The Land of Whirlpools…
“This is an emergency!”
As they neared the village entrance, Fugaku said urgently, “Go back right now and head to the shelter with the rest of the clan.
This isn’t something you can get involved in!”
Shingetsu pulled Orochimaru’s reply from his chest and flashed it at him.
“Orochimaru-sensei approved my graduation request.
According to the rules, I only…”
“I almost let him influence me there…”
Shingetsu shook his head and laughed.
Since when did I start caring about boring rules like that?
Whoosh!!!
With a violent burst of acceleration, Shingetsu sprinted across the ground, overtaking countless ninja and leaving them far behind.
At the village entrance, the massive Barrier had only just opened a narrow gap.
BOOM—!!!
Fragments of the shattered Barrier burst apart like a broken mirror.
“Th-This…”
“Notify the Barrier Team to repair it.
We’ll hold the Uchiha accountable afterward.”
“But…
that was the disciple of Orochimaru the Jōnin, and Hokage-sama’s…”
“That’s why I said we’ll hold the Uchiha accountable.
Did I say we were filing a complaint against Shingetsu Uchiha?
Idiot!”
…
Since the Warring States Period, the Land of Whirlpools had been the territory of the Uzumaki Clan.
As one of the clans second only to the Senju and Uchiha, the Uzumaki Clan was renowned throughout the Ninja World for its Fūinjutsu.
Uzushiogakure and Konohagakure had a close alliance, to the point that even Konoha’s Jōnin uniforms bore the Uzumaki crest.
In Shingetsu’s view, the destruction of this clan was inevitable.
Their problem was far more severe than the Uchiha Clan’s.
The Uchiha Clan’s greatest problem was that they wanted power.
At most, that made the Second Hokage’s faction wary enough to target them.
But the Uzumaki Clan…
had provoked the entire Ninja World.
The reason could be traced back to Mito Uzumaki sealing the Nine-Tails.
In the thousand years since the Tailed Beasts were born, countless people had tried to obtain that disaster-like Strength, waging endless wars over it and leaving corpses strewn across the land.
For example, Kinkaku and Ginkaku of Kumogakure, known as the Two Rays of Light Among the Clouds, gained the Nine-Tails’ chakra by eating its flesh.
But before Mito Uzumaki, there had never been anything like a Jinchūriki, someone who could fully possess a Tailed Beast.
At the First Five Kage Summit, to put an end to the wars consuming the Ninja World, Hashirama Senju distributed the Tailed Beasts.
The core idea was to exchange a balance of strength for peace.
If every village possessed a devastating weapon like a Tailed Beast, none of them would dare start a war first.
The idea was good, and peace truly did arrive.
But the deterrent was never the Tailed Beasts.
It was Hashirama Senju himself.
Hashirama may have known that, but humans die, while Tailed Beasts do not.
That was as much as he could do.
The reason Tobirama Senju agreed to it was different from Hashirama’s.
He knew perfectly well that once his elder brother died, a Shinobi World War was inevitable.
Distributing the Tailed Beasts could temporarily ease Konoha’s financial burden, but more importantly…
It could continue dragging down the other four nations.
Even for a Fūinjutsu expert like his sister-in-law, sealing the Nine-Tails had not been easy.
So what about the other ninja villages?
They had no advanced Fūinjutsu and no suitable candidates to become Jinchūriki.
Trying to control the Tailed Beasts would inevitably cost them enormous casualties and economic losses.
But they had no choice except to keep trying.
What if another ninja village mastered the technology to control a Tailed Beast first?
It was a poisoned cake.
Eat it, and you would be poisoned.
Refuse to eat it, and once someone else had their fill, they would come after you.
And Konoha possessed the strongest Tailed Beast, the Nine-Tails.
Even if the other ninja villages succeeded in creating Jinchūriki, they still would not pose a threat to Konoha!
Tobirama’s thinking was good…
but it did not look far enough ahead, nor was it comprehensive enough.
More importantly…
he died too soon.
He never realized what a disaster this would bring upon the Uzumaki Clan.
After years of failed attempts, what would the major ninja villages think?
Simple.
Learn from the only one who had succeeded.
The Uzumaki Clan, and the Fūinjutsu they possessed, were the key to creating Jinchūriki.
They did not dare make a move while Hashirama Senju was alive, and Tobirama Senju was not easy to deal with either.
After the Shinobi World War ended and they finally caught their breath…
They immediately struck the Uzumaki Clan!!
On this matter alone, the Four Great Nations set aside their past grudges and reached a consensus in an extremely short time.
Iwa and Sunagakure pinned Konohagakure down on land, while Kumo and Kirigakure gathered at sea, crushed the Uzumaki Clan, and seized their Fūinjutsu!
This was the vast gap between ninja villages and ninja clans.
Without extraordinary powerhouses like Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha, even a once-great clan with a thousand-year legacy had no power to resist the great nations!
To put it plainly.
From the moment Konohagakure was founded, the Uzumaki Clan’s choice not to join had already sealed their fate.
Everyone had begun banding together to form ninja villages, yet this clan with powerful Fūinjutsu remained isolated overseas.
Those who failed to follow the tide of the times were destined to be swallowed by it.
It was hard to say…
that Konoha knew nothing about this.
Shingetsu’s thoughts churned, and a cold smile tugged at his lips.
He would never underestimate Hiruzen Sarutobi or Danzō Shimura.
They had swiftly stabilized the Land of Fire after the Second Hokage’s death, so how could they possibly be stupid enough not to notice anything at all?
First the Senju, then the Uzumaki, and after that the Uchiha…
right?
A perfectly sound judgment!
But unfortunately…
The era of the Uchiha was far from over!
…
“Did they get her out?”
In the Hokage’s office, Hiruzen Sarutobi stood by the window, gazing at the mountains darkening in the distance.
Danzō Shimura lifted his teacup.
“A daughter of the prestigious Uzumaki Clan, with extraordinary vitality and chakra.
She is more than qualified to succeed Mito-sama as the Nine-Tails’ Jinchūriki.”
Exhaling a thick plume of smoke, Hiruzen Sarutobi looked toward the First Hokage’s Hokage Rock, then quickly averted his gaze.
“Danzō…
how am I supposed to answer to Lord First…”
“Lord First will understand us.”
Danzō’s voice was heavy.
“Protecting the Uzumaki Clan would mean sending our main forces out of the Land of Fire to confront the great nations directly.
Konoha itself could face destruction.”
“That is exactly the situation they want.”
“For the sake of the village, Lord First killed his closest friend with his own hands, and the Second Hokage sacrificed his life.
We have inherited the will of our predecessors.
They will understand!”
Danzō felt no guilt at all as he said this.
He could sacrifice even his own Clansmen.
To build an intelligence network across the Ninja World, his father’s generation and his own brothers had nearly been wiped out.
The Wind Release Shimura Clan, once renowned alongside the Fire Release Sarutobi during the Warring States Period, had withered until it could barely produce a few Jōnin.
Now they were only sacrificing a ninja clan outside Konoha.
What was there to feel guilty about?
Danzō stood.
“I’ll explain things to Mito-sama.
If I cannot earn her forgiveness, I will atone with my life.”
No matter what Danzō would become in the future, at this moment, his resolve to sacrifice himself for Konoha was real.
No…
even in the future, at least in his own mind, he would die for Konoha’s sake.
Hiruzen Sarutobi shook his head.
“I’ll go…
You bring her back.
Make sure you bring her back safely!”
…
Mito’s residence, the Spiral Tower.
Hiruzen Sarutobi often came here to pay his respects, but never once had his steps felt as heavy as they did now.
There were no attendants before the door.
Before he could speak…
“Leave.
Right now…
I don’t want to see you.”
Hiruzen Sarutobi’s pupils contracted sharply.
How could this be…
How could Mito-sama’s voice sound so old?
Inside the room, Mito sat quietly beside the bed, gently stroking a photograph of herself as a child, surrounded by her smiling clan members.
That beautiful face, unchanged for decades, was aging at a visible pace, wrinkles spreading across it.