~ Every 100 Power Stones = Bonus Chapter! Your votes keep this climbing. Thanks!
"Oh?"
At Sasuke's words, Hanataki raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
'No intention of going back?'
Was he prepared to die here?
Or was he planning to make the same choice as his brother?
In that moment, Itachi's heart leaped into his throat.
He had defected for this—so Sasuke could live a happy life in Konoha. He couldn't let Sasuke walk his same damned path.
Sasuke looked straight at Hanataki, his words deliberate and heavy. "I want to join the Akatsuki."
Kisame's eyes widened in genuine surprise, flicking automatically towards Hanataki.
Hanataki smiled. He tapped a finger lightly against the table. "It's not impossible to join."
Itachi's gaze snapped to Hanataki, his eyes twin chips of glacial ice, radiating bone-deep cold. In this entire organization, Hanataki was the most treacherous. A man who toyed with people on a whim, who treated lives with all the care of discarded trash.
"His strength isn't sufficient to join the Akatsuki," Itachi cut in abruptly, his voice laced with scorn. He didn't even deign to look at Sasuke. Ignore him. Dismiss him.
Sasuke's fists clenched, knuckles white.
Hanataki watched Itachi's performance with detached interest. "I think he has potential."
He shot Itachi a knowing smile.
Itachi's heart sank, but his face remained a mask of indifference. He kept pushing, the words meant to wound. "Potential? Among the Uchiha, he was never considered a true prodigy. Hardly what I'd call potential."
Sasuke's jaw tightened, his eyes boring holes into his brother. If not for the others in the room, Hanataki guessed Sasuke would be shaking Itachi by the shoulders, screaming 'why'.
"Ah, I see…" Hanataki sighed, his tone dripping with false regret. He propped his chin on his hand, giving Sasuke a look of pity. "Well, if his own dear brother says so, what choice do we have?"
"It seems the choice between joining us… and being killed by me… has already been made." Hanataki's smile was bright, cheerful, utterly chilling. He turned to Itachi. "Wouldn't you agree?"
Itachi's mind raced. A cold sweat broke out on his palms. "…Let me do it. He is, after all, my brother." He still refused to look at Sasuke, but he could feel the boy's gaze on him—a mix of utter disbelief and raw pain, stabbing straight through his chest.
"Oh?" Hanataki could see right through him. Itachi would never kill Sasuke. He'd try to fake his death, find some way to smuggle him back to Konoha.
Kisame stared, baffled. As Itachi's partner, he knew the man better than most. This… this didn't fit. Not at all.
Hanataki shook his head. A faint, golden light sparked at his fingertip. "No need for the trouble. I can handle it. It'll be over in an instant."
Itachi's heart lurched. "Wait!"
Hanataki's gaze, interrupted, settled on him with amused curiosity. "Changed your mind, Itachi?"
The Deva Path's eyes shifted to Itachi as well.
Itachi realized his lapse. He forced his breathing even, his voice flat. "…I just recalled. He may still be of use. Killing him would be… premature."
Hanataki chuckled. The golden light vanished. He nodded, without a hint of suspicion. "Fine. Then he joins."
A simultaneous, silent breath of relief escaped both Uchiha brothers.
Hanataki turned to the Deva Path. "Capturing the Eight-Tails is Tobi and Zetsu's mission. It will be challenging for them. Let the new recruit assist." He knew exactly where to strike.
Sasuke had trained in Kumogakure for three years.
He'd learned Lightning Release from Shinya. He'd been introduced to the Fourth Raikage himself. The man had even taught him techniques. And the Eight-Tails Jinchūriki, Killer Bee, had taught him swordsmanship.
He was close to the Eight-Tails Jinchūriki.
How could Hanataki's suggestion not be a direct stab at the heart?
It was just like when Itachi joined. His first mission? Go to Konoha and assassinate Danzō.
Now Sasuke's first mission? Capture the Eight-Tails.
Sasuke's expression stiffened.
The Deva Path found the logic sound. "You arrange it." Nagato trusted Hanataki's organizational skill.
Hanataki looked at Sasuke, who couldn't yet mask his emotions as skillfully as his brother. "A problem?"
Itachi's heart hammered. Hanataki's mind was a labyrinth. No one could predict his next move.
Sasuke shook his head. "It's fine."
He wasn't really joining anyway. The Fourth Raikage and Bee knew he was infiltrating. He just had to put on a show.
"Then no time to waste. Depart now." Hanataki stood, striding from the room. Sasori, his partner, followed silently behind.
One by one, the remaining members rose and left the meeting hall.
Itachi walked beside Kisame. As he passed Sasuke, his eyes never wavered.
Sasuke, however, couldn't tear his gaze away. It was glued to his brother's retreating back.
"Yahoo! Time to catch a tailed beast!" Tobi bounced over to Sasuke's side. "Now I'm someone's senior! Yahoo!" He jumped for joy.
Sasuke: "…"
No one warned him about this one.
"Let's go." Zetsu's great flytrap-like head emerged from the floor. He gave Sasuke a once-over and spoke to Tobi.
"Okay! Let's roll!" Tobi's hyperactive form vanished from sight.
The meeting hall was empty.
Konoha.
Heshu rejected Nara Sōsai's overtime request and turned to leave the Hokage Building.
"Hokage-sama!"
"Hokage-sama!"
He offered polite, practiced smiles to the greetings along the way. The perfect image.
After stopping by a gift shop, he headed for Danzō's residence.
"Hokage-sama?" The member of the Shimura clan who answered the door was startled, immediately bowing.
"No need. I'm just here to see Lord Danzō."
Three years ago, Danzō had taken a brutal beating from Itachi Uchiha and Kisame. Even with immediate medical ninjutsu, his advanced age meant the injuries took root. Three years of recurring problems had left him gaunt, a shadow of his former self.
When Heshu entered the room, Danzō was curled in a rocking chair, face pale.
"Who… who is it?" Danzō's eyes opened a sliver.
"It's me," Heshu said, setting down his gifts. He visited the poor, lonely old man Danzō every year. He hadn't expected things to be this bad. Maybe with Sarutobi gone, the old fire in him had just… gone out. His spirit failed, and his body followed.
"Who are you?" Danzō mumbled, vacant.
Heshu paused. No way. Senile dementia?
He tested the waters. "Tsukimi Heshu. Do you remember who Tsukimi Heshu is?"
Danzō erupted into a coughing fit so violent it sounded like his lungs would tear free.
"Tsukimi Heshu? Who… who is that?" Danzō's cloudy eyes were utterly lost.
Heshu's expression was complicated. He patted Danzō's shoulder solemnly. "Take care of yourself, Lord Danzō. Konoha's breeding farms still need you."
At that, Danzō jolted. A strange light flickered in his old eyes. They suddenly cleared. He began muttering, "The breeding farms… the little black pigs… exports… the Water Country order…"
Heshu: "…"
Lord Danzō's dedication to Konoha's economy is truly… admirable.
After instructing Danzō's caretaker, Heshu left the Shimura residence.
Having visited the possibly senile Danzō, Heshu made his way to Orochimaru's research base.
What was once a simple lab had, under Orochimaru's relentless drive, expanded into a full-fledged facility. State-of-the-art equipment gleamed under the lights.
Kimimaro opened the door. His kekkei genkai illness had been cured through Heshu and Orochimaru's joint efforts. Seeing Heshu, he bowed politely. "Lord Heshu." Not being a Konoha ninja, he didn't use 'Hokage'.
Heshu smiled and walked in.
He'd barely taken two steps when an eerie noise reached him.
"ARGH!"
"I'LL KILL YOU!"
"KILL YOU ALL!"
"DAMN IT!"
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The sound of furious impacts echoed—like someone was trying to smash through a door or a wall.
Heshu gave Kimimaro a silent look.
Kimimaro offered an awkward smile. "That's Jūgo. He has a split personality. He gets like this… often."
Heshu nodded slowly. He knew about the split personality, but the sounds were straight out of a violent crime scene.
"Don't mind Jūgo! He's always like that!"
A puddle of water appeared on the floor in front of Heshu. A figure rose from it.
Suigetsu Hōzuki surfaced, grinning with shark-like teeth, arms crossed.
"Lord Heshu! I'm so bored! Take me into Konoha for a walk, yeah?"
Heshu: "…"
Dealing with this human leech was a special kind of headache. Suigetsu stuck to his side, chattering non-stop.
"C'mon, take me!"
"Don't wanna stay in the lab!"
"So boring!"
"Lord Heshu?"
"Say yes?"
Heshu stopped walking, his patience frayed. "Be quiet."
Suigetsu, ever perceptive, mimed zipping his lips, then dissolved back into a puddle and vanished.
The next second.
"KILL YOU!"
"DAMNED THING!"
From behind a sealed door, Jūgo's eyes burned crimson, wide with rage. Suigetsu's constant taunting made his wall-pounding fists swing with even more ferocity.
Heshu: "…Can he not be still for even a moment?"
Kimimaro answered with the weariness of long experience. "Provoking all of us is his daily routine. Except Lord Orochimaru."
Because Lord Orochimaru might actually kill him.
Heshu: "…"
"You've arrived at an opportune time." Orochimaru's soft, sinuous voice preceded him as he appeared.
"Why do you say that?" Heshu asked.
Inside the main lab, besides Orochimaru, were Karin—carefully blending a cell solution—and Kabuto Yakushi, observing the results.
Once Karin finished the fusion, she let out a long sigh of relief.
"Lord Heshu!"
She immediately dropped her equipment and rushed over.
Orochimaru, who had been standing right in front of Heshu, was unceremoniously shoved aside.
Heshu: "…"
He had no words for the collection of oddballs in Orochimaru's lab.
Karin's face flushed. "Lord Heshu hasn't visited in so long!" she said, voice suddenly shy.
Kimimaro, behind Heshu: …Why does that sound so weird?
Heshu felt the same.
"I'm more curious about the 'opportune time'," Heshu said, looking at the displaced Orochimaru.
Orochimaru showed no irritation at being shoved. His face wore its usual inscrutable, faintly sinister smile. All these years, Heshu had rarely seen any other expression. It was his default.
"The forbidden technique developed by the Second Hokage… the Edo Tensei. I have perfected it."
The scroll Heshu had given him before was an incomplete, early version from the Second's research. Orochimaru had worked tirelessly, night and day, and finally completed the full version.
The sheer potential of the Edo Tensei thrilled him. A jutsu that could summon the dead from the Pure Land? Including legends like the God of Shinobi, Hashirama Senju?
How could that not be exhilarating?
Perhaps one day, he might even see his old teacher, Hiruzen Sarutobi, again.
He had no idea how prophetic that thought was.
"That is excellent news," Heshu said with a smile, though a trace of worry settled between his brows. "The enemies the shinobi world faces now are powerful. If we are ever confronted with an unwinnable situation… this might be the final chance to save our world."
Orochimaru wasn't as pessimistic. He didn't much care about the fate of the world. He lacked Heshu's broad, compassionate outlook.
He simply smiled. "With you here, Konoha is safe."
It was high praise. Especially coming from Orochimaru.
Heshu raised an eyebrow, genuinely surprised.
Orochimaru wasn't flattering him. He meant it. To him, it was a simple fact.
"But the Edo Tensei is still a forbidden technique," Heshu reminded. "Its knowledge should not be spread or exposed lightly."
To the wider shinobi world, disturbing the peace of the dead was considered a heinous, inhuman act. The fewer who knew of its existence, the better. And if the wrong people found out… they would stop at nothing to obtain it.
"I understand," Orochimaru nodded. "The only one capable of learning it here is Kabuto."
After completing his Sage Mode training at Ryūchi Cave, Heshu had assigned Kabuto to assist Orochimaru. Compared to Karin, Kabuto was far more to Orochimaru's liking. High comprehension, skilled hands, immense patience, boundless curiosity—he had all the qualities of a perfect researcher.
───── ⊹ ⊹ ─────
📖 Main story COMPLETED + Bonus Stories ongoing on Patre\on
🔍 Search:p a t r e o n.com/GoldenLong
───── ⊹ ⊹ ─────