Chapter 32

MINATO NAMIKAZE

Minato Namikaze drove the blade into the stranger's neck as he teleported to the kunai he had given to Kakashi.

The stranger had stood infront of the haggard form of Mikoto, and as he swung his kunai into his neck, he felt it connect with his flesh, even though he didn't miss the distant shout from the Uchiha jounin.

"NOOO!"
He had expected a splatter of scarlet blood as the kunai cut through his neck, slashing at the vital vessels in his neck.

Yet his eyes widened as he saw that the splatter was not of the red he had been expecting but if blur, of clear blue color. It was water he recognized, and he quickly used his fingers to aim the kunai at the ground in front of Mikoto as he teleported to it as soon as it hit the ground.

SWISH!

He huffed as he held up his kunai. The battle against Kumo had taken more out of him than he had expected. Iwa had sent two whole units there, one of which had been their special Bombing Corps, a unit that held explosion specialists from one of Iwa's most feared kekkei-genkai holding clans, with the clansmen being immune to their explosions.

He had felt Kakashi's distress call as he had been engaged against this special unit and couldn't come to him, for he had to deal with them first. His chakra reserves at a level less than half, and he had sustained some injuries.

And as he saw the strange shinobi reform in front of him as the water coalesced to form his body again, he knew that he was going to need each drop of that chakra.

Yet, as the shinobi's body took form, he didn't miss the eerie resemblance this technique bore to one he had seen a young Ohashi pull off. Yet this was more refined, more complete, and Ohashi Hatkake was dead, yet his mind continuously drew parallels between the dead Hatake and the stranger infront of him.

The man looked up, and Minato stilled as he saw the red blazing eye. The Sharingan! Impossible! Interestingly, his other eyes were normal. The chakra the stranger oozed put him on edge, he had never felt anything like it, and the only comparison that came to mind was the Lord Third or the Tsuchikage he had once faced in battle.

"Minato, stop," and as he was reaching for the kunai in his pouch, he stilled at Mikoto Uchiha's words and frowned as he looked towards Kushina's oldest friend.

"What do you mean?" he questioned as she struggled to her feet, and he didn't miss how six rather familiar chakra signatures entered his range suddenly.

"Do not engage him," she said as she gazed at the grey-haired man with a complicated expression, her words surprising her.

"He is an enemy shinobi, one who holds one of Konoha's sacred bloodlines," he said to her and saw her chew her lips as she spoke up.

"He has no hitai-ate," she began and he gave the man a look and realized that she was right.

"And he also saved my life from, Iwa's jinchuriki earlier," she said as she looked him in the eye and continued with a pleading gaze.

"Just listen to me," their eyes met and he felt her chakra mingle with his, before he heard her speak in his mind.

'He is too strong! With our current strength, we cannot face him. Kakashi with the other five is also right behind us, engaging him like this would put is all in jeopardy.'

And before he could reply, he stilled as he heard a strange voice cut in, into his mind.

'You should listen to her. Moreover, my work here is done.'

And both he and Mikoto jerked up as they both flushed their chakra systems, and they looked towards the man cautiously.

The man had a smile on his face, and Minato saw him reach for his neck, and his eyes widened as he saw the stranger's hand glow as he removed the hiraishin seal he had discretely placed there.

How the hell had he even sensed it?

"Goodbye." And with that, the shinobi's body began to dissolve once again as he saw him leave them, and he reacted quickly as he saw Mikoto Uchiha fall to her knees.

"Mikoto!" he wrapped his arm around her back and realized the sheer extent of her injuries. Her reserves were nearly gone, and there were signs of hastily administered first aid over her body, first aid without which she would have died.

"Why did you stop me?" he questioned as he lay here and there softly as he took out a first aid pack from his pocket, and moved to stabilize her enough so he could at least teleport her to Konoha for treatment.

"Don't tell me you didn't see it as well," she said, and he stilled at her words before he replied.

"I did, but that is impossible, Mikoto. He is dead, and that sharingan," he uttered, and he saw her chew her lips as she replied.

"I know, yet he saved me, Minato. Had he arrived a second later, I would have been dead, and the techniques, despite the changes, I felt as if he was leaving a message for me," she said in a desperate tone.

And he could sympathize with her. She was Ohashi's sensei and had treated him like a son. Hatake also spoke very highly of her, and he couldn't deny her points.

There were uncanny similarities between this stranger and Ohashi, and though there could be a hundred reasons for it. He couldn't deny that one of them was that this shinobi was indeed Ohashi Hatake.

"Moreover, that eye. I have seen it before in the archives of my clan. Yet I cannot remember who," she said with a frown and Minato finished patching up her injuries.

"Sensei!" the six genin, landed infront of them as Ohashi's students rushed towards the Uchiha matriarch, as he glanced towards Kakashi.

"Mission report, Captain Kakashi?" he questioned, and saw Kakshi stiffen before he replied.

"Mission was a success. Kanabi bridge has been destroyed!"

0000

ZETSU-Black

There were few things Zetsu had not seen. He was a being that had lived for hundreds of years. From the fall of mother Kagyua to the clashes of Indra and Asura, he had seen it all, orchestrated it all then and through the times to come as their successors rose and fell through the ravines of time.

He saw them fight, made them fight. Watched as the cycle repeated itself until he appeared. Madara Uchiha, and since his birth, Zetsu felt as if he was staring at Indra himself.

And he had hoped that this time, his orchestrations could work. That this time, he could succeed, yet he was disappointed when Hashirama aimed that kunai at himself on that bridge and made possible the peace that would shake years and years of plans.

Clans banded together, the Daimyo gave his approval, and for the first time in a hundred years, things began to change as Konoha was made. Madara and Hashirama stood together, much as the Sage had wished for his own two sons.

Their prowess was unrivaled at the time, and their name began to ripple through the words as the winds of change began to blow through the era, and he knew that he had to make a move.

And so, he chose the shrine tablet. He modified the last message left by the Sage for the incarnations of his sons. And it worked. Madara, already ostracized by the village, fell for his trap and left the village, bound by his own conviction that peace was not a possibility.

And in the end, he fought again, with Hashirama on that fated valley. Their battle lasted for weeks, ravaging the land around them, yet the result was another failure. Despite his promise, Madara fell to Hashirama's blade, and he felt all his efforts lost until he rose again.

Sacrificing his eye to shift fate as he escaped to a cave with Hashirama's cells. And Zetsu saw the man sew them into his own body, and then it happened.

Rinnegan, the lost power of the Sage himself, rose up in the lands once again.

Yet the battle had taken its toll on his so, he encouraged the man to take a successor. A successor he could mold to his own cause, and so he had settled on Ohashi Hatake. Leaf's rising star, the boy had reminded Madara of a young Hashirama and in the end Zetsu ahd done the man's bidding and had brought the boy to that cave.

And as he watched the boy decimate the four tails with his technique, he realized what a mistake that had been. He had been played.

HE had arrange this whole scenario to test the doubt that had bubbled in his heart, for he had not missed the shift in Madara's demeanor as he had trappe the boy in his Izanagi. Just what had he seen, and even as the boy stared at him he felt as is that gaze saw through him. Saw through his machinations. Saw and knew all.

And that attack confirmed his suspicion. Through some miracle, Ohashi Hatake was aware of his true nature and motives, and that meant he had to get away from here. That he had to escape and settle down until the boy's death.

And as the boy's jutsu flooded the forest, Zetsu moved through the ground swiftly as he tried to get away from the boy Madara had chosen as his successor.

BOOOM!

The very ground underneath which he flicked exploded, forcing him to move above ground, and before he could react, he felt his body still as he felt someone grip his body from behind.

"And where do you think you are going?" and he stilled as he recognized that voice. He glanced back and cursed as he saw that it was him.

"Ototsuki!"

It was Ohashi Hatake.

"How do you know!.....GUKHHHH……How do you know that name!" Zetsu snarled as he cursed the boy in rage as he struggled to get away.

"Does it truly matter how I know, or that I know!" the boy snarled as his grip over his body tightened. He felt a chill pass through him as he felt him mold a massive volume of chakra.

"Do you have any idea of what you are doing? I am the son of Kaguya! KAGUYA! You hear me. I have built this whole shinobi system. You cannot kill me!" he shouted.

"I can help you! Tell me what you desire! Tell me, and I shall aid you in your goals!" he pleaded, yet the boy was unmoved as he simply tightened his grip over his head. Madara's Sharingan focused on him ominously.

"I wish for peace. Peace that you have destroyed continuously over the years in your plans to revive your mother," the boy finally spoke, and Zetsu stilled at those words as he felt that gaze run through him as if looking at a bug.

"And you are a nuisance!"

And then he saw those eyes glint as he heard him snarl.

"BE GONE!"

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

0000

Eight people gathered in the village of Konoha below the Hokage tower a week later. Eight people, who were arguably the strongest shinobi in all of Konoha and the leader of the Village Tsuande Senju, sat there with a massive frown on her face as she looked towards the gathered men and women and uttered the penultimate words.

"Ohashi Hatake is alive!"

0000

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Have fun reading!

A/N: I believe an explanation is needed as to what exactly happened. Ohashi realized what Madara planned to do, and he realized that he couldn't escape the Izanami so he inscribed some behaviors into his brain washed personality, hoping against hope that someone would make the connection.

It was basically a last-ditch effort on his part before his free will was compromised. Let us see how it goes.