~Flashback~
~Itachi, after meeting Danzo~
After finishing his conversation with Danzo, Itachi moved through the village on instinct alone. His feet carried him forward, but his mind felt strangely hollow, as if a single thought was looping again and again without allowing anything else to surface. He followed the familiar rooftops for a while, heading in the direction of the Uchiha compound out of habit more than intent.
Halfway there, he stopped.
Without any outward sign, Itachi changed direction. His body flickered and reappeared near the Ninja Academy, the building quiet at this hour, its training grounds empty and bathed in the dull orange glow of lantern light. He stood outside the gates for a few seconds, unmoving, eyes fixed on nothing in particular. Then, in another blur, he appeared atop the academy roof.
Ren was already there.
He was sitting casually on the edge, legs dangling, a half-melted butterscotch ice cream in his hand. He looked entirely out of place, too relaxed, too normal, for someone who regularly found himself at the center of village-shaking events. Ren didn't look surprised when Itachi appeared. He didn't even turn his head right away.
They sat in silence.
The night air was cool, carrying distant sounds of the village settling down. Ren licked his ice cream slowly, unbothered. Itachi stood for a moment before sitting down a short distance away, his posture straight, composed, as always.
After a long pause, Itachi finally spoke.
"Danzo called me."
Ren hummed in acknowledgment, still focused on his ice cream.
"What did he say?"
Another pause followed. Itachi's brow tightened ever so slightly, as if the question itself was difficult to process.
"I don't know."
Ren stopped licking the ice cream. He glanced sideways, studying Itachi's expression, then looked back ahead. Neither of them spoke for a while after that. The silence wasn't awkward, it was heavy and thoughtful, the kind that pressed down on the chest.
Eventually, Itachi broke it again.
"It seems I really am under a genjutsu, like you said."
His voice was calm, but there was something unsettling beneath it. "After talking with Danzo, the only thing in my mind is this overwhelming need to protect the village. And… the thought that the Third Hokage is just as bad as Danzo himself."
Ren let out a small sigh and leaned back on his hands. "Well," he said lightly, "he is bad. Just not in the same way."
Itachi turned his head slightly, listening.
"Right now," Ren continued, "we can't do anything about him. Not realistically. Killing the old man would cost too much. His influence, his strength, the faith people have in him, unless he willingly steps down, sacrifices himself, or chooses death on his own terms, forcing it would tear the village apart. That kind of price isn't something Konoha can afford yet."
Itachi nodded slowly, absorbing the words.
"But," he said quietly, "I want to kill him."
There was no anger in his voice, no hesitation, just certainty.
"He's bad for the village," Itachi continued. "And I want to protect the village. That's… the only thing I can think about right now."
Ren's movements finally stilled completely. He lowered the ice cream and stared ahead, his expression turning thoughtful. After a moment, he asked.
"When Shisui died… did he have his Mangekyo active?"
Itachi thought back. The memory surfaced easily, too easily.
"Yes," he said, his voice heavier now. "He did."
Ren exhaled slowly. "Damn." He shook his head. "That explains a lot."
Itachi looked at him, waiting.
"Looks like Shisui put you under a genjutsu too," Ren said bluntly.
"Probably something like protect the village at all costs. A command so deeply engraved that it overrides everything else and since you also wanted to protect the village, you didn't feel anything even after awakening your Mangekyo. No grief, no hesitation, just purpose."
Ren paused, then continued, "And Danzo… he took one of Shisui's eyes. Which means he either knows about the Genjutsu, suspects it, or at the very least figured out how to exploit you."
Itachi's fingers curled slightly at his side.
"He planted the idea," Ren went on, "that Hiruzen is just as bad as he is. So even after Danzo dies, that doubt remains. And with that doubt… you act. You try to kill the Third Hokage, chaos follows, the village fractures. All according to his will, even from beyond the grave."
Ren finished speaking and went quiet.
The rooftop fell into silence once more, thicker than before. The lantern light flickered below them, shadows stretching across the academy grounds.
Neither of them moved.
For the first time that night, Itachi felt something stir beneath the haze in his mind, not clarity yet, not freedom, but resistance.
After a while, Itachi spoke again, his voice low, almost resigned.
"I don't think I can stop," he said.
"Even knowing about it doesn't help much. My Mangekyō… it isn't enough to resist Shisui's Mangekyo Genjutsu. Awareness slows it down, but it doesn't break it. Over time, my thoughts will be conditioned. Little by little, the idea will settle in, that the Third Hokage must die to protect the village."
He paused, eyes fixed on the empty training ground below.
"And the best moment for it," he continued calmly, "would be when he's addressing the public. Maximum impact, maximum chaos."
Ren didn't respond right away.
Both of them fell silent again, the weight of the problem pressing down on the rooftop. A civil war sparked by the assassination of the Hokage, carried out by the young Uchiha clan leader in front of the entire village.
Ren could already see how it would unfold. The Uchiha would be wiped out under the banner of justice. Konoha would fracture. Other villages would move in like vultures.
After a while, Ren straightened slightly.
"What if," he said slowly, "there's someone who's an even bigger threat than the old man?"
Itachi turned his head just enough to show he was listening.
"If you genuinely believe," Ren continued, "that this person is a greater danger to the village than the Third Hokage, someone who must be dealt with first, would that redirect it?"
Itachi went quiet, his Sharingan spinning faintly as he thought. Seconds passed. Then he nodded.
"It should," he said carefully. "At least… in theory. There are two layers of influence here. Whatever Danzo planted is shallow compared to Shisui's Genjutsu. Shisui's is absolute since he is the owner of the Mangekyo, but its core is simple, protect the village. If my perception of what threatens the village changes, then the priority should change too."
He frowned slightly.
"But," he added, "that threat would have to be undeniable. Something I can't ignore, even subconsciously."
He looked directly at Ren.
"Who are you suggesting?" Itachi asked. "The masked man?"
Ren's lips curled into a small, knowing smile.
"No," he said. "That idiot's dangerous, sure, but he's loud and obvious. You can see him coming."
Ren lifted his gaze toward the distant treeline beyond the village walls, his expression sharpening.
"The one I'm talking about," he continued, "is quiet. The ancient, patient kind, he's the kind of thing that survives eras without anyone noticing him."
Itachi's eyes narrowed.
"He is," Ren said calmly, "the greatest villain in the entire ninja world."
Itachi's breath caught.
"He's the one who might have caused the death of the First Hokage."
For the first time that night, Itachi lost his composure.
"What?" he asked sharply, the word slipping out before he could stop it.
Ren nodded, utterly unbothered by the reaction, his grin widening just a little.
"Yeah," he said. "There's a mastermind behind almost everything. Wars, rebellions and even madmen chasing power. A huge game that's been running for centuries."
Ren finally turned fully toward Itachi.
"And the funniest part?" he added. "Even if the both of us work together, there's only a slight chance that he might get hurt."
Itachi slowly exhaled, forcing himself to regain control. His voice dropped to a whisper.
"You're telling me," he said, "that even if the two of us work together, there's only a chance we could hurt him?"
Ren's grin didn't fade, but there was something cold behind it now.
"Yeah," he replied. "A chance. Not a guarantee."
Itachi stared at him, the implications settling heavily in his mind.
"What… is this thing?" he asked quietly.
Ren glanced once more toward the edge of the village, toward the darkness that lay beyond the forests and history itself.
"Zetsu," he said.
~~~
~Present Time~
Ren's plan had always been crude at its core, but layered enough that even a creature that had survived centuries of manipulation would hesitate before dismissing it.
Itachi was under Kotoamatsukami, that much was certain. Not a crude compulsion, not a blatant overwrite, but a carefully shaped directive with two intertwined pillars.
First: protect the village.
Second: protect the village from Hiruzen Sarutobi, who is also a threat to peace.
The second part hadn't been Shisui's doing. That seed had been planted later, nurtured carefully by Danzo, watered with selective truths and deliberate omissions. It wasn't strong enough to replace Shisui's will, but it didn't need to be. It only needed to bend the path slightly, just enough that when the moment came, Itachi would act.
Ren had no intention of trying to break Kotoamatsukami outright. That would have been idiotic. Even knowing about it, even with his resistance, even with brute force, forcing it would shatter Itachi long before it broke the Genjutsu. Shisui's Mangekyo was designed specifically to bypass resistance, to make the victim believe the thought was their own.
So instead of fighting it, Ren chose to redirect it.
If Itachi believed Hiruzen was a threat to the village, then all Ren had to do was present a threat so large, so fundamental, that Hiruzen stopped mattering.
Not erased. Just… deprioritized.
And there was only one existence in the shinobi world that qualified.
Zetsu.
A parasite that had lived since the era of myths. A creature that didn't rule, didn't lead, didn't fight openly, but guided by whispers. Nudged history in the direction it wanted, over and over again. Wars, reincarnations, hatred passed down like inheritance, Zetsu had been there for all of it.
The problem was simple.
You couldn't convince someone of Zetsu's threat with words alone.
Not Itachi.
Not someone whose entire life had been forged by evidence, consequences, and certainty.
For Kotoamatsukami to bend, Itachi would have to see it and that meant Zetsu had to come out into the open.
Which was easier said than done.
Zetsu didn't move unless the board shifted. It didn't react to noise, only to change. Something that threatened its long-term plan. Something that forced it to re-evaluate centuries of assumptions.
And Ren had just delivered exactly that.
Danzo was dead. The Uchiha massacre had been prevented. The village hadn't fractured, instead, it had unified. A Senju heir with monstrous potential had been openly declared successor to the Hokage.
And now, on top of all that, the young Uchiha clan leader and that Senju heir were clashing in public, powerfully, violently, meaningfully.
To Zetsu, this wasn't chaos.
This was an anomaly.
If the plant was still operating under its old assumptions, Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha were supposed to be the pieces that mattered, the reincarnations of Ashura and Indra, destined to clash, to repeat history, to fuel the cycle.
But what if that assumption was wrong?
What if the chakra signatures it was sensing, the resonance, the pull, the pressure, didn't belong to Naruto and Sasuke at all?
What if the reincarnations had shifted?
Ren and Itachi.
A Senju and an Uchiha.
Two prodigies.
Two leaders.
Two people standing at the center of a village-changing moment.
If that idea even flickered in Zetsu's mind, it wouldn't be able to ignore them.
It would watch.
Observe more closely.
Move nearer.
And once Zetsu was close enough, once it slipped out of the shadows to confirm its suspicions, that was when Ren would act.
He didn't need to kill it immediately. He didn't need to reveal everything.
He just needed Itachi to see it.
The moment Itachi saw Zetsu with his own eyes, the Kotoamatsukami would do the rest. A directive to protect the village could not coexist with the existence of something like Zetsu. The contradiction would tear at the conditioning, force Itachi's mind to reassess priorities on its own.
No command could survive that.
The plan had been built on uncertainties. On "ifs" stacked on top of other "ifs."
If Zetsu noticed.
If it took the bait.
If it drew the wrong conclusion.
If Itachi saw enough to understand.
Any one of those failing would have ended the whole thing.
But now, now Ren could feel it.
That faint, disgusting presence at the edge of perception. Not chakra in the normal sense. Not hostility. Just… observation. Like something pressing its face against the glass of reality, peering in with curiosity.
Zetsu was watching closely.
All that was left now was for the plant to decide it was time to step onto the board.
And Ren waited, calm and patient, already planning how to rip it out by the roots once it did.
~~~~~
{Hm, the next few chapters would be a bit difficult to write, Zetsu fighting, something like that was never seen in the canon, so although I'm a bit excited to write about it, I'm also kind of worried if it would turn out well, but oh well, we'll only know once I've written it.}
{GOODBYE}
{From eternal lonliness, sikeeeeeeeeee.....}
{It's done guys, 💍✅, the deal is officially locked, thank you for your wishes, keep us in your blessings.}