The master left the room without a word, his expression unreadable.
Hanekawa watched him go. A Konoha ninja. A man who'd killed the Third Mizukage. Of course the old man didn't trust him. Hell, he probably suspected Hanekawa had engineered this whole situation with Yagura just to worm his way into the village's inner circle.
Maybe he had a point.
"Hanekawa."
Mei Terumi's voice pulled him from his thoughts. She hesitated, choosing her words carefully. "If the Hidden Mist cannot defeat Uchiha Madara... will you help us?"
He turned to face her, taking in the careful neutrality of her expression. "Then you should think very carefully about how you'll repay me."
Her delicate features tightened. She opened her mouth, closed it again, and fell silent.
The weight of that debt hung between them. Information about Yagura's control, Hanekawa's intervention—it would cost Hidden Mist dearly to repay. Not in money. In obligation. In leverage.
Mei Terumi bit her lip, clearly wrestling with the impossible choice.
The door opened. The master returned with three figures in tow.
Hanekawa's lips curved into a smile. Of course.
Hoshigaki Kisame. Momochi Zabuza. Hozuki Mangetsu.
The Seven Ninja Swordsmen. Or what remained of them.
Mangetsu's eyes went wide at the sight of Hanekawa. He actually took a step back, as if confronted by a ghost. The last time they'd met, Hanekawa had beaten him senseless and dragged him away in chains. The trauma was written across his face.
Kisame and Zabuza, by contrast, studied Hanekawa with open curiosity. Pride radiated off both of them—the kind that made them want to measure themselves against legends. The Dragon of Konoha. They wanted to know if the rumors were true.
"Show respect," the master said sharply, noticing their stares.
"No need for pleasantries," Hanekawa said calmly. "Time's wasting."
The master nodded. "Mei Terumi and I will confront the Mizukage. The rest of you stay hidden nearby. If Madara suspects anything, he'll vanish."
"Understood," they replied in unison.
---
The Mizukage's office was exactly what Hanekawa expected: all polished wood and official seals, the kind of place where power was supposed to feel inevitable.
Yagura looked up from his paperwork as they entered. "Elder Genji. Mei Terumi. Welcome."
The master's eyes narrowed. No sign of control. No obvious tells. Just the Mizukage, calm and composed.
"Lord Mizukage, I've received intelligence that requires your immediate attention," the master said, stepping closer.
"Please, speak freely."
The master's hand shot out, grabbing Yagura's wrist. Chakra flooded into him, searching, probing—
And found it. A dark, suffocating presence coiled around Yagura's core. Sharingan chakra. Unmistakable.
The master's face went pale. "It's true."
Yagura's expression didn't change. He twisted his arm, and the space around them warped. The master screamed as his right arm was torn clean off, blood spraying across the office.
"Master Genji!" Mei Terumi's cry of alarm echoed as she stumbled backward.
The door exploded inward. Kisame, Zabuza, and Mangetsu poured in, weapons drawn.
"What is the meaning of this?" Yagura asked, his voice eerily calm. "Rebellion?"
"Someone, come here!" he called out.
A dozen ANBU materialized around them, but confusion rippled through their ranks. Their Mizukage, their master, surrounded by the village's most powerful ninja—and they didn't know who to trust.
"Everyone!" the master gasped, clutching his stump. "The Mizukage has been compromised by a Sharingan genjutsu!"
"A lie," Yagura countered smoothly. "I am a jinchuriki. Illusions cannot touch me."
The ANBU exchanged uncertain glances.
"Uchiha Madara!" the master spat, his voice dripping with contempt. "You're as legendary as Hashirama Senju himself, yet you hide in the shadows like a coward? Come out and face us!"
A low chuckle echoed from the corner.
A figure emerged from the darkness, masked and cloaked. When he spoke, his voice was deep, resonant with power. "Who told you I was Uchiha Madara?"
Obito stepped fully into view, his Mangekyō Sharingan blazing crimson.
The master's eyes widened. "Those eyes... they're not ordinary."
Mei Terumi felt her stomach drop. The presence radiating from this man was suffocating. Dangerous in a way that made her skin crawl.
"You still haven't answered my question," Obito said, his tone dropping to something lethal. "Who told you?"
"Kill him. Save the Mizukage," the master commanded, his voice steady despite the agony.
Zabuza moved first, his massive beheading sword raised high. He brought it down like an executioner's axe.
Yagura appeared in his path, moving with inhuman speed. Water coalesced around his hand, forming a blade of pure liquid force.
Zabuza cursed and redirected his strike, but Mei Terumi was already moving. "Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet!"
The sea churned. A dragon of water rose up and crashed toward Yagura, but he simply slashed through it, cutting the beast in half without slowing.
"I'll hold the Mizukage!" Mei Terumi shouted. "Take down Madara! Quickly!"
"Foolish children," Obito said, almost amused. "Do you understand what you're facing?"
Kisame unwrapped Samehada, the sword's spikes gleaming. "Samehada: Air-Eating Slash!"
He swung. The blade passed through Obito's body without resistance.
Zabuza's sword followed. Mangetsu appeared behind Obito, muscles bulging as he threw a punch that should have shattered bone.
All three attacks passed through empty air.
"What—?!" Kisame's shock was mirrored on the others' faces.
Obito's hand closed around Mangetsu's wrist. "Wood Style: Cutting Technique."
Branches erupted from his palm, sharp as spears, seeking to impale the young swordsman.
Mangetsu's body turned to water, the branches passing harmlessly through. He reformed several meters away, breathing hard.
"Wood Style?" the master whispered, his face draining of color. "How does Madara know Hashirama's techniques?"
"Impossible," Kisame muttered.
Obito tilted his head, studying them with casual disdain. "You're all quite weak."
Kisame's jaw clenched. He formed seals with practiced speed. "Water Style: Great Explosion Water Wave!"
He tilted his head back and unleashed a torrent. The water was so massive, so violent, that it tore through the Mizukage Building like paper. The structure collapsed in on itself, and the wave continued, a tsunami of destruction.
Mei Terumi abandoned her pursuit of Yagura and leaped clear. The others scattered, but the damage was done—the building was gone, replaced by a churning sea.
"At least he's useful for something," Zabuza muttered.
But Kisame's gambit had worked. In water, they had the advantage. All of them were water-style specialists. This was their domain.
"Where is he?" Mangetsu scanned the surface.
"There!" Mei Terumi pointed.
Obito materialized behind Kisame, his hands already moving. "Divine Power."
The space twisted. Kisame felt a pulling sensation, as if reality itself was trying to tear him apart. His eyes went wide. "No—!"
The vortex consumed him. He vanished between one heartbeat and the next, pulled into another dimension entirely.
"Kisame!" Mei Terumi's shout came too late.
Obito's Mangekyō Sharingan gleamed with satisfaction. Kisame had been the greatest threat—too much chakra, too much power. Now he was gone.
"You're nothing but trash," Obito said, watching Zabuza and Mangetsu tense. "All of you."
He raised his hand, and a skeletal arm of pure chakra materialized. It was massive, grotesque, radiating malevolent power. The initial stage of Susanoo.
Zabuza's beheading sword rose to meet it. The skeleton's hand caught the blade and swung, sending the swordsman flying across the water like a discarded toy.
Mei Terumi's breath came in short gasps. She'd used a third of her chakra already. The master was bleeding out. Kisame was gone. And Obito stood before them like a god.
"Hanekawa!" she screamed, her voice desperate. "Hanekawa!"
The moment his name left her lips, Obito's entire body went rigid. His chakra spiked—a wave of pure murderous intent that made the air itself feel heavy.
"What did you say?" His voice was a whisper, but it carried the weight of a mountain.
The Mangekyō Sharingan blazed brighter, and his chakra became almost physical, pressing down on everyone around him.
Mei Terumi felt her knees weaken. This man's hatred was suffocating.
Obito's hand rose, and vines erupted from the ground, wrapping around her like serpents.
She formed seals desperately. "Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet!"
The vines were blown away, but more kept coming, relentless and hungry.
She was backing away, her mind racing, when she felt it—a presence in the water. Hands reaching up from below, grabbing at Obito's feet.
Hanekawa emerged from the depths, water streaming from his clothes.
"It really is you," Obito said, his voice dropping to something cold and lethal.
His body faded. When it reappeared, he'd put distance between them, his feet now safely away from Hanekawa's reach.
"Mei Terumi, deal with the Three-Tails," Hanekawa said calmly, rising to his feet. "I'll handle this."
His eyes fell on Obito's right leg. In that brief moment of contact, he'd done what he came to do. A Flying Thunder God seal, placed and locked. Obito wouldn't even know it was there.
"Hanekawa!" Obito's voice was pure venom.
The sky darkened.
Susanoo.
Reality twisted as chakra coalesced into form. Lines of light spiraled upward, and a blue giant emerged from the chaos—a towering figure of impossible power, clad in armor that looked like it had been carved from the abyss itself. It held a massive sword, and its presence was so overwhelming that everyone nearby felt dizzy.
The fourth stage. Nearly complete.
Hanekawa's eyes narrowed. Hashirama cells. Of course.
But it wasn't perfect. Not yet. That gave him an opening.
"Water Style: Great Waterfall Technique!"
Water fell from the sky like rain, but Hanekawa controlled it, shaped it, weaponized it. It crashed against Susanoo's armor, and where water met chakra, steam rose in great clouds.
The blue giant didn't hesitate. It raised its sword and brought it down with the force of a falling mountain.
Hanekawa's hands moved in a blur. "Konoha Dragon God!"
His chakra erupted outward, transforming him into a dragon of pure power. Lightning crackled around him as he activated his Lightning Release Chakra Mode, armor forming from pure electricity.
The dragon collided with the sword.
The impact sent shockwaves across the entire battlefield. The ground cracked. The water churned. Everyone nearby was thrown backward by the force.
For a moment, they were locked in stalemate—dragon and sword, lightning and chakra, neither giving ground.
Then Obito's Mangekyō Sharingan flared. "Divine Power!"
Space twisted around Hanekawa. The vortex opened, ready to pull him into another dimension.
But Hanekawa was already moving. His speed was inhuman, impossible—he vanished from the distortion's grasp and reappeared behind Obito in the same instant.
Obito's shock was palpable. How did he—?
There was a sickening sound of metal piercing flesh.
Hanekawa's Thunder and Fire Sword erupted through Susanoo's armor, through Obito's body, blood spraying like a fountain.
"Ahhhhh!" Obito screamed, agony flooding through him.
But even as death approached, his hands moved. One last seal.
"Izanagi!"
Reality rewound. The wound closed. Obito gasped, alive again, but terrified.
He'd used his last trump card. The forbidden jutsu that could undo any injury, any death—but it came at a price. An eye. Gone forever.
Hanekawa didn't hesitate. He twisted the sword, driving it deeper, crushing Obito's heart.
The Uchiha fell, his body hitting the ground with a wet thud. His eyes—one Mangekyō, one now blind—stared up at the sky in shock and fear.
Then nothing.
Hanekawa withdrew the blade and turned toward the Three-Tails.
The massive turtle was still locked in combat with the wooden arhat, but it was tiring. Hanekawa clapped his hands together.
"Wood Style: Tree Realm Birth!"
The ground erupted. Massive trees shot upward, their branches and vines wrapping around the Three-Tails, binding it, restraining it.
The wooden arhat pressed its advantage, pinning the beast down and raining blows upon it until the creature could only cry out in pain and defeat.
When Obito's eyes opened again—resurrected by Izanagi's fading effect—the first thing he saw was Hanekawa standing over him, sword raised.
"You... you know the Flying Thunder God?" Obito's voice was barely a whisper, filled with horror and disbelief.
How many jutsu did this man know? How was he even human?
Hanekawa didn't answer. He simply brought the sword down.
With Obito's death, Yagura's eyes cleared. The genjutsu shattered like glass.
The Hidden Mist had been saved.
But the cost had been steep, and everyone knew it. The real war was only beginning.
---
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