Several weeks after the Kyūbi incident and Naruto's birth, Sakura found herself walking to the Uchiha main house to speak to Fugaku. She had taken that time to thoroughly review what she will say, what to omit and what not, and edit her story accordingly. She was greeted by Itachi at the door, a sleeping baby Sasuke in his arms. After internally cooing at how cute they looked and telling Itachi he was doing a good job taking care of his family, she made her way to Fugaku's office.
”We need to talk Fugaku, and what I am about to tell you cannot leave this room.” Was what Sakura said instead of a greeting.
Noting her seriousness, the clan head nodded and activated the privacy seals. ”Very well, what is it Sakura-san?”
”What I am about to tell you will sound unbelievable, but I need you to trust me.” Seeing him nod, she continued. ”Several years before Konoha's founding, when me and Sasuke were about 16, the two of us went on a journey to try and understand what the Rinnegan was and how it worked. While Sasuke knew how to use it pretty well by that point, the chakra pathways were confusing, not to mention the drain on his reserves. I didn't know how to heal any damage it might sustain, it was unlike any dojutsu I had ever seen. Our travels brought us close to Iron country, in Kuma no Kuni, specifically Mountains' Graveyard. A large amount of unique and foreign chakra attracted his attention and we traversed the labyrinth of tunnels to a cavern. The writing on the walls was unfamiliar and Sasuke barely managed to decode it with his Mangekyō, it was complete gibberish to me.”
”Was it similar to the stone tablet?”
”Sort of, but also completely different in its own unique ways. There were seals everywhere and that foreign chakra was coming from a tomb. The writing declared it as the last resting place of Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki, the Sage of Six Paths.”
”You found the grave of the Rikudō Sennin?”
”We didn't just find his grave, Fugaku, we met him.”
”Impossible.”
”No, it's not. As me and Sasuke began inspecting the gravesite, the amount of chakra in that cavern grew exponentially and the Sage, or rather his specter appeared before us and he explained many things to us.”
Sakura told Fugaku everything she knew about Kaguya, the Ten-tails, the battle against the progenitor of chakra, Hamura, Hagoromo, his sons, their vicious endless cycle of battles and war, the reincarnation and the history of the Uchiha, Uzumaki, Hyuga and Senju clans. She omitted the moon people however, she didn't feel like they were necessary to this conversation.
”Why are you telling me all of this?”
”Because it pertains to the clan and the Kyūbi attack.”
Fugaku straightened his spine at this. ”What do you mean?”
”See, technically Kaguya had 3 sons, although calling Zetsu a person is an insult to life itself. He was more of a...physical manifestation of Kaguya's will. A slimy bastard and hard to kill like a cockroach. He had been working behind the scenes, scheming and puppeteering the Senju and the Uchiha's war for thousands of years.”
”Why? What was his goal?”
”Remember how I told you about the reincarnation business? Well, if Indra's reincarnation were to obtain the chakra of Asura's reincarnation it would mutate their Sharingan into the Rinnegan.”
”Is that how Sasuke-san gained his Rinnegan?”
”Ha, no, but good guess. Sasuke however was born with it. The Sage of Six Paths called a shift in the fabric of space-time? Like the universe had a hiccup, not even he knew fully what happened nor could he explain it. I have some theories, but nothing concrete. Regardless, what's important is that you know Zetsu is after the recreation of the Rinnegan.”
”For what purpose?”
”To bring back his mother of course. Kaguya's body is the husk of the Jūbi and the nine tailed beasts are her chakra. A person needs to have a sound mind, a sound body and a sound chakra. If Zetsu were to obtain a person with Indra's eyes and Asura's chakra he would get the Rinnegan, then with the dojutsu they would summon the Gedō Mazō and collect the tailed beasts, recreating the Ten-tails. If the person with those Rinnegan eyes becomes the Jinchūriki of the Jūbi, Kaguya could take over their body and return to this realm.”
”And then the world would end.”
”And then the world would end. To tell you the truth, Fugaku-chan, Zetsu is technically no longer a threat. Back in the Second Shinobi War, me and Sasuke encountered the perfect opportunity to capture and seal him away.”
”Do you believe he might have escaped?”
”Yes and no. Me and Sasuke sealed in another dimension, yes other dimensions exist, they can be accessed with the Rinnegan, but that's not important right now. I truly believe he is still sealed in that dimension but I doubt he will stay there for long.”
”You think someone will let him out soon? Indra's reincarnation?”
”Someone will let him out yes, but I doubt it will be Indra's reincarnation. Here's another fun fact about our history, Fugaku-chan. Indra and Asura's reincarnations were Madara and Hashirama.”
”The Shodais?”
”Yup. The Rikudō Sennin told us himself, it's why we came here, too keep an eye on them. The Sage was able to peek into the future and see multiple timelines that he showed to us, in many of them, me and Sasuke perished long before we could make contact with Madara and Hashirama and the world as we know it was very different.”
”They killed each other, didn't they?”
”In some, yes. Sometimes the warring clans era persisted long into your life time, Madara and Hashirama never making peace. In some, they still make peace, but Madara defects from the village, in some it's Hashirama that leaves, because either of their younger siblings killed the other or each other. In some, me or Sasuke revenge killed them when they killed either one of us, don't look at me like that, my priorities have always been my loved ones first, the village and the clan second, you know this. There are a multitude of timelines where things go wrong for everyone involved and the fact that thigs went as good as they did in ours is a miracle.”
”I see.”
”You want to know two suspicious facts about their deaths? The Kumo shinobi that killed Hashirama had neither the skill nor the intelligence to sneak inside the Senju compound and kill him. As you know, his left arm went missing but when Tobirama went to hunt down and kill the assassin, he never found the missing appendage. Madara officially died of chakra exhaustion after fighting for a week straight without stopping to sleep, eat or rest in any way, yet his eyes were missing from his corpse. And before you ask, no, Kumo did not take them, me and Sasuke checked. Pair that with the fact that their bodies reeked of Zetsu's chakra and it's pretty obvious what happened.”
”Zetsu killed them.”
”Yes. My current theory is that he found someone who was willing to implant Madara's eyes and Hashirama's arm as a way to gain both the chakra and ocular dojutsu of the reincarnations and awaken the Rinnegan. We unfortunately had quite a number of defectors from both clans that were unwilling to bury the hatchet and join Konoha. All 6 of us did our best to hunt them down, but some escaped. I just wish me and Sasuke had caught on that Zetsu was already working with someone else...We could have prevented all of this.”
”And you believe Zetsu approached one of these defector with the promise of power and revenge as a way to enact his plan despite the fact that Indra and Asura's reincarnations were at peace.”
”Technically the reincarnation cycle should have ended once Madara and Hashirama made peace but...I had a strange dream last night. I was on a battlefield and on the front there were two men battling against Kaguya. I couldn't make out their features but somehow I knew...they were Indra and Asura reborn. That, combined with the attack on Kushina-chan tells me they are about to resurface, and unfortunately so will Kaguya.”
Fugaku let out a long suffering sigh. ”So let me see if I get this straight. The progenitor of chakra is an alien goddess from another dimension, she got sealed away in the moon by her sons and a physical manifestation of her will is trying to bring her back. Simultaneously, her grandchildren who hated each other have been getting reincarnated to continue their endless battle. The manifestation of her will killed the last iterations of those reincarnations as a way to give access to their power to someone else and bring back a dojutsu wielded by the Rikudō Sennin so that the alien can be revived and end the world. And those reincarnations will resurface soon in an attempt to stop or seal the goddess again.”
”Yeah...”
”Sakura-san, insane doesn't even cover what you just told me.”
”Oh you think this is bad? I haven't even talked about Infinite Tsukuyomi and the stone tablet.”
”Infinite what?”
So Sakura explained what Infinite Tsukuyomi was, how it worked, it's effect and how it tied into the God Tree, what the God Tree was and how the Uchiha stone tablet in the Naka shrine was the root of their problems.
”We obviously can't destroy it, not without proper cause, the clan will riot. And correct me if I'm wrong, but I doubt you want to share this information with the whole clan.” said Fugaku.
Sakura nodded. ”Aside from you, Minato, Kushina and Rin-chan will be the only ones to know, since I know someone will come after her and Naruto for their bijū. In my opinion we should place some seals around the shrine that will alert us of trespassers. I will work on them with Kushina-chan, since Zetsu, that motherfucker can become intangible and bypass normal sensory and barrier seals. We will also unfortunately have to bring back Izuna's least favourite tradition.” Fugaku sent her a questioning look. ”The guarding of the Naka shrine as a test of patience.”
Fugaku snorted. ”While I do agree that we should guard the shrine, I cannot order any of my clansmen to do so without probable cause.”
”We'll just tell them an edited version of the truth, that someone tried to sneak inside the shrine yesterday and that you are worried they might come back to steal the stone tablet. They don't have to know about gods and monsters.”
Fugaku rubbed the bridge of his nose. ”I suppose you are correct with that. When are you going to tell the other three?”
”I want to give Minato and Kushina at least another two weeks of familial bliss, let them enjoy Naruto for now. I will tell Rin tomorrow.”
”Very well then, I will go gather the clan so that we may tell them about the Naka shrine. And Sakura-san? I hope you are proud of the massive headache you just gave me.”
Sakura offered him an awkward smile. ”I can heal it if you wish.”
Fugaku sighed.
...
Minato and Kushina went pale as they listened to Sakura's story and what might be coming their way. The Uzumaki clutched her baby to her chest like she was afraid Zetsu might pop out of the shadows and steal him now. Sakura felt terrible to bring such bad news to them so soon, but they had to be ready.
”Have you checked Mountains' Graveyard recently?” asked Minato.
”I have sent my cats and peacock summons to the grave site, they reported no living activity in the area but the gravesite is just, gone, like it never existed. There is nothing indicating that it was there in the first place.”
”Do you think the Sage might have destroyed it after you left?”
”Or Zetsu?” asked Kushina.
”I don't know...I asked Watacco and Neneko to stay in the area and report on any disturbances, but I'm not holding my breath.”
”A cat and a bird? You sure they won't just kill each other?” asked Minato, trying to bring the mood up.
”Funny, but my summons are much better behaved than your toads.” Sakura sobered up quickly as she continued. ”Fugaku-chan and I spoke to the clan and have assigned two guards to the Naka shrine. The only people who know about Zetsu are me, you, Fugaku and Rin-chan. I'd appreciate it if we can keep it that way.”
”We have to tell Naruto eventually, he has to know the danger he is in.” said Kushina.
”Of course, I wouldn't dare stop you. Whenever you decide the best time is, you can tell him.”
”I also suggest we tell the clan heads, maybe not the council because they are slimy and I don't trust any of them barring Koharu-san. I would like to implement the same sensory seals around the village so that we can be aware if Zetsu or any other person enters the village.” said Kushina.
Sakura scrunched up her nose. ”I can already imagine how the Hyuga will react but I agree, it will be a good preemptive measure. Maybe we keep out the goddess part though? I already had Rin and Fugaku call me insane, I don't need the rest of them to do it too.”
Minato and Kushina laughed. ”I can tell them this is a preemptive measure in case the masked woman comes back.” said Minato.
”Works for me.” said Sakura. ”And I'm sorry for ruining your peace like this.”
”Don't worry about it, Sakura-ba-chan. I'd rather know about it now and panic a little than getting blindsided by this later on and losing Naruto.” said Kushina.
”Let's hope that now that we know, we can prevent the worst from happening.” said Minato.