By the next morning, it was unusually overcast without rain.
All of the Uzumaki clan members gathered beneath Fox's treehouse. The ground below was covered in standing water; living in the rainforest meant living in the trees.
Yako stepped out of the treehouse and raised his hand, using Wood Release to create a platform. Looking down at the forty-odd Uzumaki shinobi below, he said,
"The hiding place of the Uzumaki clan has been exposed. The Land of Rain is no longer safe.
Princess Tsunade of the Senju clan is now the only advisor in Konoha directly beneath the Hokage.
Another shinobi world war is about to begin. I know your feelings toward Konoha are complicated. But survival comes first.
Only by living can there be a future. Only by living can there be anything at all.
Please enter Konoha. This is my will, and it is also Princess Tsunade's will.
I promise you this: I will guarantee your safety inside Konoha.
Princess Tsunade will resolve your identity issues."
Older Uzumaki like Kaichō were able to accept Fox's reasoning.
Survival came first. That was one of the shinobi world's absolute truths.
Younger ones still wore unwillingness on their faces.
If they simply joined Konoha now, then what had all these years of hiding and suffering amounted to?
What had it all meant—living soaked by rain day after day in the depths of the Land of Rain?
Kaichō pressed a hand down on Genchō's shoulder.
"Don't argue with Fox-sama. Advisor Danzo is already dead.
Without Fox-sama watching over us all these years, we never would have survived in the Land of Rain.
During the Second Shinobi World War, Konoha couldn't save Uzushiogakure in time.
And with the Third Shinobi World War about to begin, Konoha certainly won't be able to rush in and save us out here in the depths of the Land of Rain.
Without protection from strong people like Fox-sama and Princess Tsunade, we'd end up like yesterday again—hunted down by the other villages until not even our bones remained."
Genchō closed his eyes.
In the end, he had no choice but to accept Kaichō's words.
Kushina stepped forward as well.
"Please trust me, everyone! I'm going to become the The first woman Hokage!
If the Uzumaki enter Konoha, we'll definitely live better than we do here in the depths of the Land of Rain!"
Yako glanced at Kushina.
Why were you still shouting about becoming Hokage?
Did she really think being Hokage was that easy?
In the end, Yuka made the decision and held a vote. The Uzumaki clan agreed to enter Konoha.
The whole group left their hiding place and began heading toward Konoha.
In truth, Yako could have used Flying Thunder God to send all of them straight there.
But there was no need to move that quickly.
Once Tsunade received word that the Uzumaki were returning, she would speak with the village first.
If Sarutobi Hiruzen agreed, then that was for the best.
And if Hiruzen refused...
Then that might actually be even better.
It had been over four years. Hiruzen had been so quiet lately that it was easy to forget the sort of things he had done in the past. Yako and Tsunade almost needed a fresh crime from him to stir their nerves again.
And it was not only the higher-ups that mattered. The attitude of the villagers would matter too.
Tsunade needed time to deal with all that.
The group moved through the rainforests of the Land of Rain.
There were too many of them to hide properly.
As they moved from the southeast to the south of the country, Kushina suddenly turned her head.
A large number of shinobi were charging at them from the side.
"Careful! Enemy at one o'clock!"
The Uzumaki were forced to stop.
More than two hundred shinobi blocked their path.
At their head stood the leader of Amegakure—Hanzo.
Yako thought to himself that Hanzo's control over the Land of Rain had really grown weak.
Iwa and Sand had both entered the country recently, and he had known nothing about it.
After being defeated by Nagato, Hanzo had declined in both strength and spirit.
His spine had been broken by that defeat. He was no longer the man who had once dared call himself the Demi-God of the Shinobi World.
Standing atop his salamander summon, Hanzo stared at the Uzumaki in front of him.
"So many surviving Uzumaki, hiding inside my Land of Rain. Do you think this country is a place you can enter and leave whenever you please?"
If Hanzo could do nothing about Uchiha Madara's followers, that was one thing—they were monsters.
But how could these Uzumaki remnants dare move openly across the Land of Rain?
He had heard that Ōnoki had sent people to deal with them, though for some reason the Iwa ninja had eventually withdrawn.
If he could capture some Uzumaki remnants and offer them to Ōnoki for sealing experiments, perhaps Iwagakure would let Amegakure share in the gains of the coming Third Shinobi World War.
Yako's cloak hung low, hiding his presence from the Rain ninja.
He turned to Kushina beside him and said,
"Princess Kushina, you've been training for over four years. Go test the results of that training.
The Iwa and Sand ninja you fought earlier lacked the will to truly battle, so your strength wasn't properly tested.
Now you'll be facing Hanzo—the self-proclaimed Demi-God of the Shinobi World, a speed-type shinobi.
Defeat him, and open the way for the Uzumaki clan to escape the Land of Rain."
Kushina nodded and stepped forward through the shallow water, walking toward Hanzo one step at a time.
Hanzo was surprised to see a young woman approaching him.
Had the Uzumaki fallen so low that they were sending an underage girl to negotiate with him?
But what greeted him was not negotiation.
It was a fox claw.
Nine-Tails chakra erupted around Kushina in an instant.
Before the translucent Nine-Tails chakra had even fully formed tails, it had already shaped itself into a fox claw.
At the tip of that claw was a massive Rasengan more than a meter across.
Kushina's control over the Nine-Tails' chakra had grown even more delicate.
Yako nodded repeatedly.
The village had kept Kushina under far too much restraint, but despite this being her first time facing a true powerhouse, she showed no fear at all. She opened with her strongest strike.
Behind his gas mask, Hanzo's breathing suddenly turned difficult.
Who was this now?
Where had this genius come from?
Had she really reached this level before even coming of age?
He immediately kicked off from the back of his salamander to signal it to evade.
The salamander dropped low, and Hanzo vanished with Water Body Flicker.
The Rain ninja behind him were the ones left to suffer.
Their village leader had fled from a superior opponent, leaving his loyal subordinates to meet Kushina's Rasengan with their own flesh.
The Rasengan swallowed one Rain ninja's entire upper body. His flesh twisted and tore apart as the spinning force dragged him backward.
The two Rain ninja behind him were caught as well, their bodies shredded and flung away.
Then the Rasengan exploded farther back, killing several more Rain ninja in the blast.
From afar, Hanzo reappeared through Water Body Flicker, staring at the power of the Rasengan in shock.
The Uzumaki still had someone like this?
But when he turned to look at Kushina again, his pupils shrank sharply.
The chakra around her had fully taken shape.
That was...
A fox?
Hanzo's voice shook.
"Nine... Nine-Tails!"
The translucent chakra cloak clearly formed the shape of the Nine-Tails—Konoha's Nine-Tails!
Hanzo had never personally fought the Nine-Tails, but he had certainly heard enough descriptions to recognize it.
"Konoha actually allowed its Nine-Tails Jinchūriki to leave the village? Right before another world war begins? Aren't they afraid the other villages will hunt her down?"
Hanzo got no answer.
In the next instant, Kushina—in her six-tail chakra cloak form—was already charging at him.
Nine tails tipped with chains lashed at him one after another.
The tails could extend freely, and with the Adamantine Sealing Chains acting as a framework, they were immensely powerful.
Each strike carved a deep trench through the rain-soaked ground.
And that was not all.
The kunai and explosive tags the Rain ninja hurled at the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki were all knocked aside by the fox tails.
Just six tails alone were enough to create a perfect offense-and-defense system.
And then there was that terrifying chakra sphere forming ahead of the fox claw.
Hanzo felt bitterness rising in his chest.
Ōnoki never shared information with him. If Hanzo had known what the Iwa ninja had encountered when they came after these Uzumaki remnants, he never would have let himself become this passive.
Ever since witnessing the strength of the rogue Akatsuki, Hanzo had grown more and more cautious. He feared more than anything that Akatsuki would replace him as the military power of the Land of Rain.
And the more cautious he became, the duller his information network had grown.
Hanzo had no choice but to repeatedly use Water Body Flicker to evade the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki's attacks.
Watching Hanzo's ghostlike movements, Minato turned his head in confusion.
Yako explained for him:
"Water Body Flicker. A one-handed, one-seal Body Flicker Technique. It can be activated with the hand hanging naturally at your side.
By using rainwater or any other water surface, it allows instant movement almost anywhere.
Aside from Flying Thunder God and the Raikage line's Body Flicker, Water Body Flicker is the strongest movement technique there is.
Watch carefully. Watch how Hanzo uses speed."