"Hideki turned into a mountain."
"Uchiha Kamito vanished within the Dust Release."
"Aburame Shiken had his heart pierced."
"Inuzuka Ryoha suddenly disappeared."
"That's how it is, right?"
Hyūga Hiyasu looked at the two pristine humanoid skeletons in front of him and said.
The two skeletons: Do we look like we're in any position to answer you?
Hyūga Hiyasu sorted through the information he had gathered.
Did I get transmigrated again?
What the hell is all this?
He took out his communication insect.
He hadn't crushed it earlier because he was worried that Aburame Shiken might really be dead.
But judging by the situation now, there was no way Shiken had died.
If that Stone ninja with a transplanted Sharingan could actually kill him, then even if he really died, Hyūga Hiyasu would laugh at him for the rest of his life.
"Insect, are you dead or not? If you're not, make a sound."
He crushed the communication insect.
Then he waited to see which of the insects on his body would die.
After a while, one of the communication insects burst open.
A smile appeared at the corner of Hyūga Hiyasu's lips.
Knew it—you're not that easy to kill.
On the scroll delivered by the communication insect, it read:
"White Eyes freak, if you can't talk properly, shut up. Ryoha is with me—he got set up. As for Uchiha Kamito, not sure. After you finish your business, go look for him. That idiot Hideki's brain short-circuited—the mountain in the Land of Grass is him. See if there's any way to fish him out."
"Now that makes a lot more sense."
Hyūga Hiyasu chuckled.
But when he thought of that idiot Hideki again, his head started to ache.
How the hell am I supposed to get him out?
Shiken should have that idiot's blood, right? First use Edo Tensei, then capture Nagato and use Rinne Rebirth.
That process should work, right?
But that's something for later.
Right now, he needed to head to the Hidden Stone Village and vent some anger.
All four of his friends had suffered setbacks there. If he didn't go reclaim their pride, could he even call himself their brother?
Senju Hideki, Uchiha Kamito, Aburame Shiken, Inuzuka Ryoha: If you're going, just go—don't use us as an excuse. Besides, we each gave the Hidden Stone Village a pretty big "lesson," okay?
...
Hidden Stone Village.
The massive base of the Stone ninja.
A hidden village surrounded by rock on all sides.
At this moment, the entire Hidden Stone Village was gripped by panic.
"What do we do? The Tsuchikage-sama was carried back unconscious!"
"What are we supposed to do? My child—what kind of fate awaits him on the battlefield?"
"My husband… can he still come back?"
"Where's my father? Waaaah, I want my dad!"
"Waaahhh! I want my mom!"
The elderly waited for their sons.
Women waited for their husbands.
Children waited for their parents.
Why was no one waiting for their wives?
If the woman in a marriage was a ninja, then the man was certainly a ninja too—and he would always be placed ahead of her in the combat lineup.
This was the unique kind of tenderness belonging to the men of the Hidden Stone Village.
...
Tsuchikage's office.
Ōnoki sat helplessly in the Tsuchikage's seat.
His expression of helplessness made it seem as though he had returned to over thirty years ago, struggling powerlessly beneath Uchiha Madara's feet.
"How long are you going to keep wallowing like this?"
An elderly man well past seventy, leaning on a cane, kicked open the door to the Tsuchikage's office with all his strength and shouted sternly.
"Sawai."
Ōnoki's gaze shifted slightly.
This was Sawai Narita, the principal of the Stone ninja academy, known as the right hand of the Second Tsuchikage.
"What? The esteemed Third Tsuchikage-sama can't even stand up to greet his former academy teacher anymore?"
"Of course not. Please, sit, sensei."
"Hmph. Don't call me sensei. I don't have a student like you—a Tsuchikage who led the Hidden Stone Village into the abyss and now wants to wash his hands of it."
"I didn't!"
Ōnoki shouted in rebuttal.
What he loved most was the Hidden Stone Village. Ever since his teacher died and his wife passed away, the village had become his everything. How could he have led it into the abyss?
"Twenty thousand Stone ninja—how many of them were fine young men, how many were women who stood shoulder to shoulder with men? In the battle you led, how many of them will return?"
"I…"
"They trusted you, so they followed you into battle. The elders of the village trusted you, so they entrusted their children to you. The children of the village admired you—their parents all marched to war. And now, what exactly are you doing?"
"I…"
"You abandoned the ninja who trusted you on the battlefield. You abandoned the elders' children on the battlefield. You abandoned the children's parents on the battlefield."
Ōnoki was speechless.
Sawai's words were like knives, stabbing into his heart one after another.
"And now you still want to sit here and wallow? You sinner of the Hidden Stone Village!"
Sawai Narita threw away his cane and grabbed Ōnoki by the collar.
"Right now, you are a sinner of the Hidden Stone Village. Even if you restore it to how it was before the war, you're still a sinner. Only if you lead the Hidden Stone Village to stand at the very peak of the ninja world can you be considered to have atoned—only then will you not have failed those who died because of you, understand? Now go and work yourself to death. Until you've atoned, do not rest—and do not die. You have no right to die. Your life doesn't belong to you. Do you understand?!"
Ōnoki held back his tears and shouted:
"I understand!!!"
"Good. I hope I'll live to see the day you finish your atonement."
Sawai Narita released him.
His body staggered.
Ōnoki hurried forward to support him, but Sawai pushed him away, slowly picking up his cane and shuffling toward the door.
That lecture had drained him of a great deal of strength.
"Ōnoki, arrange for the villagers to evacuate. The Hidden Stone Village as it is now—we can't defend it. Wait for the right moment, recover and rebuild. Do you understand?"
"Yes."
After hearing Ōnoki's reply, Sawai Narita slowly walked out.
Looking at the dim sky unique to the Hidden Stone Village, he murmured:
"Mū… let me help your student one more time. He's an excellent Tsuchikage—it's just that fate hasn't favored him."
"Cough, cough…"
Dragging his increasingly heavy body, Sawai Narita left the Tsuchikage's office.
Ōnoki also regained a bit of his spirit.
"Pass down the order: the Hidden Stone Village will begin a full evacuation. We'll relocate to Evacuation Site No. 1 and establish a new Hidden Stone Village there."
"Yes!"
"Recruit a group of retired ninja who cannot or do not wish to evacuate. I will lead them and buy time for the main evacuation force."
"Yes!"
...
Within the Hidden Stone Village, upon receiving the evacuation order, people began packing their belongings.
Take as many valuables as possible.
Heading into an unfamiliar place—who knew what they might lack?
A young girl was packing her things when she saw her elderly father gathering his long-yellowed battle uniform and ninja pouch.
"Father, what are you doing?"
"You should go. I've spent my whole life in this Hidden Stone Village. I can't bear to leave—and I don't want to. The new Hidden Stone Village needs fresh blood. It doesn't need old relics like us anymore."
"Father…"
The girl wanted to persuade him further, but the look in her father's eyes was the brightest and most resolute she had ever seen in her life.
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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