Hokage Office.
After Kakashi Hatake and Masahiko gave a detailed report, Hiruzen Sarutobi pondered for a long while before nodding slightly. "You two make the arrangements."
"Yes!"
The two of them nodded in response.
Coming out of the office, Kakashi Hatake reached into his pocket and took out a book. "How many people in this batch of yours do you think can make it?"
"Not many, mainly the elites from the Shinobi clans," Masahiko replied.
"As for the Civilian Ninjas, they have too little accumulation after all. They need some time to digest and improve. Let's check again in a month or two."
Kakashi Hatake pondered for a few seconds and nodded slightly.
"Reasonable."
"Well then—see you tomorrow."
Masahiko rubbed his brow.
"Mhm."
At night, Masahiko sat in his chair, seemingly writing summaries and plans, but in reality—
A light screen unfolded before his eyes.
The plot had already been playing for a while.
The opening was the daily life of Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke, with nothing special about it.
It wasn't until Uchiha Itachi appeared that Masahiko perked up, and the bullet chat immediately became lively.
Uchiha Itachi had walked in through the entrance quite boldly.
With his Sharingan and genjutsu, ordinary Ninjas truly had no resistance.
After walking in—
This guy looked around for a bit and quickly rushed toward Sasuke's side.
Soon, the scene of him tormenting Sasuke played out on the screen.
Sasuke was being choked, his face flushed red as he struggled desperately. As Uchiha Itachi slowly lifted him up, the tomoe in his eyes were also spinning and changing.
Obviously.
He intended to use "Tsukuyomi"!
"Planning to use genjutsu on Sasuke again? What a beast!"
"Not even human. Meeting such a 'godly' family member, Sasuke really has the worst luck in eight lifetimes."
"To be fair, Sasuke has already improved a lot; he can even trade a few blows with Uchiha Itachi, but this scumbag still won't let him go."
"When is Uchiha Itachi going to just die already?"
The bullet chat was full of curses, a picture of public indignation.
Masahiko had thought about it at the time—
At the moment Uchiha Itachi was tormenting Sasuke, he would inevitably be mocked by the crowd. Thus, the more intense the emotions now, the better the rebound effect after he made his move.
The facts were just as he had imagined.
At the moment he struck to interrupt Uchiha Itachi: "Holy crap! I'm supporting the Old Thief this time!"
"Tears in my eyes, someone still cares about Sasuke. Although the Old Thief isn't exactly a good person either—"
"Wait, he's not afraid of genjutsu?"
"Uh, Masahiko is also a genjutsu master now—his abilities refresh daily, just get used to it."
"Anyway, just kill Uchiha Itachi for me!"
The direction of the bullet chat shifted immediately.
As the battle began, the bullet chat was filled with cheers, like a crowd of onlookers.
After forcing the retreat, the plot followed Sasuke's perspective to the Root Organization training base.
The scene of Sasuke practicing swordsmanship hadn't been shown in the edits, so everyone was missing a piece of information and didn't know who he was.
It wasn't until this part of the plot ended and Sasuke returned home that a flashback was provided—
"Holy crap! That's Sasuke?"
"Sai and Shin are pretty easy to recognize, but I really didn't expect the third one using a sword to be Sasuke."
"He reached this level in just a few days? Awesome!"
"666, the Old Thief is just showing off. Damn—I suspect he saw it long ago and intentionally waited for Uchiha Itachi to act before jumping out."
"That's definitely something he would do."
At first, they were hotly discussing the plot of Sasuke practicing swordsmanship, but later, it devolved into conspiracy theories about Masahiko's PUA manipulation of Sasuke.
Masahiko fast-forwarded. What followed were daily scenes of him with Uzumaki Naruto and his students, all of which were plots he had shoehorned himself into.
The plot involving Hyuga Neji and the Hyuga Clan wasn't edited in, only appearing as a silhouette during the evening segment.
Until later, when Kisame Hoshigaki appeared.
Their group crept up from the eastern coast, stealthily moving all the way.
Normally, it would indeed be hard for their group to be discovered, and they clearly knew Konoha's layout well, deliberately avoiding crowded areas.
Masahiko froze the frame on this scene.
He deeply suspected that Ao, who possessed the Byakugan, was on the sea not far away, assisting their infiltration into the Land of Fire.
Unfortunately—
There were Ninja Crows here.
Aoba Yamashiro's Ninja Crows basically didn't use Chakra techniques, and their intelligence was only slightly higher than ordinary beasts, adapted for Ninja combat and training.
Therefore.
It was difficult for the Byakugan or sensing abilities to see anything different about them.
Because of this, they were overlooked.
Masahiko fast-forwarded his viewing until the part where the "Black-Robed Man" retreated and Kisame Hoshigaki left in a sorry state.
Before long, the scene shifted.
On the screen was a certain base of the Hidden Mist Village at sea.
The Fourth Mizukage walked out from inside, and outside, a White Zetsu emerged from the ground.
"How is it?"
"He's back. He'll likely go find Suikazan Fuguki soon."
White Zetsu replied.
However, his expression soon turned solemn as he said, "But there was a slight accident. That guy appeared again."
"The Shikotsumyaku descendant who hides his head and shows his tail?"
"Madara" asked coldly.
White Zetsu nodded. "Yes. He seemed to say something to Kisame Hoshigaki. I couldn't get too close and couldn't hear clearly, so—"
He might not be trustworthy anymore."
"Madara" remained silent for a moment, looking into the distance.
"No matter. Let's see how he chooses. He's just a tool anyway; if he's gone, there are others."
"Mhm, then I'll be going now."
It sank into the ground and vanished.
This wasn't "Madara's" first appearance. Everyone knew this person's identity was questionable and his goals were eerie; he seemed to have arrangements all over the Ninja World.
"Holy crap?"
"So, the Hidden Mist Village is being controlled by Madara?"
"Wait, then why did Uchiha Shisui and the others want to assassinate the Mizukage?"
"Good question—maybe he was controlled after the fight? Otherwise, it can't be explained—"
Many viewers were shocked.
Although some of the Black-Robed Man's lines earlier in the plot suggested Madara had some connection with the Hidden Mist Village, it was mostly speculation back then.
Now, it was visually demonstrated that everything was true!
The plot shifted. In a secret room, Kisame Hoshigaki's blade pierced into the body of a portly Ninja.
A moment later, the Fourth Mizukage walked out from the shadows.
Kisame Hoshigaki looked up.
In the shadows, another person's figure slowly stepped out.
"I guessed he would let his guard down against a subordinate like you, but I didn't expect to be right—this guy was colluding with foreign enemies. From now on, you are the master of the Greatsword Samehada."
Kisame Hoshigaki saw the newcomer clearly, his eyes widening, a hint of astonishment appearing on his face.
"Lord Fourth Mizukage—"
Their conversation wasn't extraordinary at first, appearing to be just an unharmonious exchange between the Mizukage and a defiant subordinate.
Until another person slowly stepped out from the darkness, a strange shadow emerging within the gloom.
"Then let me release you from this false pain!"
Seeing the newcomer, the expression on Kisame Hoshigaki's face was one of profound surprise.
He thought of the Black-Robed Man's words.
That guy was right—
The Fourth Mizukage was actually being controlled by someone. No wonder he exhibited such contradictory behavior.
At the same time, right at this moment, the Ending Theme began to play.
"?#!"
"So the current situation is that after Uchiha Shisui and the others attacked the Fourth Mizukage, Madara completely took control of him?"
"How did the Old Thief know? Did Uchiha Shisui tip him off?"
"Doesn't look like it—it's unlikely Uchiha Shisui would take the risk. In fact, Uchiha Shisui himself might not even know."
The bullet chat continued to discuss incessantly.
In front of the screen, Masahiko was also lost in thought.
Looking at the development of the plot, he had played a certain role—
Uchiha Obito and Zetsu could no longer trust Kisame Hoshigaki as they originally did.
As for what Kisame Hoshigaki would choose—
That was secondary.