"I won't be the first to break the truce," he says, with a little glare at Jakkou.

(He's younger than Jacen had been during Jacen's spiral into the worst parts of darkness. He feels older, somehow, almost settled.)

She nods.

"Now that that is settled, what is going on here?" She points at Tobi. "You first."

"I received intelligence that an S-rank fight was beginning near the southern border, and so I moved to investigate." By 'received intelligence' she means 'sensed,' but her exact range is a tightly kept secret, so. "Uchiha Jakkou and Uchiha Jakuan were already in conflict at the time. I surmised they each intended to kill the other in order to advance their sharingan. It is not in the best interests of Konoha for either to obtain such a thing. Therefore, I interfered in the fight with the primary goal of forcing them both to retreat. However, if that turned out to be impractical, Konoha would accept the death of one or both in a way that denies the other what they want."

She sent for backup, she doesn't say. She's curious if the interlopers can detect the shinobi moving to reinforce her - they're still out of the range of all but the most powerful sensors.

"Thank you." She points at Jakuan. "You."

"She surmised correctly."

(Tobi's words hurt him, but they always do.)

"No further details to add? Justifications, thin or otherwise?"

"No."

"The Mangekyou will kill them if left alone. You're already half blind, aren't you, Jakuan?"

"I hadn't thought you to be the type to play loose with Konoha's secrets, little sister."

"You're not Konoha."

He glances away.

Hmm.

Jakkou's turn. Occlus looks to her expectantly.

"If you're looking for moral worth, you won't find it anywhere in this world."

"I want power, so I'm taking it."

"I have presided over the slaughter of entire planetary systems, girl. I am not looking for moral worth, I am looking for common sense. And so far the only one of you to display any is your sister."

"Tobi has no common sense whatsoever or even a lick of self preservation instinct."

"And yet, her reinforcements are almost here. Where are yours?"

...Small twitch.

"I see."

She tilts her head. "What would you consider common sense?"

"To begin with, cooperating with the powerful strangers who suddenly appeared, rather than pointlessly antagonizing them."

"Tobi considers you her allies, first and foremost. Is she wrong?"

"She is not."

"Then cooperation's a waste of time."

(There's a small tendril of power reaching out, tentatively, from Jakkou. It's subtle, tiny little pressures on their perception, little testing flicks...)

A vise of invisible force clamps around her neck. "Cease," Occlus says to her, then turns back to Jakuan. "Only insofar as you are determined that the only way to fix your mistakes is to ignore any and every opportunity to change your course that appears."