After finding Hidan's head and learning his body had been incinerated, Hidan spent a good while cursing Yako's ancestors with language unfit for polite company.
Hanataki did a quick mental tally and realized Madara Uchiha was probably included somewhere in that generational lineup.
In the end, it was Hanataki who used his Restoration Light technique to reconstruct Hidan's body from scratch.
Kakuzu sewed the head back on.
"Not bad! Not bad at all!"
Hidan patted his neck, then slicked back his silver hair with a hand. "Ready to serve Lord Jashin once more!"
…
Deep within a silent, dead forest.
Two figures materialized.
Zetsu's bizarre, mottled head emerged from the ground.
Beside it stood Obito Uchiha, his gaze dark and impenetrable.
"Did Tsukimi Hanataki sense us earlier?" Zetsu asked.
"So what if he did?" Obito countered.
"…"
Zetsu silently changed the subject.
"This one is from the Uchiha clan as well."
It looked towards the distant figure of Itachi Uchiha, deep calculation hidden in its eyes.
Obito's voice was cold. "Itachi Uchiha. Son of the Uchiha clan head. Heshu's student."
Zetsu's tone grew interested. "His Sharingan abilities are quite potent."
They had watched the battle from a distance. For Itachi to force back Orochimaru and Sasori the first time he awakened his Mangekyō… his talent was undeniable.
Obito understood Zetsu's meaning. "Getting him to join the Akatsuki won't be easy."
Obito could see it. Itachi's loyalty to the village went beyond the ordinary. His devotion to Konoha and to Heshu wasn't something easily shaken.
He paused, a thought occurring to him, and amended his statement. "Then again… it might not be impossible."
Zetsu watched the contemplative Obito, the barest hint of a smile touching its lips.
Perfect.
Let Obito and Madara handle everything. All it had to do was wait for Mother.
It believed that day was drawing near.
A shrewd light flickered in Zetsu's eyes.
Konohagakure.
Heshu sat in his chair, an uneasy twitch pulsing at the center of his brow.
He rubbed the spot.
"Lord Hokage, what's wrong?" Nara Sōsai asked, noticing the gesture.
His eyes were locked on Heshu, firmly against the idea of the Hokage sneaking out again under any pretext.
Heshu sighed. "A bad feeling. Shisui and the others aren't back yet. I can't relax."
Sōsai fell silent.
Everyone knew the danger level of this mission. Privately, many shinobi had already given up hope of seeing them return alive.
"Lord Hokage! A missive from Takigakure!"
A figure rushed into the office, the guards at the door unable to stop him.
Heshu shot to his feet, snatched the scroll, and unsealed it. His eyes widened.
"Gather the Konoha medical teams!" he yelled at Sōsai. "We're moving out, now!"
He was out the door in a flash.
Sensing the urgency from Heshu's reaction, Sōsai handed his work off to other members of the Administrative Division and sprinted for the hospital.
Heshu's figure blurred, reappearing at Konoha's main gate.
In the distance, down the wide road leading to the gate, a group carrying stretchers came into view.
"Lord Hokage!" The gate guards were startled, quickly offering salutes.
Heshu ignored them, rushing to meet the Takigakure shinobi.
"Lord Hokage, our apologies," said the leader, the son of Takigakure's elder, his face etched with regret. "Our village's medical-nin were insufficient to treat their injuries."
After the sounds of battle faded, they had ventured out past the waterfall. There, they found Shisui and the other two, battered, broken, their breathing faint.
Their own medics couldn't handle wounds of that severity. The only option was to carry them back to Konoha.
On the journey, they had also found the unconscious forms of Itachi and Hyūga Tenri, and Fū, the Seven-Tails Jinchūriki, clinging weakly to life.
The Seven-Tails itself, of course, had been extracted.
The only sliver of luck was that Fū had survived, breaking the rule that a Jinchūriki dies when their tailed beast is removed.
Just then, the medical teams led by Sōsai arrived.
Seeing the state of the wounded, Sōsai's brow furrowed, his expression grave.
The medics moved swiftly.
"Lord Hokage…" A kunoichi kneeling beside Shisui looked up at Heshu, helpless. She couldn't heal him. She needed the Hokage.
Heshu stepped forward. Light coalesced in his hand.
A moment later, Shisui's physical wounds were gone. But the severe mental strain from using Kotoamatsukami kept him deeply unconscious.
"Take him to the hospital for recuperation," Heshu ordered. Medics immediately lifted Shisui's stretcher and carried him away.
Jūri and Yako's physical injuries were treated by the other medics, but they too remained comatose, minds exhausted from overusing their Mangekyō.
Without needing orders this time, the medics took them away.
Five medics surrounded Hyūga Tenri, sweat beading on their brows, faces tight with concentration. The spikes had severed her meridians, shattered her bones, torn her muscles. Full recovery was nearly impossible. Even if reconnected, who could guarantee no lasting effects? Her future as a shinobi was likely over.
Heshu knelt beside her, placing his fingers on her arm.
A soft, golden glow—a fleeting shimmer in the corner of everyone's vision, almost an illusion.
Cells roared to life. Shattered bones knitted, regrowing stronger, more resilient. In an instant, her entire body was remade. Her skin was flawless, supple. Her limbs, long and elegant, now hummed with new strength and agility.
The five medics, seeing the Hokage act, silently stepped back.
Tenri's eyelashes fluttered. With great effort, she forced her large, watery eyes open a sliver.
"I… I'm…"
Her mind was a fog.
Her pupils shifted weakly, finding Heshu kneeling beside her.
"Teacher…"
Tears overflowed, streaming down her face.
"Is… is this real?" She thought she'd never see him again.
"Teacher!"
She threw her arms around Heshu, sobbing uncontrollably. She had been so scared. In that moment of death, she had been utterly terrified.
"It's alright now. You're safe." Heshu's voice was gentle as he softly stroked the back of her head. At her age, in his previous life, she'd have been a carefree schoolgirl. Who wouldn't be afraid facing death?
After calming the emotionally fragile Tenri, Heshu healed Itachi's injuries as well. All of them were admitted to Konoha Hospital.
Though Tenri was physically healed, Heshu scheduled her for sessions with Konoha's psychological counselor, Yugao Uzuki. A woman as gentle as Yugao would surely help her recover.
Fū's wounds were also healed by Heshu before the Takigakure team took her home.
Back in the Hokage's office, Heshu's expression was heavy. Sōsai looked equally burdened.
"The enemy's strength is formidable," Heshu mused.
Sōsai nodded. "Lord Hokage, we can't continue like this. We're completely reactive. We won't have any intel on the Akatsuki's members until they wake up. And we can't guarantee the Akatsuki won't strike again while they're incapacitated."
A deep sense of crisis settled in Sōsai's heart. An enemy this powerful, left unchecked, was a threat that robbed one of sleep and appetite.
"But what can we do?" Heshu spread his hands, a look of frustration on his face. "You saw it. That masked man's power rivals my own. He can fight the Five Kage alone. We have little intel on the others, but their strength is certainly nothing to scoff at."
Seeing Sōsai sink into thought, Heshu subtly guided the conversation. "Our own strength has limits. We must look to external means. But the village lacks that kind of specialized talent. It's a headache."
Sōsai suddenly stiffened, a spark in his eyes. "Lord Hokage, we don't necessarily have to find that talent within the village."
Heshu looked at him, puzzled. "What do you mean?"
Observing Heshu's expression and finding no immediate rejection, Sōsai continued slowly. "Lord Hokage… do you remember Lord Orochimaru?"
Heshu blinked, his expression turning complex. "You mean… bring Orochimaru back?"
Sōsai nodded. Orochimaru was Konoha's resident genius of the unnatural sciences. If he could cultivate Wood Release users, surely boosting the village's overall strength wouldn't be difficult for him.
The problem is, Sōsai thought, mind already racing, how do we get him back? And how do we convince the village?
Hearing his desired answer, Heshu still hesitated. "This matter requires careful consideration."
Sōsai shook his head, urgency in his voice. "Lord Hokage, time is not on our side. Leave this to me. I'll handle it." He made the promise immediately.
Heshu finally gave a slow nod. "Very well."
As Sōsai's retreating back disappeared, a faint smile touched Heshu's lips. He raised a hand and gestured slightly behind him.
A shadow dropped silently to his side.
"Lord Hokage." Kabuto knelt, his mask in place.
"You heard everything. You know what to do next," Heshu said, looking at him.
Kabuto nodded. As the double agent between Orochimaru and Konoha, his duty was to relay the conversation verbatim to Orochimaru in the Akatsuki. Orochimaru, already intensely interested in Itachi Uchiha, wouldn't refuse Konoha's olive branch.
Kabuto's form vanished.
The Hokage's office was vast. The Administrative Division, though within its purview, operated in separate rooms. Only Sōsai, for the Hokage's convenience, kept his desk nearby. The exchange between Heshu and Kabuto had no third witness.
Meanwhile, in Konoha Hospital.
In a private room.
Itachi Uchiha's eyes slowly opened.
His gaze swept the room once, then settled on the ceiling.
His thoughts began to reassemble, piece by piece.
The environment confirmed he was in Konoha Hospital. He had been saved.
But Tenri… he had seen her lose her breath, her heartbeat.
Silently, he rose from the bed. Aside from a slight ache behind his eyes, his body felt perfectly fine. His teacher must have healed him.
He pulled open the window and leapt out.
His speed was a blur.
He arrived at a quiet riverbank, descended a hidden stairway into the earth. His footsteps echoed in the narrow passage. The light from his candle gradually filled the underground space.
He stopped before a massive wall emblazoned with the Uchiha crest.
In the flickering candlelight, Itachi's dark pupils were replaced by the vivid crimson of his Sharingan. The black tomoe spun, slowly connecting.
Under the gaze of his Mangekyō Sharingan, the once-blurred characters on the stone tablet grew sharp and clear.
Itachi read them, word by word, until the script on the next line began to fade back into obscurity.
"Does this mean… the endpoint of the Sharingan's evolution lies further still?" Itachi murmured, deactivating his dōjutsu.
He cast one last look at the tablet and slowly retreated.
After Itachi's form vanished from the secret chamber, a patch of shadow detached itself from the wall where none had been before.
Black Zetsu clung to the stone tablet, watching Itachi's departure thoughtfully.
Itachi Uchiha had a younger brother. That meant his potential ceiling was higher than Obito's.
But getting someone like Itachi on board wouldn't be easy. And such a man would be terribly difficult to control.
As Zetsu began to plot, it suddenly froze. Its form instantly melted into the floor like liquid shadow.
Clear, deliberate footsteps echoed in the chamber.
Zetsu stared at the newcomer, its beady eyes widening in surprise.
Itachi coming here was no shock.
But why was Tsukimi Heshu here?
Zetsu narrowed its eyes, waiting cautiously for Heshu to reveal his true purpose.
"What secrets are recorded on this stone?" Heshu's gaze lingered on the tablet.
Noticing the patch of shadow on the floor, a faint, imperceptible smile touched his lips.
"Can Obito decipher the text here, I wonder?" he mused aloud. Seeing the chamber was empty, he shook his head bluntly. "To be honest, neither Madara nor Obito seem entirely… trustworthy."
He frowned, appearing troubled. "Creating a beautiful new world is important, of course. But a world needs a ruler. One who is powerful enough, commanding enough, to lead that beautiful world and ensure it endures."
Hidden in the shadows, Zetsu listened, its unease growing with every word. It never expected the man Madara had chosen would voice doubts about Madara himself. This was unacceptable! Tsukimi Heshu had become a crucial piece of their plan. If he betrayed them now, their entire purpose would be exposed.
"If only the legendary Lunar Goddess, Kaguya, truly existed," Heshu sighed, the regret in his voice sounding utterly genuine.
Zetsu's metaphorical heart leapt. A wild, unbelievable joy surged through it.
"If the Goddess Kaguya existed, then that beautiful new world would arrive much sooner. In the legends, the world under her governance was perfect, wasn't it?"
Zetsu held its breath, waiting for Heshu's next words. For the first time in a thousand years, someone had echoed the very thoughts in its soul.
[Ding! Affection from character Black Zetsu has reached 60!]
Heshu paused internally, a corner of his mouth twitching, before continuing with fervent passion. "A world governed by the Goddess Kaguya… that is the world I yearn for. Otherwise, even if a new world dawns, who can guarantee war won't erupt again? What a pity…"
His voice was thick with genuine-sounding lament.
"And what if," a different, rasping voice echoed from the shadows of the chamber, "the Lunar Goddess Kaguya does exist?"
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