Hokage: Ryo's Path

In the Rain Country, the new base organized by the Akatsuki, Black emerged out of the ground, smiling at Obito who was awaiting him.

“From your face, it seems like you’ve done well?!” Obito asked.

“Well, I put the black fog that brings anxiety and depressed thoughts to its inhaler in Maan’s place, and he caught it, getting filled with hatred. He was already close to the required level, and with my guidance, he successfully opened his Mangekyo!”

Obito looked satisfied, and he said: “Good; you’ve done well.”

“Obito, I’ve always wanted to ask: why did you want Maan to activate his Mangekyo?” Black Zetsu asked.

“Obviously, it’s to intensify the battle to come between Konoha and the Uchiha. To me, he’s a booby trap I’m leaving in the village, and when I detonate it, peace will become impossible!”

“But, Maan will not obey your commands like we do. How would you control the timing of his detonation?

“Don’t worry about that; I have my ways!”

Black nodded, and had no more questions.

“Right, there is one more thing. Get a few White Zetsu around Konoha, and watch out for Maan’s movements. Once he leaves the village, tell the Akatsuki to send someone after him to assassinate him!”

“Roger! I will go do that right away.” After saying that, Black Zetsu got back into the ground.

As he left, he was muttering to himself: “Things are getting larger than I ever imagined, and Obito is being so unpredictable. Even I can’t predict how things are going to go!”

Back in Konoha, half a month went by since Maan activated his Mangekyo.

All this time, he kept carefully hiding this new power of his, mostly remaining home and avoiding everyone, all while experimenting with his Mangekyo.

However, with Sakumo on one side and the Uchiha on the other, he had no way of remaining idle.

On the 15th day, he received a B-Level mission from the Uchiha clan, to gather information from the Land of Rivers.

In order to avoid the suspicions of the clan, he had to accept the task, and soon, he arrived to the borders of the Fire Country.

Finally, the White Zetsu detected his movements, relaying the message to the Zetsu near Nagato.

After getting Obito’s recommendation, Nagato decided to send in Kakuzu to assassinate this “threat” to their plans.

Maan had no idea that this was taking place; he just wanted to finish his mission as soon as possible to get back to studying his Mangekyo.

After receiving the Order, Kakuzu immediately set off, interrupting the poor Maan on his way to the Land of Rivers.

When seeing his target, he did not hesitate, launching a mixed Wind and Fire attack at him.

The Jutsu’s scale was too large, and the attack was too sudden, and poor man could not escape; not without getting several minor injuries.

“Who are you? Why...” Maan’s wasn’t through asking, when the next wave of attacks went his way. This time, it was Lightning!

Kakuzu was ordered to kill, and he had no time to spare talking to a “dead man”.

By now, Maan realized that the one before him had come for his life. Therefore, he grunted and activated his Mangekyo.

Kakuzu had lived long enough to know what it means to mess with such a wicked eye. He never saw it coming, having to face it on this mission.

He also knew that not all Mangekyo were on the same level. While Madara’s made him absolutely monstrous, Izuna’s wasn’t quite on that level. Still, it was quite strong.

Therefore, when seeing this eye on Maan, he hesitated, and even retreated temperately.

On the other side, Maan was panicking! Not only was his opponent much stronger than anyone he had to face on his own, he had no idea what his Mangekyo’s special ability actually was!

The two kept cautiously gauging each other at a distance, but this stalemate did not last for long, for Kakuzu decided to attack again, with a different strategy.

This time, he used less focused, but larger scale elemental Jutsus to be able to hit Maan all while keeping his distance.

Facing this kind of attack, Maan could only run towards the Fire Country while trying to evade.

Once he entered his country’s territory, he could use the cover of the dense forest. However, he was moving slower, and evading became more difficult.

“This Kakuzu guy is just failing miserably. You must help him!” Black Zetsu was watching this battle with white, and he became so frustrated by how ineffective Kakuzu’s plan had been so far.

White nodded and snuck into the ground, approaching Maan without showing up.

He waited for a while, and when Kakuzu launched a Lightning Release attack, his hand emerged out of the ground, grabbing Maan’s foot!

The poor Uchiha was caught, taking a direct hit.

It wasn’t just him who was taken by surprise; even Kakuzu felt the same, not expecting to hit him.

Maan fell to the ground, but Kakuzu was still not willing to close the distance with him. Instead, he threw a Kunai straight to his heart!

The poor Maan was still paralyzed by the powerful Lightning Chakra, and he couldn’t move. As the blade drew closer and closer to his heart, his survival instinct kicked in, and his eyes started bleeding. Just as the Kunai was about to pierce through his chest, it stopped in midair!

He could finally release a sigh of relief: “Is this my Mangekyo ability?” He whispered to himself...

Then, his eyes fleshed, and his own bag was ripped open by his own Kunai and Shurikens that flew and rotated around him to his will.

He shot his blades towards Kakuzu, who dodged them all. Just as he wanted to go back in, Black Zetsu popped out of the ground on his side and said: “Your mission ends here. Get back to base!”

Kakuzu frowned and said with frustration: “My mission was to kill Maan Uchiha! It’s far from...” Kakuzu wasn’t through talking, when he felt stings in his back!

Black changed his position, just to see that Kakuzu’s back riddled with the blades that were making their way back to Maan!

“That bastard! I must dig out his heart!”

“Enough Kakuzu! Retreat!” Black sounded abnormally serious, and Kakuzu could only reluctantly retreat.

Maan watched him as he disappeared into the distance, finally feeling fully relieved, and then he lost consciousness...