Wuddup ya'll
Hope everyone is ok!
HUGE shout out to DragoFae24 (thank you so much), Arraia, KakeruPB, radeklegia, anthonym3 (nice idea…thanks for the review!), biginferno, Uzumainiac (give it some time, dude. All will make more sense after a few more chapters. Thanks for reading!), Daisuke SSJ (gracias), zerkses, 777torn777 (good guess, you'll have to wait and see…), Saiyan prince1, Spark681 (I know, right? Thanks), Antex-The Legendary Zoroarc, TigrezzTail (soon. They'll come soon), TheKing91, Banjo the Fox, Primarx, dreamkiller415, OmegaRealism (muahahaha~) and BigY1308 (I appreciate it, man. Thank you). You guys are all simply fantastic :)
Director of the Ninja/Civilian Academy sounds much better than Headmaster. Thank you Antex-The Legendary Zoroarc.
Remember when I said Kushina is living with Naruto and Sueki? Yeah?
Enjoy…
CHAPTER 11
Kushina liked living with Naruto.
It was exciting how hectic and busy he was and how much he wanted to involve her in his day, using any small chance to teach her something new and interesting. He didn't necessarily carry her about the country as he went about his functions but, during breakfast or when they met for lunch and dinner he would show her something 'cool' and task her to replicate it so as for her not to be idle.
It always fascinated her on how much attention Naruto gave her every time they had the chance to speak, as if she was the most important person in the world. Her heart broke when she noticed he gave everyone else that sort of deep attention but she appreciated how much the busy blonde could recall every tid bit of information she gave him over breakfast.
Naruto was an incredibly busy man; he could be called away from his home at any point in time. So any chance Kushina could get to sit down and speak to him, she utilized it as best as she could.
If there was one thing she didn't like when living with Naruto, was that he shared a bedroom with Sueki.
The logic was understandable; their house in the suburbs had a dining room, a parlour, a kitchen, a front and backyard, and going upstairs there was an attic, two bedrooms and one bathroom.
Kushina, when she found out there were only two rooms in the Dark Leader's house, was under the impression that she and Naruto would share a room and Sueki would sleep by herself. During their first dinner, her face took a permanent tint of red and she could barely eat, not with the steam blowing out of her ears.
She found out that the two adults would be staying together in a room and she would get her own room, directly across the hall, opposite from Naruto's bedroom, by herself.
Her disappointment was palpable.
Naruto noticed, of course, though he didn't know the reason, but Sueki had looked down at her with an infuriatingly small smirk and a bright gleam in her red eyes.
Kushina didn't like that that stone faced, red eyed, paper pale…lady…was sleeping in the same room…in the same bed…as her crush.
She didn't like it one bit.
"I'm done using the shower!" Kushina called as she opened the door of the bathroom at end of the hallway. She had a big towel around her torso and most of her legs and a smaller towel wrapped around her long red hair. Her bare feet padded down the thick, dark blue carpet to her room.
"Ok!" Sueki answered as she opened the door to her shared bedroom. She had on a pair of black shorts and a white vest with a purple towel draped over her shoulder, a toothbrush between her lips and her eyes still heavy from sleep. The woman tiredly shuffled on the carpeted floor to the bathroom, passing the towel clad girl and entering the bathroom. She locked the door after herself.
The time was 6AM.
The house wasn't in the least bit cramped and Naruto could definitely afford a bigger house. The reason he didn't get a bigger house at Kushina's arrival was that he enjoyed the warmth and homeliness the house provided. Sueki and Kushina didn't mind; Naruto had bought a bigger bed for him and his student, a bigger wardrobe and dresser for them and gave Kushina more freedom on how she wanted to design and organize her room, just as long as it wasn't a mess.
Ding dong
"I'll get it." Naruto said and walked out of the room, clad in a pair of black pants that stopped above his ankles, a dark green T-shirt and a pair of white flip-flops, and as ever he was wearing his half mask. His hair was messier than normal from sleep and there were sleep bags under his eyes. His eyes smiled at her and Kushina skittered quickly into his room, flushing dark red at being caught so exposed by her hero. "That should be breakfast."
The man ambled down the stairs and walked to the door, opening it.
"Hello."
On the other side was a boy in his late teens with midnight black hair and dark yellow eyes that were slowly changing from cat-like to normal. A pair of smooth black ears twitched on the top of his head. He was in a purple shirt, black shorts and black sneakers. The shirt had a logo that read Panther Food Delivery. The Pansa-Senshi teen smiled brightly, showing his short fangs and presenting forward a normal sized scroll with both hands. "Good morning, Lord Naruto. I hope I didn't wake you up."
"Nah, I've been awake." Naruto collected the breakfast delivery and dug into his pocket. "That's five hundred ryu, right-"
The teen's eyes widened and he frantically waved his hands before him. "You don't have to, sir."
"No, no, you're here in record time and," he tucked the sealing scroll under his arm and brought out his wallet. "You got my order right. It's only fair." He picked out a few notes and idly said. "Six donuts, green tea, lemon tea, hot chocolate and a dab of honey."
"Lord Naruto's satisfaction is enough payment." The boy's panther ears twitched from left to right, as if he was afraid of someone finding out that their precious leader had paid for his services. The situation itself was very strange; a customer having to insist on paying the delivery person and adding a nice tip on top.
"Please, I insist." He took out six one hundred ryu notes and pushing it into the panicking boy's hand. "Thank you."
The panther teen bowed numerous times, grasping the money in lightly trembling hands. "Thank you, sir."
Naruto smiled and closed the door as the boy ran back to the Pansa-Senshi clan café in the capital. He proceeded into the dining room and placed the scroll on the dining table, marching back up the stairs as Sueki called down to him that she was done bathing. The other day had been very long for both the Leader and the BLAK commander, so they were too tired to wake up early and prepare breakfast for the three of them.
He entered the bathroom as Sueki was rubbing down her white hair in their bedroom.
The delivery system worked by messenger eagles. An eagle was sent to the nearest restaurant, which was usually owned by the panther clan, with a clearly written order of what they wanted. This system was severely flawed because not everyone was near a messenger eagle and only a few of the birds at a time could attend to the orders. This problem of communication could be easily solved with the invention of a telephone, for walkie talkies were exclusively for ninjas and the police.
Naruto didn't allow adding a Communication Seal to the Entrance/Citizen seal because it would make the latter seal much too complicated for use. The Entrance/Citizen seal already had a detailed info on the bearer, that was constantly being updated by the country's Records department. The person's name, age, occupation, likes, dislikes, height, weight, everything was recorded on the tattoo seal on the back of their hands.
Naruto's inventors were getting close to making telephones.
His ninjas had recently come back from a mission to Kumo to steal a simple telephone. No one was the wiser. The idea was not to replicate what the other shinobi settlement had done but to improve it and make it for Darkness.
Sueki exited her shared bedroom, dressed in her full combat gear-including holstered senbon and the like-and a black cloak with the Dark country emblem on the back draped over her shoulder. She gently knocked on Kushina's door. She opened and her head poked inside. She saw the seven year old Uzumaki rummaging through her wardrobe and searching for something to wear for that day.
"Someone will be coming over to look after you. You're both free to go out and explore the capital but make sure you don't leave the capital without our permission. Try and enjoy yourself." Kushina looked out of her wardrobe and nodded. "If you're in trouble, you know how to contact me."
"Alright."
Sueki was about to leave and close the door but said, as if it was an afterthought. "Oh, and breakfast is donuts and tea."
Because why not?
The three of them ate the sugary breakfast together on the dining table, after Sueki set the donuts out on three plates, two for each person, and their respective tea beside the plates. Green tea for Naruto, lemon for Sueki and chocolate for Kushina.
The girl was stuttering through a story of a first encounter she had with Gado boy around her age that had just discovered his clay bloodline. Half of his body was melting off, his face was becoming droopy and he was freaking out like any child in his situation would, until his father arrived at the playground they were on and calmed him down. His father used his own Clay release to reform his son's body and promised to teach him how to maintain his abilities. The Gado father of the boy was a jounin in the ninja force-not the DC-and so he used his rank to explain to the stunned silent children and parents that what had happened was normal for any Gado child of age to enter the academy, that it usually happened earlier in life-about four or five years-and that with his son being triggered into activating his clay abilities at age six was still a good sign.
Naruto, munching on his donut, had to admit, the Gado father had taken command of the situation very well.
It wasn't every day that children of bloodline heritage-not only clan children-unexpectedly activated their bloodlines, and in front of so many people nonetheless, which would explain the sheer shock that Kushina used to describe what had happened.
"I think your babysitter has a Gado teammate," Naruto said aloud, his eyes shifted from Kushina to his student. The vampire nodded. "She can take you to the training ground and you can see some of them in action. It's really fascinating."
Naruto's friend set down her cup of lemon tea and looked up. "That must be her."
Ding dong
Kushina turned to Sueki in surprise and Naruto chuckled. "She can smell blood and hear hearts from up to a mile away. It's impossible to sneak up on her."
"Learnt from the best." The white haired commander said as she pushed away from the table and stood up, walking around the table to the front door. Naruto laughed to himself again. They heard the door opening and a chirpy voice say.
"Mornin' Lady Ketsueki!"
"You must be Suzuyi. Please come in."
Sueki walked back into the dining room and sat back in her seat. The other person to enter the room was a girl in her early teens that had bright red hair styled into a pixie cut, glittering purple eyes and a wide smile. She was in a dark yellow short sleeved shirt and black ninja pants with a pair of light blue sandals. She had her shuriken and kunai set on the side of each thigh and a deadly looking katana on her back. Wrapped around her forehead was a Dark country forehead protector.
The girl marched forward, faced Naruto, snapped into attention and said. "Genin Suzuyi Uzumaki reporting for duty, Leader Naruto."
"No need to be so formal, Suzuyi." Naruto answered, his sky blue eyes shining. The Uzumaki teen blushed at the warmth ebbing from the masked man and roughly cleared her throat, discreetly turning her eyes away from the target of so many people's affection, including hers. Naruto motioned to Kushina and said. "I'm sure you know Kushina. Kushina, Suzuyi will be the one looking after you for today."
"Or any day." Suzuyi cut in quickly, tucking her hair the side. "I can help any day." She coughed into her fist again as Sueki blankly looked at her, lifting one delicate eyebrow. She shot a hand down to Kushina and said, quickly changing the topic. "You can call me Suzu, Lady Kushina."
"Kushina is fine." the girl said, shaking Suzu's hand. "Nice to meet you."
"Well, Suzuyi, Sueki and I won't be back until late in the night. I hope this doesn't inconvenience you."
"Oh no, definitely not, Leader Naruto." Suzu insisted.
"That's good. You two are free to go anywhere, as long as its within the capital and its child friendly." Naruto emphasized strongly. Suzu bobbed her head in compliance. "Do you know how to cook?"
"The easy stuff, yes." Naruto motioned for her to go on. "Ramen, rice, tomato sauce, fries-"
"That should be ok. We have it all in the kitchen. In case you're both in the mood for anything you can't make, there's a nice restaurant up the street. You can't miss it." the vampire lady said as she finished her tea, picking up her plate and her teacher's. "We'll leave the house key with you but if you lose it, then go to the Police station and they'll get the door open for you." Because all doors in the country were seal re-enforced to withstand a rampaging rhino and electrocute anyone that tried to forcefully enter who wasn't the owner of the property; the same seal were on windows and pretty much any place that could allow forced entry into the house. Police stations' were the only places that had the Counter-pass seal. The police would check the back of her hand for an Entrance or Citizen seal, of which Suzuyi Uzumaki had the latter, and then would follow through with what she wanted them to do.
"Also," Naruto said. "You're free to show her the training grounds."
"Got it, anywhere but out of the capital." Suzu nodded.
"We can hang out tomorrow, Kushina." Naruto said and reached over, ruffling her hair.
The girl curled up into herself on contact, holding her hands to herself and closing her eyes tightly. She bobbed her head happily, just barely keeping back from gushing.
Naruto huffed as he got to his feet, throwing on his Leader's robe and setting his wide brimmed hat onto his head. "We'll be on our way. Take care of yourselves."
Sueki hurried after him, saying to the two Uzumaki. "Have a nice day."
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Not too long after the Leader and the BLAK Commander left, Suzuyi locked the door and both her and her charge began an easy trek down the streets to the nearest training ground.
The genin had her hands behind her head and she had a lazy slink in her walk. She glanced at Kushina as the girl took in all the buildings neatly arranged and of the large construction work being done in the centre of the capital, up the street, which she could see from even there.
"Cool huh." Suzu said, a smile tugged on her lips.
"Yeah…"
"The country is way better than it has ever been." Suzuyi exhaled, walking with her eyes closed as cool air blew up the street, washing past them. Winter was approaching.
"How long have you lived her?"
"I was born here, actually."
"Whaaaaa?"
"Yup. My dad and mom moved here years ago and they had me in the northern region." Fourteen years ago, the civil war was still at its hottest but, to Suzu's parents, who had refused to flee the country, her birth was a glimmer of hope to her family. "The Royal clan were too scared to attack my parents. They weren't in the rebel forces but the Royal clan stayed the hell away from them."
"It must have been hard, the civil war, I mean."
Suzu shrugged. "I honestly can't remember much about the war. I was seven when it ended and my dad spent most of his time teaching me how to control my chakra at the back of our house. All I know is one moment there's a war and then there's not." Suzu then clapped her hands over her red cheeks and looked down. "Leader Naruto stayed at our house once." Kushina felt her own cheeks heat up. "My dad used to tell me Ghost stories; he has so many of them too. Leader Naruto is just so freakin' awesome. He's the reason I wanted to be a ninja, y'know."
"Did-Did…" Kushina stuttered, poking her fingers together and shyly asking. "Did you hear the one of when Lord Naruto arm wrestled a Hidden Mountain gorilla?"
Suzu pursed her lips and tapped her chin in thought. "Yes, yes, that he was on a personal training mission. I heard that some Chui-Inku want to make a manga about him."
"Ooooohhhhhh," Kushina fluttered at the idea, slowly coming out of her shell.
"Yeah but they need Leader's permission first." For obvious reasons. "Leader thinks a manga about him is too pretentious, so he didn't allow it."
"Pre…ten…shus?"
"He doesn't want to look like a cocky bastard." Suzu clarified.
"Ah…I get it. That sucks."
Suzu laughed. "It really does."
"So…you're a genin."
"I got my hitaite last year. Nakamura-sensei is thinking of sending our team to Kiri for the Chunin Exams."
"Is it…hard being a ninja of this country…?"
Suzu lilted and tossed the question back and forth in her mind. "Yeah, it's really, really hard being a Dark Ninja. We need to spend five years in the academy doing beginner's training and after graduation things gets harder by the year; training, missions, non-ally relations during missions, stuff like that. There are so many expectations piled up on our shoulders, so many people look up to us for protection and for help. So many people, our allies included, depend on our strength and our skill. We Ninjas of the Dark have a particular…standard we are expected to maintain and sometimes people can't measure up and they quit."
"Then…"
"Why am I still a ninja?" the older Uzumaki returned her hands to the back of her head and closed her eyes serenely. "Cuz I love this country so damn much and I don't want to see anything bad happen to it. As a ninja, I'm literally placing myself in the way of danger and it makes me happy to know that every mission I go to, even the minor ones, makes my country that much stronger."
"What about the people that quit? Don't they love this country?"
"Only a few people quit, not as many as you think, and even still, they do other things that can be equal to what ninjas do." She then went on. "They become weaponsmiths, doctors, scientists, electricians, engineers, diplomats, travelling merchants, lots of things. There's even a whole Department in the Civilian Division that reassigns those that quit being ninjas and Defence Corp operatives but still want to do something super productive for the country and make Leader proud." there wasn't a BLAK operative that had quit yet. Suzuyi then smiled widely down at the wide eyed, mystified girl. "You'd be surprised by how many people want to make Leader proud."
"Oh…"
"Oh hey!" Suzu suddenly said as they passed the wrought iron gates of the Capital's training ground. "I see someone on my team over there." she grabbed Kushina's hand and skipped towards her teammate, waving. "Hey Gonzo, you rotten piece of camel dung, what's up?!"
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Training ground six
Konoha
Sometimes Jiraiya wondered what would have happened if he had pressed down harder on Naruto to become his student instead of allowing the future legend to be trained by his snake summoning teammate.
Konoha could have had a powerful ally, hell two powerful allies if he counted Sueki.
If only he had twisted Naruto's arm harder, or drew him closer to himself through the boys student, then maybe history wouldn't flow in its current direction; Konoha wouldn't be without its Uzushio alliance, Suna wouldn't be disregarding Konoha's authority, Dark country would, once again, be annexed by Fire country-or better yet, Konoha-and all the resources of Darkness would be for the Leaf.
Their world would have been perfect.
If only
If…only…
…If…only…
Not a day goes by that Jiraiya didn't regret not noticing and plucking the future Ghost before his teammate. All for a stupid contest.
Never again.
Fate was giving him a chance to correct his mistakes and rewrite history the way it was meant to happen.
Without a shadow of a doubt, Minato Namikaze was a once in a lifetime prodigy.
A genius among geniuses.
All Jiraiya had to do was point the boy in the right direction and allow the child to run wild.
It was scarily like Naruto.
Orochimaru merely gave the masked blonde pointers, rammed information and jutsu into his head, set him down on a path and watched his student shoot up into the sky.
Naruto wasn't a genius like Minato, but he was no less a terror on the battlefield.
For if Hiruzen Sarutobi, the teacher of the legendary Sannin, was called the Kami of Shinobi, Naruto was to be referred to as the Yami of Shinobi. The blonde was already a Ghost, but he needed the right catalyst and the right battle to give him yet another fear inducing name. Hiruzen and the other high ranking Konoha shinobi didn't want to acknowledge it but there was a very big possibility that Naruto was still getting stronger.
Yami of Shinobi.
It sent chills down Jiraiya's spine.
Minato could very well be someone that could match Naruto, if only he got the right training from the right person and at the right time.
This time, Jiraiya was going to do it right.
Minato Namikaze had two chakra affinities, water and lightning affinities.
Just like Naruto.
The latter was more dominant than the former.
Just…like…Naruto…
The difference being that while Naruto had two bloodlines, Lightning release and Smoke release, Minato only had the Lightning release bloodline. Not like Naruto.
Minato didn't have Smoke release and combining his lightning and water didn't result in smoke but rather electrified water, which was lethal to any one in any dose. At the age of seven, Minato could already separate his chakra and send lightning chakra to specific muscles and tenketsu in his body that could increase his speed by up to normal chunin speed.
For now, Jiraiya focused on training Minato's mind until he entered the academy.
The sage recalled the first day the Sandaime trained them, and he threw the same question his sensei asked his teammates.
"What is your ambition, brat?"
Minato looked up at him from his book of basic genjutsu, his crystal blue eyes spinning with determination and his left hand, holding a pencil over a paper pad he was jotting on, tightened.
"Hmm?" Jiraiya sounded. "Well?"
"Is it ok to have two?"
"Of course!"
"My first ambition…is to bring justice to Konoha by killing my father…"
Jiraiya positively glowed at the words, savouring how the boy grinded his teeth. "And your second ambition?"
"I want to become the next Hokage."
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Dark country National Bank
Dark country
Winter in Darkness was horrible.
At the end of the year, almost exactly a month and a half before the next year, a snow storm would roll in from the east, bypassing most of Water country, flowing over the sea and running over Dark country, blanketing the nation in thick snow and frigid cold. The weather forecasting team of the country had tracked the storm as it circumvented water country in a slim arc and slammed into their country, only making the Mist somewhat colder than normal. The snow didn't truly affect Whirlpool country but the snow there wasn't very thick, and by the time the snow storm had passed over Darkness and proceeded out of the borders to Fire country the cold would have subsided to a faint chill, taking its course northwards and curving back east, like a boomerang, escaping the continent from Lightning country.
The worse of the snow storm always hit Darkness.
The weather phenomenon baffled them all, even Naruto.
The reason because the storm came from the east of the planet, bent and curved in a smooth arc, smashed through Dark country at full blast, continued through the continent, gradually slowing down and losing strength, and then finally leaving the continent from the east, almost as if it was returning back to the sender so as to recharge itself.
The storm lasted a whole month and even after it had gone, the snow wouldn't melt until another month, which would seep into the next year.
It would result in a forced shutdown of almost all services, including food delivery. Traders and merchants wouldn't be able to travel about or sell their wares, missions leading out of the country became harder to perform, guarding the border was more difficult and office work and inventing became a home affair. The hospitals needed to be staffed at all times so medics, doctors and nurses, when their shift was over, were escorted back to their homes by Naruto's ninjas, even as the blizzard was rocking through Darkness. Those to take the new shift were summarily guided to the hospital.
It was a very busy time for Naruto's ninjas.
Wisely, Naruto ordered his people to stock up on food, water and warm clothes for the next two months and in the case of large families blowing through rations unintentionally, then they were permitted to call for emergency supplies. It wasn't that people weren't allowed out of their homes but obviously no one could or should come out during a snow storm. The houses had been built sturdily enough and had been triple reinforced by seals to withstand the force of the winds and the weight of the snow, Naruto's ninjas regularly poured salt on main roads and some fairly used paths for those that desperately needed to leave their homes for one reason or the other.
Through this all they persevered.
Only a handful of people left the country for allied villages for the winter and only because their health couldn't handle the frigid weather.
Naruto was meeting with the Director of the Dark country National Bank, which was also Dark country's Central Bank, to discuss on how best to endure the blizzard and how they now fared against it.
"As you know, my lord, winter is just around the corner." Amara Chui-Inku said from behind her desk, sitting forward in the seat and presenting a detailed summary of the country's account. Naruto took the book, sat back, crossed his right ankle on his left knee, and began sifting through the summary. "Compared to last year, we have seven times more in our Nation's Account," which was an outstanding figure, Naruto commented in his mind as he saw the final result of a whole year of trading and investment written in proud, bold numbers on the very first page. "I sent out a notice since the last three weeks for families to begin preparation for winter and for traders inside and outside the country to finalize and submit their yearly sales report to the bank for scrutiny."
"I'm aware." Naruto mumbled, still running through the contents of the book after the written final result. The Dark Bank supporting traders in and out of the country helped lessen the impact of the almost customary first year of loss by investing in their business, as long as it was pitched right and could be seen as foreseeably profitable. Loss was reduced to half a year before profit staggered its way onto their accounts.
The Goth ink user cleared her throat and went on. "I have all the trading reports," she pointed a dainty finger at the book. "It's summarized on page thirty. Anyway…I've noticed a spike in families and individuals saving more of their personal cash in the bank."
"Understandable. This bank is the country's safety net. If the economy stumbles or falls, then they'll already have something saved up to keep them afloat until everything stabilizes."
The norm in the country was that ten percent of every working person's salary, whether they were ninja or civilian, barring teenage apprentices and assistants that were still in school, was sent straight to the bank by the organization they worked in. The ten percent deduction was saved in a corner of the workers account where they couldn't touch or withdraw from, which every working person in the developing nation had-BLAK, DC, Police, office worker, scientist, farmer, engineer, and many more-, and slowly accumulated with money. When a crisis hit, like a blizzard for example, and their lives were turned upside down from the disaster then they could rest assured that they could withdraw their emergency savings and also get the assistance from ninjas of the country.
If by some unlikely chance a house was knocked down by the storm then it could be rebuilt as good as new, for free, but the items inside had to be replaced by their own savings. Free education, healthcare, housing and employment opportunities for all eased up the strain on people to have worry too much on where to get the money to replace their valuables. A rich Dark citizen merchant got the same treatment as a Dark citizen farmer, just as long as they stayed within the law and they were productive. Their salaries and wages could go into food, clothing and secondary needs.
The entire reason learning, health and housing was free-and of good quality-was because of the surge of mission requests from across the continent, their very beneficial trade with River, trading in other countries and their investment in the Suna Farm, of which first harvest was approaching.
"It says here that the Electrical Company came in for a loan."
"Hai," Amara nodded. "Their engineers came up with an idea to solve the winter blackout situation but they needed more funding than usual. Their idea has to do with seals and our very own engineering schematics."
A gleam entered Naruto's eyes. "Impressive."
Yes, most of the country's homes and facilities were connected to the Water board, a national company that was gradually including more and more homes as the months passed by, and the supply of clean water was also attached to the house, meaning it too was free. Electricity too was without a price but, with how the country had to distribute its funding to other departments and divisions, light on a normal day didn't stay for a whole day. The generator used by the company needed to be refilled with petrol every once in a while, left to cool for an hour or two and then turned on again. Buying another generator was expensive, so Naruto fed money into his inventors and engineers to invent an alternative source of electricity for the country that could stay on all year long.
So, with how electricity couldn't be on twenty four-seven, the blizzard somehow found a way into the generator and damaged it. This had happened for three consecutive years-last year and the two years before it-and Naruto had charged his inventors to do something about it.
This was one of the things Naruto didn't ask his allies for help with.
"The only problem I see is for the Suna Farm." Amara said.
"Don't worry about that; Tetsuyo is using some of the loan to build a greenhouse and even still, the storm won't get far outside of our western border." Because Wind country was west of Darkness and that place was blistering hot almost all year long.
"Uzushio want to know how they can help through the winter."
"Tamaki sent me a letter yesterday." Naruto muttered. "Her ninjas can come in with emergency rations if we need them. I told her ok, when we need them we'll call." Naruto turned to Sueki, who had been silently listening from a chair by him, and said. "Do you want to read this?"
She glanced down at the book and collected it from her leader. For that moment, she was once again his assistant instead of the BLAK commander; her deputy, Wasp, could handle matters in her stead until she resumed duty. "I'm not as good with numbers as Lady Amara but I'll try my best."
"You flatter me." Amara said with a tiny smirk to her younger clan mate.
Naruto's reasoning behind making the Chui-Inku clan head the Director of his National Bank wasn't only because the ink clan had been the number one donator to revitalizing the economy and had also sold a vast number of their paintings to improve the value of their currency. The woman, Amara, and most of her clan, were good at accounting for money.
The clan of fuinjutsu masters had been doing so for centuries but definitely not before they began doing art.
The Suzumebachi had been another choice but Naruto left them to heading the ninja school and a portion of the library to them.
His other reason for not appointing a civilian to head the bank instead of a ninja was that other countries or villages that had done so were either being run down by corruption or incompetence. Konoha was the one that first came to mind.
If Naruto was being completely honest, history didn't speak too well of civilians controlling money.
The only village that Naruto acknowledged was doing well, even with their civilian bank head, was Waterfall.
Amara proceeded to remind Naruto that the End of the Session Festival for the Ninja and Civilian Academies that was to happen in a few days would feature a ballet dance from her clan. The festival for both Academies occurred together, deciding on where the venue was depended on the Directors; for this year, the festival was going to be held in the Civilian Academy, meaning the Ninja students would troop over there.
The name of the dance was Search for the Mythical Jade Phantasm and the woman invited Naruto to her clan compound to watch the last practise before the event.
Taking Kushina to the ink clan compound will be a chance to show her fuinjutsu specialists other than her clan mates, Naruto thought. It would broaden her horizon on what to expect from seal masters. So he accepted.
As they rounded up their meeting and Naruto and Sueki were about to proceed to the south of the country to meet with the Foreman of the Dark country fleet of ships, there was another meeting happening somewhere else.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
The Office of the Leader of Waterfall
Hidden Waterfall
Waterfall country
"This is your only chance to redeem yourself." An old man spat. "Fleeing instead of facing your end like a man, disgraceful."
"…What do you want me to do?"
"Go to Darkness and kill the Ghost."
"…"
"He should be weaker than the Shodaime Hokage." The Waterfall Leader spat. "Weak enough for you, Kakuzu. Our Intel says that the Ghost is much weaker during the day than at night and attacking him in his home territory will limit his movement, dividing his attention between reducing property damage and loss of life." The Kage gave a laughing smirk to the impassive green eyed man. "Compared to Hashirama, the Ghost is chicken shit."
"I will not fail."
"Oh, I know you won't, because if you do, then you will have nothing left in Waterfall. You will be branded as a defector, so that Darkness will not turn to us."
"If you're so scared of them, why do you want me to kill their Leader?"
"Isn't it obvious? To get on Konoha's good side again!" the man exclaimed. "We kill their enemy and they become our trusted allies. We will be invincible."
"As you say." The green eyed jounin shrugged. "I'll take my leave."
"Make sure you don't come back without that brats head. There is a sizeable bounty on it and I'll give you sixty percent when you return."
"Of course." That's what Kakuzu fought for; not for family, for he had none, or for his village, because he couldn't care less, but because he loved money.
He was the strongest shinobi of Waterfall for the reason that he loved money over any one and anything.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Capital-Southern region Main Road
Dark country
Blood looked up to her teacher as they tramped down the side of a wide tarred road. "Sensei?"
"Hmm?" the masked man answered as he genially smiled to those that passed them, hastily giving way for them and bowing deeply.
"I've noticed you don't like using carriages."
"Walking is a healthier option, Su. It's good for your bones and for your heart. Besides, we're not in any particular hurry and it's such a nice day," he waved his hand to the light blue sky and the thick, pillowy clouds floating easily high above them. "The air is cool and clean and there isn't much foot traffic because people are stocking up for winter." Only some horse drawn carriages clacked down the tarred road, carrying purchased items and some families that were moving to other regions of the country, including the capital. The riders in the carriage waved happily at them and the duo replied back with polite waves. "Walking gives me a chance to exercise."
The option of a carriage had been offered to Naruto and, as usual, he declined and opted to walking the few kilometres to the southern regions boating dock.
"It's been a while since I've been on a good ol' S class mission where I can stretch my legs and just, you know, run wild." The masked man sighed. "I think leading is making me lazy, Su."
"Didn't you go on a mission two days ago?" his student wondered, looking at her teacher with the same emotionless gaze but with a questioning glint in her eyes.
"That was barely a challenge. Kill a monk? I can send a genin team to do it and they'll get it done," he snapped his fingers. "Just like that."
"What about the 'Nature chakra man' you sensed?"
"I couldn't jeopardize the mission by giving chase."
"Well, I personally don't think you're getting lazy, Naruto-sensei." Just because leading a whole country was a fulltime job didn't mean Naruto didn't set time aside to do an hour or two of some personal training on the weekend. "If you want, we can spar after the meeting with the foreman. I came up with this technique that I'm positive will land on you." Her red eyes burned with determination and her master chuckled, playfully tousling her painstakingly combed white hair.
"Oh really? Tell me all about it?"
The woman turned to him with a sharp smirk. "No."
"Aww."
"We spar, then I'll tell you." She looked back to the path ahead and her hands, hidden under the wide, long sleeve of her Dark country ninja cloak, tapped her sides aimlessly. "That's not gonna work on me again."
The man laughed lightly with his eyes closed, jabbing his student's rib and waggling his eyebrows. "Are you sure you don't want to tell me?" he poked her side. "Huh?" he poked again. "Huh?" he jabbed again. "Huh?"
"Sensei…stop. I'm not telling you." Sueki said with finality, a smile just barely wiggling on her red lips. Her cheeks threatened to colour at the adoring looks from those passing by but the vampire maintained composure. She tilted her chin up, walked half a step before her master and refused eye contact with the tittering blonde.
"Are you sure…?" Naruto asked slowly.
The woman bit her bottom lip and her fists closed tightly, shaking at her sides. Her mind was torn between two sides, the indecision almost showed on her pale face. Sometimes she felt like Naruto knew how much of an effect he had on her, with the way he always teased her, always poked her, always patted her head, always incessantly prodded her for her secret attacks and defends she came up with on her own. This had happened a number of times; she came up with a new move to defeat her teacher, she would make the mistake of telling him before they got to the training ground and then she would ultimately spill the beans and ruin her chance of beating him, or at the very least getting in a single tag. It was technically cheating on his part, because no one could get a rise out of her than her teacher, but it was worth it to hear him praise her intuition after explaining the finer intricacies of her plans and attacks.
Ugh
Thinking about the praise made the confident black ops Kunoichi stumble once in her step, worrying a few people sitting in carriages. He would pat her head, smile at her and tell her that he was proud of her.
Damn it
Her master always had a way to weasel words out of her mouth, leaving her a rattled mess even though he didn't touch her. Hell, the only secret she kept, which she assumed he knew but was denying, was that she loved him. He knew now, but still…
A part of her mind wondered if there was anything about her that Naruto didn't know…
"Su~" Naruto chirped with a sparkle in his eyes. His playful voice slithered back into her mind.
She cursed herself and slid back to his side, her hands coming up to give a small demonstration. "Ok. It goes like this-"
"My Lord Naruto!" Naruto's head snapped away from his shaking student and looked back to the approaching DC operative. The people walking on his side of the road cleared a path and the man skidded to a halt before them, falling onto a knee. Five more DC ninjas gave Naruto and Sueki a wide berth to listen to the emergency. He said in a hushed tone. "Kakuzu of Waterfall is trying to breach the northern border as we speak."
Naruto perked up. "What a coincident. Sueki and I were just talking about how I'm getting lazy."
The Hogo man blinked owlishly at his leader, confused. "W-wha-"
"Tell them to direct Kakuzu somewhere clear, away from the Dark Forest. I'll be there in a minute."
"R-roger, sir." The man saluted, still confused that their precious commander would think that he was lazy, with all the constant travelling he did around the country. He plucked a walkie talkie out of a holster and buzzed their Leader's orders into it to the team holding the high A rank ninja back.
"You can tell me your secret attack later, Su." He placed a hand on her shoulder. "Let's go."
Pomf
And they were gone in a small burst of black smoke.
Authors note
How do you think Naruto would fare against Kakuzu? Do you think Naruto is weaker than Hashirama? Is he weaker during the day, like the Waterfall Intel said?
And Minato too; do you think he is Naruto's son? Will he become stronger than Naruto?
Will he ever kill Naruto?
So many questions XD
Let me know what you think, would you so kindly. Please stay safe, wherever you are in the world, and I will see you when I see you.
Foy.