"Of course," Azula continued, seeing how thoughtful they were, "all of that? The world wars, the tailed beast tantrums, the endless cycle of Uchiha revenge? That's merely the opening act..."
She was like a predator sharing a secret with her prey. "You see, all that crisis is terribly… provincial. It's a local affair. A squabble over who gets to be king of the anthill. The real crisis is that the boot is already hovering over the anthill, and it belongs to someone from outside."
Kurama's ear twitched as he started having a bad premonition. "Outside? Outside where?"
Azula shot him a look that could freeze lava. "Think cosmically outside. To put it in terms even a creature who probably licks his own chakra tail can understand: the Sage of Six Paths himself, the ancestral origin of the Uchiha, Uzumaki, and Senju… was basically a mortal to them."
The silence that followed was so profound, Azula could hear the psychic equivalent of Mito's brain blue-screening.
"I… beg your pardon?" Mito finally managed, her voice a faint whisper, the greatest shock of today.
"A hybrid, a mutt, and not a pureblood," Azula clarified, as if explaining basic arithmetic to a particularly slow child. "The great Senju Hashirama, whose wood style you all seem to revere like it's the pinnacle of biological achievement, merely inherited the diluted chakra of the Sage's son, Asura."
"And the Sage himself? Oh, he was just the son of an Otsutsuki who was meant to be sacrificed and some random, probably very confused, human she found interesting. So the man was, in fact, a half-blood, and his clan, the Otsutsuki, are the real deal. They're the intergalactic landlords, and we're all just tenants who are about to be evicted. Violently."
Now, this was, of course, a masterful piece of editorial omission. Azula conveniently left out the fact that Hagoromo's 'rather special situation' was the understatement of the millennium.
The man might not have been a pureblood, but he could probably clap a full-blooded Otsutsuki out of reality in his sleep. A casual snore from the Sage might accidentally create a new dimension. But those details didn't serve her narrative. Fear did. And fear was a fantastic motivator.
Kurama's massive brain was whirring like a rusty gear. The name 'Otsutsuki'… it rang a bell. He associated it with the old man. Hagoromo. It was his name, his family name. The fox had always just assumed it was a title of singular greatness.
The idea that it was a clan name, that there were more… his mind recoiled from the concept. It was like contemplating the vastness of the ocean while being a single drop of water. Terrifying.
He knew the old man had a mother. But her origins were a myth wrapped in a legend shrouded in 'what the actual hell?'
The thought that the old man's mother came from a whole family of entities like her… Kurama didn't dare imagine it. The sheer, universe-breaking implications were too much.
He suddenly felt very small, and for a bijuu who could level mountains with a flick of his tail, that was a profoundly novel and unpleasant sensation.
For Mito, the revelation struck on a different, more intimate frequency. The Senju, the Uchiha, and her own Uzumaki clan… all from the same origin? It was genealogical heresy!
She'd spent a lifetime navigating the delicate political tensions between these clans, viewing them as distinct, proud, and often opposing bloodlines.
The Senju with their life force and vitality, the Uchiha with their Yin eyes and emotional baggage, the Uzumaki with their stubborn vitality and sealing prowess… to think they were all just slightly different expressions of the same diluted alien DNA?
It was like finding out three prize-winning, fiercely competitive show dogs were all, in fact, slightly different breeds of poodle.
Her mind raced, connecting dots that had previously been in different galaxies. The person they all ultimately revered, the Sage of Six Paths, possessed a body that put Hashirama's to shame and eyes that made Madara's coveted Mangekyou look like a cheap party trick… and he wasn't even a pureblood?
She looked at Azula, her expression a mosaic of awe, dread, and intense curiosity. "The Otsutsuki… tell me more. What are they? What do they want?"
A slow, enigmatic smile spread across Azula's face. It was a smile that knew things, expensive and dangerous things.
"Oh, Lady Mito," she purred, waving a dismissive hand. "That is a conversation for another day. A much longer, and undoubtedly more terrifying, day. It wouldn't do to put all one's apocalyptic eggs in one basket, would it? Let's just say my knowledge is… proprietary. And I only share my proprietary intel with those who have gained my absolute trust."
She was the picture of smug finality. She had given them just enough to blow the doors off their understanding of reality, but not enough to provide a single useful blueprint for a defense. It was the perfect tease. The ultimate cliffhanger.
The silence stretched. Kurama was staring, his giant eye unblinking, clearly running system diagnostics on his entire existence. Mito was just staring, her mind trying to build a new worldview from the rubble of the old one. They were both mentally screaming at her to continue.
Azula chose to enjoy the silence. It was a beautiful, noisy silence, filled with the sound of minds breaking.
Mito Uzumaki, wife of the God of Shinobi, the woman who had tethered the Nine-Tails to her soul, finally did something very un-Mito-like: she took a deep, shaky breath that was halfway to hyperventilation.
This pleasant little mental jaunt—started with the simple goal of playing along with her granddaughter and mildly amusing herself—had veered wildly off course into an ontological car crash.
She needed a stiff drink. She needed to lie down. She needed to find Hashirama and shake him until his stupid, happy-go-lucky brain understood that his famous 'power of friendship' speech might need to be updated.
She needed to process. But first, she needed to confirm the practicalities of this newfound, horrifying reality.
"So," Mito said, her voice regaining some of its steel through sheer force of will. "If I am to understand the complete context of your little presentation… you came to me because, in the face of this… this Otsutsuki-world-ending… you will be in great need of advanced Sealing Techniques. Is that the crux of it?"
Azula gave a single, regal nod. "Precisely. These beings, the Otsutsuki, are the source of what we call chakra. To them, it's not a weapon or a tool; it's the air they breathe. Literally. They can absorb any ninjutsu, any chakra-based attack, like we take a breath. It's their default state."
She began to count off on her fingers. "Most conventional ninjutsu are useless. What does work, based on my… sources… are three things: First, Space-Time Ninjutsu. Unpredictable, disorienting, can bypass their absorption. Second, Natural Energy—Senjutsu. It's ambient energy, not purely chakra-based, so it can actually harm them. And third…"
She looked pointedly at Mito. "…Sealing Techniques. The ultimate art of imposition. Of forcing rules upon reality itself. The culmination of the Uzumaki clan's centuries of brilliant, obsessive research."
"And you, Lady Mito, are not only the most talented master of this generation, you have access to all of it. The forbidden scrolls, the lost arts, the things even the clan elders whispered about. That is why I want to be your disciple. Not to learn how to make a bigger fireball. To learn how to put a cosmic leash on a god."
Mito found herself, despite the earth-shattering revelations, oddly… pleased. The girl's brutal, unvarnished directness was a trait she recognized. It was very Uzumaki.
And then she caught herself. Wait. The Uchiha are also famously direct, in their own stab-first-ask-questions-later way. And the Senju… Hashirama was about as subtle as a brick to the face. Oh, by the Sage's scraggly beard, she's right. We're all the same.
She schooled her features into a mask of solemnity. "Very well, Azula of the Uchiha. Your… audacity… is matched only by the scale of the threat you describe. I am willing to teach you what I know."
She held up a hand, her expression turning grave. "But there are conditions. You must promise me, on your name and your power, that you will never use what I teach you to bring harm to Konoha. And you must accept a personal request from this old woman, who has dedicated her life to protecting this village."
Internally, Azula was already doing a victory dance that would have made an erupting volcano look placid. 'Yes! Jackpot!' Externally, she was a statue of considered thought.
"I can understand and respect your meaning, Lady Mito," Azula said, her tone measured and precise. "And I can agree to the spirit of your condition. So long as Konoha, as an entity, does not betray me or mine, I can let many grievances go. I am, after all, a pragmatist. However, I cannot promise to 'never harm Konoha'."
Mito's eyebrows raised.
"The concept of 'harm' is terribly subjective," Azula continued. "What if a corrupt Konoha councilman needs a… forceful retirement? Is that harm, or is it urban renewal?"
"What if the village's outdated and prejudiced policies need to be dismantled, which would cause short-term political 'harm' for long-term health? I will not be bound by a vague oath that could later be used against me. I am not a slave to a promise. But I give you my word, as one future queen to a current one, that I will strive to honor the intent behind your request: the genuine protection and betterment of this place."
The Ninja World, for all its backstabbing and deception, truly valued honor at the highest levels—once it was formally given.
Plus, Azula had a healthy, paranoid fear of what her Chinese workbook called 'karma.' Or what a ninja might call a 'curse-mark of betrayal' or some other such mystical nonsense. She wasn't about to sign a metaphysical contract that could blow up in her face later.
To her surprise, Mito didn't look angry. A slow, genuine smile spread across the older woman's face. It wasn't what she'd hoped for, but the girl's straightforward, lawyerly honesty was refreshing.
It reminded her of Hashirama, who would never hide what he wanted, even if what he wanted was profoundly stupid. He'd just shout it loudly and with tremendous enthusiasm. This was a more refined, sharper version of that same bluntness.
"Acceptable," Mito said simply. And with that, she decided the audience was over. A certain fox was looking at her with an expression that suggested he had questions. A lot of them.
Without ceremony, Mito made a subtle gesture. The serene mental garden dissolved into a swirl of color and light.
Azula's consciousness was unceremoniously yeeted back into her own body, sitting in Mito's real-world sitting room. The transition was so abrupt it left her feeling slightly carsick.
One moment she was discussing cosmic genocide, the next she was staring at a very detailed embroidery of a smiling Hashirama on a cushion.
Well, Azula thought, blinking away the disorientation, she certainly doesn't believe in long goodbyes.
She could only imagine the conversation Mito was now having with the disgruntled fox spirit inside her gut. It probably involved a lot of yelling on Kurama's part and a lot of patient, embarrassed listening on Mito's.
For the first time in centuries, Kurama had a captive audience who was actually asking about his knowledge, his history. Mito was likely experiencing the most acutely embarrassing moment of her very long life.
She had spent decades critiquing the Uchiha for their short-sightedness, for not researching a better way to manage their eyeball-powered emotional trauma.
And yet, she had been sitting on the single greatest historical repository in the world—the Nine-Tails himself—and her only interaction with him had been to periodically tighten his leash.
She'd treated him as a battery, not a librarian. The sheer, monumental idiocy of it! She could have been learning the secrets of the world from a primary source instead of piecing together fragments from Uzumaki scrolls.
She could have fostered understanding, maybe even begun a true reconciliation between the Senju, Uchiha, and Uzumaki much earlier. The regret was a bitter taste in her soul, far more potent than any she had ever known.
Azula, oblivious to Mito's internal crisis of conscience, simply stood and smoothed out her robes. The atmosphere in the room was now awkward.
They weren't friends; they were now master and apprentice bound by a shared secret about the end of everything. What was the proper etiquette for that?
Mito, clearly not in the mood to navigate the social niceties, waved a dismissive hand toward the door, her gaze distant, already lost in thought and conversation with her inner demon. "You should go back for today. I need to… think. And prepare. Your training will not be simple.
"And before we even begin, you must prepare for the impact of this announcement. The Uchiha Princess becoming the formal disciple of the Hokage's wife? It will send political shock through the village. Consider it your first test as my apprentice."
Azula nodded, a plan already forming in her mind. But inwardly, she couldn't help but smirk. Old woman, you are so dramatically overthinking this.
What news would it cause? Let's see… The Uchiha elders would have collective aneurysms, which was a net positive. The village council would descend into paranoid speculation, which was their default state anyway. Danzo Shimura's eyes would twitch so violently it might achieve escape velocity. The common folk would gossip for a week before moving on to the next scandal.
...
...
...
The sun hung over Konoha like a perfectly cooked egg yolk, spilling its warm, buttery light over the village. It was the kind of afternoon that made you want to find a shady spot, sip some tea, and forget that the world had ever known anything more dangerous than a mildly aggressive squirrel.
On a rooftop so new the mortar was still smiling, two chuunin, Genzou and Kaidou, were doing precisely that—taking a break from patrol duty to enjoy the view and, more importantly, the gossip.
Genzou leaned back on his elbows. "Hey," he began, his voice a low, conspiratorial drawl designed to hook attention. "Have you caught wind of the new news currently circulating through the village?"
Kaidou, a man built like a friendly wardrobe, didn't look up from meticulously polishing a kunai. "What? You mean the grand opening of the Uchiha's new store, 'The Sharingan Sees All Deals'?"
"Please. That's so old, it's growing a historical plaque. Or are you still on about the Legend of Uchiha Izuna and Senju Tobirama? I'm telling you, the artistic license they took could fund a small nation."
"Hah!" Genzou barked. "Think bigger, my friend. This is news as monumental as the founding of Konoha itself. As earth-shattering as the day the Senju and Uchiha decided to stop trying to kill each other."
Kaidou finally sheathed his kunai with a definitive shink. He squinted at the Hokage Monument, as if the stone faces might offer a hint. "Alright, fine. Is it about the Konoha Tribunal? The new legal codes? Because I'll have you know, I actually bought the book. 'The Legal Framework of Konoha: A Primer by Uchiha Azula.'"
"It's… shockingly readable. There's a whole chapter on the 'Legal Precedent of Tree vs. Landowner Squabbles' that's a real page-turner. If we actually run this place by that book, we'll be less of a hidden military village and more of a… well-oiled, outrageously peaceful bureaucratic paradise. I, for one, welcome our new judicious overlords."
"A noble thought!" Genzou conceded, holding up a finger. "And yes, the book is a masterpiece of common sense that somehow feels revolutionary. But no. What I'm about to tell you, from a very reliable source—my aunt's neighbor's cousin is a cleaner at the Hokage Tower—is that Princess Azula has officially become the personal student of Mito-sama. The First's wife."
Kaidou's jaw went slack. The polishing cloth fell from his hand and fluttered gently in the breeze like a surrendering flag. "No."
"Yes."
"The Mito-sama?"
"The very one."
A low whistle escaped Kaidou's lips. "Well, slag me on an anvil. That's… that's not just news, that's a political earthquake wearing a party hat. The Uchiha, the Senju, and the Uzumaki… what a scary alliance."
"That's the founding clans squared. And Azula… that girl is the single most terrifyingly competent five-year-old to ever walk the earth. The Academy instructors have weeping fits of joy mixed with abject terror whenever her name is mentioned."
"Between that manga she writes—'Kimetsu no Yaiba' is weirdly compelling, even if the main character is an idiot—and now this legal codex… if she keeps this up, by the time she's twenty, we might just have a second coming of Lord Hashirama."
"My thoughts exactly," Genzou said, grinning. "The future is bright. And slightly terrifying."
Meanwhile, in the Hokage's Office…
A mere few hundred yards away, but in a world of entirely different pressure, the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, was not having a sunny, gossipy afternoon.
He was engaged in a delicate and highly secretive operation: testing his newest invention, the Kenganki no Jutsu – the Telescope Technique.
It was a masterpiece of voyeuristic innovation. By focusing chakra into a small, swirling vortex of air and water vapor he held cupped in his hands, he could zoom his vision across the village. It was for official surveillance purposes only, of course.
To observe the 'prosperity' of Konoha. Absolutely. It had nothing to do with the fact that being Hokage often felt like being trapped in a paperwork-laden tomb, and he missed the simple joy of people-watching.
He'd been having a lovely time. He'd watched old lady Shijimi win a vicious bargaining match over the price of daikon radishes.
He'd seen a group of Academy kids try—and fail spectacularly—to climb the Hokage Monument. He'd even zoomed in on the hot springs, purely to check for… structural integrity. Yes. Structural integrity.
Feeling buoyant, he'd decided to find his old friends to show off his clever new trick.
A quick scan located them on the training grounds—Danzo, Homura, Koharu, and Kagami. Perfect. He adjusted the chakra flow, the image in his hands shimmering as the sound of their conversation filtered through, crystal clear.
And that's when he heard it. The conversation between Genzou and Kaidou. Every… single… word.
The chakra in his hands flickered. The image of his friends wavered and was replaced by the two chuckling chuunin on the roof. Hiruzen's proud smile melted off his face like wax under a blowtorch. A heavy, leaden feeling settled in his gut, right next to his half-digested lunch of questionable ramen.
"Oh," he muttered to the empty, accusing walls of his office. A single, tragic piece of paperwork fluttered off his desk in sympathy. "Well, that's just great."
How could he possibly barge in on his friends now, chakra swirling in his hands, and say, 'Hey, look at this cool thing I made! Also, I just overheard that the populace is already drafting my retirement papers in favor of a kid prodigy'?
He sighed, a long, suffering exhalation that seemed to drain the very light from the room. With a dispirited wave of his hand, he dissolved the jutsu. The image of the village vanished. Time to face the music. He needed counsel. Or a strong drink, but preferably both.
He found them exactly where he'd seen them. The scene was a picture of familiar camaraderie.
Kagami was casually leaning against a tree, sharpening a shuriken with a soft shink-shink-shink that was oddly soothing.
Danzo stood ramrod straight, his arms crossed, looking as if he were personally responsible for holding up the sky and was deeply disappointed in its structural choices. Koharu and Homura sat on a weathered log, their postures screaming 'elder statesmen' even while taking a break.
"My friends," Hiruzen announced, his voice lacking its usual bombast.
"Hiruzen," Koharu said, offering a small smile. "To what do we owe the pleasure? Finally escaped the paper beast?"
"Temporarily," Hiruzen grumbled, slumping onto the grass beside them. "I was testing a new observational jutsu… and I overheard something… troubling."
Danzo's single visible eye narrowed. "Troubling? Explain."
Hiruzen relayed the conversation, doing his best impression of the two chuunin, though his heart wasn't in it. By the end, the mood on the training ground had plummeted from 'relaxed' to 'funeral adjacent.'
Danzo was the first to break the silence. His voice was like the sound of a grave being dug. "Hmph. You have barely warmed the Hokage's seat, Hiruzen. The ink on your appointment is still wet. And already the villagers are scanning the horizon for your replacement."
He made it sound like a capital offense. Which, in Danzo's mind, it probably was. "This is not mere idle chatter. It is a seed of dissent. Planted now, it may lie dormant. But when that girl is older, when she has a few flashy 'achievements' to her name—this talk will blossom into full-blown sedition. It creates factionalism. It weakens the office, and it weakens you."
Hiruzen flushed. "Now, Danzo, that's a bit extreme—"
"Is it?" Danzo countered, his gaze boring into Hiruzen. "Power, once tasted, is a difficult thirst to quench. What if she develops a… taste for it?"
It was Kagami who chuckled, the sound warm and out of place. "Danzo, my sometimes-friend, you see treason in a toddler's first steps. The Hokage is chosen by the will of the people, but they also need to be strong enough to protect those very people. They are civilians. They see a bright, shiny thing and they get excited. They don't understand the… complexities. The weight."
He sighed, and a look of unmistakable, almost paternal affection crossed his features. "As for little Azula… she is everything Tobirama-sensei admired. Fierce intellect, unwavering dedication to structure and order. She is the living embodiment of the Will of Fire, just expressed through legal precedent instead of grand-scale fire jutsu. She will be a magnificent kunoichi."
This was no secret. Kagami's fan-clief for Azula was the worst-kept secret in their group.
He'd tried, on multiple occasions, to have a 'meaningful uncle-niece chat' with her, but was always thwarted by her intimidatingly busy schedule or the ever-present, slightly smug gaze of her father, who seemed to view Kagami's attempts at mentorship with the same enthusiasm one would have for a fox offering to babysit the chickens.
To Kagami, Azula was the Platonic Ideal of a Modern Uchiha. She had the clan's legendary pride but none of the insufferable arrogance directed at those weaker.
She was finding ways to contribute to Konoha's foundation that didn't involve throwing pointy things—though he was sure she was brilliant at that too. She was the chosen protégé of the First Hokage's wife, for kami's sake! If that wasn't integration, what was?
But even he, in his proud-uncle haze, could feel Hiruzen's discomfort radiating like heat from pavement. It was awkward. The man was killing himself in that office, trying to fill the crater-sized shoes of his predecessors, and the public was already playing 'Hokage: The Next Generation.'
Koharu, who had been quietly observing a ladybug climb a blade of grass, spoke next. There was a subtle, almost imperceptible edge to her voice, a lingering frost from a time when she'd hoped her relationship with Kagami might be more than just comrades-in-arms.
"Kagami, as your friend, I feel I must be the voice of reason. The Uchiha's position in the village is… delicate. I have no doubt that in time, there will be more Uchiha like you—who see the village as their entire world."
"But right now, the majority of your clan still looks upon the rest as mere mortals, as if they recently evolved from pond scum. And mark my words, they are the ones fanning these flames. Spreading this news, not as a curious rumor, but as a campaign. They are already paving the road for her, hoping to install their own queen on the throne."
The air went cold. She had said the quiet part loud.
Kagami's easy smile finally faded. He knew she was right. He wasn't a fool. He was Tobirama's student. He understood the political calculus better than most. The Hokage could not, would not, be an Uchiha. Not for a long, long time. The trust wasn't there yet. The integration was a sapling, not an oak.
But… Azula made him hope. She made him believe. He saw the way the village was changing.
He'd seen hardened shinobi get misty-eyed reading the account of Izuna's death, lamenting that he and Tobirama-sensei never got to share a bowl of ramen as allies.
He saw the younger Uchiha, baffled and strangely touched by the open admiration from civilians, actually trying to live up to it, to be the heroes they were already seen as.
And this Tribunal, this legal system she was crafting… it was a bridge. A neutral ground where the Uchiha's natural talents for enforcement could meet the civilians' need for justice, without the old fears and prejudices clouding everything. It was genius.
While Kagami was lost in his thoughts, Danzo had fallen into a deep, ominous silence. His sharp eyes weren't on Hiruzen anymore; they were fixed on Kagami, analyzing the play of emotion across his friend's face. He saw the hope, the pride, the internal conflict. He saw a man being torn in two by his loyalties.
Danzo's mind raced. He looked at his comrades, the legendary team that had stood with Tobirama, and he saw not unity, but fracturing.
Torifu, heart shattered by their sensei's death, had become a recluse, a ghost haunting his own life. Kagami was slowly being pulled back into the gravitational field of his clan.
Homura and Koharu, once fierce and decisive, now seemed cowed by the immense power of the other villages, their counsel always leaning toward caution, toward appeasement.
And Hiruzen… Hiruzen was changing most of all. The bright, fiery, unshakably principled young man was learning to bend. To compromise. To let small injustices slide for the sake of a precarious 'greater good.' Danzo saw it not as wisdom, but as a crack in the foundation. A weakness.
Hiruzen could not bear the darkness of leadership alone. Tobirama had been a pillar of stark, unforgiving light and shadow, able to withstand it all.
Hiruzen was warmer, 'softer.' The shadows would consume him. Someone had to be willing to step into those shadows, to do what was necessary, no matter how ugly, to protect the light of the village.
Hiruzen couldn't do it. The weight would break him. Danzo felt the conviction settle in his bones, cold and hard. He just didn't know how to start. Yet.
Kagami, too, was an observer. He remembered a painful conversation with Torifu, the strangest of them all, who now seemed the most fragile. He'd asked him why he'd withdrawn. 'Because you are all changing, Kagami,' Torifu had said, his voice hollow. 'And I don't like the direction.'
The words had hit Kagami like a physical blow. He'd denied it then, but now, sitting here, feeling the political currents pulling at them all, he understood.
It wasn't just change. It was a slow, insidious corruption. The intoxicating, corrosive power to make decisions that shaped thousands of lives.
It was changing Homura and Koharu into skeptics. It was changing Hiruzen into a pragmatist. It was changing Danzo into… something harder, darker. And it was changing him, making him weigh his love for his friend against the burgeoning hope for his clan.
The hope, the fear, the friendship, the duty. It was a tangled mess with no easy solution. He looked at Hiruzen's worried face, at Danzo's grim determination, at Koharu's pointed concern.
He shook his head, a gesture of profound weariness. The sound that escaped him was a depressed sigh that seemed to hold the exhaustion of the entire village.
"I understand what you all mean," he said, his voice quiet but firm. "I see the complications. I feel the tensions. But we must navigate this. Carefully. Wisely."
He looked at each of them in turn, his Sharingan pulsing faintly with a soft, crimson light. "All of this… every difficult choice, every compromise, every bit of gossip we overhear… we must endure it. All of it. For the village."
(END OF THE CHAPTER)
I can only say wow, I was very surprised seeing myself in the top five yesterday, it was truly encouraging that I can't afford myself to take the two days off promised, thanks very much and hope continue receiving your support.
By the way, I haven't yet started the Toph story as I'm not even stable here and aw waiting for the right time, and where we were at it, I'm thinking for Azula to create some... Forget it, it seems like spoiler.
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