcing the heat back down. "Carelessness. Next time, I won't lose."
Leader material, Sogetsu decided—self-aware, able to clamp his emotions, quick to course-correct. Better for the chair than Nagato in many ways. But in this warped world, power trumped policy, charisma, and strategy. Hashirama didn't unify an era with speeches; the Five Great Nations didn't tolerate Sasuke later out of kindness—they knew what a raging jinchūriki best friend could do to a country.
Konan, though… interesting.
"I doubt we'll get time to reminisce," Yahiko said, head tilting at a distant rumble. He dipped to Tsunade. "Please give our regards to Jiraiya-sensei."
"I will." She almost added a warning—then let it die. "You have your path. Be careful."
"When you visit Ame again," Yahiko said, bright with belief, "I hope you'll see a different village."
As they withdrew, Konan glanced back, a faint chill nagging her—like a quiet gaze threading paper seams.
—
Night. Akatsuki's hidden bolt-hole.
Konan worked alone, sorting supplies stripped from Ame squads. The organization was still an infant—short on hands, shorter on money, hunted by Hanzo.
She pinched the bridge of her nose and sat back on the tatami. "Tired…? I'll rest a—"
Sleep took her.
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