Naruto: The Senju After the Age of Gods

Hikaru’s words cut straight to the heart.

But no matter how vicious they sounded, Obito had only one choice.

Accept it.

No matter how badly he wanted to attack, he had to consider the consequences. The disturbance had already drawn Mist shinobi toward them. If he kept fighting now, and the Mist discovered the Fourth Mizukage’s condition, then continuing to control him would become impossible.

Losing the Mist would not cripple him completely. He could still retreat to the Land of Rain.

But the Mist was the target of his revenge.

Leaving like this would never sit right with him. He still had not truly avenged Rin.

And even if he left, what then?

For some unknown reason, this man knew about their plan to collect the tailed beasts. With his strength, he could easily move first and seize them all.

If that happened, how was Obito supposed to summon the Ten-Tails?

How was he supposed to become its jinchūriki?

How was he supposed to cast the Infinite Tsukuyomi and create a world where Rin existed?

The moment he thought of Rin, Obito made his choice.

He would endure.

He had to endure.

If he refused, he would lose his chance forever.

He longed to see Rin again. He longed for a world where Rin, Kakashi, and everyone else still existed.

So he could not give up. He could not act on emotion. Even if he had to swallow this humiliation, he had to endure it.

Was it not just handing over a batch of White Zetsu?

Was it not just watching this man create a rival faction inside the Mist over the next five years?

Troublesome, yes. But not impossible to deal with.

The Mizukage was still in his hands. That alone gave him a tremendous advantage.

At worst, he would not be able to spare attention for Nagato for the time being.

But Nagato had already been controlled. Why should he worry too much about that?

"That should be enough."

Hikaru had no idea what kind of mental journey Obito had just gone through, and he did not care. He had already stated his terms. Then, as if remembering something, he added casually,

"Oh, right. This village should still have the Six-Tails. I need its chakra too. You can handle that, can’t you?"

The Six-Tails’ chakra?

Obito did not think much of that request. He was curious why someone who already carried the Nine-Tails’ chakra would want the Six-Tails too, but he had no interest in asking.

Black Zetsu, however, was far more cautious.

He knew very well that as long as one possessed the Ten-Tails’ shell, even fragments of the other tailed beasts’ chakra could be enough to awaken the Ten-Tails, provided the total amount of chakra reached a sufficient level.

This man already had the Nine-Tails inside him. Now he wanted more tailed-beast chakra.

What exactly was he planning?

And when this man had attacked earlier, Black Zetsu had sensed something strange in his Nine-Tails chakra. It was certainly powerful, but mixed within it were traces of other tailed beasts’ chakra.

Hikaru himself had not noticed this.

Or rather, the small Nine-Tails had never bothered to tell him.

After all, Hikaru had absorbed the chakra of the Two-Tails, Three-Tails, and Eight-Tails into the Nine-Tails’ system, with the Nine-Tails remaining the dominant will. From the system’s perspective, the full fusion process had not yet been activated.

But the power was still there.

And the Nine-Tails could use it.

The little fox had simply fallen asleep again. Perhaps Hikaru had fed it too much chakra, or perhaps the last traces of the Dragon Vein power had also been absorbed by it. Either way, it was still in that lazy, drowsy state, sleeping whenever it pleased.

Without the Nine-Tails explaining anything, even Hikaru himself did not fully understand that when he called upon tailed-beast chakra now, he was already drawing on a mixed force.

It simply had not been clearly separated yet.

"No problem."

After thinking for a while and failing to figure out Hikaru’s true goal, Black Zetsu agreed.

"One month from now, I’ll bring everything here together. Preparing that many things will take some time. Is that acceptable?"

"Fine. I hope our transaction goes smoothly."

Hikaru smiled faintly. Then his gaze shifted toward Obito, studying him from head to toe before turning back to Black Zetsu with a meaningful look.

"But I suggest you avoid any little tricks. They may not trouble me, but checking for them is annoying. And if I get annoyed, I get angry. I’m sure you can imagine what happens after that."

With that, Hikaru vanished.

Black Zetsu’s body went cold.

That sentence made one thing very clear.

This man had discovered the hidden marks inside Obito.

Black Zetsu cursed inwardly. Just how sharp was this man’s perception?

Madara had planted several seals inside Obito to keep him under control. Under normal circumstances, those seals would never activate, which made them nearly impossible to detect.

Yet this man had noticed them so easily.

Black Zetsu truly felt sick.

He had not even planned to tamper with the White Zetsu he would hand over. Against someone this dangerous, it was better to send him away cleanly.

He was not even thinking about gathering more intelligence anymore. Though he had obtained some, it was far from enough.

But with a monster like this, how could he still dare to plant traps in the goods?

Black Zetsu sighed inwardly and stopped thinking about it.

Then he noticed Obito staring at him with a doubtful gaze.

His scalp almost went numb.

Because he knew he now had to spend more effort and more lies to make up another story for Obito.

...

Hikaru had no interest in what Obito and Black Zetsu did afterward.

His goal had been achieved. That was enough.

After returning to the Mist, he stayed in Mei Terumī’s house for another month. There was nowhere else convenient to go anyway.

During that time, something rather interesting happened.

One of the new Seven Ninja Swordsmen, the wielder of the Executioner’s Blade, the Demon Zabuza, attempted to assassinate the Fourth Mizukage.

That surprised Hikaru a little.

He knew Zabuza had done something like this in the original timeline, but he had no idea when exactly it had happened. The original story never gave a clear date.

Perhaps Hikaru’s earlier attack on the Fourth Mizukage had created too much noise. Perhaps after Obito regained control, Yagura looked even weaker and more lifeless than before. That gave Zabuza an opening.

Unfortunately, Zabuza was not facing the Mizukage alone.

Behind the Fourth Mizukage stood Obito and Black Zetsu.

Perhaps Hikaru’s sudden assault had left a deep psychological shadow on them, because their protection of Yagura had become far tighter than before.

The result was simple.

After launching his assassination, Zabuza had no chance to escape. He was captured and was now awaiting judgment.

"So the first boss who once pushed Team Seven to the edge is just going to disappear like this?"

Zabuza had indeed been an important teacher on Naruto’s path as a ninja.

It was no exaggeration to say that Zabuza and Haku were the ones who truly made Naruto understand what being a shinobi meant, and what his own way forward would be.

Unfortunately, Naruto’s "teacher" was probably doomed now.

Assassinating a Kage was a death sentence in any village, except perhaps in Orochimaru’s case.

And the Mist was notoriously brutal. Hikaru was certain Zabuza’s end would be miserable.

Still, this had nothing to do with him. He even used it as a topic to tease Mei.

"That has nothing to do with us," Mei replied without hesitation. "We would never do something like that."

Her tone was firm.

"We are loyal Mist shinobi. The rules of shinobi require us to obey orders. We do not assassinate our Kage."

"Is that so?"

Hikaru laughed.

"Then if shinobi rules require you to obey orders, and Lord Genji ordered you to satisfy all my requests, would you obey that too?"

"I would."

Mei answered without hesitation.

The firewood crackled in the room, throwing orange light across her face. Her expression did not change at all.

It was already November. Snow had begun falling over the Hidden Mist, turning the Land of Water white.

Hikaru looked at Mei, then at the snow outside, and suddenly smiled.

"It’s cold. Sleeping alone is rather unpleasant in weather like this. Since you said you would satisfy all my requests, accompany me tonight."

"Very well."

Mei did not hesitate.

Even though her heart felt as cold as the snow outside, she reached for her clothes and began to loosen them.

Her decisiveness surprised even Hikaru.

This woman was truly bold.

Unfortunately, although he was interested in her, Hikaru was not the kind of man ruled by his lower half.

Who knew if she might see his real face if he undressed? Even if he used a transformation technique, what if something he left behind was collected and studied?

Worse, what if she became pregnant?

Then years later, would he have to act like some true masked man and say, "I am your father"?

Hikaru had already tasted intimacy, but reason still ruled him.

Just as Mei was about to fully undress, Hikaru shook his head.

"Forget it. You’re too young. You don’t have the charm of a mature woman yet. I’m not interested."

Mei’s hands froze.

For a moment, she did not know what to feel.

Relief?

Anger?

Humiliation?

That one sentence was both an insult and a blow.

"Maybe in ten years," Hikaru continued with a smile. "By then, you might have the kind of womanly charm I like."

He stood, picked up a blanket, walked over, and draped it around her shoulders.

Then he returned to his own room.

Only one day remained before his agreed meeting with Obito and Black Zetsu.

After that, he would receive everything he wanted and return to Konoha to quietly resume his work as Hokage.

This trip had brought tremendous gains.

Not just White Zetsu bodies and tailed-beast chakra.

More importantly, he had pinned Obito down inside the Mist.

That gave Nagato enough room to move.

And as long as Nagato’s blade could move freely, it could finally show its value.

"After all, I’m a Hokage with a good reputation. How can I not have a blade working for me?"

Hiruzen had once had Danzō, but Danzō had never been impressive enough.

Having the leader of the Akatsuki serve as his blade—perhaps even turning the entire Akatsuki into his blade—that was a far better display.

...

Cold wind swept through the streets as Hikaru walked alone.

He had already left the Hidden Mist and was preparing to return to Konoha.

Black Zetsu and Obito had obediently delivered everything he demanded. Hikaru had inspected every item without giving them the slightest face.

Neither Obito nor Black Zetsu reacted.

There was no trust between them to begin with. Hikaru’s caution was only natural.

Once the inspection was complete, Hikaru sealed away the unconscious White Zetsu bodies.

As for the ten living specimens, Obito and Black Zetsu had indeed paid a heavy price. Each contained abundant Yang Release chakra, which was excellent news for Hikaru.

They had also clearly been ordered to follow him. They knew they would be leaving with him, and they obeyed without resistance.

That saved him a great deal of trouble.

He simply let them follow underground while he strolled along at a leisurely pace.

He was in no hurry.

As long as he returned to Konoha before the New Year, that would be enough. Moving slowly also gave him time to confirm whether Black Zetsu or Obito was still spying on him.

Walking through the Land of Water beneath the endless snow, Hikaru shook his head.

In such a cold season, the flowers and trees had withered, leaving only the evergreens standing against the wind.

Normally, he might have appreciated such a view. He might even have recalled some poetry from his previous life.

But now, looking at it, he found the scene less pleasant than expected.

The scenery remained the same, but the mood of the one viewing it had changed.

Sharp wind swept across the land, lifting layers of loose snow into the air before scattering them around the proud pines.

It was cold. Lonely. Proud.

And desolate.

Hikaru could endure loneliness.

After crossing into this world, he had endured it while trying to blend in. During his years in the Anbu, countless solo missions had demanded a level of solitude most people could not bear.

That endurance had long since sunk into his bones.

But after becoming an Anbu captain, after moving from executor to planner, perhaps his tolerance for loneliness had weakened.

From captain to Anbu commander, then to Hokage, there had always been people around him. He had grown used to being needed, respected, and surrounded.

He could still endure solitude as well as before.

But he had begun to dislike it.

"Humans are social creatures after all. No one truly likes loneliness."

Hikaru smiled, shook his head, and quickened his pace.

After walking for a while, he realized he was approaching a town. His mood improved a little.

Until now, he had followed remote paths without paying much attention to direction.

Not that direction mattered much to him.

He could return through Flying Thunder God whenever he wanted. And the Land of Water was an island nation. Walk far enough in any direction, and one would eventually reach the sea.

"Hmm?"

Suddenly, Hikaru sensed movement nearby.

He released his perception outward, and his brows furrowed.

Several adults were chasing a child.

The adults had weapons in hand. Though they had no chakra, the weapons could still do harm.

The child had chakra in his body, but he was too weak, staggering as though he might collapse at any moment.

Even someone as cold-blooded as Hikaru could not help feeling displeased.

It reminded him of the kind of news from his previous life that could make his blood pressure rise, even when he already knew what kind of place it came from.

Technically, Hikaru could ignore this.

This was the Land of Water. It had nothing to do with him.

This era had never been peaceful. In Konoha, he had the power and authority to clean up such matters. On foreign soil, he could not change everything.

Nor did he intend to.

The Mist was, in essence, an enemy village.

But the problem was, those people were running straight toward him.

"Looks like I’m playing the good Samaritan today."

Hikaru shook his head lazily.

A few ordinary adults without chakra were no different from insects before him.

As for the child, there were traces of chakra in him, but he was clearly far too young. The chakra felt more like an awakened bloodline than the result of shinobi training.

If the boy had been trained, even at four or five years old, he would not have struggled against ordinary adults.

Shinobi were like superhumans. Kakashi was proof enough of that.

"But Obito really did a number on this place. In any other village, a child with a bloodline limit would be treated as a treasure. Here, he’s hunted like a stray dog."

Hikaru stopped and waited.

Soon, a small, filthy child covered in blood appeared before him.

Behind the child, several adults were shouting and laughing as they chased him. From time to time, they struck him with their weapons.

Hikaru’s expression cooled.

If they had killed him quickly, Hikaru might not have cared much.

He had done cruel things himself.

But he was a shamelessly biased man.

He could do certain things. That did not mean he liked watching others do them.

He took one step forward.

In an instant, he appeared in front of them.

One hand grabbed the child by the back of his collar and lifted him easily. Before the adults could react, a kunai had already appeared in Hikaru’s other hand.

Cold light flashed.

The blade passed across their throats with effortless precision.

Before the bloodlines even opened, Hikaru had already put the kunai away.

Then he reached out and seized the throat of the only man he had deliberately left alive.

"Ah... ah..."

Only then did the adults seem to realize what had happened. Their throats hurt. Something warm was spilling out.

They reached up instinctively.

Their arteries had been cut.

Their screams came out hoarse and broken.

Hikaru had been born of the Anbu. His technique was clean, quiet, and efficient. Though he rarely used such methods anymore, old habits never truly vanished.

The men slowly collapsed to their knees, unable to make a sound loud enough to carry.

The man Hikaru held trembled violently. He knew he had encountered something far beyond his understanding.

"I ask. You answer."

Hikaru pulled the man down, forcing him to kneel. His voice was cold and calm, leaving no room for refusal.

The man shook harder.

"Who is this child?"

Hikaru could already tell the child’s chakra came from a bloodline limit. He had a rough idea of what was happening.

What he wanted to know was the boy’s ability.

Or what the boy had done.

"He... he’s a demon..."

The man was completely terrified. The groans of his dying companions made him feel as if he had fallen into hell.

"He’s from the next village. He... he can control ice. A demon. A ninja... sir... aren’t we supposed to kill demons like him..."

Ice?

Hikaru did not catch every word. The man was shaking too badly to speak clearly.

But Hikaru had spent years in the Anbu. He was very good at piecing together usable information.

The key point was clear.

This child could control ice.

And those with that ability came from one of the Mist’s former bloodline clans.

The Yuki clan.

In the past, Hikaru had thought there was some clan with a different name, but that had been a misunderstanding he carried from his previous life. After joining the Anbu in this world, he had learned there was no such clan by that name.

Only the Yuki clan.

But that was a minor matter.

With a light twist of his wrist, the man’s neck snapped.

Hikaru raised his head and looked toward the bridge in the distance. Then he glanced at the shivering child in his hand, deep in thought.

"Zabuza failed his assassination and is as good as dead. And now I’ve become Zabuza?"

The scene, the environment, the child’s ability—everything felt far too familiar.

Hikaru strongly suspected the child he had casually saved was the famous boy from the original story, the one whose gender had confused countless people and who had once shown Naruto a rare kindness.

Haku.

After hesitating briefly, Hikaru turned to the child in his hand and smiled gently.

"What’s your name?"

"Haku..."

The child was terrified.

Even though Hikaru’s smile seemed warm, the bodies on the ground made it impossible to forget how dangerous this man was.

But Hikaru had saved him.

So despite his fear, Haku answered honestly.

"Haku, is it..."

Hikaru sighed inwardly.

He was becoming more and more certain.

He really had become Zabuza.

And considering that he would inevitably move against the Land of Waves in the future—a place useful both for tourism and as part of a broader island strategy against the Mist—then perhaps he truly was walking a similar path.

The difference was that he would never listen to someone like Gatō. In fact, Gatō would most likely die by his hands far earlier.

And he would not target Naruto’s team.

Aside from that, the situation did feel oddly similar.

Hikaru shook the thought away.

Zabuza was not bad, in a sense. He had once beaten the future savior’s Team Seven into shape almost single-handedly.

But Hikaru was far stronger than Zabuza.

"Kid, are you willing to come with me?"

Hikaru slowly set Haku down, then took off his cloak and draped it over the child’s shoulders.

The weather was freezing. Haku was wearing only thin clothes. The fact that he had not frozen to death was probably thanks to his bloodline.

But Hikaru could tell that bloodline was still too weak. The boy’s face had already turned blue.

It might have partly been fear, but Hikaru still did what he could.

After all, he still had some human warmth and a moral line of his own.

Even if both were flexible things that rose and fell depending on the situation.

"Thank you, sir."

Wrapped in the cloak, Haku looked overwhelmed.

He had gone through too much recently. Even this simple gesture made warmth bloom in his heart.

But Hikaru’s question left him unsure how to answer. After hesitating, he asked timidly,

"Sir... do you need me?"

"Whether I need you depends on how much value you can show."

Hikaru shook his head gently. Though he wore a mask, his smile remained visible.

"If you can prove your worth, then yes, I need you. If you cannot, I won’t abandon you, but I will be disappointed."

"I understand."

Haku thought carefully for a moment. Then he answered with absolute seriousness.

"I’m willing to follow you, sir. I will become someone useful."

"Good."

Hikaru nodded in satisfaction.

As for what kind of value Haku could show, Hikaru was not yet certain. The child was far too kind.

Still, he could try.

After all, this was Ice Release.

Even if Haku could not become a proper shinobi, bringing Konoha another bloodline limit would still be worthwhile.

There was only one question Hikaru needed answered first.

He looked the child up and down for a while before asking slowly,

"By the way, I have a question."

"Please ask, sir."

"Are you a boy or a girl?"

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