"Was all of this… caused by the White Night Yaksha's technique?"
The shock in the speaker's voice was impossible to hide. Destruction on this scale simply didn't resemble anything that could be achieved through ordinary ninjutsu.
After the Nine-Tails Incident, two ANBU shinobi were dispatched to investigate the battlefield where Hagoromo had clashed with Pain.
Finding the site wasn't difficult.
The straight-line distance to Konoha was short, and more importantly, the trail of destruction extended all the way back toward the village.
The super-sized Lightning Release technique–launched Rashōmon had first shattered Pain's barrier, then tore through the space between the battlefield and Konoha, breached the village's outer barrier, caused devastation on a scale surpassing even the Nine-Tails' rampage, and finally smashed through two sections of the Hokage Monunt—
Becoming grotesquely wedged between the stone faces of the First and Second Hokage.
Beneath the monunt lay Konoha's final evacuation shelter.
What stopped Rashōmon was the village's ultimate defensive barrier.
During the Nine-Tails Incident, nearly all civilians and noncombatants had been gathered there.
In hindsight, it was almost a tragedy—
They had co terrifyingly close to being struck by that attack.
And yet, it was also fortune.
At that distance, Rashōmon had already lost most of its original destructive power.
Otherwise, the consequences of Hagoromo's all-or-nothing strike would have been unimaginable.
Three days later.
The Hokage Office.
Hagoromo had only regained consciousness that very day.
Frankly speaking, waking up within three days at all was already unbelievable.
But those three blank days had brought him enormous trouble.
The twins left behind by Minato and Kushina had been taken out of his hands.
Present in the room were:
The Third Hokage.
Shimura Danzō.
Konoha's two advisors.
Jiraiya.
Orochimaru.
And Hagoromo himself.
Jiraiya had returned from the front lines imdiately after the incident. Though the war situation remained dire, Konoha's internal affairs took priority.
Hagoromo's right arm was bound to his chest. Nearly his entire body was wrapped in bandages, with only his right eye and part of his face exposed.
First Pain, then an enormous number of explosive tags—
Given that, his current condition was hardly surprising.
Without being told, no one would have recognized him.
"The enemy I fought possessed eyes with strange concentric rings," Hagoromo said calmly.
"According to him, they were called the Rinnegan."
For now, that was all he was willing to say about that night.
Perhaps he would explain more in the future.
But not today.
Even so, that single piece of information was enough to make certain people connect the dots.
So present already knew who once possessed the Eyes of the Sage.
Silence fell among Konoha's leadership.
They knew what the Rinnegan was—or at least, enough about it.
But the Rinnegan Hagoromo spoke of…
Was it that Rinnegan?
"I've said what I needed to say," Hagoromo continued.
"Now it's ti for you to do what you should."
"What exactly?" the Third Hokage asked.
"All of Uzumaki Kushina's possessions," Hagoromo said flatly.
"By her final wishes, they are all mine. During my unconsciousness, things were taken. I expect everything to be returned."
Whether Kushina's legacy was safer in Konoha's hands or Hagoromo's—
That question never even crossed his mind.
But matters weren't so simple.
"The Fourth Hokage's children," Danzō said coldly, "one is the current jinchūriki and will be placed under the Hokage's supervision."
"As for the other—bearing clear Uzumaki traits—she will serve as a contingency should the jinchūriki fail. No one can guarantee that a child can truly endure the power of a tailed beast."
From Danzō's standpoint, his words were logical.
From their standpoint, perhaps they were inevitable.
After Hagoromo lost consciousness, the jinchūriki had been placed directly under the Third Hokage's custody.
The other child had been taken by Root.
One eye t another.
A dangerous impulse flashed through Hagoromo's gaze. Electric arcs flickered faintly across his body—the aftereffects of rampage still lingered, his ability reacting violently to emotional fluctuations.
"Hagoromo, don't act rashly," Jiraiya said quickly.
Unnecessary advice.
Hagoromo was calm.
"I may have monts when I need to calm down," he said.
"But this is not one of them. Right now, I am calr than I have ever been in my life."
"For , retrieving what belongs to through more direct ans is not impossible… but that is not what Kushina wished."
If Hagoromo chose open confrontation, reclaiming Minato and Kushina's children was possible.
Especially now.
Konoha was no longer a place he had to belong to.
But he couldn't do it.
Because that would betray Kushina's will.
She wanted her children cared for by Hagoromo—
Without tearing him away from Konoha.
And therein lay the contradiction.
If Hagoromo remained within Konoha's frawork, he could not approach the children.
If he acted freely, he would violate her wishes.
Doing as he pleased was sothing Hagoromo both wanted—and could—do.
No one could truly stop him anymore.
Except Kushina's final restraint.
Minato and Kushina wanted their children to live in Konoha as heroes' offspring.
Hagoromo could not easily reject that hope.
And yet, in his current state, not even the Third Hokage could entrust the jinchūriki to him.
Not because of closeness—
But because his mindset was too dangerous.
No one handed nuclear weapons to soone unstable.
Let alone soone who was both rational and unhinged.
Hagoromo was dangerously close to obsession—yet still capable of restraining himself.
That made him even more frightening.
Because once control slipped, his rationality would turn into catastrophic destruction.
Unimaginable destruction.
It was obvious to everyone present:
Hagoromo harbored intent to clash directly with Konoha.
Even Jiraiya—who felt closest to him emotionally—could not support placing the jinchūriki in his care.
Silence filled the room.
Open conflict was Hagoromo's final option.
Before that, he still had another.
"I will turn the tide of the war myself," Hagoromo said.
"In exchange, return Minato and Kushina's children to ."
The Fourth Hokage's death and the Nine-Tails' rampage had struck Konoha not only militarily, but psychologically.
The Yellow Flash—the terror of the shinobi world—was dead.
To Kumogakure, could there be better news?
There could not.
And so, a full-scale counteroffensive had begun.
"Hagoromo, regardless… in your current condition—"
In his state, stepping onto the battlefield would be suicide.
Let alone reversing the tide.
"How I do it is my problem," Hagoromo said.
"Whether you accept is yours. If you do, I will fulfill my part. This is the greatest concession I can make as a shinobi of Konoha."
He had said all there was to say.
A knock sounded at the door.
Let them debate the Rinnegan.
Let them debate the war.
Hagoromo tried twice, then managed to stand, opened the door, and walked out.
Waiting outside was Yūhi Kurenai.
"Hagoromo… the Fourth Hokage and his wife's bodies have been prepared."
This was sothing Hagoromo had asked her to handle.
"Thank you," he said.
"Co with . I'm not very mobile right now, and I'll need your help."
They arrived at the room where Minato and Kushina's bodies were kept. Though heavily guarded by ANBU, no one stopped Hagoromo.
From this point on, he was already recognized as one of Konoha's foremost sealing masters.
Contact with the jinchūriki was forbidden.
But handling the remains of the Fourth Hokage and his wife was not restricted.
To prevent misuse of Kushina's body, Hagoromo would personally place seals upon her.
"Kurenai, lend your hand."
Using her right hand to form seals, Hagoromo created shadow clones.
From that point onward, all work was handled by Hagoromo and his clones.
Kurenai only needed to watch.
Hagoromo had his own view of life and death.
No matter how regretful, how painful—
The dead were dead.
Any attempt to resurrect them was desecration.
What resolve did it take for a shinobi to face death calmly?
Hagoromo didn't know.
But it must have been imnse.
Resurrection was beautiful—
But for him, it would remain nothing more than imagination.
Hagoromo himself was an anomaly.
And precisely because of that, he would never subject Kushina to such a fate.
He had made his choice.
Right or wrong.
The thing he regretted most had already happened.
So he would never regret again.
As he said—
He was rational.
Even though resentnt toward Konoha burned fiercely within him, he would suppress it for now.
For now, he would not make a major move.
Everyone had their own life.
Revenge would never be all of Hagoromo's story.
Only an important part.
As for what ca next—
He already had his own plan.
Life or death could be decided in a single battle.
But revenge was never that simple.
If so wildlife protection group insisted on collecting rare beasts—
Then Hagoromo would slaughter those rare monsters one by one.
One after another.
That was the aning of his eyes' existence.
Only after that—
Would he move on.
For now, Kushina's will was the priority.
His new eyes had awakened—
But it wasn't enough.
He still needed a way to use them at will.
In the end, Konoha agreed to part of Hagoromo's demands.
As a compromise—
The Fourth Hokage's children were temporarily placed in Jiraiya's care.
A neutral choice.
If they had gone to Root, no one would have trusted it.
The boy was nad Naruto, after the protagonist of one of Jiraiya's novels—chosen by Minato.
The girl was nad Mirai, chosen by Kushina herself.
Both were Kushina's future.
As for their surna—
One day, Hagoromo would give it to them.
Uzumaki.
Seven days after the Nine-Tails Incident was Minato and Kushina's funeral.
Hagoromo, their disciple, did not attend.
That morning, with a massive scroll slung across his back, he left Konoha alone.
As he had said—
He was going to reclaim what belonged to him.
How did one turn the tide against Kumogakure?
Simple.
Make the sa thing happen to them that had happened to Konoha.
It might be madness.
It might be suicide.
But next—
The White Night Yaksha would invade Kumogakure.
In his current condition, killing the new Raikage was unlikely.
But freeing the tailed beast—
That was sothing he had to do.
◇ BONUS & SUPPORT ◇
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 10 reviews — drop a comnt!
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ Read 70 chapters ahead on P@treon → patreon/Chakraflow789
Reviews
All reviews (0)