A special thank you to my patrons:
—Jacob Mooe, kevin Williams, Jose Sierra, Archer, Acedia, kurtis newman, Little Sand, Kyle.S406, Alin Kadas, sediaz, Flavio Rodrigo.
You can read 30 chapters ahead of everyone on p@treon.
P@TREON - [email protected]/lessaservantofcosmos
(just replace the "@" with "a")
ps: Please support me on P@treon. I can really use your help!
-------------------------------------------------------------
Kagaya quickly made a complete tour of the Leaf Village. Throughout the entire process, Madara was the only person with whom he exchanged words.
As for the others—Hashirama, Tobirama, and some of the Uchiha clansmen—Kagaya did not go to see any of them. There was no need.
Spending half a day's time, Kagaya erased all memories concerning himself from within the Leaf Village. Henceforth, this world would no longer remember his existence.
In truth, what Kagaya didn't know was that during this process, Black Zetsu, who lurked somewhere deep beneath the earth, also had his memories of Kagaya erased along with it. Originally, Black Zetsu had remembered the appearance of a golden giant. But now, those memories had vanished completely and utterly.
Seeing that there was nothing left to do, Kagaya once again returned to the White Snake Sage's dwelling.
A few days later.
"So, although you're unwilling to disclose the reason you traveled to this era, it's certain that you'll be returning in two months?"
The White Snake Sage looked at Kagaya below her with keen interest.
Truthfully, the White Snake Sage was quite curious about how Kagaya had managed to cross back into this era. But since Kagaya refused to say, there was nothing she could do.
"Yes. I'll be leaving very soon. The next time we meet will be in the future. For me, it might only be the blink of an eye, but for you, White Snake Sage, you'll probably have to wait several decades before seeing me again." Kagaya spoke thusly.
The White Snake Sage, however, was utterly unconcerned.
"Several decades, to me, is hardly any different from the blink of an eye. Oh, right. That scroll I gave you—make sure to keep it well. The essence of that scroll is to seal the memories regarding you, not to truly erase them. Although this old one is also capable of erasing memories, doing so would be far too troublesome. Moreover, with so many memories concerning you, it's impossible for this old one to help you completely eliminate them all. So, the only option was to seal them. The drawback of sealing memories, however, is that these memories can be sealed for ten years at most. Of course, these ten years are calculated according to your own timeline. After you return, once ten years have passed, these memories will return to the minds of those whose memories were sealed.
But I imagine this won't actually have much impact. After all, once you've gone back, even if the memories were to return immediately to the minds of those sealed targets, history still wouldn't be altered.
Oh, and if you need to, you could also open that scroll ahead of time after you return. That way, the sealed memories would be restored prematurely. However, there's one point I probably don't need to mention, right? Before you've gone back, if you open this scroll and allow the sealed memories to be restored, history would still be altered. Therefore, no matter how early you do it, you absolutely must wait until after you've returned to open this scroll."
Kagaya suddenly understood. So this scroll sealed memories. As long as he opened it, the sealed memories would be restored.
"Rest assured, White Snake Sage. No matter how foolish I might be, I wouldn't open this scroll before returning."
The White Snake Sage nodded, then directly lowered her head onto her own coiled body and closed her eyes.
"That's good, then. If there's nothing else, don't come disturbing this old one's rest. Over these past seven months, I've been constantly teaching you Senjutsu. This old one hasn't had much proper sleep at all."
Kagaya scratched his head and spoke cautiously.
"Um... White Snake Sage, there's one last thing. This black robe and mask... shall I return them to you?"
The White Snake Sage gave a cold snort.
"What's this? Do you look down upon this old one's belongings?"
"That's... that's not it at all."
"Fine. Keep wearing them. Even though you've now sealed the memories about yourself, to prevent you from further influencing history, you still cannot show your face to anyone before you return."
"Oh, I see. Understood."
With that, their conversation came to an end. The White Snake Sage sank into a deep slumber. As for Kagaya, he went to the area around Ryuchi Cave and began focusing entirely on fixing the problem with his Flying Thunder God, while occasionally pondering how to execute the Inorganic Reanimation technique.
Very quickly, two months passed. Then, accompanied by an immense wave of vertigo, Kagaya... returned!
At this moment, Madara was still searching for the Nine-Tails. Hashirama was still in the Hokage's office handling administrative affairs. Tobirama was still contemplating the future development direction of the Leaf Village every single day.
No one noticed that a person who had once been so dazzlingly brilliant in this era had quietly and silently departed from this era just like that.
The future. Time pulled back to nine months ago. At this point, Kagaya had only just been in the Warring States era for three months.
A dark and shadowy location, its surrounding environment indiscernible. Black Zetsu slowly emerged here. Immediately after, Obito also appeared at this spot.
Come to think of it, every time Obito and Black Zetsu met, they seemed to prefer choosing places completely devoid of light.
Upon seeing Obito, Black Zetsu was the first to speak.
"Obito. White Zetsu and I have been monitoring. Uchiha Kagaya has already vanished for three months without a single trace. But the whereabouts of those two people by his side have always been grasped firmly within our hands."
Beneath the mask, the Sharingan flickered faintly.
"Are you saying... we should make our move now?"
Obito had once discussed with Black Zetsu the plan to make Kagaya fall into darkness once more, and then persuade him to join the Eye of the Moon Plan. The prerequisite for all of this, naturally, was to make Kagaya plunge into darkness again. And without a doubt, killing Karin and Haku was the optimal choice.
Black Zetsu fell silent for several seconds, then shook his head.
"Forget it. Let's wait a little longer. The Eternal Mangekyo still poses far too great a threat to us right now. We must act only under conditions where we can guarantee that Uchiha Kagaya won't be able to trace it back to us."
To Black Zetsu, every matter had to be premised on absolute caution. No matter what was to be done, it had to be ensured that it wouldn't affect his mother's resurrection.
As things currently stood, provoking Kagaya would invariably lead to unforeseen complications for the resurrection of Black Zetsu's mother. Therefore, to prevent such complications, Black Zetsu adopted an extremely prudent attitude in all matters concerning Kagaya.
"I understand."
Obito nodded and agreed.
Immediately after, the two of them slowly faded away. This patch of darkness returned to its silent stillness.
At this moment, there were still nine months remaining until Kagaya's return.
"Six months already... Hey, Haku, tell me... where on earth did Kagaya go?"
Karin looked at Haku with utter boredom and spoke.
Haku, equally bewildered, shook his head.
"I... I don't know either. Kagaya has never disappeared for this long before. Um... Kagaya couldn't have..."
As if thinking of some extremely terrible outcome, Haku's complexion instantly turned somewhat deathly pale.
Karin was also startled. But after thinking it over carefully, she spoke again.
"Don't worry. It'll be fine. With Kagaya's strength, no one can do anything to him."
Haku thought about it and also breathed a sigh of relief. Lifting a pale, slender arm, he propped up his cheek.
"You're right. But... the days without Kagaya around are really so boring."
Karin smiled faintly.
"Mm."
But the very moment Karin's words fell, her expression instantly shifted to one of vigilance.
"Haku! Multiple chakra signatures are suddenly rushing toward our location!"
Haku was also stunned for a moment. The place they were currently in was a forest in the northern part of the Land of Fire. It was still considered quite remote. Logically, there shouldn't be any shinobi coming to this area.
"Are they powerful?"
Karin closed her eyes and carefully sensed for a while.
"No... not particularly strong. Four people in total. Judging by chakra perception, they should be at the Jonin level."
Haku nodded.
"Alright!"
A few days later. Upon a tree branch, Zetsu emerged from the wood and spoke to Obito, who stood to the side.
"You underestimated them. The casually posted bounty was taken up by four wandering shinobi, but all of them failed."
Obito remained unmoved, continuing to gaze ahead.
"Those four wandering shinobi... what was their strength?"
"Barely Jonin level, I suppose. They could be considered top-tier among wandering shinobi."
"Four Jonin also failed, huh... It seems we'll still need to dispatch members of the Akatsuki."
"No. On this point, I must advise you to be cautious. If we dispatch Akatsuki members, even if we kill those two now, once Uchiha Kagaya discovers it in the future, the Eye of the Moon Plan will suffer a tremendous blow."
"Then what are we supposed to do? If even four Jonin aren't enough, we need at least Kage-level strength. But aside from the Akatsuki, we can't mobilize any other Kage-level experts."
"Then we continue to think of other methods. All of our objectives are to realize the Eye of the Moon Plan. We cannot afford to stumble here!"
Obito narrowed his eyes, a flash of ruthlessness passing through them. He spoke in a low voice.
"How about... we have Nagato resurrect Madara right now..."
Zetsu immediately cut Obito off.
"Have you gone mad?! It's still far too early! Even if Lord Madara were resurrected, we still couldn't immediately execute the plan. It's just one Uchiha Kagaya—are you that afraid of him? Maintain your composure. There's no need to throw out all our trump cards just because of a mere Eternal Mangekyo."
Obito's entire body jolted. Then, he took a deep breath.
"You're right. You're correct. I lost my composure. In the end, I've allowed fear of those eyes to creep into my heart. Very well, then. Since we can't crush those two with quality, we'll crush them with quantity instead. I'll use my Sharingan to control someone and continuously post bounties to underground organizations. We'll keep those two constantly on the run, exhausted and beleaguered."
Zetsu nodded.
"That's a good plan. But you must absolutely remember: our Akatsuki members cannot act. Otherwise, once Uchiha Kagaya's rage born from despair burns toward us, the plan will suffer severe damage. Our goal is merely to plunge Uchiha Kagaya into despair, and then draw him into the Eye of the Moon Plan. We absolutely must not provoke him. We cannot allow him to trace it back and discover that we were the ones who acted."
Obito replied. "Naturally, I am well aware of this."
With those words, a swirling vortex appeared, spiraling Obito away until he vanished. To the side, Zetsu also melded into the tree branch and disappeared.
In a matter of seconds, this place returned to its original state, as if no one had ever been there at all.
At this moment, there were six months remaining until Kagaya's return.
*****
The Leaf Village.
The Hokage's office. Tsunade held a bounty poster in her hand, perusing it with great deliberation.
This bounty poster had already been circulating among underground organizations for two months now. No one knew who had posted it. Tsunade had sent people to investigate, but they had only found it was an ordinary shinobi.
But...
"These two... they should be the two who follow Uchiha Kagaya, right? Who could have such a death wish, to put a bounty on these two?"
Tsunade pondered, finding it somewhat laughable. But after a moment, she sensed something amiss.
"No... With Uchiha Kagaya's strength, even if some people haven't witnessed it firsthand, they should have at least gotten a rough idea from the incident where he destroyed the Leaf Village. Under such circumstances, how could anyone be foolish enough to put a bounty on the people close to him? Unless... Uchiha Kagaya himself has encountered some kind of problem, rendering him unable to protect those around him."
Thinking this, Tsunade sank into deep contemplation.
The bounty poster in her hand had been specifically delivered by someone. They likely believed that the Leaf Village hated Uchiha Kagaya to the bone and would definitely take action against him. Hence, they had specially sent a bounty poster their way.
So, at this moment, having guessed that Kagaya might have encountered some kind of problem... should she kick him while he was down?
A long while later, Tsunade summoned Kakashi.
"Kakashi. Take this bounty poster and deliver it to..."
Tsunade instructed Kakashi to take the bounty poster and deliver it to a certain person. Beyond that, she said nothing more, completely casting the matter to the back of her mind and beginning to handle other affairs.
At this moment, there were four months remaining until Kagaya's return.
"Haah... huff... huff..."
Karin clutched her right arm, which was drenched in blood, panting heavily in great, heaving gasps.
Haku spoke, his face filled with guilt.
"Karin... you didn't have to block that for me... I... I'm sorry..."
Not long ago, in a recent battle, Karin had taken a fatal blow meant for Haku. That was why her right arm was now covered in blood.
Smiling, Karin spoke.
"It was necessary. You're the combatant. I... I don't have much fighting strength. I can afford to be injured, but you can't. Alright... hurry, let's go. More people will be coming soon."
Haku bit his lip, his eyes brimming with guilt. But he wasted no more time and supported Karin as they swiftly fled this place.
*****
After listening to Kabuto's report, Orochimaru spoke with an expressionless face.
"So... Karin and that other brat are already being hunted quite miserably now?"
Kabuto nodded.
"Yes, Lord Orochimaru. The bounty offered on that poster is extraordinarily generous. Many individuals from underground organizations have made their move. Lord Orochimaru... should we lend them a hand?"
Orochimaru let out a scoff.
"Help them? Why should we help them? The relationship between Uchiha Kagaya and myself is hardly that good. In the end, it's purely a transactional relationship. No need to assist. It's even better if they die. Once Uchiha Kagaya returns, I'll get to watch a spectacular show."
Kabuto lifted his head slightly.
"Lord Orochimaru, then what about us..."
Orochimaru sneered.
"Put away your little schemes, Kabuto. We won't help Karin and the others. But we absolutely must not make a move ourselves either. I merely want to watch a good show. I have no desire to draw the flames onto myself. You are dismissed."
Kabuto hurriedly lowered his head and responded.
"Yes, Lord Orochimaru!"
At this moment, there was one month remaining until Kagaya's return.
"Rasengan!"
With a furious roar, an enormous tree trunk collapsed with a thunderous crash.
Naruto wiped the sweat from his forehead and spoke while gasping for breath.
"Still not enough! Again!"
Saying this, Naruto prepared to create shadow clones and continue his training.
"Naruto, wait."
Just at that moment, another voice rang out.
Naruto turned around and looked behind him.
"Pervy Sage, what's up?"
After nearly a year's time, Naruto no longer looked like a mere child. Training of this nature always tended to erase one's childish appearance. Just like Kagaya back then—after training outside for a few years and returning to the Leaf Village, the difference between him and Naruto had been like that of an adult and a child.
Jiraiya tossed a slip of paper in his hand over to Naruto.
Naruto caught it and examined it carefully. Two people were drawn on it. He seemed to have some impression of them, but couldn't recall at the moment.
Jiraiya spoke.
"This matter... originally, I wasn't planning on telling you about it. But after thinking it over, I figured, in the end, you would want to know. The two people on this paper are currently being hunted by a large group. I don't know the specifics of their current situation either, but it should be very dangerous by now. This is a message your Granny Tsunade had Kakashi deliver. Kakashi, not wanting to disturb your training, gave this paper to me and then left."
Naruto asked, puzzled.
"Pervy Sage... they're being hunted, and Granny Tsunade specifically notified us... Could this be a mission?"
Jiraiya shook his head.
"No, it's not. This matter has nothing to do with us. You just need to be aware of it, that's all. Oh, right. These two... are companions of Uchiha Kagaya. Alright, I'm off."
Saying this, Jiraiya turned around to leave.
After hearing Jiraiya's words, Naruto was utterly stunned. Then, his body moved on pure reflex, lunging forward and grabbing tightly onto Jiraiya's arm.
"Pervy Sage!"
Jiraiya turned his head and sighed with a face full of exasperation, as if he had long since anticipated this very scene.
Naruto spoke with firm resolution.
"Pervy Sage! I... I want to save them!"
Jiraiya pressed a hand to his forehead.
"See, this is why I didn't want to tell you about this in the first place. But that woman Tsunade... she actually sent someone specifically to make a trip here. Honestly, what was Tsunade thinking? She said she'd leave it up to you, Naruto, to decide. But doesn't she know what you, Naruto, are like?! If you, Naruto, would choose to ignore this... then you wouldn't be called Uzumaki Naruto!"
Having said this, Jiraiya sighed again.
"Sigh! Fine. I'll make this trip with you."
Naruto's face was instantly filled with joy.
"That's awesome, Pervy Sage!"