The night stretched over the frozen wilderness like a vast, unbroken canvas of white. The only sound was the whisper of the wind as it curled around jagged peaks and snow-laden forests, carrying with it an eerie stillness that belonged only to the desolate northern lands. A place untouched, yet now bearing silent witness to an unseen visitor.
At the very edge of this frozen domain, where the snow thinned and the ice began to surrender to the promise of earth, something stirred.
A faint ripple, almost imperceptible, disturbed the pristine snowfall. Then, the disturbance intensified—snowflakes spiralled in reverse, as though time itself had been upended. A mass of white coalesced, twisting, swirling—taking shape where there had been nothing but untouched snow a moment before.
And then—a figure emerged.
A high-collared cloak that barely fluttered in the frigid wind. His piercing eyes, as cold as the land around him, scanned the horizon with measured intent.
Hideki.
His breath did not fog in the air. His footsteps left no imprint in the snow. If one were watching, they would wonder—was he truly there, or merely an illusion?
But Hideki was real. And he had work to do.
Hideki exhaled slowly, his breath barely visible in the freezing air. The night was deathly still, the only sound the faint rustle of wind moving through the barren, ice-bitten landscape. The moon hung high above, its pale glow stretching long shadows across the snow-covered expanse, illuminating the desolation in a haunting silver light.
He did not hesitate.
With a sharp motion, he bit down on his thumb.
Crimson bloomed against pale skin, vivid against the stark white around him. The sharp, metallic tang of his own blood filled his mouth, but he paid it no mind. His free hand moved, fluid and practised, forming a single, deliberate seal before he slammed his palm against the ice.
For an instant, there was nothing.
Then—the world shifted.
A low, unnatural shudder pulsed through the frozen ground, deep and resonant, as if something ancient had awakened beneath the surface. The very nature of the snow changed—not melting in the way ice usually would, but instead dissolving, surrendering, unravelling as though forced into submission by an unseen force.
"Hissssssss!"
A slow, insidious vapour curled upward from the rapidly liquefying frost, twisting and writhing like spectral tendrils in the moonlight. There was no rise in temperature, no logical reason why the ice should yield so suddenly—and yet, it did.
A pool began to form.
At first, the water was still. A perfect, mirror-like surface reflecting the moon overhead.
An unnatural calm.
Hideki remained motionless in his crouched position, his muscles taut but his expression unreadable. He did not flinch. He did not step back.
He knew what came next.
The disturbance began as a faint ripple—so faint it could have been mistaken for a trick of the wind. But then, the darkness stirred.
The reflection of the moon wavered.
Then, something moved beneath the surface.
The water shuddered, shifting like something vast and alive was breathing just beneath it. The stillness broke. A shadow stretched upwards, slithering through the darkness—a formless, abyssal mass that defied shape, defied logic.
And then—it surfaced.
A towering behemoth.
The first thing to emerge was not a head, not a body, but a limb. A massive, sinuous tentacle broke through the surface, its slick, inky skin glistening wet beneath the moonlight. Then another. And another. Sixteen in total, thick and grotesque, longer and more muscular than any sea creature should possess.
Each one moved independently, writhing and twisting with a slow, deliberate intelligence. Rows of serrated suckers lined the undersides of each tendril, pulsing slightly, releasing faint squelching sounds as they flexed.
And then—the head emerged.
A bulbous, impossibly large cranium, still partially submerged, its slick form half-hidden beneath the dark waters. Two sunken eyes blinked open, wide and unblinking. There was no pupil, no sclera—only deep, abyssal blackness.
For a moment, it simply watched Hideki.
The weight of its presence pressed against the surroundings, thick and suffocating. The air grew denser, the very atmosphere shifting under the sheer wrongness of its existence.
It did not belong here.
It did not belong anywhere.
But it had been summoned.
And now, it waited.
Hideki gazed at the towering entity with a calm, detached expression. His cloak fluttered slightly as a cold breeze drifted through the barren land, but he himself did not move.
He met the abyssal eyes of the beast—and spoke.
"Get him."
His voice was quiet, almost indifferent.
An absolute command.
There was no roar, no sudden movement.
The creature did not thrash, did not resist. It did not even acknowledge the order with any sign of understanding.
It simply sank.
Tentacle after tentacle slid beneath the surface, curling downward into the abyss. The head followed last, those empty black eyes staring forward even as they disappeared beneath the rippling water.
And then—stillness.
The surface of the pool became eerily calm once more, as though nothing had ever disturbed it.
No trace of the behemoth remained.
It was as if it had never been there.
Hideki remained in place, unmoving, listening to the silence that followed.
Then, after a few minutes, the ice shifted.
Not from his summon.
From something else.
The ground, which had been untouched, suddenly parted in a slow, unnatural motion.
A figure rose from the earth—not like a man stepping forward, but like something growing out of the ground itself.
The pale, plant-like ridges curled around his form, their edges sharp and unnatural, as though they had been sculpted from bone rather than organic matter. His face, half-black and half-white, remained uncannily still, save for the twisted grin that spread across his lips.
Zetsu.
The creature's voice was light, mocking.
"Now, now, Hideki," Zetsu said, his black half speaking first. "You're calling on me so soon? The Kage Summit hasn't even started yet."
The white half chuckled. "Didn't expect to hear from you so quickly."
Hideki's brows furrowed slightly.
Zetsu was already aware of the summit's timeline?
Of course.
Hideki had long suspected that Zetsu's information network ran deeper than most could comprehend. But even so—this was unsettling.
Straightening, Hideki kept his voice even.
"The Mizukage," he said, "is the reason I called you."
That caught Zetsu's attention.
The grin on the black half of his face faltered. Just slightly.
The shadows around his eyes deepened, his already unnatural appearance growing more sinister.
"Has he figured it out?" Zetsu's voice was quieter now. More dangerous.
Hideki shook his head. "No. He still distrusts the Kaguya clan, as we planned."
Zetsu's expression remained unreadable.
"But," Hideki continued, "he's been making moves. Trying to secure alliances."
Zetsu didn't respond immediately. But Hideki could see it—the way the eerie being's mind churned beneath the stillness.
A moment passed.
Then, softly, "...Is he making a move on us?"
Hideki stayed silent, watching as Zetsu's thoughts continued to unfold.
'A move on them?'
It was possible. If Hiroshi suspected anything—if he believed Kirigakure was being manipulated—he could very well be attempting to outmanoeuvre them before they outmanoeuvred him.
And if that was the case…
Zetsu exhaled through his nose, shaking his head. "What villages?"
Hideki answered. "Iwa. Konoha."
Silence. Then—a chuckle.
Zetsu's white half smirked.
"Well, well," he mused. "That's better than expected."
Turning slightly, Zetsu's form began to sink back into the earth. "You did well, Hideki. Keep an eye on the summit, won't you?"
Then, just before he vanished completely—
"Keep us updated."
And then—he was gone.
For a long time, Hideki stood there.
His fingers curled into fists at his sides. What had he done?
He had given them too much.
No. No, at least he hadn't mentioned Konoha's answer. At least—at least there was that.
But the guilt settled in his chest, an unwelcome weight.
'I have to do this. For my clan.'
His expression hardened.
Without another word, his body began to crystallize.
The ice spread over him, covering his limbs, his torso, his face—until he was nothing but frost.
And then, like snow beneath the wind—he shattered.
Back in the Land of Iron, the real Hideki opened his eyes.
The memories of his clone flooded his mind.
And yet—his expression remained unchanged.
Emotionless, he continued his silent watch.
=====
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