Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Dynasty Warriors or Romance of the Three Kingdoms they belong to Masashi Kishimoto and to Koei respectively.
I do however own this idea though xD.
This all started with an idea of a what if…a big one. What If Minato Namikaze, Fugaku Uchiha, Hiashi Hyuuga, Kushina Uzumaki, Mikoto Uchiha, and Hitomi Hyuuga were pulled into the Three Kingdoms Period? What if The Northern and Southern Mystic along with Zou Ci decided to pull in these six ninjas to help with the war? This is their story.
Also this story is AU. Times and personality will not match completely with the actual Naruto storyline. This story takes more in place with Dynasty Warriors/ Romance of the Three Kingdoms then Naruto anyways.
Prologue: Wars Never End!
It was a nice day in Konohagakure no Sato at least for now. War had broken out with Iwagakure no Sato a while ago. There was no telling how long the quiet would last after all. It was during this day that something would happen that would change the fate of the Elemental Nation's future forever.
Minato Namikaze sighed as he looked up at the clouds in the sky above him. He was wearing soft green shinobi pants, a white ninja tight shirt, black ninja sandals, and the traditional green Jounin vest over his white ninja shirt. He had clear and soft blue eyes, and wild sun yellow hair that spiked up lightly from his forehead, partially held up by his tight black headband. The headband was a dark black color with a metal plate in the center of it, and in the middle of the metal piece was the symbol of Konoha, a leaf. He when standing stood tall at five feet and ten inches. He was only seventeen and had not completely finished growing. He smiled over next to him to see his two teammates, Fugaku Uchiha son of the head of the prestigious Uchiha Clan, and Hiashi Hyuuga, oldest son of the current head of the noble Hyuuga Clan.
Fugaku raised an eyebrow at Minato's sigh. "Bored of the peace already?" He asked slightly annoyed. He had dark black hair that went down to around his face but not going past his mid forehead, and coal black eyes. He wore a standard black Uchiha ninja uniform, all black colored with the Uchiha fan on the back of his ninja shirt. He did not wear a vest even though he was a Jounin, he preferred the style he had on then anyways. On his feet were the typical black shinobi sandals. On his forehead was the same headband Minato had on, same color and all. Fugaku was seventeen as well and was already being fully preened to take over the Uchiha Clan as it's head. Fugaku at full height was a bit shorter then Minato, standing at five feet and eight inches tall.
Hiashi snorted lightly at Fugaku's question and Minato's sigh. "You should know the answer to that question already Fugaku." His voice was slightly clipped and regal, standard of a Hyuuga, even though he was one of the nicest and 'loosest' of the clan when it came to overall formalities. He had long black hair that reached down to in between his shoulder blades, and clear white eyes making it look as if he was blind. His clothes were a grayish white and looked as if it was more of a kimono type wear then actual shinobi clothes. All in all he looked like a girl with the look of his clothes and the way his hair looked. Then again that was typical for the Hyuuga Clan. He wore black shinobi sandals as well, and on the back of his grey colored Hyuuga Uniform was the a ying yang symbol. Hiashi was the middle of the three in height and was five foot nine inches tall.
A nearby voice sounded out as the speaker came up over the hill. "Well he'll get his chance soon enough. Though I can't wait to kick some ass either!" The speaker was a women with fiery red hair that went down to in between her shoulders, and piercing aquamarine colored eyes. Her top was red and covered her shapely upper curves while exposing both of her shoulders. The area near her waist on her red top was covered by what looked like white wrap. She wore short red and white shorts and on each of her ankles were two gold colored bracelets. She wore no shoes at all and on her right side was a short katana. Even without shoes on she stood at five foot nine inches tall. She heard a sigh next to her and looked over at her two teammates and friends, Mikoto Uchiha and Hitomi Hyuuga.
Mikoto simply smiled in amusement at the antics of her friend Kushina. "Well I'm sure you'll get plenty of chances Kushina-chan." She wore a black Uchiha uniform as well, only hers was made for the females, obviously. It covered her cleavage and pulled it in some so as to not get in the way and on her feet were again the typical black shinobi shoes. On her back was the Uchiha Clan fan crest as well. Her eyes were a deep soft black and her hair was well kept and went down to her mid back and was a dark black color. She stood at five foot seven inches tall with her sandals on.
Hitomi gave a slightly unladylike snort at her friends. "Can't you keep calm for even a few moments Kushina-chan? Really." She had a soft smile on her face showing how she felt though. She had the typical white eyes and long black hair of the Hyuuga Clan but was exceptionally nice and was more of a medic then anything. She was the top medic in the Hyuuga Clan in fact. She like Hiashi wore the standard Hyuuga uniform, complete with the Ying Yang symbol on the back of it. She wore green black shinobi sandals as well. Hitomi stood at five foot six and was the shortest of the six people there.
The six ninja's sat down in the cool grass and began to talk and enjoy the cool day. However, something would happen that would change the fate of Konoha and the six ninja's forever…
High in the mountains of Northern China three old mystics were sitting and looking over China. Clouds went by a bit above there heads as they sat there drinking green tea. The youngest looking one spoke up first, "Something is amiss. This conflict will create great turmoil if history is permitted it's course." He sighed looking into his tea as he spoke those words.
The oldest one there, "Although, Southern Mystic, you may have a point in consideration there is another issue to mediate over. If the situation here is not corrected, I that all life across all there is will suffer." His old wrinkled face crinkled up in a dark frown.
The last one there spoke up, "You speak the absolute truth Northern Mystic, Southern Mystic…but I may have a solution to your worrisome issue." He did not say what it was though yet, his wizened face crinkling up into a sort of smile.
"Get out with it Zou Ci! If you so recognize a solution then you must contribute and speak it!" The Southern Mystic said with a frown of annoyance. Zou Ci never changed.
Zou Ci smiled again, "Can you not see what lies in front of you? If it ripples to other worlds…then why not consider the possibility of alternate help to save all? I have already selected those who shall be adequate for the mission." He waved his hand over the air and a picture of the six people talking in Konoha appeared. "These six ninjas shall now accept their true destiny. Our land has to be unified and the coming fires stopped…he who shall be raised should not be raised. The beginning of the end must not occur."
The Northern Mystic nodded, "I loathe to interrupt there existence…but the needs of the many outweigh those of the few. Mayhap the change will be for the best…summon the chosen ones Zou Ci!"
Zou Ci nodded and waved his cards and smiled lightly as the air shimmered above the ninjas…
Minato, Fugaku, Hiashi, Kushina, Hitomi and Mikoto all looked up as the sky slowly darkened above them. Yet there were no clouds in the sky, soon the crystal blue sky turned to a blood red with blue lightning. Soon a hole appeared as lightning struck them, they screamed as they were sent into the hole. The hole vanished and the sky went back to normal right as ANBU and Sarutobi Hiruzen arrived on seen to find an empty field and the six ninjas gone…
The Southern Mystic sighed when the six ninjas landed in front of them and in a few moments were on there feet and ready to fight them. He further rolled his eyes in annoyance when the red headed women sprung forth immediately attacking. He heard the women growl as every attack she made just when through him. It took close to around ten attacks before the fiery tempered young woman realized her attacks were doing nothing. Furthermore her teammates and friends did nothing to help, far to shocked about how the old looking man dodged the attack as if he was some sort of spirit. Finally, after she ran out of breath, she seemed willing to listen to reason.
"Calm young ones. While crude may Zou Ci be…aid is needed to stop the flames. The flames of war runs amuck…power shifts in an epicenter of all nations. War is not the issue, rather the catastrophe may follow is. The Ancient One will bring the flames of chaos. That must not come to pass. As for your destiny…I'll let the Northern Mystic explain that."
The Northern Mystic watched the six young ninjas carefully. So far so good with the explanation. "If the flames of evil be free, the end will be for all that are. Dimensions, time, and space be the realm of thee. The bringer of flames and chaos a threat is always. Should war persist, the bonds will no longer resist freedom of the beast. Hope there is, if bonds shall hold. For bonds to hold, chaos must cease. If failure you be, hope will cease. We shall row the boat when we get to a river. Zou Ci, explain there destiny."
Zou Ci sighed with a light smile at the ninjas. "Sure make me tell them the hard part. What we need you to do is this. Find someone to serve in the period of time we are sending you to…fight the war, live it through. Do not worry about aging, after all we are mystics and as such we have the power to stop the aging process. Now on top of all that, if you find anyone you really want to take with you on your adventures and trust then you can draw them in with you as well. After all the more the numbers, the better the odds. Now any questions on what we are asking you to do?"
Minato took all of it in as much as he could. A quick glance at his friends and teammates showed they were just about as confused as him. "Well first off why us? Secondly, how do you really expect us serving someone here to actually help? Third while I can see how that creature is a danger…really though. How come you can't get someone here to do it? We need to know everything if we are to even think of accepting this mission.." He noticed his questions satisfied his friends there as well. So as long as they got the answers they needed maybe they could get past this stuff.
The Southern Mystic nodded, he decided that the need to speak in tongues would only cause more confusion. So against his own nature and wishes said, "Very viable questions in your circumstance. We chose you six for a very specific reason. And that is your hearts. Right now all of you are alive and your hearts are pure. Together you six stand pure. So we couldn't take one or two of you but rather all six. Now how will it help…that's a bit tricky. At worst it will slow down it's revival and at best…stop him for a millennia or two. However, the benefits far outweigh the risks. Now as for why we cannot get someone here to do it? Simple really. You have abilities that the people here lack. While they cannot learn your abilities in this world or dimension they have abilities to make up for it. So combining the two may very well be the only viable solution…does that answer your questions?"
Minato blinked at the Southern Mystic in thought. "Can I have a moment alone with my friends to talk it over?" He got three nods in response as the three mystics vanished and left them alone to talk it over. He turned to his friends and asked, "Well?"
Fugaku sighed, "Well what? It seems like if we say no then we are only hurting our home…sides you wanted a fight. This gives us one. Though I'm not so sure bout all this still…all of this just seems…to convenient."
Hiashi responded back with a frown, "When aren't things convenient? Think about it. Heck everything about us is technically one convenient thing after another. I say we help. We still have to protect our home. I am a tad annoyed about how we have to serve someone. However…"
He didn't get a chance to finish when Kushina butted in. "However, it gives a chance to kick butts and take names…and to fit in. We can consider it an S-class mission. Plus a side S-class recruitment mission for our village."
Hitomi looked over at Kushina, "While that is true. Can we really trust these guys? Granted I sensed no killing intent but we all know that may not mean all that much after all…"
Mikoto smiled, "I say we help. Like Hiashi-kun said. Helping them seems like the best option. That and it's the morally right thing to do. How can we just sit back and watch the universes possibly go to hell just because we want to go home? It's like a large scale mission like Kushina-chan said!"
Minato nodded and listened to what they all had to say. "Well then. Let's consider it a new type a mission. A SS mission. I am sure Sarutobi-sama will understand when we get back and tell him."
As soon as he finished saying that the three Mystics reappeared. This once again caused the ninjas to tense up and pull out different weapons. Kushina was the first to react as she twitched and yelled, "Would you stop doing that already? I swear I'll shove this kunai where the sun doesn't shine if you keep that up!"
"There is one more thing we have to tell you. There is a strong possibility that if we send you back you may never be in the dimension we took you from. You see there are several different dimensions we call alternate dimensions in existence. These dimensions exist mainly because of …well to put it simply. What Ifs. For instance: What if Minato here was female and not male. That would create a new world based off of how much that would chance the fabric of that reality. Everything can change. That is something you might have to worry about though. Do you still want to go through with this?" The Northern Mystic said to them in a worried tone.
Kushina suddenly shouted out, "Of course it don't change anything! We'll kick asses and save the universe! A few problems won't stop us! Right guys?"
The other five merely shared a smile and quiet laugh at Kushina's optimism and spunk. Then there faces all turned serious as they turned to each other and nodded and then looked at the Mystics again.
Minato seemed to look at the sages intensely for a moment before suddenly thinking of something that was eating at him. "I have one more inquiry. Can we start our own force? It might make it easier for us to move about that way. It would make it easier to complete the mission if we need not check in with a local lord. The less the people know in that respect the easier our mission shall be."
The Southern Mystic raised a brow in thought and nodded, "Suit your purposes that might. However, think of consequences you must. Do as you wish, but careful you must be. Ripples it shall create either way, you can not throw a stone without creating a few waves."
Minato spoke up again. "Very well. We understand and we agree to take this mission!"
Zou Ci smiled lightly and said, "Good, good! I'll send you in immediately. Now good luck~" He waved a card as they vanished again. "Oops…forgot to tell them the other details about the land. Meh oh well. There ninja. They can figure it out~" He laughed and turned into a crane flying off into the skies as the two other Mystics shared an amused glance at there long time friend.
"Some things never change eh Northern Mystic?" An amused snort was the Southern Mystics only answer…
Minato looked over at his friends as they arrived in the middle of what looked like to be nowhere for them. "Great…we have no clue where we are either. Well I think we need to look for information. We'll all split into three groups of two. We'll meet back here in six hours. The teams are as follows and will go these following directions. Team one is Hiashi and Kushina. You two will go South. Team two will be Fugaku and Hitomi and you two will go West. Team three will be Mikoto and me and we will go North. Any questions?"
Fugaku raised an eyebrow as he responded. "Yeah I got it. See you in six hours." He and Hitomi flashed away.
Hiashi spoke next, "Got it Minato see you later. We'll see what we can find." Ha and Kushina vanished as well leaving only Minato and Mikoto standing there. With a nod to each other they flashed away as well.
Fugaku and Hitomi began there run West from where they started. Fugaku looked at Hitomi, "Can you see anything ahead with your Byakugan Hitomi?" He wanted to know what was ahead for obvious reasons. He knew why Minato broke them up like he did. It would make them all able to scout and also since it was only two in each group escaping if caught would be easier then the chores that are D-rank missions.
Hitomi nodded to Fugaku as she activated her bloodline, the Byakugan. She zoned in ahead of them around half a mile ahead. "City dead ahead, half a mile. I see troops stationed ahead and they are wearing a certain uniform…" She sighed as she made a quick hand sign and a poof of smoke engulfed her as she transformed into a young male. Hitomi now looked to be around fifteen and had shaggy brown hair and dark black eyes. He was now wearing a yellow uniform that made him look like one of the guys guarding the town.
Fugaku looked over at Hitomi's transformation with a simple nod and with a simple hand sign later he did the same thing as she had. The only visible difference between the two now was that Fugaku's transformation was taller by two inches and that his hair was light blond instead. He nodded to her as they walked forward towards the city ahead of them. After around ten minutes of walking at a normal pace just in case, they arrived at said city. They were stopped by the guards who took a quick look at there uniforms and without any more trouble let the two in.
Hitomi looked at Fugaku when they got into the city and whispered to him, "That was far to easy if you ask me…" He saw his partner's nod as they walked down the street of the city to the market district. Soon they turned down a back alleyway and out of sight. At once they dropped the transformations and looked at each other back to normal. "We have to find out about the current events."
Fugaku nodded to her words about finding out what was going on then and there. "Hai. We need as much info as possible…it's time. Let's go." The two jumped onto a nearby building and looked around. Fugaku looked at her again, "I'll head to that building over there…" he pointed at a large building with a gold colored roof. "You look around the rest for information. Meet back here on this rooftop in two hours time got it?"
Hitomi nodded now looking completely serious, the soft smile from her face gone. "Hai." She vanished off of the roof to do her duty as Fugaku vanished as well for his share of it. The first place she went to was a nearby Inn and Tavern. She pushed open the doors to catcalls from some of the drunk men in there. To those men she smiled seductively and sauntered over to them and sat down next to one. The man she sat down next to was a bigger man and not in the fat way. He was well toned, and drunk. He had shaggy brown hair and one black eye, the other eye was covered up by a black bandana.
Fugaku stealthily entered the big place that looked like a smaller version of a palace or castle. He stuck to the shadows and smirked once he saw what was up ahead. He jumped up the walls silently and into the rafters to take a look at what was below him. 'Perfect…looks like a council meeting in progress. This should give me the information I need.' He smirked as he activated his pushed chakra to his ears to be able to hear them talk better. He got ready to listen in as the person sitting in the big chair up front began to speak.
Hitomi ran her soft fingers across the man's chiseled chest, drawing his attention away from his bottle and to her. She asked softly and in a cute yet innocently seductive tone, "Can you give a lady some information please?" She saw the man gulp with a soft drunken blush and nod once in response. "You will?" Another nod. "Great! Thank you sir!" She put a finger up to her chin as her smile lit up making her look irresistible to the drunken fool. "Now my questions are…well first off. What city is this? What year? What month? What day? Finally, can I get a rundown of current events?"
Fugaku smiled as he listened in to hear this. "Now as you know. Today we talk about our strategy for this up coming three month period of time. Right now the supplies have just come in from harvest as has the gold income so that is not a worry anymore. Now we need to worry about the Han scum in charge of this land. That and how to take them down. What we will do now is prepare our forces. In one months time…we attack Xu Chang and take it for ourselves. Once Xu Chang falls, Lou Yang and that scum of an emperor will be next! Long live the Yellow Dragon! Long Live the Yellow Turbans!"
Had it not been for the fact the man she was talking to was dead drunk, Hitomi's job would have been much hard for her. However the man was far too inhibited to notice anything at all out of the ordinary bout her questions. "Well first off there babe. This is Wan. North of here past the mountain range is Lou Yang, the capital and where the Emperor lives. The year is 184 A.D. The month is October and the day is the first. As for the current events. Well this year the Turbans rose up in rebellion under Zhang Jiao, Zhang Bao, and Zhang Liang. Zhang Jiao is the leader of the turbans and is based in Ping Yuan but also controls Pu Yang. Zhang Liang controls Chen Liu and Xiao Pei. Finally Zhang Bao controls this city Wan. There forces number over four hundred thousand men. The Han dynasty, corrupt as it is, is fighting back by using the forces of Dong Zhou of Liang, Sun Jian of Wu, Yuan Shao of the esteemed Yuan family and his brother Yuan Shu, Cao Cao a local but powerful magistrate, and of course some volunteer forces. Oh and can't forget about Ding Yuan and his adopted son, Lu Bu. That's bout as close of a rundown I can give you pretty lady. Now how bout you and I go back for some fun?"
Fugaku smiled as he got his share of the information needed and he waited till they all cleared out of the room before he dropped down and stared at the map right there in front of him. He smiled lightly as he grabbed it and in one quick motion rolled it up and put it away in his uniform for later. He made a quick hand sign, his tasks completed and appeared on the rooftop they had agreed to meet on. Hitomi had ten more minutes before the meeting time. He sat down silently and began to wait.
Hitomi smiled at the man sweetly as she locked her arm into his as he took her up to his room. She could either kill him there, or knock him out. While she hated killing, she knew it was necessary this once to keep her identity safe. But then again if she killed him it would be known, so instead she revolved to knock him out and get out of there. Once in his room he took her to his bed and right when he turned his back to her, he felt a quick chop to the back of his neck and then darkness as he lost consciousness. Hitomi smiled lightly and then vanished with a Shunshin and appeared in the dark alleyway as Fugaku had done himself around six minutes ago and jumped on the roof to meet him.
Fugaku smirked at seeing her ready to go. "Let's get out of here. We have to get back to the meeting point." He saw Hitomi's nod as he and she both took off across the roofs at high speeds and then out of the city. They would arrive at the meeting point first and once there sat down and relaxed. They had an hour till the target time anyways.
Meanwhile Hiashi and Kushina were making there way down South from the meeting point. Kushina had taken charge of the two, her brash personality being the deciding factor there. For once Hiashi would agree that arguing with her would be as the Nara's would say…Troublesome. Kushina kept running as they went south and soon they saw a huge fast flowing river ahead of them, scratch the fast part. Rapids defined it more then anything…and Hiashi noticed Kushina took off across it. 'Dang it! This world is not ours! She needs to be more…' he did not even get to finish that thought as Kushina screamed at him to come over from the other side. He felt a vein twitch as he scowled in annoyance.
Kushina watched smiling as Hiashi or as she liked to put it, up-tight Hiashi had a vein twitch on his head. Before he started to move across the rapids she yelled out to him, "Oh and be careful not to get wet pretty boy! You don't want to undo the conditioner in your hair no doubt!" She giggled to herself smiling as Hiashi's vein seemed to double in size from his annoyance at her. She watched as Hiashi ran across the water as calmly as he could as he muttered to himself once safe on the other side. That made Kushina giggle more as they continued on there path south.
Hiashi glared at her slightly as they continued south. "Was taunting me really necessary? You know this is not our world and we should be careful here do you not? There is no telling what the rules of this world are when it concerns Chakra. That may have ended badly and…" He didn't get a chance to continue before being interrupted by Kushina poking his forehead repeatedly, causing him to get a tick above his right eyebrow. "What!" He shouted out at her finally losing his composure.
Kushina sweat dropped, "I was trying to get your attention to the fact there is a city up ahead." She had been trying to get his attention for a while, having seen it a bit ago, but he was more concerned with lecturing her. "So shall we enter this city or shall we sit out here for a while longer wasting time with you lecturing me?" She asked innocently and without waiting for an answer looked at the gates to the city…there was no troops stationed there which she found quite odd.
Hiashi started breathing heavily, this was why he hated working with Kushina, he could never keep his cool around the hot headed woman. He scowled getting back his regal look and glared at the giggling Kushina. His shoulders slumped, "Let's go check it out, hopefully we'll find something important here!" He scowled at Kushina's abundance of energy and he vowed to never let his children anywhere near the spawn of this woman!
Kushina smiled as she walked into the town, since no guards were there, no one stopped or cared to stop them. She looked around, the town looked like it could fit a lot more people, but she guessed without too many local authorities or a governor the city was having a tough time on its own. She sighed at the look of the poor people and the few rich, "Some things never change no matter where you go. Greed and poverty being one of them."
Hiashi sighed at her words softly, "Unfortunately yes, but it is not our concern at this time. We cannot help everyone nor be everywhere at once. Hopefully this city will be protected by someone who cares later, but right now we need information. Kushina you go to the local tavern and see what you can find, I'll look around the market district and nobility homes, since I fit better in there." He saw Kushina nod at his idea and she smiled prettily, making her look even more beautiful to the people seeing her then before as she walked with a sway in her hips to the tavern. Hiashi just rolled his eyes in exasperation.
Kushina smirked as she entered the tavern as the local people stopped to stare at the beauty who entered the place. She swayed her hips sensually as she walked towards an empty table, "Yo, what does it take for a young single lady to get some service around here?" She sighed softly and flung her hair to one side making her look even more attractive to the slightly inebriated patrons of the local bar. A young man came up to her, "If you don't mind me asking, what is a pretty young woman like you doing in a place like this?"
Hiashi seemed to have a perpetual scowl on his face as he entered the market district, his clothing making him seem and look like the nobleman he was born and raised to be. A peddler stopped him with, "You sir, look like you need something in particular, and I am sure I have something you will find of value!" The guy looked greasy and untrustworthy, always a good thing for information. As long as you could pay there price that is. Hiashi nodded in response stepping closer to the peddler so they could talk alone, "Humph. I'll tell you exactly what I need, and if you do not have it, well then I'm sure some other man could use my money."
Kushina looked at the young man with a charming smile on her beautiful face. "Well, I need information and to see what is going on…do you think a sweet, handsome strong young man like you could help me~?" She ended with a musical note on her tone making the man nod in excitement of helping such an 'innocent' beauty. The young man gulped and nodded blushing lightly. "U-um sure…w-what do you want to know?" Kushina grinned sexily at him making him blush further and gulp as he pushed down the blush. "Well you see…I want to know where I am. Current events of the region, and general information like that you see."
Hiashi watched as the greasy peddler paled lightly and nodded quickly, "Y-yes sir!" Hiashi scowled, "Good, now I need a map of the surrounding region and any forces around here, a rundown of current events for the economy, and a good weapon smith. You got such information or should I take my information somewhere else." The peddler nodded, "Such information and the map will cost eighty gold pieces sir." Hiashi scowled, "Show me first so I know you aren't cheating me…" The peddler nodded showing him the map of the region. Hiashi's scowl did not change as he pulled out the eighty gold pieces. Unknown to the peddler, he had just put a quick Henge over his Ryu notes to turn them into gold, granted the peddler would figure it out, give or take around a few days.
The young man nodded to her blushing deeply. "Well alright. I can do that miss. You are in the region of Wu Yue, city of Jian Ye. Right now, Wu Yue is under no one's control but rumor has it that the Emperor plans on sending someone to take control of this city at least to control the bandits in this region. Currently this region is well a bit removed from the events of the North and the war occurring up there. Though local hero Sun Jian is up there fighting the Yellow Turban Rebellion. There are a lot of people who need help here, too find people who will pay you for help…just look there." He points at a board on the nearby wall. "All taverns have it…just so you know for anywhere you go."
Hiashi handed the peddler the gold pieces and grabbed the map of the current region along with in depth information on said region. "Right now the countries economy is in shambles thanks to the ten Eunuchs. They abuse there power as the Emperor's advisors and servants and have taken over practically the entire government and the Emperor cannot see what they are doing thanks to his own bias. The people are overtaxed and because of this the Yellow Turbans rose up in rebellion to kill the Emperor and end the corruption, but they themselves though starting off with a good cause, have been corrupted by power themselves. As for the best weapon smith you should go to Xu Chang or Ping Yuan to the north. Currently they have the best weapon smiths in the land." Hiashi nodded pleased with the information, "That is good, have a good day sir."
Kushina smiled as she stood and thanked the young man with a charming smile and a kiss on the cheek. The poor flustered man passed out with a big smile and blush on his face repeating over and over again, "She kissed me…" Kushina smiled lightly in amusement and walked to the board. "Hm. Let's see here. Visit every city…too long, Deliver cow…meh not enough time now, and finally Defeat pirates, well…that seems more like it. So this will be a way to make money for what we will need later. Good to know." She smiled whistling a light tune as she walked out of the tavern. "Time to meet up with stick in the mud."
Hiashi walked slowly and regally to the meeting point and waited next to the gates for Kushina to arrive. He looked over sensing her chakra and he nodded to her as the mood shifted to a bit more of a serious note. Even the normally carefree Kushina went into business mode as they went into there explanations of the information they found. The two nodded to each other and took off into the trees to get back to the meeting point meant for the entire group near Ru Nan. They ran all the way back only stopping every hour to rest.
Minato looked over at Mikoto as they ran towards the northern regions of China. They were not quite sure where they were and luckily they had only been running for less then half an hour when they found a city. Minato's eyes narrowed at seeing just how small the town was though, it looked like even though it was a small city, it was heavily defended. He wondered what was so important in this town to make it so guardable. He got his answer when the gates opened and he got a look at the army inside and his eyes widened. That was more then two hundred thousand people, and three fourths of them looked to be troops!
Mikoto's eyes were wide along with Minato's at seeing the sheer number of troops. Even if the troops were at the level of an academy student from there world, even Minato would have trouble killing the sheer number of them that was there. "Well we can say one thing about this world, what they lack in power they make up for in numbers. However, what if there are people as strong as us here on top of it all?" The thought made her shudder.
Minato sighed lightly, "It means this will not be as easy as we first thought. I was thinking bout everyone splitting up into twos again later to serve different lords but that may not be possible. We'll discuss it when we get back but for now we need some intelligence on the military power of this region and land." He looked at Mikoto, "See what you can find, I'm going to scout out the land and see what some of the cities are like with troops…" He saw Mikoto's nod and he fingered his tri-pronged kunai. He had not quite mastered the move yet but it should work, or so he hoped. He tossed the kunai and vanished in a flash of yellow.
Mikoto sighed as she looked at the city trying to think on how to go about entering it. She decided just to try to sneak in, she just hoped with the security of the place that she would not be caught. She slowly sneaked up to the seemingly lesser guarded eastern side wall. She used chakra to run up it and peek over the edge. So far so good and no guards it looked as of yet. She quickly jumped over and looked around and still nothing. It seemed odd to her but she was not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth. However her thoughts stopped with a skid when she heard, "Hey you there!"
Minato smiled lightly as he flashed to another small city. "Interesting, small and not well defended, looks like a poor town. Time to check it out." He walked into the small town looking around and he scowled at the state of living of the people, he saw no one in charge but saw what looked like a court official taking money from the old for bribes. He frowned and flashed away in a flash of yellow storing the information away for later. 'Looks like this world is worse off then I first imagined, I hate corruption.'
Mikoto scowled, she did not think anyone had saw her, it was as if the people here even if they lacked chakra, were still rather strong. She stopped to look at the young guard accosting her. "Sorry miss, but I'll have to take you in for questioning." Mikoto sighed, she knew she was going to feel bad for this later. She walked towards the man acting a bit scared and confused. Up close she felt even more regret, the kid was only fifteen years old by the looks of it. It may not have been young so much were she came from, but from this world she could tell he was just a kid overall.
Minato flashed to another city where he thought one would be based off the terrain he had saw. Sure enough there was one, and his eyes widened. It had to be four times the size of Konohagakure no Sato. He looked at the people in it and realized this was a more powerful city, but his eyes narrowed at how poorly defended it was. He scowled as he walked towards it and put on a fake smile as he entered it without any trouble. Ah he loved Henge sometimes, he laughed mentally before looking around at how the city looked, from the gates to the fields, the markets to the patrol towers. It looked well taken care off, and he was surprised that the city seemed to have a population of close to three hundred thousand and yet there was less then maybe fifteen thousand troops.
Mikoto walked up to the kid and held her hands up in surrender and when the young man turned her around and made a mistake she moved. The poor kid made a very basic mistake, he didn't tie her up, seeing a beautiful young woman as herself not as a threat. He would not live to forget it. Mikoto moved behind the young guard and with a flick of a wrist she slit his throat using a kunai she had fingered up to her hand when he wasn't looking a bit earlier. She did a quick Headhunter Jutsu to bury the dead body so as to not leave any proof behind. She knew the last thing the young man saw was her pretty face twisted into guilt at killing one so young.
Minato jumped into a tree and hid amongst the branches as he watched what seemed to be the lord of the city. His eyes narrowed at the man, he seemed selfish. Yet more in the way of wanting his city to be decently good, along with himself. Not a good leader though, so that got rid of this man off the list of possible people to serve. 'Han Fu equals will not serve. So many lords left to check out…hm…maybe rumors would be nice to know on famous lords currently and go from there.' He jumped away without a sound and entered the market area to search for rumors on the most well known lords.
Mikoto sighed as he entered the populace area of the town, not that there was much of a populace when in comparison to the number of troops and it was high time to figure it out why. Mikoto talked to an older soldier and decided to act as if she came from another country so as to not look like an idiot and to make it more of a realistic story if asked. "Excuse me sir…but can you tell me why there are so many troops here? I'm not from around here and am a bit worried. Are there a lot of bandits around here or something?" The older soldier looked at her innocent and beautiful face and sighed buying her story.
Minato walked up to a young woman walking through the market and gently asked her. "Excuse me miss…can you help me?" The woman raised an inquisitively at him and nodded to show acknowledgement and that she would help him. Minato smiled at her thankfully, "Who are the most famous lords currently and who are the lords who are rising in power?" The young woman frowned in thought, this was the first time she was ever asked anything remotely like this in her life after all. She hummed in thought as she finally put together her answer and looked at him ready to answer his question.
The guard looked at Mikoto directly as he spoke, "well I guess I should tell you so you don't end up dead. Right now a war is happening. People are rebelling against the Imperial Han Dynasty. Why they are I'm not quite sure, but it probably has something to do with there leader. His name is Zhang Jiao, and he is supposedly a savior and great healer. Yet instead of just helping he started this war, sounds like a tyrant in sheep's clothing if you ask me. Anyways, since our city is so close to there main stronghold we have to have a lot of troops to defend ourselves with."
The tavern women smiled softly at Minato, "Well I'll start with the most powerful currently. There are the Imperial Han forces led by the Emperor's brother in law He Jin. Next Is the Yellow Turbans led by Zhang Jiao. They currently hold the most power. Some other powerful lords serving the Han are Dong Zhou who's city is Tian Shui. Next is Yuan Shao who occupies the city north of here and he comes from a long line of nobles. Of course there is his brother Yuan Shu in Wan south of Luoyang. Next there is Cao Cao governor of Chen Liu. Then Liu Zhang governor of Shu which comprises Chengdu, Zi Tong, and Jiang Zhou. Next is Sun Jian the Tiger of Wu, he controls the city of Ling Ling. Next is Gongsun Zan leader of the White Riders, he controls Ji. The next lord is Tao Qian who rules the cities of Xiao Pei and Xia Pi. After him is Kong Rong directly north of him in the city of Bei Hai. Then there is Ding Yuan who resides north of Luoyang and has the city of Shang Dang. Finally there is Liu Bei, he currently rules no land but he is a charismatic man and…a champion to the people…" She sighs dreamily at the thought of Liu Bei causing a sweat drop from Minato.
Mikoto smiled warmly at the guard and said, "Thank you very much for the information. I was so worried that with recent events that I may have been attacked, now thanks to you sir I can keep myself safe from people like that." She bowed again before a stray thought hit her, "Before I go sir…can you tell me who the strongest warriors in the land are? And maybe whom they serve please?"
Minato grinned at the girl before thanking her and leaving her a tip, which he had taken from a drunk when he was not looking of course. Doing so he had also figured out there currency, pure gold coins. He handed thirty to the girl who looked surprised at that much of a tip for info and he grinned at her happily. Now he also had a better idea of what was a lot of gold and what was little just by her expression. Minato knew that this would definitely come in handy. The next thing he needed to worry about was which lord to serve or whether to end the chaos and the threat to all universes by establishing there own force.
The guard nodded understanding in his eyes. "Ah you want the best protectors then huh? Well I suppose I can give you the information you require miss. The best warrior in the land is Lu Bu and he currently serves his step-father Ding Yuan. The next two warriors are pretty close in power, but no one really knows how good they are since they are just starting out in this war. They are the sworn brothers of Liu Bei and are named Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. Some other up and coming warriors from the rumor mill are Taishi Ci who serves Kong Rong, Zhao Yun serving Yuan Shao, Zhang He serving Han Fu, and of course Yan Liang and Wen Chou serving Yuan Shao as well."
Minato walked out of the local tavern deep in thought but nodded to himself a moment later. He knew this decision would have to be made with everyone deciding on it in the group and not just him. He knew firsthand that Fugaku and Hiashi would have there own opinions. Plus there was no way in hell Kushina would stand for not having a say, he'd be a eunuch if she found out he pulled a stunt like that. He wanted to have children so he decided quite wisely to wait till they were back together again to discuss there further plans.
Meanwhile Mikoto was thanking the guard once again, slightly annoyed that the guard would dare imply that she would need protection. Not that those thoughts showed on her soft features of course. She bowed and walked away to meet up with Minato. She found what she wanted, and now she knew it was time to meet up and leave. After all it was a bit of a journey to there meeting point. She nodded to Minato as they met up at the marketplace and walked out of town together as if they were just two normal traveling civilians.
Minato looked over at Mikoto when out of the town and nodded to her as they took off at there full speeds towards the meeting point. It would be a few hours till they arrived and they just hoped Fugaku would not be too mad at how late they would be. Minato laughed to himself humorously…Fugaku and patience, those two words just did not belong in the same sentence.
Sure enough Fugaku and Hitomi were the first two back to the meeting point. They stayed silent as they sat up in the trees nearby getting some well deserved rest. Both for there eyes and for there feet and bodies. Even resting there senses would alert them of the others arrival. Fugaku just hoped it would be sooner rather then later. If there was anything he hated more then traitors it was being forced to wait on someone else.
The next ones to arrive were Hiashi and Kushina, they were greeted quickly by Hitomi, and with Fugaku's standard Uchiha "hn." Kushina just sighed at the Uchiha greeting and sat in the tree near Hitomi, even a bundle of nerves and energy like her needed some shut eye with what the group had been through in the last twenty four hours. Of course she noted that Hiashi being the prissy boy he was refused to sit down in a tree until he placed a single towel the guy carried practically everywhere in a sealing scroll. Kushina rolled her eyes at that before closing them, as she snorted mentally, 'Oh no, a piece of dirt! That will kill me, prissy boy Hiashi Hyuuga perfectionist extraordinaire!'
It wasn't until two hours later that Namikaze Minato and Uchiha Mikoto arrived at the meeting point. Minato immediately sweat dropped at what he saw upon arrival. Hiashi was chasing Kushina around while yelling about getting back at her for suddenly having neon pink robes and for his hair being turned bright red. Fugaku and Hitomi were having a Sharingan vs.. Byukagan stare down to see which one would back down first. He sighed, sometimes he wondered how any of them were still friends and sane.
Mikoto scowled at the fighting and was getting rather annoyed, this was not the time for such antics. She put some chakra into her lungs and mouth and put her hands to her mouth cupping them around her mouth. She watched as Minato looked at her as his eyes widened and he put chakra to his ears and covered them. 'Good, least I won't blow out his ear drums with this then…' she thought to herself wryly. She then screamed, the chakra in her lungs and mouth making it sound like a sonic boom just went off in the area. "Knock that off all of you, meeting will begin in ten minutes so stop horsing around and get your asses over here now!"
After that scream, the woods itself had shaken and Minato was glad they were out and not near any town or settlement, that would have been bad for stealth. Minato watched amused as the other four members of there group were on the ground holding their ears in pain. He knew as well as they did that making Mikoto angry was a very bad mistake. He guessed that after this they won't be causing as much trouble, for now at least.
The others were startled to say the least, as they fell over holding there ears. They knew better then to make her angrier when she got like this though so they merely got over to her as best they could considering before they all sat in a circle around each other ready for the meeting…after letting there ears heal a bit of course. Mikoto started out her report first. She went over who the strongest warriors were and who they served along with what she knew of the rebellion. Soon after her report Minato gave his and so it went for the group's reports.
Minato sighed lightly at the influx of information. "Well now we need to decide where to go from here. We could form our own land and do our mission in our own city so we are not undercover. Or we could serve a lord and be undercover about our mission unless needed otherwise. Both have benefits and drawbacks. For the our own force one, first problem would be the Han dynasty and the Yellow Turbans. Neither would recognize us which means both might try to take us out. Also, we'd have to worry about taking care of our cities and our people, it would be like running Konoha. Benefits would be we would answer only to ourselves, could recruit the warriors we want and need to our side as we wanted. Also we could raise our own army which would be beneficial against the creature we are supposed to stop and for helping Konoha."
"Now as for serving someone else, that has it's own advantages and disadvantages. For advantages we would have the fact that we need not worry bout the events of this world too much and that we can probably go about our business a bit easier. We'd also need not worry about more then what our Lord would tell us to fight so enemies would be substantially lower. Disadvantages consist of lack of army to help in our quest, at least a loyal army only to us that is. Recruiting warriors might be near impossible, and chances are our quest to stop this…threat to all existence would be a bit to near impossible for challenge level."
Kushina was the first one to blink and to say something after that information, "Well…we got ourselves a conundrum…" She blinks owlishly at the stares of the group looking at her shocked. "What?" She asked annoyed only for her eye to twitch when Hiashi stated, "Oh sorry…were just a bit surprised that you actually know such big words as conundrum and know how to use it properly in a sentence."
Minato's eye twitched as they began to argue again. "Behave. We need to decide what to do now…I want all of your opinions here so we can choose a consensus for our plan currently." He went first with his own opinion, "While personally, I don't like the idea of being a Lord in this time and learning all the politics involved, I'm afraid we might not have a choice, we might very well need to form our own force and pledge 'loyalty' to this Han dynasty to be left alone."
Fugaku spoke up next, "I say we make our own force. I refuse to bow down to these idiotic fools for Lords. An Uchiha bows to no one!" He roars out the end sticking his nose into the air haughtily and then deflating at Kushina's giggle. "What?" He defended himself, "That's what father would have said…"
Mikoto gave a small giggle and shook her head before getting serious. "Well I agree with you Minato…it's too risky to try to serve someone in this time period. We don't know the customs enough to do either through currently. I suggest we hold off on establishing a force and on joining anyone, though personally I am leaning towards our own force, but either way we should learn more of the culture and how to blend in a bit better."
Kushina said as she picked the dirt out from in between her toes, "Yeah I agree with what you said Minato-kun and Mikoto-chan…either way the force thing don't matter to me, I'll kick all there asses regardless." She grins happily at the end and kicks her legs up into the air excitedly. Hiashi groans as her feet pass by his face and he slaps them away.
Hiashi grumbled for a few seconds annoyed at Kushina's antics and sighed again. "I go with establish our own force." He said softly and stoically seeing no reason to be loud and annoying like Kushina was. He looked over at Hitomi to see what her reaction was to all this.
Finally Hitomi spoke up, "I agree on making our own force but I also have to say maybe we should see how the culture is…otherwise this might be next to impossible, but we are on limited time so I suggest we each send one shadow clone out to learn the customs and ways of the land while we choose a territory to occupy. However, who will be our leader?"
Minato felt a bead of sweat go down the back of his head as the rest of the group including Fugaku surprisingly enough stared at him. They all pointed at him for leader and he sighed and nodded deciding to accept the task as leader. He thought about it a moment longer before speaking up, "Very well we shall go with Hitomi's shadow clone idea. Everyone make a shadow clone and send them out to a city to learn the customs of this land…"
Together all six ninja stood up and made a single hand sign and said softly, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" As soon as they said that and poured the necessary chakra in a shadow clone formed for each one of them.. The clones then transformed themselves into normal looking Chinese civilians based off what they saw in the various cities. The clones then went there separate ways. Minato's clone went to the region called Chu, Kushina's went to Wu Yue, Hitomi's to the Central Plains, Hiashi's to Xi Bei, Fugaku's to Nei Bei, and finally Mikoto's shadow clone went to the Ba Shu region.
While the clones ran to scout out the different regions of China, the six ninja were busy plotting on who they would recruit. "Well we need loyal capable warriors and strategists who would know this era…and we need those same people to be able to fight by our side. We'll need it if those sages were right about that threat being real." Minato said softly looking at the other five. They all nodded in agreement as the area around them was still quiet, each one thinking about who they heard of to recruit.
Hitomi sighed sitting up a bit straighter as she went to speak her thoughts. "Well we heard of some of the local heroes. Lu Bu is said to be the most powerful warrior in the world, but I have heard rumors of his lack of morals. There are the Three brothers, Zhang Fei, Guan Yu, and Liu Bei, but for some reason I don't think they'd want recruited. Maybe an alliance with him later perhaps?"
Fugaku groaned in annoyance, "Tch. When you think about it, the people we would want to recruit are probably going to become leaders. Like those characters, Liu Bei, Sun Jian, and Cao Cao. We aren't going to be able to recruit the nobles I'd think. Right now I'd say we work on establishing a domain and recruiting local talent."
Hiashi nodded in response, "That would make sense, after all we can recruit more well known heroes when we are a bit more established. However, we should get at least one or two now to help us along. The question is who and where to find such talent?"
Kushina grumbled, "I say to hell with all this talk. Why don't we just actually go out and see who we can get? We might get lucky and get some good ones if we do that." She grumbled wiggling her toes in the dirt bored. She looked at the other five noticing them twitching slightly. "What?"
Hiashi looked over actually allowing a ghost of a smile to enter his features. "Oh it's just that you said something smart…we're just surprised is all." He smirked at her watching her blink at her a few times in confusion, before her face lit up in understanding. That was washed away quickly with a blush of anger and as soon as that happened the other four worked on holding her back from him.
Kushina snarled reaching out to strangle him. "You pretty boy bastard!" After a few moments she calmed down before giving him a dark grin, "You better sleep lightly pretty boy…" Was the only warning she gave him, allowing a dark grin to widen at his slightly worried look. She then shook her head, "Anyways…we should just go out and see who we can get you know?"
Mikoto nodded seriously, "That is actually a good idea. Once our clones poof themselves out and we get the information on the regions, we can then decide where to take and spread out to find valuable officers and manpower." She sighed, "this is gonna take a lot of time, and we don't have that much time I think."
As they sat over the map examining the forces and locations of said forces there clones finally vanished. By this time it was late at night and they were rather tired. After setting up a quick watch, Minato and Hiashi stayed up to stand watch and to talk more on the strategy, which territory they would take.
Minato looked at the open territories and sighed, "We need someplace defendable. I'd say the lower Jing province would suit us well, but that is home to Sun Jian. We don't want to be too close to where he will be expanding. Ba Shu looks good….in fact currently it might be the best place to set up base. The terrain is near impassible. However, we still need to discuss whether or not we ally ourselves with the Han or don't. Doing so might make it a bit easier but they might force us to take…a different approach. We will not know where they will assign us but it might give us the opportunities we need to find more officers."
Hiashi nodded back groaning as he holds his head half frustrated. "I don't know Minato. We aren't ready for this! We aren't prepared and we don't know enough to do this I think, but we don't have a choice. It's frustrating. The only thing I can think of is to show loyalty to the Han but be ready to abandon it should it fit our goals better. This war means nothing in comparison if those sages were right. We should also choose who we ally with closely and when we do get officers, we have to keep them under control. This is so much work it is not funny. I guess I can consider it good leadership training for when we get back and I lead the Hyuuga clan but still…"
Minato nodded in response, "Yeah, we are over our heads but hey…what is life without a challenge? We should get some sleep and get up early tomorrow to set it all up." They nodded to each other as they jumped down from the trees and laid down next to there teammates. Sooner then any would have probably have proffered the sun had risen and it was time for them to wake up and face the new day and new challenges.
As they woke up they heard a scream from outside the woods. The six ninjas looked a tad panicked, how could they have not have sensed someone coming up towards them. They jumped towards the edge of the woods silently and looked out shocked at what they saw. Kushina was the first to react almost throwing up in her mouth. "How…this…is wrong! We have to do something!"
The other five nodded grimly, the scene before them was horrid. A young mother's body hanging limp of a spear, a dead child half ripped apart body in her arms. Yellow Turban troops destroying anyone and anything in the town. They heard a commander of the troop snarl out, "Leave none alive! This town must be cleansed of it's Han filth! Down with the Blue Dragon! Long live the Yellow Dragon! Long Live our leader Zhang Jiao!"
Minato growled in anger fingering a kunai, "I guess it is true what they say…" At once they all finished the sentence at once, "Wars…never end!"