Boom!
Boom! Boom!
Explosions shook the night sky as powerful ninjutsu rained down on the rampaging Nine-Tails. But no matter how fierce the attacks, they only enraged the beast further; its colossal body shrugged them off without a scratch.
From a distance, Uchiha Gen stood with his arms crossed, his Sharingan glinting in the firelight. He watched the storm of destruction in silence, though his gaze sharpened when he noticed the familiar tomoe in the Nine-Tails' eyes.
"Tch. Obito… you fool."
Though under Sharingan control, the Nine-Tails' movements were oddly stiff, its ferocity dulled into mindless charges. Still, each strike from its claws or tails sent squads of shinobi flying, their screams swallowed by chaos.
"Enma—!"
With a cry, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, summoned the Monkey King. Enma transformed into the adamantine staff, extending and slamming into the Nine-Tails' jaw with a thunderous crack, forcing the beast back a step.
"Fire Release: Five Fireball Barrage!"
Hiruzen hurled a series of massive fireballs into the fox's gaping maw. Flames roared, engulfing the monster's face—only to disperse as the Nine-Tails' chakra surged violently.
Its mouth widened. A dense sphere of chakra, black and crackling with white light, began to form.
"Damn it! That's a Tailed Beast Ball!"
"If it hits the village, everything will be gone!"
Desperate jutsu flew toward the beast, but none could stop the sphere's completion. It launched the attack toward Konoha's heart—until a flash of yellow light split the battlefield.
"The Fourth Hokage!"
Minato Namikaze appeared, instantly marking space with his Flying Thunder God formula. His Guiding Thunder technique warped the massive sphere away in a burst of distortion. A moment later, a blinding explosion lit up the night, shaking the distant mountains.
Without hesitation, Minato flashed again, seizing the Nine-Tails in a storm of seals and vanishing with it from the battlefield.
Gen's eyes narrowed, his mind racing as he felt the sudden shift in chakra.
"Incredible. He even evolved the Flying Thunder God into Guiding Thunder… space-time manipulation beyond ordinary teleportation. This will be vital for my own research."
He committed the chakra fluctuations to memory. In his view, the Flying Thunder God wasn't unrelated to summoning techniques—it was a refinement of their spatial principles.
Moments later, the oppressive chakra of the Nine-Tails vanished completely.
Sealed.
Gen exhaled slowly. "Farewell, Fourth Hokage… the Uchiha's path is now set." With that, his silhouette flickered into the shadows.
---
The next day, mourning cloaked the village. Black garments lined the streets as shinobi and civilians gathered before the Memorial Stone. Hiruzen Sarutobi, reinstated as Hokage, delivered his eulogy:
"Wherever leaves dance, the fire will burn. The shadow of the fire will illuminate the village, and new leaves will sprout… The will of fire lives on in those who protect what they hold dear."
Gen stood in the crowd, his gaze drifting to a lone figure ahead. Kakashi Hatake, shoulders heavy with grief, lingered long after the ceremony ended, staring silently at the names carved into the stone.
Gen approached softly. "Kakashi-senpai."
No response. Kakashi remained rooted in place, lost in sorrow. Gen did not press further. He understood—the pain of losing a teacher, of losing family, was not something words could ease.
In my memories of a different life, Minato believed his son would be hailed as a hero. Instead, Naruto will grow beneath hatred and scorn. A cruel irony…
---
In the weeks that followed, Konoha began rebuilding. But a darker wound festered.
The Uchiha were ordered to relocate their compound to the village outskirts. Once honored founders of Konoha, now exiled to the edge. Anger spread like wildfire among the clan.
That night, under cover of silence, Gen entered an abandoned warehouse.
"Leader."
Inside, thirty young Uchiha awaited him, voices unified with respect. Many were clan children deemed talentless by traditional standards—unable to mold chakra properly, dismissed as burdens. Gen had taken them in, teaching them unorthodox breathing methods and training. For the first time, they tasted power.
"Leader, my fireball keeps failing…"
"Leader, my chakra flow feels blocked here…"
One by one, they sought his guidance, until Gen raised his hand for silence. An earth-style seal spread across the floor, raising a sandbox model of Konoha.
"Look carefully," Gen said, pointing to their new compound. "What do you notice?"
Whispers spread until a boy spoke. "Leader… our new lands are surrounded by other clans."
Faces hardened with realization.
"Exactly. We are being contained. Watched." Gen's voice cut deep. "The truth is simple—the village never trusted us. Not in Hashirama's time. Not in Tobirama's. Not even now. We, the Uchiha, have always stood apart."
One child clenched his fists. "But we founded Konoha!"
"And for that, they fear us most," Gen replied coldly. "Our eyes—the Sharingan—are both our strength and our curse. As long as it exists, they will never allow us into their circle of power. Even the Military Police Force, which seems like authority, is nothing but a gilded cage."
Silence fell. The children stared at the sandbox, at the truth Gen laid bare.
The seeds of rebellion were already sown.
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