Life is full of partings and reunions, sorrow and joy.
There are always countless moments of helplessness—watching loved ones slip away, exhausting everything you have for a single goal, only to find it was all for nothing.
Money.
Power.
Women.
The world can be ugly.
Friendship.
Love.
Family.
And yet, the world can also be beautiful.
But these beautiful emotions are often unbearably fragile when placed before ugly desires.
So often, whether intentionally or not, someone's single action shatters another person's happiness.
War is the original sin.
Desire is the root of evil.
If there were a way—
a way to eliminate war, erase sin, erase original guilt,
to make everyone in the world happy, fulfilled, without regret—
If that path meant standing against the entire world…
would you take it?
—
An old man with a cane walked alone along a muddy road.
Ahead of him lay a country where it rained endlessly—
a land that seemed to cry without rest.
Uchiha Madara lifted his head and looked at the sky, letting out a quiet sigh.
After only a few steps, his body was already protesting.
He needed a proxy.
Someone who could carry on the Eye of the Moon Plan after his death.
And Uzumaki Nagato was undoubtedly one of the most suitable candidates.
The Rinnegan he had entrusted to him.
That immense chakra.
The Uzumaki clan's naturally monstrous vitality.
Nagato was kind.
And kind people, more than anyone else, were capable of becoming extreme.
Madara needed to personally guide this successor he had placed so much hope in.
The Nine-Tails' jinchūriki of Konoha had already become a perfect jinchūriki.
That fact alone forced him to accelerate his plans.
No one understood the Nine-Tails' power better than he did.
Once that brat reached adulthood, given the current state of the shinobi world—
there would be no one capable of stopping him.
Ōnoki might barely qualify, but he was already old.
So Madara needed a force strong enough to restrain the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki.
Nagato alone was not enough.
He needed more pieces—
more weapons to counter both the jinchūriki and the Konoha behind him.
Perhaps…
it was time to dig that man back up.
Step by step, the old man moved forward—
toward the rain-soaked nation,
and toward an uncertain future.
—
"Are you sure this thing actually works?"
Kyusei stared at the massive basin of pitch-black liquid in front of him, then shot Hatake Sakumo a deeply distrustful look.
"I brewed this with more than a dozen rare medicinal ingredients," Sakumo replied calmly.
"It's perfect for tempering the muscles and bones."
"Trust me. There's absolutely no problem."
Sakumo rubbed his forehead helplessly as he looked at the boy's skeptical expression.
His judgment matched Sarutobi's exactly.
Kyusei's Adamantine Sealing Chains were adaptable to nearly any combat scenario.
According to Sarutobi, Kyusei could even shape them into physical weapons.
This brat was practically born to train taijutsu under him.
The Uzumaki body.
Overwhelming vitality.
Long-, mid-, and close-range combat via Adamantine Chains.
And on top of that—
the Nine-Tails.
Sakumo could already picture it:
this kid charging headfirst into enemy formations, weapons flashing everywhere, unstoppable on the battlefield.
Or maybe—
a Nine-Tails wielding a massive guandao, sweeping once and cleaving a mountain in half.
But all of that had a prerequisite.
This brat had to endure the suffering of taijutsu training.
Taijutsu wasn't like ninjutsu or genjutsu.
You couldn't master it overnight.
Ninjutsu and genjutsu might suddenly click in a moment of inspiration—
problems that plagued you for months vanishing in an instant.
Taijutsu was different.
It required relentless, day-by-day grinding to improve even a little.
But taijutsu possessed an advantage neither ninjutsu nor genjutsu could match.
They required casting time.
And in that time, a true taijutsu master could kill them ten times over.
No matter how powerful a ninjutsu user was,
no one ever wanted to face a taijutsu expert who had already closed the distance.
One slash.
One punch.
That was all it took.
Sakumo watched as Kyusei pinched his nose and gulped down the medicinal soup, a faint smile forming on his face.
"Alright. Now go run."
"Given your Uzumaki physique—twenty kilometers, weighted."
"Let the medicine take full effect."
Worth mentioning—every one of those precious medicinal ingredients had been fully sponsored by Konoha's treasury.
Sarutobi had truly spared no expense.
The Nine-Tails' allegiance secured.
Kyusei and Kaoru's relationship rapidly warming.
Kyusei and Sakumo's bond steadily deepening.
Sarutobi had already begun treating Kyusei as Konoha's true future.
He was cultivating him without restraint.
"Yes, sir!"
"Twenty kilometers is nothing!"
Kyusei cracked his knuckles, looking utterly confident.
He wasn't bragging—his physical talent was absurd.
Another ten kilometers wouldn't even faze him.
Then Sakumo casually dropped a pile of iron weights onto the ground—
BOOM.
The earth caved in.
Kyusei fell silent.
If he wasn't mistaken—
those were the same training weights Rock Lee used in the original story.
And judging by the amount…
he'd be wrapping his entire body in them.
"Uh… I'm not wearing these all the time, right?" Kyusei asked weakly.
"What are you thinking?" Sakumo replied flatly.
"You're still growing. Wearing these constantly would stunt your height."
"And it would damage your body."
"This is just to activate the medicinal effects."
Sakumo genuinely didn't understand where Kyusei got such terrifying ideas.
…Good.
With Sakumo's help, Kyusei finally managed to strap the mountain of iron onto himself.
So heavy…
He tried hopping in place.
The ground immediately sank beneath his feet.
"Go. Twenty kilometers."
Watching the red-haired boy sweat and struggle across the training field, Sakumo smiled in satisfaction.
At some point, Kakashi had arrived.
He silently watched Kyusei running, memories stirring within him.
His father had trained him the same way back then.
It was just a shame that after Sakumo's death—
he'd stopped training altogether.
"Leaving already?" Sakumo asked calmly.
"Yeah," Kakashi replied softly.
"Naruko and I have been gone too long."
"They're probably panicking over there."
"And… I've found a way back."
Naruko was the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki.
She couldn't disappear for long.
Sakumo nodded slightly.
"Then go."
He watched his son quietly.
The future was already moving—
even if no one knew where it would lead.
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