Chapter 78

Chapter 78

It was the first time Kaen saw this jutsu. It was the secret jutsu of the Akimichi clan, so even as a Hokage, he didn't have access to it. He was surprised at how similar the concept was to the jutsu he tried to perfect. Kaen felt foolish that he hadn't thought of it. His external chakra network was similar to the way Akimichi can turn their calories into chakra.

But rather than pushing that chakra around their body, the chakra formed into butterfly wings, making it easier for them to control it. Kaen was in his little world at that moment, working on theories about how he could perfect his technique with the new inspiration he had. Too bad he had to force himself back to reality, as it wasn't time for that.

"Tch," Tsuchikage wasn't pleased with Choji's capabilities.

"Impressive," Raigake seemed intrigued but also cautious of the speed Choji demonstrated.

Kaen, on the other hand, watched the fight in silence. Even though what Choji did was impressive, Kaen knew that such a technique had its drawbacks. So, the boy won't be able to sustain this form for long. Asuma wouldn't have let Choji use that technique if he hadn't given strict orders for the boy to stop once it started harming his body.

"That fool," Kaen sighed as the fight between Choji and Kiba continued.

Kiba foolhardily rushed at Choji, not even thinking about his defenses. If Kiba analyzed the situation even for a moment, he would have realized that Choji couldn't sustain his new form, but like a prideful animal, Kiba couldn't stand down from a challenge. He rushed to Choji, slashing his claws, but to no avail, as Choji easily dodged them with barely any movement.

It probably hit Choji quite hard that his friend and teammate was the only one to pass his team's previous chunin exam. Knowing that Shikamaru was fighting in a foreign land against an opponent that far surpassed anything they had ever faced before probably gave the boy a new perspective on his life. Kaen was quite satisfied with Choji's determined look.

The boy wasn't so shy to trade blows now as he caught Kiba's wrist, threw him over his body, and slammed him to the ground. There was no hesitation as Choji punched Kiba in the head, not letting him even think of getting up. The ground beneath Kiba's head caved in from the attack. But Kaen knew his student well and knew how hard his head was, so he wasn't too worried.

And Kiba wasn't alone in this fight. Akamaru smashed at Choji, pushing the boy away from his master. It gave Kiba enough space to get up and prepare for another onslaught. This time, Kiba was cautious of Choji's speed and strength. Wiping the blood from under his nose, Kiba brandished his claws and got into position to attack.

"That Inuzuka's boy has quite remarkable endurance," Raikage commented. "Are they really just genin? Their strength had already surpassed most chunin."

"In your village, maybe," Kaen replied smugly. "But our village had higher standards for chunin."

"Don't take it too far, Hokage," Raikage warned Kaen.

Kaen didn't listen to Raikage and focused on the fight. Kiba was fast. Every time Kaen saw him, he seemed to get faster. But in his new form, Choji was even faster. None of Kiba's attacks reached Choji. And for every attack Kiba missed, he would receive an explosive hit back. A kick into his stomach, a punch into his head, and so on.

But Kiba's tenacity was commendable. Not even for a moment did Kiba consider that he would lose. No matter how hard he was hit, he would still go on. Kiba possessed pride above anyone else; he had full confidence that he wouldn't fall no matter how hard he was hit. And his obsession with victory led him to endure the pain and his injuries.

Kaen wished that Kiba would learn different things. But those things can be taught; pride, confidence, and obsession couldn't. One had to possess them. That is why Choji couldn't win. No matter how determined he was, he lacked those core aspects. In the end, Choji couldn't sustain his new form, but Kiba managed to endure the beating.

Once Choji couldn't sustain his butterfly form anymore, Kiba went for the kill. He didn't show any mercy to his former classmate as he slashed Choji's torso. Kaen could tell that the wound wasn't that deep, but to other participants, it probably looked worse. Kiba's next opponent will now have an image of Kiba downing Choji. They will now think that if Kiba could do this to his classmates, what would he do to them?

"An excellent match," Tsuchikage said, but his tone indicated frustration. "I am sure the genin who watched it have learned plenty."

"It was nothing but a brawl," Kaen replied, surprising the other Kages. "But I guess they are still inexperienced. They have not tasted war yet. If they had, the match would have gone differently. Still, for children, it was a commendable fight."

Kaen watched their reaction as he mentioned war. He still couldn't tell if they were scheming something or if it was only his paranoia putting ideas into his head. Kaen had no evidence yet to prove anything. So he couldn't confront them. He was left with no other choice but to wait for Anko to see if she found anything.

"The next match should be interesting too," Raikage suddenly said as new participants came into the arena. "Kurotsuchi from Iwagakure and Fuu from Takigakure. The granddaughter of the Third Tsuchikage and the Seven Tails jinchuriki."

"All I see are two naïve girls," Kaen replied, not impressed. "Both overconfident."

"For once, I have to agree," Tsuchikage grumbled as he watched his granddaughter stride into the arena. "They have too much to learn before they can think of looking at me like that."

Kaen suspected it Tsuchikage was talking more about his granddaughter than about Fuu. To Kaen, Fuu looked like an excited girl who only wanted to have fun and make friends. In a way, she reminded Kaen of Naruto. Well, it wouldn't surprise him if it was the first time Fuu left her village. Takigakure was quite secluded, after all.

While the previous match was more of a taijutsu performance, this one was done almost by ninjutsu. Kurotsuchi expertly used earth nature ninjutsu to try to trap Fuu and throw stones and pillars at her. But Fuu was extremely nimble, and she was exceptionally aware of her surroundings. She was so good that not a single attack landed on her so far.

"She already can partially use her transformation," Raikage commented as small wings grew out of Fuu's back, surprising the audience. "She is also extremely fast."

"Are you worried that your shinobi's famous speed might not be as special as you thought it was?" Kaen asked, happy to look down on the others. "Well, it wouldn't be the first time others proved that your confidence in your speed was unwarranted."

Raikage chose to ignore Kaen's words, while Tsuchikage was intensely focused on the match. So far Kaen's plan to get more information out of them wasn't working well. They were calmer than Kaen had expected. It only fed Kaen's paranoia that they were hiding something and were careful not to reveal it. As Kaen was about to talk more shit about them, he felt something slither through his Hokage robe.

"This is bad," A small snake slithered through Kaen's robe before coming close to his ear, hiding in his hair and hissed in Anko's voice. "I found out what they were planning. As you have guessed, Iwagakure was preparing for war. But most of their forces are still inside the village. They are armored and armed, ready to be deployed at any moment. And that isn't the worst of it. There are hundreds of Kumogakure shinobi with them, too. I can't get closer, as Killer Bee and Roshi are here. They seem to be the commanders."

"Oh," Kaen couldn't help but let out a surprised noise, but nobody noticed it as the match got more intense in the arena.

It didn't take much time for Kaen to realize that he had fallen into a trap. He almost wanted to laugh at how ridiculous his situation was. But it wasn't time for that; he didn't have much time, and he needed to act now. Prickling his index finger with the sharp corner of his thumbnail, he took a small piece of paper in his sleeves and wrote on it with his blood without anyone noticing anything.

As the small snake slithered through his sleeve, it ate the paper, and when the Kages were distracted by the fight, it fled beneath their feet, silent and unseen. Returning to its master with a message from Kaen. It was as simple code as Kaen wrote down. It meant that she was to inform the others and escape with the genin, leaving him behind.

He walked right into the trap set for him. They knew that they would be concerned with Iwagakure's movement and would try to investigate them. So, they hid their forces, making Kaen believe that they had deployed them. Of course, Kaen couldn't have predicted this, so they capitalized on it. Now, they have four clan heirs within their grasp.

"It makes sense," Kaen said, gathering Raikage's and Tsuchikage's attention to himself, hoping that they wouldn't notice Asuma and Kurenai acting in the stands. "It is probably the best opportunity you will ever receive. Kiri is at its weakest position in history. No matter how hard they tried to hide it, of course, you two would know that they don't have their Jinchuriki, and the Seven Swordsmen are no longer."

"When did you," Tsuchikage realized that Kaen knew their plan.

"Make a move, and I will kill your granddaughter," Kaen stopped the old man from acting up. "She is right below us. I can easily kill her from this distance, and there is nothing you can do to prevent it. You too, Raikage. My Sharingan can see everything. The moment you try to gather your chakra, I will already be by Kurotsuchi's side. Before we do something we would regret, let's talk."

"How did you find out?" Onoki asked. Kaen had already forgotten about their positions. They were his enemies now.

"It all came to me, and you just confirmed it," Kaen knew they wouldn't believe him, but they didn't know about Anko, and Kaen couldn't reveal her. "It isn't just Kiri, Suna too, right? You learned their bad relationship with their Daimyo."

"Apart from Kazekage, they don't have powerful shinobi anymore, not after Sasori defected and the Third Kazekage went missing," A replied with a sneer, showing his true nature. "There is nothing to say about Kiri. Not only did Mizukage die, but they lost their Jinchuriki and let the Seven Swordsmen defect their village. And after killing most of their bloodline users, they can't even be considered to be equal to the rest of the Great Villages."

"Iwagakure and Kumogakure didn't stop growing stronger, bolstering our forces year after year," Onoki continued, tense, ready to move the moment Kaen did. "While the rest of the Great Villages only got weaker as years passed. Even Konoha couldn't escape it. The Fourth Hokage died, the Uchiha clan was massacred, and now you are in a fight with one of your most powerful shinobi, Orochimaru. We know about the war and how it is going for your village."

"And that came to bite in your ass," Kaen summarized, noticing that Kurenai and Asuma had gathered the genin, but he still needed to buy time for them to escape. "You can't afford to sustain your shinobi anymore. Maybe you thought that another war would come soon enough. But there was no sign of it. Kiri and Suna couldn't afford to go to war with either of you. And Konoha is still peace-loving as always."

"We all know that a shinobi can't retire so easily," A said, confirming Kaen's theory. "There aren't enough missions in our Lands. And once our shinobi stop getting paid, they will look elsewhere to find a job. We shinobi know nothing else than what we were taught since we were little. We were left with no other choice."

"Like I said, it was a perfect opportunity you couldn't let go of," Kaen said with a sigh, as it made sense, but he still couldn't believe they would do it. "Nobody will trust you anymore after this. Nobody will come to your village even with the promise of security. But I guess you knew that, didn't you?"

"The era of Five Great Villages will be gone after this," A said, confident in his plan. "It wouldn't matter if others trusted us anymore or not. They won't have another choice now."

Kaen hasn't realized how much he fucked up the timeline. He never thought of them as friends of Konoha, but to think they were ready to go to war with them at any moment, at any opportunity that was presented. And they even allied with each other. There was still a possibility that it was Obito's work. That bastard might have put both of them under genjutsu.

But it was impossible to confirm it now. And for both of them to fall under it simultaneously had too low of probability. Someone would have noticed it. Either way, it was too late to change the events that would play out. It was even useless to use Kotoamatsukami; it would only buy him some time, but the plan had already started.

"You are both fools who don't know who the real enemy is," Kaen said, seeing Kurenai put Iwa shinobi under her genjutsu as they left the arena without anyone stopping them. The Akatsuki is our real enemy. They are trying to gather the tailed beast and use it to destroy the shinobi world as we know it."

"Is that so?" Onoki asked, not believing a word coming from Kaen. "Or were they simply hired by other villages to get the tailed beast?"

"Could it be that you already lost one of your jinchuriki?" Kaen asked as he realized why Fuu was here. "How greedy of you, Onoki. Takigakure didn't even dare to refuse your invitation. You believe that another village is already planning to go to war by taking one of your jinchuriki. So, you, as fool as always, took the matter in your hands and decided to strike first."

"Han had disappeared just before Itachi Uchiha visited your village," Onoki replied. "Who said it couldn't be your work? Or will you tell me that it was a consequence?"

"You out of your mind," There was nothing Kaen could say to convince them.

The fight beneath them was coming to an end as Kurotsuchi pushed Fuu back and was about to trap her. Onoki probably wanted to enact the plan at the end of the exams. But since Kaen discovered it, he had no choice but to act now. Too bad, right below them was his granddaughter. While she was in danger, he couldn't do anything.

They were all forced to watch the match end. But Kaen wasn't concerned about the match. He was concerned about his genin. Kurenai was still a mostly unknown entity. But her genjutsu was only riveled by Dojutsu users like him. That is why she was able to put anyone standing in her way under genjutsu and leave without making a noise.

"Surrender, Kaen Uchiha," A said as Kurotsuchi was about to finish Fuu. "You have no means of escaping. If you surrender, I can promise that no harm will come to your genin."

"You can't harm them. You have to keep them alive if you want your plan to succeed," Kaen replied, waiting for a moment he should act.

"I don't need all of them," A told Kaen. "Only the heirs."

Kaen closed his eyes for a moment as he saw Asuma and Kurenai escaping the arena. It wouldn't take much time for A and Onoki to realize that he was going to try to escape. Kaen had to cause as much chaos as he could to give his shinobi a chance to escape the village. And to do that, he had to act right now.

"It is regrettable that things had to go this way," Kaen said, just as the proctor announced Kurotsuchi's victory and she was about to leave the arena. "But I would lie if I didn't say that I am excited to see how you were going to handle me."

The seal under Kaen's chair, which he had made from the blood of his finger, reacted to Kaen's chakra. Before anyone could do anything, the seal exploded. With the moment he had, before those two could react, Kaen went down straight towards Kurotsuchi. The people watching the fights went still as Kaen gripped Kurotsuchi's throat with his hand while Onoki and A landed before Kaen.