Chapter 13: Nine-faced Su Ba He
The sunlight lazily spread across the grass, and the children of the Konoha Orphanage were playing and laughing on the grass in front of the orphanage under the caregivers’ watch.
Although Kabuto Yakushi had left just the day before, they were all just children after all, and they soon returned to their lively and active nature, with laughter and chatter echoing through the orphanage once more.
Nonō Yakushi leaned against the window of her office, watching the children playing outside, and also showed a gentle smile.
She so hoped that this moment could last forever.
“Director, are you really leaving?” Behind her, an elderly female caregiver walked over, clutching the edge of her apron, her face full of worry.
That night, when Danzō came to the door, she had been there as the director’s deputy.
“Yunna, after I leave, the children are entrusted to you all.” Nonō Yakushi turned around with a perfectly timed smile.
The female caregiver named Yunna sighed: “We’ve only just managed to run the orphanage into its current state with great difficulty.”
Much of the orphanage’s funds had been raised by Nonō Yakushi, including her own mission rewards as well as the rewards from taking Aqi and Kabuto to the front lines to provide medical aid to ninjas.
After all, for ninjas like them, besides earning money from missions, they could hardly think of any other ways to make money.
Nonō Yakushi smiled gently at Yunna, reassuring her: “Don’t worry, it’ll only be two or three years, and I’ll be back.”
“Also, that child Kabuto, I’ll find a way to bring him back.” Nonō Yakushi was still thinking about that clever child.
After Yunna left, Nonō Yakushi turned back to stand by the window, watching the children playing outside.
The sunlight shone on her face, warm just like her smile.
Suddenly, Nonō Yakushi saw a lonely child under a big tree in the distance, leaning against the tree, holding something in his hands.
“Menma?” Nonō Yakushi also had deep feelings for this special child, and for some reason, on the eve of her departure, she always felt a faint sense of unease.
She climbed out the window and slowly walked toward Menma.
Under the shadow of the big tree, Menma’s lonely figure stood in stark contrast to the laughing and playing children in the distance.
“Menma, come play the game too!” A caregiver stood with hands on hips, calling out to Menma.
“I don’t want to play.” Menma just replied flatly, then continued fiddling with the thing in his hands.
Seeing Menma refuse repeatedly, the caregiver also sighed, feeling helpless about this child.
She simply let him play alone nearby, as long as he didn’t disappear from her sight.
Nonō Yakushi slowly walked up to Menma and only then saw clearly that he was holding a dark red little fox in his hands, but the fox’s head seemed to be wrapped in some cloth, wearing a fox mask.
“Menma likes this kind of doll! Have you named it?” Nonō Yakushi didn’t ask about the doll’s origin; the orphanage often received donations from villagers, and it was normal to have some broken dolls or the like.
Most of the time, it was the caregivers who repaired these dolls.
“Um.” Menma held up the little fox with both hands for his foster mother Nonō Yakushi to see.
And said seriously: “Nine-Face Fox, Jade.”
Nonō Yakushi looked at this strange doll in astonishment; its four legs were black, the tips of its tails were black, the head seemed wrapped in cloth, and on the white fox mask there was also a ‘Jade’ character.
Nonō Yakushi just thought it was something the caregivers had stitched together from two different dolls, so she didn’t use chakra to sense or probe it.
“Hey, hey.” Nonō Yakushi squatted down and asked Menma gently: “Does Menma have any dreams?”
On the eve of parting, she realized she seemed to know the least about Menma, the youngest child, and had never heard him talk about any dreams.
“Dreams?” Menma put away the Nine-Face Fox, lowered his head, and thought for a moment.
Before, he had wanted to return to the real world.
To that end, he had not hesitated to provoke the Fourth Great Ninja War, bringing pain to the Ninja World of the Limited Tsukuyomi World in exchange for the world’s rejection.
Now that he was back, he had become a character that did not exist in the original main world.
If there was any pressure, it might be the oppression from the dome above.
With Dark Nine-Tails inside him, and now having developed ‘Nine-Face Fox · Jade’, possessing an elite jonin-level summon, ordinary kage-level ninjas were no longer his opponents.
Only Uchiha Madara, Nagato at his peak, and Itachi Uchiha posed some threat to him.
Then there was Kaguya Otsutsuki, sealed in the moon.
And the Otsutsuki Clan that might descend twenty years later.
Menma raised his head, looked at Nonō Yakushi, and said seriously with his small face: “I want a peaceful world without war.”
Without war, the power of the Ninja World could be unified for development.
Or rather, the wars on the ground were no longer enough for Uzumaki Menma; the enemies he had to face came from the dome above!
“A peaceful world without war…” Nonō Yakushi murmured to herself.
She used to think Kabuto was the most mature among these children, but now it seemed that perhaps Menma was the most mature one.
——————
Late at night, after Nonō Yakushi packed some personal items, she bid farewell to several caregivers she had worked with for many years.
They were all kind-hearted women; some were also war orphans, others had families in Konohagakure and occasionally came to help as volunteers.
But they all sincerely admired Director Nonō Yakushi.
Under their watchful eyes, Nonō Yakushi walked out of the orphanage through the side door, and passing by the dormitory where the children were sleeping, she glanced inside through the window at the soundly sleeping children.
Then she disappeared into the darkness.
Who knew how long it would be before she could return this time.
What Nonō Yakushi did not notice was that above the orphanage, Menma wearing the White Three-Eyed Fox Mask floated in the starry sky, quietly seeing her off.
Beside Menma, there also floated a female summon wearing a long robe and a fox mask, cradling a little Nine-Tails silently drifting, with ribbons unfolding like ripples in the night wind.
This was precisely the ‘Nine-Face Sūvarṇa · Celestial Maiden’ that Menma had developed using Dark Nine-Tails’ chakra.
It had the ability to float in the air and could fight with ribbons.
Its true form was ‘Nine-Face Fox · Jade’.
As Uzumaki Menma’s signature ninjutsu, Nine-Face Sūvarṇa could only be developed with Nine-Tails Chakra.
The codenames of the Nine-Faced Beasts were arranged in the order ‘Azure, White, Vermilion, Black, Golden, South, North, Three, Jade’.
Corresponding to ‘Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise, Golden Snake, Southern Dipper Immortal, Northern Dipper Immortal, Shinigami, Celestial Maiden’.
The codenames of the Nine-Faced Beasts were similar to those of the Akatsuki organization; each had special abilities, with individual combat power on par with elite jonin, and when the Nine-Faced Beasts fought together, they could erupt with kage-level combat power.
“I should get moving too.” Menma’s murmur dissipated into the night wind.
After seeing Nonō Yakushi disappear into the night, he turned and flew toward Konoha’s majestic gates.
