Naruto turned his gaze toward Sasuke, who sat stiff and intent.
"Before this goes deeper," Naruto said, "do you really want a literal kid to be here?"
Sasuke frowned. "You're also a kid. And I have the right to be here. This is my family."
Naruto shifted his attention to Fugaku. "Fugaku. I know your circumstances. And I have a temporary solution. But the question is… do you want your heir to open his eyes too soon or not?"
Fugaku's expression tightened into something serious. "How much do you know of our real circumstances?"
Shisui answered before Naruto could. "My guess? All of it. Naruto knows exactly what we Uchiha really look like behind the scenes." He looked at Fugaku, tone steady. "And I'll say this straight. Sasuke's eyes will open way too soon if this continues. Will you accept that, Fugaku? This is exactly why I brought him here—to prevent any unfortunate outcomes."
Mikoto placed her cup down and called softly. "Sasuke. My boy. Come here." Sasuke stepped forward, confused as she wrapped her arms around him. "Sasuke… this may not be your time. But steel your resolve. Understand?"
Sasuke didn't understand a thing, but he nodded anyway, feeling her grip tighten.
Fugaku turned back to Naruto, voice low. "How much exactly do you know about us, Naruto? About what the Uchiha clan truly is?"
Naruto didn't hesitate. "I know the fucking elders blamed you—unofficially—for the Kyūbi attack. I know the rumor pinned it on your clan being the culprit. I know you were pushed to the outskirts and boxed in with surveillance twenty-four hours a day. And I know that so-called Uchiha Military Police position the village gave you is just a leash dressed up as authority."
Fugaku inhaled sharply, then nodded once in heavy silence.
Naruto leaned back, eye steady. "So yeah. I know enough."
Fugaku turned his eyes into Sharingan. "Are you ANBU? Someone the village sent to spy on us?"
Shisui casually took another sip of wine and glanced at Naruto's cane—the metal already shifting, half-forming into Masamune. "Fugaku-san… put down your Sharingan before Naruto actually cripples all of us. If that cane finishes transforming into his three-meter sword, even I can't help."
Itachi added, calm. "Naruto is immune to every type of genjutsu. He isn't allied with anyone. And he holds a very real grudge against Konoha. So he's safe from being controlled by the village."
Fugaku slowly let his eyes fade back to normal. "I apologize, Naruto. I'm under a lot of stress—"
Naruto cut him off with a flick of his hand. "Enough sorry and useless words. Let's get down to business. I have a way—at least temporarily—to make you and your clan untouchable."
Fugaku exhaled. "Actually… I have an idea. A peaceful resolve by using—"
Naruto's eye shifted into a blue sclera instantly. "You can't fight that shitty old man Sandaime—who can barely change his diaper every day—and those two fossil advisors, Koharu and Homura, with peaceful resolutions. You can't win using ANBU connections. You need to rig the game. Not play by the old man's rules."
Mikoto frowned. "Naruto, can you at least stop the swears? There is a child here."
Sasuke stayed silent, but the weight of his clan's situation finally started to click.
Fugaku steadied himself. "What do you propose, Naruto? Assassinate the Sandaime? That would be… dangerous. Other villages would attack us if we lost our Hokage."
Naruto leaned forward, voice dropping flat. "Change your angle. No one needs to die. But I'll make the most of the handiwork. Just do as I say, all right?"
He continued without pausing. "There'll be an emergency meeting for every clan head. You need to make the most ridiculous demands possible, all right? No shame in it. Ask Konoha itself as your personal castle. Ask for anything that forces them to stop underestimating you."
Sasuke opened his mouth to object,
but Mikoto beat him to it. "Naruto… what you're asking will corner us even worse. Our reputation already declines every year. This will put us in more danger."
Naruto's expression sharpened—Lambda's unbudging, absolute logic behind his eyes.
"Tomorrow," he said, "a certain scale will tip in your favor. Sandaime will absolutely side with you. But you need to be there. Tomorrow only."
Shisui frowned. "Naruto… the way you're talking, it sounds like you'll cast genjutsu on Sandaime. That isn't the shinobi way."
Naruto shook his head once. "There'll be no genjutsu. But Sandaime owes me something. He'll grant it. And this will be a two-birds-one-stone move. Everything that shifts next will be in your favor."
Naruto leaned slightly closer, tone flattening. "As for the end… if those shitty fossil heads don't want to talk like gentlemen."
He leaned into Fugaku's ear. "Tell them this. Yondaime—who is fucking dead—had a son. And you couldn't even give him a single edible piece of food. I helped him, while you all turned him into an outcast. And this is how you repay us. Not to mention—Konoha was founded by Uchiha and Senju, not Sarutobi. We're not asking to be Hokage. But if you won't even grant our reasonable requests… we'll leave with that child. Since even you don't appreciate us."
Fugaku froze in shock, then forced himself calm. "I won't reveal those last words to anyone here, but are—"
Naruto's eye shifted into blue sclera, stare slicing through the room. "Fugaku. Watch your words, all right? You're standing on a landmine. There's a line you must not cross. Understand?"
Fugaku lowered his gaze. "I understand. Sorry."
Sasuke exhaled sharply. "I know your angle, Naruto. All this planning for the Uchiha… there's always something you want."
Naruto shrugged lightly. "Right. My end of the bargain."
He pointed his cane toward Fugaku. "Can you make all of the Uchiha clan—and I mean all of them—gaze at the full moon with their Sharingan active? Three days from now."
Mikoto blinked. "What? Gaze at the moon?"
Shisui and Itachi exchanged confused looks.
Fugaku frowned. "I would understand if you wanted money… or influence among the clan. But staring at the moon? For what purpose? We don't mind, but… you're sure?"
Naruto tapped the cane once on the tatami. "For you, it's just gazing."
His eye sharpened. "For me? It accelerates things. That's it."
The air warped. Weirdmageddon poured off him in thin ribbons of distortion as he shifted forms—shrinking, posture straightening, clothes rewriting themselves into a pristine white suit with black-and-yellow trims over a blue collared shirt, white tie. Both eyes intact, gleaming with unnatural symmetry. His apostle form.
Mikoto's hand covered her mouth. "Henshin no jutsu…?"
Naruto flicked dust off the lapel of the immaculate white suit. "More advanced."
He turned toward Itachi and Shisui. "You. Or you and Shisui. Come with me."
Itachi blinked. "Come with you… where?"
Naruto adjusted his tie. "To the Hokage. Since some people might assume I genjutsu him, I need witnesses."
He tapped his temple. ""You'll be unseen. Meaning you only watch. Nothing else. I'll do the handiwork."
Shisui straightened. "You mean… something like a genjutsu cloaking us? A way to keep us from being detected?"
Naruto smirked. "Something like that."
Black cards rose around him like a spiraling veil. They wrapped Naruto, Shisui, and Itachi in a shifting cloak of shadows.
"See you all in the next five minutes," Naruto said as the cards folded reality—and the three vanished.
Sasuke stared at the empty space, hand tightening. "Father… Mother… I've seen Naruto. The current him. He's a terrifying kid. For us, maybe gazing at the moon is simple… but for him, there's always something fishy. It won't harm the village or us—but something will be affected."
Mikoto placed a steadying hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "Sasuke… do we even have a choice right now? Our clan is being pushed. Our people want something drastic."
Fugaku exhaled slowly, eyes sharpening. "Even if it's temporary, like Naruto said, at least there's a solution. I don't mind giving our fortunes if needed."
His brow furrowed. "But I'm still curious. It's too simple. Why only gaze at the moon?"
'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
Night settled over the Hokage's study.
Hiruzen shifted through scrolls and personnel reports, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"When will I retire…?" he muttered. "I always hoped Jiraiya would take this seat someday."
A door creak broke the quiet.Hiruzen blinked at the child-sized silhouette in the doorway. The soft lamp-light cast Naruto's apostle form in a pale glow—white suit, blue collar, neat tie, both eyes visible, posture small… yet somehow wrong. Like a storybook kid who stepped out of an illustration meant for adults.
The Third Hokage straightened slowly. "Are you lost, young man? If so, I can have someone escort you home."
Naruto smiled with that delicate, eerie politeness Bernkastel specialized in.
He hugged the teddy bear once. Then tore it open. Paper spilled out—rolled scrolls, folded notes, sealed diagrams. They hit the carpet with the light thump of weapons hidden in children's toys.
Naruto held up the scroll like an offering.
His voice softened, charming, almost sweet—yet threaded with something ancient.
"Sandaime… inside this teddy bear I brought you something useful."
Hiruzen's old eyes narrowed.
Naruto continued, tone disarmingly gentle.
"Simple first-aid techniques any shinobi can learn . Even an idiot can perform them."
"And basic hand-seal reductions for katon and doton. Easy patterns. Safer for your soldiers. Better for your village."
Naruto folded his hands behind his back, posture innocent, eye glinting like a stitched-on button from the bear he destroyed.
"All I ask," he said softly, "is one thing."
Naruto tilted his head, smile too calm to be harmless. "Tomorrow, you will hold a village meeting for the clan heads. And in that meeting… you will support Fugaku Uchiha. Completely. Unequivocally. Because I'm asking you to."
Hiruzen's breath tightened. "Tomorrow? That's sudden…"
He studied the small boy before him. White suit. Perfect posture. Eyes that didn't belong on a child. And yet—he didn't recognize him at all.
"Who even are you?" Hiruzen asked, trying for authority and failing. "What business does a child have meddling in Uchiha affairs? And I can't simply decide these things. The council must approve such a meeting. Something that large requires time, coordination—"
Naruto cut in with a soft smile. "Then I'll take it as a no. On my offering."
Hiruzen straightened. "No. And I suggest you go back to whatever village you came from. You're a child. Don't involve yourself in matters beyond your—"
Naruto's smile didn't move, but the room bent around him as Weirdmageddon leaked through the seams of reality. The deception Bernkastel drilled into him flowed like second nature.
He spoke lightly, almost playful. "That boy… the Fourth Hokage's son. Naruto. Son of Minato and Kushina. It'd be nice if my friends befriended him. Maybe help him unleash the fox inside him."
Hiruzen's entire body jolted. "How did you—?! No. Naruto is an orphan. His parents—"
He forced himself still. Shook the tremor out of his voice. "What is this, young man? First you offer a bribe. Now a threat. A carrot or a stick?"
Naruto tilted his head, smile sharpening like a blade coated in honey. "Oh, no. Make no mistake."
Weirdmageddon pulsed. The paper on the desk quivered. Shadows crawled upward.
"They're both fucking batons with electrodes."
Hiruzen inhaled sharply.
Naruto stepped closer, voice dropping to a whisper edged with cosmic malice. "If you accept my deal, you're a worthless Hokage who accepts bribes."
He tapped the desk once. Light bent wrong.
"If you refuse my deal… tomorrow will be the last day Konoha stands."
His smile widened, calm and merciless. "Either way… your life changes from now on."
Hiruzen calmly took the documents from the boy's small hands. His voice stayed controlled. "Young man… how did you know Naruto is the son of the Fourth Hokage?"
He looked up. The boy was gone.