Upon waking up, Sasuke readied himself and left the house with Karin as they began their jog.
Their footsteps echoed in the crisp morning air, as they made their way around the village.
"How has your training gone whilst I was away?"
Sasuke slightly turned his head to the side as he inquired, curious as to how much she had improved in the time he hadn't seen her.
"It's strange, but my strength's improved so fast lately. Those training weights you left? Barely a challenge now."
"In terms of Fuinjutsu, I have now fully grasped the basic seals. And..."
Sasuke listened to Karin chattering beside him, his eyebrows raised as he learned of her improvement.
'I'm shocked that she can consistently train by herself without any supervision from me. I thought she would at least slack off a bit, considering her age.'
"Well done, Karin."
In response to Sasuke's praise, Karin found herself feeling a surge of pride. However, the silence around them was nonetheless shattered by a loud shout behind them.
Sasuke turned his head to look behind him he could vaguely make out two green blurs shooting towards him.
Recognising the duo as Guy and Lee, Sasuke found himself chuckling to himself as watched them charge through the streets using their arms in place of their legs.
Upon joining with Sasuke and Karin they all began animatedly discussing their progress in training as well as asking how Sasuke's mission went.
Whilst the group jogged through the streets of Konoha, they later met up with three more people as Naruto, Shikamaru and Choji jogged alongside them.
The group consisting of tw-... now three people in green jumpsuits, three clan heirs, the last Uchiha etc. gathered the attention of the curious villagers around them.
After finishing the jog and some more physical exercises, Sasuke and Karin began their next training session together at the compound whilst Sasuke sent some clones once again to train the trio.
Sasuke practised creating his new Kekkei Genkai as his main focus during his training whilst Karin tirelessly practised Fuijutsu with renewed vigour.
Her enthusiasm for Fuinjutsu skyrocketed upon hearing Sasuke saying he would need her help soon from last night.
'I need to get stronger...'
These thoughts floated around Karin's head, only serving to strengthen her determination.
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The sun soon began to dip beneath the horizon and dusk the day soon turned to dusk.
After having dinner, Sasuke thought it was time now for him to begin his investigations.
He left the house under the cover of darkness, cloaked in a black robe that allowed him to seamlessly blend into the veil of night.
Sasuke first summoned several wood clones.
He then took the time to give them detailed instructions on what they were to look for. The clones soon vanished from Sasuke's sight.
Using the Mayfly technique, Sasuke similarly vanished as he made his way to his goal tonight... the Hokage building.
Emerging from the ground near the Hokage building, Sasuke began to use his perception to try and sense for any chakra presence nearby.
1, 2, 3... 14
'At least 14 Anbu guarding the building. There could be more that have hidden from my perception too.'
Sasuke pondered on the possibility of there being more people hidden in the dark.
However, he was confident in the stealth brought to him by the Mayfly technique and decided to enter the building.
After all, White Zetsu was able to travel anywhere in the ninja world basically undetected with it.
Once in the building, he began making his way over to the Hokage's office as he made sure to use everything he had learned from Anbu to reduce his presence.
'I've just realised I'm using skills taught by the village to steal something from it...'
Sasuke mused internally, interested to know what Hiruzen would think if he ever knew about this.
With the Sharingan now activated, he stared at the door in front of him and saw a faint flow of chakra emanating from it.
'A seal used to detect intrusion? Not unexpected.'
Channelling chakra to his fingertips, Sasuke rapidly tapped at the door at specific points and watched with his Sharingan how the chakra around the door began to dissipate.
'I'm glad that Fuinjutsu isn't used much for things like this. The main defence for the building is the several Anbu stationed around it, the seal on the door is merely a precautionary measure. Not like it made a difference here though.'
Entering the door, Sasuke was met with an empty room which looked starkly different from how he normally sees it.
Walking over to the desk, Sasuke opened up a drawer and began to sift through it. Taking out several pieces of paper he scanned through and began memorising them with the help of his Sharingan.
It didn't take long for a certain scroll to catch his attention, its name jumping out in Sasuke's eyes as he unravelled the scroll.
'The Scroll of Seals'
Beneath the title, was a small piece of text.
(Exclusively for the use of the Hokage and those authorised)
'Here it is.'
This was one of Sasuke's aims in coming here, the scroll contained too many important Jutsu for him to give up.
'There's also the fact that half of the Jutsu on here seem to be aimed at killing Uchiha... As expected of the racist- I meant 'wise' 2nd Hokage. At least this is going to be helpful, I mean despite being a Uchiha myself, I'm going to have to deal with a few of them later in the future.'
After memorising the contents of the scroll, Sasuke kept flicking through all the scrolls that detailed various pieces of intelligence.
'Possible location of Orochimaru'
'Loss of spy in Kirigakure, situation unknown'
'Project Vermillion'
'Instability in Kusagakure'
'Friction with Kumogakure at the border'
'Suspicious activity of ROOT'
Despite there being several papers, Sasuke's attention was drawn to one of them named 'Project Vermillion'.
It seemed rather out of place compared to the other pieces of intelligence in terms of their names.
As he read through the former he could feel shock coursing through his veins as his hands grasping the piece of paper shook for a second.
"This... This is the intelligence from Itachi?"
Sasuke muttered to himself, upon reading through it he learned of Akatsuki's most recent movement.
The report detailed how the organisation had begun collecting the tailed beast, Itachi himself had successfully collected the Sanbi and put it inside some 'strange statue' at the behest of their leader.
'The Gedo Statue?'
Sasuke paused his reading momentarily at the mention of the statue before promptly continuing.
'According to Itachi, they should have collected at least five tailed beasts by the end of this operation...'
"Why have they begun early in this timeline?"
Sasuke was baffled by why this had occurred, though his doubts were answered by the next sentence on the page.
'Reason: Possible interference from Orochimaru'
As he read on he learned, that Orochimaru has seemingly come into contact with a 'new' knowledge and seems to pose a threat to the operations of Akatsuki.
"Is that knowledge what created Kimimaro's strange curse mark?"
Sasuke felt like he had faintly grasped something.
After finishing reading the various bits of intelligence, he began to read through the various documents scattered throughout the bookshelves that decorated one wall of the office.
These contained various historical records of the ninja world, from what Sasuke could gather this should be sourced from the Senju and Uchiha clan repository.
"Oh, I wonder how these got here...?"
Rolling his eyes, he kept trying to look for what Orochimaru desired- knowledge/information regarding the Otsutsuki and the Hand of God group.
One of the books he found was labelled 'Founding of the Senju Clan'.
It was a simple recounting of the story of the Sage of Six Paths and how the Senju clan descended from Ashura- things that other people in the world would dismiss as mere fairy tales.
However, something soon seemed odd to Sasuke.
The book didn't mention anything regarding Hagoromo sealing Kaguya, if anything what it mentioned seemed starkly different to Sasuke's memory of it from the anime.
'One fateful day, the skies bled crimson, an ominous hue that drenched the heavens in dread. A haunting chorus of ghostly wails echoed above, as though the sky itself mourned some unspeakable tragedy—or worse, feared something far darker yet to come.
In the distance, a faint silhouette hung in the sky, suspended as if by invisible threads, before plummeting violently to the earth below.
The fallen figure was none other than the mother of the Sage of Six Paths. Her once-majestic form lay broken—blood gushed from a deep, jagged wound in her abdomen, her left arm severed at the shoulder, her right leg cruelly torn away.
Where her blood touched the earth, the land withered. The once-flourishing forest shrivelled and died in mere moments, transforming into a barren desert. The vitality of the world was drained, leached away by the sheer power of her agony.
Realizing her end was near, she called for her sons. With her dying breath, she bestowed her power upon her eldest son.
She warned him of a shadow, a nameless terror that lurked unseen, threatening to devour all. Her final wish was simple yet profound: "Protect your brother. Protect this world."
Her voice faded into silence, and with it, her life slipped away. The world held its breath in that moment of loss, as though nature itself mourned her passing.
Then, as abruptly as it had darkened, the sky cleared, its crimson hue retreating into memory. The world returned to its natural state as though nothing had happened, as though the death of such a powerful being could be so easily forgotten.
But the Sage of Six Paths could not forget. His heart was heavy with grief for his fallen mother. Her final words haunted him, a reminder of the shadow that still lingered in the corners of the world.
Determined to honour her legacy, he spread the power she had entrusted to him, hoping it would fortify the world against the looming threat.
Yet even as he steeled himself for the unknown, his younger brother vanished without a trace in the wake of their mother's death. The silence that followed his disappearance was as unsettling as the crimson sky had been.
Years passed. The world moved on. Soon, the Sage found himself a father to two sons of his own...'
After the death of Kaguya, everything went similarly to Sasuke's knowledge of the anime.
'The power she passed to Hagoromo should have been the Juubi?'
Sasuke was all but certain that Kaguya had made Hagoromo the Juubi Jinchuurki before dying.
However, what was the threat she had found?
If Kaguya passed away, did Isshiki too?
Or was Isshiki the threat?