At the entrance to Konoha Village.
The village had issued a notice in advance that a large number of bodies and wounded would be brought back from the Land of Grass. Many people came to the village entrance to wait.
Senju Rinoki stood at the very front, his eyes vacant, arms hanging limply, shoulders slumped, looking utterly devoid of strength.
This clan head of the Senju, son of Senju Hashirama, had lost all his former fighting spirit, leaving only the grief of a middle-aged man who had lost his son.
The convoy slowly approached.
One body bag after another was claimed by family members.
Some family members wept, some were numb, and others confirmed with the shinobi the amount of the compensation.
The last body bag contained Senju Nawaki.
Senju Rinoki could hear no noise, only a ringing in his ears. He dragged his stiff legs forward, shuffling step by step.
He still couldn't believe that Nawaki was just... dead.
Nawaki had talent seen once in decades, and an elite jonin like Orochimaru as his teacher.
The Senju clan's revival had come to an abrupt halt.
For a moment, Senju Rinoki even had the thought of giving up on everything.
If the village higher-ups wanted the Senju clan's land, then give half to them.
If the village higher-ups wanted the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, then let them handle the sealing; the Senju clan wouldn't bother anymore.
If the village higher-ups wanted the Sealing Scrolls of the Senju and Uzumaki, then give them.
Seeing Senju Rinoki's body constantly swaying slightly, Uzumaki Kushina whispered:
"Uncle..."
Senju Rinoki shook his head, driving away the weak thoughts.
He could not give up. The thousand-year glory of the Senju clan must not be destroyed in his hands.
Death?
His father founded Konoha. Could the deaths now compare to the deaths at the end of the Warring States Period?
Nawaki sacrificed at 12, much later than his own two uncles had sacrificed.
The Senju clan does not fear death.
Yōkō stood to the side, nostrils pinched shut.
There were preservatives in the body bags, yet the stench of death was still hard to bear.
What was a foul-smelling corpse to Yōkō was the beloved youngest son of Senju Rinoki.
Senju Rinoki unzipped the body bag and saw Nawaki's pale face.
Reaching out to gently touch Nawaki's face, the expression on Senju Rinoki's resolute face changed several times before he finally lowered his head.
The Senju clan took away Nawaki's body, along with the bodies of the other Senju shinobi.
This clan had sacrificed too much for Konoha.
Black Gorilla's wife, the woman Yōkō had seen last time at Konoha Hospital, came to take Black Gorilla away.
Black Gorilla had removed his mask, now appearing as a disheartened, weathered middle-aged man with both arms severed.
His cheeks were sunken, Not at all like an Akimichi shinobi.
After returning to the Anbu to debrief the mission and then to Root to submit personnel replenishment requests, Yōkō left the Anbu.
Returning to the familiar Tsurugetsu Izakaya, Yōkō sighed inwardly; he was finally back.
Unconsciously, the Tsurugetsu Izakaya had become Yōkō's most comfortable place to stay.
"Kyōi, have any suspicious people been observing you lately?"
"No, I haven't seen any."
Yōkō had specifically paid attention to missions related to Kyōi in the Anbu. The mission scroll was archived, so there wouldn't be any further Anbu checks on Kyōi's identity for now.
"I have connections high up. I settled such a big matter for you. Shouldn't you thank me?"
"How should I thank you?"
"Yin Release and Yang Release are getting a bit dull. Any new tricks?"
Kyōi gritted her silver teeth and pressed closer: "You've been gone so long. Did you try new tricks with some little vixen out there? Came back to me to relive them?"
"Not at all. My strength has increased quite a bit, so I need stronger stimulation."
Kyōi tilted her head and gave Yōkō a sidelong glance, then said: "Then let's try a secret technique from the Iwa-nin kunoichi..."
"Oh? What secret technique?"
"Have you heard of the Mountain Soil Technique?"
"I've heard of it. An Earth Release jutsu that uses giant hemispherical mounds of earth to crush large numbers of enemies into pulp. Is this the 'Sphere Style' after Yin Release and Yang Release?"
As the two lay in bed, Kyōi slowly disappeared under the covers, using her 'Sphere Style: Mountain Soil Technique'.
After the midnight frenzy, Kyōi was lying on Yōkō's chest.
She suddenly grew tense.
"It's almost here!"
"What's almost here? Didn't we just..."
Soon, Yōkō sensed a sinister, cold chakra.
He pulled on his pants, Body Flickered out the window, and stood on the roof.
From the direction of the Senju clan, strands of ominous chakra drifted out, wandering the streets of Konoha.
For a moment, all insects and birds fell silent.
Uzumaki Mito, is she nearing her limit?
Yōkō jumped down from the roof and returned to the side room in the backyard.
"During the time I was away, did this cold feeling occur often?"
"Yes, especially these past two weeks, almost daily."
"Troubled times indeed. Forget it, let's not think about these things. There are still some parts of the Mountain Soil Technique I don't quite understand. Perhaps we should discuss it further."
Amidst the nightly chill, the New Year arrived.
Yōkō welcomed his birthday.
Apart from Kyōi, there was no one else with whom to celebrate the New Year.
The New Year in this different world was much more bland than in his previous life.
A few days after the New Year, Yōkō entered the Akimichi clan compound carrying two jin of marinated beef.
He didn't know where Black Gorilla lived, didn't know his real name, but he felt it should be easy to find out.
The characteristic of having both arms severed was too distinctive.
Seeing three older women at a street corner, Yōkō thought, isn't this the Akimichi clan's intelligence center?
He went up and asked: "Hello, is there a retired shinobi in the Akimichi clan who has lost both arms?"
"Do you mean the retired shinobi who lost his left arm first, or the one who lost his right arm first?"
Yōkō was stunned. Wait, does the Akimichi clan have many one-armed shinobi?
"The one who lost his left arm first, then his right arm, and just recently returned to the clan grounds."
The woman asked again: "Then do you want the retired shinobi with the longer left arm stump, or the one with the longer right arm stump?"
Are the Akimichi clan shinobi this unfortunate?
Thinking about them being taijutsu specialists, it wasn't surprising.
Yōkō continued: "The one with the longer right arm stump."
"Then do you want the tall retired shinobi with the longer right arm stump, or the short retired shinobi with the longer right arm stump?"
Yōkō was speechless: "The tall one. The tall, dark, and tall one."
The woman finally pointed Yōkō in a direction.
Yōkō felt a wave of sorrow.
A simple question about directions revealed a corner of the war's cruelty.
Within the Akimichi compound, there were indeed quite a few disabled individuals.
With the clan as a safety net, even if disabled, the clan would provide minimal living supplies and support them, which is why there seemed to be many disabled shinobi.
If they were civilian shinobi, you wouldn't see so many disabled retirees. It wasn't that civilian shinobi were less disabled, but that disabled civilian shinobi simply didn't live long.
Survivorship bias.
Arriving outside a small courtyard, Yōkō saw someone moving.
The dark, thin man with both arms severed was sitting in the yard, looking miserable.
"Big brother, I came to see you."
So annoying, the review deleted over a hundred words of my text again.
(End of Chapter)