The chamber was quiet again.
Reina still held Akashi close, as if she could wrap him in chakra and keep him small forever.
But the door opened once more — this time slower, controlled.
A tall man with broad shoulders and quiet footsteps entered. His crimson armor bore the insignia of Uzushiogakure's ruling crest, but his eyes betrayed something deeper.
Not the calm of a leader.
The worry of a father.
"Akashi…"
His voice was low, pained.
"I came as soon as I heard."
Akashi turned. The calm slipped from his face.
"Father."
His father crossed the room in seconds, placing a strong hand on his shoulder.
"They said you faced… him. The Kumo prodigy. Ay."
Akashi nodded.
"We won't call it victory. But we're alive."
His father studied him, gaze falling on the faint ripple in Akashi's eyes.
Not glowing now — but it didn't need to. He could feel it pulsing beneath the surface.
"Your eye… Ashina said it awakened."
"It did," Akashi replied. "And I felt what I could become."
There was pride in his father's face — but also fear.
"Power like that… will make the world want to shape you."
"Promise me, Akashi—"
"Whatever happens next, you won't let them decide who you are."
Akashi didn't promise.
He simply looked his father in the eye and said:
"I already decided."
---
The Next Morning – Elder Council Hall
The chamber was stone, etched with sealing scripts as old as the village.
Twelve figures sat in a circle — clan heads, high-ranking shinobi, fūinjutsu masters. They murmured like doves in a storm.
One elder leaned forward, hands clasped.
"If the boy truly brought Ay to his knees… then the stories were true. The Emperor Eye has awakened."
Another nodded gravely.
"And it awakened in that bloodline. At the cusp of war."
Ashina entered the room then, calm as always.
"You should speak less of prophecy… and more of preparation."
The room quieted.
"Akashi's strength is real," Ashina continued. "And so is the threat to our gates. Kumo's presence at our borders isn't coincidence. This was a test run."
An elder scoffed.
"We are the Uzumaki...The leaf will not abandon us...."
Another whispered.
"But, What if they don't come?."
Ashina's gaze narrowed.
"We don't run from storms in Uzushiogakure. We seal them."
---
But behind closed doors, one thought was growing louder:
A six-year-old had done what elite shinobi couldn't.
What will he become in ten years?
And deeper still…
What if he's our only chance?
---
The Council Hall was heavy with silence when Akashi entered.
He walked alone, flanked by no escorts.
Still wearing his black shinobi training gear, his red hair tied high, and his chakra perfectly restrained.
But his presence was undeniable.
Eyes turned. Whispers halted.
He walked to the center of the ring-shaped chamber and stood still, meeting each elder's gaze in turn — including his grandfather's.
Ashina gave no expression.
This was his test now.
---
The Speech
Akashi bowed formally. Then straightened, voice clear.
"I thank the council for allowing me to speak."
There was still something soft in his tone — that warmth he carried from his family, his village. But beneath it ran steel.
"I'm sure the news of our mission has already traveled across the walls. Yes — we encountered a Kumo team. Yes — Ay was among them. And yes, I stood against him."
There were murmurs, but he raised a hand gently.
"I'm not here to boast. I'm here because I believe it is time we face the truth."
He looked around, eyes sharp but kind.
"Uzu is in danger. The nations are shifting. Whispers of our sealing arts and hidden archives have reached more than one enemy's ear."
"We always assumed that Konoha would come — that the alliance would hold. That when our walls trembled, the Will of Fire would extend a hand."
He paused. Took a breath. And then:
"But this is not the Senju's Konoha."
"It is Sarutobi's Konoha."
---
Gasps rippled through the chamber.
Some elders narrowed their eyes. Others leaned in, intrigued.
Akashi pressed on.
"I speak from understanding — not malice. In my studies, I have read of Tobirama's diplomacy, Hashirama's promises, and the web of pacts built through blood and battle."
"But Hiruzen Sarutobi is not Hashirama."
"He sees survival as a balance of risk. If helping Uzu weakens Konoha's hold on its own borders — he will not send aid."
His voice rose, firm now.
"He will weigh us against his other priorities. And in that balance, we will fall."
---
Ashina's eyes narrowed — but not in disapproval.
He was watching a leader unfold.
"So what do we do?" Akashi asked the room, his tone dropping to a calm gravity.
"We prepare. Quietly. Thoroughly. We train our next generation. We fortify our fuinjutsu defenses. We deepen our underground networks."
"We do what Uzumaki have always done — endure."
---
He looked each elder in the eye once more.
"We cannot wait to be rescued."
"We must become the reason this village survives."
"Because if war comes… I swear on the blood of my clan — they will regret thinking us weak."
---
Silence. Then a slow, deliberate sound.
Ashina stood and began clapping.
One by one, the elders joined.
Not out of protocol.
But because they had seen the future standing before them — and it wore the name:
Akashi Uzumaki.
---