The Price of Grave Robbing
Naruto clenched his two fingers together abruptly, and the paper feather marked with a blood-red X instantly turned into ashes.
The wooden floor of the corridor creaked under the strain, and golden, materialized Chakra surged uncontrollably across his body, instantly distorting and heating the surrounding air. Even the portraits of the Hokage on the wall trembled violently.
"Fine, very well." Naruto laughed in anger, cracking his neck so his knuckles popped like beans. "Whether this grave-digging rat is Obito or Black Zetsu, it dares to touch something I sealed away with my own hands, and even dares to use the Uzumaki clan crest to disgust people..."
Kakashi abruptly pulled down his Forehead Protector, covering his left Sharingan. Even he was forced back half a step by Naruto's aura, his chest heaving with blood and qi.
Sakura slammed her hand against the wall, instinctively activating the Strength of a Hundred Seal to barely steady herself.
"Kakashi." Naruto didn't even turn his head, his gaze fixed on the night at the end of the corridor. "Tell the old woman to save me two tickets for the Land of Lightning. Sasuke's in too. I'm definitely going to the Five Kage Summit."
Kakashi took a deep breath, suppressing the heat in his lungs. "I will inform the Lord Hokage. Also, Konan just returned from scouting the ruins of Amegakure. She's already inside the Uzumaki Estate."
"Go." Naruto uttered a single word, and with a flash of golden light, his figure vanished from the spot.
Transition: Uzumaki Estate, West Courtyard.
Konan didn't go to the main courtyard, but instead chose an old wooden hut near the paper workshop. At this moment, she was sitting at a low table, her hands under her long sleeves trembling slightly, with dirt and dark red bloodstains still remaining between her fingers.
Those were the traces she left behind as she painstakingly filled in Nagato's grave bit by bit in the ruins of Amegakure with her bare hands.
The sliding door made a very soft sliding sound, and Bai walked in carrying a mahogany tray.
On the tray sat a steaming cup of barley tea, along with two soft, chewy Anko cakes. Bai didn't say much, but simply pushed the teacup steadily toward Konan and handed her a warm, damp towel.
"Wipe your hands." Bai's voice was gentle, his gaze not deliberately fixed on the bloodstains on her sleeve, his tone revealing an undeniable concern. "Young Master instructed that once you've entered this door, you don't need to put on airs like an 'angel' anymore. Now that you're home, rest if you're tired."
Konan stared at the floating wheat on the surface of the cup, her eyes flickering. She took the towel, wiped her face casually, and said in a slightly hoarse voice, "Nagato had one eye gouged out. It was that masked man who did it."
Bai paused, his hand poised to pour tea, then steadily refilled it. "Young Master has Hokage Tower, he'll be back soon. He won't pretend he didn't see this."
"Bang!"
The paper door was kicked open. Karin rushed into the room carrying a black scroll thicker than her thigh, almost tripping over the threshold. She didn't even have time to catch her breath before slamming the scroll heavily onto the low table, causing a few drops of tea to spill.
"It's deciphered! All the seals that Konan brought back have been broken!" Karin flicked her red ponytail, her hands quickly Hand Seals, her fingertips glowing with dazzling Sealing Jutsu, and she pressed hard on the scroll's seal.
A cloud of white smoke exploded.
Naruto appeared at the doorway just then. He pulled up a chair, straddled it with a grand gait, and nodded with his chin. "Nen."
Karin swallowed hard, pointing to the dense network of intelligence diagrams that appeared in mid-air, and spoke rapidly, "This is a top-secret file that Nagato hid beneath the Hidden Rain altar before his death. It shows all of Akatsuki's underground strongholds throughout the Five Great Nations, the flow of funds from their gold exchange, and most importantly—the order in which the Tailed Beast were captured."
Her finger traced the red line. "Nine-Tails, Eight-Tails, Two-Tails, Seven-Tails... The target hasn't changed at all. But strangely, Nagato drew a half-withered tree branch mark next to the names of Two-Tails and Eight-Tails. In addition, the deepest part of the scroll also records a Coordinates in the Land of Land of Lightning's sea area, marking 100,000 hibernation pods!"
"One hundred thousand?" Bai gasped.
"One hundred thousand White Zetsu." Naruto sneered, tapping his index finger rhythmically on the table, making a thumping sound. "That Obito, is he really planning to use a bunch of cannon fodder in a vegetative state to drown the Five Great Nations?"
Konan picked up the barley tea in front of her and took a big gulp. The scalding heat flowed down her throat and into her stomach, dispelling the chill that had been lurking in the Hidden Rain Ruins for days.
"Before Nagato died, he had already become suspicious of Obito." Konan put down her teacup and raised her clear, cold eyes. "Obito had been using the Infinite Tsukuyomi of the 'Eye of the Moon' to make empty promises. Nagato wasn't stupid. On the surface, he cooperated in collecting the Tailed Beast, but secretly he used the Rain Tiger at Will Technique Obito's movements step by step, following the traces of his spatial teleportation."
Konan reached into her pocket, pulled out a black button with a miniature Explosive Tag attached, and pushed it in front of Naruto.
"This is a Spatial Anchor token that Obito frequently used." Konan stared at Naruto and said, word by word, "Nagato discovered that Obito didn't care about peace in the Shinobi World at all. He just wanted to create an illusionary world with Rin Nohara. To achieve this goal, he didn't hesitate to use the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path to forcibly revive the Ten-Tails."
The room fell silent instantly, with only Karin's rapid breathing audible.
"Ten-Tails?" Naruto chewed on those two words, a violent smile curving his lips. "I don't care what kind of damn Ten-Tails or Hundred-Tails he wants to revive. Since he dared to dig up Nagato's grave, I dare to scatter his ashes into the trenches of the Land of Lightning."
Naruto stood up and grabbed the black scroll from the table.
"Karin, make five copies of this map showing the Coordinates the 100,000 White Zetsu immediately." Naruto tossed the scroll back into Karin's arms, his gaze sweeping over everyone in the room. "Isn't the old woman going to the Land of Iron for the Five Kage Summit? Let's present this grand gift as a greeting."
Karin paused for a moment, then grinned. "Brother, this isn't a greeting gift, you're planning to rub the other four Kage's faces into the ground!"
"That's exactly what I want." Naruto put his hands in his pockets and walked towards the door. "Didn't the Raikage want to use the talks to exert pressure? I want to see if they still have the mind to argue when 100,000 White Zetsu are stationed at their doorstep. It's time for Hidden Leaf to set the rules for this Shinobi World."
Outside the door, Shikamaru walked over, scratching the back of his head, holding a stack of defense handover lists in his hand.
"The staff team's framework has just been set up, and you're heading out again?" Shikamaru sighed, handing over the list. "The remnants of Root have been completely dispersed and reorganized, Hyuga Clan has taken over the outer outposts. The village is temporarily stable."
Naruto didn't take the list, but simply patted Shikamaru on the shoulder. "You're in charge of the household. Obito, I'll personally go and find him."
The afternoon sunlight pierced through the paper windows, casting long streaks of light on the wooden floor of the Uzumaki Estate.
Everyone dispersed to their own tasks, Naruto walked through the courtyard and pushed open the door to the inner room of the main house.
Inside the cradle, Uzumaki Menma was fast asleep. The little one had chubby cheeks, occasionally spitting out a bubble of milk, and his two tiny hands were clenched into fists and placed by his ears. Hinata sat beside the cradle, holding a needle and thread, embroidering the Uzumaki clan crest onto a small garment. Hearing Naruto's footsteps, she looked up, her eyes filled with a gentle smile.
Naruto slowed his pace, completely suppressing the violent Chakra emanating from his body, walked to the cradle, and gently touched the Menma rough index finger.
The moment the touch occurred, the sleeping baby opened its eyes without warning.
Those were not the clear black and white eyes of an ordinary baby. Within the Menma eye sockets, a pair of Pure Byakugan white Tenseigan, shimmering with a faint blue halo as if reflecting a deep starry sky, erupted with a strange fluctuation that caused the space itself to tremble slightly. Even a trace of pressure leaked from the nascent Tenseigan made the surrounding air thicken.
Menma didn't cry or fuss. He didn't even look at Naruto and Hinata. Instead, he suddenly raised his chubby little hand and pointed straight up, letting out a muttered sound that was hard to understand.
Naruto's smile froze instantly.
He suddenly raised his head, his Pure Byakugan blazing open, the meridians around his eyes bulging instantly. His gaze followed his son's finger, piercing through the roof tiles and the thick clouds without any hindrance, reaching the edge of the barrier above Hidden Leaf.
In a dimensional rift imperceptible to ordinary people, a scarlet Three-Tomoe Sharingan is staring intently at the direction of the Uzumaki Estate, separated by an illusory spatial barrier.
Their gazes met in the emptiness ten thousand meters above the ground.
"Found you, you dead rat." Naruto grinned, revealing a set of gleaming white teeth.
A sharp, tearing sound echoed through the space.