Early the next morning, Chiyo, the Fourth Kazekage, stepped into the Hokage Office.
One after another, more leaders arrived:
Genshū, the Fourth Mizukage
Old Purple, the Fourth Tsuchikage
Numerous mid- and high-ranking chiefs
All sought even a shadow of insight into the upcoming Shinobi World Conference.
Reception fell to Uzumaki Mito and Uchiha Shihō, while the famed Hokage himself remained unseen—an absence that kept every visiting delegation painfully on edge.
Meanwhile—
Wearing plain clothes and traveling with Genkaori, Uchiha Soren used Flying Thunder God to arrive above a deep canyon. Ancient forest choked the cliffs, and far below, a massive underground ruin sprawled across stone and shadow.
Wind howled between the canyon walls.
"My lord Soren, Princess Genkaori—your ancestors sealed the Glair stone vein below. Please follow me."
The old merchant led them along a narrow mountain trail. Genkaori gently stroked Nelugu, the snow-weasel, eyes bright with childlike curiosity as she scanned the surroundings.
Soren left the Two-Tails waiting outside. He opened his Eternal Mangekyō and scanned downward—
Three thousand meters.
Below lay a vast, sapphire-blue ocean of mineral veins—liquid life energy flowing like a buried sea.
(Incredible.)
(If that life energy detonated, it could blow a crater across the continent…)
(But if harnessed— even a Six Paths-level being would not dismiss it.)
He glanced at Genkaori. He remembered the soft warmth she had pressed against him the night before, her crimson eyes bright with trust and desire—
and he felt a private, quiet happiness at the strength her future now promised.
"Genkaori," he murmured, "you will become an extraordinary force."
She smiled, radiant even in the canyon's cold shadow.
"As long as I can help you, An-kun."
The merchant stopped before an ancient mechanism.
"This leads two thousand meters down to the sealed chamber."
They descended into a broad, dim ruin. A still-intact walkway stretched forward. Three colossal pillars rose from the floor, engraved with a three-leaf clover motif. The merchant stood upon the central pillar and pulled a hidden switch.
The platform shuddered—
and began to drop.
Genkaori startled and gripped Soren's hand as the shaft plunged into total darkness.
"Don't worry. I'm right here."
At last, the lift slowed into a circular stone chamber covered in murals.
The merchant stepped forward reverently.
"This is the Sealing Chamber. These murals tell of the Glair Stones' terrible power… and of the empire's final despair."
Genkaori clung to Soren's arm. His expression hardened.
"Only great power can protect those we love."
"I'm not afraid," she whispered.
The merchant guided them to a metallic lever embedded in the wall.
"Destroy this seal key, and the entire Glair vein will unseal. But it is ancient—I cannot predict what may occur."
He pointed to the center of the room.
A vast concentric circle array lay engraved into the floor.
"That is the Time-Space Wormhole Sealing Array. In antiquity, it could summon a temporal gateway. It activates only with royal blood."
"Once it begins, it cannot be stopped. It will devour everything nearby."
The Stones of Glair—pure life energy—held little personal temptation for Soren. If Genkaori controlled it, then so did he.
But the wormhole array—
That lit his mind like a lantern in darkness.
As someone with the Eternal Mangekyō and a spatial technique—Tenchō Tenson—already attuned to dimensional control, he had long dreamed of breaching the boundaries between worlds.
A ready-made time-space wormhole array was priceless.
He memorized every groove and sigil, imprinting the entire formation into his mind.
"Thank you, old sir. Forget this place. I will send you back."
With a touch of chakra, he erased the merchant's memory of the Glair details, then used Flying Thunder God to return the caravan to one of his earlier markers.
Then he turned to Genkaori.
"Want to try?"
"Yes."
She set Nelugu down, stepped to the seal key, and pressed her palm against its convex dome.
Warm currents surged.
Soren opened his Eternal eye—
watching dominant, ancient life energy pour into her, replacing her scant chakra and reinforcing every cell of her body.
Genkaori sighed softly—
a sound like someone sinking into a perfect hot spring.
Seeing she was safe, Soren moved quickly. He destroyed all channels linking the chamber to the surface, then reinforced the vaulted ceiling with earth and stone.
He intended to stay quietly and guard her—
—but suddenly sensed a tug.
Konoha was calling.
(Minako.)
(Today is the Seven-Tails sealing.)
He left a shadow clone to guard Genkaori and returned instantly.
As he materialized, Uzumaki Minako stood waiting in a white ceremonial robe. Smooth pale skin peeked through deliberate slits in the cloth, her posture poised yet suggestive. Her eyes glittered with expectation.
"They stood in a small wooden room with the character 'Quiet' hanging on the wall. Outside, a river glimmered in the sunlight, and a waterfall thundered in the distance."
Minako gestured gracefully.
"An-kun, this is a special quiet chamber, built outside the Senju perimeter. Senju guards watch the area. Only Lady Mito may enter before the jinchūriki ritual."
She sat on a cushion—
smooth white thighs crossing elegantly.
Her fox-bright eyes shimmered with playful danger.
Soren smirked.
"Lady Minako, aren't you supposed to remain serene? This won't do."
She pouted dramatically.
"My husband is dead, and you still call me 'Lady'… do you like married women that much?"
Her lashes fluttered.
"I'm merely practicing inner calm."
She leaned closer, voice honey-sweet.
"If my fire isn't cooled by you… how can I be calm, An-kun? Please… help me."
Her next whisper carried a mischievous wink.
"I even asked Lady Mito to invite you for assistance."
Soren's eyebrow rose—
—and he moved without hesitation.
"My fire," he declared, "is even larger."
The rest slipped behind a graceful fade-to-black—
a curtain of quiet breath, soft robes, and the hush of falling water.
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