Kirigakure and Akatsuki Alliance? Konoha High Command Stunned on the Spot!

As the Anbu Ninja finished speaking, it was as if all the air had been sucked out of the Hokage's office.

"Clatter."

The pipe fell from Sarutobi Hiruzen's mouth and hit the floor with a crisp sound. Scorching ash spilled everywhere, but he didn't even notice.

Kisame Hoshigaki?

Most of the people present had never heard that name, but the title of Fourth Mizukage of Kirigakure carried enormous weight.

It belonged to one of the strongest people in the Five Great Nations, a leader who stood at the pinnacle of power and bore the title of Kage!

And, even worse, Kirigakure had established formal diplomatic relations with the Akatsuki organization?!

What did that even mean?

A band of elite rogue ninja that had run rampant through the Ninja World had suddenly joined forces with one of the villages of the Five Great Nations!

This was no longer a simple military threat. It was an outright threat to the existing political order!

"Impossible!" Danzo's lone eye widened as he growled hoarsely. "Has Kirigakure gone mad? How dare they ally themselves with a group of rogue ninja? They're declaring war on the entire Ninja World!"

"This is bad..." Nara Shikaku covered his face in anguish, muttering over and over, "This is really bad..."

The intelligence Jiraiya had brought back about Amegakure's economic development had seemed like an absurd joke. But now, in light of this news, it had become a chilling horror story.

"I understand now..." Nara Shikaku's expression turned utterly grim. "That Pain—or Uchiha Madara behind him—wasn't messing around at all!"

"The economic development measures he introduced—mining, steelmaking, selling ninjutsu... He wasn't just trying to make money. In the shortest possible time, through trade and opening the country to the outside world, he was transforming a self-isolated Amegakure, long mired in an atmosphere of war, from the ground up into a fortified stronghold with ample funding and the potential to wage war!"

"Then he used the same methods to deeply infiltrate the even more chaotic Kirigakure! He wiped out the old guard led by the Third Mizukage in a purge, then chose that Fourth Mizukage, Kisame Hoshigaki. The Mizukage is a puppet they propped up to present to the outside world."

At that moment, all the clues fell into place!

First, overthrow the government by force. Then, infiltrate and seize control through economic means. Finally, install a loyal proxy and take complete control of a great nation!

As the pieces of this strategy fell into place, everyone present felt a chill run down their spines.

Uchiha Madara, that legendary man, wasn't playing the shallow game of traditional ninja warfare. He was pursuing an audacious plan to annex a nation and its territory outright: control it through force, support it with economic development, then install a proxy by legitimate means!

"We've been played." Minato spoke softly, but his words made the temperature in the office drop even further.

Ever since the Nine-Tails Incident, their attention had been focused on Obito, the Jinchuriki, and the power struggles within the village.

But who could have imagined that while they were scrambling to deal with those problems, Uchiha Madara had quietly swallowed up one of the Five Great Ninja Villages thousands of miles away?

Akatsuki was no longer a ragtag group.

They now had the resources of an entire nation behind them and official political status. They could openly recruit, and they could declare war on other nations with full legitimacy!

"We must contact the other three great nations at once!" Sarutobi Hiruzen picked up his pipe and stood again, his expression more serious than ever. "The upheaval in Kirigakure has threatened the balance of the entire Ninja World! We must form an alliance and strike at Uchiha Madara's power to eliminate the threat before it grows!"

"It won't work, Third Lord." Nara Shikaku shook his head, his face bitter. "Iwagakure and Cloud Village would love to see Konoha suffer. They might even take the opportunity to attack us and seize our territory. Sunagakure is already struggling to look after itself. Until they see Akatsuki's true fangs for themselves, none of them will take sides lightly. They don't want to face Akatsuki—or Uchiha Madara—alone!"

"Besides," Danzo added ominously, "who can guarantee that the other villages haven't been infiltrated by that 'Akatsuki'?" "And, everyone, given the power Uchiha Madara has shown so far, who in the Ninja World today could stand against him—unless Senju Hashirama, the First hailed as the God of Shinobi, were resurrected?"

His words plunged everyone into silence once more.

It was true. If even Kirigakure, one of the Five Great Nations, could be taken over without anyone noticing, who could guarantee that their own village was impregnable? If they couldn't deal with the mastermind behind it all, the threats would keep coming, without end.

Minato walked over to the enormous floor-to-ceiling window and looked down at the village, still bustling with reconstruction work.

Behind him stood Konoha's finest strategists and strongest fighters.

Yet at that moment, no one had any answers.

Their enemy had already stepped outside the framework of "ninja" thinking, surpassing the way most people of this era saw the world.

At the same time.

Inside a dim cave.

Lin Feng leaned back in a stone chair, a Water Mirror made of chakra floating before him.

The mirror clearly showed Minato and the others in the Hokage's office, their faces clouded with worry.

"Heh. A disorganized rabble."

Lin Feng picked up a cup of hot tea from the stone table beside him, blew gently across its surface, and gave a scornful laugh.

The so-called Five Great Nations, the so-called balance of the Ninja World—they were as fragile as paper lanterns. He could only lament that Senju Hashirama had been too naive back then. As a traditional Dragon Countryman, Lin Feng had always believed in uniting the world. The Ninja World was nothing but a tiny continent, yet its people were trapped in their old ways of thinking, their institutions, and their class divisions. They didn't even dare dream of uniting the world. If it had been unified back then, there wouldn't be so many problems now.

All it took was a light poke to shatter their fragile peace.

"Old man, why...?"

A weak voice, filled with hatred, came from the corner of the cave.

Lin Feng didn't turn around. He merely glanced over.

Obito Uchiha lay on a stone bed. White Zetsu's cells had reattached his severed right arm, but beneath his shattered mask, his Sharingan burned with furious hatred.

"You're awake." Lin Feng's voice was as calm as if he were talking to a stranger.

"Why?! Why did you save Minato and Kushina? Why didn't you let me destroy Konoha?" Obito struggled to sit up, but the movement tugged at his wounds, making him grimace in pain.

He couldn't understand.

He had followed Madara's plan, even risking exposure and staking everything on it. He had done it all to see the plan through.

But at the last moment, the person who'd stabbed him in the back and ruined everything had been the very Madara who was supposed to support him from behind the scenes!

"Destroy Konoha?" Lin Feng finally turned around, his Rinnegan fixed on Obito with indifference. "With that pathetic farce full of holes?" "With your laughable fighting ability?"

He rose and walked slowly over to Obito, looking down at him.

"Release the Nine-Tails and inflame the conflict between the Uchiha and the village? Your idea wasn't bad. But what came next?" "Did the Uchiha actually fight the village? Did they actually defect? What was your next move? Was your revenge really supposed to rely on one failed conspiracy, with no follow-up plan? Were you just going to act on impulse, driven by anger, then sit around and pray that your wish would come true—that the village and the Uchiha would fight until they destroyed each other? If you had the ability to show up afterward and clean up the mess, then use my name, Uchiha Madara, to unite the village and become Hokage, I might have called your plan a success.

"But you don't understand revenge. You don't understand patience. Most importantly, you don't even have enough strength!"

Lin Feng reached out and lightly tapped Obito on the forehead.

"Your so-called revenge is nothing but a self-indulgent romantic tragedy. You want to destroy the world for the sake of a dead woman? How pathetic. You've been lying to yourself all along, Obito."

"You have no right to say Rin's name!" Obito roared. His Mangekyō Sharingan spun wildly as he tried to activate Kamui.

But Lin Feng merely watched him, his purple Rinnegan like an unfathomable universe.

Obito felt his ocular power slam into an insurmountable wall and rebound at once. A sharp, stabbing pain shot through his brain.

"Gah!" He cried out and clutched his eye.

"Trying to use ninjutsu in front of me? You're not qualified." Lin Feng withdrew his finger, his voice full of contempt.

He walked over to the Water Mirror and waved a hand lightly at its surface.

The image shifted from the Hokage's office to the gates of Konoha.

Minato stood there, seeing Jiraiya off as he prepared to set out on another journey. The two teacher and student looked solemn, as if discussing something important.

"Take a look." Lin Feng's voice drifted over. "Your teacher and your grandteacher are rushing around to deal with the mess you created."

"And your so-called enemy, Namikaze Minato, is not only alive, but has become the hero who saved the village."

"Your plan was a joke from beginning to end."

Obito stared at the image in the mirror, his body trembling violently.

He had failed.

He had failed completely.

He hadn't killed Minato or destroyed Konoha. Instead, Minato had reunited with his family, while Obito had become a stray dog.

A wave of humiliation and helplessness swept over him and swallowed him whole.

"Why... Why did it turn out like this...?" Obito murmured, the light in his eyes fading rapidly.

"Because you're too weak."

Lin Feng's voice rang out again, like a final judgment.

"Your so-called Mangekyō and Wood Release are nothing but children's toys to me."

He turned, walked over to Obito, and slowly crouched down.

"But your eyes are still useful."

Lin Feng reached out, removed the shattered white mask from Obito's face, and tossed it to the ground.

Then he took a brand-new mask from inside his robes.

It was orange, with a single eyehole and a spiral pattern.

"From today on, Obito Uchiha is dead."

Lin Feng slowly fitted the new mask over Obito's face, covering the expression of despair and resentment.

"Your new name is 'Tobi.'"

"A clown who will bring 'laughter and joy' to Akatsuki." "Obey me, Obito. Maybe... I can even bring your beloved Rin back to life!"

From behind the mask came Obito's suppressed, beastlike breathing.

"Rin!"

Lin Feng ignored his reaction, stood up, and returned to the Water Mirror.

The image shifted again, revealing a vast desert.

"Your first mission," Lin Feng said, his voice cold and devoid of emotion, "is to go to the Land of Wind and find Sasori of the Red Sands. You'll have to pass his test before you can become a useful member of Akatsuki. Otherwise, you can stay buried in the dirt and rot!"

"As for the 'Eye of the Moon Plan' you've been dreaming about..."

The corner of Lin Feng's mouth curled into an amused smile.

"I'll complete it myself, in my own way."

"And you'll watch from the sidelines and learn."

"See how a true mastermind reshapes the order of this world."