Naruto: The Last Harbinger of Storm
NTLHOS BOOK 2: Chapter 29 – The Oath of the Oath-Keeper
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🖋️ Author's Note:
Hey everyone, this chapter is a bit shorter than usual ✍️, but I didn't want to rush into the next arc just yet 📖. I felt this moment, the last section of this arc deserved its own space 🌒.
I'm also incredibly relieved to share that the medical procedure I've been undergoing is finally complete and successful 💉✅. I've been suitably assured by my doctors that unless something unexpected happens, I won't need to go through this exhausting process again 🙏.
I want to take a moment to thank all the doctors and nurses who helped me recover 🏥💖. Truly, I don't think healthcare workers get enough credit 🌟. Until I experienced it firsthand, I never truly grasped the immense of their work requires. They're real-life heroes 🦸♀️🦸♂️.
Thank you all for your support, patience, and continued love for this story 🧡📚. We're entering a new arc soon and there's much more to come ⚔️🔥.
With gratitude,
The Third Fire Trident
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"A vow is not just a promise, it is the thread by which a man binds his soul to his duty. And some threads, once tied, cannot be broken."
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Previously on NTLHOS-2:
Naruto dreaded the reaction of the other villages. They knew Kushina's reputation all too well.
Tsunade stepped forward, voice low but iron-hard. "He's still your son. Will do this to your own son?"
Kushina's gaze flicked to Tsunade. Something unreadable glimmered there regret? sadness? but it vanished behind a steely smile.
"I'll do what the clan requires."
Naruto lifted a hand, palm up. "Then hear......."
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Now:
A damp breeze rolled off the sea as Kushina faced her son in the moon-splashed path. The torches along the dock trembled; ropes clacked against mast rings.
Naruto spoke voice calm.
"Then hear me, 'Mother'. The gods may call this exile or punishment… keeping me from watching my child grow, but in their strange mercy they have blessed Uzushio. You didn't know, did you?" He inclined his head toward Tsunade. "She's pregnant. I have already announced to the whole village that my heir in blood and in choice is on the way."
Kushina's gaze darted to Tsunade's midriff. For the briefest instant something gentle flickered across her eyes; the wind might have carried away a sigh. Then fury swallowed the softness.
"A child in hardly a months is still no ruler," she hissed.
"The wards disagree." Naruto's tone carried. "For the deities, an heir conceived is heir enough. Tsunade holds sufficient Uzumaki blood, and with our son in her womb, the great network has attached itself to her. The burden is crushing, I know, so I've shifted eighty percent of the ward load to four guardians."
Kushina's brow knit. "Four who?"
"Old loyalists of Lord Ashina," he said, eyes glinting. "They've never been seen in public. I meant to induct them formally, but destiny changed my hand. They're hidden, shielded by seals so deep that not even Lord Suifu could pinpoint them and you certainly won't find them by sniffing among the present clans."
Her jaw tightened, real fury building now that her son had thwarted path she'd imagined. Naruto pressed on...
"You might think, 'Eliminate any one of those four and the structure collapses… then seize control from Tsunade.' Don't bother. The seals are keyed to my son alone, even I can't open them now. Only when the boy is grown and masters the seals in the oceanic core will he locate them or I return and take back control. Until then, your plans end at the gate."
Kushina's cloak snapped in the wind. Somewhere behind, a gull shrieked over the surf. She flicked a glance at Suifu.
"You'd disobey me, Marshal?"
The old man bowed fractionally. "My oath binds me to the Lord. Until the unborn heir is proven false or superseded by better claimant in eyes of the divine and wards, that oath stands."
Frustration burned in Kushina's violet eyes. Naruto felt the barrier between them harden, yet he sensed another barrier too: the leash tightening around his own chakra. His exile had officially begun an hour ago; each minute he remained on Uzushio's soil drew fresh iron chains across his aura. He imagined giving a single final order, "No one admit…." and invisible thornny whip whipped across his back. The pain struck deep, but his face never twitched. He tried forming the command a second time, a cold paralysis twisted his tongue, threatening to clamp his jaw shut.
He swallowed the urge. One slash of divine whip might be bearable. Two could cripple. Better to trust his implications had been clear.
"I cannot bar you from entry," he said at last, breath measured. "Nor can I order my forces to repel you. That authority ends with my exile. Some might call that a weakness, but it is simply the decree." A fresh wave of pressure climbed his spine, urging him to leave.
Kushina stepped closer, a single pace and whispered, "I always knew you'd fight me, one way or another."
Naruto's reply came soft, almost weary. "I'd rather you fought beside the family than against it."
No answer, only the flicker of torchlight across her features. Naruto felt the shackles tighten to point it started to grind against his spine, every second was borrowed. He drew a slow breath.
"Farewell, Mother. I would stay and talk… but time has other plans."
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The lantern light wavered across the quay, painting long shadows as the last of the escort boats slipped into the open sea. Suifu, standing rigid by the massive iron-banded gates, pressed a trembling hand to his chest. Through a mist of unshed tears he watched the crimson‑lit outline of Naruto's ship shrink to a pinprick on the horizon. The lacquered case cradling Arashi no Megami weighed heavier than iron in his other arm.
Behind him, Rashirom's barked orders, iron plate clanged into locking slots as the coastal gate seals snapped shut, Uzushio's formal declaration that the Emperor had taken his leave.
Tsunade exhaled shakily. A hush settled, until a ripple of dread passed through the watching shinobi as Kushina strode toward the sealed archway. She'd waited just far enough to let Naruto depart, now her expression was half-curious, half‑predatory.
Rashirom stepped into her path, blade whispering free. Mei Terumī and few nobles matched him, chakra flaring, all except Tsunade.
Kushina's lips curved.
"Ah, novice," Kushina said with a smirk, her voice rich. "There are very few who've ever outplayed me. Even when I was assassinating daimyos and slaughtering Kage families left and right, I was never captured or penalised. I always had leverage… or contingency."
"You really think bunch can stop me?"
Mei adjusted her stance and eyes narrowed. "I don't know how strong you are these days, but you're no longer the Kyūbi's jinchūriki. And you'd be a fool to think you can defeat us here. We have an army behind us. This is our Uzushio."
"Your Uzushio?" Kushina scoffed. "Wrong. My Uzu. My great‑grandfathers ruled these shores long before your bloodlines sniffed air. You're not even Uzumaki. Don't mistake my son's courtesy for your equality. This throne belongs to the main line."
Her gaze swept across them. "Don't think that just because my son outwitted me, you can do the same. There's a reason he's good, he's my son, after all. My blood. And despite all our differences, even he knew better than to make you lessers equal to an Uzumaki in anything. This land is not a democracy, nor a dictatorship ruled by Kage. This is a monarchy, under the Uzumaki clan, and it belongs to the mainline Uzumaki."
Suifu grimaced at the words. While they weren't phrased correctly, the sentiment behind them was true.
And then Suifu saw Rashirom and the others step forward, ready to forcefully remove Lady Kushina, and he grimaced further.
She lifted her chin toward Suifu. "Lord Marshal, clear my way. I haven't been to the palace in decades."
A silence like drawn steel filled the night. Then Suifu stepped forward, his hand on the hilt. Raw chakra flared off him, an ocean surge that pushed the escort squad three paces back before they even realized they'd moved. Rashirom's sword trembled in his grip.
"Gasps broke out among the gathered guards. Even seasoned veterans had forgotten how those archaic clauses worked. Kushina smiled.
Why, Grand Marshal?" Rashirom said.
Suifu couldn't bring himself to meet the betrayed looks of the group. "She is of the royal line," he intoned. "By the Uzumaki laws, no gate nor ward may bar her until the rightful grace, now that is Prince Arashi, issues a decree on that effect in person."
"See? Oaths endure," she said. "There's no law of Uzushio or Uzumaki clan he doesn't know by heart, and our Grand Marshal is one of its last enforcers. He may dislike me and disapprove of my methods, but his oath is iron. There's a reason he's called the Man of His Oaths in Uzushio. Ask yourselves, why is he called that? You've all taken oaths, so why is he the only one known by that title? Why is it that he came to my son to fulfil his oath, and not to me when I looking for the remaining Uzumakis and seeking vengeance?
It's because he never approved of my methods. He hid from me, knowing that if we ever stood face to face, he could not refuse an order I gave personally. And with an SS-rank shinobi at my beck and call, he knew I would ask him to carry out the most heinous acts for our clan's revenge. So he stayed away, not out of fear of other nations, but to avoid serving me, a cause he could not believe in. For a man of his path doesn't have the choice of which orders to follow and which to disobey. It's not even a choice between obedience and death, there is simply no choice.
Instead, he followed his last standing order: to protect all scattered Uzumaki, I assume. But when my son opened the wards, and Lord Ashina's successor was proclaimed to all Uzumaki who knew how to feel for it, he had no choice but to present himself. It was his fortune that the next lord he found was one he deemed… worthy to serve, though even then, he wouldn't have had a choice if Naruto was like me… Though I, to this day, still disagree with him on that.
Rashirom and the others stared at Suifu in stunned silence, their eyes pleading for him to deny her words. But he remained still, refusing to meet anyone's gaze—except Tsunade's. Only she, having been informed by Naruto before his departure, understood the weight he now bore in silence.
"Why?" Rashirom whispered again, still reeling from the revelation about his mentor.
See, you all know my son, he's an Arch Sage. I don't know how he reached that level so quickly, or who taught him. Most sages take a few lifetimes to reach that point. Most aspiring sages choose a patron deity, like I chose the Shinigami, or one of the Fourteen within Uzushio, or even deities from beyond, like the Elemental Deities, as shortcut.
"But there are a rare few who reach that level without a patron, just through the purity of their conviction. Their whole life becomes an oath or an act of focus. Their every breath, every action moves toward one goal, and their spiritual energy grows until it reaches enlightenment. Sometimes… that oath spans lifetimes."
She turned, her eyes falling on Suifu. "Our Grand Marshal here is one such individual. His oath was simple: to serve as the enforcer and protector of the Uzumaki main line. And with nothing but his own effort, he rose to a high tier of sagehood, so rare, most don't even believe such a path exists anymore. Do you know why I respect him, even though he stands against me? Because there are very few paths harder to walk than his."
Gasps and murmurs rippled through the crowd. Even Rashirom looked stunned. Very few knew this about the Grand Marshal and they knew that even combined, they could not defeat Lord Suifu.
Tsunade stepped forward, one hand resting over the faint swell at her abdomen. "Let her pass," she said, voice low but carrying. "We cannot break the law tonight. But, Kushina, hear me: inside these walls you hold no command. By my decree as the Regent, you may not issue orders, nor interfere with the uzushio's running."
Kushina's eyes flicked from Tsunade's hand to her face. A flash of emotion.. anger? longing? flickered and vanished. She dipped her head in acknowledgment, a motion that might have been respectful or merely calculating.
"As you wish, Regent," she said, stepping under the arch. The gate seals shimmered, recognizing royal blood yet registering the new lattice Tsunade carried. Chakra tendrils, ones Tsunade had been sensing since Naruto's departure tightened, anchoring to unseen nodes in four distant corners of the city. Kushina paused just inside, feeling the subtle thrum of those lines, then moved deeper down the torchlit avenue.
Rashirom exhaled, sheathing his sword. One by one, guards stood down, though unease lingered like coastal fog.
Tsunade watched Kushina's retreating silhouette until it disappeared into the lower streets. Only then did she turn to Suifu. "Thank you, Grand Marshal. I'll trust that your oath will keep her in check as well, just as it protects her—and she knows this."
Suifu bowed, the lacquered case still clutched to his chest. "My oath is to the main line, Lady Regent, to the child you bear and the city he will one day inherit. I can restrain her if necessary, but unless she harms you while you are pregnant, or attacks the Emperor after his birth, I cannot mortally wound or kill her and she knows this as well."
The night air pressed cool and heavy. Far out to sea, the Emperor's ship crossed the horizon line and vanished. Within the gate, two Uzumaki women—one sworn to empire, the other sworn to vengeance—walked separate paths toward an uncertain dawn.
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To be continued. Stay tuned and let me know your thoughts! Like and comment! 🙏🔥
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Note:
I hope you all liked this chapter. I promise, I'm not wasting chapters or stretching things out unnecessarily. This one is absolutely crucial ⚖️, because the very dynamics within Uzushio are beginning to change.
The main question now is this: With a fox like Kushina inside the walls and Naruto gone… will Uzushio remain united? Or will all of Naruto's hard work go down the drain? 💥🌀
Every civilization, once it reaches a certain level of comfort, eventually faces internal conflict 🧱➡️⚔️. And with that threat comes pressure from outside actors too, Orochimaru 🐍, the masked shinobi 🎭, Nobinaga ⚔️, the rogue Uzumaki group 🩸and many more.
The only spoiler I'll share for now is this: in the next chapter, the real reason behind Naruto's exile will be leaked 😱. The Elemental Grand Monks 🛕 will learn it through their patrons, since an Arch Sage being punished is no small matter, it's a divine scandal ⚡.
And once that truth emerges… how will the daimyō react, knowing they've been so thoroughly swindled and fooled? 😡💼
What will the Kages do? What about Hiruzen, who essentially gave away three clans for nothing? 🎭😔
We're entering one of the most politically intense and emotionally charged arcs yet with a time skip, thank you for staying with me on this journey 💫.
Until next time 🌀🗝️.
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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. 10k
Chapter 45: True Powers of the world. (NEW) 20k IS OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ( Naruto is Back)
Chapter 46- The Game Begins Anew. IS OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (NEW) 14k IS OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!