31 A Crow

The search for Jin was reaching a boiling point. It had been weeks since he disappeared and the village had mobilized the Aburame and Hyuuga sensory divisions along with some Inuzuka and the one and only Sakumo Hatake. You could say the strength of this group was enough to go against a low-Kage tier if not average.

Hiruzen was in his office, wearing a deep frown. He had contacted the Head of the Senju clan, but due to their rivalry with the Uchiha, he decided to not mobilize any troops. Chen was not findable at the moment, he seemed to have taken his new student somewhere secret to training him.

Feeling a massive headache coming on, his frown deepened. They couldn't afford to lose a talent of this caliber. Jin was on his way to becoming one of the strongest ninjas in the village.

The problem was that Iwagakure and Kumogakure were awaiting an opportunity to strike. He was scared to leave so many troops at Sora-Ku, including Sakumo and Goro.

"Argh..." He put his hand on his forehead, a decision had to be made.

At this moment, the door opened and three figures walked in, It was none other than Danzo, along with the rest of the Konoha council.

"Hiruzen, you can't mobilize so many troops for an Uchiha kid. It's preposterous!" Danzo took the lead with his signature objection to whatever Sarutobi did.

"He's right, Saru. You should retrieve the troops immediately. The village will be weakened without our sensory divisions!" Koharu looked concerned.

"Hiruzen, That kid had potential, yes. But is it worth it when the threat of Kumo and Iwa looms over us?" Homura had a serious look on his face.

Hiruzen looked at them for a while, before shouting.

"Damnit... ANBU!"

A bunch of ANBU appeared out of nowhere and prostrated themselves in front of him.

"Send this message to the frontlines! If they do not find Jin in two more weeks, RETREAT!"

"Hai! Hokage-Sama!"

The ANBU quickly dispersed after hearing the message.

"Tsk..." Danzo wasn't pleased. That kid was a pest, if he grew, he might become the next Madara. Or even worse, threaten his plans to become the next Hokage.

With a glare, he left the premises and summoned his subordinates in the same fashion as Hiruzen. A bunch of masked ninja wearing cloaks appeared in front of him and prostrated themselves.

"Danzo-sama, what are your orders?" The leading ninja spoke for his peers.

"Have a team start sowing discord between the Uchiha and the various clans. Tell them to spread rumors about the Uchiha and have another team go and intervene with the frontlines' efforts to find Jin."

"Hai, Danzo-sama." This time, all of them replied before disappearing out of sight.

Danzo, left alone, started murmuring to himself.

"I have to get rid of those damn Uchiha. I'll one day have them killed and I will retrieve all of their eyes for myself!" He started laughing maniacally, his plan was just getting started.

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Goro was on the front lines looking for Jin when he received a message. This message infuriated him like no other.

"How do they dare! We lose Jin and you give us only two weeks? This is unacceptable!" Goro was starting to become furious. It seemed like their clan wasn't as important as the others.

Blinded by anger, he continued the search for his beloved nephew along with Hanami, who had also mobilized. After telling her what he had just read, Hanami almost burst into tears. Was her son only worth two weeks?

"Please be safe, Jin..."

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Back at Yatagarasu Canyon, it had been months now, and Konoha had finally given up on the search. A memorial had taken place, as Jin's grave was placed next to his father's.

Hideki and Fugaku were both broken, and they decided to seclude themselves. Hideki left to the cat fortress, and Fugaku left the village in search of a summon. They did not know how long it would take, but they would come back stronger and achieve their dreams together.

Of course, they received permission from their parents, Sakumo and the Hokage.

Jin had been unconscious for the whole time, laying on a small nest.

What looked like a maid was taking care of his every necessity, as she was ordered to take care of him until the integration was complete.

As she was about to change his clothes, Jin's eyes suddenly opened. He felt a massive headache as he placed both of his hands on his forehead.

"Argh... What happened? Where am I?" He looked around and saw that he was in a small room, with a maid beside him. She was frozen in place as she looked at him.

"Excuse me, where am- Shit! Where are the rest? Is everyone okay?!" He suddenly remembered about the fight at the entrance of the sky district. Panic filling him, he thought about his cousins and clan.

"Success! I have to report, Caw!" She let out a strong caw that exactly the same as a crow's, before transforming into one and flying away.

"What the hell?" Jin was confused. He got up and walked onto one of the nest's walls. When he did so, he almost fell off as what was under him was a massive cliff. The air rose from down there, lifting his hair up as he looked around.

What he saw was unbelievable. A massive amount of crows flying around a huge Canyon. The walls of the Canyon had massive trees hanging from them, which contained houses made of straw and other materials.

"Where am I?" He had never seen such a place before, even in the anime. He tried to activate his Sharingan but noticed that his chakra would not respond. He couldn't summon any of it.

"Nice, now what?" He couldn't leave this place without chakra, not to mention exploring it. He couldn't help but think about his family as he sat down on the floor, letting his feet dangle down.

"I have to get back..." He sat there, in deep thought for a while, until a huge crow rose from under him.

"Kid! Get on my back!" It sounded haughty as it commanded for Jin to hop on it. Without thinking about it too much, he did so. He wasn't really in a position to ask any questions.

As they flew, Jin saw more of the place. It was an established civilization, and the air was thick around here. There was some kind of energy pressuring him.

It wasn't too long before they reached the end of the Canyon, and there stood a tree that was about half the size of the god tree in Naruto. It held countless little nests and a massive house-like one in the middle. The word 'Yatagarasu' was written on it.

"Damn, that's a big tree..." Jin was stupefied, he had never seen such a tree in his past life. It was quite a sight to behold.

After passing through a couple of guard crows, they arrived at the main hall, where a cloaked person was sitting on their throne. Jin immediately recognized the mysterious individual from before.

"You! Where are the Uchiha!" Jin's anger exploded at the sight of this person. He was scared for his family.

"Kukukuku... Young Jin, relax. They're back in Konoha with the rest. You should worry about yourself since they think you're dead."

"What?! They think I'm dead!?" Jin didn't even have the time to sigh in relief as the cloaked person handed him another bombshell.

"You see, right now, you are in Yatagarasu Canyon. One of the seven wonders of the world, and the homeland of my Crow Clan. The name is Karasu, and I am the leader of the Clan." He took off his hood, revealing a mask in the shape of an ominous crow.

"You have been chosen by the gods to enact their will. I can't go too deep into this yet, as I am afraid you wouldn't understand."

Jin was visibly confused. Gods? Did he mean the Ootsutsuki? He decided to keep quiet about his knowledge though, as it may bring more harm than good to know too much.

"The God's emissary has been sent down in the shape of a three-legged crow, it has been the honor of our sacred clan to be the harbingers of the prophecy. We got our hands on you as soon as we could and had the emissary fuse with your body, granting you new abilities and the will of God itself." Karasu started laughing as his hair stood on end.

"Techniques? What do you mean?" Jin asked curiously. What was all of this about? And did he really have a crow in his body? He started looking at himself in confusion.

"You'll learn with time. For now, I will explain some things to you. Since Ojou-sama has assimilated with you, you are effectively part of our clan. This will give you the ability to summon us anywhere and anytime." Karasu flicked his hand, and a crow went up to Jin, removing his left wristband. What was revealed was a Kanji symbol for 'Crow" located the bottom of his wrist, right under his palm.

"You just have to apply some of your blood to it and perform the summoning technique to summon members of our kind."

"Sweet!" Jin was somewhat happy. Although he still did not understand what was going on and wanted some more answers, he was a little satisfied with this piece of good news.

"Your chakra will take at least three years to come back under control, as it is merging with Ojou-sama's. During this period, you will be unable to use it." Karasu said while smiling inwardly.

"Three years!?" Jin was dismayed. He couldn't use his chakra for that long?