Some time later, the mid-morning sun bathed the Land of Fire's capital in a golden warmth.
Inside the Feudal lord's castle, the air was perfumed with jasmine and the subtle scent of old tatami. Kaneko, the ruler of the country, sat on his silk cushions, enjoying the tranquility that came with his station.
He lifted a cup, blowing gently on the steaming matcha, prepared to savour the moment of peace. That was until the shoji doors slid open with a violence that shattered the silence.
A breathless courier dropped to one knee as he held out a scroll sealed with the Hokage's personal stamp. "My lord! An urgent missive from the Hidden Leaf!"
Kaneko sighed as the tranquility evaporated. "Bring it here." After accepting the scroll, he shot the messenger away with a flick of his fan. "Let's see what Tsunade is fretting about now."
As he unrolled the parchment, he took a casual sip of his tea. His eyes then scanned the first line. Then the second.
"Pfffft!"
A spray of matcha erupted from his mouth, coating the expensive rug before him. He didn't even notice the stain. His eyes were bulging, fixed on the calligraphy as if the ink were turning into blood before his gaze.
"What in the heavens is this?" he choked, coughing.
He read it again and again. The words refused to change.
Subject: Arthur Bennett. Status: S-Class Criminal (Captured).
Crimes: Infiltration of the Five Great Nations. Theft of National Treasures. Resurrection of the Dead. Incitement of Global War.
Kaneko's hands began to tremble. The scroll rattled like a leaf in a storm. What sort of rogue ninja was this? A boy thought dead had masqueraded as various figures—fighters, merchants, mercenaries—infiltrating the highest levels of security across the continent. He had also played the nations against each other, stolen important artifacts, and orchestrated a conflict involving the Akatsuki.
The list of crimes went on for feet. Political fraud. Embezzlement. Creating a shadow government.
"This... this 'Arthur Bennett'..." Kaneko whispered, his face draining of colour. "This is too much."
The report stated Arthur was captured, sealed inside an orb that trapped him in a pocket-like dimension. This detail, intended to comfort him, only sent Kaneko's anxiety skyrocketing.
"Trapped in a dimension?" Kaneko stood up, pacing frantically. "What if it breaks? What if he simply decides to leave? If he can revive the dead, can he not walk through walls?"
He looked at his advisors, who were rushing in after hearing his outburst. They looked at the scroll and paled in unison. No amount of political maneuvering could solve this. This was like a monster that defied the logic in their world.
"I cannot handle this alone," Kaneko declared, his voice high and shrill. He then turned to his head advisor. "Summon the palanquins. Send the falcons. I need an emergency summit with the Feudal lords of the Five Great Nations. Immediately!"
✟
Three days later, the atmosphere in the neutral meeting hall of the Land of Iron was toxic.
More than twenty feudal lords from various nations sat around a massive, lacquered table.
Usually, these meetings were formalities—excuses to drink expensive sake and complain about budget deficits. Today, the air was filled with paranoia. The gloom was catastrophic, a heavy weight that pressed down on each of their shoulders.
If Arthur Bennett had been there to witness it, he would have confirmed his suspicion: reviving the dead broke the world's sanity.
"This is all because of the Water Country!" the Feudal lord of the Earth Country shouted, slamming his fan onto the table.
"Excuse me?!" the new Feudal lord of the Water Country shot back. He was young, inexperienced, and currently sweating through his ceremonial robes. "Why are we responsible for this tyrant? He deceived us all!"
"Did he not arise from your nation and pose as 'John Belfort,' a feudal lord in succession?!" the Earth lord accused.
"Nay!" the Water lord defended in a cracking voice. "If I read the report correctly, he truly came from the Fire Country and was initially a Leaf Shinobi! We should accuse lord Kaneko of constantly raising defective shinobi!"
All eyes turned to Kaneko as he slightly shrank to his seat and rapidly fanned himself. He was ashamed and lost for words because history was indeed repeating itself. The Leaf Village produced the greatest heroes, but it also produced the single most dangerous villains.
"Gentlemen, please," he stammered. "We... we have him in custody."
"In an orb!" the Lightning Feudal lord barked. "That is not custody; that is a time bomb!"
The argument descended into chaos. Accusations of incompetence, complicity, and espionage flew across the table. They were all terrified. From their borders, their armies, their ANBU black ops—none of it had seemed to matter because Arthur had walked through them like they were mist.
Out of everyone, there was one Feudal lord who refrained from speaking: Toki. She sat with perfect posture while her face was a mask of calm concern. Internally, however, her heart was hammering against her ribs.
She was secretly Arthur's Feudal lord, which not a single person in the room knew of.
She watched the sharks circle, knowing that eventually, the conversation would turn to location.
"We must find his nation and destroy it immediately!" the Earth lord roared.
"Yes, it must be purged!" the other lords agreed.
"But where is it?!" the Lightning lord demanded.
"It is in the Land of Rain!" one lord suggested.
"Nonsense! The war happened near the border of the Land of Birds!" the Earth lord countered, eyeing Toki.
Toki didn't flinch as she felt the gaze of the room shift toward her. This was the moment. If she faltered, her country would be invaded by the combined might of all the nations looking for Arthur's legacy.
So she stood, drawing their attention. "My lords, we have neither allied shinobi nor hidden villages that have any affiliation with a criminal of this magnitude. My country is peaceful, as we still rely on wandering ninja for aid."
She paused, letting her gaze sweep over Kaneko. This was her moment to deflect.
"If you wish to persecute someone," she coldly said, "I suggest we look back at the Fire Country. Are they not housing four revived souls in their hidden village right now?"
The room went deadly silent.
"Minato Namikaze, Kushina Uzumaki, Shikamaru Nara, and Ino Yamanka." Toki listed them. "This Arthur Bennett revived them, and the Leaf Village has integrated them. They are using the fruits of this 'crime' to bolster their military might. Is that not suspicious?"
The murmurs turned into an incredible uproar that darn near shook the foundations of the meeting hall.
"She's right!" the Earth lord yelled. "The Leaf has the Yellow Flash back! This is a power imbalance!"
"Sanctions!" the Water lord cried.
Kaneko looked like he was about to faint.
As the meeting continued, fueled by paranoia and Toki's calculated deflection, they eventually came to a unanimous conclusion.
All five ninja nations would be officially briefed on Arthur's crimes. A global bounty would be placed on any remnants of his organization. And Arthur himself...
"He must be put to death," the Earth lord declared. "As soon as a containment team can be formed to extract him from that orb safely. We cannot allow such a being to exist."
The motion passed as the gavel fell. Arthur Bennett was to die.
✟
It didn't take long for the news to spread. The network of shinobi intelligence was faster than the wind. Within days, Arthur's character was being scrutinized by virtually everyone on the continent.
In the Hidden Sand Village, Gaara stood on the balcony of the Kazekage's office with the report clutched in his hand. His expression was stoic, but his teal eyes were troubled.
"Kaito..." he whispered. He remembered the supposed Sound ninja who had fought with such precision. To think that 'Kaito' and the 'John' who terrorized the borders were the same person. "He possessed a level of skill that rivaled Kages of all nations…"
Temari stepped up behind him. "The elders are terrified, Gaara. They want to know if our defenses were compromised."
"We'll do a thorough check," Gaara stated. Then he looked toward the direction of the Leaf. "I'm worried about Naruto. He fought this man multiple times. To know that his enemy was a fellow villager... it must hurt."
High in the rocky peaks of the Hidden Stone Village, the Tsuchikage sat in his office.
"Revived clans!" Ōnoki shouted, almost throwing out his back. "Ghosts just walking the earth!" The Stone Village had no idea who Arthur was. They hadn't dealt with him directly—or so they thought. "Just another terrorist!" Ōnoki spat.
He placed the report down. "Bring Han here immediately! I wish to know everything about this Hoshikaze or Arthur Bennett or whatever his name is."
In the Hidden Mist, the fog seemed thicker than usual, heavy with the weight of political failure.
Mei sat in her office with her head in her hands. She was receiving backlash from virtually everyone in her country. The nobles and the civilians were all blaming her for not spotting the threat of 'John Belfort.
More so, she had lost some of the Seven Swords.
"We need to calm the populace," Chōjūrō stammered from the corner.
"I know," Mei sighed, standing up. "I'm going to the prisons."
She soon walked through the damp corridors until she reached the high-security cell of the former Feudal lord, Hiromu. He had been deposed, partially due to John's destabilization of the region.
Mei stood before the bars. "It was a lie, Hiromu. John Belfort. He was a Leaf ninja named Arthur. He played you. He played us all."
Hiromu sat in the shadows with tattered robes. When he looked up, his eyes were bright with a fanaticism that chilled Mei to the bone.
"A name is just a label," he rasped. "He brought change and power. Whatever anyone says about him, he's the agent of destiny that will do the thing I could not do for my country." Then Hiromu's smile twisted. "He will free us. The Water Country belongs to him."
Mei stepped back with revulsion curling in her stomach. Even in prison, even after the truth was revealed, Arthur's charisma held strong. It was a cult of personality that truth could not break.
"You're delusional," she said, turning away. Only her footsteps could be heard as she said, "He's never coming back."
Upon leaving the prisons, Mei felt as if her time was wasted. She needed to strengthen her borders and purge the memory of John Belfort from her history books before the rot spread further.
Elsewhere, things fared no better in the Cloud Village.
Crack!
The Raikage brought his fist down on his massive mahogany desk, splitting it clean in two as splinters flew across the room.
"Incompetence A roared. "We let this Hoshikaze walk through our gates!"
Darui sighed, leaning against the wall. "My lord, the desk..."
"Forget the desk!" A shouted. "My predecessors warned me to never trust outsiders! And now we find out that the enemy was stealing our secrets like the Black Lightning technique!"
Killer Bee sat in the corner, scribbling in his notebook. He didn't look perturbed.
"Yo, bro, listen to the flow," Bee started, tapping his pencil. "Maybe there's a story inside the story, ya know? Arthur, Hoshikaze, putting on a show. Maybe he ain't such a bad person, just a guy with a heavy burden."
"Shut up, Bee!" A yelled. "Anyone who can revive the dead is an abomination!"
Bee shrugged, continuing to write out his thoughts, 'Even after learning the truth, the Eight-Tails tells me this kid had sad chakra. Sad and heavy like a storm cloud.'
If anything, Bee held no grudge. But in the hallway outside the office, the mood was shattered.
Yugito Nii leaned against the wall with her arms crossed and a frown etching her face.
"False accusations," she muttered. "It has to be. Hoshikaze helped the village a lot… he can't be this monster they describe."
Even the Two-Tails within her purred in confusion.
However, the one who felt the most heartbroken in this village was Samui.
The usually stoic, cool-headed kunoichi was in her quarters with the door locked. She sat on her bed as she cried. She had fallen for him, only to discover that the world wanted him dead.
"Samui," her brother Atsui called from outside the door. "Samui, please. Open up. Just get over him already. Come on!"
"Go away, Atsui," she choked out.
"He played you!" he yelled, trying to break through to her. "He wasn't real!"
Those words made her look at the empty walls as she whispered, "He was real to me…"
The news of Arthur's capture brought paranoia, anger, and a grief that spanned the whole continent.