The Third Raikage sat behind his massive stone desk, his presence filling the room with the weight of a mountain. He didn't look at the Kumo Leader, who stood trembling and blood-stained before him. Instead, his eyes were fixed on the small, battered form draped across a medical cot in the center of the office.
Yoichi was deathly pale. The boy was covered in heavy chakra-suppressing seals that glowed with a dull, blue light against his bruised skin. He looked less like the demon described in the report and more like a broken toy, his breathing shallow and rattling.
"He killed four Jōnin from Suna and Kiri?" the Raikage asked, his voice a low rumble.
"Yes, Lord Raikage," the Kumo Leader whispered. "He targeted them with a savage precision. We tried to kite him, but he tore through their formation despite the exhaustion from that death-defying technique."
The Third Raikage stood, his shadow swallowing the unconscious boy. He leaned in, his sharp eyes tracing the burn marks from the Gate of Life. A slow, grim smile spread across the giant's face. He wasn't just impressed by the boy's power; he was satisfied by the political outcome.
Suna and Kiri had tried to play double-sided games with the agreement, and this child had effectively punished their treachery for him. By slaughtering four of their elites, Yoichi had turned their "joint operation" into a humiliating loss, leaving Kumo as the only party to walk away with the prize.
"Good," the Raikage grunted. "The Mist and Sand grew too bold thinking they could siphon our gains. This brat served them a reminder of what happens when they overstep."
The Raikage turned his back, his cloak billowing. The satisfaction in his eyes shifted toward a cold, pragmatic resolve. He knew the value of the asset lying before him.
"He is far too valuable to lose to his own injuries," the Raikage commanded. "Summon the head of the Medical Corps immediately. Use the highest grade of vitality restoration. I want his heart stabilized and his marrow healed before the sun sets."
The Kumo Leader bowed deeply. "And his confinement, my Lord? The seals might not hold if he regains that strength."
"He is an Uchiha who fights like a beast," the Raikage said, looking out toward the mountains. "Move him to the Island Turtle. Place him in the high-security sector. Surround him with the barrier corps and keep him under constant surveillance. If he wakes, ensure he is restrained, but do not kill him. He is the future of our frontline."
Yoichi remained deep in the dark, his mind a void of exhaustion. He didn't feel the hands of the medics lifting him or the heavy iron restraints being locked around his wrists. His powerlessness had led him here, bound by the very village he had cost so much blood, destined for a cage built on the back of a living titan.
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Konohagakure. January, Konoha Year 22.
The news of the ambush hit Konoha like a physical blow. When the survivors of Yoichi's team stumbled through the gates without their vanguard, the atmosphere shifted to a suffocating dread. The official report listed Yoichi's status as Unknown, a word that usually meant a slow death or a cold cell in the world of shinobi.
Inside the Hokage's office, the air was thick with tobacco smoke and the sharp scent of a brewing political crisis. Hiruzen Sarutobi sat behind his desk. His fingers were interlaced so tightly his knuckles were white. Danzo stood to his left, his one visible eye fixed on the map, but it was the arrival of the two elders, Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado, that truly heightened the tension.
"This is a disaster, Hiruzen!" Koharu snapped, her voice thin and biting. "The Uchiha are already gathering at the shrine. You allowed a child with a developed Sharingan and the knowledge of the Gates to fall into enemy hands. Do you realize the secrets that whichever nation took him is extracting as we speak? They are taking a blueprint of our village's power!"
Homura adjusted his glasses, his expression cold and analytical. "The reports indicate a joint strike, but the survivors mentioned high-speed movement and lightning-flecked debris. It hints at the Cloud, but we have no concrete proof. We cannot ignore the treaty. If we send a black ops team across the borders to retrieve a missing ninja without a confirmed location, we risk a full-scale war with multiple fronts. One boy, no matter how gifted, is not worth the lives of thousands!"
"A genius of that caliber is worth any risk," Danzo interjected, his voice a serrated blade. "But Hiruzen's soft approach has already handed our greatest prospect to the shadows. While you weigh the cost of a treaty, someone is sharpening the weapon we forged. We should have secured him ourselves long ago!"
Hiruzen remained silent, his eyes lingering on the map of the Land of Fire. He knew the weight of the loss. Yoichi was a symbol of the future, a bridge between the village and a restless clan. His disappearance had created a fracture in the village foundation that no amount of political maneuvering could mend.
The upheaval was most violent within the walls of the Uchiha district. To the clan, Yoichi was their pride, the proof that their blood was superior even amongst the elite. The Unknown status was viewed not as a tragedy, but as a calculated betrayal by a village that did not value their sons.
Kohaku Uchiha, the current Clan Head, stood at the head of a silent, trembling assembly at the Naka River Shrine. Unlike the younger shinobi who were shouting for blood, Kohaku was eerily still. His presence was like a heavy shroud over the room, and his eyes held a sharpness that silenced the crowd with a single glance. He held a set of sealed scrolls that Yoichi had prepared long before this mission. These were the boy's insurance policies, left with instructions to be opened only if he failed to return.
"They left him to the vultures," Kohaku said, his voice a low, dangerous rasp. "The village treats our blood as a tool to be spent and discarded when the price gets too high. But Yoichi was rational. He knew the snakes in this village were waiting for him to trip. He left us the evidence of the first time they tried to kill him."
Kohaku stepped out from the shrine and into the crowded public square where civilians and shinobi alike had gathered. He did not go to the Hokage's tower. He stood where everyone could see him. With a sharp motion, he unrolled the scrolls, revealing the heavy seals of the Konoha Military Police Force.
"Look at these records!" Kohaku roared, his voice echoing off the buildings. "These are the files regarding the ambush on Yoichi when he was only six years old. These documents contain the official testimony of four Inspectors from the Military Police Force. They are the men who were there. They are the ones who repelled the assassination attempt when Yoichi was on that early mission."
He threw the papers into the air, letting them drift down like snow onto the stunned crowd. "These inspectors survived to tell the tale. They identified the attackers as Root operatives. They documented how the village's own shadows tried to execute a child in the dark. The same hand that tried to snuff him out then is the one that sent him to the border with a target on his back now."
The crowd surged forward, grabbing at the papers. The official seals of the Police Force and the signed statements of the four surviving inspectors were undeniable. The murmurs began low, then rose into a cacophony of disbelief and rage.
"Wait, I remember those inspectors," a veteran Chuunin whispered, gripping a copy of the report. "They were nearly disciplined for unauthorized interference. You mean they were actually saving a kid from our own ANBU?"
A shopkeeper nearby looked at the list of Root signatures and paled. "My son is in the Academy. He looks up to Yoichi. Are you telling me the Hokage lets people like Danzo hunt children in the streets? This isn't the Will of Fire!"
"It says here the patrols were moved on purpose," a young kunoichi shouted, her eyes wide with terror. "They left a six-year-old boy alone in the forest so he could be killed quietly. And now they have sent him to the border to be taken by foreigners to finish the job!"
The story of the Vanguard's Last Stand turned Yoichi into a tragic legend overnight. But it was no longer just a story of heroism. It was the proof of a long-standing conspiracy.
"If the Hokage's office denies these accusations," Kohaku declared, his Sharingan spinning with a cold, murderous intent, "then the public will judge the truth by their own hands. These inspectors are still among us. Their words are iron. We do not ask for a trial. We demand justice for the child who bled for you while you plotted his end."
There was no body to bury. There was just the haunting reality that a child who sought power to protect himself was betrayed twice by the same master. Kohaku's cold fury was a ticking clock. If Hiruzen did not find answers or admit to Danzo's interference, the internal upheaval would tear Konoha apart before the sun set.
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The three children moved through the Senju estate, their small sandals clicking against the polished wood. Tsunade led the way, her eyes red from crying but her jaw set in a line of stubborn resolve. She tightly clasped Yoichi's Space Pouch against her chest, her knuckles white from the pressure. Behind her, Jiraiya walked with a heavy, somber pace, while Orochimaru trailed in the shadows, his golden eyes flicking toward the windows as he listened to the distant, angry roars of the Uchiha district.
They found Mito Uzumaki in her study, her presence commanding even in the quiet. Tsunade stepped forward, her voice trembling.
"Grandmother, before he left, Yoichi spoke to me. He said that if he fell, the village would eat itself from the inside. He told me the Uchiha would march on the Hokage's tower because of the secrets the village tried to hide. He told me I had to come to you. He knew you were the only bridge left."
Mito closed her eyes, absorbing the child's foresight. "He was forced to think like a ghost before he even became a man. He saw the rot in the foundation and knew I was the only anchor for the Uchiha's rage. I will fulfill my role, Tsunade. I will go to the shrine and stand between Kohaku and Hiruzen. But while I hold the peace here, the boy remains in the hands of the North."
"Then let us go after him!" Tsunade shouted, her voice thick with desperation. "We know it was lightning. We can't just stand here while you talk to the council!"
Mito stood up, her presence filling the room with an overwhelming weight that forced the children to go still. "Silence. You are eight years old. You do not have a confirmed location, only hints. If you run blindly into the North, you will be captured or killed. I cannot mediate a civil war and worry about three more lost children."
She looked at them, her eyes hard and unyielding. "There is no information on where they took him. If you leave now, you are merely more pieces for the enemy to collect. Your duty is to train until your hands bleed. If you truly wish to be his allies, you must become something the enemy fears. Master the arts he showed you. Use the Mahavairocana Mantra and the Dragon-Elephant Prajna until they are as natural as breathing."
Jiraiya looked at the floor, his fists shaking. "She's right, Tsunade. We're too weak. If we go now, we're just getting in the way." Orochimaru narrowed his eyes, his mind already dissecting the Moon Swallowing forms. "A rational decision. We lack the power to breach a Great Nation. We will train until a real lead appears. We will be the ones who bring him back."
Tsunade looked at the jade vial on the table and then back at the Space Pouch in her hands. She felt the weight of Yoichi's trust. "I hate this," she whispered. "I hate that we have to wait while he's hurting. But I'll do it. I'll train until I can smash through any gate they put in front of him."
Mito nodded, her expression grim as she prepared to depart for the shrine. "Then begin now. I will hold the line between the Hokage's office and the Uchiha Clan. I will ensure the village does not tear itself apart over Danzo's shadows. But the rescue of Yoichi rests on the strength you build today." With a final glance, Mito vanished into the evening mist to face the fury of the Uchiha, leaving the three students to begin their training.
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Thanks to Snowwwww, doomslayer24, Belloni, and Daemonic_Dragon for the Power Stones! Thanks! Thanks! Thanks! I appreciate it so much!