Age Fifteen (continued)
The traitor revealed themselves on the fifth night.
I was in the seal vault, alone, checking the arrays for the hundredth time, when I heard footsteps in the corridor. Not the shuffle of Elder Hana or the heavy tread of the guards. Something lighter. Stealthier.
I activated my Sharingan and hid behind a stack of scrolls.
The door opened. A figure slipped inside, cloaked in dark fabric, their face hidden. They moved to the primary barrier array and placed their hand on the seal.
Chakra flared. The seal began to crack.
I moved.
My chain shot out, wrapping around the figure's wrist. They spun, kunai in hand, and slashed at the chain. But my Sharingan had already calculated their trajectory. I ducked, swept their legs, and pinned them to the floor.
"Who sent you?" I demanded.
The figure laughed. It was a woman's voice. Familiar.
"You don't recognize me, heir?"
She pulled back her hood.
Elder Hana.
I stared at her, my mind refusing to process what I was seeing. Elder Hana. My mother's teacher. The woman who had taught me fuinjutsu. The kindest of the elders.
"Why?" I whispered.
"Because Uzushio is dying," she said. "And I refuse to die with it."
"Kiri promised you safety?"
"They promised me a place in their new order. A position of honor. A chance to continue my work."
"You betrayed your village. Your people."
"My people are dead. The Uzumaki are finished. The only question is whether we go quietly or screaming." She looked at me with cold eyes. "I chose quiet."
I felt sick. "How long?"
"Years. I've been feeding information to Kiri since before your mother died. She suspected. That's why she was going to remove me from the council. But then she died, and you were too young to notice."
"You killed her?"
"No. The birth killed her. But I didn't help. I could have saved her. I chose not to."
My Mangekyo activated. The golden spiral spun in my eyes. I saw her threads—every betrayal, every lie, every life she had cost.
"You're going to pay for this," I said.
"Probably." She smiled. "But so are you."
She bit down on something hidden in her mouth. Poison. Her body went limp.
"No!" I grabbed her face, tried to force her mouth open, but it was too late. Her chakra flickered and died.
Elder Hana was gone.
---
I sat in the vault, holding her body, for a long time.
Tsunade found me there. She didn't say anything. She just sat beside me and held my hand.
"I trusted her," I said.
"I know."
"She taught me everything. She was like a grandmother to me."
"I know."
"She killed my mother."
"I know."
I looked at Tsunade. Her brown eyes were soft, sad.
"What do I do now?" I asked.
"You grieve. You bury her. And then you keep going."
"That's it?"
"That's it."
I closed my eyes. The Mangekyo faded. The world was dim at the edges—the blindness creeping in, as always.
"I'm tired," I said.
"Then rest."
"I can't. There's too much to do."
"Then let me help you."
I looked at her. "You already are."
She kissed my forehead. "Come on. Let's get out of here."
We left the vault. I didn't look back.
---
Chapter 28 – The Calm Before
Age Fifteen to Sixteen
The months after Hana's betrayal were a study in survival.
We repaired the barriers as best we could, using the supplies Tsunade had brought from Konoha. The elders were purged—anyone who had been close to Hana, anyone who might have been complicit. The village was smaller now, quieter, more paranoid.
But we were alive.
My father remained missing. Kiri claimed they had never received a delegation. The elders assumed he was dead. I refused to believe it.
"He's alive," I told Kushina one night. "I can feel it."
"How?"
"I don't know. I just can."
She was eleven now, growing into a fierce young woman. Her red hair was longer, her blue eyes sharper. She had started training with the shinobi, and she was already better than most of them.
"If he's alive, why hasn't he come back?"
"Maybe he can't. Maybe he's being held prisoner."
"Then we should rescue him."
"How? We don't even know where he is."
She crossed her arms. "Then we find out."
I sighed. "You're too stubborn for your own good."
"I learned from the best."
---
Tsunade returned to Konoha for a month. Her absence was like a missing tooth—I felt it constantly.
Her letters were shorter now, less personal. She was pulling away, and I didn't know why.
"Tsunade,
You're being distant. What's wrong?
—Ren"
"Nothing's wrong. I'm just busy.
—Tsunade"
"You're lying. I can tell.
—Ren"
"Fine. I'm scared. I'm scared that I'm falling in love with you and that you're going to die and I'm going to be alone again.
There. Happy?
—Tsunade"
"No. Not happy. But thank you for telling me.
I'm scared too. But being scared doesn't mean we stop living. It means we live anyway.
Come back soon. I miss you.
—Ren"
She returned three weeks later. She didn't say anything. She just walked into my room, closed the door, and held me.
"I miss you too," she whispered.
"I know."
"Don't die."
"I won't."
"Promise?"
"Promise."