Chapter 231 - Orochimaru, Do You Know the Reanimation Jutsu?
The Rinnegan situation was settled, at least for now. The Fourth Hokage had no intention of breaking his word, and no appetite for fighting all four villages simultaneously and igniting a Fourth Shinobi World War.
So the Rinnegan would be transferred to Iwagakure per the Five Kage Summit agreement.
Of course, the transfer wasn't simply a matter of handing something over. The Sand, Mist, and Cloud villages still needed to coordinate the deployment of their own elite personnel to assist Iwagakure in securing the Rinnegan - that alone required the four villages to work out the details properly before anything could be finalized. Until that was settled, the Rinnegan would stay in Konoha.
In the meantime, Konoha continued to think through the possibility of using the Rinnegan as bait.
After extended discussion, they arrived at an uncomfortable truth: without some way to neutralize Uchiha Tatsuhata's seemingly unsolvable concealment method, any attempt to ambush him was essentially impossible. Whether they liked it or not, all they could really do was lay the Rinnegan out visibly and wait for Tatsuhata to come to them.
Time slipped by in the sound of that reluctant sigh. By the end of September, after roughly a month of back-and-forth, the four villages had finally reached an agreement and each dispatched their chosen personnel to Konoha, forming a joint escort unit for the Rinnegan's transfer.
The unit wasn't just responsible for delivering the Rinnegan to Iwagakure. They would also handle each subsequent transfer - to Kumogakure next, then Sunagakure, then Kirigakure. This was a long-term S-rank assignment.
Konoha did not stand aside.
Even if designing a trap around the Rinnegan had proven difficult, the Rinnegan's value as bait was a simple fact that hadn't changed. To prevent Tatsuhata from seizing it during the transfer - and to avoid missing any opportunity to catch him - Hyuga Ritsu joined the escort unit on the Fourth Hokage's orders.
As a side benefit, Ritsu could also keep watch on the Rock Village's research progress without Konoha needing to send a separate observer.
"Plenty of familiar faces."
Down in the main laboratory on the second floor, Ritsu swept his gaze across the personnel assembled from the four villages.
Iwagakure had sent Kitsuchi, bringing three elite squads from the Rock Village. Including Kitsuchi himself, twelve ninja in total.
Sunagakure had sent an operational squad led by Yashamaru. The man had lost an eye in the Amegakure battle, and the change it had produced in him was striking. The soft-faced, slightly meek demeanor he had carried before was gone entirely. What replaced it was something harder - a ferocity like a desert storm, blunt and overpowering.
Kirigakure hadn't bothered sending fresh personnel from the village. Mangetsu Hoshigaki, their envoy who was already in Konoha, took the assignment himself along with three jonin subordinates - none of them Rinrin Yuyuri, Dosu Kinuta, or Zabuza Momochi, but three different Mist jonin.
For the Cloud Village, the envoy was not Dodai, the Raikage's trusted strategist. Instead they had sent a jonin named Yatsuki Hikari - the top fighter of the Cloud Village's Yatsuki clan. Not a widely known name, but solid strength behind it.
"Clan Head Hyuga. Are we cleared to take the Rinnegan now?"
Kitsuchi's broad, mountain-like frame moved toward Ritsu as he asked.
"Yes."
Ritsu nodded. He smiled. "We've been ready for a while, actually. We were just waiting on you. Took considerably longer than we expected."
As he spoke, Uchiha Shisui walked over carrying a glass jar roughly the size of a drinking cup. The Rinnegan floated inside it, suspended in nutrient solution.
Ritsu glanced at him. "Shisui. Hand it over to Kitsuchi-dono."
Shisui crossed the room and held the jar out toward Kitsuchi.
Kitsuchi didn't move.
He had prepared himself for Ritsu to stall, to find reasons to drag the moment out, to manufacture difficulties. The last thing he had expected was for Ritsu to hand it over without a single word of resistance. The decision to transfer had already been made - there was no point in making things needlessly difficult.
Ritsu, watching Kitsuchi's stillness, couldn't quite stop himself. "What's the matter, Kitsuchi-dono? You're not reconsidering taking it, are you? If you feel the risk is more than Iwagakure can handle, we could always just leave it here in Konoha -"
"No. I was simply momentarily slow."
Kitsuchi shook himself and extended one enormous palm, accepting the jar with careful hands. He sealed it into a scroll he had brought prepared for exactly this purpose.
Then he tucked the scroll against his body, beneath his clothing.
Kitsuchi's expression, never particularly animated to begin with, went stiff with seriousness in that moment. He looked like someone had just set a mountain on his shoulders.
Perhaps, for him, the Rinnegan wasn't far from that weight.
"Clan Head Hyuga. I intend to depart immediately."
He said it with finality.
The moment the Rinnegan was in his hands, every part of him wanted to move - to get back to Iwagakure, to place the scroll in his father Onoki's hands as fast as possible. Unfortunately, the Fourth Hokage had not offered to assist their return journey. The Flying Thunder God would have been fast, convenient, and safe - but the Fourth Hokage was not a personal transport service, and without the same urgency that had driven the joint operation to Amegakure, there was no reason for Minato to spend himself on the task.
More practically: rushing the Rinnegan to Iwagakure via Flying Thunder God would ruin any chance of drawing Tatsuhata in. The difficulty of attacking a convoy on the road was nothing compared to the difficulty of attacking Iwagakure itself. Keeping the Rinnegan exposed during travel was the point. Minato's help would defeat that purpose entirely.
"Then let's move."
Ritsu didn't hesitate either.
Behind him stood three teammates: Hatake Kakashi, Uchiha Aika, and Hyuga Akiba. Nohara Rin had not come - she was the Three-Tails jinchuriki, and she was needed in the village to help care for Kushina, whose delivery could come at any time now.
If Ritsu was being honest with himself, it didn't matter much whether he had teammates or not.
Against Uchiha Tatsuhata, there were only a handful of people in the village who could actually contribute. Anyone else was essentially just filling out the headcount. That applied even to the two young women walking behind him - Hyuga Akiba, who was like a little sister to him, and Uchiha Aika, his girlfriend. Neither of them would be much use in that fight. He had brought them along mostly to have the company. (huh? so behind the scenes romance...)
Kakashi, on the other hand, was genuinely useful. If Tatsuhata appeared, Kakashi could contact Minato for reinforcement.
So the joint escort unit - assembled from all five great villages, formed specifically to transport the Rinnegan - finally departed Konoha. Kitsuchi, eager as he was to return home, settled down once they were actually on the road. He didn't push the pace recklessly. He kept something in reserve at all times, ready for whatever might happen.
That suited Ritsu completely. He genuinely hoped Uchiha Tatsuhata would walk right up and make himself available.
The Land of Vegetables.
Somewhere deep in the forest.
"Black Zetsu, are you certain Orochimaru is actually nearby?"
Uchiha Tatsuhata's voice drifted through the trees. The face behind the tiger-head mask showed the faint lines of exhaustion.
Black Zetsu had previously told him Orochimaru was hiding somewhere in the Land of Lightning. He had gone there and found nothing but a false lead. That had sent him back on the road, chasing down the next thread, winding and doubling back until the trail led him here to the Land of Vegetables.
"Certain."
From a nearby tree trunk, the pitcher-plant shape of Black Zetsu spoke. "White Zetsu has located a large sealed underground space in the area ahead. The barrier surrounding it is exceptionally tight. Even White Zetsu cannot enter without alerting whoever cast it."
Tatsuhata's eyebrow lifted slightly.
Some of the strain in his expression eased. That sounded like the right place.
"Wait - we've been detected."
"Damn it. That snake's senses are sharp."
"Tatsuhata, be careful. Orochimaru is coming."
Black Zetsu reported the development at speed.
A few seconds after those words, Tatsuhata saw the figure approaching through the trees at a calm and unhurried pace.
As the distance closed, he could make out the details. Crimson Sharingan. Blue-black comma-shaped earrings. A wide, flowing kimono. And that cold, reptilian smile that never changed.
Orochimaru stopped and spoke without preamble.
"Konoha's missing-nin Uchiha Tatsuhata. What are you doing here? Don't tell me you're planning to bring my head back to the village and use it to buy your way home."
The killing intent in those crimson eyes was unmistakable. If the answer he received was unsatisfying, he would strike first without warning.
"Orochimaru. I have never had any intention of returning to Konoha, and I don't believe your intelligence is poor enough that you haven't already figured out what I'm after."
Tatsuhata's expression didn't shift.
Orochimaru's mouth curved. "The Moon's Eye Plan? An interesting concept. I'm afraid I can't help you, though. Chasing peace in a dream holds no appeal for me."
Tatsuhata didn't take the bait of Orochimaru's dismissiveness. He said, flatly: "Orochimaru, I don't care what you think of the Moon's Eye Plan. My purpose here is straightforward. Are you interested in the Rinnegan? If you are, you're welcome to join the Akatsuki temporarily and work with me."
Orochimaru's dreams might have dried up long ago, but his appetite for things of value never would. The idea that someone of Orochimaru's intelligence had gathered no information about the Rinnegan and had no interest in what it represented - that wasn't credible.
Orochimaru's intelligence network was formidable. Nothing that had happened in the shinobi world over the past months was hidden from him. He had known the details of the Amegakure battle for some time, and he had found the Rinnegan's existence and capabilities intensely interesting.
The problem was that Konoha was, at this particular moment, extremely strong.
Even with both the Sharingan and Wood Release now in his possession, even with the unbroken practice he had maintained since defecting - he still lacked the confidence to take the Rinnegan from Konoha by force.
Orochimaru's eyes flickered for a moment. "Uchiha Tatsuhata. You're just looking for someone to throw at Konoha while you take the prize, aren't you? Konoha right now is at its absolute peak. Even the two of us together would just be walking into our own deaths."
"If nothing unexpected has happened, the Rinnegan has already left Konoha. It's being escorted to Iwagakure as we speak."
"...What?"
Orochimaru paused.
His intelligence channels were excellent, but they could not match the omnipresence of White Zetsu. Real-time updates on events inside Konoha were not always available to him.
"At the Five Kage Summit, the Fourth Hokage made a commitment. The Rinnegan would be held jointly by all five great villages in rotation. The transfer to Iwagakure has begun."
"I see."
Orochimaru gave a slow nod. "That does sound like something Minato would do. That fool Jiraiya infected him - he's forgotten what a real ninja looks like. Not that it's bad news for me."
He said what he was thinking plainly.
If the Rinnegan were still sitting inside Konoha with that collection of exceptional ninja guarding it, no amount of interest would make him stupid enough to walk in and try to take it. But the Rinnegan in transit, even with a strong escort, was a fundamentally different proposition.
"Why come to me specifically?"
Orochimaru fixed his eyes on Tatsuhata and asked it directly.
Black Zetsu's ears perked up.
It had the same question. After learning of Nagato's death and the loss of the Rinnegan, Tatsuhata had not gone to anyone else. He had spent considerable effort tracking down Orochimaru in particular. The reason wasn't obvious.
Tatsuhata looked at those crimson eyes and suppressed a small, instinctive discomfort.
"Orochimaru. Do you know the Reanimation Jutsu?"
"- Where did you hear that name?"
"In notes left behind by Uchiha Madara."
"Uchiha Madara? Isn't he dead?"
"He is. But that old man isn't the type to let anyone rest easy even after he's gone. Anyway, that's not the point right now. The question is whether you know the Reanimation Jutsu. If you're willing to teach it to me, I can give you Uchiha Madara's cells. The Reanimation Jutsu requires a sample from the deceased - that's correct, isn't it?"
Tatsuhata's gaze was fixed and intent.
Everything he had said was the truth.
He had come across fragmentary references to the Reanimation Jutsu in Madara's notes - a description of a technique developed by the Second Hokage, a forbidden art that desecrated the dead by summoning them from the afterlife and forcing them to fight. The notes had not, however, contained the actual mechanics of the technique.
Madara himself had never mastered it. He had only learned how to break it. And because Tatsuhata had used his Mangekyo's Toyoakitsushihime technique to copy Madara, he had inherited that knowledge - but not the jutsu itself.
That gap was why he had set his sights on Orochimaru.
Orochimaru had raided cemeteries. He had broken into the burial grounds of multiple villages and countless ninja clan tombs. Tatsuhata doubted that had been about money or valuables. He suspected it had been about what the graves actually contained - corpses, or at least fragments of corpses that had not yet fully decayed.
That pointed to the Reanimation Jutsu.