The atmosphere inside the tent was suffocatingly tense as the two factions locked eyes. On one side stood Uchiha Fukashi, Naka, Naori, Eisuke, and Arashi. On the other were Shimura Danzo, Akimichi Torifu, Nara Shikasuke, Senju Kenji, and Uzumaki Mito. Kagami stood precariously in the middle.
"With the current layout of the battlefield, why don't we bring a definitive closure to this war?" Shikasuke began cautiously, stepping forward after a subtle nod from Torifu.
Kagami's forced smile vanished, replaced instantly by a dark frown. He stepped forward to argue, but before he could speak, Fukashi intercepted him. Fukashi knew Kagami was in no state to lead a proper negotiation with the newly arrived 'reinforcements'.
"We hold a clear advantage over Suna," Fukashi argued smoothly. "Especially with these fresh reinforcements, we could push them straight back to their hidden village and force them to sign a treaty on their own soil. Wouldn't that be far more symbolic? It would project a powerful image for the Sandaime's new regime."
Naka and Kagami snapped their heads toward Fukashi, completely shocked. Until this moment, Fukashi had been the most vocal critic of Kagami's relentless aggression. This sudden shift in behavior did not escape the sharp eyes of Kenji and Danzo.
"While that certainly sounds tempting, Fukashi-san, the village desires peace far more than continued warfare," Torifu rebutted, his voice heavy. "Moreover, Konoha's resources cannot be squandered simply to feed the ambitions of a single clan."
"Is that so?" Fukashi questioned, narrowing his eyes. "But I recall that Sarutobi Hiruzen himself approved this front's initial deployment, and the village was quite satisfied with our achievements. I am certain the civilian council would be even more jubilant if we secure a total surrender."
"The initial operation was undoubtedly successful," Danzo cut in coldly, stepping over Torifu's faltering expression. "But because that objective has been achieved, Konoha and the Hokage have issued a new directive: settle a peace deal with Sunagakure immediately. Pushing further will cost more lives, and that will not be tolerated. Unless, of course, you wish to declare yourselves rogue."
"IMPOSSIBLE!" Kagami burst forward, his chakra flaring violently as his Mangekyō spun to life. "Danzo! Torifu! There is no way Hiruzen would order us to stop when we are this close!"
"Exactly!" Naka agreed, stepping up beside Kagami. "We are on the verge of a complete victory! Who are you to rob us of our hard-earned honor and glory?"
The reinforcing commanders frowned deeply at the outburst, their postures stiffening.
"Kagami, this is no time to be chasing after your clan's vanity," Danzo stated, his voice clipping like ice.
"THIS!" Kagami stepped even closer. The reinforcements took a collective step back, their hands drifting toward their weapons as they prepared for sudden violence. "This isn't about glory or honor!"
Naka pulled back slightly, casting a bewildered, searching stare at his commander.
"This is for Sensei!" Kagami finally roared, his voice echoing off the tent. "How can you not understand? As his direct pupils, how can you sleep soundly at night without avenging Tobirama-sama?!"
Silence blanketed the tent. The surrounding Uchiha clansmen stiffened, their Sharingan spinning to life as they turned to look at Kagami in absolute disbelief.
"WHAT?!" Naka took an outraged step forward, but before he could reach the commander, a shadow blurred past him.
"UCHIHA KAGAMI!"
Fukashi slammed Kagami against the central pillar, hoisting him up by his collar. His own Mangekyō Sharingan blazed with fury as he growled into the younger man's face. "You risked the lives of our entire clan for such a stupid, pathetic reason?!"
"Fukashi-sama!" Naori and Arashi lunged forward, grabbing Fukashi's arms from both sides, desperately reminding him that they were not alone in this tent.
Fukashi glared into Kagami's unperturbed, unbothered eyes for ten agonizing seconds before shoving him away.
"I knew you had become soft ever since you started following that albino Senju around," Fukashi spat, turning his back on Kagami. "But I never thought you would completely lose your mind over him." He spun toward his kin, his voice booming with authority. "Pack your gear! We are leaving this front!"
"Fukashi-san! We still haven't finalized—" Shikasuke began.
"What is there left to discuss?! End this farce!" Fukashi bellowed.
The coercion of his Mangekyō Sharingan crashed over Shikasuke, cutting the Nara off mid-sentence. Kenji and Danzo instantly moved forward, flaring their own chakra to shield the strategist from the Fukashi's Sharingan.
Fukashi snorted in pure disgust, then stormed out of the tent, followed closely by the rest of the Uchiha detachment.
***
The moment Fukashi stormed out of the command tent, he was met by the sight of Shinichi standing before a wall of Uchiha clansmen. They stood at attention, putting up a fierce and unyielding momentum. Directly across the encampment, the village's reinforcements—shinobi from the Senju, Shimura, Nara, Yamanaka, and Akimichi clans—stood their ground with an equally hostile posture.
Moments later, Torifu and Shikasuke hurried out of the tent behind the Uchiha leadership.
Fukashi didn't even bother to glance back at them. He raised his voice, his command ringing across the oasis. "Pack your gear! We are leaving!"
A wave of confusion rippled through the ranks, breaking their strict discipline as the Uchiha broke out into quiet murmurs. Before the hesitation could spread, Shinichi turned sharply to face the crowd, his voice cut through the noise.
"Uchiha! Gear up for the march! You have fifteen minutes! Fall out!"
"Fifteen minutes, Fall out!" the squad captains barked in unison. The clansmen snapped back to attention, echoed the command, and rapidly dispersed to strip their camp.
Shinichi stepped back to stand beside his father, who stood with his arms tightly crossed and his face twisted in a deep frown.
"What happened inside, Father?" Shinichi asked quietly.
"..." Fukashi's brows furrowed deeper as he bit his lip in frustration. "Kagami orchestrated this entire war just to fulfill a personal vendetta for Tobirama."
"A vendetta?" Shinichi's brow twitched. "Against Suna?"
"Tobirama's death was planned by Iwa's Mū and executed by Kumo's Kinkaku brothers," Fukashi growled, lowering his voice so the neighboring Senju couldn't hear. "But ultimately, it was Suna's chakra poison that delivered the final blow. Kagami has completely lost his mind to grief."
Shinichi remained silent, his mind racing. He had no definitive proof yet, but the flow of events on this front seemed far too smooth to be organic. Kagami's transformation from a peaceful mediator into a bloodthirsty avenger was too abrupt, too drastic. He turned his head back toward the command tent.
"Where is Kagami-san?"
"He's still in the tent, fraternizing with the enemies." Fukashi spat. "Forget about him."
"Fraternizing..." Shinichi stroked his chin, his past-life instincts screaming at him. He muttered under his breath, "The Anbu Commander..."
"Hm? You mean Kenji?" Fukashi asked.
"Yes. What is his relationship with Kagami-san?"
"Kagami was Tobirama's prized pupil," Fukashi explained, watching his son carefully. He could tell the boy's mind was piecing a puzzle together. "Because of that, he practically grew up in the Senju compound. He spent years training alongside his teammates and Hashirama's sons, Kenichi and Kenji. Is there something on your mind?"
"Nothing conclusive yet..." Shinichi raised his gaze, his eyes narrowing as he scanned the reinforcing lines. "What kind of person is Kenji?"
"Kenji is the quiet type. He stays in the shadows and rarely appears in public..." Fukashi's voice trailed off, his own eyes widening as he realized exactly what his son was implying. If Kenji had been close to Kagami since childhood, he was perfectly positioned to pull the puppet strings of Kagami's fractured psyche.
Before Fukashi could articulate the thought, both father and son violently spun around.
A familiar, overwhelming spike of Yin chakra flared from within the command tent.
Boom!
A chilling, sinister aura—a suffocating pressure that Fukashi had only ever felt once before, during the legendary Battle of the Valley of the End—shattered the air. The heavy canvas of the command tent tore to shreds, blasted upward into the sky as a colossal, orange-furred mass expanded outward at a terrifying speed.
"What the..." Fukashi breathed, his hand instinctively snapping to his sickle. Through the rising dust, he spotted Kagami standing defiantly on top of the beast's massive head, a trail of blood tearing down his cheek from his weeping left eye.
***
Five minutes earlier, inside the tent.
Slap! Clatter!
A crisp strike echoed within the enclosed tent, followed quickly by the hollow clattering of a porcelain wooden mask rolling across the floor.
Mito finally stood up from her seat, having walked directly toward her son to deliver a harsh slap across his face.
"Kenji," her voice trembled, soaked with an uncontrollable mixture of rage and maternal worry.
The exact moment she had arrived in the command tent—greeted by Kagami and her son—her Uzumaki sensing abilities had picked up an unnatural, sickening transformation in Kenji's emotions. From Kenji's core, she felt a cold, silent, and entirely emotionless abyss. Deep within that void lay a tiny, flickering amber spark of warmth screaming for help. It was a terrifying mirror to Kagami's own sinister emotions, which were actively masking his true self.
She gritted her teeth, staring directly into Kenji's eyes. She wanted to demand answers to the countless questions she had been bottling up, but the fierce argument erupting behind her forced her to turn.
"Kagami! Ask yourself!" Danzo shouted, his voice tight. "Would Tobirama-sensei ever want you to avenge him at the cost of Konoha's security?!"
"DANZO! With Mito-sama here and our fresh reinforcements, we can achieve both!" Kagami countered, his voice desperate. "Retribution for the evil inflicted upon us, and a peace for Konoha!"
As Mito turned back toward them, Kagami looked at her, his eyes beaconing with a fragile sense of hope.
"Don't you agree, Mito-sama? We can finally avenge Tobirama-sama!"
Mito's face contorted into a melancholic frown. 'How could such sunny and bright child turn into this...'
Reading Mito's tragic stance instantly, Kagami's hope withered. He snapped his gaze toward Kenji, searching for any sign of support, but his friend's motionless, downtrodden attitude offered nothing but rejection.
"Kagami, Hiruzen is the Hokage now," Mito said softly, taking a slow step toward him. "You must follow his orders."
"As I thought..." Kagami hung his head low, a dark chuckle escaping his throat as he muttered to himself. "It is always easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to ask for permission."
"Kagami?" Mito halted mid-step. Her sensory perception spiked as she felt a sudden, volatile wave of emotion erupt from the young Uchiha—a sinister aura mixed with a chilling malice directed entirely at her.
"If you are not with me... then you are against me!" Kagami bellowed, snapping his head up.
A blinding, crimson glow completely filled Mito's vision.
---
Instantly, Kagami found himself standing within a massive internal mindscape, illuminated by brilliant flashes of golden light. Ignoring the dazed, frozen figure of Mito—already locked in place by his initial Mangekyō Sharingan Genjutsu—he looked up. Massive, glowing yellow sealing chains coiled around the entire perimeter of the mental space, forming a titanic cage.
And then, he found it.
Bound to a massive, spherical boulder at the center of the cage was the giant, orange Nine-Tailed Fox. Colossal stone pillars stabbed directly through its chest and pinned its tails firmly to the ground.
The beast's massive ears twitched as it glared down at the intruder.
"An Uchiha...! Just like Madara! What do you want, insect?!"
Kagami didn't bother to converse. He raised his hand, his fingers snapping into a hand seal as his Mangekyō Sharingan spun at a violent, erratic speed.
Bwahahahahahah! Ahahahahahahahah!
The Nine-Tails threw its massive head back, its wild laughter shaking the mindscape before it leveled a mocking smirk at the boy.
Uchiha brat... you were merely lucky to encounter Mito at her weakest moment. Otherwise, you would have failed to trap her in a Genjutsu in the first place!
The beast leaned its massive snout forward, its hot breath blasting across the space.
You think too highly of yourself. You are no Madara. You may have paralyzed Mito, but you cannot possibly bind me at the same time!
Kagami slowly lowered his hand, closing his eyes as he whispered into the void.
"We'll see about that..."
When his eyelids snapped open, the sclera of his left eye completely engorged with ruptured blood vessels. A thick tear of blood gathered at the tear duct and sliced a crimson trail down his cheek.
Kamiyonanayo! (神世七代)
*Seven Generations of the Age of the Gods (that came after the Kotoamatsukami)*
Nani——!
The Nine-Tails thrashed violently within its bindings, desperately attempting to fight off the dōjutsu crashing into its mind. But the resistance was futile. In an instant, the beast's vertical, slitted pupils dissolved, replaced entirely by the cruel, spinning crimson pattern of the Sharingan.