Chapter 176: Itachi and Hikaru: Tsukuyomi!
Konoha. Hokage's office.
"Uchiha Hikaru?"
Hiruzen studied the report Sakura had filed, brow deeply furrowed.
A member of the Uchiha clan from several centuries ago, preserved in an iron coffin, alive and intact to the present day.
"So, Sakura — you want this... Uchiha Hikaru to stay in Konoha?"
He looked at the photograph attached to the report. He wasn't entirely sure how to begin.
This woman was old enough to be his ancestor four times over.
"I mean — if that's alright? Heh..."
Sakura gave him an awkward smile.
She had, in fairness, gone on a short trip and returned with a centuries-old Uchiha war asset from the Warring States period. And she was now asking to house her in a military village.
The situation in the ninja world has gone completely off-script. Every canon assumption was worthless now. Kumogakure — which in the original story had despised Akatsuki — was apparently now in bed with them. There was no predicting what came next.
She needed every advantage she could get.
Hikaru was only here because of Sasuke, technically. But having her here meant she could be leveraged when it mattered. Sasuke's luck aura might even nudge her into participating when she'd rather stay out.
Hiruzen looked at the sheepish pink-haired girl in front of him and exhaled.
Under normal circumstances, a stranger brought back from outside the village during wartime would be handled as a potential intelligence asset or spy risk. Not welcomed in.
But this was Sakura asking, and nothing about this situation was normal.
"In that case—"
"Thank you, old man!"
A ninety-degree bow, delivered before he finished his sentence.
Hiruzen regarded the girl who had just preemptively closed his response and felt, not for the first time, that she was very difficult to manage.
"One more thing."
He stopped her before she could disappear.
"Hm? What now?"
He could see her mentally checking her list. River Country deployment coming up, Kakuzu to deal with, Tobirama resurrection to arrange, yang-release research ongoing—
"The Turtle Island matter. Naruto's training should begin soon. I'm assigning Jiraiya and Might Guy's team for security."
"Sure, that's your call. Why are you telling me?"
She dropped onto the couch, genuinely puzzled.
"Jinchūriki training carries significant risk." Hiruzen stroked his beard. "If something goes wrong — if Naruto loses control during the process — I think it would be valuable to have..."
He didn't finish. He didn't need to.
Sakura pressed her fingers to her forehead.
He wants me there too.
She was the person most likely to pull Naruto back from a Nine-Tails rampage. She had both the personal connection and the raw capability to physically suppress a full transformation if it came to that.
I am one person.
"One thing at a time." She sighed. "Let Jiraiya take Naruto first. Once I've dealt with Kakuzu and the Sand situation, I'll head over."
Hiruzen accepted this. It was reasonable. Several major commitments had collided in the same window — including the Two-Tails jinchūriki situation, still unresolved back in the village.
"Anything else?"
She was already angling for the door.
"No, that's—"
Gone.
Hiruzen watched the empty doorway and permitted himself a small smile.
He pulled a mission request from the desk drawer.
Client: Sandayū.Rank: B.Details: Escort film star Fujikaze Yukie to the Land of Snow for a movie production.
On its surface: a comfortable, low-stakes job.
According to Konoha's intelligence network: Sandayū was a loyalist retainer to the previous Daimyo of Snow Country, dead for ten years. "Fujikaze Yukie" was Princess Koyuki, that Daimyo's daughter. The real objective was to use Konoha's support to remove the usurper currently ruling Snow Country and place the rightful heir on the throne.
If handled well — Snow Country positioned between Earth Country and Wind Country, allied to Konoha, a strategic foothold on both borders. A clean mutual benefit.
And for Sakura personally: a Daimyo's endorsement to add to her record. Frost Country campaign, River Country campaign, external political backing from Snow Country's new ruler. With Hiruzen's support and Naruto's weight behind her — even a Daimyo of Fire Country objecting wouldn't be enough to stop her.
Not urgent yet. Sakura's schedule was already full. This could wait until after River Country.
The immediate task was keeping their client patient.
Sandayū would need to be managed carefully. Carrot and stick — Hiruzen had run this approach so many times the sequence was automatic.
"Bring Sandayū to me."
He tapped the desk. The ANBU operative at the room's edge acknowledged and vanished.
"So this is the village you came from."
Sasori stood at the treeline, looking out at Konoha with an expression of mild contempt.
"Considerably more prosperous than Sunagakure."
This was Pain's designated partner for the operation. Sasori of the Red Sand, removed from his Hiruko shell for the sake of discretion — the giant puppet was too conspicuous. Though their black-and-red cloaks were doing essentially nothing for concealment.
"Yes," Itachi said.
"I want to be clear — I'm not Kisame. I lead this operation."
Sasori glanced sideways at the man who hadn't reacted to anything yet.
"Fine."
Itachi had no investment in the territorial question. He let it go without comment.
Sasori studied him for a moment and looked away with a dismissive sound.
He had no fear of Itachi's genjutsu. A puppet body had no eyes to trap, no nervous system to manipulate, no psychological vulnerabilities to exploit. That was the foundation of whatever composure he was projecting.
He walked forward. Itachi followed.
The gate guards registered neither of them. A blink, a pause, and then two men in Akatsuki robes had simply not been there — because Itachi's genjutsu had touched them so lightly they'd never notice the gap.
Inside the village, both figures dissolved into the crowd.
"I need to handle something separately."
"Something you'd rather I didn't see?"
Sasori's smile had no warmth in it. He'd had doubts about this mission from the moment Pain assigned it. Intelligence gathering didn't require Itachi. Zetsu handled that. Itachi had come to Konoha recently with Kisame. Now he was requesting to come again.
Something else was happening.
"Come if you want."
Itachi moved without waiting for a response, heading toward the Uchiha district. Sasori fell into step behind him.
Last time, he'd been away. This time, confirmed present.
It was a small trail of evidence — a few overheard conversations, a report that had passed through the wrong hands — but Itachi had followed it carefully. Sasuke was in the village.
And Hiruzen had allowed him onto the battlefield. That violated an understanding.
Itachi intended to deliver a correction. Then deal with Hiruzen.
The paths between the empty houses were overgrown now. Grass pushing through the stone. The clan crest on the gateposts faded but legible.
"Charming," Sasori said, looking at the ruins. "It really has fallen apart."
Itachi said nothing.
I traded every person here for the village's future.
It was worth it.
He believed this. It was not difficult to believe. The arithmetic was clear.
The living presence became detectable before they saw it — the sound of activity from the direction of the training grounds, the absence of complete stillness. Someone was here.
Of course.
Sasuke never wastes time.
They came around the corner, and Itachi stopped.
Sasuke was in the training ground, but he was not training.
A black-haired girl was beating him with a branch.
"No core strength. Footwork like a newborn deer."
Whack.
"Reaction time of a sleeping civilian. Tactical sense of a rock."
Whack.
"I have no idea how you survived a single day on a battlefield."
Whack.
"And that face — back in my era, a pretty boy like you would have been captured and used for breeding stock inside a week."
Each observation came with a fresh welt across Sasuke's arms, shoulders, and once, memorably, across his cheek. She was not holding back in any detectable way.
"Stop glaring at me. Sweat more in training, bleed less in battle."
Whack.
"Keep moving!"
Itachi stood very still.
The Sharingan had activated on instinct — and the girl had felt it.
A shuriken left her hand before she'd turned around, before she'd spoken. Pure reflex, threat identified, weapon deployed.
The shuriken came directly at him.
"Who's there?"
The question arrived after the projectile.
Itachi deflected it with a kunai. Both he and Sasori came into view.
The girl looked at him without flinching. Her eyes moved from his face to Sasuke's, and back.
"You're not the one who killed the clan. You're too young." She tilted her head, thinking. "But you have the same eyes."
"We look alike too," Sasori observed, glancing between the brothers with academic interest. "You're the one who killed all the Uchiha — and you left this one alive?"
"He said it was to test his own worth." Sasuke forced the words out through his teeth. His whole body was shaking. "Something about measuring his capacities."
"And you believed that?"
The girl gave him a flat look.
"He's not wrong, actually," Itachi said. "It was also for the sake of—"
His eyes changed.
Three distorted tomoe in the Mangekyo pattern.
He'd done the calculation. Sasuke, who had survived the massacre, was now standing next to a girl Itachi didn't recognize — another Uchiha, unaccounted for, standing between the world and his brother.
A loose thread.
If she mattered to Sasuke, she was a variable. Variables needed to be managed.
"Tsukuyomi."
"Tsukuyomi."
Two voices. One name.
Because in the same instant that Itachi's Mangekyo opened — three black tomoe twisted in Hikaru's eyes too, different pattern, same intention.
She'd already moved.
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