Artoria lifted her gaze in the direction the arrow was showing her.
Across the sea.
Toward the continent.
Then she lowered her eyes.
Around her feet, nature was slowly beginning to awaken again.
Grass pushed through the cracked earth.
Between stone and dust, solitary flowers emerged, delicate and beautiful, as though they had been waiting only for her arrival.
Artoria was silent for a moment.
Mhm. This is new.
Then a thoughtful expression crossed her face.
But it also makes sense. If I understand correctly, I am now a Divine Spirit. If that is true, then nature is reacting to my presence.
Slowly, she knelt down and picked up one of the flowers.
Its blossom was golden red, laced with fine blue lines that spread across the petals like veins.
She studied it for a long time.
"How beautiful..." she murmured.
Then her gaze grew quieter.
"Why does the emptiness in my heart feel so strange when I look at this plant?"
With an almost graceful movement, she tucked the flower behind her ear.
Then she rose again and began to wander through the ruins of Uzushiogakure.
The once-mighty village lay in rubble.
Her gaze passed over the remains of broken walls, collapsed houses, and burned streets. Human bones lay at every corner, beneath debris, between stones, half-covered by earth.
No one had come to pay the Uzumaki their final respects.
No one had buried them.
The streets were strewn with forehead protectors from the four great ninja villages.
Artoria's gaze turned cold.
"This was not a battle," she said softly.
Her voice was calm, yet heavy as a verdict.
"This was genocide."
Her cloak drew a pale trail over the dusty ground as she moved ever closer to the center of the village.
"As always, power draws envy," she said while her eyes wandered over the ruins. "And when others cannot possess it, they try to seize it by force."
She kept walking.
"And where were their allies?"
Bitterness lay in her words.
"They sacrificed Uzushiogakure. For a brief peace. Only to be weaker in the next war."
She slowly shook her head.
"Why cut into your own flesh just to buy two days of peace? Only to step back onto the battlefield wounded and suffer even deeper wounds?"
Her gaze lifted to the village's central tower.
Even now, it still bore the scars of the final battle.
"That is not a road to peace," she said coldly. "It is the road to ruin. And they walk it with open eyes."
At last, she reached the tower.
At its center lay twelve bodies.
All of them belonged to the Uzumaki clan.
Artoria came to a halt and examined the corpses in silence. After a few moments, her eyes narrowed.
"Hm."
She stepped closer.
"They did not die by ordinary weapons."
Her gaze moved across the formation on the ground.
"Ah..."
A hint of grim understanding entered her voice.
"So in the end, they used the Shiki Fūjin to drag the strongest of their enemies with them into death."
She studied the arrangement of the seals.
"And this formation allowed them to perform the ritual without standing directly before their victims to take their souls."
For a moment, there was silence.
Then Artoria lowered her gaze to the dead.
"Rest in peace, warriors."
She summoned her weapon.
Rhongomyniad appeared in her hand, still and dignified.
When she gently set the shaft against the ground, the earth answered.
The soil opened soundlessly. Carefully, almost reverently, the bodies were drawn downward and received by the earth, as though the land were finally granting them the sleep that had been denied to them for so long.
Artoria remained silent until it was done.
Then she turned and left the tower.
Outside, she stopped once more.
She looked back at the path she had taken.
Where only dust and death had ruled moments ago, grass and flowers were now sprouting.
Life was returning to this place.
"Life has returned to this place," she said softly. "Now that the souls have found peace, the land itself can begin to heal."
Then she raised her gaze again in the direction of the arrow.
"Then let us see," she murmured, "who my future student is."
"Host, your current location is Hi no Kuni."
Artoria's footsteps echoed softly through the depths of the forest.
The plants near her seemed stronger, healthier, more alive. Grass straightened, leaves deepened in color, and even small flowers opened in her presence. Yet the moment she left a place behind, the greenery seemed to weaken again, almost sorrowful, as though part of its strength departed with her.
"Oh," Artoria murmured softly. "So there are a few people who will cross my path in a matter of minutes."
Her gaze remained calm, fixed on the trail ahead.
"Then I should stop concealing my presence."
A cold note entered her voice.
"I want to know how the people of this world react to a lone woman in the forest."
For a moment, she closed her eyes.
"I want to see how deep their darkness reaches."
As she continued to follow the arrow, her presence emerged more clearly from the surrounding nature. The animals that had been timidly walking near her fled at once when they caught the scent of other humans.
"System," Artoria said, "what else can you do besides show me a map and an arrow?"
The answer came immediately.
Host, I can display a status window for the host and the host's student.
A bright, half-transparent window opened before Artoria's eyes.
Status
User: Artoria Pendragon
Title: Goddess of the Holy Lance / Future Mentor
Race: Divine Spirit
Condition: Soul stabilized / Heart fragment purified
World: Naruto Universe
Location: Hi no Kuni
Mentor Points: 0
Physical Attributes
Strength: A
Agility: A
Endurance: EX
Magical Power: EX
Resistance: A+
Divine Aura: EX
Special Traits
Divinity: High
Nature Resonance: Active
Soul Presence: Stable
Royal Bearing: Active
Mentor System Compatibility: 100%
Abilities
Rhongomyniad
Divine Magic
Soul Perception
Nature-Nurturing Aura
Uzumaki Fūinjutsu Knowledge
Bloodline Purifier
Complete Ninjutsu Knowledge of the Naruto World
Student Analysis
Map Function Level 1
Excalibur
Restrictions
No Chakra
Ninjutsu cannot be used directly
Fūinjutsu currently not directly usable
Bloodline Purifier cannot be applied to the host
Heart Fragment Loss Active
Artoria scanned the window in silence.
Then her eyes settled on the last points.
"How considerate," she said dryly. "Even my uselessness has been neatly documented."
The team of three Konoha ANBU was on its way back from a mission in Tsuchi no Kuni.
For three months, they had been hunting enemy spies there, uncovering networks, and silencing informants. Now, at last, the borders of the Land of Fire lay before them again.
Of the three, Shika was clearly the most relaxed.
"Hey," he said, stretching slightly as they leapt through the forest. "What are you two doing with your bonus once we're back in Konoha?"
He grinned beneath his mask.
"I'm going straight to the pleasure house. And then I'm not leaving the building for an entire week."
Tora snorted with laughter.
"Yeah, right. Just like last time, when they threw you out after twelve hours."
Shika scoffed.
"That wasn't my fault."
"Of course not," Tora replied dryly. "You only spent all your money on the most expensive courtesan and afterward couldn't even afford a drink."
He laughed even more broadly.
"What was it you said back then? That you didn't even get to finish?"
"Shut up."
Captain Karasu merely shook his head slightly.
"We're not home yet," he said calmly but firmly. "So save the nonsense for later."
At once, things grew quieter.
Then Shika stopped abruptly.
Karasu reacted immediately.
"What is it?"
Shika's posture had changed. All lightness was gone.
"I sense a person," he said. "They just appeared. About two thousand meters directly ahead of us."
Tora instinctively laid a hand on his weapon.
Karasu's voice turned cool.
"Movement? Chakra?"
Shika was silent for a heartbeat.
Then he said quietly:
"That's exactly the problem."
Karasu's gaze narrowed behind his mask.
"Then," he said, "let's take a look at our guest."
When the three ANBU looked down from the treetops at the person who had suddenly appeared within Shika's sensory range, their breath caught for a moment.
They had never seen such beauty.
Her garments seemed foreign, almost holy. More metal had been worked into her clothing than any of them had ever seen on a traveler or kunoichi. Her long golden-blonde hair fell calmly over her shoulders, and behind her ear was tucked a flower whose colors none of them could name.
For a moment, no one said anything.
Then Shika broke the silence.
"Captain... she's alone. No protection."
His voice dropped.
"We could have our fun with her. After that, we sell her to a pleasure house. For a face like that, they'd pay us a fortune."
Karasu was silent.
Tora too.
Only for a heartbeat.
Then a dark, ugly grin spread across all three faces.
"Not a bad plan," Tora muttered. "More money never hurts."
Karasu nodded slowly.
"And we save ourselves the trip to the pleasure house while we're at it."
Then the three jumped down from the treetops and landed in front of the strange woman.
"Halt!" Karasu called sharply. "Unknown person. You have no authorization to enter this area of Hi no Kuni."
Artoria stopped.
Her gaze moved calmly over the three masked men.
"I did not know that," she said evenly. "Then surely you can show me which road I should take instead."
Shika studied her more closely for a moment.
Then his voice grew lower.
"Captain... she has no chakra."
Only one thing remained on the faces of the three men now:
Lust.
Artoria let out a quiet sigh.
"How unpleasant."
Her gaze grew colder.
"Of course. Men."
She looked at them one after another.
"So you intend to amuse yourselves with my body."
Karasu grinned behind his mask.
"Exactly," he said. "And if you don't resist, you might even survive the day."
For a moment, there was silence.
Then Shika stretched out a hand toward her.
Just before his fingers could touch her, it happened.
Three heads fell to the ground at once.
For a single breath, the bodies remained standing, as though they had not understood that they were already dead.
Then they collapsed.
Blood stained the forest floor dark.
Artoria stood motionless among them.
In her hand lay a weapon of light, so fine and perfect that no human eye had seen her draw it.
"So you intended to violate me," she said softly, without any emotion. "And then sell me."
Her gaze lowered to the corpses.
"Regrettable."
Then she slightly raised her hand.
The weapon broke apart into shimmering particles of light and dissolved without a sound.
"Your souls are not even worth the effort."
The forest fell silent.
Even the wind seemed to hold its breath for a moment.