Chapter 38
The Land of Fire.
Inside the Senju Compound.
Mito sat in her chair, looking out over her courtyard. The upper half of her body was draped in the shadows cast by the balcony's roof, and in her hands rested a letter.
She had finished reading that letter five minutes ago. Since then, she had been staring vacantly into the garden.
It was an official message informing her of the death of her most loyal guard. A friend. A teacher. A brother.
Her face remained neutral, betraying no outward emotion. Inwardly, however, another massive crack fractured the spirit of the seemingly unbreakable woman.
Now, with this loss, all of her peers had finally left her behind.
She was now left only with her grandchildren. One was already fighting on a brutal battlefield, and the other would be graduating from the academy soon.
She slowly stood up, grabbed her wooden cane from her side, and began the long walk toward her room.
As she walked down the empty hallway alone, she looked incredibly vulnerable, as if the heavy news had aged her several more years in a matter of minutes.
"It is time I passed down my legacy," she murmured quietly to herself, her figure slowly disappearing into the shadowy corridor.
***
Inside Her Seal.
A majestic beast with nine long, dark red tails lay in the damp darkness. One massive paw rested over the other, supporting his heavy, resting head.
It was the Nine-Tails. His slitted eyes were closed as he dozed within his prison.
Suddenly, his eyes snapped open. He noticed a large fissure had just cracked across the mental landscape right outside the bars of his seal.
He huffed a heavy breath, shook his massive head, and closed his eyes once again.
'This woman is breaking down,' he thought to himself.
As for why he didn't attempt to break free from this crumbling seal right now? It was partly due to a lost bet with an old acquaintance, and—as much as he hated to admit it—because this fragile old woman still possessed enough raw strength to restrain him. Especially with those cursed chakra chains that had somehow become the bane of his existence.
He grumbled, shook his head one final time, and drifted back to sleep in the dark.
***
Flashback
Deep within a range of frozen mountains, where the towering peaks were perpetually buried under a thick layer of untouched snow, lay a massive cavern.
Kurama—otherwise known as the Nine-Tails—was resting inside the frozen depths of this cave, his immense, potent chakra radiating outward into the surroundings.
"Yo, Kurama! How's it going?"
Suddenly, his peaceful isolation was shattered. Kurama didn't even bother opening his slitted eyes, completely intent on ignoring the unwanted intruder.
But alas, the uninvited guest possessed skin far thicker than the giant fox's fur.
"Hey. Hey. Don't try to ignore me. I know you're awake—I literally just saw your eyebrow twitch." The entity casually poked Kurama's colossal, chakra-dense belly with a single, brazen finger.
A prominent tick mark manifested on the Tailed Beast's forehead. In a flash of pure irritation, one of his massive, powerful tails swept through the cavern.
BOOM!
The tail struck right where the white being stood, shaking the entire mountain range and kicking up a suffocatingly thick cloud of dust.
"Hey! What was that for? Cough, cough!" the entity's voice called out as the debris began to settle.
Kurama looked down. His massive tail was frozen a mere inches away from the figure, hovering in place as if held back by some invisible force.
"Do you ever clean this place?" the white being asked, brushing imaginary dirt off their pristine form.
Another tick mark popped onto Kurama's brow.
"What do you want this time?" he growled, retracting his tail.
He knew damn well that the strike wouldn't have left a scratch anyway. In the past, he had detonated point-blank Tailed Beast Bombs directly in this creature's face, only for the entity to shrug it off like a minor mosquito bite. Kurama had been relentlessly harassed by this anomaly for more years than he cared to count.
"Oh, nothing. I was just getting bored and decided to annoy—ahem, I mean, visit an old friend!"
"You were about to say 'annoy,' weren't you?" Kurama ground out through a row of razor-sharp teeth.
"Haha! Forget it. It was just a slip of the tongue. Happens to the best of us," the being dismissed with a casual wave of their hand.
Kurama exhaled a massive, scorching breath in an attempt to control his exploding temper. In the process, the sheer force of his lungs blew yet another blinding cloud of dust into the air.
"Ugh. Way too much dust in here," the white being grumbled, casually uttering a single word: "Clean."
In an instant, every single speck of dust and debris completely vanished into thin air.
Kurama stared blankly at his now spotlessly clean cave, then slowly looked back down at the white being. Ultimately, he chose to let out a long, defeated sigh.
"Hey, what's that sigh for?"
"It's nothing. Just tell me what the hell you're here for so I can go back to sleep."
"Man, you are one incredibly lazy fox, not gonna lie." The entity shook their head, looking disappointed. Then, after tapping their chin in thought for a few moments, their golden eyes flashed with sudden mischief. "Aha! Let's make a bet."
Kurama's ears perked up slightly at the word.
"A bet? What kind of bet?"
"Hmm. Let's bet on your future… whether you will eventually be forced into a contract or captured by someone," the entity proposed, their voice taking on a strange weight that Kurama couldn't quite fathom.
But the moment he heard the concept of being forced, Kurama laughed aloud at the very idea.
"That will never happen. No mortal could ever cross this frozen wasteland, and even if they tried and succeeded, they would only find their end here," he declared with immense confidence and pride—a status that was far from misplaced as the undisputed strongest of the Tailed Beasts.
"Fufu. Then let's officially put it to a wager."
"Fine, let's bet," Kurama agreed, staring down into those bottomless golden orbs.
"By the way, I've never actually asked… are you male or female?" the white being questioned curiously.
Kurama blinked at the sudden pivot, but answered anyway. "I am neither. I am a pure chakra construct. I can be a male and a female—a gender-neutral being"
"Kuku… Perfect," the entity chuckled, a deeply mischievous grin stretching across their features. "If you lose this bet, you will be forced to be a female… forever, losing your gender-neutral status."
Kurama stared down at them in confusion. Why on earth would he ever want to change his fundamental nature? He was perfectly happy as he was.
"Why the hell would I ever agree to that? And what exactly do I even get from it?" he demanded.
"Why? Because why not! It will make the future much more interesting," the being said. They then continued in a playful tone, "As for what you get if I lose—which is impossible, by the way…"
The entity's tone suddenly shifted, carrying a resonance that made the freezing cavern feel entirely still. "How about this: I will grant you one single wish. Unconditionally."
The moment those words echoed through the cave, it felt as though the laws of the universe itself had ground to a halt to bear witness. Kurama instantly felt the weight behind those words and knew this was no ordinary wager.
Breaking the heavy silence, the white being—back to its playful nature—produced a small stack of illustrations.
"Here! Take your pick from these," they offered, handing the sheets over to the giant beast.
Kurama leaned his massive head down to examine the papers. Every single one of them depicted varying pictures of women with fox ears and tails.
The first was a picture of a white-haired girl sporting twin white ears and a prominent diamond-shaped mark etched onto her forehead. She wore a confident smirk, and her blazing teal, almost turquoise eyes stared back at him. Frankly, she looked far more like a winter wolf than a fox.
The others followed a similar theme, including a woman clad in a stylized kimono that barely managed to cover her voluptuous chest, with a pair of bright yellow ears sitting atop her head and nine golden tails swaying lazily behind her.
Kurama keenly noted that almost every single option provided possessed an utterly absurd physical build. He glared down at the white being with barely hidden contempt.
"Why the hell are all of these designs so… excessively endowed?"
"Duh! It's called being cultured," the entity retorted proudly. "What, you don't like them? Here, look—I personally like this specific one."
They pointed toward a picture of another elegant, white-haired woman sporting striking red eyes, fluffy white ears, and nine pristine, snow-white tails fanning out behind her.
Kurama's eyes narrowed as he picked up on the recurring aesthetic.
"Why are almost all of these damn options white? I am the Red Nine-Tails."
"Well, no other choice—we'll just have to dye your fur white then. Simple!" the entity shrugged nonchalantly.
Another prominent tick mark popped on Kurama's head. Completely fed up, he stood on his feet and slowly began walking toward the cave entrance. He seriously needed to cool down before he actually exploded and brought the entire cavern down on their heads.
He stepped outside, and a pleasant, biting cold air instantly hit his pristine red fur. Ahead of him lay a breathtaking view of the setting sun dipping low on the horizon.
"Well, no matter what they say about this desolate wasteland, the view here is easily the best," the entity remarked, suddenly appearing right beside him.
Kurama ignored the comment and lay down on the frozen earth, overlooking his vast territory from his high vantage point. Snow-covered mountains stretched endlessly from one horizon to the other, bathed in the bleeding crimson colors of the sunset.
"Let's set the bet's duration to… fifty years," the entity proposed casually.
"Fine."
Kurama didn't give it much thought. He possessed more than enough confidence in his own power. Fifty years, five hundred years—it didn't matter. No mortal could ever bind him.
"Then let's meet again in fifty years… you have plenty of time to choose which of those forms you want to take."
With those parting words, the white being dissolved into a sudden, swirling gust of snow and vanished completely.
High above in the boundless skies, the white being hovered invisibly, looking down at Kurama's distant, red silhouette against the snow.
The notebook manifested in their pale hands. Opening it to a fresh page, the entity wrote a single, cryptic entry:
Female Kurama — Complete or not.
With a soft snap, they shut the book and let it vanish back into the void.
"Let's see, Kurama," the entity murmured, looking down at the legendary beast one last time. "With this little push, will you actually be able to break free from your preordained role in this world? I am truly curious now."
Then, the observer was gone, seamlessly dissolving into the very folds of reality.
After that encounter, Kurama became exceptionally cautious. He wanted to win that bet—not because he was particularly averse to becoming female or anything of the sort. Honestly, to someone like him, both concepts were exactly the same. What he was truly after was that wish. Especially the unconditional part.
He knew that strange entity was far from simple. They knew things they had absolutely no right to know—like his true name, the names of his siblings, their fractured history, and even their father, the Sage of the Six Paths. So, Kurama was determined to give his all to win.
For decades, he never let a single soul near his territory. Anyone who dared approach the frozen mountain range was immediately blasted to cinders by his Tailed Beast Bombs.
One year passed. Two years. Five years… More than forty years bled by, and not a single soul managed to even come close to his domain. Slowly, Kurama relaxed. The deadline for the wager was fast approaching.
In the following years, he didn't do much of anything, content to simply laze around the pristine frost of his cave.
But everything changed in the forty-eighth year of the bet.
He was dozing peacefully in the dark of his cavern when the sudden, echoing sound of footsteps heralded a lone intruder walking straight inside.
He snapped his crimson, slitted eyes open, his maw morphing into a terrifying snarl. Someone actually dared to trespass on his territory? To step foot inside his cave?
"Ahh. You will do the job just fine, Beast. Now, obey your new master."
Infuriated, Kurama immediately began to condense a full-powered Tailed Beast Bomb over his jaws. But alas, he did not expect what came next. Two blood-red eyes stared back at him, their three basic tomoe spinning wildly before morphing into three large, thick, comma-shaped tomoe encircling the pupil.
The hypnotic pull of that Mangekyō Sharingan was the last thing he remembered.
When he finally came to his senses, the illusion had shattered, only for him to find himself pinned down, being brutally beaten by gargantuan wooden constructs.
"You are far too powerful to be roaming free, Nine-Tails."
Those were the last, bitter words he heard from that wood user before the blinding light of the Uzumaki seals completely consumed his vision.
***
Remembering those bitter days, Kurama released another massive wave of his—now her—corrosive chakra, which was instantly pulled into the framework of the cage and absorbed by the golden seals.
At first, she had tried everything. She had raged blindly, attempting to tear apart every square inch of this mental prison, but in the end, it had all proven utterly futile.
In truth, her compliance wasn't just because of the strength of the Uzumaki seals; it was born from a deep sense of humiliation.
She didn't care about gender—never had.
What truly humiliated her was the loss, not just of the wager itself, but her humiliating defeat at the hands of the beings she called mortals.
That was the main reason she never tried her hardest to break free. What face would she show to her siblings? They would never let her live this defeat down.
As for escaping this cage, sooner or later, she would be free regardless. This woman was dying slowly but surely. Yet, the defeat by the hands of humans still stung.
She funneled even more of her corrosive chakra into the dark void in sheer, unadulterated anger.
"Now, why are you getting so agitated, you stinky fox?"
She heard the calm, weathered voice of her captor echoing through the dark.
"Tch."
She clicked her tongue and released an even greater torrent of burning energy. That woman had the gall to ask such a thing after caging her like a wild animal and depriving her of her freedom.
Suddenly, glowing chakra chains erupted from the shadowy floor of the cage. They wrapped tightly around her massive form, pinning her limbs and ruthlessly suppressing her power.
"Just die already, you old hag! How much longer will you cling to your pathetic life?" Kurama roared, she used her old masculine voice shaking the bars of the cage before the golden chains tightened, binding her completely. "But remember this: when I break free—and I will—I will obliterate this village you hold so dearly. Mark my words, Mito!"
With those final words, another chakra chain wrapped around her muzzle, forcing her mouth shut.
***
The Next Morning
Dawn broke quietly over Konoha, casting long, cool shadows across the sparsely populated streets. Hiyuki and Mikasa walked side by side, their footsteps echoing softly in the early morning air.
"Now, they are just getting annoying," Mikasa muttered, keeping her eyes fixed straight ahead but lowering her voice so only Hiyuki could hear.
Hiyuki offered a faint, almost imperceptible sigh. She completely understood Mikasa's irritation.
Ever since they had set out on their brief tour of the village the previous afternoon, they had been continuously shadowed and monitored.
"It is standard protocol," Hiyuki replied calmly. "Every hidden village monitors foreign shinobi within their walls."
It was a reasonable explanation, yes, but even Hiyuki had to admit that the level of security surrounding them felt excessively heavy.
She could distinctly feel more than two gazes on her, and who knew how many were actually there. Hiding outside her immediate range.
Up ahead, perched atop a utility pole, a lone shinobi stood watching the surroundings. The prominent crest of the Uchiha Police Force was emblazoned across his back. His gaze swept over the street, lingering on the two Uzushio kunoichi as they drew near.
For a brief, sharp second, Hiyuki's eyes met his. It was a quiet, calculated assessment between two predators before both looked away with practiced indifference.
"Just ignore them," Hiyuki murmured, adjusting the strap of her gear. "Besides, we should hurry. The caravan is preparing to depart, and we cannot afford to run late."
Mikasa gave a tight nod, and the two accelerated their pace toward the main gates.
When they finally arrived at the massive wooden structures, they found a Konoha ninja deep in conversation with their merchant convoy.
Spotting their approach, the lead merchant smiled and pointed in their direction. The Konoha ninja nodded in appreciation, thanked the trader, and turned to walk toward them.
"Ah, you must be Hiyuki-sama. It is an honor to finally put a face to such a famous name," the Konoha shinobi said, offering a polite, professional smile.
He reached into his flak jacket, pulled out a securely tied scroll, and extended it toward Hiyuki.
"This is a private correspondence from Mito-sama, addressed directly to Kenji-sama. She gave strict instructions for it to be delivered into your hands."
Hiyuki accepted the heavy parchment, her expression turning serious. "I will ensure it reaches Kenji-sama safely."
"Then I shall leave it in your capable hands. Safe travels," the ninja said, offering a quick, respectful bow before vanishing in a swirl of leaves and a standard Body Flicker.
Hiyuki looked down at the scroll for a split second, noting the distinct Senju-Uzumaki wax seal, before sliding it safely into her personal storage seal. With a collective nod to the merchants, the convoy moved through the gates, charting their course back to Uzushiogakure.
***
Meanwhile, in Uzushiogakure
"Don't be so dramatic, Haru. It won't hurt," Medori coaxed, her voice dripping with sweetness. "I just need a tiny blood sample, and if you cooperate, I'll give you a wonderful reward afterward."
"Never! Haru, stay behind me! I shall be your shield!" Tenka declared righteously, leaping dramatically into a defensive stance directly between the boy and his mother.
Medori sighed, her left eyebrow twitching as her patience evaporated. "I am too tired for your shenanigans today, Tenka."
With a lightning-fast flick of her wrist, Medori whipped out a specialized fūinjutsu tag and slapped it dead center onto Tenka's forehead.
Tenka's entire body stiffened instantly. The paralysis seal locked her joints, freezing her mid-heroic-pose like an absurdly dramatic stone statue.
Medori casually stepped right past the immobilized girl.
Haruto immediately took a desperate few steps backward.
In a frantic bid to protect her master, Cartethyia, his tiny guardian spirit, zipped forward. She hovered defiantly in the air, brandishing her tiny sword that looked like a small blue needle aimed directly at Medori's face.
It was quite a comical scene; Medori suppressed a chuckle at it.
She formed a small sphere of chakra—inside it, her chakra rotated clockwise like a whirlpool—and shoved it towards Cartethyia, who instinctively caught it.
"Here. Now step aside," Medori warned, her eyes narrowing with a smile that was definitely not smiling.
Cartethyia looked down at the delicious, swirling sphere of pure chakra in her hands, then looked up at the terrifying woman before her.
With a heavy heart, the tiny spirit instantly folded her sword and flew off to the side to devour her bribe.
Haruto watched the entire sequence play out with a look of betrayal. His own guardian spirit had just casually sold him out for a chakra snack.
Then again, he couldn't entirely blame her. His mother's refined chakra tasted miles ahead of almost anything else in the world—even beating out his precious moon goddess's chakra.
"Now, Haru… Mother promises it really won't hurt," Medori said, her smile widening into something distinctly predator-like.
Haruto scrambled back another two steps, but his shoulder blades abruptly hit the cold, unforgiving surface of the wall. He gulped, his eyes wide.
"Fufufu… Now you have nowhere left to run."
"Noooo!" Those were his last words.
***
Five minutes later, Konan looked at the table where Haruto was quietly munching on a stick of dango.
She had seen the whole scene from start to finish.
Now Medori was comforting him, and on the table sat a vial of blood—more specifically, Haruto's blood.
It was special; she could feel it, even from the living room where she and Saki sat on the sofa.
"By the way, why did Aunty need that much blood?" she asked Saki, who had also witnessed the whole scene.
"Hmm, not sure. If I had to guess, it might be for blood seals or to enchant weapons."
"Uh-huh," Konan nodded. That would make sense.
The Uzumaki use of blood was rare. It was a high-level art and notoriously hard to master, but its advantages were well worth it. It could enhance the properties of most seals and work as an identification method, which in turn helped with making advanced storage scrolls that couldn't be opened by anyone whose blood was not linked to the seal. And there were entirely different applications for royal blood, which, honestly, she didn't know much about.
She could make basic storage seals and explosive tags, and was still learning the Four Symbols Seal. So, she was far from even scratching the surface of blood seal arts.
'And Kushina is already learning Blood Seal Arts,' she thought inwardly.
No matter what people said about Kushina, she was truly a once-in-a-millennium genius.
As she was thinking to herself, she suddenly felt a weight on her lap.
She looked down to see Tenka using her lap as a pillow.
"Ugh, that seal was nasty. I can still feel my joints locking," Tenka groaned as she buried her face in Konan's thighs.
Konan shook her head at her antics, but she still caressed her dual-colored hair.
"I didn't think I'd ever say this, but I am starting to miss that firecracker," Tenka's muffled voice sounded.
"You mean Kushina?"
Apparently, she had destroyed a part of her courtyard, and Kenji-sama prohibited her from going outside of the compound for an entire week.
"Well, duh."
"You should not say that. She is still the daughter of the clan head and the future matriarch," Konan reprimanded lightly.
Tenka turned over, locked eyes with Konan, and spoke with a mysterious smirk.
"Kuku, we are sisters. It is normal between us."
Konan raised an eyebrow at that tone. Then Tenka continued, her smirk softening into a fond smile.
"And besides, Kushina doesn't like to be treated like royalty. She just wants genuine friends."
Konan sighed in defeat.
"Yeah, you're right," she murmured, continuing to caress her hair.
Saki, who overheard the comment about them being sisters, raised an eyebrow. She could sense Tenka didn't mean it as a joke or just a casual, close friendship.
She looked toward Medori, who returned from another room carrying two scrolls. The vial of blood was gone from the table.
'Are those summoning scrolls?' she asked herself.
******
A.N.
Finally all the pieces are set. I can move the plot ahead.