Naruto: The Senju After the Age of Gods

Sand swirled wildly as Rasa sped across the desert.

The moment he learned a few days ago that the Dragon Vein had vanished, he had personally rushed to Rōran to confirm the situation.

What filled him with fury was that every one of their worst guesses seemed to be true.

The Dragon Vein had disappeared completely.

The seal that had once remained intact had been utterly destroyed.

And after carefully inspecting the ruined seal, Rasa realized the culprit had been highly familiar with sealing techniques.

Not only that, the method used to break it had been exceptionally skillful.

Whoever had done it was clearly an expert in fūinjutsu.

Once those clues were put together, Rasa became even more certain that Konoha was behind it.

More specifically—

it was very likely the work of that damn Konoha Nightingale!

True, that time in the Land of Wind, Nightingale—Senju Hikaru—had not displayed any sealing ability.

But not showing a skill did not mean he lacked it.

And Flying Thunder God itself relied on special formula markings. Who could say those markings did not require sealing techniques to create?

To be fair, Rasa had not become Kazekage by accident.

A shinobi's analytical ability was just as important as combat strength, and his own was solid.

Combining his own deductions with Chiyo's earlier suspicions, Rasa even felt a strange sense of relief.

Thankfully, he had not dispatched a large-scale Suna force to investigate.

The lesson from last time was still carved into his memory.

Even now, with far more intelligence on Hikaru than before, he still did not dare rashly seek trouble with him.

But at the same time, simply letting the matter go was impossible.

What if they were wrong?

What if the intruder was not Senju Hikaru after all?

So Rasa made a decision.

He would go see for himself.

Ordinarily, a Kage should not move so casually.

But under the current circumstances, after thinking it through from every angle, only he was suitable.

Chiyo had nearly lost her mind after her last encounter with Senju Hikaru, and that kind of opponent was a nightmare matchup for a puppeteer anyway.

Especially since, according to Chiyo, the man did not even seem to fear poison.

In a situation like that, sending her—or any puppeteer like her—would just be feeding the enemy a free kill.

For Sunagakure, puppet masters were still enormously important. In wartime, their value was practically strategic in scale.

So Chiyo had been ruled out almost immediately.

And since sending a large force was out of the question, that left only one real option.

At present, Sunagakure's strongest combatant was Rasa himself.

It was a sad reality.

A great village. One of the Five Great Shinobi Villages.

And yet its talent pool had withered to this extent.

Unbelievable—but still the truth.

Even so, there was no point wallowing in grief.

Better to keep moving forward.

Whatever his flaws, Rasa's mentality in this regard did fit that of a Kage.

After finishing his inspection, he had originally planned to leave.

But then he noticed something else.

All of Rōran's remaining residents had vanished.

"Did they all leave? Or did that man—possibly Senju Hikaru—take them all away?"

The thought hit him, and suddenly, where there had only been frustration, Rasa saw opportunity.

Trying to deal with Hikaru through direct force was unreliable.

Rasa simply was not certain they could beat him.

That meant only normal diplomatic methods remained.

If he could provoke fear in the other villages—fear of Konoha, fear of Senju Hikaru—then Konoha could be pressured from the outside.

But without proof, there was nothing he could do.

And now?

If he could catch those fleeing Rōran civilians, and confirm that the one behind everything was indeed Konoha's ANBU Minister, Senju Hikaru—

then he would finally have something.

"What a gift. It would be a shame not to make use of it."

With that thought, Rasa followed the trail at full speed.

He knew he was already late.

But he also believed he could still catch up.

Shinobi moved fast.

Even a genin, empowered by chakra, possessed speed and stamina beyond any normal human limit.

But what about the people of Rōran?

Under Sunagakure's long blockade, they were nothing more than ordinary civilians.

They had never had any chance to receive shinobi training.

And this was not one or two people fleeing.

This was the migration of an entire city.

If they were moving quickly, that would have been the real miracle.

"I have to catch them. Once I do, and once I confirm who's behind this, everything else will become much easier."

With that in mind, Rasa pressed on.

After two full days of high-speed pursuit, the traces he found became clearer and clearer.

He even found abandoned campfires that still held residual warmth.

That meant only one thing.

He was getting close.

It lifted his spirits.

Though he was tired now, he could feel his goal coming within reach.

Then—

"Hm?"

About ten kilometers ahead, a violent chakra disturbance suddenly erupted.

The ground itself began to tremble madly.

The desert, which had been calm only moments before, roared like a living beast.

Rasa froze for an instant, baffled.

He had no idea what was happening.

But he understood one thing immediately:

some truly terrifying people had entered the Land of Wind.

"These chakra signatures are monstrous. Not one of them is easy to deal with. And... they seem to be fighting each other? What the hell is going on?"

His expression darkened.

Strictly speaking, that should have been good news.

The classic case of the snipe and clam fighting while the fisherman profits.

But without clear intelligence, too much was unknown.

People with chakra this overwhelming could not possibly be weak.

After a moment's thought, Rasa gritted his teeth.

He decided to get closer and see for himself.

This was still the Land of Wind.

His territory.

If monsters like this were fighting here, he could not simply pretend nothing had happened.

With that, Rasa leapt forward and rushed ahead.

His speed was astonishing, especially now that he was moving with full intent.

At the same time, he never forgot to conceal himself.

Against opponents like these, caution was absolute necessity.

Boom!

Another thunderous blast exploded in the distance.

Rasa immediately held his breath and lowered his body.

He was close now.

Close enough that any mistake could kill him.

The wind and sand gave him perfect cover.

And at last, he saw what was happening.

One lone figure wrapped in pale golden chakra, radiating an aura so overwhelming it seemed unreal—

was fighting three others, each of whom also possessed terrifying chakra.

Though the golden figure could not close in cleanly, he was still holding all three of them off alone.

That alone was enough to shake Rasa.

Every one of the four was frighteningly strong.

Against any single one of them, he was not confident he could win.

And then—

he saw one face he knew all too well.

"That's... Sasori? And... the Third Kazekage?"

Rasa clenched his teeth so hard it hurt, forcing himself not to make a sound.

The sight before him was a tremendous shock, and his mind was flooded with confusion.

"Who are these people? What is happening here?"

As he tried to piece things together, an even more terrifying mass of chakra suddenly appeared.

And in that instant, Rasa's face changed completely.

"That... is that a Tailed Beast Bomb?!"

Hikaru's words had been outrageously arrogant.

And they had instantly infuriated both Kakuzu and Sasori.

Both men were proud to the core.

How could they not flare with anger at being spoken to like that?

Even Konan had been irritated.

In a three-against-one fight, this brat still dared to talk like this?

At that point, all three of them had come to the same conclusion.

He needed to be taught a lesson he would never forget.

And that lesson—

was death.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Explosions thundered nonstop.

The mist produced by Suiton colliding with Katon spread across the desert, making the already heat-warped sandscape seem even more blurred and unreal.

Above them, black sand and white sheets of paper danced wildly through the sky.

The whole battlefield looked eerie and unstable, like something out of a fever dream.

Hikaru stood upright atop a giant Iron Sand spike stabbed into the ground, his eyes sweeping across the three Akatsuki members as he let out a faint inner sigh.

They really were strong.

Even with zero real teamwork, they were still not tripping over each other or sabotaging one another.

And every single one of them was dangerous in his own right.

At the start, once Hikaru closed the distance, he had beaten them around badly enough.

Sasori had lost a large chunk of his puppets.

Konan and Kakuzu had both been injured to varying degrees.

But they had adapted quickly.

The moment they understood Hikaru's fighting style, they had decisively widened the gap.

And that had made things genuinely annoying.

Sasori's puppets could flood the battlefield and compress Hikaru's movement space. The Third Kazekage's Iron Sand was especially troublesome. If that stuff tagged him, it would not be pleasant.

Konan's paper techniques were equally irritating. Even if the paper itself did not directly strike him, detonating paper bombs around him was enough to make things ugly.

Then there was Kakuzu, still carrying four hearts, capable of unleashing Water Release, Fire Release, Lightning Release, and Wind Release. In a conventional fight, he was nearly perfect aside from being a little weak on defense.

What annoyed Hikaru most was how well the remaining mask-monsters synchronized with everything else. With the others covering for them, he could not force his way in quickly enough.

His speed was absolutely outrageous now. In an instant, he could cross the battlefield and deliver a killing blow.

But those three were not fools.

They were slower than Hikaru, yes—but once they widened the distance, they could prepare defenses in advance.

If Hikaru charged in recklessly, he would likely just get skewered by Iron Sand and then buried under a rain of attacks.

It was an infuriating feeling.

It reminded him of those old game matches where a melee build got endlessly kited by ranged characters—

close enough to almost touch them, but never quite there.

And trying to answer with ninjutsu was no better. Breaking through the defensive web in one shot was difficult, and leaving openings for counterattacks was dangerous.

"Basically, I'm still not used to this. I've relied on Flying Thunder God for so long that a pure speed-based combat mode still feels awkward."

Hikaru laughed inwardly at himself.

After all, this was his first real battle using this mode.

If it had been Naruto, he probably would have flooded the battlefield with shadow clones to eat the attacks, then hurled a Rasenshuriken to clear everything in sight.

That would have opened a path for a direct charge, and then a Giant Rasengan or something similar would have finished the job.

"Hm?"

Hikaru suddenly paused, a thought striking him.

Then he immediately asked within himself:

"Hey, little one—can I use a Tailed Beast Bomb in this state?"

"Yes," the little Nine-Tails answered at once.

"But you're still not skilled enough with this form. You're really thinking of using a Tailed Beast Bomb?"

"I never said I'd use it myself. Can't you fire it for me?"

Hikaru shot back mentally.

At that same moment, a bolt of blue lightning lanced toward him.

Hikaru raised a brow, then leapt aside.

The lightning missed him cleanly.

As he landed, a kunai appeared in his hand.

Golden chakra instantly coated it, and he hurled it in a flash.

The blade pierced through several incoming paper sheets.

In the same instant, Hikaru blurred forward and appeared before one of Sasori's charging puppets.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Golden light flashed.

Each strike shattered a puppet.

Every movement was clean and efficient.

Under the Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, his strength had multiplied again.

With that kind of power and speed, ordinary puppets simply could not withstand his blows.

"One touch and they break" was no exaggeration.

"You want me to help?"

The little Nine-Tails sounded oddly helpless.

"I'd like to, but I probably can't. Because…"

"I get it. You still can't fully control your power."

Hikaru slammed a kick into another puppet, then flipped backward through the air to avoid an incoming wave of fire.

Landing, he rapidly formed hand seals, and a powerful water technique burst forth.

A huge water dragon roared into existence and smashed toward the Iron Sand and paper field ahead.

The next instant, another chain of explosions shook the desert.

"Exactly."

The little Nine-Tails swayed his head unhappily.

"As annoying as it is, I can't help that.

But that doesn't mean there's no other way."

"Oh?"

Hikaru's eyes narrowed.

"What do you mean—are you going to teach me directly?"

"Yes."

To Hikaru's surprise, the little fox nodded immediately.

"I am. And honestly, it's not that hard for you.

You already have the foundation."

Foundation?

Hikaru's brows knit slightly.

And then he understood.

The "foundation" the little Nine-Tails meant was most likely Hikaru's monstrous chakra control—

and the fact that, through the system, he had already gained access to Yang Release.

A Tailed Beast Bomb, at its core, was simply chakra spun at extreme speed, transformed to its limit, then compressed into an ultra-dense sphere before release.

Simple in theory.

In reality, it demanded terrifying chakra control.

The Rasengan Minato created had likely come from observing the Tailed Beast Bomb's mechanics.

Minato's chakra control had been absurd, which was why he could wield the technique so perfectly.

Naruto, by contrast, had enormous talent, but because Kurama had disrupted his chakra for so long, his control in the beginning was an outright disaster.

That was why he had needed shadow clones to help form Rasengan.

Even that had been a form of chakra control.

But the Tailed Beast Bomb was far harder than the Rasengan.

There was an even more critical factor involved.

The chakra used was not simply Bijū chakra—

it was chakra formed from Yin and Yang Release together.

For ordinary people, even distinguishing Yin chakra from Yang chakra was impossible, let alone controlling both.

But Hikaru was different.

His bloodline had already been developed by the system, and from the broken fragment of Asura's power, he had gained beginner-level Yang Release.

Even if it was only beginner level, it was enough.

He could tell what kind of chakra the little Nine-Tails held.

"Now that I think about it... when Naruto first tried making a Tailed Beast Bomb in his first Kurama Chakra Mode against the Third Raikage, he failed immediately. Maybe it wasn't just a control problem. Maybe half of Kurama simply didn't have the Yin half."

Standing still as the water mist and smoke dispersed, Hikaru thought rapidly.

The reason he was willing to attempt this now was because the little Nine-Tails had already supplied the conditions.

The little fox's growth was not complete yet, so true full synchronization was not possible.

But the first stage of the mode?

That seemed absolutely viable.

This was essentially the inverted version of Naruto's path.

Naruto had needed Kurama's trust.

Hikaru needed Kurama to stabilize his own power.

"If that's the case... then maybe this can work."

At the same time, Hikaru knew this was not a moment for overthinking.

If he did not try something now, breaking the deadlock would be difficult.

And if it worked—

then he might gain an entirely new identity to use in the future.

After all, as Konoha's ANBU Minister, he could not just run around openly picking fights.

"Do it."

Hikaru said within himself.

"Tell me the method."

"Eight to two," the little Nine-Tails answered immediately.

"Keep the ratio of Yin and Yang chakra at eight-to-two. Fuse them, spin them, and compress them to the limit. That's all."

"That's easy to say."

Hikaru sighed faintly.

"But in practice, that's a different story."

Still, he grew serious at once.

At this point, there was no reason not to try.

And beyond that, he could not deny it—

he was curious.

Very curious.

If this worked, then even if he never used it often, it would still become one more card in his hand.

And if it failed?

Then so be it.

At worst, he would just admit he had taken the Dragon Vein.

It was not as though he had stolen it without cause—he had made a deal with Rōran.

The worst consequence would only be that his return to Konoha got a little more troublesome, and Konoha's diplomatic position in the wider shinobi world became a bit more awkward.

But no matter how inconvenient it got, Hikaru would never allow himself to end up in a truly losing position.

He did not have that kind of compulsive self-restraint.

He would never willingly corner himself.

"You really are something."

At that moment, Sasori spoke coldly.

"Fighting the three of us alone—and still forcing us to keep our distance. That's impressive."

"And your chakra is enormous. Far stronger than I expected."

Kakuzu stared at Hikaru with those eerie green eyes, his hands already poised in seals.

"But are you sure you can outlast us?"

"You should surrender."

Konan floated in the air, her tone calm and detached.

"There's clearly some misunderstanding here. Keep going like this and you'll die. We can still talk."

"Talk?"

Hikaru raised a brow.

After a moment, he smiled.

"We've been fighting this long, and suddenly now you want to talk? Why would I trust that? Especially when you were the ones who attacked first."

"Don't be stubborn. Keep fighting and you will die."

Konan frowned slightly, still speaking from above.

"I already said there must be some misunderstanding. If we talk, we can clear it up. We might even become friends."

Friends?

Hikaru almost laughed.

Not just him—even Sasori and Kakuzu both looked at her.

Sasori, now little more than a half-puppet himself, showed no real expression.

Kakuzu, on the other hand, looked openly strange.

Clearly, they both understood what Konan meant.

She was trying to recruit Hikaru.

Honestly, if Hikaru thought purely in terms of future Tailed Beast chakra seeds, there was a tiny, tiny part of him that found the idea tempting.

But that was all.

Tempting in the abstract.

The reality was different.

He had no interest in spending his time doing missions with these people.

If he had ever truly intended to join Akatsuki, he would have done so long ago.

"Friends? No thanks."

Hikaru shook his head lazily.

"I really don't think we'd make good friends."

And as he spoke, he slowly raised one hand.

In that instant, black chakra appeared in his palm.

The contrast between that black chakra and the pale golden chakra wrapped around him was striking.

And the moment that darkness appeared, the winds around them seemed to intensify.

An overwhelming sense of pressure descended over the battlefield.

Not just the three Akatsuki members—

even Rasa, hiding far away and watching in secret, felt his breathing tighten.

"Do you know what's funny?"

Hikaru's smile remained gentle.

"From the beginning, I haven't really been serious.

Even now, more or less the same is true.

Because this battle mode I'm using... this is honestly my first time trying it."

"First time trying it?"

Sasori's cold voice sharpened.

"So what, you're saying this power comes from the Dragon Vein?"

"The Dragon Vein?"

Hikaru blinked, then laughed softly.

"If you want to interpret it that way... sure. That's not exactly wrong."

Since Sasori had handed him an explanation on a silver platter, Hikaru saw no reason not to take it.

And it was not even false.

The only reason he could use the Nine-Tails Chakra Mode right now was precisely because of the Dragon Vein.

Without it, the little Nine-Tails would never have grown to this stage.

And without that growth, Hikaru would never have gained this power.

With that, Hikaru slowly lifted his hand higher.

The black sphere in his palm had already grown enormous.

It flickered with traces of violet lightning, while other colors swirled through it in unstable patterns.

Seeing that thing, Sasori immediately formed hand seals.

Dozens of puppets appeared before him in an instant.

The three Akatsuki members had already made their decision.

Running would likely just get them chased down.

Attacking was too risky—they still worried Hikaru might be bluffing, or baiting them in.

So now, in this awkward deadlock, defense was their only option.

Kakuzu and Konan did the same.

Whatever they had been thinking before, now all three of them focused on one thing only—

surviving what was coming.

"Well then…"

The energy in Hikaru's hand paused for a heartbeat.

Then the golden chakra around him erupted with terrifying force.

"Goodbye."

The black sphere shot forward.

The instant it moved, it plowed straight through the ranks of puppets.

Not a single one could resist.

Cracking sounds erupted everywhere as the entire puppet army broke apart into splinters and dust.

Then the sphere slammed into the layered defense formed from Iron Sand and paper techniques.

For one brilliant instant, dazzling light exploded across the desert.

In that barren place, far from any true population center, a streak of extreme radiance suddenly appeared.

Then the entire world seemed to go silent.

Color vanished.

For one heartbeat, all that existed was endless white.

Then slowly, color returned.

Black and white intermingled first—

and then, from within that distorted world, a towering mushroom cloud of fire rose into the sky.

BOOM!!!

The world's voice returned all at once.

A sound like heavenly thunder tore across the desert.

The ground shook violently, as though it could no longer bear the force unleashed upon it.

The black Iron Sand and white paper defenses disappeared instantly, erased without a trace.

And the massive shockwave expanded wildly in every direction.

Wind and sand mixed with unbearable heat, rushing outward like a living storm.

Even Hikaru himself stood there staring for a moment.

He was actually a little stunned…

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