It was a hot day outside Windbloom when the first sounds of a real battle were heard. Nagi believed that his 'Valkyries' and the Slaves would be a match for any Otome who managed to show up. He thought that the girls who gave up their freedom for the chance at servitude were prepared for death.
He quickly realized that while the Garderobe students were being trained as warriors and protectors, they were simply not a real match for battle-hardened shinobi.
The Uzumaki Clan were seal masters. They were shinobi. They, unlike the innocent girls of Garderobe, harbored no illusions about their future or the fact that death was a part of life.
To become a shinobi is to hand over your life, your heart and your morals to the lord whom they served. You could not hesitate when you were ending an enemy's life because of their age or gender. The girls at Garderobe were truly sheltered. They had no idea what real battle or warfare was like.
There was a reason why Naruko had gotten along with Miss Maria so easily. They knew what sacrifices had to be made during war, when friend turned against friend, when blood went against blood. It was why she had offered flowers every time she had gone down into the tomb of the Otome. They had died an honorable death...they deserved to be remembered. Naruko was a warrior, born and bred, and like all warriors, she honored the dead appropriately.
If he had been faced with the collective Otome who disagreed with his attempts at overthrowing the system with a horrible parody of the Otome gems, he might have had a chance of winning. After all, he had greater numbers and while Otome were fighters, they were not killers.
That was before Zipang allowed the up-to-now secret shinobi clan of seal masters and mercenaries to join the battle. They even had a legitimate excuse for joining, despite the fact they had no Otome and didn't particularly want any.
It all boiled down to the fact that Naruko was the true Clan Head of the clan and she took offense to the fact Nagi wanted to use her vassal/wife/Otome to destroy the delicately balanced peace of a world that wasn't her own. And since the Uzumaki were following their clan head, and not the orders of their liege lord, Zipang could claim that they had gone rogue if things went wrong and they lost to Nagi's forces. Not likely, but still a possibility.
But really, when faced with hardened killers who had no issue with ending the lives of girls who chose a life they could only barely understand as servants to another, it was inevitable what would happen.
The Valkyries and Slaves were destroyed. Completely and utterly.
Naruko did her part not by unleashing Kurama, though she was sorely tempted when she saw Nagi's smug face, but by working as the Hidden Pillar of the Otome system. Besides, it was fun seeing the look of horrified shock on Nagi's face when Nina sent him flying using chakra-enhanced strength.
Suddenly the blue star above went red in color and all the limiters on the GEMs went inactive. She heard Miyu's voice telling the Otome to write their own destiny, free of their Masters.
Seeing the unholy look of glee on Naruko's face, many of the Slave Masters and the Valkyries whimpered. Then she unleashed the clones.
One Naruko was bad enough. She had been tearing a path of bodies through the enemy units... a combat-trained kunoichi with absurd pain tolerance and no problem killing people indirectly against girls who were only now getting used to being bad guys? Yeah, no match there.
Suddenly all the Valkyrie units shut down, and they were barely able to land in time. Looked like Arika had found her mother's body.
"So...why am I here again?" asked Naruko.
It had been an entire week since the retaking of Windbloom, and Naruko had been dragged back to Garderobe by her pigtails. By Nina.
"You're here so we can find a way to create a portal to Uzushiogakure and help the rebuilding the process. And we want to establish portals so that we can go back and forth without summoning jutsu," said Akira.
"Ah. So why am I here then?"
"You're going to be the first charge of the portal device," said Natsuki.
"Because of Kurama, right?"
"Alyssa said that it should only take a few months to construct a device, but we would need a source of power from the other world to make it work," said Arika. She had become the translator for the ghost when Naruko wasn't available. It had freaked her out at first, but then Alyssa told her that she could only talk to her, not interact.
"So what do we do until it's time to power it up?"
"You are going to be taking the initial survey of Uzu with the clan and dropping some of us off early. Once the device is ready, you'll be told and have to reverse summon into the Summons Realm where Mikoto will let you back through," said Natsuki flatly.
"Why are you so willing to let us leave with GEMs and the ability to materialize?" she asked.
"Because you mentioned a way for Otome to have children without relying on conventional methods, and the fact is that if we train these girls as Kunoichi then those that don't make the cut would have a chance to earn a living later," said Natsuki flatly, then added "Besides you two are the best ones we could send to see if being able to use your Robes is a viable option in the Old world."
"Point."
"Plus we kinda need scrolls with jutsu on them, and we left most of them with the people who ditched the village rather than try an experimental seal," said Akira embarrassed.
Nina and Naruko would head out first with the twenty volunteers who would see how bad the damage was. Jiraiya had contacted Tazuna, who had started most of the reconstruction efforts.
"Summoning Jutsu!" said Naruko dramatically, pouring a good deal of chakra into it. Having Kurama actually work with her in exchange for either humiliating or killing the traitor Sasuke was entirely worth it in her opinion.
Gamabunta appeared, to the surprise of most of the girls...many of whom did not like toads.
"What do you want brat? I don't see any enemies!" he rumbled irritably.
"Need a lift to the summons realm so we can head to Uzu," she said bluntly.
"Was wondering when you would think to reverse summon one of us," said Gamabunta.
"To be fair I didn't want to be stuck in that hellhole known as Konoha until I had an option already lined up."
"True...there is some sort of barrier around this world. I take it you finally got permission to go between it?"
"Mikoto said it's cool now. Apparently there aren't many people who can match her in a ramen eating contest anymore, and I promised Ichiraku every time I came back," said Naruko.
Gamabunta laughed.
"Trust you to find the only person in the world who loves Ramen as much as you do!" said Gamabunta. He brought out an odd box.
"What's that?"
"There are two ways for me to do a mass reverse summon when there are people without the contract. Either I swallow them, not a pleasant experience for either party, or they come in something that I can hold onto."
Naruko sweatdropped.
"Well?" she asked.
"BOX!" shouted the volunteers.
"For future reference gaki, summon my brother next time. I don't exactly enjoy acting as your personal transport," said Gamabunta.
"Noted."
"So this is the Elemental Countries. It feels...different," said Nina.
She had agreed to go by Nozomi Uzumaki in Naruko's homeworld, mostly to avoid misunderstandings with the shinobi nations. But Naruko just called her Nina-chan despite the agreement. As far as anyone knew it was a nickname.
"How so?" asked Naruko. It didn't feel different.
"It might be because of the chakra-density," said one.
"Huh?"
"Out in the badlands, there is a number of chakra-poisoning issues. For example, part of the reason the Aswald suffer is because they have chakra paths, but don't use them. This results in a catastrophic build-up in their pathways leading to poisoning. Their disease, as far as we can tell, is the result of their chakra networks turning against them. It's why the only solution is to put their bodies into cyborgs...the machines automatically regulate their inner chakra," the only medic explained.
"...We did offer to show them how to use chakra right?" asked Naruko.
"Of course, once we found out the actual cause of their disease. They've agreed to exchange their technology so long as they could keep their autonomy," said the medic helpfully.
In fact they had agreed to marry heavily into the Uzumaki clan and split the technology evenly in exchange for a cure. Considering the shinobi had yet to screw them over like most of the countries did eventually, they were being relatively cautious.
It also helped that Naruko was going to relocate them next, once she had retrieved some Ichiraku ramen for Mikoto to try.
"What is your name anyway?"
"Tsuyu, Naruko-sama," said the medic.
"It's Naruko-chan. I'm going to be helping rebuild this place and I refuse to make my clan stand on ceremony all the damn time," said Naruko happily.
"So when do I get to meet this infamous Sakura Haruno and Hatake Kakashi?" asked Nina.
"As soon as we have a viable perimeter wall up. Or until some idiot sends them here. Either way, Tsunade has given you express permission to beat them so badly that they require medical attention if you want," said Naruko, her face darkened.
Once Nina had broken Naruko of her bizarre loyalty to Konoha's "Will of Fire" bullcrap, she had become an entirely different person when it came to shinobi terms.
Though to be fair the only thing Nina had really done was switch her obsessive loyalty to a village that had treated her like shit to her family once she knew they were still around. And that was perfectly acceptable.
So yes, her hope of actually having a friendship with Haruno and her respect for Kakashi? It was gone for good.
"Well the civilian you hired has done good work. At least enough that we can move in for now. We'll need to reapply the seals and have you power them Naru-chan, but other than that it's acceptable. Though we'll have a hell of a time rebuilding the wall," said Machiko, the oldest of the Uzumaki clan. She was almost old enough to remember the old world. For some odd reason time moved slightly faster in the other world. But only by about a couple of months.
"Tazuna-jii is good. You should see the bridge he made!" said Naruko.
Said bridge builder preened under that praise. Of course the fact that the bridge itself was named after Naruko was a mere minor detail.
The Great Uzumaki bridge was a homage to their savior and their ancient allies. To the people of Wave, it was a sign that the Uzumaki hadn't entirely abandoned them. It just took them a while to bring help.
Naruko spotted something odd.
"Is that red hair?" she asked.
She walked over to the man helping move the heavy beams.
"Are you by any chance an Uzumaki?" she asked.
"Born and bred. You Naruko, daughter of Kushina?" he asked.
"That's me!"
"You should know that the rest of the clan is slowly making their way home. Tazuna spread the word that the Main branch was rebuilding and offered a discount if we came to help. Well that and we're the only ones who know how to get past those pesky whirlpools around the island."
"So how many are left?" asked Machiko.
"Of what?"
"How many are left from those who chose to flee instead of trying the experimental seal?" she asked.
"You mean it worked?!"
"It worked. Mikoto-sama granted us permission to settle, so long as none of us tried to become Otome. Apparently she didn't want the headache."
"What's an Otome?"
Machiko looked at Naruko. She grinned.
"Nina, you up for catching dinner for everyone?"
"Let me guess. My job is to catch and cook the food while you help build the wall?"
"You're a better cook, and this is an excellent time to practice your water jutsu."
"Good point. It would be nice not to have to stand in the middle of a pool just to practice."
"Oh and if you see anyone with a headband that doesn't have this symbol (she drew the Uzumaki symbol) kill them on sight. We need to keep a low profile until we get that wall rebuilt and the defenses back up. The clan was nearly wiped out for a reason after all."
"Understood," said Nina, her face hard.
Naruko brushed her lips against Nina's GEM.
"Nina Uzumaki, my Otome of the Neptune Emerald. In my name I hereby release your powers," she said.
Nina took a stance.
"Materialize!"
With her robes fully active (probably drawing power from the Juubi or Kurama) Nina went off the catch dinner. She would aim for the bigger fish since her Robe enhanced her strength enough to match Naruko at a third of her power. She wouldn't be punching concrete posts into rubble anytime soon, but she would make a damn good try at it.
"That was an Otome wasn't it?" deadpanned the native Uzumaki.
"Naruko-sama's personal bodyguard. She married into the clan since she didn't want to be separated by that ridiculous CRA thing most of the villages have going."
"Naruko-sama's wife?" he asked.
Machiko nodded.
"Meh. Not my business so long as she's loyal to the Clan Head," he said shrugging.
Nina came back with several large and difficult to kill fish. With the help of some of the women, they managed to make a feast of the seafood.
Tsunade looked at the report on her desk.
Someone had sent scouts to Uzushio, or what was left of it after finding suspicious activity, and it wasn't under her orders. She knew what was going on.
"Shizune, bring me Shikaku. We need to discuss sending my shinobi to their deaths without my say-so."
"Right away Lady Tsunade," said Shizune.
A few minutes later Shikaku Nara came in.
"You wanted to see me ma'am?"
"Why did you send good ANBU to their deaths?"
"Tsunade-sama, I don't know what you mean," said Shikaku, completely baffled.
"I have here a report from the ANBU commander saying you sent scouts to investigate Uzu. Scouts that have yet to return," said Tsunade.
"We had reports from our people passing through Wave that odd chakra signatures have been sensed repeatedly from the direction Uzu was in. We wanted to insure that no one was planning an attack from that direction," said Shikaku. He wondered why Tsunade even cared.
"You seem to be forgetting one key piece of information."
"What is that Tsunade-sama?"
"I'm half Uzumaki myself. You should have asked before sending those people to Uzushio first. It would have saved their families the pain of knowing that good ANBU died for nothing," said Tsunade.
"What?"
"One of the Uzumaki has contracted Wave through Jiraiya to rebuild the old village, and I know for a fact that the scattered remnants of the clan has been making their way home. If I wasn't Hokage I would be there already myself."
Shikaku put two and two together.
"Naruko's rebuilding Uzushio? Why?" he asked surprised.
"Jiraiya told her who her mother was, and she felt it was her responsibility to insure that the Uzumaki weren't scattered as the last of the Main Branch. Considering how I just caught that damn Civilian Council trying to banish her, again, I felt it would be easier to have her permanently stationed in a former ally's village rather than have her deal with this nonsense."
"But who killed the ANBU I sent?"
Tsunade's face was filled with open amusement.
"Probably her girlfriend. Now, don't bother sending anymore people until they make the opening salvo. Chances are Naruko will come directly to reestablish the village through the correct channels...and knowing her she might just take one of our more popular restaurants with her."