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"Should be around here."
Kisame tightened his grip on Samehada's handle, the massive blade resting on his shoulder.
According to the intel provided by Zetsu, Akatsuki's head of intelligence, this was the last known location of the Four-Tails Jinchūriki, Rōshi.
Rōshi, the Four-Tails Jinchūriki from Iwagakure, was a stubborn old man. His personality constantly clashed with the Tsuchikage, Ōnoki.
After leaving the village, Rōshi became a wandering monk. He trained relentlessly every day to master the Four-Tails, developing jutsu to work in tandem with it.
Zetsu's description was precise: purple robes, chest armor, a thick beard, and hair tied back in a small ponytail-like bundle.
Before they left Amegakure, Zetsu had briefed each team on their target Jinchūriki. The level of detail was unnerving.
Such intelligence-gathering capabilities sent a chill through both Itachi and Sasuke at the time.
Itachi and Kisame now stood in a dim, oppressive forest.
The massive canopy overhead blotted out the sun, casting the woods in a gloomy, eerie light. Occasional bird calls and the rustle of falling leaves broke the silence. A cool breeze brushed against their faces.
A figure stepped into view.
"Purple robes?"
"Chest armor?"
"Thick beard?"
"Ponytail?"
The description matched the man before them perfectly.
Kisame grinned, revealing his sharp, shark-like teeth. He gripped Samehada tight, lifting it from his shoulder. A gust of wind swept from the blade.
Rōshi took a cautious step back. "Akatsuki?"
He'd only come to investigate the new presences in his secluded forest. He never expected to be face-to-face with the infamous Akatsuki.
An organization whose mission was to capture Tailed Beasts.
The realization hit. Rōshi's form blurred. He shot backward, fleeing immediately.
Whether he could defeat these two or not was irrelevant. He couldn't risk staying and fighting, not with the chance of having his Tailed Beast extracted.
Especially when one of them was the disciple of the Fifth Hokage, Tsukimi Heshu. A prodigy whose fame spanned the entire shinobi world.
Kisame anticipated the move. His foot slid back slightly. The next instant, he launched himself high into the air.
With a few leaps between branches, he and Itachi had Rōshi pinned between them.
Rōshi's face darkened.
Looks like a fight was inevitable.
If he didn't defeat these two, even escaping would be a serious challenge.
But Rōshi was a Jinchūriki. Despite knowing his opponents' formidable strength, he felt no fear. A shinobi feared nothing, not even death. His earlier retreat was only to prevent the Four-Tails from falling into Akatsuki's hands and advancing their plot.
Against an enemy like Akatsuki, he couldn't afford to be careless.
He flashed to a thick branch on another tree, forming a tense triangular standoff with Kisame and Itachi.
He crouched low. Red, boiling chakra erupted from his body, wrapping around him like a shroud. A single, lashing tail of crimson energy materialized behind him.
"Lava Release: Scorching Stream Rock!"
Lava Release was a Kekkei Genkai, a fusion of earth and fire nature chakra.
From Rōshi's mouth, a barrage of molten rock fireballs shot forth, blanketing the area toward Itachi and Kisame.
Kisame just smiled dismissively. Samehada in his hand pulsed greedily, absorbing the chakra of the Lava Release jutsu effortlessly. The attack dissolved into nothing.
Caws echoed. Black feathers drifted before Rōshi's eyes.
Itachi dissolved into a flock of scattering crows. Every single molten fireball passed through empty air.
The first exchange already showed Rōshi how troublesome these two were.
Before Kisame and Itachi's eyes, Rōshi's form changed again.
His body became sheathed in high-temperature magma, solidifying into Lava Release armor—both a defense and a weapon. A second tail sprouted behind him.
The two tails lashed. Magma splattered. Grass didn't even have time to catch fire before it was instantly vaporized.
A low, bestial growl rumbled in Rōshi's throat. His speed became a blur as he charged straight for Itachi.
"Tsukuyomi."
Itachi's expression remained flat as ever.
His scarlet Mangekyō Sharingan spun wildly.
Tears of blood streaked down his cheeks.
Rōshi's body froze mid-motion.
When it came to genjutsu, no one was Itachi Uchiha's match. Even with prior caution, Rōshi couldn't withstand the mental assault.
The seeds of the illusion had been planted earlier, among the drifting black crow feathers. It only needed the right moment to bloom—and Rōshi had conveniently chosen to attack Itachi.
With the seed already there, a simple trigger was all it took. The genjutsu instantly engulfed Rōshi's entire being.
"As expected of Itachi-san."
Kisame relaxed his grip on Samehada, hoisting the blade back onto his shoulder.
…
The Five-Tails, Kokuō, had been slain by Hanataki in Iwagakure over a decade ago.
Now, according to Zetsu's intel, its form had reappeared.
Kakuzu and Hidan headed toward the provided location.
Hidan's eyes were wide, scanning every corner like twin searchlights.
"C'mon out! Little monster! Out you come!"
He looked around with a nervous, manic energy, his eyes brimming with anticipation.
Kakuzu massaged his temple, a headache forming. "Could you keep it down?"
Hidan snorted and continued his excited chatter.
Kakuzu had had enough. Black threads shot from his hand, swiftly stitching Hidan's mouth shut.
Hidan: "Mmph! Mmph mmph mmph!"
He stamped his feet in fury, utterly powerless against Kakuzu.
Just as Hidan was making muffled noises, Kakuzu's expression shifted. He shot Hidan a cold glance. Hidan got the message.
He fell silent, dropping into a low stance, his hand gripping the handle of the giant triple-bladed scythe on his back.
A flash of white shot past Kakuzu's vision.
His eyes tracked the movement.
BOOM!
A massive white tail swept through the surrounding trees, uprooting ancient giants and sending them crashing toward Kakuzu and Hidan.
Hidan, for once, had no urge to speak. He drew his scythe, a fanatical gleam in his eye.
Kakuzu's right arm detached at the wrist. Black threads burst forth, wrapping tightly around Hidan and yanking him aside, narrowly avoiding the devastating attack. Even with an immortal body, there was no need to take a beating. More importantly, Kakuzu didn't want to waste time sewing Hidan back together later.
He took the chance to unravel the threads on Hidan's mouth.
Hidan immediately raged, "What the hell was that for?"
Kakuzu ignored him, his focus on the colossal creature emerging from the shattered forest.
Before them stood a gigantic beast. A pure white chimera, a fusion of dolphin and horse. Five majestic tails swished behind it.
The Five-Tails, Kokuō.
Its eyes, larger than lanterns, burned with sharp, focused rage. These two had invaded its territory and dodged its attack. An insult. Their uniforms stirred a deep, instinctive revulsion within it.
So, Kokuō attacked first.
Normally, when civilians strayed into its domain, it never initiated violence against humans. This was a first.
Kokuō let out a piercing shriek toward Kakuzu and Hidan. The sonic wave rippled out.
Hidan rubbed his ears. "Damn, that thing is loud!"
Kakuzu: "…"
Hidan's words were clearly heard.
Kokuō's five tails thrashed wildly in the air as if out of control.
The forest turned into a wasteland. Trees were uprooted. Grass ripped from the earth. Boulders shattered into dust. Craters pockmarked the ground.
The colossal beast charged.
"ROAR!"
The horn on Kokuō's head aimed straight for the two of them.
Hidan's triple-bladed scythe left his hand in an instant. The giant red weapon flew, aiming for the sharp horn on Kokuō's head.
Knowing the immense durability of its horn, Kokuō paid Hidan's attack no mind.
CLANG!
The scythe's blade bit into the horn, embedding itself slightly.
To Kokuō, the penetration was negligible. To Hidan, it was enough.
A fanatical light blazed in Hidan's eyes. As the horn was about to impale him, a slight vibration traveled up the chain connecting him to his scythe. Hidan's body was yanked upward, pulled by the weapon, and he landed right atop Kokuō's head.
A black ritual spear appeared in his hand. The next second, he drove it deep into Kokuō's skull.
"ROOOAR!"
Kokuō's eyes flooded with blood. It thrashed its massive head violently, maddened.
Hidan clung to the spear lodged in its skull, his body whipping through the air with each wild shake. The violent motion only drove the spear deeper.
"Don't kill it!"
Kakuzu's warning cut through Hidan's frenzy. With their mission in progress, if Hidan killed the Five-Tails, Kakuzu was certain the lunatic's head wouldn't remain attached for long back at base.
The warning brought Hidan back. He clicked his tongue in disappointment. "Lucky beast."
Perhaps sensing its desperate predicament, Kokuō suddenly opened its maw wide. A swirling, black sphere of chakra began to form within.
A Tailed Beast Ball.
"Shit!"
Kakuzu's expression changed. The power of a Tailed Beast Ball was no joke. The shinobi world wasn't full of freaks like Hanataki, who treated them like fireworks.
"Hidan!"
Kakuzu quickly realized the problem. Kokuō wasn't aiming the Tailed Beast Ball to fire into the distance.
It was aiming it at itself.
It could kill itself and take Hidan with it.
Kokuō couldn't die. Hidan, of course, wanted to die but couldn't.
Hidan grinned down at Kakuzu. "Hahaha! Don't worry!"
He leaped from Kokuō's head, landing solidly on the ground.
Kakuzu's eye twitched. "…I wasn't worried about you!"
He was worried about the Five-Tails. But seeing Hidan leave its body, a dark glint flashed in Kokuō's eyes.
The Tailed Beast Ball, held at the edge of its mouth, suddenly shot toward Hidan and Kakuzu.
Kakuzu: "…"
Since when did a wild beast understand opportunism?
This time, he didn't—and couldn't—waste effort on Hidan. His form blurred as he flashed to the side, evading the lethal orb.
BOOOOOOM!
The Tailed Beast Ball struck a distant mountain peak.
A blinding white light erupted. The entire mountaintop was flattened into nothingness.
Kakuzu took a moment to catch his breath, heart still pounding, before checking on Hidan.
Hidan was in much better shape than Kakuzu expected—which was 'completely obliterated.' Perhaps the spear in its brain had thrown off Kokuō's aim.
Black threads instantly shot out, stitching Hidan's severed left arm back on.
Then, something bizarre happened.
Kokuō let out a roar of agony. Its own left foreleg suddenly twisted and snapped with a sickening crack.
"HAHAHAHAHA!"
Hidan's laughter was razor-sharp and terrifying.
Kakuzu glanced at the crimson ritual circle forming beneath Hidan's feet and immediately understood.
…
An urgent mission scroll landed on Heshu's desk.
He held it, clicking his tongue. "Timing is everything, huh?"
A mission from the Tsuchigumo clan. And it just happened to coincide with Hanataki's mission to capture the Six-Tails.
Knowing the plot, Heshu was aware this Tsuchigumo mission would involve the Six-Tails Jinchūriki, Utakata.
"Summon Kakashi, Sakura, Sai, and Yamato."
"Yes."
A faint ripple in the air was the only response. Moments later, the Hokage's office door was knocked.
The only difference from the original timeline? No Naruto on this mission. The kid was currently in Mount Myōboku, diligently training in Sage Mode to boost his strength.
"Hokage-sama, Kakashi, Haruno Sakura, Sai, and Yamato have arrived."
"Let them in."
The door opened with a creak.
The team bowed. "Hokage-sama."
"At ease."
Skipping the formalities, Heshu got straight to the point. "There's an urgent mission that requires your attention."
As he spoke, Nara Sōsai took the scroll from him and handed it to Kakashi.
Kakashi skimmed it quickly, a look of surprise crossing his visible eye. "The Tsuchigumo clan?"
"The Tsuchigumo clan?"
Sakura, Sai, and Yamato echoed in unison. The Tsuchigumo affair was from the Third Hokage's era. They'd all been too young back then to know much about it.
"The Tsuchigumo clan formed an alliance with the Third during the Third Great Shinobi War," Kakashi explained briefly.
"Correct." Heshu nodded and elaborated. "Their secret technique, which grants immense power, was classified as a forbidden jutsu by the Third. In exchange, Konoha is obligated to aid the clan when they are in peril."
"So this mission is because the Tsuchigumo clan is in danger now?" Sakura quickly inferred.
Heshu gave a firm nod.
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