Uchiha Yusuke wandered the streets of Iwagakure, muttering to himself.
"Where should I go to kill time?"
He suddenly thought of one of the Legendary Sannin—Jiraiya.
That guy lived like a roaming author, traveling everywhere. Compared to him, Yusuke's life looked downright miserable.
With Jiraiya's carefree personality, if he were in Iwagakure, he'd already be sneaking into a hot spring or a pleasure house, wouldn't he?
Work hard—play harder.
Completing missions while enjoying himself… wasn't that the perfect deal?
With that thought, Yusuke headed straight for the busiest izakaya in the village.
He'd come all this way—if he didn't taste the local flavor, what was the point?
Iwagakure Izakaya
Yusuke ordered good sake and a few dishes, relaxing into a leisurely "afternoon tea."
He was disguised as a traveling merchant, so he didn't draw attention.
Iwagakure might be poor, but merchants were common. The roads were tough, sure—but the profits were excellent. Goods brought here could be sold at a high price.
Around him, Iwa-nin drank and talked loudly about current events.
"Did you hear? Kumogakure paid us eighty million ryō as a settlement."
"Eighty million? That's nothing! If the Third Tsuchikage-sama wasn't so merciful, we would've already marched on Kumo and Konoha!"
"Don't talk nonsense. Tsuchikage-sama has his reasons. Konoha's 'Flame Demon' Yusuke isn't someone you can provoke. Did you forget the 'Yellow Flash,' Minato Namikaze?"
"Rumor says Uchiha Yusuke's talent might even surpass Minato's. Picking a fight with someone like that is just stupid."
"Exactly. Steady wins the game. Tsuchikage-sama's choice makes perfect sense."
Yusuke hadn't expected his name to have reached Iwagakure too.
Hearing them compare him to the Fourth Hokage was recognition of his strength.
For Iwa-nin, the Yellow Flash was a nightmare that never faded.
On the battlefield, if you ran into that man, you abandoned your mission and retreated immediately.
Anyone who tried to challenge Minato back then… usually didn't live to regret it.
That was true terror.
Yusuke listened for a while and realized something else:
Ōnoki might be rigid and old-fashioned, but his public support in Iwagakure was still strong.
In the original timeline, Ōnoki and Hiruzen were both long-ruling leaders among the Five Great Villages.
Hiruzen died in Orochimaru's "Konoha Crush."
Ōnoki endured all the way until the end of the Fourth Great War, then passed the title on to his granddaughter, Kurotsuchi.
A Kage's descendant becoming Kage again—common as dirt in the shinobi world.
"Work hard and you can become Hokage"?
A joke.
Might Guy and Rock Lee worked themselves half to death—did anyone ever suggest making them Hokage?
If you didn't have connections, climbing to the top was brutally difficult.
The Uchiha bloodline was powerful and full of geniuses… and yet not a single Hokage ever came from them.
If Madara had become Hokage, Konoha probably would've steamrolled the entire shinobi world.
Hashirama liked to bow to everyone.
Madara liked making everyone bow to him.
Nightfall — The Meet Goes Wrong
Soon it was night.
Yusuke followed the contact signal to the agreed location.
Night was better for secret meetings—but far more dangerous.
If patrols spotted a stranger moving around after dark, they'd arrest first and ask questions later.
Yusuke waited… and waited.
No Nono.
His brow tightened.
"Did she run into trouble on the way?"
He left a shadow clone behind and moved to scout the surroundings.
Then—
Clang. Clang.
Steel struck steel beneath the moonlight. Sparks flew.
Yusuke rushed over and found shinobi fighting in the dark.
Between a crack in the cliff wall, a young ninja wearing an Iwagakure forehead protector panted heavily.
It was Kabuto Yakushi—one of Root's trained intelligence assets.
A shadow flickered across the top of the cliff.
Kabuto stared at distant movement, grim.
"…Damn. I'm surrounded."
He pulled out a pocket watch, checked the time, and murmured again.
"If none of that had happened back then… I'd be asleep by now."
The watch pulled his thoughts back to the orphanage.
He'd been away for five years. He missed the director… and the other kids.
But once the life of a shinobi started, it didn't stop. Orders were orders.
This time, his mission was to investigate a certain zone—but the moment he surfaced, someone locked onto him.
Above the cliff, Yakushi Nono had already found him.
The boy below was the orphan she'd raised—
yet thanks to Danzō's manipulation, the "Kabuto" in her memories had been replaced long ago.
Her order was simple:
assassinate the target.
Danzō labeled Kabuto a traitor from Konoha's Intelligence Division, and promised that if Nono completed the mission, she could retire and return to the orphanage as director.
She'd been undercover in Iwagakure for over five years.
At last—light at the end of the tunnel.
But she never imagined Danzō's final command would be…
forcing her and her child into mutual slaughter.
Spies knew too much.
When they were no longer useful, they were erased.
Once one of them died tonight, Root would send another kill team to clean up the survivor—
true "no loose ends."
Unless something interfered, one of them would die here.
Yusuke sensed it instantly.
Danzō had staged this entire play, intending to burn everything down.
If I can't have it, you won't either.
Classic Danzō.
The Interference
Nono jumped down from the cliff.
Kabuto used the pocket watch's reflected light to catch her approach.
A kunai's cold glint—
chakra gathering into a blade-hand—
death was a heartbeat away—
when Yusuke appeared.
In a flash, he seized both their hands and stopped their strikes.
Both of them shouted at the same time:
"Who are you?!"
Yusuke cleared his throat, calm and flat.
"Hokage Advisor. Uchiha Yusuke."
Their minds went blank.
That name had shaken the shinobi world.
Even undercover in Iwagakure, they'd heard the rumors—defeating the Fourth Raikage and capturing the Eight-Tails Jinchūriki wasn't news you could bury.
Ōnoki had certainly taken notice.
A big reason Iwagakure hadn't tried to squeeze Konoha for settlement money was… because of Yusuke.
The shinobi world bullied the weak and feared the strong.
When Hashirama and Madara were alive, who dared declare war on Konoha?
Ōnoki himself—back when he followed his teacher to Konoha for negotiations—had been dragged into Madara's humiliating "dance."
That was Konoha at its peak.
Once Madara left and Hashirama died, the world's cowards began to grow bold.
The shinobi world stayed unstable because it lacked an overwhelming force that could crush everyone into silence.
When everyone was evenly matched, no one accepted being beneath anyone else.
So they fought.
Proof
Still—no real spy trusted words.
Suspicion was survival.
Nono's gaze sharpened.
"How do you prove your identity?"
Yusuke didn't argue.
He simply revealed his three-tomoe Sharingan.
A Uchiha's mark—almost impossible to counterfeit.
Even if an eye leaked outside the village, it usually produced a half-finished imitation like Ao from Kirigakure—not a complete, natural pair.
With the Sharingan shown, their guard finally eased.
Moonlight slipped through the clouds, lighting Nono's face clearly.
Kabuto froze.
"Director…?"
"It's you—Director!"
"Why are you here?"
Nono stared at him, confused.
"Y-you are…?"
Kabuto's voice shook.
"It's me! Director!"
"Did you forget?"
Nono couldn't recognize him.
Root had shown her photos—but the "Kabuto" in her mind didn't match this face at all.
Kabuto panicked, thinking it was her eyesight.
He quickly took off his glasses and pressed them into her hand.
"Put these on and look again."
"I'm Kabuto!"
Nono put on the glasses—
…and still couldn't recognize him.
Iwa Patrols Close In
"There was movement over there."
"Go check it."
Two Iwagakure night patrol shinobi were approaching.
Yusuke's voice dropped.
"We're moving. Now."
They slipped away.
Moments later, the patrol reached the scene.
"Damn it…"
"Did they escape?"
Riverbank — The Truth
Deep in the forest, they stopped beside a narrow river.
Yusuke looked back once.
"They should be shaken off."
"We'll talk here."
Kabuto splashed water on his face, still dazed.
Why didn't she remember him?
How was that possible?
Nono stepped closer, voice trembling.
"Are you… really Kabuto?"
"Why… don't you look anything like the photos Root showed me?"
Yusuke walked up slowly.
"Let me answer that."
He turned his eyes to Kabuto.
"The reason she can't recognize you… is because Danzō tampered with everything."
"After you left the orphanage, Danzō told Nono the 'real reason' you left."
"To buy your freedom, she had no choice but to keep obeying him."
"You couldn't meet, so she could only follow your 'growth' through photographs."
"And during that time…"
"Root took years replacing you with someone else."
Yusuke's voice stayed cold.
"In other words—Danzō planned from the very beginning to kill both of you."
Kabuto's eyes widened in horror.
"…What does that mean?"
"We risked our lives gathering information for the village—why would he do this?"
Yusuke answered evenly.
"As spies, you were excellent."
"But information can be deadlier than any jutsu or war weapon."
"To Danzō, both of you became dangerous."
"The moment you started working for him, this ending was already decided."
"Mutual slaughter—this is the fate Root prepared for you."
The truth was like ice.
Nono instinctively stepped in front of Kabuto, shielding him.
"Uchiha Yusuke…"
"Are you Danzō's executioner?"
Kabuto's pupils contracted. He also tensed.
Yusuke shook his head with a small smile.
"If that were true… would I have stopped you from killing each other?"
"I act by my own will."
"Danzō isn't qualified to command me."
They both released a breath they didn't realize they were holding.
Because if Yusuke turned on them—
they had no chance.
But then Yusuke's expression sharpened.
"Still… Root did send killers."
He turned toward the calm surface of the river.
"Since you're here, stop hiding."
"Come out."
A cold, serpentine voice spread out from the water.
"Only acting by your own will…"
"…Uchiha Yusuke."
"It feels like I've met a kindred spirit."
A figure rose from the river like a ghost.
All three sets of eyes narrowed at once.
"…Orochimaru?"
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