Hiruzen sighed and placed the report back on the table at his side, where his advisors—Danzo, Homura, and Koharu—sat in silence. The paper made a faint rustling sound as it settled.
He spoke as if to himself, voice low and heavy. "Would it have been a different result if we had decided to support Uzushiogakure and had not allowed their destruction? Then the result would have been different. They would have been our allies, and we wouldn't be suffering from so much war. And even if we faced any war, with their support, we would have won any war."
A quiet stillness followed his words. Koharu and Homura both sighed, their aged faces tightening as old memories resurfaced.
But Danzo, being Danzo, let out a sharp "Humph."
"You are naive, Hiruzen," he said coldly. "What we did at that time was in the best interest of our village. There are no medicines for regret. We have to live with the choices we made. Why don't you also think of the other possibility? If we had intervened, perhaps Uzushiogakure would have grown even stronger. Perhaps we would not have obtained their sealing techniques. And perhaps we would have created a fierce new village in this world—one that was not our ally. Don't forget that Shanks trained ten Uzumaki siblings to this level. If there had been a few more of them, what would have happened?"
Hiruzen listened without interrupting. After hearing Danzo's words, he simply shook his head.
It was their inaction that ensured the Uzumakis were no longer their allies. If they had acted, they would have stood together. Instead, later attempts to seize sealing techniques from fleeing Uzumaki clan members—killing them in the process—had only deepened the rift. No… not a rift. Hostility.
Still, Danzo had a point. What had happened had happened. There was no going back in time to undo it.
The past cannot be rewritten… but the future can still be shaped.
What he could do now was support the next generation of Konoha and allow them to become even more powerful—strong enough that, at the very least, they could compete with Uzushiogakure. Minato. Kakashi. Geniuses with immense potential. They could become among the strongest in the future.
Not to mention, he was already grooming Minato as the next Hokage. And Minato would become the next Hokage—for sure.
…
Two more days passed.
The envoys from Kumogakure and Kirigakure arrived with a large group of ninjas, their presence solemn and restrained. Clearly, they had come to Uzushiogakure to retrieve the bodies of their fallen comrades so they could be given proper burials in their homelands.
They were not granted any audience with Shanks. They were not worth his time.
Since they were here only to collect the bodies, Erza met them instead. With calm efficiency, she instructed them to follow.
They were led to the shore. The sea wind blew steadily, carrying the scent of salt and faint traces of chill. There, standing against the pale horizon, were two massive pyramids—crafted entirely of ice. Their surfaces shimmered faintly under the light, cold mist curling around their edges.
For a brief moment, the gathered ninjas stared in silence.
Then Benimaru stepped forward.
Without a word, he unleashed two "Hellflare," each expanding outward and covering one of the ice pyramids in a blazing semi-sphere. The flames roared but did not rage wildly; they moved with terrifying precision, contained and deliberate.
Heat washed across the shore.
When the semi-spheres faded and the fire vanished as swiftly as it had appeared, the ice was gone.
In its place stood a single massive pyramid of bodies—neatly arranged, untouched by flame. The ice had melted away completely, leaving nothing but the fallen.
Not a single body had been burned.
Such was the fine control Benimaru possessed over his flames. And even if a few had been slightly singed, it would not have mattered.
When the teams from Kirigakure and Kumogakure saw the two pyramids, both groups froze in shock.
First, the numbers.
When Guy and Benimaru had gone to their villages and informed them about the total destruction of their forces, they had assumed that at least half would have survived and fled. On their journey here, they had not encountered a single returning ninja, but they still held onto that fragile hope.
Now they understood why.
All of them—around five thousand from each village—were piled here in towering pyramids of the dead.
The sight was overwhelming.
For the Kirigakure side especially, it was devastating. Many of their fallen were young—very young. Some looked no older than ten or twelve years old. Faces that had barely left childhood were now stiff and pale.
This was the darkest truth of this world.
When war came, even children were dragged into it—because they could throw weapons, because they could mold chakra, because they were stronger than ordinary civilians. That was enough.
A cold sea wind passed through the shore, but no one moved.
Both the Kumogakure and Kirigakure teams felt anger rise within them—a sharp, suffocating anger. Yet when their eyes shifted toward the Uzumaki siblings standing nearby, that anger faltered. It did not disappear, but it was forced back, buried under caution and silent restraint.
Soon, without a word, they began their task.
Large sealing scrolls were unfurled across the sand. As they worked, one by one, bodies were placed and sealed. With each activation, a sealing mark flared briefly before etching itself onto the scroll's surface.
The numbers of the retrieval teams were not small. Around eighty ninjas had come from Kumogakure, and roughly fifty from Kirigakure.
But even among those fifty from Kirigakure, nearly half were young—ten to fifteen, perhaps sixteen at most. Their chakra reserves were clearly not vast. Sweat soon began to bead on their foreheads as they continued the repetitive sealing process.
Sealing thousands of bodies was no simple matter.
Even with their numbers, it would take an extremely long time—days, perhaps weeks—just to finish.
This was obvious to the Uzumaki siblings observing the scene.
Guy, standing slightly apart, watched in silence at first. The rhythmic flashes of sealing marks continued, slow and exhausting.
If they continued like this, they would indeed take weeks.
The Uzumaki siblings would have to interfere.
It was not as if they lacked the means. They possessed a sealing technique capable of sealing multiple objects at once—up to a hundred in a single activation. With their chakra reserves, performing it repeatedly would not be difficult.
They could finish this in a fraction of the time.
Still, before acting, Guy decided to inform Shanks.
Closing his eyes briefly, he sent a telepathic message.
"Onii-san, these ninjas from Kumogakure and Kirigakure will take ages if they start sealing today. Without our intervention, they won't be able to seal all these bodies into scrolls and take them back. We will have to interfere."
The response came almost instantly, calm and steady within his mind.
"Wait. I am coming."
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