Back in the Hidden Leaf Village, Tsunade was absolutely furious.
She slammed the thick wooden doors of the Hokage’s office wide open.
“Sensei!”
Tsunade yelled, her eyes blazing with anger.
“How could you send Dale to Uzushiogakure all alone?! And without even telling me?!”
She marched toward Hiruzen’s desk, her fists clenched tightly.
She looked ready to break the heavy desk in half.
But suddenly, she stopped dead in her tracks.
Standing right next to the window, perfectly safe and clean, was Dale.
Tsunade blinked in pure confusion.
Her anger vanished, replaced by complete shock.
“Dale?”
She asked, her voice dropping to a whisper.
“Haven’t you left for Uzu?”
Dale smiled his usual warm, gentle smile.
He walked over to her, wrapped his arms around her waist, and pulled her close.
He kissed her softly on the lips, melting away all her stress and fear in a single second.
“I had,”
Dale explained with a soft laugh, resting his forehead against hers.
“And I already came back.”
“How is that even possible?”
Tsunade asked, looking up at him.
“That is a week-long journey!”
“While you were busy at the hospital, Lady Mito was helping me study,”
Dale told her.
“We worked on my space-time abilities. We created a special teleportation mark. Do you remember the video games we used to play in my world?”
Tsunade nodded slowly, the memory bringing a small smile to her face.
“It is exactly like the ‘fast travel’ function,”
Dale explained clearly.
“I can instantly jump back to any place where I leave my special seal. I left one mark here in the Hokage’s office, and now I have one in Uzu.”
Tsunade let out a long, heavy breath of relief.
She hugged him tightly, burying her face in his chest.
“Thank goodness,”
She whispered.
Then, she pulled back and looked at him with serious eyes.
“But what happened to the village? What happened to Uzu?”
“They are safe,”
Dale promised her.
“The enemies retreated. They packed up and ran away.”
Hiruzen sat behind his desk, smoking his pipe with a very proud smile on his old face.
“How did you do it?”
Tsunade asked in awe.
“There were thousands of them. Even with your lightning, fighting an entire army is dangerous.”
“I didn’t fight their strongest leaders,”
Dale explained calmly.
“That would take too much time, and I might have gotten hurt. Instead, I used hit-and-run tactics. I only targeted the normal enemies that I could get rid of instantly.”
Tsunade’s sharp mind understood his strategy immediately.
It was brilliant.
“You destroyed their numbers,”
She realized.
“Exactly,”
Dale nodded.
“I wiped out hundreds of their regular soldiers in minutes. The enemy leaders quickly realized what was happening. If they did not retreat right then, I would have killed their entire army.”
Dale looked out the window toward the peaceful village.
“They could not afford to lose any more ninjas,”
He said simply.
“If they lost all their men in Uzu, they would suffer heavy losses. It would be impossible for them to recover in the future, and their own hidden villages would be destroyed by other enemies. So, they made the only smart choice. They ran away.”
Tsunade looked at Dale with deep love and immense pride.
Hiruzen stood up from his chair.
“Dale, I must thank you from the bottom of my heart,”
Hiruzen said, his voice full of true respect.
“I know it was a completely unreasonable mission. I asked you to walk into a deadly warzone all by yourself.”
Dale shook his head.
“You didn’t force me, Lord Hokage. I chose to go.”
“I know,”
Hiruzen smiled warmly.
“But I was very confident that you could finish it.”
Hiruzen reached into his desk and pulled out a thick, heavy envelope.
He handed it to Dale.
“This is a reward,”
The Hokage explained.
“It cannot truly repay what you did, but please accept it. You saved one of our greatest allies today.”
“Thank you, Lord Hokage,”
Dale said politely, taking the envelope.
After saying goodbye, Dale and Tsunade left the office and walked back to the Senju estate.
Even with his cheat-like power, the fighting, healing the wounded, and fixing the seals had taken a lot of energy.
It had been two whole days since he first left to help Uzu.
As soon as Dale slid the front door open, he heard quick footsteps.
“Big brother Dale!”
Kushina ran down the wooden hallway as fast as she could.
She crashed into him and hugged him tightly.
Her bright red hair was messy, and her eyes were full of worried tears.
“You were gone for two days!”
Kushina cried, burying her face in his jacket.
“Grandma Mito told me where you went. Is Uzu okay? Are my people safe?”
Dale knelt down on the floor.
He gently wiped the tears from her cheeks with his thumb.
“Do not cry, Kushina,”
He said with a very warm, soft smile.
“Uzu is perfectly safe. The enemies are completely gone. Your home is protected.”
Kushina’s eyes went wide.
A huge, beautiful smile broke across her face.
“Really? You saved them?!”
She asked, her voice shaking with pure happiness.
“I did,”
Dale nodded.
“They were very brave. I met a tall man with a scarred face who was protecting the walls. And I healed an old, strong man—the Uzukage. He fought very hard to protect the civilians.”
Kushina gasped loudly.
She covered her mouth with her small hands.
“The tall man with the scar?”
She asked, fresh tears of joy falling from her eyes.
“That is my uncle! And the Uzukage… he is my grandfather!”
Dale’s eyes softened.
He reached out and pulled the little girl into a big, warm hug.
“Then I am very, very glad I made it in time,”
Dale whispered gently into her red hair.
“Thank you,”
Kushina cried happily, holding onto his shirt.
“Thank you for saving my family, big brother.”
Tsunade watched them from the doorway.
She leaned against the wood, smiling deeply.
Dale hadn’t just saved a village today.
He had saved a little girl’s entire world.
Time flew by quickly.
Outside the village, the war became much more intense.
Battles raged every single day.
But inside the Senju estate, the atmosphere was heavy and depressing for a completely different reason. Enjoying the story?
Uzumaki Mito had fallen deeply ill.
In her quiet, dim room, she lay weakly on her futon.
The bright blue diamond on her forehead finally faded away.
Her chakra seal was completely off.
Without the massive energy to keep her looking young, her true appearance was finally shown.
Her beautiful red hair turned snow-white.
Her smooth skin became wrinkled and frail.
She looked like a very old, tired woman whose journey was coming to an end.
Dale, Tsunade, and Kushina sat closely beside her bed.
Tsunade held her grandmother’s cold hand.
Warm tears fell silently down her cheeks.
Dale’s eyes were wet with tears, too.
He held onto Tsunade’s shoulder to support her.
Next to him, little Kushina was crying loudly, burying her face into Dale’s arm.
Mito looked at Dale and Tsunade with a soft, sad smile.
“Do not cry, my sweet Tsunade,”
Mito whispered, her voice very weak and raspy.
“I have lived a very long, full life.”
She slowly moved her eyes to look at the beautiful ring on Tsunade’s finger.
“My only regret…”
Mito said, letting out a heavy sigh.
“Is that I will not have the chance to witness your beautiful marriage.”
“Grandmother, please,”
Tsunade cried, squeezing the old woman’s hand tightly.
“Don’t talk like that. You will get better. You have to be there.”
Mito slowly shook her head.
“My time in this world is over, Tsunade,”
Mito said gently.
“My life force is almost completely gone.”
Mito then turned her tired, dark eyes to Dale.
“Dale,”
She called him softly.
Dale leaned closer to the bed.
“I am right here, Lady Mito.”
“I need your help,”
She told him, her voice turning completely serious.
“Before I pass away, I must transfer the Nine-Tailed Fox into Kushina. If I die with the beast still inside me, it will break free and destroy the entire village.”
Kushina cried even harder.
She knew Mito would die after the transfer.
Dale gently rubbed Kushina’s back to comfort her.
He looked back at Mito with absolute determination.
“What do you need me to do?”
Dale asked.
“Your proficiency in Fuinjutsu is strong,”
Mito explained, looking at him with deep trust.
“You learn so fast. You are only a little bit below my own level now. You are more than strong enough to help me safely transfer the Kyuubi.”
Dale nodded without hesitation.
“I will help you. Just tell me the steps, and I will do it.”
“I will,”
Mito said, coughing weakly.
“But you must understand something first. This is not like fixing a building or a barrier. The Fox is a living, breathing creature made of pure hatred and massive chakra. You cannot seal it blindly.”
Mito reached out her shaking, wrinkled hand.
She gently touched the center of Dale’s forehead.
“First, you must understand the monster,”
Mito whispered.
“Close your eyes, Dale. I am going to pull your mind inside my seal. I have to let you see the Nine-Tails with your own eyes first, so you know exactly what you are preparing to hold back.”
Dale took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
The quiet, sad room instantly vanished, replaced by the dark, heavy feeling of a massive, ancient cage.