Roran.
At the top of an outermost tower, Sara stood alone.
She wore a deep red short skirt that didn't quite fit the dignity of a queen. Her slender waist looked as if it could be held with a single hand, and her long, pale legs, though they didn't seem particularly strong, held her firmly on the edge of the platform.
Her red hair hung softly by her ears, swaying in the wind. At nineteen, her youthful beauty shone with radiant brilliance.
She gazed into the distance.
Worry clouded her eyes.
Far on the horizon, a wall of sand and wind surged toward Roran once again. This wasn't the first time it had happened, these storms had struck again and again over the past weeks.
She and her subordinates had used barrier ninjutsu to resist them, but the effort had taken nearly every available ninja in Roran. No one had been able to spare the time or strength to fetch fresh water.
As for the common people, crossing such storms was out of the question.
If things continued like this, Roran would inevitably be swallowed by the desert.
Just as she sighed, preparing to descend and ready the next defensive barrier, a voice, deeply etched into her memory, spoke softly from behind her.
"Why didn't you ask me for help sooner?"
Unnoticed, Kaede had appeared on the side of the platform.
Sara spun around sharply.
Joy, relief, and a flicker of guilt flashed across her eyes. She rushed forward and wrapped her arms tightly around Kaede. Only after a moment did she release him.
Suppressing the emotions rising in her chest, she looked into his eyes and hesitantly asked,
"Your eyes… what happened to them?"
"I've gained some new power," Kaede replied with a faint smile, brushing a few stray strands of hair from her face.
He was about to say more when he turned, noticing the sandstorm drawing closer.
Placing his right hand gently on Sara's shoulder, he formed a one-handed seal with his left, drew a breath, and exhaled toward the storm.
Sage Art: Wind Release: Sand Dust!
In an instant,
A powerful gust erupted from Kaede's mouth, rapidly swelling into a vast cyclone. It swept up the desert sands and surged forward, colliding head-on with the approaching storm.
The two forces clashed, and the incoming sandstorm was completely overpowered, forced back and swept away into the distance.
Sara stood stunned.
Kaede had once shown overwhelming power, annihilating numerous Sand Shinobi in a single instant. But that paled in comparison to this.
With just one seal, a single Wind Release jutsu, he had pushed back a sandstorm that threatened to consume Roran!
He had stood alone against the wrath of nature, and prevailed.
Lowering his hand, Kaede turned back to Sara with a faint smile.
"At this rate, I don't think you could've held Roran much longer."
"I… I heard you became the Hokage of Konoha. I didn't want to cause you trouble," Sara said, her voice soft. She couldn't meet his eyes. In front of Kaede, the proud aura of a queen completely disappeared. "I'm still the queen here, after all…"
"Yes, I know you're the queen."
Kaede chuckled.
She was someone who loved him wholeheartedly, yet didn't want to be a burden to him. That was something he truly admired about her.
He glanced off into the distance. The sandstorm had been pushed far away, but at the edge of his vision, more winds were already beginning to stir.
"This endless sand… Is it because the Dragon Vein has vanished?"
Sara nodded with worry in her eyes.
"Ever since that time, the power of the Dragon Vein has grown weaker and weaker. In the past two years, the sandstorms have become more frequent."
With the Dragon Vein gone, the land it once stabilized had become harsh and unforgiving. Maintaining a city in the middle of the desert had become nearly impossible.
"It seems we'll have to abandon this place…" Sara sighed.
This country had been founded by her mother. She didn't want to give it up, but what choice did she have? Kaede might be able to stop a storm or two, but he couldn't stay here forever.
Without the Dragon Vein, Roran no longer had the means to hold back the desert permanently.
The only option would be to relocate Roran's people, flee the desert and build a new settlement somewhere in the Land of Fire.
"Would you rather move to the Land of Fire, or stay here?" Kaede asked quietly.
Sara turned to look back at Roran. A hint of sorrow passed through her eyes.
"I want to stay. But this place will be buried in sand eventually…"
Kaede smiled faintly, meeting her gaze.
"Are you sure you want to stay?"
"…Yes."
"But it's not possible anymore, is it?"
Sara still longed to remain in the town her mother had built. But the desert was only growing more violent. Even if you could hold off one storm, there would be ten more, then a hundred.
No human could fight nature forever.
"No."
"…It's not that hard, actually."
Kaede turned toward the desert with a slight smile.
"I've been meaning to test a certain jutsu. This wide-open space is perfect for it."
"Huh?"
Sara blinked in surprise.
Before she could react, Kaede leapt from the tower, soaring through the air before landing in the desert outside Roran.
Then,
He closed his eyes briefly. When he opened them again, a faint golden glow enveloped him. The Truth-Seeking Orbs floated behind him, and the divine markings of Six Paths Sage Mode appeared across his body.
Feeling the overwhelming chakra surging from him, Sara stood frozen, astonished and unsure of what was happening.
Down below,
The guards working on the barrier had already stopped what they were doing when Kaede pushed back the storm. Now, they too turned their eyes toward him.
Standing atop the sands in Six Paths Mode, Kaede pressed his hands together, focusing his chakra.
WUMMM,
A tremendous surge of energy burst from him, flowing deep underground.
Then it happened.
Before the stunned eyes of Sara and every ninja in Roran, the sand in front of Kaede began to churn.
Massive, thick vines and tree trunks erupted from below like great green serpents. A tidal wave of vegetation surged forward, transforming the desert into a sea of trees.
"Secret Wood Release Jutsu: Deep Forest Emergence!"
Kaede calmly spoke the name of the jutsu.
His vast Six Paths-level chakra continued pouring into the ground, generating wave after wave of dense forest, towering trees, winding vines, all intertwined and spreading rapidly.
But it didn't stop there.
Kaede used Time Reversal to restore his cellular energy, drawing even more chakra and injecting it into the jutsu with Six Paths Sage power, further amplifying its strength.
Under his control, an endless forest sprang forth, radiating outward from Roran in every direction.
Sara, watching from above, could only stare in disbelief.
The colossal sea of trees tore through the sandstorm like paper, dispersing it with ease and stretching all the way to the horizon.
RUMBLE,
The ground shook violently, as if an earthquake had struck.
Countless civilians poured out of their homes in confusion, freezing in the streets at the sight of the endless forest rising beyond the city.
Finally,
After what felt like an eternity, the tremors subsided.
Kaede slowly lowered his hands. After sensing the range of the newly grown forest, he nodded in satisfaction and returned to the platform.
"It's done."
"Forests now stretch out nearly a hundred li in every direction. They've reached the outer edges of the desert, both east and west. Each tree carries my chakra, they're deeply rooted and incredibly resilient. They won't disappear for decades."
Sara stood speechless, gazing at the forests surrounding Roran.
It felt like a dream.
She pinched the back of her hand, felt pain, and knew it was real. But even then, she couldn't stop staring at Kaede in awe.
This kind of power…
Has Kaede become a god?
Down below, one of the villagers spoke with trembling lips as they looked at the forest:
"This is…"
"…a miracle."
A divine miracle.
Turning desert into forest, this was not something humans should be capable of.
Some villagers fell to their knees, praying toward the trees. One bowed, then another, until everyone followed.
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Konoha Year 49
September 11
The vast desert between the Land of Wind and the Land of Fire, once a natural border, was transformed into a sea of trees in a single day.
The surrounding nations were shocked. All sent ninja to investigate. They learned from the now-forest-surrounded Roran that the one responsible was none other than Konoha's Fifth Hokage, Hatake Kaede.
Half a month later,
The news spread across the ninja world.
And with it, the title "Silver Flash" began to fade from memory, replaced by another name.
The same title was once held by the man who ended the Warring States Era and founded Konoha, Senju Hashirama.
God of the Ninja World.
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Completed version available on Patreon.com/Veltoria