The air inside the Naka River Shrine was heavy and cold. Torches flickered against damp stone, casting long, jagged shadows of the gathered Uchiha. Kohaku Uchiha stood at the center of the stone dais, his Sharingan active and spinning with a murderous red glow. Opposite him stood Hiruzen Sarutobi, flanked by Homura and Koharu.
The Hokage's face was etched with a profound weariness, the look of a leader watching his own house catch fire from the inside.
The heavy wooden doors creaked open, and Mito Uzumaki stepped into the thick tension. This presence acted like a cooling mist on a fever. The matriarch walked between the two hostile parties, her gaze steady and her posture unyielding.
Mito did not look like a woman of peace; the widow of the First Hokage appeared as someone who had seen the village born in blood and was prepared to see it survive the same way.
"Enough," the Uzumaki elder said, her voice small but carrying a resonance that silenced the room. "The Uchiha demand blood, and the Hokage offers silence. Neither will bring the boy back. Hiruzen, the files scattered in the streets are authentic, and the inspectors are waiting outside. You cannot deny the rot in your own shadows any longer. To do so is to call the Uchiha liars in their own home."
Hiruzen closed his eyes for a second, the scent of his own tobacco suddenly bitter. "Mito-sama, the Council must investigate the validity of these claims before taking official action. We cannot dismantle the ANBU hierarchy based on a public outcry, not while we are on the verge of war. The stability of the village depends on the chain of command remaining intact."
Kohaku stepped forward, his hand resting firmly on the hilt of his blade. "Stability? Our kin was hunted like an animal at six years old by men wearing your crest. He was sent to the border as a sacrifice to cover the tracks of a traitor who fears the Sharingan. Perhaps Danzo was a part of this capturing process as well, Hiruzen."
The Clan Head gestured toward the map on the wall. "This mission of yours was considered a confidential task, known only to the highest levels of command. Yet, Yoichi and his team were ambushed on all sides. Isn't that a little bit suspicious? Information does not leak to three different nations by accident. It is sold or gifted by someone within your inner circle who wanted that boy gone forever."
"Danzo is a pillar of Konoha's defense," Homura interjected, his voice cold and analytical. "To dismantle the Root now is to leave our gates open to Kumo's raiders. We must prioritize the collective safety over the grievances of one clan. One boy's tragedy, however orchestrated, cannot be allowed to collapse the entire intelligence network of the Land of Fire."
The Uzumaki matriarch turned her sharp, aging gaze toward Homura. "The collective safety is a lie if the foundation is built on the bones of our children. Yoichi foresaw this cold calculation. The boy knew you would hide behind treaties and protocols while he bled. He asked for this intervention because he knew the Uchiha would not wait for a committee to decide if their sons are worth protecting."
The Uchiha behind Kohaku shifted, their chakra flaring in the dim light. The threat of a coup was no longer a whisper; it was a physical pressure that made the air hard to breathe. Hiruzen looked at Mito, seeing the fire in those eyes. The Hokage knew he was losing his village. He needed a way to satisfy the Uchiha without handing over the keys to the village's defense secrets entirely.
"What is your proposal, Mito-sama?" Hiruzen asked, his voice sounding older than the stone around them.
"A temporary cessation of internal hostilities," the elder declared, her voice ringing off the walls. "Hiruzen, you will strip Danzo of his command over the border patrols and the Eastern sectors immediately. Kohaku, you will hold your men back from the Hokage tower. In exchange, the village will officially acknowledge Yoichi's status as a kidnapping victim, not a missing ninja. We will authorize an elite search party that reports to me, not to the Council."
Kohaku narrowed his eyes, the Sharingan pulsing. "And the inspectors? They will testify, and their words will be recorded in the public record. We will not have their voices silenced in the dark."
"They will testify," the matriarch promised, locking eyes with Hiruzen. "But they will do so when the boy is home. If you tear the village apart now, who knows what Kumo will do to him the moment they see the smoke from our fires. Is that the end you want for him?"
Kohaku stayed silent for a long moment, the red glow of his eyes slowly fading. "He has until the first snowfall. If he is not found, or if Danzo remains in power when winter comes, the shrine will not be big enough for the assembly we hold next. We will bring the fire to your doorstep, Hiruzen."
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Deep within the concrete corridors of the Root headquarters, the air was stagnant and smelled of damp earth. Danzo Shimura stood before a large stone map of the elemental nations, his one visible eye fixed on the northern borders. The news of the meeting at the Naka River Shrine had just reached him through his hidden agents, and his grip tightened on his cane until the wood groaned.
Danzo struck the map with his cane, the crack echoing like a gunshot through the silent hall. "Mito Uzumaki," he hissed, his voice trembling with a rare, cold rage. "That woman belongs to a different era. She clings to the sentimentalism of the past while the world prepares to tear us apart. She has effectively neutralized my influence over the borders during the most critical window in a decade."
A Root operative knelt in the shadows, his face hidden behind a featureless porcelain mask. "The Hokage has officially signed the order, Danzo-sama. Your command over the Eastern and Northern sectors is being transferred to Senju-loyalist commanders under Mito's recommendation. The Military Police are already moving to secure the records of the vanguard mission."
Danzo turned away from the map, his face a mask of bitter resentment. He had spent years pruning the village's weaknesses, and now a child's calculated "failure" was being used to dismantle his lifework. To Danzo, Yoichi was a weapon that had misfired and hit its creator. The fact that an eight-year-old had successfully manipulated the Uchiha Clan and the Uzumaki Matriarch into a corner was a testament to the boy's danger.
"Hiruzen is a fool," Danzo muttered, pacing the small, dimly lit chamber. "He thinks he is buying peace with the Uchiha, but he is only feeding the beast. By acknowledging Yoichi as a victim and allowing the Uchiha to dictate terms, he has weakened the office of the Hokage. That boy isn't just a casualty; he is a political time bomb that has already detonated at our feet."
He stopped at a pedestal holding a series of encrypted files. Danzo knew the truth. He hadn't leaked the current mission, but his previous attempt on Yoichi's life had left a trail he thought he had burned. The boy's foresight in preserving those inspectors' testimonies was a blade Danzo hadn't seen coming.
"The search party Mito mentioned," Danzo said, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. "It must be monitored. If they find the boy, he cannot be allowed to return to Konoha with a hero's welcome. An Uchiha with that much political leverage and the backing of the Senju matriarch is a catastrophe for the village's order. He would be untouchable."
He dismissed the guard with a sharp wave of his hand. As the shadow vanished, Danzo stared into the darkness of his sanctum. He felt the village slipping from his grasp, pulled away by the ghost of a child who was hundreds of miles away. The war for Konoha's soul had moved from the shadows to the light, and for the first time, Danzo felt the cold sting of being cast out.
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Senju Compound, Morning.
The training grounds of the Senju estate were silent, save for the heavy, rhythmic breathing of three exhausted eight-year-olds. Mito Uzumaki stood at the center of the clearing, her presence a cold weight that allowed no room for the weakness of childhood. The morning mist still clung to the grass, but the heat from the children's rising chakra was already beginning to burn it away.
If somebody never knew, Mito had her own expertise in Martial Arts thanks to the grueling teachings of her former sensei. However, that knowledge had remained largely superficial throughout her long life due to the severe lack of high-level Martial Arts techniques available in the shinobi world. She understood the flow of kinetic energy and the leverage of the human frame, but she had never seen anything as refined as the postures Yoichi had shared. Now, watching the three children, she was applying her old foundations to the revolutionary styles they practiced.
"The world does not care for your grief," Mito said, her voice cutting through the damp air. "Yoichi survived the Land of Lightning because he was prepared to suffer. If you wish to reach him, you must first master the stillness of the mind."
Jiraiya sat in the center of the clearing, his legs crossed in the Mahavairocana Mantra posture.
He was struggling to maintain the Great Vairocana Palm form, his small hands trembling as he tried to focus his chaotic chakra. To the side, Orochimaru moved with a predatory grace, his body low to the ground in the Slithering Steps of the Moon Swallowing style. Every time he faltered, the air around him seemed to grow heavier, a reminder of the precision required to identify an opponent's vulnerabilities through the Eyes of the Umbral Night.
Mito moved between them like a ghost, adjusting a wrist here and a footing there. She was not gentle.
When Jiraiya's focus slipped, she struck his shoulder with a wooden staff, forcing him to ground his energy. "The Three Jewel's Protection is not a wall of wood, Jiraiya. It is a barrier of intent. If your mind wanders to the academy, you are already dead."
The training shifted to physical conditioning. Mito had them carry heavy iron weights while maintaining their specific martial arts postures.
Tsunade's face was bright red, her teeth bared in a snarl of pure determination. She was practicing the Dragon-Elephant Prajna, her feet digging deep furrows into the earth as she attempted to channel the force required for the Dragon Elephant Drop.
The shockwave she produced was mere ripples in the dirt, far from the massive tremors she needed to break through Kumo's stone defenses.
"Again!" Mito commanded. "Tsunade, your Hundredfold Strike is shallow. You are hitting with your muscles, not your spirit. Orochimaru, your Twin Fang Assault is fast, but it lacks the weight of a predator's kill. You are playing at being shinobi. Yoichi was a shinobi when he was still in the cradle."
By noon, the three children were collapsed on the grass, their lungs burning and their muscles twitching with fatigue. They were bruised and covered in dirt, looking every bit like the eight-year-olds they were, yet their eyes held a sharpness that hadn't been there at dawn. Mito looked down at them, her expression unreadable. She recognized the potential of these techniques, seeing how they filled the gaps in the martial arts she had learned decades ago.
"You have the forms," Mito whispered, her voice softening just enough for them to hear. "But you lack the experience of the hunt. Tomorrow, we begin the sparring sessions. You will fight each other using only these techniques. If you cannot defeat your peers, you will never defeat the Cloud."
Tsunade reached out and gripped the fabric of the Space Pouch, her fingers finding the jade bottles inside. She looked at Jiraiya and Orochimaru, seeing the same grim resolve mirrored in their tired faces. They were no longer just students; they were a rescue team in the making, forged in the shadow of a betrayal they intended to rectify.
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Thanks to doomslayer24 for the Power Stones! Thank you so much, Senior Brother!