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I'm happy to hear that you guys like this story. I appreciate the hell out of you guys.
To clarify, ninja is a general term for soldiers of a village or country (samurai also falls under soldiers) while an assassin is a subcategory of a ninja; a specialization. Like illusionist, martial artist, etc. The point is, they're all ninjas.
Also, I did some digging and I couldn't find the name of the Third Kazekage, so I will be giving him one.
This is yet another long chapter, so be ready.
Enjoy…
CHAPTER 5
The contractor fished out a bottle of ice cold water from a large cooler and handed it to his superior, Naruto, with a deep bow. The fully robed leader wiped the sweat of the approaching midday off his forehead and collected the bottle with a grateful nod. Sueki also graciously took a cold bottle of water and master and student cracked of the top and drank it down, strangely in sync.
Naruto finished the bottle, and swiped his lisp with the back of his hand. He then waved to the rigorously working construction workers, shouting.
"Thanks for the hard work, guys!"
They were working at a remarkably fast rate, even with the enticing hourly wage. Some waved back and some bowed, all returned to work.
It had taken the duo half an hour to trek from the café, located far south of the country, to reach the capital. The sun was beating down hard on everyone.
The workers were currently digging a massive hole, shaping it into a perfect rectangle, a rectangle that couldn't be less than a thousand, five hundred metres long and five hundred metres wide. They reinforced the clean hole with wooden logs coming in on long carriages being pulled by red eyed horses. Those at the bottom of the manmade hole started cementing the walls as others laid down the logs and set them up, making sure to clearly show each level in the underground part of Naruto's tower, as per his specifications.
Naruto saw some of his genin running errands around the site. He guessed they were performing D and E rank missions to raise their mission quota.
The contractor left to go and direct the workers on what to do.
Since they were there and they were free until about two in the afternoon, where Naruto would have to sit down with his clan heads-his shinobi council-and devise strategies that they could utilise to repel an invading force on an ally, just like what was occurring in Uzushio at that very moment, Naruto turned to his student briefly and said, revising a topic he had spoken about a long time ago.
There was time for a little lesson.
Sueki, seeing her teacher look at her with what she called his 'Teaching Gaze', whipped out a small notepad and waited for him to talk.
"In battle or on a mission, what is an assassin's worst nightmare?"
The girl answered not a moment later. "A one-on-one fight against an opponent with superior strength."
"That is correct but that answer is not complete." She waited for him to go on, her fingers itching. "Fighting a strong opponent one-on-one in a featureless terrain. Featureless like no trees at all-not even small saplings-, short grass, no bushes and no buildings. A normal ninja can still use that kind of scene to fight but one that specializes in the subtle arts of assassination needs cannot, not unless they are confidently faster than the strong opponent."
"Can someone like us really fight in an area populated by sapling?"
"There doesn't even have to be that many saplings. Some here and some there, yes, but it doesn't have to be everywhere." He looked forward at the work being done. "We walk in the shadows, Sueki. No matter how small that shadow is, we tread in it with the silence of death and with the speed faster than sound."
"I have a question." Sueki muttered, finished up his former words. She got the fact that assassins thrived in the shade and true professionals killed before their victims could understand they were dead. He nodded. "Why is it that you only taught me the basics in genjutsu? Henge, bunshin and detecting genjutsu."
"Genjutsu can be sensed from afar. Knowing where you are kind of beats the point in being an assassin and shifts you to being a ninja. Tell me," he said. "In all the missions you've gone on with me, how many times have you needed to use a genjutsu?"
"I…" her head tilted to the side, bewildered. "Zero times, sensei."
She honestly hadn't noticed. And that mystified her, maybe she was getting stronger. "Why is that?"
"There was enough cover." She looked up at him, realization shone like megawatt light bulbs in her crimson orbs. "More than enough."
Naruto's eyes closed, still not facing her, and he hummed with laughter. "And if there wasn't cover?"
"Baiting and misdirection." He patted her head and the shorter ninja preened under his hand. Another question shot into her head. "Is that what you used to fight Hanzo for five hours, Naruto-sensei? You misdirected and baited him into the Cobra Forest."
He winked at her. "Yes."
The battle was long and it had pushed Naruto well past his limits before Nagato found his courage once again and came to his help. That time, Sueki had been incapacitated and confined to a bed in the makeshift Akatsuki hospital, Yahiko was dead and Konan was just as afraid as the rinnegan holder. Naruto couldn't spare a single second to not hold Hanzo back, for if he let up even a little bit and failed, the old Salamander would barrel past him and crush their camp.
The other thing was that Naruto was holding back a few of the former Amekage's loyalists back as well, confining them in the forest and picking them off one-by-one.
Hanzo of the Salamander had been impressed.
When he was the very last alive, he had dubbed Naruto with the name Ghost.
Then the forest was subsequently levelled by a single jutsu from the ragged old man, who was also tired and low on chakra from deflecting blades to his vital parts.
Sueki nudged his side and nodded her head to the side. He looked to where she indicated, his wide brimmed hat casting a shadow over his already shadowed face. His gleaming blue eyes cut through the darkness of his hat and intently watched as one of his chunin ran as fast as he could towards him. Sueki leaned back, her eyebrows minutely furrowed in interest, and stood back as the man skidded to a stop, sliding down onto his knees into a deep bow.
"Lord Leader! Three people are approaching from Fire country!"
"Who?"
"Lady Mito and two Kurama attendants."
"Then let them in." he didn't know what all the fuss was about.
"Tsunade Senju is demanding she enter with her."
Naruto rolled his eyes in exasperation.
Pomf
He was gone.
The thin smoke at his departure dispersed a second later, leaving Sueki to wordlessly turn around on her heel and walk away from the construction site towards the nearest guesthouse to see if she could get accommodations for the Kyuubi holder.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Dark country's northern gate
Naruto walked out from behind an unsuspecting chunin, seemingly from the junior ninjas very own shadow, and the poor chunin jumped in terror, falling onto his knees immediately as he recognized his leader. Smoke wafted off his black with white detailed ceremonial cloak, following him with clipped steps as he walked to the old Uzumaki angrily tapping her right foot, irked at being denied entry.
The late Shodaime Hokage's wife looked on with an enthralled smile at the small display. She hadn't heard or felt him come.
He trudged up to the border between Fire country and Darkness and stopped before the woman. Tsunade, holding the back of her grandmother's elbow in a vain attempt at holding her back, narrowed her eyes at Naruto.
She remembered his promise.
Naruto stared at the Senju with narrowed eyes, boring a bloody, burning hole into her very soul. The Sannin lifted her chin, defiant, despite the internal rancour of her soul, and met his darkening blue eyes.
"Ehem." Mito coughed into her fist and his eyes flicked to her, still dark and menacing. "Pardon my sudden visit, Lord Naruto."
"Its fine." he said after a short while. "Your brother told me you would be coming, I just imagined…you'd be coming alone." The woman's two Kurama guides shuffled away at his words, bowing their heads in submission. He looked irritated but they felt no evil intent. "I don't mind you brought these two with you, not at all. I mind her." If only looks could kill.
"I didn't want her to come anyway." Mito said, looking at her blonde niece with a glare. She had barked Hiruzen and Jiraiya down into submission but her granddaughter was adamant to follow along. "I specifically told them I can manage by myself. I don't know why they worry."
Naruto looked down at the two scared Kurama teens and said. "Please, take her things into the village, someone will show you where to stay."
"Hai, Lord Naruto!" they saluted in unison and fled with the Kyuubi holder's luggage.
"I apologise for my attitude, Lady Mito." Naruto said sincerely, placing his hand over his heart and bowing forward minutely. "Please, come in."
The woman clapped her hands, please, and made to pass, but grumbled under her breath when Tsunade dragged her back. "Tsunade, honey, I have two kids and three grandkids, and none of them stopped me from visiting my brother." The first Kyuubi holder said with a stern cross of her arms, fully acknowledging that her younger brother, Torune, had welcomed Naruto into the family. In the letter to her, Torune continuously called Naruto his brother. Naruto's eyes lightened up ever so slightly at her very much offhanded approval. "Why are you so worried?"
"She thinks I'm going to steal the Kyuubi or worse, convince you to stay forever." Naruto said.
"Tsu-Tsu, come now, Konoha is the village the love of my life created, why would I ever abandon it?"
"I'm not letting you go."
Mito sighed, her shoulders drooped. "I'm sorry for the inconvenience, Lord Naruto."
"…It's fine." Tsunade saw darkness, then a split second later, Mito was in Naruto's former position and Naruto was in her grandmother's, holding her by the face. "I just don't like Konoha ninjas." He pushed her away, feeling somewhat like the bouncer of a night club, and said in a low voice. "What do you have to worry about, slug? She is the sister of a close comrade of mine and your wretched village has one of my clans."
Not a day goes by without Naruto worrying about the Kurama clan, where he would send a hasty message to them to confirm that everything was fine. When it came to their retrieval, Naruto was stuck in a bad position; the Kurama clan wasn't particularly a small clan, so sneaking them all out with the help of his ninjas was going to be a monumental task, and then there was the monster the clan had been cursed to protecting.
Mania.
The people of the Kurama clan couldn't touch the holder of the demon and they couldn't be any more than half a mile from the holder, else the slumbering monster would wake up. The Kurama chakra was predominantly Yin release hence they could use genjutsu with outstanding proficiency, which they could weaponize in their-limited-reality altering paintings. Their mere presence, to the demon within the young Kurama girl, was enough to calm it down and put it to sleep.
This led Naruto to convincing the Kurama clan head to stay in Konoha.
They were going to be his eyes behind enemy lines.
Umara Kurama, the clan head, enthusiastically agreed.
Anything for their leader.
"You have nothing to worry about." Naruto hissed.
The threat of Mania being released was imminent, yes, but the people of the Kurama clan were still part of his people.
Naruto didn't mean to devalue Mito Uzumaki, he honestly didn't, but the Kurama clan was higher up on his list priorities than even the Kyuubi.
He turned around and, placing a light hand to Mito's lower back, gently led the regal woman into his country. The gesture wasn't to be perverse, not in any way, seeing as the eighty something year old woman could crush his head with a flick of her elbow.
"You…You…This isn't the end of it, brat!" Tsunade yelled, pointing a vengeful finger at the retreating man and her remarkably young looking grandmother.
"Camp out here if you like, I don't care." Naruto replied over his shoulder.
"Was that teleportation you used back there?" Mito asked, quickly discarding how her own granddaughter was treated by her surrogate brother. She wasn't unaware of the bad blood between Konoha and Darkness. She had been appalled by how the Sandaime influenced the daimyo to subjugate Darkness. It was probably when none of her children or grandchildren raised any issues-leaving only her to oppose the Third's manipulation-that was isolating her from them.
"There's no such thing as teleportation, Lady Mito. I was just running really fast."
"That's awfully fast. It was like you used the body-switch technique."
"You could say that was my shunshin." He waved for his chunin to stand down as he and the old Uzumaki passed the gates and entered the country. His hands went to his lower back as he walked with a straight posture through his developing nation, passing by building renovations and ninjas running going on missions within the country. Naruto's Body-to-Smoke shunshin involved an instantaneous use of his water-lightning created smoke and extending the use of his lightning release bloodline to move at close to the speed of light. His body crumbled into smoke and shifted into his lightning form-where his whole body would be covered in his lightning bloodline-then he would shoot through the air in a straight line.
"I thought you said it wasn't teleportation."
"Shunshin isn't teleportation."
The woman laughed into her hand, her eyes closed. "I see."
"I was under the impression you knew all there was to know about being a ninja." Naruto said, looking down slightly with an intrigued yet humouredly raised eyebrow.
"I only know about the sealing arts." She answered, briefly looking up at him and then back to the rocky road they were treading on.
The northern region of Dark country could be described as having a more solemn air; four clans populated the area, two of which had defence-based bloodlines-the Gado and Hogo clans-, the other having an wasp-controlling ability that could be classified as a bloodline-the Suzumebachi clan-and the last was the one Naruto suspected he was from-the Kemuri clan-which was a clan of Smoke release users. The east and south shared one clan-the Pansa-Senshi clan-of whom most of their clan mates could shapeshift into panthers of various kinds. In the west was the Chui-Inku clan. The Kurama clan had formerly been residing in the east, living close to the clan of ink users, but they had been uprooted and forced into Konoha.
That was the simplified layout of the Country Hidden in the Darkness.
Not to say those of a different clan couldn't live in a region aside from their own, they could, and not to say that clanless citizens weren't speckled around the country without bias.
The one fact was that, in the country's capital, the six clans lived together with the clanless without the subtle-though still pronounced-dominance they have in their regions.
The country was vast, an undeniable fact. The north was a two and a half hour trek to the capital and, at Mito's insistence that she wanted to walk about, they didn't take a carriage back to the capital. So, on they walked, conversing.
North was a quieter area, despite how four clans shared the region. The majority of the noise came from a nearby playground, where the children spent their mornings and afternoons, while the adults rested in some of the cafes and shops established in the region. They waved to a few clanless citizens and Mito's eyes sparked with interest when she saw some older Uzumaki playing Shogi with those clanless.
They spent a few minutes talking with them before they proceeded.
"Hashirama would have loved this place. Dare I say even Tobirama." Mito said in a quiet voice. She sighed tiredly and shook her head. "I don't understand why Hiruzen wants to destroy this peace. It's so nice here."
"He is addicted to the taste of my country's resources." The man's eyes smiled as he added. "And if you like the north so much, then you'll absolutely love the east; the Pansa-Senshi clan are notorious for being master chefs." True to his words, the shapeshifting clan were fairly proficient in the art of cooking. Their food was in so much demand that there was nearly always a constant stream of carriages carrying delectable delights from the east and south to the other regions. Delivery boys and girls hefted large side bag kind of coolers around the country. "Then we can go and see the Chui-Inku art exhibit in the tomorrow; their younger artists are trying their hand at pottery." He looked at her with a knowing glint in his bright blue eyes. "Your brother tells me how much you like pottery art."
The woman beamed. "So my brother is also conspiring with you."
The masked man nodded, not even trying to deny it. "Yup."
"Nice try, Lord Naruto." She punched his arm and Naruto winced, hiding his painfully glazed over eyes. Was it having the Kyuubi that gave her her monstrous strength or was it because she was an Uzumaki with special, distinguishing chakra, even among a clan of special chakra bearers?
Naruto rubbed his eyes with a laugh. "Please, just Naruto is fine. I'm still not used to all this 'Lord' thing."
"Then call me Mito, if you please."
"Of course. Torune once told me how you helped smuggle me and my parents out of this country."
The woman looked down and smiled fondly. "You're…very close to Torune, aren't you?"
"He's a very talkative person." Naruto answered airily. Naruto wasn't so sure why he couldn't recall that it was Mito that had aided in their escape but he did remember, quite clearly in fact, that his and his parent's helper had bright red hair and sparkling purple eyes. "I didn't know you were ever a ninja, Mito."
"It was during a visit to Dark country." the civil war was brutal and the second great ninja war was merciless. She had been with one of her sons on a visit to the Royal clan when she encountered said Royal clan about to execute Naruto's father. They had already executed Naruto's uncle. Mito's son had provided a diversion while the old Uzumaki swept Naruto's family out of the palace and into a secure path towards Rain country. "They claimed it was because you all stole from them but I'm a sensor, you see, so I could feel your unique Smoke release. You, your uncle and your father were the ones with the water-lightning smoke variation while your mother had the usual smoke release. I couldn't stand by and watch them unjustly extinguish human life."
Naruto probably blocked the memory. For good reason too; he watched his precious uncle's head being lopped off his shoulders and his father being forced onto his knees to be beheaded as well.
"I got into a lot of trouble with Hiruzen." Mito said with a small laugh.
Naruto stopped and turned to her. The sagely old woman stopped as well and looked up at him, into his stormy blue eyes, fixed firmly onto her own churning purple orbs. He placed a hand on her shoulder and said. "I may not be able to convince you to leave Konoha for here and I may not be able to convince you to stay here forever but I want you to know," his tone of voice and the sincerity of his eyes had the woman's jovial smile lower into something gentler. "You will always have a home here."
"Thank you, Naruto."
His hand left her shoulder and returned to his lower back, proceeding with their walk. "None of this wouldn't have been possible if it wasn't for you." There was still an influx of Dark country refugees rushing into the country from around the continent. From far and wide, within the span of seven years, about eight hundred thousand people returned to their home country at the news that the civil war had ended and there was a new, kinder, better leader at the helm of affairs. For a time, within their third to fifth year of development, there was a problem of overpopulation and lack of appropriate housing to accommodate those returning and yet Naruto had soldiered on, commanding for more houses to be built and imploring for families that already had houses to graciously open their doors to the returnees. The sixth and seventh-current-year saw to the construction of thousands of houses across the south of the country and sweeping into the west, with smaller building projects going on in the north and east.
There was currently a census going on, cataloguing and recording every birth citizen of the country, including Konoha-fathered children.
Mito bowed respectfully to the praise. Naruto's easy stride didn't falter. He asked. "How long will you be staying?"
"Two weeks. I'll need to be back in Konoha to welcome my successor."
"Your successor?"
"The next person to hold the Kyuubi. Didn't my Torune tell you?"
"No, he didn't."
"He must have thought it wasn't something for you to worry about." She said thoughtfully. "My granddaughter, Kushina, is the one I will be passing the Kyuubi to."
"Is that so?"
"Tamaki," Kushina's mother. "Told me Kushina put up a fuss. She really wanted to come here."
"She's a good kid." Naruto commented. "How do you decide who gets to hold the Kyuubi next?"
"There are certain people within my clan that possess extraordinarily strong chakra, the kind of chakra that can hold down the Kyuubi for as long as the life of the jinchuriki." She then clarified. "A jinchuriki is one that has a tailed beast sealed within them."
"I see…" he helped up a small Hogo clan boy that had tripped on his feet and dusted down his shirt. The starry eyed boy hugged his teddy bear to his chest as Naruto sent him off to his waiting parents. The Leader of the country waved back to them as they bowed. "I thought all Uzumaki had strong chakra."
"By normal standards, yes, our chakra is considerably strong. The thing is that even still, one person alone cannot hold him." she held up her right hand, palm up, and a thin golden chain slinked out of her hand and wiggled in the air. "No one but an Uzumaki with especially strong chakra can physically manifest their chakra."
In fact, it was only in the Uzumaki clan that reports of people being able to summon Chakra chains and this too was a rarity. There were some rumours of a meteorite in Hidden Star that could give people the power to do this. Making chakra, for an ordinary person, wasn't possible.
"Kushina manifested her chakra chains last month."
"What if no person has that 'special chakra'?"
The woman smiled up at him. "There's always someone."
"What if there's no one?"
"Then we divide the power and chakra of the Kyuubi among nine people from my clan, one tail for each person." She suspected his next question, this one unvoiced. "If there are no Uzumaki available, not even one, then we best all pray someone created a new seal."
"The nine tails is that powerful huh."
"Like you won't even believe."
"I've seen powerful." Naruto admitted truthfully. "I've fought Hanzo and his salamander summons before." Alone, Mito added in her mind. "It's very hard to imagine anything more powerful than that."
"…I hope you never encounter the Kyuubi, Naruto."
They walked quietly for a few moments, taking in the scenery, until Naruto asked. "Even with your special chakra, isn't it hard to contain the beast?"
"You seem to be interested in the Kyuubi."
"I want to know as much as possible so in the event of an attack I will be able to find a lasting solution."
Mito scratched her chin. "Well…you need to understand, the Kyuubi is not just living, conscious chakra but his chakra is evil. His chakra is literally evil. The Kyuubi's chakra is made out of malice, evil, rage, wrath…negativity. The living chakra is so potently evil that being anywhere near it, unless it is sealed, would give any person chakra poisoning. Death comes painfully and instantly." She waved her hands before her, then they curled up into a light fist. "The seal I used to seal the Kyuubi within myself isolates it from my chakra core, so it is unable to influence my chakra while at the same time it is pinned down by both the seal and my chakra. That is not enough to keep the beasts evil influence away, so what I do is very simple." She beamed at him. "I fill myself with overwhelming happiness and love."
"Happiness and…love…?" Naruto asked sceptically.
"Yes. It counters the beast's negative chakra and keeps it somewhat docile."
Naruto scratched his head, bewildered. More than he had ever been in his life. "So…happiness and love…stop the Kyuubi from breaking out?"
"Yes."
For the life of him, Naruto couldn't wrap his head around her words. "I…I don't understand…"
"Why don't you understand?" she chirped.
"Happiness and love aren't real, in the sense that they can't be touched. Unlike the Kyuubi's chakra."
"Yet it can be felt." She said with a teasing smirk. "Right now, can you touch the Kyuubi's chakra?"
"…No."
Her smirk widened. "Can you feel it?"
"…No."
"The seal I used can only tie down the nine tails, not suppress its chakra. Love and happiness suppress its power." She patted his back. "You'll just have to trust me on this one."
"Ah, ok." There was a near sixty year difference in their age. The woman looked to be in her fifties while in reality she was so much older than Naruto. The masked assassin was still unsure of how to treat her with the regal air the woman carried herself in as opposed to the easiness of how she spoke to him. "I'll assign someone to serve as your guide during your stay, Mito."
"Won't you be the one to guide me around?"
He shook his head. "I'll be swamped with meetings from next week."
"What about that art exhibit from before?"
"That will be this evening in the capital. We can go together."
She clapped her hands happily. "Wonderful."
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Three days later
"I don't want you to ally with Darkness." Hiruzen stated immediately as he took his seat before the Kazekage.
The calm man eyed the Hokage from behind his desk, then he said as he continued to write a note on how his second-in-command was to look after the village in his absence. "Well good evening to you too, Hiruzen."
"I will tear apart our alliance if you so much as meet that blonde brat tomorrow." The Sandaime growled, hatefully referring to Naruto.
"Do it," the man coolly replied, dropping his brush and folding his hands on his desk. "We'll see how long Konoha lasts without our herbs and our oil."
"That farm you want to build," the Third hurriedly said, swerving the discussion from what Konoha would lose if Suna ripped up the alliance agreement. "We can help you build it all; the soil, the water and even the farmers. It'll be much better than anything Darkness can ever make."
"Oh? When I first asked, you shot me down straightaway." The impassive magnet release user asked with a raised eyebrow.
In truth, if the Suna farm had been established then the crops and food Suna imported from Konoha-at an astoundingly overinflated price-would drop to nearly nothing. The main purpose of their alliance, the food in exchange for half of Suna's mission requests, would be rendered useless. The good quality, cheaply priced oil too would be lost if the farm was built.
The Sandaime Kazekage sat back with an invisible smirk. "Once we finalize our alliance, I won't even need Konoha." the farm, the mingling of their ninjas, the sharing of mission requests, the oil, their herbs, Darkness actually helping them construct buildings, and a whole array of other details they would iron out at their meeting. Things the Nidaime Hokage and the Sandaime Hokage had denied Suna, leaving the sandy village in a tight, desperate spot.
Naruto saw the potential for the Hidden Sand to become a desert oasis in spite of the neglect from the Wind daimyo and he also saw the long term benefit of investing in the Sand. The chance they had been searching for had finally come and nothing was going to stop them from capitalizing on it.
Sabaku no Tetsuyo was not going to let this opportunity slip from his fingers.
Hiruzen silently grit his teeth and his knuckles cracked tightly. The Kazekage didn't visibly react to the noise of teeth grinding.
"I don't intend to tear up the Leaf-Sand alliance but…" he leaned forward and his smirk became more pronounced. "I will be making a few small changes."
"Konoha is your only reliable ally, Tetsuyo. I have enough ninjas to overrun Suna by tomorrow. I will seize your oil fields, take all your medicinal herbs and steal your village's secrets. Mountain, Tea and certainly not Grass would be able to come fast enough to save you."
"I dare you to try." The Sandaime Kazekage said with a straight face. The man's iron sand gourd, leaning by his desk, warbled ominously. "You are not the only powerful ninja."
Tetsuyo wasn't Suna's strongest Kage for nothing.
"Whatever animosity you have with Lord Naruto, quite frankly I don't care." The iron sand user said, dark shadows gathering over his eyes as he narrowed them at the unafraid Hokage. "Even one of my stature knows strength when I see it. Lord Naruto is wary of his allies and he does everything for the profit of his people. Suna's alliance with Darkness is to our mutual profit and if anything so much as threatens their profit, death would be the least of their concerns."
"I do not fear that filthy rat."
"You certainly should." Tetsuyo shot back honestly. "The lengths a man can go to protect the prosperity of his family cannot be measured, Hiruzen."
"Are you saying you fear him?"
"I say I respect him, enough to not turn his anger towards my home." Tetsuyo knew that outside of protecting the interest of his home country, Naruto didn't care much for anything else aside from his lone student. Very little ever got Naruto angry. "Like any other decent village leader, Lord Naruto only wants what's best for his home. Like me. Why is it that you are so against him?"
"Someone like you would never understand." The Sarutobi spat, standing onto his feet. "You will roll over onto your back just as long as it makes 'Lord Naruto' happy. You disgust me."
Tetsuyo rubbed his forehead tiredly. "You clearly don't understand what it means to lead a village, young man." In turn, Naruto fully respected Tetsuyo. The Leader of the Dark had outlined, in vague terms in case the letter was intercepted by enemies, the sheer profit of the alliance and how he too was excited about it, maybe even more so than the Kazekage. "I don't know what else to tell you."
The Hokage stared down at the patiently sitting Kazekage, before he scoffed and left his office. This discussion was similar to the one Torune Uzumaki and Hiruzen Sarutobi had months ago, though the Hokage was wise enough to not threaten his Uzumaki counterpart.
The Third Kazekage shrugged and went back to writing the note.
Tomorrow was going to be a big day.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Of all Naruto's regrets, he had one that haunted him to that day.
Naruto didn't always need to justify himself, not with all the blood drenched on his hands.
Yahiko had just come to him and showed him the letter he received from Hanzo, telling them that he wished for the Ame in its entirety and the newly formed Akatsuki to become close friends in order to overcome Iwagakure and Kumogakure, two of Ame's greatest oppressors in the second war. The orange haired fifteen year old had said to his fellow sixteen year old that he sent back a letter that said they would be happy to meet Hanzo, but as long as they cut ties with the Leaf.
The Akatsuki didn't trust the Leaf.
Konoha hadn't done anything bad, not yet.
It was always a bad feeling when it came to them.
Konoha didn't…feel right…
Still, the news that the Amekage wanted to set aside his differences with the Akatsuki was wonderful and Konan had even allowed them to indulge in their celebration, just a little though.
The lower rungs of the Red Cloud Organization regularly reported the efforts Hanzo and his loyalists were making to ready Ame for the return of the Akatsuki, even when they were in the thick of the war. The Rain ninjas had repelled Iwa, Kumo and Iron from five towns in the outskirts of the country, where the Kage would meet the renege leaders of the organisation.
On the way to their meeting area, they were attacked.
Dozens upon dozens of ninjas wearing the Rain hitaite and popular Rain combat clothes attacked them and they got separated in the mad fray.
They all knew that they weren't Ame shinobi, it was clear with the way the attackers fought and the way they talked.
The five Ame orphans knew the mannerisms common to their country and these attackers had nothing even similar, only their clothes and their forehead protectors.
Their minds immediately reached on conclusion.
Konoha.
Naruto sat down with a tired huff.
Below him the place he was sitting on, was a mountain of broken, warped, cracked corpses. Thirty minutes of constant, untiring motion and even his growing stamina was being taxed.
His mind wandered to how his fifteen year old protégé was faring with her own Ame imposters.
Rain pelted down mercilessly, soaking into Naruto's matted down blonde hair and into his Akatsuki robes but not really affecting his combat clothes underneath. The assassins eyes furrowed when he spied a pair of black eyes peak out from a tree. He slowly got to his feet as the person walked out from his hiding place.
Shimura Danzo of the Shimura clan, from what the lower ranked Akatsuki had reported. This one wore the Ame forehead protector.
"What have you done?!" Danzo yelled, eyes gaping at the mangled corpses that had been roughly piled up on top of each other. "Lord Hanzo trusted you!-"
"Cut the crap, Danzo." Naruto said, already suspecting where this was all leading up to.
"My name is Kanzo, not Danzo-"
"Can we just skip all this running around to you telling me why you sent your ninjas to die?"
What Danzo said next echoed in Naruto's mind to this day.
"We are the Roots of the Great Tree, the shadows protecting the Leaf. The Will of Fire will burn forever."
Naruto's blood ran cold. "What…the fuck…did you do, Danzo?"
"For peace to reign in Konoha, there must be some collateral damage."
While some of Ame's forces were destroying Iwa and Kumo, Iron's leader had forced a retreat back to their home base in Iron country. Ame was on the very brink of destruction and the situation that would tip it past the point of no return, no redemption, was if two major forces within the country-Hanzo and his loyalists and the Akatsuki-fought.
The country would be ripped apart by the internal warfare.
Naruto leaped off his position, disappearing in a burst of blackness and reappearing before the Ame imposter, a fist covered in a bronze brace dug into the man's face. Danzo was barely quick enough to lean aside but the blow still clipped the right side of his face, bursting his right eye. Naruto followed the momentum of his blow and the direction 'Kanzo' was fleeing in and clipped his foot against the man's right shoulder, shattering his clavicle and his shoulder blades. The young assassin finished off his attack by flicking his wrist, catching a tanto that slid from his sleeve and into his waiting left hand lopping off the man's right arm.
He blazed around him in a frantic flash of thick black smoke, severing Danzo's tendons, slashing his calves and ending the sequence of attacks by sheathing his short blade into the man's lower back, dangerously cutting into his spine.
Naruto caught the man by his hair as he fell. "Uuuuaaaaarrgghhhhh!"
"Do you know what you have done, Danzo?" Naruto exclaimed. "Do you even have a faint idea of what you have done?"
"I will…do…anything for…Konoha…"
Naruto tossed him down; face first into the blood muddied ground, and tapped his ear. "Yahiko. Come in Yahiko. Don't attack them. I repeat, don't attack them." he could drag Danzo to Nagato and have the redhead squeeze a confession out of the ruthless war monger.
He looked down, ready to pick up the immobilized man to provide him as proof of Konoha's dubiousness, but he was gone.
"How the-" left in Danzo's spot was a seal he identified as a very simple Body-switching seal, which was a lesser used equivalent than the body-switch ninjutsu.
Danzo could be anywhere now.
"Kami damn it."
An Akatsuki informant in Hanzo's ranks reported that a critically injured and potentially crippled Ame shinobi by the name of 'Kanzo' had dragged himself to Hanzo, claiming to have clawed from Cobra Forest, where Naruto had massacred the Ame-impersonating ROOT shinobi, and said that the Akatsuki had been the culprit. More survivors rushed in, some carrying dead shinobi and others fatally injured and dying once they claimed it was the Akatsuki.
Hanzo of the Salamander flew into a rage.
Nearly every day, Naruto wondered what would have been their fate if he had just killed Danzo and had Nagato resurrect him for questioning.
Yahiko had stepped down as the leader of the organization, appointing Naruto but the assassin didn't accept the title, because he too blamed himself for the resulting blood feud between the Akatsuki and Ameagakure. Nagato ended up being the leader after a small quarrel.
Danzo manipulated the Amekage.
No Konoha shinobi could confirm the Akatsuki's accusation. So Yahiko had a theory, of which Sueki, Konan and Naruto supported, that Danzo had acted independent of the Hidden Leaf village with an army of nameless, faceless ninjas under the war mongers employ. The theory was as crazy as it sounded, but it was the best they could come up with when-after power-interrogating through their hundredth Konoha ninja using Nagato's King of Hell: Lie Punisher-none of the hundred confirmed their suspicions, further prolonging the conflict between the Red clouds and the Rain, instead of both uniting to combat their enemies.
Danzo called it the 'Root of the Great Tree', the 'Shadows protecting the Leaf'.
Naruto hated the Leaf almost as much as he hated Shimura Danzo.
The masked blonde shook his head and rubbed his eyes. Sueki was still busily arranging the meeting room for the Dark-Sand alliance, straightening the curtains, sweeping aside thin dust on the carpet, straightening the table and shooting orders for Naruto's ninjas to obey, like the kind of food and drinks to be made and at which point in time exactly it was to be brought in.
The Pansa-Senshi clan mates quickly obeyed.
Naruto had scheduled the meeting between him and the Kazekage to be in the Pansa-Senshi clan main compound, in the tea house. The clan was based in the west and south of the country, and the main compound just so happened to be in the west, closest to Sunagakure. The tea house was a quaint, open building with a wide, almost flat roof and the walls were made out of dark red wood. There were carvings of the Phases of Transformation a shapeshifter had to pass through before he or she became a full panther on the outside of the small house and inside, laid out on the ground, was a mat. In the centre of the room was a short table and two pillows on either side where the two tea drinkers knelt down.
The clan of shapeshifting chefs treated sharing a pot of fine tea as a sacred ceremony, which should only be celebrated with close friends, families and potential allies. There were only a small number of tea houses around the country and whether or not the person was from the Pansa-Senshi clan, they recognized the significance of sharing tea with someone in a tea house. There wasn't a specific number or age restriction for people in a tea sharing.
It was a high honour for all involved.
It was all symbolic.
The country leader stood before the tea house with the clan head; Daichiharu was a tall man with a toned, muscular build, broad shoulders and a strong, stubborn chin. He stood at level height with Naruto, with midnight black hair cut very short and pitch black, pupiless orbs. On both sides of the clan heads neck were troubling looking claw marks. The man was in the Pansa-Senshi ceremonial robes of a dark purple kimono with short sleeves to show he had on a long sleeved bright red shirt underneath. There were wild, artistic slashes ripping down the back of his robe from his neck to his lower back. In the very centre of his back was his clans symbol; a stick house with an inverted T cutting from the roof of the house to under the house.
The man had his arms crossed, his sharp claws on his muscular upper arms and his eyes staring straight at the supreme commander of the country.
Naruto's eyes smiled. "I hope you don't mind me imposing, Daichi."
The man cracked a toothy smirk, showing his dangerous fangs. "Not at all, Lord Naruto. It is an honour for my clan to host such a historical event."
"Oh and," Naruto winced. "I'm sorry about Mito finishing all the bread in your store. I assure you, I will make her cough up every ryu."
Daichiharu scratched his clawed neck, sharp smirk still in place. "It was my fault; I shouldn't have challenged her to an eating contest. I just didn't know she'd choose bread."
"Still…a whole year's supply of wheat-bread gone."
"Uzumaki pride is really something to fear huh, Lord Naruto." Daichi laughed and Naruto joined him. "My son got into trouble for beating one of them in an arm wrestling contest."
"Really?"
"Hai, he spent the rest of the night arm wrestling his friends whole family." The panther shapeshifter laughed boisterously, holding his belly. Naruto cackled, placing his hands on his forehead and holding himself up by the frame of the double door. Mito was in a food induced coma in the guesthouse back in the capital from eating more than half of the year's store of bread.
"Nothing can appease the pride of an Uzumaki."
"Agreed."
Daichiharu squinted up at the midday sun. "It should be about time for the Kazekage to arrive. If you would excuse me…" Naruto nodded and waved for the man to leave. Five other ninjas of jounin rank accompanied Daichi out of the clan gates and towards the western gate, where the border wall was being built, so that they could escort the Kazekage and his people past the strict defences.
Sueki took Daichiharu's place at Naruto side, holding a clipboard in her hands and a readily inked brush. "All the necessary preparations have been made, Naruto-sensei."
"Great."
"Do you want me to run you through the alliance points again?"
Naruto tapped the side of his head. "Nah, I've got it all memorized." His hands dropped to his side, hiding under the long black sleeves of his leaders robe, except his wide brimmed hat, and he said as he gazed across the courtyard of the clan heads house. Daichiharu had been nice enough to allow them to use his personal tea house to host the alliance talk. "What I want you to help me do is to tell me about Sabaku no Tetsuyo."
She peeked down at her board and answered. "Sabaku no Tetsuyo, the Sandaime Kazekage of Sunagakure no Sato is a very calm, very calculating man. He rarely loses his temper and he is very defensive of his ninja's meagre number. He is a magnet release user that uses iron sand in combat. He is known to be the strongest ninja in all of Wind country. He doesn't have much of a humour; he's all business. He is not keen on breaking the alliance Suna has with Konoha."
"I don't care if he doesn't break that alliance. As long as Konoha stays out of our way."
"The last piece of helpful info I was able to gather is that he is currently training his son to take over as Kazekage in a few years."
"His son is coming with him?" Sueki nodded. "Smart man. He wants his kid to see how important this alliance is to both of our homes."
"What do you want me to do now, sensei?"
"I want you at my side during the meeting."
"Since…Lord Tetsuyo will be having his son at his side…?" she asked reluctantly.
He winked at her. "Something like that."
She coughed into her fist and read from her board. "Lord Gengetsu Hozuki," the Nidaime Mizukage of Kiriagakure. "Is expected to arrive in two days' time. He agreed to have lunch with you on the boat."
"We can have the meeting after lunch."
"Lord Kawasatoru," first son of the Daimyo of River and Heir to the throne of River country. "Will be in the country in six days. He wishes to meet you in the Chui-Inku National Museum. He is a big fan of their art."
"No problem."
Soon, the Kazekage arrived, with an envoy of four of his ninjas and guided in by the panther clan head and his clan mates.
Naruto stepped down from the entrance of the tea house and walked a few steps to the Sand Kage, who followed suit and walked with clipped steps to Naruto. The Leader of the Darkness reached forward with his left hand and the Sandaime Kazekage reciprocated with his own left hand.
The two village leaders shook hands firmly, their eyes boring into each other as they tested their resolve.
They didn't blink or break eye contact, not until Naruto's eyes twinkled and he said.
"Well, shall we get to the matter at hand?"
Tetsuyo nodded once. "We shall."
Naruto released the older (by a few decades) leaders hand and motioned to the panther clan heads tea house. They walked up the stairs together and entered the small house. Tetsuyo's son followed his father into the house and Sueki closed the door after herself.
The Pansa-Senshi ninjas stationed to protect the meeting place spread out and the Kazekage's guards did so as well.
The assembled clan mates, with some people from other clans and the clanless, gathered far at the gate and anxiously peeking into the clan, at the tea house situated a stone throw from the clan heads house in the centre of the compound, they mumbled nervously, wondering what was going on inside the hut-like building where the two leaders were conversing. They were being kept out of the compound so that no noise would disturb their leader's deliberation. Some of the more eager spectators at the gate-notably identified as journalists-held up cameras and took snap shots of the tea house that hosted the tea sharing ceremony of the two Kage level men and their prospective successors.
The patrolling ninjas within the compound, a select few that had been specially appointed by the clan head, walked about the interior, keeping a wary eye at everything, including the four guards of the Kazekage. These shapeshifters were in their clan variation of the Dark country ninja combat uniform; a plain dark purple short sleeved shirt and pants that reached half of the calf to dark purple ninja sandals. They had on pitch black jounin flak jackets with a clear white kanji for Darkness on their backs and Pansa-Senshi on their right chests, their hitaite proudly displayed on their foreheads and they all grasped their respective weapons though while still in their sheathes. The style of the uniform varied from person to sometimes even gender but it stuck to the combined colour code of their clan and their country, black and purple.
The compound was empty, besides the respective guards, at the moment. It might have inconvenienced most of those that lived in the main compound but it was a sacrifice they willingly made for their leader.
A full hour later, both Kage's left the house and stood at the entrance.
Naruto's eyes closed, turning up into a smile as he raised a thick rolled up scroll.
The crowd erupted into rancorous cheers, hooting and whooping at the alliance of the two villages.
Naruto handed the alliance to Sueki, who would make a perfect copy of it to be given to the Kazekage that very evening. He turned to the man and shook his hand again, using their left hands. He said quietly, to the older shinobi. "Let us have a long and prosperous alliance, Lord Tetsuyo."
An unseen smile ghosted over the Kazekage's lips as he shook his now comrade's hand, patting it with his other hand. He replied just as privately. "Yes and let peace reign between both of our homes."
The deal was that Darkness would give Sand a ten billion ryu loan to build their fervently planned farm along the border between Suna and the Dark country. Naruto would provide farmers to teach the Sand people how to fully prepare and maintain their farm; come to their aid when there hasn't been enough rain for the crops. In return, Suna would use a portion of their loan-a portion both leaders agreed to add-to discover the oil fields and coal mines speckled around Sunagakure and pump oil, which would be sent to Darkness to be distilled. The subdivisions of the distilled oil would have a fixed price (like petroleum was a thousand ryu per barrel) and then the barrels Dark distilled would be split between both nations. Suna would sell to whoever it wanted to sell to and the same for Naruto's country, using their unallied trade agreements with close to half of the continent. All of the profit was recorded and gathered, whereupon Darkness would get a clear sixty percent and forty percent for Suna, which was because the ten percent attached to the Dark profit was going to Suna slowly repaying their loan. Until the ten billion was fully paid, then the sharing ratio would be split evenly, fifty-fifty. Darkness had a twenty percent stake in the Suna farm but majority of the power concerning the crops and the produce would be on the Sand village, even if the farm was very well near Dark country's border.
It wasn't that Naruto would give Suna the ten billion right away, he didn't have that money yet, so they agreed on five hundred million ryu per year.
The coal too was among the things Suna would regularly send to Darkness to cover the loan.
Naruto would deploy some builders and ninjas to study the terrain of Suna and construct houses for the Sand village and Tetsuyo would send Sand tailors and ninjas to Dark to make the Sunagakure brand of durable clothing and footwear. The Sand would also regularly train Naruto's ninjas in the desert to get the Dark assassins more accustomed to fighting in unusual and detrimental environment. The Kazekage refused to share the secrets to the puppet arts and Naruto refused to share his country's assassination techniques.
Medicinal herbs and medics would be sent to Darkness from time to time and in return, Naruto would add Sunagakure to the Pansa-Senshi food delivery route, though the price would be a little bit higher than if the delivery was within the country (for obvious reasons). So that the clan of shapeshifters didn't perish on their way to the village, a tarred road was to be built and there will be escorts.
Joint missions would be done from time-to-time to increase the camaraderie between the two close villages and shops would be set up in both places. A communication tower was going to be built in both locations to facilitation the transfer of information. The engineers of the two ninja nations were going to research ways for them to transfer funds through a wire.
At the pervious pleading of the Chui-Inku clan head, Naruto suggested to Tetsuyo that they establish theatre plays and opera houses where Sand citizens and Dark citizens (though, mainly people from the ink clan) would perform plays. There really wasn't any point to this, but Tetsuyo agreed to it because it would take down the stereotype that people of the sand all had sticks up their asses.
There were small details in the agreement but the main point was that Suna and Dark were going to be allied for a very long time.
Not in the alliance, there was going to be a national bank constructed in Darkness that foreigners-though strictly allied foreigners-could make accounts. There would be a rigid card system involved.
"Lady Kamina," clan head of the Chui-Inku clan. "Wanted me to invite you to her clan's opera house in the capital." Naruto said, releasing the hand of his newest comrade. "If you're not in too much of a rush, would you like to watch the show with me and my student this night?"
"My close friend, Chiyo, is taking care of my village in my stead. My son and I would gladly accompany you and your student to the show." Tetsuyo said, the now almost permanent undetectable smile on his face as he patted his teenage boys shoulder with a strong hand. The boy bowed to Naruto, carefully studying the face of the man his father respected so much, and then looking to the white haired vampire dutifully at Naruto's side.
"It would be an honour, Lord Naruto."
Naruto clapped his hands together, pleased, and said with a chirpy glint in his blue eyes. "Well then, how about we have lunch in the capital and we can talk about other things?"
"Sounds good." Tetsuyo said and they turned, only to stop when one of his guards steadily marched up to them. "What is it, Tsukabi?"
The Sand Kunoichi named Tsukabi didn't look to her Kage but stared straight at Naruto, who held his pleasantly glittering eyes at her approach, not giving away anything. She stopped at the foot of the short stairs leading up to the tea house, her hands to her sides and her eyes blank of emotion.
Naruto's right eyebrow twitched.
The Roots of the Great Tree.
The masked blondes head slightly tilted to the side as he observed her.
"I have a message for you, Lord Naruto."
"From who?"
The woman licked her lips. "From the 'Roots of the Great Tree'"
The man felt another twitch of his eyebrow. "Ah…"
"'Last time we met, I did not give you prior warning before I destroyed what you loved'" she said, referring to how 'Kanzo' almost tore Ameagakure to irreversible pieces with the internal war between the Akatsuki and the Amekage loyalists. "'Now, as it has been in the past, all the cards are in my hands. The Roots of the Great Tree are stronger than it has ever been and is getting stronger than anything you will ever be,'" the woman paused when she felt the clan head for the panther clan near her from behind but the man stopped a good twenty feet away at the small shake of the Leader of Darkness's head. She continued as the man looked back down at her, his reflective crystal blue eyes emotionless, even as ominous shadows gathered over his face. "'I will give you one last chance, Ghost, to redeem yourself and save those you love. One chance to stop the bloodshed of your precious people and your precious allies.'"
The woman took off her Suna flak jacket, showing that she had on a row of explosives on her chest. She discarded her Suna hitaite to show a powerful explosive tag secured to her forehead. The Leader of the Dark only looked on with darkening eyes. He pushed Sueki behind him and the Kazekage nudged his son behind him as well.
"'Submit Darkness, all its treasures and all its resources to the Leaf and you will save yourself and your people from the calamity I will bring you.'"
Naruto remained silent and the woman finished the last line of Danzo's message.
"'I am the Author of Death and you, Ghost, are merely a side character. In the grander scheme of things I am the King and you are less than a pawn. Now, tell me your answer-'"
Naruto, in a display of speed that caught the clan of panthers by surprise, bolted down in an arc of fast, blazing white lightning, flashed before the woman, exuding choking black smoke in overpowering waves, jammed his right hand into the ROOT Kunoichi's mouth, holding her up off the ground by her lower jaw and glaring death into her eyes.
"Aaaack!"
White foam poured out of her mouth.
Naruto spat out a harsh curse.
A scream ripped through the air.
The suicide bombs went off.
Authors note
He's fine, as you all already know, I'm sure. Still though…
When do you think Danzo will attack?
What or who do you think Danzo will attack first?
Is Naruto going to wage war against Konoha or ROOT?
Let me know what you think, of this chapter and of this story so far. Drop a review, would you so kindly. Please stay safe, wherever you are in the world, and I will see you when I see you.
Foy.