Age Sixteen (continued)
The Mangekyo showed me three threads.
The first thread: I saved Kushina. I ran to the compound, dug her out of the rubble, and carried her to the evacuation boats. But Tsunade died on the wall, crushed by falling stone.
The second thread: I saved Tsunade. I pulled her from the debris, healed her wounds, and got her to safety. But Kushina was captured by Kiri and taken to their capital, where she would be used as a weapon against Konoha.
The third thread: I saved both. I used my Mangekyo to rewrite the consequences of the explosion, diverting the rubble away from both of them. But the cost would be catastrophic—I would lose half my remaining vision in an instant, and the strain might kill me.
I chose the third thread.
The Mangekyo burned. The golden spiral spun faster than ever before. I reached out with my will and grabbed both threads—Kushina's, Tsunade's—and rewrote them.
The rubble shifted. Instead of crushing Kushina, it formed a barrier around her, protecting her from the flames. Instead of crushing Tsunade, it slid past her, leaving her unharmed.
But the cost was immediate. My vision went dark in my left eye. The right eye blurred to near-uselessness. I could barely see.
I stumbled through the burning village, half-blind, calling out for Kushina.
"Ren!" Her voice. She was alive.
I found her in the compound, huddled behind the barrier of rubble. Her face was pale, her eyes wide, but she was unharmed.
"Come on," I said, grabbing her hand. "We have to go."
"Where's Tsunade?"
"I don't know. We'll find her."
We ran to the docks. The evacuation boats were loading—civilians, wounded shinobi, children. I pushed Kushina onto the last boat.
"You're not coming?" she screamed.
"I have to find Tsunade."
"Ren, no!"
"I'll find you. I promise."
The boat pushed off. Kushina's face disappeared into the smoke.
I turned back to the burning village.
---
I found Tsunade on the eastern wall.
She was kneeling beside a wounded shinobi, her hands glowing green, her face streaked with tears and soot. The wall was collapsing around her, but she didn't move.
"Tsunade!" I grabbed her arm. "We have to go!"
"I can't leave him!"
"He's dead, Tsunade! Look at him!"
She looked. The shinobi's eyes were open, unseeing. His chest wasn't moving.
She screamed.
I pulled her to her feet and ran. The wall collapsed behind us, sending a cloud of dust and debris into the air. We stumbled through the burning streets, past fallen comrades and shattered homes.
The last boat was waiting at the dock.
"Go!" I shouted, pushing Tsunade onto the boat.
"You're not coming?"
"I have to seal the barriers. If I don't, Kiri will follow us."
"Ren—"
"Go!"
The boat pushed off. Tsunade's face disappeared into the smoke.
I turned back to the village.
---
I ran to the seal vault.
The barriers were failing. The primary array was cracked, leaking chakra. I pressed my hands to the seal and poured everything I had into it.
My chakra reserves were almost empty. My Mangekyo was flickering. My vision was nearly gone.
But I was an Uzumaki. And Uzumaki don't give up.
The seal blazed to life. The barriers reformed, stronger than before. The Kiri ships that had been sailing through the whirlpools were suddenly caught in the currents, dragged under, destroyed.
The jinchuriki screamed in frustration. But she couldn't follow. The barriers held.
I collapsed.
The last thing I saw before I lost consciousness was the golden spiral of my Mangekyo, spinning slowly, and the face of my mother, smiling at me from the flames.
"Goodbye," I whispered.
And then there was only darkness.