A week passed quietly.
Morning mist drifted through the ruins of Amegakure. The cool air carried the smell of earth and vegetation.
Chiya stood on a stretch of open rubble ground and watched the three in front of him with a calm gaze.
In the end, Chiya had not moved against those Rinnegan eyes.
Because just five days earlier, when he had been about to act, he had sensed something unusual from Nagato.
That fluctuation of ocular power felt like it carried an enormous threat toward himself.
After weighing it carefully, Chiya gave up on that course of action.
After all, Nagato's eyes belonged to that dancing king.
Who could say whether some jutsu had been planted inside those eyes that would activate automatically the moment they were put in danger.
Just like Nagato in the original story, where the eyes always seemed to awaken precisely when he faced danger.
Thinking about it now.
'It was probably not that Nagato awakened them when he faced danger. It was that when the Rinnegan sensed danger, it drained Nagato's chakra and forced itself to protect him.'
There was also the fact that the Konoha dancing king was still alive. He was certainly arranging for certain things that were not quite human to keep watch over Nagato from the shadows.
Even though Chiya had awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan, the idea of facing that old man directly still made him feel somewhat unsettled.
'There is no rush anyway. There is still plenty of time.'
'The tide turns in time for everyone.'
'With the System, I will stand at the peak of the ninja world sooner or later.'
'Once my strength is enough, I will dig out those eyes directly and drag that dancing king and the little masked one up from whatever gutter they are hiding in and crush them thoroughly.'
'Old relics of a bygone era. Stop causing trouble for the new world.'
Out on the open ground.
Yahiko formed hand seals. Fine beads of sweat seeped from his forehead as he worked hard to gather the chakra within his body.
Konan lightly touched her fingertips together. A sheet of white paper hovered in her palm and slowly folded itself into the shape of a flying bird.
Nagato stood quietly to one side. Beneath his red hair, his Rinnegan flickered faintly, as if he were sensing the flow of chakra around him.
"Again."
Chiya's voice was steady and firm.
"Yahiko, the flow of your chakra needs to be smoother. Do not rush."
Yahiko bit down, nodded, and readjusted his breathing.
He pressed his hands together. The chakra inside his body slowly gathered into his palms and then burst outward.
"Water Style, Wild Water Wave!"
A thin stream of water shot from his palms. The force was nowhere near that of a real ninja, but compared to a week ago, the progress was clear.
"Good!"
Chiya nodded in approval.
"Much stronger than before."
Yahiko wiped away his sweat and grinned.
"Heh, it is finally starting to look like something!"
Konan's paper bird beat its wings and took flight. It circled once in the air before landing lightly back on her shoulder.
Her eyes shone with delight.
"Chiya-nii, look! I can make it fly much farther now!"
Chiya smiled faintly.
"Well done. Your chakra control is getting more and more precise."
Nagato stood to one side and said nothing.
His Rinnegan rotated slightly, as if he were observing something.
Chiya walked to his side and asked quietly.
"What is it?"
Nagato hesitated before speaking softly.
"I... can feel some strange things."
Chiya's gaze sharpened.
"What things?"
"The ground, the trees, the air... they all seem to have 'life.'"
Nagato's voice was very quiet, almost as if he were speaking to himself.
'Is this Nagato's sensory ability?'
Chiya patted Nagato on the shoulder and said quietly.
"That kind of sensory ability is precious. But use it carefully. Do not let it drain too much of your mind."
Nagato nodded in silence.
Just then, Chiya's body stiffened.
One of his Shadow Clones outside had dispersed.
Receiving the memories from that Shadow Clone, a look of seriousness came over Chiya's face.
"Come here, all of you!"
The three stopped what they were doing and came quickly to stand in front of Chiya.
"Sunagakure and Amegakure have formally surrendered to Konoha. The ceasefire agreement has been signed. Both Sunagakure and Amegakure have begun submitting peace documents."
"In other words, the war is about to end."
The three reacted in different ways upon hearing this.
Yahiko clenched his fist. A complicated light flickered in his eyes.
"It is finally... over?"
Konan's gaze was uncertain.
"Then... will Amegakure get better?"
Nagato said nothing. He only lowered his head and looked at his own hands.
"It will. Once the war ends, everything will get better. But..."
Suddenly, Chiya sensed an unfamiliar chakra approaching.
"Someone is coming."
He said quietly.
He stepped in front of the three and looked toward the distance.
The three behind him became alert at once and looked in the same direction as Chiya.
Soon, a tall figure stepped out from the trees.
White long hair. A red outer robe. A lazy yet deep smile on his face.
"It is Jiraiya-sensei!"
Yahiko recognized the figure and called out in surprised delight.
Jiraiya kept his hands tucked in his sleeves. His gaze swept over the four of them and paused on Chiya with a slight raise of his eyebrow.
"Oh? I did not expect to run into you here."
Chiya gave a calm nod.
"Jiraiya-sama."
The two exchanged a brief look. Neither said anything more.
Jiraiya's gaze quickly moved to the three children. He grinned.
"It looks like you have not been idle while I was away."
Konan smiled and ran toward him.
"Jiraiya-sensei, Chiya-nii taught us so much!"
Jiraiya nodded and looked toward Chiya. His tone, unusually, turned serious.
"Thank you for looking after them."
"The war is over. The front line units are all heading back to their villages. What about you? Are you going back to Konoha?"
Chiya gave a quiet sound of agreement.
"The mission is complete. It is time to go back."
"Now that Jiraiya-sama is here, the three of them should not be in any more danger."
Hearing that Chiya was leaving, the three looked at him with reluctance.
Yahiko opened his mouth but held back. Then he straightened his chest.
"Chiya-nii, thank you for teaching us all this time!"
Konan looked at Chiya with a gentle smile, and a seriousness came into her eyes.
"Chiya-nii, we will definitely become strong and protect Amegakure and bring it peace!"
Nagato was silent for a moment. In the end he said quietly.
"...Take care."
Chiya looked at the three of them. The corners of his mouth lifted slightly.
"I believe in you."
He turned toward Jiraiya. Their gazes met briefly, without words.
"I am leaving."
Chiya raised a hand in farewell and turned to step into the forest.
Behind him, the gazes of the three lingered for a long time without moving away, until his figure disappeared completely into the morning mist.
Jiraiya crossed his arms and stared in the direction Chiya had gone. He murmured to himself.
"An Uchiha... that is someone interesting."
'That dark-haired boy from Great Toad Sage's dream, the one who would overturn the ninja world... is it you?'
Yahiko turned to look at Jiraiya. His eyes were full of determination.
"Jiraiya-sensei, what do we do from here?"
Jiraiya came back to himself and laughed. He reached out and rubbed Yahiko's head.
"Let us fill our stomachs first!"
Konan and Nagato smiled at each other. Sunlight broke through the clouds and fell across the land of Amegakure.
This scene in the distance was watched by a white-clad figure.
He sank into the ground and vanished.
---
Root Headquarters.
Inside the laboratory, Orochimaru held a measuring cup and quietly made his notes.
The tap of a cane striking the floor sounded.
Danzo walked in from outside.
"According to feedback from the operatives we left embedded in Amegakure, something major appears to have happened there."
Amegakure?
Orochimaru's movements paused. A stiff smile formed on his cold face.
"With that demigod presiding over the village, what major thing could possibly happen?"
Danzo was quiet for a moment before speaking.
"It is that very demigod of Amegakure, Hanzo. It appears he may have met with an unexpected end."
Orochimaru's brow furrowed slightly.
That figure was the man the ninja world called a demigod. For him to meet an unexpected end...
Orochimaru looked at the serious expression on Danzo's face.
Something stirred in him.
He found himself believing it by a fraction.
"If it was an unexpected end, who caused it? Who would have the ability to do that?"
Danzo's gaze flickered.
"Still being investigated. But based on the intelligence received, Hanzo may very well have already been dead for some time."
Already dead for some time?
Orochimaru's brow furrowed deeply. A figure suddenly surfaced in his mind, one who had appeared before him completely unharmed and then gone on to complete the subsequent mission with him.
'Could it have been him?'
Danzo watched the shift in Orochimaru's expression and could not help but ask.
"Have you thought of someone?"
Orochimaru smiled slightly and shook his head, turning his attention back to the measuring cup in his hand.
"No one came to mind."
"..."
Danzo's gaze flickered. He said nothing more and left the laboratory shortly after with his Root operatives.
Orochimaru's mind drifted for a moment.
"If it truly was Chiya-kun, what did he use to kill Hanzo? Could it be..."
Orochimaru thought of the Mangekyo Sharingan he had transplanted for Danzo before. His gaze sharpened.
"The Mangekyo Sharingan actually holds that kind of power?"
---
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Like the story? Read many advanced chapters in patreon!
patreon.com/atomelectron
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━