Chapter Eight: First Day

Naruto got up bright and early, as was usual for him. After performing his morning ritual of urinating, brushing his teeth, taking a bath and changing into a fresh pair of clothes, he was ready to welcome the day.

Walking out of his room, he turned left and headed down the quiet passage that made up a portion of the main family's home. He passed by Mito's room and thought of saying a quick goodbye to her before jetting off but he quickly brandished that thought. No one liked to be woken up, even he did not like it despite being an early bird. Mito was just another case altogether when it came to being woken up.

He walked past the kitchen and found some kitchen staffers there and just bowed his head in greeting, and they returned it with a much more verbal one. He thought about going in there and grabbing a quick bite, but he quickly squashed that idea. He wasn't really hungry. He was, however, nervous.

Why?

Today was the day. The day that he had spent the last year living with the main family preparing for. Training, being hammered to the ground by Jin, Shimonosuke and even Ginrei on a few occasions.

Today was the day of his very first mission for his clan.

This was what most shinobi lived for, and he was no exception. The honour that came with representing your clan was just too great to pass up. Pride was something that was in great quantities within the clan full of seal masters. Everyone was happy to do their part. Whether it be big or small. Today was going to be his first day in joining those very same people and doing his bit to help his illustrious clan.

He silently wondered what it would be. He had tried to do some research on his own by asking his mother, Ginrei and even Jin, but none of them were forthcoming. They simply told him that he would be debriefed when the time came.

He was the nosey type, which was good in this business of cut-throat skulduggery. You had to have a nose for information if you wanted to stay ahead of the curve. Having a lot of information was something he prided himself in.

He was really anxious to know though. Maybe it was a mission to the mainland? A mission to find a lost treasure? Research on an ancient history? Or maybe even the worst kind of mission he could think off…housekeeping.

Shinobi took any and all missions presented their way, and that including the seemingly mundane everyday things. Housekeeping was well within a shinobi's wheelhouse.

His musings were interrupted by a certain voice he had grown very familiar with over the last year, "So, you're going to leave without saying goodbye?"

Naruto turned around and saw a very tired-looking Mito cutely rubbing her eyes as she tried to get stand up straight but she was slouched over and swaying a bit on the spot. She was dressed in her pyjamas and she yawned not soon after Naruto turned to look at her.

"I didn't want to wake you up."

"I want to..." another yawn, "I want to wish you good luck."

"Thanks." Naruto could feel the small smile he threw at her. She was one of only a handful of people that he truly genuinely smiled for. Everyone else just received a meaningless smile. She was his best, and only friend. So she got to see the real him.

"Knock 'em dead." Mito threw up a 'V' for victory sign using her index and middle fingers.

"I hope not." Naruto said in all seriousness. He honestly didn't want to kill anyone. Not unless absolutely necessary.

Mito just looked at him with a confused look on her face. Clearly Naruto's statement flew way over her head. Naruto just shook his head with his smile returning, before turning back to face the entrance of the door, before he exited the house through it.

"Bye." he said, before he shut the door and disappeared from Mito's eyes.

As soon as he was outside Naruto took in a huge waft of fresh air, letting it soak his lungs, before he quickly let it go and started walking at a steady pace to the meeting area. He was kind of nervous, feeling the butterflies fluttering in his stomach, but also very excited. This was the first step in his journey to adulthood. No matter what happened, be it that he lived a long time or not, he would make sure that he enjoyed being alive for as much as possible.

Having made his way down into the Whirling City, Naruto found himself standing at the meeting area where his debriefing was supposed to go down. He stood in a very large court yard made with giant cement slabs shaped like tiles, each second tile housing the famous Uzumaki spiral at the centre. In front of him was the largest building within the Whirling City, the Shinobi Administration Building.

This building was so large that they could not build it on the clan side of the island, so they built it within the very city the Uzumaki protected. It made it very easy to deploy shinobi whenever they were needed out there in the city, as they were smack-dab in the middle of it.

After he had walked through the large bustling city, he had entered the building and walked up to the front desk, where he was greeted by a woman that quickly told him to walk straight through the hallway until he exited out through the back. That was where he was supposed to be.

This was where he currently stood. In the court yard, but not alone. All around him were shinobi of different age groups, genders and sizes. All of them conversing with each other about one topic or another, with him sticking out of them all like a sore thumb because of his shockingly blonde hair.

The only blonde Uzumaki in existence. What a title to have; as if it meant anything in the grand scheme of things.

Looking around, trying to see if he could find anyone that he might know, he quickly spotted someone that made him scowl. Standing at a great distance from him, but not far enough as far as Naruto was concerned, was his one-time 'friend', Uzumaki Kai.

Kai was part of the group of people that befriended him only to get ahead in life. Scholastic wise. He had used Naruto, milking him for his intelligence for his own benefit, and then when he didn't need him, Naruto was disposed off like spoilt milk.

It made Naruto feel a mixture of different feelings towards the boy that was a few years older than him. He felt anger for being used like that, respect for the way in which he had duped Naruto like any good shinobi worth a damn in this world, and he also felt complete hatred for the way he laughed in Naruto's face the day Naruto finally understood why the older boy hung out with him.

"I don't really care about you. You're not my friend…I only stuck by because I needed your help in getting to the next class."

Those had been his words on that faithful day. Words which had soon been followed by a raucous laughter by the other boys that hung out with him.

It was here that he stopped trusting people. He came off as a bit indifferent to most people that he didn't have any investment in because of how he had been duped before. He really wanted to trust people, be like Ginrei or Mito, or even Hashirama, but unfortunately he was someone that learned quickly and barely forgave.

That was one of the main reasons why Jin was not, and probably would never ever make it onto his favourite people's list.

The other boys that Kai hung out with all stood around him, all of them having made it as well it would seem. He remembered their names quite well. Keisuke and Yuri. All of them were people he would never really associate with.

Apparently he had been staring too hard in their direction, because they soon all had the feeling of being watched, and noticed where it was coming from. They all turned turned their heads and picked him out through the small crowd in between them all.

He may not have been able to hear them, but he could read some of their lips from the distance he was at, and it had been the rotund Keisuke that picked up on him first, "Look guys, the blonde kid…"

He saw Kai smile before he saw the boy's lips move to make up the words, "Well if it isn't our favourite little blonde. C'mon, let's go and say hi."

The trio of boys made their way over to Naruto, slaloming their way through the small crowd of shinobi that were there. The older boys closed the distance rather quickly, and were soon standing in front of Naruto.

"Hey blondie. Long time no see." Kai said as soon as he reached him, with his posse flanking him on either side just a step behind him. He stood a head above Naruto in height, had the same red hair that most Uzumaki had and generally would easily blend in with his Uzumaki brethren. He wore the standard shinobi pants, black in colour, and a sky blue kimono top with a white strip that was slightly opened to reveal his chest.

The thing that set him apart from most of the Uzumaki was the sword he had on his hip. Most Uzumaki did not part-take in the art of Kenjutsu, despite a few of them, most notably their clan's leader, being quite skilled in the art.

No one really knew where people got the idea that most Uzumaki were skilled in Kenjustu similar to how they were so good at Fūinjutsu. People should not get it mixed up, Naruto thought. Uzumaki were brilliant at Fūinjutsu, and nothing else. It was so ingrained in every Uzumaki that it was like a kekkei genkai, and just like all kekkei genkai there were those who were super skilled at using them and there were those that were not.

Naruto just looked up at them with an unreadable expression etched onto his face. He chose not to really say anything, feeling it was best not to aggravate anyone.

"What's wrong?" Yuri, a boy that had the trademark Uzumaki red hair and slightly stained yellow teeth spoke up mockingly from Kai's right hand side. He wore black pants with a brown long sleeve top.

"Nothing." was Naruto's reply.

"That's not what I'm feeling." Kai said, pointing between Naruto and him, "I feel a lot of tension."

"You're imagining it."

"Am I?"

"Yes."

"…It was rhetorical." as if that needed to be said, "Point is, I feel like there's tension between us, and I miss…"

Kai put an arm around Naruto, which the younger of the two boys quickly snaked his way out of. Kai was quiet for a second before he added, "…I miss my buddy."

"The feeling is not mutual." Naruto said defiantly, looking up at the other boys as if issuing out a silent challenge.

"Ouch." the older boy said, feigning being emotionally hurt by the younger boys' comments by placing a hand over his heart. After his theatrics Kai took on a slightly serious look as he said, "Look, I get it. You don't trust us, and if the roles were reversed I wouldn't trust me either. But the fact is we're now shinobi of the Uzumaki clan, and I don't know what that means to you, but to us it means a lot. It means looking out for each other. No matter what. So can I count on-"

"No!" Naruto interrupted the older boy with that simple statement. He quickly turned around and walked away from them, feeling like he needed to punch something.

The older boys watched Naruto walk away from them and simply shook their heads.

"He doesn't forgive easily, does he?" Keisuke spoke up.

"Nope. It doesn't matter though. It's not like we need him." Kai said, comforting himself in the face of a ten year old child's rejection.

With Naruto

How dare they? How dare they think that he would be so stupid as to fall for their petty tricks again? He was not as naïve as he once was. Fool me once…and all that jazz. Still feeling like punching someone, Naruto continued his anger-fuelled walk in between the crowded shinobi that had gathered there.

He walked right to the front of the gathered shinobi and stood in front of a very large marble podium that had a small flight of stairs on the side. On the podium were a few dignitaries that Naruto knew were important to the clan, but outside of Ginrei, Mito and Jin he barely interacted with any of the influential people within the Uzumaki clan. The dignitaries sat on the expensive marble in a lotus position. There were five in total, two of them being Ginrei and Jin.

As he stood there and looked up at the currently empty podium he was nudged on the side by someone. Looking to his left he saw that it was a girl that was around his height and she had shockingly red hair that was past her shoulders that was left alone to be wild and go where ever the wind took it.

"You're Uzumaki Naruto." she stated as if daring him to deny it.

Naruto, of course, was used to people knowing who he was. He was the only blonde kid on Uzu walking around with a high IQ that people could not seem to shut up about, "Yes. And you are?"

"Uzumaki Naoki." The girl declared proudly, right fist raised in front of her.

"Ok~ay." Naruto said, not really understanding the girl next to him. Her entire aura was confrontational, "Is there any-"

"You're the genius of the Uzumaki clan."

Oh man, not that title.

"Well, I'm here to tell you that you're gonna lose that title to me." the girl declared triumphantly, fire burning brightly in her eyes.

Naruto just sighed out loud before he said, "You know, honestly, I wish you could take it."

"No!" the little red head declared, shaking her head, "I wanna take it away from you by beating you fair and square."

"Uh, you do realise that fair and square should not be part of your vocabulary, right?" Naruto asked, scratching his head for a single clue on how to deal with this troublesome girl, "Since we're shinobi and all that."

"I don't care." Naoki said, "Cheat if you want to, but I will beat you fair and square regardless."

"Oh, for the love of-"

"Attention all shinobi!" a voice interrupted not only Naruto, but every other ninja that was holding some form of a conversation with someone. The voice belonged to an old man that Naruto had never seen before. He had his right index finger on his throat as he spoke, "You are now about to be addressed by our great leader, Jin-sama!"

There was a loud roar of approval from the gathered shinobi. Jin may have been extremely strict in how he ran things, but he was still a beloved leader of the clan. As he stepped up to the podium, the old man that looked to be around Ginrei's age took a spot next to the former Uzumaki clan head on the floor.

As soon as Jin was where he needed to stand on the podium, he raised his right hand into a half ram seal, before he proceeded to place the same index and middle fingers used in his ram hand seal on his throat.

"My fellow Uzumaki, today for some of you begins your journey into adulthood. Adulthood through the path of a shinobi." Jin began his speech, his voice being projected all over the huge gathering of shinobi, "Now for those of you that are here for the umpteenth time, you know what to do. You know what is expected of you as proud Uzumaki shinobi. You are our pride and joy, and have served this great clan of ours greatly. Today is me just reaffirming your purpose to you all. To serve this great clan of ours with distinction, bravery, and honour. Honour to your fellow brethren and to all that we consider precious to us."

Naruto could feel the pride that every shinobi held within them for representing their great clan. He honestly felt it within himself as well. He did not know what it was about what Jin was saying, but it had roused something in him, 'Is this…patriotism?'

"Now go out there, all of you, and show the world who we are!" There was a huge round of applause for Jin after he said that. Most of the gathered shinobi clapping at the message that their leader had given them. He may have had a cold demeanour, but almost, if not all, of the experienced shinobi knew that if it came down to it Jin would lay his life on the line, just like they have done.

As soon as the applause died down a small group of people, primarily men in their thirties and forties from what Naruto could guess, came out of nowhere and stood in front of the gathered shinobi. There were only two women with the gathered shinobi that stood in front of everyone. While this small group of people came to a standstill, the majority of the people that had gathered in this unique assembly area disappeared within minutes. The elders that had been on the podium did the same, along with Jin. All that remained were the recent graduates of the academy.

Looking at the men that stood before them, most of the recent graduates could not help but feel a slight sense of trepidation. These people meant business.

One of the two women that was standing in front of the graduates stepped forward. She, like nearly all of her clansmen had red hair. Hers was less red than most of the others, but there was no mistaking her for anything other than an Uzumaki. Her hair was tied into a single round bun. Her face was round and small, with her eyes adorned in thick-rimmed, round glasses. She wore the standard shinobi battle armour, plated on the front, and underneath she wore a black battle dress.

She stared at them all with an impassive, unreadable expression. It put most of the gathered youngsters, Naruto included, on edge.

Then her face pulled off a complete turn around and she had the widest smile any of them had ever seen, "Well, hello children."

Silence greeted her back.

"Well there's no need to be shy." the woman proclaimed as she clapped her hands together and jumped on the spot slightly like a giddy madman, "My name's Harumi. I'm Captain of the Kekkai (Barrier) Unit within the Sealing Corps."

If one were to ask Naruto what he thought about the woman that stood in front of him, he would have probably called her…he honestly did not know what he would have called her. He barely knew enough about her to make any judgement calls. You can't judge someone based off their name, because even though it's theirs, they did not choose it. Their parents gave it to them.

"Behind me," the woman continued, making a sweeping gesture with her right hand, "Are the Captains and vice-captains of all of the other Corps that the Uzumaki rely on to be who we are."

The Uzumaki Shinobi Corps were an idea brought about nearly three centuries ago when the clan had been pushed towards the brink of extinction. They say that necessity is the mother of all innovation, and in the case of the Uzumaki they had to reinvent themselves in order to stay relevant. In order to combat their own isolationism they divided the remaining shinobi that they had at the time into different groups, all based on skill. These shinobi would only focus on affairs pertaining to their specific group and nothing else.

The first Corps that was developed was the Sealing Corps, as they had more of them than anything else. These guys were responsible for all research that went into Fūinjutsu, be it the development of new seals, the advancement of already existing seals, or just the scholastic understanding of said seals. This was the Uzumaki clan's bread and butter. It is what allowed them to live such a comfortable life. They made seals and sold them to the highest bidder. Of course, they only sold stuff that was rudimentary, such as sealing scrolls and exploding tags, but even though those things were seen in such poor light by most Uzumaki, they weren't to mainlanders.

Uzumaki clan Fūinjutsu, no matter how rudimentary it was to them, was still ten times better than the stuff that was made on the mainland.

The second corps was the Marine Corps, because living on an island surrounded by whirlpools dictated that you had to become good at all things maritime, or else. The Uzumaki of old used this new-found skill that had not yet been a commonality within the shinobi world of the time to great effect. Instead of fighting tooth and nail to try and get business on the mainland, they could just charge for business related to things like cargo transportation through the high seas and fighting off pirates. They became so good at this that they soon drove the Hozuki clan out of business.

While the Hozuki clan did not need to own any ships, seeing as they could blend in with water at will and use this ability to easily fight off pirates, they could not transport things. The Uzumaki clan could. And did. This helped greatly with garnering business in the clan's renaissance all those years ago. An unfortunate downside to the clan's new-found success led to them fighting the Hozuki when said clan became hostile thanks to the Uzumaki stealing their customer base. While the battle that occurred was short-lived, it was a set back for the Uzumaki clan in terms of both man-power and resources.

They did win the war, but at a significant cost.

This last corps to be developed was the main Shinobi Corps. While all Uzumaki could fight, some were just better at it than others. These guys were the ones that were trained to take on missions on the mainland, primarily in the form of assisting the Senju in their conflicts, or just acting as bodyguards for whoever hired their services from the non-shinobi populace within their great nation.

"Now, I'm sure you all know what each corps is. But what I'm sure you don't know is that you'll be spending some time in each one, so that you can gain a healthy level of understanding for each corps, understand the roll that each corps performs, and see exactly which corps is best suited to your skills." Harumi continued.

At that point, two other men stepped forward and lined up next to Harumi on her left hand side. She looked at them for a brief second, before she turned her attention back to the new recruits of the Uzumaki shinobi programme, "Alright, these two next to me are Captain Daichi of the Marine Corps..." she pointed to the man closest to her. He had a scraggly beard and small eyes that seemed to pierce into each and every single one of them. He was slightly rotund, and it showed with the red armour that he wore amplifying his stomach slightly.

"...and the other one is Eiji, leader of the third regiment of the main Shinobi Corps." Harumi concluded, pointing at a man that had a care-free attitude about him. He had badly cut hair, a small scar over his otherwise youthful face, just under his right eye, and he wore dark blue shinobi pants with a matching kimono top and a white obi tied around his waist. He simply waved at the gathered recruits.

"Now line up in front of the captain," a clearing of the throat by Eiji caused Harumi to look over to him for a split second, before adding, "Or leader, of the corps you want to join first."

Naruto felt his heart beat slightly faster than before thanks to a mixture of anxiety and excitement.

"Oh, be warned," Harumi added as an afterthought, "whatever you think you know about being a shinobi before, squash it. Cause from today, you're entering the real world."

With her final piece said Harumi straightened up a bit, looking at the newly-minted shinobi before scurry about as they formed three lines, choosing which corps they wanted to start with.

For Naruto, while all three corps sounded interesting to him, there was only ever really one corps that won out for him, and he was standing in it. Judging by the way that said corps leader was looking at him, it seemed like he was expected to make said call.

He had decided to join the Shinobi corps first.

"Welcome to the third regiment." Eiji drawled out, standing in a slightly hunched over manner, looking at the amassed pre-teens and and one ten year old with the same aloofness he had displayed earlier on. Next to him stood a young woman, in her mid-teens from the looks of things, and she spotted a scroll in a right hand. She was decked out in a very dull kimono that one could tell was not for anything other than work. She was the only other woman present at the assembly area.

They were currently standing in a forested area that was just outside the Whirling City. Eiji had led Naruto, along with five other children to the area. They had been the only ones to pick being part of the shinobi corps as their first preference. Among them were Naoki, the strange girl that Naruto had met earlier on, and Kai, Naruto's former classmate (he would never dignify him with the title of former friend).

"Kimiko," the young woman snapped to attention, "take a roll-call of those that are present."

"Uzumaki Akira." Kimiko called out loud, to which a boy just slightly taller than Naruto called meekly out, "Here."

This got a few laughs out of Kai and his posse, with Yuri even imitating him.

Kimiko rifled through a list of other names before landing on the next person on the list, "Uzumaki Kai."

"I'm here for you baby." the young boy arrogantly answered the girl that was at least five years older than him.

Kimiko did not even bother with rising to the taunt, instead moving onto the next name on the list, "Uzumaki Keisuke."

"Here."

"Uzumaki Naoki."

"I'm here to whoop ass!" the young girl proclaimed exuberantly. Naruto just shook his head at her behaviour.

"Uzumaki Naruto." Kimiko called out.

"Here."

A few more non-presents were called out before eventually settling on the final name on the list, "Uzumaki Yuri."

"Yep. Right here."

Kimiko furled her scroll and stepped back just as Eiji stepped forward once again. The man rubbed his head slightly, before he addressed the gathered recruits, "Okay, now before I can tell you what's expected of you from this regiment, I first have to air out some dirty laundry."

Naruto raised an eye brow at this.

"Earlier on when we told you that you were going to be rotated amongst each corps…well, we were lying."

The confident smirk fell off of Kai and his cronies faces as they feared the worst. Akira looked like he just met his worst nightmare as soon as he pieced together the information that he was just given and what it could actually mean. Naoki just tilted her head in confusion, while Naruto just stared impassively at the man in front of her.

"You won't be going to the other corps. We said that so that you could pick out the one you were most comfortable in first, before we sent you out into the world." Eiji continued with the same aloof tone as before.

"W-wa-wait." Kai stammered, "You mean to tell me that I can't join the Marine Corps because I chose this first?"

"Ye~p!"

"But I only chose this stinking corps first so I could get it out of the way!" Kai practically screamed out at the regiment leader in front of him and his assistant. His eyes darting back and forth between them in a slightly pleading manner, as if begging them to reconsider the post he just threw himself into without realising that it was a lifetime thing.

"Nothing I can do, Kid." Eiji shrugged his shoulders. Keisuke and Yuri were also panicking, although not to the same extent as their friend and overall group leader. Looking over at Akira, Eiji noticed that the young boy had a crestfallen look on his face, but he was not panicking like the three friends that seemingly did everything together.

The only girl in the group, Naoki, looked like she honestly did not care. She held a fiery determination to her that made the man that lead the third regiment smile slightly.

Looking at the blonde prodigy that he and so many others around the island had already been informed about, Eiji saw nothing but a challenging smirk, as if he was daring the world to throw anything at him, showing it that he was ready to accept it all, and then some.

"I think you've made them stew long enough, Eiji-senpai." Kimiko suddenly said from the sidelines, drawing everyone's attention to what she said.

"Huh?" was the intelligent question asked by Naoki.

Kai could go one better though, "Let us stew?"the boy had an accusatory look to him as he, along with the others, seemed to piece together what was happening "Are you telling me that you just lied to us."

"Ye~p." Eiji answered cheerfully.

"Why?" this time it was Yuri that asked the question, but it was not just for him. All of the gathered recruits wanted the answer too.

"Because we're shinobi, Kid." Eiji began, "We lie, cheat and steal. Or did you skip that part in the academy."

They all had the decency to look slightly sheepish at being called out on being caught in a lie. Even Naruto was not immune to it.

"Although I must say," Eiji began, "I liked your reactions. All of you. Especially you, Panic-Boy."

A growl escaped Kai as he said, "It's Kai, not Panic-Boy."

Seemingly ignoring Kai's reply, Eiji said, "Now, the real reason I said what I said was to see your reasons for picking our corps first, as most, like Panic-Boy over here-"

"Kai."

"Are you dispelling a genjustu, Panic-Boy?"

PFFT.

Not even Naruto was immune to the amusement that graced everybody's faces at that comment, and seeing Kai's slightly mortified face made it sweeter.

"The point is, most people that choose us first for the same reasons Panic-Boy over there did don't generally last long out there. In fact, they usually end up choosing anything but us."

Naruto could see the merit of doing what Eiji did. He did not know if it was standard practise or not, or if it was just simply something this particular man did, but it definitely seemed to get the desired effect out of people. It was certainly a lot easier than asking them one at a time for why they chose to join the Shinobi Corps first. Some, in fact most, would probably just lie about their reasons. Doing what Eiji did insured that they all knew who was there because they truly wanted to be there.

"Now, all that aside, you guys need to understand exactly what it is that we do here." Eiji said, calmly walking away and getting the others to follow him, "You see, each of the main corps are divided into subdivisions. I personally oversee the third regiment of the Shinobi Corps, which is a badly named group by the way."

"Understood." Kimiko said dryly from his right hand side. It was not up to her what the groups were called.

"Oh, and the fun sucker next to me is my assistant, Kimiko." the man added as an afterthought to his previous spiel.

"I think they already knew that, Eiji-senpai." Kimiko pointed out.

"O~kay. Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, divisions." the man said in his general aloofness, "The main shinobi corps are made up of five regiments that each specialise in doing specific things. I won't telly you about the others as they are unnecessary, but you will learn about them eventually. We here at the third regiment are focused on boarder patrol. We are the Home Guard."

"Border patrol?" Naoki asked, "On an island? Surrounded by fucking whirlpools?"

"No swearing!" Kimiko said, clearly incensed by the twelve year old showing little respect to authority. Everyone knew that you did not cuss out loud in front of your superior. At least, that is what Kimiko thought prior to this moment.

"We've been taught how to kill someone," Naruto began, "and yet you care about whether or not we swear?"

"It's not-" Kimiko was stopped by a raised hand from Eiji and a small shake of the head.

"Kid's right, Kimi. You put too much emphasis on the small things." Eiji stated calmly, before adding, "and to answer your question little girl, yes. We do have border patrol, because sometimes a whirlpool is not enough to defend you against threats like the Hozuki clan or any one with a flying summon or that can fly themselves."

Naoki had the gracefulness to look sheepish at being corrected, "Sorry."

"It's okay." Eiji said, already continuing his walk, "Consider it a learning experience."

Looking at Eiji as he continued talking to them all with his back facing them Naruto honestly was not sure what to make of him. On the one hand he seemed like he did not care for much, but on the other, he also had a great sense of humour, and seemed knowledgeable enough to become a regiment leader. A very confusing guy altogether.

Somewhere in Mizo no Kuni

The Hozuki clan were a clan that prided themselves on one thing above all else: being unbeatable in water. Up until a few centuries ago they were the undisputed kings of the aqua domain. Then the Uzumaki came on board and took their meal ticket, their (then) undisputed mastery of the ocean, and beat them soundly. Of course, they did not do this by themselves. The point still stood. The Uzumaki clan beat the Hozuki clan all those years ago.

The clan fell on hard times, with the waterways no longer under their control, and low on numbers, they retreated and slowly built themselves back up to their former strength, all in the hopes of one day challenging the Uzumaki clan again and eradicating them. The thing is though, the Uzumaki clan were not stagnant either. Quite the contrary, they rapidly accelerated to the point where they were now viewed as the most economically prosperous clan out of them all, thanks to their geography, their unchallenged dominance over the ocean, and their Fūinjutsu. It seemed almost impossible to actually challenge them at this point.

Until now.

They had been offered a chance to fix the slight on their livelihood that was committed more than a century ago, and they would be remiss to not accept the offer. There was just one problem: the person making the offer.

"So, what do you think." a hooded figure said, as they stood on one of the islands that the Hozuki clan called theirs. They had met on this island that did not house the main Hozuki clan stronghold, but rather it acted as an extension of their territory. The hooded figure had reached out to them, promising them something that they would be stupid to pass up. All they had to do was re-engage the Uzumaki.

"You drive a hard bargain." the leader of the Hozuki clan delegation said. He was a seasoned shinobi, with a lot of power, and a lot of respect amongst his clansmen. The three that had accompanied him all deferred to his judgement on the matter that was being discussed. He may not have been clan leader, but whatever decision he took today had the blessing of his clan's leader, "But I can definitely see the merits of your plan. We accept."

"Your clan has long wanted vengeance on the Uzumaki, it's not exactly masterful thinking to get you involved in this, Mizuko." the hooded figure spoke in a monotonous tone.

"I am curious though… what do you get out of this?" the now identified Mizuko stated, avoiding the suspicion that crept up in him from this hooded stranger knowing his name, despite him not giving it to him.

"That is only for me to know for now. You just focus on what you are going to be getting out of this deal." the hooded figure responded, before he turned around and started walking away.

"Know this though," the figure said as it continued walking away, "by the end of this war, the Uzumaki clan will be completely eradicated."

To be continued

Yo, it's been a while, huh? Sorry for not posting over the last two years, but I've been feel down in the dumps. Not because of anything in particular, but I just felt down none the less.

Now, onto the story. I know this wasn't an exciting chapter, but all of the plans that I had for this chapter were pushed over to the next one as I felt the need to broaden the Uzumaki beyond the main family and Naruto and his family. And this was my attempt at that.

Anyway, leave a like, comment if you want to, and just enjoy your day. Cheers.