The sun rose warm and steady. Under its light, a squad of more than ten stood among the ruins, waving to a group gathered atop a steep ridge.
Ridge was not quite right. A mountain range now split what used to be half of Konoha's commercial district. The Hokage Rock was gone. Across the wreckage, wooden vines wove into massive oval ramparts that looked like giant shields planted in the earth.
Naruto stood on one of those shields, silently taking everything in.
The plateau where the Hokage Rock had rested had collapsed completely. The landslide should have devoured the town, but the newly lifted mountain wall cut the flood of mud and stone short, so only half of the commercial district was buried. Even so, every explosive tag across the market had detonated.
Naruto, is this the Wood Release you mentioned
Inside the sealing space, Namikaze Minato studied the wooden vines. He had read much about Wood Release, yet these constructs felt different from the records.
Tch, you call that Wood Release It is a bundle of sticks. Compared to that brat Senju Hashirama, it is nothing
Kurama's voice rumbled with disdain.
When Naruto first said he had found Wood Release, the Nine Tails had tensed, fearing another Hashirama in Konoha. Seeing this, its wariness turned to scorn. Wood Release had scarred the fox's memory. Back then, Hashirama had pressed him down with living wood as if it were nothing, and the wife sealed him away without asking his opinion.
Naruto, you know who used this Wood Release, do you not
Minato's interest was sharp and calm. The First Hokage had left training methods for Wood Release in the village, yet no one had ever truly succeeded.
Of course I know. Once the data finishes updating, I will take you into the Mirror World to meet the user
To raise a ridge like this with earth and spread living wood through the ruins, there was only one answer. Yamato.
A week had passed since the night of the Uchiha clan's fall. The Mirror World had been syncing data since the morning after the massacre and still had not opened. The volume must be enormous. Naruto wondered if Uchiha Itachi had already reached the Land of Rain.
That thought led to Pain, and from Pain his mind leapt to Jiraiya.
Come down, Naruto. Iruka sensei wants us there. Class is about to start
Got it. Choji, are you not with Shikamaru
From his high perch, Naruto glanced toward a cleared stretch of ground in the ruins. The Academy was gone. That patch of earth was now their temporary classroom.
The day after the blasts, Naruto reached the edge of the rubble and unexpectedly found Iruka alive. His home was far from the commercial district, and luck had spared him.
Shikamaru and his dad will come later. He gave Uncle Shikaku some suggestion, so they went to see the Hokage first
A suggestion
Naruto's eyes flashed. Father and son Nara had been visiting the Third several times a day this week.
Three days ago he sensed Genweng of Yangyan Village being escorted by ANBU into a warded base. Not long after, ANBU teams rushed out in force. Then the Hyuga, Aburame, and Inuzuka clans mobilized and scoured the village for explosive tags.
Only today did Konoha officially begin rebuilding on the ruins. There was still no announcement about the disaster or the Uchiha massacre. No one knew how many had died, nor the true measure of the loss.
After a moment of thought, Naruto vaulted down to land beside Choji. Let us go. Iruka sensei is almost here
Shikaku, you mean to deliberately let some spies from other villages carry news out
Inside a sealed office within a barrier, the Third Hokage fixed Shikaku Nara with a hard gaze. His expression was exceedingly grave.
Yes. We show weakness on purpose. Since we have not yet identified every spy in the village, we might as well let certain information pass that we choose
That is unwise. If other villages learn our condition, they will strike at Konoha
And it has already been a week. Our situation may have leaked. I am more worried they will unite and bring war to our gates
The concern was natural. Ninja had countless ways to pass information. Take Genweng of Yangyan Village, captured days ago. He had a summoning beast like a great albatross that could ferry messages away.
Lord Hokage, when you called me here, you confirmed this. On the night of the explosions, the Barrier Corps locked down the entire village
Other than the traitor Uchiha Itachi and the mysterious space time user who left with him, no one else breached the barrier and exited Konoha. Is that correct
The Third nodded. To handle the Uchiha matter, Root sealed the Uchiha compound, and the Barrier Corps sealed all of Konoha. Even now they watched everything closely. Right after the blasts, he ordered guards at every gate. To this day no outsider had entered and no villager had left.
Then I still advise lifting the lockdown at once. We need the other villages to learn quickly that Konoha once again wields the First Hokage's strongest Kekkei Genkai. Wood Release
The Third's eyes narrowed. Yamato's Wood Release is far from the First's
True. But the other villages do not know that. Which is why I must trouble Yamato to use Wood Release often in public
And given the situation, I again recommend recalling Lady Tsunade and Lord Jiraiya immediately
The Third looked weary and waved a hand. Tsunade has been notified, but there is no reply. Jiraiya is on another mission and cannot return for now. Let us return to the matters of rebuilding the commercial district and petitioning the daimyo for funds
Understood. I have drafted several proposals for reconstruction
On the temporary schoolyard, Iruka wrote on a chalkboard propped up by a simple frame. Two more lessons and the students would be dismissed.
Naruto, did you hear about Sasuke's family
Shikamaru asked softly from the last row.
I have heard bits and pieces these two days. Naruto looked toward a quiet corner. Do you know what happened in his home
A tragedy. The Uchiha clan was wiped out, and the killer was his own brother
Shikamaru followed Naruto's gaze. Sasuke sat alone in that corner.
A message pulsed through the seal. The Mirror World had finished syncing. Naruto asked Kurama to keep watch, then brought Minato into the Mirror World.
Moments later, he returned with his father, and his face was dark.
Reality had strayed past his expectations.
The explosions had cost Konoha dearly, but most of it was economic. The Third could petition the daimyo for compensation. As for the dead, aside from some genin and chunin swept up as cannon fodder, most were civilians. If the Uchiha matter was set aside, Konoha's fighting strength was almost unchanged.
What truly caught Naruto off guard was this. The Third had ordered Jiraiya to the Land of Rain to investigate Akatsuki.
And the cause of that order traced back to Naruto himself.
The Third learned from the Barrier Corps that a mysterious figure had breached their techniques more than once, appearing at the Uchiha compound and at the village cemetery. Itachi had also admitted that his partner in Akatsuki used space time ninjutsu.
Inside the village, Naruto always used Flying Thunder God along the patterns Minato had taught which let him slip through the village barrier unnoticed. The Forest of Death was different. Its barrier was not the same as the one covering Konoha. Every time Naruto entered there, he was sensed.
The partner working with Itachi was Obito. Naruto knew that. The Third did not. After questioning Genweng, the Third suspected that the same mysterious man working with Itachi had detonated the explosive tags.
They had bundled Naruto and Obito into the same shadow.
Obito and Itachi did their work without leaks. Before leaving, Itachi used Amaterasu to burn his parents' bodies. Obito harvested most of the clan's three tomoe Sharingan.
Danzo raged and the Third burned with anger as well. In their eyes, every Sharingan after the fact should have become the property of Konoha.
So on the day they seized Genweng, the Third sent a killing order to Jiraiya. He was to go to the Land of Rain and dig out everything about Akatsuki.
Naruto felt a true headache settle in.
If Jiraiya followed that order now and entered Amegakure for intelligence, he might die.
The key to the seal did not worry him as much. Jiraiya would surely send the scroll toad back to Mount Myoboku first out of caution.
Fetching the key afterward would be the troublesome part.
His father had taught him the route to Mount Myoboku, but a barrier guarded its entrance. Without a contract with the toads, arriving at the threshold did not mean they would let him in.
He could force the issue, rush to Myoboku, and flare with tailed beast chakra until the toads came out to meet him.
But the Great Toad Sage who could glimpse the future made Naruto wary.
Two paths then. Prepare both.
He could not rely only on the key to separate a tailed beast.
In a blink, Naruto fixed his plan and stepped out of the sealing space. He did not notice Shikamaru beside him whispering a few quiet guesses. Naruto's eyes locked onto Sasuke.
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