Shikamaru looked at that hole that was covered in debris after the explosion. He had managed to "kill" Hidan, so now only Kakuzu and Toru were left. Also, reinforcements should have arrived by now, but Shikamaru wasn't sure about that.
"He wasn't Toru... Then who is he?" Leaving the scene of the explosion, Shikamaru thought hard about this. That red glow in that person's eyes was not typical of Toru's Shigan, so it might as well be a Sharingan or another type of eye jutsu. 'Hokage-sama... you want to find Toru too, don't you?' A memory came to his mind.
-A few days ago-
Asuma had died recently and Shikamaru was now in front of Tsunade, in that office with lots of space.
He is furious, he is sad. His teacher had died and at that moment he could see it. That person, he was sure who it was.
"Are you sure what you say is true?" Tsunade placed her arms on the desk and looked at Shikamaru with a frown.
Shikamaru, standing in front of her, clenched his fists and then looked her in the eyes. "I...I think I saw it. I saw Toru's Shigan... I think... I think so..."
Tsunade sighed. She too had suspicions that Toru is with Akatsuki, but that doesn't take away from the fact that the suspicions that this boy is actually with Orochimaru are not true. Orochimaru most likely lied to hide Toru in his dirty snake tail, but that still remains speculation, nothing confirmed.
Although looking at it this way... Asuma just died. He's Shikamaru's teacher, so it's no wonder that at that moment he saw something that wasn't actually true.
"You think, you think this is a joke, Shikamaru? From Naruto I could expect it, but from you never!"
"Hokage-sama, I-!"
"Enough, Shikamaru. You didn't even see his face or any indication that this man is Asahi Toru. Even the description Chouji and Hakuto gave me showed nothing resembling that boy."
Shikamaru clenched his fists tightly. Tsunade was right. Possibly because of the heat of the moment he could see things that weren't there. Also, the way that man acted was a bit different from Toru, even his mannerisms plus he was joking with those two guys while they were in the middle of a fight. That wasn't like the Toru that Shikamaru knew, but still....
"Hokage-sama... I... I really saw it... I thought I saw it..." Even at this moment he was trying to hold back the tears that were about to slip from the corners of his eyes.
Tsunade saw this and understood the pain Shikamaru is feeling right now, she felt something similar a long time ago. It is normal for someone who lost a loved one to act irrationally.
"Ha~ I'll look into it. Go get some rest, Shikamaru. Asuma's funeral will be tomorrow itself. Stay strong, don't break down...don't let your feelings control you, because they can play against you, got it?"
***
Shikamaru remembered that at that moment. He now realized that he had been wrong. Secretly, Tsunade informed Shikamaru that Toru did not betray the village and that, in fact, it was a trap by a certain person.
"Hokage-sama is still looking for the evidence to announce that Toru is innocent. If that happens... Will he return to the village?" Shikamaru thought of Hinata and Ino. They had changed quite a bit since Toru was forced to flee Konoha. 'No... I'll think about that later. Chouji and Hakuto are still fighting with that guy. I should hurry back.'
After that, Shikamaru accelerated as fast as he could to reach his destination. Having "killed" Hidan, there were now only two more to go. The guy in the hat, and the guy in the mask.
***
'Hidan... he's still alive, I feel his chakra, but it's quite weak and continues to diminish. What happened while I was busy fighting Kakashi?'
Passing through the trees at a speed so terrifying that it would destroy anyone in its path, Toru's Kodō Shigan turned once and then saw a thin line leading him to only one place, but in that line somehow there was... death.
***
It took Toru only a few seconds to reach the place where the explosion was. There was a hole sealed with dirt and also remnants of ninja steel wire in the trees that survived the explosion, but no trace of Hidan.
Although his chakra was still in place.
'Where are you, Hidan' Somehow or other Toru felt worried. 'Although... Hidan is immortal, isn't he? Nothing bad is going to happen, he just had to be found and that was it.
So, seeing the hole, Toru quickly deduced that Shikamaru blew up Hidan and right now the immortal guy was torn apart and buried in the ground. Just because of this, Toru put his hands on the ground and used Doton to open the ground, but at that very moment...
...
Toru pulled out a kunai from his sleeve, as he felt someone looking at him. Although... in reality there was no one there, nothing, no existence that was composed of chakra.
"You're of no use to me anymore."
The mocking voice of a man was heard by Toru, at that very moment....
"?!" Toru returned his gaze to the hole....
...
Hidan's chakra... disappeared.
...
For a few seconds, Toru's expression was a slightly surprised face, but that face immediately changed, looking expressionless as always. Without a hint of light in his murderous eyes, as the wind sought to blow his hat off, he just stood there.
Somehow he stopped caring about the voice that said curious things before, he no longer cared that Hidan right now was missing, but he still felt something regarding that.
...
Death is present and has claimed a soul. Toru felt a hand touch his shoulder, but he didn't move. He stared at the supposed grave in front of him.
"Don't start crying, Toru-chan."
That was Hidan's voice. Toru turned around vaguely and looked back, but there was no one there. Right now, the Shigan's light gradually returned to that dead, colorless look.
...
"You fool..."
Toru sighed wearily. There was nothing he cared about in this world more than his own goals. His expressionless face proved it. Even though he had witnessed the death of one of his companions in a strange way, he didn't even feel that his face had changed in terms of expression.
He shook his head at this. He knew that someday something like this was going to happen, so it didn't matter. Nothing mattered now but his own benefit.
Still, there was still Kakuzu. It only remained to see if he had managed to kill Chouji and Hakuto, so he could end this once and for all.
But just at that moment, another strange sound appeared. A sound so sharp, the sound of something that swallowed everything in its path. The sound of billions of blades cutting and sweeping through everything.
Toru quickly looked in the direction the sound was coming from and saw the dust begin to rise. It was because of this that Toru sensed the danger again and used Senjutsu to sense the chakra of everyone around him.
However, what he felt was something he did not expect.
Near Kakuzu, there was a huge mass of chakra that seemed to have no end, an evil chakra that Toru was very familiar with.
"Naruto..."
He quickly ran with all his might to where Kakuzu's chakra was. In that very second, he clasped his hands together and his eyes lit up blood red. "Henge no Jutsu!" Then, his body changed, giving himself a new appearance under that Akatsuki hat and robe.
'You're not going to let Naruto kill you... are you, Kakuzu-san?' Toru didn't realize this, but at this moment... his fists were clenched, causing a little blood to come out due to his nails digging into his palms.
***
It only took a few seconds for Toru to arrive, but when he was so close, hidden in the dry trees, he saw how Kakashi pierced Kakuzu's last heart, bringing him to his inevitable and now true death.
By this time Toru wondered how? Kakuzu is an extremely strong guy with control over the five main elements of chakra, as well as having partial immortality, this just became a place full of questions in his mind.
Unconsciously, the Kodō Shigan activated again and saw a shadow near Kakuzu's corpse, but that was all it was. There were no words involved, he wasn't even sure if that shadow next to the corpse was Kakuzu's soul. And everything, for some reason... it was so silent.
...
Too much silence that struck his mind. This only made him sigh and he looked up at the sky before he started walking in the direction of the corpse.
'Kakuzu-san... Was it Naruto that weakened you so much? That explosion was heard twice, an explosion with a very sharp sound, like millions of needles spinning at Mach 100²...' Toru just walked in silence. Thinking and thinking, over and over again, visualizing the possibilities and scenarios in which Kakuzu could have been defeated by Naruto.
Hundreds of scenarios ran through his head and the most logical one came to his mind. It was obvious that Naruto was going to learn new jutsu, but who would think that a jutsu like the Rasengan could be improved so much.
'I'll forget everything... just... for the moment, I'll stick to my plan.'
After thinking for a bit while walking, Toru stopped and climbed up to a large rock nearby. There, everyone at last noticed his presence. The first one was Kakashi, who sighed looking at the Akatsuki member who was standing lonely on that rock.
"This... it's not over yet" Kakashi was already about to faint. He could barely gather the last of his remaining chakra to finish off Kakuzu, so now he was too tired to face again that monster who dodged the Kamui as if it was nothing.
Likewise, Sai and Sakura looked at the person in front of them. Yamato was also present besides the already mentioned Shikamaru, Hakuto and Chouji.
All against one... there are six of them... against only one....
However, the guy didn't do anything, he just stared silently, waiting for something... or... thinking about something.
'Yamato-sensei... it's been a long time' Toru realized something at this moment. Even though he has seen his sensei again, he couldn't feel anything regarding this situation. There was nothing in his heart at this moment other than the goal of completing his revenge against Danzo. Nothing more than that, such an empty and selfish goal.
"Fufufu..." Toru chuckles to at least this way, feel something regarding this. A fake laugh as always, a laugh that helps him hide what he truly feels. Just like he used to do in his past life. Nothing has changed after that.
"Senpai..." Yamato clenched his fists at the sight of that person. He was just as the rumors described him. The scarf and the Konoha emblem, plus the hat that hid his face.
"Yes, I know. Don't get overconfident, Shikamaru, do we have the plan yet?"
Kakashi was also aware of the rumors. He also sensed that something wasn't right with that guy. If it is Toru, then them letting him out of Konoha was one of the worst mistakes they could have made.
Still, Shikamaru saw this and clicked his tongue. "I know what they think. He's not Toru... I could see him when he hit me" He already knew, he had seen under that hat before at the time that guy hit him. He saw... "That guy... he has a Sharingan."
If Shikamaru's vision doesn't fail, he was sure he saw a Sharingan under that hat.
"A Sharingan?" Naruto remembered a certain person who is also a user of these cursed eyes of the Uchiha clan.
Likewise, Sakura thought the same. If that person has a Sharingan, then the answer is obvious, as the only one from the Uchiha clan who is involved with Akatsuki is....
"Hahaha..." Toru took off his hat and his blood crimson eyes showed. A Sharingan showed within the pupils of his eyes and a cold, dangerous smile sent shivers down Naruto's spine. His hair was black as night and, strangely enough, he looked a bit like Sasuke. As his hat was pulled away from his head, the red scarf slowly began to vanish like smoke, revealing this person's appearance.
Sakura reacted instantly at the same time as Hakuto felt terrified at the sight of those eyes. "Uchiha Itachi..."
Naruto's reaction was not long in coming. "You again, you bastard!" his fists clenched and his hair bristled, at the same time his eyes turned a canine-looking crimson color.
Toru looked at this and replied Itachi's personality. "Kyūbi, uh... I didn't expect to find you in this place, but I guess now that those two are dead, I have a chance to capture you. Of course, the most logical thing to do is to kill your teammates first, but Jinchūriki are driven by their emotions and I don't want to have to use the Mangekyo to break a beast in such a cowardly way" He took a soft step forward and everyone increased their guard.
"You...you..." Naruto clenched his fists even tighter and blood began to flow from them. Toru, of course, noticed something, so he decided to use that to talk some more.
"I don't understand why you're looking for my brother so eagerly. You don't have blood ties to him like I do. A pure bond of brotherhood, where hatred will take hold of one of us and lead to the death of the other."
This was the first time Yamato had seen Itachi, and he could certainly sense a grotesque, disgusting and somehow, extremely dangerous chakra.
He clenched his fists and looked at Itachi with narrowed eyes. "I have a question to ask you, Uchiha Itachi."
Toru, looking like Itachi, just cocked his head curiously and then nodded his head.
"Asahi Toru... Where is he?" Yamato knew that somehow Itachi was connected to Toru, as the two had known each other for a long time. It was no wonder that Toru goes looking for Itachi as well, since he killed his family.
Toru found this question strange, so he just answered the first thing that came to his mind. "Asahi Toru, uh... Are you talking about that reckless boy? Well, he... he's dead. I killed him with my own hands, for his hatred was not enough, a pathetic hatred that will never surpass Sasuke's hatred for me."
Yamato, hearing that, just looked at the ground in shock. There was no proof of that, but there was also a chance that something like that would happen. If Toru really wanted revenge, then he would go against Itachi at the first opportunity, but considering that Toru's chakra control is very mediocre, plus his low amount of chakra, the possibility increased drastically.
Still, he did not let himself be defeated by these words. His student could not be dead, because, if anyone has to kill that boy, it would be his own teacher, the one who let him live that night.
Shikamaru on the other hand, just thought of the best strategy having all the information about Itachi that Tsunade had given him. So, before long, a tentative plan will be ready. He looked at Hakuto and Chouji, and they nodded their heads in agreement. Shikamaru smiled at this and stepped forward.
However, something strange happened at that moment.
Feeling something move beneath his feet, Toru sighed.
Something came out of the ground just a few centimeters away from him. What had come out of the ground as if it were a mole, was Zetsu, who couldn't help but hold back his laughter at the sight of Toru using Henge to hide his identity. Still, Toru had his own problems, so he decided to go with the flow.
"Itachi, the one at the top is calling you. You have to hurry back."
Looking at Zetsu, Toru put his hat back on. "If you hadn't arrived at this time, I would have killed them all. Still, if that person's call is so urgent, then I'll go. There's no time to waste" After that, Toru looked at Naruto. At that instant, his body began to disappear enveloped in a faint cloud of smoke.
"I guess we'll meet again. It's a pity we weren't able to capture you, Naruto-kun..." Toru smiled and Naruto sensed something in that evil smile.
It was strange, but he felt he knew that smile, but it was too late to react. Yamato ran towards "Itachi" and tried to imprison him in a wooden cell, but failed as he disappeared in that instant.
"Again...again the same thing..." Naruto hit the ground and felt uncontrollable anger. But then he sighed, looked at the sky and felt that somehow this is still not going to end.
"I'm tired... let's get out of here" Kakashi tried to take a step, but his body was weak, so he fell to his knees and thought. 'What was Itachi doing with those two guys?' Itachi's presence at that moment was somehow strange. Moreover, Kakashi seemed to see that Itachi was actually using Henge no Jutsu. 'No time to waste, I must inform Tsunade-sama.'
To be continued...
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Did I post a chapter because I felt like it? Yes, I'm in the mood for it. Now the power stones goal will go up to 225, good luck.