Chapter 1
What if...
What if Uzushiogakure had made more plans in case of an attack? What if they had been ready for it and made sure that a part of the clan would survive? What if a fourth of the clan had been on mission outside the village at the time of the attack? What if the clan had a way of saving not only the knowledge of clan, but also most of their artifacts?
The attack on Uzushio came at the dead of night, it was silent and deadly, dozens of Uzumaki shinobi loosing their lives in a matter of second. Fortunately, the enemy tripped the secret defence system of the island nation which automatically activated the war-barrier of the village, killing hundreds of enemy shinobi on activation. The sudden apparition of the huge dome of Chakra woke up the rest of the village, especially the high ranking shinobi, like the Uzukage.
Uzumaki Takashi was the third Uzukage, the first two having passed on, as older people tended to do. Born to the royal branch of the Uzumaki clan, he was the only male of the line and as such the only one who could become Daimyo of Uzu no Kuni. He later became the leader of the Village hidden in the Whirling Tides, once he reached the coveted title on strongest amongst the eddies. He was rumoured to be one of the strongest, if not, the strongest of the Kages. He had also reaffirmed his commitment to Konoha by sending his younger sister to the Village Hidden in the leaves to serve as the next vessel for the great Kyuubi.
On this day, Takashi woke up suddenly, awakened by the sudden alarms blaring all the village. He became instantly aware of the light coming from outside of his rooms in the Uzukage palace. The sight outside of the official residence brought dread to his heart. The huge dome encircling the Village would not be activated for anything other than an attack on the Heart of their nation. He quickly made his way back inside and donned his shinobi uniform and armour.
He felt increasingly worried as he quickly Shunshined directly to the shinobi headquarters. He was eventually joined by the head of the six shinobi clans of Uzushiogakure, the Jonin commander, the director of the Hospital, The leader of the special forces named Kanitsumo (an anagram from the sentence Kage ni tsukaeru mono, Those who serve in the shadows, the equivalent of the Konoha ANBU), The master of seals, the head of the sensor and barrier division, Uzushio spymaster and head of T&I, the chief of logistics, head of R&D and finally the representative of the civilian council.
Takashi looked around him and felt the apprehension and fear of the men and women around him. It was not the first attack against the village, many villages had attempted to breach the barriers around the nation, all of them had failed, but never before had the War-barriers of Uzushio activated.
"Report!"
The first one to talk was the Jonin commander, Uzumaki Tadasu, a cousin of Takashi and the head of the noble branch of the clan. At thirty years old, he looked young for his age, and made it weird for people unused to deal with Uzumaki to identify his age and take him seriously. He had short crimson hairs and pale violet eyes.
"The attack happened suddenly, and we lost most of the outside patrol and advance reconnaissance guard. Some of them have made it here in a matter of minutes, but it was mostly to late by that time. One of our chunin reported seeing shinobi of Kumo, Kiri and Iwa, but also Kusa and Ame. The quarter of our forces are presently outside the village on mission. We don't know how they were able to bypass our sensor network or the detection barriers, but we are encircled and their is no way we can send someone to fetch some help from Konoha. There is also the problem of manpower. If we are to believe the few survivors, and I tend to believe them, we are facing an army that will out man us ten to one."
The second to talk was a handsome man that looked like he aged well. His dark skin did little to hide his fear and contrition to the problem before them. Umino Izumo was the head of the sensor and barrier division, the first defence of the village. The network of sensors and the barriers themselves were supposed to inform the village when a shinobi entered ten kilometres of the land of whirlpool boundaries.
"I do have an explanation for the reason we have not detected them. The only civilian born shinobi in my department seemed to have turned traitor. The fealty seal on his neck activated after he turned off the alarms, but before he could deactivate the barriers. We were lucky he did only one of the two and didn't start with the barrier. As you know, the war barriers have been activated, that's the good news. The bad news is that considering we installed them last week, they are barely charged. We can expect five to six days of protection before they fail. At this time, most of the other barriers have been taken down to charge the war barriers. We cannot reactivate them without taking the war barriers down and even then, it would take to long."
"That's a really bad news for us... Anyone else?"
The third person to answer was the Kinuumi Katsuya, an older woman with bright orange hair and eyes. She had a constant serene air to her and her face was barely wrinkled by time. She looked twenty years younger than she was. As the chief of logistic, she was the one responsible for all the boring problems that any army would face.
"The traitor worked for my department before he asked for a transfer. Knowing that, I ordered a complete check of our stockpiled resources, our armoury, and our vaults. Everything is fully stocked and no problems could be reported. The bigger problems came when it was time to secure the hidden evacuation network and the hidden caves. They have all been caved in by massive Earth jutsu, clearly Iwa knew all of their position and was able to bypass our barrier just long enough to destroy them... As a precaution, I have already ordered the population to seal everything the owned and ordered the same for non-essential resources in the village's vaults. The Bank of the Eddies has also started to seal everything hidden in their vaults. It should be finished around five in the evening, even the sealing of all civilian resources."
"Can you explain for the rest of the council why you ordered this measure specifically?"
"It's quite simple Uzukage-sama, logistically speaking, we have no chances of winning, considering the present state of things, it seemed prudent to send everything to the secret drop point that was created for this precise case. This will make sure that even if our village falls, none of our seals or jutsu could be used against our allies or remaining citizens."
The fourth person, Hisumi Motomoro, representative of the civilian council, and retired shinobi of the village interrupted the explication to ask the most pressing question.
"Are we to assume that we are doomed? You are talking about sending all our resources, but also our armoury, the coffers and archives of the village somewhere else. If this is the measures we are considering, the civilians will have to know to prepare to defend themselves. Everyone in the village may be at genin level, but we still need to prepare."
"As I was saying, it is just in case. However, I am forced to say that it becomes clearer by the minute that we might have to activate plan exodus."
The silence in the room became oppressive. Plan exodus was the last resort for the village, it was quite literally the last option conceivable for them to survive. With the escape routes destroyed, the hidden underwater safe-zones crushed and their island surrounded, they could either fight when the barrier comes down or they could activate their last chance. Uzumaki Tadamori took the lead on that one after a minute of silence.
"I believe you might be right my girl. If we are to activate plan exodus, I will need to open the biggest sealing room and start drawing."
"What do you need Tadamori-sama?"
"Takashi... I will need the entire population ready in the next forty-eight hours."
"... Very well. Katsuya-san, use the logistic department and start the evacuation of the people, but also of all that we can bring with us. Start the transfer of resources as soon as possible. Don't hold back. The rest of you ready your people, spread the order in your clans and you departments. Tadasu, you will start to harass the closest enemy forces with long range jutsu. Make them pay as much as possible, use the strongest among the clan and those who have the best chance at hitting the enemy... I suspend normal engagement rules that state that we must limit the number of deaths. Kill as many as you can. You are dismissed."
"HAI!"
"Kamome please wait, I need to speak to you in private."
Kamome was the leader of the Kanitsumo, the special forces of Uzushio. They were the equivalent of the Konoha ANBU forces, yet were not the spies of the village. Assassination, stealing, extortion, kidnapping, they did it all. They were the ones given the worst missions, the most gruesome, the most distasteful. They were the dark currents that hid under the surface, the hidden deeps of the oceans, the merciless predators of the deep. To carry their burdens, the member of the secret organization became emotionless, harsh and merciless, but most of all loyal. Kamome was a fine example of that, cousin of Takashi, he was personable and nice in person, but once he donned his black Kanitsumo mask, he would kill anyone that stood opposed to the village.
"Kamome, Report!"
"Uzukage-sama, our forces are mostly out of the village, they chose their time too well. I found one of my subordinate dead, using one of our sacred mask, I was able to talk to the traitor and find that he and several other civilian base shinobi had betrayed us. I ordered they all be captured and brought in for interrogation. The last report I had forced me to activate the loyalty barrier, we registered seventeen deaths, all of them from non-clan shinobi."
"This is going to be an ongoing problem. Is the Kanitsumo ready for evacuation?"
"Yes, sir! The orders from Kinnumi-sama have been heard and heeded."
A silence fell over them, as Takashi thought of the future and what must be done in the near future. He knew what he had to do, but it would be one of the most difficult thing in the world. Uzushiogakure was lost, that was made clear, so they would have to escape. The problem with that option is the time constrain they had to face, usually a complete evacuation would take close to ten days, including the emptying all the warehouses and emptying the houses. The murals would be taken down, the whole walls with them, and sealed inside special scrolls for transport. The seals on the mosaic floors with be activated and sealed inside specially made crates. The seed vaults and biology laboratories would be emptied. And all of that in the next forty-eight hours. The whole population would be drafted to help and in the end even the children would need to help. The three orphanages would be emptied and each child would be given a scroll for their personal effects, after that they would be sent in the city to help with the sealing of public artwork.
"I need you to prepare the voice of the sea. I will need to speak to every citizen of Uzushio, but also to all those far from home. Mito-sama will need to draw the seals for the portal in the hidden district of Konoha. Furthermore, those that left either on mission, for commerce, or simply because they chose to move away from the village need to be told."
"Are you hoping for Mito-sama to inform the Hokage and Konoha of the situation?"
"Even if they were to know, what could they do? We are far to outnumbered, it would simply get their ninja killed. They will need them for the incoming war, because this is certainly a declaration of war if I ever needed to see one. We are lucky that I forced the council to implement new security measures and prepare for the worst case scenario. Now, go prepare the voice. I will need it."
"Hai!"
Kamome left right away, leaving Takashi to look outside the council chambers, the huge dome of light still illuminating the dark sky of night. It had not registered to any of them yet, but Takashi knew. This was the end of Uzushiogakure and the land of Whirlpool. Their Island nation would be dead or empty by the following week. There was no escaping it, it was the end. Going to Konoha would save them, but it would force them to adopt their laws and adapt to the new government structure. The Uzumaki clan had a place on Konoha council, but he would go from being the Daimyo of his own country to being the subordinate of a man whose clan was five centuries younger than his own. The eddies would make their home among the giant leaves of the Hashirama trees, for better or for worst.
"Uzukage-sama? The voice is ready to speak."
"Thank you Kamome, that will be all."
"Hai!"