Some time later.
In the residence of a fairly large city, not a tent, a woman with long red hair sat at a sturdy table. Twirling a lock of hair around her finger, she read through reports, calculating the forces the revolution had at its disposal.
The Land of Water was a vast archipelago. Its humid climate blessed a significant portion of the land with incredibly rich nature, while the polar regions were starkly different. Eternal cold reigned in the north, and the south was practically a desert.
The revolution controlled the western lands, roughly one-tenth of the country's total territory. Far more importantly, it maintained and fed approximately a quarter of all Water shinobi: those who had defected to the new banners.
This objectively indicated that the revolution's governance was far superior to the part of the country ruled by Yagura and the Daimyo, who supposedly also had some say in things.
But this wasn't solely due to Karatachi's policies. The entire system of the country was to blame.
The Land of Water operated on a rigid three-caste system. The first caste consisted of pureblooded Mist shinobi and citizens; only they had the right to rule. The second caste comprised the clan families that had fought for Kiri even before its founding. The third caste was made up of those who had been captured and subjugated. The lowest caste wasn't treated like outright garbage, but they were kept at arm's length, burdened with dirty work, valued less, and sent on the most dangerous missions first.
In theory, this policy was meant to control the number of potential malcontents, but in practice, it achieved the exact opposite.
Another first-caste policy also worked in the revolution's favor: the deeply ingrained fear and hatred of Kekkei Genkai users. They were considered too dangerous and too "different." This paranoia intensified after the Kaguya clan, shinobi whose genome let them manipulate bone tissue, attacked the Bloody Mist. In the aftermath, several minor clans with enhanced genomes, such as the ice-wielding Yuki clan, were wiped out, and those who hadn't been eliminated yet were hunted down.
The Hozuki clan was similarly driven to near-extinction. Only remnants survived under the leadership of a certain Umisio, who joined the revolution... with all his eccentricities.
Mei, as the supreme leader, or simply the head, genuinely disliked thinking about that particular revolutionary leader. He was too willful, too dangerous. He had excellent stealth skills for infiltrating enemy positions, but also a volatile enough temperament that Terumi, instead of bringing him to the negotiations with the Konoha delegates, shipped him off on a distant mission with his squad.
But the most painful thing for Mei was remembering her own history.
The Terumi clan had it far worse. In the past, despite belonging to the third caste, they stood apart from others like them, due to their strength. Those in power didn't dare treat them with disdain. But the clan couldn't escape some of the country's traditions. Its members were forced into the bloodiest missions more often, and the Academy graduation exam remained just as brutal for them as for any other third-caste child. Meaning those who wanted to graduate and become shinobi had to kill a classmate.
Despite having been subjugated generations ago, the Terumi remained patriots who believed in a brighter future. They devoted themselves to protecting the people, but... they were a bit naive and slow to act.
After the Kaguya attack was repelled, the hunt turned on them.
The elderly but still formidable clan head and the elders bore the brunt of the assault from the jinchuriki, the liquidators from the Hoshigaki clan, and other, less notable ninja. The Terumi didn't retreat; they put up a worthy fight. That was exactly why so few shinobi from the clan remained: most had fallen in battle. And although the Mizukage withdrew, the remnants of the clan no longer represented a significant force, so they decided to flee and join the revolution, which had only recently quieted down.
Of the truly significant Terumi, only Mei remained, a powerful kunoichi who, on the day Yagura and his hunter-nin came for them, awakened two Kekkei Genkai at once: Lava and Boil Release.
Before that, having never shown any special powers, she inherited Lava Release through her father's bloodline, while Boil Release came from her grandfather, a clan elder. She took this "awakening" as a second chance.
The once kind and diplomatic woman, who hadn't broken even under the weight of a bloody childhood and a brutal life in general, transformed into what the surviving Terumi family members quietly called "a revenge-obsessed woman you're better off not arguing with."
That characterization wasn't entirely accurate, but it wasn't far from the truth.
Over the past year, she had thrown herself into intense training, evolving from a strong kunoichi of elite jonin rank into a formidable Kage-level powerhouse.
But life among the revolutionaries, where she wasn't singled out or targeted for elimination first, softened her a bit. She rose to lead the uprising because of her strength, and also because she'd managed to reclaim some of her former warmth.
Her rise to power, however, wasn't without incident.
Her past had left deep triggers. She had a fierce hatred for people who treated their subordinates with disdain and recklessness, who would throw them to their deaths over something seemingly insignificant. Just like Yagura did with members of her clan...
The leader of the revolution, who had taken charge of the remnants after Zabuza's failed coup attempt, was exactly that kind of shinobi. And he was unlucky enough to cross paths with a kunoichi who'd joined barely a month ago. First, he was extremely disrespectful to her. Then he tried, right in front of her, to send a squad to a position where their job was to fight until they died.
It wasn't that the leader was bad at tactics or especially spiteful toward his subordinates. His cruel move was supposed to yield an advantage by drawing enemies away from another position while they killed the revolutionaries, allowing other rebel squads to take out several enemy positions. If things went according to plan, casualties might have even been lower overall.
But misunderstanding and prejudice did their work.
This led to a "clash of views" between Mei and the leader, which ended with the latter being burned alive in lava.
Mei, surrounded by revolutionaries who were mostly from the third caste and shared her principles, not only went unpunished but eventually earned their trust and took command of the revolution. Cold calculation was overthrown by empathy and understanding. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing, as it boosted morale within the movement, and therefore its combat effectiveness, somewhat reducing casualties in the process.
But yes, Terumi didn't get her position by being perfect.
Over time, reflecting on her path, she made her goal to make the Land of Water worthy of those who had died.
Yet her thirst for revenge hadn't vanished. Not just against Yagura, but against many members of the first caste who had helped him. And, as she'd recently discovered, against the Akatsuki organization.
Mei returned to the reports, and soon, releasing the lock of hair she'd been twirling, set the papers aside with a satisfied expression.
"Good boy," she noted mentally, seeing that the now-healed Zabuza had completed his third mission for her. Without objections. Exactly as required. This pleased Terumi, as the revolution was becoming more unified and stronger.
In a good mood, she was about to move on to the next papers when the door to her office swung open sharply, and Ao strode in.
"Urgent report on the Leaf!" he announced, then dropped a whole stack of bound scrolls onto her desk. These were reports from various spies and ordinary observers.
Naturally, the revolutionaries had spies in the Leaf. Even though they were supposedly trying to build an alliance, you always had to keep a finger on the pulse. And besides... the Leaf probably had spies here, too.
"Mm..." Picking a scroll at random and unrolling it, Terumi landed on a report about some cleanup near the walls of Konoha, and the shinobi leading it. "Uh... why is he dressed like that? This is Jiraiya, right?"
Peering over the scroll, Ao saw the updated image of the famous shinobi and gave an uncertain nod.
"I couldn't say. But the main thing is something else," her advisor continued. "It looks like we're going to have more obligations toward Konoha..."
Hearing her subordinate's words, Mei froze.
"Obligations?" The thought looped in her head.
"Their strength turned out to be far greater than expected," he continued. "We may have to make additional concessions, given this. As for... this man..."
"Man?" The word flickered through the woman's mind. "Is he saying I'm obligated to find a man?"
The air around Terumi grew thick.
"Perhaps this is some act of intimidation against enemies?" the Byakugan user continued uncertainly. But noticing his superior's darkened face, he choked on his words.
"Shut up. Or I'll kill you," she said coldly, sending chills down Ao's spine.
Mei had other sore spots too. Sometimes she'd latch onto words she herself ripped out of context and projected onto herself. The taboo subjects were her age, men, obligations, and relationships.
According to her family members (because absolutely nobody was suicidal enough to ask the woman herself), Mei had dreamed of having a relationship since childhood. But she was always too busy with clan duties, with training, with missions, and ended up alone. The Bloody Mist's betrayal, followed by her personality shift and growth in power, pushed her far from everyone else in this delicate area of human relations. She was undoubtedly respected and loved for many reasons, but as a leader. Because she truly cared about her subordinates. But to tie your life to such a... sometimes unstable and explosive person, no fool had been found yet. And this ate at Terumi.
While Ao did his best to impersonate a piece of furniture, Mei picked up the remaining scrolls and began reading them intently.
"This... really does need to be factored in. Ao, make sure Umisio is here a full week before the Leaf shinobi arrive."
"...Why?" the man asked uncertainly. He was used to their revolution leader occasionally threatening him with violence. But her mood swings still seemed too sharp. Just a few seconds ago she'd been about to kill him, and now a simply serious kunoichi sat before him.
"To have a disciplinary talk."
Shuddering again, the man nodded, indicating he'd handle it.
"Thank you for your work, Ao. Tomorrow we'll convene the council. You're free for the day."
When the shinobi left the office, the woman let out a heavy sigh. Then she spread out the scrolls featuring two very noteworthy shinobi in front of her.
"And why does he have to be so young?" she sighed mentally, tracing her fingers across one of the scrolls. Then, having looked her fill, she turned to the second. "No... I'm not that desperate."
Then, done with her moment of weakness, she clasped her hands behind her head and fell into thought.
"The Leaf can resurrect the First and Second Hokage... And they also have a shinobi equal to Hashirama, and he's coming here soon."
Pulling the necessary supplies from her desk, she began drafting a decree. Increase the intelligence budget on the Toad Sage Jiraiya and the Kyuubi jinchuriki Uzumaki Naruto by ten times. Also notify current and future operatives that the mission was being upgraded from "Secret" to "Top Secret," so they'd exercise maximum caution.
"Now the revolution must build an alliance with them. Everything has to be perfect, because the stakes are too high."
Over a month later.
It was afternoon, edging into evening.
The revolution's leaders, present in full force and headed by Mei, stood at the pier of a large paved port, watching the approaching ship.
After several exchanges of messages, both sides had agreed to make this meeting public. Of course, not without reason.
This time, no one objected to greeting the guests with full honors. Even Ao didn't grumble, while Umisio, a slender young man of about twenty with white hair, had been convinced to behave himself.
He might hate more than anything that the revolution wasn't handling things on its own and was turning to other countries. But the burn sites where the bandages had only recently come off still ached enough to keep him in check.
Finally, the vessel came to a stop. On deck, besides the already familiar Nara delegates, a grotesque woman, an Aburame, and a Sarutobi, one more person appeared. At least this one was dressed normally... relative to his previous outfit, of course.
Deciding not to wait for the gangway to be set up, he made a long leap and landed in front of the revolutionaries.
They were stunned.
But the ninja was only getting started...
"Listen and heed who stands before you!" Stepping back, he started striking bizarre poses, watched by all present with blank expressions. "Everyone in this world knows of the bravest of ninja!"
Spreading his arms wide and shifting his feet forward and back, he flowed into another pose.
"He who embodies the words 'courage' and 'fearlessness'!" He made a sharp sweep of his arms to the side, as if pushing off a wave.
The man didn't hold back his voice at all, bellowing for the whole street to hear. People in the distance started turning. The revolutionaries had cordoned off the port for the meeting, of course, but fifty meters behind them was a warehouse full of workers who'd been minding their own business.
"The shinobi from whose valor enemies can only run! The Sage of Mount Myoboku!" Quickly biting his finger, he blazed through hand seals and slammed his hand on the stone pier. A boom went off, and white smoke engulfed him. "Ji-ra-i-ya-a-a!!!"
Having finished his bellowing, this individual froze before the revolutionaries atop a toad in his "cool" pose: one leg in a forward lunge, the other in a squat, one hand thrust forward, the other clenched in a fist behind his back above his head.
"..." The greeting party had nothing to say.
"Well, we're here too," Sora simply noted, seeing that all ceremony and formality had perished in terrible agony, as the rest of the ninja landed behind Jiraiya. "Greetings."
The Sannin, not getting the desired reaction, was starting to get nervous, like a clown who'd failed to make the crowd laugh. But finally his eyes landed on a teenager with a bandaged sword on his back, with two handles.
"That's... so cool!" the teen exclaimed.
"Yeah! That's me!" Jiraiya shot him a finger-gun and underscored his point. Then he hopped off the toad and turned to Mei. "My lady, your beauty is more blinding than the midday sun!"
At that moment, nearly all the revolutionaries whipped their heads toward Jiraiya, then to their leader. But seeing that she was still in a daze and apparently hadn't heard the words that could be taken as a come-on, they exhaled.
"Where can we stay until we arrive in full?" the "Sage" asked.
"Huh?" The woman finally snapped out of it. Then, without acknowledging the scene, she greeted everyone in an official tone. And only afterward asked, "May I ask why Uzumaki-dono is delayed?"
"The little bra— I mean, our shinobi is delayed because he wanted to show up later. When the sun is a bit lower."
Mei wasn't sure whether to take these words literally or if they hid something deeper, but she simply nodded.
Soon, the guests were given the best rooms in the best hotel, assigned several guides in case they wanted to see the city, and left alone.
Jiraiya, meanwhile, behaved normally. And, oh gods, to the enormous relief of the Nara and a certain old man in Konoha, he kept himself in check and didn't make another move on the revolution's leader. Though this wasn't surprising. Said old man, having personally discussed the upcoming affair with his student, had promised to make all open hot springs closed if a scandal broke out because of him. Literally, with an impenetrable dome. The student himself, horrified to the depths of his soul, swore to be on his best behavior.
Terumi, meanwhile, sitting in her office, mulled over the fact that nothing was going as expected. She couldn't understand why the Konoha shinobi, who had previously behaved properly, were pulling this kind of stuff. If her etiquette teacher were here, he'd have gone after them with a kunai!
But she was not destined to learn the truth.
So, while she waited, the woman soon gathered all the revolution's leaders and decided to hold preliminary negotiations among themselves, to discuss what they'd seen and plan how they'd proceed.
But, of course, nothing could end well!
First, everyone felt faint vibrations. Then, very soon, the floor began to tremble faintly, and through the building's windows came a light ringing... As if somewhere in the distance, something pompously religious was being sung... A choir?
Nobody managed to go out and look before a young shinobi burst into the room.
"T-t-t-t-t..." he started stammering, pointing toward the wall with no window.
"Silence! Get yourself together right now! Then speak!" Ao shouted, seeing the newcomer couldn't get a word out.
"The s-sea split open! And between it, a temple is coming toward us!"
"What kind of nonsense is this?!" Ao erupted, but quickly fell silent when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Continue," Mei said, her expression hard to read.
"What's there to continue?!" the shinobi squeaked nervously. "A giant thing is heading straight at us! This is the end of the world!!!"
The revolutionaries exchanged glances. They would've loved to just send the newcomer off to the nuthouse, but the tremors they could feel and the echoes of the choir made them think there were grains of reality in his words.
"Let's go look," Mei said, raising her eyebrows in surprise as she rose to her feet.
To save time, she opened the window and went out through it, while the other shinobi followed her path.
Once outside, that is, on the roof of the four-story building they'd been in, the revolutionaries saw everything and were duly "enlightened"...
Staring mutely into the distance, they sent the messenger to fetch the Konoha shinobi if they hadn't come out themselves, while the council moved toward the coastline, where the water had already receded...
Between the parted waters, like a mountain, a majestic white temple rose. Its foundation pushed upward, raising the structure above the blue surface. Marble columns soared dozens of meters high, supporting a colossal roof.
The sun, shining directly behind the temple, blinded the onlookers, making the structure look like a dark silhouette against the bright light. When the titanic construction came to a halt, towering over the shore, an athletic, vaguely human figure stepped onto the tall, broad balcony at the front, approaching a pedestal. It was a stranger with sharply defined muscles, his body covered by nothing more than a cloth around his hips.
He stood so that his head eclipsed the sun. The blinding halo made it hard to make out his features, but a golden laurel wreath distinctly sparkled in his hair.
The crowd on the shore erupted in murmurs as the choir slowly faded.
People exchanged glances, not believing their eyes, debating whether what they were seeing was real.
Mei, who had already arrived, shot a stunned look at Jiraiya. But after receiving a heavy nod from the Sennin, meaning "yes, that's Uzumaki," she froze with an expression of utter shock.
But... a moment, and the noise died.
"!"
A suffocating, majestic pressure of chakra crashed down on everyone below. As if an invisible hand squeezed their hearts. Chills ran down the spines of the onlookers, making them fall silent and lock their eyes on the figure at the pedestal.
"In time, I shall erect a Great Empire." The clear voice carried over the crowd, making everyone shudder.
"Upon the ashes of empty ideologies and bloody paths... Reason shall triumph over the endless cycle of vengeance. Extinguish the flames of hatred for one another! Renounce the madness of wars! No warlord, no Kage, shall ever tear this world apart again!"
The voice was full of emotion, commanding grace, and terrifying theatricality.
"The nations shall unite, and the heart of the world shall beat here." He raised his hand and sharply clenched his fist. "Under My hand!.. All former beliefs are mere ash."
He relaxed one hand, then swept the other:
"Cast them aside! Become part of true greatness! Embrace the new, the only Path!"
Spreading his arms in a gesture of might, he fell silent. But at that very moment, the world answered!
The water on both sides surged upward, giant waves casting the temple into shadow. But not just near the structure; literally the entire horizon of water slowly rose! The sky beyond the clouds darkened, and only the sun remained exposed. In the gloom it blazed, it seemed, even fiercer, its rays outlining the shadowed figure. The light became like a halo behind his head, allowing only a silhouette to be seen: windswept light hair and a gleaming wreath.
His pressure grew even stronger, crashing down as an overwhelming avalanche, making the blood in the veins of those below seem to boil in response.
At last, the speaker reached the crescendo of his speech:
"I am the Emperor! I am your Father! I am your God! Do not worship Me, obey! Do not dare doubt My might! I bring Absolute Unity! And I know: I am right!!!"
With his final echoing word, the world seemed to roar in triumph. The masses of water behind him churned, towering crests looming behind the temple like an honor guard of the elements themselves. Lightning tore through the clouds, as if streaming from the halo of light, to descend as deafening claps of thunder. The earth shook harder still, as though it could barely bear the mere presence of a being of that level.
Then everything slowly began to subside. The water started dropping, forming smooth walls stretching into the distance once more. The sky began to clear, making the world and the temple beneath it brighter.
The young man above, like a living statue of a god, relaxed, turned, and descended from the pedestal by the stairs, then stepped forward and leaned against the massive railing.
"Rise." His cold command snapped everyone out of their trance, making them jolt. "I have come at your call. Revolution leaders, we will speak inside."
And without waiting, he turned and disappeared into the depths of the structure.
Mei, breathing sharply, pressed her palm to her chest where the heart is. The grip was gone, leaving only phantom sensations.
Casting another look full of astonishment at Jiraiya, she noticed that he himself had only just closed his mouth, which had been hanging wide open. Then, scanning the revolution's leaders, who were themselves starting to slowly recover, she shuddered.
"What the fuck was that..." Mei rarely allowed herself strong language even in her thoughts, but what she'd seen left her no choice.
"Maybe we should... run?" Natsuo suggested, raising his hand.
"Coward..." Josame noted.
The white-haired Hozuki leader, meanwhile, was nervously looking around, clearly calculating how to do exactly what his comrade had suggested.
"Better not. He'll get offended and come after you," Jiraiya explained stoically.
"Is he always like this?" Terumi asked the Sennin anxiously.
"Well, he usually doesn't show up quite so colorfully," Jiraiya dropped his shoulders.
Compared to the appearance of this... Emperor, the Sannin looked not just like some worthless babbling child. No, more like dirt under a fingernail. An insignificant microbe. Not even a virus, just, like, two atoms and a stick between them.
Meanwhile, having found his place in the pecking order, Jiraiya continued:
"Also, he seems to be in a bad mood right now. Don't know why. But you can still negotiate with him, if you're tactful."
Shifting her shoulders, Mei exchanged one more look with the revolution's leaders, then gave a nervous nod. They would go to this... manifested god.
Because not going would be far worse...
Author's Note: Just to be perfectly clear: this isn't a joke or a gag. Naruto isn't going to dispel the temple, pop out of a smoke cloud, and yell "Just a prank!" like he would have back at the Academy. Nope. Following the motivations established earlier, he has officially begun his campaign to subjugate the world. The stakes of this story have permanently risen. The exact reasons why the reincarnated protagonist is doing this will be explored further in the upcoming plot.
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