Kagami's voice did not waver as he continued, though something faint and restrained moved beneath it.
"Sayaka," he said, "even in the short time I knew her, was a genius."
His gaze drifted slightly, unfocused, as if looking into a past only he could see.
"Not in strength," he clarified. "Not in raw chakra or combat talent. But her mind… her mind was exceptional. Sharp, adaptable, and frighteningly perceptive. In that regard, she reminded me of Sensei more than anyone else."
Hiruzen's fingers twitched faintly at the mention.
"So Mito-sama and I came to a decision," Kagami continued. "The Mangekyo, my Mangekyo, to which my soul was bound would be entrusted to her for safekeeping."
He allowed a brief pause.
"She understood immediately and we did not need to explain much. She grasped the danger, the responsibility, and the consequences with a clarity that no child her age should have possessed."
His voice softened by a fraction.
"It was a heavy burden to place on a child. Unfair, cruel even. But she accepted it without hesitation."
Kagami exhaled slowly.
"The plan was simple in theory. She would grow. She would take Tsunade's help one day. Together, they would create a body capable of housing my Mangekyo without collapsing under its power."
Hiruzen's eyes narrowed slightly, listening closely.
"But reality does not bend for plans," Kagami said calmly. "The political environment of the village at the time could not handle my return. And Tsunade's skills, while extraordinary were not yet sufficient for something of that scale."
He shook his head once.
"So Sayaka waited."
The word carried years within it.
"She waited through wars, through losses, through the slow rot of the village's undercurrents. She waited while the world moved forward and she remained still."
His gaze sharpened.
"And then… she became pregnant."
Kagami's eyes shifted toward Ren.
For just a heartbeat, something dangerous surfaced there, anger, sharp and visceral but it vanished almost as soon as it appeared, buried under layers of control.
"From the moment she knew," Kagami said quietly, "Sayaka understood one thing with absolute certainty."
The clearing felt unnaturally still.
"She would die if she gave birth to this child."
Juichi froze.
The words hit him like a physical blow.
His eyes widened, breath catching in his throat as his mind reeled backward, scrambling through memories, through moments that suddenly felt different, heavier, sharper.
"She… knew?" Juichi whispered.
Kagami nodded once.
"She knew," he confirmed.
Juichi's hands clenched.
If she had told him.
If she had said even a single word.
He would have stopped it.
The child could be born later, another time, another way.
But Sayaka…
His mind dragged up the image he had sealed away for years.
Her pale face.
The way she smiled despite everything.
The way her hands trembled as she placed Ren in his arms.
'Please take care of our child, no matter what happens.'
Juichi swallowed hard.
She had known.
She had always known, and she had chosen it anyway.
A bitter, hollow laugh threatened to rise in his chest, but he crushed it down. He understood now, too late, but clearly.
Sayaka had known that if he learned the truth beforehand, he might look at Ren and see not a son, but a cost.
She had known him too well.
Juichi exhaled slowly, shoulders slumping just a fraction.
"I wouldn't have been strong enough," he admitted quietly, voice rough. "Not then."
He looked at Ren, not with resentment, but with something fragile and aching.
"I love him," Juichi said. "More than anything. But if I had known she died because of him…"
His voice trailed off.
Kagami did not interrupt.
After a moment, he spoke again, his tone steady but not unkind.
"Sayaka understood that too," he said. "That is why she never told you. Not out of deception, but out of trust."
Kagami did not pause for long before continuing. His voice remained even, but the weight behind it had grown heavier, layered with things that had never been spoken aloud.
"She woke me," he said quietly. "A few months into her pregnancy."
His gaze drifted, not toward Ren this time, but somewhere far beyond the clearing, as if replaying a moment etched too deeply into his soul.
"She told me everything. About the child. About the strange feeling she had, that it was as if the world itself was rejecting Ren's existence."
Ren's fingers twitched faintly at his side.
"At first," Kagami continued, "I told her to abandon the pregnancy."
There was no hesitation in his words.
"I was blunt, cold and practical. I told her that the child would kill her, that no future was worth her life. I told her she was being foolish."
Juichi's jaw tightened, he would've done the same.
"But she refused," Kagami said. "Not once, not even for a moment did she chose to not have the child."
His voice lowered slightly.
"She said she could feel it. That something, everything, was trying to erase Ren before he even existed. Fate, the world or whatever governs this cursed reality."
A faint, humorless smile touched his lips.
"And she reached a conclusion that only someone like her could reach."
Kagami looked toward Ren again.
"She believed that if the world itself felt threatened by an unborn child, then that child must be extraordinary. That if something's existence alone could shake the foundations of reality, then it would one day have the power to challenge it."
Ren remained silent, eyes still closed.
"Because of that," Kagami said, "and because of her love for the child she had never even seen… she chose to give birth."
Juichi squeezed his eyes shut.
"She believed Ren would one day lead the world," Kagami continued calmly. "And she decided that her life was an acceptable price."
For the first time, Kagami's voice cracked, just barely.
"I could not accept that."
He inhaled slowly.
"She was the one who kept me alive all those years. A child burdened with my soul, my Mangekyo and she never once complained."
His jaw tightened.
"I told her again to abandon the child. I argued, demanded, I tried every reason I could think of."
He shook his head once.
"She refused every time."
A pause.
"But then… she proposed something else."
Kagami's eyes narrowed slightly as he spoke.
"She said her body would be the perfect vessel for me. That if she was going to die anyway, then I should live as her."
Hiruzen's breath caught.
"She wanted me to take over her body," Kagami said plainly. "To become Sayaka. To guide Ren in her place."
"She reasoned it simply," Kagami continued. "The world would not allow her to live if she gave birth to Ren. So she would die. But the village would never know the truth. To them, Sayaka would survive."
His gaze hardened.
"And I would live on as her. Protect Ren. Guide him. Fulfill the role she could not."
Hiruzen's eyes widened slightly, but he still did not interrupt.
"In her mind," Kagami said softly, "this solved everything."
He exhaled.
"But plans rarely survive reality."
His tone shifted, growing colder.
"The original Yoru, the true ANBU Commander chose to escort Sayaka and Juichi to a secret location for the birth. This was a child of Senju blood. Secrecy was paramount."
Juichi nodded slowly, memories stirring.
"It was as if the world itself knew what was about to happen," Kagami said. "As if it decided to intervene directly."
His eyes darkened.
"The one who appeared before us was the White Snake Sage. The Sage of Snakes."
A ripple of tension passed through the clearing.
"She attacked without hesitation," Kagami continued. "And in that battle… Yoru died."
Silence followed.
"The original Yoru," Kagami repeated. "Was killed."
Hiruzen's fingers curled slightly.
"And just as she was about to kill Sayaka, and the child," Kagami said, "the other two arrived."
Hiruzen's eyes widened. "The sages…"
"The Toad Sage," Kagami confirmed. "And the Slug Sage."
His brow furrowed.
"I do not know what was discussed between them. I was not part of that conversation. I only know that when it ended, all three sages departed."
He shook his head slowly.
"The world spared Ren that night, but only barely."
Kagami's gaze sharpened again.
"We knew then that time was running out. Danzo was already moving. Whether his intentions were protection or control no longer mattered, he was an enemy."
Danzo, still restrained by Ren, said nothing.
"So a final decision was made," Kagami said quietly.
"Sayaka would also die."
"And the one who would remain," Kagami continued, "would take Yoru's name."
His eyes swept over them all.
"I would return to the village as the ANBU Commander, as Yoru."
His voice was iron.
"This way, the village would lower its guard. Juichi and Ren would be left alone. The truth would be buried so deeply that no one would ever think to look for it."
A long silence followed.
Hiruzen stood frozen for several long seconds, eyes slightly widened as his mind struggled to sort through everything Kagami had revealed. The night air felt heavier now, as if the truths spoken had weight of their own.
Finally, he exhaled slowly and asked, his voice hoarse but controlled, "Then… what about Sayaka? How is she alive like this?"
Kagami closed his eyes for a brief moment, as if gathering memories that still hurt to touch, then answered evenly,
"Just after she finished giving birth to Ren, she knew her death was imminent. Her body was already failing. She was preparing to tell Juichi everything about me, about Ren, about what must be done to protect him."
"At that moment," Kagami continued, "I remembered a technique Mito-Sama created for me long ago."
Hiruzen's brow furrowed. "The one which anchored your soul…"
Kagami nodded. "I explained it to Sayaka. I asked her to separate a portion of her soul, and to use the real Yoru's body as the vessel. With the Reaper Death Seal as the medium, she would bind her remaining soul to her body."
Silence rippled outward.
"This way," Kagami said quietly, "both of us could continue to exist."
Hiruzen absorbed that, then asked softly, "Did it work as you intended?"
This time, it was Sayaka who answered.
Her voice was calm, feminine, and steady, yet carried a faint exhaustion that betrayed everything she had endured.
"Only partially," she said. "The sacrifice succeeded, but two souls cannot truly coexist within one body, especially when one of them is as weak as mine was and one is an Uchiha with Mangekyo in a Senju body."
She lowered her gaze slightly.
"Only one of us could remain active at a time. And I could only manifest for a very short duration."
She looked at Ren briefly, then continued, "So it was decided. I would fall into a deep sleep. Kagami-san would continue living as Yoru… as the ANBU Commander."
Hiruzen closed his eyes.
For the third time that night, he felt something inside him crumble.
"You two…" he murmured. "You sacrificed so much for the village. For all of us."
His shoulders sagged.
"And yet I…"
He stopped himself, exhaling slowly.
"I am sorry," he said again, voice heavy but resolute now. "Truly. But I will right these wrongs."
His eyes snapped open, sharp and cold.
"Starting with him."
They all felt it before they saw it.
Danzo, who had finally managed to slip free of Ren's grip during the explanations, was already running, no longer dignified, no longer calculating, just fleeing like a cornered animal.
Hiruzen vanished.
One instant he was standing there, the next he appeared directly in front of Danzo.
Danzo skidded to a halt, terror flooding his face. "H-Hiruzen, listen! Everything I did-"
Before he could finish, Hiruzen clamped a hand over Danzo's mouth.
His eyes were devoid of warmth.
"I know," Hiruzen muttered. "For the village."
His fingers tightened.
Danzo's head exploded like a crushed fruit, blood and fragments scattering in a sickening burst.
The body collapsed.
But Hiruzen didn't stop.
He vanished again.
The ground near the compound exit detonated as Hiruzen slammed his foot down, obliterating the terrain. Danzo's body reformed mid-air, crashing down violently, coughing blood as Izanagi rewrote his death once more.
Before Danzo could even scream, Hiruzen's adamantine staff thrust forward, piercing straight through his heart.
The staff pinned him to the ground.
Danzo's eyes widened, blood bubbling from his mouth.
Hiruzen raised his weapon again and froze.
A smaller hand had latched onto Danzo's ankle.
Ren.
He looked up at Hiruzen with a wide, almost playful smile, eyes gleaming.
"Don't be in such a hurry, gramps," Ren said lightly. "It wouldn't be fun if he died only by your hands, right?"
He tightened his grip slightly, preventing Danzo from escaping again.
"He still owes quite a few people," Ren continued casually, glancing toward Kagami, Sayaka, and Juichi, and farther out of the village. "I think it's only fair he pays his dues properly."
Danzo's remaining eye trembled with pure terror.
For the first time that night, he truly understood.
There was no escape left.
~~~~~
{I feel so much satisfaction everytime Danzo dies, it's as if it heals something inside me, anyway he is down by 2 more, so that leaves 8? or 9? Let's go with 8 and one of Shisui's Mangekyo, so 9 total.}
{Next chapter, chapter 300!}
{As you guys know, I made a new fic, however for some reason it was blocked by WN, fortunately it was just one day old, however this scared me a lot as you'd understand why. So, as a precaution I made a lot of backups of this fic in case something like happens, but if you guys have any more suggestions do let me know, I don't know if I could handle re publication if something happened to this fic.}