"Hurry! Hurry and request aid from the Land of Fire!"
Less than a day after Chimō's Undead Army reappeared, they had already swept across the entirety of the Land of Demons.
As a small, ancient nation with no hidden ninja village—one that believed only in priestesses, still using cold weapons and bows—the Land of Demons had no power to contend with Chimō's army of the undead.
Within a single day, several fortresses had fallen, suffering massive casualties. Arrows could not break through the undeads' stony bodies; even shells capable of shattering a revenant's stone form merely caused it to instantaneously regenerate.
Without killing Chimō itself, these undeads' immortality was even more "unsolvable" than an Edo Tensei army—those, at least, could be sealed.
Because this generation's priestess had not yet matured, the Land of Demons' daimyo had no choice but to dispatch carrier birds to plea for help from the Land of Fire.
And that letter, after three days, finally arrived on Tsunade's desk.
Having finished reading, Tsunade's face turned grim in shock. She immediately beckoned to Hinata—who was assisting in the Hokage's office—and spoke urgently:
"Hinata! Quick, go notify Izayoi to set everything aside and come here immediately."
Seeing Tsunade's stern expression, Hinata promptly set down her paperwork, nodded, and replied: "Understood, Lady Hokage."
Currently focused on practicing Yin Release at home, Izayoi soon arrived at the Hokage's office.
Observing Tsunade hunched over an empty scroll writing something, he asked, "Lady Hokage, what's happened? Something serious?"
By now, as Izayoi had become one of the village's top trump cards, Tsunade typically didn't bother him with trivial tasks. Indeed, unless it was an absolute emergency, she wouldn't deploy him at all.
Clearly, if she had summoned him, the matter must be grave and require a super-spec combatant.
"Take a look at this letter first. I'll explain once I'm done writing."
Without lifting her head, Tsunade laid a previously opened letter atop a file, continuing her frenzied writing—paying no mind to her handwriting.
Izayoi, puzzled, took out the enclosed items: a letter and a photograph.
The moment he laid eyes on the photo, he paused in surprise.
"Hinata?"
"Huh? Izayoi, what's the matter?" she asked, thinking he was calling for her.
Showing her the photo, Izayoi teased, "This photo… doesn't that girl look an awful lot like you two years ago?"
"Ehh?"
Hinata looked it over, equally astonished: "She's so much like me!"
Indeed, in the photo was a girl about Hinata's age—just less developed physically—light-brownish hair, clad in a shrine maiden's white robe and red skirt, with purple eyes that exuded the same sort of gentle purity Hinata had. And, just like Hinata from two years prior, the girl possessed an unmistakably generous figure for a shrine maiden.
Before reading the letter, Izayoi already recognized the face: Shion, the priestess from the "Naruto Shippūden Movie." If memory served, that was the story about Shion foreseeing Naruto's death. But recollection of any further detail was fuzzy.
Curiously, it wasn't even the Shippūden timeline yet—why had Shion appeared so soon?
Hence, while reading, Izayoi instructed a wood clone to gather real-time intel. As he scanned the letter's contents, the clone's observations flooded back to him.
His eyes turned momentarily grave.
No wonder—like so many "the-world-is-ending!" movie plots—the boss here had found a way to evade his Tenseigan's surveillance. Or perhaps there was some unknown reason that it slipped by him.
After all, if any huge chakra outbreak had occurred, his wood clones, on watch via Tenseigan's "God's Eye" vantage over the entire ninja world, should have detected it. And yet three days had passed before he got the news. Quite the anomaly indeed.
The letter was straightforward: A demonic being had broken the priestess' seal and revived the near-catastrophic ghost army that once almost destroyed the Land of Demons. The daimyo begged Konoha to dispatch powerful shinobi to protect this generation's priestess, Shion, and send forces to help subdue that menace.
By then, Tsunade had finished the scroll and handed it to Shizune:
"Shizune, go deliver this to Shikaku immediately, then stay there and keep me informed."
"Yes, milady." Shizune nodded politely and bounded out the window.
At last, Tsunade looked at Izayoi and stated solemnly, "There's trouble in the Land of Demons. Have you ever left a Flying Raijin formula in that region?"
"No," Izayoi replied honestly. "It's so remote, and it apparently has no ninja village, so I've never been there."
Tsunade nodded, unsurprised, then produced a red scroll from a desk drawer, opening it to reveal a map of the ninja realm. This was no standard store-bought map—its coverage was exceedingly detailed, marking many lesser-known zones. Indeed, only Konoha's upper ranks were cleared to read it.
Tsunade located the Land of Demons, glanced at neighboring nations, then asked, "What about Land of Earth, Land of Bears, or Land of Lightning—did you leave any markers there?"
"I left them in Earth and Lightning, but not Bears," Izayoi clarified.
Truthfully, he didn't even need them. His Tenseigan + "Heavenly Transfer" + Flying Raijin synergy meant he could appear virtually anywhere in moments. But Tsunade didn't know that.
"In that case, start from the Land of Earth. I'll arrange a messenger hawk to meet you at our outpost." She circled a spot on the Land of Demons with a red pen, then handed him the map. "That red circle is where Priestess Shion is hiding. Your mission: protect her and assist in sealing the Undead Army's master. Only a priestess can fully subdue that demon!"
Izayoi took the map and said, "Understood, Hokage-sama." Then he looked up, "I'll be taking Hinata with me."
"Fine—if she's with you, I'm more confident. Off you go, no delays. We can't let the enemy beat us to Shion's location."
"Yes, ma'am!" Izayoi replied, grabbing Hinata's hand. Then with zero warning, both vanished.
Within a heartbeat, Izayoi and Hinata materialized in Tsuchi no Kuni territory.
"Izayoi-kun—"
Just as Hinata began speaking, the view warped again—and they were at the door of a Shintō shrine.
The words died on her lips.
Izayoi stooped to pick up the Flying Raijin kunai that his wood clone had teleported there, then asked with a playful tone, "You were saying?"
"N-nothing," Hinata faltered, cheeks flushing.
She had been about to offer her Byakugan plus the Konoha map to guide him to the Land of Demons, forgetting he had a wood clone there with Tenseigan, and "Heavenly Transfer" let him warp instantly if he had coordinates.
Tsunade had just given them coordinates; a single word to the clone was enough. Rather than mention her oversight, Hinata merely blushed. How silly.
"Who are you two?!"
A man in ceremonial robes stepped out from the shrine, vigilance plain in his eyes.
"We're Konoha ninja," Izayoi said calmly, revealing his headband plus the letter Tsunade had given him. "We've come to protect Priestess Shion."
The shrine priest accepted the letter warily, opened it, and upon seeing the Daimyo's personal seal, breathed a sigh of relief. Bowing respectfully, he said, "My apologies—I was worried those four undead shinobi might disguise themselves as Konoha ninja. Please forgive my rudeness. I am Taruho, guardian of Lady Shion."
Izayoi just gave a polite nod, "I'm Jōnin Izayoi, and this is my companion, Hyūga Hinata."
Hearing Izayoi's name, Taruho's face lit in astonishment, followed by excited relief. He bowed even more reverently: "So you're the famed Lord Izayoi! Then Lady Shion is surely safe in your hands!"
"Take us to Priestess Shion," Izayoi requested.
"Of course—this way."
With an air of deference, Taruho led them into the main shrine.
Inside, they saw a young girl in a red-white priestess dress, a little bell tied at the collar, her tea-brown hair draped over her shoulders. Eyes closed—either meditating or simply dozing—sat Shion.
At first glance, Hinata felt an odd sense of looking into a mirror of her younger self. So similar.
Even though Hinata had seen Shion's photo, seeing her in person was more startling. The only difference: Shion's figure was less developed.
Shion exuded a holy, serene aura, eyes shut in a calm posture. Then her gaze flickered, seeming to sense them. Slowly, Shion's eyes opened—purple irises, originally expressionless. But in the moment she locked onto Izayoi, her pupils changed from purple to a bluish-purple, layered with ring-like patterns.
It was as if she could see through time; her focus turned blank, her expression dull.
Seeing this, Taruho's face changed. He recognized Shion's "prophetic power" activating on its own again.
And once someone had been "foreseen," that person often soon died…
"Ah—!"
A strangled shriek emerged from Shion's mouth. Her eyes returned to normal. Two lines of blood trickled down as she clutched them in pain.
"Lady Shion!"
Taruho started forward anxiously, only to halt, mindful of her exalted station.
"Hinata, see if you can heal her."
"Yes."
Stepping beside Shion, Hinata knelt and gently removed Shion's hands from her eyes. Green healing chakra soon glowed between them, as Hinata also activated her Byakugan to examine Shion's body.
After a few moments, Hinata spoke in a gentle tone: "Your eyes are fine. The sudden pain was from intense feedback, likely an after-effect of your skill. It will pass quickly."
Her healing finished, Hinata encouraged, "Try opening them now."
Shion slowly blinked. Her sight was slightly fuzzy at first, then cleared. The stabbing pain was gone.
"…Thank you."
She offered quiet thanks, then stared at Izayoi with both shock and a hint of dread. "Who…who are you really?"
Izayoi had been silently reading the "bubbles" floating around Shion—the system's representation of her skills—and was momentarily intrigued. Turning back, he asked:
"So that was your prophetic power, right? Then, what did you see about me?"
Shion shook her head, confusion clouding her features:
"I didn't see anything—just…a blank."
"A blank?" Hinata wondered.
Shion pursed her lips, voice uneasy: "My prophecies activate themselves. You're the only one I've ever encountered whose future is totally invisible to me!"
A fleeting shift crossed Izayoi's gaze as he read Shion's stats. She had no traceable chakra, yet the system showed:
Miko Power: Incomplete (Gold)
Prophecy (Gold)
Kage-level Aptitude (Purple)
Two golds, one purple. This overshadowed many of Konoha's young standouts.
Moreover, while she had no chakra, the system still recognized her with a purple Kage-level rating. That meant some deeper secret dwelled within her. Also, her "Miko Power: Incomplete" was gold. If it were complete, might it be gold or even red?
Putting away his thoughts, Izayoi gazed upon the still-guarded Shion. He said with a faint, lofty smile:
"Of course you can't see my future—my level is above yours."
A priestess serving the gods… how could she read the future of a god himself?
Unless her prophecy skills were red-tier, a mere gold-tier "fortune telling" could never fathom Izayoi's destiny. He was simply out of range.
~~~
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