Heyyyyyyyy

How you all doin?

I'm sorry, I can't do any shout outs for now.

I was planning to update yesterday but stuff happened and I couldn't update.

Naruto's plan to restore Darkness is based on real life restoration plans from a real life country, though the events leading up to the civil war and the civil war itself are not inspired from that country or any other country for that matter as it is purely fictional. If you know you know and if you don't know you don't know.

Also, some details on the clans and the divisions in Dark country will be mentioned in this chapter. I stole some parts from Child of Hate but not too much, so don't worry about this story being a clone.

CHAPTER 3

"First order of business," Naruto waved for silence and it immediately came, his strong voice said over the turgid silence of the thousands of people standing before him, all whom stared up at his with rapt attention and reverence.

He laid out the first of four phases he foresaw his country going through before they could truly get back to their feet.

"All the people displaced due to the war can now return to their homes, as restoration and rebuilding would begin as soon as sunrise tomorrow. I will personally go about, accompanied by my student," he motioned to Sueki at his right and the girl nodded her head. "To supervise the work. Those that had fled the country when the war was at its peak should be contacted and given the option to return back." This point he posed directly to the former rebel leader and the man bowed in subservience, already preparing deployment orders in his mind and which ninjas he would recommend the new Leader to send out to inform the displaced Dark people. "For now, our priority is for us all to recycle parts from destroyed buildings and machines and reuse them to build our home again but once we have generated enough money we would make those buildings stronger and better."

The crowd cheered approvingly, roaring out their support for the first part of the plan their leader had to rebuild their formerly prosperous nation. Naruto's eyes glowed happily that they weren't against his idea but the issue went deeper than what he was letting on; he needed to meet with the clan heads and the former rebel leader to confirm how much money they had and how much was in circulation as well as the total number of people in the country so that the next part of Naruto's grand plan could be clearer. What he knew was that the whole country didn't have that much money and food was scarce, so to handle that, while the people were building, he would separate a small group of ninjas to distribute their rations while he personally worked with the farmers to grow crops faster. They also weren't to worry too much on the security because he had set up dozens of clones to patrol with some members of the four clans found around the north of the country, the rest were to rebuild and the others were to defend.

He had known his country was rich in natural and human resources but he didn't know the full extent of this until he journeyed around the whole country, which was unarguably about the same size of Iwagakure and half of Kumogakure, he was made to behold the underestimated force of the things Darkness could naturally provide.

Naruto now understood why Konoha had used the former daimyo to sap his country's vital resources.

Darkness was rich with strong, healthy and, in some cases, chakra saturated, trees that, when used to build, would stand the test of time against anything less than a jutsu created tornado. There were gold and silver mines east of the country, under the jurisdiction of four of the six clans, and pockets of natural gas could also be found clustered together at the east. The sea bordered the nation to the south and, if there were not a great number of fishes and other water life there, then there was an abundance of fishes in the lakes and ponds randomly spotted all over the country. The animals were mostly secluded to the Night Forest of the north but some of the plant eating animals roamed just a fraction from the pitch black forest, and the whole breathe of the north was under the joint protection of four clans. The last rare and incredibly important resource to note were the caves of obsidian steel that were found along the north side of the country, not too close to the Night Forest but within the black forests general vicinity; the black, cursed metal was so rare and so hard to mine, for those not taught in the ways of mining them, that it had taken Konoha five years of relentless mining to get a few small chunks of the precious metal, seeing as the only clan well equipped to mine the cursed metal had refused to share the information on how to mine obsidian with the Royal clan and the Konoha ninjas, but they readily and willingly provided this knowledge to the new Leader of Darkness. With this knowledge, Naruto would admit that the ancient way of mining obsidian was effective but would need a bit of refinement.

Obsidian steel was such a rare mineral that Dark country was the only place in the entire world that was populated with the mines. The metal was, without a doubt, the strongest material in the world as well as the most dangerous to anyone that directly touched them who wasn't the wielder or from the sole clan that could mine obsidian. When they graduated from the academy, the genin of Darkness were given a set of kunai and shuriken that whose blades were made out of the obsidian as a graduating reward and, if they paid for it, they could have any weapon of their choice crafted from the metal. It was from dropped kunai from dead shinobi that some of Konoha had been able to get their hands on obsidian.

As of during the reconstruction process, Naruto had no place to call his Leader Tower, or even an office not to even talk about a home of his own, as the temples and fortresses the Royal clan had formerly used were demolished in the mad fray as they were being invaded and kicked out. So he made it a point that until everyone in his country had a warm, stable roof over their heads, they weren't to build a Leaders Tower for him. He would camp wherever he could and then he graciously accepted invitations civilians and clan heads made for him to stay over in their place; this was when he couldn't bear to see his loyal student sleep on the ground anymore.

The people saw the fact their precious leader didn't have a place to call his own an atrocity and how he placed them before his own comfort further deepened their great view of him. They worked harder and worked faster, as fast as they could, to give every displaced family a house and to build a massive orphanage for children that had lost their parents. Everyone was to have some form of home that they could live in comfortably, like an elderly home for those too old to look after themselves. A large plot of land was set aside smack dab in the middle of the country and construction of the Leader's Tower began in earnest.

With her mask hanging off her neck, Sueki stretched her arms over her head and yawned widely, rubbing at the corners of her eyes and smacking her lips. She fixed her plain black half mask back onto her face and looked at her master as he waved genially to their latest hosts, a widowed civilian lady and her three children.

"Thank you for having us, ma'am." He said, looking much too chipper for where he had slept. Naruto was strongly against imposing on the homes of his people; they were already going out of their way to welcome two strangers, he personally wanted his student to have the best while he could have the rest.

He didn't want her sleeping on the ground in a sleeping bag anymore.

That was the compromise he had reached with his older hosts and this current host; he took the couch in the living room and she slept on a spare bed with the children. He also exclusively stayed for no longer than three days, choosing to move around his country and supervise the rebuilding process it was undergoing.

He was fine with the discomfort because quite frankly, with his past, the only time he was ever comfortable was when his parents were still alive.

The civilian woman bowed her head frantically. "It's an honour, my lord!" the children joined in and bowed to the kind Leader of Darkness.

Naruto nodded and walked ahead while Sueki diligently followed behind, observing him and carefully listening to him for any small tid bit of information he would drop every once in a while. The teacher did not have much time to actively train his student but he could give her lessons as they moved about that would, as usual for the Vampire Blood bloodline user, come in handy in the future. The duo moved for a few kilometres at a leisurely pace until they finally got to the central region of Dark country, specifically where the Leader's tower was being constructed.

Naruto squinted up at the sun, noticing that it was still early in the morning, and he trotted eagerly towards the noisy building site. His presence attracted the eyes of every single worker and they clattered to a stop to gawk at the legendary teen as he clapped his hand, rubbed them together and looked around for the contractor. He finally spotted the man as the middle aged contractor ran as quickly as his legs could carry him, lugging along five large blueprints and followed behind by two attendants that carried a large table. They dropped the simple wooden table and the builder rolled out the building plan before Naruto.

It looked good.

Naruto bobbed his head as the man ran him through what he wanted to do and how he wanted it to be done and what he had to do those things and what he needed to finish doing those things, all of which were within what the country alone could provide without help. Naruto knew this and from what he had seen during his travels around his country was that the houses were built and were stable, though needing a few renovations and a well-trained fuinjutsu team to go around and apply some seals he learnt from Orochimaru that would overall make life easier. All in all the building itself was ten stories tall, of which three extra stories went underground, and the materials could be brought and even after the building was built and fully furnished there would still be unused and leftover materials remaining to use for the people.

"There's no rush," Naruto said, patting the shivering man on his shoulder and his blue eyes shone with happiness. "This will be the administrative headquarters of the whole country and this entire region will be the capital of our nation. We want to show our future allies that we are strong," he motioned to the dusty, scattered manmade path he and his student had followed towards his capital. "When we invite allies they will have to see first-hand the greatness of Darkness, the shops, the houses, the hotels," he swept his hands through the messy surroundings. "I don't want any inch of my country to look or feel cold or dirty. We have a long way to go before we seek alliances but I'm confident…that Darkness will become the strongest country on the planet."

He whispered this oath to the contractor and yet his words carried to the listening workers, and the ninjas that followed their leader wherever he went.

His words, his promise, ignited a bonfire in their chests.

It was like they had been sleeping for years, centuries even, allowing the world to move about them while they lived on in solitude and silence, making neutral friends. Darkness was a nation that preferred not being noticed and it had worked for years until Fire country, Konoha in particular, nearly exploited them to death.

Their new Leader had made a promise to them, a solemn vow to his people for their nation, and they would help him accomplish his goals, until their dying breaths.

They all slammed their left feet down in attention and hit their chests with their left hands closed into tight fists, their eyes burning with pride as they all collectively shouted.

"Yes, sir!"

Naruto's eyes curved up and he patted the contractors shoulder once more before he asked a question that floored his fanatically loyal people.

"Now…where can I get my hard hat?"

He intended to physically work with them.

Some weak willed civilians fainted.

The poor contractor stammered pitifully. "N-N-N-No, si-sir. W-W-We can h-handle it."

Sueki covered her mouth to hide her tinkling giggle as her master looked at the sweating builder with his eyebrows crinkled in confusion. "I assure you I won't get in the way; if you tell me what to do then-"

"With all due respect sir," the contractor coughed with a deep bow, suddenly finding the idea of their lord dirtying his hands with menial work offensive, not to himself or to the people but he was offended on Naruto's behalf. "There is no need for you to stress yourself. We can handle it."

Naruto was taken aback by the resolution in the other mans eyes. "Ok then. When will it be done?"

"About ten months, Lord Naruto."

The leader tapped his chin in thought. "Seems like a long time…" the contractor wanted to say that he could cut down the time if his leader was gracious enough to assign a few more ninjas to the site, where he already had half of a clan helping with the work, but the blonde spun around and called over a seemingly random ninja. "Tell Yuuto to summon the Six clan heads here, we're going to begin phase two."

The clan heads were before Naruto within the next hour and he spoke with them on what they were all going to do.

"Rehabilitation." Naruto said.

He fixed the six powerful ninjas with a strong gaze. They stood at attention before their leader and listened to what he had to say.

"Re-education." He added, as if it was an afterthought. "The country won't be able to grow unless the people themselves are growing. I don't mean growing physically but growing mentally," he said, tapping the side of his temple with his pointer finger. "The civil war stopped all schools and shinobi training was rushed and haphazard, resulting in young children getting pushed onto the battlefield, ill prepared. I understand the reasoning, more or less," he said, cutting off a male clan head before he could politely provide a reason why shinobi, during the war, were in high demand and children had to be trained as quickly as possible. "But, seeing as we have peace, we have to change that. Civilian and clan children have to be in school, whether it is a civilian or ninja academy they choose is up to them. Only those that aren't indigenous to this country aren't allowed, not until I form an alliance with their respective countries. I also want those who were made ninjas during the war to go back to the academy, if they wish, and fine tune their skills. I will not tolerate any half assed training." He said with narrowed eyes, forcing his will on his subordinates. The clan heads nodded in agreement and two knowledge based clans scribbled his words down. "The former daimyos vaults have been raided and there is enough money to pay teachers for about two years but before we officially open the schools I want to make sure they don't cave in on the students."

The turnout for the first day of the Civilian Academy and the Ninja Academy was unbelievable.

Thousands and thousands of people, men, women and children, trooped from their houses and surged towards the schools of their choice.

Life was slowly returning back to normal in Dark country.

The trauma of the war still remained and it haunted some more than others but Naruto had created a special clinic where those haunted individuals spoke to specialists to help them get over their past.

The civilians were getting properly educated from teachers that had been hiding through the war and the aspiring ninjas were being tutored by veterans of war. Soldiers that had returned from their posting in Fire country did what they could by lending a hand in teaching the students of any academy, informing their leader the current state of Konoha before they had left.

The Leaf was pissed.

Their ninjas had come back in either a box or mutilated and they were angry.

Despite this anger, they were still smart; the barrier erected by the people of Darkness was near impenetrable and the other major fact that it was the Ghost that led the country forced them back.

They had tried to kill him before, sending exactly a hundred and fifty ninjas after him, and he had killed them all.

They needed to get stronger if they wanted to challenge the Ghost led Darkness.

Their fear was that, as they were getting stronger, Darkness was also getting stronger away from sight.

This was true.

Darkness was getting stronger.

The utter devotion the people put into accomplishing their leaders goals, the single minded drive to impress him, was what fuelled them. The people in the academies gave everything they had and then some into their studies and it clearly showed. The results each every six months was through the roof and there was soon a demand for the schools to be expanded to further accommodate more eager students who needed more well-equipped classes. Those ninjas that had earned their ranks before the war trained and leant their support to the leader in fulfilling his plans.

The sea south of Dark country was brimming with life after months of cleaning and nurturing and the soil of farmlands on the east became vibrant, creating harvest upon harvest of crops that pumped throughout Darkness, feeding the masses.

Pipes were laid into the ground and connected each house to a clean water source, refined water from the sea. The main source of electricity was from a hydroelectric dam west of the country and, after a number of years, backup generators were provided to each of the four regions in the country in case of a blackout. This water powered electricity only came about four years after Naruto had taken the helm of affairs, from rigorous studies of his engineers and many trails and errors.

Six years after the civil war had ended and Dark country had finally reached a brick wall in their developments.

The country was clean and the people were happy but Naruto, sitting behind his desk and reading a letter from the Uzukage concerning a possible alliance, realized it was time for the last step.

The Leader of Darkness had been sending letters back and forth with the leader of the clan of redheads, telling the man that Darkness was not ready for an alliance yet whilst trying to sound as respectful as possible. The Uzumakis' in Darkness had been imploring their Kage to establish a formal alliance with the thriving nation so that they could mutually enjoy better benefits; the Uzumakis could open shops, apply for longer permission to live in the wonderfully hospitable nation and enter their schools so that they could possibly serve under the Darkness banner as ninjas of Uzushio. Darkness would get the full support of a much respected country; access to resources kept from other countries and shared missions, which Darkness dearly needed to help keep their economy moving, alongside a trade agreement.

The redheads had gone as far as personally imploring him to agree to an alliance, meeting him in his office nearly every day.

Darkness's economy was booming, that much was obvious.

Fresh currency moved around the country mainly from the foreigners bringing ryu to buy the goods and services Dark country offered. There was an abundance of ninjas that ran errands around the nation, though never going further than Sunagakure to catch and bring back bounties. Naruto's ninjas had brought back over ten million ryu worth of bounties and that was distributed through the economy, resulting in sharp boosts from different departments, which were split down the middle and separated into Civilian and Ninja departments. The country was quickly becoming industrialized and that in turn needed more money to fund the ground breaking work being done in both the Civilian and Ninja departments, which could only come about through an agreement between nations.

So Naruto did just that.

It was the third phase of his plan anyway.

He not only replied to the Uzukage that he was now willing to make an alliance but also sent letters to the Kazekage of Suna, the Mizukage of Kiri and the daimyo of River country that he will personally go to them to establish an alliance.

The replies arrived a week later.

River country's daimyo wanted to go to Darkness and witness all his people were telling him and the Kazekage also wished to go to Dark country to express his willingness to ally with the budding nation.

The Leader of Darkness declined for the Uzukage to come to his country and decided, out of respect for the Godaime Uzukage, Naruto would go to him instead. It was the right thing to do, in Naruto's opinion, seeing as the Dark Leader had been deflecting the Uzukage for years.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Uzushiogakure no Sato was many miles south of Darkness. The island country was protected by killer whirlpools that were strong enough to rip a whale to shreds and the tides could crush bone into dust. These riptides and whirlpools couldn't be seen from the shore but they lay hundreds of miles away and in the immediate surroundings of Whirlpool island country.

Naruto, with a flock of Dark country people behind him, waited on the shores of his country for the ship that would pick him up and take him to Uzushio. It wasn't even funny anymore how much the people looked up to him and how much they wanted to be around him as much as possible, physically or not. This could be seen from the shops, hotels and other businesses built around his tower, according to the country's building plan. The rippling murmurs briefly stuttered as Naruto turned around to casually converse with a few of his ninjas to pass the time, he noticed the look in all of their eyes. The very same look the Six clan heads had when he brought up his decision to draw alliances with the four places; two countries and two hidden villages.

They were nervous.

The group of ninjas the blonde was talking to posed the question on their minds and Naruto shared a look with his faithful student.

"The problem with our former alliances was that they were neutral, non-aggression to keep the peace between our nations. Konoha, or even Fire country, was never part of our alliance, not even once. The thing with Konoha, and our other former alliances, was that it wasn't a symbiotic relationship. There was no mutually beneficial…relationship, or better yet, association. There was no mutual agreement for cooperation." The ninjas close to him nodded in agreement to their leader and those closest to the group turned towards them and listened as well. "That shouldn't stop us from making friends with those that never once harmed us. Take Kiri for example…" he said, entering his teacher mode and crossing his leanly muscled arms with his chin perched between his right thumb and pointer finger. "They're more like us. They have many bloodline users and many clans and they have a known history of being defensive to their allies. Those from Kiri among us can attest for their village." The people of Darkness conceded that point. They weren't biased to the foreigners from the four places they wanted to ally to and those people showed their willingness to create a bridge with the rising power that was Darkness.

Naruto was the Leader of Darkness and his position basically made him a dictator, of sorts.

He was the supreme ruler and his word was law.

The council he created had no real power aside from that of being clan heads and head of department for the civilian division. Naruto was at liberty to accept or deny their advice and whatever his choice they would stand behind him. Naruto did not have to provide any reason to his people for making alliances but he still did so that there wouldn't be unrest among them.

The people of Darkness followed him, not only because his decisions had rebuilt their country and shot their development through the roof since the past seven years but also because they wanted to follow him. Naruto hadn't been wrong in any decision and none of his plans were bad anyway, alliances didn't sound so bad.

The conversation between Naruto and his ninjas then returned to normal; they spoke about things like life at home, their kids' results, future plans and some used this as their chance to pitch a few ideas to their leader, like creating a special tactical force separate from normal ninjas that handled covert and harder missions.

That was an idea Naruto could get behind as, if the alliance talks went well, the country would have access to more missions.

Sueki, speaking for the first time, added her voice and supported her comrade's idea.

Naruto looked at his disciple with warmth in his eyes, proud of her growth. She wasn't as withdrawn and uncaring of others like in the past, the now twenty one year old lady recognized her role as the leader's student and also as her teacher's unofficial advisor, where he bounced ideas off her and gauged her response. The red eyed lady and the blue eyed man still wore black cloaks but in the case of the woman, her clothes were more fitted for her slim figure and reached only her mid-shin. Her legs were covered by silver coloured leggings and she wore normal black shinobi sandals. There was also now a Dark country forehead protector proudly displayed on her forehead and her blank black mask still adorned her face, like her teachers grinning mask did. She didn't look to be carrying any visible weapons but she did have a large sealing scroll slung onto her lower back, where she kept all of her things and her teacher's things. She tied up her waist length white hair into a messy ponytail and two red senbon firmly held it in place. Once Naruto familiarly ruffled her hair and turned back to speaking with his ninjas, her reflective eyes unabashedly took her teacher in.

For Naruto, the Leader wore a ceremonial garb for one of his high office; his pitch black cloak had misty white designs on his feet and the ends of his sleeves and there was the kanji for Darkness drawn on his back. He also had a wide, flat hat on his head that was as black as his cloak besides for the white, triangular tip that also had the kanji for Darkness.

He looked the very same image of power his people had of him and much, much more. He oozed power and the authority of not only his office but also his status as a double S ranked shinobi.

Naruto was their beacon of hope.

He was their source of strength.

He was the object of their undying loyalty.

Just being around him invigorated them and cemented their resolve to serve him.

If not for Sueki's teacher, Darkness would by a dying nation.

Now that Naruto was the leader, they could only imagine the things he had planned for his country.

The ship finally arrived and Naruto boarded with his student and five appointed guards.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Meanwhile in Konoha, Hiruzen Sarutobi, Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato, received a report from his black ops that the Leader of Darkness was leaving for Whirlpool and he promptly sent for the Kurama clan head.

He needed to find a way into Darkness.

He wasn't disappointed by the clan heads answer, he was angry.

The Kurama clan head was a cool headed woman in her late fifties, the age grade of most of the clan heads in Dark country. She had the illusion based clans bright orange coloured hair and perfectly tanned skin. The Kunoichi cracked a teasing smirk, her seductively painted red lips quirking up and a perfectly carved eyebrow rose up as she observed the Hokage's reaction to her answer.

"We will not betray Lord Naruto and we certainly won't betray Darkness." She continued, languidly crossing her right leg over her knee and her slim fitting battle kimono swished with her.

The Kage closed his fist to hold down his rage. "I specifically remember your clan swearing loyalty to the Leaf-"

"No~" Umara Kurama purred, her dark brown eyes glittered at how unimpressed she was of Hiruzen. "We were forced out of our home by your ninjas and the dead Royal clan." She pointed out accurately. The Royal clan signed off the rights to the great clan but this alone wouldn't have been enough to force Kurama out of Darkness.

Konoha had conspired with the then daimyo to kidnap the current holder of Mania, thereby forcing Kurama to follow else the beast they had been charged to contain would break loose and destroy the world. That was the Kurama Curse; their potent illusionary chakra kept the beast asleep, as the holder, a Kurama child, did not have the chakra to do it herself, and the Kurama could not bodily touch the girl or the beast would wake up from his slumber. They clan did not specialize in seals, so they had been using an archaic seal to hold the beast within the child, a seal that could be dated back a hundred or so years. Mania was a secret kept only within the clan and the Royal clan and the Leaf had been looking for ways to weaponize the extraordinarily powerful demon but Kurama had not allowed any one near their ward and they had refused to become ninjas of Konoha.

"You have sworn to serve the Will of Fire."

Umara pursed her lips in amusement and shook her head. "No, we didn't. The dead Royal clan signed us away and they don't have any binding power anymore. Paper is cheap," the woman said with a light laugh. "I never signed my clans servitude to Konoha."

"If you people will not be of use to Konoha then…you know what that means." The Sandaime said with narrowed eyes, her placed his elbows onto his desk and laced his fingers together.

The regal woman was not intimidated. "You kill us and the beast is free." It was her turn to narrow her eyes. "Aside from the fact that Konoha would be wiped off the map if more than half of us die, there's one more thing you need to consider. If even one of us dies at your hands … and the Ghost hears about it…" she leaned forward to the young man behind the desk and Hiruzen remained still, not giving anything away. "He will come here…and he will make it rain with your blood." She stood up flawlessly and straightened the front of her long white and gold embroided battle kimono. "I have clan issues to attend to. You know how to find me~"

She left, not caring of the Sarutobi's response, and the Kage began to slowly regret forcing the Kurama clan out of their homes and into Konoha.

Jiraiya still couldn't find a way to break through the seal wall erected by the clan and even if he got close to the defence, three minutes later he would have to retreat from swarms of border defence teams. The student his student had taken up was making waves in fuinjutsu and Jiraiya recognized the young Namikaze as a once in a lifetime prodigy that needed to be carefully nurtured. Hiruzen allowed Jiraiya to focus more on Minato while Orochimaru and Tsunade would try and contact the latter's former student to coax or threaten him into allying with Konoha. Darkness was too rich in resources and the thirty something year old Kage didn't know why his predecessors did not capitalize on this years ago.

For the moment he put Darkness aside to think about other problems, like how Iwa and Kumo ninjas were strangely working together and how less and less Uzumaki came to Konoha, which itself made him silently grind his teeth; Darkness was where the kenjutsu clan migrated to and Mito Uzumaki too wanted to spend some time in Dark country to visit some cousins living there. In about three years, they were to get a replacement Uzumaki to hold the Kyuubi no Kitsune and now it was in jeopardy if their resident tailed beast holder would choose to stay in their rival nation.

He could only hope Orochimaru could soon get a hold of Naruto and bring his former student to order.

Hiruzen forced the matter out of his mind and began making orders for his ninjas undercover in Iwa and Kumo to watch the two villages carefully.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Ahahahahaaa, welcome to Uzushio, Lord Naruto." The Godaime Uzukage, Torune Uzumaki, said with a larger than life grin, walking up to the Leader of Darkness with his arms wide open. Naruto's cerulean eyes sparked at the man's ease around him and he laughed along with the man. Closing in, both men hugged tightly, patting each other's backs as if they were long lost brothers. It was a strange sight, seeing both men, who had so far never met each other face to face; hold themselves by their shoulders and speaking so freely.

The Uzumaki Kage was in his late sixties but he looked to be in his late forties, with wildly tousled red hair and dark purple eyes that glowed with a mysterious sort of happiness, one that couldn't be explained but was truly genuine, especially now that Naruto was there. The man, like Naruto, had deep shadows under his eyes but unlike Naruto, he had deep laughter lines on the edges of his mouth and he had a healthy tan. The old Kage had been exchanging letters with the twenty four year old leader and Naruto was still a bit taken aback at how open the man was around him, Sueki too was surprised when the man insisted she not bow to him, as since she was the student of the country leader then they might as well be family. Torune slung his arm over Naruto's shoulder and the masked blonde copied the action.

The Uzumaki that had accompanied their Kage to welcome the small Dark country delegation could not say they weren't surprised by how their Kage greeted the other man. Torune was normally a happy and smiling man that saw the best in most situations but even this came as a surprise.

Naruto and Torune chatted as if they were blood brothers.

The old Kage took his friend on a quick but somewhat thorough tour of Whirlpool, it was exhaustive and yet it was informative.

The Country Hidden in the Eddies was a flourishing nation of peaceful people known for their fiery tempers when crossed. The redheads were kind and they graciously bowed when Naruto and Torune passed by, eagerly calling out their greetings to the man that had ensured the Uzumaki in Darkness felt welcome, despite the limited nature of their stay, and Torune never ceased to tell him how much he appreciated Naruto for both ending the civil war and creating a second home for his people.

"I have nephews and nieces back in your country." the man said, and Naruto's eyebrows lifted up into his hairline. Both leaders leisurely walked with their hands behind their backs and relatively alone as their respective guards-and student-made sure to keep the people a respectable distance away from the men so they could speak in private. Though Naruto had just recently gotten into crafting laws to open his schools for his allies, which would be added into the alliance talks, he was too busy leading his country to actually know the full background of those staying in his country. Yes, that was a bit careless on his part but he had his Head of Rescue and Support, who doubled up as his Police Chief, to make sure they didn't cause any trouble. He could have guessed Torune had direct relatives in Darkness. The man noticed his mild shock and chortled deeply, scratching his hairless chin. "Their kids want to become ninjas, you know."

"Is that right?"

"Yes, they have many friends there and they want to enrol in your academy." The system in Darkness did not give permission for foreign children to attend the ever growing and developing ninja academy but limited them to the civilian academy. This was inspired from when Naruto was a child in Ame and couldn't become a ninja because of his immigrant status. Torune then closed his eyes and laughed at something his eldest daughter had told him during her visit back home. "Your ninjas are very impressive too."

The masked blonde ran a hand through his hair and returned his hand to his lower back. "We're all trying our best to protect our home."

"That is true but you're not giving yourself enough credit." The redhead said with a small, real smile. "I can personally attest to the Strength of Darkness back during the civil war, as I helped some of your people escape the bloodshed and murder, but now…" he whistled, impressed. "I don't know what you did or how you did it but…your ninjas are very strong."

Naruto slightly bowed his head. "Thank you, Lord Torune." Naruto straightened up and said. "Your clan has been around since the creation of this planet. I'm just glad you're not annoyed I kept on pushing away your alliance attempts. The wrath of a fuinjutsu and kenjutsu specialized clan is the last thing I want."

Torune scoffed. "Psssh, I'm not mad. In fact, I understand why you didn't ally with Uzushio earlier on."

Naruto raised an eyebrow and looked at the Kage curiously. "You do?"

"Of course I do. Darkness needed to get back onto its feet with its own strength before it could ask for help. I would have been disappointed if you accepted when I first sent you that letter." Now, seven years later, Darkness could say it was back on its feet and quickly taking off into the sky under Naruto's leadership. "Whether or not our alliance talks are a success or not, I only hope for your two countries to still be on friendly terms."

"I assure you, Lord Torune, Whirlpool and Darkness will ally." Naruto stated with a firm look to his fellow leader. "In one way or the other."

A rumbling chuckle came from the older shinobis chest. "You know, with your upbringing and all the fabled legends going around the continent about you, you're a lot more…what's the word…more professional…ah yes, that's the word…you're a lot more professional than I anticipated." Torune acknowledged the mutual benefit of both countries allying and so did Naruto; they weren't creating an alliance for their own personal advantage but for their people. "There is a terrifying amount our countries can gain from this union. As I am the one requesting the alliance, I hope you have your conditions ready."

"Yes, I do, and they are not beyond reason."

"Great." He looked to the sky and saw that the moon was already out; Naruto too seemed surprised at how quickly time had flown by. The streetlights were on and the people were beginning to disperse back to their homes. "Let us go to my house, we can begin talking about the alliance first thing tomorrow."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The Next Morning

Kushina Uzumaki could admit that she was…enthralled when she first heard of the Ghost that led Darkness.

Orphaned when he was six and forced to fend for himself and his friends during a time the world was falling apart at the seams, trained for a while by the Snake Sannin and one of the four people that had ended the Second Great Ninja war. The tales her mother used to tell her, at Kushina's insistence, of the amazing feats of strength and skill of the Ghost filled the little red haired six year old with childish wonder.

Hearing that the object of her fascination was coming to Whirlpool, when she was debating with herself of whether or not to go to Darkness, she made sure she was ready; she allowed her mother to dress her in the most formal clothes for one her age, she drilled into her head pointers her grandfather, Torune, said were important when addressing someone of Naruto's status and she had revised and crammed all of the legendary stories she had been told since she was a baby.

She was ready.

…She wasn't ready.

The little girl, wearing a sleeveless, knee length blue and white dress with whirlpool designs at the bottom edge of the skirt, white socks and black sandals, gaped up at the tall man and her eyes grew impossibly wide as the man smiled down at her through his eyes.

"This is my granddaughter, Kushina." Torune said, after introducing his daughter to the Leader of Darkness. The older Uzumaki female smiled beauteously to Naruto and Naruto saw that Kushina had gotten all of her features from her mother. Torune nudged the girl forward a little and the girl dumbly gawked at her hero. She swallowed thickly and her knees knocked together as the masked shinobi playfully ruffled the girl's short, straight red hair. "She's a huge fan of yours."

Naruto laughed at that. "Oh really?"

Red began creeping up the poor girls face as a million and one butterflies fluttered in her gut. She had been preparing for this day, reciting over and over again how she would greet her hero and now, staring up at him with a dumb look on her face and her jaw hanging open, her tongue refused to obey her.

"Well it's nice to meet you, Kushina." Naruto said, tousling her hair again and almost making poor Kushina faint. The red faced, red haired girl gulped and her clamouring heart rattled madly in her chest, roaring at her to save face and say something.

Anything.

"Uhhhhhhhh…" static noises resonated through her head.

Her mother gently took her by her shoulders and led her away, saying to the confused country leader. "I'm sorry about her, she's just star struck." Naruto couldn't get in a good reply, for what was a good reply, before Kushina's mother swept the girl away while Kushina could only stare at her idol from around her mother as the older female herded her away from the two ninjas.

Naruto hummed out a suspicious and reminiscent laugh and said to his student, ever at his side and attentive to both her teacher and her environment. "She kinda reminds me of how we first met, huh, Su."

At that moment, Sueki looked to where the frozen girl had gone with her immaculately beautiful mother and for the first time since she had started learning under her teacher; her heart went out to the little girl.

Torune got their attention once again and ushered Naruto into his office. Sueki too was allowed into the office, as long as Torune could have one of his advisors with him.

It took two days for both leaders to iron out what they wanted from the alliance.

The alliance talks had gone well.

Matter of fact, for one to say that it had gone 'well' could be seen as a greatly underestimated statement and highly offensive to both people of Darkness and Whirlpool.

Borders of both nations were widely thrown open for each other, and only between Uzushio and Darkness, so much so that the Uzumaki clan were given explicit permission by the Leader of Darkness on how to safely and harmlessly traverse the wall of dangerous, soul destroying pitch blackness he wanted to erect around his whole country to prevent the invasion he no doubt knew Konoha was planning for Dark country, and the Uzukage in turn, the first time in all of history, gave the people of Darkness complete permission to access the island without the need for an Uzumaki to escort them. Meaning, no whirlpool or riptide could harm them and the summoned creatures that guarded the island of redheads would in fact protect the people of Darkness if they were to set foot in Uzushio waters.

Naruto had people that lived in Whirlpool and the same could obviously be said about Torune's people in Dark country and so they made a special agreement that not only would they allow their people into the close allies schools but also they would supply ninjas and trained civilian academics to teach in their schools. This could be seen as perfectly equal for both countries because Darkness was blessed with shinobi that specialized in assassination, espionage and infiltration, much like how Uzushio ninjas specialized in kenjutsu and fuinjutsu.

They were to expand the ninja school curriculum to accommodate the specialties of both nations and the civilian curriculum would be revamped as well to include the different histories of the two countries as well as architecture for more advanced classes. The only limit to this was that no clan based jutsu was to be taught or shared at all.

Business could be opened in the two countries and the three month permission the people had to take to live in either country was increased to five years.

Homes could not be bought but they could be rented.

Darkness and Whirlpool citizens could apply for jobs outside of teaching but could not be made managers or heads of departments, though would still be paid equally with other workers.

Whirlpool would help Darkness build strong ships and Darkness would help Whirlpool build strong and impressive buildings.

The most noticeable improvement, aside from education, was concerning the almost union of both of their ninja systems. Teams of three were increased to teams of four, two Darkness and two Whirlpool, each varying in what they brought to the table, and only if the two countries went on the same mission, else it would go back to three members of a ninja squad. There were smaller details on nearly all aspects of life.

This was closer than any alliance Uzushio had ever made in the past, including the greatly limited alliance it had with Konoha, and when the announcement had been made to both countries there was cacophonous celebration all round. It was almost like the two nations were fully uniting and the brotherly leaders had seen to it that it had not been an exploitive union.

Purely symbiotic.

Three days later, Naruto was scheduled to leave for his country and wait for the delegation of River country, Sunagakure and Kiriagakure to arrive, separately. The masked blonde was incredibly embarrassed when his new brother, Torune Uzumaki, presented him with a gift, especially since Naruto had completely forgotten to get anything for the redhead.

He graciously and gratefully accepted the gift, swearing to return the favour once Torune came to visit Dark country.

The gift was presented in a white and black wooden box, tied up in a velvety soft, dark purple and red material with the country's Whirlpool stamped on the crossing intersection of red and purple.

Naruto removed the ribbon, handing it and the wrapping material to his white haired student, to show that it was a long dark brown wooden box with a silver lock. Naruto eased the box open and his eyebrows slowly lifted up at what lay inside.

A ninjato.

Shorter than a katana, longer than a tanto; it was the perfect weapon for a shinobi. It was also not rare to find but this ninjato was different from anything Naruto had ever seen or used.

The ninja sword had a pitch black handle with a silver blade. The single sharp edge started oozing with blackness as Sueki held the box while his right hand gripped the blade. There were two whirlpools on the blade, at the tip and just under the guard-less handle, and they too pulsed with Naruto's ominously black chakra. His crystal blue eyes marvelled at the intricate yet simple blade, made out of what he could only guess was Uzushio steel, a metal that was just as rare as obsidian steel. He twirled the blade in his hands, the blackness following each movement like dark phantoms, buzzing with each stroke in the air.

Naruto swallowed.

Torune had been speaking as Naruto tested the blade. "I had to ask my blacksmith to put this together at the last minute. I know its not the best you've seen, Naruto, but I'm sure you can find some sort of use for it."

"I…" he gently dropped the work of art back into the box. "I…can't afford this." Booming economy or not, the metal itself cost nearly half of his country and the workmanship cost the other half.

"Come on, Naruto. This is a gift." Torune said with a wide smile.

Naruto remembered it was a gift, he really did, but this was a very expensive gift. Sueki stepped to his side, still holding up the open box with the ninjato inside. "This is too much."

"I'd like to think this isn't enough."

The people around Naruto and Torune murmured quietly, somewhat surprised that Naruto had swiped the expensive blade immediately without question. Naruto eyed the redheads with furrowed eyebrows and asked the leader. "Not that I don't appreciate the gesture, Torune, but you didn't have to go this far."

"Its an old tradition for my people." The red haired Kage began. "For a shinobi to give his brother or a sister, whether they are in the ninja force, a weapon to show your intention that you want them to protect themselves and all they love." He made a gesture to the sword and the people nodded with him. "Its our way of saying we want you and your people to be safe."

Naruto wasn't one to judge anyone tradition but one thing stuck in his mind. "You consider me your brother?"

"Of course." The much older man said and slapped Naruto's back pleasantly. "With the alliance, our nations have become brother-nations. And," the expressive man said as he held out his right hand to his less expressive Darkness comrade. Naruto shook it firmly and leaned in as the Kage whispered for only him to hear. "Even still, we are brothers-in-ideology."

All Naruto and Torune had ever done was for the benefit of their people. Other countries or villages couldn't compare to this fixation on their people and Torune, as soon as Naruto agreed to the alliance seven years later, confirmed that the Leader of Darkness wanted his people to reach the much fabled 'development wall' on their own and without help, while other nations would jump at the first chance to ally with the illustrious Uzumaki people. With this gift, and acknowledging that he and Naruto were brothers in all but blood, he wanted his fellow leader to consider Uzushio another family to protect, as he too would consider Dark a family he too would fight to keep safe.

Naruto's eye curved up when it dawned on him the gravity of what the old Kage was saying.

"Thank you for the gift, Torune. If you find the time, visit Darkness."

"I will most certainly do that, Naruto."

Sueki closed the wooden box and stored it into a storage seal on her inner forearm, the one she kept her and Naruto's things when they travelled. The Vampire Blood bloodline user was more or less Naruto's assistant inside and outside of Darkness. It was a role she gratefully and dutifully performed, for any function that had her close to her teacher was more than fine with her. Yes, she would have preferred all his attention be on her and sure, she would have rather stayed in Kiri with him than be in the busy life of Dark's upper echelon but her personal priority was to ensure that Naruto was happy.

It was unhealthy and it was nearly always detrimental to her health but Naruto had long since been sacrificing his body for her and their former friends. If saving a country from a civil war and growing it into a super power was what would keep him from self-loathing and depression then she would happily stay by his side doing what she can to help.

She idolized him, that much was obvious.

What she wasn't aware of was that without her, Naruto would have still been lost.

Her happiness was always in Naruto's mind.

The people cheered as Naruto pulled Torune into a brotherly hug, clapping his hands on the older mans back. "I'm not sure how I can top your gift but I'll try my best." A round of laughter went at Naruto's words.

"I look forward to it."

Ten minutes later and Naruto was on board a ship heading back to Hidden Darkness.

The Leader of the Dark sat down at the front deck of the ship with his legs crossed, his stormy blue eyes looking over at the whirlpools parting way for their ship to tear through the water. His hands were on his knees and his five guards stationed themselves around the ship.

Next order of business was getting an alliance deal with Suna, River and Kiri, all on different days so that Suna and Kiri, two villages on bad terms, wouldn't meet.

"Next week." He said to himself.

He mentally prepared himself for the upcoming stress.

Sueki gingerly sat down at his side and stared out at the sea with him. He glanced at her from the corner of his eyes and he saw the sparkle in her crimson red orbs.

The stoic young woman slowly leaned to the side, tilting her head onto the tall mans right shoulder, and the Naruto chuckled.

"Yo."

"Hmm?" she mumbled in response.

"Sleepy?"

He felt her nod and grumble.

He could understand that; she had been working alongside him these three days. There was very little rest. He gently patted her head with his left hand and placed it back on his knee. "Get some sleep. I'll wake you up when we get back home."

"…Ok."

Sueki closed her eyes and exhaled slowly, feeling herself fall back into her masters warmth, though she was still on his shoulder it felt like she was in his arms.

Naruto, his back straight, quietly kept on watching the sea, allowing his student to sleep.

Meanwhile, patiently taking their seat in one of Dark's many sentry posts, Orochimaru and Tsunade waited.

The four Dark chunin posted to that border sentry eyed them cautiously. "What message do you want us to send Lord Leader?"

One of the chunin watched to see if they would bring out a letter so he could scan it for traps but Orochimaru answered, instead of what they all expected. "Tell him…an old teacher of his wants to talk to him."

"It might take a while." The group leader said and crossed his arms.

Orochimaru sat back and crossed his leg, as Tsunade brought out a small book and began reading.

The medic briefly looked up and said. "We can wait."

Authors note

That ends chapter three.

Will Orochimaru and Tsunade spark a war between the Leaf and the Dark?

You'll have to wait for the next chapter to find out.

How is it so far?

Let me know what you think, would you so graciously. Please stay safe, wherever you are in the world, and I will see you when I see you.

Foy.