Chapter 35:
"Do you want to talk about the construction?" Szayelaporro asked.
"What about it?" Naruto asked.
"Well, the construction of the houses, shops, the harbor and everything else is going well," Szayelaporro said. "But there is still the palace and the guild hall, since we decided that we won't build the Kage Tower as it's unnecessary, considering the changes that are to come in the coming months."
"I don't see the problem," Naruto said. "Just have someone make blueprints for both and we will check it out. After that, the construction can start. Unless we need to find more workers, that is."
"No, I think that we have enough people to work," Szayelaporro said, looking at Tayuya, who nodded. She was pretty much the second in command after Szayelaporro, when Naruto is not there. Which means that she knows everything that's going on in the village. "As for the blueprints. We've already found an architect who drew them and also made a model of how the palace should look like. I have them here," Szayelaporro pulled out a scroll and from inside it, he released a blueprint and the model for the palace.
Naruto and the girls gathered around that table and looked at the model, while Szayelaporro explained what the architect explained to him. (I won't describe how the palace looks like, so just look Sinbad's palace in Sindria Kingdom. Land of Whirlpools where the City is being built looks just like Sindria Kingdom, and the palace is the same, and on the same stop. The area around the palace will also be the same)
"I got to say," Tsunade spoke. "That architect really did a good job with this model and the blueprint. This palace is going to be the best in the entire EN. No Daimyo has anything as grand as this."
"They are just simple daimyo," Naruto said. "I'm going to be an Emperor, so I need something better than they have. Besides, the palace can be used for other things, and not just living. I agree with the architects idea that parts of the palace can be used for a guild and another part for the academy for both the civilians and those who want to learn to control their chakra."
"Yeah, I agree with that idea as well," Taya said. "I would be better to have the guild and the academy at the most secure place in the City, then in the lower areas."
"Ok then. It's settled," Naruto said. "Contact the architect, and tell him to start as soon as possible. Also tell him that I want one part of the palace to be made similar to a clan compound."
"Why?" Tayuya asked.
"Once those Uzumaki from the vault are released, they will need a place to live," Naruto said. "The same for any Uzumaki we find around the EN. I want them close, as they are my family, but not as close as my future wives and children will be. So, I will live in the main part of the palace. On one side, will be a compound for the Uzumaki clan, while on the other part will be the academy. The guild hall will be on a third side. The academy and the guild hall can be made into two towers, separated from each other, so that the children from the academy won't have access to the guild, and those in the guild won't bother the children all the time someone comes and goes."
"I like it." Tsunade said. Tayuya and Taya agreed, just like Szayelaporro. So, it was decided, and Szayelaporro will contact the architect and the construction will begin by the end of the month.
"There is one other thing," Szayelaporro said, drawing the attention on himself. He pulled a scroll from his desk, and handed it to Naruto, who looked at it for a moment, before he opened it and started to read.
A few minutes later, he rolled the scroll back, and looked at Szayelaporro. "When has this arrived?" He asked.
"Yesterday," Szayelaporro said.
"What is it?" Tayuya asked, seeing the look of surprise on Naruto's face.
"It's a letter from Koyuki Kazahana," Naruto said. "She wants a meeting, as it would seem that Serafall has told her about my offer to come here and talk about the possible alliance. It seems that she has agreed to come and talk."
"Then why are you surprised?" Tayuya asked.
"I wasn't expecting Koyuki to come this soon," He said. "I'm an unknown to her, and as such, she is taking a risk coming here. I thought that she would at least think about it for a while, if not outright refuse."
"Maybe that alliance of hers with Suna and Nami isn't going well and she wants another one," Taya suggested.
"I doubt it," Tsunade said. "All those countries have had ties to Naruto and I doubt that they will have disagreements in something, out of their respect for him. It's more likely that they simply want to see if they can make someone else join their alliance as their current alliance is not strong enough to win the war. Wave simply doesn't have soldiers or any other resources except sea life, which they can fish out and use for food. It's what they live off of. Spring doesn't have many soldiers at all, except few powerful people like Serafall, who have been trying to train others, but that is a slow process, and Suna isn't strong enough to pull the entire alliance by itself. If Serafall knows how strong you are, then they most likely want you on their side, instead of risk you joining another side, or even worse, make your own side, which would be a threat to everyone."
"That is a possibility," Naruto agreed with Tsunade.
"So, what are you going to do?" Tayuya asked.
Naruto thought for a few minutes, before he said. "Let's send a letter back and tell Koyuki that we are willing to accept her to come here, and then we can have a talk. We will also tell her to bring whoever she wants as her protection. If it will make her feel safer, then so be it."
"Are you going to accept the alliance if she asks for one?" Taya asked.
"I don't know," Naruto said. "I'm trying to take over the entire EN, so entering into an alliance with someone would only happen if they agree with my views."
"Which means what?" Tayuya asked.
Naruto shrugged. "I'll probably end up revealing who I am and what I plan to do," Naruto said, getting raised eyebrows from everyone in the office. "Depending on Koyuki's answer, I'll decide what to do next."
"And what will you do if she refuses to go with your plan," Szayelaporro asked. "Remember that she cared about us, and has severed her alliance with Leaf just because of what was done to us. I don't think that you should hurt her or anyone close to her if she refuses to see things your way."
"I never said I was going to hurt her," Naruto said. "You are right. Koyuki was on my side all this time, and as such, she is a friend, and I have no intention to do anything to hurt her. But, if she refuses, then we might have to change some of her memories before she leaves, so that no information would leak out."
"The moment you take over the EN you will hurt her as her own country is a part of the EN," Tsunade said. "She will not be happy about that unless she agrees beforehand."
"It is impossible to do something that everyone will like, Tsunade," Naruto said. "People are not meant to like one thing, regardless if that thing is doing them good or not. Some will always hate it. Koyuki though. I think that she will eventually accept my proposition, as she will realize that her people will be safer in my Empire then if things were to stay as they are now."
"You have far too much faith in that woman," Tayuya commented. "I hope your fate is not misplaced and you will not regret your decision."
"Even if my faith in Koyuki is misplaced, I will not regret anything," Naruto said. "Even if she was to refuse all the way till the end, there is nothing she can do to stop what's coming. She will understand that sooner or later."
"You know, there is an easy way for you to make her do whatever you want." Tsunade said, drawing all the eyes on her.
"And what way is that?" Naruto asked.
"Take her as one of your future wives." Tsunade answered, making the others look at her with raised eyebrows.
"That's… an interesting idea," Naruto said after thinking for a few moments. "She is most certainly very beautiful, and technically, she is the second girl who kissed me… even though it's on the cheek."
"Who was the first?" Tayuya suddenly asked.
"Oh, well, Tsunade actually kissed me on the forehead, once." Naruto said, and Tsunade remembered that making her smile.
"Yeah, I remember that," Tsunade said. "It was after that battle against Orochimaru and Kabuto."
"Yep, that's the one," Naruto said. "It was only on the forehead, but no one before that has given me any kind of kiss, so it meant a lot to me. As for Koyuki, she kissed me on the cheek while I was sleeping after that mission in her country. I didn't know about the kiss until I saw a picture taken by someone from my former team."
Naruto sighed after that, and gained a faraway look in his eyes. "Those days were the last happy days in my life," he said. "Not long after, Sasuke escaped and by doing that, has started a chain of events which led to me suffering for over a thousand years."
While Naruto was looking faraway, the others in the room were angry at being reminded what Naruto went through because of Sasuke and the Leaf village. They all swore that they will do whatever it takes to help Naruto have his revenge.
XXX
Back in the Leaf, things have been going badly for a while.
Leaf has lost many of its allies ever since Naruto's execution, and has been on its own. The fact that Danzo was made a Hokage, didn't change things for the better, it only made them worse, since unlike Tsunade who was respected all over the EN, Danzo is hated by many, and that hate and distrust has been turned against the Leaf.
The once strongest Hidden Village in the EN, has been reduced to the third strongest, and that's only because of the amount of forces they have.
The problem with that is that, more soldier's means more missions and more money are necessary, and the Leaf currently doesn't have enough missions to earn money necessary to sustain itself. The only reason they didn't completely fall apart, as because of the money given to them by the Fire Daimyo.
The amount of forces the Leaf village has, and their power, has allowed them to stay in a relatively good position in the current war, but ever since Kakuzu's death and Hidan's capture, the Akatsuki and its allies have gone on a roll, so to say, and have been killing any Leaf ninja they come across, which is a lot, considering that the Akatsuki's allies are several of the smaller countries which are surrounding the Land of Fire, which means that the Land of Fire and the Leaf Village, are under constant pressure, and since they have no allies, they have no one to relieve some of the pressure.
Leaf has lost many shinobi in the last few weeks, but they were fortunate enough that none of them were their highest ranking ninja, nor some of the ones with the most potential and promise.
On the positive note, Danzo was able to find out from Hidan about his immortality. But with every good news, comes a bad one, and bad news for Danzo was what was necessary in order to achieve that immortality.
What was necessary was that Danzo needs to literally sell his soul to Jashin… who actually does exist as a god. Once Danzo was to sell his soul, the contract would be made, and as long as Jashin is satisfied with Danzo and the offerings he brings him, Danzo would live. But the problem is that, if he was to do this, Danzo would literally place his life into the hands of some demonic god, which is something he doesn't want to do.
So in the end, Danzo didn't get his immortality, and has only drawn the wrath of the Akatsuki and their allies upon the Leaf Village.
There is one good thing in all of this, though. With his ninja defeating two members of the Akatsuki, it has shown him and to the world that the Leaf is still strong, and can take out strong opponents.
Danzo knows that the Akatsuki has lost four members so far. Deidara has been killed in the Land of Rivers, and his partner Sasori, at the Tenchi Bridge near the Village Hidden in the Grass, in an ambush set by Orochimaru. Then there are Hidan and Kakuzu who have been taken out by the Leaf ninja, which means that the Akatsuki has 6 maybe 7 members left.
That is still a lot, considering that they are all powerful S-Rank shinobi, but it was proven that they are not invincible. So, Danzo has decided to fight back against the Akatsuki and their allies.
He knows that that alliance would fall apart without the Akatsuki, so he plans to send his ninja to find more of them and take them out, just like Hidan and Kakuzu were taken out.
He thought about which ones of the Akatsuki to search for, but wasn't left with much of the choice once he realized that the only members of the Akatsuki he knows the identity's of, are Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki. In the end, Danzo decided to send a team to deal with those two, as according to him Itachi has overgrown his usefulness, and is no longer needed. On top of that, by now he should be very sick, as Danzo knows about Itachi's illness and blindness which comes with the overuse of the Mangekyo Sharingan. Because of that, Danzo is sure that Sasuke would be able to pull out a win against Itachi, especially since he will have help if necessary.
Another thing that Danzo knows, is that since both Sasuke and Itachi have Mangekyo's, the one who wins, would be able to transplant the eyes of the other one, and get Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, which is something only Madara Uchiha has ever awakened.
If Sasuke was to win, he can take Itachi's eyes, and get EMS, which would make him much more powerful than he is now, and there would be no threat of the overuse of the eyes. The problem is Sasuke's ego. Even before Sasuke awakened his Sharingan, he had an ego as big as the sky, and over the years as he was growing stronger and has awakened Sharingan and then Mangekyo after he killed Sakura, his ego has only grown, and now, Sasuke is unbearable. If he was to gain EMS, Danzo doesn't have to be able to see the future or anything similar, to know that Sasuke would immediately try to dispose of him and take over the village. That is something Danzo can't allow to happen, which is why he has to find a way to prevent Sasuke from transplanting Itachi's eyes in the case he wins.
Even bigger problem would be if Itachi wins, and then transplants Sasuke's eyes and he gets EMS. Danzo isn't sure if that would change anything about Itachi's illness, but if it does, and Itachi suddenly gets better, with the EMS, he would be invincible because his skills and talent are already so high that the adding of the EMS would make him much stronger then pretty much anyone else in the EN and bring him close to the level Madara and Hashirama were in their prime.
Technically, Itachi is still Konoha's spy in the Akatsuki's ranks, but Danzo isn't sure if something will change if Sasuke was to die. Danzo is also pretty sure that Itachi isn't happy with how Sasuke was raised by the village, and with what happened to Naruto. Danzo knows that Itachi was one of the few ninja in the village who actually protected Naruto as much as they could, and because of that, Itachi certainly wasn't happy when the news of Naruto's execution was spread around the EN.
Because of all this, Danzo isn't sure who he wants more to win and who to lose, because no matter who wins, it could be a problem for Konoha. He also cannot not, send Sasuke and few others after Itachi and Kisame, because the Akatsuki needs to be taken out, before they and their allies start taking out some of the stronger shinobi of the Leaf village, like Asuma Sarutobi was.
As such, Danzo has decided to send a team after Itachi and Kisame, and then once he hears of the ending result, he will act accordingly.
Right now, Danzo is seating behind his Hokage desk, looking at the group of ninja gathered in front of the desk.
He has assembled quite the group, so to say. The ones there are the Team 8 except Kurenai. Then there are Sasuke and Kakashi from Team 7, and finally, there is another guy, who was added to Team 7. He was a former ANBU, and was given a code name, Yamato.
Members of Team 8 have changed quite a bit over the last three years. They have certainly grown, but neither Kiba nor Shino have changed as much as Hinata did. (Kiba and Shino look exactly as they do in the anime).
Hinata though. Damn did she change, and she looks hot as hell to the point that all the males in the room are barely able to keep their eyes of her, even Danzo, and he is not the kind of guy who has any interest in those sort of things.
Hinata is currently wearing a very skimpy black bikini top on top of which she is wearing a black jacket with white sleeves. Down, she wears a very short and skin tight black shorts, along with black stockings and black boots, which go to just below her knees. She wears her jacket unzipped, which shows her amazingly well looking breasts, and a lot of skin. The same goes for her shorts, which is so short and tight, that if Hinata was to wear any sort of underwear, they would be seen from underneath the shorts, and since nothing is currently see, it probably means that she is either not wearing any panties, or they are so small, that it's impossible to show any lines on the shorts.
The reason Hinata is wearing something like this, is so that she can show how beautiful she is, and to rub it in the faces of all those who wish to be with her, but can't as she threatens to kill anyone who does even a little more then look at her. She wowed that she is Naruto's and that since he is dead, she will be no ones, and will kill anyone who dares to flirt with her, as well as anyone her father dares to bring as her suitor.
Currently, out of all those who made an approach at Hinata, Kiba is the only one who doesn't see to be able to learn, because he was beaten half to death by Hinata on several occasions, and he still keeps coming after her, which is starting to really annoy Hinata, and she is planning to neuter the moron the next time he tries anything.
"You are all being sent on a mission to track down Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki," Danzo said, getting wide eyes from everyone in the room, except Sasuke, whose eyes gained a dark and slightly insane look on them, along with a very bad-looking grin.
"Excuse me for asking this, Lord Hokage, but… why are you sending us after those two?" Kakashi dared to ask, earning himself a glare from Danzo, but also from Sasuke, who didn't want Kakashi to interfere in his chance to finally kill Itachi.
"By taking out Hidan and Kakuzu we have shown that the Leaf Village has powerful Shinobi capable of disposing of S-Rank ninja," Danzo spoke. "But, it has also drew Akatsuki's ire on us, and with them the ire of all their allies. We have lost many shinobi as a result of that, and it's time to react. If we can take out Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki, we would be dealing the Akatsuki a large blow, from which they will have a hard time recovering. Also, if we are to take out the Akatsuki out of the picture, then that whole alliance they have with some of the other villages, would fall apart. Do you understand that, Kakashi?"
Kakashi nodded. "Yes, I understand. Sir." Kakashi said. "I'm just worried that we might not be able to take them out. Itachi and Kisame are quite a bit stronger the Hidan and Kakuzu, and we were barely able to take those two out."
"I'm sure that you will be able to take them out," Danzo said. "Sasuke is stronger now than he was during that fight, and I want him to take on Itachi," Sasuke smirked at this. "While the rest of you will be ready to assist him if necessary, and also take out Kisame.
"Is that understood?"
"Yes sir!" Every ninja in the room shouted at the same time.
"Good," Danzo said. "Now, I don't know where those two are going to be, so it might take you a while to find them, but I do want you to inform me regularly of the progress, and as soon as you find them, to inform me. Once those two are killed, bag their bodies, and bring them here. They will be valuable assets to research on.
"Is that clear?"
Another, 'yes sir', was heard in the Hokage's office.
"Be sure NOT to fail this mission, or to do it half way, like the one where you were going after Hidan and Kakuzu," Danzo said while looking at Sasuke and Kakashi, because they are the only ones in the room who were on that mission. "There will be consequences if you do."
Everyone in the room nodded, and then Danzo dismissed them, leaving everyone to leave the room, and go to prepare for what would be the toughest mission in their lives for most of them.