As soon as Akira appeared using Flying Thunder God, he was almost attacked by the opponent. Fortunately, he had prepared in advance and kicked the assailant away before they could strike.
Bang-
His kick was so powerful that the opponent hadn't even raised their arms to block before being sent crashing into the crowd.
Several people shifted in alarm, ready to react-until they recognized the figure that had just arrived.
"Lord Akira?"
"Mm," Akira answered reflexively, only then realizing that he had just dropped into the middle of the headquarters tent-where half the gathered messengers looked ready to go to war.
"You-"
"Akira, what are you doing?!"
Tobirama's angry roar echoed through the space. Akira's brows lifted in faint realization finally caught up to him that the man he kicked just now had been Tobirama himself.
"Oh its Tobirama. That explains why the kick felt so satisfying..... My bad."
"Asshole!"
Tobirama's temper snapped hard enough for his composure to crack. "You marked me with the Flying Thunder God's seal and didn't even check who it was? You did that shit on purpose!"
"I swear I didn't!"
Akira raised both hands as if caught red-handed, but his tone stayed too casual for anyone to believe his excuse fully. Especially considering he'd just returned from chatting with Madara, which likely left his head in too strange of a place to think straight.
"You!"
Tobirama looked ready to lunge again, but the others quickly swarmed between them.
"Please calm down, Lord Tobirama! I'm sure Lord Akira didn't do it intentionally."
"Yes, yes, it must've just been bad timing! And we're in the middle of war preparation!"
"That's right-let's deal with this after we win! Lord Akira must have brought back important intel!"
Despite the escalating tension, logic and urgency won out among the gathered officers. Tobirama took one deep breath and exhaled slowly through clenched teeth.
"My brother-"
Boom-
Another blast tore through the heavy silence outside. The ground trembled hard enough to rattle everything nailed down. The force could only be from Hashirama and Madara clashing at full strength.
Tobirama froze at the sound, then spun toward the exit in alarm.
"They're already fighting?! Why haven't we received any reports?! Get ready to support my brother, move!"
He barked orders fast and sharply. The moment messengers started scrambling for their gear.
"Stop where you are."
Akira's tone flattened. "No one is to move without my say-so. No interference until Madara and Hashirama finish their fight. Anyone who disobeys will be punished under military law."
Everyone stopped. Even Tobirama halted mid-step as disbelief crept onto his face.
"Senju Akira, what the hell are you talking about?"
Akira heard Tobirama call him by his full name and understood instantly he was pissed. Pissed enough that only strangers or scolding mothers addressed people like that.
"Are you stupid? Can't you see it for yourself?"
Tobirama didn't respond this time, but his fingers hovered near his weapons pouch in plain view of everyone watching. There wasn't much subtlety left in his stance anymore.
"All right, fine, you win," Akira said with both palms raised lazily. "I'm telling you now."
He leaned back as if stretching into the explanation he'd just come up with or rather, one he'd thought of long ago and finally decided to say out loud.
"I always for nobody else to fight other than those two.."
Tobirama gritted his teeth so hard it echoed faintly across the stone floor.
"You figured out step one: defeating the enemy without fighting. Good job. What you overlooked were the changes happening across the ninja world."
Akira's tone stayed relaxed as he continued pacing slowly in front of the table where strategies had been drawn and redrawn for weeks.
"Step one: letting the Uchiha win. Step two: expel the trash clans before making serious moves. Now that we've cleared those hurdles… what's left?"
Tobirama's eyes narrowed. The pieces began sliding into place-and when it clicked, his breath caught in his throat.
"You planned this from the start? The entire shift in how our world works… that was part of your scheme?"
"Obviously." Akira's face showed not one ounce of remorse. "We push the Uchiha into one final battle and ask ourselves this: do we even have countermeasures against their final tactic?"
Boom boom boom-
Another sequence shook the tent as if confirming everything being said inside. Tobirama didn't even flinch anymore.
Only Hashirama could fight Madara at full strength-and only Hashirama could withstand the nuclear threat of tailed beast detonation tactics that their side had no answer for until now. Seal them? Yes. Survive mass self-destruction? No chance unless it was Hashirama himself taking every blast head-on alone.
For months they'd tried to solve it-found nothing and now here stood Akira with answers Tobirama hadn't even thought to ask.
"And so?" he asked warily now.
"So," Akira said with that same slight grin, "if they think I have the answer, they'll back off."
"Which makes everyone else redundant…" Tobirama spoke slowly now, his head nodding without conscious effort. "Except for Madara."
"This entire war comes down to one fight," Akira confirmed plainly. "Madara versus Hashirama."
It echoed sharply through Tobirama's chest as realization cascaded over everything else he had ever known about warfare and plans and contingencies.
Reality fractured behind his gaze as he connected each moment from past weeks, from the scrolls Uchiha received long ago, to how each clan had moved since then, to how perfectly timed every mistake they'd made had been… because none of them were mistakes at fucking all.
"It's been years…" he whispered, staring at Akira now with horror beneath awe. "You wrote those scrolls years ago…" (T/N: FICKING AKIRA ON SOME AIZEN TYPE BEAT!)
Inside his body, cold sweat drenched him before his mind even realized it had formed. One hand trembled slightly before he pulled it beneath his robes on instinct alone.
Worse than fear, it was dread of knowing everything had been set into place far before anyone outside these walls ever suspected it had started.
And right beside him stood the man responsible for this web wrapped around every single clan from coast to coast… smiling like it was just another morning meeting.
"Fuck… me…"
Tobirama's lips barely moved, but the words escaped anyway, as if forced out by sheer weight pressing down on him from truths too large to carry alone now.
"Hurry up and inform our clans," Akira said suddenly to everyone who hadn't moved since he started talking. "No interference in Hashirama's fight and release the Nine-Tails."
"Yes!" one of the messengers snapped out of his daze and saluted before rushing out of the tent with dizzy urgency.
Tobirama stood frozen beside him-his breath shaky, legs numb from how completely blown open everything had become inside five minutes of conversation.
"Anything else?" he asked faintly now-more out of reflex than curiosity.
"I don't have any shitty contingency plans," Akira lied badly as he flashed another grin again… then added.
"How about you guess."
(T/N on triple thought, the mc is like the combination of aizen's planning, Kisuke's carefree attitude and Ainz's misunderstanding... this is just PEAK!)
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