"Well, hello everyone."
Akira Uchiha stepped forward, his voice steady yet carrying that familiar hint of mischief. "My name is Akira Uchiha, the leader of the Imperial Council of Shinobi."
He gestured beside him.
"This is my good friend, Sasuke Uchiha."
Sasuke nodded once, arms folded, expression as unreadable as a blank scroll.
"And this," Akira continued, pointing to the silver-haired man who looked like he had already lost faith in humanity twice today, "is my other good friend, Kakashi Hatake."
"And as you all must have realized," Akira said, turning toward the red-haired figure standing quietly at the edge, "this is Nagato Uzumaki."
Nagato simply lowered his head, his presence calm yet heavier than the air around him.
The crowd murmured in awe. Nagato didn't speak—but he didn't need to. His name alone carried a legacy that could silence a battlefield.
Akira inhaled, ready to continue.
But before he could, 'Sasuke spoke up, his voice low and slicing through the silence:
" Akira... Uchiha...
Weren't you killed be Itachi?
As for Kakashi, since when did you have two Mangekyo Sharingan?
And Nagato how are you still alive?
And who is that imposter who looks like me?"
Akira heard Sasuke's barrage of questions… and simply ignored them.
Instead, he cleared his throat and continued speaking as if Sasuke had asked nothing at all.
"Now, you all must be wondering," Akira said, gesturing between the duplicates calmly, "why there are two Kakashis, two Sasukes, and one very alive Nagato. And of course… me."
A ripple went through the allied forces.
Akira raised a finger matter-of-factly.
"It's quite simple, actually. My Rinnegan allows me to travel through alternate timelines and different worlds.
So we were wandering through your world just now… and we noticed that you have been at war for the past two days. And tens of thousands of people have died."
His tone dimmed slightly.
The allied shinobi lowered their heads. Grief, anger, guilt—everything weighed on them like chains.
Akira continued smoothly.
"So I started searching for the root cause of this war. And the end result is—obviously—the Ten-Tails. Therefore, we, the Imperial Council of Shinobi, have decided to take the Ten-Tails with us.
That way, your world won't suffer another war. After all, if there is no Ten-Tails, then Madara and Obito have no reason to fight. And you all won't have to fight a death-to-death battle either."
A moment of stunned silence followed.
Then—
"AMAZING!"
Naruto pumped his fist into the air, beaming. "I knew you were a good person, Akira!"
A second later—
BOOM.
Sakura smashed Naruto's skull straight into the ground.
"IDIOT, NARUTO!" she yelled. "They're the same as Madara and Obito! They ALSO want to take the Ten-Tails!"
Naruto froze mid-speech, eyes wide. Akira's sugar-coated words had hit him too hard, and now his brain finally rebooted.
He pointed dramatically at Akira.
"Y-YOU! You're the same as that bastard Madara and Obito! I trusted you for nothing!"
Akira simply smiled.
Then he looked directly at Madara.
"So, Madara… You wanted peace, right? How about this—give the Ten-Tails to us. Then you'll be free from all burdens. You'll become heroes of the shinobi world. Sung across generations. Praised for ending this endless cycle."
He paused.
"Not a bad deal, right?"
---
But before Madara could respond to Akira's utterly ridiculous "peace deal," someone else cut in.
Sasuke.
He stepped forward, staring sharply at his counterpart.
"Hey, my other self," Sasuke said, voice flat but carrying weight, "you just said Itachi killed Akira. Explain."
The reaction was immediate.
Nagato and Kakashi both snapped their heads toward 'Sasuke.
Their expressions matched perfectly:
Pure confusion and utter disbelief.
For them, the idea was absurd.
Two Uchiha from the same clan.
Two geniuses born in the same generation.
Raised with pride, strength, and a shared destiny…
Why would one kill the other?
And even if—if—such a thing happened…
How did everyone know about it?
Why did no one seem to care?
Why was this being treated like a casual fun fact?
In their worlds, Uchiha drama was complicated—but this was on another level.
The air grew thick.
Everyone silently turned toward the 'Sasuke.
Waiting for an answer.
'Sasuke was even more confused now.
He stared at his alternate self and said slowly,
"Wait… didn't your Itachi kill everyone in your clan except you?
Isn't that what happened in your world?"
---
Now it was Sasuke, Kakashi, Nagato, and even Madara's turn to be stunned.
The three alternate selves were struck speechless.
How could something like this even happen?
The young patriarch of the clan… killing his entire clan?
As for Madara—although the Uchiha clan didn't support him when he left Konoha—he was still an Uchiha. He still carried a sliver of pride for the clan, far more than any outsider.
So hearing that the Uchiha clan was wiped out—and that the one who did it was an Uchiha himself—filled him with confusion, anger, and disbelief.
The four of them stood frozen.
And then—
A laugh.
" Heh, "
A loud, sharp laugh echoed across the battlefield.
The atmosphere tightened instantly. Killing intent flickered everywhere. Even the Ten-Tails seemed to pause.
This time, even Akira was angered.
He already knew the truth of this tragedy, and his fury wasn't as explosive as during the simulation… maybe because now he wasn't trapped in this accursed world, and maybe because he had finally learned to regulate his emotions.
But that wild, mocking laugh still ignited something inside him.
Everyone turned toward the sound.
In one corner of the Four Red Yang Formation…
Senju Tobirama was grinning.
A wide, satisfied grin.
Even Hashirama snapped his head toward his brother, horrified. He had never seen Tobirama smile so happily.
As for the people of Konoha… they quietly looked at the ground, then at the sky, pretending they had seen nothing.
Because if Tobirama was laughing at the extermination of one of the two founding clans, that was… well… normal. He was Tobirama—enemy number one of the Uchiha.
But the real problem was this:
The Senju clan's condition was worse than the Uchiha's.
At least the Uchiha had Sasuke and Obito alive.
Senju clan?
Only Tsunade remained.
No one even wanted to imagine what Tobirama would do if he learned that.
---
Akira stared at Tobirama for a long moment.
Then a slow, knowing smile crept across his face.
He turned toward the two legends.
"Madara. Hashirama. I assume the two of you can represent this ninja world… correct?"
Madara nodded immediately—as if the idea was obvious.
Hashirama blinked, looked left, looked right, and then nodded as well.
No one in the Allied Forces objected, even though Madara Uchiha was one of the representatives.
Because—like it or not—they all had to admit one thing:
Madara was strong.
Too strong.
Akira continued casually,
"Well, if your world and my world start fighting for the Ten-Tails… this entire planet might as well be destroyed."
A shiver ran through the crowd.
Akira then clapped his hands lightly.
"So how about we play a fair game?
The victor gets the Ten-Tails."
Hashirama perked up instantly.
To avoid war?
To avoid unnecessary death?
And it was a fair game?
He nodded so fast he almost sprained his neck.
But Madara scoffed sharply.
"Wait. What do we get out of this?" he demanded.
"If you win, you take the Ten-Tails.
If you lose, you can simply run away.
So why should we even agree?
If our worlds fight, your people will die too. It's not as if only mine suffer."
The shinobi of the Alliance nodded vigorously behind him.
Hashirama, meanwhile, continued to nod like a rock, clearly realizing none of this.
Akira spread his hands.
"Well, here's the thing…
You have no choice."
Everyone stiffened.
"Just the four of us," Akira said calmly, pointing to himself, Sasuke, Kakashi, and Nagato,
"can kill every single person present here. Even without reinforcements from my world, you don't stand a chance."
He smiled pleasantly.
"And let's say—hypothetically—you can defeat us and our world.
You still can't travel to our timeline.
So your victory here is useless.
Who told you to awaken a useless Rinnegan ability?"
Madara's chakra flared with rising anger.
He grit his teeth.
Akira tilted his head.
"So. You must accept the terms."
Silence stretched across the battlefield.
Finally, Madara exhaled harshly.
"…What's the game?"
---