Naruto: The Last Harbinger of Storm
NTLHOS BOOK 2: Chapter 27: A Turn on Turn.
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🖋️ Author's Note:
Hope you enjoyed "A Turn on Turn", this chapter was all about changing gears.
The next chapter will take us back, a flashback to Naruto's final speech, and the unseen moments that follow this final scene.
We're not just approaching a turning point, we're standing on it.
As always, I'm grateful for your patience and love. Drop your thoughts below, your support means the world! 🌊🔥
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"To each, there comes in their lifetime a special moment when they are figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do something truly great… What a tragedy if that moment finds them unprepared or unqualified."
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Previously on NTLHOS-2:
She reached out, catching him by the collar to hold him still. He half-froze, locking eyes with her, his face still shell-shocked but slowly calming. Yet as soon as Tsunade's grip tightened around the lapels of his robe, that ominous vision seized him again, his master's voice whispering the word 'consequences'.
Naruto felt his stomach twist.
He saw Tsunade's expression shift from mild annoyance to concern. Her hand on his collar loosened, and her features softened. Gently, she squeezed his shoulder. "You okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."
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Now:
Naruto sat on the edge of their futon, hands clasped, shoulders tense. Tsunade watched him; she could feel the churn of chakra beneath his calm façade. Finally, he spoke, voice low.
"I need to tell you everything that happened while I was trapped in the Tsukuyomi," he began. "Rather than breaking it with my materialistic ability, my emotions were stirred, for the first time in long while- I lost control, by something I saw. So instead, I used the divine chakra to shatter it.
Right after I broke free, my master appeared infront of me. His words were, 'Know this, child: for all the power you wield, you are but an executioner of the divine. If you lose control and use that energy recklessly, the repercussions will be severe. When you reach Uzushio, you will bear the sadness.'
Those exact words… 'bear the sadness' they keep echoing."
Tsunade's brows knit. "Sadness? What did he mean?"
"He meant I'll miss the thing that matters the most to me. I can't witness my child's birth, nor the first steps, the first words, none of the formative years." Naruto's fingers tightened. "The world thinks my exile ends in four years, but I can't be sure. That… godforsaken entity could descend in four years or forty. Until it's done, I can't set foot in Uzushio, can't see you, can't hold our son or daughter."
Tsunade opened her mouth to protest, but Naruto pressed on.
"I know what you are thinking, that you can be clever enough to slip out of Uzushio and meet me. But know this, the entities are kind and compassionate— yes. They uplift and guide people spiritually, helping them find their ultimate. But there are rules and safeguards in place to ensure these beings an powers are never misused. And those rules… they are as strict as it gets.
I'm an orphan, Tsunade. Like every father, I want to give my child what I never had. If a father couldn't become a jōnin, he'll do everything he can to help his son become one, not to impose his dreams, but so his son may receive the respect and admiration he himself never got. Every father wants his child to become a better version of himself or something far better than him.
But for me, it goes beyond that. I know what it's like to grow up without the warmth of a family, without the shelter of a home, without the embrace of a mother's love… and without the protection and guidance of a father.
I will never blame my father, he did everything he could to protect me. He went against the entire village just to ensure I had a chance. He made sure I wasn't made the jinchūriki, despite being the perfect candidate, sparing me from having a giant bullseye painted on my back. He even made contingencies, calculating if I mysterious disappear or die it would affect Konoha economically. For all of that, I am grateful to him.
But I don't want my own child to grow up without his or her father. Having a family was always my dream.
A lone tear slid down Naruto's face.
Naruto's voice softened, raw. "Call me sentimental, but that was the dream. Now the punishment is tailor‑made: I get the child, but I'm banned from being there. Short of losing you or the baby, it's the worst pain they could choose."
"Will my child even need me when I return someday? Or will he or she blame me for not being there? I can already feel the divine energy tying in my aura, it's binding a contingency in me, ensuring I will never see my child during the time of exile. And if, by some miracle or coincidence, do cross paths… I can sense it. There's a trigger set, some form of physical punishment will befall me immediately till the child is off my vicinity."
Tsunade reached out, cradled his face. "You will always be his father. A child's heart has room for love." She drew in a steadying breath. "Then I'll do it. I'll take of our child and make sure he knows of who his father is."
Tsunade's voice alarmed. "I can't sense anything on you, no curse seal, no foreign chakra."
Naruto gave a sad smile. "You'd need sage perception, true sage perception to feel it. You'd have to be at least on Jiraiya's level, that partial 'combat sage' mode he managed to cobble together… or better, a full sage. Or like me an Arch Sage.
Your grandfather's archives in the Senju vaults describe the path sagehood. You're a Senju; the knowledge is yours by right. If you want to understand what binds me, you'll need that vision or read from your clan's library. I'm sure it holds the answers.
I know exactly what this is… but I can't speak of it further. If you or our child wish to know, the Uzumaki archives will also have the truth as well."
Tsunade's eyes flickered with sadness. She had learned rudimentary control over natural chakra from the Shikkotsu Forest, just enough to enhance her Strength of a Hundred Seal but nowhere near mastery. She remembered the scrolls well. A combat sage merely gathers nature chakra and expels it for battle, like Jiraiya can and even he had never perfected it.
A true sage, by contrast, becomes one with nature chakra, harmonizing body and spirit with the world around them.
But an Arch Sage... that was something else entirely. A being who stood not just above all. A combat sages, above whom true sages stand but head and shoulders above all of them stands the Arch Sage, a person who has transcended the self and stepped into a realm few could even begin to comprehend.
Tsunade knew this well. She had been groomed as the heiress of the Senju clan until Nawaki was born, and by then, she had already completed all the training and studies required of a true heir. She understood what it meant to be in that realms of existence.
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"And Tsunade… I don't know why, but something feels off. There's something just outside the periphery of my thoughts and senses. I can feel it… but I can't grasp it. The moment I try, it slips away like water through my fingers. It's like trying to hold a liquid in your palm, no matter how tightly you squeeze, it escapes.
Something… or someone… is waiting. Waiting for the right time.
There are very few who can evade my perception. And whoever or whatever this is, hasn't entered Uzushio itself. But it's somewhere just beyond the island."
"What about the masked man?" Tsunade asked.
Naruto shook his head. "No. I've already reconfigured Uzushio's seal network to deliver a hostile reception if he ever tries to enter. He can't use space-time ninjutsu to breach either Uzushio or the Hokubu region. And in the unlikely case he does manage to bypass the anti-space time barrier and the outer layer of the seal, the entire matrix will identify him as a threat and activate its full defensive force. I assure you, even I might not survive that level of assault.
No... it's not the masked man. It's something or someone….else."
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In the days that followed, Naruto threw himself into work. The moment sunrise crested the sea walls, he was already in the administration wing, scrolls and dossiers arrayed across a low conference table, clan representatives filing in one after another. His first priority was integrating the newly arrived clans, easing them into Uzushio's machinery so the inevitable friction, newcomer reservations on one side, entrenched pride on the other, never ignited into full‑blown dissatisfaction.
"We can't afford even a spark," he told Lady Mithrusha in one late‑night session. "If bitterness festers now, it'll take decades to pull the barbs out."
As a sign of trust and as the first thread of that inclusion, he appointed Kriya Yamanaka as the new head of T&I. When the news spread through headquarters, veterans paused mid‑step: Kriya Yamanaka, the legend herself, taking the reins. Anko, who had led the division since the Uzushio formation, accepted the deputy position without any resentment. "I heard what kind of monster she is on the interrogation floor," Anko said with a shrug, almost admiringly. "I'll happily ride shotgun."
Even Inoichi, previously Konoha's chief interrogator, now worked beneath his aunt's command. It was a quiet, humbling shift, yet few could argue. Kriya's mind arts were the stuff of nightmare, and Naruto needed the very best.
Her first order came swiftly from emperor himself: nine new reconnaissance and information‑gathering squads. She sat with Lady Mithrusha, blank parchment spread between them, and they drew a pattern that would become the new standard like old InaShikaCho.
"Each team needs three pillars," Kriya said, tapping her brush: "Sensory, infiltration, brute force."
Mithrusha answered by sketching triads: "Uzumaki with the Mind's Eye of Kaguya for sensing and raw chakra, a Yamanaka for intel, then a powerhouse a Uchiha or Akimichi, to break whatever stands in the way."
They sealed it with a nod.
A second variant took shape too: Uchiha, Uzumaki, and Kurama, a visual prodigy paired with bottomless stamina and genjutsu mastery, if taught even med specialist. By the week's end, those rosters were inked, and shinobi were already drilling side by side on the coastal training grounds.
Yet not everything fit so neatly. Old grudges still simmered, especially between the Uchiha and the Chinoike, whose Ketsuryūgan had historically clashed with Sharingan wielders during the Clan War era. Naruto took it upon himself to personally address the tension.
He summoned representatives from both clans to a roundtable meeting in the Western Tower, allowing them to air every grievance, no matter how old or bitter. When all was said, he sealed the reconciliation with a symbolic appointment: the Chinoike heir would serve under Shisui Uchiha's personal three-man squad, and Sasuke, the current Uchiha heir until Shisui had a son or daughter of his own would be placed under the command of the current Lord of the Chinoike clan, Lord Ugine Chinoike.
It was a move designed to force cooperation from the top down.
"Make it work," Naruto told them flatly. "The Elemental Nations will try to pull us apart. They will poke at every possible weakness once I leave. So don't give them the opportunity."
And then, in a colder tone, one he rarely used with his own people, especially with someone as close as Shisui, he added, "I have contingencies in place in case any political feud breaks out in my absence. So you'd better make it work."
With a silent gulp, both parties agreed.
For policing, he ignored all pleas from his advisors and others to hand the Uchiha their traditional badge and instead unveiled a new military arm: Tenen Saeior—'the Heaven flame and Chain Battalion'. No day‑to‑day arrests, no routine patrols. They were designed for covert sabotage, strategic strikes, and the defense of allies, equal parts shield and sword. Shisui was the figurehead commander, but everyone knew Mikoto handled daily strategy, leaving Shisui free to juggle clan leadership and other duties.
One evening, Mikoto stepped into the war‑room where Naruto was finishing a map overlay.
"Thank you," she said, quietly but firmly.
"For what?"
"For trusting us without setting us up as police again. We don't want that… memory."
Naruto gave a small, sardonic smile. "I wouldn't hand anyone a powder keg and call it a gift."
Every new department head, whether Kriya at T&I or Mikoto at Tenen Saeior, received a seat on the Council of Clans, but each still reported to an Uzumaki commander. An unbroken line of accountability. Some called it Uzumakis hording power; Naruto called it tradition.
"You answer to Mithrusha," he reminded Kriya. "Mikoto only answers to Lord Suifu since you are also part of military. And if any of you bristle at that, remember: that's how Uzushio works. We won't break the chain now."
He said it plainly, no arrogance—just fact. And because it was Naruto, because the Uzumaki crest was still the pillar that held every seal in this city, no one argued.
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The Torifu Akimichi soon discovered that "welcome to Uzushio" really meant "welcome to work." Lord Suifu, was delighted, positively giddy to have a commander of Torifu's caliber in‑country. Entire regiments were being re‑organized, drills redrawn, and there was no question: Torifu Akimichi would help lead whole new battlion.
Torifu, however, had other ideas.
"I'm retired," he insisted over lunch, patting his ample belly. "My son Chōza can handle the field. Old men need naps."
So, after polishing off a mountain of roasted pork, he waddled back to his room, kicked off his boots, and flopped onto a futon with a sigh of pure satisfaction. Five minutes into his nap, a young Akimichi guard burst in, red‑faced and panting.
"My lord, there's an important visitor. An old official. Says it's urgent."
Torifu waved him off. "Tell him to wait for Chōza. I'm… unwell."
The guard blinked. "My lord, you were doing cartwheels at breakfast."
"Age can strike at any moment," Torifu declared, rolling onto his other side. "Now shoo."
The hapless guard trudged back to the palace entrance, where an elderly man in crimson lamellar armor stood flanked by two stern aides. The young Akimichi hadn't met Suifu face‑to‑face, but he'd seen the Grand Marshal on the viewing screens but didn't recognized him now.
"My Lord says… um… he's ill, sir. He asks that you please wait for Lord Chōza."
Suifu's eyebrow twitched.
"That boy dares make me wait? Even his father was never so impertinent. Tell that idiot to come out now or I will have him dragged out."
The guard swallowed, retreating to relay the reprimand. As he reached Torifu's room and relayed the message, the old clan head had pieced things together. Torifu bolted upright, wrenching on a formal robe with such speed the guard nearly fainted.
"Out of my way!" Torifu bellowed, barreling down the corridor faster than any Akimichi had a right to move. The guard, helmet askew, scampered after him.
Outside in the courtyard, Torifu skidded to a halt, panting.
"My lord Grand Marshal!" he cried. "You could have summoned me, I would have come at once!"
Suifu folded his arms.
"I did summon you, Torifu. Your son showed up instead."
By now Chōza had appeared, standing a step behind, looked thoroughly guilty, rubbing the back of his neck.
Suifu's gaze shifted to the younger Akimichi.
"And you, boy, how can you lead whole battalion when you've barely killed five hundred shinobi? A sneeze in a proper war."
Chōza's cheeks flushed beet‑red.
Torifu swivelled on the guard, cuffing his helmet.
"You said the Grand Marshal wanted any Akimichi, not me specifically!"
The guard squeaked. "My lord, you said…!"
Torifu adjusted his helmet again and said, "Don't justify incompetence. Kids these days, I tell you…"
Suifu cleared his throat. "A shinobi retires only when he dies," he said. "I'm as old as your grandfather, yet here I stand. I led your father in the First World Alliance Regiment, and I'm still working. So a 'young man' of sixty‑odd summers like you can certainly do better than lazing in bed."
Behind him, several Akimichi including Choza bit their lips to keep from laughing; they all knew Torifu's favorite excuse…"too old"…was about to be obliterated.
Torifu, chastened like an academy genin, bowed low. He had too much respect for the old man to say anything rude.
"I'll report for duty, Grand Marshal."
And report he did. Suifu put him through a pace that would have made a lesser man weep. Drills at dawn, logistics briefings at noon, full‑armor fight at dusk. Within a week, Torifu was barking orders with the vigor of a twenty‑year‑old, and, though he'd never admit it, he adored every sweaty, exhausting minute.
When Chōza asked how he felt, Torifu only grinned.
"Feels good to be useful again, son. And to finally serve under Lord Suifu," Torifu said with a grin. "I might bemoan that I regret leaving Konoha and the comfort of my bed but that'd be a lie. I'm enjoying training these new recruits and even Lord Suifu treating me like a rookie… which, to be fair, I probably am compared to his two centuries of experience."
He slapped his stomach and added, "Now fetch me a barrel of barbecue. These recruits need to witness what true Akimichi stamina looks like!"
Behind them, Suifu allowed himself the faintest smile. Another regiment forged, another general un‑retired and de-rusted.
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And slowly, the day came, Naruto's departure.
He had delivered his final speech to the people of Uzushio, one that calmed their hearts and stirred their spirits. Now, he walked not in the regal robes of an emperor, but in the humble garb of a monk, black and deep red, with a mala of prayer beads draped across his chest. His gaze was steady, solemn. The entire population of Uzushio had lined the inner roads to watch him go, though none were permitted beyond the city gates. Naruto had insisted: no followers, no fanatical crowds outside the gates.
A tight barricade stood between the people and the outer gates, closely guarded. Naruto didn't want any of his more fanatical followers attempting to follow him.
And as Naruto approached the final gate, he paused. His voice, calm yet commanding, echoed:
"So… you came. I don't know who you are, come forward and stand before me."
Only a few had the honour of accompanying him past the gates: Lord Suifu, Lady Tsunade, the clan heads, and a handful of Uzushio's most important figures. They were not escorting him to a grand ship but to a small, humble boat. He would row out alone. Not as an emperor. Not as a lord. But as an Arch Sage, the last title that remained to him now.
And then, stepping forward from the red light, came a figure older than he remembered seeing in photos, but still radiant. The moment she appeared, the air seemed to still.
Tsunade, and few older people with her, immediately recognized her.
The moment he recognized her, he felt a fear he hadn't known in a very long time—greater than anyone else present, realizing the implications of this person being in Uzushio during his absence, especially with the barrier recognizing her also as a mainline Uzumaki. And his total lack of control. And women who smiled at them was none other than.
Uzumaki Kushina.
His mother.
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To be continued. Stay tuned and let me know your thoughts! Like and comment! 🙏🔥
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Chapter 26: A New Turn. IS OUT!
Chapter 27: A Turn ON A Turn. IS OUT!
Chapter 28: Farewell. IS OUT!!!!!!!!
Chapter 29 – The Oath of the Oath-Keeper. IS OUT!!!!!!!!! (End of the Arc)
Chapter 30 – Aftermath.
Chapter 31: The Growing Crown, The cracking Roots.
Chapter 32: The Wandering Monk. 8k long
Chapter 33: A New face Or phase. 8k long
Chapter 34: Chinamaki. 5.5k long
Chapter 35: Cross Roads. IS OUT!!!!!!!!!!! 9K LONG
Chapter 36: The New Field. IS OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!! 9k LONG
Chapter 37: Loyalty. IS OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!! 7 K LONG
Chapter 38: Diversion. IS OUT!!!!!!!!!!! 7K Long
Chapter 39: Destruction. IS OUT!!!!!!!!!!! 12K Long
Chapter 40: Power of a God. 10K Long
Chapter 41: Perspectives. 12K Long
Chapter 42: Confluence of Storms. 18K
Chapter 43: Deception. 12k
Chapter 44: Judgement. (NEW)10k