Lost Brothers

Naruto: Tales of Ashihara

Kakumei – Arc 3: Naruto Next Generation

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Chapter 80 – Lost Brothers

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Thirty minutes after the sensational battle between Izuna Uchiha and Yukai, Boruto Hyuga and his opponent Iwabe Yogu walk in the arena and come to stand face to face with each other, waiting for the referee.

Boruto looks toward the ruler of Shin no Kuni's balcony and in the crowd to find Mikitaka, the one he defeated in the first round, and Kawaki, the one he wants to fight again. He doesn't see any of them. Neither does he find the leader who went backstage for a moment. Upset, he looks at Iwabe who stares back full of anger.

"What's up with you?" he asks the boy with the lightning scar.

"Look at my fucking face and dare to ask what's up with me again!" coldly answers Iwabe.

"Oh. I did that? When?" Boruto says, not recalling any interaction with this guy, as his battle against Kawaki privatized the memories of this moment.

"You'll have to pay for this now." the ninja of Hikari declares. "I'll ruin you worse. I don't care about the consequences anymore. I'll kill you if I need to, no matter the price to pay."

"Man, chill!" the Hokage's son responds, not taking him seriously. "I don't even remember doing that. It's your captain I wanna fight. Not you."

Iwabe clenches his teeth, holding himself back to not start the fight early. Wakasa Lee arrives and stands between the two young fighters. Not delaying anything any longer, she quickly lets them start.

"Boruto Hyuga, Team 1 of Konoha, versus Iwabe Yogu, Team 0 of Hikari… Hajime!"

As soon as the signal is given, Iwabe fiercely raises his left arm that he holds still with his right hand, and inflates his palm with chakra. Wakasa Lee, still standing between the two candidates, hurries to leap away, stressed by this virulent beginning. Boruto, now alone in the way, has the same reaction.

Shunshin

He vanishes in a deep purple wave of chakra just as Iwabe's palm blows up and releases an explosion that could have sent him to the ground already. Kawaki's subordinate is also repelled by his own offensive but quickly gets up to find Boruto, standing on the wall and looking at him awkwardly.

"Wow… I guess you were serious." he comments.

"Staying away won't save you!" Iwabe yells as the palm of his hand slowly heals thanks to his sovereign's left eye's ability sealed in the tattoo that he has on his chest.

"It's fine to me. I can take you down from a distance!" Boruto confidently says before leaping off the wall just as Iwabe raises his not yet healed left hand again.

Bakutai

He uses his Kinjutsu a second time to completely destroy his left hand and propels both the resulting chakra and his fingers as high speed projectiles toward Boruto, who jumps right towards the attack to counter it.

Hakke Kusho

He confronts the projectiles with one long range gentle palm hit that pushes the air, stops the fingers and chakra and speeds toward Iwabe who doesn't see the invisible strike coming and is pushed away.

In the audience, Takeshi comments on Boruto's changes since the last time he saw him.

"He seems even more confident now." he says. "He must have gotten way stronger."

"Well… He didn't struggle at all in his first fight, and won the exam's second part." Yukiko adds to clarify things to Takeshi.

"Hm… Can't tell much from this. I did the same when I passed last year." Takeshi answers. "I still don't think he can defeat me."

Kaori, more intrigued by Boruto's opponent, speaks about his fighting style.

"This guy makes explosions from his skin…" she says. "And he heals afterwards… This isn't even Bakuton."

"It's a Kinjutsu." their sensei, Kokoro, says. "He inflates his skin, bones or flesh with chakra, killing the cells before making them explode."

"He's using explosions to propel projectiles… It makes them crazy fast and threatening." Kaori whispers to herself, learning from this boy's fighting style.

"This jutsu is meant to destroy villages by sacrificing the user's body." Kokoro continues. "I don't know how he's healing but it feels like an exterior help. And I can clearly sense his immeasurable hate for the Hokage's son. This match could go very wrong."

Tentoki, in Takeshi's mind, notices the absence of Hikari's judges and leaders on their balcony and warns his yamabushi.

"Just in case, be ready to step in." he tells Takeshi. "In case something happens, you're one of the fastest people in the audience."

Takeshi squints, and nods in agreement, sharing his tengu and sensei's feeling about Boruto's opponent. However, the one concerned isn't as bothered. He just keeps avoiding all of Iwabe's strikes, carelessly consuming his body out of hatred.

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Outside of the arena, away from the audience, Izuna sits on a bench in the male participant's changing room and is tightening bands around his fists. Not worried about his decision to give up, he thinks of Boruto's battle that should be taking place right now. Still upset about his teammate's lie of the survival exam, he shakes his head and thinks of something else.

Instead, he starts day dreaming about Inoue, who's doing the same in the room just next to him, preparing for her coming match in the female changing cabins. The two of them think of the year they've spent in the same team, of all these precious little moments of mutual trust and understanding they've shared. They both make confused faces while recalling these memories, as they start to feel like their love was two-sided all along.

Getting chills of joy just from these thoughts, Izuna's excitement is suddenly interrupted by Yukai who walks in the room and comes to him with a serious look on his face.

"You? What do you want?" Izuna asks.

"I… just want to talk." Yukai answers as he steps closer and stands right before Izuna who's still sitting.

Inoue in the next room, hears Izuna's voice and another that she thinks is that of the Kumo-nin he fought earlier. Out of curiosity, she sticks her ear to the wall and tries to listen to their conversation. Izuna just stares at Yukai and waits for him to explain what he wants to talk about.

"I don't even know what to say!" the Kumo-nin says, while awkwardly playing with his long hair. "It's just… I really respect what you did back there."

"Oh… ok?" Izuna says, a bit confused about this praise.

"I mean… You managed to put your priorities straight." Yukai adds. "You held back when you had to. Omoi-sensei just told me a few things about your mother's seal, and I understood that you're training for the same thing."

"It's… more Lady 5th's seal, not my mom's, but keep going."

"This jutsu is to ensure your and your teammates' safety as a medic-nin. You're right, it is a priority. Thing is… I don't think I would have given up in your place. I wouldn't have had the balls to say it. So I just wanted to tell you… I admire you for that. It was bold. It was heroic. Anybody with ambitions such as ours would want to shine in front of such an audience, but you stayed mature."

"Ambitions such as ours?" Izuna asks, not completely following this last part.

"Oh… I figured out during this fight, and when we talked before getting in the maze last month." Yukai says, with a bright smile. "The way you trace your path, your respect for the predecessors… You're going to be the next Hokage, are you?"

Izuna stays agape for a moment. It's a dream that he's always thought was kind of childish and wanted to keep for himself. But here stands a person who exactly understands it. Yukai shares the same regard for the role of Kage, the same respect for his village, and the same goal as Izuna. The Uchiha uncontrollably smiles and laughs a bit.

"I'm going to be?" he says. "I sure want to, and I'm doing my best, but I'm far from having any assurance about that. There's still competition."

"Of course there is." Yukai responds. "Your competition is battling in the arena right now. And mine will go against your last teammate right after that." he adds, about Boruto and Aoki. "This is how the people like to see it. How the direction of the village wants it. They're the children of the Kage. Fate wants them to inherit the role, whether they want it or not… Meanwhile, I'm just an amnesic boy who was found on the sea shore by ninjas and somehow became a ninja myself. And you're a member of the clan despised by people all across the world for their past crimes… Our nature isn't cut for the role of a Kage. But you and I, we'll prove fate wrong."

Izuna looks up to Yukai who raises his fist toward him. He recalls these inspiring words again and again. In the girl's room, Inoue can't stop herself from smirking. She knew about Izuna's dream but never talked about it. To hear it so well described by Yukai brings a certain joy to her.

"Let's meet again at a Kage summit, both as the leaders we aim to be." the Kumo-nin declares, with his fist still risen. "This is a promise, an oath, from you to me. From me to you."

Izuna smiles and bumps his fist against Yukai's to accept his vow.

Right at that time, their intimacy is broken by the yells of an angry voice that can be heard speaking from upstairs, breaking the silence that occupied the hallways of the stadium.

"I didn't kill this girl in the maze for nothing!" yells the muffled voice that they hear.

Yukai and Izuna look up confusingly and focus to better hear the rest of the conversation, and get some context for this curious statement. Inoue worriedly does the same.

"It was to keep the secret you asked me to keep!" they hear now. "You asked me to kill her! I'm not gonna screw this up and make her death useless."

"That Kumo-nin was in your way." answers another voice. "Even if it wasn't for that secret, Miki would have killed her anyway."

At this answer, Izuna and Inoue unknowingly squint together. The name they heard, Miki, must be a shortening of Mikitaka, one of the Hikari-nin they encountered in the maze. And the first voice sounded similar to that of Kawaki, the man who fought Boruto. Yukai, also listening, gasps in shock for another reason. The voices are speaking about a girl killed in the maze by one of them, and they just referred to her as a Kumo-nin.

Sharing Maroi and Narui's worries about what happened to Saeko, Yukai rapidly comes to an unpleasant conclusion. Out of anger, he rushes out of the room and hurries upstairs to find where the voices are from. Izuna follows him, knowing of the power of Kawaki and worried about what Yukai might attempt. Inoue, unsure of what is happening on the other side, stays in the changing room, covering her mouth with her hand and quietly following the chakra of Izuna.

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Upstairs, Oshio, who dismissed his disguise, is dealing with Kawaki's regrets. After noticing Iwabe's current all out fighting style, he suggested that Kawaki also stopped holding back in his next fight, which angered him. Still feeling guilty for what he had to do to Saeko in the labyrinth, he virulently refuses.

"I can't let this death go to waste. I did it for a reason, and will keep going with it." he answers to what Oshio said last. "I don't want ninjas of the five great nations to be our enemies. Do you? If you do, I'll let you explain this to the Hokage."

Oshio sighs and turns his back to take a few steps away, making sure to stay as opaque as possible regarding his own feelings.

"I will meet Naruto Uzumaki as he advised. I will explain to him our position, our ambition. We are doing it for change. And this change has to be worldwide to work. I don't want him as an enemy. As a fact, I don't want anything. It's about what I want or not, but about what we will come to need. The Union will necessarily be our enemy."

"No, I'm sure the Hokage could understand it, but won't agree with any action taken." Kawaki answers. "He'll probably think of a way to make us work together."

"You're omitting something important, Kawaki." Oshio says worriedly. "The Hokage will have to go for our full plan to be achieved… Even If we don't tell him about this part for now, What comes next after he learns about Akiko and Meinu's completed missions?

"What?" Kawaki says, unaware until now about the status of these two's tasks.

"I slightly changed their orders, and they're done with it." Oshio explains. "I changed Akiko's target, and she took care of it. She's on her way back to Hikari. I also changed Meinu's target, but she was too fast for my new directives. She completed her new mission, but also the first one."

"Do you mean…"

"The inheritors of the feudal families on the lands of Wind and Earth are dead." Oshio announces. "The change I ordered to both of them was to eliminate the feudal inheritors, and not the Daimyo himself for now. But as I said, Meinu was too efficient. As originally demanded, the Daimyo of Wind is dead as well. These are the consequences of our plan, and we will now have to go with it. I'll justify the change in directive to everyone soon."

"The Daimyo of Wind… is dead?" Kawaki repeats, trying to accept that their revolution has begun.

"Who's dead?" Yukai asks as he barges in the corridor between them.

Kawaki looks at him and widely opens his eyes, recognizing the boy who was in the arena earlier, but also an acquaintance from the past. He's seen him earlier, but to get a face-to-face close look at him now brings back memories.

"It's you, brother." he says, with a relieved voice. Being carried in a day dream of the past, he forgets about the time that went by for a moment. "I was hoping to talk to you again. About our plans to kill the boss, 5 years ago."

"What are you talking about?" the Kumo-nin angrily answers, having lost all memories of who he sees.

Kawaki gets confused and comes back to reality when he sees the hateful look of his former partner. He's now more unsettled that Yukai doesn't remember him, but takes it as he's just pretending.

"Come on. Don't play dumb." he says. "Chinoka already did this number to me. You're different."

"I don't know you, or anyone called Chinoka."

"… You're not lying?" Kawaki realizes after taking a closer look at his friend's face. "So what they said is true. You really lost your memories?"

Yukai doesn't say anything and just stares at Kawaki, angrily and bewildered. The older one insists, refusing to believe that he's lost his friend for good, while Oshio behind him stays quiet and ignored.

"You can't just have forgotten everything. Come on! Last thing that happened, we were on a secret convoy. There was also Shimo and the cat siblings. We had planned to kill the one who directed the orphanage, you, me and…"

"Shut up already!" Yukai interrupts. "I don't know and I don't care! I heard you say something earlier, about a girl in the maze!"

Kawaki sighs, disappointed while Oshio stays aside unbothered. He has one last extreme idea of an attempt to get Yukai to remember.

"Maybe if I show you this, you'll get it." he suggests as he unleashes the seal on the back of his left hand and leaves the red mark of his Shojo seal to appear over his arm, chest and face.

"What did you do to Saeko?" Yukai says, ignoring Kawaki's attempt.

"You don't remember anything?" Kawaki notices, upset.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?" Yukai screams,

"Oh… I didn't have a choice." Kawaki answers, giving up on his friend's memories. "I had to kill her."

At these words, Yukai lets go. He doesn't hold back and runs to Kawaki while unleashing his black thunder and blue light. He tries to swiftly and violently punch him right in the face, but is easily contained. Kawaki grabs his fist before it lands, unbothered by the lightning. Yukai immediately tries to kick him on the other side, but is stopped by a wide shield-like shape that Kawaki just turned his left arm into. With his right hand still holding the Kumo-nin's fist, he spins him around and smashes him against the ground.

Behind them, Izuna steps in and sees that a battle has already begun. He sees that Yukai was easily put down, but doesn't look hurt. He notices Kawaki and his unleashed Shojo, but is more curious about the last person he sees, standing back to him. This person turns around to see him, intrigued by his chakra.

He's dressed in an outfit similar to Momoshiki Otsutsuki, but with a blue inside rather than orange. This suit was gifted to him by Meinu, who advised that he take it to remind of the image of a god. He accepted it, to denature the image instead.

But more important than the clothes of this person, Izuna sees the boy's haircut and face that look oddly similar to his father. But worse it gets, when he notices the Sharingan in his right eye, and Rinnegan in his left.

"Who are you?" he asks the mysterious Uchiha who stays quiet and sorely looks at him.

Oshio, distracted by his first meeting with his younger brother, stopped paying attention to Iwabe's fight and therefore can't assist him anymore. The body parts that Iwabe is relentlessly blasting away, in an attempt to harm an opponent who simply skillfully evades everything and counter attacks, don't heal anymore.

Having blasted one of his arms away, and having been rendered incapable of channeling chakra through most of his tenketsu that Boruto blocked with Taijutsu, Iwabe is out of options. Determined to crush his enemy, he takes the lack of healing as a threat from Oshio, which he refuses to comply with. Not caring about any consequences and not limited by Oshio's protection, he loads his chakra up in one of the last parts that Boruto didn't block: his heart.

Bakutai

Realizing he's about to throw his life away, he decides to load up everything that remains. Boruto, clueless, begins a series of 32 gentle fists when he notices this sudden and rapid chakra accumulation. Unable to stop in the momentum, he uncontrollably speeds toward Iwabe. The resulting explosion could be violent enough to blow all the arena away, but there is nothing he can do to stop it now as hitting him would detonate it.

In the audience, Takeshi stands up and hurries down the rows to the center of the arena, hoping to act as his tengu advised. As he runs closer, too fast for most people to notice, he stops out of surprise when he sees another person come from a further distance in less time than him. Astonished by the speed of this man hidden by his black cloak, Takeshi stops and lets him do.

This ninja lands between Boruto and Iwabe without them noticing, and makes eye contact with the Hikari-nin.

Tsukuyomi

He casts an illusion that Iwabe can't avoid and forces his chakra to shut down. He prevented it from blasting, but since the Kinjutsu was already activated, he couldn't prevent the prominent death of the user's cells. Iwabe collapses as his skin and flesh dismantle, already dead. Takeshi stands there, agape as he notices the 7th Hokage who is also standing in the arena much closer to the center than him.

Boruto, who's life was just saved, looks at the mystic figure in front of him, his black cape carried by the air and the red and black sword scabbard underneath. He feels a strange fascination for it, but unlike the one he has for Kawaki. It is more like the reaction of a child to seeing a movie hero in real life. He widely opens his eyes as the audience finally gets to understand what happened.

"Daddy!" exclaims Sarada, who recognizes the ninja, Sasuke Uchiha, standing before Boruto.

In the corridor, Oshio, Kawaki, Yukai and Izuna all look toward the entrance to the arena when they suddenly sense an overwhelming chakra in action. Izuna recognizes it.

"Is that…" he starts to say before Kawaki exclaims his surprise.

"Crap! Your dad's getting involved!" he says as he turns his head to look, not at Izuna, but at Oshio.

Oshio trembles in panic, unprepared for these circumstances. Iwabe just messed everything up for them. This is the worst case scenario he can imagine. Next to him, Izuna is utterly shocked by what he seems to understand from this scene.

"Who the hell are you?" he shouts to Oshio before rushing to hit him, out of pure frustration and confusion.

Oshio, paying just little attention to his little brother, easily dodges his punch and lets him crash into the wall. He steps forward and looks through the exit to see the arena. There, his shining eyes cross the gaze of his father. Sasuke looks at him silently for a second and notices that the left eye of the mysterious Uchiha has seemingly evolved.

There now are 3 tomoe on the first ring of his Rinnegan, meaning that he must have gained new abilities. This, Oshio exactly demonstrates it at this moment by bringing together his hands that he holds in a quite familiar hand sign.

Chibaku Tensei

With a gravity orb that he sneaked through a Chimatakami portal and led to the sky above the arena, he shatters the area and forces the debris toward this core. Sasuke, putting his priorities straight, leaps up to stop this jutsu.

Raikiri

With a lightning blade, he hurries to destroy the center but too late. Its attraction already caused the place to dismantle and now, the audience ranks, as well as the balconies, are collapsing. The most skilled and rapid ninjas around, including the Kage, stand up and get out of harm while some of them get on the move to prevent casualties. However, these efforts are interrupted by the single reaction of the 7th Hokage who summoned clones of himself all around the arena, holding the debris away from the people with Biju Chakra limbs.

In the collapsing corridor, Oshio looks at Kawaki who throws Yukai away under the debris.

"This is our exit." he says as a black portal appears behind him.

Kawaki looks worriedly at Yukai before leaping through. Before Oshio can follow, Izuna gets in his way again, full of anger. Oshio swiftly avoids another hit and pulls a black sword, made from a chakra receiver, out of his sleeve.

Futsu no Mitama

He pierces through Izuna's shoulder and nails him to the ground with it. This sword, being the result of another of Oshio's eye powers, sucks on Izuna's chakra and absorbs it. Feeling his energy go, Izuna can barely do anything against it and just gets weaker. Not careful enough, he crosses the gaze of his sibling and finds himself forced to sleep by a powerful Genjutsu. Oshio pulls the sword out after just 3 seconds and steps back into his portal.

"Good bye, little brother." he says before vanishing with his space rift.

Izuna and Yukai are left defeated, lying on the ground as the ceiling crashes onto them. Unable to move, Izuna slowly loses consciousness. The last thing he hears before falling asleep is Inoue's voice yelling his name.

The young girl arrives at the same time as Aoki, the girl she was supposed to fight, and, together, they pull their teammates out of there. Soon to be crushed by the debris too, they are rescued by their respective Kage, Naruto and Darui, who grab them and get to the center of the arena.

Sasuke lands back on the ground after destroying the Chikabu Tensei. He looks to where he saw Oshio a few seconds ago, and doesn't sense him anymore. Next to him, Naruto looks to him surprised by his abrupt entrance but also worried by the cause of this accident.

"Sasuke! There was someone in the hall with your son." the Hokage says. "I sensed it. Who was it?" he asks, having the feeling that Sasuke has to know the answer.

The wandering Uchiha doesn't respond. He just makes the answer in his head and sadly looks at Sakura who stands in the audience, holding their last born in her arms. She stares back, also nervous, knowing exactly what must have happened.

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As expected after such an incident, the tournament was canceled and the judges of each nation will have to deal with their current evaluation of the participants. A day later, the Kage are united in the Hokage's office to discuss these events.

"It is pretty evident that the leader of Hikari is responsible for this." Chojuro says.

"I think we can safely assume that he also is responsible for what happened in the maze." adds Kurotsuchi.

"I have evidence for this, now, actually." Gaara answers. "Mira Fuhatsu, one of my ninjas, told me she overheard a discussion from a far distance. The participant named Kawaki confessed to killing Saeko, the Kumo-nin who disappeared."

Darui, rubs his forehead, trying to contain his emotions.

"More important, though it may seem abrupt and out of context… The Daimyo of my land and his inheritors were all assassinated yesterday in the night." adds the Kazekage.

"I've just received information that the family of my local Daimyo also suffered losses." Kurotsuchi adds, perplexed.

"It was Hikari…" Naruto sadly says, not much to his colleague's surprise. "Sasuke delivered a report about them. Kawaki, according to him, is among the top minds of the new government in place there. They don't use any ninja ranking system such as ours."

"I'm deeply sorry. I should never have invited them." Gaara apologizes.

"Should we consider this a declaration of war?" asks the Raikage, as his doubts have been confirmed.

"Don't jump to conclusions." the Hokage answers. "Most important is to preserve peace. This is what our council is for. It didn't work out with Hikari for now, but Amegakure has been cooperative, and this event was real progress. Let me handle this situation, please. I'll go to Hikari in person and speak it out with the leader. I promise that I'll make Shin no Kuni a part of our council, one way or another."

The other Kage are perplexed, but can't refuse anything to the one who united them in the first place, so they comply, for some of them reluctantly.

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In the hospital, Izuna wakes up in a room where his mother is taking care of him. He sits up and sees Boruto, Takeshi, Inoue, Sarada standing with a clone of the 7th, while Sasuke Uchiha is at the window. Inoue, who was worried sick, jumps to him and warmly hugs the harmed young man. Izuna, with his Sharingan on, unable to turn it off due to the emotion, doesn't feel anything from this hug.

All that he can think of is the feeling of this mysterious man's blade piercing his shoulders, and the gaze of his godly eyes. Not paying attention to anyone else, he looks to his father who stands behind. Sakura steps back and stays quiet, anxious about what may happen. Naruto can sense the intense emotion that Izuna is feeling, strengthening his eyes.

"Who was this guy?" the young Uchiha asks his father.

Sasuke doesn't answer, lost in his thoughts, thinking of his responsibility in all this. Inoue lets go off Izuna and looks at his cold face. As she holds him, she doesn't find the heat that she used to feel from him. In his eyes, she doesn't see the calm and reserved flame of the will of fire anymore. This flame has turned more violent, raw.

"Before leaving me to die there, he called me brother." Izuna adds, to everyone's shock. "Answer me! What did you do?"

"What do you mean by this?" Sasuke finally answers, before he turns around and stares at him. "What did I do? What do you think I did? What could I have done that resulted in such consequences?"

Sakura raises her hand and catches Sasuke's to interrupt him as she feels him getting carried away. Izuna doesn't respond to these questions and just stays upset. Boruto and Takeshi stay completely quiet, and just feel awkward, not much concerned. Sasuke calms down and goes to the exit, but not without giving a proper reply to his son.

"I didn't do anything, Izuna. Don't go looking for someone to blame. This is just another issue that we'll have to fix, nothing more." he says before leaving the room and then the building.

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In the land of Heart, in the hidden capital of Hikari, Oshio Uchiha sits on his throne as the members of Kakumei come together again, all back from their missions. Having been precipitated by the events and his own failures, he is determined not to let any mistake, fear or feeling get in his way again. From now on, he will act as the messiah he is believed to be.

"What was that change of plan about?" asks Akiko, upset that she didn't get to kill a Daimyo as she was asked to.

"I told Kawaki about this already." Oshio answers. "Our goal is to crush the landlords who think that honors and goods are enough to rule a world of ninjas. We do not want to kill the Daimyo, we want to destroy their system. Akiko, you did not get the Daimyo of Earth, but you killed his son who was his main heir. Now, this rotting old man can die of old age without any heir."

"There are still plenty of choices for replacement." says Fuyuko. "The man that Akiko killed has a son. He's way too young for now, but still. His wife's family could also be regarded as potential heirs."

"Indeed, we are not done with the land of Earth." Oshio responds. "However, Meinu perfectly accomplished everything we could have done in the land of Wind. She killed the Daimyo himself and his two sons. There is no heir remaining. The land will now have to rely on the only authority remaining: the Kazekage."

"What? So that's our goal?" says Mikitaka, who has been granted a place in this group.

"Let me state it for you." Oshio says after standing up. "We will eliminate the dynasties of the Daimyo of all the most powerful lands, thus forcing these lands to convey total control to the Kage. Therefore, the ninja lands will be led by who should do so. Might will make right… However, the Daimyo and their heirs aren't our only targets."

Oshio confidently looks at Meinu, as she is the one who inspired the next part of his discourse.

"The nations will never accept such a forced change brought by the enemy. This is why their war against us is inevitable. As the one enemy who will unite them all under the same values and banner, I require to be the mightiest of all, the one inevitable power who creates peace against me. For this to happen, I need the power to do so, and I need to eliminate those who stand as the mightiest today… So, added to the Daimyo, our prior objectives will be to get the Biju's powers, and kill Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha."

Kawaki frowns and squints, perplexed about this extremely ambitious end. Fuyuko, Akiko, Mikitaka and Minoka gulp down their dry saliva, wondering how they are supposed to accomplish such a task. Killin' Kiss, Meinu Imai, however, has a different reaction. She grins and stares with bright eyes at the boy in which she finally recognizes the fearless and doubtless god she wanted to see. The one she needs to accomplish what she never could.

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End of Chapter 80 – Next Chapter: He is my son

End of Naruto Next Generation Arc – Next: Might makes Right