The Secrets of Spacetime

Deep beneath the bustling streets of Konoha, hidden beneath layers of ordinary safehouses meant to shield its citizens during times of crisis, lay Safehouse Twenty-One. A secret so closely guarded that even the village's most elite shinobi knew nothing of its existence. Known only to the Hokage, this underground fortress was a masterpiece of ingenuity, designed by the future Second Hokage during Konoha's infancy. It was a relic of the past, yet its purpose had never been more critical.

The walls of this safehouse, like many others, were woven from the First Hokage's legendary Wood Style jutsu, a living lattice of ancient timber so dense and resilient that it could withstand the fury of a tailed beast's rampage. But the true marvel lay in the intricate sealing array that enveloped the entire structure. Every inch of the safehouse was bound to the Hokage's will, a labyrinth of chakra-infused seals that ensured no intruder could breach its defenses without facing catastrophic consequences.

For the first time in its history, the control of the safehouse was not with the incumbent Hokage. The Third had transferred its control to Minato, along with the required authorization to transform it into the heart of Konoha's efforts against the Akatsuki. The current occupants of this new counter-Akatsuki division where Minato, Kushina, Mito and Shisui. Jiraiya was given access as well, but he had made it abundantly clear that he was a wanderer at heart and detested being cooped up inside such a facility. Tsunade had decided that she would be better suited to bringing back the Konoha hospital to its former glory and training a new generation of medical ninja for the time being. It had always been her passion and would become necessary in case of a full scale conflict with the Akatsuki.

Minato Namikaze was currently seated in his room within the safehouse, his eyes closed as he sat cross legged in deep meditation. An orange hue surrounded his eyes, indicating the influx of sage chakra that his body was currently acting as a vessel to. He could not sustain sage mode for more than a few minutes, because one needed exceptionally powerful chakra to resist the overbearing power of nature energy. Even Lord Jiraiya had taken a long time to get sufficiently accustomed to its crushing power.

Minato's face revealed faint frustration as he exited his sage mode. Ever since he gained a physical body, he had made it a habit to spend some time every day in sage mode to scan the village and the wider world for the masked man's chakra. It seemed like the latter had taken enough precautions to prevent being sensed, as Minato had so far been unable to locate him. He could use the flying thunder god seal he had implanted on his opponent to teleport and make a surprise attack, but his current form lacked the strength to finish off the man before he could escape. Minato did not want to lose his advantage by needlessly wasting it on an unsuccessful attack.

As he got up, Minato activated the new protection he had set up around their facility. He had succeeded in isolating the safehouse in spacetime, making it almost impossible for the masked man to access it using his technique. The only way to access the facility would be through an existing spacetime link. Thus, he and Kushina could enter the facility using the Flying Thunder God, and Lady Mito had learned Lord Second's variant of the technique. Shisui was currently dependent on them for transportation, as it was a technique that was notoriously difficult to learn if you weren't a seal master with excellent chakra reserves. He had temporarily deactivated the barrier to be able to sense the outside world.

After making sure that the isolation was back in place, he walked to the adjoining room where Kushina was working on her little project.

"Any luck?" Kushina enquired, looking up from the sealing array she was studying.

"Nope." Minato grimaced, and approached Kushina's table. "Did you figure out who designed this?"

"An Uzumaki, no doubt about that," she said, her tone pensive. Her fingers brushed lightly over the seal's fine details, her frown deepening. "But… it's not anything I've seen before."

In the table lay a copy of the sealing array segment Mito had extracted from Kisame's Samaheda. They were studying it with the hopes of understanding and duplicating its efficient chakra storage mechanism.

"According to Lady Mito, the Uzumaki hadn't researched chakra seals for more than two centuries. She said the original designs were lost during an attack on Uzushiogakure, back in the Warring Clans era. Many original designs were destroyed in the chaos, and no one really saw a need to recover or recreate the old designs for the chakra storage seals. Uzumaki chakra reserves were already absurdly high, so why would anyone bother?"

"But this design is from a period before the attack?" Minato prompted.

"Yup!" Kushina said, her excitement showing. "I don't know how it ended up with the hidden mist. If anything, it would be the Uchiha who might have it. I guess they may have found something during Uzu's destruction."

"Uchiha?" Minato frowned. "Were they the ones that attacked Uzu during the warring states period?"

"Who else?" Kushina grimaced. "The Senju were our only real allies, and during that time, they were weak. Leaderless, in fact. The Uchiha, on the other hand, weren't. You've heard of Uchiha Takafumi?"

Minato grimaced. "Unfortunately, yes. One of the few Uchiha warlords who stood out before Madara's time. He's said to have possessed the Mangekyou Sharingan and wasn't shy in using it."

Kushina hummed in agreement. "I've heard that he almost burned Uzu to the ground with his black flames."

Minato inhaled sharply. "What stopped him?"

"Fuin-no-kami." Kushina murmured, suddenly lost in thought. "We had our own devil back then."

Minato's eyebrows rose, shock evident in his face. "They were contemporaries? That must have been quite the battle."

"I've heard the stories." Kushina winced. "Takafumi nearly succeeded in burning Uzu down with his black flames. The Fuin-no-kami sacrificed a fellow Uzumaki clan member and forced him to perform his newly created Shiki Fujin to seal away Takafumi's spirit. For all his mastery in Fuinjutsu, he was still a coward who chose to sacrifice someone else for the benefit of the clan. That was not something a clan head should do, and it was against the very ideals of the Uzumaki."

"He created that sacrificial jutsu - only to make someone else use it?" Minato's lips pursed. Whatever respect he might have held for the man hailed as the greatest fūinjutsu master in history dissipated in an instant.

Kushina nodded. "For this act, he was reviled and later imprisoned within the clan. His descendents were removed from the leadership hierarchy, and Mito-sama's grandfather was appointed as the clan head."

Minato grimaced, shaking his head as he refocused on the seal before them.

"This design… whoever created it was a genius, even by Uzumaki standards." His fingers traced the fine details of the inkwork, his expression thoughtful. "The seal matrix is extremely advanced. Almost all of the seals are custom ones, and the high density and overlap suggests a master at a very high level. I can see atleast four overlapping layers."

Kushina nodded slowly. "There are six as far as I can tell. They're using an Uzumaki layering scheme that makes some of the seals less apparent. Based on the style and the few non-custom seals I see here, I estimate that this was made within the last four centuries."

"Do you think it's his work?" Minato asked curiously."The Fuin-no-kami?"

"It could be." Kushina pondered. "That man was afforded the luxury of practicing fuinjutsu within his prison. They locked his chakra to ensure that he never used it to escape, however. Drawing seals was the best he could do, he could never apply them. They thought it kept him busy, and out of their hair. He was their saviour, after all, even if what he did was reprehensible."

"When did he pass away?"

"A bit after Lord First, from what I've heard." Kushina said, trying to recollect.

"Wow…" Minato said, shock evident in his voice. "Uzushiogakure really is the village of longevity. He would have been over a hundred…"

"Well over a hundred. Yeah." Kushina nodded. "He had a lot of time in his hands. He could have come up with this, and the Mist might've gotten their hands on it after Uzu was destroyed."

"Well, let's not get side-tracked." Minato shook his head and concentrated on the seal once again. "Coming back to the problem at hand, look at these spirals. The way the secondary seal matrix feeds back into the core. What is this loop for? It seems unnecessarily wasteful."

"I think that's the masterstroke in this seal." Kushina grinned. "You see, it's strengthening chakra and condensing it. It purifies chakra and folds it upon itself, making it all the more efficient to store."

Minato's brow furrowed. "What sort of purification?"

"You know that chakra has some of the qualities of its originator. It's also highly affected by emotions."

Minato nodded, well used to how much Kushina's chakra fluctuated with her emotions. As a sensor, it was one of the first things he noticed about chakra. "So you're saying that this part of the seal actually strips chakra of all that personality?"

"Yup. Because in the Samaheda's case, it's intended to be used by someone else. It's neutral. It's kind of doing half of what Naruto does with his Rinnegan, when he imitates our chakra. He first makes his chakra neutral and then changes it to imitate ours." Kushina grinned. "That makes it easier to store, because it's the stablest form of chakra."

"That makes so much sense." Minato said, a look of realization crossing his face. "I can't believe I didn't realize this before," he added, shaking his head in mild disbelief.

"Neither of us had an occasion to investigate chakra storage seals in such depth. And for our use-case, we needed to ensure that both the emotional and personality aspects of the chakra remained intact while storing it within Naruto's seal."

"That's true." Minato agreed, looking at the seal more closely. "So this is the key to making efficient chakra seals. This will be incredibly helpful to maintain our clone bodies."

Kushina nodded. "And there's more to it. Chakra has a natural tendency to flow. Keeping it contained expends more energy from the storage seal, so it's actually less efficient to freeze its state. You need to make the chakra flow while expending as little energy as possible. Here, the purification happens along with maintaining the chakra flow. It's killing two birds with one shot."

"I can't imagine that this would be useful for long term storage, though."

"Bingo. All that looping slowly but steadily consumes chakra. So it's an ultra-efficient chakra storage seal for short-term storage. But not very useful if you want to store it for days or weeks."

"I suppose we'll have to find a different solution for that. Possibly Mito-sama's work on the Heaven's Seal of Absorption might help offset the chakra loss."

"Now that's one work I'm really interested in. Perks of senjutsu without sitting around meditating forever? Count me in!" Kushina grinned at the prospect of super-powering her jutsu.

Minato smiled at her enthusiasm. "It would make us a lot more useful, no doubt. Sometimes I feel frustrated at my inability in this fragile body. But all the same, I'm thankful we atleast have this."

Kushina smiled understandingly, empathising with Minato's frustration. "We'll figure it out, Minato. You, me and Mito-sama are the most equipped to find a solution together."

"I know, Kushina." Minato sighed. He gave a final once-over at the Samaheda's storage formula. "I suppose we should test this out, then?" He cracked his knuckles.

"You bet."

In the adjacent room, Mito was looking at another aspect of the Samaheda's sealing formula. Shisui, who had nothing better to do at the moment, was peering over her shoulder.

"Are those seals supposed to move around like that?" Shisui finally asked in a small voice, afraid of sounding stupid.

Mito shook her head. "Not all of them. This is a living seal. Specifically, it is the forbidden sealing art known as Jinkaku."

"Jinkaku?" Shisui asked, testing the word. "Personality?"

Mito nodded. "It induces personality into inanimate objects. Like this sword."

Shisui frowned. "I always thought it was weird that the Samaheda seemed to have a mind of its own. I thought it was just the user's chakra at work, somehow making the sword seem animate."

"It's not just that. The Samaheda has a sort of primal instinct," Mito told him. "It hungers for chakra and devours it. This seal's purpose is to suck out the opponent's chakra and push it inside the seal that Kushina is currently studying. Its pseudo-intelligence helps the sword grab hold of the opponent's chakra and pull it within."

"Wow… Any idea who made it?"

"The Jinkaku is an Uzumaki forbidden technique, and is one of the masterpieces of the Uzumaki clan head that preceded my grandfather." Mito said, an expression of distaste evident in her face. "His name was Uzumaki Kaiyo, a sealing genius without equal in Uzumaki history. Although the art of Jinkaku was not lost with him, it was considered forbidden to practice it. Only a handful in our clan could understand it, and even fewer could wield it."

"Do you think he had a hand in creating the Samaheda? I've heard that it's quite an old weapon, but did it exist in the warring states period?"

"If it did, we had no knowledge of it." Mito shook her head. "But the combination of seals used here - the Jinkaku to embed personality and the Seiryū to efficiently store it. The first is a forbidden technique that originated from Kaiyo, while the second is a long-lost art that may have died with him. I have only heard stories of the latter until I extracted the sealing formula from the Samaheda."

"So this Kaiyo was quite probably the only person…"

"-who could have created the Samaheda's sealing formula." Mito nodded.

"But why? And how did it end up in the mist?"

"Kaiyo did something terrible. He sacrificed his younger brother to defeat his opponent. He was imprisoned within the Uzumaki clan with his chakra sealed, and he died at a very advanced age. It's feasible that he might have developed this during his containment, and the Mist might have salvaged it from the ruins after the second war." Mito clenched her fists, her mind momentarily going back to the time she heard of the destruction of her clan. "As to why he made something like this, he would be the only person who can answer. Madmen seldom have reasons for their behavior."

Sensing that Mito was having some unpleasant recollections due to this talk, Shisui decided to change the topic. "So what are you trying to do? Override its personality?"

"Precisely." Mito nodded. "The current personality is far too unstable for my liking. This Samaheda serves only itself, prioritizing its own interests over the user. I can't trust it in battle. Modifying it is tricky, though. Living seals resist alteration. Watch."

Her fingertips glowed with chakra as she reached for the seal. But before she could make contact, it shifted in an instant, dodging her touch.

"That sounds inconvenient."

"It's little more than a nuisance," Mito replied, swiftly forming a sequence of hand signs. "It's designed to unnerve those unfamiliar with it, but the Uzumaki have long-established methods for dealing with living seals."

"Art of Containment: Dead Zone Encapsulation!"

Her fingers pressed against three precise points in the sealing array. The seal attempted to evade her, but the moment she made contact with its vicinity, it froze in place.

Shisui let out an appreciative whistle. "Impressive. So, how are you planning to modify its personality?"

Mito nodded slowly, her expression thoughtful. "For now, I'll selectively freeze parts of the array to mute its personality. It might make the sword slightly less efficient, but at least I won't have to worry about it betraying me. I'll also erase Kisame's chakra signature and attune it to my own."

"You can't completely rewrite it?" Shisui asked curiously. "What about using genjutsu...?" He trailed off.

Mito shook her head. "It doesn't have a mind in the traditional sense. No conscience, no brain. As I said, it's artificial sentience. Genjutsu can't rewrite behaviors that are hard-wired, and full-scale reprogramming is beyond my ability."

Shisui blinked in surprise. "Wow... But you're the greatest seal master Konoha has ever seen."

"And yet, not the greatest in the Uzumaki clan," Mito said with a small smile. She began forming another set of seals, ready to wrap up her study of the Jinkaku.

"Art of Suppression: Shadow Binding!"

The seal surrounding the Samaheda glowed, and Shisui noticed that certain parts now appeared dulled compared to the rest.

He chuckled lightly. "You actually tamed the most terrifying of the Seven Blades of the Mist. I'll sleep easier knowing it's on our side now."

Mito smiled, satisfied with her work, and rolled up the scroll. "That should hold it for now."

Shisui nodded with enthusiasm. "Great. Hopefully the sword won't be too lazy without its personality."

Karin Uzumaki stepped into the main office of Konoha's Sensor Division, located beneath the Hokage Tower. She had been provisionally granted the status of a special Genin of Konoha and was instructed to report to a jonin named Inoichi Yamanaka for guidance and training in refining her sensory abilities.

"Hey there! You're Karin, right?"

A blonde-haired girl, likely around her age, approached her with an easy confidence as she entered the office.

"Y-yeah. Reporting for duty."

"I'm Ino Yamanaka." The girl introduced herself, shooting her a friendly grin. "You'll be reporting to my old man, not me, so relax a little, will ya?"

Karin hesitated before offering a tentative smile in return. The kunoichi seemed friendly enough.

"Nice to meet you. Where can I find him?"

"Follow me." Ino nodded, motioning for Karin to walk beside her. "He's in the back office. Probably buried under a mountain of paperwork."

Karin fell into step beside her, glancing around the office as they moved. "So… do you work here?"

Ino laughed. "I wish. I'm part of Team 10, along with that lazy bum Shikamaru and fa- I mean, chubby," she corrected with a dramatic shudder, "Chōji. Dad ropes me into coming here on my off days to train my sensory skills."

"Ah, got it." Karin nodded understandingly.

"So… you're an Uzumaki? Any relation to Naruto?"

"Um… Second cousins, I'm told."

"Wow! That's pretty close. So, what do you think of that knucklehead?"

"Knucklehead?" Karin repeated, blinking in surprise. "Why do you call him that?"

Ino smirked. "Well, believe it or not, Naruto was the last person anyone expected to pass in our batch. Sure, he had a ton of chakra, but his control was awful, and he couldn't even pull off a basic Clone Jutsu! Even in the first stage of the Chūnin Exams two months ago, he barely scraped by against Kiba. He had improved, sure, but nothing crazy."

"He became a Chūnin, though, right? That exam was brutal," Karin said with a wince.

"That's what I'm saying! When he faced Neji in the finals… Wait, did you see the match?" Ino asked.

Karin shook her head. "We were told to pack our bags as soon as we failed the second stage. But he beat that Hyūga kid? I heard he was a genius."

"Oh, totally," Ino said, eyes gleaming. "Naruto wrecked him. Neji didn't even land a hit. And-" her voice dropped to a whisper, "I've heard he helped stop a giant monster the enemy unleashed on our village."

"Wow…" Karin murmured.

She already knew there were secrets surrounding Naruto Uzumaki. Living in the Senju compound made that clear enough. The main house where Naruto stayed was a complete blind spot to her sensory abilities, one of the few in all of Konoha. And in a shinobi village, places like that were off-limits for a reason. Naruto might be her cousin, but until recently, she wasn't even a shinobi of this village. There were things she wasn't meant to know.

"We're here!" Ino announced cheerfully as she pushed open the door to her father's office.

The room was spacious but cluttered, with stacks of reports, probably sensory logs, and scrolls piled high on the desk. Behind it sat Inoichi Yamanaka, the head of Konoha's Sensor Division. His long blond hair was tied back neatly, and his sharp, perceptive eyes flicked up from the documents in front of him.

"Ino, I told you to knock," he sighed, rubbing his temples before shifting his gaze to Karin. "And you must be Karin Uzumaki."

Karin straightened instinctively. "Yes, sir. Reporting as ordered."

Inoichi studied her for a moment, the corners of his mouth twitching with faint amusement. "At ease. You're not in ANBU." He motioned toward a chair. "Sit. We have a lot to go over."

Karin hesitated only a moment before stepping forward and taking a seat across from him. Ino flopped into the chair beside her, watching with interest.

"I've read your file," Inoichi continued, flipping through a dossier on his desk. "Your ability to sense chakra is exceptional, which makes you a valuable asset. But being a sensor isn't just about tracking enemies. It requires control, discipline, and, most importantly, the ability to process vast amounts of information without being overwhelmed."

Karin nodded, listening intently. While in Kusagakure, her healing abilities were exploited to the extreme, leaving her broken and exhausted to the bone. She never had any energy left to experiment with or develop her sensory abilities because of this. Getting a chance to do so in a controlled environment under the guidance of experts was an invaluable gift.

Inoichi set the dossier down and leaned forward slightly. "Tell me, how do you personally experience chakra? Every sensor perceives it a little differently. Some feel it like shifts in temperature, others see it as colors, and some describe it like sound or pressure."

Karin bit her lip, choosing her words carefully. "It's a mix, honestly… I can feel their strength, their presence. The stronger the chakra, the more defined it is to me." She hesitated, then added, "It's not just about size of their reserve, though. I feel its qualities. Like warmth or cold."

Inoichi nodded, prompting her to continue.

"Some people have chakra that feels bright and warm, like sunlight. It feels alive, somehow. Naruto's feels like that. Even when I can't see him, I know it's him. It's unmistakable. I can't feel chakra."

"That sounds just like him," Ino agreed thoughtfully.

"When I focus, I see people in my mind. It's kind of like silhouettes of chakra. The stronger their presence, the clearer they appear. I can't see faces, but I know them by how they feel."

Ino frowned slightly. "So you can recognize anyone by their chakra alone?" Not everyone could do that. She could just sense a dull presence, but she was just starting out. Her father could tell people apart, she knew, but it was a rare ability. It was something she'd expect from a fully trained sensory ninja.

Karin nodded. "Yeah. If I've sensed them before, I won't forget them."

Inoichi studied her for a moment, then glanced at the documents in front of him. "Your range is exceptional. How far can you sense, exactly? I don't have a number here."

Karin closed her eyes thoughtfully. "I'm not sure how far I can sense, because it gets more and more confusing for me the farther I go. I sense more and more people, and eventually it's like looking at the sea around me from an island. Aside from a few chakra signatures, nothing would stand out. I'm trying to see if I can kind of zoom into a particular area, but without something to look for, it's difficult."

"We'll have you track some of the shinobi who go on long missions." Inoichi nodded, understanding her difficulty. "What is your sensing technique? That is, how do you initiate your sensing?"

Karin frowned in confusion. "I don't have to do anything, really. I could sense even before I learned how to mold chakra. It's always there, in the background. I can filter it out when I need to. But it's like seeing someone or hearing them. It's like I have a sixth sense that I can use always."

"Now that is remarkable." Inoichi sat up straighter, intrigued. "I have to be honest with you, Karin, since you've been upfront with us. The range of your abilities are incredible, especially since you are still untrained. I can see you rivalling the sensing abilities of a sage with enough training. This can make you one of the most valuable assets to this village. But for that to happen, you will need to put in a lot of work."

"I'm ready to do that." Karin said with determination.

"I'm starting to get jealous." Ino admitted with a chuckle. "I've never even heard of someone with so many sensory abilities."

"Tomi-sama told me it's something like a bloodline limit within the Uzumaki clan. It's called the Mind's eye of Kagura."

Inoichi's eyebrows shot up. "I've heard of it. The pinnacle of sensing arts. I haven't heard of anyone who possessed it, but the ability itself is storied."

"Can you tell if someone is lying?" Ino asked curiously. "I've heard very good sensors can do that, from the fluctuations in their chakra."

Karin nodded. "Yeah, so far, I've been able to tell. But I don't know if it's fool-proof, though. And I can tell if someone, including myself, is in a genjutsu."

"Alright." Inoichi grinned. "Now we're talking. We need to see how well you can hone that ability. Can you tell what jutsu someone is about to cast?"

Karin frowned. "A second before they cast it, I can tell if it's an elemental jutsu and which element they're gonna use."

"We can develop that further. You need to be exposed to a lot of diverse jutsu." Inoichi smiled wickedly. "I know just the person who can do that."

Somewhere in the hidden leaf, Kakashi Hatake sneezed.

Naruto Uzumaki stood in the Senju compound, twirling a Kunai in his hand. He was facing a wooden post placed about twenty meters in front of him. He focussed on the space in front of him, separating the kunai from its target. The area surrounding him was littered with kunai, all marks of his failed attempts in understanding how to manipulate spacetime with his Rinnegan.

Shinra Tensei and Banshō Ten'in were simple enough. Both techniques made him the center of distortion, bending the space around him to influence external objects. He had already refined this principle, moving the focal point away from himself. First with Tsunade, when he had levitated her upon their meeting, then later with his teammates as he demonstrated his abilities. But that was still just simple manipulation. What he needed now was much more complicated.

Instantaneous movement. Teleportation, if you will.

Not acceleration, not bending space to shorten the distance, but a complete removal of distance altogether. To be in one place, and then another, without crossing the space between. This is what Minato does with his Hiraishin, and what the masked leader of the Akatsuki is capable of doing with his jutsu. He had experienced this pathway himself, multiple times in fact, when he or his clones were transported by Minato in an attempt to show him the mechanics.

The way Minato's Hiraishin functioned was fundamentally different from what Naruto was trying to achieve. His father's technique worked by linking two points in space through his chakra. His presence infused into both the kunai and himself, forming an anchor that allowed him to skip the distance in between. But that was only half the equation. The true complexity lay in the sealing formula itself, a meticulously crafted Fūinjutsu that mapped and stabilized the pathway.

Naruto knew he couldn't just reuse his parents' formula. The seals had to be customized down to the finest detail. Adjusted to his own chakra, his own control. There was a limit to how much his parents could guide him. The sheer intricacy of the formula meant that mastering it would take a significant chunk of his time.

Naruto had temporarily shifted his focus from the Fūinjutsu solution, instead working on a space-time technique that needed no external seals. The idea was simple. Between the source and destination, there were hidden pathways outside normal space, shortcuts that ignored distance. At first, he couldn't see them clearly, but after absorbing the last of Shisui's ocular chakra, his Rinnegan had unveiled reality's structure. These pathways stretched across existence like a web, some stable, others fragile, collapsing at the slightest interference.

He had watched his father's Hiraishin thousands of times, trying to understand the complex patterns. Distance, weight, and direction all shifted these patterns in ways that seemed impossible to track.

Then, yesterday, something clicked.

If you travel the same route enough times, you memorize it. The realization hadn't come all at once, but gradually, as the patterns embedded themselves in his mind. Even in sleep, they refused to fade. He began recognizing how the pathways twisted, branched, and varied with distance.

That was why, for now, he was keeping it simple. His goal was to send his kunai through an entry point and guide it along a stable path to the wooden post in front of him. He had to throw his kunai near an entry point and use his Rinnegan top open the pathway. If everything went as intended, the kunai would disappear before him and reappear embedded in the post.

When his kunai had first vanished earlier that morning, he had been ecstatic. For a fleeting, foolish moment, he thought he had cracked the secret of spacetime travel.

Then the kunai never reappeared.

The excitement drained from him as realization settled in.

The same entry could lead to multiple exits. Space wasn't linear. Each pathway could split, diverging into separate paths, some leading to completely different locations. He had essentially tossed the kunai into a network of pathways without knowing where it would emerge.

For all he knew, some unfortunate passerby in the Land of Stone now had a kunai inexplicably lodged in their back.

Naruto had really hoped that wasn't the case. The last thing he wanted was an international incident caused by his experimentation. Or worse, kill an ally by friendly fire.

Fortunately, his father had assured him that such an event was highly unlikely. Most likely, the kunai had simply been lost in an unstable loop. That knowledge, while slightly reassuring, did little to ease his frustration.

Now, he was far more careful. He no longer latched onto ambiguous pathways. To guide the trajectory, he attached a chakra-conductive wire to his kunai. This was only a short-term fix. The wire deteriorated rapidly inside the unstable pathway and he couldn't rely on a physical tether forever. Eventually, he would need to thread his own chakra through the path, anchoring the kunai without external aid.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto steadied his focus.

He had chosen his pathway. A pinpoint distortion that just appeared over a meter away, slightly to his right at eye level. He traced its route in his mind. It twisted, turned, and zigzagged toward the post. It was hard to wrap his head around the idea that this convoluted path was shorter than simply throwing the kunai in a straight line.

He forced aside his skepticism.

'Just follow the path.' He repeated in his mind.

Naruto flicked his wrist. The kunai vanished.

He didn't get his hopes up.

A sound cut through the air.

Thunk. Then, a soft clank.

Naruto's gaze snapped toward the post.

Below it, his kunai rolled to a stop on the ground.

He stared for a moment, processing what had happened. He hadn't even registered the kunai hitting the post. After so many failed attempts, he hadn't expected to succeed.

But this time, he had.

A wide grin split Naruto's face.

The kunai hadn't embedded itself in the wood like he had imagined, likely because the exit point hadn't been perfectly aligned. But that didn't matter. It reached its destination.

For now, that was enough.

Naruto exhaled, rubbing the back of his neck.

His goal wasn't just to transport objects. Eventually, he wanted to move something far more complex -that is, himself. The kunai was just a test, a way to navigate the natural pathways before attempting something bigger. When his control became more refined, he wouldn't just use existing distortions; he would create his own, molding stable pathways where none existed before. And he would send a clone through it first, because there was no way he would risk it himself. But to do that now when he barely had the basics down would be a waste of chakra.

He bent down, picking up another kunai.

Now that he knew it was possible, there was no stopping him.

Tsunade watched as Sakura tended to her first patient. An unfortunate Genin struck by a stray kunai.

The boy, Takeda, was adamant that someone was out to get him. He swore up and down that he had no idea where the kunai had come from, only that his incredible reflexes had saved his life.

Tsunade was skeptical.

From what she had gathered, Takeda was one of the Genin Corps -those who hadn't made the cut for a Jonin-led team after failing their secondary graduation exam. Instead, they were placed under Chunin supervision, a quieter fate than most wanted. And judging by the way he was struggling to put on a brave face in front of Sakura, his former classmate, he was more concerned about salvaging his pride than the actual wound.

Then again, who was she to judge?

Tsunade clenched her hand beneath the folds of her cloak, willing the tremors to stop. The two Genin wouldn't notice. But an experienced shinobi would.

At least she could look at blood now without breaking down. As long as she was a few meters away.

While teaching Sakura, she was determined to slowly defeat this trauma. One step at a time.

"Done, Sensei!" Sakura announced proudly, swiping the sweat from her brow.

Tsunade gestured for the Genin to step closer. "Show me your arm."

"Y-yes, ma'am," Takeda stammered, offering his arm. A thin, pink line of scar tissue remained. Almost invisible, a near-perfect healing job.

"Not bad for a first attempt," Tsunade murmured. She ran a finger over the mark, and with the lightest touch of chakra, the scar dissolved completely.

Takeda's eyes widened. "Thank you, ma'am!" He bowed deeply, then turned to Sakura with a friendly wave.

"See you later, Sakura-san. I hope that idiot Naruto isn't giving you a tough time. I don't know what they were thinking, graduating someone like him."

Sakura's smile thinned. "I don't appreciate you bad-mouthing my teammate, Takeda-san," she said, voice firm. Then, smirking, she added, "And I think Tsunade-sama feels the same way."

"Wha-?" Takeda barely had time to turn before he found himself staring at Tsunade's outstretched forefinger, hovering an inch from his forehead.

Her voice was low, almost bored. "Learn to treat others with respect, kid. Then maybe you'll get somewhere."

And with the gentlest flick of her finger-

Takeda vanished.

Sakura instinctively sidestepped as a loud crash erupted behind her, followed by the sharp crack of splintering wood. The hospital room's wall now had a Takeda-shaped hole in it.

For a moment, there was silence. Then a weak groan drifted from the other side of the wreckage.

Sakura blinked. "Um… Don't you think that was a little excessive?"

Tsunade shrugged. "He'll live."

From the adjoining room, Shizune's exasperated voice rang out. "Not again…! We just fixed that wall this morning!"

Sakura stifled a laugh as she followed Tsunade toward their next patient, leaving behind a heap of broken wood and one very unlucky Genin.

Sasuke applied the final strokes of ink to the new seal on his forehead, ensuring that each symbol aligned with the flow of his chakra. He stood before the mirror, expression impassive, as he examined his work. The seal rested just beneath his forehead protector, hidden from sight.

He set the brush down.

'You do realize, of course, how much time this will take?'

The unwelcome voice echoed in his mind, laced with condescension.

'This Yin seal will require years to accumulate enough negative chakra for any meaningful evolution in your Sharingan. Are you so patient, Uchiha?'

Sasuke's fingers tightened around the edge of the table.

'Indra. Don't you have anything better to do than observe my every action?'

'Apparently not.' There was something in the ancient specter's tone that indicated his amusement. 'My current existence limits the ones I can interact with. And besides that, you are my investment.'

Sasuke's eyes flashed with irritation. 'Investment?' His tone carried clear distaste for Indra's choice of words.

'Yes, precisely that. I did not share my knowledge with you out of generosity, nor out of some misguided notion of kinship. Do not delude yourself.'

'You gave it without me asking. I owe you nothing.'

Sasuke could almost hear Indra's silent laugh.

'Ah, there it is. The same naïveté all of you begin with.' Indra's voice darkened, almost pitying. 'Even Madara, your predecessor, was a greater pacifist than you in his youth. And we both know where his path led. Where the paths of all your predecessors led. Why do you think you will be different?'

Sasuke's fingers curled slightly at his sides. 'You said you never interfered with those who inherited your chakra before. Why now?'

'You already know why.'

'The Rinnegan?' Sasuke rolled his eyes. 'From what you have told me, the Rinnegan also lies in the possession of another at this very moment. And that person is working towards a goal that you yourself are aligned with. So why bother with me?'

Indra snorted, the sound edged with amusement.

'Aligned with? No, Uchiha. The Infinite Tsukuyomi in Zetsu's vision and the one in mine are vastly different. He is nothing more than a shadow. A fragment of his mother's will, obsessed with her return. His goal is not peace, nor enlightenment, nor even power for himself. He seeks only to collapse the world's chakra into a single fruit, offering it like an obedient servant to the Goddess he worships. He is a slave to a force greater than himself, a mere conduit for his mother's will.'

'I, on the other hand, do not seek to steal chakra, or revive my temperamental grandmother. My vision is far simpler. Order.'

Sasuke remained silent, listening.

'The world as it stands is not order. It is an illusion of it. A fragile construct built on hypocrisy. The strong thrive on chaos because they profit from it. The weak crave order because they have no other means of survival. What you call the current world order is nothing but a thinly veiled compromise between these factions, a system that sustains itself through deception.'

'The weak live under the delusion that the strong exist to protect them. That those with power will act in their interest. But even you would know the truth. The strong serve only themselves.'

Sasuke's jaw tightened slightly. Even the seemingly benevolent and kindly Hokage had refused to send out ANBU squads after Itachi, citing risk and prioritizing village security following the massacre.

'That is why the cycle continues. War. Peace. Rebuilding. Conflict. The weak place their trust in the strong, and the strong exploit that trust until the balance is lost. Then war returns, and the cycle resets. This is not order. It is a revolving door of destruction masquerading as stability.'

There was a pause before Indra's voice echoed again, in a quieter tone.

'And tell me, Uchiha. Where do you stand? Are you among the strong, who wield power for their own ends? Or are you among the weak, clinging to the lie of a better world?'

Sasuke shook his head, unfazed. 'I don't accept a world dictated by absolutes.'

'Ah,' Sasuke could hear Indra's sigh, laced with mock disappointment. 'You still believe there is another way. That your choices exist outside the pattern history has woven. You think you will walk a path that none before you have taken. That you will not become Madara, or Itachi, or even me.'

Sasuke's expression remained unreadable.

'And yet, Uchiha, you wear the mark of my chakra. You carve a seal upon your own forehead, one that accumulates power in the way I instructed. You seek strength to become a harbinger of change, and you know, know, that there is only one path to reach it.'

Sasuke's fingers twitched slightly at his side, but he said nothing.

'You tell yourself you are different. That you are choosing your path. But let me ask you this.' Indra said in a slow, deliberate voice, "When has power ever been a choice?'

Kakashi Hatake stared at a dead man for the fourth time in the past month.

'Naruto has picked up an interesting hobby', he mused. Although Lady Mito's revival was not linked to Naruto, Shisui was the third person who was hosted in the world of the living by Naruto's special technique.

"Hi Kakashi-senpai!" Shisui waved. "Miss me?"

Kakashi exhaled through his nose, giving the Uchiha a once-over.

He looks solid.

He wondered what the story was, this time. Had Shisui somehow ended up inside Naruto's seal like the others? Or was Naruto just collecting ghosts for revival willy-nilly now? Not that Kakashi was complaining. Shisui was good company, but things had gotten downright strange lately.

"You seem unusually comfortable for someone who's been dead for years," Kakashi noted, keeping his tone even.

Shisui shrugged, completely at ease. "Eh, I was around. You guys just couldn't see me. Y'know, ghost stuff." He wiggled his fingers theatrically. "Ooooo~."

Kakashi turned to Naruto, who was watching the exchange with amusement.

"So… who's next on your list?"

Naruto tapped his chin, pretending to ponder that question.. "Hmm… Not sure. Maybe the old man Six Paths?"

Kakashi's mind froze for a second.

"In case you intend to break reality, would you be so kind as to inform me beforehand?"

Naruto snickered. "No promises."

"So… I assume you didn't call me here just for the reunion."

Seeing Shisui pout, Kakashi rolled his eyes. "Not that I don't enjoy your company, but you did pull me off an A-rank mission." He directed the last part toward Minato, who stood nearby.

"I thought it'd be a good idea to have a trustworthy Sharingan expert take a look at your evolved Sharingan," Minato explained. "You never know when that could be useful."

"Ah…" Kakashi nodded understandingly.

"I would've liked to do this back when I was Hokage," Minato continued, "but you couldn't sustain that form without blacking out back then."

"It's not much better now." Kakashi shrugged. "I still can't really use it."

Naruto watched with growing curiosity as Kakashi raised his hand, forming a seal in front of his closed Sharingan eye. He focused, and Naruto sensed Kakashi's ocular chakra shift, circulating in a slow but deliberate cycle. As more chakra condensed into his eye, Naruto noticed the nature of the chakra changing. It became more Yin-heavy, darker.

A minute passed. Then Kakashi lowered his hand and opened his eye.

Naruto blinked. The three tomoe were gone, replaced by a whirling, scythe-like pinwheel.

Shisui let out a low whistle. "So this is Obito-nii-san's Mangekyō… I didn't even know a non-Uchiha could trigger its evolution."

Kakashi shifted slightly, discomfort flickering across his face. That name and the associated memory still pressed against him like an old wound.

Shisui, noticing, cleared his throat. "I haven't seen this pattern before," he admitted. "Then again, Mangekyō users are rare, and every pattern is unique. I have seen Itachi and Fugaku's Mangekyou, and that of a couple of other clansmen as well. I've heard what Madara's looked like. Other than that, I don't know. I haven't seen the sharingan of that imposter Madara, for example. He has some seals on that mask of his, preventing it from being seen."

Taking a deep breath, Shisui continued. "Even my abilities were relatively unheard of. When I first awakened mine, the clan head revealed what little was known about the Mangekyō's abilities, hoping it would help me understand my own. I can tell you what I know."

"That would be very helpful." Kakashi nodded appreciatively.

"Starting with my ability, the Kotoamatsukami" Shisui began, "It allows me to manipulate a target's thoughts and actions without them even realizing it. It's essentially the most advanced genjutsu in existence. When done perfectly, the target would be under complete mind control."

Kakashi barely stopped himself from shifting uncomfortably. That was a terrifying ability.

Shisui continued. "Next, Itachi has manifested three abilities with his Mangekyō. The first is Tsukuyomi, a powerful genjutsu that traps the target in an illusion where he controls everything. Time, space, matter. Itachi primarily uses it for torture." Shisui winced. "And trust me, it's not pleasant to get stuck in it. Orochimaru went down in three seconds flat because he underestimated it."

Kakashi gulped. "And the other two?"

"The second is Amaterasu, the unquenchable black flames that burn anything they touch until the target is reduced to nothing. If you're caught in the user's vision when it activates, most people won't have the time to react. Even for kage-level shinobi, the best countermeasure is usually amputation."

Kakashi frowned. He had heard of Amaterasu from Jiraiya, but hearing the raw details from Shisui made it sound worse than he imagined.

"And finally, the most infamous ability. The Susanoo." Shisui crossed his arms. "It requires awakening the Mangekyō in both eyes and, even then, not everyone can access it. It forms an ethereal warrior around the user, both protecting them and significantly amplifying their offensive abilities. Madara made this one famous. His perfect Susanoo was an unstoppable goliath of destruction. Atleast, until it met the First Hokage."

Kakashi absorbed the information carefully before nodding. "And the imposter Madara?"

Shisui grimaced. "He has a very powerful ability. The space-time ninjustu known as the Kamui. It's not a well-known ability. Most of what I know comes from observation, but…" He glanced at Minato. "I think Lord Fourth is best suited to analyze it. He fought it, after all."

Minato nodded. "As Shisui said, it's an extremely advanced space-time technique. The man I fought could transport his body to another dimension at will, making himself intangible in the process. However, he has to re-materialize in our dimension in order to counterattack."

Naruto frowned. "If he sends his body to another dimension, can you still see him?"

Minato exhaled. "That's the strange part. He projects his presence here, even though his physical body isn't in this dimension. It's meant to confuse opponents. He can also teleport near-instantaneously, though his long-range teleportation seems slower than mine. However, unlike my Hiraishin, he might not need a physical marker."

Naruto's frown deepened. "If he doesn't need a marker… he might be traveling through those strings." He muttered the last part to himself.

Minato's eyes sharpened. "That was my hypothesis as well. This is why I wanted you to study it, Naruto. If he's moving through existing spacetime pathways, understanding them could be the key to countering him."

Kakashi, who had been quietly listening, suddenly interrupted. "Strings…?" he echoed cautiously.

He blinked, and suddenly, he saw them.

Fine, white lines stretched out in all directions, forming a vast web across the landscape. Some of them pulsed faintly, interweaving and twisting into complex formations, each one a potential pathway.

"I can see many white lines all around me. Like many webs connected to each other…"

Shisui inhaled sharply. "Then… you might possess Kamui as well. Or at least another space-time ability."

Naruto's eyes lit up with excitement. "Sensei! Try to interact with the strings. See if you can move them."

Kakashi frowned, concentrating. "I… I can't move them," he muttered. "It's too much…"

His knees buckled as a wave of exhaustion crashed over him, and he dropped, panting.

Naruto cursed. "Damn it, I should've known this would happen. Your chakra was depleting fast." He rushed forward, placing a steadying hand on Kakashi's shoulder. Adjusting his own chakra, he began refilling Kakashi's depleted reserves.

Shisui smirked. "That's handy. You're like Konoha's walking chakra battery."

"Ha, ha. Very funny." Naruto rolled his eyes. "I'll keep pumping chakra, Sensei. You just focus on what you're doing."

Kakashi took a breath, nodding. "Thanks, Naruto." He hesitated briefly. 'Is this even the same loudmouthed kid who entered the Chūnin Exams a few weeks ago?'

Shaking off the thought, he focused on the spacetime bridges again.

From what Minato had told him, they were infinitely small portals that connected one point to another. He still couldn't move those bridges, like Naruto suggested, but maybe he could try something else?

Kakashi narrowed his Sharingan at a pathway originating from a nearby tree. Carefully, he willed it to widen, focusing entirely on its entrance. If he needed to transport something, the opening had to be bigger.

Naruto inhaled sharply as the air around the tree began to warp. The spacetime pathway vibrated erratically, sending ripples through the invisible web. Some pathways merged, others split. Lines twisted and recoiled like living threads resisting the disturbance.

It was chaos.

"Uh… Sensei?" Naruto said cautiously. "I think your jutsu's opening is a bit too big…."

"I can see that, Naruto," Kakashi responded, voice calm but focused. "That was what I was aiming for."

Naruto squinted at the fluctuating strings. "You do realize you're about to send an entire tree into another location, right?"

Kakashi didn't miss a beat. "I can track it with my Sharingan. Right now, the pathway just… disappears into nothing. That likely means it leads to a higher dimension." He paused, then added mildly, "Now, if you'd be silent for a moment and let me concentrate-"

"Alright, sheesh," Naruto muttered, folding his arms.

"Don't stop," Kakashi said immediately.

Smirking, Naruto placed his hands back on Kakashi's shoulder.

Minato, watching the unfolding experiment, frowned slightly. "Kakashi, if you can open pathways but can't direct them yet, sending something large through could be dangerous."

Kakashi smirked slightly. "It's just a tree. It's not like I'm sending a person through."

"That's what you say, but we have no idea where it'll-"

Before Minato could finish, the entire tree lurched backwards, its roots ripping free from the ground. The next moment, it collapsed inward and vanished into the unstable vortex.

Silence.

The group stared at the now-empty space where the tree had once been.

"…Okay," Naruto said slowly. "You definitely sent it somewhere."

Kakashi sighed, tilting his head slightly. "Now the real question is… where?"

Shisui coughed. "If it lands on someone's house, we might have some explaining to do."

Naruto turned to Minato. "Dad. Tell me you put a Hiraishin seal on that tree."

Minato blinked. "…I did not."

Naruto groaned. "Well, someone in another dimension is about to have a really weird day."

Kakashi rubbed his chin. "I think that went well."

Minato sighed. "You have a low bar for success, Kakashi."

Kakashi smirked. "It's called setting realistic expectations, sensei. You're too cautious."

"Once you get stuck in spacetime for a month, you'll learn to be cautious too." Minato muttered.

Kakashi paled.

Shisui clapped his hands. "Well. Who's ready for round two?"

A vast, formless void stretched endlessly in all directions. No sky, no horizon. Only darkness.

But amidst the emptiness, one place stood apart.

A domain of matter.

Jagged, rectangular stone-like structures were scattered haphazardly across the space, resembling remnants of a world long forgotten. The ground beneath them was neither earth nor sky, just an extension of the void itself, solid yet unnatural.

In the shadow of a massive stone pillar, Uchiha Obito sat with his back resting against its cool surface. His breathing was slow, steady.

Here, in this space outside of the world, he found rare moments of respite. The solitude of his personal dimension was unbroken by the passage of day and night, making it the only place where he could momentarily lower his guard.

No shinobi could touch him, nothing could harm him.

Then, something shifted.

A sudden, unnatural distortion rippled through the void, like a tear in space itself. Obito's Sharingan snapped open, instinctively activating Kamui just as a massive shadow loomed overhead.

Something massive materialized out of nowhere, hurtling toward him at an alarming speed.

A tree.

He phased out just in time as the massive trunk slammed into the stone ground, splintering a little on impact. Fragments of wood and debris exploded outward, disturbing the unending silence of the desolate landscape. Several of the floating stone structures trembled from the force, shifting from their positions slightly.

Obito reappeared a short distance away, eyes narrowed as he took in the unexpected intruder. His gaze moved to the uprooted tree. It was mostly intact but completely out of place.

"Now… how did that get there?" Obito's voice cut through the eerie silence of the void, low and edged with curiosity. He stepped forward, placing a hand on the fallen tree's rough bark. It was solid, real. The residual chakra lingering in its fibers confirmed what he already suspected.

'Kakashi'.

This changed things.

His previously impenetrable domain could now be accessed by an outsider.

He had known that Kakashi's Sharingan had evolved. The man had confessed as much himself, though unintentionally. Kakashi had developed the bad habit of speaking openly in front of Obito's grave, as if the dead could offer him counsel. Had, being the key word. The Jonin had stopped that habit recently. Likely after the invasion of Konoha.

But that was beside the point.

Both of the Uzumaki in Konoha could now detect him to some degree or another. Travelling to Konoha now bore an unnecessary risk. And ever since he miscalculated against the Fourth Hokage, he avoided risks.

A stray thought entered his mind.

He could deal with Kakashi. That would remove this complication entirely. Zetsu had suggested it multiple times.

But Obito dismissed the thought almost immediately.

'That is not necessary.'

Kakashi was simply a victim of this twisted world, much like himself. Once the Infinite Tsukuyomi was cast, Kakashi would be happy, content. Living in a dream where the world was whole. His death wasn't necessary. Not for now, atleast.

Too often, he had ignored Zetsu's efficient but crude solutions. Obito preferred to show the world that it could not be saved, even when given every chance.

The Akatsuki had first appeared as an independent force. And what did the Hidden Villages do?

They inquired about their availability for missions. Contracts, assassinations, wars that could not be tied back to them.

Obito laughed silently.

'If only they knew how much they sabotage each other through us… No, even if they did, it would change nothing. Because they all play this game.'

A shift in the air caught his attention.

Obito tensed.

Another gateway was opening.

He sighed.

'It seems I will have to find another place in this realm. One beyond Kakashi's reach.'

Onoki, the Third Tsuchikage, rubbed his forehead in irritation.

He was too old for this shit.

At eighty-four, he should have retired long ago. Maybe even settled into the afterlife by now. But no, here he was, still sitting in this damn chair, dealing with another mess.

He had been seven when Konoha was founded. Ten when Iwagakure came into existence.

That felt like a lifetime ago. No, several lifetimes ago.

Although shinobi from the other villages had branded him The Fence-Sitter, mocking his tendency to weigh his options before committing to action, his own people had a different title for him.

The Eternal Kage.

As if they expected him to go on forever.

As if he were some kind of immovable relic, a permanent fixture of the Hidden Stone.

He exhaled sharply, shaking his head. "Eternal Kage," his ass. He was a stubborn old man who hadn't found a replacement competent enough to not ruin everything the moment he stepped down.

The chair beneath him creaked as he leaned back, glancing at the towering stacks of reports cluttering his desk. Logistics, mission updates, intelligence reports. Headaches wrapped in paper, he called them.

And yet, despite everything, despite all the experience he had accumulated over the decades, he still didn't have an answer for what was troubling him today.

Iwa's spies had reported something deeply concerning.

Things were happening in Konoha.

And Konoha was the last village he wanted anything positive to happen in.

Onoki had been delighted when he first heard of Orochimaru's attack on Konoha. The snake had finally bit the hand that fed him.

His spies who watched the chuunin exams had witnessed the chaos firsthand. The battle between Orochimaru and the Third Hokage had not gone as expected. They hadn't been able to get a clear view. Their survival depended on not lingering too long. But they had seen enough.

The barrier isolating the fight had exploded.

A surge of red chakra had erupted from the center, staining the sky like blood.

Dark, chaotic chakra.

Konoha's jinchūriki had been nowhere near the fight. He had reportedly pursued the One-Tail Jinchūriki.

After the barrier was destroyed, there was no one left in that area. However, his fleeing spy had seen something strange.

Paper tags seemingly gathered at the origin of the previous explosion. Then, a humanoid form materialized out of thin air.

Onoki's hands clenched.

He knew that jutsu far too well.

The Impure World Reincarnation.

Only a handful of people in Konoha could possibly cast it.

Hiruzen. Danzō. And Orochimaru.

One of these three had summoned a jinchuuriki back from the dead.

Specifically, Mito Uzumaki.

He was sure it was her, since Orochimaru had kindly sold him intel regarding his attack on the leaf two days ago.

Not that he could trust the intel completely. Not that Onoki had trusted a damn word of it. The only thing more dangerous than an enemy was an unreliable ally. He had waited for confirmation, and the reports from his spies that just arrived seemed to indicate the same thing.

Things made sense now.

Orochimaru had revived the First and Second Hokage to fight Hiruzen. He would definitely have resurrected Mito Uzumaki if he had access to her remains.

And if the intel was correct, she was currently free to do whatever she wanted, since she somehow overrode Orochimaru's control over her.

Onoki rubbed his temple.

He didn't know much about the woman. Few did. But he knew this:

She had sealed the Nine-Tails within herself without Senju Hashirama's help.

She had been a Fūinjutsu master without equal since the fall of Uzushiogakure.

She was able to break out of the impure world reincarnation when both the FIrst and the Second Hokage could not.

And now, she was in Konoha. She was not bedridden like she had been during the second shinobi war. Nor was she restricted from leaving Konoha by an overly cautious Second Hokage during the first war.

Of course, the bad news didn't end there.

This intel from another source. The Akatsuki, courtesy of Deidara, had sent him some intel.

The Yellow Flash has a son.

Onoki gritted his teeth.

Not only was the brat the Jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails, but he was also half Uzumaki.

And now, Konoha had the greatest Uzumaki Sealmaster to teach him how to wield that power.

This won't do at all.

But a direct attack on the jinchuuriki would cause a war. And Konoha was strong now, having gained a Kage-level ninja from Orochimaru's attack.

Onoki leaned back, exhaling slowly. Not for the first time, he questioned the supposed genius of the Snake Sannin.

Orochimaru had handed Konoha a Kage-level ninja in exchange for what? A failed invasion? He had strengthened the very village he sought to destroy.

'An immortal body with infinite chakra…' Onoki shuddered. Now that was another headache. He was simply hoping that Orochimaru would find a way to deal with her. It was a mark of his failure, after all. As the leader of a hidden village, he would see a significantly reduced mission inflow if the word got out.

Onoki was the only kage-level ninja in the hidden stone now.

Konoha had three. Hiruzen, Jiraiya and now Mito. He was discounting Tsunade for now, due to reports of her haemophobia. Once again, he was unsure if he could trust Orochimaru's intel in that matter.

Even if weakened by the limitations of reanimation, her knowledge alone made Mito Uzumaki Stone's jinchuuriki would be more or less pointless with her presence.

'That unruly brat Ay wouldn't sit idly if he knew. I don't have to do anything overt. For now.' Onoki decided finally. 'A juicy bounty would do no harm, though. Five hundred million? Yes, better not take any chances.'

With a sigh, Onoki issued an order proclaiming a bounty of five hundred million ryo on one Naruto Uzumaki. Not even Jiraiya and Orochimaru together could fetch that much money during times of peace. And this Naruto was just a chuunin. An easy target.

'Poor kid. You were born to the wrong parent.'