Chapter 105: The Shadow in the Stone
The wind whipped across the cliff face, carrying the scent of pine and damp earth. Below them, the clearing was alive with activity. The sounds of construction—the rhythmic thud of hammers, the scrape of saws, the shouted directions of foremen—drifted up, a symphony of creation. It was the sound of their dream being built, log by log.
Hashirama's eyes shone with unshed tears, his dream so close he could almost touch the rooftops. Madara stood with his arms crossed, a satisfied, possessive gleam in his own eyes as he watched the Senju and Uchiha—once mortal enemies—working side-by-side to raise the first longhouses.
But Uchiha Raizen's gaze was not on the village. His Sharingan was active, its crimson pattern slowly tracing the veins of the very rock upon which they stood. He was picking up the faint, lingering chakra signatures embedded in the stone, the echoes of past battles and hidden meetings.
"The black hand…" Raizen murmured, his voice low enough that only his two companions could hear. "You're right to be wary, Hashirama. But it's not one hand. It's… a sickness."
Madara turned, his brief moment of peace shattered. "What are you talking about?"
"The Stone," Raizen said, kneeling and placing his palm flat against the cold granite. "It remembers. I can feel it. There is the familiar, oily residue of that black creature, Zetsu. But beneath it… there's something else. Something older. It doesn't manipulate with whispers and schemes. It… infects. It twists ambition into fanaticism, pride into suicidal hubris."
He looked up, his Sharingan meeting Hashirama's concerned gaze and Madara's intense stare.
"Think about it, Madara. Your father, Tajima. His final, desperate plan for Hashirama. It was cunning, but it was also reckless, almost… frenzied. And Senju Butsuma. Launching an all-out war to reclaim 'honor'? That wasn't the act of the calculating patriarch we knew. It was the act of a man pushed to an extreme by a force he couldn't perceive."
A cold dread settled in Hashirama's stomach. "You're saying there is a force that can corrupt the will of a clan leader? A Kage-level shinobi?"
"I'm saying the enemy we thought we understood is just a symptom," Raizen stated, rising to his feet. "Zetsu is a gardener, tending a field of hatred. But this other presence… it's the blight in the soil itself. It doesn't just encourage conflict; it feeds on the very concept of it. The Warring States Period wasn't just a time of war; it was a banquet for this thing."
He turned his back on the hopeful scene below and faced the dark, dense forest that bordered their new home.
"Konoha is a beacon of peace. It's a declaration of war against the very nature of this blight. And it will not stand for it. Building the village was the easy part. Defending its soul… that will be the real fight. And it's a fight that will be waged not just on battlefields, but in the hearts of every man, woman, and child down there."
Madara's jaw tightened. The familiar fire of battlelust ignited in his chest, but it was now tempered by a new, chilling understanding. The enemy was no longer a clan, or even a person. It was an idea, a corruption. How did you fight an idea?
Hashirama placed a hand on his friend's shoulder, his own expression one of grim determination. "Then we will fight for their hearts. Together. Just as we always have."
But as they stood united on the cliff, the foundation of their village being laid below, a single, dark thought echoed in Raizen's mind, a truth he couldn't yet share.
The blight is in the soil. And we are building our dream right on top of it.
💫 Liked the chapter?You can read 100+ extra chapters on Patreon, including the current
Patreon Chapter 200 – Shisui: The Son Of Madara
👉 Patreon.com/KudosNey
Your support helps me write more and update faster 💖And don't forget to drop a Power Stone ⭐ — it really motivates me!
Thank you for reading! 🙌✨