Senju Shadow, the Storm Before the Assessment

Senju Clan Compound.

Kushina squatted by the main gate, propping her chin up with both hands as her red hair swept across the steps.

An hour and a half had passed.

Footsteps sounded in the distance, and she sprang up like a coiled spring.

"Nawaki—!"

She was halfway there when she saw the person behind Nawaki, and her speed shot up three notches.

"Mikoto!!!"

Kushina crashed headfirst into Mikoto's arms, knocking her back two steps. Mikoto staggered but did not push her away.

"Are you okay? Where are you hurt? Was that bastard Fugaku—"

"I'm fine."

"Your left leg's wrapped in bandages!"

"It's healed."

"Who did it?"

"People from Hidden Stone. They're already dead."

Kushina let go and looked her over three times from top to bottom. All four limbs were intact, and her head was still there—then her eyes suddenly reddened.

"Didn't you say you'd tell me when you got home...? But Nawaki said something happened to you guys. I didn't sleep all night—"

Mikoto froze.

She had lived twelve years in the Uchiha Clan, yet no one had ever cried because she was hurt. The clan elders only cared whether her Sharingan had been damaged, while Fugaku only cared whether she could still carry out missions.

"Why are you crying?" She raised a hand and wiped the moisture from the corner of Kushina's eye. "Aren't I standing here just fine?"

"Who's crying?! I just got sand in my eyes!"

Nawaki walked past the two of them without getting involved.

At the courtyard gate, Tsunade leaned against the doorframe with a plate of edamame in hand. Seeing them return, she tossed an edamame shell aside.

"Everyone's back?"

"Everyone's back." Nawaki pointed at Mikoto. "Sis, from today on, Mikoto will be staying at the compound. Find her a room."

Tsunade looked at Mikoto for two seconds.

An Uchiha girl leaving her clan to live with the Senju Clan—if word got out, all of Konoha would gossip about it for half a year.

"You decided this yourself?" she asked Mikoto.

"Yes."

Tsunade nodded, turned, and walked inside. She tossed out one sentence. "Second room to the right of the main house. The bedding was just aired out."

"Thank you, Lady Tsunade."

Tsunade's lips moved, but no sound came out.

Tsunade turned back, her expression making it clear she was not joking.

"...Sis."

"Mm." Tsunade waved a hand and headed into the kitchen.

Watching from behind, Nawaki silently pulled up the system panel in his mind.

[Clan Prosperity: C+ Rank (rising). Core Members: Tsunade (Kage level), Kushina Uzumaki (Nine-Tails jinchūriki), Mikoto Uchiha (Three-Tomoe Sharingan). Overall Rating: Konoha's top-tier power.]

Half a month ago, it had still been a D-rank clan with only one member.

Now there were three core members, each more ridiculous than the last.

It was enough.

Dinner.

Tsunade brought out three jars of sake and drained two and a half by herself. Kushina sneaked a sip from the remaining half jar, and it burned so badly she stomped her feet.

Mikoto sat to Nawaki's right, moving her chopsticks slowly.

No one spoke at an Uchiha dinner table. Once they finished eating, they left. It was too noisy here.

"Mikoto, do you eat fish?"

"I do—"

Half a grilled Pacific saury had already landed in her bowl.

"I grilled it!" Kushina giggled.

Mikoto took a bite. It was overcooked, slightly burnt.

"It's delicious," she said.

Backyard.

Nawaki sat cross-legged on the grass with his eyes closed.

The chakra from his Sage Body and the Sharingan ocular power module were still meshing together. Ever since returning from the canyon, he had been able to feel the two forces within him gradually twisting into a single rope.

The vitality of Wood Release. The spiritual boost of the Uchiha bloodline.

Yin and Yang, two opposing poles. His constitution was evolving in a direction even he had yet to fully understand.

The system displayed the data—

[Host's Current Total Chakra: Quasi-Kage Level (upper tier). Wood Release Mastery: 68%. Spiritual Power Rating: A-.]

It had risen another step since before they set out. He could crush chunin without thinking, and jonin depended on the situation. As for true Kage-level opponents—he still needed more time.

But the joint assessment was not asking him to duel the Hokage one-on-one.

It was enough.

He opened his eyes.

A black figure stood by the courtyard gate.

Mikoto.

She wore a black, form-fitting Anbu uniform, her long hair tied into a high ponytail, with two short blades at her waist. It was an old Senju Anbu uniform Tsunade had dug out during the day—and it fit perfectly.

She stopped three steps in front of him, dropped to her right knee, and pressed her right fist to her chest.

"Nawaki Senju."

Nawaki did not move.

"From today onward, my eyes, my blades, and my life belong to the Senju Clan." Her voice was low, but she bit down hard on every word. "If you have matters that cannot see the light of day, leave them to me."

Nawaki watched her kneel beneath the moonlight.

He did not rush to make her stand.

"Do you know what being my shadow means?"

"I do."

"You may have to do things in the future that you would never touch in the Uchiha Clan. Dirty things."

"The Uchiha Clan was never clean to begin with."

Nawaki chuckled and reached out to pull her up.

"Get up. The Senju Clan doesn't do this kneeling nonsense."

He turned Mikoto's right hand over, palm up, then placed his own left hand over it.

Wood Release chakra seeped from his palm, flowing strand by strand through her meridians—carrying the life energy unique to his Sage Body.

Mikoto's body trembled.

That thread of power traveled up her arm, passed through her chest, and rushed along her cervical spine straight to her eyes.

First came an itch.

Then coolness.

Like two ice-cold towels pressed over the bottoms of her eyes, which had ached for years from overusing the Sharingan—that dull pain she had endured for three years vanished.

Mikoto's eyes flew open.

The veins of grass beneath the moonlight, the layers of the tree canopy, every crack in every roof tile—everything was unnaturally clear. Thirty percent clearer than even at her peak.

"My Sharingan..."

"The vitality of Wood Release can repair cellular damage. Your declining eyesight came from overusing the Sharingan, which aged the capillaries in your eyes." Nawaki withdrew his hand. "I helped you grow them back."

Mikoto stared blankly.

Within the Uchiha Clan, the loss of ocular power was an irreversible price. Every elder who had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan said the same thing—"Your eyes have a limited lifespan. Use them sparingly."

No one had ever told her there was a power capable of repairing worn-out eyes.

"Use your eyes at full power during missions from now on. Don't hold back. Just come find me afterward, and I'll restore you." Nawaki's tone was calm. "Consider it an employer benefit."

Mikoto lowered her head and clenched her fingers.

"...You really are something."

"Hmm?"

"You're too good at winning people over."

"Thanks for the compliment. That's twice now."

Three days later.

A village-wide Konoha broadcast.

"The Chunin and Jonin Joint Assessment will officially begin in seven days! All participating teams are to register at designated locations starting today!"

The news exploded through Konoha's public discourse. The joint assessment was already a major event for the ninja village, but this year's scale was even greater—observation delegations from three outside villages had been invited, and the Third Hokage was clearly showing off Konoha's strength to the ninja world.

The next day, three layers of people surrounded the bulletin board on the first floor of the Hokage Building.

Nawaki approached with Kushina and Mikoto, and the crowd automatically opened a path for them.

He wrote three names on the registration form—

Nawaki Senju. Kushina Uzumaki. Mikoto Uchiha.

The chunin in charge of registration stared at the list for five seconds, looked up at him once, then lowered his gaze to check it again.

"Senju... Young Master Senju, Kushina Uzumaki is a genin. By the rules, she can't—"

"Special approval from the Third Hokage." Nawaki slapped a note bearing the Hokage's direct seal onto the table. "Any other questions?"

The chunin swallowed. "N-No, none."

The crowd erupted in buzzing chatter.

"Nawaki Senju is bringing a genin and a female ninja who defected from the Uchiha Clan? Isn't that just throwing the match?"

"Who are you calling a throwaway? Who wiped out more than fifty Hidden Stone ninja alone in the canyon last week?"

"That's just a rumor—"

"A rumor? Is Danzō from Root getting his arms broken by Tsunade a rumor? Go ask him how many arms he has left."

Nawaki ignored the voices. After signing his name, he turned and left.

At the corner, he nearly ran into someone.

Minato Namikaze.

His blond hair had grown a little since last time, his eyes were sunken, and he clearly had not slept enough. Behind him stood Jiraiya, the white-haired sage leaning against the wall with an amused look.

Minato glanced at Nawaki.

Then he looked at Kushina.

Kushina met his gaze for half a second, then naturally looked away and moved to Nawaki's left side.

Minato's Adam's apple bobbed.

"Nawaki."

"Minato."

"See you at the assessment."

His eyes had changed. He was no longer the hesitant boy from the grass—something had been tempered within them.

Nawaki's lips curved upward. "I'll be waiting."

The two passed each other.

Jiraiya took two steps, then turned back to glance at Nawaki's retreating figure and clicked his tongue.

"This kid..."

"Master Jiraiya." Minato did not turn around. "Please increase my training."

At the same time. Uchiha Clan Compound.

Fugaku's broken ribs had yet to heal. He sat in the seat of honor in the council hall, with four young clansmen kneeling before him.

"The assessment roster." He pushed the paper over. "You'll enter in two groups. If you encounter Nawaki Senju—"

His fingers tapped the tabletop twice.

"Do whatever it takes."

The night before the assessment.

Southeastern hills of the Land of Fire. Underground.

Danzō only had one hand left.

His left hand pressed against the glass wall of a cultivation tank as he looked through the murky fluid at the thing inside.

Humanoid. Pale skin. Its right arm was covered in malformed wooden growths that spread across half its shoulder blade like tree burls.

The thing inside the tank—opened its eyes.

Danzō's mouth split into a grin, and pain shot from the wound all the way to his ear.

"Go to the Forest of Death. Find Nawaki Senju."

His left hand pressed the release button.

The cultivation fluid poured out with a rush. That body stepped barefoot onto the cold metal floor and rose to its feet.

The woody growths on its right arm creaked—

A branch grew from its elbow.