[Chapter Size: 2000 Words.]
Third Person POV
Konoha, Year 42.
...
...
A few days had passed, and without Konoha's authorization to secretly invade the Land of Wind, they couldn't go after the culprit — if there was still any trace of her.
All they could do was remain at the border, while trying to find any indication that another attack might occur.
In the end, other ANBU teams responsible for the region appeared and relieved Minato's team, stating they would take over the investigation from there.
It was also said in the Hokage's message that he himself had sent a letter to Sunagakure, stating that he would demand explanations, because ninjas — apparently from the Sand Village — were attacking Fire Country civilians and stealing their bodies. He firmly declared that this would not go unpunished and demanded that the culprit be handed over.
Minato doubted that would really happen. Konoha didn't want to create tensions with potential Leaf ninjas invading another country, especially now that everyone was preparing their armies to attack Uzushiogakure.
In the end, Minato returned to Konoha, finally having a few days of rest, since there was no longer any sign of the Uzumaki. They were gone.
Meanwhile, Tsunade was checking the latest diagnostics while Nawaki lay on a stretcher. Now, not just with one arm, but with two — although the new one was entirely made of wood and completely bandaged. He opened and closed his hands slowly, controlling it very well.
"How are you feeling?" she asked her brother, while Shizune also jotted down some observations nearby. The girl was young, but Tsunade had chosen her not only for being Dan's niece and Tsuna's cousin, but for being extremely dedicated.
"I'm fine. I can feel the chakra flow, it's stable now. I feel like I can do jutsus with both hands without any problem," Nawaki commented, still closing his hands and smiling.
Over the past few weeks since receiving the new arm, he had been training to form seals with both hands, able to create his jutsus again. But he didn't have proper chakra flow, and they had to work on that while he tested, failed, and tried again. It had been tough weeks, but now he said he was ready.
"Great. Let's do the final tests and go back to Konoha. I got a message from Minato, and things are getting tense in the village. The Uzumaki have already left Konoha, without any help from those old men..." Tsunade murmured, a bit angrily.
"Alright. Let's do this, sister," Nawaki commented, ready to begin the tests.
Aside from that, Tsunade returned to her daughter, sitting with Hanabi and Mikoto as they talked.
"You can go back to Konoha with your friends now. I'll stay a little longer with your uncle to test the last phase of the arm. We need a representative of the Senju clan in the village, even to help Minato in case the elders try to act against him. After all, it's quite possible that someone will start reporting the secret meetings he's been having with several clan leaders to pressure the village leadership," Tsunade informed.
"Alright, mom," Tsuna replied.
While Mikoto and Hanabi got ready to leave the next moment, Tsuna said goodbye, heading back to the village. Leaving the middle of the country, and Tsunade went to train once more with her brother, together with Shizune.
Minato, now back in the village, after talking a bit with Kushina, secretly took her — as he always did — to Mount Myōboku to train her control with the Nine-Tails Fox chakra, while he also trained his Haki.
The Observation Haki was the one he had developed the most. His Armament Haki had improved a lot, but he still couldn't advance to the last two stages. As for Conqueror's Haki, he barely had an idea how to train it, but he spent his days trying to practice it — at least to summon it — so he could control it from then on. It was still a challenge that Minato wanted to develop.
Meanwhile, Kushina was also becoming more efficient in controlling the Nine-Tails' chakra cloak. Minato even decided to teach techniques he had never considered showing the girl, but, knowing she was capable, and now being outside the village, he finally introduced the Rasengan to her.
This would help her in the eventual creation of a Bijūdama the day Kushina became a perfect jinchūriki, Minato also explained to her.
He was watching Kushina as she tried to create the Rasengan and thought about the conversation he had with Mito before she disappeared. She had handed over the key to the seal to release Kurama, since Minato had said he intended to do so, making the process easier by having the key, rather than simply trying to destroy the current seal.
But Minato didn't act immediately to break the seal and make Kushina a perfect jinchūriki. He first wanted to see Kurama's intentions, how she was behaving toward them and, especially, toward Kushina. Because he would hardly go through with it if she presented any danger — and he wasn't Naruto to use the famous Talk no Jutsu.
He never believed everything could be resolved just through conversation, but he hoped his words would truly reach Kurama. And if she had given her own chakra to Kushina, it meant she was open to trusting Minato's words. That was already a great step in their relationship.
He brought more people to Mount Myōboku as soon as the girls arrived in the village after their mission.
Minato trained Mikoto there, making her exhaust all the power of her eyes. Minato truly intended to implant the new eyes in place of the two worn-out pairs of his fiancée. At the same time, he felt something strange in the Uchiha — he just didn't know exactly what it was, but it was there the entire time, according to his intuition and haki.
It was a somewhat torturous process for the girl, but Mikoto remained firm and trusted Minato's plan when he told her she could awaken her Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan and had already spoken to Tsuna about replacing the girl's eyes.
Tsunade also went to Mount Myōboku, while Minato practiced with her using both sannin modes. They fought each other, and her mode resembled Tsunade's hundred seal jutsus and even Hashirama's Sage Mode, which involved several markings across the body, especially the face. They fought the entire time using only brute strength.
Hanabi was no exception and trained with her jutsus and even her summoning, while Minato summoned Gamabunta so they could have a colossal battle between Hanabi and her summoning, to practice fights involving summons, potentially destroying the terrain there.
Fukasaku was a bit lost. Minato kept bringing girls to train at Mount Myōboku. Although he wasn't against it, it was quite strange to see explosions, even though Minato always trained outside the main area of the toads, while they kept fighting with massive techniques for several days, during the breaks he always had between missions.
While things continued in Konoha, the other nations were far from silent. Their armies were beginning to move in the village centers. The Village of the Mist had finally received word that they would launch an attack against Uzushiogakure. At that time, the Bloody Mist already existed.
Zabuza Momochi, a young boy from the village who hadn't even entered the ninja academy, watched as the Third Mizukage gave his speech.
Mist ninjas were present, along with the population, while everyone could see the Jinchūriki of the Seven Tails and the Jinchūriki of the Six Tails, alongside the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, all prepared to launch a powerful attack against their named enemy.
Several clans were also gathered, as they held many privileges in the village due to their Kekkei Genkai. This was the peak of the Mist Village, considered the most powerful after Konoha, and young Zabuza's eyes were fixed directly on the Swordsmen of the Mist, dreaming of one day reaching that rank.
"What are you looking at, Zabuza? Thinking about becoming a great ninja?" a young boy said beside him, laughing.
Zabuza just glanced at his best friend, shrugging. His personality was closed-off.
"You could say that," was all he replied.
"You're always like this..." the boy murmured and looked at the stage, between them and thousands of people.
"I don't know... I still think it's kind of wrong. We're going to war, and they're preparing to attack a single isolated clan," the boy commented, while Zabuza gave him a harsh look.
"Don't question the village's orders, you idiot," Zabuza responded.
The same could be said of the other villages. Meanwhile, the Village of the Sand was also gathering. Chiyo ignored the speech of the Third Kazekage and looked seriously at the young man approaching her near the stage, due to her position.
"Where have you been all this time?" she asked the young man sternly.
"I was doing some things in the north," he replied, while she looked at him suspiciously.
"Why did you throw away the puppets your parents made after you improved them yourself? I found them tossed in the basement. You treated them like disposable pieces. You should have told me..." Chiyo said, displeased.
"Because they're just puppets, Grandma. They're not living beings," he replied coldly.
"At first, I was happy to have my father and mother. But as time went on, I realized they were just objects. And nothing more than that. Tools of war." Sasori said in the same cold tone.
"Whatever. Just don't disappear like that again. The Kazekage wanted to know where you've been. He's complaining that you've been too absent lately. We need you. The village needs you. You're the son of two great ninjas, don't forget that," she said seriously.
Sasori merely nodded, without showing any evident emotion, while his gaze returned to the Kazekage, who continued his speech — his plan to attack Uzushiogakure, allying with several other countries. Sasori's eyes looked at that man with a cold gleam.
In the Village of the Cloud, the Raikage was giving his speech with everyone gathered.
"That's right! Let's go!" — a voice interrupted him at that moment, while everyone looked to the side. Next to his son, A, also on the stage, a boy began to rap. He was the new Jinchūriki of the Eight Tails, Killer B, known as A's partner, who had been chosen for the role.
"Hey, can you stop that, B?" the Raikage heard his son scolding B, before punching him on the head.
"That hurt, ye~," Killer B simply replied, ending with a rap, as he sighed and turned his attention back to the crowd, listening to the ongoing speech outlining the village's plan.
In the Village of Stone, the speech was the same. Meanwhile, Ōnoki, the Tsuchikage, floated above the crowd. Far from there, a ninja picked up a scroll after writing his final words and handed it to a toad.
"Take this to Konoha," the disguised ninja — who was none other than Jiraiya — said, while still looking out the window at the speech about the attack on Uzushiogakure.
He had been investigating this for over eight months, ever since he finally left the Land of Rain, with his pupils ready to survive on their own and even try to change their village and maybe the world, just as he hoped.
Nagato was one of the two who still held the hope of fulfilling his prophecy. He had two candidates for it, Minato or Nagato, confident that one of them would bring great change to the Ninja world.
When he was finally going home, to see all his friends and students, he was immediately approached at the border and couldn't even return to the village. He received orders from the Hokage: he had to investigate all the nations and the troop concentrations they were forming. Konoha could become the target of a new war. He had no choice but to carry out his mission.
Despite that, he later discovered they weren't planning to attack Konoha, but rather Uzushiogakure.
The speech ended as all the Stone ninjas shouted. Jiraiya remained there, standing by the window, brow furrowed, hoping to help his allies — still unaware of Hiruzen's true plans.
-------------Nexts Chapters ----------------
Chapter 268 - The Uzumaki clan.
Chapter 273 - Executing a Kage.
Chapter 283 - Konoha Civil War 07.
Chapter 292 - The Village's Decision 01.
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