---
The sun was beginning to dip, casting long, melancholic shadows over the high walls of the Uchiha District.
The iconic fan symbol... the Uchiwa fan... was painted on the gates, faded by time and neglect. Yellow caution tape that had once barred entry was peeling away, fluttering listlessly in the evening breeze.
It was a ghost town. The silence here wasn't peaceful; it was heavy. It pressed against the eardrums, laden with the memories of a night where screams had replaced laughter.
Jiraiya stood before the gates, his expression somber. He adjusted the strap of his scroll, looking at the desolate streets beyond.
"The Uchiha District," Jiraiya murmured, a rare seriousness in his voice. "I haven't set foot in here since... well, since the incident. It feels like a graveyard."
Beside him, Alaric took a puff of his cigar, the smoke curling around his crimson coat. He looked at the compound not with reverence or pity, but with the critical eye of a developer.
"It is a graveyard," Alaric agreed, tapping the ash onto the ground. "But soil is just soil. It's what you build on top of it that matters."
He stepped forward, pushing the heavy gates open. They creaked loudly, a groan of rusted metal that echoed through the empty streets.
They walked down the main street. Doors were boarded up. Weeds cracked the pavement. A child's toy lay abandoned in a gutter, bleached by the sun.
In the center of the district, near the main house, a lone figure was moving.
Sasuke Uchiha stood on the porch of his family home. He wore a simple high-collared shirt and shorts. His eyes were hard and focused.
He froze as he saw the two men approaching. His hand instinctively twitched toward the kunai pouch on his leg before he recognized them.
"...Alaric," Sasuke said, his voice guarding a mixture of wariness and grudging respect. His gaze flickered to the tall, white-haired man beside him. "And... Lord Jiraiya?"
"Yo, kid," Alaric waved casually, walking up the steps. "You all packed?"
Sasuke frowned, shifting the bag on his shoulder. "The clerk told me the property was sold. I didn't expect the buyer to be you."
"Who else has this kind of disposable income?" Alaric grinned, gesturing to the dilapidated buildings around them. "Besides, I needed a place with legroom. My student needs space to run, and I need space to... well, exist."
Sasuke looked around at the empty houses, the dark windows that stared back like hollow eyes.
"Take it," Sasuke said, his voice flat. "There is nothing here but ghosts."
He stepped down from the porch, walking past Alaric. He paused for a second, not looking back.
"I heard from Kakashi-sensei that you were the one to modify the Cursed Seal." Sasuke muttered, touching his neck. "The seal... it's... quiet. Stronger, but quiet. Thank you."
"Don't mention it," Alaric replied without turning. "Just don't go chasing snakes, alright? They bite."
Sasuke huffed, a faint smirk touching his lips, before body-flickering away toward the main village.
"He's a broody one," Jiraiya commented, watching the space where Sasuke had vanished. "But he seems more stable than the reports suggested."
"He just needed an exorcism and a better power source," Alaric shrugged. He turned to face the compound. "Now... let's deal with this mess."
"You said you were going to demolish it," Jiraiya leaned against a stone lantern, crossing his arms. "You got a crew coming? It'll take weeks to tear all this down and clear the rubble."
"Weeks?" Alaric laughed, a low rumble in his chest. "Jiraiya-san, I don't do 'weeks'."
Alaric stepped into the center of the courtyard. He tossed his cigar aside and crushed it.
He took a deep breath, his chakra... golden, dense, and ancient... beginning to swirl around him. The air pressure dropped. The weeds at his feet withered and died instantly, only to be replaced by vibrant green shoots.
Jiraiya straightened up, his sensory alarms ringing. "That chakra..."
Alaric clapped his hands together. It wasn't a seal. It was a command.
"Wood Release: Great Forest Cleansing."
RUMBLE.
The ground shook violently.
Jiraiya watched, his jaw unhinging, as massive roots erupted from the earth. But they didn't attack. They consumed.
The roots wrapped around the rotting buildings—the houses, the shrines, the walls. They crushed the timber and stone into dust, grinding the debris into fine powder. Then, the roots pulsed, dragging the rubble deep underground, churning the earth, burying the history of the massacre miles beneath the crust.
In less than a minute, the Uchiha District was gone.
There was no rubble. No ruins. Just a vast, flat expanse of rich, dark, freshly turned soil, smelling of deep earth and life.
"Mokuton..." Jiraiya whispered, his eyes wide. "You... you have the First Hokage's power?"
"Yeah... I'm surprised you don't know," Alaric turned to him, dusting off his hands. "I suspected that the old-man already gave you info."
"..." Jiraiya didn't reply, but he knew why Hiruzen didn't tell him. 'It'd be too dangerous to send info this massive through messenger birds or summons. He probably wanted to inform me personally...'
"Now for the rebuild," Alaric said. "I'm thinking... fusion style. Classical Japanese aesthetics mixed with Victorian comfort. I want indoor plumbing that actually works..."
He slammed his foot onto the ground. 'Wood Release: Four Pillar Palace Technique - Custom Variation.'
CREAK. GROAN. BOOM.
If the demolition was violent, the construction was a symphony.
Pillars of polished, golden wood shot up from the ground. Beams locked into place with mathematical precision. Walls wove themselves out of timber, seamless and smooth.
Jiraiya watched a mansion grow before his eyes.
It wasn't just a house. It was an estate. A massive main hall with a sweeping, tiled roof rose in the center. Connected by elevated wooden walkways were guest wings, a dojo, a bathhouse with steam already rising from it as Alaric tapped into the groundwater, and a sprawling garden where cherry blossom trees bloomed instantly, their petals falling in a gentle shower.
It was magnificent. It was impossible.
Alaric exhaled, the golden aura fading. He adjusted his collar, looking at his creation.
"Not bad," Alaric critiqued. "I might add a koi pond later. And maybe a garage, though I don't have a car here."
He turned to a stunned Jiraiya.
"Well?" Alaric gestured to the massive front doors, which swung open silently. "Welcome to the Kenway Compound. Pick any guest room in the West Wing."
Jiraiya stared at the mansion, then at Alaric. He shook his head, a mixture of disbelief and amusement on his face.
"You defeated and captured Orochimaru, and now you build a palace in five minutes with a Kekkei Genkai that's supposed to be gone," Jiraiya laughed, walking toward the entrance. "Alaric... you are the most absurd creature I have ever met."
"I get that a lot," Alaric walked beside him. "By the way, the bathhouse is mixed-gender capable, but currently empty. So don't get your hopes up."
Jiraiya froze. "Damn it! What's the point of a luxury bathhouse then!?"
"To get clean, you pervert," Alaric shoved him inside. "Now come on. I have a bottle of 50-year-old whiskey in my inventory that needs drinking."
.
Consider buying me a coffee!
patreon.com/kulark
I'm uploading dozens of chapters ahead there!