In the rocky plains of the Land of Earth lies Iwagakure. The Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, sat quietly in his office, pondering.
The Hidden Stone village had always struggled due to its location. The barren plains and jagged mountains were no friend to crops or flowing rivers. Every ear of corn, every drop of water wrestled from the land was a small miracle. And yet, despite this cruel geography, their population had always been one of the largest in the Shinobi world. The price of survival was toil, and his people had grown into a nation of laborers as much as warriors. They endured because they had no other choice.
Ōnoki, more than most, carried that endurance like a scar. Every decision he made as Tsuchikage had been about keeping his people alive under the weight of scarcity. But the more he thought back on history, the more bitter he became.
Men like Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju, figures who seemed like myths more than mortals, had once stood astride the shinobi world. Beside them, Tobirama Senju with his cunning and the infamous Mito Uzumaki with her sealing might. Legends and titans far above even the Five Kage. And Ōnoki- he had been a boy then, staring up at them as if staring up at mountains that touched the sky. He thought his village was destined always to be beneath such shadows.
Then came the turn of fate: within a single decade, those titans had died. All of them, gone.
He remembered the wild hope he felt. The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, though strong, was no Hashirama. The Sannin were prodigies, but they were still unmistakably human- not like the God of Shinobi, or the Devil of the Shinobi world. The monstrous gap between Konoha and the rest of the world seemed, finally, to narrow. Ōnoki thought perhaps it was Stone's time to ascend, to seize the title of strongest hidden village.
But once more, Iwa was left trailing behind. Konoha's new generation, Orochimaru, Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Sakumo Hatake, had outshone Iwa's brightest. Once more, the Land of Fire blazed too brightly, and they were stuck in the shadows it projected.
And then… Konoha was destroyed.
Ōnoki had not celebrated, but hope had flared sharp and cruel in his chest. At last, the great shadow seemed to crumble. Most of Konoha's population was gone overnight, its forces crippled, its heart pierced. Surely, now, the world would breathe differently. Surely, now, the Stone could step into the sun. He had thought that this had to be his chance.
But no.
The world had spat in his face once again. Another monster had been born from the ashes of the Leaf. Kushina Uzumaki- red hair like spilled blood, eyes like fire, and a power that eclipsed the Kage. A child no longer, but a woman who carried the Nine-Tails in her belly as if it were a sword strapped to her hip. A young woman who destroyed villages with a flick of her hand, who bent the fate of nations around her.
Ōnoki rubbed his lower back irritably at the thought, the familiar ache flaring as if to punctuate his misery. Konoha had given the world another nightmare. Maybe not yet on the level of Hashirama or Madara, but close- so close it made his bones ache just imagining it.
It was as though the universe itself was laughing at him. Each time he dared to think the scales were even, that Iwa might step forward, fate would slap him back down.
Yet he could not despair. He was Tsuchikage. If he gave up now, if he let his bitterness eat him alive, then all of the Stone would follow him into ruin. His people had survived famine, war, and defeat. He could not allow himself to be the one who gave in.
Perhaps Kushina would fall as her predecessors had. Hashirama, Madara, and Tobirama- none had lived long. Power of that scale seemed to burn too brightly, too fast. Maybe she, too, would die young.
The idea was pleasant, but for now, he had to focus on reality.
His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Come in." He commanded.
An ANBU knelt before his desk, masked face tilted downward.
"Lord Tsuchikage, I have an urgent report from Takigakure."
Ōnoki arched a brow. 'Takigakure?' That small village hardly ever crossed his mind.
"Well? Spit it out already."
The agent bowed his head. "According to our reports, Kushina Uzumaki raided the village and took their Seven-Tails Jinchūriki, a young girl named Fū."
Ōnoki's breath caught, his heart sinking. Collecting Jinchūriki? That path led only to terror. He could part with Uzumaki prisoners if necessary, but tailed beasts were another matter entirely.
"What about Kumogakure's Tailed Beasts?" His voice was sharp, urgent.
"She did not take them, Lord Tsuchikage. However, the Two-Tails Jinchūriki perished in the explosion. It appears to have been an accident of fate."
Ōnoki released a long, shaky breath. That, at least, was a small mercy. He could tolerate her acquiring the Seven-Tails. For now.
"You are dismissed." He said.
The ANBU flickered away.
Ōnoki leaned back, even though he was only 42; his bones were already creaking.
There was a reason none of the great villages had ever bothered to claim the Seven-Tails before. Any attempt to seize it would invite retaliation- if Kumo tried, they, Suna, and Kiri would be forced to intervene, and vice versa. Balance through fear. The risk outweighed the gain.
Konoha had always been the exception. They were strong enough to defy that logic. Not to mention, they were practically already facing everyone at once. And yet, even they had abstained.
Why? That question gnawed at him for a while. He couldn't imagine a reason.
But there was no sense dwelling on it. Konoha was a husk now, and his worries currently centered around Kushina Uzumaki.
Fighting her outright was unthinkable. It would be a death sentence for Iwa. But deception was equally dangerous. She had proven herself ruthless already, razing villages, slaughtering innocents without hesitation. If he crossed her, she would not simply impose light peace terms as Konoha once had. She would erase Iwa from the map.
Fighting her head on was out of the question. A total death sentence for his beloved village. Yet subterfuge also carried many risks.
Forget about living in Konoha's shadow- they wouldn't be living at all.
Ōnoki's face hardened. That left one option.
If his village could not defeat her, then perhaps the combined power of all five hidden villages might.
It was a desperate thought, but desperation had always been the crucible of shinobi. If he, Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Raikage Ay, Takumi of the Sand, Kohaku Yuki of the Mist, all stood together, bolstered by the Kage-level shinobi under their command, perhaps, just perhaps, they could crush her before her power fully matured.
But the obstacles were many. The villages had never worked together without knives hidden in their sleeves. Trust was a foreign concept to Kage. Betrayal was tradition. Ōnoki himself was guilty of that countless times.
And worse, any semblance of balance was fractured. Konoha and Kumo had both been gutted. Their homes were destroyed, and their future generations crippled. Meanwhile, Iwa, Kiri, and Suna still stood untouched. Cooperation under those conditions would be like building a bridge on quicksand.
He wondered, briefly, if that was her plan all along. To cripple two villages, force them into paranoia and desperation, while she gathered strength unopposed? If so… the girl's cunning was more terrifying than he thought.
Ōnoki shook his head. No. He couldn't afford to attribute such foresight to her yet.
He pulled parchment across his desk, his hand trembling slightly as he dipped the brush into ink. Four messages, four pleas, and four warnings.
By the time he stamped them with the mark of the Tsuchikage and sealed them with special fuinjutsu, his face was stone. He signaled an ANBU agent again, who quickly flickered in.
"Deliver this message to each of the other Kages. Immediately."
"It will be done, Lord Tsuchikage."
When the shinobi flickered away, Ōnoki exhaled slowly, staring at the parchment residue on his fingers.
What he feared most was not simply Kushina's strength. It was the way she resembled Madara- unyielding, merciless, and utterly sure of herself. The world had survived one Madara by miracle. It would not survive another.
The villages must stand together.
Because if they failed, then there would be no place for the Stone, or any other hidden village, in the future she carved.