Awaken the Tenseigan, Become the Mastermind of the Shinobi World

"I swear, I'll make him pay for what he's done!" Naruto growled through gritted teeth, his eyes practically blazing with fury.

Beside him, Konan's gaze was filled with the same burning rage, but her expression remained calm, laced with unwavering determination.

"I have to find him as soon as possible. The Rinnegan is one of Akatsuki's greatest weapons. I will reclaim Nagato's body."

Jiraiya stood in silent turmoil, torn between telling Konan the truth—that those eyes actually belonged to Uchiha Madara—and keeping the information hidden.

In the end, he chose to change the subject.

"We can't lose focus," Jiraiya reminded them grimly. "The war's not over yet. We still don't know what's happened to the rest of Team Dusk."

Naruto smacked his forehead, suddenly remembering.

"Right—we need to stop Hyuga Gakuya first!"

"No need. I'm already here."

Gakuya stepped out from between the towering paper trees, flanked by Shikamaru and the Hyuga sisters.

In an instant, both Naruto and Jiraiya assumed defensive stances, ready to spring into action at a moment's notice.

Shikamaru quickly stepped forward to defuse the tension, afraid that any hostility might cause Gakuya to change his mind.

"Hyuga Gakuya has agreed to give the shinobi world a chance," Shikamaru explained urgently.

"He's willing to try building a new world through peace. That makes him our ally now—not our enemy."

Naruto looked at Gakuya, his expression softening with relief as he realized the hatred had left him. With a wide grin, he strode forward and slapped Gakuya's shoulder firmly.

"Mokushu, let's fight for peace together from now on!"

Gakuya gave a slight nod. His eyes, however, lacked the fiery resolve one might expect. It was clear he still hadn't placed his full trust in the Five Great Nations.

Jiraiya let out a deep sigh of relief.

"It's good we don't have to fight him anymore. Now we can finally focus on the future—on what comes next."

Gakuya's expression turned serious.

"I already have a plan. First, we eliminate the internal instability caused by Uchiha Obito. Then, we dismantle the old feudal system, form a parliamentary council, advance our technology... and prepare to counterattack the extraterrestrial clans."

Everyone was momentarily speechless.

That was fast. Gakuya had already charted out the road ahead.

Konan stepped forward, her eyes tinged with sorrow.

"Gakuya… Nagato once said that after his death, the future of Akatsuki would be in your hands. From this moment on, you are the new leader."

Gakuya nodded slightly. "I understand. But calling back Deidara and Kisame... it might already be too late. Obito has the Rinnegan now, and with Kamui's teleportation speed, he may already be in Kumogakure."

Konan's eyes widened. "Even you don't know? Didn't you leave a Shadow Clone behind with them?"

Gakuya shrugged helplessly.

"The battle just now was too intense—I'd already dispelled it. All I know is that they've started attacking Kumogakure."

Jiraiya's eyes widened in disbelief. "Kumogakure? You mean… the Eight-Tails might have already been captured?!"

Gakuya remained calm.

"We split into two teams. One was me, Nagato, and Konan attacking Konoha. The other—Deidara, Kisame, and Sasuke—went after Kumogakure."

The moment Naruto heard that name, he rushed up and grabbed Gakuya's arm tightly.

"Mokushu! If you brought Sasuke, then you can definitely convince him to come back to Konoha, right?!"

Gakuya gently pulled his arm away and took out a scroll, as if preparing for a lesson.

"Saying I took Sasuke... it's more accurate to say that Itachi did."

Everyone blinked in confusion.

"Itachi and I… you could call us friends. Back in Akatsuki, he asked me for a favor. He wanted to ensure Sasuke's safety. Hiruzen Sarutobi had once promised to protect Sasuke for him, but after Hiruzen died, Konoha was no longer safe. So Itachi asked me to take Sasuke in and train him."

"In return, he gave me a few pairs of Sharingan. I agreed. I took Sasuke under the name of Orochimaru and left him in Otogakure to train."

Naruto's eyes widened in disbelief. "That's impossible! Itachi… cared about Sasuke?"

It was hard to accept. Naruto had seen firsthand how Itachi had tormented Sasuke. The man who massacred the entire Uchiha clan—that was someone who cared?

"It's the truth," Gakuya said firmly. "There's a lot more to the story than you know…"

Before he could continue, Naruto cut him off. "I want to know. Tell me everything."

Just as Gakuya was about to speak, Jiraiya grabbed his arm.

"Mokushu-kun… that's classified Konoha information—"

Gakuya let out a cold laugh, as if hearing the world's greatest joke.

"Konoha's dirty secrets? You've done so many shameful things, and now you want to hide them, even after the people involved are long gone?"

He shook Jiraiya off and proceeded to tell the entire story he had once shared with Sasuke.

By the end of it, Naruto stood frozen, fists clenched so tightly that his nails dug into his palms, drawing blood.

He had always known there was darkness in Konoha—he'd resolved to fix it—but he hadn't realized just how deep that darkness ran. A founding clan of the village, reduced to pawns in a political game.

Two brilliant shinobi, both with the potential to become Hokage, sacrificed for the village's so-called peace.

And Sasuke... was just another casualty in that long, bloody chain.

Jiraiya watched Naruto anxiously, worried that he might spiral into despair and lose his way.

But if Naruto truly wanted to become Hokage, then he had to learn to face these truths.

This was the reality of the shinobi world.

...

Konan quietly watched the scene unfold. She had long since seen through the darkness of this world. If Naruto couldn't endure even this... then perhaps Nagato had been wrong about him.

Gakuya, meanwhile, paid no mind to Naruto's internal struggle. He pressed on.

"You all know the rest. Sasuke fulfilled Itachi's final wish and killed him."

"Itachi's plan was for you, Naruto, to guide Sasuke back to Konoha. To turn him into the hero who vanquished a traitor, and then become Hokage."

"I stopped that from happening—not because I wanted to use Sasuke, but because I believed he had the right to know the truth."

"Just like you. I told you about your parents. I told him the truth about the Uchiha massacre. Enraged, Sasuke swore vengeance on Konoha—and awakened his Mangekyō Sharingan."

Gakuya paused for a moment, letting the weight of his words settle.

"And now, Sasuke won't return to Konoha—not even for me. In fact, he may very well be our enemy now. Obito could easily use that."

"And... there's one more thing. My plan includes another partner: Kabuto Yakushi."

Jiraiya raised a brow.

"Orochimaru mentioned him—his former subordinate. Your current assistant? The one who uses Edo Tensei?"

Gakuya nodded, then shook his head. "He's not my subordinate—we're partners. I promised to help him resurrect the family Danzo murdered, using the power of the Ten Tails."

"Even if I abandon the plan now, he won't stop. He may become our enemy, too."

"We gathered a vast amount of DNA from powerful shinobi. It's all in his hands. He can use Edo Tensei to bring them back at any time."

(T/N: I strongly recommend you to read my new fanfic "Starting From Being Adopted by the Second Hokage!"

Quite an interesting fanfic. What really caught my attention is that the protagonist becomes stronger through a gradual process — this is not a brainless power fantasy. It's the first time I've seen something like this, and I have to say, I'm satisfied.

The main character has a pretty unique background, he's an Uchiha who was adopted by Tobirama (which is already unusual) thanks to Hashirama. As you might've guessed, the story takes place in the early timeline of the Naruto world. He's in the same generation as Hiruzen, which is another plus.

The MC is talented and works hard, but his efforts only make him slightly stronger than Hiruzen (at least for the first 100 chapters). He also has a well-developed personality, he's not a madman, but he is ruthless toward his enemies. One particularly interesting aspect is that he uses poison, a very underrated element in the Naruto world. We know from canon that poison can be deadly even to powerful shinobi, yet it's mostly associated with Sunagakure and usually used against genin or chunin.

The only downside is that the fanfic gives more attention to cooking than necessary (the MC is apparently very impressive at it, and everyone praises his cooking). It's manageable for me, but still a bit much. There's even a whole chapter about it at the beginning. For readers who aren't into that, I noted at the top that the chapter focuses on cooking and can be skipped. Thankfully, after that, the fanfic doesn't dwell on it this much.)

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Pls Drop some Power Stones

Fanfic is finished on Patreon (237 chapters in total.) 

Patreon(.)com/Jixo (for only $4.50, read this entire fanfic)