Hey
How're you all doin?
MASSIVE shout out to all of you. Your reviews made my effing day :)
I can't give individual shout outs. My head hurts and I'm shit tired. Maybe next time.
Remember, Mito is important to Naruto cuz she helped him and his parents escape from the civil war way back when.
Enjoy…
CHAPTER 10
Naruto, Leader of Dark country, declared three days of National Mourning, to grieve the loss of not just the person that had been a main catalyst for Dark country's freedom but also to the man that had called himself Naruto's brother and a close ally to Darkness.
Schools were closed.
Shops could not be opened.
On-going projects were paused.
The country's borders were closed to all, even allies.
All ninjas out of the country were ordered to come back home.
Allied citizens already in the country could stay only as long as they maintained silence.
The only people permitted out of their homes for extended periods of time were the police and a few key shinobi to guard the borders; the Defence Corp and BLAK were ordered to remain at their respective homes along with the citizens of the country to observe the mourning. Delivery boys and girls from the panther clan needed to get special permission from their clan head to move about the country so as to send food and drinks to people that had sent orders to them.
Uzushiogakure had lost a leader.
Naruto had lost a brother and a sister.
The Country Hidden in the Eddies observed similar a three days of silence to their Dark country comrade, though their own allowed the people time to fester in their anger and reflect on their shattered relationship with Konoha; if only Torune had not signed the one-sided blood contract with Hashirama, then the man would have still been alive and Mito too would have still been alive.
Tamaki Uzumaki was immediately instated as the Uzukage.
Both Leaders made sure to keep the cause of Mito's death a close knit secret, for the sake of both of their countries.
When the mourning period elapsed, life continued as usual, though there was a slight dim in everyone's eyes. There was a backup of mission requests that urgently needed attending so as to quickly get the pay, carriages of clothing materials and ornaments from River country had to be sorted and accounted for and the Dark Country National Bank were working on stabilizing the country's ryu given that there was an abrupt three day pause on all economic activities.
People worked hard to go back to their normal lives but not with the vigour of before.
The people of Dark country mirrored their Leader.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Naruto sighed quietly and rubbed his eyes, slouching in his desk chair, over an assortment of documents and files from Kiri. The Mist was still on building a train over the water, connecting Darkness and Mist. Naruto still didn't see the purpose.
He grunted once when he heard a knock on the door.
Sueki peeked into the Leader's home office in their suburban home.
"Good afternoon, sensei."
"Hey." The man answered, writing a strong 'No' on the letter to the Mizukage and setting it aside. "Weren't you on a mission?"
"I just came back."
"…Welcome." The man rubbed his eyes again. Sueki's emotionless face took a small dip when she saw the heavy, dark circles around her teacher's eyes. "I think there's some rice in the fridge," he made to stand up. "Let me warm it up for you."
She fully entered the room, holding a tin foil wrapped dish in her hands. "Don't worry. I stopped by the bakery up the street and bought you you're favourite pie." She gingerly took off the foil and shuffled forward as her master sat back down again, his tired body leaning forward on his elbows and watching as she cleared a space on his desk before him and placed the pie. "Strawberry and peach pie."
The man exhaled and his eyes weakly turned up. "You're too kind, Sueki. Thank you."
She took out a small fork and placed it next to the pie. He stared down at the baked dish with empty blue eyes.
During these past three days, he felt like he had aged up fifty years and the compounding aftermath work of the mourning period drove it deeper into his body. The man didn't feel lost by the news of Torune and Mito dying like when he separated from his childhood friends.
He was just…tired.
Tired.
It seeped into his bones and rot his soul, weakening his mind.
He hadn't been able to sleep for the past week. Not from nightmares or remembering the good ol' days with Torune and Mito, not completely, but on reflecting on whether or not it was worth it to resent a village that somehow always found a way to take something from him.
No matter how strong he got, Konoha always found a way, someway, to hit him where it hurt.
Sueki swept to the other side of his desk and sat down on the arm of his chair, tossing one arm over his shoulder and taking off her half mask with the other, allowing the mask to hang off her neck.
The man didn't seem to respond to her action, only looking down at the pie with glassy eyes.
"Am I doing anything right, Sueki?" Naruto asked, his shoulders lowering weakly.
"What do you mean, sensei?"
"I mean…if I had killed Danzo back then, without wasting any time, I would have prevented hundreds of thousands of lives being lost. Yahiko might have still been alive. If I had killed Orochimaru and Tsunade when I had the chance, Mito might have still been alive-"
"Yahiko dying wasn't your fault. He was always out on the field; he could have died at any time." Out of the top five Akatsuki members, Yahiko was undoubtedly the most ordinary of the bunch; he didn't have paper jutsu like Konan, no rinnegan like Nagato, he wasn't an assassin like Naruto or a vampire like Sueki. Yet somehow he managed to keep up with them the best he could, so much so that he was the one they wanted to lead their organization. "As for not killing the Sannin…if you had killed them, we would have a war at our hands and more lives would be lost." Her dull voice tinted with emotion and her clear red eyes looked down on her master warmly. "Remember what you told me when our parents died?"
Naruto's head looked down and his hands, perched on his desk, closed into light fists.
He smiled fondly.
What's the point of living if life doesn't want you to live? A six year old Sueki asked him one day when she came too from her daze, the first of the other friends besides Naruto. Why won't you allow us to die, Naruto-sensei?
"…What did I tell you?" he turned his head to her ever so slightly and chuckled wearily.
She raised a single finger, pointed it to the sky, lifted her chin up, puffed out her chest and closed her eyes in a perfect imitation of a young, boisterous, seven year old Naruto teaching the impossibly impressionable vampire when she threw the question at her idol.
Sueki licked her light red painted lips, cracked a massive, eye twitchingly white grin and a wild shine in her red eyes.
"'Everything happens for a reason, Su~'" she said loudly, a contrast to her quiet demeanour. "'When life pushes you down, you kick its crotch and throw sand in its eyes!'"
Naruto shook his head and rubbed his eyes. "I can't believe I said that."
Sueki dropped her hand and looked down at her teachers brightening, though sleepy, closed eye smile.
She could remember how much his words had invigorated her. It was unarguably, at that point in time, that Sueki decided then and till the end of time, she was going to follow Naruto to the ends of the earth.
His words, though so shameful that not even ninjas would ever resort to such disgraceful acts, dragged her out of the pits of her despair.
For when she was younger and her infatuation with the masked blonde had just begun, she thought of the older Darkness refugee as an all-wise and all-knowing human being but, as she resurfaced from her daze to see him looking after their every need while they laid there, catatonic and unresponsive from shock, asking him the meaning of life and if death wasn't a better option.
Naruto became, more so than ever before, the coolest person Sueki had ever known.
Her face smoothed over, the frown dropping and the mad look in her eyes clearing off, leaving just an invisible smile on her lips. She slid off the arm of his chair and onto his lap.
Her eyes enlarged and she blinked at him. "Was I able to cheer you up, sensei?"
The man she called her teacher nodded with a wider smile. "What am I going to do without you, Su?"
The vampire shrugged airily and waved flippantly. "I'm sure you'll get by fine without me. Now," she moved the pie off the desk and onto her lap, turned to the side and stabbing the pie with the small plastic fork. "Open wide. I want to tell you about my mission to Hidden Mountain. Its super boring, so get ready." She wagged a piece of pie before his masks mouth and the man took off his mask, showing his grotesque, grinning maw. Sueki didn't flinch at the sight, only feeding him the sweet pie and saying. "Well, it was only a retrieval mission; a merchant from Suna wanted us to get back cart from some bandits that had stolen it from him on his way from Chill."
Naruto chewed the pie and nodded to her story, finding his left arm around her side. She fed him another small piece.
"You see, the Suna merchant said he has a specific route cutting down from Chill, through Spring country, entering Mountain and then to Waterfall, where he can take his time to Suna. It gets goods to Chill quicker…"
The vampire rambled on with her story and Naruto listened while he ate.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
"Control yourself, sir." Police Officer Emersu pointedly said to the man before. Said man was had his arms back, restrained by normal handcuffs, and was leaning back into the brick wall.
The man groaned and his head slumped forward. "Yeah, I'm sorry."
Emersu looked to her partner, Officer Ugochi, and both turned to the man. "What's wrong, sir? Is there anything we can do to help?"
"I've just been…feeling down since after the national mourning."
Ugochi cleared his throat and said. "We all have. We can all overcome this great loss like we've overcome everything else."
"Still, public intoxication is not the way to deal with loss, sir." Emersu said. "This is the middle of the day and you're awfully close to a children's park. Thankfully no one got hurt. I'll have to give you a fine."
"Again, I'm sorry." The man sighed, turning around for his handcuffs to be removed; he had been behaving rowdily before and had upturned a few tables in a close by outside restaurant owned by civilians. The police officers had to restrain him so that he calm down and realize what he was doing. "I'll pay the fine." He collected the small slip of paper, tucked it into his pocket and staggered on his way home, still feeling the effects of Grass country's very own brand of rice wine.
Ugochi looked at his female comrade and shrugged, nodding his head up the road, opposite of where the drunk was heading to. "C'mon, we've got one more hour before we can have our break." He tucked his thumbs into the large front pocket of his dark blue police vest and walked on, his partner walked with him with clipped steps, a contemplative expression on her face.
"Do you think he got laid off from work? There was even a cotton factory that closed down yesterday."
"No, I don't think so. The cotton factory only closed down so that operations could move to a bigger factory in the south east," seeing as they were currently south of the capital. "The old cotton mill is going to be bought by some tech company Leader Naruto is funding."
Emersu hummed and scratched her chin. "Oh yeah, it was all over this morning's newspaper." She smiled brightly. "My husband thinks Leader Naruto's tech investment is a good idea. You know, Kumo is already in the lead when they made those telephones."
"Technically, Kumo is richer than Darkness," Ugochi supplied reluctantly, not too pleased with the statistics but consoling himself that, with time, Dark country would lead in all aspects. "They have more money to blow on tech and they're allies with Snow. It's almost inevitable they beat us in making telephones."
Emersu waved to a civilian panther clan lady pushing a baby carriage up the somewhat slanted road. "Do you need any help, ma'am?"
The woman shook her head and smiled appreciatively. "No, thank you, officer."
"If you're sure…" Emersu and Ugochi sighed, not for the first time today. "Everyone is so sad."
"Hai, because Leader Naruto hasn't been himself lately." The man answered. "Lord Torune and Lady Mito's death really affected him."
The two officers were both clanless and had applied into the police academy once they got their chance seven years ago. Serving and protecting their home in honour of their Leader was a dream anyone, clanless or not, had. They didn't get to see their Leader often but the man had made it a point to go round his country every once in a while to check on those charged to protect it. There were about twelve police stations around the country and one HQ in the capital, two Defence Corp offices and one HQ in the capital and one BLAK HQ (no office or station for them), as well as an array of other places that needed Naruto's attention, so it was to be expected that he couldn't always come around.
It was with his few visits that they took notice of his carefree attitude.
"Inspector Jijim wants us to invite Leader Naruto and throw him a Cheer up party." Emersu idly reminded her partner as they trekked on down the street. "I personally don't think that's a good idea."
Ugochi looked at her from the corner of his eyes and the woman shrugged. "Why not?"
"Leader Naruto has been through hell already. He must have a way to overcome his depression."
"You mean, Lady Ketsueki or food?"
"Mh hmm. Give him a day or too and he'll be back to his usual self. I'm sure of it."
Among the things they discovered about their precious Leader was that the man loved eating food. Their Leader was very adventurous when it came to eating. He said eating helped him burn off stress.
It was bewildering how eating four times his weight in food and not gaining any weight whatsoever would help him discard any negative emotions and stress but it was among the many things they had accepted as one of their wonderful Leader's many curious quirks.
Changing the subject, Ugochi asked. "Have you heard anything about that Uzumaki kid that has the Kyuubi?"
"She's staying with Lord Naruto and Lady Ketsueki in the capital. Lady Ketsueki is to register Kushina for the coming semester in the Ninja Academy."
"Next semester should be in…two months, I think." Two months before the end of the year was the period of time parents and guardians registered their wards, then when the next year began school would also begin.
"You have a kid there, right?"
Ugochi teetered. "Yes. I want him to be in the Police Force but he wants to be in the DC, where there's 'more action.'" The man exhaled heavily. His only child, a boy of nine years, was about to enter his second year of the school. "Sometimes I don't get why my wife encourages him."
Emersu smiled patronizingly. "I guess I'm lucky that my baby girl wants to be a policewoman." She tittered at her long-time partner's depressed sigh.
The Ninja Academy and Civilian Academy were both institutions located in the capital of Dark country.
They were massive structures that used to be Royal clan temples, though they had since been renovated to be larger and contain more rooms. On average, each year roughly forty thousand children registered into the Ninja Academy and thirty thousand into the Civilian Academy, which was pretty decent given the fact that the last census (which was also the very first census) had placed the population of their country at just under a million people.
The two schools were among the largest buildings in the country, given how many students had to be accommodated, and there was even a hostel for teachers that didn't want to commute all the way from their homes to the school every day.
The Dark country capital itself was a vastly large area that was sixty percent urbanized, so the mega-structures that were the two Academies were strategically placed somewhat near each other, separated by a distance of close to a mile, on a large stretch of fields, where fresh air rolled through the countryside and the change of the seasons-particularly the harshness of Dark country winter season-wouldn't be too detrimental to the budding minds.
Naruto had created a schedule, with the aid of his Civilian and Shinobi council, that would be best for the two Academies; first was that there were going to be two halves (or terms) in a semester, lasting four and a half months each, with only three weeks of break given after the end of each term.
There was five years in the Ninja Academy, the normal starting age being seven or eight, and for the Civilians there was thirteen years, the last three years being optional. For the civilians, five years was for junior students, the next five years was for senior classes, where students will pick out a field they wished to specialize in and the last three years was for mastery in their field. They also had the option of coming back for another three years to choose another field to specialize and master in. starting age for Civilian Academy was normally seven. Naruto acknowledged that thirteen years in the Civilian Academy would seem much and would scare off children, but he sweetened the deal by making a rule that when students reached the age of sixteen and their scores were good, then they could enrol to become apprentices and assistants in the fields they wanted to specialize in, thereby earning a weekly salary.
Being a ninja alone was already intimidating enough.
Education in the school was already made free and treatment of injured students could be easily handled by the authorities. The money reserve in the country was high enough to pay teachers salary every month, with some added incentive for exceptional cases. This was to encourage quality teaching in an otherwise free educational environment.
The Leader and his council had gone in detail in the planning and organizing the school's curriculum, making sure to press into the students head the expectation the country had for them and the high standard of services they were to render, though at the very same time not cripple them with homework and classes. Teachers were ordered not to leave a student behind and to ensure they critically broke down any subject they taught.
Such as the case of any other of their allies, Uzushio, Suna, Kiri and River were allowed entry into the schools, but were barred from attending classes that had to do with Dark country assassination methods, which was taught in the third to fifth years. The children were smart enough not to divulge those secrets.
The Headmaster of the Civilian Academy was a man named Yakusko Minamoto.
The Headmaster of the Ninja Academy was a man by the name of Ginko Suzumebachi, Suzumebachi clan head.
Both men were highly intellectual and had contributed most in the creation of their respective schools timetable and curriculum.
In a country that raised their Supreme Leader to the level of a god, eagerly following after the living legend himself as he pushed the whole nation on a path of prosperity and advancement, the students themselves were exceptionally relentless in their studies.
One dream, among their many dreams, was to work as closely to their Leader as possible, and the best way to do that was to get a good education and become a productive member of the society.
They worked to maintain a particular level in their studies.
The council recognized the students dogged efforts and so proposed two ideas to their Leader; first was a competition that occurred twice a year, where students that applied would display their knowledge and win prizes based on their ranking. Naruto was expected to attend such competitions and present the prizes, or at least every once in a while. In the case of the Ninja Academy, there was a battle tournament and a capture the flag kind of event. The second was an End of the Term Festival to dispel any tension in the students.
There was still plenty to do to develop the Dark country school, but Naruto and his council had done a lot already to make sure what came out of the respective Academies were people willing to contribute to the society.
At the moment, both schools were at the end portions of their Second Term Exams. The two months given for parents and guardians to register new students also coupled up as a break for old students-second years and upwards-, it was going to start the immediate next week.
Emersu and Ugochi made their way down the street, raptly watching the street and idly chatting.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Fifth Floor of the Dark country Ninja Academy
Dark country
Kushina nervously turned her head from side to side, peering into the classrooms. Her eyes glittered with interest as she saw many thirteen year olds writing on booklets. This was the theoretical aspect of their exams, when they were done, the teachers would lead them to their appointed training grounds and examine them. This was the very last class a Dark student attended before graduation and only very, very special cases were allowed to skip a few classes before they could graduate.
"Ooooohhhh~" Kushina gushed, attracting a few eyes from her future seniors. Some winked, others smiled and some ignored her. The class's teacher cleared his throat loudly and the little redhead was dragged away from the door by the white haired lady.
Sueki took the little girls hand and they plodded down the light blue tiled floor to the office far, far at the end of the corridor, turned around corners and manoeuvring past other classes.
"Next week is when registration of new students is to commence." Sueki said, her face blank and her voice dull as she looked on ahead, firmly holding Kushina's small hand. "But with all the students we expect to enrol, it will be a very busy two months. Naruto-sensei didn't want us to cut anyone off in the registration process, so he requested Lord Ginko to allow us register you for the school. He will administer the exam and register you himself."
Registration month was a stressful, busy time for the teachers and the headmasters of the two Academies, as they had to carefully file each new student, assess them with a Mental Assessment Examination and predict the best way to deal with them based on their individual results. This was a period of time that there was more work for the teachers than normal but also twice the normal pay and a two week holiday for a stellar job.
"I want you to be in your best behaviour. Ok, Kushina?" the girl bobbed her head, mesmerized by the open doors of the offices they passed, of teachers marking exam booklets and a faculty/break room where teachers, chunin and jounin alike, rested their aching brains from supervising and reading through exams.
"Lady Ketsueki?"
"Hmm?"
"Why couldn't Lord Naruto be here?" she might still not have the courage to speak before him but it didn't stop her from feeling disappointed he wasn't here to induct her into the Dark country Ninja Academy.
Sueki looked down on her with a slightly raised eyebrow, Kushina scuffed her feet as she walked, pouting. "He had urgent business to attend to."
"Like what?" she pouted harder.
"Well, for starters, matters of national security." It was an awfully broad term but, for a kid, it should be enough. "He's still the Leader of this country, y'know."
"Yeah…I know…" she sulked.
The vampire's lips screwed to the side, then she finally said. "He might be able to attend the Entrance Ceremony next year."
"Really?!" the Uzumaki asked aloud, batting her eyes up at the impassive vampire.
"If he's not busy, then sure."
"I'll take it." she said in a whisper, pumping her fist to her side.
Sueki rolled her eyes and they stopped at a red painted wooden door with a gleaming silver plaque nailed on it, it read 'Headmaster Ginko Suzumebachi'. The older female sternly looked down at the girl, saying in a lightly stern voice. "Remember, behave yourself."
She rapped her knuckles on the door and waited.
Five seconds later, they heard a strong voice call them in.
The BLAK commander pushed open the door and, nudging Kushina into the office, stepped in herself and closed the door with a muted click.
"Ah, yes, Lady Ketsueki. Good afternoon, I hope you're well." Ginko Suzumebachi said, his deep voice reverberating from his place behind his desk, to the door, where both females stood. He stood up graciously and motioned for them to take a seat.
"I'm doing well, thank you, Lord Ginko." Sueki moved to the seats before the wide desk, pulling one out for Kushina and delicately setting herself down on the other. Ginko sat down. "Pardon our intrusion."
"No, no, no, I've been expecting you."
The office was somewhat spacious, enough to accommodate shelves of thick, heavy looking books, dozens of scrolls and several artifacts and paintings. There were three windows allowing in light and fresh air into the cool room, one to their right, the other to their left and the last behind the headmaster of the Ninja Academy. The floor had dark red carpeting and the walls had soothing yellow and black wallpaper. The office was the centre of the Ninja Academy, as it had every single record of every single student that had ever walked through the halls, past and present. All categorized and accounted for.
Ginko Suzumebachi was a stately man of average height and build. He wore a jet black suit and black pants with a red suit shirt underneath. Perched on his nose was a thick pair of black sunglasses, shading his Suzumebachi eyes. He was a man with thin grey hair that was neatly combed back, reaching the nape of his neck, and he had a nose that had clearly been broken on numerous occasions, with pale lips that stretched to the side in a smirk, showing his clan patented serrated wasp teeth. Officially, the man had retired from active shinobi duties so as to better focus on his important job of moulding young minds, which was why he was in a suit instead of shinobi gear, but the forty nine year old man was still a vocal part of Naruto's council that had, on more than one occasion, supplied important insight into a baffling topic.
The Suzumebachi clan, along with the Kemuri, were the ones to have first lived in Dark country before it was formally created.
The clan of wasp users had detailed records of every event and as such, along with dominating a handful of the classes in both schools, they mainly oversaw the country's library.
Back before the civil war, Ginko and his childhood friend, Yakusko Minamoto, were intellectual rivals, always competing in one brainy competition after the other. Naruto recognized their minds and gave them command over their respective schools.
Ginko himself was a well-travelled scholar; he had attended the college of the country when he was young, studied under monks in Fire, Earth and Chill countries, traversed through caves, deserts and forests, and spent a few years on a boat studying sea life. He only returned back to Darkness when he received news that his father was dying and he needed to take up the mantle of clan head; he didn't have any conventional ninja training but his colony was extremely powerful. With his eyes and his wasp colony, Ginko did his best by providing strategies to the rebel forces whilst aiding with long range support.
The man's shaded eyes flicked to Kushina. "So, is this the little lady Boss Naruto spoke about?"
"Hai." Sueki nodded, she looked at Kushina with her lips threatening to turn down. "Greet."
Kushina bowed her head. "Good afternoon, Lord Ginko." It was her nerves that was making her forget the royal etiquette her mother had hammered into her head. Ginko was a clan head and the headmaster of the school she was to spent the next five years in, she needed to make a good first impression. "I apologize for not greeting, sir."
"It's alright, child. I understand if you're nervous; all new entrants are nervous."
"Why are you wearing sunglasses indoors?" the girl blurted out suddenly and Sueki turned to her, her eyes wide in surprise.
"Kushina!"
Ginko grinned slightly. "Again, it's fine. She is still a child after all. Curiosity is their trademark." He took off his glasses and Kushina recoiled in her seat at what she saw. His eyes were glassy white with hexagon shaped panes forming them, tiny, micro-dots littered his eyes. The man scoffed with a smirk at her reaction to his insect-like eyes. "I've got one hundred and eighty (180) pupils that allow me to see almost completely around me. We wear glasses because people always panic when they see it." he put on his sunglasses once more. "Now, let us begin your assessment exam."
He took out a thin booklet from a drawer on his desk and pushed it to the girl, with a pencil and an eraser.
"In an Assessment Exam, there are no right or wrong answer. The questions in there just give us a look on your personality and how quick you are to absorb information so that my staff will know the best way to teach you. All students are distributed into different classes without any mental discrimination but the teachers in charge of the classes will be made known of you, what you can do, what we expect you to do and how to best improve what you can do." He laced his fingers before him on the desk and gave the girl a lopsided smile. "Did you understand what I just said?"
Kushina's eyes swirled, reeling from the insect-like orbs he called his eyes and from what he said. "Uhhmmm…"
"You'll be fine."
He nodded to a small desk in the corner of the room and Sueki led the girl there to take the test.
The Suzumebachi clan was a curious clan. Not in the sense that they had strict traditions, like the Pansa-Senshi and Hogo, or highly militaristic conduct, like the Kemuri, but because they were even a clan at all.
Most species of wasp didn't live in hives or colonies and they certainly never stayed together for long. They were free-living insects.
The specie of wasp living inside the people of the Suzumebachi clan differed greatly to other usual wasps in the sense that they lived together in a close-knit community in a main clan compound north of the continent, with small settlements around the country and a few others straying away from the colony to live by themselves. Their wasps had vicious stingers that could tear through flesh, dig into bone. Evolved wasp colonies could break down tissue and corrode organs. The hives given to them from a young age resided in their chakra core and fed on their blood. More evolved wasps were able to regulate their host's body temperature, blood flow and weed out toxins from their blood stream. The colonies would provide protection as long as the host had blood, when the blood was too low to be spared then they could convert their host's chakra to blood and consume.
Another logical alternative to not sparing their blood or their chakra was to go on a mission and sick the colony of wasp on their enemies, thereby reaching their weekly blood consumption condition.
Though still, one common trait the clan of wasp holders had was that they married and had children outside of their clan-if they did decide to marry, that is. Over half of the population of Suzumebachi clan members married from outside. Their partners didn't even need to be clanless; like how Ginko's wife was a Chui-Inku Kunoichi and he had been with her for twenty or so wonderful years. They met on the battlefield and instantly fell in love.
Ginko bent down to work, sifting through some requests his staff were making that they wished for him to pass onto their Leader.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
I know you're angry at Konoha, Naruto. Vengefully following Konoha would not only lead to your downfall but the downfall of your people. They will manipulate you and lead you off a cliff.
It's consuming you, brother.
I don't want that to happen, brother. I want you to live longer than I have. Please, as my last wish, I want you to keep Konoha aside and focus your attention of making your country prosperous. You can create countermeasures against Konoha but leave their destruction to them.
They will fall as long as they keep walking on that path.
I know you doubt my advice. My infinite wisdom is why Mito is dead and my people in Konoha were in danger.
Please, Naruto, trust me.
I know you will do the right thing. Whether you choose to take my advice or not, I will still be proud to call you my brother.
Take care of my people, brother.
I trust you will.
"You were a peaceful man even till death, weren't you Torune?" Naruto mumbled as he folded the letter and stashed it back into his pocket. He ran a frustrated hand through his shaggy blonde hair and grumbled. "You're driving me into a wall, buddy."
At that moment, Naruto was in the northern regions Defence Corp office, strategically situated close to the main northern entrance and exit gate. The building was a large structure that was in plain sight, shining with silver, green, brown and black paint with a big circular sign board at the entrance of the building that had the kanji for the DC drawn on it with black ink. In Dark country, there was exactly two DC branch offices, the north and south, and one HQ.
The leader was seated in the DC's northern region Chief, Makoto Gado.
Standing at attention in front of the desk was Shimura Danzo and sitting on a seat before the desk was Makoto, flipping through the thick binder that contained sealed documents and summarized reports from the smoke possessed Konoha shinobi.
After reading the man's overall report on Danzo's operation and on the state of Konohagakure, Naruto had to admit-
"The Leaf…is a fuckin' mess…" Makoto murmured in amazement, scanning the binder with bewildered and shocked eyes.
"Couldn't have said it better myself, Makoto." The Leader hummed with a reflective gaze in his crystal blue eyes as he swivelled the seat to the side, his left side bathed in the midday light from the window behind him. "What…a fucking…mess…"
If an outsider was to look inwards to the Leaf, without having the vital connections Danzo had and the ease of access of a high ranking ninja, they would see a shinobi village built out of gold and silver, rich with history and steeped with overwhelming strength. The village was wealthy, well connected in both trade and military and their ninjas themselves were of exceptional levels. Some Konoha citizens, civilian and ninja alike, would also be deceived into thinking that their village was an impenetrable fortress of magnificent power.
Yes, the murder of Mito Uzumaki forced a change in perspective of some key ninjas but the general notion remained the same.
The Hidden Leaf was the strongest hidden village on the continent, both in their military and their accumulated wealth.
That was an outsider and some misguided citizen's point of view.
The reality was that the village, though looking strong and unbreakable from the outside, was rotten to its very core with the neglect of various sectors, corruption, mismanagement of public funds for useless-if not nefarious-means, speckled with crumbling buildings, full of people without homes-including children aimlessly roaming the streets-, riddled with crime and was being battered from all sides by the systematic failure of the council, of which-historically-the Hokage placed too much trust in, bestowing too much freedom on, while he went about doing other nearly unnecessary functions.
Compared to Naruto's country, the council had limited freedom. This meant that the council only had advisory functions to Naruto and no real power, but the members of the council also doubled up as officials in charge of key parts of Dark country, obviously because the council was both on Shinobi and Civilian affairs. Any small matter that wouldn't cost too much or affect much could be taken on without Naruto's notice-like squad rotation, importing books into the country's library, buying and selling with River, among others-, but major issues must be passed through Naruto, or Sueki, before any action could be taken, at risk of grave punishment to the defector. At one point in time, the council had to take permission from Naruto to enact or implement one thing or the other but now that the national reserves were peaking on a weekly basis and poverty had been totally eradicated from the country, Naruto gave them some slack to deal with private clan matters and small matters of regional or national interest.
The condition being it shouldn't, not even in an infinitesimally small way, upset what has already been achieved. If that was the case, then Naruto was to be notified and asked for permission immediately.
Power and authority in Dark country was extremely centralized.
Naruto could honestly say that Dark country was in a better place than their former oppressor.
Naruto shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. "This is sad."
The Ghost would have thought his one greatest enemy, Konohagakure no Sato, would at least have its affairs in order.
They were the strongest hidden village for crying out loud.
…How?
How?
"I'm confused." Naruto's eyes flicked to Makoto as the man looked up from the damning report. "Why isn't that village destroyed yet?"
Naruto shrugged. "Hell if I know." The blonde balanced his right elbow on the armrest of the chair and perched his chin on his fist.
There was a rapid surge of crime in the village that could be directly traced back to unemployment, which could also be taken back to the neglect of the council in noticing various job opportunities in the village, like reconstructing buildings damaged or broken from the last war. They certainly had the money to pour into that, at least giving the people something to do for the meanwhile, until they thought of lasting job opportunities for young people.
There was an outstanding number of children not in school, or getting some sort of education, centred mostly on orphans and street children. Enrolling into the Konoha Academy cost money, there weren't enough jobs to make money, thus civilian parents couldn't send their children and the vastly underfunded orphanage could do even less. Only children from clans and wealthy civilians had the money to send their kids to school.
No wonder the Uzumaki had been leaving in droves ever since Darkness and Whirlpool formally allied.
Their alliance with Suna was in tatters; given how the materials' Suna was buying from Konoha was being bought at a somewhat cheaper price from Darkness. The barrels of oil Darkness refined and sent back to Suna, and the coal they mined, sold to Konoha, was now at the continent's standard price and this was wearing thin on the merchants that had been profiting from the oil scam. Suna was buying less and less from Konoha. Really, the only thing the steadily prospering sand village was getting from Konoha that they couldn't get from Naruto's country was tea, and that too was being grown on the Suna Farm.
Harvest time was approaching, Naruto reminded himself.
"Torune saw this whole thing." Naruto suddenly said, bringing Makoto and the possessed man out of their thoughts. "He used to have close ties with Konoha, so he knew things that some of the Leaf people continued to deny. Like how much of a bad situation they were in."
"If I may provide some advice, Lord Naruto." Makoto supplied. Naruto motioned for him to go on, perching his chin on his fist and the elbow on the right armrest. "I think giving Konoha more than one percent of our attention is a waste of our time and resources. Border surveillance and spy detection, sure, but…" He slapped the binder with the back of his hands and said. "This report…things don't look too good for the Leaf."
The report didn't just write on how bad things were in Konoha but on the shady dealings of Shimura Danzo.
The old war hawk was smuggling drugs from Fire country to Grass and Earth to make some extra cash that would be funnelled into the villages reserves. He was kidnapping orphans from all over the country and he had plans to expand his kidnapping ring to the rest of the continent, recruiting children to fight for the Leaf in the shadows. He had not less than four plans on how to take down Uzushio; one main plan, a backup plan and two more contingency plans. The man also had past crimes detailed and stored in his underground archives, including what he did to Rain, Iron, Tea and Tree, what he was currently still doing in Mountain and Chill and what he planned to do in Iwa and Kumo.
Danzo was a very ambitious man…too bad he was more or less dead.
"I can gather advice from the council, Lord Naruto, but I think I can speak for them by saying that we have better things to do than target a dying village."
Naruto tapped his masked chin in thought. "That may be so…hmmm…"
In the binder was an underground map of ROOTs growing tunnels, including one they had dangerously close to Dark country that was away from the notice of Konoha ninjas. These tunnels allowed them to carry out their shadowy operations secretly and quickly.
The Leader turned the chair around to his Demon Smoke clone. "You'll still be my eyes and ears behind enemy lines. Work with Umara Kurama. Both of you will use your discretion on how to deal with Konoha. Go." The crippled man saluted and marched out of the office. Makoto dropped the binder onto his desk and fully sat forward, facing his Leader. "You'll make a copy of that and give one to each member of the council. It'll be strictly confidential. To be burnt when they're done reading it; I'll keep this copy in my vault when you're done with it."
"Already done, sir."
"Good. Tell them we'll have a council meeting this night. They should be done reading it by then." Makoto glanced that the criminally thick binder, which was half a foot thick and stocked full with sealed documents, scrolls and summarized missions. Naruto looked at the man with his eyes shimmering with laughter. "By this night."
"…Ok."
"Now, your last update said Iwa and Kumo are scouting out our border."
"Hai, they haven't made any moves yet."
"Didn't you say they were looking for holes in our defence?"
"That was my assumption, sir." Naruto cocked his head to the side and lifted an eyebrow. "Iwa focused their attention on our far north east border to Fire country."
"No success?"
"They've got nothing. We have all our bases covered, sir"
"Iwa scouting us is understandable; they're just as greedy as Konoha. Remember, during the civil war, they stole a transport of Dark trees from Konoha. I heard it when I was in Ame. They weren't stir crazy."
"What about Kumo? As far as I know, they didn't get their hands on any of our resources. Do you think they heard about it from Iwa?"
"It's possible." Naruto scratched his chin. "They could have also heard from their allies and non-allies how our mission success rate is near perfect and our product value is among the top twenty. If I was the Raikage, I'll be curious as to know how a country, just seven years after a bloody civil war, was now so prosperous. I'll also want to…'acquire' whatever valuable product they're using to shoot up the shinobi settlement ranking." Naruto leaned on the desk and laced his finger, his eyebrows furrowed thoughtfully. "Lastly…I'll feel threatened."
"Threatened?" Makoto echoed questionably. Sure Darkness or its people weren't going about telling the world that they were rapidly developing, but the allies and non-allies unknowingly did so when they re-sold Dark goods or unconsciously advertised Dark services. Naruto didn't have any of his citizens in Kumo, Iwa or Spring, as those three shinobi settlements were places the Leader had blacklisted as no-go areas, so Kumo and Iwa-and Spring-were severely uninformed of what Darkness could do or what it was all about, hearing only from third parties. Dark shinobi had to take extra precautions when it came to those three settlements. "Why would Kumo be threatened by us?"
"Look at it like this," Naruto began. "Our name is now popular enough to be on the lips of our allies and non-allies. We," he emphasized, meaning Naruto and the Citizens of Darkness. "Haven't advertised ourselves in any pompous way. We trade, we go on missions and we maintain close relations with our allies. That's as much as the three settlements know. Our investment in the Suna Farm is coming along nicely, our people outside of the country are thriving, our ninjas bring back profit after profit, and so much more. While on the inside they assume we are growing at a fast rate."
As far as they know, the only other place that had free education and healthcare was Kumogakure, but housing, unemployment and crime was still a problem.
"As long as Darkness stays true to its path, we will become something that no nation can sensibly compete with." Naruto pointed to the map of the continent on the wall of the office and said. "There would be a monumental shift in power on the continent."
Makoto 'oh'd' in understanding. "I…I see…"
"The Five Great Ninja Villages could become the Six Great Ninja Villages or," Naruto paused, his pointer finger held up. "One major village would drop down from power and give its place to us." The Gado man nodded slowly, his eyes low and his forehead creased as he thought deeply on what his leader was saying. "Everyone still sees Konoha as a mega power, Kumo is a close second, Iwa is third, Kiri is fourth and Suna is fifth. And remember, Suna is also changing too, so it might make its way up the ranking."
"So…with Suna becoming a more tolerable shinobi village and Dark country rising in the shadows…Kumo thinks it is the most likely village to have to drop out of the ranking, or at the very least slide backwards."
"Precisely. Iwa has the most ninjas and Kiri has powerful hunters, so their place on the ranking is almost secured. Kumo, I'm guessing, is self-conscious because it has no bloodline users and no strong network outside of their two main allies. They have the tech, the money and the knowhow."
"Wouldn't it be more logical for Suna to be afraid of the power shift and not Kumo?"
Naruto nodded. "It would be more logical, yes, but I'm also taking into account the past and present Raikage."
"Ah, of course."
"The Raikage, Cee, is notoriously hotblooded." Naruto commented. "He sees a competitor about to make their way into the playing field and he snaps down on them."
"Why not attack Uzushio then?"
"Cuz Uzushio is already a super power, but it has refused to be ranked. Plus, no sane person would want to anger an entire island of Uzumaki."
"Now, Kumo is looking for a way to steal info from our country or to destroy it?"
"I'll assume any one of the two. Bring it up in the council meeting."
"Yes, sir."
"I'll send a letter to the Raikage to leave my borders alone or we'll send his ninjas back to him in matchboxes." Naruto stood up and swept the other side of the desk, walking towards the door in a rustle of his Leader's robe. He placed his wide brimmed hat on top of his head and Makoto rushed to the door, opening it. "I'll leave the distribution of the binder to you."
"You can count on me, sir."
Naruto waved over his shoulder, passing the middle of an assembly of DC ninjas before the man's office. They were a diverse mix of Gado, Hogo, clanless and Chui-Inku, with the other clans speckled here and there. "Later."
The co-head of the DC yelled to his subordinates. "Salute the Leader!"
Their legs shifted together from ease to attention, their hands snapped up into sharp salutes and they roared. "Lord Leader, sir!"
OOOOOOOOOOOOOO
The Konoha Public Library
Konoha
Just the other day, the matron of the orphanage said that he was getting too old to stay there.
That there were too many mouths to feed, too little food to feed them and almost inexistent funds to get the food.
He was seven…
The matron said that he was old enough to fend for himself.
He…was…eight…
Even a blind man would see the hatred in the woman's eyes. How she turned a blind eye to the cruel bullying of the other children and how she allowed the boy to wallow in depravity.
He saw the hate and anger in the people's eyes too, every time he passed by them on his way to the library.
They would curse after him and spit on him.
He met Jiraiya of the Sannin while he was reading up on basic fuinjutsu in the library. The man wanted to take him up as his apprentice.
"Why don't you hate me, Lord Jiraiya?"
"Because this time I won't let talent slip by me again." The sage answered with a wide grin.
Whatever that meant.
"Lord Jiraiya…why does everyone hate me?"
Jiraiya's cheesy grin lessened at the dim light in the boy's sky blue eyes, the aged slouch of his shoulder and back and the dirt laced in his blonde hair.
The toad sage placed a gentle hand on the child's thin shoulder and gave the boy a lopsided smile.
"Your father is a very, very bad man, Minato." Minato Namikaze's eyes widened in shock; that the man beside him knew who his father was. "He did," Jiraiya looked away and shook his head, a deep frown on his face. "Many bad things to this village. He hurt many families with what he's done."
"They…hate me…because of my father…?"
"You look so much like him, Minato. The people see him…in you." The man removed his comforting hand and sighed sadly. His frankness wasn't lost on the young blonde. Minato's fist slowly curled up into a tight ball and his eyes hardened with anger as Jiraiya rambled, driving the hate for his father deep into his soul. "I knew your mother, bless her soul. We were in the same class in the academy, you see. She was such a nice person. Everyone loved her. I also knew your father when he was a kid but I never thought he'd grow up to become such a disgusting, revolting monster, as to kill, maim and scar innocent, hardworking people. What he did to your mother…the torture she went through in his filthy hands…no one should ever-"
"Who is my father?"
"I'm sorry to be the one to tell this to you, kid." he leaned down and whispered, for the mere mention of the name was taboo in the village. "Your father is…Naruto, Leader of Dark country."
Authors note
That brings this chapter to a close. Appearance aside, maybe in the next chapter you'll see how Minato and Naruto are scarily similar but at the very same time greatly different.
What are your thoughts?
Leave 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.