Chapter 225: Shadows Behind the Ruin
"Nawaki... you... you..."
He pointed at the blue Rasengan in Tsunade's hand as if the technique itself had betrayed him.
"How did you do that?!"
His voice cracked from pure disbelief.
A moment ago, he had still been trying to convince himself that learning the Rasengan was only a matter of hard work. Minato had managed to grasp the beginning of it because Minato was a genius. Fine. That much was painful, but understandable.
But Tsunade?
She had listened to a rough explanation once, lifted her hand, and formed the Rasengan almost immediately.
Nawaki stood there frozen, mouth hanging open, looking like his soul had just left his body.
Tsunade let the spinning sphere fade from her palm and raised a brow.
"Ragnar taught you this technique?"
"Yeah," Nawaki said, still dazed. "Boss taught it to me. I asked him for a powerful move, and he showed me this one. But Sister... how did you do it too?"
Tsunade folded her arms, thinking for a moment.
That answer was actually simple.
Long before now, Ragnar had already discussed the concept with her—compressed chakra, violent rotation, extreme shape transformation, and explosive internal force. At the time, it had only been an idea. A theory. Something unfinished.
Now it existed.
And more importantly, Ragnar had actually completed it.
Her expression changed slightly as she thought about that.
Even among A-rank techniques, the Rasengan would stand near the top. It required no hand seals, had terrifying destructive force, and possessed enormous room for growth. If someone managed to add a chakra nature transformation on top of it, the power would rise even further.
At that point, it might step into an entirely different class of jutsu.
Tsunade looked at Nawaki again and said, "This is an exceptional technique. If mastered well, it would rank among the finest A-rank ninjutsu. And if one day someone adds nature transformation to it, it could become even stronger."
Nawaki's eyes shone immediately.
"I knew it! Boss really is amazing!"
He puffed out his chest with ridiculous pride, as if Ragnar's greatness somehow reflected directly on him.
"And he taught it to me," Nawaki added proudly. "That means he values me a lot."
Tsunade snorted, but inwardly she was pleased.
Ragnar teaching Nawaki a technique like this meant he truly cared about him. That was enough to satisfy the part of her that always worried about her foolish little brother.
Then she looked at Nawaki's smug face a little longer.
And for some reason, irritation suddenly rose in her chest.
Maybe it was because Ragnar had managed to create such a jutsu while still acting dense whenever she dealt with him.
Maybe it was because Nawaki's expression was too punchable.
Maybe it was both.
Bang!
Her fist came down on Nawaki's head without warning.
A large bump swelled up almost instantly.
Nawaki clutched his head and nearly burst into tears on the spot.
"Sister! Why did you hit me?!"
Tsunade answered without shame, "Because I felt like it."
Nawaki looked like he was about to cough up blood.
What kind of reason was that?
He covered his head and glared at her pitifully. "I'm your little brother!"
"Exactly," Tsunade said. "Who else am I supposed to hit so casually?"
Nawaki's face twitched.
He had no answer for that.
And no courage to argue.
Tsunade looked at him again, this time more seriously.
"You can learn Ragnar's ninjutsu. I have no objection to that. But don't forget who you are. You're a member of the Senju clan."
Nawaki blinked.
Tsunade continued, "Do you think our clan has no powerful ninjutsu worth learning? Have you forgotten how Grandfather pacified the ninja world?"
Nawaki's earlier confidence immediately collapsed.
He mumbled, "I know... it was Wood Release."
Tsunade's gaze sharpened.
"And?"
Nawaki scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "And since Great-Grandfather's time, nobody in our family has awakened Wood Release. I have water and earth chakra, sure, but that doesn't mean I can use it. So I figured I should learn something else first..."
Bang!
Tsunade punched him again.
This time Nawaki nearly dropped to his knees.
A second lump rose on his head beside the first.
"Idiot," Tsunade said. "You are still young. Grandfather didn't awaken everything he would one day become while he was still a child either. You carry the bloodline. You have the affinity. Whether it appears or not is a matter for the future, not an excuse for weakness in the present."
Nawaki held his head with tears in his eyes.
"That's exactly why I wanted to learn some other powerful jutsu first!"
Tsunade stared at him for a few seconds.
Then, unexpectedly, she nodded.
"That part makes sense."
Nawaki looked up, surprised.
For one fleeting instant, he thought perhaps his suffering had finally paid off.
Then Tsunade turned and began walking away.
"Keep practicing," she said.
Nawaki froze.
"That's it?"
Tsunade did not look back. "What else did you expect?"
"Advice!" Nawaki cried. "At least give me one useful hint before you leave!"
But Tsunade was already gone.
Her figure vanished so quickly that Nawaki was left standing alone in the empty field, clutching his bruised head and staring at the place where she had been.
A long silence followed.
Then he slowly touched both swollen bumps and muttered, "...I was beaten for no reason."
The more he thought about it, the more wronged he felt.
Not only had he failed to learn the Rasengan...
He had also been punched twice...
And still had no idea what to do next.
Nawaki looked at his palm with profound grief.
"No. I refuse to lose."
He straightened, planted his feet, and thrust out one hand dramatically.
"Rasengan!"
Nothing happened.
He scowled and tried again.
"Rasengan!"
Still nothing.
The evening wind blew across the training ground, carrying away his voice and leaving only his stubborn determination behind.
Elsewhere, Ragnar had already returned to his quarters, but his mood had not improved.
The news of Uzushiogakure's destruction sat heavily in his mind.
Strictly speaking, he had no direct obligation to the Uzumaki clan as a whole. Their fate should not have mattered to him this much.
But Kushina mattered.
Mito mattered.
And that changed everything.
Kushina was one of the few people in Konoha Ragnar genuinely regarded as his own. Not an acquaintance. Not a name he happened to know.
His own.
And Mito Uzumaki, old as she was, had always carried herself with a dignity that deserved respect.
If the destruction of Uzushiogakure had truly reached Konoha already, then Mito must have learned of it by now.
Ragnar could imagine the weight of that pain.
As for Kushina...
He frowned.
She might be somewhere in a corner of Konoha right now, pretending to be strong while crying where no one could see her.
That thought alone made his chest feel heavy.
The destruction of the Uzumaki clan was not something unknown to history. Ragnar knew enough to understand that the details had always been murky. No clear culprit. No complete explanation. Only fragments.
The Uzumaki were famed for their sealing arts, their massive chakra reserves, their unnatural vitality, and their terrifying ability to suppress tailed beasts. In pure frontal battle, they were not as famous as clans like the Uchiha or Senju, but that never meant they were weak.
Far from it.
A clan like that could not be erased quickly unless the attackers were powerful, organized, and very deliberate.
Which raised the ugliest possibility of all.
Ragnar's eyes darkened.
"I hope Konoha had nothing to do with it," he muttered.
It was not an impossible thought.
There had always been ugly theories surrounding the destruction of Uzushiogakure. The timing was too convenient. Konoha had been their closest ally, yet help arrived only after everything was finished. Too late. Just a little too late.
Coincidence?
Maybe.
Maybe not.
Ragnar was not naive enough to rule out the worst simply because he lived in Konoha now.
Still, the clan was clearly not completely gone.
Miko existed.
Nagato existed.
And somewhere in the future, other Uzumaki blood would continue as well.
The homeland had been destroyed, but the bloodline itself had not vanished.
That at least was something.
With those thoughts still churning in his mind, Ragnar arrived near his tent.
There, just outside, stood Uchiha Mikoto.
She was not inside. She was waiting.
But she was not alone.
Another young man stood in front of her, clearly from the Uchiha clan. He wore the standard Uchiha attire, and the fan crest on his back was impossible to miss. His hair was short by Uchiha standards, and on his face were distinct lines running down from near the sides of his nose—marks that gave him a stern, mature look despite his youth.
Ragnar narrowed his eyes slightly.
The face was unfamiliar, yet something about it felt strangely recognizable.
Not because Ragnar had met him before.
But because certain features carried the same air as someone else.
The two were in the middle of an argument.
Or rather, the young man was trying to persuade Mikoto, while Mikoto looked increasingly unwilling to continue the conversation.
"Mikoto," the young man said, his tone earnest but firm, "I'm saying this for your own good. Your recent behavior hasn't gone unnoticed. The clan has eyes everywhere. Do you really not understand the relationship between Ragnar and the Uchiha?"
Mikoto's expression turned cold.
"I am an ANBU operative," she said. "In ANBU, I follow the captain's orders. Nothing else matters. There is no clan inside ANBU, Fugaku. Stop bringing this up."
So it was Uchiha Fugaku.
Ragnar's gaze lingered on him for a second longer.
That explained the familiar feeling.
Mikoto, however, seemed completely unwilling to continue the argument. And the moment she sensed Ragnar approaching, her expression softened instantly.
She turned.
The coldness in her eyes melted away, replaced by warmth so natural it felt almost like instinct.
"Lord Ragnar," she said.
A faint smile appeared on her face—gentle, bright, and sincere.
The shift was so obvious that even Fugaku noticed it.
And that made the atmosphere even stranger.
(End of Chapter)
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