The news hit Konoha not with a formal announcement, but in a ragged, piecemeal wave. First, the return of the delegation—Hiruzen, looking a century old, Jiraiya and Tsunade grim-faced, Kakashi silent as a ghost, Guy uncharacteristically subdued. Then, the samurai messengers with the official scrolls from the Land of Iron, confirming the terms. Finally, the whispers from servants and lower-ranking shinobi who had overheard fragments: Execution. Reparations. Apology. And the name that was once spoken in fearful whispers now spat like poison: Danzo.
The call for an emergency clan council meeting went out the evening of the return. The chamber, usually a place of stiff formality and veiled political manoeuvring, was electric with raw, unfiltered emotion. Hiruzen sat at the head, but he was no longer the centre of authority; he was the focal point of a long-suppressed storm.
Hyūga Hiashi was the first to speak, his Byakugan veins pulsing with restrained fury. His voice was colder than the deepest well.
Hyūga Hiashi: "For three generations, the Hyūga have endured the 'disappearance' of branch family members with strong Byakugan aptitudes. Always on black ops missions with no details. Always justified as 'necessary for village security.' My own nephew, a boy of eight with eyes purer than mine, vanished from his bed fifteen years ago. ROOT records, which Lady Tsunade has now shared, list him as 'Subject Hy-7: Ocular transplantation compatibility test. Result: Failure. Terminal.'"
He slammed a pale hand on the table. "You let that monster harvest our children for spare parts. Where is your 'Will of Fire' in that darkness, Lord Hokage?"
Before Hiruzen could muster a response, Aburame Shibi spoke, the buzz of his kikaichū an angry hum.
Aburame Shibi: "My elder sister. A sensor of unique sensitivity. Recruited for a 'special intelligence division' after the Second War. We received a letter saying she died of a chakra parasite in the field. The ROOT autopsy log lists her cause of death as 'Chakra network fusion rejection after forced insect hive-grafting.' She was not a soldier to him. She was a laboratory jar."
The dam broke. Clan after clan rose, voices trembling with grief and decades-old anger.
Yamanaka Inoichi, usually so composed, looked haunted.
Yamanaka Inoichi: "Mind techniques. He coveted them. He… he took Yamanaka children, ones with the gift for multi-target connection. He used crude Yamanaka kinjutsu to break their minds and rebuild them as living communication relays, devoid of personality. We have recovered… six. They are in our compound now. They do not speak. They only stare. They are eleven years old."
His wife, sitting behind him, wept silently into her hands.
Inuzuka Tsume let out a growl that shook the windows.
Inuzuka Tsume: "He took our kids who had strong bonds with their ninken, trying to splice the bond, make it transferable! He killed the pups! He broke the kids! My cousin's boy came back to us last week. He flinches every time he sees a dog. An Inuzuka who is afraid of dogs! That bastard deserved worse than a clean chop!"
The Nara, Akamichi, and lesser clans all had similar stories—missing talents, "failed experiments," children turned into hollow tools or corpses in sealed basements.
A collective trauma, laid bare. Danzo hadn't just attacked enemies; he had cannibalized Konoha's own future, treating its precious bloodlines as a personal parts depot.
When the torrent finally subsided, Hiruzen stood. He did not try to defend. He did not cite the pressures of war or the necessity of darkness. He simply… absorbed it.
Sarutobi Hiruzen: "Every word you speak is true. Every child lost is a sin upon my soul. I entrusted the darkness to a man I called a friend, and for decades, I chose the stability of the village over the truth of its suffering. I was not a Hokage. I was a caretaker of a garden I refused to see was rotting. I can offer no excuse. Only this."
He removed the Hokage hat from his head and placed it gently on the table before him. The room gasped.
Sarutobi Hiruzen: "My stewardship has ended in catastrophe. I hereby resign from the office of Hokage, effective immediately. The village needs a leader untainted by this history, with the strength to cut out the remaining rot and the vision to heal."
All eyes turned to Tsunade. She had been sitting with her arms crossed, a stony expression on her face as the clans spoke. Now, she met their gazes.
Shikaku Nara: (His voice weary but logical) "The succession. By law and precedent, the candidate must be approved by the Jonin Commander and the clan council. Given the circumstances and the invocation of the National Crisis Act, the choice is clear. Lady Tsunade, one of the Legendary Sannin, the world's greatest medic, and the last Senju. You have seen the rot firsthand. Will you accept?"
Tsunade looked at the hat, then at the grieving, angry faces around the room. She thought of her butchered clan, of Danzo's box, of the hollow-eyed Yamanaka children. This wasn't about glory. It was about triage.
Tsunade: (Her voice clear and hard) "I don't want it. I never wanted it. But that monster in the box, and the fool who let him run loose, destroyed everything my grandfather built. Someone has to clean up the vomit. So yes, I'll take the hat. But on my terms."
Hyūga Hiashi: "Terms?"
Tsunade: "First: Full amnesty and support for any former ROOT agent who comes forward voluntarily. Many were children stolen and brainwashed. They are victims, not criminals. We will rehabilitate them.
Second: A Truth and Reconciliation Council, headed by Inoichi and me. Every crime, every experiment, every missing person gets a file, and the families get answers. No more secrets.
Third: Jiraiya becomes my official advisor and head of all external intelligence. The internal purge is mine. The external threats are his.
Do you accept?"
The clan heads looked at each other. It was harsh, radical, and exactly what was needed. One by one, they nodded. The Jonin Commander, newly appointed Kakashi Hatake (a promotion made in the quiet before the meeting), gave a single, slow nod.
Kakashi: "The Jonin agree. The village needs your strength, Lady Tsunade. Not just the punching kind."
Tsunade stood, walked to the head of the table, and picked up the hat. She didn't put it on immediately. She held it, feeling its weight.
Tsunade: "Then it's done. The Fifth Hokage assumes command. Now, let's get to work. First order of business: Jiraiya. Tell us about the storm on the horizon. Tell us about Kumo and the boy."
Jiraiya unrolled a large scroll, covered in neat script and rough sketches. The mood shifted from internal grief to external dread.
Jiraiya: "Indra Uzumaki-Uchiha. What we know, what we suspect, and what we should fear."
He tapped the scroll.
Jiraiya: "Age & Rank: 15. Elite Jonin of Kumo. Special Jonin Commander. Not a ceremonial title. He has operational command over their new defence network, 'Thunderhead.'
Inventions: Confirmed. The Barrier, the Healing Pods, the Chakra-Grain, the Gravity Chamber, and now, the multi-terrain vehicles you saw. Each one solves a fundamental vulnerability—security, medicine, food, training, logistics. He's a systemic thinker.
Summons: Confirmed alliance with the Eagle Clan (Garuda) and Elephant Clan (Airavat). These are not boss summons; they are ancient, sovereign powers. My sources on Mount Myoboku confirm they see him as a peer, not a master. This gives Kumo aerial dominance and strategic mobility we cannot match."
He paused, letting that sink in.
Jiraiya: "Combat Assessment: This is extrapolation from verified encounters and sensor data. Taijutsu: He regularly spars with Killer Bee, the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, in hand-to-hand. And holds his own. That puts his physical capabilities at or above the level of a Seven Swordsmen-level combatant.
Ninjutsu: Proficient in all five basic chakra natures. His Lightning Release is likely exceptional. But his real threat is Fuinjutsu."
Jiraiya's face grew graver.
Jiraiya: "He is not just a master. He is a grandmaster. He has reinvented the art. His barriers, his healing pods, the seals on those vehicles—they're generations ahead of anything we have, including what's left of Uzushio's legacy. And he has access to the Adamantine Sealing Chains."
A collective inhale. The chains were the pinnacle of Uzumaki Fuinjutsu, said to be able to bind a Tailed Beast.
Jiraiya: "He used a variant of them to momentarily trap the spatial-ninjutsu user Obito during the abduction attempt. He can create and manipulate them at will.
The Eyes: He has the Mangekyō Sharingan. Pattern unknown. He used a space-time technique against Obito that was not Kamui. It was more… authoritative. He locked space itself."
Shikaku: "And the blindness?"
Jiraiya: "This is the most troubling part. There are no reports of visual degradation or injury. None. From what I can gather, he awakened the Mangekyō 4 months ago. He should be halfway to blind by now. He isn't. My intelligence, coupled with sage-mode sensing from a distance at the Iron Summit, leads me to an 85% certainty: He has somehow cured the Mangekyō's degenerative flaw. He possesses a stable, permanent Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, achieved not through transplantation, but through his own science."
The silence was absolute. The cursed power of the Uchiha, the very thing that drove Madara, that broke Itachi… rendered harmless by a teenager in a lab.
Jiraiya: "Final Assessment: Indra Uzumaki-Uchiha is a confirmed Kage-level combatant, with a unique skillset that makes him a strategic nightmare. He is a sealer who can rewrite reality, a summoner with mythic allies, a scientist who removes his own weaknesses, and a tactician who thinks in terms of systems, not just battles. He is, for all intents and purposes, a Sage in the old sense of the word—a wielder of profound, integrative wisdom and power. And he is utterly, unshakably loyal to Kumogakure."
Tsunade: (Leaning forward, her new authority settling on her) "And the Uzumaki in Kumo?"
Jiraiya: "Fifty confirmed individuals. They are not hiding. They are a thriving sub-clan. They hold high positions in medicine, commerce, and diplomacy. They possess the classic Uzumaki vitality and sealing talent, but also… enhanced physical traits. Some have a strength that rivals the Akamichi. They are his power base, his family. And they are a living, breathing rebuke to our village. We cast out and betrayed the Uzumaki. Kumo welcomed and elevated them."
Kakashi finally spoke, his voice quiet but carrying. "There's more. At the summit, he looked at me. He spoke of Obito. And he said something else, indirectly. He will come. Not for war. For reclamation."
Inoichi: "Reclamation?"
Jiraiya: "The bodies. Fujian Uchiha, his father, is buried in the Uchiha cemetery. Likely other Uchiha remains of note are in Konoha's possession—for 'study' by Danzo or Orochimaru. And the Uzumaki… we have artifacts, scrolls, possibly even remains from Uzushio's in our archives. He is the heir to both clans. He will want them back. All of them."
Tsunade: "When?"
Jiraiya: "The next international gathering. The Chunin Exams. If we host them, he will come as part of the Kumo delegation. A peaceful, legitimate reason to enter the village. He will survey the strength of the 'new' Konoha, and he will make his request. It will be a political minefield. Refuse, and we look like grave-robbers holding onto stolen loot. Agree, and we publicly hand over relics of our founding clans to our rival, admitting our guilt."
Tsunade massaged her temples. "Fantastic. So in a few months, we have to host an exam, show we're not a broken mess, and negotiate with a demigod teenager over our own ancestors' bones. Anything else?"
Jiraiya: "We prepare. And we focus on our own heirs."
Tsunade turned to the final matter. "Hiruzen's last decrees, which I uphold. Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha. They are to be recognized, restored, and trained. Not as weapons. As symbols of what we're trying to rebuild."
She looked at a woman in the back, with brown hair and kind eyes—Yakushi Nonō, a former ROOT medic who had defected and helped Tsunade with the purge.
Tsunade: "Nonō. You and the other reformed ROOT caregivers will form the core of a new support division. You will ensure Naruto is moved into the Namikaze manor today. No emptier apartment. I want it cleaned, stocked, and safe."
She looked at a stern-faced man with a scar over his nose—Mitarashi Anko, and a calm, bespectacled man—Morino Ibiki.
Tsunade: "Anko, Ibiki. You knew Minato and Kushina. You respected them. You are now part of Naruto's security and advisory detail. Unofficial aunts and uncles. Make sure he doesn't blow up the manor learning the Rasengan."
A flicker of smiles in the grim room. Anko grinned fiercely. "Finally, a fun assignment."
Tsunade: "Jiraiya, you have him for foundational training post-graduation. But before that, he needs to know. Inoichi, you and your wife will be there with me when we tell him about his parents. We do it right."
She turned to the Uchiha matter.
Tsunade: "Sasuke. The compound is his. We unseal the main hall and the basic archives. Kakashi, you are his primary sensei, but Jiraiya will provide supplementary training. We need to redirect that anger into strength for the village, not just for vengeance. We also assign a liaison—Uchiha Yashiro's widow, if she's willing. Someone with clan memory to help him navigate what's left."
The plans were set. Action, after so many years of stagnant secrecy.
The meeting adjourned. The clans left, carrying a bitter mix of cathartic anger and daunting anxiety. But also, for the first time, a sliver of hope. The cancer was cut out. The truth was out. Leadership had changed.
Later that night, two figures stood on the Hokage monument, looking at the newly initiated carving of Tsunade's face beside Hiruzen's.
Jiraiya: "You know he's going to be a magnet for every enemy we have. Akatsuki, Obito, maybe even this Indra if we misstep."
Tsunade: "Let them come. We're not hiding him anymore. He's the son of the Yellow Flash and the Red Hot-Blooded Habanero. He's got an army of aunts and uncles now, a Sannin for a godfather, and a slug princess for a Hokage. And the Uchiha brat… he's got the last loyal sharingan and the best copy-cat ninja as a teacher. We play our cards right, and in a few years, Konoha's not the broken victim. It's the phoenix."
Jiraiya: "A phoenix that has to give back a bunch of old bones to a kid in a flying car."
Tsunade: (A smirk finally touches her lips) "We'll cross that bridge when he flies his damn car over it. For now… we heal."
Below them, in the newly unlocked Namikaze manor, Naruto Uzumaki stared in bewildered joy at a framed photo of a smiling blond man and a beautiful red-haired woman he'd just been told were his parents. A bowl of fresh Raman steamed on the table beside him, made by a crying but smiling Teuchi from Ichiraku, who had been ushered in by Anko, saying, "The kid's got to have a housewarming meal."
Across town, Sasuke Uchiha walked alone through the silent, dusty halls of his clan's main house. He didn't feel peace. But for the first time, he felt something other than all-consuming hate: a sense of ownership. This was his. The history, the shame, the legacy—it was all his to unravel. And on his desk was a scroll, left by Kakashi. It was a basic Uchiha fire technique. And a note: "The foundation comes first. The truth comes later. - Kakashi"
Konoha was broken, grieving, and terrified of the future. But for the first time in a long time, it was honest. And in that honesty, and in the fierce, protective love now swirling around two lonely boys, the first green shoots of a possible recovery began to push through the poisoned soil.
End of chapter – 13.