422Disclaimer: I own nothing beyond my questionable life choices. Masashi Kishimoto owns all titles, names, and plots, along with the honor of breaking our hearts and making us ask, why? But hey, it's his mess, I'm just playing in it.
Ashes of the Lost
The blood-red sky bled over Konoha's ruins, dusk choking on smoke that curled from sludge-crusted rubble. Shattered stone and twisted steel lay strewn, a graveyard where the Uzumaki compound and Hokage Tower once stood, now a barren scar under Hedorah's weight. The air reeked of acid and charred flesh, every breath a knife in the lungs.
Naruto slumped in the plaza's heart, his Slicing Tornado fading, its razor winds dissolving into a useless breeze. Hedorah loomed, a writhing kaiju of black sludge, its formless mass pulsing, tendrils coiling toward him like a tide of tar. His beast-form flickered, fur dim, claws blunt, Kurama's chakra a dying ember. The ground burned cold under his sandals, the sludge eating through leather. His eyes, crimson slits, locked on the creature's core, a void that drank the last of his strength. He braced for the end, breath ragged, Hokage Mountain's scarred faces staring down, silent witnesses to his failure.
A glow pierced the haze, its chakra, vibrant, green-gold. Fuu, jinchūriki of the Seven-Tails, dove from the sky, her insect-like wings humming, shimmering with Chōmei's power. Her tan skin gleamed, eyes fierce behind short mint-green hair. She slammed into Naruto, arms and legs wrapping tight around his chest, and yanked him skyward just as a tendril lashed, splattering sludge where he'd knelt. The wind screamed past, her wings a blur, carrying them over Konoha's wreckage, crumbled clan estates, melted market stalls, with white bones dissolving in black mire fading from sight as they entered the clouds.
"You idiot!" Fuu snapped, voice sharp but trembling, her grip bruising. "You don't get to die yet! I want a baby!"
Naruto's head lolled, too weak to reply, his fur receding, human skin pale beneath. Hedorah's pulse thrummed below, a relentless knell, but Fuu's chakra flared brighter, outpacing the sludge's reach; her speed was her savior this day. The ruins shrank, swallowed by forest, oaks closing around them like a shroud.
Deep in the woods, a camp sprawled, tents patched with scavenged cloth, lanterns flickering against the dark. Villagers huddled, faces gaunt, chakra dim from Hedorah's draining influence. Medics darted between cots, bandaging wounds that oozed despite their seals. The air carried whimpers, the stench of blood and fear. Fuu swooped low, landing hard near a central fire, Naruto's weight dragging her down. Dust kicked up, catching the firelight like ash.
Karin spun at the sound, red hair tangled, glasses cracked, Ame cradled in her arms. "Naruto!" she cried, voice breaking, shoving through the crowd. Homura and Akari trailed, eyes wide, flowerless hands clutching her torn dress. Tayuya pushed forward, Shinjiro on her hip, Kureha gripping her leg, while Temari herded Kazuki and the others, their small forms shivering. The thirteen kids froze, hope and dread warring in their stares.
Naruto staggered upright, Fuu's arm steadying him. Karin crashed into him, Ame pressed between, her free hand gripping his torn cloak. "You're alive," she whispered, voice thick, glasses fogging. Homura lunged, wrapping Naruto's leg, Akari piling on, their sobs muffled. Tayuya snorted, but her eyes softened, nudging Kureha closer. Temari's jaw tightened, and Kazuki's serious face was buried in her shoulder. The camp watched, silent, defeat hanging heavier than the smoke. The hero of Konohagakure was alive but defeated.
"We lost it all," Naruto rasped, voice raw, meeting Karin's gaze. "Konoha… It's all gone." His hand ruffled Homura's hair, but his eyes were distant, fixed on the forest's edge where Hedorah's pulse echoed, faint but unyielding. The kids clung tighter, their warmth a fragile anchor, but the camp's despair mirrored his own. Konoha's spark was snuffed out, its people broken.
The next day, under a sky choked with haze, Tsunade stood on a makeshift platform, her blonde hair matted with gore, green jacket shredded. Her voice carried, hoarse from yelling orders, but still strong as iron. "We're not done," she growled, eyes sweeping the camp. "Hedorah's dormant now, not dead. It's consumed all the chakra in and around the village, so we have to assume it will move again. We find its source, or it finds us." Villagers stirred, fear rippling, but her glare silenced them. "Naruto, Sasuke, Karin, Shikamaru, Ino, you are now the TunnelTeam. Move. Find the source of this, Thing."
Naruto nodded as he looked around for his team. Sasuke stood beside him, Sharingan dim, his cloak burned at the edges. Karin adjusted her glasses, her senses sharp despite the healing burns on her arms. Shikamaru's eyes narrowed, calculating, while Ino's blonde hair was streaked with ash, tied back in her high ponytail. Her hands were clenched. She had lost half her people in the day-long battle to save the village. It was time for payback.
They moved quietly, slipping from the camp and weaving through the trees to Konoha's edge, where rubble gave way to silence. There, they paused, staring at the thing that had taken everything. Hedorah stood in the heart of the ruined village, motionless, towering, its blackened mass as tall as a seven-story building, pulsing with a hunger that hadn't faded. The streets were gone, buried in black slime and bones, and where a warehouse once stood, a tunnel mouth gaped like a wound in the earth.
The tunnels stank of rot, thick and wet. Walls wept and hissed where they touched stone, eating shallow grooves into the earth. Smoke clung low, curling like ghost fingers around their sandals, stinging eyes and lungs. Each breath tasted of rust and mildew, and the air carried a sour weight that gnawed at chakra, pulling it thin like sinew stretched over bone.
They moved slowly, deeper with every step, the narrow passage sloping down in jagged intervals. Stone shifted beneath their sandals, slick with old moss and something darker. The silence stretched long between them, broken only by the distant drip of water and the occasional groan of the earth settling under pressure.
Karin led, one hand on the wall, the other raised before her like a guide, chakra sense wide open. Her brows furrowed as the air thickened, a vibration teasing at her bones. "It's down there," she murmured, voice low and certain. Her fingers brushed a section of rock etched in weathered spirals, Uzumaki swirls, faint but still pulsing with a whisper of power. "Our clan… they bound something here, long ago."
They pressed on. The tunnel dipped steeply, the slope giving way to a jagged crevice barely wide enough for them to pass single file. The ceiling dropped until they were crouching, crawling through a passage that felt more like a throat than a corridor, the air humid and rank.
Then the sound came, it was soft at first, then a murmur that sounded like water.
The tunnel opened into a hollow space where a black river moved slowly beneath the stone. A mist hung thick above it, carrying the stench of decay and chakra ozone. The current was sluggish, thick with sediment, but too deep to cross without wading.
They stood at the edge, the water lapping at broken steps, uncertainty pooling at their feet.
"We go through," Karin said, teeth clenched, already stepping in, knowing that if they walked on the water, their use of chakra would call Hedorah down on them. The water rose quickly, ankles, knees, then waist height, icy and biting. Each step was a battle. The river pulled with a silent strength, and more than once, they brushed against something beneath the surface, too smooth, too soft. Not stone.
The far bank loomed ahead, a smear of shadow beyond the river's sluggish flow. Every step through the waist-deep current sent ripples through water that reeked of rot and old blood. But the pulse Karin followed had grown louder, steadier. A deep thrum, like a heartbeat wrapped in iron, chained in the dark.
Whatever the Uzumaki had sealed here had broken free.
Naruto emerged first, water sloughing off his sandals as he stared ahead into the tunnel's widening throat. "I feel something pulling at my chakra," he said, voice tight, gaze flicking toward Sasuke. "It ate everything down here."
Karin said nothing. Her hands moved in a blur, weaving a seal that shimmered faintly before cloaking their chakra signatures. When she spoke, her voice was brittle. "It knows we're close."
They pressed on, their footsteps drowned in silence. The tunnel walls, once marked with faint spirals and binding script, had been scorched blank. As they moved deeper, the air thinned. The stone underfoot grew brittle. Every sound, the scrape of sandals, the hitch in breath, echoed too long, as if the cave itself were hollowed out, leaving a void.
The tunnel opened, wide and sudden, into a cavern vast enough to swallow a fortress.
And at its heart: the root.
Not wood, not flesh, something between. Gnarled and black, slick with sludge, it sprawled like the stump of a tree older than language. Veins bulged along its surface, pulsing with sickly light, drawing power from the stone itself. The chakra in the air thinned further, drained by each pulse until even breath grew shallow.
Just as the scroll had said, World Tree roots radiated outward, webbing across the cavern floor. They twitched, slowly, blindly, their tips trailing sludge that hissed when it touched stone, dissolving it to froth.
The stench was unbearable. Like rotting meat left in the sun. Like metal slag. Like death, and something beneath death.
A sudden lash of movement sent one of the roots surging toward Karin. It brushed her arm before she could fully recoil, dissolving the fabric in an instant and searing the skin beneath. She gasped, staggered back, but kept her footing as steam rose from the blistering wound.
Sasuke stepped in without hesitation. "Chidori!" he shouted. Lightning tore from his palm, a spear of crackling force that ripped clean through the root. The tendril recoiled, blackening at the edges, the severed end writhing before falling still. Across the cavern floor, the pulse stuttered, only for a moment, but it was there.
Karin clutched her arm, her breathing shallow but controlled. "It felt that," she said, voice tight. The blood running down her wrist hissed where it touched the sludge-slick stone.
Shikamaru had already turned toward the blackened root. His eyes narrowed, watching the convulsions fade. "It flinched," he muttered, mostly to himself. "Not just pain. Disruption. Like it didn't know how to react."
Sasuke wiped the sweat from his brow, the glow of his Chidori dimming as the last of the charge faded from his hand. "It worked. Lightning cuts through. But not enough."
Naruto moved to Karin's side, his hand hovering over her shoulder before pulling back. His gaze swept the roots stretching across the cavern floor and along the walls, pulsing faintly with chakra. "Then it bleeds," he said quietly. "It can be hurt."
He looked over at Sasuke, their eyes locking in brief understanding.
Shikamaru crouched near the broken root, careful not to touch it. His fingers hovered over the scorched bark, watching as it twitched once, then lay still. "It's not just lightning," he said, almost absently. "It's precision. The right kind of strike... like cutting a vein. There's something deeper in there, something we have to strike."
Behind them, the cavern groaned again. The roots along the far wall began to twitch in slow unison, as if stirred by the echo of Sasuke's strike. From above, a droplet of sludge fell and hissed on the stone, trailing steam through the air.
Karin exhaled, the pain in her voice subdued but clear. "It's listening now. It knows we are here."
Naruto's reply came low and steady. "Then we give it something to hear."
He began to weave the signs for Rasenshuriken, chakra crackling faintly at his fingertips—until Shikamaru stepped in and caught his wrist.
"Not now," Shikamaru said, his grip firm. "And not here. If whatever you're planning doesn't work, those—" he nodded upward at the snarled web of roots looming overhead—"will come down on us. We have no line of escape."
Karin brushed past them, still cradling her burned arm. "He's right. We don't know enough yet."
She knelt beside one of the twitching fragments Sasuke had severed, her movements precise, clinical. Years spent in Orochimaru's labs had taught her the value of samples. From a pouch at her hip, she withdrew a slender vial and gently coaxed the root tip into its mouth. It writhed once, then stilled.
"We take this to the Hokage," she said, corking the vial. "Let them see what we're dealing with."
No one argued. The cavern seemed to listen, the air thicker than before, each step forward suddenly weighted by breathless silence.
They turned back, retracing their path through the tunnels, their movements quiet, deliberate. The pulse of the cave still throbbed behind them, fading only as the shadows closed and the sickly glow fell away, swallowed once again by the earth.
The camp sprawled under a haze-choked sky, in the oak-shaded gloom. Lanterns flickered, casting jagged shadows over cots where villagers lay, their chakra dim but recovering now that they have moved out of reach of Hedorah. The air reeked of ash, and the faint acid tang of Hedorah's distant pulse, a reminder of Konoha's smoldering grave. Fires crackled, but their warmth couldn't pierce the despair that clung like damp failure.
Naruto stood before Tsunade's command tent, his orange jacket tattered, face streaked with soot. Sasuke leaned nearby, Sharingan dulled, burns scarring his cloak's hem. Karin clutched her blistered arm, glasses glinting, while Shikamaru and Ino flanked her, ash smearing their faces. The Tunnel Team's report hung heavy, their words sharp against the camp's murmurs.
"We found it," Naruto said, voice raw but steady. "A root, part of a tree stump, deep in the caves. It's Hedorah's heart, draining chakra from the earth. Sasuke's Chidori made it flinch, but it's too tight of a space to attack it." His eyes met Tsunade's, Hokage Mountain's face looming in his mind, its stone scarred but unbroken.
Karin stepped forward, her voice tight. "I found some seals down there, they feel like ancient Uzumaki seals, they bound it once, and I think we can do it again. This stump is like a heart chained in the dark, trying to grow. It's after chakra, and it used the village as food; now it's reaching out into the earth. Once it finds the forest, it will start growing again." She lifted the vial, the severed root fragment twitching faintly, its black tip oozing sludge that hissed against glass.
"I can run some tests on this piece, learn how it grows, I know we can find a way to cage it again," she added, the scientific training from years serving under Orochimaru.
Tsunade's jaw tightened as she listened to them report. She leaned on a crate, eyes sweeping the team. "You're saying lightning disrupts it, but Sasuke's not enough." Her voice was iron, hoarse from barking orders. "We need a plan, not a suicide run. Naruto, you go back alone. Find that core, test its weakness. The rest stay—we can't lose you all."
Karin's eyes flashed, glasses fogging with fury. "No way, Hokage-sama!" she snapped, stepping between Naruto and Tsunade. "I'm the only one who can sense it. That pulsing I feel it's tied to our clan's seals. Without me, he's blind down there." Her burned arm trembled, but her stance held, unyielding. "I'm going, or you're sending him to die."
Tsunade's glare softened, just a fraction, but she nodded. "Fine. Naruto, Karin, only you two. Move at dusk tomorrow, if it's a tree of some kind, maybe it's weaker at night. Find the core, confirm lightning's effect, and get out." Her voice cracked, betraying the weight of sending them into Hedorah's maw.
The team dispersed, the firelight from the central camp fading behind them as Naruto made his way toward a smaller, more secluded cluster of tents where his clan had staked their claim. Tayuya, Temari, Karin, and Fuu were already waiting, their silhouettes flickering in the fire's glow. Tayuya's red hair caught the light like flame, her arms crossed, Shinjiro fast asleep against her shoulder. Temari stood with Kazuki clinging to her leg, her teal eyes sharp and unreadable. Fuu leaned back, wings folded neatly, mint-green hair catching sparks of light. Karin stood nearest, Ame's tiny hand tucked into hers.
"You look like shit," Tayuya snapped as Naruto stepped into view. She strode over and peeled off his ruined jacket. "All of you—go clean up. We've got ramen on."
She gave him a nudge toward the makeshift bathhouse cobbled together behind one of the larger trees.
Clean and finally free of the slime and smoke that clung to everything underground, Naruto returned to the fire. The scent of broth and noodles greeted him before the heat did. A large pot of ramen simmered over the flames, steam curling into the night.
Temari passed him a bowl, the warm weight grounding. As he took it with a quiet thanks, his gaze lifted—and there, approaching from the path, were Sasuke and Itachi, their son Katsuro walking between them.
"Mind if we join you?" Itachi asked, her voice calm, her polite bow catching the others off guard.
Naruto grinned and gestured toward the long log beside him. "Sit. Ramen's ready. Food of the gods might just bring you back to life."
Katsuro broke into a grin at the sight of the other children and bolted off without waiting for permission. Kazuki squealed and chased after him, dragging Shinjiro from Tayuya's arms. Even Ame, usually quiet and hesitant, slipped her hand from Karin's and toddled after the group, laughter echoing faintly through the trees.
Naruto exhaled, the tension in his shoulders finally easing as the sounds of play replaced the memory of screaming stone and burning chakra.
Itachi took the seat beside him without a word, settling between him and Sasuke with practiced calm. She sat straight-backed, legs tucked neatly, her cloak falling around her like silk. Sasuke didn't speak either, just passed her a bowl of ramen and claimed the spot at her other side.
Tayuya was the last to sit. Her posture was sharp, her presence deliberate, like a challenge flung into the circle.. She claimed the space on the opposite side of Naruto like a thrown gauntlet, eyes sweeping the circle with unrepentant disdain. Her gaze slid from Itachi to Sasuke and back to Naruto, lips curling into a sneer.
"Well. Aren't we just fucking cozy," she muttered, her voice low and poisonous, loud enough to cut through steam and firelight.
Naruto didn't raise his eyes, but the smirk playing at his mouth answered her well enough.
The air shifted.
From the darkness, Hinata stepped into the light, her robes draped in silks too fine for war or wandering. The fabric shimmered like starlight on water, her movements so smooth it seemed the earth itself yielded to her passage.
"The village may burn," she said, voice calm, radiant with steel beneath silk, "but the clans endure—rooted deep, loyal to those who stood with them in the smoke."
"The clans are strong," Sasuke answered without looking up. "Strong as the blood they protect."
Hinata's gaze sharpened, meeting Itachi's across the fire. "And blood," she said, "is a strength that must be kept clean—or made new."
Neither woman blinked. The silence between them stretched taut as a drawn bowstring.
Tayuya snorted. "Gods, you purebloods love your riddles." She leaned forward, jabbing her chopsticks into the broth with a splash. "Try speaking straight, for once. We're short on time and shorter on patience. You want to fuck, fight, or form a council?"
Naruto coughed into his bowl, hiding another smile. The fire cracked, sparks rising into the night, but no one laughed.
Karin stepped into the firelight, her arm newly bandaged, her gait steady, but lines of worry about the upcoming mission. The light caught the sheen of her red hair, unbound for once, falling in damp waves from the makeshift bathhouse. Her eyes flicked to the circle, absorbing the positions, the silence, the weight in the air. If she'd expected ease, she found none.
"Don't stop on my account," she said, settling beside Tayuya and reaching for a bowl of ramen. "It's not like anything important ever happens when I'm gone."
Itachi's gaze slid to Karin with something close to warmth—or guilt, well-disguised. "On the contrary," she said evenly, "you're the reason we're still playing this game at all."
"Flatter me later," Karin muttered, slurping noodles like she hadn't nearly died that morning. Her eyes didn't leave Itachi.
Hinata turned her head, watching Karin with a curious, quiet intensity. "You're healing well," she said, her voice as delicate as snow, but cold enough to sting. The Iron Fist was holding still.
"I'm stubborn," Karin replied flatly. "And some debts get paid in blood. Or something a close as blood."
Tayuya let out a short bark of a laugh. "Yes," she muttered into her bowl. "Some debts get paid in bed."
Sasuke looked up, the motion sharp. Itachi didn't flinch, but her fingers froze briefly over her own chopsticks. She and Sasuke had an agreement, and she was hoping he wouldn't break it now.
Naruto, still blissfully unaware, glanced around at the sudden tension. "What?" he asked, frowning. "Did I miss something?"
Tayuya smiled, sweet and savage. "Not yet." She was tense, but Naruto didn't notice—his focus was still locked on the bottom of his bowl.
Itachi spoke before the silence could harden. "We were speaking of clan loyalty," she said smoothly, addressing no one and everyone. "Of what is owed. Of what endures."
Sasuke's voice cut in, low and deliberate. "Of alliances made for the sake of the survival of the clan."
Hinata raised a brow. "And who exactly decides what's owed, and what's offered?"
Itachi's eyes stayed on the fire. "The ones willing to pay the price, any price for the clan."
Karin's bowl rested in her lap now, untouched. "And what if the price was paid without the buyer ever knowing?"
Naruto blinked. "We're talking politics now? Or something else?"
The silence thickened.
Fuu, sensing the powder keg about to blow, stood abruptly. "I'm going to check on the kids."
Tayuya smirked. "Good idea. They should enjoy their innocence while it lasts."
Naruto looked around again, wary now. "Seriously, what the hell are we talking about?"
Itachi finally met his gaze, her expression unreadable. "The future," she said, her voice a whisper shaped like a blade. "And how far one is willing to go to preserve it."
"And what some people are willing to give up for that future," said Sasuke, the chopsticks breaking in his hand as he tossed them into the fire.
Tayuya tilted her head, her voice deceptively light. "And how far one's willing to let someone else go... in their name."
Karin said nothing. She didn't need to. The silence between them carried the weight of the deal, her sanity restored, that price already paid, and no way to undo what had been set in motion.
The fire crackled low, slow, and hungry, its smoke thick with secrets. Naruto stirred his bowl, wondering if he could ask for more.
"There is a time and place for such things," Hinata said, gliding forward with quiet grace. She handed him a fresh bowl as if she'd read his thoughts, and his grin was all the reward she needed.
"The time is now," Itachi countered, looking up at her, his gaze steady as steel. Hinata stood her ground, her presence like a wall of silk shielding Naruto from words he had no business hearing.
Her eyes flared, the Byakugan glowing faintly as she stared into Itachi, as though searching for the soul behind the mask.
"No," Hinata said at last, her voice final, echoing like judgment. "Now is not the time. The world may be crumbling, but it is not your time to create new life."
"You and your cursed eyes," Itachi muttered, already knowing Hinata was right. The cycle had not aligned; this wasn't the moment for conception.
"My eyes are not cursed, not like yours," Hinata replied, her tone cool. "But I feel your longing all the same." With a subtle swirl of silk, she turned and walked around the firepit, casting a brief glance at Tayuya, a look that spoke volumes.
Naruto slurped his noodles loudly, breaking the tension like a blade to thread. "I think you're all talking crazy tonight," he said. "Teme, you gotta teach me a lightning jutsu. Let's go train."
He handed his empty bowl to Tayuya, then grabbed Sasuke by the sleeve and dragged him into the darkness beyond the firelight.
Tayuya looked over at Itachi now that Naruto was no longer between them, "NOW, you fucking choose now to make a move. Are you fucking crazy"
"My sanity was never in question," said Itachi as she looked over at Karin, whose back stiffened.
"Listen here and listen good—that man is mine," Tayuya said, rising to her full height. She stepped forward until she loomed over Itachi, daring her to meet her eyes with the Sharingan.
"A deal is a deal," Itachi replied coolly, unflinching. "You believe in clan honor, do you not?"
"Enough!" Karin shouted, leaping to her feet. Her voice rang out like a whipcrack, slicing through the rising tension. "I might live or die tomorrow, but I won't spend what could be my last night watching you crawl into my husband's bed." She spun on her heel, red hair flaring behind her as she stormed off into the shadows, her breath shaking. She needed space, needed to find the children, anything to pull her from the edge.
"If we survive this," Hinata said, her tone calm but edged in iron, "and if the stars align as they must, then the deal will be honored." She moved around the fire and sat beside Tayuya, gently placing a hand on the redhead's shoulder, steadying her without softening. "Clan duty will be done. But tell me this—have you found suitable women for your husband to bed?"
Her words landed like a knife between her ribs. Itachi turned her head slowly, pain flickering behind her eyes. Yes, she would find them. She had to. The Uchiha needed children if the clan was to survive, even if it tore her apart.
"I don't know how you do it," Sasuke said as they walked side by side beneath the moonlit canopy, the scent of ash and distant smoke clinging to the breeze. Hours had passed since their last jutsu crackled between their hands, training had been long and hard, but tension still clung to Sasuke's voice like static.
"It's simple, really," Naruto replied, rolling his shoulders as he stretched his fingers. "You start with a water balloon. It helps get the feel for—"
"No, dobe," Sasuke interrupted, shooting him a sidelong glance. "I mean the wives. How do you keep them from killing you—or each other?"
Naruto chuckled, rubbing the back of his head as they stepped over a warped root rising from the earth like a scar. "Oh. That." He grinned, not breaking stride. "That's even simpler. I don't do anything. They just… work it all out."
The forest thickened around them, its oaks warped and blackened from Hedorah's corruption. Roots curled through the soil like claws, and a faint sour pulse trembled beneath their sandals with every step. Somewhere behind them, the broken bones of Konoha smoldered quietly, the ruins too far to see but close enough to haunt.
"You know," Naruto added, tone lighter, "missions help. Rotate time. One or two at a time—it's easier that way."
His laughter was genuine, even if his eyes flickered toward the horizon where the camp's glow painted the night in scattered halos. Lanterns burned dim against the dark, flickering low as if afraid to challenge the weight pressing down on the earth. Children's voices carried softly through the trees, laughter mixing with the rustle of sandals and the clink of tools. Somewhere nearby, medics worked, and chakra seals pulsed faint and steady along the camp's boundary—Karin's work, layered and knotted like breath in a chest too tight.
Tayuya's voice rang out through the dark, cutting clean. Orders, sharp and unrelenting, followed by the scatter of feet. She was drilling the younger ones again. Its rhythm was as comfortable as it was commanding.
Sasuke snorted, the sound barely audible before he slipped into shadow.
Naruto's smile lingered as he walked toward camp, though it thinned when he caught the stench rising on the air—sour and familiar, laced with the memory of what still festered beneath the village's shattered stone.
From the edge of the firelight, Tayuya stepped into view. Her red hair caught the glow, wild and unmistakable, her shoulders squared like she was holding up the sky. She stopped in front of him without ceremony.
"You're late," Tayuya said, her voice cool but not sharp, her eyes watching him closely.
Before Naruto could answer, she caught the collar of his tunic and pulled him forward. Her fingers didn't shake, her grip steady and sure, not angry, not rough. Her mouth curved, not quite a smile, not quite a threat.
"You stink," she muttered, giving him a look. "Like Sasuke."
The name sounded like a curse on her lips, something dry and pointed, the kind of jab she knew would land but never wound.
Naruto didn't push back. He let her lead him, her hand still twisted in his shirt as they moved toward the bathhouse tent, its canvas glowing faintly from the lanterns inside. Her silence wasn't cold. It lingered between them, humming with something unfinished.
Around them, the trees loomed quiet, branches heavy with ash, the air too still to be natural. Behind them, firelight flickered, low and patient, waiting for what neither of them wanted to say first.
Naruto stepped from the bathhouse tent, steam rising off his skin, a towel knotted low around his hips. The camp's lanterns flickered, weak against the blackened oaks. Konoha's ruins haunted the distance, a smoldering wound. He crossed to their tent, sandals silent, and slipped inside, the canvas flap sealing them in a dim lantern glow.
Tayuya waited under the covers, alone, red hair spilling like blood across the pillow. Her eyes raked him, hungry, as he dropped the towel, baring taut muscle slick with bathwater. He crawled into bed, and she slid over, her naked body pressing hot against his, breasts soft, thighs slick with want—a raw reminder of the clan he fought for.
"Where's Karin?" he asked, voice rough, hand on her hip.
"With the kids," Tayuya mumbled, lips grazing his jaw, tongue wet and teasing.
Her nails scraped his chest, leaving red streaks, and she straddled him, grinding her dripping heat against his hardening length, coating him in her slickness. She bit his lip, blood and spit mingling in a messy kiss, tongue thrusting deep. "Fuck me," she hissed, guiding him inside her.
Tayuya rode him hard, hips slamming down, wet slaps echoing as she clenched around him. Naruto growled, hands clawing her ass, but she grabbed his wrists, pinning them above his head. "My turn," she snarled, breasts bouncing, sweat gleaming. She leaned down, forcing his mouth to her nipple, gasping as he sucked hard, teeth grazing. Her hips moved wildly, she was slick with her juices, pooling around them, the bed creaking.
Naruto surged up, rolling her beneath him, pinning her wrists. He pounded into her, relentless, her wild scream tearing through the tent. Her nails raked his back, legs locking tightly around him, her inner walls pulsing. "You come back," she gasped, eyes fierce, as her climax rose.
"Always," he grunted, squeezing her breast, thrusting deeper. They shattered together, her scream of release blending with his roar, cum and slick soaking the sheets.
Tayuya collapsed, panting, hair plastered to her face. "Don't you dare die, dumbass," she growled, shoving his chest, tears hidden as she turned away.
The next morning, at the camp's edge, Naruto and Karin stood side by side, packs slung over their shoulders, the forest's ash-heavy air stinging their lungs. Konoha's ruins smoldered in the distance, the faint stench of acid sludge curling through the trees. Tayuya moved first, crushing Naruto in a fierce hug, her lips brushing his jaw, possessive and hot. "Don't you dare die, dumbass," she growled, voice thick, shoving his chest. "I'm not dealing with those bitches alone." Her eyes glistened, but she turned, cursing under her breath.
Temari stepped forward, gripping Naruto's arm, her fan scarred from battle. "You come back, Naruto. I'm not done with you yet." Her voice was steady, but her nails dug in, a hungry glint in her eyes. She leaned close, breath warm against his cheek, then glanced at Karin, a silent nod of trust before stepping back.
Fuu punched Naruto's shoulder, wings twitching, tan skin flushed. "No hero crap, okay? Live." Her voice cracked, eyes fierce, holding his gaze too long. She smirked, hips cocking, a teasing challenge, then flicked her eyes to Karin, blowing a playful kiss before retreating.
Karin adjusted her glasses, burns stinging, her hand brushing Naruto's. She said nothing, but her fingers lingered, a fierce claim, her warmth a vow as they faced the mission together.
As Naruto and Karin turned, Itachi and Sasuke emerged from the shadows. Itachi's eyes softened, her Uchiha cloak torn but proud. "Stay sharp, Naruto," she said, voice calm but heavy. "Konoha's not lost while you fight." She squeezed his shoulder, a rare gesture, then vanished into the camp.
Sasuke lingered, Sharingan flickering. "Good luck, dobe," he muttered, a smirk hiding worry. "Don't make me save you again." He clapped Naruto's back, then turned, his silhouette fading toward the oaks.
Naruto and Karin stood alone, the camp's fires dimming. The stench crept through the forest, a grim reminder of Konoha's ruins. The weight of war settled on their shoulders—death loomed, but defiance burned brighter. They nodded, silent, and turned toward the tunnels' promise, ready to face the void.
Under a moonless sky, Naruto and Karin slipped from the camp, weaving through blackened trees to Konoha's edge, a 30-minute trek through ash-choked silence. The roots of the world tree Hedorah had found the edges of the forest and were slowly draining the land dry of chakra.. The ruins sprawled before them, a jagged wound where the Uzumaki compound's steel had melted into twisted husks, the river a dry.
They paused, staring at Hedorah's blackened mass, towering seven stories in the village's heart, its hunger a weight that crushed the air. The streets were gone, buried in sludge and bone, and a tunnel mouth gaped like a wound in the earth where a warehouse once stood. The night air bit their lungs, heavy with a metallic stench that clung like damp ash, Hedorah's presence thinning their chakra like breath in a sealed crypt. Naruto's torn jacket flapped, blue eyes sharp, while Karin adjusted her cracked glasses, burns stinging her arms, and she decided to wear her frayed blue dress, a ghost of the clan's lost home.
"It's weaker now, right?" Karin whispered, hand brushing Naruto's arm, a fleeting warmth. "No sun, no strength for that thing." Her red hair caught starlight, a defiant spark, but her senses strained, the oppression like a fist on her chest.
Naruto nodded, jaw tight. "That's the plan. Hit it hard before dawn." His chakra flickered, a spark in a void, Hedorah's weight like chains on his bones. Natural chakra stirred, a sage's gift from Jiraiya, laced with Orochimaru's forbidden seals, crackling faintly in his veins. "We find it, we kill it."
The 30-minute trek led them through ash-choked pines, the forest's silence broken by crunching leaves, Konoha's ruins looming closer. They descended a crumbling slope, earth giving way to a tunnel mouth yawning beneath a shattered oak, stone edges slick with a crystalline sheen that drank the night's faint glow. The air within was colder, denser, as if Hedorah exhaled its hunger, pressing their chakra until each step felt like wading through stone. Karin's seals glowed briefly, a red flicker on her wrist, checking for chakra leaks. "Clear," she said, voice trembling, the weight squeezing her lungs.
Naruto led, his shadow swallowed by the tunnel's throat, walls glistening with a hard, unnatural luster, not slime but a new crystalline film that seemed to watch them. The passage twisted downward, a vein beneath Konoha's corpse, air so thick breathing burned, Hedorah's oppression a relentless tide against their chakra. Karin followed, fingers grazing the wall, senses probing. "This is new," she murmured, tracing a seam where stone met crystal, cold as a predator's hide, unyielding under her touch.
The tunnel opened to a cavern where the river once roared, now a cracked trench littered with warped steel from the Hyūga warehouses that had once been on the riverfront, melted into grotesque shapes like frozen agony. The underground riverbed stretched into darkness, acid stench choking the air, and Naruto's chest tightened, this had been only a short walk from his children's home.
Karin's hand found his, seeing the fear in his eyes, her grip fierce despite her own worries. "They're safe with Tayuya now." Her voice held a mother's edge, clarity won through blood and screams in the ritual that broke her madness. "We end this for them." Her fingers lingered, a vow binding them to the clan.
They crossed the dry riverbed, boots crunching on cracked earth, the cavern narrowing into another tunnel, walls tighter, crystalline film thicker, glowing with a sickly green that throbbed without rhythm, a heartbeat with no life. Hedorah's weight crushed harder, forcing Naruto to brace against the wall, breath shallow, chakra flickering like a dying flame. "It's fighting us," he growled, natural chakra flaring, gold flecks in his eyes as sage energy pushed back the oppression. Karin stumbled, glasses fogging, her chakra a faint ember, but she steadied herself, nails biting her palm.
"It knows we're coming," she said, voice strained, senses locked on the glow ahead. "It's not hiding—it's waiting." Her words echoed, the tunnel's silence a predator's pause, air humming with unspoken hunger.
The passage widened into a cathedral-like cavern, ceiling lost in shadow, floor a mosaic of shattered stone and twisted metal from Konoha's ruins. At its center loomed Hedorah's core, a building-sized orb of blackened crystal, not slime but a grotesque mass shimmering with a sickly green glow, alive, expectant. It sat encased in a translucent shell, hard as diamond, veined with faint cracks that pulsed with stolen chakra, a fortress of hunger that devoured the air. The oppression spiked, a crushing wave driving Karin to her knees, gasping, glasses slipping as she clutched her chest.
"Naruto, look," she panted, pointing, senses piercing despite the strain. "That shell, it's shielding it. Not chakra, not natural. It's… something else, feeding off Konoha's stolen lives." Her voice broke, horror rising as the core's glow sharpened, rippling as if it saw them, its weight like a mountain on their chakra.
Naruto staggered forward, claws flexing, beast-form from the battle flickering, faint fur under a red-orange chakra cloak, Kurama's rumble in his core. "Shell or not, it's going down," he growled, voice raw. He raised both hands, natural chakra coiling, lightning crackling blue-white, a new jutsu born of sage precision and Orochimaru's seals with Sasuke's teaching on how to turn raw untamed chakra into its purest form. "Lightning Tempest Strike!" he roared, the cavern flashing as bolts erupted, jagged and wild, fueled by the fox's rage and the remaining natural chakra in the very earth, all aimed at the core's heart.
The lightning struck the shell, sparks exploding, cracks glowing white-hot, but the shell held, as the bolt jumped around its surface, rippling faster, glow now a blinding emerald.
Hedorah's weight slammed harder, Naruto's knees buckling, chakra draining like blood from a wound. Karin crawled forward, senses screaming, the core's hunger a void pulling at her soul.
"It's eating the jutsu!" she shouted, voice hoarse, glasses fogged. "The shell—it's turning your chakra against us!"
Naruto snarled, claws sinking into the ground, natural chakra surging again, lightning flaring brighter, bolts lancing the shell's cracks. The cavern shook, stone dust raining, but the shell pulsed, unyielding, its glow a taunt, as if Hedorah mocked their defiance. The oppression crushed tighter, Karin's breath hitching, her chakra a faint spark, yet she forced herself up, hand gripping Naruto's arm, the raw chakra burning her hands raw, but her eyes fierce.
"We're not enough," she gasped, horror choking her, the core's glow filling the cavern, its weight like a god's wrath on their chakra. "Your chakra control it's not keeping the lightning focused. It's too strong, hitting it like this." Her fingers dug into him, a desperate anchor
"We need something more focused to burn a hole in the shell." Her words were a scream against the sounds echoing off the cave walls
Naruto's eyes blazed, Kurama's growl rising, but his chakra wavered, lightning fading, shell unscathed but covered in a network of burns none deep enough to crack the shell.
"Damn it," he spat, fist slamming the ground, cracks spidering under his claws. Hedorah's core's glow pulsed, a silent challenge, its hunger vast, unbroken, waiting for their next move.
They staggered back, cavern air suffocating, Hedorah's weight pushed down on them from above. Karin's hand stayed on Naruto's, her touch a vow amidst horror, their clan's future hanging in the dark. The core watched, glowing, its shell a fortress his lightning couldn't pierce, and the night stretched on, Konoha's ruins silent above, the fight far from over.
Karin's voice cut through the cavern's suffocating air, her yell sharp enough to snap Naruto from the haze gripping his mind. "We return to camp, let them know what happened, we have to leave now!" She shook him, fingers digging into his arm, burns stinging her skin, her cracked glasses glinting in the core's sickly green glow. Hedorah's weight pressed harder, a relentless tide squeezing their chakra, as if the core mocked their retreat, its burned but uncracked shell a taunt in the dark.
Naruto's eyes, still blazing with Kurama's fire, dimmed, his breath ragged. "Yeah… you're right," he muttered, voice hoarse, claws retracting as he staggered to his feet. The cavern trembled faintly, Hedorah's hunger a living void, its glow pulsing behind them. Karin's hand stayed on his, her touch fierce, a vow anchoring them to the clan's future—Ame's laughter, Kureha's lost doll, Homura's tiny hand. They turned, the tunnel mouth yawning ahead, and stumbled into its crystalline throat, the air cold, heavy, each step a battle against the weight crushing their bones.
The tunnel twisted upward, walls glistening with that unnatural sheen, not slime but a hard, predatory luster that drank the night's faint starlight filtering from above. The 30-minute trek back felt endless, Hedorah's oppression clinging like damp ash, the metallic stench of Konoha's ruins choking their lungs. Naruto led, his torn cloak flapping, blue eyes scanning the passage, while Karin followed, her senses strained, glasses fogging as she probed for threats. The weight eased slightly as they climbed, but their chakra flickered, embers in a storm, the core's hunger still clawing at their souls.
They emerged where a warehouse once stood, the tunnel mouth a wound in Konoha's edge, rubble and bone scattered underfoot. Hedorah loomed in the distance, a seven-story shadow in the village's heart, its hunger a silent roar beneath the moonless sky. The ruins stretched silently, streets buried in black slime, the riverbed a dry scar nearby where they'd fled with the kids across the riverbank to the forest. Naruto's chest tightened, Tayuya's curse echoing in his mind, Temari's scarred fan, Fuu's teasing kiss. "We gotta tell them," he said, voice low, wiping sweat from his brow. "That thing's stronger than we thought."
Karin nodded, her hand brushing his, a fleeting warmth in the cold. "We'll figure it out. Together." Her red hair caught starlight, a defiant spark, but her burns ached, her clarity hard-won from the ritual's blood and screams. They moved north, weaving through blackened pines, the camp's faint fires flickering a half-mile off. The forest's silence pressed, broken only by crunching leaves, the air thick with Hedorah's lingering weight, as if it watched from the ruins. Each step drained them, their chakra thin, but Karin's touch kept Naruto grounded, her fingers a silent promise of the clan's survival.
Late at night, the camp's edge came into view, a cluster of tents and dying fires nestled among oaks, the Uzumaki clan's refuge. At the perimeter, silhouetted against the glow, stood Tsunade, the Hokage, her blonde hair loose, green coat torn but regal, her presence a beacon in the dark. Beside her waited the main clan heads, their faces grim under the starlight. No ANBU flanked them, no guards, just the weight of their gaze, a council forged in Konoha's ashes.
Naruto and Karin slowed, their breaths shallow, Hedorah's oppression lingering like a bruise on their chakra. Tsunade stepped forward, her amber eyes sharp, scanning their battered forms—Naruto's torn cloak, Karin's burned arms, her frayed dress. The clan heads remained silent, their presence a wall, but only Tsunade spoke, her voice low, carrying the authority of a village lost.
"You're back," she said, folding her arms, her tone steady but edged with urgency. "I don't need details now. The fact that Hedorah's still standing means it's still alive." Her gaze flicked to the ruins, where Hedorah's shadow loomed, then back to them. "You fought. You survived. That's enough for tonight." She paused, eyes softening, a flicker of the healer beneath the leader. "We'll plan at dawn, every option, jutsu, and life we've left. But now, you sleep. No arguments."
Naruto opened his mouth, Kurama's growl faint in his throat, but Tsunade's stare silenced him, her authority unyielding. Karin's hand tightened on his arm, her touch a quiet agreement, her burns a reminder of their limits. The clan heads watched, faces unreadable, but their silence held a grim respect, their clans' survival tied to this fight. Hiashi's eyes narrowed, Shikaku's jaw twitched, but none spoke; Tsunade's word was final.
"Go," Tsunade said, pointing to the camp's heart, where tents glowed faintly, Tayuya's sharp voice distant, barking at a sentry. "Rest. We need you sharp." Her voice softened, almost a whisper. "You're carrying more than your own lives now."
Naruto nodded, jaw tight, his blue eyes dim but unbowed. Karin's fingers lingered on his arm, her clarity a spark in the dark, memories of Ame and Kureha driving her. They moved past Tsunade, the clan heads parting silently, their shadows long in the firelight. The camp swallowed them, tents and murmurs closing in, the weight of Hedorah's hunger fading but never gone. Naruto's steps slowed, Karin's hand steadying him, her touch a vow they'd fight again. Tsunade watched them go, her face unreadable, then turned to the clan heads, her silhouette fading as the scene ended, the night heavy with the war yet to come.
Dawn slipped into the tent, a soft gray light filtering through the canvas flaps, casting shadows over the tangled sheets on the makeshift bed. Naruto sprawled naked, his broad chest rising slowly, exhaustion from last night's trek etched in his relaxed features, golden hair mussed against the pillow. The camp stirred faintly outside to the sounds of Tayuya's sharp curses cutting through the morning as she wandered around the camp checking the sentries as they replied, but inside, the air was warm, heavy with the scent of Karin's needs.
Karin stirred beside him, her bare skin flushed under the sheets, red hair spilling over her shoulders like molten fire, catching the dawn's glow. Her curves are a soft contrast to the hard lines of their life, her amber eyes fixed on Naruto, her husband, her everything. As the Uzumaki clan moves ahead, she'd fight for their place, maneuver the village's clans, and stand equal with Tayuya, but here, now, it was just him. Her love burned possessively, a need to claim him, to feel his strength above her, to prove she was his in every way. Her past's shadows, of pain, loneliness, and rejection all faded in his warmth, and she'd be damned if she let this moment slip.
Karin slid closer, her soft curves brushing the sheet aside, red hair spilling over Naruto's stomach like fire in the dawn's faint glow. She hovered over Naruto, sprawled asleep on the bed, his broad chest bare, golden hair mussed. Her amber eyes burned, fixed on her husband, her love, her everything. A possessive flame burned in her, lighting a fire in her core, as her thighs got slick, she moved without a word, leaning down, lips parting, sucking his simihard member into her mouth, warm and soft, her tongue teasing slowly and deliberately testing to see how far she could go before awaking him. Naruto stirred, a low groan rumbling, his member hardening under her gentle sucking as her rhythm increased, each motion making him harder.
His eyes fluttered open, blue and hazy, locking onto the top of her head as she moved, a sharp hiss escaping his lips. "Fuck, Karin…" he rasped, voice thick, fingers tangling in her hair pushing her down, hard as her lips worked, sucking deeper into her throat, her red eyes gazed over. She smirked around him, love poured into every stroke as she took his full length down deep, doing her best not to choke.
His head slammed back, a low moan escaping, hands gripping her hair tighter, urging her on. Karin took him deeper, her pace quickening, each stroke a vow, her love a fire that fueled her. She savored his taste, his heat, the way his breath came in gasps, proving she could unravel him, that he needed her as much as she craved him. Her free hand traced his thigh, nails digging lightly, grounding her in this moment where she was everything to him.
Naruto's moans turned ragged, hips bucking, her name a growl. "Karin… fuck!" His release surged, hot and messy, flooding her mouth, spilling over her lips, dripping down her chin and chest. The force shocked her, eyes widening, throat catching as she swallowed hard, the excess slicking her skin. She pulled back, gasping, amber eyes blazing, one last blast hit her in the face as she wiped her chin, his taste lingering, their bond sealed in the wet heat of dawn.
She pulled back, seeing he was hard and ready for more as she climbed over him, straddling his hips, her thighs framing him, her wetness brushing his length. "You're mine, now," she whispered, voice raw, knowing that Tayuya would claim him if she were there, she guiding him inside her with a slow, deliberate roll, gasping as he filled her.
"What the fuck, have you gotten bigger," she groaned out as he hit the back of her womb. Naruto's hands gripped her hips, fingers flexing, his growl primal as she moved, each thrust a dance of heat and need. Karin's nails raked his chest, her moans soft but fierce, her body claiming him.
Naruto surged up, flipping Karin beneath him, his strength a gentle storm, blue eyes locked on her amber gaze. "Ya, you can say that," he growled, thrusting deep, their rhythm frantic, a clash of sweat and need. Karin's legs hooked around him, pulling him tighter, her slick thighs slipping against his hips, her cries muffled against his neck, heat pouring from her core. The tent vanished, their world only skin, slick with sweat, her body arching, chasing release in the wet grind of their flesh.
They crashed over the edge, Karin's cry sharp, Naruto's groan raw, their bodies shaking as he spilled inside her, hot and thick, flooding her, dripping down her thighs in a messy rush. Her gasp caught, overwhelmed by the slick torrent, her core clenching, soaking them both. She clung to him, lips grazing his ear, voice a fierce whisper. "Don't ever leave me." Her need bared, heart naked as her body. Naruto kissed her, slow and deep, hand cupping her face. "Never," he murmured, their bond a fire to carry into the day.
They collapsed, tangled in sheets, dawn's light brighter, painting Karin's skin gold. Tayuya's voice drifted closer, her sharp edge a reminder of their shared strength, the other wives waiting in the camp. Karin's fingers traced Naruto's chest, her smirk soft, her love a blade honed for whatever came next. They rose, her hand brushing his, the morning theirs, if only for now.
The tent flap rustled, and Karin glanced up, catching Tayuya's fierce glare. "What the fuck, couldn't wait five minutes for me?" Tayuya growled, unfastening her robe's belt, fabric slipping. "My turn next," she demanded, kicking Karin out of the way with a smirk, her eyes blazing with hunger for Naruto.
The Hokage's tent steamed in the oppressive afternoon heat, the heavy canvas barely holding back the dust-scented wind. Inside, the air was thicker still, choked with sweat, silence, and expectation. At the heart of it all stood a war table, oak, ancient and scarred, dragged out of the village in the dark of night, its surface gouged by the blades of a dozen failed missions. Around it, Konoha's surviving heirs gathered, each bearing the weight of a shattered world.
Shikamaru Nara leaned on one elbow, eyes distant but razor-sharp, his mind already five moves ahead. Ino Yamanaka stood across from him, her arms folded, mouth drawn tight, hair pulled back with surgical precision, the hive mind of the Yamanaka buzzing with plans of revenge. Chōji Akimichi, his mighty bulk resting heavy in a reinforced chair, his warrior spirit hardened by the battles at the walls of Kirigakure, watched with solemn gravity. Hinata Hyūga, the Iron Fist of her clan, her gaze pierced the tent's dimness, her Byakugan scanning the tent for weakness, as if seeing the souls of those around her.
Kiba Inuzuka, looking more beast than man, scratched idly behind his ninken's ears, both showing their fangs, waiting for the order to attack. Shino Aburame's hive of insects hummed faintly beneath his cloak, each wingbeat a subtle warning, logic demanded action, and his clan was creating insects to consume the world tree. Sasuke Uchiha lounged back in his chair, Sharingan cold, his blade's edge a silent vow. Itachi stood at his back in the shadows, eyes unreadable, her sacrifice fueling the clan's honor.
A dozen other clan heads stood along the edge, each a member of the lesser clans but all willing to fight, to die for their village. The old battles for political power were gone with the village; now all shared a single mind. Hedorah and its source, the world tree, must die.
Tsunade stood at the head of the table. Her Hokage robes hung open, stained with the blood of the wounded she had healed and the dust of a village now lost. Her hands rested flat on the wood, her knuckles white. The eyes she cast over the table bore no kindness, only the iron clarity of someone who had buried too many of her own.
When the flap rustled, none turned, but all felt the shift. Naruto stepped through, his jacket torn, streaked with dried slime of his last defeat and chakra ash from the world tree's roots. He was not alone. Karin followed at his side, red hair unbound and wild, dressed for combat. Tayuya came next, matching Karin's readiness for battle, eyes sharp with the hidden knowledge of a thousand missions all ending in her enemies' deaths. Close behind came Temari, her fan strapped tight to her back, its lacquered surface scorched and stained by Hedorah's slime. Fuu brought up the rear, silent for once, her wings folded, face unreadable, she shared a look with Shino that spoke of a deep understanding of what was to come. The hive, no, her hive that once was the village, was gone, and she would strike back with all her might.
The clan heads adjusted subtly as they took their places. Karin sat at Naruto's right, her fingers brushing his once, just once, before resting on the table's edge, Tayuya to his left, and the others stood as if to guard his back. Tsunade met Karin's gaze and gave a nod that passed for an invitation.
"Speak," she said. "What did you find?"
Karin's voice came low, deliberate. "We found seals along the deep cave walls. They are Uzumaki seals, shattered and broken. Not cracked as I had thought."
"What were they containing?" asked Ino, looking from Karin to Naruto for any sign of hope.
"They weren't just containment seals, they were siphon seals. Feeding off the core beneath the village, drawing out its chakra. It's a piece of the world tree, if we are to believe the scrolls you found. The founders knew, they must have known what was here. They built the village on top of that thing; that's why the clans grew strong here. The land the village sits on was full of chakra from that horror."
No one moved. Dust floated, lit by a shaft of sun that crept through the seams in the canvas. Shikamaru was the first to respond, his voice flat. "So all our power came from something we never suspected, and now it's feeding Hedorah."
"It's not just feeding it," Ino said, her tone bitter. "It's growing stronger. We saw the tunnels. That chakra is alive and reaching for more."
Hinata's voice, soft but certain, cut the murmuring that had begun, no one dared speak when the Iron Fist stood. "The seals failed us, I have seen Hedorah moving underground into the forest sucking the trees dry of chakra, of live. What's loose now can't be bound again. Not as it was."
The following silence was broken by Kiba's growl low in his throat. "Then we don't bind it. We kill it."
Karin shook her head. "We tried. Amaterasu Fire, cutting winds, water—it absorbs everything. But lightning made it flinch. Only lightning." Reaching over, she squeezed Naruto's hand before she continued, "Naruto's chakra control wasn't able to focus the lightning to do more than wound it."
Silence gripped the tent once more, not peace, but gathering thunder. Only Shikamaru remained composed, eyes narrowed, plotting the next move. Outside, a clamor of voices swelled—a crowd rising, their shouts surging into a wave of unrest. The canvas walls trembled. All in the war council braced as the tension broke.
A figure yanked the tent flap aside as Raikage stormed in, massive and imposing, shoulders wide enough to fill the doorway. Sweat gleamed on his dark skin, lightning arcing faintly along his arms even at rest. His eyes burned with an old and righteous fury. Raikage A entered like a weapon unsheathed.
Behind him strode Killer B, silent but watchful, and Yugito Nii, her blonde hair catching firelight. Sharp shouts of ANBU echoed outside, their voices firm, calming the crowd.
Tsunade turned slightly, hairs on her arms rising, sensing a shift. She hadn't heard him approach, but Jiraiya stood beside her, quiet, solid, as if always there.
Scanning the tents, the Raikage spotted Naruto as the Jinchūriki of the Nine-Tail stood to face him, locking eyes he nodded a hint of a bow.
"You killed Pain," he said, speaking only to Naruto. "I owe you for that, my village owes you that. And I pay my debts."
His fist struck his chest, and the air seemed to tremble. "I have come with all the forces we can spare. B and Yugito will join you, and my lightning is unmatched. Tell me the plan, and we will kill this thing."
Tsunade's voice stayed cool, though her gaze sharpened. "Hedorah is the creature I am sure you found at the center of the village remains, but its core is beneath the ruins. A piece of the world tree, if the scrolls are to be believed, and it shrugs off everything we've thrown at it."
Karin stood meeting the Kage's eyes with her own inner defiance, "Its only weakness is lightning, but it needs to be focused to cut through a protective shell it reach the core."
The Raikage smiled, but there was no joy in it. "Then I'll break it open and burn it to dust."
Naruto added. "It's not just the core. The body, Hedorah, it's seven stories tall. We strike both, or we all die."
Karin's hand tightened on his. "We go at dawn, when it's weakest," she said. "Hedorah's body is just sludge fed by the world tree's core, it is the crystal heart we need to cage."
Tsunade nodded once, sharp and final. "Naruto, Fuu, Yugito Nii, Killer B—you'll hold the beast. Raikage, I'll go with you. We drive for the core. The clans, yours and ours, form the line. Nothing gets past. If it does, the villagers die."
Shikamaru let out a slow breath, rubbing the back of his neck before rising to his feet. "This is troublesome. The World Tree can't be killed—not really. It can bleed, weaken, but not death? That would be like killing a god. It has to be caged. And it was. Once. Uzushiogakure's old masters sealed it beneath our village. We can learn from their failure."
Jiraiya stepped forward, his usual mirth gone, eyes dark with memory. "A seal like that would take days to weave. Days we don't have."
"Not days," Karin said, her voice steady, her posture straight. "Hours. I've studied the old texts. I know what my clan knew. With Kagura no Shingan, my inner eye saw the masterwork etched into the bones of the tunnels. I understand it. I can rebuild it even stronger. But I'll need your help, Master Jiraiya."
She didn't flinch beneath his stare, and after a beat, Jiraiya gave a slow nod. "Then we begin at once."
Raikage A brought his fist to the table with a spark, and a line of lightning danced across the wood. "Then we fight at dawn. Kumo stands with Konoha."
Tsunade stepped back. "Work quickly," she said, looking at her old teammate. "Because tomorrow, none of us may live to see the next dawn if you fail."
They all rose slowly, the room clearing like the eye of a storm passing. Naruto's wives gathered behind him, shadows cast long in the tent's failing light. Karin paused, her hand still in his, her eyes heavy with what she would not say. The war table remained, and at its center, a map marked their last stand.
Outside, the wind shifted. Ash rose from the village ruins. And far below, something pulsed, waiting.