Ahh. This was suppose to be a small chapter but somehow it evolved into another 3k words.
Well I suppose it's a good thing for you all.
Hope you enjoy it, even if most of you are silent readers.
But c'mon man show some support will ya?
Happy Reading!
******
Chapter 16
At the heart of Uzushiogakure, the Clan Compound—now little more than a memory of stone and splintered wood—lay in total ruin.
As if they had finally completed their grim task, the heavy rain clouds began to part, clearing the way for the soft, golden light of the morning sun to spill over the devastation.
Medori lay in the center of it all, a small smile on her lips as she hugged her child close to her heart. The infant remained sound asleep, cradled by a soft patch of emerald grass that had sprouted from the very rubble.
Kushina was the only one conscious. She sat there, her hands pressed to her forehead as she tried to process the lingering warmth. She could feel that strange energy washing away every dark, negative thought she had ever harbored. Behind her, her once-ominous chakra chains had transformed; they were now a vibrant golden-red, pulsing with a faint green energy.
As she was examining, a small, frantic blob of wind came crashing down from the sky. Before she could even blink, it was instantly absorbed by the sleeping child.
Panicked, Kushina frantically began to examine him. But the moment her fingers brushed his skin, she felt a jolt of the same power she had felt when the translucent woman touched her. Rejuvenated, her own chakra began to dance erratically—craving the child's presence, wanting to bask in this feeling.
Kushina slowly lowered her hands, her eyes sharp and cautious as she scanned the perimeter. Before she could even begin to think of a way to hide the anomalies—the glowing grass, the sleeping mother, the child's strange aura—she felt a familiar, powerful chakra signature approaching.
She let out a long breath of relief. Her father was safe.
Looking around, the gravity of the night finally hit her. The compound was simply... gone. It hadn't just been destroyed; it looked as if the very air had turned into a thousand blades, slicing the buildings into fine dust.
Then, Kenji crested the edge of the crater. He looked exhausted, his armor shattered and his body covered in the grime of battle, his face etched with a father's deepest worries. But he was alive.
Behind him followed Sakuko and a handful of other battered Uzumaki shinobi. But when Kushina's gaze landed on the final figure in the group, her brow furrowed in confusion.
"Sister... Tsunade?"
Before Kushina could ask another word, she was suddenly enveloped in her father's arms.
She froze, startled by the suddenness of the embrace. But then, she felt the warmth of tears soaking into her shoulder and noticed the slight, uncontrollable tremor in her father's hands.
Her own eyes began to moisten as she hugged him back, her small hands patting his back in a silent rhythm of comfort.
"It's alright, Father—Dad. I'm fine," she whispered softly. "I'm in one piece.
Remember... I was trained by Saki Uzumaki herself."
"Hmn," came Kenji's muffled, choked-back reply.
Standing just a few feet away, Tsunade's honey-brown eyes began to sting. Seeing them together brought back a sharp, unbidden memory of her own parents—shinobi who had left on a mission and never returned.
Shaking off the grief, she stepped forward, intending to examine the mother and newborn before moving them to a proper room.
As she drew closer, the same uncanny sensation she had felt upon hearing the cry returned.
In an instant, a wave of rejuvenation washed over her; every cell in her body surged with energy, becoming hyper-active. The sudden, halting steps of those around her confirmed she was not the only one reacting to the phenomenon.
Sensing the same surge of vitality, Shōto turned to Sakuko and the assembled shinobi. His voice was cold, his expression grave.
"Sakuko, clear the area. Establish a five-kilometer perimeter around the compound," he commanded. "No one—absolutely no one—is to set foot on this mountain."
Sakuko hesitated. For a fleeting second, she yearned to linger in that inexplicable tranquility, to cling to the strange connection the child's presence provided.
But she understood the stakes: to protect this miracle, she had to act. If the world learned of this power, they would never allow the boy the very peace he was currently radiating.
With one final look at Tsunade—who remained transfixed by the infant—Sakuko flickered away.
Shōto followed close behind, his hands already moving as he began etching containment seals into the perimeter of the compound.
Moments later, Kushina and Kenji felt the hum of the barrier activating, sealing the compound off from the outside world. Kenji wiped his eyes with a steady hand and finally let go of his daughter. He had a mountain of work waiting for him, and a village to lead out of the ashes.
Kushina watched Tsunade begin her examination of Medori and asked, her voice filled with anxiety: "She's alright, right?"
Tsunade looked up, finally taking in Kushina's appearance. The girl's clothes were torn—cut and stab marks everywhere, a deep diagonal slash across her armor, and a gaping hole over her chest plates.
Taking it all in, Tsunade realized Kushina's battle had been no less brutal than her own.
She reached out and ruffled Kushina's hair with deep affection, remembering the tiny, boisterous girl who used to chase her through these very streets, screaming "Tsunade-nee!" like a brat.
Now, standing in the ruins of her home, was a true kunoichi.
"She's alright, brat. Just exhausted and unconscious," Tsunade said, her voice softening as she carefully lifted Medori. She looked back at Kushina. "Help me with the child, will you? They both need a real bed."
Kushina nodded, her movements stiff and slightly awkward as she carefully gathered the infant into her arms. Watching her, Tsunade couldn't help but smile — the fierce kunoichi who had just survived a war replaced by a girl terrified of waking a sleeping baby.
Together, they made their way toward the main compound on the mountain's upper terrace. While the village below was a graveyard of stone, the mountain compound had been shielded from the worst of it. Aside from a few deep cracks on the walls from the shockwaves, the main building stood tall.
Tsunade quickly settled Medori and the child into a clean room, leaving Kushina to watch over them.
But as she stepped back out into the hallway, the peace was shattered. Sakuko came sprinting toward her, her face a mask of pure terror. In her arms, she was carrying a limp, unconscious Saki.
Tsunade's heart sank. Saki's skin was blistered crimson, radiating a heat so intense it distorted the air. All across her body, intricate seals were pulsing with erratic light—flickering as if they were seconds away from shattering entirely.
Tsunade snatched Saki from Sakuko's arms and immediately hissed in pain. The heat radiating from Saki's skin was agonizing, searing her palms.
"Ice! Gather as much as you can find!" Tsunade barked, her voice frantic. "If you can't find ice, get cold water! Fast!"
Sakuko didn't even glance at her own blistered palms. She simply turned and vanished into the hallway to gather the supplies.
Tsunade kicked open the door to a nearby room and laid Saki onto the bed. The sheets began to singe and smoke the moment Saki touched them. Tsunade's hands glowed with a desperate green light as she began trying to stabilize the chaotic chakra flow, but the heat kept pushing her back.
"You crazy woman... if you die after all of this, Grandma is going to cook me alive right next to you," Tsunade muttered. Her voice trembled as she poured every ounce of her medical chakra into Saki's chest, but it was like throwing a cup of water into a volcano. It did nothing.
A few minutes later, Sakuko burst through the door. She was clutching packs of ice, with a trail of clones behind her lugging heavy buckets of freezing mountain water. Without a word, Tsunade snatched the ice and packed it around Saki's body, the contact creating an immediate hiss of steam.
For half an hour, the room was a chaotic blur of white mist and the smell of ozone. Tsunade worked feverishly, soaking cloths in the icy water and draping them over Saki's scorched limbs.
Finally, Saki's external temperature began to drop. Her skin remained a raw crimson, but the air no longer distorted around her. However, the true danger remained. Across her skin, the petal-like seals began to blink with an erratic light—a silent, rhythmic warning that she was still on the verge of total annihilation.
But Tsunade kept trying. Again and again.
"You old folks, thinking yourselves unkillable and keep dying." Tsunade whispered as she poured every ounce of her chakra to heal her.
******
Sakumo Hatake led his ANBU squad through the scorched remains of the coastline toward Uzushiogakure. This night had been hectic for him.
First, there was the coordinated ambush within the Land of Fire itself. Then, those unnatural storms where the very air seemed to reject them—where chakra itself refused to function, leaving his elite squad struggling just to stay afloat.
Now that they had finally battled through and reached the island, the sight before them was incomprehensible. Craters—some wider than Konoha itself—pockmarked the earth. Mountains had been leveled into plateaus of jagged stone; miles of forest had been reduced to dust and splinters. And they hadn't even reached the village gates yet.
'Just who—or what—fought here?' Sakumo thought, his hand tightening on the hilt of his Saber.
The most unsettling part wasn't the destruction; it was the emptiness. There were no screams, no lingering jutsu, and most terrifyingly, no bodies. Just a vast, silent wasteland. He could only pray that there were a few survivors left to save in the ruins ahead.
Just as the ANBU squad prepared to cross the final patch of forest, they were intercepted.
The squad dropped into combat stances, hands flying to their hilts, but Sakumo raised a hand, signaling them to stand down. He recognized the figure standing atop the jagged remains of a Great Cedar.
Shōto stood there, his brown eyes narrowed.
"You're quite late for reinforcements," Shōto said, his voice cold and accusatory.
Sakumo stepped forward, his posture apologetic despite his mask. "We were ambushed within our own borders, Shōto-dono. And the storms... they were unnatural. They stopped us from arriving any faster."
Shōto sighed visibly, his mind already recording the vital information about the ambush. The conspiracy was deeper than they had feared.
"Listen well, Hatake boy," Shōto replied, an edge of warning creeping into his tone. "We are... sensitive right now. My people are on a knife's edge. I will inform Kenji of your arrival, but do not—under any circumstances—enter the village without explicit permission."
He looked at the elite ANBU squad behind Sakumo. "Who knows which seals you might accidentally trigger in the rubble? It would be a shame to lose Konoha's finest to a stray security ward."
Without waiting for a reply, Shōto vanished in a sharp puff of white smoke.
Sakumo Hatake stood alone for a few seconds before ordering his squad.
"Don't enter the village yet. Investigate the surrounding area and report back," he commanded.
The ANBU vanished in a blur, leaving Sakumo behind. He removed his mask—it was useless here—and began a slow, deliberate walk toward the village gates.
*******
Kenji was directing the remaining able-bodied shinobi squads toward different areas of the perimeter.
"Your team — east border. Yours — north. The rest, spread across the surrounding areas. Report anything unusual directly to me."
Shoto appeared quietly at his shoulder. "Konoha's backup will arrive at the gates within a few minutes."
Kenji exhaled slowly but nodded, continuing to allocate his remaining forces around Uzushiogakure. When the last squad had flickered away, he finally turned.
"I'll meet them outside the gates myself," he said, exhaustion carved into every line of his face. He glanced at Shoto. "You should rest. Who knows when we'll get the chance again."
"I could say the same to you," Shoto replied flatly, falling into step beside him as they walked toward the main gate.
Kenji was quiet for a moment. Then, almost to himself:
"I am the Clan Head. As much as I want to rest — to forget all of it —" his fingertips brushed the wooden mask hanging at his waist, "— I have a responsibility I cannot simply set aside. I have already failed my people enough."
The silence between them stretched. Then Shoto spoke.
"We have responsibilities too. As elders of this clan. As your friends."
Kenji had no answer for that. They walked in silence until he finally asked the question that had been sitting on his chest, his hand closing around the mask.
"How — how is Saki's condition?"
His voice cracked on the last word.
Shoto raised an eyebrow. "So you finally asked. I was beginning to think you were going cold on us."
The attempt at lightness fell flat. Kenji's expression only darkened, his grip on the mask tightening.
Shoto dropped it. "I don't know. Tsunade was still treating her."
Another silence. Then Kenji said what had been weighing on his conscience since the moment the battle ended.
"I could have prevented it. All of it." His knuckles whitened around the mask. "And I didn't."
Shoto's eyes widened — only for an instant. Then they settled, and for the first time, he truly looked at the mask. The one that had been at Kenji's waist from the very first moment of the war. He had noticed it before.
He had chosen not to ask.
Now he asked.
"And the cost would have been?"
Kenji didn't look back. He kept walking, his voice carrying the weight of absolute finality.
"EVERYTHING."
*******
Unknown Location.
Deep within a cavernous void where the air was thick with the scent of damp earth and a single shaft of light pierced the center of the darkness.
Suddenly, two golden, serpentine eyes violently snapped open with intensity.
Slowly, a face drifted into the light. First, the snout; then, two long, elegant whiskers that floated with the rhythm of the wind; and finally, the entire, regal visage was revealed.
"Hnm... so the time has come for me to fulfill my end of the deal," a feminine voice mused, the words echoing off the damp stone. She turned her gaze toward a specific direction, as if peering through the very walls of the cave toward the distant sea.
"Call Orochimaru."
In response, the shadows began to slither, detach themselves from the floor, and ripple across the cave walls.
After a few minutes of waiting, a lean man with pale, translucent skin and amber slitted eyes stepped into the faint light. He bowed deeply, his long black hair falling over his shoulders.
"Great Snake Sage... you summoned me?" Orochimaru asked, his voice smooth and laced with practiced respect.
"Hmnn," the Great Sage's voice echoed through the cavern. Her massive form remained mostly in the shadows as she began to circle him, sizing him up like prey. "It seems you have grown stronger since our last meeting."
"It is all thanks to your blessings, oh Great Sage," Orochimaru replied, the corners of his mouth twitching with a hint of exaggeration.
"Fufu... I see your tongue has become smoother than before," the White Snake mused, her head drifting into the light on his right. "I still remember the shivering child who crawled into this cave, desperate to sign the Ryūchi Contract."
Orochimaru remained in his bow, his voice steady. "And that same shivering child passed the Great Sage's Trials and claimed that contract for his own."
"Fufu... That you did," the White Snake nodded in approval, finally gliding fully into the light to reveal her true form. "You are growing, human. I knew the moment I saw that glint in your eyes that you would become something... interesting."
Orochimaru lifted his head, his amber eyes wide with genuine admiration. Floating before him was a magnificent Eastern white dragon. Her body was covered in shimmering, pearlescent scales that caught the dim light, and her two front claws looked sharp enough to cleave through mountains.
Though the rest of her coils remained hidden in the gloom, Orochimaru knew her length easily exceeded a hundred meters.
"I have a task for you," she said, her voice like silk over stone. "Deliver this to the Uzumaki Clan Head."
Orochimaru took the scroll, his brow furrowing as he examined the seal. "A Summoning Contract? If you wished for the Uzumaki to have one, I could have simply offered them mine."
"Fufu... do not think so simply, human," the White Sage mused with amusement. "This is not a mere Summoning Contract. This is my personal Summoning Contract."
Orochimaru's amber eyes widened. Even he—her prized student or so she claimed—did not possess her personal contract. For a fleeting second, a flash of greed crossed his face, but he quickly suppressed it, letting out a measured sigh.
"And what," he asked, stepping into the dangerous territory of negotiation, "do I receive in return for this service?"
In the surrounding darkness, dozens of smaller, serpentine eyes snapped open simultaneously, fixing on Orochimaru as if he were a piece of meat.
"Hmn... I see you have finally grown a spine," the White Sage said, her eyes narrowing.
"I learned from Manda himself," Orochimaru replied, coolly throwing Manda under the bus. "Never provide a service for free."
"Pffft... Hahaha!" Her smooth laughter reverberated through the cavern, shaking the very stalactites. "Ah, yes... Manda, that man-child. I shall have a talk with him later and make him more... cooperative."
Orochimaru smiled inwardly; his goal was achieved. But as he turned to leave, the Great Sage continued.
"As for your reward... let us see. That toad friend of yours... he is currently attempting to learn the Sage Arts, is he not?"
Orochimaru froze.
"I will grant you the chance to master the Sage Arts of Ryūchi Cave," she said, her eyes gleaming with a predatory light. "If you can survive the process, that is."
Before he could respond, she shooed him away like a stray puppy. "Now, be on your way. I am in a rare good mood today. Do not waste it."
A few minutes after Orochimaru had vanished into the shadows, the White Snake Sage let out a long sigh. She began to retreat back into the darkness of the cave, a small, predatory smile dancing on her lips.
"The price I have to pay for a single drop of blood..." she murmured to herself, her voice dissolving into the silence of the abyss.
*********
In another place.
A world of towering, oil-slicked mountains stretched as far as the eye could see, their peaks lost in a vibrant green sky thick with natural energy.
At the heart of this ancient land sat a giant toad, his body so massive he seemed part of the landscape itself. He was deep in a slumber that had lasted decades.
Suddenly, as if a thread had snapped in the very fabric of the universe, his aged eyes fluttered open. He looked toward the distant horizon, his gaze heavy with a wisdom that predated the shinobi nations.
"Hmn... Fate has been severed," he murmured to himself.
"Now, no one knows where this world is heading. Not even I."
With a slow, heavy blink, he closed his eyes once more, drifting back into the dark sea of sleep.