I'm now working on a prequel for GFU. It's called 'Uzumaki Seal Master' and it follows Tobirama and Fu's previous incarnation Akari. GFU is the priority, but USM would be a good romance/smut fix while we wait on Itachi/Fu/Shisui to grow up. If you wanna see the Uzumaki as they were in my universe before the Fall, and are interested in all that Founders Era Konoha world building with GFU-relevant lore please feel free to check it out! It's Ao3 only.
Posting a day early because of the American holiday on Tuesday. I'm unsure how much time I'll have tomorrow.
You'll recognize some dialogue from shippuden in this chapter.
"This might be girly of me, but I think it's cute." Fū clapped her hands together and smiled, drawing back from Shisui to admire the communications seal that now rested just inside his hairline behind his left ear before she pulled her fingers away and it was hidden. "Like we got matching tattoos!"
The seal looked like a tattoo of the sun, hugged by a crescent moon and three stars twinkling inside of their embrace.
"Good. That means your best friend duo just became a trio." Shisui proclaimed with a proud grin, poking himself in the chest with his thumb and winking over at them teasingly. "So don't leave me out."
Itachi huffed a short sigh and shook his head with an amused smile. "Of course that was your aim the whole time."
The three of them now sported their fresh seals in the same spot, as Itachi had aptly suggested it remain out of sight where no outsiders could ever find it. Not even a medical ninja, should they be injured. Fū and Shisui had agreed with this wisdom, but finding a good spot was difficult. Should any of them sustain a head injury the seal might be discovered, but burying it inside the hair line would make it harder to spot even then.
"So… I have a question."
Fū glanced at Shisui's smile, now less genuine than it had been, as she sat back on her shins. She'd been on her knees beside him to place the seal. Itachi was right beside her – refusing to let her even a foot out of his grabbing range.
It was subtle, but for someone who enjoyed her personal bubble Fū noticed his hesitation to leave her side.
"Oh boy," Fū joked, trying to defuse the sudden tension she felt. There were a lot of things that might be on his mind and she was worried about which one he was going to ask her about.
Shisui was still smiling, and she thought that it was meant to put her at ease.
He failed, because the question came from his lips was; "Who is Tobi?"
Fū flattened her lips into a thin line, and she knew her face had gone blank.
"Woah, okay. Sorry!" Shisui back peddled instantly, wide-eyed and throwing his hands up and shaking them side to side to placate her. "I just noticed something about him when he released his clone and the real one showed up earlier. I'm curious about his mangekyō sharingan. I didn't realize there was a defected Uchiha among the Akatsuki."
"Tobi is a defected Uchiha?" Itachi asked, his own eyes widening as he returned his attention to Fū. "Tai?"
Fuck, now Itachi wanted to know, too.
Fū's lips pressed together harder, now, and she began to glare past Shisui's shoulder. If Obito was there, then he was probably close to spitting fire. The expression from her old world more literal in this one, and his target would be Kakashi.
She didn't want them to fight. That wouldn't help anyone and it would hurt Kakashi more to learn that he was going at it with Obito – and Obito himself needed to calm down and take a step back from his own tumultuous emotions. No, things would not go well if Kakashi and Obito began to fight.
They needed to reconcile. But she couldn't force Obito to oust himself. Not without damaging their relationship.
"Tobi is someone very important to me," she decided to tell them, looking back at Shisui since he was the one who'd asked in the first place, "like Kakashi, he's my Aniki in everything but blood."
That information would be enough for Shisui and Itachi to figure it out on their own, and she would be absolved of guilt because she didn't name Obito.
"Oh–" Shisui's eyes widened further, understanding dawning across his face. He glanced at Itachi, who sported the same look.
Well, that was faster than she'd expected.
'Little geniuses,' she thought to herself, amused.
"He was KIA, though?" Shisui said, hesitation clear between his voice and the deep 'v' that formed when his eyes squinted as he frowned at her in the soft moonlight. "Confirmed by the Fourth. That's what the clan was told."
Well, in for a penny…
"Yes." Fū nodded, leaning back to sit on her butt and pulling her legs out from under her to cross them. It was commonplace in Eastern culture but she would never get used to sitting on her shins for long periods of time. "I said earlier 'it involves some people previously thought to be dead but weren't' didn't I? He shouldn't have survived. Half of his body was crushed underneath a boulder after a cave collapsed with him inside. But I don't want to get too far into that right now– I recently told him almost everything and now he's taking steps to fix the damage he's done."
Itachi and Shisui looked at each other like they were having a conversation between them. With the new seals, it was probable that they'd both worked out how to use them without including her already.
She tried not to be put out by the clear exclusion.
It was less amusing, now, that they were geniuses.
"I'm missing something?" Fū asked them with raised brows.
The two seemed to come to a silent accord and Itachi looked back at her with a soft smile, adopting an unassuming look while he shook his head. Fū did not believe it for a moment.
"It's nothing."
It certainly wasn't nothing, but Fū decided to let it drop as another presence slowly made it's way toward them. Shisui and Itachi were on their feet in an instant. Fū rose to her feet as well, though not as guarded as the Uchiha were when Uzumoto Kyo stepped into view around a large pile of rubble, hands in his pockets.
"Kyo-san," Shisui nodded his greeting as Kyo approached. "I thought you planned to stay at the gate?"
"Plans change," Kyo shrugged, stepping right up to the group like he belonged there, "Akuma-sama asked me to come help Fū-sama open the building while he's busy."
The new honorific didn't escape her and she narrowed her eyes at Kyo as he walked past them to stand in front of the building.
"Since when am I a -sama to you?" Fū asked him, side-stepping the over protective Uchiha to stand beside the Uzumoto, facing him with her arms folded over her chest.
Kyo just smirked over at her, facing the sealed door. "Since five minutes ago, when Akuma-sama confirmed you're the reincarnation of my maternal great grandmother, Uzumaki Akari, this generation's Seal Master, and my Clan Head. Now did you want to see what's behind this door? It'll take us both to open it."
Fū's brain sputtered and short circuited.
Because if Akari was Kyo's great grandmother then…if Akari was faithful….
Then Kyo was Senju Tobirama's great grandson.
And Risa-san was his granddaughter.
Both were Senju/Uzumaki descendants.
"Hey snap out of it, it's not that surprising!" Kyo snapped his fingers in her face, turning his body away from the door. Itachi was suddenly right there, standing in between them with his back to her.
She couldn't see his face, but she saw the look on Shisui's when he appeared right behind Kyo. If that fierce, angry glare was a reflection of Itachi's then she'd probably be scared if she was Kyo.
But then, she knew what these two Uchiha were capable of. Even as kids.
"Kyo-san," Itachi began, his voice a deadly calm. "I tolerated your aggression and disrespectful commentary in regards to Taifū this afternoon but I have reached my limit. This behavior ends now. You will mind your tongue and relax your stance before I assume you mean to do harm and react accordingly."
"It's okay—" Fū began, hoping to calm the tense atmosphere between the boys, but Itachi glanced at her over his shoulder, three tomoe sharingan glowing bright and threatening in the night, and interrupted her.
"No, it is not."
She wasn't sure if it was his tone, his stance, or just his overall demeanor at the moment but Fū snapped her mouth shut. Because Itachi, as he was right now, was reminiscent of his future show-self, and that wasn't someone she wanted to anger.
Especially when he was already visibly agitated.
She didn't understand why, though. Kyo was only snapping at her to get her to come back to reality. And his attitude wasn't that bad, at least not in her eyes… but who knew? From the sounds of it Kyo had been talking smack while she hadn't been around earlier.
When Itachi returned his attention back to Kyo the boys stared each other down for a few tense seconds before Kyo relaxed his stance and sighed, sniffing primly.
"Sorry," he bit a half assed and disingenuous apology out, crossing his arms over his chest with a petulant glare.
Well, she could see the similarities between Kyo and Senju Tobirama now. That was for sure.
Itachi didn't relax his stance, but Shisui shifted and backed down. Unsure, Fū stepped around Itachi, careful not to brush him lest she set off whatever it was that had gotten him so wound up, and put her hands up between the boys. Now that she was on the other side of him, Fū could see the glare on her friend's face.
Whew, she would not want to be on the receiving end of that dark look.
'Okaaaay, scary Tachi,' Fū thought before turning her attention to Kyo, moving the conversation along and hoping it would work. "So what's behind the door?
Kyo's gaze shifted away from the threat behind her to look back towards the door. He took a deep breath and glanced at her for a moment, as if deciding what he was going to say before he closed his eyes.
"This is…" he began, pressing a closed fist against the door with a grimace. He looked up sharply, eyes filled with hate and animosity. "Beyond this door is what they did to us, Fū-sama. This building—it's a grave."
Obito wasn't doing well, and looking beside him to Kakashi – the asshole who lost Fū again – neither was he.
Sometime over the last couple hours of searching the island for a way through the barrier, Obito had decided enough was enough and had stopped berating the silver haired man at every opportunity.
Especially once he noticed the haunted look in Kakashi's visible eye as he searched even more relentlessly for Fū than Obito himself was.
Kakashi had always been hard on himself. It was no surprise to note that as upset as Obito was with him at the moment, as unforgiving as his words had been, Kakashi's own mind was likely punishing him ten times harder.
Obito felt the slightest stirrings of guilt.
He was just as to blame.
He'd left for Kiri and stayed longer than strictly necessary to ensure the team that came to retrieve the Funato pirates consisted of just the right shinobi for the job. The kind that asked minimal questions.
He should've returned sooner.
"We've been looking for hours, I don't think there is a way beyond that barrier," Genma spoke his unwanted and uncalled for opinion from the rear. Obito stopped, and so did Kakashi. They were on the north end of the island, trudging through thick foliage at the top of a high peak. The moon was high and full, illuminating the cliff's edge so it was easy to avoid. Obito thought, idly, that this would be a good spot to watch the sunrise. "We could try asking that kid, instead of threatening him this time."
There was no way under, and no way through.
Except by the grace of a pink haired brat named Kyo who had let Uchiha Shisui through but flatly refused to allow anyone else inside the ruins without 'Akuma-sama's direct approval.'
Who 'Akuma-sama' was and what he wanted with Fū was another topic the boy refused to elaborate on – he only ensured them that 'Akuma' would not harm her.
Obito wanted to employ his harsher methods to get the information he needed from the kid.
Kakashi and Genma had vehemently disapproved, both arguing that Kyo was a defenseless civilian.
Obito begged to differ.
"I'm to the point where I would condone using a minor genjutsu on that brat myself…" Kakashi rubbed a hand over his gaunt face. He looked like he hadn't slept in days, the stress wearing on him.
Obito was seconds away from agreeing when Genma hit the ground with a soft thud and not a single other sound. Kakashi drew a kunai before Obito had even considered they were under attack and a maniacal voice disturbed the silence of the night.
"Come on, boys, family meeting~" A tall, thin man materialized out of the darkness like smoke. "Oh, spicy. Whatcha thinkin' about doing with that kunai?"
Kakashi was the first to speak. "What have you done to Genma?"
"Nothing, gods, what is with you all assuming I'm the bad guy tonight?" The man waved off Kakashi's concerns. "He's just unconscious and sealed to stay that way until I release it. Like I said, it's just about family meeting time and he's not family. So I uninvited him from the party. Sasori's out cold, too. Not that you actually give a shit, do you Tobi?"
"Akuma, I presume?" Obito asked to confirm, ignoring what the man was saying about Sasori. He didn't care, no. Sasori was important to the Akatsuki, but not important to him. Fū was all that mattered right now. Obito stilled in preparation, seeing Kakashi's muscles tighten for a fight.
"In the borrowed flesh, kind of like you only like… way less creepy. No mutations via non-consensual genetic experimentation here. Nope. Just a good old fashioned deal with the death god." Obito's stomach dropped, and the guy's sharp teeth glinted in the moonlight. How the hell did this guy know that? "So, yeah. Less creepy. Well, maybe. Matter of perspective, I suppose."
"Where are Taifū, Itachi, and Shisui?" Kakashi asked, getting right to it and skipping the frivolous pleasantries.
That was the Kakashi that Obito remembered.
"Plotting how to make the world bend to their will, I imagine." Akuma shrugged, jumping up and settling himself atop the wall that stood before Uzushio's barrier. He stretched his arms over his head and yawned, cracking his neck. "Or maybe not yet. But that's where they're headed," he abruptly dropped his arms and changed his tone to one that was approaching friendly, "so~ when are you guys going to drop the bullshit and talk to each other so you can be frenemies again? Inquiring minds want to know."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Kakashi bit out sharply.
Obito felt panic rising in his chest and shoulders.
"You gonna tell him or should I expose you?" Akuma asked, looking at Obito with a knowing glint to his eyes and at that moment Obito hated whoever the hell this man was, who he thought he was. "Uh oh, getting angry are we? Come on, buddy, don't get upstaged by a seven year old girl who's actually mentally an almost forty year old woman. This is the night for spilling secrets and mending bridges; making friends and solidifying bonds."
So Fū was spilling secrets to the Uchiha boys?
Damn it, what was she thinking?
And how was he going to get out of this without telling Kakashi who he really wa–
"You're wound up tight about this, aren't you? Hey Kakashi, quick question, who do you know that gives at least a thousand fucks about the safety of Namikaze Taifū, might have a grudge against you for unintentionally breaking a very important promise to protect someone, and also is missing the same eye you happen to have had replaced with a sharing–"
Obito fired off a Katon jutsu directly where Akuma sat as a last ditch, desperate effort to save himself without using Kamui to get away, because Fū was still missing and he couldn't leave her. But when the fire dissipated, Akuma was left grinning at him and Obito realized he just gave credence to the man's claims.
"Hey now, daddy was talking. It's rude to interrupt." That grin sharpened minutely, his voice dropping a few octaves in a threatening way. "Don't make me get the belt."
"... Obito."
Obito's spine straightened and he balled his fists at his sides, teeth ground together behind his mask at the sound of Kakashi's voice speaking his name like a prayer.
"Are you really… Obito?"
"I'm no one," Obito bit out, pointedly leveling his infuriated glare at Akuma instead of glancing over at Kakashi. "I don't want to be anyone. This world is completely worthless. The only things left in it besides misery are Taifū and Naruto. Those kids are all I care about… to whatever end and capacity that they need me to be there for them, that is my only purpose."
"So cynical," Akuma swiped his eye like he was wiping away a tear, "so beautiful."
"You couldn't have done that from home?" Kakashi was in front of him, now, hitai-ate raised to show his borrowed sharingan, both eyes wide and wild like an scared animal who'd been backed into a corner. Obito felt an odd stabbing sensation in his stomach. Kakashi reached out and grabbed Obito's arms, as if shaking him would change the past. "Why didn't you come home?"
"I had wanted to. I trained to regain my strength and return. I was on my way to help when I heard Rin had been captured and you were both running from Kiri shinobi – and then I saw you!" Obito hissed, that stabbing sensation, his guilt, was quickly overcome by his rage and his hurt. He shoved Kakashi back with half of his force.
"Obito–" Kakashi tried to interject, catching himself just before his back slammed against the parapet, feet away from where Akuma was sitting with his red eyes darting back and forth in rapt fascination.
"I saw Rin," Obito growled, interrupting his old rival, nails digging into his palms so hard he drew blood, "so concerned about protecting the village from the three tails that she took advantage of the attack you aimed at an enemy and impaled herself on your hand…"
What visible parts of Kakashi's face that was available for Obito to see paled considerably. He looked as if he saw a ghost, and Obito thought idly that he had.
Obito went silent and reached up to pull his mask off. Now that it was out there was no way back, so he wanted to speak to Kakashi face to face. He didn't let the silence drag for long.
"To me, the you who could not protect Rin is an imposter. Rin is someone who was not meant to die so the dead Rin is also an imposter. Rin is only Rin alive. The shinobi system. The village. Shinobi themselves! They created these circumstances. What caused me to despair is this world itself. This–this counterfeit world. The only light left in it are those kids…"
Instead of allowing Kakashi to speak up, to say anything at all, Obito's hand swiped through the air. "So forget about me, I'm not Obito. I'm not anyone – I do not matter, and I do not exist. All that matters is that we find Taifū so we can save the last bit of light that's left in this dark world."
"You're wrong."
Obito's chest squeezed, hearing the anger in Kakashi's voice as he stood before him with his own fists now clenched at his sides. A mirror of Obito.
"You do exist, and you do matter," Kakashi bit out in a low growl and Obito couldn't decipher the way that made him feel… some kind of unpleasant rush went through him and he scowled. "You are Uchiha Obito." Obito felt those words like a weight slamming down atop his head, burying him in the earth. "You haven't given up on Uchiha Obito, despite what you say. Because only Uchiha Obito would forsake himself like you have in order to protect those he cares about most!"
Obito's eyes widened of their own volition and he staggered back when Kakashi rushed him and threw his fist into his face. Obit, unable to fully comprehend the cascade of his own emotions, just barely managed to activate Kamui in time to avoid the hit.
But Kakashi was not finished, he took an unrelenting step forward, closing the gap between them and grabbing the high collar of his Akatsuki cloak, shaking him.
"I couldn't save Rin, and I tried, Obito. With everything in me, I tried," Kakashi's voice cracked, a shimmer of suppressed tears in his eyes as Obito's hand came up to grasp Kakashi's wrist in a death grip, "and I failed. I've thought this world was hell, too. I thought you died, and right after that I lost Rin, and then Minato-sensei and the kids. But you're here now, in front of me. The kids are alive, and you say that your only goal is to protect sensei's children… well that's my main goal too!"
"You can't protect them, Kakashi," Obito told his old friend as he swept his leg and twisted Kakashi's arm at the same time, managing to break free. Kakashi flipped backwards to avoid the kick Obito tried to get him with, "they're heading in a direction you won't be able to follow. The Leaf is your priority."
"Like hell I can't," Kakashi growled, his eyes narrowing dangerously as the tear he was unable to stop slipped from his left eye, Obito's eye, when he found his balance and stood tall right in front of him. "I can be a Leaf shinobi and do my part to protect them, too."
Obito was about to open his mouth to refute such a bold, foolish claim, when a giant ball of pitch black darkness shot into the sky from the center of the island. He and Kakashi staggered back, using chakra to keep themselves in place when a massive wave of chakra slammed into them. It was so strong that it bent the trees as it passed.
"Gods be good, do I love that girl. I don't give a damn what body that soul inhabits." Akuma laughed where he sat, unruffled, and clapped his hands together once, a sinister grin on his face.
And he wondered why everyone thought he was a villain.
He looked more… alive, now. Like there was a bit more color to his face than there had been a few minutes ago. Obito watched in fascination as the man quickly regressed in age, his hair lengthened… standing before them now was a young, healthy looking version of the man who'd been there minutes before.
"I'm back in business, boys, so put your conflict aside for now and let's go – time for that family meeting I was talking about." Akuma slapped his hands together to form a seal, and crows appeared, flying all around bellowing their echoing caws.
An instant later, Obito and Kakashi were being unwittingly sucked into his orbit.
'If things go awry when they release the seals, I will pull Tai back and you'll grab Kyo-san.''
Shisui agreed with Itachi's directive, though hearing his voice in his head like a telephone with a shaky connection was an odd sensation. Idly he wondered how long it would take to get used to it as Taifū and Kyo began to pool chakra into their palms. Palms that were pressed against the door that led to what Kyo claimed was a 'mass grave.'
Taifū had not asked him to elaborate, opting instead to press her hand against the door with a look of determination and did not spare a word, thought, or glance toward himself or Itachi.
Shisui supposed he could understand. He likely wouldn't be deterred should it be his own clansmen whose remains were sealed away in a small building inside of their destroyed city.
"Do you feel it?" Kyo asked quietly, his eyes were closed and he was taking slow, deep, controlled breaths. "The cadence…"
"... the rhythm, like a steady drumbeat…" Taifū nodded once, and Shisui couldn't begin to understand what they were talking about.
Kyo opened his eyes on a long exhale. "Good. Break the rhythm with me."
Shisui watched as the seals, one-by-one, flared into bright arrays of multiple colors and then fizzled out, crumbling like dust to the ground at their feet. Not even his sharingan could tell him how this was done, because it didn't look like there was a rhyme or reason to how the two before him were using their chakra to break through the jutsu. Nor did their words make sense.
He shared a look with an equally confounded Itachi as the door made a deep groaning sound and cracked open a sliver.
"Success," Taifū reported, sounding apprehensive as she pressed the door open further, taking the first step forward.
Itachi reached out and clasped his hand over her shoulder, halting her in her tracks.
She peered over at him quizzically and he side stepped her, not sparing a glance at Kyo. Itachi was truly upset with the rose haired boy – Shisui had never heard his friend lay down a boundary like that before. He wasn't sure why Itachi had felt the need to be so harsh when he'd confronted the angry older boy, but he couldn't fault him for it.
Kyo's attitude needed some adjustment.
"Let me go first."
"There should be a light switch inside on the left," Kyo added helpfully, following right behind as Itachi was the first to step through the doorway and into the darkness. "I've never been inside, but there's a similar room like this inside the Town Hall building on the mainland. It's—"
"A storm shelter," Taifū finished, interrupting him as she was next inside. Shisui brought up the rear as a light flickered on, illuminating plain gray concrete walls and a descending staircase where rope lights were strung along the path, flickering.
So they'd be going underground.
'Be careful, we don't know what we're going to find down there.' Shisui thought, activating the seal Taifū had placed on his head to warn them both. 'Sharingan active, Itachi, there could be traps.'
'Right,' Itachi responded.
Perhaps he should've taken point, after all. As a jonin, he was technically the superior here despite his unflinching faith in Itachi's abilities. If anything happened to him or Taifū at this point, Shisui would be responsible.
"Yeah, kaasan says the building that this shelter was inside was…" Kyo trailed off, and the way his voice wavered made Shisui think he'd rethought saying what he was about to say as Itachi started moving down the stairs.
"Was what?" Taifū prompted. She would not be deterred, and Shisui could see the tension in her shoulders. He didn't need his sharingan for that.
Kyo was silent for a moment. The end of the staircase was in sight and there were lights on in whatever room this opened up into but there was nothing visible on the ground floor yet.
"... it was the Academy."
This admission came just before Itachi reached the bottom of the staircase. Once his foot touched down, Shisui watched him pause for only a moment, and then spin around and block the rest of their path in wide-eyed horror, throwing his hands up to block them from going any further.
Itachi gazed up the stairs at Taifū, gaze imploring. "Don't come the rest of the way down."
Shisui was behind, so he couldn't see, but he could hear the sorrow in her voice when she spoke and his heart dropped into his stomach.
"It's the corpses of the Academy children, isn't it?"
Itachi's lips pressed together in a thin line and he glanced past Taifū to look up to him, as if asking him to do something.
He wished he could do something.
"How many?"
"Too many."
Taifū moved Kyo out of the way and stepped around him. Kyo said nothing and remained where he was with a clenched fist, so Shisui moved past him and followed her down the rest of the stairs and into the large room.
Sharing a glance with Itachi, Shisui stepped up between him and Taifū.
He took a steadying breath and prepared himself for what he was about to see, deactivating his sharingan so that when it haunted his dreams, it at least wouldn't be a perfect recollection, and was stricken with horror at the sight laid out before them.
Rows of long dead, emaciated children's corpses were laid out on the floor. At least fifty, perhaps more. Most of them held each other in their arms, some were propped against walls – a cluster here and there.
He heard Kyo get sick behind him and worried that Taifū might do the same by the way she swayed. Her face was turned away from him, looking to the right of the room but he saw the way her shoulders trembled faintly. He reached an arm around her, a gentle offer of support and comfort because he didn't know what else he could do for her, but he wanted to do something.
Shisui had heard the hints of a hard previous lifespan, after all. Trauma, suicide... it sounded as if she'd had a rough life and it tugged at his heart to hear it. If he could somehow take it away, he would. But that wasn't how the world worked. As Akuma had said, suffering was to be endured.
Her head snapped back to him as soon as his fingers brushed her shoulder and he couldn't say he was surprised to see the sorrow and the anger that was in them. What was strange, though, was how she didn't seem at all shocked by it.
Like this was a sight she'd seen before.
"Probably shouldn't say this in the present company, but it was Konoha that did this." Kyo rasped from behind, drawing all of their attention. They watched as he wiped his mouth, a burning hatred in his eyes. "The Third Hokage and another old guy."
Shisui couldn't help the visceral denial that spread through him. He only managed to clamp it down in time before he spoke in defense of the village… Itachi had no such compunction.
"Intel from the period revealed that Uzushio was razed by Kiri, Kumo, and Iwa–" Itachi stated, and Shisui dropped his arm as Taifū stepped away from them all, walking deeper into the room.
Shisui wanted to defend his village, same as Itachi. But he was also keeping his eyes on Taifū who was stepping lightly over bodies. Well, not bodies anymore. Decades old corpses. She headed towards the back of the room where it seemed a row of monitors and other technology were set up.
"I didn't say Konoha attacked," Kyo growled, brushing past them to follow his Clan Head, and gesturing to the room as he went. Shisui and Itachi followed, a nervous look shared between them. "I said they did this. According to Akuma-sama."
What would Konoha have to gain by killing a bunch of young Academy students?
Shisui didn't understand. The accusation was absurd!
"I am unfamiliar with this world's technology," Taifū said as she stopped in front of the monitors. Shisui found her wording curious as she started looking over the control panel with dozens of buttons. "But this looks like a computer system, and I'm assuming it's use was for surveillance while things were happening in the outside world?"
"You'd probably need Akuma-sama to explain this, because I don't know anything about it," Kyo shrugged, folding his arms over his chest. "I do know that Uzushio had surveillance seals everywhere. Especially during the civil war era – Akuma says it was an information war long before the fighting broke out. Two different factions trying to usurp succession as the next Head and Uzukage."
"Wouldn't be a stretch to assume this tech was used to that end," Taifū mumbled, then gave a triumphant 'ha!' when the monitors blinked on and the control panel came to life in blinking yellow and orange lights. "Maybe there's relevant information here, because claiming the Leaf did this…" she looked over at the eldest boy among them. "Kyo, that's not something that should be said lightly. Konoha was founded by the Senju and the Uchiha, the Senju were our oldest allies–"
"I'm only repeating what Akuma-sama told my kaasan," Kyo told her, eyes hard.
Taifū nodded and looked back at the technology, starting to press more buttons.
She looked like she understood this machine well enough – for someone who claimed not to know anything about such things.
"I'm not saying you're lying–" Shisui hoped he was, because if his village had something to do with the death of fifty Uzumaki children… that was an unforgivable betrayal against their strongest and oldest ally of the time. The way the Uchiha's personal history books portray it, the Uzumaki were instrumental in the foundations of the village, despite never joining themselves. "But it's hearsay until there's evidence."
Shisui hoped there was no evidence.
He didn't know what he would do if his village was responsible for something this egregious.
But then the monitors flashed and footage of the outside world flickered onto the screen and Shisui's stomach dropped.
"Looks like this is the last of the footage, dated back about the same time as the Fall. Makes sense if there was no one around to delete useless cached data. Lucky the servers managed to save it… kind of impressive that this tech existed in this world twenty years ago–" Taifū was mumbling to herself, Shisui didn't understand anything she was saying at this point, "couldn't just be fūinjutsu… could it? What kind of system would this even be backed up to? Makes no sense. It's like a late 70's computer…"
"Tai, speak plainly," Itachi asked, moving away from Shisui to stand beside her. She glanced up at him and then back down at the squared buttons on the panel before her, gesturing to them.
"This tech is reminiscent of the," she glanced back at Shisui for a moment then continued on, "other world. But it doesn't make sense at this one has such an advancement - I don't remember seeing it in my… fuck it." Taifū heaved a great sigh and looked back to Shisui, eyes cutting briefly to Kyo. "I lived in another world for thirty years between the last incarnation, Akari, and this one;Taifū. I recall that life. This tech is reminiscent of the tech from that world, but it's old-school. The stuff I had was much much more advanced than this so I'm struggling to figure out how to rewind the footage to get to the Seige of Uzushio. Given time, I'll figure it out."
Shisui blinked. He'd inferred that she'd lived another life already, but to hear it put so bluntly. And in company, no less.
He looked at Kyo, who also blinked.
"O-okay," was all he could bring himself to say in response to this. Satisfied, Taifū nodded curtly and turned back to the panel.
For all of about six seconds then she slammed her hands against it and reared back with an outraged growl.
"Fuck. This. I'm calling that asshole." Taifū said something in another language and yanked the summoning scroll she'd rolled up and shoved into her back pocket and unfurled it, rolling it over the edge of the panel to smooth out the wrinkles her careless handling had created. Before he could even blink, she'd swiped her thumb across the corner of the panel and was signing her name to the scroll.
He was not prepared for the wild burst of chakra that followed, slamming them all apart the moment Taifū completed signing her name.
Nii Yugito was moments away from becoming a fugitive; a rogue ninja.
She and Matatabe had thought long and hard about this decision – but really there was only one choice to make. It was simple. Leave Kumo to search for Uzumaki Fū, and hope that she was what Matatabe thought she was, or remain inside of her village and continue to be mistrusted and treated with contempt while simultaneously being placed in imminent peril for the sake of the people's protection.
The choice, for Yugito, was clear.
Now, running alongside her team for the last time, she was beginning to feel the anxiety that churned her stomach. It had come and gone a lot over the last week since they'd left Kumo in search of the Uzumaki child. Their orders to capture her and bring her to the Raikage.
What the Raikage wanted with Fū was unknown. But Matatabe insisted that it wasn't the first time that Kumo had abducted an Uzumaki. There was a failed attempt on an Uzumaki jinchuriki years ago… she suspected that wanting to take Fū was for the same reason.
'Is he close, Matatabe?' Yugito asked Nibi as her team hastened through Whirlpool. They were running south down the east coast, near the sea and had been for the last several days of their journey.
It wouldn't be long now before they reached Uzushio.
She'd wanted to do this earlier, but Matatabe insisted that one of her fellow bijuu and it's Jinchuriki were on the way and would aid her with her defection. He, too, was a rogue ninja. From Kirigakure, no less. Evidently, he was also curious about the Uzumaki girl and with the insistence from the bijuu he housed, he was on his way to Uzushio as well.
'Yes,' Matatabe told her, her purring rumble helping to soothe Yugito, 'be weary of bubbles, Yugito-chan.'
No sooner had Matatabe warned her, a large amount of massive bubbles descended upon their group. With prior warning, Yugito was able to dodge the attack, darting between them until she was out of the way of the onslaught, even as they effectively trapped all of her teammates.
"Nii Yugito," a lean muscled brunet boy around her age stepped out from the shadows between the trees, his yukata open, displaying a sculpted chest. His bored expression illuminated by the bright, pale light of the full moon. "Rokubi tells me you're to join us."
'Go with him,' Matatabe directed.
"Yes," Yugito nodded, stepping around her former compatriots. She did her best to ignore the venomous, hateful glares she received as she literally turned her back on her team and her village. She turned to look at them one last time, and bowed formally. "If it is worth anything, I am sorry."
"A traitor's apology is worthless," her team captain, Arui, spat. Rage was apparent in his continence and for a moment Yugito felt the weight of her shame.
But that did not stop her from turning around to follow the stranger, leaving them behind.
Kakashi could not have foreseen the way this mission had played out so far. The twists he'd been hit with in the span of a few hours was enough to leave him reeling and in all honesty he'd about reached his threshold for such insane turns – at least for today, anyway.
Unfortunately, life was not done throwing the unexpected at him, and he'd just managed to right himself in time to land gracefully on his feet when Akuma deposited him on a concrete floor. He picked up immediately on the acute stench of must, mold, and old death as Obito–Obito!-was dropped right beside him.
He hadn't had enough time to process Obito being alive before the next event took precedence. That wild chakra – the immediate changes that it caused in Akuma – he was unsure what it all meant.
For the moment it didn't matter, because the second his mind cleared he took in the room he was now standing in and was gutted to realize the source of the stench of old death. Dozens of small children's corpses littered the underground room they were in.
"Tobi-nii, Kashi-nii, are you okay!?" He heard Fū's high-pitched voice call from his left and immediately he was more interested in her well-being than he was anything else. He made to move to her side just half a second after Obito had already done so.
Well, he hadn't doubted Obito's commitment to Mintao-sensei's kids when he'd proclaimed it. But hearing him say it and watching him swirl out of reality and then back into it crouched down in front of the little red head with trembling arms wrapped around her small shoulders was pretty telling.
It was proof enough for Kakashi, in any case.
To give them the reunion they seemed to need, based on the relief that crossed Taifū's eyes as she wrapped her arms around Obito's neck in turn, he slowed himself as best as he could. He nodded to his two teammates, assessing them for any injuries and ignored the irritating pink haired boy who sniffed at him with disdain as he passed.
"Everyone alright?" Kakasi asked, his first priority was ensuring his team and Fū were well. Just because he didn't see any injuries or smell blood didn't mean they were uninjured.
"We're fine, captain." Shisui reported, and Kakashi nodded to show he'd heard him. "What about Genma-san?"
"Akuma knocked him out in the woods."
Shisui and Itachi both frowned at that.
Fū broke free of Obito gently and threw herself at Kakashi then, distracting him by squeezing his middle like her life depended on ensuring she crushed his abdomen. Fortunately for him she didn't have the strength capacity to generate bone crushing force and he accepted the hug with a single hand atop her head. A lot of his worry and tension eased right out of him as he wordlessly assessed her, just in case there was some kind of injury adrenaline had hidden from her.
He pointedly ignored Obito's glare.
"I've not had a very good day, Kashi-nii," Fū grumbled against his flak jacket and his eye crinkled with good humor at her pouty tone, but it quickly fell away when she continued to apologize. "I'm sorry about my tone when we last talked."
"Mine was out of line, too." Kakashi conceded his own apology.
Honestly, her tone when she'd asked him if he was finished and called him on interrupting her had kind of intimidated him. Not in a sense that he'd been afraid of Taifū or anything, but the darkness in her tone reminded him of the way Kushina would get before she'd pummel someone into the ground for disrespecting her.
He'd crossed a line when he'd raised his voice and had basically called her a fool to her face.
"Yours was out of concern; mine was borderline vainglorious and you had a point."
Yes. He had a point, and he knew that. It was his delivery that needed some work.
"Not to break up the moment," Akuma called attention to his presence towards the back of the room, "but break it up - we've got things to talk about."
Taifū pulled her head back and Kakashi's hand fell from her head back down to his side as cerulean eyes observed the man. She tilted her head and stepped back from him, bumping into Obito's front, not realizing how close he'd been standing to them. Kakashi watched Obito drop a hand to her shoulder and grip it lightly.
One glance between them, sharingan to dark grey eye, and it was wordlessly decided like no time had passed since they'd been comrades that Taifū was not getting taken away from them again.
"So…" Fū started eyeing him from across the room. Akuma eyed her right back, waiting on whatever it was she was going to say. "Ōtsutsuki Akuma. Power restored, I take it?"
Ōtsutsuki? Wasn't that the alien clan Fū had been warning them about just a few hours ago?!
"Yup," Akuma popped the 'p' as the darkness around him swirled away. His newly youthful face was hard-set as he glanced between Taifū and the monitors.
Fū glanced up at Obito, nodding toward where Akuma was standing by some monitors in the back. He nodded back and Fū began walking forward with Obito right there, hand still on her shoulder.
"I can see the family resemblance, now." Fū said as she carefully stepped around corpses too small to have been adults when they died. "Hair's still darker than theirs, though."
"Blame the Shinigami," Akuma waved her words off, distracted by the panel in front of him. "It was much lighter before he ate my soul and spat it back into my body, missing several pieces in exchange for immortality. As much as I own your soul, he owns mine."
"And who exactly is this Shinigami and what kind of hold does his will have on your own, then?"
Kakashi was missing something crucial, but his mind was filling in the blanks pretty quickly. He watched Akuma's lips quirk up and he smiled sharply down at Fū as she stepped right up to him without trepidation.
They seemed to have worked out whatever it was Akuma had wanted to speak to her about while Kakashi and his team were trying to find her and Itachi.
There was an obvious newly formed bond between them.
Akuma said something back to her in a language Kakashi didn't know and from the side he saw her eyes widen in understanding, then narrow in suspicion with a pinched frown before she retorted scathingly and Akuma laughed.
It was clear by Obito's glower that he didn't understand this language either. How did Fū come to learn it?
What other secrets was she keeping?
"He has many names. Buddhism calls him Yama. Given your memory of your past life, you'd likely be more familiar with the name Thanatos or Anubis." Akuma responded to Fū's inquiry about his Shinigami overlord in English and she almost physically recoiled.
"Holy shit," Fū couldn't control the way the expletive rushed from between her lips with disbelief and scorn. "A literal Death God, then?"
'Tai?' She heard Itachi's voice ask in her mind and felt Shisui join in as well.
That was an odd sensation, having her mind connected to two others. She was glad she'd been able to work it into the seal that it was easy to pump a small amount of chakra into it without having to touch it, that would come in handy. Hell, it already was coming in handy. Nobody knew the three of them could connect this way.
'I'll tell you guys later. It's not super important right now.'
She could sense Itachi's displeasure but he didn't press.
"Don't worry, I'll deal with him. You deal with me. It's a trickle down effect; a hierarchy, if you will." Akuma mimed something like a waterfall with his hand before he closed his fist and dropped it heavily to the control panel. She could not get to work for her, he seemed to innately realize this was why she'd signed the scroll and summoned him. "Catch your brothers up and I'll get this old surveillance footage rollin'."
Fū did as instructed, turning around so she could speak to Obito and Kakashi. With the help of Itachi and Shisui, it didn't take long to catch them up to what she'd learned about the Rise and Fall of the Uzumaki.
"... when we opened the seals to this building, Kyo-san made some severe allegations about Konoha's involvement." Itachi said, looking at his captain. Fū remained silent for this part.
She knew, deep in her bones, that Konoha had done something that caused the death of these children all around her.
Fū knew it like she knew water was wet.
But she was standing amongst the wrong crowd to boldly proclaim that Kyo was being honest without evidence that proved it. They would not believe it unless it was staring them in the face – irrefutable proof.
Thus, the surveillance.
Fū reached up to her shoulder to latch onto Obito's hand and gave it a firm squeeze, looking up at his unmasked face. He glanced down at her, his eye searching hers for some kind of clue as to what she was thinking.
He couldn't possibly imagine what she was thinking.
Walking down those steps. Her first look into this massive underground bunker of corpses. It was like being back in Yemen after a Saudi aircraft bombed a civilian school bus that passed through a market. Fourty children wree killed, most of them under ten. She was one of the first on the scene and it had been graphic.
The sight of burnt children's corpses haunted her dreams, even in this life. These children weren't burnt, but that didn't stop her mind from seeing them the same way as those Yemeni children.
It made her sick. Angry, even.
And she hoped Nagato hadn't known about these bodies being here. Because if he knew about it and didn't do a proper burial for them, she was going to be down right furious with him.
She steadied her breath, forcing her anger back to return to the present.
Observing Obito, it was clear he'd been through quite the ordeal with Kakashi. His mask was off, so it stood to reason that Kakashi knew who he was. How Obito was discovered, she had no clue. She'd talk to him about it later, if he was willing. For now, she tried to impress upon him the need to ensure that the evidence didn't get destroyed after they viewed it just by looking into his eye.
She doubted he got the message, but hopefully he would work it out on his own. As much as she loved and trusted Kakashi, and Itachi. She wasn't certain they wouldn't do something to destroy such incriminating evidence.
Because if the Third Hokage did something to kill off the future of the Uzumaki clan… nevermind that killing children was a heinous act in and of itself; a war crime in both worlds. But also to do it to your allies? Your strongest allies, at that?
What she was going to do to them for that…
Konoha would never rise as a world power again.
She would see to that.
"Impossible, Sandaime-sama would never sanction the death of children. Let alone so many." Kakasi's cognitive dissonance kicked in and he swiped an indignant hand through the air, his exposed eye landing on Kyo. "There's some other explanation."
Obito squeezed her hand back, now.
He knew, and she knew, and now Itachi knew, that that was exactly something the Sandaime would do.
Something he would do if Danzō convinced him too, that is. As the passive, lazy Kage that Hiruzen was.
"Such blind faith you have~" Akuma taunted from where he sat hunched over the computer panel. He hit another couple buttons and spun around with his thumb pointed behind him. "Take a look for yourself, you poor propagandized fool."
They all looked up as the footage began to roll. The video was poor quality, and the audio had a lot of static, but you didn't have to know them decades ago to know the people on the screen were a younger Sarutobi Hiruzen, Shimura Danzō, and a older Uzumaki man who wore the ceremonial robes of a Kage.
They were seated inside of a well adorned office not unlike that of the Hokage's, but the coloring and the sea that could be seen outside of the window that observed the city made it clear that this was Uzushio, not Konoha.
"... We intend on meeting the enemy head on–"
"With your numbers severely diminished, Kuragari-sama?" Hiruzen appealed, worry in his tone. "Don't be absurd – flee the island. Bring what remains of your clan to Konoha and we will be more than happy to receive you under our protection."
Kuragari-sama sighed deeply, pulling his hat from his head to reveal the white hair of an aged Uzumaki and placing it on his desk, a stubborn frown marred his lined face. "The absurdity would be believing that the Uzumaki will leave our ancestral homeland behind. We didn't do it for Hashirama-sama, we won't do it because three cock-sure villages decided they wished to see us fall. We would sooner die."
"Then why have we come?" Danzo asked sharply, his hands pressed together in front of his face, elbows on the table before him. The footage only showed the bandaged side, but Fū recognized him well enough. "If it is not to negotiate your clan's immigration to Konohagakure?"
Kuragari sat, straight backed and proud as he dug one hand into the wide sleeve of his opposite arm and produced a paper seal, sliding it across the table to Hiruzen.
"The academy is in the center of the village. Our young will be there, with enough provisions to survive inside for a few weeks. We will seal them inside for their protection. Should we fail to prevail, I need your assurances that you will come to free our young, and provide aid to them so that they may rebuild."
"This–this is madness, Kuragari!" Hiruzen began, and Fū could see the utter shock on his face. "Akari-sama would have never sancti—"
"My sister is long dead and I would thank you to keep her name off your tongue inside of my office." Kuragari silenced Hiruzen in an instant, his hard glare clear over the shitty quality. Nothing like 320p. "She has no hold over how I conduct Uzushio. Not from beyond the grave."
Fū frowned deeply at this. With Akuma out of commission while Nori's soul was not reincarnated, Kuragari spoke true. But still… to be so dismissive. Had Akari done something to her brother, or was he simply embittered because of her death at what seemed to have been an inopportune time, given the civil war that sparked not long after?
Perhaps Akuma would explain it to her later. For now, she watched Danzō's calculating face.
This would've provided an opportunity for him. He was searching, even now, for powerful kids to raise and manipulate into his ranks.
Surely he'd try to convince Hiruzen to take the deal…
"Konoha will take the children under its protection should you fail," Danzō leaned back in his chair and glanced to his left where his old friend sat, looking at him as if he were crazy.
'You treacherous fucking snake,' Fū seethed, not realizing she was reactively channeling her chakra into her communications seal. 'You wanted to take the Uzumaki kids for your Foundation when the adults died… and somehow you failed to get them! I wouldn't be surprised to learn you orchestrated the whole attack in the first place!'
'I know you're angry, Taifū, but please don't make hasty assumptions just yet,' Shiusi's voice in her head was calm as he tried to soothe her.
'Tell that to fucking Amegakure,' she hissed through the connection and then clamped down on the seal so hard that she noted both Shisui and Itachi wince slightly.
Fū didn't have it in her to feel badly about it. Shisui was going to learn something of a harsh truth today, and it might send him spiraling. She'd feel bad about that later, for now she was fuming.
"Danzō…"
"It's the least we can do for our oldest allies, Hiruzen. If they wish to run into a battle, knowing they may not survive it, the best we can do is ensure the protection of their future."
"And with that, your Sandaime takes the seal…" Akuma interrupted and started mashing buttons again. "Fast forward three and a half days…"
This time the scene was changed, Hiruzen and Danzō stood alone on the western beach. The angle was from the gatehouse, and the smoke could be seen billowing above the treeline as several branded Leaf ANBU dropped down onto one knee from out of nowhere before the Hokage and his advisor.
"Well?" Hiruzen prompted one ANBU who's mask she couldn't decipher. (Seriously, how were they animal masks? They didn't look like animals to her.)
"No trace of survivors, and the island's protective shield is still down, Hokage-sama."
Hiruzen puffed his pipe, and the wind jostled the branch that the surveillance seal was on, obscuring the video for a few moments. The audio was drowned out by the wind, so they couldn't hear what was said as the ANBU broke away in opposite directions.
Hiruzen pulled the seal from his sleeves, a deep frown on his face when the footage became clear-ish again. He took a step forward, resigned.
And then Danzo ripped his bandages off his eye and grabbed his old friend's arm, wrenching him around.
Nothing was said, and neither party moved until Danzō took a step back, taking the seal out of his old friend's hands and tucking it into his shirt looking self-satisfied. Hiruzen remained standing, staring off into the distance. Danzō turned, and the red of a sharingan was clear, though not the level that it was because the quality was not enough to show the tomoe or the shape of a mangekyō sharingan.
"Sharingan genjutsu…" Kakashi said, his voice a low growl. "Danzō you traitor."
"See? Told you I wasn't lying," Kyo spoke for the first time, shoving his way through the Leaf shinobi to walk right up to Fū with a look of righteous fury. "So now what, Clan Head? Seal Master? Are we gonna just let that stand?!" The boy demanded, the disrespect worse now than it had been earlier as he got almost right in her face.
Fū saw Itachi tense.
And she felt Obito's hand on her shoulder go deceptively limp.
Kakashi and Shisui's eyes cut over to them to watch the exchange.
For her part, Fū had had enough.
A shinobi would've been able to stop it, but Kyo was a civilian. Even with fūinjutsu aptitude, he was no match for the training she'd received, not even at her low-level.
Losing what grip she normally held on that tenuous thread of Uzumaki savagery, Fū's hand reached up and circled Kyo's throat and everyone's eyes went wide.
She didn't squeeze, didn't start spewing words of anger. Her hand on his throat was simply there, a small pressure, giving him an awareness that he didn't previously have before and she felt his Adam's apple bob under her palm.
His eyes widened in fear. He knew he couldn't fight her off, his fūinjutsu would fail him while was surrounded by her allies. Powerful allies.
"What do you suggest, Kyo-san?" Fū's voice was as calm as death, and it seemed like the temperature in the room went several degrees colder. In fact, she saw the puff of her own breath in the air as it billowed against Kyo's now terrified face.
"Justice!" He bit out, his own Uzu savagery surfacing in spite of the fear in his eyes.
She chuckled at his naivety.
There were times she thought she was foolish in the way she saw this world, the way she wanted to influence changed in it. She still believed she was, but this boy was helping put things into perspective.
"Justice is not what you seek," she told him and he glared hatefully at her, his hand finally coming up to clasp her wrist in turn, "you seek vengeance. You wish to exchange hurt for hurt - for a crime that was committed long before your birth. Why?"
"What's it matter?!" Kyo's eyes reddened as the glassy sheen of fresh tears filled them. He glanced over her shoulder, but Akuma was silent and he'd yet to step in.
She could only guess he was curious as to what she was going to do, where she was taking this. He would likely step in if she went too far.
But something told her that this was exactly the approach she needed to take with Kyo. His temper was high, his disrespect grating. Ever since she'd met him he'd been challenging her, and she was tired of it. Being seven, having been born in Konoha with no knowledge of what happened in Uzushio put her at a disadvantage. The Uzumoto were, by and large, accepting of her thus far.
But with fūinjutsu aptitude, and the genetics of a Senju and an Uzumaki, that made him one of her own. An Uzumaki.
That fire that sparked in him, the way he spoke to her, she figured it was because he considered her unworthy of the title Clan Head, at very least.
"It's our heritage…" he bit out, a storm just brewing in his eyes. Eyes that she was just now noticing were gray like the clouds before a summer rain. "They robbed us of it."
"We robbed ourselves by acting foolishly, like you're doing now. The 'they' you refer to is a singular man. A vile man, with too much power, who deserves your hatred and the hatred of countless others besides. Over decades of underhanded power plays and manipulations from the shadows. He is responsible for much disorder, responsible for many deaths that have followed conflict that he wrought upon the shinobi world."
"Then we agree," he growled, his hand tightening on her wrist and she dared him to try and use fūinjutsu on her right now. "He, at least, must die."
"Oh no, sweetheart, men like that cannot simply die," Fū softened her hand, and her voice, hoping she was getting through to him. She saw a sliver of curiosity break through that anger in his eyes. "There is no justice in allowing men like that to die."
Fū didn't look at any of the men around her, instead she opted to turn and look at Akuma, who's eyes were staring directly at her face as if seeing into her soul. She supposed that might've been exactly what he was doing.
"What are you suggesting, then?" Kakashi asked, like he was trying to move the conversation along. "Capture and torture?"
Fū didn't buy it.
Kakashi wanted to know how much of an enemy the Leaf made out of her today.
These people, other than Akuma, didn't know her well enough to understand. Their world taught them that death was the end all be all of punishments – the only way forward.
But it wasn't always. The other world had taught her that.
"Of course not," Fū blinked, looking back over her shoulder at the men around her. All of whom were watching her in varying degrees of shock and apprehension. "For now, I just want to compile all the evidence. Let him continue to dig his own grave. Perhaps one of you would be gracious enough to infiltrate the Foundation. When the time comes, once enough evidence is procured so there could be no way out of it – he can be arrested and stand trial. The countries he's wronged can be the judge and jury. I want his ass dragged through every nation he has destroyed until his name is forever tainted in global history."
Fū wanted Danzō to be as universally hated as Hitler and Stalin.
She released Kyo's throat when she was certain he understood what she was saying. He rubbed it, eyeing her with interest instead of indignation, now. Convinced he was calm, now, she continued to speak. Addressing the room.
"Once all that is done, perhaps then he can be left sealed underground to die like the Uzumaki children."
Akuma's manic laughter cut through them all, and she turned back to face him, jumping when he was leaned over at the waist, directly in front of her to look her in the eye with an amused glint.
"I've said it several times tonight, but I'm gonna say it once more; yours is my favorite soul of all time."
Instead of responding in thanks, Fu's gaze remained hard. "How many did he take alive?"
Because there was no way that he hadn't capitalized on stealing that seal from the Third Hokage.
Akuma's face warped, old anger sparking anew in those red eyes as the darkness swirled all around him. "Four."
"How many have survived his brutality?"
"One." Akuma informed her, that anger glinting in the overhead light.
Akuma's a dick, but he's direct and he gets shit done. Kakashi/Obito have avoided bloodshed, mostly because Kakashi hasn't had time to really process anything. Like the fact that Obito must have had something to do with Mintao/Kushina's deaths. Also, fuck Danzō. And fuck Hiruzen for being passive and trusting af. Big middle finger to those guys. And uhh– Did we just see a couple Jinchuriki meet up in Whirlpool heading for Uzushio? Hmm…
Next chapter resolves this arch and the Konoha/Akatsuki teams separate with heavy, burdened hearts…