Choices are painful.
It's never a matter of choosing between good and bad, where the answer is obvious.
It's choosing between terrible and even worse—and praying the ending you pick is the one that hurts you least.
The Senju had two options.
One: surrender custody of the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki to the village, and lose their final bargaining chip.
Two: complete the sealing ritual themselves—rushed and unstable—and risk the Nine-Tails going berserk in the process.
Senju Rinju had once seen the full glory of the Senju clan. And even if it meant courting disaster, he would never give up their leverage or influence.
As the Senju shinobi left their compound, Sarutobi Hiruzen followed with four full ANBU squads at his back.
Yako found it strange—Danzo was nowhere to be seen. A situation like this? There was no way he'd just sit it out.
But now that he thought about it... it had been a while since anyone had seen Danzo. He hadn't shown up in ANBU for some time.
As they walked through the village, Yako noticed the figures standing silently atop distant rooftops.
The Uchiha. The Ino-Shika-Cho trio clans. The Inuzuka. The Hyūga.
The senior jōnin of every major ninja clan had sensed something—and now they watched, quietly, as the Senju made their exit.
There was a faint, dignified solemnity to the Senju procession.
At the gates of Konoha, the guards opened the doors in the middle of the night. No one mentioned travel permits. Every Senju passed through unhindered.
They traveled far beyond the village, until they reached a sacred place:
The Valley of the End.
Two towering statues faced each other across a great waterfall—Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara.
This place was the Senju's pride. The monument to the man who ended the age of war.
Uzumaki Mito slowly stepped down from her carriage.
Her once-vibrant red hair had long since turned pale as snow.
She looked out across the falls, her eyes resting on Hashirama's statue. A soft smile of remembrance touched her lips.
In that moment, she was no longer the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki who had sealed the beast for decades. No longer the oldest shinobi in the village. No longer the matriarch of the Senju.
She was simply a girl again, looking up at the man who had changed her life.
She remembered it vividly—over sixty years ago, the day she first met Hashirama. She had looked up at him then, too.
In her memory, Hashirama was still a boy. Bright-eyed, radiant with strength. He had led the young warriors of the Senju into the Uzushio Village.
The entire Uzumaki clan had erupted in celebration at the arrival of the Senju heir. It was like a festival had broken out.
The Uzumaki were hosting their own version of the Chūnin Exams, and the young Hashirama had brought his clan to participate.
He stood boldly in the arena, beaming with confidence, and said:
"The Senju and Uzumaki genin will form teams of two. You have thirty minutes to get used to each other and plan your strategies.
Come at me together—I'm in a hurry to go deal with Uchiha Madara."
Her father, the clan head, hadn't seen anything wrong with it. He just smiled and told everyone to go along with the pairing.
Mito had been furious. She was paired with a Senju kunoichi named Senju Tōma, and swore they'd humble Hashirama's arrogance.
But the two of them didn't last five seconds.
Three, maybe four seconds at best—and only because they were both girls, and Hashirama held back.
'How could anyone be that strong?'
By the end of the exam, Hashirama had become the idol of every young Uzumaki.
And Mito, his defeated opponent, was named his fiancée at the closing ceremony.
She'd lowered her head in silence, face burning red, unable to meet his eyes.
Now, as she looked up at his statue, she thought:
I spent my whole life beside Hashirama… but why does it feel like I never reached his heart?
One last time, Hashirama… Let me give everything I have for your sake.
She held Kushina's hand.
"Kushina… I hope you'll meet a true hero one day. A shinobi who will fill your heart, calm your doubts, and soothe every fear."
Kushina raised her head, stubborn as always. "Great-Aunt Mito, I'm going to become a hero myself. I don't need a man to do it for me."
"Haha… Good! With the Nine-Tails, you will be a hero. A great one."
Mito led her toward the heart of the ritual circle.
Over 900 Senju shinobi stood in concentric rings, forming a seal formation over the earth. The ground was covered in enormous sealing scrolls, laid out to create a vast circular array.
The scrolls themselves were covered in countless inked formulas—dense, complex patterns of jutsu.
The entire formation had a diameter of over three hundred meters.
At the center stood Senju Rinju and his wife, hands pressed to the two largest scrolls—the Books of Sealing, one from the Senju, the other from the Uzumaki.
His wife, herself an Uzumaki, whispered with sorrow, "Cousin Mito…"
Mito gripped both their hands and said softly, "From now on, I entrust the Senju and Kushina to you."
Rinju and his wife nodded firmly. They would protect them both.
Mito let go of Kushina's hand and stepped back three meters.
One elder. One youth. Both raised their hands and began weaving signs in perfect unison.
The Transfer Seal of the Nine-Tails… began.
Mito and Kushina stood at the center.
Rinju and his wife stood flanking them.
Around them, three full circles of Senju—over 900 strong.
At the very outer edge, the four ANBU squads under Sarutobi Hiruzen's command stood watch.
The ANBU remained silent, arms behind their backs, awaiting orders from the Hokage.
Yako's eyes narrowed as Mito began to weave signs. A faint shimmer of Adamantine Sealing Chains emerged around her—ghostly threads winding tighter and tighter, like a tangled ball of golden string.
As the seal began to break down, the chains unraveled.
The spaces between threads widened.
From within those gaps, red chakra began to leak.
Then, in one terrifying instant… a slit of vertical light emerged.
A fox's eye, staring from the dark.
Even at this distance, Yako felt a coldness pierce through him. His chest clenched. That gaze—he could feel it staring right at him.
The Nine-Tails' chakra bled with hatred. Its presence alone gnawed at the minds of all who watched.
Mito's chakra surged wildly, rippling the ground in rings, like stones skipping across water.
Each pulse spread wider.
Each wave more suffocating.
Yako lifted his mask slightly, letting air in. His face had gone numb.
The seal was fading fast. The chains unraveled completely—bursting outward in all directions like the plumage of a peacock.
Her robe tore down the back. The Nine-Tails' chakra exploded into the sky, coalescing into a monstrous vulpine head above them.
The beast roared:
"Uzumaki Mito! You sealed me for over thirty years! Thirty years!!"
Its chakra lashed out in pulses, each one smashing into the ground like a thunderclap.
Mito's hair scattered in the wind, white strands dancing.
Through the rising storm, she turned to Kushina.
"Kushina, from here on… it's up to you.
Restrain the Nine-Tails. Protect Konoha. Carry on the name Uzumaki.
In my life, everyone I've loved has died for Konoha.
Lately they started hiding things from me… I wonder…
Tsunade… Nawaki…
Did they die too?"