The summons had not been a request. It was a command, etched into a scroll of aged parchment sealed with blood-red wax imprinted with the Hokage's face and ringed by the eight-pointed star of the National Crisis Act. Jiraiya of the Sannin, deep undercover in the gambling dens of the Land of Rivers, felt the unique chakra pulse of the seal the moment the messenger toad appeared in a puff of smoke. It was a frequency he'd only felt in history books—last invoked during the desperate hours after Tobirama Senju's death, when the village hung by a thread.
Something was cataclysmically wrong.
Tsunade, nursing a bottle of sake in a dusty border-town tavern, stared at the identical scroll in her hand with a different kind of dread. The National Crisis Act meant the village was facing annihilation. It also meant her self-imposed exile was forcibly revoked. Her first instinct was to burn it. But the ghost of her little brother, Nawaki, and the faded smile of her lost love, Dan, seemed to stare at her from the shadows of the cheap lantern light. With a curse that made the bartender flinch, she threw back the rest of the bottle and stood up.
Their journeys home were swift and grim. They arrived within hours of each other, not at the main gates, but at a discreet ANBU post on the northern forest edge. No welcome. No fanfare. Just the masked operatives who wordlessly escorted them to the Hokage Tower, their presence was kept from the general populace.
The Hokage's Office –
The office felt like a sepulchre. Hiruzen Sarutobi, their once-vibrant sensei, looked like a withered monument to grief. He stood not behind his desk, but before the window, his back to them, shoulders slumped under the weight of the white haori.
Tsunade: (Her voice was sharp, laced with old resentment and new anxiety) "Old man. The National Crisis Act. Either you've finally lost your mind, or the sky is falling. Which is it?"
Jiraiya: (Uncharacteristically sombre) "Sensei. We came. Talk to us."
Hiruzen turned. The depth of agony in his eyes made Tsunade's medical instincts flare—this was not political stress; this was the look of a man whose soul had been gutted.
Sarutobi Hiruzen: "The sky has already fallen. We have just been living in the rubble, mistaking it for a building." He gestured to two waiting chairs. "Sit. What I must tell you… It will break your hearts. It has broken mine. It has broken Konoha."
For the next two hours, he spoke. He laid out the edifice of Danzo Shimura's treason, stone by blood-soaked stone. The betrayal of Uzushiogakure. The systematic purge of the Senju clan. The manufactured rebellion and slaughter of the Uchiha. The human experimentation basements. The persecution of Sakumo Hatake. The ultimate betrayal: providing the location of Kushina's birth to Obito Uchiha, leading to the Nine-Tails attack and the deaths of Minato and Kushina.
With each revelation, the air grew heavier.
Tsunade's face, initially set in a mask of cynical endurance, slowly drained of colour. At the mention of the Senju "fading," her hands, usually steady enough to perform heart surgery on a hummingbird, began to tremble.
Tsunade: "The Senju… you're saying they didn't dilute. Were they hunted? By that… that worm?"
Sarutobi Hiruzen: "Not just hunted, Tsunade. Targeted. Their ideology of integration threatened his vision of a controlled, militant state. Those who shed the name for a peaceful life met with 'accidents.' Others were sold. Their remains… their genetic material… was likely a prime target for his and Orochimaru's experiments."
Tsunade shot to her feet, her chair screeching back. "Orochimaru… was involved in this?"
Hiruzen nodded, a gesture of infinite weariness. "Danzo provided the subjects, the funding, the black-site facilities. Orochimaru provided the scientific curiosity and the technique. They were partners in the basements. The Hashirama cell research… it began with your grandfather's remains, Tsunade."
A sound escaped Tsunade's throat—a raw, wounded thing that was half-gasp, half-sob. She thought of her grandfather, the God of Shinobi, whose dream was a united village. His body, his legacy, desecrated and spliced into monsters in a lab. She thought of her grandmother, Mito Uzumaki, a queen of seals, her fate unknown but now suspicious. She thought of her granduncle, Tobirama, who died a hero's death, only for his student to become this cancer. She thought of Nawaki, her bright, idealistic brother, who died on a mission so young… was that an 'accident' too? And Dan… sweet, strong Dan…
The grief she had spent decades drowning in sake crystallised into something new: a cold, razor-sharp, and murderous rage. It was so intense her legendary strength flickered in her chakra, causing the vials on Hiruzen's desk to rattle.
Jiraiya, meanwhile, had gone very still. At the mention of Minato and Kushina, his face had hardened into granite. When Hiruzen detailed Obito's role, Jiraiya's eyes closed in pain. He had failed his godson. He had failed to protect Naruto from this poisoned legacy. But it was the next file Hiruzen slid across the desk to him specifically that truly broke the Toad Sage.
Hiruzen: "This… was in Danzo's personal cache. Coded reports on 'operational pruning.' I believe you should see it."
Jiraiya opened the file. It contained mission reports, casualty lists, and cryptic annotations. His eyes, skilled at deciphering codes and patterns, quickly saw the truth behind the dry bureaucratese.
*Report 23-A: 'Asset Yūhi, prodigious Genjutsu specialist, showing independent ideological drift. Potential future liability to the centralised doctrine. Pruning recommended.'* A week later, Kurenai Yūhi's parents, both talented Genjutsu masters, died on a routine B-rank mission ambushed by Iwa forces with inexplicably perfect intelligence.
*Report 41-C: 'The 'Rain Trio.' Charismatic, powerful, forming bonds outside approved structures. Influence growing. Pruning initiated.'* Jiraiya's breath hitched. Yahiko, Nagato, Konan. The orphans he had taught in Ame. Their tragic path to becoming the Akatsuki… had it been nudged, orchestrated? The report detailed manipulations, disguised ROOT operatives inflaming conflicts, ensuring their rebellion turned into a bloody tragedy that would break them and make them tools for others.
Page after page. Promising young shinobi, thinkers, idealists, or simply those with power Danzo couldn't directly control, who met with sudden, violent ends or were pushed onto dark paths.
And then, the final, personal dagger.
*Report 0-1: 'The Fourth's Successors. The Ame orphans taught by Jiraiya represent a potential power bloc loyal to him, not the village structure. The Fourth himself is resistant to necessary darkness. Contingency for wider pruning prepared.'*
The report's date was just before the Nine-Tails attack.
Jiraiya's massive hands crumpled the edge of the desk, splintering the wood. His usual boisterous energy was gone, replaced by a seismic quiet.
Jiraiya: "He didn't just kill my students. He murdered their futures. He turned their hope into poison. Yahiko… Nagato… Minato…" His voice was a low rumble, like distant collapsing earth. "All this time… I blamed myself. For not being there, for not guiding them right. And it was him. He was the rot at the root, killing every green shoot that reached for a different sun."
He looked at Hiruzen, his eyes holding not accusation, but a shared, bottomless sorrow.
Jiraiya: "You knew, sensei? About any of this?"
Sarutobi Hiruzen: "I knew there was darkness. I called it 'the will of the village.' I trusted the gardener to pull weeds. I did not know he was pouring poison on the entire garden. My failure is absolute."
Tsunade demanded, and was granted, immediate access to all sealed records on the Senju. In a locked archive, with Shizune a silent, horrified shadow beside her, she pieced together the grim timeline.
Here was the mission report for her uncle's death—a simple ambush that, cross-referenced with weather logs and Iwa battalion movements, was nearly impossible. A fabrication.
Here was a requisition form from Danzo, dated just after her grandfather Hashirama's state funeral, for "tissue samples for historical preservation and study." Approved by a council member she didn't recognise.
Here were the faded photos of Senju clan members who chose to become farmers, teachers, and carpenters. Next to each photo, a later date and a one-word notation: Deceased. Deceased. Deceased. Causes: bandit attack, illness, chakra accident. The statistical improbability was staggering.
And then, the medical files from the experimental basements. Codename: Project: Evergreen. Subject logs. Descriptions of test subjects with "high vitality," "wood-nature affinity," and "rapid cellular regeneration." Many of the logs ended with "Subject expired: chakra fusion rejection" or "Terminated: unstable mutation."
They were experimenting on her clan. On people with the Senju vitality. Trying to replicate the Wood Release. Using her family's bones as fertiliser for their monstrous trees.
The final blow was a small, personal diary entry, written in a hand she recognised as one of her great-aunts, a gentle woman who loved painting flowers. The last entry read: "They say we must fade for the village to grow. But why does fading feel so much like being erased? A man with an arm in bandages visited today. He asked about his grandfather's childhood ailments. His eyes were like empty wells."
Tsunade closed the last file. She didn't cry. The tears had been burned away by the furnace of her rage. She stood, and the stone floor beneath her cracked in a web-like pattern from heel to wall.
Tsunade: "Shizune."
Shizune: (Trembling) "Yes, Tsunade-sama?"
Tsunade: "Get my gear. And my haori. The one with the gambling symbols. I'm done running."
Jiraiya needed clarity, a perspective beyond the human morass of betrayal. He needed the wisdom of the toads. In a reverse-summoning burst of smoke, he arrived in the misty, surreal landscape of Mount Myoboku.
The Great Toad Sage, Gamamaru, was awake, his ancient, milky eyes seeming to see through time itself. He listened as Jiraiya, his voice stripped of its usual theatricality, laid out the horrors: Danzo, Obito, the revealed betrayals, the rise of Kumo and the boy named Indra.
Gamamaru: "Hmm… The wheel of hatred spins, but the axle has snapped. A new force pushes it now, not with the old momentum."
Jiraiya: "The boy in Kumo? Indra? What is he, Great Sage? Is he the key? Or a new calamity?"
Gamamaru: "He is a confluence. A river that has swallowed two great tributaries and now carves its own canyon. His power… it draws from older wells than even the Sage of Six Paths."
The ancient toad began to croak a prophecy, his voice like grinding stones:
"When the Storm gathers its beasts from forgotten skies,
When the Earth-Walker returns with ancient eyes,
The ghost of the elder son finds a home not in strife,
And the world's balance trembles on the edge of a knife.
Beware the moon's cold eye, and the Zetsu's bitter root,
For the architect of peace may become destiny's boot."
Jiraiya scribbled frantically. "Storm beasts? Earth-Walker?"
Ma and Pa, who had hopped closer, exchanged a look.
Fukasaku (Pa): "The kid's summons, Jiraiya-chan. They aren't your ordinary contract. The Eagle Clan – Garuda's brood. And the Elephant Clan – led by Airavat. These are primordial beings, Jiraiya. They didn't just fight the Ten-Tails alongside the Sage; they helped drive it out of their own dimensional realms. They are sovereign powers. They don't serve. They ally. And they've allied with this boy."
Shima (Ma): "The 'Earth-Walker' is Airavat. His footsteps can calm quakes. His memory holds the map of the world before shinobi. For him to lend his clan to a human… it means he sees something in this Indra that transcends the petty cycles of your villages. Something stable. Or something terrifyingly ambitious."
Jiraiya felt a chill. This wasn't just a powerful shinobi. This was someone building a new mythology, with alliances that reached back to the dawn of the world. How could Konoha, crippled by self-inflicted wounds, stand against that?
Jiraiya: "And the ghost of the elder son? Indra Ōtsutsuki's reincarnation?"
Fukasaku: "Seems that way. But the prophecy says, 'finds a home not in strife.' Your bo,whomho you would train and become the child of Proph,ecy was supposed to fight tgeneration s'sionssIndra's Reincarnation, who we thought was Sasuke, the current Indra ghost. But if the true Indra chakra has settled comfortably in Kumo, building walls instead of seeking battle… what does that make Sasuke? And what does that make the child of prophecy's destiny?"
It was a paradigm shift. The core conflict that had defined the shinobi world for millennia was now… sidelined. Upstaged by a self-made sovereign with a better offer.
Jiraiya: "What do we do?"
Gamamaru: "The storm is not your enemy. The storm is a fact. The cold eye of the moon and the bitter root—these are your true foes. The architect of peace… he may build a cage so strong none may ever leave. Watch. Learn. And protect the child of prophecy. His role is changing, but his heart may still be the pivot."
Jiraiya returned to Konoha, his mind reeling. He went straight to Tsunade's temporary quarters. He found her not drinking, but standing at a window, wearing her green haori over her usual attire, staring at the Hokage monument. Her expression was one of grim, unshakeable determination.
Jiraiya: "The toads confirmed it. The boy in Kumo… he's playing with forces from the age of legend. Danzo and Obito are just symptoms of a sick world. He's trying to build a cure, or a new disease. I can't tell which."
Tsunade: "I don't care about him," she said, her voice low and steady. "Not yet. My clan was erased. My grandfather's body was turned into a puppet show for that monster and Orochimaru. Konoha failed them. I failed by leaving." She turned to him, her eyes blazing. "The National Crisis Act brought me back. Fine. I'm back. But I'm not here for the village's glory. I'm here for its surgery. To cut out every last trace of Danzo's poison. And then, to make sure nothing like him can ever grow here again."
Jiraiya: "Hiruzen is taking Danzo to the Land of Iron for a sham trial. He's going to hand him over to appease Kumo."
Tsunade: "A quick, political death? Too good for him. But it's a start." She paused. "Naruto. Minato and Kushina's son. He's the one good thing left in this midden heap. Danzo would have seen him as a weapon or a threat. We will not."
They found Hiruzen together, a united front of the Legendary Sannin for the first time in decades, but forged now in shared fury rather than old camaraderie.
Tsunade: "Old man. We're in. But on our terms. Jiraiya focuses on external intelligence, the Obito-Akatsuki threat, and Naruto's training. I will take over the entire medical corps and the village's biological security. I will audit every scar, every experiment, every file. I will find every one of Danzo's lingering cells and crush them. And I will be the one to personally remove those stolen eyes from his arm before he's handed over. It is my clan's right."
Jiraiya: "And I'll be going to the Land of Iron with you. Not just as a guard. To see this 'Indra' if he shows. To look him in the eye and see what he's made of. And to make sure the world knows Konoha still has teeth, even if we're gnawing off our own infected leg."
Hiruzen looked at his students, the despair in his eyes momentarily pierced by a shaft of frail hope. They were broken, each in their own way, but from the cracks, a fierce, unyielding resolve was emerging.
Sarutobi Hiruzen: "Then we face the storm together. We atone. And we survive. For those we failed, and for those who remain."
As night fell over a wounded Konoha, two legends walked its streets. Tsunade went to the Senju district, now a quiet, overgrown memorial park. She placed a single flower at the base of the stone bearing her grandfather's name, her promise silent and steel-hard.
Jiraiya went to a different monument—the stone listing the names of the fallen. His finger traced the names of Minato, Kushina, Yahiko, and so many others. "I'll protect your son," he whispered to Minato's name. "And I'll make sure the man who betrayed you knows true fear before he dies."
High above, the moon was cold. In the mountains to the north, a storm was quietly perfecting its defences. And in the shadows between, a one-eyed ghost and an ancient plotter of hatred watched, their plans forced to adapt to a world suddenly containing a new, unpredictable sovereign power.
The resolve in the room was palpable, a barrier over their shared grief. But grief wouldn't shield the village from the coming storms. Hiruzen, with the Sannin before him, knew hard decisions had to be made—not just about the past, but about the future. About the children who were the living legacies of the failures they had just dissected.
Sarutobi Hiruzen: "There are two souls in this village who carry the heaviest burdens of Danzo's sins, yet are its greatest hope for redemption. We must secure their futures, not as weapons, but as the heirs they are. Their treatment can no longer be one of neglect or exploitation."
Tsunade: "You mean Naruto and the Uchiha boy. Sasuke."
Jiraiya: "The son of Minato and the last loyal son of the Uchiha. Both were in the dark. Both fed on lies or loneliness."
Hiruzen nodded, unfolding a scroll with two new decrees.
Sarutobi Hiruzen: "For Naruto Uzumaki. The decree of secrecy regarding his parentage is hereby revoked, effective the day he graduates from the Academy. He will be informed that Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki were his parents, that they were heroes who gave their lives for him and the village. He will be given the key to the Namikaze-Uzumaki manor, which has been sealed and preserved since their deaths. He will have access to their personal libraries and training grounds."
Jiraiya: "The boy deserves that much. More."
Sarutobi Hiruzen: "He will have it. From that library, he may learn all techniques and knowledge left by his parents up to C-rank. The more advanced techniques, including any notes on space-time ninjutsu, Fuinjutsu, and the Uzumaki clan's secret arts, will be sealed and released in stages—upon his promotion to Chunin, and again to Jonin. We must balance his heritage with his safety; giving a Genin S-rank knowledge is a death sentence."
Tsunade: "And his training? He's a brat with more guts than skill, from what I've heard."
Jiraiya: "I will take him. For a few months, between his graduation and team assignment. I'll give him a foundation worthy of his bloodline. Chakra control, the basics of Fuinjutsu that Kushina would have taught him, maybe even a head start on his father's affinity. He needs a teacher who knows them, who loves them. Not just an instructor."
Hiruzen's eyes gleamed with a flicker of gratitude. "Thank you, Jiraiya. That is more than I dared hope."
He turned to the second decree.
Sarutobi Hiruzen: "For Sasuke Uchiha. He has been raised on a lie of monolithic clan betrayal. We cannot yet tell him the full, poisonous truth of Danzo's manipulation—it would break him and paint a target on his back from every patriot seeking revenge. But we can begin to make amends. The Uchiha compound will be legally deeded to him as the sole surviving clan heir. The central clan hall and archives will be unsealed for him."
Tsunade: "The archives likely contain the same traps. Basic knowledge first."
Sarutobi Hiruzen: "Exactly. He will have access to foundational Uchiha kenjutsu, shurikenjutsu, and basic fire and Sharingan theory—all up to C-rank. The deeper clan secrets, the history, the advanced Fire Release and genjutsu, the true records of the Police Force… those will be released at Chunin and Jonin ranks, as he proves he can handle the truth and the power that comes with it."
Jiraiya: "And his training? He's a prodigy, but steeped in anger. He needs direction, not just power."
Sarutobi Hiruzen: "I would ask you to oversee him as well, Jiraiya. Not as intimately as Naruto, but to provide a broader perspective. To show him that power exists outside the Sharingan, and that vengeance is a path that consumed his brother. He needs to see that the world is larger than his clan's massacre. Training alongside Naruto, even briefly, might… temper both of them."
Jiraiya rubbed his chin, thoughtful. "The Fox and the Last Hawk. Trained by the Toad Sage. There's a symmetry to it. And a hell of a risk. But… I see the logic. They balance each other's worst instincts. I'll do it."
Tsunade studied the two scrolls. "These aren't just gifts. They're political statements. To the village, it's us finally honouring our heroes. To Kumo and that Indra boy, it's us declaring we haven't completely abandoned our legacy. We're reforging our blades in public."
Sarutobi Hiruzen: "Precisely. It is penance and projection of strength. But to project strength, we must understand the true strength arrayed against us. Jiraiya, your network. What have you learned of Kumogakure and the one at its heart?"
Jiraiya's demeanour shifted from compassionate sensei to master spymaster. He unrolled a map of the Land of Lightning, covered in neat annotations.
Jiraiya: "Indra Uzumaki-Uchiha. Fifteen years old. Elite Jonin of Kumo. Let's start with what's public, then move to what's… disturbing."
He pointed to symbols around Kumo.
Jiraiya: "His inventions. We've confirmed four major ones. First, the village-wide barrier with emotional and chakra sensing. It's why our intelligence went dark. It doesn't just detect intrusion; it profiles intent. Second, the agricultural 'chakra-seeds.' They've made the Land of Lightning nearly food-independent, boosting their economy and cutting a key vulnerability. Third, advanced healing pods capable of limb regeneration. They've drastically reduced Kumo's wartime mortality and likely improved the Raikage's standing with the Daimyo. Fourth, a 'gravity training' system that explains the physical prowess of their newer crop of shinobi."
Tsunade whistled softly, impressed despite herself. "A medic, a farmer, a strategist, and a tactician. In one package."
Jiraiya: "And that's just the non-combat stuff. Combat intelligence is scarcer. He's a summoner. But not of any clan we know."
He tapped two symbols on the map: one of an Eagle Clan, one of an Elephant Clan.
Jiraiya: "The Eagle Clan and the Elephant Clan. This is where it moves from prodigy to… something else. I consulted the Great Toad Sage. These aren't normal summon clans. They are ancient, primordial beings. The Eagle King, Garuda, and the Elephant Lord, Airavat. They fought the Ten-Tails alongside the Sage of Six Paths. They are sovereign powers who view the Biju as… unruly children at best, infections at worst."
Tsunade: "And they've contracted with a boy?"
Jiraiya: "Not a contract. An alliance. According to Gamamaru, they don't 'serve.' They ally with those they believe can shape the world. They've allied with Indra. He's integrated them into Kumo's defence network—Project Thunderhead. Eagles provide continent-spanning surveillance and rapid response. Elephants act as mobile fortifications and terrain-altering heavy support. He's turned myths into a military-industrial complex."
Hiruzen sank into his chair, the weight of it pressing down. "He's not just building a village. He's building a mythology for his village. One with deeper roots than the Will of Fire."
Jiraiya: "It gets more personal. His inner circle. His mother, Delia Uchiha, a medic, is under constant, invisible guard after the abduction attempt. His girlfriend…" He pulled a sketch. It showed a beautiful, red-haired young woman with piercing eyes. "Rias Uzumaki."
Tsunade: "Another Uzumaki?"
Jiraiya: "Not just any. She's part of the group he 'found' and brought to Kumo—fifty strong. My sources say they're… different. Not just seals masters. They have anomalous physical strength, vitality. Some have crimson hair; some have traits that don't match any known Uzumaki branch. It's as if he didn't just find survivors… he found an improved version of them. Her father, Zeoticus, runs a mercantile empire. Her mother, Venelana, is second-in-command of Kumo's hospital. Her brother, Sirzechs, is a diplomat. They're not refugees; they're a new noble house, fully integrated and fiercely loyal to him and to Kumo."
Hiruzen: "So he has his own Uzumaki clan, loyal to him, providing economic, medical, and diplomatic power to Kumo. While we have one lonely boy, we hide from ourselves."
The irony was a bitter pill.
Jiraiya: "The Raikage has made him a Special Jonin Commander. He's not just a tool; he's a pillar of their state. And according to the latest whispers from the Land of Iron… he may be coming to the summit."
Tsunade: "What? A fifteen-year-old at a Kage-level diplomatic summit?"
Jiraiya: "He's the injured party. His home was attacked by our rogue spymaster and our missing-nin. He's the living evidence of our crimes. The Raikage will bring him to put a face to the accusations. To show the world what Konoha tried to destroy and what Kumo has nurtured. It's a masterstroke."
The room fell silent, each grappling with the image of this young, terrifyingly competent sovereign-in-all-but-name standing in judgment before them.
Sarutobi Hiruzen: "Which brings us to our immediate path. In three days, I, along with Danzo in chains, will travel to the Land of Iron under the Samurai's protection. The Fire Daimyo will be there, as will the Lightning Daimyo. We will present our evidence, submit to judgment, and… Danzo will face his end."
Tsunade: "I'm coming. As the last Senju, I have a right to witness the condemnation of the man who destroyed my clan. And I will be the one to remove the stolen eyes from his arm before he is handed over. That is my duty."
Jiraiya: "I'll be there too. As your guard, and as intelligence. I need to see this Indra with my own eyes. I need to gauge the Raikage's true intent. And we need to present a unified front—the Hokage and his Sannin, broken but not bowed."
Sarutobi Hiruzen: "Agreed. We go together. A show of strength in our submission. But before that…" He looked at the decrees for Naruto and Sasuke. "We set these in motion. The moment we return, regardless of the outcome at Iron, we begin the work of rebuilding. Starting with them."
He sealed the two decrees with his Hokage stamp, the sound final in the quiet room.
Sarutobi Hiruzen: "We are handing our future to the children of the past we failed. It is the only atonement left to us. Jiraiya, begin your preparations to train them. Tsunade, the hospital and the purges are yours. We have three days to steady ourselves for the walk to the gallows."
As they dispersed, the mood was grim but focused. The shock had passed. The grief was being channelled into purpose.
Jiraiya stood on the Hokage Tower balcony, looking north towards the distant, unseen mountains of Lightning. He thought of the prophecy. "The architect of peace may become destiny's boot." Was this Indra an architect of peace, building an impregnable fortress for his people? Or was he forging a boot that would one day stomp down on any who disagreed with his vision of order? He would find out soon enough.
In the darkness of his cell, Danzo Shimura felt the cold seals on his arm and dreamed of Izanagi. In a compound soon to be unsealed, Sasuke Uchiha trained with a hatred that had no true target. And in a small apartment, Naruto Uzumaki dreamed of ramen and recognition, unaware that keys to a locked home and a forgotten name were being polished for him.
The past was a wound. The present was a trial. And the future, for Konoha, rested on the shoulders of two boys and the outcome of a journey to a land of snow and steel.
End of Chapter – 11.