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X❖X
State of Wave—State of the mind.
X❖X
The people of the Land of Water celebrated the fall of the previous Mizukage Yagura. Yagura had been a complete terror for the past 20 years. And his blood war was devastating to low and mid-income households for the past 10 years or so. Yagura's blood war did not target the large population of the Land of Water since bloodline families were few and rare. However his dictatorship practices were quite devastating to the economy and livelihood of people, and since Yagura had a good relationship with the Water Daimyo he was to be in power for a long time.
However, in these two weeks, the Mizukage, who was a genius at warfare and a genius in combat, was utterly defeated on both fronts. Every single piece of the board was taken without any mercy by the rebels and Yagura was finally slaughtered in the marshes between the Water Capital of Hongawa and the Hidden Village of The Mist.
The larger population was not aware that someone from outside was responsible for the checkmate. Uzumaki Naruto, being employed by one of the Zodiacs beneath the Hokage attacked the Mist itself utilizing his powerful and incomprehensible technique: The new and improved shadow clones.
The Daimyo of the land was deposed. But as always in a despot's country, the son takes the place of his father's ruler. However, the new leader by the name of Takamoto Goro was very strange. The new despot did not have the greed of his father and he was extremely focused on the economy and the logistics of the country all of the sudden. Takamoto Goro started opening trade route agreements with the countries of Hot Springs, Tea, Honey, Moon, and others in the Ocean of Sadness, the large ocean south of the Elemental Nations. Trade in the Ocean of Sadness was becoming strong and the manufacturing of products has increased heavily. Takamoto Goro also massively overhauled the archaic taxing of crops that this land has employed and started writing new and improved taxation laws that benefited the production instead.
The new Daimyo, Takamoto Goro, was certainly a strange youth. The population did not know what to think. Was Takamoto Goro frightened by the assassination of his own father? Did the ninjas of the Mist have a stranglehold agreement with him?
If it continued this way, the Land of Water could very well have a future post-depression. The civil war had devastated this land's economy, but it was slowly recovering under the new leadership.
Long live the new Daimyo, Takamoto Goro.
X❖X
The young Daimyo was just an eighteen-year-old boy with black hair and blue eyes. Takamoto Goro was in his office, cleaning up after the corruption of his father's making.
As always with rulers, one must have tight control over the keys to power. The samurai forces, the ninja forces, and the collectors of tribute were the main ones he needed to watch out for. But controlling keys was far too easy for this boy.
The new Daimyo overlooked the night sky from his window.
His room was empty.
Then a gentle old man arrived in his room with a flash. The new arrival wore a Goat Mask and was bowing to him. Goat Mask had seals on his heavy arms that were his main source of fighting. Goat Mask was pretty powerful himself.
Goat Mask was one of the members of the hidden Zodiacs, a group that appeared when the second Hokage was in charge. Its members changed a lot and its force was reduced considerably over the span of time between the second Hokage to the Fifth, but its main objective was to win the money war happening underneath the surface. The Zodiacs served under Tsunade and were always away from Konoha, their main objective was money and how to get more of it. They played heavily in the real estate, trade, and logistics industries.
"No, you don't need to bow to me, Goat Mask."
"How could I not? You've masterfully overtaken this country, all by yourself, Naruto…"
Yes, the son of the Daimyo named Takamoto Goro was in fact Uzumaki Naruto in disguise, and it wasn't even his main body. Takamoto Goro was just a clone. This shadow clone would live out his entire life being the Daimyo of Water Country. Previously, Naruto had executed the Daimyo and his entire family. Naruto did away with the son's body and was later crowned with his appearance. Naruto was now in control of an entire country.
Of course, neither Terumi Mei nor the ninja who were in charge of guarding the new Daimyo knew of this. This information was just privy to a select few individuals known as the Zodiacs as well as Tsunade herself. Tsunade chuckled hard when he wrote for her.
"It is easier to manage trade routes when you have a person on your side here in the Land of Water. Don't you think so, Goat Mask?"
Goat mask laughed. "True, true. We have some alliances with the Moon and Sea. And we have control over most of Tea, however, we were a bit stumped on how to get the Land of Water on board. Even if we have a favor hanging over Terumi Mei's head for aiding her and the rebels, we did not know how she would act after the civil war ended."
Now they had someone who would oversee the economy for Terumi Mei. All she needed to do was just comply as a nice Mizukage should. Naruto and Goat Mask would rebuild this country to generate more and more cash. And make a legendary trading route in the vast ocean of water south of the Elemental Nations.
The Zodiac trading company was going to soar to the skies in the coming years.
Naruto saw his robes over his body and went towards his desk.
"I can barely wait."
This clone named Takamoto Goro was going to live his full life here. Possibly even choosing a wife and having sons and daughters with her. And so Naruto's control of the world expanded in a way he couldn't even think of one year ago.
Goat Mask vanished from Naruto's study, completely satisfied that everything was going smoothly.
LEMON
Ever since Naruto left with Jiraiya he had been in relationships with many different prostitutes. The old sage decided to sleep in the brothels around the world every night and with that sexual experience, Naruto had seduced Mei into his bed. Tonight was the last night his main body would be here in the Land of Water. He wanted to give Mei a great farewell.
Naruto entered the room with just a towel over his massive shoulders. He was only 14-years-old but already had the body of a man with abs aplenty and a very muscular back. His butt was so well toned it made Mei's mouth turn dry in wanton need. And above all else that massive cock that remained limp right now with a very masculine blond pubic hair above it. He had just got out of the bath and was still wet in some areas. Especially his blond hair that had wild bangs, with some bangs so long it passed his eyes.
He was nude in front of her and that only increased the need in her pussy. He was quite the rough lover and it made her quite content these few weeks with him. Having sex with Naruto made her very content and happy. The sex was very fulfilling, which is why she did not pass the opportunity to turn away and shake her ass at him as she feigned looking for something on the nightstand.
Naruto let the towel drop to the ground as he sensed what she was trying to do.
Mei pushed her mesh armor down as her lover Naruto approached her from behind. She swayed her massive ass left to right enticing the man she was now in love with. He approached her and grabbed her ass through her blue dress. Then pulled his pants down, revealing his massive 14-inch cock. His massive cock was so thick it was the size of her wrists and he put it in the valley of her butt and thrust forward and back.
"Ah, please please put that fat cock in my pussy." She pleaded to him.
He smirked and pushed her dress up, revealing her naked ass. He aligned his massive cock and speared her small pussy with it. He invaded her walls with his mighty cock that was spewing sticky pre-cum inside of her. He pumped in and out scraping her smooth walls with his cock as he hit her with his massive balls over and over. They kept having sex in the doggy-style position as he pushed her by her long maroon hair and kissed her pink lips. He grabbed her clothed tits and massaged them thoroughly.
"Ah, I'm cumming, I'm cumming." Her legs trembled a bit as he held her shivering body as she came with his massive cock still inside. He turned her around and started spearing her again with his massive cock, now in the missionary position., But now he picked up her smooth legs and raised them and grabbed her thighs underneath. He kept fucking her without any way for her to stop this overwhelming pleasure she was feeling.
His hands went and undressed her top half. Revealing her bouncy boobs that had puffy pink nipples. Ready to be sucked. He went in and started sucking on those delectable treats as his thick cock formed an outline on her navel because of how thick and long it was. The famous Uzumaki stamina kept him going even after he unloaded his first batch of sticky and cheesy cum inside. Overflowing outside of her pussy. Staining his perfect abs. And even with all the cum staining them both he kept going as another Naruto popped in and offered his incredibly massive cock for her to suck.
Her curvy body jiggled as she was forced to suck his massive cock while she was being fucked in her pussy as well. Her luscious maroon hair was already slick with her sweat as they copulated all night long. She raised her hands to massage the other Naruto's balls and he felt it being transmitted to him. The clone's senses were linked to him and he could feel every minute pleasure of her sucking him off while he pumped her insides with his sticky cum a second time. Mei found herself loving every second. He was strong and ravishing and kept her on her toes during sex as he was many times more experienced in this area than any other man she had been with. It was a pity that they couldn't marry. Not yet at least. He was a ninja of another village entirely and she was to be the new Mizukage.
If she developed more relationships with the Leaf, she could maybe have this every night, was a thought that passed through her head a few times. Every single thrust he made with his powerful 14-inch cock made her orgasm as he invaded her womb again and again with the tip of his cock.
Naruto raised her body up, so she was sitting on his strong lap as the other Naruto arrived behind her and speared her in the ass with his massive cock. Now two Narutos were fucking her without any stops. They came again inside of her as she was continually surrounded by more and more Narutos. Every single clone sharing their pleasure with each other. Heightening their pleasure as they gangbanged Mei into complete oblivion.
X❖X
Not knowing about the trade agreements and the money that was going underneath the country itself. The ninjas were still thankful towards the Leaf village and they expressed their thanks by making a hidden agreement between the villages of non-aggression and trade of missions. For the past few years, the Mist has been quite dry with missions most of it going towards the Land of Fire instead.
Tsunade agreed to let those missions go to Water Country now so it could have a boost in earnings and so that clients could regain confidence in the Mist after the war. This all made the relationship between the villages stronger as a result.
While the Leaf Village took all the benefits, or more precisely the Zodiacs reaped the benefits. Naruto and Mei had quite the relationship underneath, making another layer of loyalty between the villages.
The name of the game for the Land of Water was stability and growth.
Terumi Mei was there to say goodbye to Naruto. She was quite sad that he was leaving but she understood they were ninjas of different villages and had different priorities right now. Mei was rebuilding her village without having those bloodline haters surging up again.
Naruto and Goat Mask worked relentlessly to get rid of those stragglers from the old Mizukage but there was always a chance that some groups survived. Dealing with that was Terumi Mei's job, there wasn't time to coddle her anymore, Mei was the Mizukage she needed to earn that position now as the leader of a Hidden Village.
X❖X
Naruto opened the letter from Tsunade, they have been exchanging them for a while now with him always sending his journals detailing his techniques to her, so he could be properly assessed even far away.
"Hello, brat.
How was the Land of Water? Did you find the weather nice?
In any case, you've really surprised me with this one. You really were able to complete an S-rank mission. You were the youngest ninja in history to do so, so you can be proud of that. It's not a stretch to say that right now you're Konoha's greatest asset right now if what you said about your new and improved shadow clones are true.
Almost a year now since you've left the Leaf for your training. You have grown considerably and I find myself astonished. I believed you would grow to be as strong as Jiraiya by the end of the trip and that was what I expected. But you have blown our expectations out of the water…"
Of course, the letter was using code only known to Jonin from the Leaf. Naruto was fourteen years old but he was already a Tokubetsu Jonin and had the authority of one. He got his promissory on duty instead of passing the normal tests. One would think that a Hokage shouldn't use her power like that without properly assessing her ninjas in person but a dictator did not have all day. She had triple reports about Naruto's strength and might. Jiraiya's, Naruto's, and the Zodiacs' reports.
Tsunade had no reason to doubt people she trusted implicitly.
"She still calls me brat after all this time" Naruto laughed a tiny bit despite his worship of professionalism.
The new and improved shadow clones. Clones that were essentially a mirror in power to the original and yet were immortal. Immortal clones could be recharged with a quick pulse of chakra, no matter where Naruto was in the whole wide globe. They were positioned in key locations around the country for a quick takeover. And when Yagura and his loyalist 'defeated' the clones masquerading as a diverse foreign force. The clones would rise again in arms to take over the place the Mizukage had just left.
It just wasn't fair.
Naruto had made the Mizukage run over his entire country for nothing while key cities were taken. This could not have been accomplished had Naruto not taken Jiraiya's words seriously. Most shinobi only used five to ten techniques in battle. It was useless to study hundreds of them because, in the end, you defaulted to the same old Jiraiya advised Naruto to take the theory behind his most used techniques and improve upon them. Naruto could not have gotten this far if he had generalized. So he specialized in making his techniques more powerful, quick, efficient, and versatile.
Starting with the theory he reverse-engineered his techniques to understand the concepts and see which area could be improved. Ninja techniques that weren't hard-coded theory could be more fluid if you tried hard enough. For example, the Rasengan was different in different hands despite having the same name. Jiraiya's Rasengan was vastly different from Kakashi's Rasengan in both speed, strength, and reliability. But that was because one intrinsically understood what made a Rasengan strong and reliable and the other was just copying the way the chakra moved with his special eyes.
Starting with the Rasengan, Naruto had made his ball of destruction efficient and quick, and able to obliterate anything in its path with the minimal effort and chakra required. The ball was so dense that it even bent space itself around it. So it doubled as an ultimate offense and an ultimate defense technique since the ball bent and obliterated even chakra from foreign sources when encountering it.
The shadow clones were another technique that was improved from the ground up. Using shadow clones to think of a way to improve shadow clones. It seemed like a laugh at first. He was using this technique to gather up knowledge faster than anyone else on earth. Like the Sharingan, this was also a cheating way of acquiring power faster. After all, with a clone, Naruto could train in something twice as fast. With a thousand he could master a specific field in a week or less. So Naruto went on trying to reverse-engineer the technique, even asking Tsunade to send him a copy of the specific section of the scroll on the shadow clones theory drafted by both the second Hokage as well as later improved by the fourth Hokage.
—The first thing he wanted to do was do away with the hand sign.
It was not necessary and slowed down combat leaving him wide open with his hands occupied. To Naruto, hand signs were inefficient pieces of garbage that left a ninja wide open. Even the most powerful ninjas still used them. However, it was obvious why Naruto could do away with hand signs because he practiced that single thing for over ten years in a single day. If he trained on something for that long it stands to reason that he would not need hand signs anymore.
—The second part he wanted was to do away with the clouds of smoke.
His clones needed to be agile and not alert the enemy when summoned and a big dumb white cloud did just that.
—The third thing was this: Normal illusory clones were intangible, and shadow clones were physical.
Why not both? So he did just that and created the 'phantom army' technique. Essentially when Naruto would lunge in with a blade, various intangible clones with their blades would lunge concurrently. That meant that the enemy would be struck with thousands of blows from a single blow. A single fist would mean that you would be punched a thousand times. Thousands of clones superimposed on the same one doing different attacks that were tangible. That was the technique that was used against Yagura. A kick coming from the right side might also mean that there were dozens of kicks coming from the left side. It kept Naruto's close combat very unpredictable and dangerous when also accounting for the fact that his fists could crumble mountains, you would not want to be in the way of a thousand phantom fists if you did not want to die.
—The fourth thing was permanence.
Why do my clones disappear after one hit?
I don't want that.
That line of thinking was what made Naruto think of ways to increase durability. This was what led to the clones being immortal. Of course, Naruto could still make clones that were dispelled after one hit but now he had the alternative.
—The final thing he looked at was memory transfer.
Naruto wanted to have the choice between live memories and memories being transferred after his clones were dispelled. With immortal clones, he wanted to have a better memory and information exchange, one that could be done even when the clone was operational. This list of things he improved on was pretty substantial. His shadow clones went a long way in just four months. Four months. It might be a short time to have this much power. However, there were over 20,000 clones working on this day and night. That amounted to 6,630 years. Working tirelessly on the shadow clones technique. For over 6 millennia. He earned this improvement no matter what others would tell him.
But was it worth it having 6 millennia worth of memories crammed in his brain in just four months?
Well, having immortal clones anywhere in the world with live memory and information transfer was more than worth it. To reiterate, this method of reverse engineering even the harshest researched techniques was only possible for someone such as Naruto. This path of supremacy through pure specialization was only available to Naruto.
"…As for life in Konoha, I was able to increase the earnings of the village massively. The budget went towards The schools. Industry and production of new technologies. We were able to subsidize new roads and infrastructure in the Leaf. Buildings around the center are taller too so you might get a scare once you return in a couple of years.
I miss you Naruto, Jiraiya too but mainly you. If you remember, I am in this seat because of you.
Your friends are also progressing, most of them are training to be Chunnin. They will take the test soon. This time the test will be on the Land of Wind. The country of your friend Gaara."
"Wait, they are only Chunnin?"
Naruto was a bit frustrated about that. Some of them were as powerful as he was when he left. Why did they lag so far behind him?
Naruto knew that his shadow clones provided a lot of benefits when training. However, Naruto was brushing up on the absolute basics of the Academy while improving the two techniques he was familiar with. That was all Naruto ever did in a year of training.
The others had better foundations overall and most of them had access to their clan's secrets. They had the tools to keep up, or at least he thought they'd be Jonin by now with a lot of A-rank missions under their belt.
And Sakura who was the daughter of a civilian couple, had the tutelage of Tsunade, one of the Sannin and a descendent of the Senju clan.
What are you doing Sakura? Hell, what are you doing, Shikamaru?
Naruto continued to read the letter.
"…The only ones keeping up with you are Neji and Gaara.
Neji is already a Jonin like you are. However, he hasn't accomplished half the things you have.
As for Gaara, I hear he was instated as the Kazekage shortly after they discovered his father died because of Orochimaru. He's young but powerful as well.
I still can't believe you defeated a Tailed beast at thirteen years old and went on to kill a second one a year later. Honestly, I didn't know I had control over such a powerful ninja like that. Great job on your S-rank mission by the way. I'm the Hokage and I haven't completed one in my lifetime, S-rank missions are extremely special and only scantily passed to a large squadron of accomplished shinobi.
Less than 20 S-rank missions were issued in Konoha's history and most were marked as failures.
Today you have the honor of completing the 5th successful mission.
You made history, Naruto.
You can be proud of that."
X❖X
The Land of Waves or any other name you'd want to give it.
It was a small island off the coast of the Land of Fire.
It did not have a hidden village, thus it relied on seeking assistance from other hidden villages like the Leaf for operative missions. For day-to-day law and enforcement… it relied on small lords and samurai and mercenaries employed by said lord.
The Land of Wave has many rivers running through it and it was famous for its mangroves which were filled with all kinds of life-forms that flourished with biodiversity.
It was a small and isolated island, relying on commerce and trade with other countries near it like the Land of Fire. With small-scale trading, it could grant sustenance and economic growth to the area.
It was uniquely positioned as a sort of hub for, in theory, to give geographic advantage to a lot of shipping companies and that was why Gato had established his trading base in that land.
He monopolized the shipping industry and the ones who broke his control were a team of four coming from the Leaf, consisting of Kakashi, Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke.
As well as a duo of shinobi coming from Water Country, Zabuza Momochi and Haku. Zabuza being the one to kill the billionaire shipping magnate.
Tazuna, the bridge builder, made a large and expensive bridge that could last centuries and it connected the Land of Waves to the Land of Fire
With this, it opened a trading route through land towards the Capital of Fire.
This made the land prosper a lot in the subsequent year. But problems started arising from the power vacuum left by Gato's rule ending suddenly and without proper care towards the vacuum left from the actions of team 7.
Naruto took one merchant's ship towards the Land of Noodles. Then he traveled on land. Passing the border to the Land of Fire and going across the coastline until he arrived at the bridge that was built.
It took a few days, but Naruto arrived.
In front of him was the 'Naruto bridge'.
Oh no, they named it after me.
Naruto was crouching on the ground with his hand on his forehead. It was reasonable to say that he was embarrassed. But he accomplished much on the mission. If the populace wanted to name it that way, then who was he to complain?
A monument to the success of his team on this land. His platoon Team 7 had done a great deal of work to make this country get its legs again. But Naruto wasn't counting on the populace to massively change how this country was operated in just such a short amount of time without any comprehensive structural reforms. Just getting rid of a dictator does not mean that your land will prosper, in fact, it may lead to the opposite. It might lead to a power vacuum and many opportunists wanting to take control and take advantage of the situation.
Jiraiya was on the bridge. Overlooking the foggy coastline and hearing the waves crashing in the distance. He was leaning on the border of the bridge.
"What do you think of your bridge, brat? Does it make you feel important? Do you think you deserve your name there, after what you achieved here?"
Jiraiya was in one of those serious moods. He often did this with Naruto when he was a bit disappointed in him. Naruto had no idea why.
"Perhaps not, we just left this country to fend for themselves without caring about its future. All we had to do was protect a bridge builder and kill the land's dictator. We left it alone for over a year. I don't expect things to have changed much. There were many illiterate people in the revolt who did not know the first thing about accounting and how to make laws. None of them could comprehensively lead a country. It's too much work and there are so many things you have to take care of as a leader. I now know after working for so many Zodiacs. The war over the economy is one of the harshest, most volatile places you can be in. A battle is so much simpler. The only thing you have to do is defeat or kill your opponent. That's what team 7 did in this country. Just defeat whatever enemy comes your way and protect a bridge builder."
This was fine at the time, that was the mission in its entirety. Team 7 was not expected to do anything else after that and nor was it obliged to. This was not their country. And they didn't have to involve themselves with it any further than they had to after the parameters of the mission had been completed.
But now that Naruto was grown up he felt differently about it.
It was kind of sad that Naruto left this land without any comprehensive plan or structural reform that could aid this country to a better future.
Then again, Naruto wasn't paying attention to the overall world and what was behind it at the time.
There goes so much work behind the scenes to actually make things go forward.
Killing the enemy is just one small part of the process.
Just like Water Country would not prosper if Naruto only had killed the Mizukage. Without any actual plan to lead the country after the ashes have settled would only lead to more tragedy.
Naruto took hold of the country and he would pass meaningful reforms that took a good look at the economy and managed to raise the impoverished and uneducated society that has plagued the country for more than 20 years now.
The new Mizukage only had to look but protecting the new Daimyo, that was all Terumi Mei needed to do. Nothing more. Nothing else. She only needed to keep good relationships with the Leaf and Land of Fire and she would benefit massively from a country getting out and raising itself after a bloody civil war. And using the country's industry and its specialties for the benefit of the population in general.
The strange death rhetoric about bloodlines was over in that country as every loyalist was executed by Naruto and Goat Mask personally.
There was nothing else to do there but have a few clones and Goat Mask to iron out the details about the massive trading route and the trading company that they were willing to build that would dominate the markets in the Southern Ocean of the Elemental Nations.
And they were going to name it the Zodiac Trading Company. That name came from Monkey Mask himself.
And now that Naruto was looking over the bridge named after himself he thought about it. How foolish was Team 7 a year ago?
There were a lot of opportunities to be made in this land that would benefit both the Zodiacs which he was now an integral part of and Tsunade herself the Hokage. Looking over the land, it was pretty small as a farming hub. The Land of Fire and the Land of Water have much much more land and a better climate for it. There was increasingly large produce of expensive seafood that was used in high-end restaurants and Noble homes. But this seafood market was not enough to cover the economy this land needed.
Now that Naruto had analytical prowess when it came to those kinds of things this land could be a service hub of sorts.
The southern part of the Land of Fire which had its coastal towns was bad in no uncertain terms in the construction of ports there due to bad geography in the coastline.
This land could be better suited for it after all the Land of Fire needed Noodles or Tea Country to make business with the Southern Ocean and the Land of Water. Those places had a lot of Zodiac influence but not enough, they could cut out the middleman here. Undoubtedly after Gato died here, there should have been a power vacuum but who was the one who took advantage of it?
Naruto needed to find out.
"So you're now thinking about the consequences and the larger picture behind things now, this is fine."
Jiraiya and Naruto were walking at a slow pace on the bridge and admiring the sea. Occasionally horses and carriages would pass through with goods.
"You did not know and at the time you were just an inexperienced Genin on your first mission outside of the Leaf Village. Nobody expected you to know the true scale of geopolitical thinking that goes on the minds of those that think about this stuff for a living."
"You can't be a Zodiac without having to dip your feet into business such as this. I, myself, am concerned about spy organizations that don't directly answer to me. I have a lot of experience in the geopolitical stage but my main focus is espionage that is the path I've chosen. I know you thought that I was some sort of Zodiac but I am not, I play a different field than those people. I was offered a position as a Zodiac and I was offered the Land of Iron as a base to grow an economist empire underneath the government there but I passed the position. The man who had grown that empire was an old fossil back then and still an old fossil today. I hope you never meet him. He is an asshole even bigger than Monkey Mask"
"I never thought that Monkey Mask was that big of a dick, he always seemed so professional to me. Yes, he is the one that criticizes me for not taking things too seriously and delaying the mission that he told me to do. But the consequences of that mission were my own. I was playing around, and people that were innocent faced the consequences of my playing around. This time in the Land of Water I was not that kind. I did everything and anything to be as efficient as possible as I killed every advantage the Mizukage Yagura had. I took over that country in only two weeks."
"So you did complete an S-rank mission congratulations brat. Even I didn't do such a thing on my life as a ninja. You are growing very fast. I did not believe a year ago you would be such a force to be contended with. I thought that shadow clones had their limits and you wouldn't advance so fast as you did. But I was proven wrong you are incredibly powerful. There are still some weaknesses to be ironed out of you yet but we still have two years left of training and looking at the world itself.
"Now the Land of Waves, let's see the place you saved. Let's see what it has become after one year. "
Naruto had transformed himself when he had arrived and turned into a man with blue hair and gold eyes, with a simple yukata.
"What, the hero is not willing to show his face?" Jiraiya said after careful consideration.
"No, someone else might have taken over this country while Team 7 was gone if my assumptions are right. And if so then this land needs another hero other than 'Naruto Uzumaki'. This new appearance and face will be the hero they need. And I will overtake this land as its new leader. I already rule over one country now, what's one more, right?"
Uzumaki Naruto had assumed another appearance entirely and this form would now be called Shirai Masashi. And Shirai Masashi would become the new ruler of Wave.
"So you really do understand the bigger picture huh? I wasn't this mature when I was your age." Jiraiya commented as they traveled forward.
"I'm not mature at all. I'm just a brat thinking that professionalism is better than just screwing around with angry emotions that are swirling inside me every time. I'm just one single push away from just tearing the trees around me in a fit of rage because of my frustrations. I cannot express myself properly now. It feels like all my frustrations are just boiling inside my skin. There's a lot of things that I dislike about the world. There are a lot of people that I don't agree with. I feel like I've turned into another Sasuke, just angry underneath the surface but without any outlets to let it out."
Naruto spoke as he raised his hands and looked at them. The world was so simple back then and now he had to deal with these complicated feelings that he didn't want to have.
"Do you really feel that way?"
"Yes, something is missing, I feel like. Something's definitely missing about me as a person, but I don't know what to do."
"Do you feel that you're just playing around without any purpose in life? You feel like you don't have any personal mission to accomplish now that you've grown so strong?" Jiraiya prodded even further.
"Perhaps. I am enjoying myself doing these missions for the Zodiacs. Playing around in the hidden money war is fun. But is it really what I want to do?"
"Do I want to do it inherit the position of the Dragon Zodiac and bring an end to that slave trade happening land of fire that I've uncovered? Yes, I want to do that. That's my sole mission before we go back to Konoha, but after that, what am I going to do after becoming Hokage? Give a prosperous development to the people in the Land of Fire, is that the ultimate goal? What am I doing this all for? I feel a bit lost."
"Just a year ago, all you were doing was screaming about wanting to be a Hokage, wanting to be someone that was recognized. You were a pariah all your life. You suffered a lot under the citizens' glares and words, but you kept a positive outlook because your dream was so far away. But now that dream is so close that you could taste it. Now that dream of being Hokage is so close that you can see what lies underneath it. What actions you must perform, what the world really entails underneath it all. Naruto, you feel a bit frustrated because there is nothing after that right? Be the Hokage and make your land prosper and what? What do you do next after that? Am I right on the nose with this?"
"Yes, I might be young, but I can already feel it. I'm just doing the groundwork that one day I will push onto others when I land on that position. I don't seek acknowledgment anymore and there's nothing I want to do. I already rule one nation and I am going to bring prosperity to that nation as well. But what for? To give a better life to the people there? That's the answer I've been deluding myself into accepting. but giving a better life to people will lead to what? Do I just do it to give better lives to people? What lies after that?"
"You are depressed, aren't you?"
"Yes, I haven't had any goals worth pursuing for over a year. Other than ending the slave trade in this damnable continent. I am just looking for something to grasp, something worth pursuing. Some goal that can even challenge me."
Naruto can literally taste the seat of Hokage, now that his life's goal was right before him and he knew what the job entailed he felt really depressed. Naruto held memories of over 10,000 years already, so he lived for that long. But at the same time, he was just a 14-year-old boy with the same level of hormones running through his body.
And Naruto asked himself, what was he worth in the end?
What goal was worth pursuing with all this power?
What should he invest himself in?
In this vast sea of possibilities, what could he pursue?
Right now Naruto was a child using professionalism and the shinobi code as a front to his frustrations and anger issues deep inside him.
There were many people he disliked here on this Earth. Sasuke. Akatsuki. Orochimaru. And most importantly the thing he most hated out of all of them was lying deep inside him.
Naruto hated the Nine-Tails with the power of 10,000 burning Suns.
X❖X
Naruto, or more precisely, Shirai Masashi arrived where Team 7 had buried Zabuza and Haku. A hill overlooking the village, the season made the place quite pretty and the wind was blowing on the foliage. The two tombs were still there. However, the burial ground was disturbed. The sword, the damn sword was gone.
"His sword isn't here anymore; I should have expected that truly. I'm such a fool, of course, people want that blade. The Executioner's Blade. The lauded blade from the Mist. So many mercenaries, warriors, samurai, and ninjas with their hands on it."
"Someone may have heard that it was here, and that person came looking for it huh? The two ninjas were buried with the blade marking the spot but now the blade is not here anymore." Jiraiya analyzed the situation together with his student.
"That's right, there is a thief. I wonder, did Kakashi ever realize that this was going to happen? What did we do back then? We were really stupid; we were so goddamn stupid."
"You were just being respectful to the shinobi you admired. This Haku and this Zabuza were important to you, weren't they?"
Zabuza and Haku were important figures for Naruto. They were the first real enemies he had ever faced in this ninja career. And both were especially important to his development as a ninja. But now that Naruto stood on their graves, he felt a bit of futility coming to him. It felt like he hadn't learned any lessons about when Haku and Zabuza died. Now that he stood on their graves after a year, he felt like he was insulting their names and sacrifices by being like this. Naruto turned into what they had warned about a year ago. What a bad feeling it was.
Naruto needed to know what had happened after one year. And possibly recover Zabuza's blade.
Now Naruto needed to salvage the land he once rescued. However now under a different appearance entirely. Who knows what would happen, but now Naruto was more capable of seeing the bigger picture and seeing what needed to be done. Now Naruto was more than just a Genin. Naruto was now a Jonin.
X❖X
Tsunami was forcefully pushed to the alley by 3 samurai men serving under Lord Seiji Muto. They were harassing everyone who had the standing to go against the Lord. They often went around the town looking for something or someone to force themselves upon. Be women they were interested in raping or men they were interested in beating. These samurai were the worst of the worst.
Without her father around to protect her since he took her son to go work on infrastructure projects around the Elemental Nations. These samurai attacked her as soon as she showed herself vulnerable in the village. Her father and her son worked as carpenters and were quite skilled in their trade, often traveling great distances to build whatever project the other nations wanted them to build.
That left Tsunami alone.
Now she was in danger of being raped, she screamed but nobody came. Nobody wanted to save her, everyone just looked the other way as she was pushed to the alleyways. As if the population did not learn any lessons from over a year ago.
The new Lord came with his mercenaries and started a new reign over the ashes of the last one. Lord Seiji Muto replaced Gato and this decision was heavily confronted by her father and son. And that left her, Tsunami as a target for the new Lord's sights. If she was reduced to a raped woman on the alleyway both her son and her father had their hopes dashed and their confidence crushed. And that's exactly why Lord Seiji Muto targeted her.
Therefore Tsunami fought as hard as she could, but she was still a woman and these men were samurai. She could not fight it. They started undressing her leaving her only in her underwear as she started fearing the act. They went to rip off her underwear however they suddenly stopped.
A man arrived wielding a short sword with a golden and black handle. He was a pretty man with blue hair and golden eyes. The new arrival unleashed his short blade on the next samurai who intercepted him in a rage of being interrupted. However, the samurai had virtually no chance against the golden-eyed man. Their heads went flying to the walls of the alleyway and then he kicked one of them in the chest and their stern literally exploded. Their pieces and chunks of flesh stain the dirt in the alleyway.
Tsunami was fine after seeing the gore. This country faced violence for far longer than her son was alive, this was almost sanitary to things she had seen.
Tsunami was surprised that someone came for her, seeing that made her a bit glad. The man was quite brutal in his assault, but he was quite gentle when handling her. He raised her up and lent her his shoulder to support her body. He was concerned about her and wanted to carry her home.
Now, what would you say to that?
A stranger wanting to lead you home after helping you. He saved her before she got raped but was it truly wise to lead him to her home?
Someone that she hadn't met before.
Nevertheless, Tsunami had no choice. Her clothes were not in a good condition and she was quite frightened, but she somehow trusted him. The man named Shirai Masashi was quite a strange person. When they arrived at her home. Shirai-san stood outside the door, overlooking their property. And he let her do her things inside while he stayed on guard. Always staying close to the door, the silent look.
Tsunami went upstairs and got dressed, her other clothes were ripped. She calmed her nerves down. Her hands and her arms were still sore from fighting those mercenary samurai back then. Her legs were still stiff, and she couldn't move well. Tsunami grabbed her arm and her nails dug into her own flesh. The severity of it all finally hit her with full force. Her body shuddered with the memories of almost being raped.
This was all such an unpleasant feeling. Being used as a weak target so the Lord could destroy her father's resistance. Tsunami did not like the feeling of being treated like a fragile target.
Tsunami rested a bit on her bed and breathed in and out to get the nerves out of her stomach. Her savior was still downstairs waiting. The man felt strangely familiar, but she couldn't place where she'd seen him. She needed to greet him and get to know him better, a man of such power had to have a reason why he was here.
Tsunami arrived downstairs and offered him a drink, but he said he wasn't good with alcohol. Strange, most of the men she knew always wanted some form of drink, but he said he hated alcohol. Tsunami settled for tea then.
The man had earlier introduced himself as Shirai Masashi. A powerful young man connected to a lot of businesses.
Now that she noticed, he always seemed too smart and too technical in his words. He was always speaking of money, but not for himself, but instead for the overall population. He spoke of money as something that was easy to make for him and she felt a bit left out. Her father had a hand in big infrastructure projects, but it was not like their family was made of money.
Shirai-san had a different air than those ninjas that came a year ago. As if he was looking at something she couldn't see.
At the same time, there was an air of loneliness about him, as if he was at the cusp of having everything and wanting to reject it all.
Shirai-san was an incredible man, but he was also quite a sad being.
X❖X
The Lord's mansion was very tall and very luxurious. Not appropriately sized for a country that was full of the poor citizenry. Perhaps this was why it was so far away from the major cities and was rounded by roads full of soldiers on horses. Or more exactly mercenaries, seems the Lord was well prepared for any invasion, they were prepared for someone to come. Perhaps it was because Jiraiya was there in the city. And Jiraiya-sensei was not masking his identity nor was hiding that he was there. Jiraiya, his master, was prancing about brothels in the city as usual.
Naruto was honestly tired of it after a year. He honestly found more joy in having sex with powerful women instead. That's still not to say that nights at the brothels weren't enjoyable, they certainly were. However, after a year of doing it frequently, Naruto found it more like it was a chore and routine thing instead of an activity that relieves stress. Right now Naruto craved emotional connections with strong women instead of pure sex.
But turning back on the issue of the new Lord after Gato. The man was a complete piece of shit who used the population to fill his coffers and in turn used those coffers to pay up his band of mercenaries to enforce his rule. Being a soldier under his employ paid very well and this whole army was his key to power. He did nothing to improve the nation, instead, the Lord went into complacency and focused on being a parasite sucking the life out of this country. This shitstain was even worse than Gato at managing a country, at least the man had the business sense with his grand trading company. Though even then that was no excuse for oppressing the country.
The Zodiacs invaded countries underneath in the darkness and overtook them by buying businesses and real estate. Their whole career was making money for the Leaf. However that did not mean their business model was bad for the country in question, normally their presence would boost the economy and standard of living. Since the country itself was a cash cow, the members of the Zodiacs did everything possible to fatten that cash cow so it could produce even more capital. This whole model of work usually meant a better standard of living for the people there.
The Lord of the Land of Water was making the country crumble at its seams. It was already fragile because of Gato's rule and this drove a stake through its wounds.
If the army was the man's key to power, then Naruto, or more precisely Shirai Masashi needed to get rid of them to make a point.
How do you deal with many mercenaries on horses? And a castle protected by men who did not know how to handle chakra. And were wholly unprepared for ninja of Naruto's caliber?
Simply rush forward with just a tiny little Rasengan.
As a spear of ineffable destruction.
Running over horses and men alike. Running forward and killing everyone in his path. Naruto rushed and sprinted with everything. Naruto had formed a spiraling sphere in his hands without any large amount of chakra used. The Rasengan was sustained and a tiny sphere of incredible destruction in his hand. Naruto was like a lance of annihilation as he leaped forward. Past what he destroyed and killed. Naruto was like a meteorite striking rats. That was the level of power and the difference between them. Naruto had trained his Rasengan to be this way for over a thousand years, he even killed a tailed beast with this attack.
Those who ran away were the first to die, Naruto mercilessly hunted those who turned their backs and ran. There was simply no escaping Uzumaki Naruto. It left all the others who remained cornered in the middle of the castle.
The frightened soldiers tried to get in his way with spears and axes and polearms. The usual weapons when you see a man running with a horse. But they were useless. They did not give Naruto a single scratch because of the distorted space around him. Their weapons crumbled into dust as they met him. Then the horses were completely dead after meeting Naruto head-on. The horse's bodies were twisted out of place. Their legs were up and their heads were down as they slowly ground blood into a paste and liquid splashing on dirt.
This happened to the men riding them as well. Everything that met the ball of death would be ground and torn apart. Their limbs would fly off, their necks were broken on impact. Their chests imploded. Their organs ruptured. Their bodies were thrown into the air for more than 40 meters up and then falling to splatter on the ground.
Just kill them. Just kill everyone who gets in your way. Do that and someday… someday what? What will happen at the end? Just keep getting the undesirables out of the way. Just keep getting rid of everyone that gets in your way.
And then what will you be in the end?
I didn't think you would be so philosophical, Nine Tails. All you do is say things that don't matter. All that comes out of your mouth are hypocritical things that you have done in the past. You don't even kill those that are in the way. You kill those that annoy you. You kill those that are unrelated to any of your problems. You killed those that have never done anything bad in their lives.
I didn't think you'd have time to chat.
I thought we were on extremely bad terms with each other.
Stop speaking. I'm working right now!
When you consider butchering people's work', that's the point of no return. You have no recourse or any method of getting your sanity back. All your life is about getting stronger and stronger. Priceless, don't you think so, you human trash?
You are priceless, do you know that? A priceless piece of garbage that doesn't do anything right in their entire life and wants to lecture others how to live.
We will never come to an understanding. We will never see each other eye to eye.
You are alright. We will never come to an understanding even if we die. Our hatred for each other has passed the point of no return. However, that doesn't mean I don't have the right to insult you from time to time.
I won't be as silent as you think I am.
Naruto did not even know why the Nine-Tails was speaking to him now. Ever since he killed the Three-Tails inside of the Mizukage Yagura. Nine-Tails was more critical of Naruto's lifestyle than ever before. But Naruto wasn't willing to listen to a hypocrite like Nine Tails. Not now and not in the Castle. As Naruto killed everyone in the way with a single Rasengan word distraction that was this fear of annihilation killed everybody in the way. an efficient method but utilizing his tracker for destructive purposes killing arrived on the last floor and met the grandiose Lord of Wave. With three wives on his bed, there was something weird with the women, however.
Before the Lord could even make a peep, Naruto had already secured the three wives. They were most likely women from the slave market Naruto so desperately wanted to get rid of. Looking closely there it was. A small brand seared on their skin, right on the neck. Normal people think it's just some sort of birthmark or some weird mole, but to those inside it was a permanent mark to women and children that they were branded as less than human. When one has that brand, even if they escape and have a normal life after that they are still not safe. The victims run the risk of being kidnapped again or worse, killed by a stranger who just so knows that the underground market exists. This brand was put by the underground organization Naruto was pursuing in the Land of Fire. Both the underground and the brand were sick things that Naruto vowed to get rid of. That was a goal worth pursuing before he returned to the Leaf.
"What are you doing here? How can you just invade my home and think you can get away with it? Where are my men!? Roshiro come here!"
And just like that, a 2m tall man broke through the walls of the last floor. Roshiro wielded the Executioner's blade. Zabuza's blade, being wielded by such an inexperienced mercenary. The man thought he could wield such a weapon because he was born just a little bit taller than everyone else.
Zabuza's memory was disturbed because of such people?
Naruto felt extremely furious about it.
In the hands of an amateur, the blade was just a hunk of metal. And that's what happened here. The executioner's blade that was supposed to have cut 1000 heads off shinobi could not even penetrate and break the skin of Naruto's hands. Naruto just blocked it with his bare hands. Of course, holding a sharp blade caused it to cut his palm. A thin line of blood stained the sharp edge of the legendary sword. Naruto was offering a bit of sacrifice towards the blade, for letting it rest in such filthy hands. This was repentance for being so irresponsible the last time. Team 7 was so incredibly naïve, and that innocence let a piece of garbage like this new Lord rule the land.
"He blocked it with his bare hands!" The Lord cried as Naruto pushed the sword down and then…
Naruto struck at the man's wrists with his punch. Bending the arm around completely. The arm was almost ripped off from its socket. The pink flesh was only held by two strands of bloody tissue. The hand and its five fingers were suspended by just a fraction of what the man's wrists were. Naruto utilized the martial arts he had refined for over a year of fighting Jiraiya. Naruto used a style with the main characteristic of removing muscle from the body of his opponents. It used his nails as a primary weapon, and it was used to remove chunks of muscle from the back, the arms, and the neck of his opponents.
That's what Naruto did. Then Naruto removed the triceps and the back muscles right on the shoulder and then he removed half of the man's neck. This was a style of martial arts that was very bloody to see and very painful to be at the end of.
In total, Naruto had created four styles of martial arts. One for pulverizing bones. One for ripping muscle tissue. One for puncturing organs. And the last one being general weapon use.
Naruto acquired the Executioner's Blade and lifted it up with complete ease despite its size in comparison to Naruto's body.
"Men! Men come, help me! Men! Men!" The Lord cried out as his best warrior was but completely ripped apart on the floor of his room. He called out his men with fervor and looked around while trying to get away. The three women slaves all watched it happen as well. They felt a bit of fear of seeing a human being taken apart so easily, however, they also felt cathartic seeing their tormentor pale in the corner of the room with nowhere to go.
"Once a rival appears that can destroy your keys to power there is nothing left to you. You cannot win anymore without your army, can you? You relied solely on your military might to bully the population into your bidding. Without your keys to power, you'll know you failed. Your military might have crumbled beneath my foot."
"They couldn't have, I had more than a thousand men."
Naruto approached the fearful man. Actions spoke more than words, there was no one coming to help the Lord, because all his men were dead outside. "If you had been more benevolent to your people and had gotten them on your side, my takeover wouldn't have been so simple. When faced with overwhelming might, authoritarians like you crumble really fast. And now you don't have any hidey-hole to disappear to."
"What are you saying?"
"What I am saying is that once you've heard of Jiraiya's presence, you should have left for another country entirely. Did you really think a few thousand mercenaries could stop an accomplished monster like him or like me?"
Naruto stopped saying anything after that, and just wrapped the man's head with his palm. The fingers dug into the man's temple and Naruto pressed on his face until it was crushed like a tomato. He killed the Lord just like that. And now Naruto's alias, Shirai Masashi would overtake this land as its new ruler.
Naruto needed to be responsible and get these slaves to their families. Thankfully, Naruto had immortal clones that could accompany each of them to their homeland. These clones also needed to collect information for him and maybe capture an insider to the underground market. For that, he'd be using these women as bait, but at least they would be protected.
Naruto looked around the mansion. The mansion was not built by the workers of this country but by the mercenaries instead. Even with all the destruction Naruto caused, the castle was still standing and could be used. Infrastructure always had its purpose. The feelings of a utilitarian man. Naruto had certainly become different from what he was a year ago.
X❖X
This land seemed accustomed to the changing of Lords.
Now a man coming from another land has instituted himself as the new Daimyo around these parts. The Land of Waves was again dominated by something else. First was Gato, then Seiji, now a man named Shirai Masashi. Of course, the new population was in a bit of an uproar and quite unstable about the news. After so many times, another Lord comes in to rule the place. The people were tired of it already. But the new Lord had very scary guards, nothing like the thugs the old Lord employed. These new people were scary and armed to the teeth.
However, some things happened to ease the tension. First was Masashi's romantic relationship with Tsunami, the daughter of the celebrated Tazuna. The girl seemed happy to be married again and wasn't forced to do so. In fact word around goes that the woman herself proposed to the Lord with a cheeky smile, the Lord had the biggest dumb look after that proclamation. The man wasn't evil as the last two dictators had been and that was frankly a relief.
The second point is that he was immediately recognized by the Land of Water's Daimyo as the rightful ruler, followed by the Land of Fire and Wind. And then other countries started recognizing Shirai Masashi as the new Daimyo of the land despite not being born from a noble family.
The new Lord introduced a lot of new rules and employed a lot of people into his government. He immediately focused on commerce and trade. It was a great vision the new Lord had. He wanted to turn Wave into a new hub for trade and a center for products. He established new businesses that employed citizens and started subsidizing them so they could grow even faster. He wrote new taxation laws that were less geared towards enriching the new government but more focused on people and corporations. As a result, this land was receiving its fair share of travelers, ships, and new immigrants arriving from all over the place. Foreign investment also grew considerably for just a year that he's been ruling.
The man himself was living in his office in the biggest town, instead of ruling from the old castle so the population would see him every day. Shirai Masashi even started building towards an education plan by the end of the year. Wave has been poor for the longest time and few adults knew how to read, they had no education about science and history either. The kids would be learning how to read, write, and even learn about history and geography for the first time instead of being homeschooled. How great was that?
He'd taken a more prolific approach to the population and as the year passed the people of Wave felt more confident for the future of their land. Perhaps this time, they too would have their share of development and economic growth.
If everything went well this land would change for the better in the long run. The Land of Waves could become an economic miracle soon, guaranteeing a jump in quality of life for the children moving forward.
Long live the new Daimyo, Shirai Masashi.
X❖X
What will my actions lead to, in the future?
Ruling two countries in secret. Will this really be a positive change?
Working for the Zodiacs and eventually leading them as Dragon Mask, is this what I really want to do?
Do my actions even matter?
What am I aiming towards?
"You're doubting again. You are doubting yourself again. Right now you have no goal that can challenge you. I hope that this trip to the Country of Whirlpools can help you. Truly wish you can finally find a goal where you can put your 100%. A goal worth pursuing." Jiraiya said so with a serious look as stared at the distant sea.
It was only a few days after Naruto had recovered the Executioner's Blade. Now Naruto was in possession of the Blasting Blade and the Executioner's Blade and Yoru's short sword. Naruto held three powerful tools and powerful relics of their own. Naruto was wondering what he could do with them. He could not leave them behind but carrying them around everywhere was still cumbersome even with seals.
What's more, is that I don't feel worthy of wielding them. But I don't want to give them to the Mist either.
"You said this country was the land of my ancestors? Why did they die?"
"They died in the second shinobi war. The clan was completely eradicated after a certain incident. Only a few Uzumaki survivors remained from that war. I was 30 years old at the time. Already an accomplished shinobi. From what I remember, they were stormed in the winter. By ships hailing from the Water Country Lightning Country and the Earth Country. Ships full of samurai and shinobi. The Uzumaki were completely slaughtered. The Uzumaki clan had no chance against an army of that size."
"I see. What remains of those that attacked my ancestors?"
"Seeking revenge for people you didn't even know? just because they were mildly related to you? You truly are an Uzumaki, that clan put themselves first before anyone else. Not that protecting family is a bad thing. As an orphan, I never understood that aspect." Jiraiya said.
The people that attacked the Uzumaki clan were long gone by now. All were killed in the third shinobi war. There were a few that were left alive but they were now retired. Something of a rarity in the shinobi world, most ninjas do not arrive at the age where they are retired. The only one remaining that knew and commanded the attack of the Uzumaki clan was one individual.
"The Tsuchikage from the Land of Earth, the village hidden in the rock. Old man Ōnoki of Both Scales is still alive today."
Ōnoki of Both Scales. The leader of the hidden village in the rock was still alive. And he was the one that commanded the forces during the siege and storming of the Land of the Whirlpools. So one of the chief operators of that incident was still alive and kicking and still commanding one of the major villages.
"Do you hate him?"
"I was just wondering why? Why did my people need to be murdered? Were the Uzumaki evil in any way?"
"Their mastery of seals and their strong allegiance to the Leaf Village were the two main points. The Leaf was the strongest village by a fair bit of margin in that war and they thought that taking out the closest allies would inevitably make us weaker. As for the Uzumaki being evil… they were quite mysterious but that probably wasn't the case. Then again who are we to decide what's evil or not. We are shinobi, we are evil just by being born."
"…"
"The enemy commanders were right, you know. By the time the third war came, Konoha was quite alone and weakened without her staunchest supporter. We still had allegiance to Sand but they were fair-weathered friends even back at that time. If not for the 4th Hokage we would have been in a world of hurt."
The 4th Hokage was the Leaf's primary weapon in that war. The might that he employed in his battles was legendary even to this day. The only ninja to ever get an SS-rank bounty in the bingo book. He was the only man to ever complete 2 S-rank missions for the Leaf village. If not for him then Konoha wouldn't be where it was today.
The battle at Kannabi bridge. The Battle of the Plains of Shara.
Those were the two great pivotal moments of that war.
Where just one man crippled two major nations for generations to come.
And after he was instituted at the Hokage position he was able to push back and seal the Nine-tailed fox and was a key hero in stopping the monster from causing further harm that night 14 years ago. And for that, the 4th Hokage was still considered one of the greatest heroes to ever grace the Land of Fire to this day.
Only the 1st Hokage was more legendary than the 4th Hokage in terms of the stories and legends about their persons.
"You became unbelievably strong in such a short amount of time, for me at least. I know that you spent a lot of time practicing. Maybe centuries, maybe millennia to get where you are right now. It's very commendable that you did so. When we arrive in the lands of your ancestors, I shall give you a goal I had since I was young. Perhaps you can complete that task I set out to do in my youth. Don't worry, despite your power and skills, this single task will prove to be quite the match for you."
A light was fired into Naruto's insides.
Ever since this training trip started, Naruto was a bit lost in what he wanted to do in the future. Of course, he had some objectives like ending the slave trade in the Land of Fire. He also had the original goal of becoming Hokage and ruling the Leaf Village and its massive shinobi force.
…And dealing with the Sasuke situation.
But Naruto needed something more. An overarching goal that tests his power and skills and pushes him to the extreme. An insurmountable goal that would take everything and more from Naruto, something that would take his whole life to achieve.
And now Jiraiya said he had one goal like that to give to Naruto?
Now they were talking.
It was the first time in months that Naruto smiled in such glee and excitement.
X✹X
Author's notes
X✹X
So this is another chapter from the mega-arc of the three years. There are a few more chapters from this arc before Canon happens.
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