Cause & Consequences

In the bustling heart of Konoha's shopping district, two young children strolled leisurely, their eyes wide with excitement at the myriad choices of snacks surrounding them. Their purpose was simple: indulge in these treats while enjoying the final round of the chūnin exams.

Enkai found himself in a dilemma, faced with an array of options. Yagura, on the other hand, displayed no such indecision, grabbing every snack that caught his attention.

"I know I said I'm rich, but I am afraid I won't stay that way if you keep spending so much money," Enkai remarked, eyeing Yagura's growing pile of goodies.

Yagura simply shrugged his shoulders, his carefree demeanour evident. "It's fine boss~ Like how you dealt with Gatō, we can always do some more bounty hunting."

Unlike how one would assume, despite being the fourth Mizukage, Yagura was relatively anonymous. Kirigakure's seclusion, coupled with Yagura's habit of concealing his appearance with the village leader's traditional attire, kept his true identity hidden from the masses.

"Besides, none of these foods were sold in Kirigakure! So I gotta enjoy it as much as I can!" Yagura exclaimed, his hands full of snacks.

However, his excitement waned when he realised his hands were too occupied to retrieve money from his pockets. An apologetic look met Enkai's eyes, who sighed in response, paying the shopkeeper for both their snacks. 

As for Enkai, he decided to try dango, Itachi's favourite food, and picked up two pairs of dango sticks to enjoy. 

"But...are you fine without your mask?" Yagura asked, concern etched on his face as he looked at Enkai, who now wore a blue casual kimono, his black hair, blue eyes along with his face in plain view.

"Yes. The best way to hide is to hide within plain sight," Enkai replied, his gaze meeting Yagura's, whose attire was similar to his own except in a greenish colour scheme.

I don't think we're hiding quite well though," Yagura retorted, glancing nervously at the surrounding crowd. His apprehension caused some of the people in the crowd to avert their gaze when they caught sight of Yagura's face, marked by a prominent vertical scar running from his left eye.

Indeed, the duo attracted quite a bit of attention—one charming, the other menacing—creating a perfect balance that defied their efforts to remain inconspicuous.

"It doesn't matter if we attract attention from the civilians; they'll probably assume I'm some rich noble, and you're my bodyguard," Enkai said, glancing at Yagura. "As long as the shinobi don't take notice of us, we're fine. You do have your seal, right?"

"Yup," Yagura nodded, revealing a whirlpool-shaped mark at the base of his neck. 

Although Honoka hadn't intended for the Eddy's Seal to be used this way when she taught it to Enkai, it proved useful. It allowed them to seal away most of their monstrous chakra, keeping just enough to release the seal when needed.

Yagura glanced at his seal and couldn't help but comment, "I have to admit, this seal is top notch. How do you even know such high ranking fuinjutsu? Are you secretly an Uzumaki or something?"

"Shut up and let's move, or we'll be late for the tournament," Enkai retorted before walking away with a quickened pace, ignoring Yagura's pleas for help with the extra snacks he couldn't carry by himself.

Enkai and Yagura had arrived in Konoha a few days after the second part of the chūnin exams, a month had passed since then. 

Disguised as civilians, they had entered Konoha and attempted to gather information about the exams. However, the civillains didn't know and the ninjas were tight-lipped about the events in the Forest of Death.

Despite Enkai's attempts, he couldn't extract any valuable information. None of this was ever shown in canon, but Enkai suspected that the Hokage was withholding details due to Orochimaru's attack. Alas, with no way to confirm his suspicion however, he had to wait for the final part of the chūnin exams to unfold.

Fortunately, that day had arrived, and even civilians were allowed to watch the final part of the chūnin exams— The Tournament.

Entering the arena where the tournament will be held, Enkai and Yagura sat in a none suspecting part of the arena from where pretty much the entire area was visible.

They had arrived here more than an hour ago, but Yagura's stash of snacks was more than enough to keep them occupied for the time before the match started.

As time passed, more and more civilians started entering the arena until it was bustling with people with looks of anticipation and excitement. In stark contrast however, Enkai had a frown in his face, he had a bad premonition about this.

Something was very wrong about this event, it became apparent when he saw three seats in the Hokage's box. 

'Other than Orochimaru disguised as Kazekage another kage is coming? Who? What for?' Enkai thought, before theories started running in his head.

He was fairly certain that Kumo and Iwa were on bad terms with Konoha. Even if they weren't, Raikage is healing from his fight with Enkai and Onoki the fencesitter will never get out of his borders no matter what.

'That only leaves Kiri, but Yagura is with me and Mei shouldn't be free enough to travel to other countries when she just became the new kage.' Enkai thought, and finally a horrifying scenario formed in his mind.

'Another impersonator was coming here.' Enkai believed, like Orochimaru, someone else was disguised as another kage and was attending here.

He racked his brain at full speed, and from the corners of his memories a single name resurfaced; White Zetsu.

White Zetsu, the shape-shifter capable of seamless transformations, danced on the edge of his recollection. Enkai vividly recalled Zetsu's stealth abilities, his knack for mimicking not only physical appearances but also the essence of intricate nature jutsus, and how even Kage-level sensors couldn't detect him.

'Why is Akatsuki here?' Enkai asked himself, questioning Akatsuki's presence.

Then, it clicked: in the original timeline, Akatsuki refrained from attacking jinchurikis before Shippuden was due to Yagura's death, taking Sanbi with him, because with sanbi dead even if they captured every tailed beast they would still have to wait for three years.

But now, with Sanbi alive, the rules had changed, and a sense of impending doom settled over Enkai.

Enkai's mind churned with questions, each one more perplexing than the last. With Mei and Ao's assistance he had meticulously orchestrated Yagura's apparent demise, ensuring it appeared as though he had eliminated the former Mizukage. His confidence in Ao's efficiency wavered only slightly; had Ao missed someone under Obito's genjutsu, allowing information to leak out? Or was there a different, more elusive explanation to this puzzle?

Then the next moment, like memories fading with time, all his worries vanished when he saw; from the back entrance, the third hokage, the fourth raikage and eight tails jinchuriki—Killer B came out and sat on the third seat.

It seemed Killer Bee was Raikage's proxy.

'I must be overthinking it,' Enkai thought. 

The idea that Akatsuki might have eliminated B and that Zetsu was now impersonating him flickered in his mind, but he shook his head and dismissed it after a moment of thought.

The magnitude of a battle between Killer B and Akatsuki would be Astronomical, and would undoubtedly reverberate across the shinobi world. It seemed improbable that Akatsuki could conceal such a high-profile event entirely. 

The crowd buzzed with excitement as the first match unfolded, deviating from the original timeline's script. Instead of Naruto and Neji, it was Neji facing off against Sakura. At first, Enkai expected Neji to dominate, but to his surprise, Sakura proved to be more formidable than he thought.

The battle commenced with Neji trash talking Sakura, but she used body flicker technique with unexpected speed which allowed her to land a surprise punch before he could even activate his byakugan. 

Despite Sakura's slower body flicker in Enkai's eyes, she undoubtedly outpaced her peers. Neji, taken aback, launched a fierce counterattack, targeting Sakura's tenketsu points to restrict her movements.

Enkai thought Neji had the upper hand, but Sakura cleverly used body flicker to create distance. She then created a clone and transformed herself into a bush nearby. Neji, who was too furious and humiliated by her punch earlier, was blinded by rage and failed to notice this trap and attacked her clone. 

When the opportunity struck Sakura attacked him with a surprise punch, knocking him out. However, in the nick of time, Neji being the genius he was, managed to react, and land multiple blows on her, before falling to the ground.

In the aftermath, both contestants were disqualified, leaving the arena in a mixture of shock and awe. How could they not when a civilian kunoichi managed to take down a prodigy of the hyuga clan.

For the next match Gaara and Shino Aburame stood face to face in the arena, Enkai couldn't help but feel a sense of anticipation. In the original timeline, the second match was between Gaara and Sasuke, but due to Sasuke's absence in this altered reality, Gaara's opponent was Shino Aburame.

Enkai found the match intriguing, considering Shino's undefeated record throughout the Naruto series. Even Mitsuki's victory over him had come with the caveat of holding back. Observing Gaara and Shino's determined expressions, Enkai prepared for what promised to be an intense battle between the two skilled shinobi.

Enkai was anticipating something as interesting as the previous fight if not more, but his anticipation for an intriguing match between Gaara and Shino was abruptly interrupted when Yagura tapped his shoulder. 

Enkai turned his head, only to find Yagura looking upward. Following Yagura's gaze, Enkai's eyes widened at the sight before him. 

Six dark figures loomed menacingly on the rooftop of the arena, their black cloaks billowing like specters in the wind, red clouds etched upon them, a symbol of impending doom.

Then with a sudden, eerie grace, one of them crouched low before springing into the air, descending upon Gaara like a comet hitting the ground. Dust and debris filled the air, shrouding the scene in an eerie haze.

As the settling dust revealed the aftermath, a tall silhouette emerged, his towering frame casting a sinister shadow as he held an unconscious Gaara by the neck. Kisame's mouth split open in a maniacal grin.

Enkai sat there frozen, his nightmares had become reality.