Ch 61. Darkeness in Konoha x Nine Tails & Deal

Listening to Mito's words, Tsunade finally nodded, grasping the depth of the situation. As a medical ninja, she had always struggled with the reality of patients dying, sometimes from injuries beyond repair, other times because their bodies simply couldn't recover. Yet now, she saw another side to it; body and spirit creating life, like yin and yang, connected by chakra. At that moment, she gained a deeper understanding of life itself as she fully acknowledged what Mito was revealing.

Tsunade took a breath before speaking. "Grandmother, you must have had a reason for calling me here, right? You even sent Kushina away the moment I arrived. Tell me... what do you want me to do?"

Mito's expression softened briefly before she turned serious. "Tsunade, you know that I no longer involve myself in the village's affairs. Especially after Nawaki's death, I withdrew completely. I do not pry into what goes on in Konoha. And yet... if I wished, I could."

She paused, glancing out the window as if recalling something distant. "With my sensory abilities, I could monitor most of the village. My sealing techniques would allow me to bypass even some of Konoha's strongest barriers, letting me perceive what lies in the shadows. But that would be a violation of privacy, one I have always chosen to respect. Even the Hyūga restrain themselves from using their eyes to peer too far beyond their training grounds. And most importantly, Tsunade..." She looked at her granddaughter with solemn eyes. "If you are sensing someone, someone else with sensory abilities will sense you in return."

Tsunade remained silent, nodding.

Mito continued. "As the Jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails, if I activate its chakra mode, my sensory abilities are enhanced countless times and is undetectable by others. I can perceive not just movements and chakra, but also the very essence of a person's emotions, good and evil, love and hatred, kindness and malice. However, I have never dared to use it fully. Do you know why?"

She let the question linger for a moment before answering.

"Because when you sense another's emotions, you take them in. Their pain, their joy, their anger, all of it. If used on a large scale, the effect is overwhelming, akin to the backlash of the forbidden Shadow Clone Jutsu, where the mind is burdened with countless experiences at once."

Tsunade listened intently, beginning to understand the gravity of Mito's words.

"That is why I never used it. But on the day the Uzumaki Clan was wiped out, when I heard whispers that Konoha had abandoned them, even betrayed them, I could no longer ignore my doubts."

Mito's hands clenched slightly. "That day... the Nine-Tails spoke to me."

Tsunade's eyes widened slightly.

"Despite being sealed within me, it could sense everything beyond going undetected. It always could, it just never cared to speak to the humans who imprisoned it. But that day, something was different. It whispered to me, urging me to see for myself. And so... for the first time since your grandfather's death, I fully unleashed the power sealed within me. I entered the Nine-Tails Chakra Mode."

Mito closed her eyes for a moment, reliving the moment in her mind.

"I sensed everything in Konoha. And what I found..." She exhaled deeply. "Was devastating."

Tsunade's hands tightened into fists. "Grandmother... what did you find?"

Mito's voice was heavy with sorrow. "There are almost no civilians with Senju's chakra in Konoha anymore."

Tsunade stiffened.

"The Uchiha are under constant surveillance, monitored from the shadows. And do you know who holds nearly all the key positions in Konoha's ANBU and high command? The Sarutobi, the Shimura, and two other clans. Even the Sarutobi Clan itself has expanded to a scale dozens of times larger than before. Konoha's power has become concentrated in a few hands, while others were cast aside or eliminated, or in servitude."

Tsunade's breath grew unsteady. "You're saying... the village is corrupted?"

Mito nodded. "It is more than that. It has decayed. But that is not what angered me the most, Tsunade. What I sensed beneath the Hokage Building, deep within Danzo's so-called 'Root'..."

She closed her eyes briefly before continuing. "I sensed countless bodies. Some were Senju. Some were Uchiha. But among them... two presences felt painfully familiar."

Her voice trembled ever so slightly. "Your grandfather's cells... and Nawaki's cells."

Tsunade shot up from her seat, her chakra flaring wildly. Veins bulged at her temples as her hands clenched so tightly that her knuckles turned white.

"WHAT?!"

She was barely able to hold herself back from unleashing her rage, but Mito had foreseen this reaction. The seals she had placed around the room prevented even the slightest chakra leak.

Through gritted teeth, Tsunade forced out her next words. "Is it true? Did Danzo really... do that? And what about Sensei? Did he know?"

Mito sighed, her gaze filled with the weight of bitter truths. "Tsunade... do not deceive yourself. How could Hiruzen not know? Danzo is merely his shadow, his hand in the darkness. Everything Danzo does is under Hiruzen's orders."

Tsunade's body trembled, the last shreds of faith in her former teacher crumbling.

Mito's voice remained steady, yet tinged with sorrow, "Your granduncle, Tobirama, was blind. He never saw the ambitions of the clans behind his students. They have long sought to rule Konoha. And once they removed the Senju and weakened the Uchiha... they did."

Tsunade clenched her fists so tightly that blood began to drip from her palms. Her heart pounded in her chest, her breathing heavy.

She wanted to deny it. She wanted to scream that it wasn't true.

But she couldn't.

Because deep down... she knew.

She had felt it for years, the slow decay, the corruption. The way her clan had faded into history.

Mito's voice brought her back. "That day, the Nine-Tails tried to push me into madness, hoping that in my rage, I would lose control, and it could reclaim its chakra. But when I saw your grandfather's face carved into the Hokage Rock, I anchored myself. I forced myself to remain calm."

She sighed. "That was when I told you to leave Konoha, Tsunade. Because I knew there was no place for us here anymore."

Tsunade's breathing steadied slightly, but the rage in her eyes did not fade. "Then why did you call me here now?"

Mito hesitated for a moment before answering. "Because in my final years, I made a deal with the Nine-Tails."

Tsunade's brows furrowed. "A deal?"

Mito's lips curled into the faintest of smiles as she recalled the conversation.

"Nine-Tails, you know you will never be free. No matter where you go, shinobi will hunt you, seal you, and use you. So why not hear my proposal?"

The great beast had been silent for a long time before answering.

"If what you say is true... and you truly intend to follow through with this deal... then I will keep my word."

Mito closed her eyes and whispered, "And I promised I would."

Tsunade stared at her grandmother, feeling that whatever had been set in motion was something she could not yet comprehend. But one thing was certain, her ties to Konoha had been severed.

Forever.