The Gokage Summit is but one week away, just the amount of time Tsunade would need to arrive in her current state.
"I can still go instead of you." Naruto insists. "I'm getting pretty good at this crap. You're in no condition to be fighting off Kekkei-Genkai thieves and other Kage."
"No, Naruto. I need to make an appearance myself, it was me who called for this Summit in the first place. Besides, your appearance would probably just poke the hive. I'm good for this, and besides, you've assigned the best to me, haven't you?"
After weeks of back-and-forth diplomacy, all nations had agreed on each Kage being permitted to bring two 'bodyguards' to the neutral nation of Tetsu no Kuni, where the meeting would be mediated by the legendary Samurai warrior, Mifune.
Naruto nods in confirmation, not looking pleased that a vulnerable woman would be heading into the meat grinder.
"First up is Kakashi, pretty self-explanatory. And Gai, he's a different kind of beast altogether. They'd be foolish to underestimate him."
"Perfect. And will you relax? Rasa will be fine and from what I understand, the new Mizukage won't be keen on invoking your wrath."
"I'll take care of things while you're gone. Don't get distracted by gambling dens, Senju hag."
Naruto narrowly dodges a stapler thrown with such force that the window shatters and leaves a gust of wind in its wake.
"I haven't gambled in years, Uchiha runt." Tsunade grumbles as she leaves. "Try not to break my village apart while I'm gone. Bye-bye, Fujita-chan."
"Buh-bye, Baa-sama." Fujita waves happily.
Kabuto plugs in one final tube to the body-modification vat.
"I'd say we're ready to undergo your procedure. Have you scrounged up as much of your original flesh as you could?"
"I found the shattered bones of my right arm and leg, along with some ribs. There's still one piece missing that I'd like to acquire before we go through with this." Obito looks up at Kabuto from his chair, the tubes burrowed into his shoulder trickling in a steroid that would make his body more receptive to the procedure.
"I'll grind them up and add them to the body-compound." Kabuto looks more than a little excited at the prospect of creating a body that could potentially overcome Uchiha Naruto.
"Run me through it quickly. I need to know what else I have to get." Obito dislodges himself from the pumps.
Kabuto motions to a huge tank, filled with auspicious fluid and a giant of a man with orange hair floating inside of it.
"Jugo here will be our body-mass conduit. By using your flesh and bone as a template, we can transmute other test subjects' bodies to your body's genetic template. Using his Kekkei-Genkai, we'll replace your organic material that was lost. That's stage one, getting you back to your original condition."
Kabuto moves over to several smaller glass vats. "Stage two is modifying your original body. Using Hashirama's cells cultivated from the artificial clone that Madara developed, we'll replace cells everywhere that Orochimaru's experiments have concluded are safe. Those will include all of your bones and some of your organs, like your heart. And as part of this step, we'll cycle Nagato's blood with yours, in and out of your body in a loop as a binding agent. The healing properties of the Uzumaki Clan blood will speed up the process significantly."
"Will I still be able to wield the Mokuton?" Obito questions, looking at the various multi-coloured fluids in each tank.
"Of course, but I suspect that you'll want those cells for the use of your Mangekyou Sharingan. Which brings us to stage three; tertiary implants. Once your body is stable, I'll inject the enzymes collected from Madara's Rinnegan. With everything already done to your body, you should quite rapidly awaken your own equivalent to the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan and grant a level of refined vision that you didn't have before. I'll also throw in two mild growth hormones, one to bring your muscles back up to speed to recover faster and one that'll help your Chakra Network adjust and heal from this, shall we say... traumatic procedure."
"You have outdone yourself, Kabuto." Obito praises genuinely. "Your passion for this project has left me in awe."
"Don't underestimate your value as a test subject." Kabuto gives his own back-handed compliment. "But what will you do now? These materials will only last so long in the vats. We should be getting this done as-soon-as-possible."
The ground shimmers slightly, and a green plant opens up to reveal Zetsu.
"The Gokage Summit will be beginning shortly." Black Zetsu informs.
"And this is relevant how?" Obito interrogates, uncaring as to what the world thinks of their plan. They wouldn't be able to stop him.
"Baka-kashi will be there as the Hokage's bodyguard!" White Zetsu reveals with a jolly inflection.
Obito's head turns slowly back to Zetsu, and Kabuto could feel an invisible tension.
"It is taking place in Tetsu no Kuni." Black Zetsu provides without being asked.
Obito nods.
Zetsu makes itself scarce.
"My eye has been nurtured by Kakashi's Raiton Chakra. I'll be recovering it now. Then, we do the procedure."
"Don't take too long!" Kabuto says, although Obito is already whirling away.
The entirety of the Yuki no Kuni team shuffles in awkward silence.
Naruto taps his finger on the desk in a slow rhythm. Fujita leaves the room without a word, evidently seeing Naruto's agitation.
He speaks methodically.
"What made you think... this would be a good idea?"
Karin looks sheepish instead of terrified like the others.
"He made a convincing argument?"
Yamato tries to explain that Karin couldn't really help her reaction to the Bijuu. "Naruto-sama, Karin had been suffering from visions from the moment we got close-"
"Get. Out."
The rest of the team scrambles out of the door.
"Naru?"
Naruto looks Karin in the eyes, and suddenly they're in her sealscape.
He stares down the Kyuubi.
"How easy it would be to rent you asunder, beast."
"Madara's spawn, your little Uzumaki wouldn't fare so well." Kurama goads. "Willing to give her up to just teach me a lesson? Don't make me laugh, boy."
"Then be grateful, it is only her life that's stopping me from using you as Madara did. Look at you, submitting to this little pen. Haven't had enough of being a slave? If you're tired of free will, I can take it from you just the same."
"Look at me, boy. I'm quaking in fear." Kurama mocks. "Your petty Sharingan will not work on me, none will anymore. I have ascended on my own."
"If you do not use your power to protect her, then I'll stuff you back into the Gedo Mazo myself. We'll see how much smack you're willing to talk then, vile animal."
"That was the plan from the start."
Karin notes with some amusement that their interaction didn't actually seem malicious. The words are barbed but it seems to be more of a formality than real hatred.
"Get it desexed, Karin."
"Do Bijuu even have a gender?" Karin asks intuitively, with some laughter in her voice.
"Good question. Given the complete lack of balls it takes to have not revealed itself by now, I'm guessing not."
Kurama flips Naruto off with his claws.
"I have questions of my own." Naruto turns somewhat serious. "You don't seem to be protesting the idea of being sealed. Why?"
"I don't want to die." Kurama answers bluntly, languidly resting his head over his paw. "As naive as it makes me seem, I still cling to Father's pale dream. I want to see the world at peace, however briefly."
"So Bijuu do have self-preservation instincts and desires. Or at least a cleverly designed imitation of sentience." Naruto nods thoughtfully.
"Is the brat always like this? He's as untrusting as his crazy father was."
"You get used to it." Karin mumbles, displeased that Kurama is taking up more of Naruto's attention right now than she is.
"How can I ensure that Mugen Tsukuyomi is impossible?"
Kurama's slitted crimson eyes peer down at Naruto with interest at the question.
"That is the very same thing that Father thought he had solved. He sealed the Gedo Mazo in the moon, a place said to be unreachable. He divided his power between his sons who he entrusted with the safety of humanity, so that the Rinnegan may never resurface. That led to some… bloody tales in hindsight. He didn't know the effects that would have on human culture, but as far as he was concerned, a greater threat had been permanently mitigated; the return of the Rinnegan and thus the potential to summon the Gedo Mazo and see Mugen Tsukuyomi cast its light upon the world once more."
"An interesting tale, but it goes against what we understand may have happened." Naruto cross-examines Kyuubi's response. "The Uchiha were left a relic, and it boiled down to an instruction manual on how to cast Mugen Tsukuyomi. That involved the re-unification of bloodlines to generate the Rinnegan in a host."
"I am aware of the stone tablet, but as I understood, it was left behind as a warning of what Mugen Tsukuyomi would bring upon the world. If that is your interpretation, then you have reading issues or the contents of the relic were forged. That is to say, if it is even the original in the first place."
"But you could also be lying." Naruto's eerie eyes look at the kitsune.
"Whatever." Kurama yawns loudly. "But logically, I can't see any way of halting the potential of Mugen Tsukuyomi forever. The statue is indestructible. You'd have better luck removing the Rinnegan from the equation entirely."
"By destroying the Uchiha and Senju." Naruto mutters with a disgusted tilt of his lip. "You say indestructible though. How? We were under the impression that the sealing process of Bijuu is linear from weakest to strongest, and sealing in the wrong order will destroy the statue."
"It is the expedient solution, not the only one. You'd sooner starve to death than seal me first. Chakra attracts Chakra, the more of it you have, the easier it is to control the Chakra of others. Bijuu included. It's faster to seal us in order, but once one of us is in it, natural energy will begin to strengthen it."
Naruto stays silent, though his mind whirrs obviously to Karin. His motionlessness worries her, unblinking as he stares off into nothing.
"The Creation of All Things-" He muses, calculating. "Izanagi. Bringing fantasy and illusion into reality. Through the medium of Chakra, but does the cost transcend my power? It's already an esoteric piece of history. What can one give up to secure the fate of the world, possibly through sacrifice? People would sooner forfeit their lives than their power in this world... What becomes of those who give up the power to protect and destroy what they want?"
Karin is completely lost from Naruto's thinking aloud.
Kurama rolls his eyes.
"Like I said. Just the same as his crazy father. He's reaching conclusions that he's not deigning to share."
"You have given me much to think about, Kyuubi."
Suddenly, the vision of the sealscape collapses and Karin is standing back in the Hokage Office.
"Send them back in." Naruto says through the intercom, rubbing his forehead.
An entire week of trawling through countless files and records had barely scrounge up anything.
"Taka! Come here!" Neko calls out.
"What've you found? I can't find a thing in this mess, it's so disorganized." Taka responds, taking in the completely unordered piles of files and folders in the dark cavern.
Spider webs swish in a soft drafty wind, and the floorboard bridges are covered in a grimey moss that makes it hard to stand on without slipping. The old ROOT base had certainly seen better days since Tsunade-sama had completely dismantled what remained of Danzo's little goon squad. The vines creeping down the old pillars of stone had burrowed into any crack and crevice. The lighting left something to be desired, but Taka's Sharingan helped him see in the dark much better than most. Neko and Kuma don't fare so well, relying on torches and instinct to find their footing.
Their investigation into a few clans had led them to finding any kind of documentation that might be of some relevance. Official Konoha records only explained what they were looking at; potential discrimination being conducted by the few clans, but nothing concrete to make a passing judgement. They needed proof that was becoming harder to find, until Neko had the bright idea of searching through any of Danzo's old bases. The Shimura were one of the clans implicated, and Danzo had been found at the time of his death to have committed abominable experiments on himself using material acquired from dead Uchiha and Senju. A revolting story, but also a potential lead. Danzo's lack of subtlety in increasing his power may very well be the key that they need to unravel this mystery, to see if it's truly malicious or benign.
Either way, Sasuke is getting bored of reading through files.
"You'll want to read this, Taka." Neko's voice is grave.
"I hope it's not another file on Danzo stalking my family."
"No, Sasuke... this is much worse. Kuma, look through that lot of folders, I think we've stumbled on something that Hokage-sama and Naruto-sama are going to need to know."
Taka blinks, not expecting Yugao to use his real name.
With a sense of trepidation, Taka takes the folder from Neko. He opens it to the table of contents.
Uchiha Itachi; Age 12.
Flight risk level manageable.
Induction to ROOT successful. The subject has learned to consolidate himself with the threat of the Uchiha on the entirety of Konoha.
However, the subject is unable and unwilling to let go of his attachment to his younger sibling. Sarutobi Hiruzen has attempted to convince the subject that the Uchiha must be bred out or eliminated to prevent the myth of the 'Curse of Hatred' to continue spreading. The subject reacted violently to Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Conclusion: Subject values the life of his younger sibling over that of Konoha. However, the subject sees that the Uchiha pose a threat to his newly instilled values. The subject will turn his hand against the Uchiha Clan willingly so long as his sibling is spared.
The sibling can be eliminated afterwards discreetly.
"This- it's some kind of fantasy-"
Kuma places the stack of folders that Neko identified as the source of what she found.
"We will need to cross-check each one. Why? To ensure that the contents of this file can be verified as the truth."
Kuma's monotone barely does much to snap Taka out of what he just read.
"Taka, we're on to something big. We need to get through it, mask yourself." Neko insists. "We'll take everything to Naruto-sama right now."
"I would like to see the stand-in Hokage." Hiashi announces regally to the temporary assistant, who appears to be filing her nails down.
"You got an appointment?" She asks uncaringly.
"It is an urgent matter regarding his decision in the recent emergency council meeting."
With a dainty press of her long nails to the intercom button, she contacts Naruto through it.
"Naruto-sama, some Hyuuga guy is here for an 'urgent matter'."
There's a brief pause.
"How urgent?"
"Something about the emergency council meeting." She sends back.
"Is someone dying? Is the village under attack?"
"Don't think so."
"Then he can book an appointment like everyone else, for fucks sakes! I'm trying to stop this village from collapsing!"
"You heard him. You need an appointment. I can book you in for later this week?"
Hiashi goes to answer, only for the intercom to buzz again.
"Seriously! Part of me thinks that Senju bitch is some kind of genius for keeping this village running when she's got sniveling morons coming in every five-minutes to complain that they're not getting some government mandated discount at the fruit shop! Waah, waah! I'm so fed up that these peons don't roll out the red carpet for me after coming out of the toilet! I know there are homeless people starving to death and freezing in the cold but MY problems are sooo much worse-"
The receptionist puts the intercom on mute.
"He gets like this when he's stressed." She smiles unapologetically. "So, I can book you in for Thurs-"
Hiashi spins on his heel and leaves gracefully, though the way his heels slap the floor gives the impression of anger.
"-day?" She finishes awkwardly to thin air. She unmutes the intercom. "Guess not."
"And don't get me started on those civilian council members! Not much you can do to say your kid is useless besides saying 'lower the Academy Exam requirements'!"
"He's already gone, Naruto-sama."
"Good. Make sure I'm not disturbed, I have something actually urgent to attend to."
"Will do."
Naruto makes a few hand-seals, and a shimmering purple barrier skates across every surface to envelop the interior of the office.
"Alright, I take it you found something important then?" Naruto asks Taka, Neko and Kuma.
"Our investigation took us into one of Danzo's old ROOT bases," Neko starts stoically. "The Shimura Clan was one of the implicated parties so we felt that instead of being too overt and investigating their Clan home, we'd try to find something discreetly in the base of the actually confirmed criminal. We found records of ROOT members with some psychological analysis on those inducted past early childhood."
"We found the induction record of Uchiha Itachi. Taka confirmed with his Sharingan that the document wasn't forged or a copy. The record implied that Itachi had been groomed by the Sandaime Hokage to eliminate the Uchiha Clan based on a fear of a mythological curse, and had done so willingly on the terms that Uchiha Sasuke would be spared." Kuma explains. "Danzo and Sarutobi Hiruzen had not intended to keep their word, but according to the record, Itachi appeared in Konoha again shortly after the Uchiha Incident and threatened to hand out Konoha's secrets to enemy nations, as well as replicate what he'd done to their respective Clans."
Naruto leans back in his chair, and discomfort is quite clear to the ANBU who see his fidgeting.
"You found this... in an investigation into favouritism in Konoha's hierarchy?"
He holds his forehead between his fingers. "Tell me that this is an isolated incident? That several more of these operations haven't been conducted?"
Kuma shakes his head and gestures to another folder.
"Unfortunately, Naruto-sama. This incident and many others have been in the making for a long time. The Uchiha had been pushed to breaking point with subtle propaganda and hearsay, to invoke an attempted coup in which the goal of exterminating the Uchiha could be fulfilled. The members planted in Konoha's mission chain ensured that the Senju suffered a similar fate."
"Why?!" Naruto stands up and slams his hand down on the desk, shattering it into pieces as his oppressive Chakra heats the room. "Why were these plans in place?! What did they hope to gain by weakening Konoha in its entirety and genociding innocent people?! Children! Give me a motive!"
"Ambition fuelled by fear." Kuma states with strain, but confident and unwaveringly truthful. "The records put together paint an image of hatred and fear of the potential of the Uchiha and Senju. Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzo saw the power and potential of these Clans and feared them in every way. Instead of challenging them and changing to become stronger themselves, they sought to use deception and bureaucracy to breed them out of existence. The manipulation of a child to exterminate his own family... the morals were never in question. They had a goal they were willing to achieve just so they might have a chance to stand as the strongest in history."
"The Hyuuga were invited into the fold later after Sarutobi tested the waters with his bloodline protection law proposition." Neko, despite being in Mask, sounds revolted by the decades-long schemes.
"Explain- explain the Uchiha to me again. Quickly."
"As we stated, the Uchiha were steadily pushed to the position of outcasts. Rumours began to fly around Konoha about the Kyuubi attack, call backs to the era where Madara was able to use them at his whims. The speculation isolated the Uchiha Clan further and those tales were only exacerbated by a few members of the aforementioned Clans." Kuma expands.
"As predicted, the Uchiha grew dissatisfied with the state of affairs and began to plan a coup to take their place back as important members of the village. They understood that Tsunade-sama would listen to reason eventually but the leader of the Uchiha Clan was being manipulated by another ROOT plant with the Mangekyou Sharingan; Uchiha Shisui, to continue with the plan. Shisui apparently served as Itachi's older brother figure and mentor while the Uchiha Clan were in tumultuous times, untrusting of each other. Sarutobi and Shimura exploited their desires to break free from Clan expectations and offered them purpose, but they couldn't train Itachi to outgrow his natural brotherly instincts." Neko goes on.
Taka, who'd been silent, speaks up at last.
"Danzo made a grab for Shisui's Sharingan so he could further his power even more. Itachi found out, which is when he realized he couldn't trust Konoha's hierarchy or... anyone at all. He was completely alone, separating himself from his Clan and his village for a greater good that he was too young to understand had been fake from the start. He was slated to join the Akatsuki as ROOT's plant to gather intel, but with nothing received from him, it's clear that Itachi's purpose now lies with the Akatsuki."
"You will still have him, in the great dream." Obito whispers. "No more manipulations. No more lies. He will be safe from Konoha, the Uchiha, even safe from you."
Itachi stays silent, not one muscle budging on his impassive face.
"Everything in this reality is a lie. That's how you ended up here. No matter how hard you or anyone else tries, this world is built on lies. Look at the horrid things you've done to seek a certainty. And where has that brought you? Closer to peace? Do you think you can die happy like this, murderer?"
He'd attacked Obito. Just to erase one more threat to Sasuke. He'd been foolish. Even as he lay on the ground puking blood, he maintained his stony face.
Obito grabs the back of Itachi's head and slams it into the dirt.
"This feeling of pain? It is as real as the lies you tell yourself. This air, this dirt, the feeling of your clothes on your skin. All. Lies. There is only one true reality. One of happiness, closure, and true peace. You will die trying to fight for this lie that you live."
The wicked pattern of Obito's Mangekyou whirls ominously with the crimson glow.
"Tell me what you want, Itachi. Do you even know? Dear, lost child. You can't even figure it out yourself. Join me, make your life have truth and meaning. You can end this all, my boy. All you need do is rid yourself of the shackles you cling to, these ideals that have made you throw your young life away for A LIE!"
"Itachi's goals aren't certain anymore, but he poses a threat to all around him. Whether his purpose lies completely with the Akatsuki or for the sake of protecting me, he has proven that he is willing to destroy the lives of innocents for his goals."
"Sasuke is your shackle to this reality. He is your one driving force." Black flames sail harmlessly through Obito's body. "This Sasuke is matter built on lies. He is not the vision you idealize so greatly. Consolidate yourself with this hell because when I am through with it, there will only be truth in your world. No more shackles. Everything will be exactly as it should be. Won't you give peace a chance for once? Or do you still cling to the useless dogma of Konoha?"
"You are exactly like them." Itachi spits out blood viciously. "Manipulating me, you are exactly everything you're lecturing me against!"
"Ho? Is that so?" Obito kneels down, scarred visage grinning. "Then why don't you tell me, is the chance of happiness so revolting to you that you're unwilling to hear anything from anyone but yourself? You've been stuck inside your own head for years, boy. You are so utterly alone that you can't even comprehend what reality is in the first place. Fine. Have it your way. Be lost to the sands of time without purpose and without your sense, what little of it they let you keep."
Taka takes off his mask. Two long streaks of blood from the eyes slide insistently along the pale material.
"Itachi was just a boy, used and abused by everyone at every corner. His life had been planned and set up for failure. But that doesn't change the fact that he is a danger to Konoha, everything I consider precious, and myself. He is my shackle, and I have to be rid of him so I can be free. So everything I love can be free from his terror."
Sasuke's Sharingan changes shape.
"I will have Sasuke?" Itachi asks, broken on the ground.
"You will have everything you want and didn't know you wanted. Your soul knows you better than your broken mind does." Obito turns back to him, after having walked away.
"You promise me this?" Itachi's face is pelted by rain, and the blood on his chin slowly washes away.
"I wouldn't take my world after I went through the trouble of lying to everything to keep my identity a secret." Obito states wryly. "But what else do you have to live for?"
Itachi's Sharingan changes.
"Please, Naruto. You are my brother as much as he is, you have to know-"
"I know." Naruto interrupts solemnly. "But I won't let you do this alone."
"I will be with him." Neko stands up.
"As will I." Bear does the same.
"Come now, he has me too." The Nibi speaks with Sasuke's tongue.
"This is my resolve, my ambition. I will protect Konoha!"
"This is my vow." Itachi utters superiorly. "I will break the shackles of this world."
"About time that you found your calling." Obito smirks.
"I'll handle things on the homefront." Naruto remarks. "Get some rest, you three. Tomorrow, you hunt the legendary Uchiha Itachi."
A spray of blood in Tsunade's face alerts her to the attempted assasination in the Summit meeting.
Although it seems she hadn't been the intended target.
Obito rips the Sharingan from Kakashi's skull, and the silver-haired man reels in pain.
"Long time no see, Kakashi. I'd hate to cut this short, but I have a date with Destiny."
Obito vanishes in a whirl before they could even react.
"O- Obito?"
Kakashi looks more destroyed by the confirmation that he's alive than he does having his eye plucked from his head.