Arima stood in silence, his gaze lingering on the village below, now ravaged and broken by war. A hollow ache stirred within him.
Beside him, Uzumaki Aruo gently patted his shoulder and said, "Though the Sky Ninja's attack dealt heavy damage to the village, thankfully there were few casualties.
Most of our fighting strength was preserved. A few of our elders sacrificed their souls and used the Reaper Death Seal to finally repel their assault."
Arima pulled himself from his sorrow, his voice now serious. "Do you have any intel on the Sky Ninja?"
Aruo waved a hand, prompting a nearby guard to hand over a thick stack of documents. He passed them directly to Arima.
Arima flipped through the reports carefully. The main focus was a creature called the "Zero-Tails."
Even in these original records, its origin was mentioned only in vague fragments.
It was said the Zero-Tails was born from the darkness in the human heart and grew stronger by absorbing chakra. It couldn't be destroyed, only sealed again and again.
The Uzumaki clan had once sealed it deep beneath the ocean.
The man named Miyadera was a descendant of one of the shinobi who had participated in that original sealing. The secret had been passed down through his bloodline.
By the time it reached Miyadera's generation, he had used the inherited information to locate the site of the original seal.
Driven by greed and cruelty, he had sealed the Zero-Tails inside his own body. The creature, of course, found such a host ideal.
Miyadera distributed fragments of its chakra among his subordinates, allowing them to grow stronger by draining the life force and chakra of others.
As Arima read on, the true source of the Sky Ninja's sudden rise in power became clear. It wasn't some grand conspiracy, just a monster named Zero-Tails.
Curious, Arima asked, "How did you acquire such detailed intel?"
Aruo sighed.
"Miyadera's real name was Uzumaki Miyadera. He was once one of the clan's elite Jonin. He came here with the intent of stealing the clan's core sealing techniques.
We sensed two conflicting chakra sources within his body, he was likely looking for a way to resolve the instability.
As for the Sky Ninja who attacked earlier, their bodies were filled with a dark and sinister chakra. How could such a thing escape the detection of our clan's Kagura Mind's Eye?"
Piecing the information together, Arima suspected Miyadera's physical problems began after he absorbed the power of the Zero-Tails.
He asked, "Do you know where their main base is?"
Aruo shook his head. "When they arrived, a massive airborne city floated in the sky. From what they said, it seems they let that place, called 'Ancor Vantian', drift freely, making its location impossible to track."
Arima felt a wave of frustration. No matter how powerful he was, if he couldn't locate the enemy, his strength was meaningless, like a fist striking only empty air.
He ordered Tsunade and the others to search the area for any overlooked intel.
As for himself, he pressed his palms together and entered Sage Mode.
Then, using Wood Release, he quickly constructed numerous simple shelters to give the villagers a place of refuge.
He noticed an unusual energy mixed into the natural energy entering his body.
Alarmed, he examined himself carefully but found nothing out of place. He could only dismiss it as a fleeting illusion.
That night, Arima sat alone by the seashore.
The sea breeze was gentle, the waves soothing. Yet instead of calming him, the peaceful sounds only made his inner restlessness more intense. Unease and worry gnawed at his heart.
Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru had finished their investigation but uncovered little more.
They compiled their findings and sent Tsunade to report to the Third Hokage while the other two opted to avoid the formalities.
Tsunade searched the village for her brother, but he was nowhere to be found. After asking Aruo, she learned he was at the coast and followed his trail there.
She found Arima sitting alone, back to the sea, and quietly walked up behind him. Wrapping her arms around his waist, she leaned her body against his back, her chin resting on his shoulder.
"Arima-nii… Are you still troubled by the Sky Ninja?"
Arima gently shook his head, running a hand through her smooth golden hair.
"Back then, Grandpa placed such high hopes on me. He dreamed I'd one day lead the world to peace. All these years, I've been working toward that goal, trying to make it real.
Every time I see ordinary families living in peace, it gives me more strength… more hope."
He paused, voice heavy.
"But tonight, looking back on everything, I realize human nature has a darkness that can't be ignored. Where there is light, there must be shadow."
Arima let out a long sigh. "Sometimes I wonder if everything I've done really means anything at all. Is it even worth trying to change a world built on the law of the jungle?"
Tsunade felt the storm brewing in his heart. He was beginning to question everything, even himself. This… this was how the Uchiha had once spiraled into ruin.
She recalled her grandmother's warning from years ago, ever since Arima awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan, his emotions had grown more extreme.
Under the right triggers, he could fall into madness… or even full-blown darkness.
"I've told you before," Mito had once said, "Arima's Sharingan has made his emotions more volatile. Mangekyo only deepens this. Great love, or great hatred. There's no in-between."
The memory made Tsunade uneasy.
"Grandma… what should I do?" she had asked, panicked. "Should we tell Grandpa?"
Mito smiled gently. "Do you know how I was able to resist the Nine-Tails' hatred all these years?"
Tsunade had shaken her head, clueless about tailed beasts.
Mito explained patiently, "A tailed beast's malice draws out the worst parts of a person. It magnifies every negative emotion until they want to destroy everything.
But I filled my heart with love. That's what kept me whole. And that love was your grandfather's gift to me. When Arima needs you most, use your love to guide him back."
Now, those words echoed louder than ever.
Arima was teetering between light and darkness.
But Tsunade didn't know how to use her love to reach him. She simply clung to him, repeating the same lullabies he had once sung to comfort her.
But it wasn't working.
The coldness around Arima only grew. She could feel his chakra turning icy. His eyes slowly shifted into the pattern of the Mangekyo Sharingan.
She was afraid, terrified of this version of her brother. Panicked, she tightened her grip and continued to sing, but he remained unresponsive, lost in some dark, internal abyss.
Tsunade could only call his name, again and again, tears spilling down her cheeks.
Strong as she was, she had never felt this helpless. She couldn't bear the thought of losing her gentle, understanding brother, couldn't bear to see him turn into something unrecognizable.
In that moment, she realized, she had never truly done anything for him. He had always been the one supporting her, encouraging her.
And she? She had only ever basked in his light.
Now she felt useless, her heart heavy with grief and helplessness.
Tears streamed down her face, dripping onto Arima's skin.
And something inside him stirred.
"…Who's crying?" Arima murmured. "Is it my little Tsunade? Why is she crying? Did I make her upset? Don't cry, Tsunade… listen, I'll sing for you."
Just like that, the darkness consuming him vanished.
Arima began humming an old lullaby, one he'd always sung to her when she couldn't sleep.
Tsunade's eyes widened in disbelief. He had responded. He was still there.
But as she looked down, she saw his eyes were blank, as if he were sleepwalking. He sang purely out of instinct, like an echo from the past.
It broke her.
She collapsed against him, sobbing uncontrollably. "Arima-nii…"
Then she remembered how she'd once freed him from a seal years ago.
That memory gave her strength.
She wiped her tears, resolve shining in her eyes.
Even if Arima fell completely into darkness, she would stay by his side and pull him back, just as she had done before.
And in that moment, the coldness around him melted.
The man in her arms gently wiped away her tears.
"My Tsunade… why are you crying? Who made you sad?"
That familiar tenderness, that warmth she thought lost forever, returned.
Overwhelmed with joy, Tsunade couldn't help herself.
She slowly lowered her head, golden hair cascading down like silk.
With infinite gentleness, she offered her first kiss to the man she loved most in the world.
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