Disclaimer: This is a Naruto fanfiction Naruto is the original work of the author Masashi Kishimoto.
Chapter One
Our choices alter the course of history. This is true, whether great or small the choices we make change the world. Sometimes the changes are as simple as a person in the right place at the right time...
There were no words to describe what he was feeling at to moment. It was all… all of it, gone. His home, his country, his people scattered across the earth, fleeing for their lives. What he felt was not rage. His rage had come and gone. He was an old man and his strength was by necessity, better spent on things other than rage.
After a time of frantic evacuation from the Kumo and Mizu forces that had ravaged Uzushiogakure he had led the other survivors deep into the mainland. His strength lasted long enough to prevent the refugees from collapsing into chaos and despair. Stubbornly, he bullied them or plied them with calming words and logic until the families divided themselves into caravans.
In order to hide from their enemies each assigned family head chose a new name from a list that he created. The surviving jounins scattered among the groups to guard them as they hid, or traveled the lands, as far away from the main front of the war as they could manage. When it was over and what had to be said was said, the former master of the Village of the Whirling Tides seemed to shrink into himself.
He waited until the other leaders had left to prepare themselves before doing it, grieving alone in the dark, recounting the names and faces of all his lost children and grand children. He was eighty-five years old, and had lived through eras of both war and peace. Once-blue eyes, now storm-grey, idly watched the myriad of dents and old scars that traced across his armor. In truth, he was preparing to die. His stubborn pride would not allow him to live on as a burden while his children struggled to adapt to their harsh new world. His great-grandson Hiroshi was a young but capable man, the caravan would be fine without him, and the hunters sure to be after the rare sealing knowledge that he knew.
Wearily, he rose to his feet. The wakizashi was set on a stand before his armor, the pieces were to be recycled or destroyed and he would rather die before either happened. Uzumaki Hisao approached his blade with a stride that spoke of grim finality. Gently, he lifted the weapon from its stand and then, with great care he drew the blade which rasped softly as it left the turtle shell patterned sheath. Lips, in a firm line, he lifted the wakizashi high.
He knew not how long he stood there in contemplation, poised to slide the shōtō blade between his ribs and into his heart in a single thrust. He gave obeisance to his ancestors and prayed for the wellbeing of his family. His mind was clear, and his heart was calm but still he did not drive the point home.
"Ugh, uuu, uh, uuu…"
He refused to die crying, it was mortifying! God Damnit!
"Uhu, ha, uuuu, uuuu… mama, uuu…"
In his flustered state it took a while for Hisao to realize the his face was dry and he wasn't crying for his mama. As the old man gathered himself, it quickly became clear that the source of the soft sobs was someone other than he. He cast his eyes around, peering into the darkened corners of the tent looking for the voice. His eyes widened when the sobs began again.
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuu, mama, papa!"
An oft-broken, liver spotted nose, tipped over the lip of his armor as he peered at the culprit that had disturbed him.
"Uuuuuuuuuu, uuuuuuuuu…"
He tossed aside the sheath and lifted the armor with one hand. A crying toddler was revealed, approximately four years of age. Her red hair and what little of her face that he could see identified her as another of his great-grandchildren. One of Juurou's grandchildren most likely, she reminded him of Mito from the shape of her head which was so like his younger cousin's. He vaguely remembered Juurou's daughter Minako had strongly inherited Mito's looks…
"Uuuuu!"
His time of reminiscing was interrupted by the child's soft cries and he felt oddly discomfited. His stubborn pride would not allow him to carry out what he had been planning before this young four year old girl. More to the point, seeing his cute great-grandchild cry didn't sit well with him. A bit too gruffly, he bit out.
"Young one, what do you think you're doing, rusting my armor with tears? Hmm?"
Startled from her despair, the girl's round face looked up at Hisao… and then his sword.
"Hiiieeeee!" She squealed, tumbling back ward. Hisao grabbed her before she fell off the low table.
"Easy girl!" He grunted in exasperation. "Are you a proud woman of the Uzumaki clan or aren't you? Dry your tears!" He waved the sword around before pointing its tip at the ceiling. "We will not give in to despair, not when your parents have given their lives so that we others can live on! We will not give up, not while a single member of this clan yet draws breath!" The old man raged. "You, girl!" He pointed the index finger of his free hand into her face. "God damnit, what are you doin' sitting in the dark sobbing? Lift up yer head God damnit or so help me! Yer a woman of the Uzumaki clan! Are yer gonna just lay down and cry?"
At first the four year old had simply been frightened of the raging elder, but there was something in the tone of his words that prodded at her. Eventually not even the waving sword and violent threats distracted her from the look on his face. There was sadness, yes, but also determination and a sense of outrage at the thought of simply giving up. It was the last that broke the young girl from her funk and even Hisao seemed startled when she suddenly shot to her feet, ignoring the flailing blade that nearly decapitated her.
"I'm not giving up, I'm not, datte ne! Jiji… Jiji! I'm not!" She told him fiercely with a lisping voice, young and high. Her pudgy cheeks reddened in anger and she shook her shoulder-length red hair in defiance. Showing the kind of dexterity only a shinobi-bred child could have at such a young age, the girl jumped to the ground and stomped her foot while pointing directly into Hisao's face just as he had done to her.
"I'm not gonna give up datte ne! Papa, Mama! I'm a proud woman o'the Uzumaki clan." The child screamed right back at him.
Then the little monster kicked him in the shins before running for the tent opening, roughly hitting an arthritic knee as she ran past. Hiroshi found him there later, clutching at his leg and chuckling. The little girl from earlier could be heard, presumably haranguing the other orphans outside.
"What'cha cryin for datte ne! Yer a man of the Uzumaki Clan ain'tcha ne!"
"B-but Kushina-chan, I'm not a man, I'm a little boy…"
-Smack-
"Man up Ken-chan! Datte-ne!" Was the girl's terrifyingly merciless reply.
Hisao guffawed.
Hiroshi knelt next to him, "Thank goodness, it seems you're alright, Hisao-ojii-sama. What are we going to do next? Where are we going?"
Hisao peered at the worried face of his great-grandson, the oldest of those still alive. He was a fine young man, nineteen years old. Nineteen years was still too young for such responsibility, what had he been thinking God damn it? Hisao grunted and stood, beckoning the younger man to do the same. "There should be a patrol north of here, seal up our gear and have the rear guard erase our tracks until we get to the road." Hisao said making toward the opening of the tent.
"Where are we going?" Hiroshi asked confusedly, as he followed his elder, then the teen's eyes widened in realization, "We're going there?" He gasped.
Hisao smiled sardonically, "Mito's always been inviting me over but I could never take the time." He smile, "C'mon boy, we're going to have a little family reunion."
The Senju Ichizoku was considered the strongest ninja clan during the era of the Shinobi Clan Wars. Perhaps this could in part be attributed to their philosophy of training. Where many clans in that era mastered a few basic techniques and focused on one specific clan technique or school of techniques that they developed and then jealously guarded it's secret workings, the Senju clan was noted for doing exactly the opposite.
Each member of the Senju worked to develop and master what techniques were best suited to themselves. If a member was a genjutsu type that member strived to master genjutsu. If a member had a talent for ninjutsu or taijutsu, then, in addition to their normal shinobi training, clan members with the desired skills would take the time to help their kouhai master the technique.
Of course, individually, lower level members of the clan usually traded skill in a specific area of specialization for a more general shinobi education. That is to say, when compared to a member of a rival clan that specialized in a certain technique and spent their time mastering it. However, this more general approach showed its advantages when the Senju of the Forest sent out teams of shinobi.
A clan that specialized in close combat techniques would find its members pitted against a mix of long-range ninjutsu users, poison experts, genjutsu users in addition to taijutsu specialists. A clan of genjutsu users would find that the Senju not only had their own genjutsu specialists, but in addition there were ninja facing them with abilities that countered their own skills.
It was this versatility that made the Senju and Uchiha, a clan renowned for the Sharingan's power to analyze and understand techniques for later adoption, the supreme ninja groups during the Clan Wars. But it was the teamwork displayed by the Senju that truly gave the clan an edge over all others, even their rivals the Uchiha. Where among the Uchiha, only the very strongest survived to pass on their legacy, the Senju battlefield philosophy promoted the survival of the group, eventually allowing members to survive long enough to gain the experience, level and variety of skill necessary to survive on the battlefield.
It also helped that while the Senju did possess secret techniques, none of them required that clan members limit their breeding potential like the Hyuuga, so as to preserve the strength and secrets of a bloodline; nor confine their number of active ninja to those with the ability to perform a certain skill, like the Uchiha, of whom only half of the Clan were ever able to manifest the Sharingan during their lifetimes.
One could argue that given the course of history, the name of the Uchiha is still well known and used while the Senju at this time have only one heir, it can thus be argued that the Senju philosophy was flawed. This argument would however be utterly wrong and show a flawed and incomplete understanding of history. Having no specific bloodline, the mokuton ability having since died with the Shodaime Hokage, Hashirama Senju; the Senju clan instead disbanded into the many shinobi families that populate Konohagakure. The Namikaze, Yuhei, Hatake, Umino families and the Kurama clan are examples of this.
In this sense, it can be said that the village of Konoha, with its hundreds of thousands of shinobi, who are taught according to the old philosophy of co-operation and teamwork, is a testament to the continued survival of the Senju clan's influence. This is especially true when one considers that the one country - one shinobi village, something first begun by the fledgling Senju-Uchiha Alliance is a system that has been adopted throughout the greater majority of the Elemental Nations.
-Excerpt from Ninja Densetsu by Uzumaki Hisao.
Chapter Two
"Hah, hah, huff, hah…"
He was panting like a dog as he ran along the forest floor. Always, for as long as he remembered, he dreamed of this forest. It reminded him of the one that surrounded his clan's compound.
"Hah, Haff…"
He felt so… safe here, whether it was the trees, or his many memories of time spent having picnics or leisurely walks with ojii-sama, kaa-san and onee-chan, he didn't know. It was a place that he came to for comfort at night, just as he had trained under the real trees during the day, in the forest that was called the Heart of Konoha.
Sometimes he slept in the roots of the trees, though now only in his dreams as the last time he had done so for real, he'd been awoken by a tearful kaa-san, surrounded by the men in funky masks who he later learnt were AnBu. The mask-men weren't so bad but he never again wanted to see kaa-san cry. He wasn't even punished like the other times he'd done wrong and that'd made it all even worse. Kaa-san, kaa-san, he loved his kaa-san.
The ochre trunks and vibrant green leaves on the dream branches overhead dulled slightly in accordance with his mood. He knew himself to be asleep and willed himself to run faster for he loved running. He had loved it ever since the first time he had ever been allowed to roam freely in their family garden. He'd run and run that first day until he'd tripped and fallen into the Koi pond, unpleasantly startling the fish.
In his dreams however, he remembered things differently. He hadn't fallen in as Hisao-ojii-sama, Saru-jii, and Kaa-san said. In his dreams he felt a faint spurt of terror as something looped around his ankles and yanked his four-year old body off-balance and into the water. His dreams of what happened after were all fuzzy, filled with shadowy tendrils that undulated across his vision. He did remember though, that a few days later was the time he first met Yamato-aniki, his goofy aniki who was always making the funny eyes at nee-chan.
"Naruto…"
He turned toward the source of the voice calling him and saw nothing.
"Naruto…"
A soundless wind began to stir the trees as he ran through the forest.
"Naruto…"
He tilted himself forward, throwing his arms back for stability as he ran low to the ground. His stride allowed him to pass among the trees in a blur, leaping over fallen boughs and latching onto trunks to bleed of speed for sudden changes in direction. In his dream it seemed as if he moved at the speed of thought. His heart rate sped up as he imagined dodging the swaying boughs on trees by little more than a hair's breadth.
"Naruto-kun…"
Eventually the foliage cleared to reveal what he somehow knew to be a large cave entrance that had been capped by a large rock. Etched into the rock were the Kanji 'Iron Armor' and on either side of the rock was a sacred tree. On one was pinned a paper tag inscribed with the kanji for 'Smooth River' on the other was a tag with the words 'Gentle Passage. Vibrant green vines seemed to be tightly binding the rock to the cave entrance almost causing the two to look like they melded together.
Suddenly the rock glowed cherry-red and a wave of heat hit Naruto causing him to reel backward. An ominous voice sounded from behind the rock.
NARUTOOO… YOU BASTARD, I'LL KILL YOU!
"Wake up!"
-thump!-
"W-wuh-wha!" Naruto groaned groggily as he tumbled on the floor. One sleepy eye focused on Shizune-nee-chan, who held his covers and bed sheet in one hand, wearing an exasperated expression on her face. "Nee-chan, so mean…"
The woman just snorted, tossing the blue cloth in her hands aside. Shizune placed her hands on her hips and assumed what Naruto mentally called, 'Shizune-onee-chan's Lecture Pose Number One'. Her chin lifted slightly, her stance widened and she thrust her chest out a little. Yamato-aniki always paid attention to her when she did that last bit. It was a little creepy the way he stared but Shizune-nee either didn't notice or care about it, though, he did once trick Aniki into doing his chores for the day when he confronted him about it.
Something Shizune said penetrated his sleep-addled mind. "Wait, what?" He asked. "Sorry, sorry, what did you say?"
Shizune's cheeks puffed up as she glared at him, "I said that today's the day they hand out team assignments." She pointed to the clock. Naruto's eyes widened as he snatched it up. The clock's minute hand was showing that he had less than ten minutes to get ready.
"Ahhh! I'm late!" He screamed, ignoring Shizune's muttered, 'Baka' in his panic. Ripping off his tadpole nightcap, he grabbed a towel and raced out the room.
Shizune peered out the door, watching as he nearly crashed into a servant before hastily apologizing as he skipped into the bathroom. When the door shut with a slam, Shizune allowed a slight chuckle to escape her lips. Walking over to the nightstand, she picked up the alarm clock from where it Naruto had dropped it and turned off the alarm trigger. With a mischievous grin, she turned back the hour hand from eight to seven.
Five minutes later a cursing Naruto ran into the empty bedroom almost tripping as he hurriedly pulled on a pair of knee-length jeans while sloppily fitting a hooded-sweater over a black t-shirt and chain mesh vest. He fell to the floor with a thump and a light curse before rummaging around for his sandals. Popping his head up like a jackrabbit, He craned his neck around before seeing his hitai-ate next to the clock. He snatched up a belt with holsters, hip packs and scroll holsters dangling from it as he ran out of the room, hopping awkwardly as he tried to get his left sandal to fit his right foot even as his hands fumbled with the belt while his fore-head protector was clenched between his teeth.
Then Naruto walked back into his room and looked at his clock...
"Nee-chan is mean…" Naruto groused on the way down to breakfast. His sandals were on the right feet and the orange and black hoodie he wore, the one with the brown fur lining, was properly covering the holster belt that wrapped around his waist and torso. His mother had pitched a fit when she'd first seen the brightly colored sweater that he'd picked out, but his love of the glorious orange color held sway over his stubborn refusal to change it. In the end Shizune had won the older woman over by stitching a reversible camouflage cloth covering onto the inside and getting his Gramps to add extra protections to it later.
"Hmm, Naruto, still wearing that monstrosity are we?" Hisao said upon noticing him come down the stairs. Naruto sagged at the reminder that Hisao-jiji also hated his choice in clothing. The old man's greeting also had the effect of drawing his mother's undivided attention to him.
"Naruto, you're just in time." Tsunade said as she whacked Hiroshi's hand with a ladle. The old man quietly grumbled as he retracted his hand from the butter dish he'd reached for and looked morosely at what was left for him to eat:- the piece of bread, baked by a servant; the bowl of fruit, prepared by Shizune; and a steaming mess that his in-law called porridge. Wisely, he ate the fruit and bread before attempting to leave.
Tsunade wacked him with the ladle so hard it bent and as Hisao sagged into his chair dazed, she turned back to a frozen Naruto and saw Shizune who had joined him at the stairs. "Come on you two, I made us breakfast."
"K-kaa-san… made breakfast." Naruto didn't sound pleased and Shizune edged upstairs as Naruto whimpered, "Nee-chan, I'm scared."
Tsunade's fist crumpled the metal handle of the ladle before she bellowed, "Oi! Get down here and eat, you too Shizune."
Hisao grunted from where he sat, "Woman, is this supposed to be oatmeal? Why's it got sand in it? God damn it?"
-Thwack!-
"No cursing! It's just some vitamin and mineral supplements that I added. I'll have you know that the clay is good for digestion." She explained to the grimacing man. Then she peered at him sharply, "You don't fool me, stop making hand signs under the table!" The ladle swished and gained yet another ding in it.
"God damn it!"
-Thwack!-
The family and servants normally went out of their way to keep Tsunade away from the stove but it seemed like they had failed this time. Naruto did the only thing that he could do in such a situation, he used Hisao as a distraction to butter up some bread and threw Shizune to the figurative wolves, "Kaa-san, nee-chan's always been wanting to try your cooking, kaa-san! But I've gotta go before I'm late! Dattebayo!"
Then he threw himself out the kitchen window, seconds ahead of his mother's grasping hand, he landed in the garden as a crumpled ladle sailed over head, "Naruto! Get back here you brat!" His mother bellowed.
He made a straight dash for the outer wall as he chewed on his meager, but palatable, breakfast and he leapt over it in a single bound. Naruto didn't stop running until he'd cut through a patch of forest and got onto the main road leading down to the village. Waiting for him near a Jizo, was his Hisao-ojii-sama. The old man sighed as Naruto walked up to him and turned away from the view of the village below them in order to take in the sight of his great-great-grandson. He could see Kushina in the set of the boy's jaw and speech. Looking over the Konoha headband he sighed again at the unruly mop of blond hair that Naruto had been growing out of late, his headband kept his bangs out of his eyes but to Hisao it just looked like a blond brush tip.
Focusing upon the expectant child, he handed him a scroll, saying, "Naruto, as I'm sure your mother has told you, we're all very proud that you've passed the academy exam. According to your report card, you scored the highest ever in the written portion and third highest in the practical test of all your peers. Although I wish you hadn't done so abysmally in the genjutsu tests."
Naruto winced, even with his mother's aid, Shizune's and Yamato-aniki's help, it was all he could do just to create a couple of simple bunshin and even that had taken Hisao placing a seal on him.
The old man noticed his look and placed a hand on the boy's shoulder reassuringly. "We all have our weaknesses and strengths, my gandkid Kushina was the same way, don't give up and keep trying, make that weakness your strength." Hisao said forcefully.
Naruto looked up at him with bright eyes and pumped his fist in the air, "Hai!"
Hisao nodded fondly, "You've already mastered the Shikoku Fūin and Jumon Bunpitsu no Fūjin. Your timing and speed of application of the first two basic Shishou Fūinjutsu is also impeccable. The scroll I just gave you contains instructions on two others, be careful when you use it, the contents are protected." Naruto nodded.
Hisao then picked up another bundle from behind the Jizo. Naruto's eyes brightened when he realized what it was. Hisao's hands held an orange and red scroll, the length of the thirteen year old boy's arm, with an adjustable strap connected to the spindle. Setting it down, the man unscrewed one end of the spindle and revealed a jumon fude, the special sealing brush Naruto had seen the other Uzumaki clan members use for their more advanced techniques. Hisao then gripped the handle below the brush and twisted, revealing that the brush was also a disguised shikomizue. The cane sword's blade was double edged and one of its faces was raised slightly making it look a bit like a chisel. It was about the length of Naruto's forearm.
"Hmmm," Hisao sighed, "I placed a juinjutsu on this blade, the sheath is designed to channel your chakra and use the brush's sealing ink as a medium to transfer the curse so be careful around others. Here," He said, showing Naruto a set of symbols etched into the flat face of the blade. The boy peered at the weapon and only recognized that the seals on it were in the Eight Trigrams style which he hadn't started learning.
"Ojii-sama, what does it do?" The boy asked.
"It's an immobilizing seal designed to stop opponents in their tracks," Hisao explained, "You channel a little chakra into the handle to activate the transfer ritual and use the half-rat seal to trigger the jutsu itself. A strong enough opponent can power through them though, so be wary. The rest are preservation seals and a blood locking seal for the blade. Here, daub some of your blood along this face."
Following the old man's instructions, Naruto bit his thumb and pressed the pad of his finger, causing the blood to well up. Then in a swift stroke, he painted the line of symbols on the flat side of the blade that Hisao held a dark red. For a second the two watched as the symbols glowed before turning a solid black color.
"Now be careful," Hisao repeated, "The technique works best if you can get some of the ink on your opponent's skin, keep that in mind, I'll teach you later how to use that jumon brush properly so don't do something stupid, ya hear me!"
"Hai!" Naruto responded sheepishly, it wasn't the first time that he'd been caught playing around with someone else's Jumon brush.
"This blade can work for slashing and stabbing," Hisao stated, "It's thicker and protected from wear so with enough force it can even penetrate armor. But be careful, the trigger seals are tuned to you now, to anyone else the slightest nick will cause temporary paralysis. They won't be able to move or use ninjutsu and if this blade touches an organ it will shut it down. Keep that in mind and don't screw around with it right!" He repeated the last a bit forcefully, causing Naruto to nod his head hastily in acquiescence.
Hisao looked at the boy flintily as if to gauge whether or not to give him the weapon. Naruto gulped and did his best to look serious and resolute, his look was so familiar that the old man struggled not to smile as he reassembled the shikomizue and fitted the brush back into the spindle. By the time he was standing Hisao could no longer hold in the full blown grin that stretched across his face.
"Naruto, you make me so proud…" He said quietly, "Become a good man and an even greater ninja alright?"
Hisao smiled as his cute grandchild looked up at him with wide blue eyes, he watched as the boy put the scroll over his shoulder and walk over to the edge of the cliff. Naruto placed one hand on the Senju clan patch hanging from his right shoulder, and the other on the Uzumaki clan symbol hanging from his left. Hisao thought the boy might be crying but was stopped from speaking when Naruto looked back at him resolutely, his eyes clear.
"Jiji, I'll show you, I'll become a great man so watch me. I'll become the greatest ninja of all, I'll be a Hokage greater than any other!" And then he leapt off the cliff…
"LOOK OUT KONOHA! SENJU NARUTO IS COMING TO TOWN! DATTE-"
People walking around the streets below, looked up at the squalling voice of the Senju heir, even those who couldn't make out what he was saying smiled, there were few people in the village who hadn't heard of his antics. They went about their day, a little happier, chuckling at the young child's exuberant cries.
"-BAYOOOOOO!"
Hisao stood at the ledge, watching Naruto's progress through the foliage, tracking him really by the noise he made rather than that obnoxious set of clothes. He remembered another child from long ago and suddenly felt his age.
"Hmm, God damn it…" He mused sadly in his thoughts, "Just like her, always getting carried away…"
Without turning around he spoke, "Yes, what is it Anbu-san?"
A seal that Hisao had set on the head of the Jizo glowed as a blurred form, crossed the Genjutsu Kekkai no Fūin: Mori no Kuni. "Hmm," Hisao sighed, "You're quite talented for one so young, speak."
The AnBu placed a scroll on the ground and stepped back, going to one knee, "Danzo-sama sends you this message, Uzumaki Hisao-sama."
The destruction of Uzushiogakure and the near total loss of the Uzumaki Clan was a terrible blow to Konoha during the waning years of the Second Ninja World War. The Third Hokage welcomed the few refugees that survived that time and people were moved to mourn what seemed to be the end of a once famous clan. That may have been premature.
The Uzumaki was a clan of peerless Fūinjutsu masters and they brought their trade secrets with them to Konoha. Within a year their service to the village by far outweighed the initial drain on the villages strained wartime resources. Publicly, they are known to provide and maintain the seals that allow for what many in Konoha believe to be a normal standard of village life. From the water purification seals that thwarted Suna's attempts to poison the local water table; the electrical power distribution, fuse and transformer seals; to even the simplest firecracker seal used during celebrations. It is widely known that the quality of Konoha's Fūinjutsu is second to none.
Individuals of note are Uzumaki Hisao, clan leader; Uzumaki Hiroshi, 'Shishi' Hiroshi; Uzumaki Miho; Uzumaki Ken, 'Kenage' Ken; and Uzumaki Kushina – see Appendix D, Targets of Opportunity - .
Less widely known is the contribution that the Uzumaki Clan has made to the ninja community, although the sale of their services and seal tags to armories and weapon-smiths in Hi no Kuni is common knowledge, it is also reputed that the clan is heavily involved in village security and counterespionage. While it may seem surprising that a clan that has been a member for only a little more than ten years would be so deeply ingrained in a hidden village's secret affairs, one should note that the Uzumaki clan has been an ally of Konoha from a time well prior to the village's formation, as they are distant cousins to the Senju clan founders of Konoha.
Further the link between the two clans has been strengthened with the union of Uzumaki Hiroshi and Senju Tsunade – see p44, Densetsu no Sannin - which may in time result in an heir, (Later Edit: Senju Naruto – see Appendix D, Targets of Opportunity -) .
An excerpt from Konoha, a Chunin Briefing Manual 6th edition, Kumo.
Chapter Three
Nine months ago,
"God damnit, I'm a grown man, wearing a mask while running through a forest like the seat of my pants is on fire with masked ninja chasing after me. I'm way too old for the crap, God Damnit!" Hisao thought as he weaved silently through Konoha's forest canopy, seconds ahead of a team of AnBu.
Hisao's mission at the request of the Hokage was to investigate the seal placed on Yakumo Kurama and to determine if the Idō personality that he had been told about was suppressed within her. The Sandaime had explained to him what the girl's sensei had been forced to do and why Hisao was to act in secrecy. If indeed the girl was the cause of the recent fire, one that had killed Kurama Murakumo the Kurama clan leader and his wife, Uroko, then young girl's clan would be shamed; and a stronger seal would need to be applied.
But Hisao was irked by something other than being ordered to act in secret by the Hokage. As annoying as being forced to play tag with AnBu was, he found the entire way that the matter had been dealt with to be foolish. Ironically, Hisao wondered if the Sandaime was going senile. While sealing memories was something that could be easily done, altering a person's personality, in its entirety or just in part, was dangerous in the extreme. He'd explained to the Third that it would have been much healthier and less politically dangerous to have the girl seek counsel from a Yamanaka sworn to secrecy.
Even if Idō was an alter ego, sealing work of that nature was complex unless the one who did the sealing didn't mind risking the subject's sanity. Hisao hadn't been pleased to hear about Kurenai's two-point seal which she had learnt off of the Forbidden Scroll. To him, the fool girl might as well have taken the instructions off the side of a box of cornflakes. A much chastised Sandaime had authorized Hisao to do as he saw fit, so long as the matter was kept secret.
Which meant that Hisao had to get rid of his annoying pursuers first.
A trio of shuriken forced him to evade into a second group thrown in their shadow. An analytical side of the Uzumaki's personality gave the Sparrow-masked AnBu extra points for inventiveness as he whipped the cloak draped over his shoulders in a manner that deflected the weapons, even with the Rat-masked AnBu spurring them on at the last second with a sharp wind ninjutsu.
The sound of a spool of wire being unwound signaled Hisao's arrested movement. As his arms were strapped to his sides by the Cat and Horse-masked AnBu that had caught him between them. He grunted as they dragged him to the ground and put a sword to his neck. With one hand reaching for Hsao's mask, Neko AnBu questioned him sharply, "Who are you! What is your business here?"
To the AnBu, it seemed as though the man simply blinked out of existence. Then they were dodging for their lives, as each man was separated by an ogre-like summon that isolated them from each other. The creatures each wielded a large kanabo and with unbelievably swift movements incapacitated the four ninja. Nezumi vanished in a puff of smoke and the shadow clone's creator, hidden out of sight in the bushes, stifled a curse.
"Shit! Genjutsu?"
Any further musing ended when a hand tapped his shoulder. Nezumi was halfway turned around when a soft blue light heralded his descent in to unconsciousness.
Hisao released the half-rat seal that he had used to activate his technique Shishou Fūin: Kizetsu Fūin and set about to remove all traces of the short battle from the forest and the memories of the AnBu he had defeated. Although he had worked carefully to conserve his chakra, moving the bodies of a group of well built adults, three men and one woman, was far from an easy task. And all the while, a detection seal on his body tingled, indicating that Sarutobi was watching through the viewing crystal.
"God Damnit!" Hisao thought in irritation as he finally made his way into the young Kurama Clan head's home.
Grumbling mentally, the old ninja stealthily entered the building. He quietly moved about in the dark, clinging to the roof and looking out for any danger. People seldom looked up and in the darkened house with unfamiliar surroundings he had the extra advantage of not needing to watch out for furniture. Still he the cloak on using it to break up his form in the dark and for the seals on it that hid him from detection by chakra sensor type ninja.
He needn't have bothered as the only person that he found on the way to the girl's room was a servant passed out on the floor. He paused briefly to examine the woman, seeing the fluttering of her eyeballs behind closed eyelids in the moonlight and listening to her breathing and the pace of her heart beat. Nodding to himself, he crept on toward his objective and found Yakumo sitting in the middle of her bedroom with the drapes closed, painting…
In the dark…
It was with a feeling of almost resigned weariness that he watched as horns grew from her heads silhouette and a face with glowing eyes grew out of the back of the girls head. For some odd reason he almost expected the growling voice that passed from the girls lips, "You bastard! So that damned Hokage sent an assassin to us, eh!" Several thick chains snaked around his body, tightened almost painfully and lifted Hisao into the air. "Die," The monster said as several jagged shards of metal materialized before him.
Sighing, Hisao felt the seal that he had applied to his body after seeing the unconscious servant finally unravel the last of the multiple layers of genjutsu that had been woven over him. His left hand swept up, catching a hold of a thin hand that strained to drive a paint trowel into his neck. Quickly he twisted Yakumo's hand into a textbook wrist lock and forced her to the ground. She cried out in the same growling voice, only sounding much less demonic as the seal Hisao applied to himself, struggled to filter out the genjutsu trying to set into of him.
For this reason Hisao was hardly gentle when he pinned the girl to the floor under him. Although he felt Yakumo's wrist begin to give way under his knee, he didn't let up because he needed to keep the girl's hands separate. Not that that stopped her from trying to beguile him with illusions, as one flickering image of a jabbing push dagger and the sense that he'd been blinded proved, but the pain he inflicted distracted the girl and kept her illusions from settling in to the degree that they became real to his mind.
Using his now freed hands Hisao's fingers blurred through a set of hand seals that was well familiar to him.
"Ousu Buta, Inu, Tori, Saru, O-hitsuji," He bit his thumb, "Kuchiyose no jutsu!"
A long-eared hare, wearing a necklace inscribed with the kanji 'Tsuki' appeared on Yakumo's chest. "Chang!" Hisao hissed. "I need the Temaneki no Kagami!" The hare's ears twitched as she said, "Hai!" The summoned animal performed a henge with a cute 'Ka-ya!' and before Yakumo's face was a highly polished mirror, floating in the air. Hisao held on until the girl stopped struggling and he watched as she lay there, entranced by the enchanted mirror. Careful not to look into the Temaneki no Kagami himself, he moved to sit cross-legged at the girl's head.
Hisao placed his left fist into the crook between his right hand's thumb and forefinger. His right hand held onto the knuckles of the left as Hisao angled the back of his left fist so that it was reflected in the mirror without obstructing Yakumo's sight.
"Hn!" He grunted, and the kanji for Zen appeared in the back of his fist, glowing. A matching symbol appeared on Yakumo's brow. Closing his eyes, Hisao began to meditate.
His soul-self appeared within Yakumo's mind. The Kagami no Tameneki's ability allowed him to bypass many of the Idō being's mental barriers and directly access Yakumo's sleeping, dominant personality. He found her cowering behind a wall of paintings shivering and crying as various voices that he didn't recognize belittled her, calling her a failure, hissing that she was useless, a waste of time, pathetic…
At this point Hisao could have easily replaced Kurenai's seal with a new one, one that did everything that the Hokage wanted without risking the girl's sanity or revealing to her what her alternate personality had done. But watching Yakumo's soul-self, desperately clutch her knees as she sobbed triggered an old memory, more than twenty years past, of another little girl. Without thinking any further on the matter, he decided to follow the Sandaime's advice and do as he saw fit.
"God Damnit, I'm getting too old for this! Shishou Fūin: Jizō no Kashaya!"
Yakumo sobbed as she dreamed, gritting her teeth as the nightmare, a familiar one, progressed. Now her dead father would appear and condemn her for her weakness, unable to even graduate as a shinobi. Whoever heard of a shinobi clan leader who was unable to even become a genin?
But the expected voice did not materialize; instead a hairy fist crashed down on her head and gave her a noogie until she wailed. She grabbed the top of her head and turned her tear-stained face to look at the perpetrator...
"Hiiieeeeee!"
Standing there, dressed in a monk's robes was an old man, bearded and mustachioed with a shaven head. He was glaring at her, holding up his smoking knuckles.
"Wha-" She gasped out.
"GUTS!" The man bellowed, and Yakumo truly thought that she was going insane,
"What's that…" She tried to say.
"GUTS!" The monk yelled at her, she was registering that this nightmare was the freakiest one yet.
"Wai-" Yakumo tried as she thought to herself, "Did I… Did I eat something weird?"
"GUTSGUTSGUTS!" Her dream antagonist bellowed.
"I don't know what that even means!" She shrieked.
"You need GUTS!" The monk roared, mercilessly grabbing her hair and swinging her around to face Idō that had crept up on them. The moment that the monk grabbed her, it seemed as if Yakumo had vanished from Idō's sight and the Id beast swung its head around wildly.
Yakumo gasped upon seeing it and grasped the monk's robes in fear. "What is that?"
"That is Yami Yakumo!" The monk replied, "The darkness within your heart, all of the doubts and self recriminations that you have piled onto yourself is now seeking to act out through your powers. All of your grudges and resentments have generated enough energy to summon a minor demon to your heart, feeding on your power and weakening both your body and mind!"
Yakumo's eyes widened as the wall of paintings that had faced outward turned inward. She started as Idō touched one picture in particular. "This!" She cried brokenly in realization, "It was me! I did this!"
It was a painting she had drawn while under the influence of the Id beast. In it her mother and father clutched each other as they were trapped in a fire. Now the Hokage's words to her mentor made sense and Yakumo sagged in despair at the realization. The Idō was not able to perceive Yakumo while she was hidden behind Hisao's barrier but it still felt the surge in power caused by the girl's mental collapse.
"Yes!" The creature said, "Yes, this is our power! The power even a Hokage fears! You weak pathetic girl! Let me show them, all of them who mock you, all of them who call us weak, all of them who would deny us! LET US SHOW THEM OUR POWER!" It screamed.
Yakumo kneeled sobbing… until a fist crashed into the crown of her skull to the tune of…
"GUTS!"
"Waaaah!"
She tried to back away, but the monk palmed the back of her head and wouldn't let the frightened girl escape him. Hidden inside the construct Hisao nervously licked his lips at the risk he was taking but stubbornly continued.
"Well little girl?" The monk said, "Are you just going to sit there and cry? Like the star actor in your own play?" He said mockingly.
"What… the Hell… do you WANT from me!" Yakumo screamed in frustration at the monk's confrontational attitude.
"GUTS! Show me Guts!" The disguised Hisao answered. "I can banish the demon, but unless you face your fears instead of hiding away crying it'll just come back again!" The monk waved at the montage of pictures displaying several disastrous events that had injured people around her, including her sensei, Yuhei Kurenai. "If you don't even have the GUTS to try, how do you expect to become a ninja?" The monk asked, "This is the hurdle on the path to your dreams! All you need is GUTS!"
"I… I don't know if I can do it on my own… I'm crazy." She said quietly.
"Who said you were alone!" The monk bellowed into her ear. "Being insane is a blessing, not a curse, just listen to the positive voices in your mind! GUTS, GUTS, GUTS, GUTS, GUST, GUTS, GUTS, GUTS, GUTS, GUUUUUTSSSUUU!"
Yakumo, didn't really have anything to say to that, she just went along with it and tried not to think too hard upon what it meant for the state of her mental wellbeing. Bravely, she stepped from under the monk's kashaya and confronted Idō. The creature immediately turned to her and purred, "Good, there you are, now go back to sleep so I can kill that meddling old man." Rusted chains began to wrap around Yakumo as the voices from before grew louder.
Yakumo shook her head and said, "GUTS!"
Idō looked at her oddly, "Err, what?"
"I'm not going to back away and hide from my failures," The girl said, "I'm not going to hide from my fears," She said louder, "I want to become a shinobi of the Leaf and nothing, not even the voices in my head, is going to stop me!" She finished with a scream, "GUTS!"
"You foolish girl!" The demon growled and started advancing on her.
Hisao appeared behind Yakumo as she kept screaming the word guts and his hands flashed through a series of hand seals. Nitten Fūin Kai! then, Shishou Fūin: Ryōkai Mandara!
The Idō screamed as both Hisao's technique and Yakumo's growing confidence began to sap its strength. It swiftly began to lose its demonic appearance and turned transparent. Slowly, what remained of it was absorbed by Yakumo.
In the physical world Hisao grimly looked at a mass of darkness chakra trapped within a small barrier that hovered over Yakumo's head. Internally he frowned in thought. "Someone sealed a trace amount of the Kyuubi's chakra into this girl in order to strengthen her? This is pure yin chakra! Was it taken before or after the Yondaime sealed it into Naruto?"
That time period left an opening for just a few people as Hisao had been recalled from attending to Hiroshi's body and Tsunade's grief in order to reinforce the seal on Naruto for the shinobi council's peace of mind. Until then, there were only two people that Hisao knew of with the clearance and ability do something like this while Naruto was under an extremely paranoid AnBu guard and get away with it.
Mitokado Homura and Shimura Danzō…
"Chang!" He said gesturing at the yin chakra, "Get rid of it!"
The Mirror-Usagi chimed, "Hai-hai, Hisao-chan!" And with a puff of smoke Chang transformed into a wand-like Shakujō, brightly she chanted, "Rin, pyou, tou, sha, kai, jin, retsu, zai, zen. Akuryou Taisan!"
The barrier dispersed at Hisao's command and the darkness chakra was sucked into the vortex that had opened up in the center of the Shakujō-Usagi's ring. "Youma defeated! The hare chirped as it changed back. Chang did a little skip hop in celebration. Peace and Love wins the day again! Kyu!"
Hisao ignored his long-time companion's antics, instead grumbling, "At least one of us is feeling sprightly, I've sat for so long my ass has fallen asleep, God Damnit!"
Since that time Hisao had kept track of all his dealings with both men. Danzō worried him more.
On a brighter note, Hisao had a fun time looking in on Yakumo's interview with the Sandaime the next day. He'd already informed the man about his findings and what steps he had taken to aid the girl, leaving it to the medical corps to clear the Yakumo girl for training. The girl now wanted training both from her old sensei and a taijutsu instructor. When Kurenai had tried dissuading the girl from continuing, demanding to know just why she thought she could succeed the answer had been loud enough to smother Hisao's guffaw.
"GUTS!" Yakumo bellowed.
"Wha" Kurenai started.
"GUTS!" The girl yelled again! Sarutobi covered his face with his hat.
"What do you…" The chunin managed to interject a little faster.
"All I need is guts, I'm going to be the greatest ninja I can, and I will with or without your help Kurenai-sensei, though I'd prefer to have your help. Even so, the old man in my head agrees! All I need to succeed is the guts to try!" She said challengingly
Kurenai blinked, nonplussed, "The what in your head?"
Sarutobi was shaking with suppressed mirth behind her.
Now, almost a year later, Hisao was taking his time getting back to the old Senju estate; the place where the now joined Uzumaki-Senju clan lived at within Konoha. It was now twenty-nine years since he'd led his faction of Uzushiogakure's survivors into Hi no Kuni. The Second Nija War was well in progress by then and even if the Uzumaki weren't so closely tied to the Senju Clan and Konoha, the chance to gain access to some of the more complex fūin his family had created was well worth the expense of taking in the refugees.
It had been a wise investment. Although the Uzumaki were at the time primarily comprised of children under the age of ten Hisao's pride wouldn't stand a second of being beholden to his cousin's charity. After many services and sacrifices on behalf of himself and his family, the Uzumaki-Senju clan played an important role in village life and thusly held prestige appropriate to their efforts.
All members were trained in fuinjutsu to some degree, they were producers of seal-work goods, from the things used in everyday civilian life like closed circuit television sets, radios, circuit boxes and building fire protections; to the things used in shinobi life, like the seals used in exploding tags, prisoner restraints, storage scrolls, and high level protections on crucial buildings; all of these things held the Uzumaki spiral interposed over the Senju branches as a seal of approval.
His great-grandchildren worked with the Kekkai-han, protecting the village from intruders, they opened a store that sold high quality ofuda, sealing tags and specialty fūin scrolls like Tsunade's trauma pack that provided a burst of regenerative chakra that oftrn helped save lives. They did support work for the Anbu, research for the R&D division, created iryoujutsu fūin for the hospital and when called on in the past had laid down their lives during not only the Second and Third Shinobi Wars but in all the major and minor conflicts to flare up since then.
As it was, Hisao should have been satisfied with his life, all his female descendants were happily married and the males were well known and gallant men but he found it hard to lay down his burdens. He walked into the compound and past the clan leader's house, now empty save for the servants. The reason for his discontent lay within the family shrine that they had built to allow the Uzumaki and Senju retainers and clansmen to honor their dead.
"God Damnit…" Hshio thought to himself. "Children shouldn't die before their parents!Let alone great-grandchildren, god damnit!"
Uzumaki Hiroshi
Uzumaki Kushina
Namikaze Minato
Senju Nawaki
Their names and others were remembered within the walls of that shrine, and remembering that made Hisao feel old...
"God Damnit!"
He nodded at one of the Senju clan descendents, an orphan who had been returned to the compound, and the girl, Kitsuki Mie, bowed to him before going back to her chores attending the shrine. Hisao sighed as he made his way further down to where his own work place was located. He taught sealing in the dojo adjacent to Tsunade's home and spent his time in the village tending to, and dozing off lazily at, the Fūin store that his clan maintained.
In his private workspace, he and a few trusted seal masters worked on top secret projects commissioned by the village. It was to this place that Hisao went after reading Danzō's message asking for an update on a special project the older man had been working on. Hisao was irritated at the other's impatience, although he too was eager to see the results of their project, though Hisao was certain that it was for a much different reason than Danzō's.
Sealing himself inside a well lit and sterile room, he began to take out his hidden notes, Fūin Enhancement of Chakra Stimulated, Lateral Gene Transfers.
Tsunade sighed, "Come on Shizune! We're going to be late!"
The younger dark haired woman, blushed as she backed away from Tenzō, Naruto's disguised AnBu bodyguard and personal instructor.
"You forgot to kiss your lover goodbye," She taunted mildly, "I can at least wait for you to get that over with." Her voice was deliberately pitched so that 'Yamato' heard her and she grinned at the sound of the other man stumbling into a tree.
Red faced, her apprentice of many years, grabbed her arm whining, "Tsunade-sama!"
"Heh, hm, hm!" Tsunade chuckled to herself. At times it was easy to forget that the younger woman was a seasoned jounin and an accomplished medical ninja in her own right. Shizune had been at first a tie to her dead lover Dan, one that her late husband Uzumaki Hiroshi had gracefully accepted about her as he had done with many of her other quirks and flaws. Shizune was also proof of concept that Tsunade's plan for establishing an Iryou-ninja program for integrating field medics into standard teams could work.
In the years since Shizune had completed her training she had almost become as legendary among her generation of shinobi as Tsunade herself, gaining the moniker Kouchou no Shizune. It was if anything proof positive of the viability of the Sannin's plan and Tsunade had since then trained several apprentices from the Uzumaki-Senju Clan's foster program.
Unfortunately time and circumstances hadn't been in her favor, as her luck would have it the lack of competent ninja during and after the Second and Third Shinobi Wars had prompted the Sandaime and his advisors to ignore her, by then, well known yearly petition for an established training program. This was always due to the constraints caused by the time it took to complete her proposed training regime. Although the Hokage and Elders did, carefully to avoid having a table thrown at them again, commend her for taking the initiative to conduct such a program using her own resources and people. Needless to say, several of the Uzumaki and Senju retainers were now accomplished Iryou-ninja in their own right, even a disgruntled Hisao.
Entering the Hospital, Tsunade nodded as several of the doctors and nurses bowed to her when she passed them on her way to sign in. Her primary jobs was to oversee the medical research undertaken by the hospital and to that end was assisted by Shizune and the hospital's Assistant Director Yakushi Nobuyuki, a former AnBu field medic like herself. Tsunade made her way over to the entrance of the Lab in a guarded wing of the hospital, the security was more for the lectures given to the hunter-ninja twice a week and the work done by the corpse recovery squad than her research which she guarded using seals taught to her by Hisao. On her way, she met and spoke to Nobuyuki, authorizing his son Kabuto for advanced iryou ninjutsu classes.
Tsunade hadn't always been able to joke about love. If asked, she would have claimed to 'break even' as far as such things were concerned. In her life she had experienced times of great joy and sorrow. The coming of the Uzumaki Clan to Konoha had happened around her seventeenth birthday. Her Grandmother Uzumaki Mito lived in the old clan compound built partially into the mountains below the carving of the Shodaime. Quickly they had extended the estate into the forests and perhaps feeling a bit miffed by having a group of strangers, even if they were distant cousins, suddenly move into the place like they owned it had prompted her to delay her plans of moving into a much smaller apartment with her brother, Nawaki.
Her decision in turn had prompted several of the families that served as retainers of the clan to remain at the compound, their numbers actually increased somewhat to match the 'foreign invaders'. The Uzumaki Clan didn't at all act like a group of refugees, even with their small number of active ninja, fourteen out of twenty adults and eleven children; they all still talked big, especially the bratty Kushina. Within the year, they had more than made up for any ruffled feathers with the sheer level of contribution to the workings of Konoha.
By the time Mito-obaa-sama had passed away, the Uzumaki Clan was sponsoring their own foster program for the children of ninja who had perished while on a mission. Those children who showed promise within the academy program were usually adopted into the clan by the time they graduated, receiving the full support of the Uzumaki Clan in their training. Perhaps the most notable of these children was Namikaze Minato whose grandparents were Senju Clan retainers and distant cousins, as were many families in the Village.
The Senju Clan after the founding of the village had peacefully dispersed into a large number of loosely connected shinobi and civilian families with only a few who had sworn to do so staying on as retainers of the main family. Although this tactic seemed to diffuse the power of the clan itself, Tsunade estimated the number of her distant relatives to be somewhere around a thousand individuals, perhaps twice as many if the civilian families in the environs of Konoha were counted.
The Senju clan seemed to be entering a time of resurgence. Then Nawaki died. Uzumaki or Senju the entire family closed ranks with her in her time of grief and were patient with her newer, more abrasive personality, although with Hisao there they were hardly strangers to abrasive personalities to begin with.
Tsunade's second time of joy was the one year spent with her lover Dan, who understood her sorrows and shared her brother's dream of becoming Hokage. Like Nawaki she had given him the Shodaime's necklace as a sign of her belief in him. Like Nawaki she lost him. This time he died in her arms, and thus, Tsunade's second time of sorrow began.
Her loss that time left her a bitter wreck of a woman with a crippling phobia for blood. Unexpectedly, salvation for her came in the form of Uzumaki Hiroshi, a soft-spoken man among a sea of big personalities. They called him Shishi Hiroshi for his use of several variations of the Shishi Heikō no Fūin. A jounin of perhaps lesser renown though not for lack of skill, he quietly stayed with her during those dark days when she pushed everyone, even Jiraiya away.
The first time she took a leave of absence and tried to depart from the village with a young Shizune, Hiroshi had waylaid them with placid conversation and treats for Tonton. Ever afterward he had shown that he too could be a stubborn man. After a month of delays, Shizune had shyly told her that it was okay to fall in love, that her uncle what not only understand but want her to be happy. The girl Tsunade cared for as a daughter had seen something that she herself had tried to ignore.
Tsunade's third time of joy began. Where her love for Dan had been a thrilling thing of passion and shared understanding. Her love for Hiroshi was like a rock sitting firmly within a stream, unperturbed by any other concerns. Tsunade quite firmly believed that Uzumaki Hiroshi was the last man she would ever love.
The time of the Fourth Hokage came and with it, new life, at thirty years old, Tsunade prepared to give her husband a son.
'Their peaceful conversation was disrupted by a horrendous howl that rent the air. He left her to join the Kekkai-han running straight toward where the Kyuubi had breached the village. There was another howl, then a roar that shook the village, literally. Pieces of buildings, people and entire houses were thrown high into the air. As the sickening wave of energy passed over her she felt a twinge of pain, almost as if the vile power was seeking her out and targeting her specifically. She ignored the feeling, putting her energy into preserving the hospital and environs. She caught a broken stone annex before it could crash down on a running mother and daughter and had to quickly use it to shield them and several others from the spray of shrapnel that followed in its wake.
Then the worse happened, the Biju's power gathered and she hurriedly ordered the people behind her into the hospital as a pitch black sphere of energy flew overhead. Had they been directly under it the people with her would have perished; as it was they were all thrown violently to the grown by the shockwaves caused by the Imari's passage through the air. The Kyuubi's youki tugged at her flesh insistently and finally something gave way. She couldn't ignore the pain when it did come. The Yondaime's counter to the Nine-tail's attack and the beast's subsequent removal from the village went ignored. Hiroshi's death due to chakra exhaustion while saving several ninja in the path of the blast passed unknown at the time.
All she knew was pain as she struggled against her body in vain, trapped beneath the ruins of the annex, "It's too early, it's too early! It's too early!" She was twenty-four weeks pregnant at the time. Tsunade's third time of sorrow began.'
In the depths of her depression and the darkness of her heart, Tsunade contemplated suicide. She could only cry softly in her room as her hands clasped together around aching breasts, holding the Shodaime's gift to Mito in her hands, peering at it. It seemed that this time the jewel would kill her and she waited for that time eagerly. Hisao came and spoke to her, told her of Kushina's passing, spoke to her of what it felt like to lose a child for he had lost many; and grand children; and great-grandchildren. She didn't listen to him, nothing could replace her loss.
Then Naruto was brought to her, Hisao laid the child in her shocked arms and told her the child was hungry. Stunned, she didn't stop the child from finding her nipple through the cloth of her yukata. Shakily and in shock she let the boy feed. Then she moved the cloth covering her other breast and shifted him to there.
And thus, Tsunade's fourth time of joy began. She devoted her life to her son and somewhat fatalistically gave him her necklace before even his graduation from the academy. She bet to herself that her son would die before her, and she set herself to training herself, her family, her students and her child, creating an Ijutsu stream within the Uzumaki foster program; and developing several Iryou Fūin scrolls and techniques that cemented her place in shinobi legend.
Suffice to say, she lost her bet.
Densetsu no Sannin, Senju Tsunade the Namekuji Sennin – Private writings of Senju Shizune
AN: So what do you do when you have a good idea that won't go away? I wrote these three chapters in my free time and was shocked to realize just how much it was. It draws inspiration in part from several well written fics that are out there, although like always I try to be as original as I can with a fanfiction. For those who dislike a huge influx of OC's never fear, their presence is at best peripheral to the story though their influence is not, I won't spoil chapter four but it's going to be kind of obvious what effect the OC's are having on several cannon characters. When writing this, I create situations like 'so this is what happend in cannon, what if somebody who can do this was there?' or 'If person A does this, what would person B do while still being true to cannon'.
I'm also working on developing some sense of suspense. Naruto isn't a complete goof ball as some fics, albeit rather funny ones, portray; nor is he immediately going to come rushing out the gate a badass, but he's at least as smart as Kiba and he's been made to hold back some of his best skills so the potential is there. As For the rest, well read and review and maybe we'll see. TTFN.
Omake:
The Sacred scroll of the Uzumaki Clan, claimed and protected by the sweat and blood of generations. It was the personal summoning scroll of the Rokudo Sennin himself and Hisao was going to be the next in a long line of Uzumaki men to sign it!
The twelve year old carefully inked his name in blood and pressed his fingers to the paper. He shivered as he looked to the head of the scroll where he could just barely make out the faded script of the Father of Ninjutsu.
"Ousu Buta, Inu, Tori, Saru, O-hitsuji," He bit his thumb, "Kuchiyose no jutsu!"
(Opening OST of Sailor Moon begins playing...)
Minutes Later...
"Whadya mean it's not manly?"
Hisao turned red at his grandfather's bellow and Mito's snickering in the background.
"She tried to put me in a frick'n miniskirt!"
"It's a short yukata!"
"And put on makeup!"
"It's face paint!"
"And wear stiletto heels!"
"It's extreme balance training!"
"And that stupid speech about love!"
"Boy! That was written by the son of the Rokudo Sennin! And it'll be good enough for ye!"
"I don't wanna!"
"Don't make me get my belt!"
"And the twirly thing with the naginata..." Hisao whined.
His grandfather paused, "Wait, you haven't tried it yet? Ask Chang Yu to show you the Death Reborn Revolution!"