Chapter 13

Chapter 13 — Nine-Faced Suvaha

Lazy sunlight spread across the grass as children from the Konoha Orphanage played and laughed under the supervision of caretakers.

Although Yakushi Kabuto had left only two days earlier, they were still children. Their lively nature quickly returned, and laughter once again filled the orphanage.

Yakushi Nono stood by the office window, watching the children outside. A gentle smile appeared on her face.

She wished this moment could last forever.

“Director… are you really leaving?”

An older caretaker approached from behind, gripping the edge of her apron with visible concern.

She had been present the night Danzō came to the orphanage.

“Yuna, after I leave, I’ll be entrusting the children to all of you,” Nono said, turning with a perfectly composed smile.

The caretaker sighed.

“We finally managed to bring the orphanage to its current state…”

Much of its funding had been gathered personally by Nono—mission rewards, along with compensation earned when she brought Ah-Qi and Kabuto to the front lines to provide medical support for shinobi.

For ninja like them, missions were nearly the only way to earn money.

Nono smiled gently to reassure her.

“Don’t worry. It’ll only be two or three years. I’ll come back.”

“And Kabuto… I’ll find a way to bring that child back as well.”

After Yuna left, Nono returned to the window, quietly watching the children playing beneath the warm sunlight.

Then she noticed a lone figure beneath a distant tree.

“Menma?”

She felt an inexplicable unease as her departure approached. She climbed out the window and walked toward him.

Under the shade, Menma sat alone, separated from the joyful crowd, focused on something in his hands.

“Menma, come play with everyone!” a caretaker called.

“I don’t want to,” he replied calmly, continuing to fiddle with the object.

The caretaker sighed and allowed him to remain alone as long as he stayed within sight.

When Nono approached, she finally saw what he was holding.

A dark red fox doll.

Its head was wrapped in cloth, covered by a white fox mask.

“Do you like this kind of doll? Did you give it a name?” she asked gently, without questioning where it came from. The orphanage often received donated toys, many repaired by the staff.

Menma lifted the doll and showed it to her seriously.

“Nine-Faced Fox… Tama.”

The toy looked strange—black feet, a black tail tip, its head bound beneath a white mask marked with the character “玉” (Tama).

Nono assumed it was simply two damaged dolls stitched together and did not investigate with chakra perception.

She crouched down.

“Menma… do you have a dream?”

As parting drew near, she realized she knew the least about this youngest child. He had never spoken about dreams before.

“Dream…”

Menma lowered his head and thought.

Once, he wanted to return to the real world.

He had even provoked the Fourth Great Ninja War within the Inifinite Tsukuyomi world, bringing suffering to force reality itself to reject him.

Now he had returned—yet existed as someone absent from the original world’s history.

If there was pressure, it came from the oppressive presence beyond the sky.

With the Dark Nine-Tails sealed within him and the newly developed Nine-Faced Fox: Tama, he now possessed a summon comparable to an elite jōnin. Ordinary Kage-level ninja were no longer threats.

Only Uchiha Madara, NaGatō at full strength, and Uchiha Itachi still posed danger.

And beyond them—

Kaguya Ōtsutsuki sealed within the moon.

And the Ōtsutsuki clan that might descend twenty years later.

Menma raised his head and spoke seriously:

“I want a peaceful world without war.”

Only without war could the shinobi world unify its strength and advance.

Or perhaps terrestrial wars no longer satisfied Uzumaki Menma.

The enemies he would face came from beyond the heavens.

“A peaceful world without war…” Nono murmured.

She once believed Kabuto was the most mature child.

Now it seemed Menma might surpass even him.

Late that night, after packing her belongings, Yakushi Nono bid farewell to the caretakers she had worked beside for years.

Kind women—some war orphans themselves, others villagers volunteering in their spare time—all deeply respected their director.

Under their watchful gazes, she exited through the side gate.

Passing the dormitory, she paused outside the window to look at the sleeping children one last time.

Then she disappeared into the night.

She did not notice—

High above the orphanage, beneath the star-filled sky, Menma floated silently wearing a white three-eyed fox mask, watching her leave.

Beside him hovered a robed female summon wearing a fox mask, cradling a miniature Nine-Tails. Ribbons flowed around her like ripples in the night wind.

This was Nine-Faced Suvaha — Heavenly Maiden, created from Dark Nine-Tails chakra.

It possessed flight and wielded ribbon-based combat techniques.

Its true form was Nine-Faced Fox: Tama.

The Nine-Faced Suvaha technique could only be developed through cooperation with Nine-Tails chakra and had become Uzumaki Menma’s signature ninjutsu.

The Nine Beasts were designated in order:

Seiryū, Byakko, Suzaku, Genbu, Kinja, Nanto Sennin, Hokuto Sennin, Shinigami, Tennyo—

Corresponding to:

Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise, Golden Serpent, Southern Sage, Northern Sage, Shinigami, and Heavenly Maiden.

Like the Akatsuki organization, each possessed unique abilities. Individually, they rivaled elite jōnin; together, their combined power reached Kage level.

“I should begin moving as well.”

Menma’s whisper dissolved into the night wind.

After watching Yakushi Nono vanish into darkness, he turned and flew toward Konoha’s towering gates.