Amid the roar of the Chunin Exams, two figures, one tall, one short, appeared on a quiet Konoha street.
Both wore straw hats, pulled low to hide their faces, but the black cloaks patterned with red clouds were unmistakable. The polish on their fingernails only confirmed it.
Akatsuki. Rumor has it Konan started that trend, but that hasn't been yet confirmed.
"Itachi-san," the shark-faced man said, shifting the giant, bandaged weapon on his shoulder. "The leader never said anything about us coming to Konoha."
He was Kisame Hoshigaki, an S-rank missing-nin from Kirigakure. The man he spoke to was Konoha's own infamous S-rank defector, Itachi. Itachi was clearly the younger of the two, yet Kisame addressed him with a marked respect, always adding the honorific.
"This was supposed to be Kakuzu and Sasori's mission," Kisame continued, baring a row of sharp, pointed teeth. His small, dark eyes were fixed on his partner. "So our being here feels a little... out of place, don't you think?" He let the question hang in the air. "Or are you in Konoha for some other reason, Itachi-san?"
Itachi said nothing. He stood on the edge of a high roof, gazing down at the bustling village below. 'I'm being watched.'
The feeling had been a faint, persistent shadow ever since he joined the Akatsuki. Whoever it was, they were good, he had never found a single trace of them. Then there was the ambush. Not long after he left the village, he had gone to the rendezvous point Third Hokage had given him, but it was a trap. After that, he knew the situation had changed. He sealed himself off and focused only on his mission inside the Akatsuki.
That was three years ago.
Seeing Itachi's continued silence, Kisame seemed to think he had pushed too far. "Heh. Just a joke," he said, trying to lighten the mood. "I'm sure you wouldn't take something like that to heart, Itachi-san."
Itachi still didn't answer.
Suddenly, a thunderous wave of cheers erupted from the arena, drawing both of their gazes. The sound marked the end of the first match: Neji Hyuga versus Naruto Uzumaki.
The noise seemed to remind Kisame of something. "I heard your little brother is in these exams," he said quietly. "I hear he's one of the favorites to win. Are you here to see him? To see Sasuke?"
When Itachi remained silent, Kisame pressed on, a sly look on his face. "After all, the Uchiha, "
"Don't say that name again." It was the first time Itachi had reacted. His voice was cold and sharp. "I was cast out from that clan. It has nothing to do with me anymore."
"Hahaha..." Kisame let out a casual chuckle, satisfied to have gotten a response.
"Let's go, Kisame," Itachi said, his tone flat. "Leader's plan continues. We'll lie low for now and find a chance to confirm the status of the Fourth's legacy."
"As you wish," Kisame's grin stretched wider. "So, where to now?"
"A dango shop."
"Hm?" They hadn't gone far before they passed a man with long white hair. As the two cloaked figures disappeared down the street, Jiraiya's expression turned grim.
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The match between Naruto and Neji had set a new standard for the exams. The royalty and nobles in the stands were still buzzing, and an ordinary ninja bout would feel dull in comparison. The message was clear: Konoha's shinobi fought on a different level.
Both Naruto and Neji were carried off on stretchers by the medical team, their injuries from the fierce battle needing immediate attention. Seeing his nephew taken away, Hiashi Hyuga rose from his seat and made his way toward the hospital.
The fight had left the arena floor in ruins. An intermission was called to repair the damage, lest the spectacle be ruined for the distinguished guests. With several Earth Release users on hand, the repairs wouldn't take long.
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In a hidden base in the Otogakure, Kabuto Yakushi pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, methodically sealing lab equipment and test subjects into scrolls. The bodies of Oto-nin lay strewn across the floor at his feet.
With most of Otogakure's forces deployed for the invasion, the base's defenses were at their weakest. He knew this facility inside and out, its security measures were like paper to him.
He moved effortlessly to Orochimaru's forbidden jutsu room. After sifting through the scrolls that lined an entire wall, he found a small one marked with the character for "corpse" and slipped it carefully into his robe. This was his true purpose here, the task Hattori had given him. It was, in a way, his pledge of loyalty.
He didn't spare a single glance for the other forbidden techniques before closing the heavy door behind him.
'Who would have thought... the world-famous tycoon was actually the Fourth Hokage, a man who was supposed to be dead.'
Kabuto's mind drifted back to the events of a month ago.
Karin had led him to a secret location to meet the man they called Hattori. When the man revealed his face, even Kabuto, for all his composure, had been stunned. It was the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, who had supposedly died in the Nine-Tails attack twelve years ago.
Minato knew a surprising amount about him and seemed to value his skills. He had risked exposing his own survival just to "invite" Kabuto for a meeting. He wanted Kabuto to switch his allegiance.
'For a professional spy like me,' Kabuto had thought, 'it makes no difference whether I serve one master or several. I'm already playing more than one side.'
But Minato hadn't been interested in his skills as a spy. He seemed to see straight through Kabuto's calculations. Then, he made him a promise, one that nearly broke his composure on its own.
What finally shattered his resolve was the voice of the masked man standing beside Minato.
"Kabuto, you want to see her, don't you?" the man had asked. "To see her alive. To see her as she was back then. To talk with her all night. To run the orphanage with her again. To touch her, to hold her, to tell her 'I'm sorry' with your own lips... and to tell her 'thank you,' too. Am I wrong?"
The man called himself just 'Uzumaki' spoke with a voice that dripped temptation, like a devil offering a contract. But to Kabuto, he sounded like an angel, a god in the flesh.
He was offering to heal the one wound Kabuto could never close, to erase the one regret that had haunted his entire life. If it were possible, he would give anything to make it right.
Kabuto whispered the name that had been a constant ache in his heart. "Mother..."
The "her" Uzumaki spoke of was his foster mother, Nono Yakushi.
Kabuto was a survivor of the battle at Kikyo Pass. For reasons unknown, he'd lost his memories and was brought to an orphanage in Konoha.
Arriving with no past, Kabuto had been helpless, lost, unable to find meaning, as if the whole world had abandoned him. It was the orphanage director, Nono, who had warmed his heart in those desperate days. She took him in, gave him a name, gave him a home.
Those were the happiest days of his life.
But the peace didn't last. Danzo set his sights on Nono, once Konoha's most formidable spy, known as the "Wandering Miko." To protect her and the orphanage, Kabuto volunteered to become a spy for Root in her place.
But he was dealing with Danzo, a man who didn't believe in choosing one asset when he could have both.
From that day forward, Kabuto was a ghost, drifting between the great shinobi villages, stealing secrets. And when a spy knows too many secrets, there is only one end. Danzo decided it was time to tie up loose ends. He sent an assassin to eliminate him.
But Kabuto's skills had grown beyond Danzo's expectations. He turned the tables on his would-be killer, and when he pulled off the mask... his world shattered.
The person he had killed with his own hands was Nono, the woman he treasured most.
What truly broke him was the look in her eyes as she died. "Who... are you?"
The words were a knife in his heart, twisting with every memory. His entire world collapsed in that moment. It was all Danzo's design, a cruel plot to make two of his best spies eliminate each other. To ensure the outcome, he had even fed Nono fabricated information about Kabuto, erasing him from her memory until she could no longer recognize the boy she had raised.
After her death, Kabuto became a walking corpse, lost in that same fog of helplessness. Orochimaru had found him in that state and had given him a new reason to exist. It was why Kabuto had spent so long imitating him, he was trying to find himself in another's shadow. He never knew if it was the right path.
But what if Nono, who had been killed so unjustly, could be brought back? What if she could stand before him again? What if he was given a chance to choose differently?
The line between life and death in the shinobi world was not as absolute as most believed.
Kabuto removed his glasses. A tear slipped from the corner of his eye as he stroked the frames with a gentle reverence. They were a gift from the person he cherished most. Time had started to wear down the bridge, and no matter how carefully he handled them, he couldn't stop their slow decay.
"For our shared ideal!" Kabuto's voice was firm, but then it softened to a tender whisper. "And for my mother..."
If Obito could try to destroy the world for Rin, Then Kabuto could offer everything he had for Nono.
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(A/N: The anime once added a filler scene where Itachi is attacked after defecting. It was a retcon to explain why he spent years undercover without sending any intel back to the village. But the retcon just created more problems, because instead of having Third Hokage take responsibility for abandoning a subordinate, the blame was once again dumped entirely on Danzo. With so many of these retcons stacked up over the years, it's become impossible to make sense of the plot without villainizing Hiruzen.)
Countdown : 4
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