Konoha Village.
Tonight's darkness felt especially heavy.
Konohamaru was surprised to notice a faint red tint on the moon overhead!
"Hey… what do you think caused all that shaking just now…"
Konohamaru whispered as he patrolled with Moegi and Udon.
Wearing glasses, Udon said anxiously, "I'm not sure, but it probably has something to do with the war. I feel like something's stuck in my chest…"
Moegi pouted. "As long as Shinju's here, it should be fine… We'll win for sure, right?"
As they talked, the three walked into a small grove. On the other side of the trees lay the village's ninja cemetery…
"Whooo—"
A cold wind swept through. Paired with the red moon in the sky and the rustling between the trees, it made them shiver involuntarily!
Konohamaru, who was usually fearless, suddenly felt a chill crawling up his spine.
He suddenly saw something, pointed toward the cemetery, and stammered,
"L-look… is that a person over there… (꒪⌓꒪)"
Pushing up his glasses, Udon said seriously,
"No way, who would come to the cemetery at night… Konohamaru, you must've imagined it…"
Just as he finished—
"Crashhhh—!!"
A handful of dirt fell from above, landing right on the three kids!!
After a jolt of terror, the kids screamed and bolted!! As they ran they shouted, "A ghost!! ヽ( ຶ▮ ຶ)ﾉ!!!"
At the same time, Shinju scratched his head as he continued digging… 눈_눈
"What's with Konohamaru? He sees me come back and doesn't even say hi. (||๐_๐)"
"What were they yelling just now…"
"Forget it—got business to do. ¯\(ツ)/¯"
With that, Shinju resumed swinging his little iron shovel.
A few minutes later, he found the ninja corpse he was looking for and muttered,
"Sorry, I didn't mean to disturb your rest, senpai."
"I'm doing this for peace in the shinobi world… Naruto's dad said only you can stop him…"
"Senpai, I hope you won't blame me…"
As he said this, Shinju suddenly realized something and sighed.
"Crap, why am I rambling here? Once I revive her, I can just tell her to her face. (๑ت๑)"
Realizing that, Shinju extracted the tissue he needed from the senior's body. Then he clapped his hands.
"Earth Style: Earth Cover!"
The soil he had dug open sealed itself back up under the influence of his Earth Style chakra, looking like it had never been touched!
After finishing, Shinju teleported away with Flying Thunder God and began preparing the reincarnation ritual.
A few minutes later, Konohamaru's team arrived at the cemetery with one of the veteran ninja who had stayed behind in the village.
The three pointed excitedly at the still cemetery, describing what they'd just seen.
"Senpai, it was right there—we saw someone digging up a grave! It was super scary! (ᗒᗩᗕ)՞"
The young jonin glanced skeptically at Konohamaru, then slowly walked to the spot they pointed at and inspected it carefully. He found nothing unusual.
"Konohamaru, this is wartime. You can't make jokes like that! (ꐦ ಠ 皿 ಠ)"
After scolding the three brats, the young ninja left, leaving Konohamaru's trio staring at one another.
Udon tugged his chin and reasoned,
"He's a jonin, and a sensory ninja on top of that. If even he didn't notice anything… did we really imagine it? (°ー°〃)"
Konohamaru immediately objected.
"No way! The three of us all saw it! And dirt fell on our heads! (✘Д✘๑)"
Moegi grabbed Konohamaru's arm tightly.
"Is it possible… that it really was a ghost?! Σ( ° △ °|||)︴"
...
Land of Fire.
Deep within a remote mountain forest.
Shinju looked with satisfaction at the reincarnation altar he'd prepared.
"Not sure if this'll work, but the sacrifice is just my wooden clone. Low cost—doesn't matter if I try a few times…"
He began forming hand seals…
After a series of complicated seals, Shinju shouted:
"Edo Tensei!!"
The moment the words fell—
"Fwshhh—!!"
Countless particles of dust appeared, wrapping around Shinju's wooden clone.
At the same time, the dust molded the clone's face into another person—
A short-haired girl with a sweet, gentle look!!
Despite Edo Tensei's terrifying reputation, the actual procedure wasn't hard. Shinju succeeded on his first try!
The revived girl stared at her body in shock.
"Huh? I'm… alive? (꒪⌓꒪)"
Behind her, Shinju looked at the senior he had summoned back from the Netherworld, unsure how to start the conversation.
As he hesitated, the girl turned around. Her clear eyes landed on the Konoha forehead protector on Shinju's head, and trust blossomed instantly.
"Senpai, you're a Konoha ninja, right? You're the one who brought me back?" she asked earnestly.
Shinju: ⊙▽⊙
"No no no, I'm not your senpai."
"Actually, I should be calling you senpai, since your teammate Kakashi is my teacher… ~_~"
Shinju answered sincerely, even though the girl looked younger than him.
"Kakashi… sensei?"
Quick on the uptake, Nohara Rin understood instantly and smiled sweetly.
"So Kakashi's already become a teacher… I really want to see what he's like teaching students. ∩_∩"
For some reason, Shinju recalled Kakashi-sensei teaching Sasuke years ago—specifically that unforgettable Thousand Years of Death.
"Not great," Shinju replied.
Thinking of the past, Sasuke's image resurfaced in his mind…
He had once searched the entire shinobi world and failed to sense Sasuke's chakra, which meant the Masked Man must have hidden Sasuke in another dimension…
And last time, when Naruto was sent into that dimension by Kakashi, Sasuke hadn't been inside…
Could it be that Sasuke had already been released?
Thinking this, Shinju immediately sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and released his sensory perception to search for every chakra signature around him!!
Rin stood there frozen. Σ(っ °Д °;)っ
Why did he suddenly sit down like that?!
Just as she was about to tap his shoulder and ask why he revived her, Shinju's eyes snapped open!
"Found him at last!! ୧⍢⃝୨"
When Shinju came back to himself, Nohara Rin was staring straight into his eyes!
Rin's expression: (,,•́ . •̀,,)
Shinju's expression: ( ˙-˙ )
Hiss~~~!!
Shinju quickly changed the subject:
"Right, the reason I used Edo Tensei to revive you—there's something really important!"
"You had a teammate named Uchiha Obito, right?"
At those words, Rin's eyes dimmed instantly.
"Yes, but he already…"
Shinju shook his head and cut her off.
"He's not dead. Not only is he alive—he's become incredibly strong…"
----------------
Fanfic is finished on Patreon (488 chapters in total.)
Patreon(.)com/Jixo (for only $4.50, read this entire fanfic)