Chapter 80: Ripples in the Shadows

The heavy door to the Hokage’s office clicked shut, leaving Tsunade alone with the weight of her decisions and the ghost of the elders’ disapproval still lingering in the air. She let out a long, weary sigh, the kind that came from deep within her bones. The cracked surface of her desk stared back at her, a testament to the fraying edges of her patience.

A soft knock came at the door before it opened slightly. Kakashi leaned in, his single visible eye crinkling with a shared fatigue. “Tsunade-sama? You said to leave, but… we need to know the plan. What about Ren?”

Tsunade gestured for him to enter fully. “Close the door.”

Once it was shut, she pinched the bridge of her nose. “Those two old fossils are infuriating, but they aren’t entirely wrong. We can’t just ignore what Ren has done. Attacking an allied village is an act of war. We have to respond.”

“So, an S-class designation?” Kakashi’s voice was neutral, but a hint of sadness colored it. “It means the last three Uchiha are now Konoha’s most wanted. Three brothers, all branded as the village’s greatest enemies. Itachi, Sasuke, and now Ren. There’s a cruel poetry to it.”

“There’s no poetry, Kakashi. Just tragedy and hard choices,” Tsunade replied, her voice firm but tired. “It’s a fact we can’t change. Our duty is to the village. Shizune is already drafting the official ninja file for him. We’ll use the description, but not Sasuke’s photo. We’re not that desperate yet. The wanted notice will go out by tomorrow.”

Kakashi gave a slow nod. “Understood.”

“Go on. Get some rest. You look like you need it,” Tsunade said, her tone softening slightly.

After Kakashi left, the office was truly silent. Tsunade didn’t move for a long time. She stared out the window at the bustling village below, the afternoon sun glinting off the Hokage Monument.

*Uchiha Ren,* she thought, the name feeling strange and dangerous on her tongue. *To play the fool for years… what were you hiding from? Who were you so afraid of that you had to bury yourself that deep?* Her mind, sharpened by decades of war and politics, began to connect the dots. A powerful clan, wiped out in a single night. A survivor, feigning weakness. A sudden, violent emergence onto the world stage.

*And so much hatred for Konoha…* A cold suspicion settled in her gut. *Old man… Sarutobi-sensei… what really happened that night? What deal did you make with that snake Danzo? What kind of mess did you leave for me to clean up?*

She gave a short, humorless laugh. “The great Uchiha clan. One of the two pillars Konoha was built on. Now the last of their line are S-class criminals. What a magnificent joke.”

Shaking her head to clear the dark thoughts, she reached for the next stack of paperwork. A leader’s duty never slept.

—

**Deep beneath Konoha, in a place the sun never reached…**

The air was cold and still, smelling of damp earth and secrets. In a chamber devoid of any comfort, a single figure stood before a group of masked ANBU, their features hidden—not by standard animal masks, but by the blank, emotionless faces of Root operatives.

“Report,” a voice commanded, old and raspy, yet sharp with authority.

A Root agent knelt. “Sir. We have found no trace of Uchiha Ren. His last confirmed sighting was a small town in the Land of Wind. By the time our team arrived, he was gone. He has… vanished. We have been unable to reacquire his trail.”

A gnarled hand tightened on a wooden cane. The speaker stepped into the faint light, revealing a face half-wrapped in bandages, one eye squinted shut, the other dark and piercing. Shimura Danzo.

“Useless,” he hissed, the word dripping with contempt. “Expand the search. Comb every border town, every black-market informant. I want him found. If the situation allows, bring him back alive. His eyes… are a resource too valuable to waste. If capture proves impossible, you are authorized to terminate. But bring me the head. I will have proof of his end.”

“Hai!” The agents vanished into the shadows as silently as they had appeared.

Alone in the gloom, Danzo allowed a cold smile to touch his lips. *Uchiha Ren. To think you hid your true nature so well from everyone. Even Sarutobi was fooled. I should never have listened to his soft-hearted pleas to spare the children. A mistake I will now correct.*

He saw not a person, but a pair of eyes in a jar. A key to greater power. *You can run, boy. But you cannot hide from the roots of the tree that nurtured you. I will pluck you, one by one.*

—

**Somewhere in the Land of Rain, within the Akatsuki’s secret base…**

The meeting had adjourned. The eerie, amplified forms of the Akatsuki members flickered out one by one until the cavernous room was nearly empty. Itachi Uchiha turned without a word, his partner Kisame Hoshigaki falling into step beside him. Get full chapters from novel~fire~net

“Itachi, my friend, another cheerful gathering,” Kisame rumbled, hefting Samehada onto his shoulder. “Always such a talkative bunch.”

Itachi said nothing. His face was a perfect, unreadable mask.

“Ooi, Itachi! Hold up a second!”

A bizarre, plant-like figure rose from the stone floor—white on one side, black on the other. Zetsu.

Itachi didn’t stop. He didn’t even glance in the creature’s direction.

“Not interested,” he said, his voice flat and devoid of all emotion.

“Aw, come on!” the white half (White Zetsu) whined in a singsong voice. “I just picked up a reeeally interesting piece of gossip from the outside world. I thought you’d wanna hear it!”

Itachi continued walking. Kisame looked back, curious. “Gossip? What kind of gossip?”

“Oh, nothing much,” White Zetsu teased. “Just about your other little brother… what was his name again? Uchiha… Ren, was it? But if you’re not interested…”

Itachi froze. The air around him seemed to drop several degrees. He turned slowly, his dark eyes locking onto Zetsu. Though his Sharingan wasn’t active, the intensity of his gaze was paralyzing.

“Uchiha Ren?” Kisame mused. “The one we saw in Konoha? The simpleton?”

“Tell me,” Itachi commanded. His tone was still even, but a razor-sharp edge lay beneath it.

“Yare, yare! I thought you didn’t care!” White Zetsu giggled.

Itachi’s eyes began to shift, the pupils bleeding into the familiar pattern of the Mangekyō Sharingan. The threat was silent and absolute.

The black half of Zetsu (Black Zetsu) spoke up, its voice deeper and more serious. “I told you not to play games. Just report the information.”

“Fine, fine! You’re no fun,” White Zetsu pouted. “Alright, so here’s the deal. We were tailing that Nine-Tails brat and his team a while back—you know, for kicks—and they were chasing a Konoha missing-nin. We all assumed it was your brother Sasuke, running off to join Orochimaru. But get this! Through all their yelling and fighting, we found out it wasn’t Sasuke at all.”

Black Zetsu took over, the narrative becoming clinical. “It was your other brother, Uchiha Ren. Furthermore, he is now credited with the destruction of a Sunagakure outpost. He possesses the Mangekyō Sharingan and has been officially designated an S-class missing-nin by Konoha. He was last reported heading in the general direction of Otogakure.”

The Mangekyō faded from Itachi’s eyes, returning them to their dark, placid state. He absorbed the information without a single change in expression. Inside, however, his mind was a whirlwind.

*Ren… You awakened it too. And you’ve chosen a path of outright war. What are you doing?*

Without another word, Itachi turned and walked away, his cloak flowing behind him.

Kisame glanced from Itachi’s retreating back to Zetsu and shrugged. “Looks like you ruined his day.” He then followed his partner into the dripping darkness of the tunnel.

Alone again, White Zetsu chuckled. “Hehehe… family drama. It’s always the best kind of show.”

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