Planned to upload 2 chaps/day for a week...
Then I caught a nasty cold :')
Now here we are.
*****
Konoha.Hokage Room.
Sarutobi Hiruzen sat in silence, the cigarette holder resting between his fingers as he took a deep, measured breath of smoke. He let it travel through his lungs, held it for a moment, then exhaled slowly. The grey mist curled into the air before him, swirling faintly in the quiet room, but the usual sense of relief it brought never came.
The heaviness on his face remained.
Once, the act of smoking had been a small comfort—a momentary escape from the pressures and burdens of leadership. Whenever things were tense or troubled, he would take a drag, close his eyes, and allow the sensation to settle his nerves.
But not today. Not anymore.
"Mirai..."
His gaze drifted toward the window, out into the direction of the battlefield in the Land of Grass. The trees swayed gently in the wind, but his heart was not calm. He let out a soft sigh.
This battle had come at the worst possible time.
Konoha's overall military strength was already stretched thin. They had suffered too much in the recent years—Orochimaru's betrayal, the Third Great Ninja War, and now this fresh conflict with Kumogakure. Under such conditions, Namikaze Mirai's sudden surge in prominence through battlefield glory was not only inconvenient—it was dangerous.
His victories would give him a level of prestige no one in the village leadership could easily suppress.
And the Uchiha—those proud, defiant shinobi—had been brought to the battlefield alongside him. It was deliberate. Mirai had done it to restore their reputation and win them public favor. He wasn't hiding it. He was declaring it openly.
And Hiruzen could see it clearly.
Yet, he was powerless to stop it.
Konoha needed them both right now—Mirai's overwhelming strength and the Uchiha's firepower. If either of them were pulled from the frontlines, the tide of the war could change.
A flicker of unease passed through his aging eyes.
For a brief, fleeting moment, he saw in Mirai the same bright shadow that had once walked these halls—Minato. Calm, brave, brilliant. A beacon to the village.
But Mirai was not Minato.
Minato had been steady and just. A true son of Konoha. Mirai, on the other hand, was ruthless and unpredictable. When Danzo took Naruto under his 'protection', Mirai had not issued a warning, nor filed a complaint through proper channels.
He had obliterated Root. Danzo and his men were wiped out in a night of cold, bloody retribution.
Could such a man truly be allowed to sit in the Hokage's chair?
If Mirai became Hokage, would there be room in the village for people like him—old, cautious, diplomatic?
That future terrified Hiruzen. It was the reason he was doing everything in his power to support Tsunade for the position.
But even Tsunade had become a problem lately.
Since returning from her visit to the Uchiha compound, something in her had changed. Her warm sharpness had cooled. She no longer listened to his summons, no longer responded to his plans.
She had grown distant. Aloof.
And now, despite her hemophobia not being fully cured, she had left for the battlefield without permission, claiming she wanted to contribute to the war effort.
Reckless. Foolish. Irrational.
How effective could she even be out there, still struggling with trauma? It made no sense, and yet, she went anyway.
Hiruzen's thoughts were interrupted by the sharp creak of the door opening. A scout-nin stepped in briskly and set a scroll down in front of him.
"Hokage-sama, the latest report from the front lines."
He nodded silently and picked up the scroll. His fingers trembled slightly, but he opened it with composure and read quickly through the contents.
His face stiffened. More wrinkles carved deeper into his already lined features.
They had won. Again.
Since Namikaze Mirai had arrived on the battlefield, Konoha's troops had surged forward like they were possessed by victory itself. The momentum was overwhelming. Even when Kumogakure dispatched two Jinchūriki—Yugito and Killer Bee—they still lost.
The Tailed Beast Bomb, a weapon of absolute destruction, had been deflected with ease. Kumo's morale had crumbled. Their forces were retreating.
The scout remained silent, but he couldn't help casting a quick glance at Hiruzen's expression.
'It's our victory… shouldn't the Hokage be glad? Why does he look so grim?'
…
Meanwhile, far across the mountains and forests, in the Raikage's office in Kumogakure, Fourth Raikage Ai was in the middle of a thunderous outburst.
"Ridiculous! This is absolutely absurd!"
"I sent Yugito and Bee—TWO JINCHŪRIKI—and we still lost?! What is Dodai doing out there?!"
His fists clenched, muscle bulging under his skin as he paced like a caged beast. The veins on his forehead throbbed with fury.
Dodai had served faithfully through the Third Raikage's reign and had earned his place among the high-ranking strategists of Kumo. But even that respect was being tested.
How could you lose a battle when you had Jinchūriki fighting on your front lines? When the enemy was right there?
Another scout knelt nearby and spoke cautiously.
"Raikage-sama, Dodai-san explained in his report that the Jinchūriki only used partial transformations. The Eight-Tails and Two-Tails didn't go all-out. He didn't unleash their full power."
"The Tailed Beast Bombs were deflected because Mirai intercepted them before they fully gathered chakra."
Ai's shoulders heaved with slow breaths. As his anger cooled, so did his perception.
Yes, the Two-Tails was not one of the stronger tailed beasts. And while Mirai had deflected the attack, it didn't mean he could do the same to the Eight-Tails if it fought with all its might.
Even his father, the legendary Third Raikage, had only managed to shatter the Eight-Tails' Tailed Beast Bomb with his Hell Stab—not deflect it.
Mirai had simply taken advantage of the partial transformations and timing.
Dodai's retreat wasn't cowardice. It was calculated—an effort to avoid unnecessary casualties once the momentum shifted.
Ai exhaled slowly, but his hatred toward Namikaze Mirai had not diminished. It had only turned colder. Sharper.
The scout spoke again, more hesitantly this time.
"Raikage-sama… Dodai-san also strongly recommends replacing the standard shinobi equipment. Here is the list of proposed changes."
Ai opened the second scroll.
His face darkened like a storm cloud. The writing was aggressive, gouged into the paper. Dodai had clearly written the report in anger, frustration leaking through every character.
He wanted every single Kumo shinobi to be re-equipped with updated gear. Bone-crafted swords. Stone-forged kunai. Chakra-reactive armor.
Tens of thousands of shinobi. Thousands already at the front.
Even the most conservative estimates predicted a monumental cost.
Ai ground his teeth together. His jaw tightened.
"…Fine. Find the craftsmen. Follow through."
…
Back on the Konoha side, the atmosphere couldn't be more different.
The entire Konoha camp had erupted in celebration. After two victories that pushed back Kumogakure, the shinobi were buzzing with renewed morale.
In every tent, shinobi whispered, exaggerated, and laughed over tales of Namikaze Mirai flicking away the Tailed Beast Bomb like a leaf on the wind.
Some joked that he might one day surpass even the likes of Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara.
And over by the Uchiha camp, things had gone fully out of control.
After the clan head activated his Mangekyō Sharingan and unleashed Susanoo, swatting away the Two-Tails with sheer force, and then Mirai flicked away the beast's attack like an afterthought—the Uchiha were ecstatic.
Their laughter rang out so loudly that other shinobi had to take long routes just to avoid passing by.
No one wanted to be dragged into the latest retelling of how "we slapped around the Jinchūriki."
Meanwhile, in the command tent, Namikaze Mirai sat calmly, rubbing his chin as he mulled over a recent report.
Tsunade had arrived on the front lines.
She was in camp. He hadn't seen her yet.
His blue eyes narrowed slightly.
'So she came after all. Even after everything with Sarutobi Hiruzen…'
A slow smirk tugged at the corner of his lips.
'Do I go and welcome her?'
'Or should I just drag her into my tent and make her listen?'
He leaned back, folding his arms behind his head.
The war outside was still burning.
But for Mirai, a different kind of battle was about to begin.
*****
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