Chapter 33
Chapter 33
TSUANDE SENJU
Tsunade Senju sat in the Council room as she got ready to make what she believed to be the most critical decision since becoming Hokage. And so she had felt that it was necessary to involve all the associated parties for this, and that was why she found herself sitting in the Council Room along with Konoha's strongest shinobi.
There were her two teammates. She had called back Orochimaru from the rice country, and as per the conditions of their contract he had returned without any fuss. Her sensei sat opposite to her. His battle with the Third Raikage had cost him his, yet any shinobi would be an idiot to underestimate him even now.
Minato and Kushina were present as well, along with the Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha, as she decided to lay all the cards on the table.
"Ohashi Hatake is alive," she spoke up, and the atmosphere in the room shifted. And saw that everyone apart from herself and her two teammates was surprised by her words.
Mikoto Uchiha gasped at her words as everyone in the room glanced towards her as she pushed forward the folder sitting infront of her and motioned for them to read it.
"Through a kinjutsu, Orochimaru was able to confirm this," she wouldn't tell them of his discretion, especially since their sensei was already wroth with him and her over his departure from the village. She didn't need more strife, especially in these tense times.
"Over the last month, two times Konoha forces, namely Jiraiya and Mikoto and her teams, have come in contact with this man," she said as she raised the sketch of the infamous man who had taken an arm off of the Toad Sage.
"And I have reason to suspect that this man, who holds one of Konoha's most prestigious bloodlines and associates himself with Madara Uchiha, is somehow related to Ohashi," and she saw the atmosphere in the room shift as everyone got a look of the folder containing each and everything they currently held on the strange newcomer. Comparisons had been drawn with Ohashi.
She leaned back in her chair as all of them read the report before her sensei spoke up first, his tone grave and serious.
"Their chakra signatures are different. And though I can see the resemblance, he does not look like Ohashi. And, of course, we cannot ignore the Sharingan, as well as his actions, which I don't believe anyone in this room would associate with Hatake," her sensei reasoned as she saw his eyes move towards Jiraiya and his lost arm.
"But he also saved me," Mikoto Uchiha cut in. and the whole room turned towards the Uchiha matriarch. She had also read the mission report, and truthfully, that was the biggest factor for Tsunade connecting the strange man to Ohashi.
"Yes, but he also killed the Iwa jinchuriki. We do not know which one of these two actions was his primary goal," Minato added, and Mikoto shrugged.
"Yet he did save me. He used iryo-ninjutsu, to heal me. Without which I would have died, and no matter his actions, I am fairly certain that this person is Ohashi," she repeated the words she had written in her report.
And that brought them to the conundrum.
"If this is Hatake, then there must be a reason to explain his actions," Orochimaru spoke up from behind. He stood near the door, leaning against the wall.
And at that, everyone in the room turned towards the Uzumaki and the leader of the Uchiha clan, for there were only two ways through which a man could be controlled. For none would associate these actions with the Ohashi they knew, and so that left only one option. That he was being controlled.
Kushina was the first to speak up.
"There are ways in which seals can be used to control the actions of a shinobi," she began cautiously, biting her lips as she turned away from her childhood friend.
"But they would need to be very, very skilled as a seal master to administer them. Even then, the kind of mental control we speak of is nearly impossible," she uttered as she looked up at her.
"This is not the work of seals," she said, and then Tsunade turned towards Fugaku Uchiha, the leader of the Uchiha clan.
This issue was highly sensitive for their clan since the man had taken the name of one of their esteemed leaders and possessed a doujutsu that belonged to their bloodline.
Then there was the whole issue in regards to Madara's death and dead body, of which only Fugaku knew apart from her at this moment. And so, his words mattered the most in the current situation.
She had delayed the meeting by a day at his recommendation and had heard that the man had prowled through the Uchiha clan archives for hours before the meeting, so she hoped that the man had the answer for her.
"Yes," he answered, and she felt hope bubble in her heart.
The whole room was listening to him as the Uchiha clan leader stood there and spoke in his cold tone.
"Though highly sophisticated and dangerous, there are ways in which a person could be controlled, as we suspect in this case. Especially by one who may possess intimate knowledge of the Sharingan and have extreme proficiency over the art of genjutsu, a proficiency which I may add none of the Uchiha since Madara himself have shown," he spoke up, looking pointedly at her, and she knew to whom he was pointing.
Her sensei caught their silent exchange and narrowed his eyes as he spoke up.
"What is it that you are not telling us, Tsunade?" he questioned in a chilling tone, and Tsunade sighed as she leaned forward.
"Two weeks ago, after this man's first confrontation with Jiraiya, I visited the tomb of Madara Uchiha," she began. She saw that the room had become chilly at her words, as everyone hung at her every word.
"And at that time, we discovered that the tomb of Madara Uchiha was empty," and she saw their eyes widen at her words.
"Impossible! I saw them burry him myself!" her sensi gasped, and she saw that everyone in the room had pale at her words.
"We have a theory at this time, one which Fugaku put forward, that could explain that the man hadn't actually died on the night he faced my grandfather," she said and it was Minato was the first to put it all together as he turned to face the Uchiha patriarch.
"Then you are not saying…."
"That it may have been Madara Uchiha himself that is somehow controlling Young Ohashi." Orochimaru completed his sentence, and the room stilled as she saw those golden slits narrow as he wet his lips.
"Now, this is getting interesting."
0000
JIRAIYA- The Toad Sage
The meeting had lasted well into the night, and Tsunade had decided to have a small break so that everyone could process all they had discussed. By everything, it was now quite sure to him that Tsunade planned to make a move against this stranger whether he was Ohashi or not.
Jiraiya himself was not entirely convinced, yet he could realize that it was a possibility. In his case, he would put the chances at around four by ten that this stranger was indeed Ohashi. Though in their world, he had seen stranger things so this was not entirely out of the realm of possibilities.
He saw her lean back as the room emptied out, as he moved from his position and sat down in the chair opposite to her.
She opened one eye, glanced at him, and questioned.
"You don't want to go and have a bite," she questioned, and he shrugged, the loss of his arm still affecting him, though he was aware that Tsunade was working on a solution to their problem.
"Do you think it was wise calling Orochimaru back for this, you know, with his twisted loyalties," he cautioned, and he was sure the same question would have been on the mind of all the other present as well.
"Orochimaru is too smart. He would have made the connections sooner or later. It was better to involve him from the start. Plus, I needed to pick his mind over another issue," she remarked as he saw her look at his absent arm with a pained expression.
"Plus, apart from sensei, he is one of the best ninjutsu specialists in the world, a trait that we are going to need," she added, and he realized that he had been right. She had already made up her mind and smiled.
"You are getting quite shrewd," he added, and she smirked, not denying that a portion of the said meeting had been scripted. And he had a pretty good idea who the puppeteer had been.
"It was Fugaku," he guessed and saw her lips turn up slightly, though she didn't confirm his suspicion.
Though her expression shifted into one of seriousness as she spoke up.
"It is him, Jiraiya. Mikoto is certain," and he frowned as she pushed forward her hand and began to gather chakra in her palm, similar to how he would when he used the Rasengan.
"That technique he used against you and that Iwa jinchuriki, she was sure that Ohashi had mentioned designing something similar in his youth. I refuse to believe that this is a coincidence, I believe that it was a symbol, a call for help," she reasoned, and there was desperation in her voice.
Of course, there would be. After all, he was sort of her family. And she cared for him deeply.
"But the behavior and that eye," he questioned and saw her face shift as she answered his question.
"We have theories. You heard some of them yourself. But we will know once we have him back in our hands," she spoke up, and that was confirming his other suspicion that she planned to move against him.
"So, you plan to move against him," he said as he leaned back, and she nodded.
"Yes, our recent victories have essentially ended the war. Iwa and Kumo can be stubborn, yet the war is over. We have an opportunity to move against him, an opportunity that I plan to take," she said with determination in her voice.
"Then, in that case, I believe I have a gift for you," he spoke up as he reached into his pocket and took out the scroll he had recovered from Ame from his first students.
"I received this from Ame a day ago," he said as he handed her the scroll and saw him open it as she skimmed over its contents.
"We know where he will be three weeks from now," she said with a smile, and he nodded.
"This is good. Very good," she uttered as she leaned forward, and he could see her mind race as she began to make plans.
"Tsunade," he spoke up before she could get lost in her head. And she looked towards him with a frown.
"You must remember that the three of us together could not bring down Hanzo, yet he was able to do it single-handedly. He faced me and nearly killed me, and killed a jinchuriki with a single jutsu," he recounted everything the silver-haired shinobi had done in the past and saw her face stiffen.
"Do not underestimate him," he told her in all seriousness, and she nodded.
"I won't," she spoke up.
"I plan to send a specially assembled unit to confront him, a unit which I plan to lead myself," she said, and Jiraiay shook his head.
"No. No, you are the Hokage. You cannot leave the village," he tried to reason, but she shook her head.
"I have to do this, Jiraiya. Even when we faced Hanzo, it was my iryo-ninjutsu that kept us alive. I have to do this myself," she said.
"Then take me as well," and she shook her head.
"No, you shall stay in the village, and in the worst case scenario lead the village," and his eyes widened at her words. His whole body stilled and the way those eyes were looking at him he realized that she was being serious, and he wanted to protest. Wanted to stop her yet the glint in her eyes made him stop, she had already made her decision.
"Alright, who else do you plan to take with you," he questioned.
"I have not made the full list yet. But Fugaku will have to go, Minato as well. I would have liked to take Kushina with me, but moving a jinchuriki carries too much risk," she spoke up.
He could understand Minato, but why the Uchiha clan head?
"Why Fugaku?" he voiced his thought.
"To counter his Sharingan, Fugaku seems to have an idea about the prowess of his doujutsu and could help us counter it," she told him, her finger continuously tapping the table as she spoke to him.
"I believe there is one more person we should involve in this whole discussion," she suddenly added, and he frowned. They had gathered the best of their village.
"Who?" he questioned.
"Shikaku, I believe his intelligence could prove instrumental in forming a plan a counter against him," she remarked, and he nodded, agreeing with her.
"He will. The man isn't known as Konoha's devil general for nothing."
0000
In the village of Iwagakure, the atmosphere in the village was somber. Their recent loss to Konoha had hurt the village morale greatly, and Ohnoki could feel tension brewing in their ranks.
And now, as he read the report from the operatives in Ame, he knew that this could be their opportunity. Hanzo had been killed by a man who claimed himself to be none other than Madara.
"Have the captains assemble the reserves!" he ordered the jounin commander standing infront of him.
Yet if the rumors were true and the man had indeed defeated Hanzo, then they could not afford to take another loss. This was the last chance for Iwa to salvage something out of this conflict.
"And I shall lead this force myself!"
0000
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