(35 Years Old)
Kazeshini gripped her hammer tighter, twisted the pair of tongs in her other hand, and quickly inspected her work.
She was trying to create something that would help distinguish her shinobi from any other group. The hitae-ate were already in production, each of her warriors receiving the forehead protector with the symbol of Taiyo etched on the metal plate. However, going out on missions, her shinobi resembled every single shinobi running around the elemental nations already. They fought with kunai and shuriken, used generic jutsu's that all other shinobi knew, and the few who fought with swords weren't all that different than the sword users in mist.
The ninja in Ame would soon use needle filled umbrellas, the ninja in Suna would be known for puppetry. She wanted the ninja of Taiyo to be known for something.
So, she sat in front of her forge, trying to recreate something from her memories.
Being a reincarnation comes with certain benefits, she didn't have to have a wide imagination to come up with new weapons or techniques. Her memories contained all that information anyways, she just had to try and remember. She had loved to read books, watch movies, watch television, play video games, watch anime, and read manga which gave her a plethora of new ideas as long as she remembered those fun little tidbits. One little tidbit was the hidden blade from Assassin's Creed.
However, remembering the hidden blade didn't mean that it was suddenly ready to be created and used by her shinobi forces. She had to create the blade so it was retractable and would slide out silently and with only a flick of a wrist or tensing of a muscle. The tiny little gears were difficult to create, the hollow retractable part of the blade was nearly impossible to create without the actual blade just slipping out on accident, and the casing could easily break if not carefully forged.
Having been tired of politics, Kazeshini had retreated to her forge. With a plethora of new ideas just ready to be created, she had started on something easy and worked her way up to more difficult ideas.
She had created a few dozen throwing knives (disliking the bulkiness of kunai and hating shuriken so they were rarely used) having run low on the smaller blades before working on a few new swords. A few assistants, a few young boys who were apprenticing under her as blacksmiths and swordsmiths, were creating the scabbards and hilts for the blades while a Kazeshini-clone sharpened all her weapons. The boys were also helping her by keeping the forge hot with fuel, preparing metal pieces, and completing a few projects of their own while Kazeshini worked.
Normally her apprentices would be working with a clone, working on private projects, or helping the shinobi and samurai of Taiyo with their weaponry as needed. To Kazeshini, it seemed as if she was rarely getting the chance to use her skills in the forge other than the rare occasion.
With a twist of her arm, she placed the small thin blade into the fire to reheat. She set down her hammer and twisted her back, sighing in relief even as she heard her back pop in half-a-dozen places.
"Okay my lovelies, ready for a new lesson?" Kazeshini spoke to the various young men who were working around her forge.
"Hai, Kazeshini-sama!" was the quick reply. The boys all quickly set aside what they were doing and flocked over to where she was sitting next to a large anvil placed next to the forge itself.
Twisting around, Kazeshini grabbed what looked to be a large clay block. "Now, I cut this in half and carved what I needed from a wood block. With the wood block, I have the exact dimensions of what I need, and I pressed the wood into the clay to create an imprint. Then, I fit the two halves of the clay block together to create a template."
Kazeshini used a pair of tongs to grip a clay cup, which was currently resting in the center of the forge fire, and slowly poured the molten iron/copper/aluminum mixture into the mold. The molten metal soon dripped from the bottom and from a few places in the sides of the block before it had cooled down enough and completely fill the inside of the clay block.
"Now, the open points at the bottom and the sides allow for air to escape. If I didn't have those points, there would be tons of bubbles within the mold, rendering the pieces that I am trying to make useless." Kazeshini set the clay cup back in the furnace after filling it back up with metal shavings to be melted down once again.
"So, Kazeshini-sama, what exactly is it that you are making?"
"A retractable hidden blade for my shinobi. Something they can take pride in using that is only known for by the Taiyo shinobi. My samurai, on the other hand, will most likely be using something else since the hidden blade would not be to their tastes. I think that I would create a series of special armor for the samurai along with a series of weapons for the samurai, though I'm still not quite sure."
"How long will it take to cool being in clay?"
Kazeshini shrugged, "I don't know, so I won't be cracking it open until tomorrow. Safer that way. Okay rascals, chop chop, off with you!" Kazeshini whipped around a small hand towel and shooed away her students. With them running back to their own projects and assignments, she simply had to turn back to the softened blade in the fire to continue working away at it.
~~~~oOo~~~~
Kazeshini had left behind another clone to rule over Taiyo while she took care of an important mission. She had donned her assassin uniform, covering herself in dark layers of clothing with more than a few leather straps around her body carrying a plethora of throwing knives.
Her target was in an expensive bathhouse, being the son of a noble it was expected of him to waste away more money than a commoner could spend in their entire lifetimes. The boy was stupid, unafraid of anything even with his father having guards prepared for an assassination attempt. The contract on the boy had been sent out because the idiotic boy had raped another noble's daughter.
This was where Kazeshini came in.
She didn't need scout out the bathhouse even when there were guards aplenty around the premises. This was a simple milk run for her, something that she would normally have given to her Black Sun to be distributed down onto a lower black sun, but she wanted to try out her experimental hidden blade.
She simply walked up behind one of the guards at the back entrance and, using one of her hidden blades, slit his throat. The guards were all thugs, better than normal thugs, but thugs nonetheless. It wasn't all that difficult to get in, and the first rooms she came to were the changing rooms.
Kazeshini danced around the reflection of mirrors placed against one wall, not letting herself be seen by one of the men currently using dental floss on his teeth at one of the sinks. She merely yanked another man away from where he was standing, her hand wrapped around his mouth to keep him from crying out, and quickly stabbed one of her hidden blades into his neck.
The man gave a little jerk before Kazeshini released him to slid down the wall he had previously been facing leaving a trail of bright red blood in his wake.
The first man in front of the mirror looked up from where he had been splashing his face with water from a sink, and gave a startled gasp at seeing the trail of blood on the wall behind him due to the reflection in the mirror.
The man turned around going for a weapon of any sort when Kazeshini merely ghosted up from the shadows and wrapped his bathrobes around his neck. It took but a moment to kick out with her leg to simply dislocate the man's femur from his hip, reducing most of his ability to struggle as Kazeshini strangled him to death.
Once he had stopped moving, unconscious, Kazeshini released him and let him fall to the ground. Then, with a swift stomp, she had his throat crushed and his neck broken.
Kazeshini exited the changing rooms and walked into a side door where two guards were watching through beautifully tinted glass that decorated the main baths. Kazeshini looked through the windows and quickly spotted her target before walking behind one guard and quickly using her blade to slit his throat.
The second guard was just walking around a corner and Kazeshini simply leaned against the adjacent wall to hide herself. The man turned the corner and Kazeshini swiftly slapped her left hand against the man's mouth while stabbing him in the gut with her hidden blade. In a last act of panic, the man tried smacking her hand away from his mouth and tried punching her but Kazeshini was able to block the hit with her right arm and used her left to swiftly punch him in the throat.
Kazeshini put her left hand back over the man's mouth to muffle any noise before jabbing her right blade up into his throat and into the brain. She pressed her weight against the man as he slowly slid to the floor, her eyes staring deep into his even as he died. She could see the very life drain from his eyes as she stared deep at him as his life-blood dripped down her arm.
It sent a slow shiver down her spine as she watched the panic leave his eyes as the thug resigned himself to his own death before his soul was claimed by the Shinigami. This, this was the thrill of being an assassin and it had been years since she had performed her own mission instead of only handing the assignments out.
With a quick release of her blade, the corpse out of her mind as it was no longer relevant, she stalked around to get a swift look at her target once more. The stupid boy was drinking alcohol with a trio of women, enjoying the music of the bathhouse.
A third man came in through a side door and Kazeshini swiftly blocked a sloppy punch before swinging her hidden blade to gut him, he cried out and tried swinging a punch which Kazeshini caught. She quickly threw her shoulder into his torso and flipped them both over so she could quickly punch him to the ground. With her weight on top, the man was entrapped, but a forth guard came around which Kazeshini simply coldly threw a throwing knife into his neck before punching her hidden blade into the skull of the man trapped beneath her.
Finally, Kazeshini entered the bathhouse and threw a knife at her target only for a massive man to have unfortunately stood in the way. The knife entered the man's forehead and threw him backwards into the pool he had just stepped out from. Kazeshini scowled and drew another blade to throw at her target.
However, her miss had alerted the wide variety of guards that she was there.
A massive man jumped in the way of her target and grabbed her arm to try holding her back, Kazeshini simply stomped her foot down to get the man to jump back in pain. Then, with three quick jabs, she used her hidden blade to kill him before using a throwing knife to finish the job.
A trio of guards came after, allowing for her target to run and Kazeshini swiftly took care of them with a trio of throwing knives.
Kazeshini ran after her target, killing another man that had come down the set of stairs her target had escaped up.
That floor consisted of a plethora of young, stupid rich kids partying and Kazeshini entered the throng to find her target. Two guards had also entered the throng of partiers and Kazeshini easily jabbed her hidden blade into one guard and then then second before using a throwing knife to kill the first man.
She ran up the stairs to the third floor, having spotted her target running and quickly used her hidden blade on another guard, then a second, then a third. A fourth tried blocking her and she jabbed him in the knee before throwing a knife into his skill. A fifth tried jumping her and she blocked him before trying to jab him in the throat.
Her blade had jammed, too much blood gunking up the gears, and Kazeshini simply exchanged her hidden blade for a spare while the guard she had jabbed in the throat was stunned. Then, she simply killed him with another jab to the throat with the spare blade.
A sixth came up from behind her and she simply killed him with a throwing knife before a seventh came from where her target had run and she used another throwing knife. An eight held a crossbow came from the same door as guard number seven but had hidden behind the same pillar as Kazeshini did when she saw the crossbow.
She quickly looked down and saw the guard's foot sticking out from behind the pillar and threw a quick blade into the appendage. With a scream, the eighth guard scrambled back and Kazeshini jabbed him with her hidden blade before kicking him through the doors.
A ninth guard came after her and Kazeshini rolled to the floor to kick the man's legs out from under him while grabbing his flailing arm to roll the man underneath her own body. Another stairwell had a tenth guard running up which Kazeshini simply threw a hidden blade into his skull. Then, with a quick twist of her body, she had her hidden blade jammed into the throat of the guard being held under her.
She swiftly stood up and went after her target where she could see him running but a twelfth guard blocked her passage so she quickly struck him with her blade. A thirteenth came up behind her which she simply threw a knife into his eye. Another guard came running up to her with a punch, and Kazeshini grabbed the arm and twisted herself around so the man arm was twisted at eh shoulder while she threw a hidden blade at another guard. Then, with a quick flip, the guard in her hand was thrown to the ground where she used a quick throwing knife to end his life.
Kazeshini looked for her target but was thrown to the ground as a crossbow bolt smacked into the chest piece of her armor. Another bolt hit the ground right where she had been thrown to the ground before she had rolled to the side.
With swift accuracy, Kazeshini threw a knife and killed the crossbowman.
However, as she stood up, a rival shinobi kicked her. "Fucker!" Kazeshini cried out as she was thrust back into a side table filled with glassware.
The enemy shinobi gave a jab at her which Kazeshini was forced to block before she retaliated with her own thrust. Before catching a thrown fist to flip her opponent over her back.
They quickly traded a fast-paced set of blows before Kazeshini was jabbed in the side with broken glassware. Kazeshini growled darkly and glared at her opponent, clutching at her side which was bleeding down her leg, before rushing forward while releasing six levels of her resistance seal to overwhelm her opponent. With a blur of speed, she jabbed her hidden blade into her opponent's throat and quickly set off after her target.
Blood dripped down the floor with every step she took until she had finally caught up to her target. The stupid boy stared at her in shock, frozen as if he had taken the form of a statue.
Kazeshini wasted no time and quickly slit his throat before walking away from the premises, a quick healing jutsu keeping any more blood from spilling.
~~~oOo~~~
Back in Taiyo Kazeshini dispelled the clone and called for a white sun. A healer, one of the five that were stationed specifically in the palace to help, came running to Kazeshini practically frothing at the mouth in worry while the White Sun came running with a handful of the other elements in tow.
"Are you all right, Kazeshini-sama?" one of the group called out, worry practically consuming the entire group.
"Yes, yes, everything's fine."
The healer snorted, "Right, and you clearly haven't had your side ripped open, you're lucky that you haven't bled out!"
Kazeshini rolled her eyes and replied, "Yes, I am just a little rusty at healing jutsu, no need to get your panties in a twist."
The Black Cloud couldn't help but scowl, "And just how did an enemy get the drop on you?"
Kazeshini blushed a bit, "There hadn't been any mention of shinobi opposition so I had my resistance seal up the entire time. I couldn't quite keep up with the shinobi so I got stabbed by broken glass that I had previously been kicked into and broken. I have let my iryojutsu go since I haven't been using those skills much at all, otherwise I would have simply patched myself up before I got back here."
The doors were opened and in came the rest of the Elements of Taiyo along with the head of the Hatake clan.
"Kazeshini-sama!" cried out the Black Sun as he ran forward, practically frothing at the mouth with tears running down his face a snot clogging up his nose. "You left and we didn't even know it was a clone until you came back bleeding out!"
"Yes, Kazeshini-sama, it was highly annoying to be practically avoided by you and then to learn that you were being avoided by a clone was even more annoying." Said Toyashi Hatake as he came forward, a great scowl marking his features making him look older than even what his silver hair made him out to be.
"Well, there wasn't much to talk about, Hatake-dono."
"Yes, there was." The Hatake clan head stated with his scowl deepening. "I wished to discuss some topics with you at the earliest convenience. Seeing as I have practically been avoided by and apparently by your clone, I think it were prudent to see what reason you have been avoiding me."
Kazeshini sighed and rolled her shoulder and twisted her torso, ignoring the complaints leveled her way by the medic and her Elements. "All right, lets convene in a more private area."
The Black Sun gave a plethora of arguments, not wanting to leave her side after she had been injured but Kazeshini sent him a withering glare to set him in his place.
"Enough, you will either wait here for me or go about to your business. I will not have you following me like a wayward pup."
The former bandit turned assassin practically pouted at her before turned away to sit at the foot of her throne, "I'll wait here then."
Kazeshini couldn't help but rub her hand over the Black Sun's hair, petting the man who was sitting at the foot of her throne before heading off to her more private sitting room with the Hatake clan head.
"So, Hatake-dono, what did you wish speak about with me?"
Toyashi's face was blank as he looked at Kazeshini, "I wanted to know what a Uzumaki is doing building a hidden village and not back in Uzu."
Kazeshini raised an eyebrow and leaned farther back into the chair she was sitting in while crossing her legs. "Oh? Why would you think I am an Uzumaki?"
"Because I remember as a younger boy as Uzumaki Kazeshini presented a fine gift of many weapons, ones she had made herself, for the alliance between the Uzumaki and the Hatake clans. While you may have changed your hair color and eye color, and while your skin tone might look different, I knew it was you the moment you used the main weapon of the late Uzumaki Kazeshini. The only known shinobi nodachi named Issen Amimasu, forged and wielded expertly by the late Uzumaki Kazeshini. Now, my question to you, is why did you fake your death?"
Kazeshini didn't speak for a few moments, staring heavily at the clan head in silence. She stayed silent for so long that the younger man began shuffling in anxiousness. "When I was a young babe, Kami-sama gave me a gift though I will not tell you all of what that gift entailed, however, that gift gave me knowledge of what I personally needed to do. So, I delved deep into forbidden Uzumaki knowledge and I create a seal so powerful that it took years to charge with natural chakra and even with the chakra from a massive celestial event to complete. Once complete, I activated that seal and it took well over five years to complete what it had been created to accomplish."
Toyashi waited patiently for Kazeshini to tell her tale, interested in exactly what she was trying to get at.
"That seal created a new bijuu, one without an obvious tail or any sort of colossal animalistic form. I left my clan, my family, because I knew that my greatest creation would be condemned and envied by everyone. They would want to use my seal for themselves or they would want to destroy it, maybe not today and maybe not tomorrow, but someone with an unscrupulous character would have gotten ahold of my creation and use it to try and become a god. I left to become someone different, so that I would not be questioned. In the process, I created Taiyo so that the knowledge given to me by Kami-sama would be properly utilized. Does that answer your question?"
Toyashi frowned, "Will you ever tell exactly what the gift was?"
Kazeshini raised an eyebrow at the younger silver-haired man, "I do not think I will ever trust anyone with exactly what that gift entailed, not even my parents were given that chance." Kazeshini stood up from her seat and gave a faux smile at the Hatake clan head, "I am feeling slightly weary from my travels, so I hope we can continue our discussions another day."
Toyashi stood from his chair and gave a bow, "Yes, Kazeshini-sama. Have a wonderful day."
Kazeshini watched as he walked out of her private sitting room before slowly following in his wake to collect her Black Sun lest the assassin feel as though he had been forgotten.
~~~oOo~~~
A/N: If any of you have watched the movie John Wick, then you will most likely realize the resemblance of the massive fight scene in this chapter to the Red Circle scene in the movie. Without having watched that movie, I would most definitely have been stuck on this chapter for more than a few weeks as I had absolutely no idea how to continue.
If anyone has any ideas on what Kazeshini could do for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd shinobi wars and everything in-between I would be eternally grateful!
Day Guard
xXx White Sun - head of hospital, ran medical classes
White Cloud - head of the police, set guard rotations around Taiyo and the valley
xXx White Rain - mediator and ambassador
xXx White Storm - combat expert
xXx White Lightning - oversaw village defenses and surrounding defenses
White Mist – banker, financer, and illusion expert
Night Guard
xXx Black Sun - best assassin/hitman, head of the assassination/seduction division
Black Cloud - strategist (Nara-like), plotting and the meticulous planning for physical attacks
Black Rain - head of infiltration, supervise all other spies and infiltrators
xXx Black Storm - head of T&I
Black Lightning – head of the research and development
Black Mist – information gatherer