Chapter Five - The Unbearable Bureaucracy of Being
Mariko had just left Naruto's room. She had reviewed his test results while Kana amused him and kept him from exploding like a bomb on a timer. Naruto would really benefit from once the clan had arrived and set up enough of a community arcade so he could let off steam like a normal Uzumaki. Almost everything was as her initial sensor scan had revealed. The two interesting findings involved how many times he had healed from severe injuries, which was more than it should be for a normal shinobi child, and despite all his problems, how the Kyuubi had kept him in a surprisingly good state. Mariko went over her mental agenda for the day. A meeting with the Konoha Clan Council, a spar with some of the jonin to ascertain her combat level, the thought of which made her smirk, and planning out the 1st stage of the medical treatment for Naruto.
She completed some paperwork at the hospital and headed towards the council chambers. She thought that this would be, in the words of the Nara, troublesome. It was better to attend these sorts of meetings when you were a Kage and could tell people to shut the fuck up. Still, it was a necessary step. She waited outside the council chambers, reading through piles of paperwork. All the necessary documents to register the Uzumaki as clan of Konoha and so on. She sensed the council in session. She smirked, almost laughing out loud at the privacy seals on them. Her youngest natural born child already was proficient enough at fuinjustu to easily bypass them. They were not blocking all chakra so she could sense the emotional back and forth between all the various participants. And she recognized some of them.
They called her in after about an hour. Two ANBU manned the door. As she entered, one announced, "Uzumaki Mariko-sama, leader of the Uzumaki Clan." All rose and bowed towards her. She scanned them directly. The most blatantly hostile seemed to be coming from the civilians, not all of them, but most and she suspected that had to do with Naruto. It was a hostile frustrated feeling. That was probably because Naruto now had the protection of what was going to be the largest and most powerful clan in Konoha. She glanced at Hyuga Hiashi. He might be a political opponent at some point as her clan would basically be displacing his as the largest, wealthiest, and most powerful clan. She had a sense that most of the other shinobi clans were positive towards her efforts. She also suspected that many of them knew Naruto's parentage and she solved a problem for them in terms of what to do about him. But the obvious presence of the Uzumaki Clan would bolster Konoha to a ridiculous degree. Enough to possibly make a preventative war possible, but more likely enough to make the other shinobi villages be even more deferential towards Konoha.
There was an empty seat near to the Hokage, just to the right of the acting head of the Sarotobi Clan, the Hokage's son Asuma. Clearly this was a power move, which Mariko understood.
Hiruzen spoke, "Let us welcome Uzumaki Mariko, head of the Uzumaki clan, here to our Counsel session." The Counsel members all rose, bowed to her, and then sat back down. Hiruzen then continued, "This afternoon session has been called to resolve the intent of the Uzumaki clan to return to Konoha. The current head of the Uzumaki clan is Uzumaki Mariko. For historical reference purposes, she is the daughter of the prior head of the Uzumaki clan Uzumaki Ashina, the head from the time of the founding of Konoha. His sister was Uzumaki Mito, who came to Konoha to marry Senju Hashirama, as a continuing sign of the century's old alliance between the Senju and the Uzumaki. Furthermore, another daughter of Uzumaki Ashina was sent to Konoha near the end of the Second Great Ninja War to act in furtherance of the alliance between Konoha and Uzu." This was of course the delicate moment. Half of Naruto's parentage had to be revealed due to the Uzumaki return and the establishment of Mariko as Naruto's guardian. And lastly, the son of Uzumaki Kushina, the child Uzumaki Naruto is her nephew. And Mariko-sama has taken over the guardianship of Naruto, as well as adopted him as her own son." Hiruzen heard the grumbles begin and then a shout.
"The demon child, what of it? It just inhabits wh…" They all felt killing intent rise, only this time it was two kage level killing intents. Hiruzen merely meant to knock the civilian Council member unconscious. Mariko had other ideas. All watched as her red hair floated in the air as it was charged with the vibrant yang chakra of the Uzumaki…and then saw golden hued chains shoot out of her back, snake across the room and grab the council member. They coiled about him like a giant constrictor snake and expanded further as he was brought before Mariko. One chain emerged and drove towards the back of his head, as if to impale him as he was held before her… but the deadly spike changed and became a grasping claw which took the head of the offender and held it so that he could not look away. She leaned forward and spat in his face.
"Uzumaki Naruto is my blood! The blood of the Uzumaki clan and in no small part Senju as well. We, through him have honored our covenant with Konoha. Now I can forgive most civilians here for not understanding fuinjutsu. This is not Uzushio or Urobune where the sealing arts are commonplace. But I cannot understand a complete lack of faith in the Fourth Hokage, who is beloved by Konoha and who performed the sealing. And I will not forgive public defamation of any member of the Uzumaki clan! And we will respond with appropriate force to assaults on our Clansman, baka!" and then she flung him into the back wall of the chamber, where he slumped down unconscious.
She turned to the Council, obviously regaining her composure, her hair gentle floating back down. "Please forgive me for my actions, but I cannot and will not sit idly by while a member of my clan is… slandered." And she bowed. There were several comments from various shinobi clan heads to the extent of "he's lucky, I would have gutted him". Most of the shinobi clan heads knew who Naruto's parents were and understood what a Jinchuriki is. They were just caught up in the politics and the manipulations of the village Elders.
Surprisingly, it was the one Elder that all thought would least want someone else to control what he always referred to as 'the weapon' or 'the container', Shimura Danzo who reacted favorably to Mariko's actions. "Mariko-sama, you have done nothing wrong. Please forgive Konoha for our sins in the past with regards to young Naruto. Your presence in the village will solve many problems that we have debated over with regards to him." Inside Danzo's head, the pure gain in strength to Konoha from the presence of the Uzumaki's, who would be the strongest clan in the village once they had settled in, far outweighed any downsides. Part of Danzo hoped that the Uzumaki presence would lead to another war, which said presence would ensure that they won. Uzumaki clan abilities essentially neutralized the jinchuriki possessed by their rivals.
Hiruzen spoke. "Well said Danzo." Inwardly he wondered at all his old rivals' motives, but he took what he could get. "Now if we can return to business. You were all given situationally appropriate, secure, blood sealed documents containing a summary of the Uzumaki return situation, which should answer most questions. So let us focus on specifics in this session. I am sure that there are some private concerns individual clans and businesses can address directly on outside of this session as well. So again, focus on things that affect everyone."
He opened the questioning, it was unsurprisingly Hyuga Hiashi who had the first. "Mariko-sama, of course you have the Hyuga clans welcome to Konoha," Mariko nodded thanks, "my questions concern two aspects, and I am sure that details of each are something that are beyond the scope of this session." She nodded at him to continue. "First concerns the affect on Konoha's shinobi forces. Can you give a general idea of the overall benefits? And the second concerns Konoha's general economy. How do you see your clan affecting Konoha's economy?"
Mariko took a sip from her tea, clearing her throat. "I am going to tighten the seals on this room for purposes of this discussion. I cannot track them accurately to tell if they come from friend or foe, but there are three chakra threads trickling through the seals on the room. While I am a powerful sensor, I do not have the full Mind's Eye, merely the normal sensory capability of a well trained Uzumaki." Mariko rose and they saw golden chains emerge from folds in her dress in the back, forming a cage inside the room. And then they saw her place her hand down on the floor in the center of the room. She uttered several words then spoke aloud, "Uzumaki Sealing Art – Presence of Silence". And a sealing array, formed from her chakra, spread down her chains and across the room. After a moment she concentrated and then said, "those three chakra threads have been cut off." Then she returned to her seat.
"That of course is a temporary seal. Its not exactly optimum for this situation but given the seals already in place, it's the best one to layer on top of it." Hiruzen made a note to follow up with those three chakra threads that she had mentioned. "That of course was a good example of how the Uzumaki can and will enhance the military capabilities of Konoha. As you know one of the reasons that we killed over 80% of those enemy attacking us in the Fall was because of the defensive sealing array of Uzushio. Of course, we destroyed any signs that were left after the fall on the small chance that any of it could be reproduced. Urobune has a similar if significantly enhanced array. We will do something similar here in Konoha. The details of course will be classified. And we will provide subsets of those defenses to clan grounds, important buildings and even to individual homes in Konoha, but that will all take time."
Yamanaka Inoichi, the head of the Yamanka clan raised his hand. Mariko nodded at him. "Mariko-sama, you mention clans of Uzushio, but we were under the impression that only the Uzumaki were a clan there."
"Ah, a good question. The best way to explain it is to explain a bit of history. While Uzushio as a shinobi village is technically younger than Konoha, it is an older non shinobi settlement where the Uzumaki clan had a strong presence. Now to skip some of the less relevant details, once it became a shinobi village under Uzumaki control, we made a joint decision with the other shinobi and non-shinobi clans for an extensive series of intermarriages. Essentially all the other clans 'married in' to the Uzumaki. For example, my personal bodyguard Orinko Shinjo, his full name is technically Uzumaki-Orinko Shinjo. And he is a member of what you would consider a branch clan to our main clan."
"This practice continues in Urobune. I may be willing to consider it here too. This Uzumaki presence here is permanent. I and my line will be the overall head of the Uzumaki clans, even when we restore Uzushio."
It was Nara Shikaku who asked next, even though he knew most of the answer, "are those plans close to fruition?"
"Not exactly." She turned to the group. "Please do not take this the wrong way. The majority of the Uzumaki do not in anyway blame Konoha for the Fall, though there are a few old timers who have issues. None of them came with this expedition. But if Naruto were not here, its likely that very few of you would ever have met us." She paused for a moment. "After I lost contact with Kushina and my intelligence assets determined that she had died, I kept only a little interest in short term events in Konoha. For you see, the overriding philosophy of the Uzumaki has become "Never Again." The group that is coming here is the part of the group which was being formed and grown to reclaim Uzushio. Our plan had it reaching its full capacity in about 35 more years. The forces of Urobune already are capable of preventing even all 5 Great Shinobi villages from defeating it. In part because the Home Defense Philosophy Policy that I implemented has absolute ruthlessness at its core." A small wave of undirected killer intent washed across the crowd. "Another aspect is that the lands we now oversee were a perfect match for the Uzumaki philosophy. And of course, we managed to rescue some of the clans that the Kiri civil war were driving to extinction." She left several other things unsaid.
"The fleet that transported us here was an Urobune expedition fleet. All our sailors are bound by seals to never betray any of the safe paths. All of those here are sealed against revealing anything that could reveal the location of Urobune. And there are very few of us who maintain an open communication. Now a new group is being grown to become the expedition force that will reestablish Uzushio sometime in the future."
"Returning to the answers to your questions, Hiashi-sama, of course you will have the obvious sealing expertise of the Uzumaki. And we have a course of non-Uzumaki sealing which we can teach to you all. Now to work in what I was explaining about the forces returning with me, technically we have several branch clans with us. But to the outside we will all present as Uzumaki to keep things simple. We will require no group of clans to become part of Konoha and we will continue our traditions with the branch clans internally. Among those returning there are over 100 of what you would consider jonin level shinobi." Several eyebrows raised. "Some of those are for example Uzumaki-Orinko. They are sworn to by bodyguards to the main branch and a personal security force. And they oversee the taijutsu aspects and physical fitness of clan training. Very few of them will join the active forces but they will want to test out and arrange training with the main shinobi forces because they will consider the defense of Konoha to be the same as the defense of the Uzumaki clan."
"I would estimate that perhaps there would be 200 genin level, 50 or so chunin level and 20 to 30 of jonin level who would join the active or reserve shinobi forces. Some of those in the reserve are really specialists in things like sealing or sensors with a fully active Mind's Eye" Everyone in the room opened their eyes wide. That was a significant bolstering of forces. "Of course, we have other ways to bolster Konoha. There are several devices that are based on fuinjutsu that increase communications ability which we will make for Konoha. And as to the second question, there is some overlap. Some of the branch clans who have sent members are specialists in nonmilitary arts like construction and forging of various items. Of course, Uzumaki sealing is incorporated therein."
"In pure economic terms, our clan comes with sizable resources. While technically we could completely assemble a clan compound on our own, we intend to use some of the wealth we bring to purchase construction services here in Konoha. This will do the local economy good. And it will provide a chance to work with our own experts and perhaps share some techniques. I also suspect that the sizable deposits that we make in the village and Fire Nation banks will be appreciated. I hope that this provides a short-term satisfactory answer Hiashi-sama."
"Indeed, it does, thank you Mariko-sama. "
The next question was from Inuzuka Tsume, "Mariko-sama. You have referred to a Mind's Eye several times? Can you clarify what that is?"
Mariko nodded, "I will not give complete details due to this being part of our clan secrets, but the Uzumaki have several kekkei genki. The most obvious one, but the one we talk to outsiders the least relates to our sealing ability. Another one is what is called the most powerful sensory ability, of which most Uzumaki possess at least partially. It is called the Mind's Eye of Kaguya. There are several among us who possess the full ability and are training or trained in its use. It should be noted that this ability shows up occasionally in anyone who has both Senju and Uzumaki ancestors, albeit rarely. A third kekkei genki possessed by one of our branch clans is related to our robust Yang chakra natures. It makes them elite level mednin. While none of them will be joining the active shinobi forces, they will all join the village medical system. They are targeted once the ability is known for capture and breeding by enemies. We rescued two Uzumaki from that branch clan on the way here and have had several other refugees and their descendants join the caravan. We hope our presence in Konoha causes other Uzumaki survivors to make their way here."
Shikaku spoke up, "Excuse me for interrupting Mariko-sama, but we are making it an active priority to generate intelligence and help any refugees out there make their way here."
"Thank you, Shikaku-sama."
One of the civilians raised a hand. He was Toyio Fugoko, head of a civilian clan of weavers. "Forgive me for broaching a sensitive subject Mariko-sama and Hokage-sama." This was clearly about Naruto. "While not all of us possess the blatant hate for the…boy, meaning your nephew. And I think that a lack of knowledge of the sealing arts among the population perhaps makes the situation worse, many are still fearful of the … situation?" He phrased it delicately looking at the Hokage.
Hiruzen spoke, "For purposes of this meeting consider my laws regarding the Jinchuriki under suspension. However, as you all noticed before, Naruto is now under his clan's protection and as such I would advise against slander."
The room all thanked the Hokage.
Mariko spoke, "you are perhaps correct in your assessment that a lack of knowledge of the sealing arts makes Naruto's situation worse. I have already discussed what I am about to reveal with the Hokage. It contains information that not even he knew, and that is in large part because of his battlefield promotion to Hokage. Tobirama-sama presumed, I guess that he would be told by Ashina-tou-sama and my father must have presumed that Hiruzen-sama knew."
"This goes back to the nature of the bijou. We do not know everything but to summarize what we do, the bijou are not what you think they are. They are not mindless rage filled monsters who rampage for the sake of hurting others. In fact, before the Warring States period the bijou lived in harmony with many humans, serving in a role as protectors, guardians, teachers and even partners. That is what the actual terms means. A warrior would sacrifice himself to become a Jinchuriki, a partner and protector to the bijou. This protects them from well… what you will find out about in a moment. You see a true Jinchuriki seal is made jointly by the bijou and the Jinchuriki and it is far better than well what you all use now."
"Humanity, as you all know from your history, truly became fallen during the Warring States period. More and more people abandoned the Great Sages philosophy of Ninshu. And eventually some discovered that the bijou can be bound against their will and used, albeit in an extremely limited fashion as power sources. So some among our Senju and Uzumaki ancestors helped the bijou hide. And they remained hidden for a long time. Until someone you all know of came into the picture. We will never know why but Uchiha Madara, after his falling out with Senju Hashirama, in a quest for power found where the bijou were hidden with their partner Jinchuriki. He used his sharingan to mindrape them all into being mindlessly in rage and hating humanity. Then he killed the Jinchuriki and let the lesser 8 beasts loose to rampage across the elemental nations. And he took control of the Kyuubi and attacked Konoha with it."
"You know most of that battle from history. What you do not know and what was lost is that it was not originally Hashirama-sama and Mito-oba-sama's intent to capture the bijou and weaponize them. Mito-oba-sama became the first Konoha Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi, because it is more powerful than all the others put together and only an Uzumaki can contain it against its will without being dissolved from the inside out in a matter of hours. The others were bound into objects. This was because they were all driven mad and placed under what seemed like unbreakable genjutsu by Madara-teme. We have heard that several of the others have come out of their genjutsu though they are still damaged. I spoke to the Kyuubi. He is… I would say coming out of the genjutsu himself now finally after being inside Naruto for the past nine years."
"You should all know what happened when the Kyuubi attacked. Uzumaki Kushina as I have alluded to, was the Jinchuriki before Naruto. Shortly after giving birth to him, an unknown Uchiha came, threatening to murder Naruto. He forced those protecting Kushina and the boy to essentially separate allowing this unknown Uchiha to kidnap Kushina and rip the Kyuubi out of her. The Kyuubi was still under Madara's genjutsu, so it was easy for this rogue who was not Madara but had hints of his chakra to take control of the Kyuubi and force him to attack the village."
Homura spoke up, "So it was an Uchiha plot to unleash the Kyuubi?"
Mariko turned to the Elder, "No Homura-sama. Well not exactly The Uchiha who did this to the Kyuubi's sensor abilities, which are in fact extremely powerful, had not been in Konoha for years before the attack other than brief periods which he thinks were scouting. He has sensed similar brief blips up until the massacre of the Uchiha's when he sensed this unknown Uchiha also killing Uchihas along with Uchiha Itachi."
"So, there were two of them," said the lord of the Aburime clan.
"Yes. My thoughts on the matter once I heard that and placed it together with other facts, some obvious and some less obvious was that there has been a long-term attempt to weaken Konoha. The Uzumaki annihilated, the Senju gradually eliminated. The Uchiha taken out. I would suspect the Hyuga would have been next."
There was silence for several moments on those unsettling thoughts.
After a while Mariko continued. "I cannot guaranty that the Kyuubi will ever be an ally of humanity again. He, though out of the genjutsu, hates humans with a passion because of what he has suffered through and been forced to do. It is important to remember that every time he kills a human, he feels it completely, the death and the pain. And it makes him feel disgusted with himself due to the origin of the bijou, particularly the Kyuubi."
"Why the Kyuubi in particular?"
"The Kyuubi was assigned a special role by the Great Sage. If you want confirmation of this, you can ask the Toad Clan. The Great Elder Gamamaru was there when he was given the assignment. The Kyuubi is to protect humans from a particular threat. A threat which I will not utter aloud."
"The best I think that I can work towards is getting him to become a partner with Naruto to more effectively protect against the threat and to keep the Kyuubi safe from being mind-controlled again."
"Why would that protect the Kyuubi?"
"Do you recall that I said that Madara-teme killed the Jinchuriki?" They nodded. "A perfect relationship between Jinchuriki and bijou, what you may have heard of as a perfect Jinchurki though it goes beyond that, makes both almost completely immune to genjutsu and other forms of mind control. Essentially you must have more chakra than both the Jinchuriki and the bijou combined to do it. As you can imagine there is no one not even Hashirama-sama or Madara who had more chakra than an Uzumaki and the Kyuubi combined."
"The Kyuubi will never participate in a war that Konoha starts however, though it won't resist Naruto doing his duty. Like I said, it will be a work in progress."
After a few more moments of silence, Hiruzen asked, "Are there any more questions?" He saw no affirmations so he then said, "Mariko-sama now will layout some of the important conditions of the Uzumaki becoming part of Konoha before you all vote. However, remember, this vote is advisory. I would prefer to allow the group to make a good decision, but I am the military dictator of this village and will not allow foolishness to weaken us or the Land of Fire. He turned the floor back over to Mariko with a nod.
"We do not have a lot of conditions. Shikaku-sama has already met one of them and Naruto being given into my care is another. A third is that the erasing of my sister Kushina will be undone. I am aware that it was done to protect Naruto but that does not need to be the way anymore. The fourth is that a general education be done to the public about sealing, about what a Jinchurki does, about the Kyuubi being forced to attack the village both times. He and Naruto can sense those negative emotions. The hatred towards him and Naruto do not lead to a great mental stated for either. I do not expect it to fade completely, but an active lessoning will help over time." She paused and saw no questions.
"Then we approach the harder conditions. As I said, the motto of the Uzumaki clan is "never again". So, this particularly applies to Kumo and Iwa. To address Kumo first. Our intelligence suggests that the younger shinobi, those who came up loyal to A-sama, were opposed to what was done to Uzu and my clan and were almost rebellious in a refusal to participate. To avoid a civil war, the third Raikage essentially allowed A and his loyalists to remain behind as a home defense force. Most of those who have memories of the Fall remain behind in Urobune. So, in terms of Konoha's relations with Kumo, and we understand that there have been some incidents, including an attempt to kidnap my sister, we are willing to let Kumo make honorable amends. I think A-sama will be on the lookout for that."
"Iwa however is a different matter. We will accept no peace with Iwa so long as the current Kage rules it. He oversaw many of the atrocities against the civilians by his forces. If we have a war with Iwa, which we are not looking to start, the Uzumaki clan expects it to be prosecuted with intensity."
There was some follow up questions and then Mariko was asked if she had any further conditions.
"The main final condition is the status of Uzushio. Eventually an expedition to reclaim it will be launched from Urobune, though not for a couple of decades. It is expected that Konoha will support it."
There was about an hour of general discussion. Then the Hokage brought matters to a vote. The acceptance of the Uzumaki among the shinobi clans of Konoha was almost unanimously passed. There was one in opposition, a counsel member who was one of those most against Naruto and two abstentions.
The meeting broke up after that. She was approached by most of the clan leaders, shinobi and civilian, requesting a private meeting. She promised that she would have Kana reach out to them once things got a bit more settled over the next week or two. The caravan should be arrived in about four days.
She went back to the hospital and check on Naruto's progress. His chakra coil realignment seemed well underway. Anywhere from one to three more weeks and that would be done. After a lunch in the room with Kana, she left for her afternoon test with the Jonin commander.
She arrived at the designated training field. Technically as a clan head she did not have to become a part of the shinobi forces under Konoha rules, but Mariko wanted to be in the reserves. She saw Shikaku standing there with several other Jonin. She saw that they all wore the Uzumaki crest which she now knew to be in remembrance of fall of Uzushio.
"Good afternoon Shikaku. Hopefully, this testing will be less eventual than the council meeting this morning."
"With any luck this event will be less troublesome." He nodded at her and the three jonin standing to the side came forward. "These three jonin are experts in what they do and will help us to evaluate your shinobi abilities."
Mariko felt around her, she could sense that there were more than a dozen powerful chakra signatures surrounding the training ground. She guessed that they were there to provide independent assessments for Shikaku and the Hokage.
"This," he said, pointing to an athletically built woman who carried herself with the poise of a confident, veteran shinobi. She had dark hair and vibrant red eyes, "is Yuhi Kurenai. She is our top expert in genjutsu." She and Mariko nodded to one another. "This," he began, pointing to a woman with purple hair who had the casual intensity of a woman always prepared for violence, "is Uzuki Yugao, an expert on taijutsu and kenjutsu. She is also a former student of your sister. Since the Uzumaki have kenjutsu skills we think an assessment in those would be vital."
Mariko interrupted him, "While it is true that the Uzumaki clan value kenjutsu skills, and I happen to be a master of them, do not assume that all or even a majority practice them extensively. In sheer point of fact, the majority of Uzumaki find themselves drawn to a brawling style of taijutsu that is based on the combination of power with misdirection. I am in the minority that practice a particular variant style of taijutsu that is… less of a brawlerish type, one might say." Mariko turned to Yugao, "So you were one of Kushi-chan's students?"
"It's a little bit classified," Mariko figured that this involved ANBU. Kushina had alluded to spending time as a member of ANBU after the war, "but yes, I apprenticed to her and among those skills that she helped me hone was kenjutsu. She could not teach me the Uzumaki style since it was of course a clan technique, but she did work with me and develop a variant that gives me a similar base. I do not have the chakra reserves or regeneration of an Uzumaki either, but it helps me enhance the kenjutsu style that I have become a practitioner of."
"Then I am glad that Kushina could help you. I sense only good memories of your time together. Perhaps later at some point we can have lunch and discuss my sister."
"Yes Mariko-sama. I felt like a failure when she died thinking that maybe I could have done something…. But those are regrets based on what ifs… and I am glad that Naruto's situation is finally resolved. Those of us who could did what we were allowed to do for him."
Shikaku picked up the conversation, "and this jonin here is Sarotobi Daro, the older son of our third Hokage and one of our better ninjutsu experts." Mariko saw a tall and somewhat slender but in a lithe fashion man, who clearly looked like Sarotobi Hiruzen. He had a short pipe in his mouth and seemed to be smoking some sweetened tobacco variant. His chakra reserves were high for a non-Uzumaki. "Normally you would face them one on one, but after talking with the Hokage, he suggested that a three on one would be better, because you would at least have to show some of your abilities."
Mariko sensed the motivational effect of Shikaku's words on the three. And he was right. With just one of them she could just launch storm of Adamantine Sealing Chains while remaining in a barrier created by another set. Shikaku continued, "Do you need some time to change into shinobi gear?"
Mariko responded, "Since the Fall, everything an Uzumaki wears qualifies as shinobi gear to at least some extent. But I can switch to my more active set." And as she said so, she willed a small chakra thread into a seal that set off a chain of events. Mariko's undergarments were replaced with a dark grey that bordered on black, nonchakra enhanced tactical body suit that was made from fibers grown in specially bred plants, which had been manipulated by chakra. The plant fibers had elements of spider silk and steel within them and essentially were a flexible steel thread that had both high hardness and high toughness. The threads themselves were, once created, overlaid with a complex sealing array that allowed Mariko's chakra thread to increase the durability of the suit tremendously based upon need. Conversely however it would become stiffer and weigh more. Over that was a combat under harness that had an array of unsealed weapons and gear. That of course was backup in case some enemy technique cut off access to her seals. Over that was a battle kimono, it was predominated by the red of the Uzumaki clan, which symbolized the hair color that a good majority of them had. Interposed over it were various drawings and kanji in different colors that had to do with Mariko's personal choices and being the main branch family. The Uzumaki symbol was on her back.
Across her back in a sheath was her secondary blade, a slightly nonstandard katana which was shorter, one handed and had a more pronounced hilt. Her primary blade was always sealed away. Called the Cutting Edge, it would cut through any sheath that it was placed in, given time.
Shikaku nodded at the change, though she felt a sense of amazement from all of them. "Then as the leaf hits the ground, you may begin." And he threw a leaf into the air. Mariko calculated that it would take three seconds or so for the leaf to hit the ground. An eternity. She scanned over all three opponents, not enemies, for a warrior has no enemies, only a purpose and opponents to her will. She remembered the first of the Great Lessons of Combat, taught to her as a young girl by Shinjo's father.
The genjutsu user was only violating the letter of the rules not the actuality. Mariko sensed foreign chakra tentatively probing at her own. She decided to let the genjutsu user frustrate herself by thinking that she had Mariko under genjutsu. Mariko spawned a weak internal chakra clone into her mindscape and isolated it from her chakra network, linking it however to her tenketsu so any penetrative chakra would flow to it. She spawned another chakra clone, but this one possessing more than half her chakra inside her Great Mind Seal. This technique was derived from how a jinchuriki protected its tailed beast from being caught in genjutsu when in perfect balance. That chakra clone would oversee her body and mind just in case this genjutsu user was poweful or sneaky enough or both.
The ninjutsu opponent, Daro, began to separate himself from his companions. Which made sense as in this fight his role would primarily be as a ranged support attacker. Mariko took a second to focus on his chakra and felt strong connections to fire and earth, with an established presence of lighting. There were tiny reflections of Earth and Water, as if the man used those jutsu but the affinities remained raw and undeveloped.
The woman, Yugao, who was the taijutsu and kenjutsu expert tensed as Mariko drew her blade. "Do not take this as an insult Yugao-san but I do not use the Cutting Edge against comrades." The woman was wound like a coiled spring, full of stored power.
As the combat began, she replied, "Kushina-sensei was the same. She would never use the Pain of Uzushio on or even too close to comrades or allies or civilians."
"Yes… that blade she forged has a particular presence to it."
And then for the next three minutes which was all the combat took, there was silence.
Yugao surged forward in a burst of chakra enhanced speed, seeking to engage the target. Kurenai moved forward but to the side, Mariko sensed that she was taking a supporting close combat roll looking for an opportunity to strike a blow while she worked her genjutsu. She felt Daro molding chakra into lightning. Mariko's initial counter was to engage Yugao, wielding her blade with her left hand, while she launched Adamantine Sealing Chains through the ground at Daro. With her right hand, she made two hand signs, which caused all the onlookers to open their eyes in some amazement. Mariko only did the hand signs to obscure her level of ability. It was a point of her personal training to not need hand signs to mold the chakra for what she thought of as her core 24. The 24 jutsu that she devoted to mastering to form her primary arsenal of jutsu. She whispered Suiton: Running Water Spear. This was one that she had not been able to eliminate the verbal molding component yet. A series of watery spikes rose from the ground and began chasing Kurenai.
As Mariko engaged Yugao in a series of sword strokes and taijutsu attacks, her chains finally tagged Daro. She immediately marked him with Uzumaki Fuinjutsu: Insurmountable Burden of Gravity. It would take a minute before he became pinned to the ground.
That was enough time for him to launch what at first Mariko thought was Raiton: Electic Shock Needles. Tiny lights formed around his body and began to pelt her. She felt them penetrate, but there was no shock…but after thirty or so seconds she began to feel numbness growing from anyplace they penetrated. Ah she thought, either a variant that induced some sort of paralysis or as used as a deliver technique for another. Mariko had her chains continue to pursue him. She generated an exploding shadow clone about 30 feet away and engaged in a kawarmi with it. Mariko of course did not charge the clone as much as she could. Even 1/100 of her chakra would kill everyone in a 10-foot radius if the clone.
As the clone exploded, Yugao attempted to kawarmi herself but was blown back and away. Mariko took the half second opening to accelerate her Uzumaki healing to clear the numbness. Then she charged her motion with Raiton chakra and surged toward Kurenai. The woman thought that she had Mariko in a genjutsu and so clearly started to move as if she would strike at Mariko when Mariko began assaulting the spot where Kurenai had been standing. As soon as Mariko got to that spot, she spawned another shadow clone and then kawarmi'd with it. She then touched Kurenai on the back and executed, speaking aloud, Uzumaki Sealing Art: 4th Binding of Displacement. Kurenai became paralyzed and then slightly out of phase with space-time, making it impossible for anyone else to rescue her or hurt her. Mariko then closed with the recovering Yugao, quickly engaged in combat with her and then knocking her out with a hilt strike to the temple. At that time Daro collapsed to the ground immobile.
Another moment passed and the Shikaku came forward. "Combat is over." Mariko sheathed her blade, expressed a chain to tap Daro and remove the seal from him and then from Kurenai. As that happened, she used her chakra to change from her battle gear to her medical gear and began healing Yugao.
Shikaku spoke again. "At this point I will preliminarily classify you as S-class. I don't think anyone short of the Hokage or Lord Jiraiya could face you in one-on-one combat."
Mariko spoke, "Ah Jiraiya-kun. I have not seen him in decades." After a few moments she helped Yugao to her feet. Most of the observing jonin had approached and were talking things over with Shikaku. Mariko herself was conversing with Yugao.
"Dear, it will take a couple of weeks for us to train together, since I have a lot to do to get my clan reestablished here. And sadly, I am waiting for the caravan and that lazy husband of mine. He is, as Shikaku would say, troublesome.
NOTES -
- This came up in a review and my private reply but I will answer again in public. The situation with Naruto calling Mariko "mom" is something drawn out of my own real life experience. My birth mom was well not there and more into drugs until I was a teen. Her sister adopted me. I still call her mom. And when I reconciled with my birth mom I called her mom too. When they are together I have a specific identifier for my Aunt.
- I write as driven by my emotion "need" to express a story. Essentially the plot events of a story happen as inspired by my emotions. And then my intellect manifests them. What this means is that I jump around between things that I write. I literally have like 10+ active Naruto stories on my desktop. One other one, a one shot, has been published her. Another one will probably be posted soon as well. So don't think that any particular story that I am writing is ever abandoned per se. It just may be a while before an update is inspired by my cruel, temptress of an emotional muse. Lol.
- You may notice a distinctive shift towards using the Japanese terms for certain things like familial relationships. That happened because after my brain switched to the next story after this one, as I imagined the events, every single Naruto bit I wrote starting using those terms. Even with jutsu and techniques, my imagination use the japanese for the chakra release type but english for the name of the actual technique most of the time. Though certain techniques like Rasengan, Chidori, Rasenshuriken and so on I always imagine with the full Japanese names.
- On structure. While the plot and action sequences are emotionally generated, the settings in my head are not. I am a long time on and off again Game/Dungeon Master. So I have certain structured rules, laws and definitions for how some things work. Like for example. The five elemental chakra releases are power sources. Whereas the Yin/Yang release are what provide the way to direct and use that power. I am also professional train in electronics and information technology. So I think of the use of chakra in terms of the physics of circuits. So the five elemental chakra releases are like five different sources of voltage (imagine AC, DC and 3 other fictional types). Yin/Yang provides the abilities that the basic electronic devices like resistors, memsistors, capacitors and coils do. Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, Taijutsu, Fuinjutsu and so on are ways of making those circuits to release the power.
- There is a common fanon (from my perspective) tenet that chakra control is something one has to practice continually to do, like say skill at archery or baseball or karate. Based on what I observe in canon, chakra control is like riding a bicycle. One you hit a certain level you always have it so long as your chakra pool does not grow larger. Naruto's problem is three fold. He has two chakra pools. Both are growing continuously, his own at least until sometime after Naruto the Last and before he becomes Hokage, and his Kurama pool until he gets both halves of Kurama back after the end of Naruto. And the secondary chakra is not only his own, which must be mastered separately but it continuously spills out of control into his own until his seal is replaced by his Six Paths ability. Conversely the act of practicing chakra control increases the chakra capacity. So Naruto has to continue to achieve higher and higher level so chakra control for both his own, which he achieves the highest possible chakra control once he learns to create senjutsu chakra and Kurama's chakra, which he masters the Yang half once he starts providing one tail chakra cloaks to the Shinobi Alliance. He also has to practice and master chakra control with the other 8 bijou chakra he gains as well.
- As mentioned before, this story will blow up canon. There was enough of an info dump, though I hope that I did it well and in an enjoyable manner in this chapter, for you all to see what some of the explosions will be.
- Mariko is not the sole main character. I intend to use something similar to what George RR Martin does with revolving character perspectives. I will try to avoid, if possible using an omniscient narrator perspective. So that means what you read comes from the characters' perception from which it is being written. This means that those perceptions can be wrong.
- Oh...apologies to those who might not like this bit. I noticed that when I imagined what a unique kenjutsu style for the Uzumaki being, I tended to imagine attacks, moves and scenes from Bleach. So um, yeah. You may be seeing some familiar stuff.
- On the Uzumaki "rowdy" nature. The Uzumaki are Yang heavy. This makes them basically an entire group of Naruto/Kushina types, especially when younger. One of the Uzumaki cultural features is a nightly shared common meal in what I am currently calling the Arcade. It is surrounded at a distance by shops. Then a lot of dinning areas that resemble low futons and cushions protected from weather by construction and fuinjutsu. Then there is a sort of stage where musicians, actors and poets perform. And then there is a small dance area...and then there is "the Pit". Its basically where a nightly rolling brawl takes place. There are Uzumaki who take turns as Guardians. And some fuinjutsu that suppress more lethal abilities. The Pit has areas segregated by age groups as well. Its kind of like a professional wrestling battle royal. This whole thiing allows the Uzumaki to bond and use up enough excess Yang Chakra so that they are less hyperactive and can concentrate more.
- Mariko is a bit different. As the Kage and now just clan leader, she had to find other ways of expressing her excess Yang chakra. She does so as a mednin. And of course by brawling with her husband and one or two others. Mariko is also a practitioner of Ninshu. She is not great about it, but because she is constantly pushing out so much chakra, it helps her bleed off the excess of constantly generated Yang.
- All Uzumaki are censors. For a reason in my fanon that will be revealed in the future there is a reason why the Uzumaki manifest even limited version of the Mind's Eye of Kaguya.
- What is a Kekkei Genki In my fanon, based on especially on revelations from Boruto, the Otsusuki have no inherent ability to generate, use or manipulate chakra. They also seem to be metaphysical cyborgs. They basically created constructs that they built into themselves to use and manipulate chakra. And they gain chakra via their world chakra rape that we have seen attempted in Naruto and Boruto. A Kekkei Genki is one of those traits that are inherited by someone descended from an Otsusuki who is part human or mostly human. In my fanon, combination releases like Ice Style of Wood Style are not different Kekkei Genki, they are the same inherited metaphysical trait from an Otsusuki, that blends different chakra releases based on who inherits the blending capability.
That's it for now. Thanks for reading!