Chapter 562: The Real Enemy (Patreon)

Hokage Tower — Hokage's Office — Konohagakure

"What the hell is going on…!?"

Tsunade's voice emerged with enough irritation to compensate for the fact that half of her face still carried the unmistakable marks of someone who had been unconscious on top of official military reports less than ten seconds earlier.

Her amber eyes moved from Alaric to Itachi, then returned to Shizune, whose hands remained wrapped around the liquor bottle she had been attempting to remove from the Hokage's desk.

Shizune gave a strained smile. "Tsunade-sama, I can explain."

Tsunade slowly looked toward the teapot sitting where her sake had previously been, and her eyes narrowed. "You were replacing my alcohol with tea."

Shizune held the bottle closer to herself. "You were sleeping."

"And???"

"You've barely slept properly in days."

Tsunade's gaze sharpened.

Shizune lifted one finger. "And you were going to wake up and drink again."

Tsunade opened her mouth.

Shizune pointed toward the scattered reports before she could respond.

"You are coordinating medical preparations for five villages, Tsunade-sama."

There was enough genuine concern behind the statement that Tsunade's irritation weakened slightly.

She released a long breath and leaned farther into her chair. "Fine."

Shizune visibly relaxed.

Tsunade rubbed one hand across her face. "Put it somewhere safe."

Shizune nodded quickly. "Of course."

"Not too safe."

Shizune chose not to answer that part.

Alaric had watched the entire exchange with a faintly raised eyebrow.

Tsunade finally noticed, so her tired expression darkened. "And you."

Alaric pointed toward himself. "Me?"

"You appeared inside my office without warning."

"I usually do."

"That does not make it acceptable."

Alaric glanced toward Itachi.

Itachi remained beside him with the expression of someone who had already concluded that involving himself in this part of the conversation could only make his life more difficult.

Tsunade's attention shifted toward him. "Itachi."

Itachi inclined his head respectfully.

"Hokage-sama."

Tsunade looked between the two men again before her exhaustion gave way to something much more serious.

Alaric had not brought Itachi to her office for no reason.

She sighed and straightened up a little. "Why are you here?"

Alaric's expression changed with hers.

"The alliance."

Hearing that, every trace of sleep disappeared from Tsunade's eyes.

Shizune stopped near the cabinet where she had intended to hide the liquor.

Alaric walked toward the desk and glanced down at the reports scattered across it.

Kumogakure readiness estimates.

Iwagakure troop movements.

Sunagakure supply allocations.

Kirigakure sensor units.

Konoha medical deployments.

Mobilization plans prepared around one central assumption.

Madara Uchiha remained the primary enemy.

Alaric lifted one document. "How much have you committed?"

Tsunade watched him before sighing. "Enough that the village has been operating without proper rest for days."

She gestured toward herself.

"Clearly."

Alaric placed the paper down. "That needs to change."

Tsunade's brows narrowed.

"Explain."

Alaric looked directly at her.

"The Five Great Villages are preparing for a Madara Uchiha who no longer exists."

The office became silent.

"…"

"…"

"What does that mean?" Tsunade leaned forward slightly.

Alaric remained calm.

Tsunade's voice hardened. "Alaric."

"I fought him," Her eyes sharpened. "A few days ago."

Tsunade's hand stopped against the desk.

Itachi glanced toward Alaric but remained silent.

Alaric continued before Tsunade could begin questioning the timing. "Madara was strong."

Tsunade gave him a flat look. "I am aware."

"No," Alaric's expression became more serious. "I don't think you are."

That caught her attention.

Tsunade's brows drew together.

Alaric placed one palm against the desk and leaned over the reports.

"I've looked at the current readiness estimates for the alliance. Konoha, Kumo, Iwa, Suna, and Kiri have thousands of shinobi between them, and the alliance structure itself is better than anything the Five Great Nations have fielded together before."

Tsunade waited.

Alaric looked back at her.

"… but it would not be enough."

Her eyes narrowed.

"What?"

"If the Madara I fought were still your enemy, this alliance would lose."

Tsunade's jaw tightened.

She was about to respond when Alaric raised one hand.

"Allow me to explain."

Tsunade stared at the raised palm, then at him, before she slowly sat back without saying anything.

Alaric lowered his hand.

"Your jinchūriki are too weak."

Shizune's expression changed immediately.

Tsunade's did too.

"Killer B has complete cooperation with the Eight-Tails," Alaric continued. "That makes him dangerous, and it places him far above most jinchūriki who spend their lives fighting the thing sealed inside them."

He tapped one of Kumo's reports.

"But that still does not put him on Madara's level."

Tsunade remained quiet.

"Naruto is progressing," Alaric glanced toward the Konoha files. "He is beginning to harmonize properly with the Nine-Tails, and there is an enormous amount of potential there, but potential is not the same thing as what he can do today."

Tsunade folded her arms. "Naruto has already surpassed expectations more times than I can count. I was told by Mina… by someone that he already mastered the Toad Sage Mode."

"I know," Alaric's response carried no dismissal. "That is why I am saying this as someone who likes him."

He met her gaze.

"If the Madara I fought decided he wanted Kurama, Naruto would not keep Kurama."

Tsunade's expression became colder.

Alaric lifted one hand and closed his fingers.

"Madara has spent a lifetime dealing with tailed beasts. He understands how to suppress them, control them, extract them, and dominate them through his dōjutsu."

His hand opened again.

"He looks at Naruto, gets close enough, and bam!"

Tsunade's eyebrow twitched at the sound.

"No more Nine-Tails for Naruto."

Shizune swallowed.

"And the same applies to B," Alaric turned his attention toward Tsunade again. "The Five Kage cannot defeat him either."

That earned him the reaction he expected.

Tsunade straightened. "You are saying that very confidently."

"I fought him."

"So did we at the Summit."

"You encountered him while I was there, I was the one who fought his Edo form."

Alaric's voice remained measured.

"You never had to find out what happens when Madara decides nobody stronger is standing between him and the Five Kage."

Tsunade's expression tightened.

It was true.

She had seen Madara.

She had felt the oppressive chakra and understood immediately that the man standing before the summit was beyond nearly every shinobi alive.

Yet Alaric had been there.

That fact had altered the scale of the confrontation before the Kage could ever discover its natural conclusion.

Alaric continued.

"You didn't see your grandfather fight at his peak."

Tsunade's eyes changed slightly at the mention of Hashirama.

"You know the stories, and you know what Hashirama could do from records, but Ōnoki actually remembers the era when Madara's name still meant something personal."

He pointed toward Iwagakure's documents.

"Ask him."

"…" Tsunade said nothing.

"He will hate agreeing with me," A faint smile crossed Alaric's face. "But he will."

His expression became serious again.

"If all Five Kage faced Madara together and Madara genuinely intended to kill them, Madara would win."

Tsunade's eyes hardened.

Alaric continued before pride could turn the statement into an argument.

"That isn't disrespect."

He shook his head.

"You are strong. A is strong. Gaara is exceptional for his age. Mei is dangerous. Ōnoki has one of the most lethal techniques in the shinobi world..."

His gaze moved across the maps.

"… but Madara is simply that powerful."

Tsunade remained silent.

Alaric could see that she was actually considering it now, so he continued.

"And the army does not fix the problem."

Tsunade's attention returned.

"Thousands of shinobi matter when the opponent fights within the same scale as an army."

Alaric lifted one hand above the desk.

"Madara can drop a meteor."

Shizune's eyes widened slightly.

"A real one," Alaric added as he noticed her expression. "Large enough that the impact alone could erase forces across tens of kilometers depending upon where it lands."

Tsunade said nothing.

Alaric lowered his hand.

"And if everyone exhausts themselves stopping the first one…"

His mouth curved faintly.

"He can drop another on top of it."

Tsunade stared, while Shizune looked toward Itachi.

Itachi's expression confirmed that none of this sounded implausible to him.

Alaric leaned back from the desk.

"That is what your alliance was preparing to fight."

A long silence followed.

Tsunade eventually looked toward him.

"If you know all of this…"

Her eyes narrowed.

"…how did you defeat him?"

Hearing the question, Alaric paused.

There it was.

He had already decided what Tsunade needed to know.

He had also decided what she absolutely did not need to know.

The Ten-Tails being sealed inside him.

Cronos.

The fire dimension.

Hagoromo.

Madara releasing the Ten-Tails voluntarily.

Izuna walking around the Kenway Compound with a fresh pair of Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.

Madara receiving five hundred thousand ryō every month under an employment contract.

Explaining all of that would create approximately twelve new problems before Tsunade had finished processing the first one.

So Alaric gave her the story that was close enough to reality to survive scrutiny.

"We fought for hours."

Itachi's eyes moved subtly toward him.

Alaric continued.

"Ninjutsu after ninjutsu until entire sections of the battlefield stopped resembling terrain."

That part was true enough.

"Taijutsu powerful enough that missed strikes destroyed mountains and cliffs."

Also true enough.

"Neither of us could afford to stop concentrating because the moment one person gained too much momentum, the entire fight shifted."

Tsunade listened carefully.

"I kept working sealing formulas into the battlefield while we fought."

Alaric crossed his arms.

"Small ones at first. Anchor points. Barriers. Suppression formulas. Nothing obvious enough for Madara to destroy immediately."

That part was a lie wrapped around things he was absolutely capable of doing.

"Eventually, I had enough of the structure in place that I could begin restricting him while continuing the fight."

Tsunade leaned forward.

"You sealed Madara while fighting him."

"Slowly," Alaric nodded. "Well… he noticed eventually."

"What happened then?"

"We talked."

"…" Itachi remained silent. 'Did that actually happen?'

Tsunade glanced briefly toward him.

Itachi did not contradict Alaric.

That alone gave the explanation more weight.

Alaric continued, "Madara had already learned that a great deal of what guided him had been manipulated."

Tsunade's expression sharpened.

"Manipulated by whom?"

"Something connected to the Uchiha tablet and the people who pushed him toward the Eye of the Moon."

He deliberately kept the details broad.

"By the time our fight reached its end, Madara understood that he had spent decades following something that was never truly his."

Alaric's voice lowered slightly.

"He regretted it."

That part, while simplified, was no longer entirely false.

Madara had abandoned Infinite Tsukuyomi and had chosen Izuna over the plan. He had looked at what his life's work had become and walked away.

Alaric continued.

"He told me he was tired of being controlled."

Tsunade watched him carefully.

"And?"

Alaric met her gaze.

"He wanted it finished."

His expression did not change.

"He asked me to kill him rather than let the plan continue through him."

That was the lie.

Itachi's Sharingan remained inactive, though his gaze rested upon Alaric for a fraction longer than before, but he said nothing.

Tsunade sat back.

The information rearranged the entire strategic map sitting on her desk.

Madara had been the reason emergency mobilization reached this scale.

Madara's return had been the threat capable of convincing villages with generations of blood between them to stand beneath the same command structure.

If Madara was gone from the battlefield…

Her shoulders lowered slightly.

"Then the alliance is all for nothing."

Alaric's expression changed immediately. "No."

Tsunade looked up.

He stared directly into her eyes.

"The alliance has the wrong name at the top of the threat report."

Something in his tone made Shizune stop moving.

Tsunade's brow furrowed.

"Then who?"

Alaric answered without hesitation.

"Obito Uchiha."

Itachi's gaze hardened slightly.

Tsunade slowly repeated the name. "Obito."

"Yes."

"The man who helped Itachi during the massacre."

Itachi's expression darkened, though he nodded.

"The same man," Alaric said. "The same man who spent years using Madara's name. The same man who manipulated Akatsuki from behind other people. The same man who has been pursuing the tailed beasts."

Tsunade's attention sharpened completely.

Alaric continued.

"Obito intends to revive the Ten-Tails and place the entire planet under an inescapable genjutsu."

Shizune stared.

Tsunade's expression became grim.

"Why?"

Alaric paused… then sighed. "Because he misses his crush."

Tsunade blinked… and Shizune also blinked.

Even Itachi's eyes shifted.

Alaric rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Rin Nohara."

Tsunade stared at him as though waiting for the rest.

Alaric lowered his hand. "That is the rest."

"You are telling me," Tsunade said slowly, "that the man gathering tailed beasts to place the world inside an eternal illusion is doing this because of a girl."

"Primarily."

Alaric tilted his head.

"There are philosophical excuses surrounding it now, of course. Hatred, hopelessness, the cruelty of the shinobi world, reality being unbearable, everyone trapped in cycles of suffering."

He shrugged.

"But if you keep peeling those layers away, eventually you reach Rin."

Tsunade's face became difficult to read.

Alaric continued with mild disbelief.

"Which is a little strange when you consider that Obito is a grown man now. At some point, you would think he might have processed his grief, built a life of his own, maybe started a family if he wanted one, or at least chosen something between healthy acceptance and planetary genjutsu."

Itachi quietly looked toward the window.

Shizune seemed unsure whether she should consider the situation tragic or ridiculous.

Tsunade chose neither.

She looked down at the reports, her head threatening to shatter. "So Obito is still pursuing the Eye of the Moon."

"Yes."

"And Madara is no longer the active threat."

"Correct."

The guilt arrived unexpectedly.

Alaric felt it somewhere beneath his ribs as he watched Tsunade look at the mobilization plans.

He had just handed the entire Five Great Nations a new target.

Obito.

A man Madara had manipulated for years.

A man Black Zetsu had manipulated alongside Madara.

A man whose worldview had been built from trauma, grief, indoctrination, and years spent inside a plan he had inherited from someone else.

Alaric knew the situation was more complicated than the explanation he had just given, but he also knew that Obito had made plenty of his own choices.

The Nine-Tails attack.

Minato and Kushina's original deaths.

Akatsuki.

The Uchiha Massacre.

The tailed-beast hunts.

The Kage Summit invasion.

The ongoing attempt to force his answer upon the entire world.

Alaric considered that for another second, then the guilt faded.

'Hn… It is what it is…'

Obito could survive being blamed for the things Obito was actually trying to do.

Alaric rested one hand against the desk. "The alliance isn't for nothing."

Tsunade looked up.

"For the first time since these villages were founded, all five of you have a common enemy strong enough that nobody can pretend old grudges matter more."

His gaze moved across the five emblems represented among the reports.

"That matters."

Tsunade's expression became thoughtful.

Alaric continued.

"You have common command channels now. Shared medical logistics. Intelligence exchange. Coordinated troop movements. Kage who can sit inside the same room without immediately reopening wars their grandparents started."

He nodded toward the maps.

"Keep that."

Tsunade understood. "Change the target."

"Yes."

Alaric straightened.

"Tell the alliance that Madara Uchiha is no longer the primary enemy."

Tsunade's eyes narrowed. "And replace his name with Obito Uchiha."

"Exactly."

Tsunade remained silent for several seconds, then her entire demeanor shifted.

The exhausted woman who had been asleep on her paperwork disappeared beneath the Hokage.

She turned sharply.

"Shizune."

Shizune straightened.

"Tsunade-sama."

"Gather the fastest shinobi we have available."

Shizune was already moving toward the door.

"Send word directly to each Kage. This intelligence is priority level one."

"Yes."

"I want confirmation from every village the moment their Kage receives it."

Shizune opened the door.

"And Shizune."

She stopped.

Tsunade's expression hardened.

"Do not put the full details in ordinary dispatches."

Shizune nodded immediately. "Verbal relay or secured cipher only."

"Exactly."

Shizune bowed. "I'll handle it now."

She hurried from the room.

The door closed behind her.

Tsunade looked toward the empty doorway for a moment before returning her attention to Alaric.

He was examining one of the alliance maps.

"This is better," he said.

Tsunade raised a brow. "Better?"

"Yes."

Alaric looked toward her.

"If it were actually Madara standing against the alliance, you would have a much larger problem."

Tsunade's eyes narrowed. "You already said that."

"I mean it, Alaric placed the map back down. "With Obito, the alliance has a real fight."

"With Madara?"

Alaric hesitated for barely a second. "Good luck, because most of you would die."

Tsunade's jaw tightened.

Alaric knew he was simplifying again.

If Madara truly became the final obstacle, the world possessed Naruto and Sasuke.

Hagoromo existed.

The Sage of Six Paths had already shown that he was willing to intervene when the stakes reached the level of Infinite Tsukuyomi and Kaguya.

There was no realistic universe where Hagoromo simply watched Naruto and Sasuke die while the fate of the entire planet collapsed around them.

So yes… Alaric was lying again.

The Five Kage might lose.

The ordinary army might be devastated.

But the world was not as helpless as he was presenting it.

Tsunade studied him.

"If Madara had remained the enemy…"

She paused, staring at Alaric.

"…would you help?"

Alaric raised a brow.

"Well, I defeated Madara already, didn't I?"

Tsunade's eyes narrowed further.

"Then you can defeat Obito."

Alaric stared at her.

Tsunade stared back.

Itachi remained completely motionless between them.

Alaric eventually sighed. "I've done my part."

Tsunade's expression hardened. "Alaric."

"I fought the strongest enemy you could realistically have," He gestured toward the alliance reports. "Now let the alliance fight."

Tsunade slowly stood. "People will die."

Alaric's expression became quieter. "People always die."

Tsunade's eyes sharpened immediately.

Alaric lifted one hand before she could respond. "I don't mean that dismissively."

He looked toward the window.

"It's simply how life works."

Tsunade gave him a look that made it clear his clarification had not improved the sentence by much.

Alaric sighed.

"Tsunade, you surely don't expect me to fight every threat that appears simply because I can."

She did not answer.

"I am not a saint," His voice remained calm. "And while I'm a Jonin, I don't belong to Konoha as some weapon you can point at every dangerous person in the world."

Tsunade's mouth tightened.

Alaric continued.

"I helped Haku and Zabuza find asylum here."

He lifted another finger.

"I dealt with Danzō."

Another.

"I saved Itachi."

Itachi's eyes moved toward him.

"I brought Minato and Kushina back."

Another finger.

"I fought Madara."

Alaric lowered his hand.

"And I won."

The office became quiet again.

"You have five great hidden villages standing together."

He nodded toward the reports.

"Use them."

Tsunade said nothing.

Alaric's expression softened slightly.

"People may die against Obito."

His gaze remained steady.

"But if you refuse to let your shinobi face danger because someone stronger can always step in and solve it for them, then what exactly is this alliance worth?"

That reached her differently.

"…"

Tsunade looked toward the maps.

Konoha, Kumo, Iwa, Sun, Kiri.

Five powers that had spent generations burying shinobi because of one another.

Now they had a chance to prove their cooperation was more than fear of Madara.

She released a long breath.

"I understand."

Alaric waited and saw Tsunade lowering herself back into the Hokage's chair.

"So you are going to stand back," Tsunade said. Not asking, nor questioning… just stating.

"For this fight?"

"Yes."

Alaric nodded. "Unless something changes enough that I decide intervention is necessary."

Tsunade raised a brow.

Alaric smiled faintly. "I never said I was going to another continent."

She studied him for several seconds before shaking her head. "Fine."

Her eyes moved toward the alliance reports.

"Then stand back and watch."

Alaric's expression became curious.

Tsunade looked at him.

"You think the Five Great Villages cannot handle themselves without you?"

"I didn't say that."

"Good," Her hand settled on the Konoha readiness report. "Then you can watch the strength of the alliance of the five greatest hidden villages defeat one common enemy."

Alaric smiled.

"That sounds much healthier."

Tsunade's eyebrow twitched.

Alaric glanced toward Itachi.

The Uchiha had remained beside him throughout the conversation, quietly absorbing every omission Alaric had made.

Alaric could deal with that later.

He looked back toward Tsunade. "I wish you luck."

Tsunade nodded. "We'll need less luck if your intelligence is right."

"It usually is."

Tsunade gave him another look.

Alaric smiled, then platinum-gold light spread across his body.

Tsunade's eyes narrowed.

"You could use the door once in your life."

"Where's the fun in that?"

The light intensified, and a heartbeat later, Alaric disappeared.

Tsunade stared at the empty space.

Then she looked toward Itachi.

Itachi remained where he was.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow.

"He didn't take you."

Itachi looked toward the spot Alaric had occupied.

"So it appears."

Tsunade sighed.

Her attention returned to the paperwork covering the desk.

Madara's name appeared across several reports.

She pulled one toward herself.

Then another.

The entire alliance strategy would need adjustment.

Mobilization remained, but the enemy changed.

Obito Uchiha.

Tsunade reached toward the nearest cup without looking.

Her fingers wrapped around it.

She lifted it to her lips and drank, and her face immediately changed.

She looked down and saw tea.

Tsunade stared at the cup, then at the cabinet where Shizune had hidden the liquor, then her shoulders slowly lowered.

"Shizune…"

The exhausted Hokage closed her eyes as one more sigh escaped her.

Outside the office, messengers were already beginning to move.

Within hours, every Kage in the Five Great Nations would receive the same correction.

The shinobi world had spent days preparing for Madara Uchiha.

Now it would learn the name of the man Alaric had placed in his shadow.

Obito Uchiha.