37 Aftermath

Due to the explosion, the cloud cover was dispersed and the sun was now shining down on the battlefield. A huge crater was now visible and in the middle of it was a wooden golem with a young ninja on top.

Nawaki did not hesitate to take action. He immediately had the golem slam both hands into the ground. After a moment, the ground started rumbling and 2 huge wooden dragons emerged on either side of B.

The two dragons relentlessly attacked B and kept him occupied as Nawaki charged forward on the golem. Once he was about 30 feet from B, he weaved through some hands signs and jumped off of the golem. As he landed, he slammed his hands into the ground. "Mokuton: Taju Mokuryu no Jutsu" (Multiple Wooden Dragon).

Several additional wooden dragons emerged from the ground and attacked B. Now he was blatantly overwhelmed. Within a few seconds, multiple dragons wrapped around B and sunk their teeth into him.

As the dragons tightened their grip on B, the chakra cloak started to fade revealing his burnt skin. It was healing rapidly but the cloak continued to fade. After about 30 seconds, the cloak completely dissipated and B was unconscious.

When Nawaki was about to move in to detain the hachibi, another huge explosion rang out across the battlefield. Looking to the source, a half destroyed skeletal susanoo was lying on the ground and A was standing over it.

Nawaki immediately turned away from B and took out a three pronged kunai. He threw it across the battlefield towards Koryu. As it reached the apex of its trajectory, it had covered half of the distance. In that instant, Nawaki teleported to the kunai, grabbed it, and threw it straight towards Koryu.

As the kunai flew through the air, Nawaki looked down at Koryu. At that moment, A jabbed at Koryu who was on the ground with a 3 fingered assault. His hand was clad in lightning. Almost instantaneously, A's hand stabbed through Koryu's chest and blood splattered.

Nawaki's eyes widened and he screamed, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" After a short moment, the kunai had arrived on the ground next to Koryu but A had already disappeared in a blur.

He then teleported to the kunai and knelt down. Nawaki then picked up Koryu and sprinted towards the back line. After a short moment, they arrived at the back line and Nawaki placed Koryu on the ground.

As Koryu's body hit the ground, Fugaku ran over and knelt down before frantically saying, "Dad, what happened?!?!" Koryu was barely staying awake. He coughed up some blood and said, "Fugaku, come here."

While this was happening, Nawaki was applying first aid. He was using his senjutsu boosted mystical palm jutsu to heal Koryu as fast as he could. Sadly, he had already lost too much blood and he had internal organ damage. Nawaki decided he would keep trying but chances were not looking too good.

Fugaku leaned closer to his father. Koryu then said, "Fugaku, you have great friends. Keep them close to you. They will help guide you back on course when you lose your way. Take care of the family for me. Tell your mother I love her and will always be watching over her. Lastly, give my best to Shunsui sama. I trust that he will support you as if you were his own son."

Tears started streaming down Fugaku's face as he screamed, "NO OTOU SAN! YOU CAN'T DIE HERE! NAWAKI WILL HEAL YOU!" Koryu coughed up more blood and said in a faint voice, "Nawaki, it's okay. My time has come. Fugaku, everything will be alright. One last thing before I go; Nawaki, come here boy."

Nawaki leaned down and placed his ear next to Koryu's face. Koryu then whispered, "I leave them to him. I trust you to keep them safe and give them to him when the time is right. They will be my legacy and I hope he puts them to good use."

A stream of tears then started to run down Nawaki's face as he replied softly, "Leave it to me Koryu san. They will be his when he is ready."

Hearing this, Koryu said to Fugaku, "Boy, everything will be alright. I will always love you. My only regret is not being able to see you grow up. I'll see you on the other side, my son." At this point, Fugaku was hysterical. A steady stream of tears were coming down his face and he was weeping.

With these last words, Koryu took one last breath, and smiled as he closed his eyes for the last time. As he went out, the last images to go through his head were his family, the Uchiha crest, and the view of Konohagakure. He thought to himself, 'I'm sorry honey. I guess I lied. I won't be coming home.' Then, he went limp as he departed the mortal plane.

As he exhaled his last breath, Fugaku screamed in agony as he buried his face in his palms. Nawaki moved forward to comfort him but suddenly, Fugaku's hands shot down to his side and black flames shot out of his eye and landed on the ground nearby. More and more flames started to shoot out.

Nawaki thought to himself, 'Holy shit, he just awakened his mangekyou.' Without hesitating, he leaped forward and arrived behind Fugaku. In a smooth and sweeping motion, he landed a chop on the back of Fugaku's neck. Fugaku was instantly knocked unconscious and fell to the ground.

Suddenly a voice yelled out, "RETREAT!" Nawaki quickly pulled out a storage scroll and sealed Koryu's body inside it. Zora then landed on the ground next to Nawaki and said, "Both sides are retreating. We should get out of here."

Nawaki nodded before picking up Fugaku and hopping onto Zora's back. The three of them then took off to head back to camp.

The atmosphere back at camp was quite solemn. Both sides lost a lot of lives. Since it was a stalemate, it was approximately even. This was largely in part to Nawaki subduing the hachibi.

Nawaki brought Fugaku to the field hospital and laid him down on a bed. He then went back outside. He turned to Zora and said, "You can go and get some rest my friend. There is no need for you to stick around."

Zora nodded and then disappeared in a puff of smoke. Nawaki then went back in to see Biwako examining Fugaku. He then said, "He is fine. I knocked him out so he didn't hurt himself."

Biwako turned to Nawaki. She had a solemn look on her face. In a soft voice she said, "That is good. I was checking him over and couldn't find any injuries. I was wondering why you brought him here. Is there anything you need Nawaki chan?"

Nawaki hesitated for a moment before saying, "May I borrow an operating room? I need to do something and it is time sensitive and highly confidential."

Biwako let on a confused but intrigued expression. She then said, "I won't ask any questions but make it quick. I doubt it will be long before other people in need of medical attention return."

Nawaki smiled and said, "Thank you so much Biwako san. I'll be as quick as I can." He quickly went through the field hospital building and entered a secluded operating room in a corner.

Kensho then popped up and said, "I guess you finally get to stretch your fingers. The last time you did anything like this was before you came to this world. It's kinda nostalgic eh?"

Nawaki chuckled as he took out the scroll containing Koryu's body and placed it on the table. He then said, "Yes, it has been a while. Hopefully I'm not too rusty. The cleaner I can extract the eyes, the quicker Fugaku's recovery will be when they are transplanted."

Kensho nodded and said, "Yup. I'll shut up now and let you focus." Nawaki then unfurled the scroll and revealed Koryu's lifeless body. He took some disinfectant out of his inventory. He cleaned his hands and then used some gauze to disinfect the area around Koryu's eyes. Next, he pulled a cloth mask out of his inventory to avoid contaminating the corpse. To complete his preparations, he pulled a sealed jar with a saline solution in it to preserve the eyes.

(I'm no doctor, but I thought that this kinda makes sense to preserve an organ)

Nawaki then pushed some wood out of the end of his fingers and made two prongs to keep Koryu's eyelids open. He put them in place and then put his fingers above and below his eye sockets.

Nawaki then closed his eyes and sensed the inner structure. 'Wow, being able to sense stuff like this is so much easier than having to go in blind.' He then opened his eyes and created a chakra scalpel on his index finger.

In a smooth and extremely delicate motion, he manipulated the blade to sever the optical nerve, liberating the eye from the socket's grasp. He then pushed two fingers above the eye and one below into the socket. This removed the eye from the socket, leaving it in Nawaki's hand.

After placing the eye in the jar, he repeated the process with the other eye to complete the extraction. Once he was done, he sealed the jar and placed it in his inventory for safe keeping. Then he used the disinfectant to clean his hands and Koryu's face before resealing him in the scroll.

Once everything was cleaned up, he disposed of the garbage and went to tell Biwako that he was done. As he arrived back in the primary care area, he noticed that it was much more lively than before. Every bed was filled and there was a line to get more treatment for minor injuries.

As Nawaki scanned across the room, he saw that Fugaku had woken up and was drinking some water. He quickly walked over to the bed.

Fugaku had a very confused and distraught look on his face. He was seemingly still in shock. Nawaki pulled a chair over to the bed and sat down. He looked at his friend and said, "How are you feeling?"

Fugaku slowly looked up and stared blankly at Nawaki. His eyes showed no emotion. They were seemingly as empty as the void. He then softly said, "He is dead. I honestly don't know how I feel."

Nawaki sighed and then replied, "Yes, he is dead. But he did not die for nothing. We are going to win the war on this front for him and prevent more needless casualties. I promise you that."

Hearing this, Fugaku closed his eyes and let his head gently fall back against the wall. He then said, "I guess you're right. He seemed like he was able to die happily. I can still see the smile on his face. However, I was curious about something. What did he whisper to you? I don't remember you and my dad being particularly close."

Nawaki then hesitated for a moment and took a deep breath. He then said, "This is not the place to discuss it. We can talk about it later in my quarters after the meeting. All the jonin should be summoned soon to reorganize our forces."

He then reached out his hand and helped Fugaku out of the bed. They then headed over to the command center.

Once they arrived, the two of them made their way to the war room. Nawaki turned to Fugaku and said, "I'm going to go back to Konoha real quick and ask what we should do. We are in need of a new commander."

Fugaku nodded and stepped to the side. Nawaki then dropped one of his kunai in the corner of the room and disappeared in a brown flash.

-Back in Konoha-

Hiruzen was mulling over paperwork and reports from the various fronts. He was stuck in meetings all day long and was dreading to rinse and repeat the next day.

As if a saving grace was sent from the heavens, there was a knock on his door. He immediately perked up and said, "You may come in."

The door opened and it revealed a disheveled and quite distraught Senju boy. Hiruzen immediately said, "Why are you back here? Could you have not just sent a messenger hawk?"

Nawaki slowly walked into the room and said in a soft voice, "Koryu is dead. I came personally to find out what we should do."

Hiruzen dropped the papers he was holding in his hands and let on a shocked expression. He then said, "Inu, summon the war council members. We will be meeting in 20 minutes. Tell them that it is an emergency. Nawaki, come with me."

Hiruzen then led Nawaki out of his office and to the meeting room. He sat down at the head of the table and motioned for Nawaki to sit next to him. He then said, "Is there anything that I should know that shouldn't be brought up during the meeting?"

As he finished saying this, the door slammed open. The two of them looked to the entrance of the conference room and standing there was none other than Uchiha Shunsui.

He immediately said, "Is it true?" Nawaki got up from his seat and took out the scroll containing Koryu's body. He then handed it to Shunsui and said, "Sadly yes. This is his body. Since you're here, I can tell the two of you something that the other clan heads should not be privy to."

Shunsui sighed and said, "Please, enlighten us." Nawaki sighed and took the jar out of his inventory and placed it on the table. Hiruzen and Shunsui were shocked. "Is this…"

Nawaki nodded and said, "Koryu entrusted this responsibility to me. He wishes for Fugaku to receive them. It just so happens that he has awoken his mangekyou. I will most likely discuss it with Fugaku soon and carry out the transplant."

Hiruzen sighed and said, "Well I'll leave it to you then. It is only right to respect his dying wish. Do you have any objections to this Shunsui?"

Shunsui shook his head and said, "I am fine with it. Aside from my clanmates, I'd say that Nawaki is one of the only people I'd trust with this matter."

Hiruzen sat up and said, "Alright then. This information does not leave this room. Aside from Fugaku and the chief medic at your front, Biwako, no one can know about this. I declare this an S ranked secret."

For a few minutes, the three of them chatted as they waited for the other council members to arrive. Nawaki had a quick heartwarming reunion with Toka. Shortly thereafter, everyone took their seats and the meeting began.