112 Prelude To War.

(Quick notice: Lost access to my old pa*tre*on, and had to delete it, so opened a new one for those who with to show their support by donating pa*tre*on/angelothemercer. Again, content is completely free and you don't need to pay anything. This is strictly for those who wish to donate. Once again thank you, and after this chapter we start with war and soon jump off this universe to another one... far far away ;)

(Kei POV, 5km above ground, Hidden Sky Village.)

The coming months passed by as normal… well, as normal as one would expect for a world that was getting ready for war.

I entrusted the village to a clone once again, as I did many times before, making sure to instruct it in "tightening" the bonds between me and Naruto, and especially me and Sasuke even further. Sasuke was possibly instrumental in shortening this war considerably.

Of course, once the war started all bets were off, but it was a nice precaution, especially as we kept each other at arm's length while in public. I had to make sure to deceive the Sage's eyes, and I was confident in pulling it off. After his last loss in my mindscape, he had kept his distance so that I wouldn't be able to sense him watching me… but he had made one grave mistake in doing so.

The Sage was patient … but constant… while I was anything but. He had invaded the deepest part of my being, to where "I" actually resided. I could never forget that feeling, and I wouldn't. As I grew in power, so did my Rinnegan… and I felt his presence once again.

'Complacent, someone born with power.' – That's what I thought of him. He had ever faced his problem face to face.

At that time I understood another detail I had overlooked. The Sage, for all his power, was as much of a shinobi as a civilian that used a weapon. His way of dealing with issues was relatively simple… and so was he.

As my thoughts spun, I was currently in the form of a massive ball of compressed biomass, hovering where the Zero-tails once stayed.

'This is… quite comfortable actually. Much more than actually standing, sitting, or laying down with any of the forms I have absorbed, all organisms included.' – of course, it didn't hurt that it was also a boon to my perfecting the control over the Rinnegan's power… however small any further training was.

I was quite literally, a miniature planet, regulating my gravitational force as the six paths I created, were slowly lifted up beside me, six bodies that had the controlling chakra rods implanted beneath their outward appearance, leaving the Rinnegan in their eyes as the only outward marker of their true Nature.

Kei Uchiha, Itachi Uchiha, Minato Namikaze, Kakashi Hatake, Orochimaru and Tsunade Senju. While I would like nothing more than to be able to employ almost all of the shinobi I had consumed, my control would fall to "That general direction" levels. I did not fear their betrayal, but as they absorbed on their own… the creation of an independent entity was entirely possible, making it an uncertainty that I did not wish to put to the test.

As I looked at the currently silent avatars, their personalities weren't even that important, impacting only their preferred method of killing, as I could as easily replicate Kei in all of them. Given my plans, Kei was the most suitable one, being the most experienced in mass extermination in the current roster.

As I thought about it, I silently nodded in my mind as the bodies slowly shifted to the same outer appearance as Kei, before once more shifting to his armored form. With the constant communication established by the Yamanaka's head, rather than his assassination, perhaps it would be more suitable to have the 'Red Demon' appear once more, allowing him to consume, wreak havoc, and "boost" himself considerably without attracting attention on himself beforehand.

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As time continued to pass, I was approaching dangerously close to the limit which I could hold back Madara from launching his assault, with no little help from Black Zetsu. I still hadn't detected any trace of the cultivators, and my timeline was being cut short as days passed.

Push it too far, and it might spiral out of control. Black Zetsu… the creature didn't trust me, not by a long shot, but it tolerated me to a certain extent as I cooperated with its plan dutifully.

Sure, I could have crafted a more intricate and interesting history regarding how I knew of Kaguya, spent more time with it, and grown closer *snort*… but that would be a waste of time for something that would inevitably die in the end. All I needed was that momentary tolerance to push my plans through to the end.

"Aren't you going to go and find out what happened to that blue-haired chick?"

Brought out of my thoughts, I was standing on water, dozens of km from the closest coast, getting ready for my upcoming sparring session. It wasn't easy to find a place where multiple Kei's could go at it without the place turning into rubble.

And Hidan, being the pain in the immortal ass that he was, stayed nearby. Not by his own desire, as I had … tested… my consuming abilities in his immortal body. Turns out that being separated cell by cell wasn't very pleasurable for the immortal, even if eventually I couldn't consume him and had to spew him out cell by cell.

The immortal didn't open his mouth since, or more correctly, not without input from his patron, which I tolerated as having a god interested in you could turn tides if things didn't eventually go my way.

A deal had long since been struck between us. A massive massacre and, in the unlikely event that I was in mortal danger, a way out.

'Though his god's constant inquiry is an unwelcome addition.'

"Blue hair?"

"Yeah, not the weird eyes one, the other paper one."

'I suppose a god wouldn't be bothered to learn actual names of Doujutsus or actual names.'

"It doesn't matter. It would just be a waste of time at this point."

He stayed quiet for quite a moment, but I knew he was just waiting for his god's response.

"You certainly are different, the ones that pass over and create diverging timelines usually have people they don't disregard, especially the ones they lay with. Even the few ones that are completely detached from such emotions, still have the pathological need to know. They waste so much time and effort to reach the 'end' of that particular situation."

'Oh great, I'm being compared to some human who was probably so dumb or fragile that they got killed by a truck, or fried computer, or even just throwing their own life to extend someone else's. I'm quite offended.'

"Hmm… seems like a waste of time to run around and be involved in that many people's lives. Even if I cared, humans have proved to be quite resilient, they don't need someone to always be there… and even if they do so die… oh well, it not like countless others don't die every day." – though being antagonistic over words is something only something as foolish as a human… or a human-like god… would do.

"Ha… I quite like you." – I knew that it was the god speaking… but coming out of Hidan's mouth, that was honestly making me feel disgusted.

He spoke again promptly, this time smiling a bit as the message he received clearly satisfied him.

"How much longer until the war begins? You have held the chains back for quite some time already."

As I turn to "check my armor", a smile rose that I hid from Hidan.

"Soon, some… foreign entities… have been hiding from me and as such, I've had quite a few delays." -I've had to wait for him to bring up the topic for almost a month, as asking something without having anything in exchange could be quite the grave mistake. Better have the god impatient for blood do it willingly, even if I had to wait a little bit.

"Foreign entities? Do you mean those white-robed humans? The ones that kept blocking my sight for YEARS? I haven't felt them for almost a year now. They're not here anymore. " – As he said so, my hand clenched slightly.

It was now September 20th. It would take at least 20 days to even gather the troops, making and by that time, in cannon the war ended. I calculated that this war would start, at the very least, half a month later than in canon.

"I see." The biomass constricted and expanded in my body.

'They fooled me good alright, very good. But all they did was slow me down in the end. Even if it was next year, so what. This world is only so big. I would have found out or even started nonetheless.'

"So… when are you preparing to start now that you've confirmed?" – the voice asked with eager anticipation, so much that I noted it wasn't even Hidan's voice at this point.

"Now." – I said as the voice cackled and disappeared, before I did the same, forgoing my training as I disappeared in the enxt moment.

… … … Hidan slowly came to as his mind was clear of his god's overbearing influence.

Gathering his bearings for a moment, he slowly took in the area around him before noticing something familiar about his situation.

"MOTHERFUCKER!!! HE LEFT ME HERE…. AGAIN!!!"