Naruto, Madara is my girl.

"Flying Thunder God plus Golden Needle Sealing Acupoints worked better than expected."

Ginkaku's body dropped fast with no resistance left. There was no chakra discharge at death, only dull weight and silence. Without chakra defense, his thick skin had felt like paper beneath the weapon that slit his throat. The sword barely slowed down on its way out the other side of his neck.

Tobirama ripped off the gag from his mouth and yanked the mask down roughly. He spat blood that splattered against the stone floor with a wet puff and coughed hard until his breath started to settle back into rhythm.

Akira's gaze slipped from Ginkaku's corpse to Tobirama's bloodied, heaving form. He didn't speak right away-just leered with mild irritation that deepened into sarcasm.

"Haha. You couldn't even handle one person, huh?"

Tobirama knew better than to answer defensively. He'd asked for this outcome, traded places with Akira last minute to spring the trap. If he hadn't switched, that blade would've cut into him instead of Ginkaku.

"You're basically invincible to blunt force," he said flatly. "Even if he tore you apart, you'd be standing ten minutes later."

Akira snorted once and gave no follow-up. The sneer did enough talking for him.

Tobirama changed tracks quickly.

"What about Golden Horn?"

Akira didn't reply immediately. Instead, his expression shifted toward amusement, and then he tossed out his question in return.

"If you had to choose now, to save yourself or your student, who would you pick?"

Tobirama tensed and frowned. "What's that supposed to-"

"Exactly what it sounds like," Akira cut in before the sentence finished. He kept smiling-and that made it worse.

Tobirama's mind scrambled through the puzzle fast, recalling Akira's earlier moves, and then everything clicked into place.

"We already made our choice," he said.

Akira's smile lost whatever amusement was left in it. He turned away slightly. "Good then. You'll get exactly what you asked for."

Tobirama's eyes narrowed and he released his full sensory field in the next instant.

"Incoming reinforcement…?"

It wasn't just backup anymore. The entire battlefield shimmered under his awareness now-chakra signatures crawling in from every side-powerful, fast, angry. This wasn't just loyalists from Hidden Cloud defecting toward Kinkaku and Ginkaku… this was their whole damn support network converging now.

They'd underestimated how far this rebellion ran.

"We don't have time to warn Konoha." Tobirama clenched his jaw.

"Finally found you."

Akira and Tobirama turned their heads at once as Kinkaku stepped into full view across the clearing, filthy beggar robes hanging off him in tatters as he strode with purpose through the clustered dirt path behind him. The dozen or so warriors following him looked disheveled, scarred, half-starved but dangerous from posture their alone.

His eyes locked onto Ginkaku's motionless body within seconds-and rage surged across his face violently enough that it twisted his whole expression grotesque.

"What the fuck did you do to my brother?!"

Neither Akira nor Tobirama gave him attention they couldn't spare now, opting instead to speak around him entirely.

"Weren't you supposed to stop him?"

"I did." Akira shrugged without hiding the annoyance. "He wouldn't be here if you hadn't yanked me into your plan. The clone was working fine."

Tobirama clicked his tongue once, the mistake registering now felt extra irritating because he couldn't even argue with it properly.

"Forget it, should we go with the original plan?"

Akira's tone dropped low-calm but direct now. "We're too late."

Almost instantly, the chakra in the surrounding air warped and flattened like heat pressing down on water before boiling it away. All moments between choices disappeared as the next attack violated space before anyone could counter it.

Kinkaku was already in motion, violence compressed into muscle and speed straight toward Tobirama's weakened position. Tobirama couldn't move, chakra flow disrupted, technique cooled down, and for half a second he simply braced for impact.

Thud!

Instead, it was Kinkaku who went flying backward through the air, landing hard into wet dirt and skidding into a shallow pit near the brush line.

"Three-Hand Pass!"

Ai's roar echoed through the forest across the entire field as he stepped in front of Tobirama amid remaining dust and mist. Around them, dozens of Cloud Ninjas arrived in organized formation behind him, all of whom had their weapons drawn and their eyes locked on Kinkaku's group of rebels.

Tobirama finally exhaled.

"They made it…"

Kinkaku coughed once and clawed himself out of the hole with hate burning behind every scratch on his skin.

"Fucking hell, Ai! You again?!"

"Coward." Ai didn't hesitate to spit venom back at him. "You murdered Raikage-sama in cold blood. I'm the Third Raikage now, and starting with you, I'll erase every stain you left behind today."

Kinkaku's expression cracked deeper, hearing that title from someone else burned hotter than before. If he couldn't be Raikage now… there was no point running anymore.

"Fine then!" he shouted back. "Bring it! Winner takes the Title and the loser dies!"

Ai lifted one hand, not offense or defense-just dismissal.

"You'll die here today because I owe Lord Raikage that much," he said flatly. "And because you were always too weak to lead anyone."

Both warriors rushed forward without hesitation then brutal hand-to-hand combat exploded in front of everyone watching. No tricks, no seals, just blunt-force trauma echoing like cannon fire across open ground as shockwaves cracked loose stones where they fought barehanded.

Akira watched without blinking once, clearly interested but unmoved by either man claiming any kind of moral ground over the other.

Tobirama flicked his gaze from one brawler to the next-and narrowed his eyes toward Akira again silently.

'We're both alive now,' he thought coldly, 'but sooner or later… even you'll screw up once.'

Before he could even get words out, a new person stepped near him.

"Hokage-sama," said one of Ai's shinobi guards softly, "are you injured?"

Tobirama raised one brow-but answered briskly anyway-

"I'm fine."

"Please accept our apologies for Hidden Cloud's internal matters reaching your land," the guard continued stiffly. "We bear full responsibility for any harm caused and will provide restitution accordingly. May I ask, did any of your guards escape separately? If so, the border might be dangerous for them until we secure it fully."

Sarutobi and the others flashed in Tobirama's memory instantly, and concern tugged his attention from everything else around him.

"They split from me earlier, they may be at the border by now."

"I see." The guard nodded once-then raised her hand toward Ai fighting in the distance and shouted.

"Raikage-sama!"

Tobirama watched her curiously-but before he could analyze why she'd interrupted the Third Raikage, before he can react, the third Raikage broke from battle mid-motion and sprinted toward them at full speed.

Too fast to track-

"HELL STAB!"

Even knowing what it was called didn't help-

Raw strength, total speed enhancement-and the ability to break tailed beast defenses made this attack legendary among Cloud ranks.

"Shit!"

Tobirama tried to move but discovered that its too late the paralysis binding his legs had been completed.

"Genjutsu? No-chakra technique!"

It was subtle-but deadly timing a low-level body freeze cast by Ai's own guard beside him at just the right moment.

And then Raikage's fist went clean through Tobirama's chest with impossible speed-flesh folding inward around muscle snapped by force alone

(T/N: karma's a bitch isn't it, you white haired traitor.)

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