The First Change

Yami had pride in his mastery of Genjutsu but he wasn't stubborn enough to believe that he could win the war with only Genjutsu. Like every jutsu and technique in this world, Genjutsu had its own limitations. He had expectations from the last scroll that Kurenai had but she said that he wasn't old enough to open it. The biggest flaw of genjutsu was that no matter how good Yami's genjutsu is, it can be broken if someone inserts their own chakra into the victim and breaks the genjutsu. Only genjutsus like the Tsukuyomi are able to bypass it because the Tsukuyomi takes only 1 second in real life. By the time the victim's ally has inserted his own chakra to disrupt the victim's chakra, the victim has already suffered 72 hours of hell.

Yami stood up and saw himself drenched in sweat. For a second, he didn't know why but the thought of Itachi came to his mind. He needed to find a way to have Tsunade heal Itachi. If Yami waits for too long then Itachi's lung disease might become incurable. He might have not personally lived as Yami at the start of his life but after fusing with the memories, he felt as if this was the life he lived. Yami may be cold and ruthless but if he can't protect those who care about him and who he cares about then what's the use of all that strength. It just becomes a meaningless struggle. Like the one, Orochimaru is in.

Orochimaru has always thirsted for eternal life but he doesn't know what he wants to do when he gets it. During and after the 4th ninja war he saw that even though Kaguya and other Otutsuki live for almost thousands and millions of years, they still aren't satisfied and were still greedy for something or the other. He understood that once he gives in to greed, there is no stopping it and maybe one day even he will end up like someone who wants everything the world has to offer and still be unsatisfied.

Small pulses of wind started originating from Yami's body spreading outwards and in a matter of seconds, all his clothes were dry and clean of dust. He looked at the destruction around him and shook his head. He knew this was nowhere enough to beat the people he will be going against in the upcoming years.

Yami sighed as he thought 'To the people around me I may seem strong but only I know how weak I am compared to the shinobis that existed in the warring era. Sasuke and others seem to have gone back to Tazuna's house. I should go too.'

After a few minutes, Yami reached Tazuna's house. He saw that no one was sitting in the backyard. He pushed the door aside and entered the house. As he entered he saw that everyone was sitting at the table with grim expressions. They all looked at him which made Yami ask

"What happened?"

Might Guy was the first to answer "Some villagers heard that Gato is hiring bandit groups. Though we aren't sure of it, it seems like it's to fight with us."

Tazuna who was a little furious at this moment slammed his hand on the table and said "Is he planning to kill us all just for his own greed?"

Sakura looked at her sensei and asked in a timid voice "Kakashi sensei, is it even possible for us to fight against multiple bandit groups?"

Kakashi shook his head and said "The number of those people makes it hard for us to take care of all of them. There is always the chance of some bandits keeping us busy while the others attack the villagers. On the other hand, we don't know if the bandit groups have any shinobis among them. If they do, things might get harder for us."

Lee from the side showed her fist to Sakura and declared "Sakura don't worry. With the strength of my youth, I will protect you." Sakura just tsked at that and looked at Sasuke to see if he showed any change in an expression like jealousy but to her disappointment, he wasn't even paying attention to Lee's statement nor at her.

Naruto was looking intently at Yami and Yami had noticed it but he ignored it. Now Naruto pointed at Yami and said

"Yami today you defeated me but next time I will defeat you. Just you wait and see." Before Yami could reply Neji replied "Today you lost to him without even knowing how so what gives you the confidence to challenge him again Naruto. Why don't you focus on surviving in front of me first and then think about defeating him." Neji had a smirk on his face.

'If things go normally then his challenge might become true sooner than he thinks.' Yami thought recalling Neji's defeat against Naruto. Yami knew things might not go as they did in the canon because in the canon Neji was prideful as the strongest genin but now he was beaten time and time again by Yami making him train harder. And just like Naruto wasn't as weak as he was in the canon. Yami was truly surprised to see the butterfly effect of his existence but then one thing dawned on him.

'Will Orochimaru's target be Sasuke or him?'

Suddenly squeaking sounds could be heard outside the door which made Yami turn back. Everyone's attention was caught by this. Inari quickly got up and opened the door. Everyone wanted to stop him as it could also be a trick used by the enemy but such things didn't come to Inari's mind. As he opened the door he saw a bat come in and flutter his wings in front of Yami.

"Is that one of your summons Yami?" Kakashi asked.

'A summon of mine wouldn't come here instead would just disappear and give me the memories...wait a min...this is the messenger I gave Zabuza.' Yami thought.

"Yes... it's a messenger." Yami said as he got up and untied the small roll of paper from the bat's legs. He opened the roll and read it. He looked at everyone at the table.

"Come on...spit it out." Naruto said impatiently.

"The bandit groups contain shinobi mercenaries as well."

(Changes from the canon have started appearing. What more will change?)

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