Two more days passed.
At the entrance to Konoha's main camp, Natsuki watched the approaching column.
A dense, disciplined formation stretched across the horizon — three thousand shinobi, Konoha's reinforcement wave. Combined with the forces already deployed and Amegakure's contingent, total strength now exceeded four thousand.
The Stone had committed four thousand of their own.
Over eight thousand shinobi converging on a single theater of war — the largest active engagement in the current conflict. Even the Cloud-Mist war had only just crossed six thousand.
"Natsuki!"
Nawaki's voice carried from the front of the column.
Natsuki spotted him — then his gaze shifted to the figure walking beside him.
Tsunade.
He hadn't expected her to come personally. But the reason was obvious: she wasn't about to let Nawaki operate unsupervised on a battlefield this scale.
"Tsunade-sensei."
He stepped forward to meet them. Mikoto, Nara Suzaku, Aburame Shibi, and the camp's senior jōnin flanked him.
Nagato and the others stayed at the Rain's camp. There was no need for them to attend — they didn't know Tsunade's group, and in the original timeline, the Akatsuki trio's first encounter with the Sannin had played out very differently.
"Two days on the road — everyone's worn out. Let them rest first." Natsuki gestured toward the camp. "We've prepared tents in advance."
"Shikaku, handle the billeting." Tsunade nodded toward the Nara at her side.
Nara Shikaku — clan head, and the shinobi world's most reliable strategist. On any battlefield where numbers mattered, he'd be present. This was now the largest front in the war.
"Suzaku, assist Shikaku."
"Yes, Lord Natsuki."
"Command tent. Let's talk."
"All jōnin, with me," Tsunade added.
The group filed into the main tent, which had been expanded over the past two days — tripled in floor area. Even so, the crowd of jōnin packed it tight.
Tsunade glanced at Nawaki.
He froze, remembered, and produced a scroll.
Natsuki took it. A merit-and-commendation report — individual recognitions for himself, Might Duy, and others. Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan were also cited. Comprehensive.
"Zo. Read the contents aloud to the full camp."
Merit announcements worked best with maximum visibility. Fame for the individuals, motivation for everyone else.
"Yes, Lord Natsuki."
"There's also this." Nawaki handed over a second scroll.
Natsuki unrolled it. Two sections.
The first was a breakdown of the three thousand reinforcements, with a detailed jōnin roster. Familiar names jumped out: beyond Tsunade and Nawaki — Hyūga Hiashi, Uchiha Yashiro, Yūhi Shinku, Inuzuka Tsume.
The second section was Orochimaru's command appointments.
Four key assignments. Natsuki remained Commander-in-Chief. Nawaki and Tsunade were designated Deputy Commanders. Nara Shikaku replaced Suzaku as Chief Strategist. Hyūga Hiashi replaced Shibi and Hoheto as head of Reconnaissance.
"I'll brief everyone on the Stone's current disposition."
Natsuki set the scroll aside.
The Stone's four thousand had arrived a day ahead and were already establishing their position. But their campsite had surprised him — they'd pulled back significantly, retreating past the rocky ridge to a barren, open wasteland of flat stone and dust.
The intent was transparent. The wasteland was vast and featureless, stretching the potential battle lines to enormous length. A repeat of Natsuki's overnight total-annihilation victory would be virtually impossible on terrain this spread out.
"Are they really that scared of us?" Nawaki grinned.
"They're scared of our intelligence." Tsunade shook her head.
She'd studied Natsuki's battle reports carefully. The victory hadn't been won on strength alone — though that was formidable. The decisive factor was information superiority. Knowing about the Explosion Corps' raid before it launched had turned a potential disaster into an ambush.
"How did the Anbu's capability jump this dramatically?" She looked at Natsuki, genuinely curious.
"It's not the Anbu." He smiled. "It's the Ryūchi Cave."
Tsunade blinked — then understood.
Orochimaru had never leveraged his snake contract this way, but Jiraiya had done something similar with Mount Myōboku's toad network for years. Using summon creatures as an intelligence apparatus wasn't unprecedented.
But the Ryūchi Cave's serpents were notoriously difficult to command. Even Orochimaru struggled with them. For Natsuki to have them operating as a full-spectrum surveillance network implied something specific: he'd mastered Sage Mode. A contractor who'd achieved senjutsu held an entirely different status within the summoning hierarchy.
"That's all for today." Natsuki clapped once. "Rest tonight. We'll assign operational sectors tomorrow."
The jōnin filed out. Tsunade and Nawaki left with them — two days of marching had left everyone ready to collapse.
Only Mikoto remained.
"Head back, Mikoto. I need to step out."
He opened an Air Door and emerged in the Hidden Mist Village.
"Natsuki-sensei."
Terumī Mei was already waiting.
"Hadō practice today," Natsuki said.
"Natsuki-sensei." Mei hesitated. "I've heard you're highly skilled in medical ninjutsu."
"Why? Someone needs healing?"
"After joining the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, I met a kunoichi named Ringo Ameyuri." Mei chose her words carefully. "She has extraordinary talent — swordsmanship and Lightning Release both. But she's contracted a terminal illness."
"You two are close?"
"We're the only two women among the Swordsmen. It was natural."
This was clearly a butterfly effect. In the original timeline, Mei and Ameyuri had minimal interaction — acquaintances at best, certainly not friends.
"Have the Mist's medical corps examined her?"
"Every specialist in the village. They all said the same thing — nothing can be done." Mei looked at him with undisguised hope. "Natsuki-sensei, would you take a look?"
Between Orochimaru's tutelage and Tsunade's medical ninjutsu instruction — plus the healing-oriented Kaidō he'd developed from his Kidō framework — Natsuki's medical capabilities far exceeded anything the Mist could field.
"Aren't you worried she'll expose our connection to the Mist's leadership?"
"That's why I'd like you to conceal your identity."
"Clever." He reached out and ruffled her hair.
Mei started to dodge — then didn't.
"Take me to her."
Ringo Ameyuri's residence was modest. Mei made the introduction.
"This is a medical ninja I encountered on a recent mission. His skill level is exceptional."
Ameyuri studied Natsuki with sharp, appraising eyes. Completely unfamiliar. But she trusted Mei.
"What do I need to do?"
"Nothing."
Natsuki raised his hand, palm aimed at her forehead.
Visible green chakra surged outward, flowing through her body in a diagnostic wave.
Ameyuri shivered as the energy mapped her system.
Natsuki withdrew his hand.
"How is it?" Mei asked immediately.
Ameyuri's eyes were fixed on him, raw hope barely restrained.
She was still young. She didn't want to die.
"It's a terminal condition." He nodded. "A kekkei genkai disorder — genetic in origin."
"What—?"
Mei's face fell. If even Natsuki couldn't help, the illness was truly beyond medicine. Seeking out Tsunade crossed her mind — but as Tsunade's student, if Natsuki had already diagnosed it as incurable through conventional means, the conclusion wouldn't change.
"It's fine. I've made my peace with it." Ameyuri recovered first, managing a small smile for Mei's benefit.
Mei swallowed the words she wanted to say. A quiet, helpless sigh.
"However," Natsuki said, "there is one method. Extremely dangerous."
Both women's eyes snapped to him.
"Step outside," he told Mei. "The procedure is high-risk. I need to discuss it with Ameyuri alone."
Hesitation flickered across Mei's face. Natsuki was a Konoha shinobi — leaving him alone with a fellow Swordswoman carried obvious risks. But realistically, if he wanted Ameyuri dead, Mei couldn't stop him regardless. His recent battlefield record — near-singlehanded annihilation of two thousand Iwagakure shinobi — made that abundantly clear.
She left.
"Whatever the risk, I'll take it." Ameyuri's voice was steady. If she was dying anyway, a gamble cost nothing.
"A blood transfusion," Natsuki said calmly. "Complete replacement."
"Replace... all of my blood?"
"Correct. Are you willing?"
She thought for three seconds.
"Do it."
Natsuki extended his hand. Blood welled from his palm — dark, dense, alive with chakra.
"Your blood?" Ameyuri's confusion was obvious.
"Anyone's would work."
She didn't resist.
The blood flowed along her skin and into her body — absorbing, converting, rewriting.
Then her eyes went wide.
She stared at Natsuki with an expression caught between horror and disbelief.
"Once you've become a demon, human terminal illnesses no longer apply." He withdrew his hand, smiling.
"Who are you?"
Her voice came out rough. The disease was gone — she could feel its absence like a missing tooth. But the price was clear. Her life and death now belonged to someone else.
Only now did Ameyuri realize she'd been reckless. There were things worse than dying.
She needed to know who this man was — and whether Mei had set her up.
"Natsuki. Konohagakure."
She took an involuntary step back.
Not from fear. From shock.
Natsuki — the name that had been echoing across every intelligence desk on the continent. The Fourth Hokage's student. The frontrunner for the next Hokage seat.
What was happening? Why had Mei brought him here? Why had he used the Blood Curse on her?
"Everything has a price." His tone was unhurried. "This is the cost of choosing to live."
"What's your relationship with Terumī Mei?"
A few seconds of silence before the question.
"She's my student."
Ameyuri had no words.
His roots in the Hidden Mist ran deeper than she'd imagined. Terumī Mei — one of the Swordsmen, a rising star — was his student.
In that light, falling under the Blood Curse wasn't even an injustice. She'd walked into this with her eyes open.
"I'm building an organization within the Mist called the Espada," Natsuki continued. "You and Mei are both members."
"...Understood."
A silent, resigned sigh. She had no leverage and no alternatives.
Natsuki checked Ameyuri's new abilities. Her awakened Blood Demon Art matched Pakura's — Hollow Cry, God's Departure. The power to weaponize her own flesh and bone.
It suited her perfectly. Under normal circumstances, she would have wielded the Lightning Swords: Kiba. But those had already been reforged and given to Hatake Kakashi. With this Blood Demon Art, Ameyuri could generate her own blades — a natural extension of the swordsmanship that defined her.
"Look at the bright side," Natsuki said. "I'm not asking you to betray the Hidden Mist Village."
She looked at him, not quite understanding. By any definition, she'd already betrayed the Mist — she was now bound to a Konoha shinobi.
Natsuki didn't elaborate. She wouldn't believe the explanation yet.
If every shinobi in the Mist served his purpose, then no one was a traitor.
He opened the door.
"How is she?" Mei searched Ameyuri's face.
Ameyuri studied Mei's concern — the open worry in her eyes, the tension in her shoulders — and couldn't tell whether it was genuine or performance.
"Why aren't you saying anything? What happened?"
"My illness is cured. Stop worrying."
"Really?" Mei could barely process it. A terminal condition that had stumped every specialist in the Mist — resolved in under thirty minutes?
"Are you questioning my abilities?" Natsuki asked mildly.
"No — of course not. You really are incredible, Sensei."
Watching the exchange, Ameyuri's last doubts dissolved. Mei's deference was real, instinctive. She genuinely was his student.
"Ameyuri, rest up. I'll visit again soon."
After Mei said her goodbyes, she and Natsuki returned to the training ground.
By noon, the day's Hadō instruction was complete.
Natsuki reflected on the visit as he prepared to leave. A significant gain — Ringo Ameyuri, acquired without effort or conflict. The Espada now had its preliminary roster.
With her illness cured, Ameyuri's talent would develop without constraint. Becoming a major power within the Mist was inevitable. And when that day came, Mei's path to becoming the Fourth Mizukage would be considerably smoother.
Senju Clan compound, Konoha.
Uzumaki Kushina sat alone in the courtyard, chin in her hands, staring at nothing.
Natsuki, Tsunade, and Nawaki — the Land of Earth. Minato, Uzumaki Kae — the northeast border. Of everyone she was close to, only Nonou remained in the village, and she was at the hospital every day.
"Sighing ages you faster."
Her head snapped up. The melancholy vanished, replaced by something electric.
She spotted Natsuki, crossed the distance in three running steps, and threw her arms around him.
Before he could speak, her mouth found his.
He surrendered to it — her lips were soft, insistent, and the fight she put up with her tongue left no room for conversation.
"Half a day apart and you're this worked up?" He smiled, giving her ass a squeeze.
"You have no idea how boring it is here alone!" She huffed.
Her lips still glistened, pink and damp from the kiss.
"Then I have a mission for you."
He kissed her cheek.
"A mission?" Her eyes lit up instantly. "Are you taking me to the front?"
"If you can master Kagura's Mind's Eye, I'll consider it."
"Kagura's Mind's Eye?" She paused. "That's not exactly easy."
"I believe you can do it."
He ruffled her hair. In the original timeline, only Karin had used the technique — Kushina never had. But the potential was there.
"There's also the Nine-Tails' Malice Sensing."
The reason behind both assignments was White Zetsu.
The Yoshikage Kira template's Ability 3 — Bites the Dust — required killing a creature over a thousand years old. He'd initially thought of the Great Sages or the Ōtsutsuki. But on reflection, Black Zetsu and White Zetsu both qualified.
Black Zetsu was nearly impossible to locate. White Zetsu was marginally easier — but his Mayfly Technique rendered most conventional sensing useless.
In the original timeline, Naruto had used the Nine-Tails' Malice Sensing to detect White Zetsu's infiltrations. Kushina could learn the same skill.
"Leave it to me!" She clenched her fists. "But when the time comes — you'd better not forget your promise to bring me out there!"
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