Shadows and ghosts part two

This starts immediately from where the other part ended. Screw word limits.

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Night had fallen and Itachi went back to the hideout that Kisame was hold up in. His partner may hate it, but Itachi knew the ins and outs of the ANBU in the village and could slip through without issue as long as he was alone.

Kisame was extremely good at concealing his chakra, especially for one with massive reserves, but the Hyuga weren't like the sensors in Kiri; they were better. And he didn't doubt the Hyuga were jumping at shadows because of Kumo having a presence in the village.

If he had to deal with Kisame trying to stay covert when exploring the village, then he wouldn't have been able to disguise himself as an ANBU to see Sasuke for the first time in over 4 years.

Today had been one of the few bright moments since he had killed his clan that he had experienced.

And he started to have doubts on what needed to be done.

Sasuke didn't hate enough. He had challenged him and had demanded that he train him and the Uzumaki girl, refusing to get assistance if she didn't as well.

She was obviously a friend, a close one at that. He would need something to make Sasuke hate him even more. Another use of the Tsukuyomi could do it, but he wanted to conserve his vision as much as he could.

The illness he had discovered had woken him up to how terrible things could have been. After Uzumaki Naruto had mentioned something about him being sick, he had gone to his father about being potentially ill with an overlooked illness; he'd kept out the details on who he learned it from.

His father didn't address him as the clan heir or as the rising star of the Uchiha clan when he heard those words, he addressed him as his son, just as a father should. He'd commanded him to find out his illness and told him the rough area where Senju Tsunade had been last seen near the capital of Hi no Kuni.

His father had made an excuse to the Hokage that Itachi had an injury that was flaring up and needed to take some time off to not aggravate it.

A few weeks of food in a storage scroll and a change of clothes later, Itachi had been on his way to find out if he truly was sick.

Finding Tsunade was one of the hardest tasks he'd ever done on his own, but he finally managed to.

He'd had to dye his hair and used conventional, non-chakra means to disguise himself. His father didn't want any rumours of the Uchiha heir being potentially ill spreading, especially from the mouth of a drunken gambler who might share secrets of a clan that was a rival to hers once upon a time.

The diagnosis had nearly made his blood freeze in his veins when he heard it. If he had waited a few years, he would have died well before he reached 25.

The last Senju had mentioned that it was a type of esoteric toxin that Suna had come up with in the second war that only a select few Suna puppeteers used because of its volatility.

The toxin was modified from a nerve agent and tissue eating kind that was specifically made to react to chakra. The more chakra used, the more toxic it gets.

It fell out of favour because the toxin lingered far too long and several Suna nin had died from unintentional exposure to it. There were still traces of it all over old battlefields from years past and Itachi likely had the misfortune of being accidentally exposed to it when he was either a genin or around the time he'd been a Chunin and was on a few missions near the border of the Land of Wind.

Itachi, like many Shinobi, used chakra to strengthen his body and ward off fatigue. If he hadn't found out and started a treatment regimen, the damage to his internal organs would have been irreparable. As it was now, he'd lost years of his life, but he had mitigated most of the damage and would still live for decades longer and his physical abilities weren't hampered too much.

He kept thinking of that and started to think it would have been better if he ignored Uzumaki's warning.

He didn't deserve to live all the years ahead of him when he killed so many innocents. It didn't matter if 'Tobi' was the one that killed the infants, he didn't argue to keep a few children alive. He'd been a coward and had believed the village would kill Sasuke, because why else would the Hyuga not have caught it? Danzo said every single clan head had come to an agreement. The Uchiha, for all their strength, couldn't take down the entire village. And Danzo took the chance of Shisui stepping in to convince either the Hokage or his father, the clan head, away.

Itachi's lip curled into a sneer as he remembered the blood dripping down his face at witnessing his best friend die in front of him. Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi may be extremely powerful abilities, but he'd rather have his best friend beside him instead of the cursed eyes that had begun to blur slightly.

Not a single Hyuga moved in to try and stop it, which only proved to him that the Hyuga Shinobi that were positioned outside of the outskirts of the Uchiha compound were plants to act as supposed "Unbiased witnesses" to his murder of his clan.

But Tobi didn't want witnesses to his presence.

He clinched his fist and kept walking, regretting his choice of hideout.

Itachi made his way to a secret room, a room that would have had his father rolling in his grave at the thought of a non-Uchiha, and a foreign Shinobi, hiding in.

He got to the Naka shrine's entrance and walked down the hidden steps, a few recently ignited torches lighting his way. He got to where Kisame had made his temporary living area.

The former Kiri nin was laying on a cot and had his Akatsuki robe off and neatly folded in the corner next to his own, a pair of casual clothes currently on.

"Forget about me?" Kisame asked, his attention on the book he'd been given when Itachi had bought a few when they first entered Konoha to keep him occupied while hiding, "And where's the food?" He set the book down and looked at the Uchiha.

Itachi held up a scroll without vocalizing his response.

Kisame scoffed and sat up, gesturing for the scroll. "I have no idea how you Konoha Shinobi can seal food into a scroll without ruining it."

Konoha had the best seal masters in the world currently, enough said.

Itachi set the scroll on the ground and pulsed some chakra into it with his finger, causing a small puff of chakra to come from the scroll as Kisame's supper was revealed.

Kisame grinned, revealing his teeth, and grabbed a chicken leg, biting into it.

"Where did you get this?" He asked, taking another bite, "This is better than anything in Kiri."

"The restaurant owned by the Akamichi," Itachi replied, "I got takeout."

Kisame finished the one chicken leg and grabbed another, eying him curiously.

"Didn't you get yourself something?" He asked, taking a bite from the second leg.

"I'm not hungry." Itachi said simply, content with just sitting where he was.

Kisame grunted and tossed a wing at him, aiming for his face.

Itachi caught it and gazed at Kisame emotionlessly.

"Must you be juvenile?" Itachi asked flatly, not in a jesting mood.

"You're already shorter than me," Kisame shrugged, cracking the chicken leg bone in half, "I don't need a short twig as a partner."

Knowing Kisame would hound him about it until he ate something, Itachi took a bite of the wing to shut him up. Despite trying to hide his emotions, Itachi couldn't stop himself from relaxing and sighing at the taste of the meat. It truly was good and he hadn't had it in years.

The two ate in silence for some time, before Kisame broke it with a particular query.

"When will the coast be clear for me to stretch my legs and wonder around?"

"Soon," Itachi replied, "With multiple Jinchuriki and foreigners arriving, security won't be as tight about following new faces. The Hyuga will also be focusing on the two Kumo Jinchuriki."

Kisame snorted amusedly. "Ironic that our prey will be our camouflage."

Itachi nodded slightly, his gaze tracing the walls as he remembered the last conversation he had with his father in this very room.

It had been about his plan to release the Kyuubi and control it if need be.

"Is there any Konoha Shinobi we need to prepare for in case we're spotted?" Kisame asked, setting aside the stripped bare bone.

"None aside from the Sandaime and Jiraiya of the Sannin are capable of killing us." Itachi answered, slowly blinking.

Even though he had decisively defeated Orochimaru and could have killed him, he didn't have any knowledge of Jiraiya's capabilities. Every S-rank had multiple dangerous jutsu in their arsenal that could tip a battle in their favour. At younger than 20, Itachi had multiple such options, including his Mangekyo, his Susanoo, and the Totsuka blade that his Susanoo had. Taijutsu skill and Ninjutsu couldn't match those, but Jiraiya undoubtedly had abilities that weren't known that ensured he survived to his fifties.

And he didn't plan on fighting any Konoha nin if he could avoid it. It would be a waste to kill any foolhardy Shinobi that thought they were doing the right thing.

Kisame grunted and kicked back to think to himself for a brief moment, giving Itachi more time to stew over what he was going to do.

He'd need to discreetly try and probe around to find out any vulnerabilities Sasuke had psychologically, hopefully something not tied to the Uzumaki girl.

Sasuke needed to awaken his Mangekyo to possibly survive the coming storm that next to no one knew was coming. But he may have overdone it by telling Sasuke it would require killing the person closest to him to be strong enough to kill him. Sasuke might have made the decision to refuse stooping to that level, which gave him mixed feelings of pride and irritation.

Based on Sasuke's unhesitatingly harsh response to the girl being left out, she obviously meant something to him, which made things problematic because she was one of Konoha's Jinchuriki. He'd need to think up of a way to get Sasuke to an acceptable level and the girl may be the key.

He could discreetly activate his Sharingan to burn the girl's features into his mind in the weeks leading up to the finals.

After all, the Tsukuyomi world was his to manipulate when cast, and a perfect reconstruction of what someone close to you looks like getting violently murdered by your own hand might be enough to mature a Sharingan.

If not, he can run it on repeat until the message sunk in.

"Nii-san! What's going on!" He could almost hear his brother's fearful voice echoing in his ears.

"Why?" He screamed, the sound full of raw anguish and betrayal feeling like claws tearing into his soul.

Sasuke was all he had left. Without him, he was lost. He might have been free of his clan's demands and the feeling of being torn at the seems between loyalty to his family or the village, but he was now a slave to a shadow that he couldn't hope to kill on his own. He, a 13 year old boy, had been forced to clean up the mess of adults! He was the one that lost everything. He who was forced to cut down his parents and tortured his brother. Even the gods seemed to try and crush him by trying to kill him with that infernal toxin that gnawed at his lungs sufficiently enough to scar them before the Senju Sannin stopped the damage from progressing.

Konoha would spit on his grave and everyone that mattered to him would look upon him with scorn for murdering them and being too much of a coward to save even the most innocent of the Uchiha. He failed at being an ANBU and the clan heir.

"I will be back." Itachi said stiffly, standing up abruptly, starting to walk away to clear his thoughts. The location was making things worse.

"Bring me back some more books if I'm going to be here another day or two," Kisame called out, "The only good one is this new one about the bootleg samurai with 'lightsabers' or whatever the hell they're called." He held up the cheap paperback of some no name author that was halfway popular among some of the incoming foreigners wanting to see about prospective Shinobi competing.

Itachi nodded absentmindedly and left, needing to clear his thoughts before Kisame noticed something was wrong.

He got to the surface and started clenching and unclenching his hand, trying to calm his breathing.

He almost humoured the thought of storming the ROOT headquarters that was hidden and kill Danzo with Amaterasu and make the treacherous bastard scream for mercy as the flames chewed at his flesh.

Itachi made his way towards where it all happened. Where his hope died along with his clan. He swallowed his grief and faced it head on, strolling through the empty streets of the clan he would have led when his father stepped down.

Every sign, every crack in the stone of the ground, every light, it reminded him of each life he took; each kin of his that he cut down.

'Hikaru was killed there, severed spine and pierced heart. Kimiko didn't even see it, her throat being cut and neck broken.' He remembered each and every name of those he killed.

The civilian made films never got the assassination aspects of Shinobi life correct. It was laughable how terribly incorrect they were. There was no music, no clever one liners, no counting of kills and boasting afterwards.

No sound aside from your breathing and your heartbeat pounding in your ears, with the faint gasps and occasional scraping of steel against flesh being audible when another victim was claimed. Those ridiculous films didn't give a visceral replication of what the overwhelming scent of blood was like, nor the fact that animals, including humans, voided their bowels at the point of death.

And it didn't tell the viewer how thrilling it was. The adrenaline, the dancing upon a knife's edge of him possibly being discovered as he systematically cut everyone in front of him down had filled him with a primal hunger to win, complete his mission, and follow his orders like a proper Konoha Shinobi that had him retching up any food he tried to force down for days afterwards and haunted every waking and sleeping moment for long after.

Killing was as primal an action as any, and Reality never sold well with those who want to flee from the real world to watch a film or read a book.

He didn't realize how heavy his breathing was and how fast his heart was racing until he came across a painfully familiar house. He hadn't been walking anywhere in particular around the Uchiha compound, but it seemed is subconscious hated him just as much as he hated himself and wished to punish him with the reminder.

Thankfully, it looked like Sasuke had moved out and lived somewhere else, because he didn't think he was in any condition to see his brother at this particular moment.

Itachi slowly walked towards what was once his home, being mindful of any possible ANBU or other security possibly spotting him. But even distracted, he was still better than most at infiltration. He was Uchiha Itachi after all. He supposedly evaded the Hyuga clan and was able to slip through and escape the village.

It's not like an opening was intentionally left open to let me escape. He thought darkly. It's not like the Hyuga deployed were monitoring the opening and conveniently didn't see anyone other me as 'Tobi' cut them down in a second.

On some dark days, he caught himself thinking that he'd been played by the Hokage, especially since he didn't hear any news about Danzo dying.

If Danzo had been acting alone and had lied about the other clan heads unanimously agreeing on killing the entire clan, then he had betrayed the village and should have been executed under the guise of succumbing to his injuries.

But he heard nothing of Shimura Danzo, the Kage's shadow, dying at any point when amongst the different Shinobi he'd encountered that would hear whispers of it.

That meant Danzo was still alive, and that meant the Hokage still found him useful enough to not be killed. A traitor to the village and the reason everything was taken from him was still allowed to be seen as a respectable elder and veteran while he was to be hunted and forsaken!

So long as Danzo was alive, Sasuke was in danger within the walls of Konoha.

Gritting his teeth, he walked into his house and looked around, the faint scent that he always related to being home, assaulting his nostrils.

Walking further in, he was almost in a daze, seeing and hearing things that weren't happening.

"You're a good boy, Itachi, never forget that." His father said, just before his own son cut him down.

He managed to get to his parents bedroom and pushed the door open, staggering slightly as his vision started to blur.

He got to the closet and started rummaging through the clothes that hadn't been touched in years. His father's jacket, the one his grandfather had worn during the later stages of the First Shinobi War and later Second; being practically an heirloom at this point, was still as pristine as ever despite a small build up of dust.

His mother's clothes still had a faint flowery scent to them that had him almost choking as he tried to breath as the memories came up, specifically the last one.

"It's okay, Itachi, make sure your hands aren't shaking." Her soft, melodic voice reminded him, still trying to help him as he stood over her to kill her.

He tried to stagger away, but his foot caught on something and he fell, his knees feeling too weak to hold him up.

'Stop.' He growled in his mind, clenching his teeth as the memory refused to be any less unforgiving in it's clarity.

It was useless though, the same eyes that saved his life countless times burned the worst of all things into his very soul.

To think that those eyes are the reason his family died. His continued survival ended their own chances.

Itachi coughed and spat to the side, the spit tinged pink. He'd been warned that extreme stress and a constant state of fight or flight would aggravate the scarring in his lungs, and blood tinged sputum was a sign to try and calm down, but he couldn't. He wouldn't.

What right did he have to living comfortably when he murdered them!

He growled and forced himself up, ignoring the metallic taste of blood on his tongue. He walked back to the closet and grabbed his father's jacket, stripping off his clothes and putting it on.

After sealing his own clothes into a scroll and putting it in one of the pouches of the jacket, Itachi walked towards his old room, his mind set on a specific item located there.

Getting to the room, he pulled a drawer open and pulled out a blunted kunai, the lack of rust or corrosion on it pointing towards the quality of the steel.

This was the toy that Uzumaki Naruto had been blindly grabbing for when he was choking on his own blood and clawing at the face of what he probably saw as the Shinigami coming to take his soul with his other hand.

'Not yet. Not yet. Not. Ready.'

Konoha failed the Uchiha and the Uchiha failed Konoha as well. But the Uzumaki didn't fail Konoha, while this village had failed Uzu decades ago.

Itachi had been told about everything the Uchiha knew about the Uzumaki clan, as was expected of the clan heir. Uzumaki Ashina specifically was only surpassed by Senju Hashirama and Senju Tobirama in how hated they were by Uchiha Madara. The first and only Uzukage had evidently killed two of Madara's uncles during the Warring States era, even if they couldn't prove it was him that did it. But what was known 100% was that the battle that Uchiha Izuna was killed at and where the Uchiha clan was decisively defeated had been laced with traps and explosives of Uzumaki origins, and the Nidaime had been occupied fighting alongside his brother, meaning he couldn't have made and placed the traps.

Uzu wasn't aided when they were destroyed, even after they had aided Konoha constantly. That dark shadow that always seemed to be at the back of his mind since he had witnessed the bloody harvest of battle at a young age seemed to darken even further as his thoughts became more and more cynical.

Itachi was the clan heir of a broken and dying clan and was completely bereft of allies, alone and trying to protect his brother, with Konoha giving nothing but scorn.

Uzumaki Naruto was the elder of the only two Uzumaki he knew were alive, making him defacto heir. A clan as old as his, with their own reputation for producing capable killers, and a younger sibling that he adored.

And Konoha scorned him as well.

He remembered Uzumaki Kushina had been pregnant at one point. He'd heard the hushed conversations his parents had, about Fugaku's concerns about the potential risk of 'it' getting loose. After the Kyuubi was unleashed, the conversations started up again, including his father relenting and saying he'd try to see if he could press for taking care of 'the two of them', even if he had no belief in anyone backing them although Kushina was a close friend with his mother.

Uzumaki Naruto had Itachi's envy, because his sibling still loved him.

Uzumaki Rin and Sasuke looked like opposite ends of the coin as they were training today before he revealed himself.

Rin was constant movement and chaotic, like a maelstrom smashing into the shore. While Sasuke was cold and clinical in his taijutsu, being able to match the relentless assault that was the blonde Jinchuriki's style of fighting by countering and reading her attacks with his Sharingan.

Itachi was proud of Sasuke's progress, even if the shadow cast by what awaited them dampened it. But the way they fought wasn't what had him feeling sick at the thought of following through on stoking Sasuke's hate.

Sasuke had been stealing glances at the girl when she wasn't looking, causing him to smirk. His little brother seemed to reach the age where girls started to look very interesting and his blonde teammate seemed to have his attention.

And Rin reminded him somewhat how Sasuke was before he killed their clan. Sasuke was always a bright child, not bright as in smart, although he was very intelligent, but in how he was always cheerful and happy. That girl practically glowed in how happy she was when they were training and was excited when she managed to properly perform a wind jutsu she'd been working on.

All in all, it had him doubting he could do it.

Itachi blinked and realized he'd been rooted to the spot for quite some time, still holding the blunted kunai. He pocketed it and exited the house, a certain line of questions haunting him.

Could he give up? Could he bring himself to leave the Akatsuki and tell the Sandaime everything he knew about the group and return to his home? He could help Konoha prepare for what was coming. Pein wielded the Rinnegan, but Tobi was the true leader behind it all. A prodigy and boogeyman he may be seen as, but he feared he wouldn't be able to kill either of them on his own. He knew little about their abilities and Tobi knew almost everything about him.

He passed by a street intersection and he thought he saw something in his peripheral.

Jumping in alarm, a kunai flashed in his hand and his Sharingan flared to life, the instincts drilled into him at a young age on alert.

He blinked when nothing seemed to be there.

He started doubting his own sanity when he recognized the spot he was staring at.

It was the exact spot Sasuke had stood when he'd destroyed any hopes of his brother ever loving him again.

"Why, nii-san!" Sasuke's screaming echoed through his head, clutching his arm from a kunai nicking him, "How could you do this!"

Tsukuyomi.

He ruthlessly crushed the memory, but it didn't work at all.

Constant screaming, the smell of blood and the look of betrayal in eyes that were just like his, sitting in a soft and babyish face that always looked at him with adoration.

Itachi remembered falling to his knees, just like he did right now. Except this time, he didn't have a blade that looked so enticingly sweet to stab himself with.

He supposed he could try stabbing himself with the blunted kunai, but he doubted he'd have the strength to keep stabbing himself until it pierced.

He always was a coward.

///////////////

This was was how it felt to be Uchiha Itachi, forever.

The first light of realization in your new reality brings pain.

It burns you. It will always burn. Part of you will always lie in a pool of blood beside those that reared you, the ones you destroyed.

You look upon the circumstance your failure has reaped, anguish scarred eyes projecting a hideous illusion that looks like the light and shadow of reality, but it can't be true, for a good and just world can never punish the innocent. It must be your cursed eyes that twist everything good and bright into a foul lie.

Or perhaps your eyes are perfect, and it is reality that is hideous.

"Sandaime-sama, it is done." A voice not your own, it's so dead, comes forth from your lips, the shadows closing in as the blood of your family clings to you like a foul shroud.

The aged man who you pledged your life to doesn't forgive the sin of failure, but somehow makes the pain even worse with merely a reply.

"I gave no order. You were deceived."

That burns hotter than the tears of blood as your best friend was just outside of your reach and plunged into the cold torrents of the Naka. It cuts deeper than the look of betrayal in your brother's eyes.

No...No. It's not possible!

Everything you did was to be strong enough to end conflict and bloodshed. To be strong enough to bring a better tomorrow.

You are the selfless Shinobi. You had pledged your young life to protect a man with a limited time left in this world, done what your father told you like a dutiful son should, you loved your brother and served your village with pride.

You were the best. You didn't do anything wrong. You were a victim.

So why does guilt feel like poison in your veins?

Because you remember.

You remember it all.

You remember the rage that filled you as you tore through both Shinobi and civilian, man and woman; Rage born from your own failure and the failure of the father you so dutifully listened to. You remember the ice in your soul as you cut down an elder that convinced your father to betray the hope of peace. You remember the unadulterated look of relief in your brother's eyes at your survival. You remember the light vanishing, to be replaced by terror.

You remember your hatred at your father, the elders, the clan heads, Shimura Danzo, the Hokage, the Kyuubi for not dying like the beast should have, and yourself above all else for being a naive fool to think that two teenage boys could stop a war with words and decisive action that was bloodless. All of them, those shadows that haunt you were why your brother had an emptiness in his eyes that you saw when you cleaned the blood of your family from your face. Those shadows killed his innocence.

But there is one moment, one painfully bright moment, in which you realize there wasn't a shadow. There never was. That there was only you. Only Uchiha Itachi.

It was you. Is you.

You did it.

You killed that innocence.

You wrapped a merciless grip around it's neck and squeezed.

You killed it because, finally, when you could have done what you swore to do, protect him, when you could have ran off with him, told him the truth, told him he mattered to you more than your own life and freedom, when you could have been thinking about him, you were thinking about yourself, your need to be hated...

It is in this moment that you realize the trap that is the Uchiha Curse of Hatred, the final cruelty of the kin you slew.

Because you are all that you will ever have.

Your brother, the child you so selfishly broke, will be free from his chains as he condemns you to the fate you deserve. The chains that you so desperately tried to break will weigh you down as you're dragged into the hellscape that is your new reality.

And you rage and scream and lash out to crush the shadows that have destroyed you, but they are unreachable. You killed your father, your clan. You can't betray your Kage, you can't extinguish another light that was like your brother to seek vengeance on the Bijuu that caused your clan to be feared, and you are too loyal to Konoha, or perhaps too weak, to end yourself.

In the end, you don't even want to.

In the end, you will have only yourself left.

The shadow that is Uchiha Itachi understands you, forgives you, he embraces you as one closer than family... for he is you.

And as the boy with your cursed eyes and your father's hair says words laced with cold dismissiveness and disappointment, you can't help but agree completely.

"It's your fault." The words seem to taunt him, his greatest fear coming to life, "It's your fault."

////////////////

Itachi gasped and bit down hard on the inside of his cheek, drawing blood as his vision was swimming.

The sight of where he had last seen Sasuke before he left had caused him to remember the state of his mind immediately after what happened, specifically the hatred that had consumed him, and still was present, but under a tight leash and covered by cold acceptance.

Itachi pried his teeth from the soft flesh of his cheek and spat out some blood, focusing on the stinging to center himself.

'To hell with subtlety.' He knew where Danzo's headquarters was. He was going to kill him and tear the building down brick by brick, body by body.

And he was going to do it alone.

Itachi made sure his chakra was suppressed and slowly made his way to the top secret location that Danzo ran ROOT from, deciding he might actually get to test whether someone can be stabbed to death by a blunt kunai.

He exited the compound silently and had a feral smirk on his face at the irony of what was going to happen tonight.

The demon everyone thought he was will pay a visit to Shimura Danzo tonight.

And not a single soul would be the wiser of his presence.

If the Sandaime was angered by it when ROOT and Danzo went silent, Itachi didn't care. What was the Hokage going to do, declare him a traitor? A missing nin? A monster?

You can't threaten someone with damnation when they already are damned.

Danzo wasn't a threat or a danger.

He was just another step on the road to hell.

//////////////////

"Shimura Danzo is dead," Tobi said to Pein, his legs crossed slightly as he lounged back in a chair, "And I am pursuing another option to acquire Bijuu."

The soft impact of rain could be heard from outside, the weather predictable from the name of the nation they were in.

"What is the option?" Pein asked, turning to look towards the masked man that was Akatsuki's benefactor.

Tobi smirked slightly, but the show of emotion was hidden behind the orange mask with a swirl pattern, practically a new, unscarred face for the Uchiha.

"Orochimaru is one of the only Shinobi capable of performing the Edo Tensei. A potent weapon when fighting Bijuu, especially when the user reanimates the best Shinobi to combat Jinchuriki."

Pein, with Konan present as well, both turned to him.

"You plan to offer a deal with Orochimaru?" Pein asked, a soft lilt of curiosity barely noticeable, "The same Shinobi that betrayed the Akatsuki and has complicated our plans on more than one occasion?"

"Orochimaru is a consummate survivor and an uncommonly intelligent individual," Tobi pointed out, "He will accept any chance to increase the odds of achieving his goals. Leave the task to me. This is simply a forewarning that certain moving parts will be noticed."

With that, Tobi stood up and walked towards the edge of the balcony, gazing out at the skyline that was completely obscured by buildings and torrential rain.

"Prepare Amegakure for hostilities to break out between the Shinobi villages," He said shortly, "Jinchuriki are more easily captured and ambushed during wars. If my plan succeeds, a short war will break out that will insure several Jinchuriki will be apprehended within a short couple years."

With that, Tobi, as he was called at times, if not Uchiha Madara, and hadn't been called by the name he was given at birth in a long time, disappeared in a swirl as his body fazed out of reality and he reappeared where another figure was waiting for him.

The cold dampness of the cave that was their meeting place was ignored in favour of finishing the conversation that was interrupted by the need to give Nagato an update.

"Nagato has been informed with the necessary information," He told the other figure, for it definitely wasn't human, "Must this be done? A plan was already set before Orochimaru chose to invade Konoha and before fate saw fit to have 6 Jinchuriki in one village. It will require me to speak to Orochimaru in person."

"As you said," The harsh and cold voice of Zetsu echoed lightly through the cave, "This situation will not occur again. Itachi and Kisame won't be able to apprehended any more than one, if even that."

That wasn't even the part that was irksome; only being able to get one at the most and remain covert. It was that the two had been sent out to Konoha already when he received word that Danzo had died, whether from natural causes or his cruelty catching up to him. Itachi hadn't fooled him. He knew the Uchiha had an unwavering loyalty to two things only; His brother and Konoha.

So long as Danzo was a threat to Uchiha Sasuke, Itachi would be unable to rebel against his authority, no matter how much he pulled at the chain and fought.

But the old war hawk's death had been unforseen and Itachi's continued loyalty was in a precarious position.

The vial of blood clenched in his fist would solve that problem though. No worries about Itachi when the individual whose blood was in the vial with preservation seals on it from decades prior would be able to contend with even the greatest of Kages and S-ranks today. Victory against him 13 years ago had robbed Konoha of it's strength, and a ghost was going to remind them of that.

Konoha would not survive the storm waiting to be unleashed in this seemingly innocuous container. The Sage's blood ran through his veins, it made up the flesh of his arm and leg, and it ran even stronger in the blood that was held between his fingers.

"Senju Hashirama used his Mokuton to suppress and defeat the Bijuu, handing them out like trinkets to the other hidden villages," He remarked, holding up the vial and smirking at the familiar clan symbol etched into the glass, "But he isn't the only one that can suppress a Bijuu." He smirked as he remembered when he brought the Kyuubi to heel, just as Madara had done.

He glanced towards Zetsu and pocketed the blood, ensuring it was secure.

"How old is this blood sample?"

"Before you were born." Zetsu replied.

"That still means he was at an advanced age."

The Edo Tensei was based on the age of the DNA sample, meaning that blood hypothetically taken from a battlefield or other locations from when the person was in their thirties would make the Edo Tensei that age, and not the age they were when they died. A rather simple way to stop your choice of reanimation being hampered by being old and decrepit in comparison.

"Age means little," Zetsu said with a voice that almost sounded condescending, "The Sandaime is likely the strongest Kage alive. An Edo Tensei has no stamina inhibitors, just as Senju Tobirama intended."

Of course Zetsu would know such details about the Kinjutsu invented by Senju Tobirama. Zetsu was an extension of Madara's will, and the ghost of the Uchiha would know the details of a jutsu he fought against multiple times.

He wondered what it would be like to fight a reanimation of anyone he had once cared about. A grin danced across his masked face, stretching the scars lightly as he thought of the cold irony of what would happen if everything went to plan.

History would have remembered this plan as one of the greatest in history, but history would end with the Eternal Tsukuyomi. The history of death and the Shinobi system will come crashing down. He was content with being forgotten, assumed dead and rotting under a boulder, all alone.

The people held hostage by this world's cruelty will never know his name, his face, or anything that had made him him.

And he was fine with that.

The age of heroes was a lie. Honour didn't exist and the world was ruled by killing and brutality.

And a ghost woke him up to reality.

Blinking, he used his Mangekyo to teleport to a clearing he was familiar with, vanishing from Zetsu's location.

Refusing to let his guard and caution down, Uchiha Obito pulsed chakra into his legs and Shunshined towards the Village Hidden in Leaves, not revealing his ability to the world just yet.

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End Chapter

When I decided to alter stuff, I wasn't going to half-ass it. And when I decided that the finals were going to be more chaotic than pretty much any I've seen in this fandom, I decided to not sell it short. 6 Jinchuriki, Orochimaru interested in the MC, the Raikage coming, Itachi and Kisame, and now Obito dropping off some blood to Orochimaru to tie up a possible loose end in the Akatsuki. The Akatsuki are professional, and it's definitely unprofessional for a member to possibly betray the group.

More gets revealed next chapter and the one after will probably be the finals where everything comes to a head.