As the bandages were peeled away layer by layer, the body exposed to the air was revealed—
A horribly decayed body.
Inside the shocking wounds, chunks of blackened, rotting flesh squirmed in a revolting way.
Was this… still the body he once knew?
The rotting stench of death he had thought was just an illusion earlier… was real.
And it was coming from himself.
Shimizu clenched his fists tightly, his fingernails digging into his palms without him even realizing it.
How could this body have suffered such terrifying damage?
Could an ordinary lightning strike really destroy a body like this?
The reason he could no longer refine chakra was because his chakra network had been completely destroyed.
The world suddenly seemed to grow dark.
A single thought echoed repeatedly in his mind:
His body was already "dead."
The old man watched the light slowly fade from Shimizu's eyes and spoke at the right moment.
"I think you understand now. Your life now was given to you by me. All these coincidences and circumstances make me believe that this is the arrangement of fate. I believe in fate, and so I chose to follow it."
"If I had resisted the fate arranged by heaven, then the you of now would simply be a corpse."
"So what?" Shimizu replied coldly, his head lowered so his face could not be seen.
Even if he had survived…
If he could never become a ninja again—
That was worse than death.
"Indeed. What meaning is there in living like this, merely clinging to life?"
"Do you feel that fate has treated you unfairly?"
"Now even being alive is a kind of torture. Do you think saving your life was an unnecessary act?"
Shimizu remained silent.
At this moment, he had already accepted the old man's earlier explanation. The elder had truly saved his life.
But without chakra, he could only withdraw unwillingly from the stage of this world.
What meaning would such a life have here?
"Since you have already tasted that despair…" the old man suddenly changed his tone.
"But who do you think you encountered?"
"Who do you think fate arranged to save you?"
"Why would I rescue a useless cripple to repay me?"
Wait.
Did that mean…?
Shimizu suddenly remembered what the old man had said earlier—
When he found him, Shimizu had already stopped breathing.
So how had he come back to life?
If even the dead could be revived…
Then…
Shimizu seemed to grasp a sliver of hope.
He suddenly raised his head and met the old man's gaze.
There, the three-tomoe Sharingan slowly began to spin.
"Fate said your life should not end yet. So I saved you and granted you Hashirama's cells."
"Fate also said that to repay this favor, you must serve me for the rest of your life."
"Young ninja of Konoha—are you willing to calmly accept your fate?"
"…."
Shimizu's eyes were dull, yet he remained unmoved.
The three-tomoe Sharingan began spinning faster.
Dark chakra surged outward like a tangible spring.
The old man's already frail body bent even further.
His voice grew hoarse as he asked again:
"Young ninja of Konoha… are you willing to accept your fate?"
"…I… am willing."
...
The long river of history has washed away countless things of the past.
"Water Release: Hard Whirlpool Water Blade," the most powerful Water Release technique ever created by the Second Hokage, appeared once again in the ninja world after several decades.
Although most of those who had once witnessed this jutsu had long since turned to dust, and the few survivors were now very old…
No one had forgotten its terror.
Today, at this very moment, the technique appeared once again before the world like the descent of gods or demons, making everyone tremble.
The "Hard Whirlpool Water Blade" performed by Shimizu far exceeded expectations. The raging water tornado produced an enormous volume of water, causing the already swift river to swell violently, eventually destroying the entire Sand Village defensive line.
The jutsu even caused a sudden change in the weather. Light rain began to fall across the battlefield.
Yet in less than a few minutes, it turned into a thunderstorm with pouring rain and flashing lightning.
At this moment, a unit of Konoha ninja was moving through the forest, fleeing the battlefield at full speed toward Rakuyō City.
"I didn't expect that guy Shimizu… to actually pull it off," Yoshimaru murmured.
"He's Shimizu Uzuki. If he says he can do something, then he will definitely do it," Minato replied calmly, as if stating an obvious fact.
Yoshimaru glanced at Minato.
"You really have a lot of confidence in Shimizu. Honestly, I didn't believe it at first… because that was just too—"
"Because he said he could do it… and that look in his eyes… I know it too well."
"When Kushina was kidnapped by the Cloud Village the year she graduated from the Ninja Academy… he had that same look."
"During the Second Great Ninja War, when Kakashi and the others were trapped in a hopeless situation… I saw that same look again."
"I can't forget it… even if I tried. It was clearly a hopeless dead end, yet why was he so certain he would succeed?"
Minato suddenly stopped running.
His smile shone as brightly as the summer sun.
"No matter what… I believe in him. He's a reliable comrade."
The impact of Shimizu's jutsu had exceeded everyone's expectations.
But while it completely destroyed the Sand Village's encirclement, it also swept hundreds of Konoha ninja into that terrifying water tornado.
Out of the 1,400 Konoha ninja who had fought in this battle, there probably weren't even 360 survivors left—not enough to form a single full battalion.
Now the group with Minato had fewer than one hundred people remaining.
He wondered how many comrades were left with Commander Fukada on the other side.
However, a jutsu of that magnitude must have required an enormous price.
How was Shimizu doing now?
There were still at least a thousand enemies back there. Could he escape safely?
"This should be safe enough. Yoshimaru, take the rest of the men back to Rakuyō City," Minato said.
He suddenly turned around, chakra bursting from beneath his feet. The powerful airflow even created a small whirlwind.
Then the golden-haired figure vanished from everyone's sight like a yellow flash, his voice drifting from afar:
"I'm going back to find Shimizu…"
"Minato! In your condition, you're going back there?!" Yoshimaru shouted.
But the distant forest returned no answer.
"That guy… seriously…" Yoshimaru muttered.
"Even if Shimizu's jutsu destroyed the Sand defense line, that's only temporary… There are still at least a thousand Sand ninja there… and everyone's chakra is nearly exhausted…"
Out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly saw a girl from the Hyuga clan swallowing a soldier pill.
"Satomi… you?!"
In the blink of an eye, the girl's figure disappeared from where she stood, leaving behind a cold reply:
"I'm going to find Uzuki-senpai."
Yoshimaru didn't know how to respond.
He rubbed his temples with both hands and groaned.
"I give up on you people..."
"You're trying to kill me here…"
"Fine… if everyone's risking their lives, then Akimichi Yoshimaru has never feared death."
"Naoko would have made the same choice I did…"
"Captain Okita, I'll leave these comrades to you… I'm going to find Shimizu too."