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Chapter 205 The Legacy, the Mystery and the Tragedy!
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As night rolled around, Naruto sat silently near the campfire, the flames casting soft shadows across his face as they danced against the growing darkness. The crackle of burning wood filled the quiet, broken only by the occasional chirp of night insects or the distant rush of waves against the shoreline.
But Naruto barely heard it amidst his thoughts.
Minato Namikaze… the Fourth Hokage… might be my father.
The pieces were falling into place, and Naruto couldn't stop the ache growing in his chest.
It explained so much.
Why he was chosen to bear the Nine-Tails. Why the Fourth sealed it in him at all. Why the Hokage had insisted that the child be treated like a hero. Those weren't the words of a leader thinking of the village.
They were the desperate, hopeful wishes of a dying father.
Naruto exhaled shakily, staring at the sea as if it could offer answers. If that's true… then what does that make me?
He didn't want to believe it at first. But the more he thought about it, it was too much to be coincidence.
And now his thoughts were loud and racing: Didn't they leave anything behind for me? A letter? A message? Something? Where were their friends? They were famous. Respected. They had to have allies, comrades. Why didn't anyone come to help me when I was alone? Why did I grow up hated and ignored?
Where was Kakashi? He was the Fourth's student. Where was he back then?
What about Jiraiya? Wasn't he the Fourth's teacher? Where was he when I needed a family?
His chest tightened, breath catching in his throat as frustration and confusion threatened to overwhelm him.
"Naruto!"
The young knight blinked, snapping back to the moment.
Sakura sat across the fire, pointing. "You're burning your marshmallow."
Naruto looked down at the stick in his hand. Sure enough, the marshmallow at the tip was blackened and sizzling. He stared at it for a moment, then said flatly, "It's fine."
"Are you okay, dobe?"
"I'm fine," he muttered, flicking the charred marshmallow into his mouth. It was crunchy on the outside, gooey inside. It was bitter and sweet all at once. Kind of like how he was feeling.
"You've been spacing out a lot since we came here."
"I just have a lot on my mind."
"Like what?" Jiraiya asked casually from the other side of the fire, trying to sound nonchalant, but Naruto could hear the edge in his voice.
Meanwhile, Oscar was now stuffing twelve marshmallows into his tiny mouth at once and puffing up like a ball of fluff. Naruto couldn't help but chuckle at the little lizard's determination. He reached over, gently plucking one marshmallow from Oscar's cheeks, only to have the stubborn lizard steal it back.
That helped a little.
"You've got that blank, brooding face again," Sasuke commented, glancing at him from across the fire.
"Yeah?"
"It doesn't suit you, dobe."
Naruto rolled his eyes. "I'll have you know I'm an incredibly deep and intellectual person. What goes on in my brain is beyond your comprehension."
Oscar choked in disagreement.
"Pretty sure eighty percent of your brain is ramen."
That actually made Naruto laugh, and Sakura too. The tension around the fire cracked just a bit.
Naruto leaned back, arms behind his head as he stared at the stars. The laughter faded as quickly as it came, though, as he asked quietly, "Sensei, I know you wanted time to face your ghosts… but please, just tell me one thing. Did Konoha really stand by while Uzushiogakure was destroyed?"
Jiraiya replied with a serious look. "That kind of intel is above your rank, kid."
There was a pause.
"…It was because of a failed mission," Kakashi said suddenly, startling Jiraiya. He wasn't just talking to a genin anymore. He was talking to a boy who deserved the truth.
"During the Third Great Ninja War, Konoha was spread thin, fighting small but constant battles along every border. The Uzumaki, meanwhile, were caught in their own civil war. And that's when the invasion came."
"Okay… but how does that explain why we failed them?"
Jiraiya shifted where he sat. "You really going to tell him?"
"…He deserves to know."
Naruto tensed.
"The Uzumaki Clan discovered the invasion before it began," Kakashi explained quietly. "They managed to prepare a highest-priority scroll. A request for reinforcements from Konoha. At that time, a small Konoha squad was stationed in Uzushio, and it became their duty to deliver that message back home."
He took a slow breath. "But the squad was ambushed on the way out by the enemy."
Naruto leaned forward.
"The team leader had a choice; complete the mission, or save his comrades."
Sakura swallowed hard.
"He chose his comrades."
And the silence fell again, deeper this time. The fire crackled, the night air cold around them.
"The scroll never made it back. Uzushio was overwhelmed. By the time we even heard the village was under attack…" Kakashi exhaled slowly. "It was too late. The heart of the Uzumaki Clan was already gone."
Naruto stood slowly, his hands clenched at his sides. He didn't look at anyone as he asked, "What happened to that team leader?"
"He was shamed. Vilified. Not just by the Land of Fire… but by his own village. Even the comrades he saved turned against him. The shame… broke him." Kakashi poked at the fire with a stick, watching the sparks float away. "His skills deteriorated. He lost his will to fight. And eventually… he took his own life. He committed seppuku to preserve his son's future so the dishonor wouldn't follow him."
The fire flickered softly in the stunned silence.
Naruto stared at Kakashi, disbelief and sorrow tightening in his throat. Sasuke's expression was unreadable, but his eyes never left Kakashi. Sakura's eyes shimmered with tears, her hand over her chest.
Jiraiya didn't speak because it wasn't his story to tell.
"The man was the White fang of Konoha." Kakashi lifted his head, meeting Naruto's gaze. "… Sakumo Hatake. He was my father."
The world fell out from under them.
You could almost see the tectonic shift in Naruto's mind. …You're serious?
Kakashi didn't answer. He didn't need to.
"I'm… I'm gonna go to sleep," Naruto muttered, his voice cracked and uneven. He looked dazed, like he couldn't hold up the weight of everything he had just learned. "I just… I don't know what to think right now."
"Wait, Naruto..." Sakura started, taking a step toward him.
"I'm okay. Just… tired. Everything hit me at once. I just need to lie down."
Oscar gave a chirp and scampered after Naruto as he trudged to his sleeping bag. The boy curled up with the little lizard, pulling the blanket over both of them. Oscar nestled close, coiling around Naruto's chest in a gentle, silent hug.
The fire crackled behind them.
"Hn," Sasuke grunted, eyes still glued to the darkness beyond the firelight.
Sakura sat down again slowly, visibly shaken.
Kakashi said nothing, merely watching the boy disappear into sleep, or at least into silence.
"He took it better than I did," Kakashi said softly, after a while.
"You never had someone to explain it to you," Jiraiya replied.
They let the fire burn.
Let the stars listen.
Let the ghosts of fallen clans and shattered legacies drift with the wind.
And Naruto dreamed of a red-haired woman with a loving voice and a man with blonde hair; two faces he might never fully know, but who, tonight, felt just a little closer.
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Morning came quiet and still, save for the soft rustle of waves hitting the shore. Team 7 stirred one by one, stretching out of their sleeping bags, only to find one conspicuously empty.
Naruto's.
A folded note rested neatly atop his bedroll, the handwriting messy but familiar. Gone to Lordran. Need to clear my head and maybe find more clues about the Uzumaki stuff. Don't wait up.
Jiraiya frowned deeply, the lines on his face tightening. "I don't like this. Not one bit."
Sakura yawned. "Like what? You think he's in danger?"
"I don't know. But with that boy? I'm more worried about him doing something. Like… not coming back."
Sasuke, who was calmly packing his gear, glanced over with his usual cool expression. "I wouldn't worry about it. Naruto's stronger than you think. If he survived being alone his whole life, he can survive anything else that comes with the truth."
"Relax, Jiraiya-sama. Naruto's the type who runs off to think, not to vanish. He'll come back when he's ready."
Sure enough, by the afternoon, the blond knucklehead came trudging back into camp, Oscar perched on his shoulder. He looked tired but calm, which only made Jiraiya more suspicious.
Over a fire-roasted fish meal that Jiraiya had prepared, Naruto spoke between bites. "So, uh, I asked around in Lordran. The answers I got were kinda weird. Something about how the spiral of Uzushiogakure and the fox's seal are mirrors."
Everyone stared at him.
"That's… vague."
Naruto shrugged. "Pervy Sage, finding anything not vague in Lordran is like trying to find a straight noodle in a bowl of ramen. It just doesn't exist."
He reached into his bag and pulled out two worn pages. One looked like a half-finished map of Uzushiogakure, the other was an unevenly drawn version of the Eight Trigram Divination Seal Formula.
There were a few obvious mistakes on both.
"You redrew these from memory?"
"Yeah," Naruto said, feigning nonchalance. "I've been trying to see if there's a connection. The patterns are kind of similar if you squint hard enough."
Jiraiya crossed his arms, watching him carefully. The boy was hiding something, that much was clear.
Before he could say anything, Sakura's eyes lit up with curiosity. "Wait a second. What if the Eight Trigram Seal isn't just a sealing formula, but a map? Look, if we overlay it on the village layout—"
She took a brush and began sketching over Naruto's map, aligning the outer lines of the seal with various points across the ruins.
Naruto grinned, all enthusiasm and praise. "Sakura, that's genius! I think you might actually be onto something here."
"Thanks!"
She was onto nothing. Not even close.
Naruto hid his amusement well. This was exactly what he wanted, to send them chasing ghosts while he went straight to the altar of beginnings alone. The less they knew about that place, the better.
Jiraiya, still skeptical, tapped the edge of the map. "I don't know… this feels too random. I can't imagine Minato leaving behind something like this."
Naruto shrugged, feigning uncertainty. "Maybe. It could mean nothing, or it could point to something we're missing. Either way, it's worth checking out."
"Alright. Seven of these spots fall in the red zones. I'll handle those myself. They're too dangerous for you kids."
"What about the center?"
Jiraiya frowned and unrolled his own copy of the map. His finger traced the inked spiral until it landed on the central point. Unlike the rest of the diagram, it was completely blank, just an empty space ringed by thick patches of red zones.
"I think if I can get a good vantage point, I'll send a few shadow clones ahead to scout it out. If it looks promising, we can all go."
Jiraiya looked up from the map, studying the boy's face. The eagerness was there, barely masked beneath a layer of forced calm. Naruto wasn't just offering; rather, he was angling. Whatever lay in that blank space, he wanted it.
"Hmm," Jiraiya hummed, eyes narrowing ever so slightly.
Kakashi, who had been watching the exchange silently, caught the look.
"That's very responsible of you, Naruto," Jiraiya said at last, rolling the map back up. "But something about this doesn't sit right with me. The center's surrounded by red zones for a reason."
"All the more reason to send clones first, right? I won't do anything reckless. Promise."
Jiraiya snorted. "You saying that doesn't make me feel better, brat."
"Come on, Pervy Sage. You think I'm that bad?"
"Yes," Jiraiya and Kakashi said in unison.
"You guys have no faith."
Jiraiya sighed, rubbing the back of his neck before finally conceding. "Fine. Kakashi, you and Naruto will check out the center. But keep your distance until you're sure it's safe. I don't want either of you setting off some ancient death trap or waking up a seal we can't put back to sleep."
Kakashi nodded, his tone easy. "Understood. We'll move carefully."
"Good. Sakura, Sasuke... you two take the eighth point on the outer ring. It's close enough to the safe zone that you shouldn't run into anything too nasty."
The two genin nodded, already preparing their gear.
As the teams began to split, Jiraiya gave Kakashi one last meaningful look.
Watch the boy. Whatever's in that center… it's calling to him.
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The eighth point of Uzushio was once a place once meant for training.
Sakura and Sasuke stepped through the cracked stone archway that led into what must've been a training ground centuries ago.
At the center of the clearing stood a broken statue.
It was half-swallowed by ivy, its once-polished stone skin now dulled by time and rain. What remained of the figure showed a tall warrior frozen mid-strike, a long spear clutched in both hands. The tip was missing. Only one eye of the statue remained intact, smooth and expressionless, staring eternally toward the horizon.
There was nothing else to note in the area.
Sakura kicked a pebble ahead of her and watched it bounce into a pile of shattered brick. "Kind of overwhelming, isn't it?"
"What is?"
"Everything we're learning about Naruto," she said, her voice soft with disbelief. "I mean… he's always been this chaotic, loud idiot, but it turns out his past is..." She stopped, searching for the word. "...bigger. He's the ex-jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails. A member of the Uzumaki Clan. He's… important."
"Hn."
Sakura gave him a sidelong glance. "Don't you think that matters?"
"No."
"Seriously?"
"It doesn't change anything. He's still the same moron who couldn't do the clone jutsu two months ago yet he has grown strong enough to save the wave."
"Yeah, but… it makes you think, right? Like maybe there was something in him all along."
"He didn't need a pedigree for that," Sasuke said simply. "People keep looking for reasons to explain him. But Naruto's strength? That's his. He built it."
"Maybe you two aren't so different."
Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "We're completely different."
"You say that," she said with a knowing tone, "but look at it. You're both from powerful clans that were nearly destroyed. You both carry something you didn't ask for. You both act like you aren't alone, but… you are."
"You've been writing poetry, huh?"
Sakura gave him a little shove on the shoulder, smiling. "I'm serious."
Sasuke looked forward again as the wind tugged at his hair.
Sakura waited, watching him.
"He's a loudmouth idiot who never knows when to quit. He dives headfirst into danger like death's just a rumor. He's stubborn to the point of madness when it comes to doing what he thinks is right. But that... that's Naruto. Not the jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails, not the heir of some lost clan. Those things are just fragments of him, not the whole picture. It doesn't matter if he's the son of a Hokage or a goddamn bowl of noddles. I know exactly who that knucklehead is."
He paused, hands still in his pockets as he stared out at the wreckage of the past.
"…He's someone I know I can rely on. Someone who won't die on me."
Sakura's eyes softened. "You're getting weirdly sentimental lately."
"Hn. Must be the ocean air."
There was a pause as they stepped over the remains of a broken bridge, water glinting below.
"You gonna tell him you said all that?" Sakura teased.
"Not unless I want him crying and hugging me for the next three days." Sasuke side-eyed her with a half-annoyed, half-embarrassed look. "Which is why you're not going to tell him."
She grinned. "Only if you answer one little question first."
"No."
"Aw, come on... just tell me how you feel about me." She gave him big, sparkling eyes, clasping her hands under her chin like an overly dramatic heroine. "It can't be that hard, right?"
"…You're annoying," Sasuke said flatly.
Sakura giggled. "You already said that last month. Come on, something new."
He smirked faintly. "Fine. You're ugly."
Sakura gasped, then laughed. "You know, I've paid Naruto to fix my axe, and it's conveniently in reach right now."
"I think I hear the Nine-Tails barking," Sasuke said quickly, bolting in the opposite direction down the ruined path.
"GET BACK HERE, SASUKE!" Sakura shouted, chasing after him with a grin on her face and vengeance in her step, her voice echoing through the empty halls of a lost village.
And for a moment, as the shadows of their laughter drifted through the ruins, it felt like Uzushio breathed again, through the bonds of friends.
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Meanwhile, Kakashi and Naruto made their way through the overgrown cliffs.
Their goal was simple: reach the vantage point high enough to see the center of the village. The climb had been long, but when they finally reached the ridge, the view made both of them pause.
The heart of Uzushiogakure lay below, and it was a wreck.
The Altar of Beginning was nothing but a crater of broken stone and shattered walls. Great slabs of rock were strewn across the clearing like the aftermath of a battle. Charred marks scarred the ground, and even from afar, the air shimmered faintly with unstable chakra.
"It's a mess," Kakashi muttered, lowering Naruto's binoculars. "Looks like someone intentionally blew it up."
Naruto nodded grimly, as it made sense. If the altar was that important, the clan probably destroyed it themselves. Better broken than stolen.
The boy squinted, focusing his vision. His hawkeyes caught faint etchings along the ruined walls; small, almost invisible seals scribbled like desperate handwriting. They pulsed faintly with chakra, the same pattern he'd seen before in the memory graveyard.
Naruto figured that those seals would've allowed Gran-Gran-Gran Mito's soul to get to the Altar of Beginning.
"Did your hawkeyes pick up anything?"
Naruto didn't respond right away. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, letting his focus shift from the physical to something deeper.
What he saw with Soulsight made his stomach twist.
The entire landscape changed before his eyes. The ruins vanished, replaced by a glowing web of chakra lines and intricate symbols woven into the very earth. At the heart of it all, he saw a massive seal, far larger than anything human hands could ever hope to create.
The design was breathtaking and terrifying.
A vast spiral lay at the center, pulsing faintly with dormant energy. From it, circular patterns spread outward in concentric layers, each one etched with foreign symbols that glowed faint blue under his gaze. A vertical line bisected the entire pattern, linking all the rings together like a spine. Along that line, smaller spirals—each one distinct—shimmered like chakra nodes.
Thin hooks and branching symbols extended outward, forming connections between the rings, their purpose precise and deliberate. It wasn't just a seal. It was a map, a system, a network linking the astral and physical planes together.
Oh, you've got to be kidding me… Naruto felt a bead of sweat slide down his forehead as the weight of what he had just seen hit him.
A village that doubled as a seal to another plane of existence? That was beyond anything he'd ever imagined. And now he was supposed to fix the door to this place.
Man… my ancestors were crazy. And Gran-Gran-Gran is insane if she thinks I can fix this somehow.
A crooked grin tugged at his lips.
Good thing I've got a few tricks from Lordran. Plenty of magic and shiny junk that can fix almost anything.
He blinked once, letting his Soulsight fade away. The glowing web of energy vanished, and the ruins returned to simple, broken stone.
Naruto turned back to Kakashi, forcing a shrug. "Yeah, I got nothing. Guess we got the wrong spot after all."
Kakashi hummed softly, clearly not buying it. He tucked his hands into his pockets and started walking. "Naruto," he said casually, "are you hiding something from me?"
"Sensei, we're shinobi. Hiding stuff kinda is the job description."
"Fair enough. Just make sure you know what you're doing."
Naruto watched him walk ahead. For a second, he thought about saying something—about telling Kakashi the truth about the altar.
But the memory of that mysterious figure of the hawk flashed in his mind. The deal they made.
It's not like the hawk will know if I tell Kakashi, Naruto thought for a moment.
"Hey," Kakashi called from ahead. He hadn't turned around, but his voice softened. "You don't have to tell me everything right now. Just… keep yourself safe, alright?"
"I will, sensei. It's complicated, ya know?"
Kakashi gave a small nod. "Trust me, I can imagine. Everyone's got their secrets, and some of them weigh a little heavier than others."
Naruto glanced at him then, wondering if Kakashi was thinking about the Fourth Hokage and about the truth of their connection.
He didn't press.
"Maybe one day," Naruto said finally, falling into step beside him, "when we're both ready… we'll share a few of those secrets."
"I'll hold you to that, Naruto."
"Same here, sensei."
They walked for a while in a comfortable silence.
"Hey, Sensei… can I ask you something weird?"
"With you, Naruto, that could mean just about anything. But sure, go ahead."
"Do you think your father was a good person?"
"Yes. Yes… I think he was."
Naruto nodded, eyes thoughtful.
Kakashi exhaled quietly. "I'm sorry that my father's choice led to something so tragic," he said, voice low. "But even with everything that happened… I can't see him as a villain."
"I don't expect you to," Naruto said. Then, with that natural bluntness that always managed to cut straight through the heart of things, he added, "What kind of man was Papa Hatake?"
Kakashi stopped mid-step, blinking once before a small smile tugged at his lips. "Papa Hatake?"
"Yeah. Sounds friendlier than 'The White Fang.'"
Kakashi shook his head slightly, but there was a warmth in his tone. "He was a simple man. Honest. Quiet. He didn't care about titles or glory. He loved his home, his comrades… and he loved me more than I probably deserved. For all his skill, he was the most humble man I've ever known."
Naruto smiled faintly. He could hear the pride behind Kakashi's calm words. "How strong was he, really?"
"Strong enough to make the Sannin nervous."
Naruto's jaw dropped, eyes shining. "No way. That's awesome!"
"Yeah," Kakashi said softly, though his voice carried a trace of something bittersweet.
"You sound like you miss him a lot."
"I do." Kakashi's voice grew quieter. "There are days when I still hear his voice. But… it's complicated." He hesitated, then asked, "You don't despise him, do you?"
Naruto looked confused. "Why would I? I mean, I don't even know the guy, but from what you said, he sounds like someone I'd want to have ramen with."
Kakashi blinked, caught off guard by the honesty in the boy's tone. "You don't blame him? Not even a little?"
"Sensei, I'm not dumb. There's no way one man could be the reason Uzushiogakure fell. We were already a target long before that. My clan was powerful, and power makes enemies. Let's say Sakumo-san completed his mission. Maybe Konoha sends reinforcements just in time. Maybe they push the invaders back. But then what? Another army comes later. Or the same one comes stronger."
He paused, his tone calm and almost too mature for his age. "That kind of thing doesn't end because of one decision. It's bigger than one person. Bigger than one choice. So blaming him…" Naruto shrugged. "It just doesn't make sense to me. He already paid a heavy enough price for trying to do what he thought was right."
Kakashi's steps slowed until he stopped completely. For a long moment, he said nothing. Then he murmured, "That's more understanding than most grown men ever managed to show him. Maybe if they had… I wouldn't have come home to find him dead on that day."
His voice trembled slightly at the end.
Naruto's expression softened. Without saying anything, he reached out and grabbed Kakashi's hand, giving it a small, firm squeeze.
"I'm fine," Kakashi said quickly, though his tone betrayed him. "I just… hate that memory."
"Yeah. I get it. Some memories don't fade no matter how much you want them to."
For a while, they stood there, the sound of the wind filling the silence.
"You know, I think Papa Hatake would've liked me."
"Oh? And why's that?"
"Because he and I are alike," Naruto said simply. "We're both humble and strong."
"Humble, huh? You sure about that, Naruto?"
Naruto grinned. "Okay, maybe not all the time. But we both care about our friends. We'd risk our lives for them without thinking twice."
"That… sounds about right."
Naruto's voice grew quieter. "And we both made choices we thought were right… even if they ended up making a bigger mess."
Kakashi stopped walking for a moment. The breeze tugged at his flak jacket as he looked out over the broken horizon of Uzushio's ruins. "Maybe," he said quietly. "But your mess ended better than my father's. You brought hope to a place that didn't have any left. He… didn't get that chance."
"I don't blame your father for anything, ya know. He was just one domino in a whole line that was already falling."
Kakashi let out a slow breath. "Thank you. I never carried his sins, but… hearing that still means something. More than you probably realize."
Naruto kicked a loose pebble, sending it skipping down the dirt path. "I guess lately I've been thinking about stuff like that. About being angry and being bitter. They're not the same thing. I think I can live with being angry. But I don't want to be bitter anymore."
He smiled faintly, the kind of small, honest smile that felt older than he looked, and nudged Kakashi's shoulder with his own. "Besides, if your dad raised you, he couldn't have been that bad, right?"
"You've got a strange way of comforting people, you know that?"
"Yeah, but it works," Naruto said, shrugging.
"It does," Kakashi admitted. He looked at Naruto then, really looked at him, and reached out to rest a hand briefly on the boy's shoulder. "He would've liked you, Naruto. You're exactly the kind of person my father wished there were more of in this world."
"I don't know about that, sensei. I'm one of a kind."
Kakashi chuckled softly and reached out, ruffling the boy's hair with an almost brotherly gesture.
"Yeah. You really are, Naruto."
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Author's Note
Well, here we are again. Some of you love this part, some of you probably hate it, but either way, let's dive in.
Q: Why did I link Sakumo Hatake to the destruction of Uzushiogakure?
Yeah, that plot twist probably caught a few of you off guard, and that's exactly what I was going for.
Here's the thing: Sakumo's suicide in canon always felt undercooked to me.
I get what Kishimoto was aiming for thematically as the tragedy of a man crushed by the hypocrisy of the shinobi world, someone who did the right thing and still got destroyed for it. It's meant to reflect how harsh and morally twisted that society is.
But from a writing standpoint? It doesn't land. We never meet Sakumo. We never see the mission. We never feel the consequences. We're just told, "He saved his comrades, failed a mission, everyone hated him, and he killed himself." That's it. There's no emotional weight behind it because we have no context.
So I started asking myself: how big was this mission? What could possibly cause such widespread condemnation, not just from the higher-ups, but from the entire village, including the comrades he saved?
Think about that. Even the people whose lives he saved turned against him. That tells us whatever mission he abandoned must have been big. And when you look at the worldbuilding we do have, there's a huge blank spot that could fit right in there: the destruction of Uzushiogakure.
Canon tells us Uzushio was allied with Konoha through the Senju-Uzumaki bond. Their sealing techniques were unrivaled. And one day, they were just destroyed. And Konoha, which was their supposed sister village, didn't send help or maybe they did but kishimoto never bothered exploring this side of canon.
So I connected the dots.
What if Sakumo's mission was tied to aiding Uzushiogakure? What if his decision to save his comrades allowed the invasion to succeed?
That one change recontextualizes everything.
It turns Sakumo's failed mission into a true tragedy of scale, not just political fallout, but the loss of an entire nation. Suddenly, the hatred and shame make sense. The world saw him not as a hero who saved his friends, but as the man whose choice led to the death of an entire allied clan.
Now, about his death. Canon shows him committing suicide, but if you look closely, it reads a lot more like seppuku.
For those unfamiliar, seppuku is a form of ritual suicide in Japanese culture, historically performed by samurai to restore honor after a perceived disgrace or failure.
So if we frame Sakumo's death through that lens, it makes perfect sense. He wasn't just ending his life out of guilt; he was also trying to protect Kakashi from inheriting his shame and to restore his family's honor. And if you add the Uzushio connection, his suicide becomes even more layered. He wasn't just a broken man, rather he was someone crushed by the weight of something massive, something no one man could fix, but everyone blamed him for anyway.
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Well, that was my attempt at adding some nuance to the whole Uzushiogakure destruction storyline while also fixing something that's always bugged me in canon.
The whole idea wasn't just about rewriting canon for shock value. In canon, the Uzumaki's fall is brushed over, and Sakumo's death is this vague moral lesson that never really gets explored. Tying the two together gives both stories more purpose and emotional grounding.
It also naturally deepens Kakashi and Naruto's relationship. They're two sons shaped by legacies they didn't ask for, both living in the shadow of men who made impossible choices.
Their conversation wasn't just about forgiveness; it was about recognition. Naruto doesn't excuse the past, but he understands it. And that empathy, especially coming from someone who's lived through isolation, loss, and responsibility beyond his years, hits harder than simple absolution.
I wanted this moment to feel like a turning point for both of them. Naruto finally gets a glimpse of the humanity behind Konoha's mistakes, and Kakashi gets to hear that his father's story wasn't just one of failure.
If that came across as logical, consistent, and meaningful within the story so far, then I'd say it did what it was meant to.
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That's It… For Now.
As always, I want to thank you all for taking the time to read, comment, and follow along with this story. Your feedback means more than you know, and it helps push me to make each chapter bigger, sharper, and more true to the worlds of Naruto and Dark Souls.
Until next time, Praise the Sun.
—Adam
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[ Personal Note: First off, thanks a ton to all of you for sticking with this story. Seriously, you guys are awesome. Now, if you're interested in supporting me on P@treon, let me just say that over there, I post these massive 5k-word chapters. But heads up, if you're jumping to P@treon, you'll need to start from Chapter 95, since that's where this chapter lines up with the content there.
To everyone here just reading along, please don't forget to leave a comment! Honestly, your comments make my day, and they let me know you're as invested in this story as I am. So yeah, thanks again, and I hope you have an amazing rest of your day!