In the world of Naruto, there is one item that serves as the ultimate "Chosen One" litmus test.
Only a true Child of Destiny can withstand the overwhelming karma attached to this object and emerge unscathed. Any "undeserving" pretender who dares to wear it faces only one fate: a swift and total erasure from existence.
And usually, it's a gruesome way to go.
This item is, of course, the necklace the God of Shinobi gave to Tsunade.
Aside from Tsunade herself—who acted as a sort of "middleman" for the curse—only one other person since the First Hokage has survived its weight: the reincarnation of Asura and the Seventh Hokage himself, Lord Seventh, whose "Talk-no-Jutsu" was apparently strong enough to tank even that level of bad luck.
The two who wore it before him? Their deaths were the stuff of nightmares.
In the original timeline, Nawaki wandered into a paper bomb trap and was blown beyond recognition. Dan Kato was ambushed and had his kidneys literally ripped out. Considering how a normal person doubles over in agony from a simple kidney punch, one can only imagine the sheer torment he endured before he finally died.
But in this life, things had changed. Namikaze Hatani, the transmigrator, had flapped his "butterfly wings." Nawaki had dodged the paper bomb trap.
However, the necklace wasn't about to admit defeat so easily. After the paper bombs failed, Nawaki immediately ran into an Ame squad, followed by a Suna puppet-master ambush.
Even though Hatani's desperate efforts had pulled him through, it came at the cost of their teammate and their squad leader's lives.
At that point, even Hatani—who had been raised under a modern, materialistic education—was spooked. While Nawaki was still reeling from the trauma of the escape, Hatani had snatched the necklace off the boy's neck and tossed it away like a hot potato.
This split-second decision was why Shotaro, the puppet-master who had hurriedly cleaned the battlefield despite his heavy injuries, hadn't found it. He'd taken the body of the medical ninja, Kazuha, but the necklace had been thrown too far for him to notice.
Otherwise, if he'd taken the necklace back as a trophy, he might have unintentionally helped Konoha pull off a "Suna Shinobi Extermination Project." (Sarcasm intended.)
"Aside from this necklace, a preliminary investigation of the remaining combat traces confirms that Team 13 was intercepted by Suna puppet-masters."
While Tsunade sat under a tree, staring blankly at the necklace in her hand, Kurama Sei had finished scouting the area and reached a conclusion.
"Suna?!"
Tsunade, who had been catatonic until now, finally reacted. She repeated the name like a hollow machine before bolting upright. Her beautiful face contorted for a split second, looking genuinely terrifying.
"Suna!"
The air grew heavy with her resentment. She whirled around and threw a punch with such raw fury that an Umbrella Tree with a trunk as thick as a man's embrace was snapped clean in two.
Gulp.
Watching the wood splinters fly through the drizzle, the three men present collectively swallowed hard.
"Tsu—Tsunade, you... you need to stay calm," Dan Kato stammered, stepping forward under the expectant (and terrified) gazes of Kurama Sei and Gekko Kyofu.
"Hmm?!"
Tsunade's head snapped toward him, her eyes burning with such killing intent that Dan's voice died in his throat.
"Tsunade-sama, Nawaki might still be alive," Kurama Sei interjected quickly. As the most level-headed Jonin in the group, he knew he had to offer her a lifeline before her mental state shattered completely. He chose the most hopeful theory available.
"Really?!"
The killing intent vanished instantly at the word "alive." Tsunade's eyes cleared, replaced by a desperate, burning hope as she looked at Kurama.
"It's highly likely." Kurama Sei pushed forward, his brain working overtime to maintain the logic. "This necklace was found dozens of meters away from the main blast zone, and it was placed—not dropped—near a tree. This wasn't a random loss. It looks like a deliberate signal left for us, or for any Konoha reinforcement."
The more he spoke, the more Kurama began to believe his own theory. His confidence grew.
"Furthermore, since the enemies were puppet-masters, this crater likely wasn't theirs. It bears all the hallmarks of Mimura-sensei's Fire Style. For a shinobi of his caliber to cause this level of destruction, he must have squeezed out every last drop of his chakra."
Kurama's voice dipped into a momentary somber tone. Though he wasn't close with Mimura, the death of a fellow villager always stung.
"The only thing that would make Mimura sacrifice his life in a suicidal attempt to hold back the enemy is the need to protect Nawaki. He was buying time."
Kurama organized his thoughts, his analysis becoming sharper. "It's very possible that Nawaki used that cover to escape. He likely left the necklace as a trail so Mimura could find him later, not knowing that Mimura..."
Kurama trailed off. Dan Kato and Gekko Kyofu felt the weight of the sacrifice, but Tsunade was now vibrating with excitement.
Grief is a relative thing. Hearing that her brother was likely alive eclipsed the mourning for a colleague.
"Then why haven't we seen him on the road?" she asked, her voice tinged with a new kind of anxiety.
"I suspect he's worried about more Suna ambushes," Gekko Kyofu chimed in, his expression grim. "This was supposed to be a secret Konoha supply route. The fact that Suna set an ambush here means our intelligence has been compromised. Avoiding this route entirely would be a very smart move on his part."
The gravity of the situation finally settled on all of them.
"Those bastards in Suna!" Tsunade hissed.
"How did they even find this route?" Dan Kato wondered aloud. Supply lines were a military's lifeline; they were guarded with the highest level of secrecy. Since shinobi rarely stuck to established roads, pinning down a supply path was notoriously difficult.
"This needs to be reported immediately," Kurama Sei said, his face hardening. "There's likely a Suna mole within the village who has access to top-secret logistics. We need to root them out."
Tsunade, however, merely frowned.
To her, there was only one priority: finding Nawaki. Everything else could wait.