"It was bound to happen sooner or later."
"But speaking of which…"
Akashō put away his smile, narrowing his eyes as he watched the Hidden Cloud Village envoy group passing by downstairs, each of them wearing an arrogant sneer.
"What do you think—will these peace talks go smoothly?"
"Who knows."
Kakashi watched their backs disappear into the distance.
"What are you worried about? When the sky falls, the tall ones hold it up. Isn't that your famous saying?"
"But I'm taller than you."
In every sense of the word.
"Tch."
Kakashi shot Akashō an annoyed glare.
"Shisui, let's go."
"Alright."
The two leapt up, bounding across rooftops as they followed the Hidden Cloud Village envoys.
"There's a mask between us anyway—what are you glaring for? It's not like I can see it."
Itachi glanced sideways at Akashō, somewhat speechless. His father had told him that Akashō's strength was definitely not as useless as the villagers made it out to be, but no matter how he looked at him, he couldn't see any of the presence a true powerhouse should have.
Other than occasionally saying things that left him thinking for days.
"How strong do you think Akashō really is?"
While tailing the envoys in secret, Shisui suddenly asked Kakashi.
"Akashō's strength, huh…"
Kakashi stopped on a rooftop, narrowing his eyes as he tried to recall. In his memory, the only time Akashō had truly made a move was that one incident at the Lightning–Fire battlefield, when he had baited the enemy.
And what he displayed back then… was Kokushibo's swordsmanship—something called Moon Breathing.
"Anyway, he's pretty strong. At the very least, I wouldn't dare guarantee I could beat him."
Shisui shot Kakashi a surprised look. "Even you're not confident? Then does that mean he's really been training Flying Thunder God?"
"Flying Thunder God??"
Kakashi turned his head in shock. "Akashō is training Flying Thunder God? Who told you that?"
"Uh…"
Shisui scratched the back of his head.
"I overheard it outside when I went to report to the Third Hokage last time. But from the way he sounded, it didn't seem to be going very well…"
Wait, that doesn't make sense. If his Flying Thunder God training isn't going well, then how is he strong enough that even Kakashi isn't confident in beating him?
Shisui touched his mask, sinking into thought. Kakashi had always been a genius of their generation—trained in his father Sakumo Hatake's blade techniques, developed Chidori—no, now known as Lightning Cutter—and with the Sharingan Obito gave him, his strength had earned him the titles of "Konoha's Technician" and "Copy Ninja." So how could he possibly lose to Akashō…?
Meanwhile, Kakashi was also deep in thought.
Akashō is training Flying Thunder God?
When did that happen? And how does the Third Hokage know about it? Could it be…
Kakashi's expression turned serious as he looked up.
Is Hiruzen Sarutobi… monitoring Akashō?
"Could it be that the Fourth Hokage's sacrifice pushed Akashō to train Flying Thunder God, to inherit his will?"
Kakashi turned his head. After hearing Shisui's speculation, he nodded thoughtfully.
"That's possible."
...
On the second day after the Hidden Cloud Village envoy group settled into the Hidden Leaf Village, Akashō went to the Yamanaka flower shop as usual, preparing to buy a bouquet to pay respects to Minato and his wife.
As soon as he entered, he saw the shop owner playing with a little girl of about two years old—her daughter, Yamanaka Ino. Behind the counter sat her husband, Yamanaka Inoichi.
And beside Inoichi was someone Akashō was quite familiar with.
"Akashō, you're here again."
"Yeah. Has ANBU been this free lately? You're all just wandering around outside."
Akashō picked up a bouquet from the shelf and walked to the counter, looking at the man who hadn't even taken off his ANBU uniform.
This man was none other than Yamanaka Hi—no, Yamanaka Haiji—the ANBU squad captain who had been tricked by Akashō the first time he came to the village.
"Not really."
Yamanaka Haiji scratched his head helplessly.
"It's those Hidden Cloud Village envoys. If they weren't deliberately stirring up trouble…"
At the mention of the Hidden Cloud Village envoys, a faint light flickered in Akashō's previously dull eyes.
He frowned. "What did they do?"
"They…"
Yamanaka Haiji was just about to curse angrily, but suddenly he seemed to lose all momentum and lowered his head.
"Forget it. You'd better not know for now. Besides feeling frustrated, there's nothing you can do about it anyway."
Akashō raised an eyebrow and nodded. "Alright, got it."
After paying, Akashō took the flowers to the memorial park and sat there for a while. Then, using Observation Haki to confirm there was no one around, he formed hand seals and created a Shadow Clone.
"Go find Danzō and ask what's going on."
"Got it."
"This needs to end soon. Being constantly spied on by that old pervert Hiruzen Sarutobi—I'm about to lose it and just cut him down."
Akashō rubbed his neck, muttering to himself.
Not long after he returned home, the Shadow Clone he had sent out transmitted a set of memories back to him.
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