Chapter Five: Arrival
The glorious natural radiance of the sun graced the people of Uzu no Kuni with much fervour. It acted as an apparatus that told people that it was time to wake up. It was time to meet whatever life threw at you head on. It was time to try and get your life in order.
"Why do we have to get up so early?" a very annoyed Mito voiced out.
Well, at least it did so for those that weren't already up.
"Because it's the early bird that catches the worm, Mito-chan." Minato answered.
"Yeah, but we're not birds." Mito's annoyance continued to make itself heard.
"Ha ha ha ha! Yes, well it's still a good policy to apply to everyday life." Minato said as he lead the way down a dirt street. Behind him were Mito and Naruto, and they were wearing what would be considered their civvies. Mito was dressed in a kimono that went past her knees and but never quite reached her ankles, while Naruto wore a pair of dark pants and a kimono top.
They were inside the The Whirling City, headed towards a destination that, whenever he thought about, put a smile on Minato's face.
"So, um…where exactly are we going?" Mito asked after a moment of silence.
Naruto looked at his best friend with a small smile on his face. Ever since Mito had come home with him, she has been subjected to a totally different lifestyle, a near perfect juxtaposition on the opposite side of the social scales. While Mito was not an entitled and insufferable little girl, she was however, a really spoilt one. Her father may have acted like a drill sergeant when it came to Naruto, but he was never truly as hard with Mito.
She had the pleasure of waking up after sunrise. For Naruto, it was a luxury that rarely let itself be known in his life. His mom, being the professional that she was, only when she felt like it, and his dad, being the workaholic that he was, always woke him up extremely early. Living with Mito's father and grandfather hadn't done anything to change that at all.
"Oh, you'll see." Minato's smile grew just an extra inch. They walked past three more house-sized buildings, before they eventually came across what looked like a slightly abandoned building. It had all of the tell-tale signs of being abandoned, which included dust that hung on the windows that was so thick that it obscured their view of whatever was inside.
"Tou-san," Naruto exclaimed, with surprise evident in his tone, "Is this what I think it is?"
"Is this what?" Mito asked, looking between the two blonde males that were looking at the old building.
"It sure is, son." Minato's pride could be heard in his voice when he said that, "This is my shop."
Naruto and Mito's awe was voiced in one word, "Whoa!"
"I know it's not too pleasing on the eye…" Minato began, stuffing his right hand into his pocket and producing a piece of paper, with something Naruto immediately recognised as a seal on it, "…but with the right amount of hard work, I'm sure we can turn this place around."
Minato placed the piece of paper on the door and he stepped back. A small blue hue was exuded by the seal on the paper, before it died down and the ink moved on the paper. Naruto may have been someone that had only studied the famed Uzumaki art of Fūinjutsu for few months, but the inscription on the paper was as plain as day to him. It changed from close to open.
Then his mind immediately backtracked to something his father said.
"Wait, did you say we?"
Naruto looked up and saw his father place one hand on the door, before he turned to look at him with a soft smile on his face, "You heard right, son. We."
With that said, Minato proceeded to push the door open, allowing the world to get a full view of what would soon be his base of operations. Dust immediately assaulted the trio, making them cough and sneeze as they tried swat the dust away from their faces by using their hands, while making their way into the shop.
Naruto looked at the shop, finding it to be pretty bare, but with a lot of space. He could definitely see why his father bought, or was it rent out?, the building despite its dilapidated state. With the right amount of people, it could become a proper shop, one where he could operate out of nicely. Knowing his father, he'd probably include a room for his inventions that weren't ready to be shown to the general public.
Minato coughed a bit, before he said, "So what do you guys think?"
Mito looked at the dusty form of Minato with watery eyes and said, "It's dusty, that's for sure."
"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! I couldn't agree with you more, Mito-chan." Minato then turned to look at his son.
"Sochi, you know what to do."
Naruto quickly drew back his right sleeve, revealing a wrist band with fūin on it. With a quick application of chakra, the wrist band was covered in a harmless white smoke, before it disappeared and was soon replaced by a normal-sized scroll. He put the scroll on the floor and quickly did what his did with the seal on his wrist band. This time though, instead of a scroll, he got cleaning utensils.
"Ah, so this is what mom put in the scroll?" Naruto exclaimed. He had been given the scroll by his mother to put into the special wristband seal that Ginrei had given to him. She didn't say anything beyond, "Open that scroll when your father tells you to, okay?"
Naruto figured, at that moment, that she probably knew that he and Mito were going to spend the entire day cleaning, judging by the amount of dust and dirt within the building.
In front of Naruto were three brooms, three mops and three buckets. One set for each of them it would seem. Along with that there was what appeared to be some sort of dried cow dung stuffed into a tin. One for each person. Not a lot of people outside the domestic worker field knew exactly what was used to shine floors, but Naruto did. Dried cow dung, with added chemical agents, was especially good on cement floors, like the one underneath all of the dust and dirt that they stood on.
"Alright guys," Minato's voice brought him back to the real world, "take a broom and let's start sweeping."
And so Mito and, to a lesser extent, Naruto were subjected to the tiring parts of being a child, doing something you did not want to do, out of respect for your elders.
Uzumaki Clan Main Household
Sitting within the confines of the small library that existed within the main Uzumaki household, Ginrei was at a loss about a certain subject matter. Several subject matters plagued his mind, but the most pressing one of them all involved the Senju, and the nature of their visit.
The three month deadline ended tomorrow, and knowing the kind of man Senju Butsuma is, he wouldn't be a second late. He was a very punctual individual. Many saw him as the epitome of what a shinobi, especially a clan head, should aspire to be. His own son, Jin, took after the man in some regard, mainly his strict nature, but beyond that he was his own man.
For all of the good parts of being a shinobi that the Senju clan head inspired, he also inspired the bad. He was a very shrewd man, often doing the most underhanded of things in order to make sure that whatever objectives he had were fulfilled. If one were looking for something that epitomised the model shinobi that every clan wished to create, they just had to point to Senju Butsuma.
"Ryo for your thoughts?" Jin's voice cut through the silence that had reigned over the small library that made up Ginrei's study.
Looking up at his son, who currently stood in front of the doorway of the library, Ginrei nodded his head.
Jin took a few steps into his father's study, before speaking about whatever it was that he thought was plaguing his father's mind, "The Senju…or to be more specific, Butsuma."
Another nod was all Jin received.
The man proceeded to sit down in front of his father, cross-legged.
"The man is dangerous." Jin spoke with a hint of worry in his tone.
"That he is, my child." Ginrei replied. While the father and son duo did not really see eye-to-eye on most issues, there were times when they did. This was one such time. Senju Butsuma put everyone in the shinobi world on edge. No one truly trusted him. Not even his distant cousins.
"So what about his visit has you so worried. Knowing you, you already have a few theories in mind." Jin spoke with assurance. He knew his father well. Not as well as he would have wanted to, but he knew him well enough to know that his nickname of Ginrei the wise wasn't something he just picked up like picking a stone. He earned it.
"I believe he may be coming here to drum up some sort of deal with us, one which could see us being drawn into a war with the Uchiha and whoever the hell-else they are fighting on the mainland."
"What about the Bijū? Don't you think he'll want to talk about that as well?" Jin questioned, placing a hand on the wisp of a beard that he had growing on his chin. I need to shave, again were words that rang through his head.
"Yes, well there is a possibility that something like that could happen. We all know that he's biting at the opportunity to eradicate all who stand in his way. With a Bijū backing him, there wouldn't be any that could stop him."
"Except us." Jin threw what he and his father knew to be the truth into the conversation. When all was said and done, the only people in the world that would have any shot of taking on a Bijū-backed Senju Butsuma would be the Uzumaki. Even then, victory was not really guaranteed. It also wouldn't be easy due to them being family – somewhat.
Over the last ten years though, even the word family has started to blur a little thanks to the tyrannical Senju leader.
"Indeed." If a Bijū was indeed what Senju Butsuma was hoping to get, then the world was in for it. Uzumaki included.
Minato's Store – Afternoon
Cleaning up the future store of Namikaze Minato had been surprisingly easier than expected. By twelve, they had already finished sweeping and mopping the place. Three hours, and lots of perfume-scented dung floor polish later, they were now relaxing outside the building, with an ice cold beverage in each of their hands.
"Well, that was…uh fun, right guys?" Minato spoke with a slight chuckle. A man walked by and waved his hand at the trio, and they proceeded to reciprocate it. They had been getting them from the various denizens of the civilian side of the island all day long.
"If you like spending your entire day cleaning, then yes. It was absolutely fun." Mito spoke with a hint of annoyance in her tone.
Minato was proud of the clan heir. She took to the task of helping with the cleaning without so much as a complaint out of her. He was afraid that maybe she would come out spoilt rotten like most of the supposed royalty that existed in this world. Guess there's an exception to every rule.
"So, um, we have to leave early tomorrow, tou-san." Naruto said, ending the small bout of silence that had ensued.
"Oh, because of the Senju thing?" He may not be a shinobi, but he lived with one at home, so things like the leader of the most powerful clan in the world coming to see your home were bound to float into conversations.
"Yes." Naruto concurred, "Ginrei-sensei wants us back in the morning so that we can prepare for Senju-sama and his children."
"Ah, I heard about that too." Minato sad, "Is it just going to be them only?"
"We're not really sure." Mito answered, "From what Tou-sama said, we should expect more."
"I see." Minato's face took on a thoughtful expression as he muled an idea over in his head. His face soon took on a look of someone that just struck gold, "Wait a sec…this could be the opportunity I have been looking for."
"What do you mean, Tou-san?" Naruto asked, seeing the look on his fathers face. It was a look he knew all too well. It was the same look he had whenever he had a brilliant idea.
Turning quicker than expected, Minato grabbed both children's hands and held them together while also donning a pleading look on his face, before he spoke, "Can you two get the Senju entourage and Jin and Ginrei-sama to pop by the store tomorrow?"
"Uh…why?" was all Naruto could ask of his father.
"Because if you do that, then I can have some special people act as my pseudo-ambassadors for my business." Minato said, pleading look turning into a crazed look in a few seconds. He was beginning to jump on his feet the more he thought about his idea.
"W-what exactly are you going to be selling, Minato-oji?" Mito asked with a hint of nerves in her voice.
Naruto was the one that answered her instead of Minato, "Remember that invention that I told you about a few months ago?"
"You mean the – uh, what was it – oh, the bad! Right?" Mito exclaimed.
"Bed." both blondes corrected her at the time.
"Oh." Mito blushed a little at them admonishing her.
"Yes, well…can you guys do it?" Minato pleaded, once more.
Naruto looked at Mito for a few seconds, before he turned and looked back at his father and said, "Sure, I guess."
"Yeah. I can get tou-sama to come here." Mito spoke with confidence at her ability to do that.
"Thank you so much, children." Minato's jubilation could be seen by the hug he gave both children, and could be heard in his voice.
"No problem, tou-san/Minato-oji." both children sounded happy to help.
As soon as the hug ended, both children began thinking up ways in which they could lure the leaders of the two clans.
Uzu no Kuni South Port – The Next Day
The port of Hi no Kuni was packed. Fishermen that frequented the legendary island that only housed one clan had docked their boats and ships in the spaces made readily available to them. There was a special section of the port that was dedicated to the large ship that the Senju would be arriving in. Everyone on the island, shinobi and civilian alike, wanted to catch a glimpse of the leader of the most powerful clan in the world. For those that lived on the island, it was perhaps a once in a lifetime opportunity.
Standing at the head of it all, at the foot of the pier, was the main Uzumaki family and Naruto. The only blonde Uzumaki in existence was dressed in a pair of black pants, matching sandals and a white kimono top that boasted his clan's insignia on it proudly over his heart. Tied around his wrists and ankles were a pair of white bandages. This was a look he usually sported outside of training.
The trio of grandfather, father and daughter stood next to a few Uzumaki shinobi that were standing on the water. The four shinobi in question had their hands planted into the water, and looks of utmost concentration were on their faces. They was a bit of a sweat on their brows, caused by what they were doing.
From what Naruto could remember from his days in the Academy, there was a specialised group of individuals that dealt with the whirlpools that surrounded their great island. The whirlpools were meant to act as a natural deterrent for other clans to try and attack them, and they did their part very well. Too well in fact.
The problem that they created was that they ended up acting as a bit of an inhibitor to the Uzumaki shinobi on the island, preventing them, at first, from leaving the island at will. After a while though, they found a simple solution to their problem through specialised Fūinjutsu. They could, in essence, control the current and speed any which way they pleased. This allowed them to have something akin to an early barrier detection system that could, in theory, prevent any and all from crossing their waters unless if the Uzumaki gave express permission.
The four shinobi on the water were part of a special barrier team of Uzumaki that, while not as good as other Uzumaki at Fūinjutsu, they could at least operate the seals placed all over the island and in the water that would act as a strong first line of defence.
Right now they were controlling the waters to allow for what Naruto assumed was a large ship, judging by the sweat they exuded, to pass onto their territory. The Uzumaki were a clan of sugar-high kids that had to be exerted beyond normal measures in order to be tired out.
That was another reason why they were the only clan on Uzu no Kuni. It was not that they did not want to share any space – they didn't – but the other reason was that it was impossible for any other clan other than the Uzumaki to inhabit the island.
Hundreds of years before the Uzumaki came to claim Uzu as their own, dozens of other clans sought to make it theirs. The dangerous waters made it next to impossible to get on, or off the island. They were very hard to defeat. The Uzumaki did it though, and as such they became the rightful rulers of the island.
"Naruto, look!" Naruto was drawn out of his thoughts by Mito's voice as she pointed at something he had not been paying attention to before. It started out as a small dot that was obscured by the sun, before it eventually became something that was extremely visible to the naked eye. A large ship, with white sails, came barrelling down the waters of Uzu no Kuni at speeds that Naruto thought were next to impossible for a ship of its size.
Looking at the Uzumaki shinobi on the water water's surface, with their hands stuck in the water, he quickly understood why. The reason why these guys were feeling so much fatigue from something that the text scrolls had referred to as something that wouldn't be too taxing on an Uzumaki – controlling the whirlpools around the island – was because they weren't just controlling the current of the whirlpools, but the actual ocean itself. They were making sure that the ship carrying the Senju clan's leader and his entourage arrived safely on the island, at a very fast pace.
Naruto couldn't help but smile at the teamwork shown by his clansmen. This was one of the many examples he points to whenever someone asked him why he loved being an Uzumaki. The supposed hippies of the shinobi world.
"So, what do you think they're like?" Mito whispered into his ear, breaking his thoughts once more.
"Who? The Senju?" Naruto whispered back.
"Yes."
"… Well, I think there's a reason why they're currently the number one ranked clan in the world." Naruto gave his own honest opinion.
"You said currently, as in they were not always the strongest clan in the world." Mito inquired, catching the way Naruto worded his answer.
"Well, yeah." Naruto turned to look at his best friend for the last three months. He saw that there was a slight perplexity on her face, "According to some research I've done, the Uzumaki were the strongest clan three hundred years ago."
"Wow. Really?" Mito's awe was very hard to miss.
"Yeah, but then other clans started becoming jealous of us. We're the reason the wanted books exist."
"What do you mean?" Mito inquired.
"Well," Naruto exhaled a bit, before he continued with his explanation, "Before we lived on this island, we lived in several different parts of the mainland, mainly Hi no Kuni and Mizu no Kuni. Our clan was the largest in number and the strongest of them all. Other clans became jealous of us and started coming after the Uzumaki."
"Oh."
"Yeah. We're the only clan to ever have a bounty placed on everyone. Everybody wanted what we had, and as such they did their utmost best to take it from us." Naruto's face took on a sombre look, "There were skirmishes all over the mainland that resulted in a large number of Uzumaki losing their lives. All of our allies had turned their backs on us."
"Even the Senju?"
"Yep. Them too."
"… Then how come we're allies again?" Mito, for the life of her, could not understand the reason behind how everything operated. She knew that Naruto did, he was extremely intelligent after all, and that he would try to make her understand as well. That's how their friendship went. Naruto learned complex things, and then he would explain them to her in very simple terms.
"Well, you see the word ally is like a stone that's in mid-air. It only lasts for as long as it has the power to do so, before it crashes onto the ground." Looking at his friend, Naruto saw that she understood what he was saying by the simple nod she gave him.
"So that would mean that even this alliance we have right now could crash as well?"
"Yep. Hence why it's important that both sides try to keep up their ends of the bargain."
"Even if we're cousins?" Mito's innocence could be felt through the way she asked Naruto the question.
"Distant cousins, Mito. The Senju and Uzumaki are distant cousins. Really, really distant cousins." Naruto spoke with such clarity that Mito understood what he was saying underneath it all.
The Uzumaki and Senju weren't truly family. Not at all.
Naruto could see that Mito finally understood the gravity of the visit by the Senju. Whatever request that they had, if not honoured, could result in a war between the two clan's with the longest relative peace between them.
The ship carrying the Senju finally pulled up to the docks, slowing down as it drew closer, until it finally came to a stand still. The ship's anchor holding it in place. A plank was dropped onto the pier, just a few feet in front of the Uzumaki royalty, and out stepped a man flanked by two boys.
Silence reigned supreme at that moment.
The man was of tall stature, he also possessed black eyes and shoulder-length black hair kept back out of his face by a piece of light green cloth tied around his forehead. He also had a prominent jawline and wore the red standard armour of that era emblazoned with the Senju symbol at the front and on both sides of the shoulder plates, accompanied with mesh armour underneath his attire. In addition, he wore a sword over his right shoulder.
This was, without a show of a doubt, Senju Butsuma.
The first of the two boys that stepped out was dressed in a pair of black clothes which consisted of a t-shirt and pants underneath green armour that was standard for shinobi. Around his head rested a white band that bore the Senju emblem, and on his back rested a sword. The oddest thing about this boy was his hair cut, which was cut in such a way that it resembled a bowl.
The other boy wore armour that was constructed from green metal plates that covered his torso, lower behind, and groin alongside fishnet armour around his wrists and shins. Underneath the armour rested a pair of navy pants and shirt. His hair, unlike Butsuma's and the other boy that accompanied him, was shockingly grey, and also very spiky.
As the trio walked towards the Uzumaki entourage, two more children stepped out from behind them. This time it was a boy and a girl.
The boy had a head of short, two-toned hair, with one side being black and the other half being white with matching eyebrows. He wore green armour, and wrapped a piece of cloth around his forehead. From what Naruto could glean, he seemed to be around his age.
Next to the two-toned haired boy was a girl decked in a similar style to the boy, with the only difference being the colour of the armour. Hers was grey. Her hair was tied in a short ponytail and her eyes were squinted in such a way that she looked like she didn't have any eyes to begin with. She carried herself in a similar manner to the grey haired boy that had stepped out alongside the presumed Senju Butsuma.
Behind them, the crew working on the ship were busy tying up the sails and making sure that nothing was out of place.
Turning his attention back to the few people walking down towards them, Naruto took better stock of the two boys walking next to the man he thought was Senju Butsuma. The brown-haired one with a hair cut resembling a bowl looked contemplative and slightly nervous. He seemed to be thinking up something really important.
The other boy carried himself with the cockiness and swagger of someone that believed that they could defeat anyone and anything placed in front of them. He must be very strong Naruto thought.
"Welcome, Senju-dono." Jin greeted Butsuma as soon as he stopped in front of him.
"Thank you, Uzumaki-dono." Butsuma replied with a very serious tone, "It's good to be back here after so many years."
"It's great to have you return to us." Jin spoke with the same natural expression he always kept on his face. He then gestured to the former leader of the Uzumaki clan and said, "You already know my father."
"Of course. Ginrei-dono is someone that I would be hard pressed to find that didn't lnow about him." Butsuma said, bowing in the former clan head's direction, which resulted in Ginrei doing the same to him.
"Oh, that's a lot of confidence placed on an old man." Ginrei replied after bowing at Butsuma.
"It's well deserved confidence." Butsuma spoke with a politeness in his tone that would make a few people that did not know him on a personal level dismiss some of the more asinine stories surrounding him and his almost tyrannical ways.
Ginrei, fortunately, was one of the few individuals in the world that knew the man on a personal level, and as such he knew not to dismiss those stories or to even undermine the man that stood before him. He was as much of a beast off the battlefield as much as he was on it.
"This," Ginrei heard his son intone from the side, "Is my precious daughter, Mito."
"It's very nice to meet you, Mito-chan." Butsuma said this with the same polite tone as before, although his face was as stoic as ever.
"Likewise, Butsuma-sama." Mito said, bowing at the leader of the strongest clan in the world.
"And the boy?" Butsuma said when he saw that Jin was not going to introduce him to the blonde child next to Mito.
Ginrei, in an attempt to make sure that Butsuma didn't see anything wrong with the set up that they had with Naruto there, quickly said, "Oh, that's Naruto. He's a very bright young boy that is quite strong for his age."
"Ho… now my interest has been piqued." Butsuma said this while staring at Naruto, who held the powerful gaze of the Senju leader with his own, significantly less powerful one, "To have Ginrei the wise talk of you with such praise…you must be truly special."
"Not really." Naruto said, bowing at the man, before continuing, "I just work hard."
"Well, I'd like to see exactly just how hard you work in a spar. You shall face off against my eldest, Hashirama." Butsuma pointed at the boy with a bowl-shaped haircut while saying this. Said boy jumped out of his skin, so to speak, as soon as his name had been called out, as if he had been caught stealing something.
"What about the other four?" Naruto asked.
"What about them?"
"Are they not strong too?"
"Oh, they are."
"Then why not have me spar against them as well?"
"Because it should be the Uzumaki's most promising prospect going up against the Senju's most promising. That way we can see exactly where both of our illustrious clans measure against each other."
"Yes, but –"
"Enough, Naruto." Jin spoke up from the sidelines, silencing his blonde student. Jin had the look of a perfectly calm individual as he spoke again, "We'll have the spar tomorrow, for now we have other matters to take care of."
With all of the greetings all said and done, Jin pointed his hand at the hill that overlook the Whirling City and said, "This way, gentlemen. That is where our discussions shall take place."
Butsuma acquiesced to the Uzumaki clan leader taking the lead on this one. After all, it was his village.
Just as the party was about to begin their journey to the hillside manor of the Uzumaki, Mito spoke up, "Wait!"
If Jin were a man that did not have the ability to reign in his emotions the way that he did, he would have probably rolled his eyes at that point. He had just pseudo-chastised Naruto for holding up the talks with Butsuma, and now Mito was doing the same as well.
"What is it?" The irritation in Jin's voice could not be masked.
"Oh! Um…" Mito was a bit taken aback by her father's tone, but she quickly steeled herself and spoke out, "Well, um, I think it would be best if we took Senju-sama and his children on a tour of the Whirling City."
"Why would I do that when it would only slow-"
"-Take the children." Butsuma suddenly spoke up, interrupting Jin.
"Huh/What?" Mito and her father said respectively.
"Take the children. It's not like they're needed in our talks." Butsuma said, "Show them around, show them whatever you want."
"Are you sure, tou-sama?" the grey haired child said.
"Absolutely, Tobirama." Butsuma spoke with an empty smile on his face, "You and your brother's deserve this after all you have been through these last few months."
"Alright." Tobirama nodded in his father's direction.
As soon as that had been said, the strongest Senju alive walked away from his children, quickly catching up to the Uzumaki leaders that were in front of him, and they slowly began walking away from the pier. Most of the people there decided to follow the great men, looking to catch snippets of whatever conversation that might have struck up between them.
Those that stayed behind did so because they wanted to talk to the Senju kids. Naruto had no idea why they would want to do so.
"So, I'm Mito." Naruto heard his best friend say from the sidelines. He hadn't even realised that she was already trying to talk to the Senju kids.
"Oh, um, I'm Tobirama." the grey haired boy replied since he was the closest to her, "These are my brothers Hashirama," He points to the bowl-shape haircut boy, "and Itama." He points to the dual-hair coloured boy, "The girl is our cousin, Tōka."
"It's very nice to meet you all." Mito said, bowing at all four of them.
"Likewise." Hashirama replied with his own bow.
And so, with the children finally acquainted with one another, they began their journey towards Minato's shop.
To be Continued
That wraps up another chapter. I wanted to make it a 10k word chapter, but decided against it after the children were acquainted with each other. It would have taken away from this moment, so no 10k chapter. YET!
On to other news now, I'm working on the next chapter of the story, so you'll have to wait for that...hopefully not for long.
I've been working on this chapter for last three weeks. Problems – of the financial variant – have arisen at home, and as such I can't write as much as I want to. I'm starting up a account to help me out a little, so if you guys could do me a solid, then I promise to upload a chapter once a week.
Help a brother out. Please.
Anyway, that's it for now.
I'm out!