hi guys...., the semester very much so dragged my ass. tldr; I caught covid first week of classes, went to Chicago, saw DPR IAN(loml honestly..)!:!?!, now am currently battling demons but hey at least I'm alive right?

and ofc. apologies for any typos, grammatical errors. the plan is to go in during this break period I have and to clean it up a bit...!

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Obito's PERSPECTIVE

Mountains Graveyard

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His eyes narrowed as he walked out of the hideout, he couldn't say he was startled but rather puzzled as to why the male beforehand was there. "Madara." Kabuto stood before him to his right. His movements halted a numbing feeling seeping through him as he felt an unprecedented amount of sealed chakra before him. "Is there a reason you're here?" Obito asked Kabuto, as his back still turned to the rather scaley man before him. He changed, a reflecting image of Orochimaru before him.

"To join you, of course..." Kabuto replied slyly. That lingering feeling of chakra still felt present and rippled through Obito's body. There was, in fact, more than just Kabuto here; it had to be. From behind his mask, Obito's eyes linger to the opening of the cave before his eyes snap back to Kabuto. "Join me?" he seethed out mockingly. You're just a leech..." he hissed out.

Kabuto always seemed to have an ultimatum of aligning himself with those whom were more powerful than him, but a secret agenda always was under the surface of it. "No." Obito grounded, Kabuto's face remaining unchanged, but a small pause in his hand movements caught Obito's eye. A quick weave of signs before he felt the ground rumbling from under him. "What the..."

Five caskets arose from the ground suddenly. Something sealed away within them, and that presence of chakra that Obito felt became reconfirmed as he realized that's where it came from. "Let..me re-extend my offer..." Kabuto muttered, "And...all I ask in return is for Sasuke...and your sister..., [Name]" and that's where he froze. My sister?

Another casket arose from the ground, as the ones behind it shaken and unsealed, revealing 5 deceased Akatsuki members. The 6th casket revealed itself, and Obito's heart dropped. "So, Madara. Do we have a deal?" There was a silence, Kabuto knew, and he wasn't sure how. Obito's cracked, a rare tremor beneath his normally stoic demeanor. His breathing slowed, though his heart thundered like a war drum in his chest. The casket stood ominously, sealed and unyielding, yet the oppressive weight of its presence bore down on him like a tangible force.

"Kabuto," Obito growled, his voice low and simmering, "You've overstepped." Kabuto tilted his head, his serpentine smile widening, revealing his comfort in the imbalance he had created. "Did I, or have you just not covered your tracks..., Obito?" His voice was as smooth as venom, deceptively polite yet laced with malice. "You claim to walk the path of power and manipulation, but even you have blind spots." His golden eyes gleamed. "You may wear a mask, but I've learned to see behind it, and see the secrets you hide. It would be a shame really..." Obito's Sharingan burned with fury. He tightened his fists, but he refused to give Kabuto the satisfaction of a visible reaction from behind his mask. "You've made a grave mistake."

"Have I?" Kabuto stepped closer, daring to encroach on Obito's space. The resurrected Akatsuki members loomed behind him, their lifeless forms now animated with malevolence. But it was the unopened casket that drew Obito's gaze back, its presence louder than the others combined. "Your sister, [Name]," Kabuto continued, savoring every word. "Her talents are..such wasted as a mere shinobi. Imagine what she could become in my hands—our hands—an invincible force to reshape this world."

Obito's mind raced. How does he know about her? She's supposed to be dead—or at least out of reach. The fact that Kabuto knew enough to exploit this sent a jolt of fear—a foreign and loathsome feeling—coursing through him. "Your games will cost you, Kabuto," Obito spat, his voice cold as frost. "If you think dangling corpses and forgotten names will sway me, you're mistaken." Kabuto's grin remained unfaltering. "Is that so? And yet, I see the hesitation in your Sharingan. That flicker of doubt... of desperation." He leaned forward slightly, his tone conspiratorial. "The Edo Tensei doesn't lie, Obito. All it takes is a name, a sacrifice, and a chakra. And the real Madara is here, waiting... You can't bury the truth forever."

Obito's Sharingan swirled violently, his fingers twitching with the urge to summon a vortex and rip Kabuto apart. But he knew better. Kabuto wasn't careless—this move had been calculated, prepared. Acting impulsively could set off a chain reaction he wasn't ready to contain. "What do you hope to gain from this, Kabuto?" Obito asked, his voice steadier now, regaining control. "If you think threatening me with this... will earn Sasuke and [Name], you're delusional."

"On the contrary," Kabuto said lightly, folding his arms. "It's not a threat—it's leverage. You know, as I do, that power is the only currency that matters. And right now, I hold the advantage." The ground shifted slightly as the caskets settled, a haunting finality hanging in the air. Kabuto's confidence was suffocating, but Obito's mind was already calculating, plotting. This was no simple negotiation—this was war. And if there was one thing Obito excelled at, it was surviving wars.

"Take your offer and leave, Kabuto," Obito said, his tone sharpening like steel. "Before I decide you're no longer necessary." Kabuto's grin faltered for the briefest moment, but he recovered quickly. "Consider it, Madara," he said with an exaggerated bow, deliberately using the name to needle Obito further. "I'll be waiting for your answer. But don't take too long. Time is... fleeting." With that, Kabuto's body seemed to ripple and vanish, leaving the caskets standing ominously in his wake.

Obito's gaze lingered on the unopened casket, that lied of the real Madara. His sister's name echoed in his mind, a wound he thought had long since scarred over now torn open. He clenched his fists, the moment's weight pressing down on him. Whatever Kabuto thinks he knows, I'll crush him for daring to use her against me. For now, though, Obito turned away, retreating into the shadows of the hideout. He needed time to think, to plan. Kabuto had made his move, but this game was far from over.

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Neji's PERSPECTIVE

Outskirts of the Hyuga compound

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"Neji...!"

It had been so long since he felt his sister's presence, so long since she had finally been back in Konohagakure, and he had finally gathered the courage to see her. A long silence withdrew from both of them as Neji was the first to break the hug. Her expression was unreadable as she stepped back and looked at Neji. Rightfully so, there were so many questions swirling in her mind, just as there were in his.

Neji's eyes lingered on her face as if searching for remnants of the girl he once knew, the sister he remembered before the massacre. She looked the same, and yet there was something different—something sharper in her gaze, a guardedness that hadn't been there before. "You're... really here," [Name] said finally, her voice barely above a whisper. Her tone wasn't accusatory, but it wasn't welcoming either.

"I am," Neji replied simply. His voice was calm, his usual composure intact, but the weight of their distance hung heavy between them. "I had my reasons...," she said carefully, As Neji carefully examined her words. Neji's gaze didn't waver as he absorbed her words, though a flicker of something—hurt? Doubt?—crossed his features. "[Name]... your reasons may explain your actions, but they don't erase what happened."

Neji's voice softened, though it was tinged with the weight of his inner conflict. "I don't agree with what you did, [Name]. Everything I thought I knew about you.." His hands clenched into fists at his sides as if he was trying to ground himself. "But I also don't disagree... because a part of me understands why you did it..Our grandfather, those advisors..., the way they treated me..., everyone...and especially you." His voice faltered for a moment before he continued.

"They were a symbol of everything wrong with the way the Hyuga clan has been for generations. The hierarchy, the suppression... the marks on our foreheads. But understanding doesn't mean I condone it. You went too far. You crossed a line that can't be undone, and you left me to face the fallout of it all.." Her heart twisted at his words, the pain in them mirroring her own guilt. "I know, Neji," she said softly, stepping closer to him, though she hesitated to reach out. "I know what I did was unforgivable. I... I don't expect you to agree with my actions or to forgive me for them. But I need you to know that I didn't do it lightly. I didn't leave lightly."

"You didn't just leave," Neji cut in, his voice sharper this time. "You abandoned everything, [Name]. The village. Shikamaru. Hinata..Naruto..me." Neji's expression softened slightly, the rigid lines of his face easing just enough to reveal a flicker of empathy. "You've always been my sister," he said quietly. "No matter how angry I've been, no matter how much I've struggled to understand or to dissuade myself... I never stopped seeing you as my sister. That's why it hurt so much."

Tears welled in her eyes, and this time she didn't try to hold them back. "I'm sorry," she whispered, her voice raw. "I'm so, so sorry for everything—for what I did to the clan and for what it put you through, for not coming to you sooner. I just... I didn't want you to be put in the middle..., and that's exactly what I did.." Neji let out a slow breath, his shoulders relaxing as the tension between them seemed to ease, if only slightly.

"We can't change what's already happened, [Name]," he said, his tone steady but no longer as cold. "But if you truly want to make things right, then you have to stop running. You have to face it—with me, not away from me." For the first time in what felt like an eternity, the rift between them seemed just a little less insurmountable. It wasn't perfect, and it wasn't immediate, but it was a start.

As the two Hyuga siblings hugged from the doorway of the cabin once again, as tensions had lifted between the two, Shikamaru & Kakashi stood on the other end of the wrap-around porch. A subtle content look on Shikamaru's face as the bonds around [Name] had slowly been reconnecting their way to her. But, all too soon, things were...getting louder outside of Konohagakure.

The war still loomed in the air, and Konohagakure had been intensely working towards leading the war with the other nations. Kakashi's main intention that he ensured within Tsunade's mind upon her return was that [Name] was to still be recognized as a deceased missing-nin to the world. It was a risky ask, a risky thing to do, as she had many crimes to be tried in different nations throughout the world, nations that would grovel to the ends of the earth just to lay a hand on her.

But Kakashi and the nations frankly did not know what Madara's war truly entailed of. All of what to expect, but a part of him knew that [Name]'s presence was vital and that Madara wasn't being haste about just giving her up to Konoha so suddenly, and that an ulterior motive played behind it...

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Obito's PERSPECTIVE

Mountains Graveyard

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Obito stood before the remains of the Akatsuki's shrine he destroyed, the once-imposing monument reduced to little more than a relic of a crumbled ideal. The faint glimmer of torchlight reflected off the surface of the flower covered surface, casting long, jagged shadows across his stoic face. The grim laugh that escaped him was cold, hollow. The Akatsuki had served its purpose, its members mere pawns in his grander scheme. That they had fallen—one by one—was inevitable, something he had anticipated from the beginning. Their loyalty, their ideologies, their ambitions—all of it had been nothing more than a means to an end. Now, with Nagato gone and the Akatsuki unraveling, the time had come to move forward with their failures.

As he bent down to retrieve the lifeless body of the red-haired man—Nagato, once a god among men—his expression remained impassive. With a subtle twitch of his eye, he activated Kamui, the swirling vortex consuming Nagato's remains and transporting them into his dimension. The gesture was practical, almost mechanical. He didn't mourn Nagato's death; he simply removed another piece from the chessboard.

Yet, as the dust settled around him, another weight lingered in his mind. The loss of his sister. It wasn't her death that haunted him—Obito knew she was still alive. But her defection, her rejection of his vision, had been a blow unlike any other. He had placed her in the center of his plans, a key player in his pursuit of the Infinite Tsukuyomi. She was to serve as a symbol, a shadow of his own will. And yet, she had slipped through his grasp, her purpose diminished and her alliance severed.

In truth, he had let her go. It hadn't been a weakness but a calculated necessity. Her role in his plans had become futile at that moment, a liability rather than an asset. Keeping her close risked more than he could afford, and though her loss stung, it had been a sacrifice he was willing to make. Still, the emptiness lingered, a faint ache buried deep within the void of his broken soul. She was his sister, the last remnant of the life he had abandoned, the only tie to the boy he had once been. But Obito was no longer that boy. He was the man who would reshape the world. And in the grand tapestry of his ambitions, even family could be sacrificed for the greater good.

With one final glance at the shrine, Obito straightened his cloak as he turned to leave. The Akatsuki was no longer; its purpose was fulfilled, and its members were discarded. All that remained now was to focus on the ultimate goal—the Moon's Eye Plan. And as for his sister... her time would come.

Soon enough..

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I need a cigarette.