"Hey, look over there!"
Startled birds burst from the forest. Three Iwagakure escort shinobi who were retreating into the distance immediately noticed the pillar of light erupting into the sky.
"Could that be… the First's 'Genesis Star'…?"
"It's Dust Release: Genesis Star."
"Why? Did the First actually fail?"
They all understood what it meant to see that technique. Shock made them stop without meaning to… A self-destruct jutsu. What else could it be?
It carried all kinds of implications that could be explained later, but the most direct truth never changed: once this jutsu appeared, the caster was dead.
"Move! Don't just stand there—retreat first!"
One of them reacted at once. This wasn't the time to calmly trace cause and effect. The pillar of light was swallowing everything around it. That meant they weren't safe.
Stop thinking. Run.
Luckily, they had been far from the blast's center to begin with. They also ran early enough. In the end, they avoided the fate of dying by their own village leader's hand.
The pillar expanded to its limit, then began to dissolve at high speed. When the three finally stopped again, the landscape behind them had been changed on a massive scale. All the forest was gone. Only a huge cylindrical crater remained… These kinds of shinobi who could reshape terrain seemed to develop the same obsession after coming to the Rain Country. They just had to carve out something like an inland sea in a landlocked nation.
Why did people insist on creating a sea in the Rain Country? What was it even for?
"The Tsuchikage-sama is a 'demigod.' How could he…"
They still couldn't believe it. The First Tsuchikage was a legendary shinobi who had led Iwagakure to victory in the First Shinobi War. And the power of that Dust Release… even if they hadn't recognized the technique beforehand, anyone could tell a shinobi could only unleash something that abnormal—so wide-ranging, so destructive—by paying with their life and burning themselves out completely.
Shinobi die. But this turn came far too fast.
"Given Tsuchikage-sama's age, failure isn't… impossible. A shinobi's fate is to die on the battlefield. But… wasn't the fight over way too quickly?"
"I can't accept it. A legend shouldn't end like this."
"Who was the enemy?"
"Whoever he was, he couldn't have survived Tsuchikage-sama's final attack… Maybe the enemy was so strong that the Tsuchikage had to trade his life to take him down."
Even so, one of them pulled out a blank scroll. He used a pencil to sketch the enemy's appearance from memory… His portrait skills were mediocre at best, but the face looked somewhat like Yūshin.
"When Tsuchikage-sama spoke with that enemy, he mentioned 'Iwayoshi River,' right?"
"Yes."
These three were truly unlucky. Unless they defected, they would have to carry news of the First Tsuchikage's death back to Iwagakure and report every detail of what happened here… They would face endless questioning, maybe even torture.
"Let's go back and check. See if we can find any intelligence."
"Right. We'll go to the center of the battlefield… Maybe Tsuchikage-sama survived."
But they were returning to confirm reality, not to indulge in fantasy.
They turned back. In their understanding, they no longer needed to worry about safety. Everything alive within Dust Release's range had been erased.
They walked back about a kilometer. The crater came into view, along with its sheer vertical walls. The three leaped down and ran straight for the center.
The new depression quickly gathered water. Rain and surface runoff poured in without pause. Before long, the bottom was a muddy mess.
The Iwagakure shinobi searched the crater's center. Of course, they found nothing… Reality was the worst kind of reality.
...
The moment the Tsuchikage performed his "traditional art," Yūshin used space-time ninjutsu and shifted position. He didn't even return to his other dimension. He simply moved outside the danger zone.
A performance this rare deserved a calm spectator. Otherwise, wouldn't the other man's show go to waste?
The Tsuchikage's shift in mindset had been decisive. Yūshin could tell the man hadn't "blown himself up" in a rage. He had been utterly calm when he chose to make art. Given the gap between them, the Tsuchikage believed this was the only move that could erase Yūshin.
But the judgment was still flawed. Did he think Yūshin's space-time ninjutsu could only redirect attacks and change trajectories, but not move Yūshin himself?
That didn't add up. The Tsuchikage's intelligence should have been much better than that.
Maybe it was simply a last gamble. Maybe his death was also meant as a warning to those subordinates, a hope they would carry intelligence about this powerful enemy back to Iwagakure.
He definitely wouldn't have imagined that after making such a huge commotion, those three guards would still come trotting back to the blast zone… Too careless. Did they not consider what it would mean if everyone got wiped out and the intel never made it home?
"Dust Release really is something."
"Such dazzling smoke…"
"The young avant-garde artist was right. Beauty that vanishes in an instant is true art."
Dust Release's final victim was the caster himself. There was even a hint of Zen in that ending.
Yūshin watched the entire Dust Release eruption from afar. This really was worthy of the name "strongest." It was a kekkei tōta for a reason. He even found himself appreciating the aesthetic.
Of course, only appreciating it. You do art, I watch. I do art, I don't.
Once the "smoke" was gone, Yūshin was basically certain the enemy had been erased completely. Under his Byakugan, there had been no chance to escape.
Still, he stayed cautious. He decided to observe the surroundings and confirm the man was dead beyond any doubt.
"Huh. They're coming back? Not afraid of death… No commander, no external brain—so they're just brainless now? Shouldn't their top priority be delivering intel?"
Yūshin watched the surviving Iwagakure shinobi and couldn't understand their behavior. He took a few more steps, then realized the reason.
They thought he was dead too. They thought it was safe.
Yūshin didn't really care whether he killed them or not. But given his direction of travel, if nothing interfered, they weren't going to live anyway.
Then something unexpected happened.
Yūshin reached the edge of the Dust Release's self-destruction range. He was about to step into the crater. His peripheral vision caught something writhing near the rim.
He stopped hard. He stared at it for several seconds. Then he finally recognized it.
A "familiar face."
More precisely, a "familiar fox."
It was a newborn fox cub with pale yellow fur.
Baby animals were naturally cute. The only problem was that it had been cut in half… Dust Release had erased its lower body. It was hanging on by a single breath.
Fate really was a circle.
After Yūshin woke again a thousand years later and met Little Seven once more, he noticed traces of Yin-Yang Release on it. That was exactly what explained its strange qualities.
First: why the Mangekyō Sharingan never faded after it used them repeatedly. In a sense, it looked like the fox used those eyes even more easily than their original owner, Shichimi Uchiha.
Second: how a fox with average intelligence could merge into other summoning beasts and steal chakra. That kind of "talent" was rare.
Third: Yūshin had never signed a contract with the fox, yet he could summon it directly. Back when he was younger, he only thought it was mysterious. He never pursued the reason.
Little Seven had an ordinary origin, but an extraordinary life—half-killed by Dust Release, then saved by Yin-Yang Release. Fox life was turbulent.
Yūshin walked over and crouched. He placed his right hand over the cub… This half-fox wasn't even as big as his palm.
"Silly fox, I've got a question. Should I say 'nice to meet you,' or 'long time no see'?"
With Yin-Yang Release supporting it, the fox's missing half began to regrow at a visible speed. As Yūshin adjusted its body, life returned to it bit by bit.
For some reason, its pale yellow fur gradually turned pure white during the process.
Those Iwagakure shinobi had good luck. Their lives were tough. Yūshin didn't care about them anymore.
He lifted the dazed little fox. He held it up by the scruff so it faced him.
"Come on. I'll take you to meet a new friend."
Yūshin hadn't expected this fight to come with an "extra gain." When he fought Ōtsutsuki Kinshiki, he already knew he would meet Little Seven again someday. He just hadn't expected it to happen here.
The weakest, most crucial link in the timeline chain was finally in place.
He stepped into a space-time passage with the fox and entered his other dimension.
In front of the wooden house, Yūshin whistled. The sharp sound echoed through the empty space. After a while, a large white fox appeared before him.
Yūshin held the trembling cub out in front of the bigger Little Seven.
"Well? I'm giving you a chance to raise yourself. Surprised?"
The big fox only circled and sniffed the cub again and again. It looked utterly inexperienced.
"Forget it. You're useless. What do you even feed a fox this big? Dog food?"
Letting your past self meet your future self was miraculous enough. Any more miracles, and it would probably manage to raise itself to death.
Yūshin grabbed the cub again and left the other dimension. He was ready to become a wildlife protector and take care of it himself… The shift in roles was fast. One moment he was giving the Tsuchikage survival training. The next, he was about to become a cute-pet blogger.
As if "Yūshin Loves Playing with Foxes" could ever become a successful account.
The instant he returned to the shinobi world, his hand went light. The little fox vanished from his grasp.
Yūshin raised his arm on reflex. He stared at his empty palm, then smiled with quiet satisfaction.
This, too, was a handoff. A relay.
When the younger version of Yūshin first met Little Seven, the fox barely recognized him. That meant they truly didn't have much time together right now.
"Fine. If I don't do the 'animal protector' thing, you'll do it. Same difference…"
After Yūshin revived it, Little Seven was summoned away by Shichimi Uchiha's Umashikami. It was both an accident and one hundred percent destiny.
"Come to think of it… this is where the story really starts."
After that thought, Yūshin went a little blank.
"Uh. So where do I go now?"
The cub had come in a rush and left in a rush. It left Yūshin confused instead.
He had been on a battlefield in the Rain Country. Then he used his other dimension as a transfer point. Now he was near Konoha… He had wanted to buy dog food to feed a fox cub. If you wanted dog food, you went to the Inuzuka. He had even planned to ask them for tips. Raising a fox had to be similar to raising a dog.
Honestly, it was a good thing he never got the chance. He would've raised that fox to death.
For the cub to survive at all… it wasn't easy. It practically qualified as "life always finds a way."
While Yūshin stood there, slightly at a loss due to his derailed plans, a cry from directly overhead made him look up.
"Hm? Looking for me?"
A messenger hawk was circling above him.
"Who else could it be? No need to ask. It can only be Nara Hideyuki… At his age, he's not the type to make a mess and then ask someone else to clean it up."
Yūshin signaled the bird down and took the intelligence. After reading it, he sighed.
It really was from Nara Hideyuki. But it wasn't a request for help. It was simply a synchronization of information.
Yūshin stood in place for a while. He looked conflicted. Once he finally sorted it out, he let out a quiet breath.
Edo Tensei. Manipulating souls. Dragging the dead back into the present. A ninjutsu that violated moral order, despised by everyone… but what about the reverse?
Yūshin felt the choice wasn't his to make. At the very least, it couldn't be in his hands. Otherwise, wouldn't he end up just like the Tobirama everyone hated?
He shifted space again.
His figure appeared inside The Fireflies' base.
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