Sasuke smirked faintly, thinking to himself that he could've handled the situation without Yakumo's help.
Meanwhile, Lee was in his element. Surrounded by enemies, he saw only opportunity—to push his taijutsu further.
"Bloom… Primary Lotus!!"
"Hard work surpasses genius! Naruto! Guy-sensei! Are you watching?!"
"Ah-da!!"
Lee blurred through the battlefield at terrifying speed. After his enhancements, the strain once caused by the Lotus techniques had been minimized—his reinforced body replacing the need for bandages and reducing self-harm.
Every opponent around him was swept aside like leaves in a hurricane.
Sasuke and Neji briefly glanced at Lee's rampage.
Most of his opponents were genin and chūnin—only a handful even rose to jōnin level.
But sheer numbers still made it impressive.
Then—
A commanding female voice cut through the chaos:
"Everyone, stop!!"
"The Hoshikage is dead! Do not cause any more unnecessary casualties!"
Natsuhi hovered above, chakra-formed wings unfurled behind her.
She had retrieved the Star.
And her child.
"I'm sure you all know the Star's terrible side effects! If this continues, our entire village will be ruined!"
"The Hoshikage only wanted to use you… to satisfy his ambition! If you keep fighting for him, more will die!"
Her voice trembled, eyes glistening.
Many Star shinobi paused. Her words were the truth.
"But these invaders are killing our fellow shinobi!!"
A man shouted back, furious and shaken.
"Look at them!" she replied sharply.
He rushed to a fallen comrade. Then another. Then several more.
"…They're alive?"
Shock replaced fear. None were dead—only unconscious.
"What is happening…?"
"These people are elite shinobi from the Umbrella Organization," Natsuhi declared. "They came to free us from the Hoshikage's tyrannical control—and to help us overcome the Star's curse!"
"You've all felt the consequences yourselves!"
"As long as you stop relying on the Star and accept treatment… your bodies can still recover."
Having traveled the world beyond their isolated borders, Natsuhi understood the truth: If they joined the Umbrella, skilled medical-ninja could be dispatched to heal them.
Hoshigakure never had the resources… nor even a single medical-ninja.
"Take the injured for treatment first," she urged. "We'll discuss everything else once the village is stable."
The Star shinobi, hesitant but hopeful, complied. Buildings lay shattered and streets in ruin, and though their people lived… the damage weighed heavy.
Some cast glares at Sasuke's group, resentment simmering.
But Sasuke and the others remained unbothered. Infrastructure? Umbrella's construction squads could rebuild a place like this in days.
Inside a quiet room, Natsuhi—now dressed casually—appeared with her young child in her arms.
"This is my child," she introduced warmly, offering them seats and tea. Her dark-red hair and gentle expression softened the tension in the air.
Then, she placed a small, glowing object on the table.
"The Star—the most precious treasure of our village."
When Natsuhi called it the "greatest treasure," a trace of self-mockery passed through her eyes. Perhaps this so-called treasure was nothing more than a cursed object that had brought harm and suffering to their village.
Sasuke and the others examined the Star — a smooth, round stone with a faint surge of power inside.
"This is the Star?" Sasuke frowned. "It doesn't look particularly extraordinary."
"It fell near our village two hundred years ago," Natsuhi explained calmly.
"Our entire village was named after it. Our ancestors discovered that training near the Star increased chakra capacity, but the side effects were discovered soon after. Eventually, it was sealed away. Yet… the legend and desire for the Star never disappeared."
Her voice trembled as memories surfaced.
"Later… Akahoshi secretly used the Star to train. My husband discovered his ambition and madness — and paid for it with his life. Akahoshi then crowned himself 'Hoshikage,' putting himself on the same level as the Five Kage."
She laughed bitterly. "Ridiculous."
Sasuke stared quietly at the Star. Naruto had specifically requested this meteorite. There was definitely something unusual about it.
He suspected one thing:
Radiation.
The concept existed in the ninja world — certain ores gave off harmful energy — but none were as dangerous as this Star.
"We'll be taking the Star," Sasuke said, putting it into the storage ring Naruto had provided.
"Soon, members of our organization will arrive to take over management of Hoshigakure. Please prepare your people."
Natsuhi nodded, aware that change was inevitable.
Early Morning — Return to the Land of Snow
Inside a scientific laboratory, Naruto, Orochimaru, and Tsunade stood before the Star laid out for analysis. Orochimaru, in a white lab coat, adjusted his glasses and spoke first.
"This meteorite emits a very unstable form of radiation. Cells mutate rapidly under exposure. It also enhances chakra volume — but the chakra produced consumes the user's life force."
"The greater the chakra drawn from it, the more rapidly the body decays."
The explanation made everyone tense. Even Tsunade, a master of medical ninjutsu, frowned.
Naruto tapped the table thoughtfully. People in his previous life once theorized that the Star was a fragment of the Ten-Tails. But that theory was clearly wrong — the Star fell only two hundred years ago.
This was no divine beast's remnant.
It was a celestial meteorite with cosmic radiation.
"This radiation isn't like any mineral found in the ninja world," Naruto explained. "It comes from the cosmos."
"Cos…mos?" Tsunade echoed, confused.
He paused — remembering that in this world, the idea of a vast universe wasn't common knowledge. Most people believed only in the heavens above and the earth below — nothing more.
"The universe," Naruto clarified, "means everything beyond our sky — not just the ninja world we know. The world is far larger than what we see."
He glanced at Orochimaru.
"And I'm sure Orochimaru has considered this before — like the law of universal gravitation."
Orochimaru froze. He had researched cosmic forces once, before setting the idea aside. Hearing Naruto speak rekindled those buried theories.
His golden eyes gleamed with awe and greed.
"The ninja world…" Orochimaru whispered, "…is just dust."
...
TN:
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