Chapter 96 – Where the Shadows Kneel
The Hidden Rain never dried.
Not in the streets.Not in the hearts.Not even in the sky.
The towers still loomed.Iron. Cold. Watching.
But something had changed.
No more whispers of gods.No more idols in red clouds.
Only quiet rebuilding.
Children sweeping broken alleys.Widows planting flowers in rusted barrels.Men learning to laugh again.
Ame no longer feared footsteps.
Because now—
The shadows bowed.
It began with one man.
A tall figure.Wrapped in a faded cloak.A conical hat hiding his face.
He walked into the center square.Said nothing.
He just stood there.
Rain didn't touch him.
It bent around him.
An old shinobi approached him with a kunai—And dropped it before reaching him.
Not out of fear.
Out of recognition.
The stranger helped him stand.
Then walked away.
But the rain behind him… stopped falling.
Just there.One patch of dry stone.
The next day, a scroll appeared on the village gates.
"You are not the war you survived."
Signed by no one.
The week after—
A rogue gang disbanded after their leader vanished.No fight.No witnesses.Only a single golden thread left where he once sat.
People began to notice.
A pattern.
Justice without blood.
Mercy without names.
And always—The faintest scent of ramen when the wind blew.
Children started drawing him.
Not clearly.
Just gold lines.Whisker marks.Spirals.
He became a myth.
But the elders knew.
Hanzo's former guard, now a gardener, whispered it to the soil:
"He's the one who unmade the cycle.The boy who erased himself… to let the rain begin again."
Deep underground, in what used to be Pain's chamber—
Konan stood.
Still alive.
Still silent.
She'd watched from afar.Let the people reclaim their city.Without gods.Without false hope.
But today—
She brought a paper flower.
Left it on the center pedestal.
It unfolded.
Inside, a note:
"Nagato dreamed of peace.Yahiko died for it.You gave everything for it.Now let me protect it."
Signed:
—A Thread, Nothing More.
Konan smiled.
Faint.
Real.
And for the first time in decades—
She cried.
Not for pain.
But because someone remembered.
Not her name.
Not her face.
Just… her effort.
And above, in the rain-kissed sky—
A single beam of sunlight broke through.
Not strong.Not lasting.
But enough.
Because in a world where shadows kneel—
Even forgotten angels get to rest.
—End of Chapter 96—