บท 27: 27. Back In Konoha

Pathetic. Utterly disappointing. For most of his life, Shiroken was shielded from the worst of mankind, from outer society. He only saw the people living in his village. All of them were kind people and never committed any crimes.

To him, they were humans. But now, he found out that he was wrong. Those people were not humans, but saints. The real humans were outside. Humans who only cared about money, war, hate, revenge and sort sighted gains.

In the coming 8 years, Shiroken saw so much death, pain and suffering that he even felt like shutting his senses off.

As his range of Natural Vision increased, he saw further and further. Some small human villages came into his sight. These villages were impoverished. The people were thin, on the verge of death.

Then there was the occasional Shinobi, be it someone from a village or rouges, none treated these people right. They all tried to exploit the people because they held power over their lives. One small kunai to end them all.

These Ninjas sometimes would ask for money, or sometimes fancy a girl from the village, to become their plaything for a while. They were monsters in human skin.

He felt shattered. He wondered if the Dama villagers also faced all this before he met them.

He now got angrier at Hashirama. If he had helped him in dealing with Minoshiki, then maybe he would've been out, with his family.

~Huh, so he was only looking for peace in his own village. The world can go to hell for all he cared. I hope he's watching all this hell break lose~

Shiroken tried to focus more on his power then. From saving that boy earlier, he knew he could control nature. But to what extent, that was yet to be known.

By the way, the boy he had saved was still inside the tree. Although 8 years had gone by, his body was still as small as before. He was still alive, just without an arm or leg. His face had also healed but was still disfigured. He remained unconscious as Shiroken supplied him with the energy to remain alive.

Anyway, he started to experiment with his powers, and soon realised he could use Nature as his tool. He could move the tree to grab someone or even stab someone with a good branch.

He could make the sand become quicksand and swallow people. He could use the river water to suddenly increase its flow for a short time. He also started seeing a tint of colour now.

But all these activities required immense concentration.

"Oh, who are these people?" Shiroken saw a small group of people travelling on the road nearby. He knew that he was not too far away from where he had fought Minoshiki.

Gyuki had probably made it an illusion that he threw him too far away. This way, nobody will try to look for him anywhere close to the fighting site.

There was a cute young girl in the group. She had red hair and a little nervous face.

"Are you sure they won't make fun of me?" The girl asked.

"Lady Kushina, don't worry. I'm sure they will care for you there." The women walking along said.

"But... my red hair will stick out too much. They're gonna call me a tomato, I know it. But I will beat them to a pulp if they do." She raged and her hair stood up.

Shiroken was seeing such funny interactions after a long time now. It warmed his heart to see that normal people also lived in the world, people whose problems started with and ended with whether they can make friends and have fun or not.

He too was like this after all. But then he saw reality, became less ignorant, and his bubble burst.

"I wonder where she is going." Shiroken thought and kept looking around.

Then he noticed something after two years. The activities increased around the whole periphery. He could see as far as 200 kilometres, and there were too many ninjas going around, armed to the teeth.

Then a few days later, fights erupted. Once again, everywhere Shiroken looked, it was death. Just like in the war before. But he knew nothing about war. He knew nothing about the world. As his eyes didn't allow him to see that far.

This conflicting period went on for a few years. Then, it stopped for one year, only to resume again. Shiroken was shocked, seeing the value of life was so low here.

All he saw were animals, ready to kill with no one to fear. He saw this go on for years.

...

Monari didn't come to see the Dama village, even though she wanted to. As it could be under the eye of some Shinobi. She had looked around in distant areas from where Shiro was thrown away. But, she could not find him.

In the meantime, she had to return to Tea Country because the 2nd Shinobi War had started. She didn't want to find unnecessary trouble. After the war ended, she decided to look for Shiro again.

But, to her surprise, the war only stopped for a year, to resume into what was being called the 3rd Shinobi war, and she saw this as the bloodiest conflict yet. The reason being, in the previous two wars, all the powerful and experienced shinobi had already died. Now, the villages were lacking manpower, so they started using little kids, who were fresh out of their academies and lacked any experience.

She saw so many of such children die and it pained her. She really desired that Shiro and the Saint Beasts come back and flatten the world into nothingness because there was nothing but misery here.

The war had actually started for a very stupid reason. Iwagakure had invaded the Land of Rain, on the falsified reason that insurgents from Amegakure were terrorising their lands and needed to be controlled to prevent future conflicts.

Konohagakure and its allies allowed this occupation to exist but requested to send aid teams in order to assist the wounded. It was denied and this made Konoha doubt the intentions of Iwa. So they sent an ANBU team, which was caught and killed. Iwagakure then accused Konoha and declared them as the enemy.

On the other side, Sunagakure, the ally of Konoha at that time, found its Kazekage missing. They suspected Iwagakure and declared war. Konoha, being their ally, also declared war on Iwagakure. Besides this, Konoha already had animosity with Kumogakure, because they attempted to kidnap the Konoha's Jinchuriki. With this, a true world war started.

But she focused on her mission. In her mind, the doubt that someone might have already found Shiro also made rounds. So she decided to go to Konoha and check if her doubts are real.

She did not go through the gates and just jumped in. It was easy for someone like her, with 60 years of ninja experience and still being in prime physical condition.

"This place has not changed much. I guess this is what you get when wars are your pass time." She muttered and looked around.

*BAM*

When walking around, someone all of a sudden bumped into her. Looking behind, there was a boy, maybe 8 years old. He had black eyes and short, spiky, black hair. He wore a long-sleeved blue uniform and a blue jacket with an orange collar and trimmings. The standard Konoha dark blue forehead protector, and a pair of goggles with orange lenses connected to ear protectors.

Then finally she noticed the Uchiha clan crest at the back.

"Ah, sorry sorry big s..." The boy stopped in the middle. His face blushed, seeing Monari.

Monari patted his head, "It's okay, what's your name?"

He first blushed and then happily replied, "I am Obito Uchiha, and I will one day become the Hokage... AAAA... I'm getting late for my graduation."

Monari chuckled and grabbed him by his collar, "Then I will give you a lift."

"HA? WHAAA..."

Before Obito could understand, he saw the world go blurry and the next second, he appeared outside the Ninja Academy.

*BLINK* *BLINK*

He looked left and right in shock. "T-That was so fast... SO COOL!"

"Aren't you getting late?" Monari reminded him.

Obito turned sad, "It's over already. I got too late, helping that grandma."

"YES, you have a strange knack for finding grandmas to help." A girl came out of the building, with two blue stripes on her cheeks.

"Come with me, I have your certificate. Let's have your graduation ceremony now." She suggested.

"RIN... Thank you so much..." He felt like crying.

Rin turned to Monari and asked, "Will you be the witness to him graduating?"

Monari couldn't say no to these sweet children. So she agreed. Then as a normal ceremony, Rin held the certificate and read it, while Obito stood in front of her.

"... Through the rain and wind to reach this milestone... Here! Congratulations." She handed him the certificate with a big smile.

*CLAP CLAP*

Monari remembered her life, her childhood days with Shiro were so calm and sweet.

"Congratulations, hmm... you two deserve a reward for graduating then. Here," She jumped onto the stage and took out two silver shining kunai.

"AH! How can I take this... it looks expensive." Obito stepped back.

"It's okay, we're all a family, right?" Monari smilingly said and activated her normal three tomoe Sharingan.

Obito jumped in shock, "You're from the clan? That's amazing... but I never saw you."

"See, we're a family. Here, take these. And promise me you will become a good Shinobi, who helps the weak and raise their voice against injustice. Remember, sometimes, using your own mind is more important than following orders. I wish you luck, bye-bye." She waved her hand and started leaving the school.

Obito looked down at the kunai, it was very good looking, just like the one he wanted to win in that competition. The one that Kakashi won and took.

"THANK YOU! I will use this to protect people," Obito shouted.

"All people, not just the ones from your village." She just gave him a thumbs up and left the building.

However, as soon as she arrived outside, an ANBU jumped in front of her. "Lord Hokage wants to see you. H-He respectfully requests you to come."

"Really? If he's that respectful then I have no reason to deny. But please move quickly, or I might arrive before you." She said and vanished from her place.

The ANBU just stood there in shock for a second, only to run towards the Hokage office.

...

Monari arrived directly in front of the building. Her face had a cold look, as this was the place where Tobirama lied to her and Shiro.

She was let inside immediately. Reaching the Hokage office, she didn't even look at their faces and went ahead to sit down on the sofa first. The atmosphere was cold and tense. Nobody made a sound as they felt nervous.

In the room, there were 2 people present. Hiruzen Sarutobi and Minato Namikaze. Hiruzen kept Minato so that he can immediately help him escape if anything happens.

"Why are you here?" Hiruzen asked her.

"To collect some information," she replied coldly.

"How are you this young? It's as if you didn't age a single day since the last time." Hiruzen asked her. He had seen her when Shiroken and Monari had arrived to ask for the tailed beast's whereabouts.

She scoffed, "Is this why you asked me to meet you?"

Hiruzen took the cue and changed the topic. "We have been searching for him too and haven't found him. We don't want any fight with you. You can stay in the village as long as you want, peacefully that is."

"Don't try to act friendly with me now. Your last two Hokage have sinned against my family and it will never be forgotten. I know Saint Kurama is here somewhere, trapped in somebody. But this is not the time to look for him. You can breathe, I will be leaving tomorrow.

"Take care, Hiruzen Sarutobi, I'm sure Shiro would feel bad if he didn't find someone from the old generation to punish." She said and headed out.

*SIGH*

Both Hiruzen and Minato took long and easing breaths. Minato had his hand on Sarutobi's shoulder the whole time.

But he was confused, "Who was she, Lord Hokage? Why did she act so prideful, and what's with her looking young? Who are these Kurama and Shiro?"

Hiruzen lit up his pipe and spoke, "A Mistake. Our mistake. I was naive to think they were gone. Lord Hashirama had written in his scroll that if his ways of peace fail and chaos erupt, make sure you do everything in your power to befriend these people and the man named Shiroken. Otherwise, there will be nothing but doom for this village."

"Who are you talking about?" Minato questioned.

"Gods... Gods on earth... it's time you learn about what happened before Lord First caught and gave away the tailed beasts. But be warned, this is a secret of the highest level, if you tell anyone, I will have to kill you, even if you are my protégé..." He started telling everything to his student, as he was cultivating him to become the Hokage.

[You can see the Red-Haired girl, Obito and Rin, and the Kunai. on my Discord - https://discord.gg/DgHkrAn OR see them on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/mister_immortal_novel]

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Special thanks to *Douglas Flower* *Umar Latif* *Julian Rocamora* *Darrien Steely* *Franklin Walley*

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