After dealing with Hidan's mess, Hanataki decisively left the imposing spire of Amegakure and returned to her luxurious little villa.
Late at night, a knock came at the villa's door.
Ding-dong.
Hanataki knew who it was.
The rain was still falling. The person on the other side was soaked, clothes plastered to their skin, water droplets plip-plopping onto the ground.
Kisame stood there, face expressionless, but his eyes… they were shining.
"You're here."
Hanataki nodded at him and opened the door, gesturing for him to enter.
Kisame didn't move. He just stared at Hanataki, that intense light burning in his gaze.
"I understand."
Looking at Kisame's current mental state, Hanataki knew Obito had to be involved.
Hanataki didn't speak, waiting for Kisame's answer.
"I know," Kisame said, voice tight with urgency. "I know what's real. And what's false."
"Oh?" Hanataki's tone was mild. "Sounds like you've had an epiphany. Explain."
"Reality… is pain. Confusion. Conspiracy. War." Kisame's words came fast. "The false… that's only beauty. Peace. Happiness."
His reasoning sounded eerily similar to the rhetoric of Obito and Madara Uchiha.
Looks like Obito's influence ran deep.
"Only in the real world can you feel pain and confusion. And only through pain and confusion… can you feel real."
"A world of only beauty doesn't exist. Where there's light, there's shadow. Day and night."
Kisame clenched his fists. "I can feel pain. I can feel confusion. I can feel my own existence. I am real. This world is real."
His expression darkened. "That man who calls himself Madara Uchiha… he wants to shatter the real world. Drag everyone into a hollow illusion!"
"If that happens… I won't be real anymore!"
"No one will be real anymore!"
Kisame's low voice carried a terrifying weight of resolve.
"I will stop such a world from being born."
He looked at Hanataki. He believed—he knew—that the woman who had first seen through truth and lies had the power to break the illusion.
[Ding! Affection level of target Kisame Hoshigaki has reached 100!]
Hanataki, sitting on the sofa sipping water, heard the system prompt in her mind. She set her teacup down on the table.
In a way, Kisame's theory was correct.
But the proposition of 'false vs. real'… it was like Hamlet. A thousand people, a thousand interpretations. No two understandings were the same.
As long as Kisame had found his own answer, that was the best outcome.
"He believed you?"
It was phrased as a question, but Hanataki's tone held absolute certainty.
Fundamentally, the Uchiha were a prideful clan.
Obito was no exception.
Kisame was a sleeper agent Obito had already identified. He wouldn't doubt him.
And a man with such a resolute core… he was hard to doubt.
Kisame nodded. "He wants me to join the Akatsuki."
"Go to the location he gave you tomorrow. Alone."
Hanataki looked at Kisame and gave a faint smile. "Remember. We have never met."
A corner of Kisame's mouth lifted. "Of course."
The next day.
Atop the spire.
The dim meeting room.
Tendo looked at Hanataki. "This is Kisame. From today, he will be a member of our team."
Hanataki nodded. "I'm Hanataki."
Sasori stood beside Hanataki, his gaze sweeping over Kisame.
After sizing him up, Sasori immediately categorized Kisame in the same mental box as Orochimaru.
After the routine meeting concluded, Hanataki left the spire.
Her shadow fell on the rain-slicked street.
She didn't move.
A figure appeared before her.
A clay-yellow spiral mask. Akatsuki robes. As if he'd been waiting.
"Do you need something?"
Hanataki wasn't familiar with this man in the Akatsuki who claimed to be Madara Uchiha.
In fact, Hanataki held the same level of wariness towards him that Yahiko did.
"It's about your sister."
Obito's low voice rumbled out.
The impatience on Hanataki's face receded slightly. She lowered her gaze. "I don't want to hear it."
Her relationship with Tsukimi Heshu… for those who had seen her true face, it wasn't hard to guess.
So Hanataki wasn't curious how this masked man had learned of it.
"Are you sure you don't want to know?" Obito pressed. "This news… might change your current perspective."
Obito was certain. In Tsukimi Hanataki's heart, Tsukimi Heshu held a position of extraordinary importance.
A struggle flashed in Hanataki's eyes.
In the end, she relented.
Her figure vanished from the street—at the same moment Obito's did.
A remote cliff overlooking Amegakure. Barren and deserted.
From here, you could see the entire village spread out below.
"Speak."
Hanataki's eyes remained fixed on the village as she spoke.
Obito began. "Tsukimi Heshu… is also a member of the Akatsuki."
Though her existence was unknown even to Nagato.
On the surface, the Akatsuki was led by Nagato. But the ones truly steering it… had always been him and Heshu.
He and Heshu decided the organization's goals and direction.
Hanataki jolted. She whipped her head around, staring at the masked man in shock. "What did you say?"
Obito, in contrast, kept his gaze on the village, speaking with feigned nonchalance. "Is it that hard to believe?"
"How… how is that possible?" Hanataki's voice trembled. "She… she's the Hokage."
For the first time, she seemed genuinely flustered, at a loss.
Yet, in that same moment, a flicker of… relief surfaced in her eyes.
If Tsukimi Heshu was a spy… then she and Tsukimi Heshu were on the same side.
They wouldn't have to face the horror of sibling against sibling.
"I'm telling you this," Obito said, "to prevent a repeat of last time."
Hanataki and Heshu had already clashed twice. Obito had to admit, as sisters, their strength was beyond ordinary imagination.
Who was stronger? Without a fight to the death, no one could say.
Obito didn't want to see an ending where Heshu died by Hanataki's hand.
Hanataki pressed her lips together. "Why should I believe you?"
She couldn't just accept this absurd reality based on this man's words alone.
"Do you think the Three-Tails last time just fell into my lap?"
Obito had anticipated this skepticism. He fired back a question.
Hanataki paused. She remembered—the one who killed the Three-Tails Jinchūriki was Tsukimi Heshu.
Logically, the Three-Tails should have died in the fight.
But not only did it not die… it was transferred from Heshu's hands into this man's.
Hanataki had fought Heshu. She knew her power all too well.
Trying to snatch a living Three-Tails from her by force alone would be harder than reaching the heavens.
Against such evidence, the masked man's words grew more credible.
"I've only told you about Heshu's role as a spy," Obito said slowly. "Because you're her sister."
"You understand," he continued, his voice dropping, "if it were exposed that the Hokage is an Akatsuki spy… the entire shinobi world would seek vicious retribution. The fewer who know, the better."
A faint warning glinted in Obito's gaze as he watched Hanataki.
Hanataki frowned. "I understand."
Tsukimi Heshu was her family. Of course she wouldn't reveal it.
The thought that she and her only remaining family were actually on the same side… a warmth spread through Hanataki's chest.
Her frown gradually eased. A slight smile touched the corner of her mouth.
Watching her reaction, an unreadable flicker of amusement passed through Obito's eyes.
As long as Hanataki believed she and Heshu were on the same side… she would be incapable of moving against her. But Heshu didn't know Hanataki existed. She was fully capable of striking her down without mercy.
This way… he could eliminate the troublesome Tsukimi Hanataki, who refused to obey him, and protect Heshu from another angle.
Most crucially… by being forced to kill her own sister… Heshu would come to understand the despair he once felt. Deeply.
Their shared path, their shared resolve… would only grow stronger.
Obito didn't believe in empathy.
Only those who had truly tasted equal despair could understand his heart.
Host, the system's flat voice inquired in her mind. Is Brother Dirt-for-Brains an idiot?
No, Hanataki thought back. He's clever.
From Hanataki's perspective, this move by Obito was well-played.
Of course… that was assuming Tsukimi Hanataki and Tsukimi Heshu weren't the same person.
Far away, a thousand miles off, in Konoha.
Sitting in the Hokage's office, Heshu slowly smiled.
"Lord Hokage, this is Elder Danzō's report."
Nara Sōsai placed a file on Heshu's desk.
Heshu opened it. It was Danzō's development summary.
Since the Chunin Exams, many of Konoha's enterprises had opened new avenues for growth, stepping onto the international stage.
Even Danzō's proud livestock industry had expanded beyond the Land of Fire's borders.
Judging by the data in this report… Danzō had truly worked hard these past two years.
Right now, Danzō was leading a group of elders to the Land of Lightning to develop business.
With the Five Kage Alliance and the union of the five great nations, economic development faced few restrictions.
The exchange and flourishing of various enterprises and cultures was rampant.
On her way home from work, Heshu saw seafood from the Land of Water being sold on several of Konoha's streets.
"Ah, Elder Danzō really puts my mind at ease!"
Heshu's praise was genuine.
The drive from within a person's heart was the key to success!
Danzō, from the bottom of his heart, wanted to control the lifeblood of resources. He threw his old life into developing industries.
Many of the innovative concepts Heshu proposed, even young people couldn't fully grasp them.
Yet Danzō was always the first to implement them.
That said everything about Danzō's efficiency.
"Lord Hokage, here are the development reports from the various clan heads."
Yako handed Heshu another file.
Heshu skimmed it. After the Chunin Exams began, the revenue of various enterprises had skyrocketed.
"Good."
Heshu nodded, satisfied.
"Lord Hokage, the Ninja Academy's opening ceremony… you are requested to give a speech."
Another administrative ninja stepped forward to report.
"Opening ceremony?"
Heshu suddenly remembered.
School was starting.
And among the new students… was her little disciple, Neji Hyuga.
"Understood."
The Academy's opening ceremony was in one month.
Morning.
Neji stood before the mirror, carefully tucking a stray, slightly curled lock of hair behind his ear.
After confirming there wasn't a single wrinkle on his clothes, Neji Hyuga left his room.
"Mother."
Neji gave a slight bow.
Though still a child, his every move carried a distinct, noble grace.
"Neji, at home, you don't need to use such formal address."
Seeing her son act like a little adult, his mother, Miyu, sighed helplessly.
Neji said nothing.
Miyu's eye twitched.
Was Neji polite?
Sometimes he pretended not to hear people.
Was he impolite?
He never missed a single required etiquette.
Miyu thought of her husband, Hizashi, and herself, then shook her head in resignation.
Who on earth did Neji get this personality from?
"Come, Neji. It's your first day of school. We can't be late."
Miyu shelved the question and rose from the tatami.
Neji stood up promptly, a flicker of excitement in his eyes.
But he quickly suppressed the emotion.
He was his teacher's student. He couldn't act like a child.
Once a person passed the age of three, their conduct could no longer resemble that of a toddler.
The little adult solemnly refused Miyu's offered hand and walked primly towards the Ninja Academy.
Along the way, Miyu ran into several acquaintances.
Now that the Hyuga clan's Main and Branch house distinction was abolished, and as Hizashi's son, Neji wasn't just the young master of a major shinobi clan—he was also the Hokage's beloved disciple.
Under the instructions of many clan heads, the various ladies knew to maintain good relations with Miyu.
"Teacher."
Heshu and Neji met at the school gate.
Neji looked up, his eyes shining with pure admiration.
Heshu ruffled Neji's hair, smiling. "How about coming to teacher's house today, Neji?"
Naruto was bursting with energy lately. He needed a playmate.
Otherwise, Naruto's daily antics would drive her and Hanzō mad.
Neji nodded, answering crisply. "Yes!"
After finishing her speech, Heshu eagerly scooped Neji up and dashed home.
Otherwise… Hanzō was in danger!
"Hahaha… Lord Hokage really dotes on Neji, doesn't he?"
A lady walking alongside them laughed.
She held the hand of a little girl with two round buns for hair.
Miyu offered a wry smile.
"Tenten?"
"Tenten?"
The lady was about to leave, but the little girl stood rooted to the spot.
"Mom?"
Tenten snapped out of it and followed her mother.
"Tenten, what were you staring at so intently?" the mother asked, amused by her daughter's distracted state.
"Neji is so pretty!"
Tenten said earnestly.
It was the first time she'd seen a boy that good-looking.
More delicate than a girl.
Surprised her daughter remembered the boy's name after one meeting, the mother chuckled helplessly. "You! See a pretty face and your feet won't move, is that it?"
Tenten beamed a sweet smile.
Meanwhile, at Heshu's home.
Naruto, draped in a red cape, pointed at Hanzō with a mighty air.
"Fiend! Surrender now!"
Hanzō: "…"
Inside the seal space, Kurama's expression was indescribable.
"Naruto, it's time for dinner."
Hanzō said patiently.
Though Naruto wasn't that young anymore, for the sake of his healthy growth…
Hanzō usually prepared a special growth meal for him separately, not sharing with Heshu.
"Wrong! Wrong!"
Naruto cried out, frustrated. "You're supposed to admit your wrongdoing now! Say, 'This humble one knows his error! Spare me, Great King!'"
Not getting the desired script, Naruto pouted, his whole little body deflating.
Hanzō: "…"
She'd said it before—they shouldn't tell Naruto those strange bedtime stories.
That's right. To soothe Naruto's boundless energy, bedtime stories were usually Heshu's responsibility.
And to keep herself entertained, Heshu had exchanged points with the system for Journey to the West to use as bedtime tales.
The two of them listened with rapt attention every night.
The result? Now, even Naruto's playacting was steeped in a thick Journey to the West vibe.
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