Tsunade stood atop the Hokage Monument, her haori billowing in the wind as the sun dipped behind the broken skyline of Konohagakure. From this vantage, she could see the veins of reconstruction threading through the village like stitches across wounded skin. Teams of shinobi hauled timber, reinforced chakra conduits, and repaired the shattered walls of homes and shops. The scars left by the invasion from Sunagakure and Otogakure still ran deep — but the village's heart continued to beat.
As the Fifth Hokage, Tsunade was everywhere. She barked orders at the Barrier Corps, rotated through field hospitals to check on the injured, and chaired tense war councils with the elders. Yet no matter how chaotic her days became, no matter how many fires demanded her attention, there was one thing she never failed to do:
Return to him.
Naruto Uzumaki.
He lay within a sealed operating chamber at the hospital — kept in reinforced medical stasis, his condition monitored second by second. Tsunade had done everything to save him. Though, he was still in coma.
Every once in a while, Tsunade pressed the back of her hand to his forehead, checking for fever more out of emotions than necessity.
"Still holding on, brat…" she murmured.
Only she and Shizune were allowed inside. Guards rotated hourly, and the chamber's medical records were locked by direct her orders.
Not even the village council knew the full extent of what had happened to the boy.
Outside, rumors bloomed like wildfire.
The unbelievable had become reality: Orochimaru had attacked Konoha personally, hiding behind the stolen face of the Fourth Kazekage. And worse — Sasuke Uchiha had been seen fleeing the village at his side and attacking Naruto.
For many, the betrayal cut deeper than any kunai.
Under the charred boughs of a half-burnt tree in the hospital courtyard, several genins gathered in uneasy silence. The air was still, heavy with smoke and tension, as if the village itself was holding its breath.
No one spoke at first.
Each of them was lost in their own thoughts — replaying what had happened during the invasion… and what followed.
Sasuke Uchiha had left. With Orochimaru.
Naruto had fought — and hadn't come back.
"I just can't believe it," Shikako murmured, her gaze locked on the fractured tiles beneath her feet. "Sasuke was never the friendliest, sure… but going with him? With Orochimaru?"
Across from her, Ino frowned, arms crossed tight over her chest. "I didn't even see it coming. One second we're all focused on Gaara and the Exams, and the next... it's like the world cracked open."
Chōji stared into the middle distance, unusually quiet. "He always seemed... angry. But I never thought he'd leave. Not like that."
Kiba kicked at a scorched root, frustration leaking into his voice. "Damn it. Naruto went after him. If anything's happened to him..."
Shino's voice was calm, but unusually grave. "It's still unclear what state Naruto is in. And Orochimaru's presence complicates everything. His methods are not… merciful."
"I hope he's okay," Hinata whispered, her hands tightly clasped in front of her. "He—he never stops trying to protect others."
A heavy silence followed, as if a prayer had been offered to the wind.
Unable to keep her thoughts bottled up any longer, Shikako turned to her father, who had arrived silently to check on the courtyard. "Dad… where is Naruto? How is he?"
Shikaku looked at his daughter for a long moment, his expression unreadable. "He's alive," he said at last, though his voice carried the weight of everything he wasn't saying. "The Hokage is doing everything she can."
That silence returned, deeper now. The kind that gnawed at the edges of hope.
Nejire Hyūga approached from the far side of the courtyard, her usual composure subdued. She offered a nod of greeting to the others before sitting beside the scorched tree trunk.
"It wasn't just attitude," she said quietly, picking up on Shikako's earlier words. "During the Finals… Sasuke's chakra was unnatural. Corrupted. My Byakugan saw it — a second chakra clinging to him, poisonous and… wrong. Orochimaru just influenced him."
She didn't mention the curse mark. Or the way it pulsed with hunger.
"He's not a traitor," Sakura said sharply, stepping forward. Her voice cracked from sleepless nights and too many memories. "He wouldn't do that to Naruto. To me. To the village."
No one argued with her. But no one agreed either.
Not because they didn't care — but because the truth was murkier than any of them wanted to admit.
Four days after the attack, a small envoy from Sunagakure arrived under heavy guard.
They came unarmed, their scrolls sealed with diplomatic crests and their expressions tense with shame. For the first time since the invasion, they spoke openly — and what they revealed rocked Konoha to its core.
The Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, had been missing for over two weeks.
He had never made it to the Chūnin Exams.
The revelation sent shockwaves through both villages.
At Tsunade's order, a joint ANBU unit from Konoha and Suna was dispatched. Two days of tracking led them through ravines and flood-ravaged passes in the Land of Rivers, until they found him — Rasa's body, half-buried beneath a collapsed canyon shelf. His throat was cleanly slit. His chakra had been drained, his body cold for weeks. The time of death aligned with the Kazekage's disappearance — just before the Exams had begun.
The real Rasa had died long before the first strike ever fell on Konoha.
Tsunade didn't voice what she thought, but the conclusion was clear. The war had been orchestrated from the shadows, its every step manipulated by Orochimaru.
And Naruto had also paid the price.
In the depths of the sealed chamber, silence hung thick as winter fog. The air shimmered faintly with suppressed chakra, and the glow of medical monitors bathed the room in soft green hues.
Naruto lay motionless at the center, wrapped in protective seals, stabilized by layers of chakra-regulating jutsu. The remnants of the Kyūbi's chakra did not lingered around him anymore.
Tsunade's blood, infused with Hashirama's cell lineage, had taken its root.
The genetic chaos within him — Kyūbi's dissolving chakra, Uzumaki vitality, dormant traces of Otsutsuki and Senju body cells — had stabilized.
A week later, since the attack, his fingers twitched.
One monitor blinked.
The chakra field around him rippled once — then stilled.
And then—
Naruto's eyes opened.