Senju Clan Compound, the Emptied Storehouses

The Senju Clan Compound lay in the northeastern corner of Konoha, more than half a village away from the Hokage Office.

Nawaki led Kushina for twenty minutes. The farther northeast they went, the fewer streetlights there were and the sparser the pedestrians became. Even the smooth stone roads gave way to gravel overgrown with moss.

The last streetlight went out thirty meters ahead.

Moonlight fell upon a three-meter-tall vermilion gate. Most of its paint had peeled away, exposing the grayish-white wood beneath. The two characters for "Senju" on the lintel were barely recognizable; the vertical stroke in the character for "hand" on the right was missing, leaving it hanging crookedly.

The gate was unlocked. Its hinges were rusted. Nawaki failed to move it after two pushes, but put some strength into the third. With a creak, the whole gate shook and nearly fell out of its frame.

The courtyard looked even worse than the gate.

Weeds sprouted from between the stone slabs, the tallest nearly reaching waist height. One corner of the main house's roof had collapsed, exposing moldy beams within. The armory on the left stood wide open and completely empty. The medicinal herb warehouse on the right did not even have a door anymore; someone had dismantled and taken it away.

Nawaki stood in the middle of the courtyard and slowly looked around.

When he had transmigrated here three years ago, the clan had been sparsely populated, but at least the place had been maintained. The library in the main house held hundreds of ninjutsu manuscripts left behind by the First and Second Hokage. The armory had complete sets of custom ninja tools, and the herb warehouse contained enough supplies for a squad to last half a year.

It was all gone.

Three years. He had only been at the front lines for three months. Over the remaining two-plus years, those things had been carried away one piece at a time. Where had they gone? Nawaki did not need to think to know.

"Spotless." Nawaki laughed, crouching to sift through the dirt outside the armory. There were drag marks on the ground—orderly marks from large-scale transport—with boot prints mixed in. Standard Anbu ninja boots.

Even when moving house, Root was this professional.

"Nawaki?"

Kushina's voice came from behind him. Nawaki stood and turned around to see the red-haired girl in the middle of the courtyard, both hands clenched before her chest and lips pressed tight.

She did not ask, "Why is this place so run-down?"

Because she had seen somewhere even more ruined.

On the night the Uzumaki Clan's village had been destroyed, the ruins had looked much the same. There had only been more corpses among them.

"Do you... live here alone?" Kushina asked.

"I used to."

"For how long?"

"About three years. After my sister left, it was just me." Nawaki said it casually, as if they were discussing what to have for dinner.

Kushina did not ask any more questions. She crouched down and began pulling the weeds around her feet.

"What are you doing?"

"Cleaning up." Without looking up, Kushina yanked out a handful of grass and tossed it aside. "Didn't you say this is our home? It's such a mess—I can't stand looking at it."

She said the words "our home" quickly, her ears quietly turning red.

Nawaki looked at her and froze for a second.

Then he smiled. Not the performative smile he wore before the Third Hokage, nor the cold smile he gave his enemies. Just a normal smile, one that came from instinct.

"Stop pulling them. It'll take too long."

Nawaki walked to the center of the courtyard and pressed his hands together before his chest.

Clap.

Chakra seeped into the ground.

The gaps between every stone slab in the courtyard trembled at once. Within three seconds, all the weeds withered, shriveled, and crumbled into fragments. Wood Release chakra spread beneath the earth like an invisible hand, plowing through the entire courtyard.

Then the collapsed corner of the main house's roof began to creak. Several brand-new beams, carrying a faint woody fragrance, grew from the damaged area and seamlessly filled the gap. Their grain was fine and even, more beautiful than anything a carpenter could make.

New wooden doors snapped shut from both sides of the armory and herb warehouse doorframes. Even the hinges were made of wood.

In fifteen seconds, the main buildings of the entire Senju Clan Compound had been restored.

Kushina was still clutching a handful of dead grass. She remained crouched on the ground, her mouth hanging open in an O.

"Y-you make that way too easy?!"

"It's Wood Release. It isn't just for fighting." Nawaki dusted off his hands and entered the main house to inspect it. The framework was repaired, but the inside was as empty as an unfinished house. "We'll buy furniture tomorrow. We'll make do tonight."

He slapped the floor of the main hall, and a low wooden table and two long benches grew from the floorboards. The tabletop was polished smooth.

Kushina walked in and touched the table. Warmth met her fingertips.

"It's still warm," she muttered.

"It just grew, of course it's warm."

Kushina sat on a bench, her legs dangling in the air as she swung them back and forth. Looking around at the bare walls, she suddenly fell silent.

"Nawaki."

"Yeah?"

"Don't you think..." She considered her wording. "This house has been cleaned out?"

Nawaki was bent over examining a vent in the corner. At her words, he looked up at her.

Kushina pointed at the wall. "There are marks where things used to hang, and the colors are different. There are broad drag marks worn into the floor. Even the herb warehouse door is gone. Normal neglect doesn't look like this. This place was systematically emptied."

Nawaki straightened up.

This girl was far more observant than he had imagined. No wonder she had become a woman capable of standing on her own in the original story.

"You're right." Nawaki walked over and sat across from her. "Before I went to the front lines, there were over three hundred ninjutsu manuscripts here, two sets of chakra guides personally forged by the First Hokage, and an entire storehouse of military-grade ninja tools."

He paused.

"Now, not a single thing remains."

Kushina clenched her fists.

"Who did it?"

"Who do you think?" Nawaki traced a circle on the tabletop with his index finger. "In all of Konoha, who has the authority to mobilize the Anbu to transport supplies in bulk and still leave no trace?"

Kushina fell silent. She remembered the kindly old man in the Hokage Office.

"So that's why you acted so..." She gestured vaguely, unable to find the right word.

"So what? Tough?"

"So shameless." After thinking it over, Kushina corrected herself. "One second you were pretending to be pitiful, the next you were acting tough. Your face changed faster than I turn pages."

Nawaki raised an eyebrow but did not deny it.

Leaning against the table, he said flatly, "When dealing with an old fox, thicker skin means a longer life."

Just then, a cold system notification sounded in Nawaki's mind.

[Ding! Host has returned to family territory.]

[Family Panel updated—'Territory/Industry' module unlocked!]

[Current territory status: D-rank (abandoned). Core asset loss rate: 97%.]

[Territory upgrade path: Cleanup → Restoration → Formation Setup → Recruitment → Production. Each increase in territory rank grants sustained passive growth to family prosperity.]

[Hint: Once the territory reaches C-rank, the 'Family-Exclusive Barrier' can be unlocked, covering the entire clan compound. Any unauthorized intruders will be automatically marked and suppressed.]

Nawaki narrowed his eyes.

A family barrier. That was good. It was time to clear out those old bastards' spies and watchposts.

He closed the panel, walked to the main house entrance, and leaned against the doorframe as he looked out at the courtyard, bleached pale by moonlight.

Two hundred meters beyond the compound's perimeter, two chakra signatures almost completely blended into the shadows atop the tree canopy.

Root. They were well-hidden; ordinary jōnin-level sensory abilities would never detect them.

But Nawaki had the Basic Sage Body. His ability to sense natural energy utterly surpassed conventional detection. To his eyes, those two were no different from people holding torches in the night.

Kushina followed him out, standing beside him and looking in the same direction.

"What are you looking at?"

"The moon."

"Liar."

Nawaki looked down at her and smiled. "Help me with something tomorrow."

"What?"

"Come with me to Konoha's building materials market." Nawaki reached out and ruffled her red hair. "This home may be empty now, but it's fine. However much they took away—"

He withdrew his gaze and looked toward the two hidden shadows in the canopy.

"I'll take it all back, with interest."

The courtyard was quiet for several seconds.

Then Kushina snorted with laughter.

"Nawaki Senju, you really are a big bad guy."

"Thanks for the compliment."

Nawaki turned and went inside. He slapped the floor of the master bedroom, and a simple wooden bed grew from it. There were no blankets, so he took off his ceremonial robe and threw it on top.

"You sleep here."

"What about you?"

"Next door."

Kushina stood in the doorway, hesitated for two seconds, then lowered her voice. "Nawaki."

"Yeah."

"...Thank you."

With his back to her, Nawaki waved a hand and walked into the next room.

The instant the door shut, all warmth vanished from his face.

Nawaki sat on the empty floor, summoned the system panel, and stared at the lines [Territory Rank: D-rank] and [Asset Loss Rate: 97%], his eyes filled with icy malice.

Ninety-seven.

The Third Hokage and Danzō had devoured the Senju so thoroughly that not even scraps of bone remained.

Nawaki closed the panel and shut his eyes, spreading out the sensory power of his Sage Body.

At the compound's perimeter, the two sentries had not moved at all. Their breathing was even, the standard posture of long-term covert surveillance.

Nawaki lightly tapped his fingers against his knee twice.

No rush.

Let them watch.

Tomorrow, something would grow beneath this land.

And then—none of those spies nailed into the shadows would escape.