Peace is not the absence of war; it is the aggressive presence of order.
Six months had passed since the fall of Pain. To the historians of the future, it would be marked as the dawn of the "Silver Era," but to Ren Yamanaka, it was merely the silence after a thunderclap.
The Village Hidden in the Rain, Amegakure, was no longer a mystery wrapped in a storm. It was a grid. Konoha engineers, overseen by the obsessive logic of Ren's Cloud Tactician persona, had mapped every pipe, every tower, and every sewer. The ceaseless civil conflict that had plagued the nation for decades was suffocated under the weight of Konoha martial law. Hydration plants purified the toxic rain. Roads were paved over the mud. The citizens, tired of anarchy and false gods who demanded blood, welcomed the oppressors because the oppressors brought electricity and bread.
Konoha itself had become a fortress-city of terrifying efficiency. The skyscrapers gleamed with chakra-tempered glass. The Academy curriculum was a seamless pipeline producing specialized soldiers. Crime was non-existent because the surveillance state—powered by the Hyuga and Aburame clans—was absolute.
The other nations were quiet. Kumo (Cloud) and Iwa (Stone) watched with narrowed eyes, their spies sending back reports of a village that functioned like a single, massive organism. They didn't attack because they were paralyzed by the sheer mathematical impossibility of victory against the Fifth Hokage.
But at the top of the tower, the organism was dying.
Ren Yamanaka sat in his office. The room was kept in perpetual twilight, the heavy velvet curtains drawn against the sun. He sat in the Hokage's chair not with the confident posture of a conqueror, but with the stillness of a man conserving his last breaths.
He was thirty-eight, yet he looked fifty. His skin had taken on a translucent, waxen quality, like old parchment stretched over steel. His hair was cropped short, the grey spreading from his temples like frost. He coughed frequently—a wet, rattling sound that brought up black flecks of necrotic tissue into his handkerchief.
His chakra network, once a river of boundless power, was now a congested highway. The absorption of thousands of foreign signatures—Kekkei Genkai, nature releases, mental energies—was causing a cascading failure. The Hashirama cells, introduced years ago to stabilize the chaos, had mutated. They were no longer just repairing him; they were colonizing him. Ren could feel the stiffness in his joints, the sensation of bark forming under his skin.
Council Meeting. Status: Critical.
The Memory Palace was falling apart. The grand Library was shaking as if hit by an earthquake. Books—the precious memories of his victims—were tumbling off the shelves, their pages dissolving into ash.
Medic: Core integrity at 68% and dropping. The metabolic crash is inevitable. Your organs are functioning at 40% capacity. You are running on pure chakra fumes. Seal Master: The containment seals on the Dungeon—where the most hostile souls like Nagato and Tobi reside—are hairline fracturing. I hear them, Chairman. They know the jailer is sick. Ren (Chairman): Status of the eyes? Medic: The Mangekyo in the left is nearly blind. The corneal tissue is scarred. The Byakugan in the right is evolving… mutating into something we don't fully understand. It's eating the ocular nerve.
Ren opened his real eyes. The world was a blur of shadows and light. He adjusted his VISOR, cranking the sensory input to maximum just to see the papers on his desk.
He had delegated 95% of his duties.
Shikaku Nara was the de facto administrator, running the economy with a brilliance Ren envied. Shisui Uchiha managed the military and the Anbu, his loyalty absolute. Inoichi Yamanaka handled foreign intelligence and counter-espionage.
Ren was merely the totem. The terrifying symbol that kept the world in line. But symbols don't bleed.
—————
The Choice on the Desk
On his desk lay a scroll. It was wrapped in snake-skin leather, smelling of preservation spices.
It was Orochimaru's Fushi Tensei (Living Corpse Reincarnation).
Ren stared at it. The temptation was physical. He could feel the itch in his soul to jump. To leave this dying, wooden vessel and find a new, young, vibrant body.
Imagine, the voice of Ryuichi whispered, seductive and hungry. A body that doesn't hurt. A body with fresh eyes. We could take an Uchiha. We could take… Sasuke.
Ren closed his eye. He visualized Sasuke Uchiha. The boy was now a man, a powerful warrior who served the village with pride. To take him would be to eat the future to save the past.
"I am a Guardian," Ren rasped, his voice sounding like dry leaves. "Not a parasite."
We are literally parasites, the Diplomat pointed out gently. We exist by stealing life.
He pushed the scroll away. He wouldn't do it now. He had erased his humanity, but he hadn't erased his dignity yet.
But the world wouldn't wait for him to die with dignity.
Tactician: Report from the Land of Iron. The Samurai are forging chakra-neutralizing armor. Isamu: Report from Kumo. Killer B has mastered the Eight-Tails completely. Goro: If you die, the vacuum will pull the world into a Fourth Great War.
Ren knew they were right. His life was the keystone holding the arch of peace together.
—————
The Two Futures
He summoned the Council into a lucid dream state. The Library was dim, lit by flickering spectral candles.
"We need a solution," Ren said. "One that does not involve body theft."
The Tactician stood up. He projected two glowing timelines into the air above the obsidian table.
"Timeline A: The Ascendant God." "You retrieve Nagato's Rinnegan from the deep storage vault. You implant them. The massive influx of Six Paths Chakra might—might—resonate with the Hashirama cells and stabilize the decomposition. Pros: Potential immortality. Absolute power. You become the Sage of Six Paths reborn. Cons: 85% probability of biological collapse during integration. If you fail, you explode, taking the village with you. 100% probability of losing your remaining Ego. You become pure logic."
"Timeline B: The Lunar King." "We utilize the data recovered from the White Zetsu and the Hyuga ancient archives. The Moon holds the Giant Tenseigen—a vessel of pure chakra created by Hamura Otsutsuki's descendants. Theory: The Tenseigen energy is compatible with your evolving Byakugan. It is not biological tissue; it is pure energy. If you absorb it, you transcend biology. Pros: Stabilization. No rejection. Evolution to Otsutsuki-tier power. Cons: The Tenseigen is on the Moon. To get it, we must leave the Earth. And… we may not be able to come back."
Ren looked at the floating images.
To stay on Earth and risk becoming a monster, or to go to the heavens and risk eternal exile.
Seal Master: There is a third option. Ren: Speak. Seal Master: We stop growing. We purge. We release half the souls in the Library. We let go of the Kage-level memories. We shrink the Chakra footprint. Ryuichi: NEVER! Goro: I will not go back to the dark! Voices: NO PURGE! NO PURGE!
The library shook violently. The prisoners rioted. They would rather kill the host than face oblivion.
"Quiet," Ren hissed. "No purge. We keep what we earned."
He looked at Timeline B. The Moon.
"The Otsutsuki…" Ren whispered. "They came from the stars. They understood that the earth is just a cradle. You don't live in the cradle forever."
—————
The Audit of the Future
Ren needed to verify his legacy before he made the jump.
That afternoon, he summoned the "New Sannin"—Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and Sakura Haruno.
They stood before his desk. They were no longer children. They were the pillars of the village.
Naruto stood tall, wearing the orange and black of a master shinobi. His eyes were clear, devoid of the hatred that used to haunt him. He was a Sage. Sasuke was cool, composed, his eyes dark pools of power. He led the Police Force with a fairness that surprised everyone. Sakura was the Head of the Hospital, a woman of iron will and healing hands.
"Lord Fifth," Naruto said, his voice deep. "You called?"
"I am conducting an audit," Ren lied. "Of the village's readiness. Be honest. Is the village secure?"
"It's tighter than a drum, ya know!" Naruto grinned, though his smile faltered as he looked at Ren's sickly appearance. "Nobody messes with us. The Rain is ours. The Sand is loyal. We're winning!"
"Winning is not a state of being, Naruto," Ren corrected softly. "It is a maintenance cycle. The peace holds because we are vigilant."
"And because the people are healthy," Sakura added. "The mortality rate is the lowest in history. The academy is producing geniuses."
"The system works," Sasuke said simply. "Order prevails."
Ren looked at them. They were his masterpieces. He had shaped the world so they could grow straight and tall, unburdened by the chaos of war.
They didn't need him to hold their hands. They needed him to get out of the way.
"You have grown," Ren said.
"We had a terrifying teacher," Naruto joked weakly. "You pushed us hard, Lord Ren. Harder than anyone."
"And if I were gone?" Ren asked.
The room went silent. The air grew heavy.
"Gone?" Sakura stepped forward. "Sir… are you ill? I can run tests—"
Ren held up a hand. "It is a hypothetical. Strategic gaming. If the King falls, does the Kingdom crumble?"
Sasuke looked at Naruto. A silent communication passed between them. Indra and Asura, finally balanced.
"No," Sasuke said. "If the throne were empty… we would fill it. Together."
"I am the light," Naruto said, his conviction burning bright. "And he is the shadow. We would protect the village."
Ren nodded. A weight he didn't know he was carrying lifted from his shoulders.
The cycle was broken. The village would survive him.
"Dismissed," Ren said.
They bowed and left. Naruto hesitated at the door, looking back with worry, but Sasuke pulled him away.
Ren watched the door close.
They are ready, the Tactician confirmed.
They are strong,Goro agreed.
They are… happy, a voice in the basement whispered.
—————
The Final Night
That night, Ren climbed to the roof of the Hokage Tower. The wind was cold, carrying the scent of pine and exhaust.
He looked up at the moon. It was full, blindingly bright, hanging low in the sky.
His right eye throbbed in resonance. The Byakugan pulsed, seeing lines of chakra connecting the earth to the satellite.
It calls, Isamu whispered. The Gateway. The Tomb of Hamura.
Ren took a deep breath. The air rattled in his lungs.
If he stayed, he would die in a bed, suffocating on his own power. If he went, he might die in the void… or he might become a God.
"A choice," Ren said.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a coin—a souvenir from the Land of Wind.
He flipped it.
Heads: Stay.Tails: Go.
The coin spun in the moonlight, glittering silver.
Ren watched it rise. He watched it peak.
Before it could fall, he burned it to ash with a burst of Fire Style.
"I don't leave my fate to gravity," Ren said.
The Dead Man's Switch
Night fell. Before he could leave, Ren had one final task. The Tactician called it "Insurance." The Seal Master called it "Immortality Protocol Beta."
Ren summoned three specific ninja to his office individually.
First was Neji Hyuga. Ren placed a hand on Neji's forehead. "Accept this gift," Ren whispered. Using a specialized Spirit Transfer Seal, Ren copied a partitioned segment of his Memory Palace—specifically the library of Taijutsu and Byakugan Theory—and encoded it into a dormant seal in Neji's mind. "If I do not return in 365 days," Ren commanded the seal, "unlock the archive."
Second was Ino Yamanaka. To her, he gave the Intel and Psychological Warfare database. It was hidden deep in her subconscious, set to trigger only if Konoha faced an existential threat.
Third was Karin Uzumaki (recruited from the Sound remnants). To her, he gave the Medical and Vitality data. The knowledge of how to cheat death.
He gave them his knowledge, memoriws and some of his personality. If Ren died on the moon, his legacy would reboot in three new hosts.
"The library stays open," Ren murmured. He also was considering an Otsutsuki body for reincarnation.
—————
He turned to the Seal Master in his mind.
"Prepare the Teleportation Array. The celestial coordinates derived from the Kumo Space-Time scroll. Target: The Lunar Surface."
Seal Master: It's a one-way trip, Chairman. The energy requirement will drain 90% of our reserves. We will land empty.
"Then we feast when we get there," Ren said.
He looked down at Konoha one last time. He saw the lights. He saw the peace he had built with blood and stolen memories.
"Goodbye," Ren whispered.
He didn't write a note. He didn't say farewell. Legends don't say goodbye; they just vanish.
Ren flared his chakra. The violet light enveloped him.
The space around him twisted. Gravity inverted.
With a sound like a whisper, the Fifth Hokage vanished from the face of the earth.
He was going to steal the moon.
End of Chapter 28.