Chapter 721 - 721: Triumphant Return

On that day, when the brave heroes of the Hidden Leaf Village returned from the Moon, using the Giant Tenseigan to create a new bridge to Earth, humanity received a grim warning. They were not alone in this cold, empty universe… which now revealed itself to be not nearly as empty as they had once thought.

Upon her return, the Sixth Hokage immediately called a Gokage Summit into session.

There, she presented her fellow Kage with undeniable archaeological proof of alien activity on Earth's Moon. She implored her colleagues to reach an agreement with her for a continent-wide ceasefire, but when the question of weapons of mass destruction arose, they could not reach a satisfactory agreement.

The Hidden Sand, the Hidden Mist and the Hidden Stone wished to see the Hidden Leaf's orbital weapon and the Hidden Cloud's chakra cannon dismantled, but Kumogakure's Raikage Darui refused to proceed towards disarmament, given he now knew hostile extraterrestrial life existed.

Wary of the chakra cannon's strange payload, Sakura offered a compromise: in exchange for the cannon's decommissioning on the Cloud's part and monthly payments from the other Great Villages, she would allow them to establish a permanent presence on the Moon alongside the Hidden Leaf. These teams would be above, literally and metaphorically, the petty squabbles of the Earth below, and would cooperate to scan deep space for the approach of any Ōtsutsuki clan member.

Darui refused, but in exchange for Sakura reviving the thousands of Kumo-nin she had crystallised in the war two years ago and ensuring their safe return to Kumogakure, he agreed to allow periodic inspections of the chakra cannon by a neutral party: the Land of Iron's samurai.

Without a doubt, the Hidden Leaf lost an enormous amount of leverage by accepting this deal, but for the sake of peace, Sakura reluctantly signed the agreement. It was no great loss on her part, either way; if Kumo acted out again, she would just crystallise their armies again. She now had more than enough chakra to do so.

Unwilling to accept where Kumo had refused, Iwagakure's Tsuchikage Ōnoki also backed out of the agreement, simply out of principle.

As for Sunagakure's Pakura, her greatest wish was for the Land of Wind to throw off the shackles of its corrupt rulers, who answered to the Land of Fire's elite. For almost its entire existence, Suna had been subordinate to Konoha; they had earned their independence through blood and tears, so there was nothing she wished to see less than a return to the old ways. She refused to participate in any sort of joint venture with the Leaf.

This left only Hōzuki Mangetsu, Kirigakure's Sixth Mizukage. Thanks to their Hydrification Jutsu, he and his brother Suigetsu had survived the razing of Kiri's invasion fleet, but Hinata's awesome power had left an indelible scar in his mind. It was simply suicide to oppose these monsters.

"I'll sign the mutual defence agreement," Mangetsu had said. "The Ōtsutsuki clan represents a clear and present danger to the Land of Water and the world."

Pakura had shaken her head at that.

"You're making a mistake, Mizukage, take it from someone who's been in your position," she had said. "Konoha will wring you dry for benefits and leave behind nothing but a lifeless husk."

This was naturally excellent news for the Land of Fire and its closest ally, the Land of Waves. Kirigakure joining hands with Konohagakure meant no more privateering; the capitalists' shipping lanes were at last safe from Kiri-affiliated pirates sailing the high seas.

Though the Sixth Hokage hadn't obtained nearly as many of the things she would have liked from the Gokage Summit, she remained optimistic. She had won a small victory by making a deal with the notoriously difficult Raikage, and she had forged a new alliance with the Mizukage.

The state of the shinobi continent was nowhere near that of the peaceful era in the original timeline, which had resulted from all nations banding together to face a common enemy, but in her opinion, it was a step in the right direction.

And so, the Gokage Summit concluded with the Sixth Hokage's announcement of her hidden village's return to real-space. Once again, the Hidden Leaf Village was the Land of Fire's Konohagakure!

…

The Hidden Leaf's shift back to its original location went surprisingly smoothly.

Thanks to the ANBU's efforts, spreading rumours amongst the locals that the razed wasteland which had once been the Hidden Leaf Village was haunted by the ghosts of its dead, the area had remained completely deserted, making it unnecessary to displace any shantytowns that might have sprung up in the village's absence.

Karin and the sealing squad smoothly undid the Great Mountain Seal, and with a loud pop, it was done; it was as if they had never left. Save for a few spots on the outskirts where trees had sprung up and merged with the old ones that had vanished along with the Hidden Leaf, there was no physical damage to the village's infrastructure, including its plumbing and underground power lines.

A few days later, a massive, oblong object appeared in the sky above the Hidden Leaf Village. However, it was not a UFO as some citizens feared, but rather a brand-new airship Tazuna and his fellow craftsmen had crafted back in the Land of Redaku.

Sasuke and Tsubaki were back, and they had returned with a cure for the First Hokage! Of course, his sickness hadn't been advertised to the general public, so on the books, their adventure was treated as a bodyguard mission.

In any case, Sakura wasted no time preparing an experiment with the silvery Ultra Particles retrieved from Redaku. After testing a single particle's effect on a prisoner, whose chakra swelled uncontrollably and caused her to explode, the results were, predictably, mostly inconclusive.

"There's no time to waste on any further experiments," Tobirama said crossly. "Elder Brother's chakra has almost been extinguished; if there is any expansion, it will be the dilation of his shrivelled pathways."

And so, Sakura had Hashirama enter a special isolation chamber constructed by Tobirama and Orochimaru. Upon exposure to a small dose of the particles, colour quickly returned to his cheeks, and before long, his lustrous black hair had regained its shine.

"Look, Tobirama!" Hashirama said excitedly, morphing his arms into squiggly branches. "I'm all better!"

Without warning, Tobirama grabbed Sakura and kissed her on the cheek.

"For an Uchiha," he said begrudgingly, "you're not so bad."