Chapter 12 - Aftermath part 3
AN: Hey guys let me know if im using onomatopoeia too much like the Boom!, Bamm!, Crack!
I've started using it recently after reading a naruto fanfic and i quite like it, so let me know if im overdoing it or if yall want me to continue using them.
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Word Count for the chapter is - 4k Words
"ANTARES!" Misaki shouted in worry for her son as his small body collapsed onto the broken floor.
For a second, nobody moved.
The estate was silent except for the crackling of burning wood, the faint groans of injured shinobi, and the distant cheers of the village that now sounded wrong after everything that had just happened.
Ay moved first.
He stepped toward Antares, but his eyes snapped toward the surviving Root ANBU before anything else. The man was unconscious, burned, and smoking from the lightning Antares had released, but Ay did not trust him for even a second.
Not after what he had just seen.
"Ikazuchi," Ay called out, his voice low and cold as he pointed toward the fallen Root operative.
"Sir," Ikazuchi answered while keeping one arm around Misaki to stop her from falling.
"Check him for hidden suicide methods. Mouth, teeth, tongue, clothing, seals, everything. Remove the explosive vest and seal it separately," Ay ordered, his teal green eyes narrowing in anger. "If he dies before I question him, I will be displeased."
Ikazuchi understood exactly what that meant.
She lowered Misaki carefully near Antares before moving toward the fallen Root ANBU.
Two remaining BOLT operatives stepped in with her, their blades already drawn. One placed a knee against the Root ANBU's spine while the other forced his jaw open.
"Poison capsule in the left molar," one BOLT operative said while pulling it out with a small metal tool that looks like medical tweezers.
"Seal tag under the tongue," the second operative added, his voice flat as he removed a thin paper strip glowing faintly with chakra.
Ikazuchi opened the Root ANBU's cloak.
Paper bomb seals lined all over the inside.
Not enough to level the estate, but enough to kill anyone close to its range.
Her eyes hardened behind the mask.
"Explosive vest confirmed," Ikazuchi said while pressing two fingers against the seals.
"Remove it," Ay said, not taking his eyes off the man.
Ikazuchi's fingers moved quickly.
One seal.
Then another.
Then another.
Clink.
She cut the trigger wire with a chakra coated kunai and pulled the vest away from the Root ANBU's body.
The paper bombs flickered once.
For a moment, everyone in the room stopped breathing.
Then Ikazuchi slapped a suppression seal onto the vest.
The glow died.
"Explosive vest sealed," Ikazuchi said while rolling the vest into a storage scroll. "No detonation response."
"Good," Ay said before looking toward the Root ANBU. "Stasis scroll. Drug him. I want him alive, but not awake."
"Yes, Lord Raikage," Ikazuchi replied.
She placed a hand on the communication seal built into her bracer. The black ink around it lit up in a circular pattern, spreading across the metal like veins.
Bzzzt.
"This is Ikazuchi, BOLT second command, requesting immediate medical response at the Kaminari estate," Ikazuchi said into the seal, her voice calm even though the room around her was destroyed. "Young Lord Antares is unconscious after chakra overexertion. Young Lord Ay is injured and unconscious. Lady Misaki is suffering severe chakra exhaustion. Two BOLT operatives are critically injured, two with minor injuries. Send a full medic team and containment support. Priority one."
A voice answered through the seal that can only be used in a radius of 10 miles.
"Medical response acknowledged. Team dispatching now." said the voice of a fellow BOLT member using a relay of the same complex seal that traps sounds and then projects them to the other ends of the seals.
Ikazuchi lowered her hand.
Misaki dragged herself toward Antares her body was shaking, not from fear alone but also the exhaustion of chakra drain and pain.
She reached him and pulled his head into her lap, brushing ash and blood away from his face with trembling fingers.
"Antares," Misaki whispered, her voice breaking as she looked down at him. "Wake up, baby. Please."
Ay stood a few steps away.
Still.
Too still.
His eyes moved from Antares to Unruly Ay.
His older son lay on the stone path, unconscious and bloodied. His Lightning Cloak had vanished completely. His chest rose and fell steady.
Ay walked toward him.
Step.
Step.
Every step cracked the broken stone beneath his feet.
He stopped beside Unruly Ay and looked down at him.
For once, the Third Raikage did not look like an unmovable mountain.
He looked like a father staring at his injured son.
Ay knelt down and placed a hand on Unruly Ay's shoulder.
The boy had fought until his reserves were empty. Until his body could no longer support him.
But he had stood between Antares and death.
Again and again.
Ay's jaw tightened.
"You did well, my son," Ay said quietly as he lifted Unruly Ay from the ground.
The words were not loud.
They were not for the room but were for the boy in his arms and his older son.
Ay pulled Unruly Ay against his bare chest, holding him close despite the blood, dust, and burned cloth covering them both.
For a brief moment, the boy looked even younger than he was.
Just a child.
A child with too much pride, too much anger, and the heart of someone willing to protect what he loved most.
Ay held him tighter.
The chest Unruly Ay rested against was still unmarked by the lightning scar he would one day carry later in life. Right now, it was only bruised, burned, and bleeding from the battle with the Eight Tails.
And for the first time that day, Ay the 3rd raikage looked at peace after the events that happened that day.
Misaki looked over at them, tears running down her face as she held Antares.
"He looked possessed," Misaki said suddenly, her voice shaking while the medics landed outside the broken estate. "His eyes went white, Ay. They went completely white."
Ay turned his head slowly.
Misaki's hands tightened around Antares.
"I felt his chakra build up with Kagura's Mind Eye," Misaki continued in distress as two medics rushed toward her as they had just arrived. "It was not normal. It was too much, too fast, like something inside him just ripped open. He was not in control of it."
The medics knelt beside Antares and Misaki, one already channeling green chakra around his palms while the other checked Antares' pulse.
Ay said nothing.
But he listened to his wife, and as he listened, memories came back.
The night Antares was born.
The medic's voice.
"His chakra feels unusual, Den\se." said the medic in a tone full of wonder
But strange.
Then the lightning that had discharged from his newborn body.
The lights flickering.
The metal basin sparking.
The elder standing near the window, staring at Antares like he had seen something impossible.
"Kaminari blood does not awaken like this. I have never seen it this strong."
Ay remembered Misaki snapping at them for looking at her son like he was a weapon.
He remembered feeling proud, worried and curious of how his counsel would treat his son.
Now, standing inside his broken home with two sons unconscious and his wife barely able to sit upright, that old pride felt heavier.
Antares was special.
Everyone had known it.
They just had not known what that meant.
One medic looked up from Antares.
"Lord Raikage, his pulse is stable, but his chakra coils are inflamed from severe overchanneling of chakra," the medic said in a careful tone. "There is no visible organ damage, but we need to take him to the hospital immediately."
"And my son Ay?" the Third Raikage asked, looking toward the older boy in his arms.
A second medic moved toward Unruly Ay and checked him quickly.
"Broken ribs, chakra exhaustion, internal bruising, and several blade wounds," the medic reported. "He will live, but he also needs immediate treatment."
Misaki tried to stand.
Her legs failed.
Ikazuchi caught her before she hit the floor.
"Lady Misaki," Ikazuchi said firmly while holding her upright. "You are going with them."
"I'm not leaving my sons," Misaki said, her voice weak but furious.
"You are not leaving them," Ikazuchi replied. "You are going to the same hospital." she said Coaxing her gently in a soft tone not normality seen from the Deputy masked BOLT commander
Misaki looked like she wanted to argue but the words of Ikazuchi calmed her anger slightly and actually heard her words.
Then Antares shifted faintly in the medic's arms.
She stopped.
"Take him," Misaki said quietly, her voice trembling. "Please."
The medics moved fast.
A stretcher was brought in for Antares and another for Unruly Ay.
Misaki was lifted carefully by Ikazuchi herself, despite her protests.
The hospital near the administration building had already been warned in advance. It was one of the most secure medical facilities in Kumogakure, close enough to the Raikage Tower to be defended quickly and far enough from the damaged mountain districts to remain functional.
Ay watched as his sons and his fiery wife were carried away.
He did not follow immediately.
His place was with them but his duty was not.
That truth tasted bitter in his mouth.
Very bitter.
Ay turned toward the remaining BOLT operatives.
"Secure the estate. No one enters without my order. No one leaves without being identified," Ay said, his voice regaining its iron edge. "And bring me every corpse with a blank mask."
"Yes, Lord Raikage," the operatives answered at once.
Ay looked toward the direction of the hospital.
His eyes were cold now.
The father was still there but the Raikage had returned and in full force.
"Take my family to the hospital," Ay said to Ikazuchi before she left with Misaki. "I will meet you there after command is restored."
Ikazuchi nodded once with Misaki still being carried behind her.
"Yes, sir."
The war room beneath the Raikage Tower was not built for comfort, it was built for emergencies and war.
The chamber was wide, circular, and reinforced with thick walls of stone and steel. Maps of the Land of Lightning, border routes, trade roads, clan districts, and hidden mountain paths were spread across the central table all highlighted with different colors.
This was not the Raikage's normal office; that room could not hold this many people but the war room could.
It was also the same chamber used for formal military councils and high-level meetings with representatives of the Daimyo's court. A room made for decisions that affected more than the village.
Tonight, it held BOLT captains, medical command, sensory officers, rescue squad leaders, and the Third Raikage.
Ay stood at the head of the table, arms crossed over his damaged chest. His right arm was wrapped in temporary medical bandages, but nobody in the room was foolish enough to tell him to sit down.
Commander Shiden stood before him.
BOLT captains lined up behind him.
BOLT aka Black Ops Lightning Taskforce
Ikazuchi was the only one absent.
She was at the hospital with his family, That was where Ay wanted her.
Shiden bowed his head slightly.
"Lord Raikage," Shiden said, his voice clipped and professional. "BOLT casualty report."
"Speak," Ay ordered.
"Five BOLT casualties in total," Shiden reported. "One dead. Four injured. Two of the injuries are minor and already stabilized. The other two were caught in the paper bomb suicide detonation and are in critical care."
Ay's jaw tightened.
Names would come later.
Grief would come later for these seasoned shinobi that always experience death.
For now, numbers mattered, Ay hated that since he cared about his people.
A woman in a white and gray medical haori stepped forward. Captain Amai, head of emergency medical response and one of the senior officers responsible for hospital operations, carried several scrolls under one arm.
"Medical report," Amai the medic who helped deliver his son Antares said while bowing her head. "Young Lord Antares has been placed under observation. His chakra coils are inflamed from uncontrolled channeling and expelling of chakra, but his condition is stable. Young Lord Ay is being treated for broken ribs, chakra exhaustion, and internal bruising. Lady Misaki is suffering severe chakra depletion and physical strain, but she is now conscious."
Ay's fingers flexed once.
"And the civilians?" Ay asked.
Amai's expression softened slightly.
"Civilian casualties are low, Lord Raikage," Amai said, sounding almost relieved despite the day's events. "We have injuries from falling debris, smoke inhalation, and panic during shelter evacuation, but confirmed civilian deaths are far lower than expected."
Another captain stepped forward. His armor was dusty, and blood had dried along the side of his mask.
"Rescue squads are already moving through the damaged districts," the captain said in a stoic tone as the man was a professional through and through. "Each squad is composed of Chunin level responders with one sensor ninja assigned to each group. They are checking collapsed shelters, buried homes, and lower bridge routes for trapped civilians."
Ay looked down at the map.
"How many districts are unstable?" Ay asked.
"Three outer mountain districts have partial collapse zones," the captain replied. "The western residential paths are damaged but passable. The lower bridges held. The eastern containment zone is restricted until seal teams finish inspection."
A sealing captain Arashi of Squad 3 spoke next, stepping forward and the other captain taking a step back.
"Lady Misaki's emergency barrier seals prevented most of the shockwave damage from reaching the civilian shelters," Arashi reported with clear respect in his voice. "Without those seals, the casualty count would have been much higher. The quality of her work was exceptional, especially considering how little time she had to prepare and how much chakra she had already spent restraining the 8 tails."
The room went quiet.
Everyone knew it was true.
Ay said nothing for a moment.
Then he nodded once.
"My wife saved this village tonight," Ay said, his tone leaving no room for argument.
No one argued.
Shiden stepped forward again.
"Root bodies recovered?" Ay asked.
"Three confirmed dead," Shiden replied. "One captured alive. No confirmed escapees, but search teams are still sweeping the western mountain routes in case they have outside support."
Ay's eyes hardened and said "Find them if they did have help i want them captured and tortured for information."
"Yes sir.."
Ay leaned over the table slightly.
"What do we know?"
Shiden placed a broken blank mask on the table.
"No insignia. No village markings. No identifying gear. Poison capsules, suicide seals, and explosive vests confirm black operations training," Shiden said. "Based on style, behavior, and timing. Root, Konoha's special operations ANBU division is the strongest possibility." said Shiden professional as ever but with a hidden well of anger hidden behind his words at the audacity of Konoha
The word Root made the room colder.
Ay looked toward the intelligence captain.
"Konoha spies," Ay said in a cold tone. "Do we have anything from them about bloodline children? Uzumaki children. Any unusual movements. Any whispers of targets."
The intelligence captain stepped forward quickly.
"We have fragmentary reports," he said. "Konoha has been quietly monitoring surviving Uzumaki bloodlines since Uzushio's fall. There are rumors of one red-haired girl in Konoha under special protection. The name is not confirmed in our latest report, but the age aligns with a child taken in after the destruction of Uzushiogakure."
Ay's eyes narrowed.
"A Jinchūriki candidate?" Ay asked.
"Possibly sir!," the intelligence captain said. "Our spies have not confirmed it, but Konoha's secrecy around the girl is extreme."
Ay's expression darkened.
Misaki and Antares both had Uzumaki blood.
'Root had not come for some random information, they had come with purpose but for what to remove the remnant of the uzumaki living here? Why?' thought Ay before sternly giving orders to his shinobi
"Expand the spy network in Konoha," Ay ordered. "I want names, locations, teachers, guards, and every whisper involving Uzumaki children or bloodline survivors. Quietly."
"Yes, Lord Raikage," the intelligence captain said.
Ay turned toward Shiden.
"Kuuhaku Squad Nine will secure the hospital," Ay ordered. "Full rotation. No one approaches my family without clearance from me, Ikazuchi, or Amai."
Shiden bowed.
"Yes, sir."
"Double the guard on the captured Root operative," Ay continued. "Seal his mouth, hands, feet, and chakra. Keep him unconscious until I decide otherwise."
"Yes, sir."
Ay looked across the room.
Every captain stood still.
Waiting.
He let the silence sit for a moment.
Then he spoke.
"Kumogakure survived the 8 tails tonight. We survived sabotage and we survived infiltration during a disaster," Ay said, his voice rough and heavy with restrained fury. "But someone used our crisis to enter my village and target my family."
The captains did not move.
Ay's lightning flickered once across his shoulders.
Bzzzt.
"That will not be forgotten," Ay said and his chakra aura cracked the pavement below him with a visible pressure dispersing in the air, all the BOLT captains lowered their heads in acknowledgement of the chakra and the fury of their raikage.
Far below Konoha, beneath stone, tree roots, old seals, and secrets most villagers would never know existed, Danzo stood in the underground base that had once belonged to the previous era.
The tunnels were cold, damp and silent.
They had not been built by him.
Not originally.
These chambers had first served the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, during the years when Konoha still smelled of fresh war and unfinished peace after the Warring States period. The base had Research rooms, containment cells, interrogation chambers, and sealed laboratories stretched beneath the village like a hidden spine.
Tobirama had used them for experiments, forbidden studies, and the kind of work no Hokage would ever place in public records, something that if known by the public it would cause outrage.
Danzo had inherited more than teachings from his sensei.
He had inherited the places where those teachings were carried out.
Now Root occupied the depths, his Root and private army that he was amassing to one day rule the village.
Danzo Shimura stood alone in the underground chamber with both eyes uncovered and one hand resting on the head of his cane.
He was younger than the man he would one day become, his black hair still full, his face sharp, and his posture straight like a blade held upright. There was no covered eye yet, no ruined body hidden beneath layers of bandages, and no obvious weakness in him.
At first glance, the cane looked strange for a man who was not yet old.
That's because at first glance it looks plain, but far from harmless. A concealed blade rested inside it, the kind of weapon made for a man who preferred every weakness to be a lie and took advantage of it.
His eyes, the eyes of a hawk stared at the old sealed walls of the long chamber, cold and calculating. Danzo had not yet become the crippled old shadow of Konoha and would one day be feared in silence, but the foundation was already there. The control, the suspicion. The belief that anything could be justified if he called it protecting the village.
Step*
Step*
The place was quiet when the ANBU entered.
Too quiet.
The masked operative dropped to one knee. The room was so quiet that you could hear the man's breathing and the ruffling of his clothing.
Danzo did not turn around at first.
"Report," Danzo said, his voice cold, his voice echoing in the chamber.
The Root ANBU lowered his head.
"The operation to eliminate the Uzumaki remnants in Kumogakure has failed," the operative said in a tone with little emotion this operative was not fully integrated with the roots' more hideous methods.
Silence
For one second, nothing happened.
Then Danzo's cane struck the floor.
Clack!*
The sound echoed through the chamber.
The Root ANBU did not flinch.
Danzo turned slowly.
"Failed?" Danzo repeated, his eyes narrowing at the operative standing in front of him.
"Yes, Danzo-sama," the operative answered, lowering his head more. "The strike team encountered unexpected resistance. The targets survived."
Danzo's grip tightened around his cane.
"The child?" Danzo asked.
"Alive."
Another silence.
Worse than the first.
Danzo stepped forward.
"Root operatives do not fail such simple assasination missions," Danzo said, his voice rising slightly.
"The Third Raikage returned before extraction or confirmed elimination could be completed," the operative explained. "BOLT response was faster than expected. Misaki Uzumaki's clone interfered, and the Raikage's elder son also delayed the team. That is what our spies in Kumo's ranks relayed to us with a summons sir."
Danzo's face twisted "Excuses," he snapped.
His cane slammed into the side table.
Bammm!*
A tray of instruments scattered across the floor.
Metal clattered against stone.
Clink.*
Clink.*
Clink.*
The Root ANBU remained kneeling.
Then the man kneeling continued. "Three confirmed lost. One unaccounted for Sir."
Danzo froze.
"Unaccounted for?" he asked, his voice becoming quieter.
The Root ANBU's head lowered further.
"Possibly captured."
The room went dead silent.
Then Danzo moved.
Swoosh*
His cane struck the kneeling operative across the mask.
Crack!*
The Root ANBU's head snapped to the side, but he did not cry out in pain, he just sucked in a breath and took his lord's anger.
Danzo's breathing had changed.
For a man who prided himself on control, rage looked ugly on him.
"Captured?" Danzo hissed. "A Root operative captured by Kumogakure?"
The operative did not answer.
Danzo turned away sharply, his cloak snapping behind him.
"Do you understand what the Raikage will do if he pulls even one thread of information?" Danzo asked, his voice filled with fury. "Do you understand what Hiruzen will do if this reaches his desk before I control the narrative?"
Still no answer.
Good.
Root was not trained to answer such obvious questions.
Danzo slammed his fist onto the old stone table beside him.
A crack spread across the surface.
"This was supposed to be clean," Danzo said, his voice low and shaking with anger. "A disaster in Kumo, a pair of dead Uzumaki leaving no trail, and no witnesses." Danzo raged, taking his anger onto the poor stone table,and throwing a tantrum over a failed operation.
He turned back toward the kneeling operative.
"And instead, you bring me failure."
The operative bowed lower.
"Danzo-sama, your orders?" the man said with an imperceptible tremble in his voice fearing the retaliation of his lord
Danzo stood there, breathing heavily through his nose.
Then slowly, very slowly, the rage began to fold itself back behind his face.
Not gone, just carefully contained.
His visible eye sharpened and the other eye hidden by the shadow of the giant red pillars holding up the underground ceiling.
"Send word to our remaining contacts," Danzo ordered. "The captured operative is to be considered dead. Any connection to Root is to be cut. Any asset who knows of the operation is to disappear or be silenced."
"Yes, Danzo-sama."
"And the captured operative?" Danzo asked, his voice becoming colder.
"We have no confirmation yet," the Root ANBU replied.
Danzo's eyes narrowed.
"Then assume he is compromised. Any connection to Root is to be cut immediately."
The Root ANBU bowed.
"Yes, Danzo-sama."
Danzo turned back toward the old sealed wall at the far end of the chamber.
For a moment, he saw Tobirama's shadow there, not literally but in memory.
A village protected by necessary cruelty that's what Danzo believed in, and he had always believed in that.
But now Kumogakure had a living Uzumaki child with abnormal chakra and the second princess of the Uzumaki's, protected by the strongest shinobi in the Land of Lightning.
'A loose end and a dangerous one.' thought Danzo, his hand tightening around his cane again.
"An Uzumaki outside Konoha's reach is a liability," Danzo muttered, his eyes narrowing.
The Root ANBU stayed silent.
Danzo thought for a moment and commanded his Root operative.
"Prepare another report," Danzo ordered. "One Hiruzen can read."
The kneeling operative waited.
Danzo's mouth curled faintly.
"Leave out everything that matters."
AN: Hope yall enjoyed, Im going to start working on the chapter for the DxD story be on the look out for the chapter. ;-)
Love yall, and have a good rest of your day!
Roqjn