"The Hidden Mist has gone too far!"
Tsunade's fist slammed onto the wooden table, making the cups rattle. Her furious gaze swept over the line of Uzumaki bodies being carried from the battlefield. "What are they playing at? This is a blatant invasion! A direct provocation against Konoha!"
Yuta, who was channeling healing chakra into a wounded Uzumaki, glanced back at her in surprise.
He wouldn't have batted an eye if this was the adult Tsunade speaking. But coming from a twelve-year-old Tsunade, the political gravity of her words was startling.
'Then again,' he mused, 'growing up as the First Hokage's granddaughter, it's no wonder she's already thinking like a leader.'
"They will never admit to this," Uzumaki Ashina's voice was a dry rasp, the sound of a man eroded by grief.
He looked as though the last of his vitality had been carved out. He had founded Uzushiogakure and the Land of Whirlpools; every building bore his inspirations, every clansman was like his own child, his family.
Now, so many of those familiar faces were cold and still. Without Konoha's intervention, the losses would have been a burden too heavy for any leader to bear.
"Admit it? Who needs their admission?" Jiraiya snorted coldly, touching the bandages on his shoulder. The fight had been an infuriating mess of obscured vision and ambushes. "The Shikotsumyaku, the Ice Release, their signature Hidden Mist Jutsu—this is all the evidence we need!"
"It is not so simple," Ashina countered, his eyes heavy with unspoken truths. "Uzushiogakure is a minor village. Even with Konoha's support, all Kirigakure must do is deny our accusations, and the political wheels will grind to a halt."
He left the rest unsaid: that Konoha would never risk a full-scale war over them.
There was another, more delicate reason—the Daimyō of the Land of Whirlpools was an Uzumaki. Unlike in other nations, they had no marital or blood ties to spread their diplomatic influence, leaving them dangerously isolated.
"The most critical issue is not assigning blame," Orochimaru interjected, his voice a soft hiss between coughs. His pale complexion seemed almost translucent. "The Hidden Mist failed in their operation and suffered heavy losses. They will not let this stand. They will return. And in the Uzumaki clan's current state, you cannot withstand another assault of this magnitude."
He paused, letting the grim prognosis hang in the air before delivering the final blow. "Furthermore, the next attack may not come from the hidden mist alone."
Sarutobi Osamu's eyes widened in shock, and the room's attention snapped to the pale sannin.
"Kirigakure came for your Sealing Jutsu to control their Tailed Beasts," Orochimaru explained, his gaze sharp and analytical. "But they are not the only village possessing such a creature. Kumogakure and Sunagakure may also see an opportunity. Only Iwagakure, due to its distance, might abstain. A coalition of great villages attacking… is something I do not believe the Uzumaki clan can survive."
Yuta's hands, still glowing with green chakra, paused for a fraction of a second.
'Orochimaru's foresight is as terrifying as ever,' he thought. In a few sentences, he had laid bare the existential crisis that would consume Uzushiogakure in the coming years.
Kurama Meyuri picked up the thread, her tone more measured but no less grave. "Having failed this time, the Mist will lie low for a while. The Uzumaki are safe for the immediate future. However, this grace period is precisely when you, Elder Ashina, must find a solution."
'A solution?' Ashina could only offer a bitter, hollow laugh. 'What solution could there be?'
Unless he possessed the god-like power of his late brother-in-law, Senju Hashirama, he could not stop a coalition of great nations. And he wasn't even sure he would live to see it.
The injuries he'd sustained in the battle were a death sentence for a man whose vitality was already fading; they were the final weight that would sink him.
There was one path, of course. The entire clan could abandon their home and relocate to Konoha, formally becoming part of the Leaf. With their historic ties and Uzumaki Mito's presence, they would be welcomed.
It would grant them protection; any village wanting their sealing techniques would then have to declare war on Konoha itself. And Konoha was never afraid of a fight.
But Ashina would never agree. If he had been willing to live under another village's banner, he wouldn't have poured his soul into building Uzushiogakure in the first place.
As the heavy silence threatened to suffocate the room, the Uzumaki ninja sitting beside Ashina stood up. It was Uzumaki Shinji, the man Yuta had found bleeding out in the forest—Ashina's youngest son and the groom meant to be celebrated at tomorrow's wedding.
Had Yuta been a moment later, that celebration would have been a funeral.
"Shimura Yuta," Shinji began, his voice thick with emotion, "I… there are no words… thank you!"
Yuta gave an acknowledging nod as he finished his work. To his surprise, Shinji, perhaps to fill the silence or out of sheer nervous gratitude, began to talk.
He spoke of his relief that his fiancée, Rika, was safe. He spoke of his hopes for the future, his words painting a picture of a life almost stolen away.
"You know, the moment I saw her, I knew I had to marry her," Shinji said, a genuine smile breaking through the gloom. "We've already planned everything. If our child is a boy, we'll name him Uzumaki Kosuke."
Yuta blinked.
'Is this really the kind of thing you share with someone you just met?' he thought, but he kept his expression neutral, allowing the man to talk.
"And if it's a girl," Shinji continued, his chest swelling with pride, "we'll name her Uzumaki Kushina."
'Uzumaki… Kushina?'
Yuta's hands stilled.
The man he had casually saved… was Uzumaki Kushina's father.
'Uzumaki Kushina. The future mother of Naruto. So, I just saved the future seventh Hokage's… father?'
A correction flashed through his mind.
'Wait, no. Strictly speaking, that would make me his grandfather's savior.'
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