[Naruto] A Guide to Saving the Akatsuki

A first-rate villain should meet three conditions:

1. Overwhelming strength, and an unwavering pursuit of power.

2. Cruel and cold-blooded, willing to do anything to achieve their goals.

3. Calm and decisive, skilled in both overt and covert schemes, killing bodies and conquering minds.

As a member of a villainous organization and the younger sister of a rogue ninja leader, Xue followed these principles and gradually grew into a witch notorious throughout the shinobi world.

She was an S-rank fugitive, the underground world’s greatest assassin, and Akatsuki’s “Crimson Snow Princess.” Exceptionally gifted and utterly ruthless, she was a withered mandrake blooming amid the ruins of the apocalypse, its roots steeped in blood beneath the red earth, cruel and dazzlingly beautiful.

At the same time, she was the princess of the Land of Rain, wielding the authority of a god and reigning over the rain-soaked country. Intelligent, beautiful, and sacred, she seemed to stand beyond reach. Though she had a dark side, who could refuse a jewel of such breathtaking beauty?

Her dangerous, bewitching charm made the rational lose control, the chaste fall into temptation, the proud beg, and the devout waver. She held every kind of emotion in her power.

She challenged the Five Great Shinobi Villages and hunted the Nine Tailed Beasts. She was the first glimmer of dawn on the horizon, and the first flash of a blade drawn from its sheath: the sharpest edge, one that would cut through everything.

She had no doubt that the light and shadow brought by Akatsuki would eventually blanket the entire shinobi world.

What she did not know was that everyone’s lives, loves, and hatreds in this world had been condensed into a manga, telling a beautiful story about a hot-blooded boy saving the world.

And shouldn’t a beautiful story end with all the villains dead?

Including her family, her beloved, and her friends.

So, when she broke free of her shackles, received revelations from the future, and gained fragments of memories of her companions’ deaths, leading her to realize the true nature of the world, what would she do?

But no matter how desperately the butterfly beat its wings, the worldline continued to converge. Under the influence of the original plot, she could not tell anyone else, much less change its general course. What could she do?

Trapped in this predicament, she could do nothing, no matter how hard she tried.

So she swore upon her soul:

Since the people I love shine as brilliantly as the stars, yet are destined to fall one after another,

then even if I must descend into the abyss, retrace time, or defy fate, I will sever every cause and effect and race to the edge of the world to catch every falling star.

Content warnings:

1. Itachi and Nagato will each die once. There is some angst, but it is not too tragic. Obito and Black Zetsu will be left to their own devices, and their original endings will not be changed.

2. A story where everyone dotes on the heroine, but not everyone is in love with her. The relationships include family, friendship, and romance. The heroine is fickle and a heartbreaker. There are no women competing or getting jealous, but the male leads are virtuous, compete with each other, and have plenty of romantic tension. Other characters also have unrequited feelings for the heroine.

3. The heroine’s values are deeply warped. She is a deranged, wicked woman with a heart of venom, and she is powerful, growing stronger as the story progresses. She will not be redeemed or reformed, and she has no mercy. She will kill her way through anyone who stands in her path. This follows Akatsuki’s survival and wish-fulfillment route.

4. The setting is based mainly on the manga and official guidebooks. Where the manga offers no clear explanation, the author makes personal conjectures, and there are many original settings about the Yuki Clan.

Theme: Fate is not set in stone. Give it everything you have, and you can still break out of any predicament.