3 years

Konoha 18

Chapter 21: The Price of Victory

Three years had passed.

Three years of blood, steel, and loss.

At 18 years old, Senju Tetsuma had risen higher than most shinobi his age—now the Anbu Minister of Konoha.

He sat in his family home, a rare moment of peace settling over the room. Before him, his father, Hatake Eiji, sipped sake with his remaining hand. The other—his dominant right arm—was gone.

A casualty of war.

But not without cost.

Monzaemon, the infamous Father of Puppetry in Sunagakure, had been his opponent. A monster who controlled entire battlefields with his creations. Eiji had fought him alone—and won.

At the cost of his own arm.

To Tetsuma's right, his mother, Senju Toka, poured another round of sake for her husband. Her once vibrant black hair was now streaked with silver, her black eyes sharp as ever.

"Minister of the Anbu at eighteen." She exhaled, shaking her head. "You've climbed fast."

Eiji smirked, raising his cup. "That's my boy."

Tetsuma took a slow sip. The sake was warm, but it did little to ease the weight in his chest.

"The war isn't over," he finally said.

His mother nodded. "No. But you've made sure the Senju will survive it."

Silence filled the room. Outside, the wind howled through the compound.

For now, they had a brief moment of peace.

But war was never far behind.

Tetsuma sat in quiet contemplation, sake untouched in his hand. His mind drifted—not to the warmth of his home, nor the brief peace that surrounded him—but to the battlefields of the past two years.

Sunagakure had declared war, claiming that Konoha had assassinated their First Kazekage. A convenient excuse.

And so the Second Kazekage, Shamon, led 6,000 of Suna's elite shinobi to assault Kikyō Castle, a crucial Konoha stronghold.

The battle lasted three days.

Konoha's forces, overwhelmed and outnumbered, fought tooth and nail to hold their ground. It was only on the second day that the Second Hokage himself arrived with 4,000 reinforcements. Among them, 1,000 Uchiha shinobi—led by none other than Uchiha Kagami.

Tetsuma clenched his jaw.

He could still see it in his mind—the chaos, the blood, the screams of the dying.

Danzo had been fighting two powerful Suna shinobi—one a Scorch Release user, the other a master puppeteer. At the moment when death seemed certain, Kagami had stepped in, cutting down one enemy before throwing himself in the way of the fatal strike meant for Danzo.

Tetsuma exhaled sharply. Kagami had died that day.

And Danzo lived.

He wasn't sure if he felt bitterness or something else entirely. But war had no room for such thoughts.

On the third day, Shamon himself entered the battlefield.

The Second Hokage led Konoha's charge. By his side was his Shadow Guard—an elite force that included Tetsuma and his four childhood playmates: Senju Arenju, Senju Jiro, Senju Kenta, and Senju Satomi.

All of them S-rank shinobi.

Their battle was vicious, unforgiving.

Blades clashed. Jutsu tore through the land. The air itself trembled under the weight of their power.

For half a day, the battle raged. Tetsuma had fought enemies stronger than Shamon before, but never in such a grueling contest. His Lightning Release clashed against Shamon's Wind Release, while his comrades fended off the Kazekage's Shadow Guard.

And then, just as the Hokage was about to land the final blow—

A deafening roar shook the battlefield.

From the distance, an earth-shattering blast of wind and chakra swept across the land, scattering bodies like dust.

Sunagakure had deployed their trump card.

Their Tailed Beast.

Tetsuma's grip on his cup tightened.

The One-Tailed Beast, Shukaku, had been unleashed.