Fox was almost always with his assistant, Purple Cat, whenever he was in the village.
And when he was away on missions, Purple Cat would take his place—meeting with squad leaders, assigning tasks, collecting reports, and organizing them afterward.
She had thought she understood him well enough by now.
Who could have imagined that a new assistant had appeared at his side—Snow Rabbit.
Not only had Snow Rabbit appeared out of nowhere, she was in charge of the ANBU's most important intelligence network.
Purple Cat had been an assistant for a long time, yet she had never truly touched that side of things. At most, she organized the intelligence reports the spies sent back for Fox.
And all the while, without Purple Cat even knowing, Snow Rabbit had been handling that intelligence for him behind the scenes.
Perhaps when the Fox left the village for dangerous missions, he needed stronger support. Perhaps the intelligence the village provided simply wasn't enough for him.
Thinking of it that way... it made a certain kind of sense.
But what really left a bitter taste in Purple Cat's mouth was something else entirely.
She was already carrying herself with the full figure of a married woman now—but compared to Snow Rabbit, she still lacked a certain softness... a certain fullness.
The two women nodded to each other—a cold, professional greeting—and went their separate ways.
Once Yakushi Nonō had walked some distance away, she glanced toward the Yamanaka clan district.
Purple Cat... Yamanaka Riko really is lucky.
She has a child with the Fox...
At the far end of the corridor, White Crane—Yamanaka Ruri—slowly stepped back from the crack in the door.
She was far too curious about Snow Rabbit.
And somewhere deep inside, she had the uneasy feeling that Snow Rabbit would become her sister's greatest rival.
So White Crane followed her in secret.
She left the Forest of Death, moved along Konoha's outer wall, and tailed her through several intersections.
Then, beside a small lake, she saw Snow Rabbit vanish on the opposite shore.
Just as White Crane prepared to leap across—
A hand suddenly landed on her shoulder from behind.
She spun around in shock.
And found herself staring straight into Snow Rabbit's mask.
What—
When had that happened?
When had Snow Rabbit used a Clone to deceive her?
Yakushi Nonō said calmly, "White Crane, you've been in the ANBU for quite some time now. But you and your sister have both been protected too well by Lord Fox."
"You know nothing about true malice."
"Secretly investigating another ANBU shinobi—how is that any different from the conduct of a spy?"
"If I had wanted to set you up, then in three days, you'd be a missing-nin... personally executed by Lord Fox himself."
"No! That's impossible! Me and Fox—"
White Crane shut her mouth at once.
Yakushi Nonō thought to herself, Just as I suspected. Sisters, hm...
A pair of sisters... what a lovely arrangement...
The only question was whether Purple Cat knew that White Crane had also shared rather intimate moments with the Fox.
Yakushi Nonō let out a cold laugh, then vanished with the Body Flicker Technique.
Only then did White Crane realize her back was drenched in cold sweat.
Snow Rabbit was a shinobi who had truly walked the line between life and death.
White Crane had carried out plenty of ANBU missions herself—but the gap between them was still enormous.
She returned to the ANBU base in a dejected mood, uncertain whether she should tell her sister just how dangerous Snow Rabbit really was.
After hesitating for a while, she decided against it.
Snow Rabbit clearly held Fox's trust and controlled the intelligence system.
Until she understood where the Fox truly stood, there was only one choice:
Cooperate with Snow Rabbit.
Not oppose her.
Inside the orphanage's cramped little office, the noon break had turned heated and intoxicating.
At the very end, Yakushi Nonō suddenly asked:
"Is it fun, being with sisters?"
Yako froze for a second.
Then he quickly steadied himself—and redoubled his assault.
"It's only because it's me," he said with a breathless laugh. "If it were anyone else, you'd have scared them half to death. I didn't think the 'Wandering Miko' was the jealous type. Hah."
By the time he had put his mask back on, Yako said to Yakushi Nonō:
"Find me some children with talent for taijutsu. I have a use for them."
"You don't need to worry. I won't treat them like Root does."
"Children who follow me won't die easily. I'll take responsibility for them."
"Understood," she replied softly.
Yako left the orphanage and returned to the ANBU base, only to see Purple Cat entering his office.
He instinctively tightened his lower abdomen.
...Yeah. Better stop at one 'lunch break' today.
"Lord Fox, the Hokage wants to see you at the Hokage Tower."
Yako left the ANBU headquarters and headed for the Hokage Building.
The moment he entered the office, the first person he saw was Tsunade.
Sarutobi Hiruzen said, "Fox, Tsunade has submitted a request."
"She believes your Wood Release is strong enough to deal with the Nine-Tails. She wants you to help Kushina gain control over it."
"If Kushina can become a perfect Jinchūriki, that would be an enormous boon for Konoha."
Yako nodded. "Understood. Princess Tsunade can provide me with a training plan, and I'll cooperate whenever needed."
"I won't be leaving the village for a while, so I have plenty of time to train Princess Kushina."
"No need for a plan. We're going now."
Tsunade stood up immediately, decisive as ever, clearly intending to drag the Fox away on the spot.
"Wait."
Sarutobi Hiruzen rose as well.
"The Jinchūriki is of utmost importance. With the Hidden Cloud having lost the Two-Tails, they no longer dare press us so aggressively."
"I'll observe the training myself and evaluate the method you two intend to use."
Soon, Konoha began to move.
Yamanaka Inoen's Barrier Team dismantled the Nine-Tails containment barrier.
The Sealing Team stood ready in full force.
The village leadership, their assistants, the ANBU, Root, and a great number of Konoha shinobi all departed the village in secret—not through the main gate, but through a hidden point along the wall.
If any spy had seen the makeup of this group, they would have been horrified.
The Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Danzo.
Nara Shikakaku.
Tsunade.
Fox, head of the ANBU.
Nearly every major power in Konoha was present.
Each leader had brought their own assistant, and together with the Sealing Team and Barrier Team, the entire force looked unusually massive.
At the center of the procession stood Princess Kushina and Namikaze Minato.
Both of them looked nervous.
Tsunade had only said she'd found someone to train Kushina...
She definitely hadn't said she'd brought this many people.
They left Konoha far behind and arrived at a hidden valley.
The others climbed to the ridgeline, leaving only Kushina and Yako behind in the valley below.
Yako looked at the nervous Kushina.
Then he glanced at Minato.
He found himself wondering when exactly these two would end up having Uzumaki Naruto.
And in this life...
Would Naruto still become Asura's reincarnation?
Kaguya Ōtsutsuki had to be sealed by the reincarnations of Asura and Indra.
But if Kushina didn't die...
And Naruto never received the Nine-Tails...
Would he still become Asura's reincarnation?
Surely Naruto couldn't just reach into his mother's womb and rip half the Nine-Tails out for himself...
Wait.
Yako's pupils contracted sharply.
Why was it that Kaguya Ōtsutsuki could only be sealed...
But not killed?
And in that instant, Yako realized something.
He had been misled by the information itself.
The claim that Kaguya Ōtsutsuki was immortal—that she could only be sealed and never killed—
That was a truth passed down by the Sage of Six Paths.
But what if...
That was wrong?
What if it was a lie deliberately spread by the Sage of Six Paths himself?
Kaguya Ōtsutsuki was his mother.
Of course the Sage of Six Paths couldn't kill her.
That would be matricide.
Even if he opposed what Kaguya had done, he could only reject her.
He could not kill his own mother.
And because he couldn't kill her, he had to leave behind a failsafe.
A way to deal with the Kaguya Ōtsutsuki who would inevitably return one day.
That failsafe...
Was the souls of Asura and Indra.
Asura and Indra had reincarnated over and over, fighting for a thousand years, igniting war after war, slaughter after slaughter.
Those two had to be strong enough.
Strong enough that when Kaguya eventually returned, they would possess the power to seal her once more.
Which meant—
The endless wars and bloodshed of the shinobi world over the past thousand years...
May very well have existed for one reason alone:
Because the Sage of Six Paths could not bring himself to kill his mother.
But what did that have to do with anyone else?
Kaguya was his mother.
What did that have to do with the rest of the world?
And yet for a thousand years, the shinobi world had drowned in death for the sake of one thing:
Tempering the reincarnations of Asura and Indra.
In the original story, Naruto and Sasuke sealing Kaguya Ōtsutsuki was still nothing more than an extension of that same principle.
Because they, too, could not kill her.
Asura and Indra were effectively Kaguya's grandsons.
And what grandson kills his own grandmother?
Which meant—
Relying on the reincarnations of Asura and Indra would always end the same way.
Seal her.
Never kill her.
But all ninjutsu had weaknesses.
And all people could be killed.
Bodies could be destroyed.
Souls could be destroyed too.
The only truly terrifying thing about Kaguya was that her soul existed at a Six Paths–level Yin-Yang Release tier.
But if Yako's own soul surpassed the Six Paths level...
Then Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's soul would no longer be something to fear.
And the same would apply to the others who came after.
Isshiki.
Urashiki.
All of them.
All of them could be killed.
At present, Yako had two methods to strengthen his soul.
The first was Threefold Wrathful King Dharma Form.
By continuously drawing on the cycle of past life, present life, and future life—through endless reincarnative refinement—he could strengthen the Dharma Form, and through it, strengthen his soul.
The second...
Was the Jashin.
He needed to give Hidan a proper beating and have him offer up more sacrifices.
One man's efficiency was still too low.
The ideal outcome would be to develop an actual Jashin cult—let many believers make offerings on his behalf, steadily increasing his soul's strength.
And beyond that, he needed to explore every other method in the shinobi world capable of increasing spiritual energy.
You sly old bastard...
Sage of Six Paths.
You used a single lie to trick the entire shinobi world into spending a thousand years playing out your family's twisted little drama of mother and son.
Maybe even Great Toad Sage, Slug Sage, and all the others qualified to know of such things...
Had been deceived as well.
A chill entered Yako's eyes.
Up on the ridgeline, Konoha's higher-ups all tensed at once.
The Fox was radiating killing intent.
Wait... seriously?
This was just training for Kushina.
Why the hell was there killing intent involved?
Yako adjusted his mood and spoke in a calm, even tone.
"I'm the one Advisor Tsunade brought in to train you."
"Princess Kushina, I want you to use your full strength."
"Draw on every bit of Nine-Tails chakra you can control."
"Let me see your current limit first."
Kushina's heart surged with excitement.
This opportunity was incredibly rare.
Every time she had trained with the Nine-Tails' chakra cloak in the past, she had to be extremely cautious.
She couldn't leave the village.
And she didn't dare risk damaging the village itself.
Especially since her training ground was near the the Senju—if she lost control even once, that entire area might be wiped out.
She had never dared release too much of the Nine-Tails' chakra, afraid she wouldn't be able to contain the aftermath.
And after hearing that the Hidden Cloud had possessed a perfect Jinchūriki, Kushina had grown deeply anxious.
Then, when she learned that Konoha had killed that perfect Jinchūriki, the pressure she felt only grew worse.
When Minato attended the Jonin meetings, he had later told Kushina what he heard there—
That the Fox of the ANBU, the very same Fox who had trusted the two of them and assigned them their battlefield roles during the Susanoo incident...
Was the one who had killed the Two-Tails.
And now, that same Fox was telling her to unleash everything she had.
For the first time, Kushina felt like she might finally get to see the truth of her own strength.
Chakra erupted from her body.
The grass around her bent low, rippling outward in rings.
A red, translucent layer of chakra began to spread over her skin.
Before long, the Nine-Tails' chakra had formed a semi-transparent chakra cloak.
And behind Kushina—
One tail appeared.
Yako nodded slightly.
"Not bad. Looks like you can control the one-tail state with ease."
"Keep going. That amount of chakra would only put you slightly above a chūnin on a battlefield."
At his words, Kushina drew on even more of the Nine-Tails' chakra.
And with it, more and more dark, sinister, malevolent chakra began to flood the valley.