52 The Child of Prophecy !

There was now silence in the valley and in the city.

It was just as frightening as everything that had just happened. Everyone was shocked by the violence of the confrontation, but also by the horror that had resulted from it : the death of these four powerful shinobi. Hashirama and Madara had not stolen their nickname of Shinobi Gods, but Mito and Sakura had also demonstrated that they were just as powerful as their husbands.

In the midst of all the chaos and grief, a man also reached the scene of the battle. He was not at all afraid of what he would find. He knew all too well the horrors of war to be sickened by it.

As he arrived at the scene of the battle, Ashina went first to what remained of his daughter's body : a few bones in a pool of blood. The amount of demonic chakra had completely destroyed his daughter.

However, in the midst of all the blood, Ashina saw a faint turquoise glow reach his eye. He bent down before dipping his fingers into the red fluid and pulling out a pendant.

He would know this locket anywhere : it was that of the Shodaime Hokage. He had once succeeded in concentrating his chakra into a fine gem that allowed him to control with greater ease the Bijû he had captured to share among all the elemental nations. He had probably made a gift of this necklace to his wife in order to help her master the Kyûbi.

It was with a certain sadness that Ashina recovered the last thing that would remind his of his daughter as a tear fell into the pool of blood.

— "Rest in peace my daughter... I'm so sorry," Ashina whispered, feeling terrible for having forced his daughter to marry this man, leading her to sacrifice herself on this day.

The old man then moved closer to Sakura's body. The sight before him would have made many people vomit, but Ashina remained unmoved. The pink-haired woman had a blade stuck in her heart, a multitude of cuts dotted her body from which blood was flowing, especially from her mouth. Her eyes were still half-open, but there was no longer any doubt : all traces of life had left Sakura's body.

Then his gaze shifted to Madara.

At first he had hated the man and his ideals, but on that fateful day he thought that perhaps he should have offered his only daughter to this individual.

But as he looked at the Uchiha's lifeless body, Ashina Uzumaki had a thought that hit him hard : he should get rid of the Rinnegan so it wouldn't fall into the wrong hands. The Dôjutsu were so coveted that this one should not be recovered in any way, for the sake of the world.

Suddenly, still looking at the Uchiha's body, a detail came to his attention : there was something in his right hand.

He moved closer in the midst of the shinobi who didn't know what to do, all accompanied by Tsunade's cries for her master's return.

Ashina crouched down once more : there was a small envelope. He grabbed it and saw a Fûinjutsu formula in the middle of Madara's hand. As an Uzumaki he was immediately attracted to what he saw, it was very complex. At first glance he understood that this seal was only activated if certain conditions were met, but what were they ?

The Uzukage turned his attention away from the Fûinjutsu seal after a few seconds before turning it to the envelope. He turned it one way, then the other : it was not signed. He unsealed the blank seal of the envelope before taking out a sheet of parchment on which were written two words.

— "Edo Tensei ?" Read Ashina Uzumaki in a low voice.

He had no idea what the inscription meant. His first thoughts were that it might be a person or a Jutsu, but he couldn't be sure. He put the letter and the envelope in one of his pockets and decided to concentrate on this detail later.

— "Rest in peace... my friend," Ashina added before closing Madara's eyes as he looked in the direction of where Sakura and Mito had been earlier.

Ashina then had the graves or what was left of these four people taken away. They each deserved to be buried with dignity and respect.

However, Ashina was slow to decide what to do for his son-in-law. If he only listened to all the resentment he had, he would have had Hashirama's body thrown into the mass grave, but he remembered that even though it had started out as an arranged marriage, Mito sincerely loved the man who had been chosen for her. And while he was alive, Hashirama Senju had also loved his wife deeply.

But he had more important things to do than think about the burial of his dead son-in-law, for a whole country was now in mourning. All the inhabitants knew that their lords had given their lives to protect them and it was necessary to organise a ceremony worthy of them. Everyone had to be able to pay their respects to the deceased before they could return to their final home.

In the private gardens of the Daimyô's house there were now two finely decorated tombstones under which lay the legendary Uchiha Madara and Haruno Sakura, the late Heikage and Daimyô of Heiwa. They died defending their city, their country, their family... their vision of peace.

Every day, Ashina came to collect himself, first in front of the altar dedicated to the dead for the soul of his daughter, then he went to the graves of his dead friends.

Yes, today Ashina was not ashamed to say that he had considered Sakura and Madara as friends. And as he would have done if they were still present among them, Ashina didn't just come to pay his respects. He talked to them, told them what was happening in their country, gave them news of their loved ones and their child... but he always asked Madara what those two words on the paper that had appeared when Madara died could mean.

Indeed, the funeral had not yet taken place and the Uzumaki began to do a lot of research on the meaning of this inscription, but he could not find anything. Even when he presented this information at the council, he was left empty-handed. No one knew anyone by the name of Edo Tensei or even a technique by that name.

Ashina had begun by carefully studying the Fûinjutsu formulas inscribed on Madara's body before his body was prepared for burial. He had come to understand that the seals were complex and that they were obviously conditioned seals. Indeed, the letter he had found in Madara's hand could only have appeared under one or more conditions. Even for him, who was a virtuoso of Fûinjutsu, he could not decode the formulas inscribed. He couldn't tell if it was Sakura's work or someone else's.

But even if he could get an answer to the first question, Ashina still had no idea what conditions were required for the envelope to appear, and it didn't help him to know what it meant either.

It had been a week since the second and final battle of the shinobi gods had ended and many tears had been shed. Many innocent people had perished in that battle, but especially their two leaders who had made this place a reality.

As usual, Ashina went to the private gardens of the Daimyô to visit the two graves. This place was reserved for very few people and no outsiders were allowed to come.

Except that today, there was already someone in front of the two tombs, and that bothered Ashina a lot. He approached with quick steps before taking a closer look at the person with his back to him. He was quite tall, dressed in a white kimono and carrying a staff like he had never seen before.

— "Hello Ashina...," said the person's deep, gentle voice.

— "Who are you ?" Ashina commanded and was very surprised that this person knew him when he had no idea who he was.

— "My name doesn't really matter Ashina," said the caller.

— "It does to me, who are you and what are you doing here ?" Ashina demanded as he pulled out his katana and prepared for a possible attack.

— "Put your weapon away Ashina, I've just come to visit the grave of two friends."

Ashina stepped around the figure to see his profile and what he saw left him slightly stunned and shocked. The stranger was a wrinkled old man with a long goatee reaching the middle of his chest, but what impressed the Uzumaki even more were his eyes : Rinnegan !

— "That's impossible," Ashina muttered at the discovery.

— "Nothing is impossible my child," the Rinnegan bearer said, turning his head towards the old man.

— "Who are you ?" Ashina asked uncertainly.

— "I am the one your legends call the Rikudô Sennin."

Hearing that name, Ashina couldn't believe it, it was something unthinkable, impossible. It was only a legend that he was told at night to fall asleep, the story of a man capable of anything, with the powers of a god and who ruled the earth for centuries.

— "This cannot be..."

— "Come closer Ashina, there's room for two," said the Rikudô before returning his attention to the two tombs as the man approached after putting away his weapon.

His memories of Madara and the power of the legendary ward told him that he had no chance against this man, especially since he was in full possession of not one, but two Rinnegan ! He sat down next to the old hermit, leaving a meter of distance before staring at the two tombstones.

— "Where did you know them from ?"

— "They were what I waited a thousand years for as an arbiter," Hagoromo said with a habit of being deeply enigmatic in his words.

— "How so ?" Ashina asked, not quite sure he understood his words.

— "What do you know about the legend of the Rikudô Sennin ?"

— "It's a children's tale about a man who had the powers of a god, who single-handedly ravaged armies, who ruled the world for centuries. I only know what my parents told me, because there is no written evidence of that long-gone time," the old Uzumaki replied.

— "It's partly true," Ôtsutsuki said wearily.

— "What does that have to do with you knowing these two people ?" The Uzumaki asked sharply, not wanting to be swayed by the claims of this stranger, Rikudô or not.

— "What do you know about the child of the prophecy ?" The hermit asked without answering the previous question.

It irritated Ashina that he had no answers, but his instincts told him that he would get them by answering this individual's questions.

— "The child of the prophecy ? It is said that one day a person will come and bring peace to the world, this is what is written in the secrets of my clan," Ashina recalled her ancient scrolls. Then as he said this, a question came to his mind. "Was Madara..."

— "The child of prophecy ? No."

— "What do you mean no ?" Ashina wondered at the statement, to him it couldn't be otherwise, Madara must have been since he had the Rinnegan.

— "Madara was not the child of the prophecy, he could not have been, for his destiny was quite different," the hermit continued in a voice filled with the weight of years and accumulated wisdom. "Ever since the world began, war and hatred have been present in the hearts of men. I made sure that it stopped, but like everyone else, I had to leave my place to the new generation, and that is what I did. I left this mission to my two children. But they too fought for power. And for centuries the cycle of hatred was perpetuated as the souls of my children were reincarnated to fight each other again and again, perpetuating the same cycle of hatred."

The hermit had said the end of that sentence so wearily that Ashina thought he couldn't lie about it. The Uzumaki was far from stupid, far from it, and he understood that if the Rikudô was saying such words at Madara's grave, it was because Madara must be one.

— "Madara was the reincarnation of one of your children, wasn't he ?"

— "Right, and Hashirama of the second... and for the first time in centuries, both of them wanted only one thing : peace. And yet they still went to war with each other, the cycle of hatred was once again perpetuated."

— "Where do you know Sakura from ?" Ashina asked, his analytical mind racing. He was trying to figure out where this conversation was leading him. He needed to know why such a legendary being was making all these confessions to him.

What was the purpose ?

— "She was why I waited so long, she was the reason why I remained passive the first time," Ôtsutsuki said cryptically.

— "The first time ?" The Uzumaki exclaimed in incomprehension.

— "Almost three years ago, I took Sakura Haruno back in time."

— "You did what ?" The old man almost shouted at this revelation, he wasn't especially prepared to hear such a thing. The Rikudô Sennin wasn't just a legend, he really was the God described in his childhood with powers beyond human comprehension.

The Uzumaki's reaction did not disturb Hagoromo at all and he continued his explanation, as if he was explaining the simplest thing in the world.

— "This woman was born in the year 82 after the battle between Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha at the Valley of the End. I chose to bring her back to that time so that the cycle of hatred would finally end."

— "Why did you do this ?" Ashina asked completely dumbfounded and he understood by this revelation why Sakura had a similar seal to his daughter : the future. Everything matched in his mind, the seal, her knowledge, her techniques... it all made sense. Sakura was also powerful because she came from another time when she had learned everything she knew.

— "Why ? Because being a Rikudô Sennin has many advantages and the gift of seeing the future is one of them. So I waited a thousand years watching the world kill each other, watching my children hate each other for generations in silence until finally... Sakura Haruno was born."

— "What did you see in her to wait for her birth ?"

— "Over the centuries, the legend of the Child of Prophecy has continued to be passed down because he was a symbol of hope for mankind, though he was much more than that : the prophecy was real and would one day be fulfilled. For this reason, many boasted that they had found the chosen one, that they had trained him. Many believed that Hashirama was the child of the prophecy, just as in Sakura's time, many considered Naruto Uzumaki to be the one who would bring peace to the world."

— "An Uzumaki ?" The old man from the clan in question asked.

— "Yes, one of your own became one of the reincarnations of my sons and what he did at that time led the world to a moment of peace. But despite this, the cycle of hatred was still present and it could not have been otherwise since Naruto was not the child of prophecy. Only one person deserved this title... that person was none other than Sakura Haruno and I had to wait more than 1000 years before finding her."

— "Why did you send her back in time ?" Ashina asked, not understanding why Sakura couldn't act in her future to fix the cycle of hatred.

— "In Sakura's time, the world was on the verge of extinction and the Fifth Great Shinobi War was about to be declared. The cycle of hatred was far from over, so I made sure that the Child of Prophecy fulfilled his destiny," the Rikudô revealed naturally.

— "What destiny ?"

— "To bring peace... but not peace as you mean it Ashina."

— "What do you mean ?"

— "You must understand, Ashina, that long before I became what I am, I had to fight a being even more powerful than myself. But for having succeeded in defeating this super-powerful being, it resulted in a curse on my descendants. My children were reduced to fighting each other indefinitely as they would be reincarnated forever unless... unless the Child of the Prophecy succeeded in allowing this cycle of hatred to end."

— "But how ? And did Sakura manage to do what you say ?" The Uzumaki questioned, puzzled by this explanation.

— "As I told you Ashina, being the Rikudô Sennin gives me the gift of vision and I saw that Sakura would only fulfill her destiny if she returned to the Sengoku Era and specifically to this decade. For the first time, the reincarnations of my son had the same idea : that of peace. There was no guarantee that subsequent reincarnations would have had the same intention. Besides, Sakura was old enough for me to take the first step in my own salvation."

Ashina turned his head sharply towards the old man, had he been dreaming or was the hermit implying that he had used Sakura under the guise of her being the Child of Prophecy.

— "You're not saying that you manipulated Sakura just to fulfill your desire to find rest ?" He snapped.

— "Take it as you will Ashina, but you know as well as I do that manipulating facts and people helps achieve certain goals. And if those goals are to accomplish the greater good, then yes, I admit I manipulated Sakura... and the world," Hagoromo said, staring at Ashina with a look he hadn't used in a long time : the look of someone who was ready for anything. I made Sakura accept this one possibility : to go back in time and save Madara. I also made sure she fell in love with him, just as I suggested she implant Hashirama's cells into Madara so that the Rinnegan would appear. Sakura was essential for the cycle of hatred to finally find a way out, for the curse on my descendants to end, and most importantly for my burden to be lifted... all so that I could finally be given a receptacle."

— "A receptacle ?"

— "Yes, each time the reincarnations of my sons were men ! And so the genes of my two children could never mix and that's where Sakura comes in. Thanks to the implantation of Hashirama's cells in Madara's body, he carried the cells of both my reincarnations in his body, right down to the cells of his seed. This is how Sakura fulfilled part of her destiny : to carry the child that would be able to contain the souls of my two children."

— "A part of his destiny ? And what was the other part ?" Asked Ashina, who could only be a spectator of what this being had done.

— "Another condition had to be in place for my salvation to be complete, for a receptacle without its contents is useless..."

Ashina did not like the way things were presented to his at all, and he could even say that he felt a certain anger to learn that this young woman, as well as all the others, had been manipulated by one person and for his personal benefit.

— "And what did she have to accomplish ?"

— "For the cycle of hatred of my descendants to finally end, the souls of Hashirama and Madara had to perish in a very short period of time, so that both souls would go into the person most suitable for each of them."

— "You... you just orchestrated their deaths ?" Ashina said shocked, almost disgusted that a being considered a God could have had so little compassion for these two men and their wives. Especially since for Sakura, there was now an orphan behind it.

— "No... Hashirama and Madara were destined to go to war no matter what, that was part of the curse : nothing could stop it. But yes, I still provoked fate : I allowed Hashirama to die that day. It was necessary and it could only be done by her."

— "How so ?" The Uzumaki asked, mixed between anger and curiosity.

— "I prevented Hashirama from dodging Sakura's last blow so that he would perish and now the reincarnations of my sons are both united in one person : Nozumi."

— "I'm not stupid and I can understand why you did it... but you're still scum to me !" Ashina said vehemently and angrily, and the Rikudô did not respond to this remark.

Ashina understood that this had to be done because as long as these children were reincarnated, war and death would always be present. Now, however, there was a chance for long-term peace.

There was a long silence between the two old men, disturbed only by the gentle breeze. They continued to stare at the graves in front of them, one thanking their sacrifices to the fulfilment of the prophecy, the other analysing all the information he had just received.

Then, after a moment, Ashina asked a question :

— "If Nozumi now contains the power of both your sons, doesn't that make her the equivalent of the next Rikudô Sennin ?"

— "Who knows," Hagoromo replied with a small smile that later turned into a tired pout.

Hagoromo Ôtsutsuki was very weary, it took an immeasurable effort for him to appear before Ashina like that and tell him everything he had just said. It had been so many centuries since the hermit should have left this world and stayed in the afterlife. But until the curse was lifted, he had no choice but to project this extension of himself into the physical world. And this manoeuvre required a lot of energy, but the old hermit knew that today was the last time he would use this method to deliver his teachings.

— "It was you who placed the Fûinjutsu seal on Madara's right hand, wasn't it ?" Ashina asked sharply.

— "That's right."

— "What were the conditions for activation ?"

— "You're a very smart person Ashina, to figure out that seal," Ôtsutsuki complimented.

— "I'm trying," the Uzumaki conceded.

— "I placed this seal on Madara, and it activated under two different conditions. Each with a consequence. The one you retrieved answered this one : Madara had to die followed by Sakura."

— "And the other condition was ?"

— "I wanted to make sure that Madara could resurrect Sakura at all costs if she lost her life before him."

— "What would have happened in that case ?" Ashina questioned, totally perplexed by what this being from another time had come up with.

— "Another envelope would have appeared and it contained only one word : Rinnegan. This ward has the ability to raise the dead...," the hermit explained before being interrupted.

— "Are you here to bring them back to life ?" Ashina asked hopefully.

— "No, I'm not."

— "Why not ? You are the equivalent of a God and you have two Rinnegan !"

— "Because that is not my role ! I guided the Child of Prophecy and now that the cycle of hatred is finally broken, I can pass this world on to the next generation without fear."

— "I don't understand ! You did all of this ! You manipulated Sakura her whole life ! And this is how you repay her ? Keeping her from seeing her daughter grow up, from being happy in the peaceful world she created with Madara, the man she loved !" Ashina exclaimed vehemently.

— "Tell me Ashina, if in the first envelope was a method of bringing Sakura back to life, what makes you think it's not the same in the letter you have in your pocket ?"

Hagoromo had just said something that made the Uzumaki stop dead in his tracks. His analytical mind was on edge, what did he mean by that sentence ?

— "Uh... you..."

But while Ashina couldn't find the words to this question and he couldn't clearly formulate his thoughts as it seemed so unreal, the Rikudô Sennin slowly began to disappear before the old man's eyes.

— "The solution to the Edo Tensei is in the scroll of forbidden techniques that you took from Konoha No Sato..."

Then the Rikudô Sennin disappeared for the very last time, leaving this world in peace and most importantly leaving Ashina to decide what would happen in the future.

What is true peace ?

Thank you for reading this story !