I don't own Naruto, or any of the characters from the Manga or Anime.
A Price for Peace
Chapter 47: A New Shinobi Village
A lot can happen over the course of only three months, far more than even Naruto had expected. After they liberated the southern capital, the blond allowed any who would rather not stand with them, or risk their safety to leave the village. Even going so far as giving them a percentage of the funds the village had on hand to start a new life somewhere else. Those of the empire left in chains and a cart pulled by a few oxen that would not be missed in the building of their new sustainable village. On that note the planes outside the large city, once barren and empty, now were filled with farms growing vegetables, as well areas for animals, all to feed the new uprising.
Further out, away from the imposing city, large training areas had been constructed and even now each were filled with new recruits that had signed up to fight for their lives and freedom from the empire. Along with the recruits, several of Naruto's clones were at each of these fields attempting to teach as best he could. While the physical side of things was rather easy to explain, it had been hard for him to properly explain the theory behind the use of jutsu and chakra. This was mostly because he was never very bright, at lest as far as the area of academics was concerned. Luckily Karin was on hand and more than happy to help take over whenever those lessons came up.
Refugees were almost a constant for the fledgling nation, arriving at the gates to the city in hopes of starting a new life outside of the empires control, and after an in depth inspection to make sure there were no spies from the empire were allowed entrance and given a new home along with enough food to last several weeks until they found a job or signed up to aid in the construction of the new rebellion, either as a trainee shinobi, or in other non combat roles.
Naruto sighed as his clones began to dispel signalling the end of the training for the day. He allowed a small smile to grace his features at the memory of improvements they had made, "Heh some are getting good, probably near mid Genin level."
'Well they won't last long in a full scale battle out in the open, but they could at least be used to throw kunai and shuriken when the village is attacked,' Kurama replied, his lazy drawl showing his indifference. The large fox could really care less about the strength of the others but he could see how they would be useful in the future.
Naruto sighed in agreement, folding his arms behind his head as he walked through the village, granting a friendly nod or smile to any who would greet him. 'Yeah you're right. Either way you look at it; we need more time. I even cut out the boring lectures Iruka-sensei used to give and focused on the practical areas, but there is only so much you can do in a few months... Still the advanced class is getting there,' he replied in thought as his destination came into view.
His goal was at the northern side of the village the giant towers gave way and more homely looking buildings took their place. Toward the middle of this sector was a large fortified compound that was comprised of a large stone mansion with walls almost as thick as those that had surrounded the village. The building served many purposes, but for Now all Naruto cared about was that this was his home.
He eyes a broken training post that had been installed for teams from the empire that had been sent to the city in the past. 'Looks like Karin-chan has been busy today as well. I hope she's not too tired, we have a meeting later, Baa-chan will get mad if we're late or not paying attention.'
"Yo Karin-chan you in?" The blond called as he pushed open the door into what was a large foyer, he sighed when the answer didn't come straight away. "This place is way too large for us, I was happy in our little home back in the small riverside village," He added before Karin made her presence known.
"Naruto-kun, you're back!" she cheered happily bounding down one a flight of stairs before giving him a quick hug. She was wearing a lavender loose fitting t shirt and some black shorts that cut off high up her thigh showing off her long legs. Her hair seemed to be growing longer now reaching the small of her back, regardless of length however it still continued to be completely uncontrollable on one side. "How was your training?" She asked once she allowed the embrace to end.
Naruto rubbed the back of his head in mild embarrassment. "Not bad, but I'm having trouble with some of the elements. I don't care what Fukusaku-sama says; trying to master all the remaining elements at the same time is too hard." It was difficult to admit that he was failing, especially when he knew that the beautiful red head seemed to think that he could do anything.
"They did test that you had the elements right?" She asked feeling sorry for the blond.
Naruto nodded an affirmative. "Yeah, I have all five, just like Fukusaku-sama guessed. I don't know where they got the chakra paper from though... I do hope they're not stealing from Konoha though," he said, his thoughts drifting to his old home almost longingly.
"Then I know you can do it Naruto-kun, don't give up," Karin smiled lovingly as she spoke.
Naruto smirked in response, "Don't you know, I never give up, and I never surrender; that's my nindo after all. Just even with a bunch of my clones working on different elements it just all get's jumbled up and I can't focus on anything... the worst is definitely Raiton, neither Fukusaku-sama or Shima-sama have that element, and I don't know who to ask for help," he admitted but feeling significantly better.
"Well I don't even know my element so I can't really be of much help... but why don't you just pick one element to train when you're not with the toads? I mean it will mean less time together but if it's important maybe you should." Karin admitted sadly, it was not something that she could help with.
"Yeah I've thought about it, but with everything that has been going on lately we have barely had any time to ourselves," Naruto replied.
Karin grinned happily as a new thought occurred. "Well let's fix both then. All I need to do is find out my element and we can train together,"
"Alright but we need to find some more chakra paper, maybe we should ask Baa-chan, I shouldn't ask the toads again, they have been in hiding on Myobokuzan since I faked my death and it's a risk if they leave," Naruto beamed enthusiastically.
"She's in the office going over some requests for renovations to the city," the female Uzumaki replied finding her boyfriends enthusiasm to be contagious.
"Then what are we waiting for, if anyone knows how to test your affinity it will be her!" He cheered grabbing Karin's hand and taking off in a light jog. They ran up several flights of stairs till they came to the top floor, a confined, dome with large glass windows allowing clear lines of sight in every direction and only comprising two rooms, a large office and a small separate waiting area. "Hey Baa-chan!" He called happily before opening the door into the main office.
"What do you wan't Gaki, I'm working?" she said with a halfhearted scowl before she even came into view of the young couple.
Naruto was hit with a wave of Nostalgia, Tsunade sat behind her desk, a stack of papers in one hand and a saucer full of sake in the other. "Man this brings me back, it's just like you're Hokage again," he beamed.
Tsunade didn't share the younger blonds enthusiasm however and allowed her scowl to deepen sending the blond a glare that he completely ignored. "It's not by choice thats for sure. But someone has to take care of running this city, and unfortunately you're too valuable to be kept behind a desk for most of the day," she said bitterly downing her saucer of sake before pouring another. "Now get to the point we don't have all day."
Naruto rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, "Uh sorry Baa-chan, we need some help with Karin-chan's training," he addmitted.
"I thought you had left her training up to the snow leopard clan," the Godaime inquired quirking an eyebrow.
"Well yeah I have, because she's not suited to my Taijutsu style and most of my Ninjutsu are either too chakra heavy or require Sage mode... and it's impossible for her to learn the toad style Ninjutsu that Fukusaku-sama has been teaching me anyway." Naruto admitted somewhat sadly, he had thought of teaching Karin the Rasengan and Shadow Clone but had so far decided against it, mostly because he didn't have the required balloons or rubber balls needed for her to complete the first to stages of the Rasengan training.
"Get to the point Gaki, what do you need?" Tsunade spat, with fake anger.
"Right, I need to find some chakra paper to test Karin-chan's affinity, The toads got some for me, but it doesn't feel right asking for someone else. Besides I think they may have stolen it from Konoha," the younger blond admitted, his hand running through his spiky locks.
"That's not an easy request Naruto," Tsunade admitted honestly. "I think I can get some though, I'll need to send Katsuyu to Konoha soon to deliver a message to Kakashi, as well as pick up some more supplies." Naruto grinned knowing when Tsunade said supplies she meant alcohol. "I'll get a few books of chakra paper, those students of yours will need them eventually as well."
Natuto beamed happily. "Thanks Baa-chan I really owe you one."
"Yes, thank you Tsunade-sama," Karin added, her own contented smile still in place.
"Don't mention it Karin-chan, just make sure you keep this idiot out of my hair for the rest of the day," the former Hokage said with a soft smile.
(Elsewhere)
Gouhara was knelt before a large four poster bed, while the bed was dimly lit, the room itself was dark, almost pitch black. The curtains around the bed were pulled tight so only a shadow of the occupant could be seen. "You sent for me Ojii-sama," she said, her voice was strained from frustration of being called to the capital of the empire and having to remind herself who it was she was speaking to.
"It seems time has not improved your attitude Hime," the figure spoke, his voice gravely cracking from age. "It should be quite obvious why I called you here is it not?"
Oh yes the albino Uchiha knew all too well why she had been brought before the emperor. He may be a bedridden, decrepit old man, but he still kept a watchful eye over his empire. "I believe you are referring to the small upstart that has taken control over a part of the southern most kingdom," she answered her voice flat, devoid of all emotion as she schooled her features.
"It seems you are not as incompetent as I gave you credit for dear girl," the old shadow taunted. "The question is, what are you going to do about this boy who humiliated us!?" he roared, his voice portraying that of the man who won his spot as the overlord of the empire.
"How should I proceed Ojii-sama? My forces were crippled when he struck the placement trials, even taking all the surviving recruits, the portion of the army I control is currently weaker than all the other governors," she queried already steeling herself for the inevitable.
She was not to be disappointed as a second later the old man rose in his position on his bed. "You still control five thousand men you stupid woman. When you took over for your husband I allowed it, he was a weak and pathetic man to allow himself to be killed by the likes of you. But even he would have dealt with a single boy and a handful of traitors by now!"
Even if she had been expecting an outburst her control over her emotions was beginning to slip. "Five thousand men will not be enough!" she declared both loudly and honestly. "You think me weak old man, but every time you have tried to get rid of me I pulled through," her features turned to a pronounced scowl. "You had that seal placed on me to prevent me from using wind, I broke free, I overpowered it! You had my parents sell me to that foul cretin I was forced to call husband... So I killed him, I enjoyed it, and when you finally die I will enjoy that too!" she huffed, a glare firmly levelled toward the shadowy figure.
A long pause followed the shocking declaration but was suddenly broken by the old man laughing. "Look at that defiance in your eyes, it's such a shame you are so weak... otherwise you would have made a fine wife for the crown prince." He scoffed derisively. His humour suddenly disappeared and a massive spectral hand of Susanoo curled around the princesses form exerting enough force for her bones to begin to strain in protest. "You have till the end of the year, you will get no more men, no more time. Kill the boy and bring me his head or die, those are your options. Do you understand?"
His Susanoo squeezed slightly tighter when she didn't answer immediately causing her to scream out in pain that almost came out as a moan. "Yes Ojii-sama."
Satisfied the emperor released the albino, tossing her against the far wall like a rag doll. "Good. Now get out of my sight, you sicken me," he spoke deadly serious.
For her part Gouhara didn't make a sound as she rose to her feet, crossed the room and exited via two large double doors. While the previous room had been almost black apart from the illuminated bed, this room was well lit, filled with gold ornaments along the walls were pictures of the emperor in better days, looking strikingly close to that of his father Madara, who had a statue in gold at the end of the hall next to the exit.
Opening the the door at the end of the hall she was standing on a large balcony atop a tower that rose so you could see for miles in every direction. The balcony sat overlooking an endless expanse of towers that were significantly shorter, all cloaked in the seal of the empire and Uchiha clan. Gouhara let out a frustrated sigh and moved to begin descending the side of the tower when a new presence made itself known. "Now what did you do to piss off Tou-san this time Gou-chan,"
"Izami-sama," Gouhara sighed wanting nothing more than to leave but knowing that if this man wanted something then there was nothing she could do.
Izami was a tall man with spiky black hair that he kept at shoulder length. He wore a white causal kimono that allowed for easy movement that was tied by a black and red cord that also held a Katana loosely at his hip. His feet were covered by combat sandals. "What's the matter Gou-chan, are you not happy to see me?" he asked in mock hurt.
"That's not it at all Izami-sama, I have just been given a rather undesirable task by Ojii-sama," Gouhara spoke bitterly.
"Undesirable... but my dear Hime, you are given the chance to serve the empire, should you not relish that opportunity?" He teased.
The albino princess had heard these words before, every time when she was given a task she would hate. The first time was when she was thirteen and given to this mans youngest brother as his bride. Her inability to perform a single Katon jutsu was seen as an affront to the empire despite her prodigious talent in combat and Fuuton jutsu. As punishment for her perceived crime Izami, the man before her placed a sealed collar on her neck that prevented the use of Fuuton jutsu and offered her up as a prize to breed a more fitting Uchiha, all just for the chance to 'serve the empire'.
Her thoughts on the matter were rather clear as she was unable to prevent the scowl that crossed her face, Izami seemed to be more amused than threatened however. "You shouldn't scowl little Gou-chan, you're still a young and beautiful woman, I'm sure you will make a more worthy Uchiha a fine wife... though we must be sure to pick one that can control you better this time," he smirked knowing the proud woman would have to bite her tongue and keep her calm lest risk losing her pretty head.
"Is there something you want Izami-sama?" she questioned the wind around her unconsciously picking up ready to act in either offence or defence if necessary.
"Yes I just wished to offer my condolences on the death of your daughter, I hear it was quite the powerful jutsu that took her out. It's a shame she would have made a great commander in the future," he said casually, leaning on the raining of the balcony completely carefree.
"She was a foolish girl that didn't know when to run from a superior opponent," Gouhara replied emotionlessly. Joli and Gouhara had never gotten on, Joli hated her mother for killing her father and Gouhara saw her as a reminder of all of her humiliations at the hands of the man she had been forced to marry.
"Superior you say?" Izami chuckled in good humor. "I didn't realise our little upstart was an Uchiha."
"Don't be foolish, he's no Uchiha but undeniably powerful," Gouhara replied a tiny hint of awe and longing etching into her voice.
"Then it is you who are the foolish one cousin. We are Uchiha, we have no superiors, we are born to rule!" Izami scoffed.
"Your own son seems to think otherwise," Gouhara replied,a little pleased knowing that the mention of Shougo's desertion would get under his skin.
Izami knew what she was trying to do however and didn't give her the satisfaction. "I have no son, he is nothing but a dead man walking, but do bring me his head when you cut it off. That is your job after all..." With his piece said the man turned and seemed to fade away before Gouhara's eyes.
"This is why I hate the capital," she spat, her wind snapping the railing she was holding before she turned to leave.
(That Night)
underneath the large palace that now served as Naruto's home was a complex of tunnels that connected the building to others around the large compound, each path connected directly under the palace where there was a large meeting chamber well out sight of any potential spy. Currently Naruto and several others were seated at a large table that contained a rather detailed three dimensional map of the empire.
"We currently control this area here in the south," Shougo informed the group at large despite knowing that they already knew at least that much. "However over the last week refugee's have begun arriving from the east seeking to join our rebellion."
"Well that's good right, that means people know about us right?" Naruto replied happily.
Shougo nodded an affirmative but Tsunade could see from the map where there might be an issue. "The empire will not want us increasing in number, they will move to shut safe routs of travel should the numbers of refugees increase substantially," she spoke calmly.
"You are correct Tsunade, the major roads could be sealed any day now, but that shouldn't be an issue as long as we can keep open at least one trail," Shougo replied pointing to a small mountain pass that was a few days journey to the west. "This would be our best bet, my spies are spreading word of our uprising in the other sectors and if we can land a few more victories against the empire we could see our numbers grow, even from within their military."
"And you propose this to be where we strike?" Tsunade queried, she knew their fledgling shinobi were not ready to take on such a serious task and the twenty Jounin and Chunin class ninja that had joined them were not enough to fight a war.
"But that wasn't our plan, we said we would only retaliate to an aggression, not bring it to the empire," Naruto argued, not liking where this conversation was going.
"You're right Naruto, I am simply pointing out strategic areas that will be weakly defended, once the empire makes their move. We must have a plan of action before the enemy moves." Shougo explained.
"But it's been three months and we haven't seen or heard from the empire since the trials. Maybe I scared them off and they'll just leave us alone?" Naruto asked hopefully.
"That's foolish Naruto-kun," Karin lectured. "Shougo makes a point, if we think of this like a game of shogi, we are currently just setting up the board. They have the first move but we can anticipate it and plan our counter."
"Very astute of you Karin-chan, perhaps we should have made you the face of this rebellion, I'm sure you would inspire the men more than Naruto here." Shougo chuckled.
"Hey! I'm plenty inspiring," Naruto pouted.
"Sure you are, Gaki," Tsunade replied with a smirk.
Naruto sighed and went to mope in the corner, ignored by the other occupants of the room. "The only resistance you will find on this path will come from two areas," Shougo explained brining attention back to the map. "The town of Kanamete here," he said indicating a small mountain village. "They will number about twenty, they'll be stocked poorly, and won't have any highly skilled troops stationed there. Up here however there is a garrison of about fifty you can expect one commander."
"So how would we proceed?" Tsunade queried willing to use Shougo's knowledge of the empires military workings and land marks to their advantage.
"Kanamete is mostly a civilian village, it should be liberated in a similar manner to the way we took control of this one. The Garrison however should be destroyed, at least once we appropriate all necessary gear. Garrison's like this are easily reinforced and leaving them to stand while we do not have the numbers to man them would be dangerous." Shougo suggested.
"We would also need to act at the same time. If we attack the village first they could call for back up from the garrison, and attacking the garrison could mean reinforcements in the village." Tsunade reasoned while observing the proposed battleground.
"So we split up half go to the garrison while the others take over the village." Naruto said casually.
"I don't think that's a good idea," Tsunade replied, drawing the blonds attention to key landmarks on the map. "The garrison sits atop a plateau too many or those unskilled in stealth will give the attack away. This should be a small force no more than a single squad."
Naruto sighed in agreement, the assessment made perfect sense and made the blond Uzumaki realise just how much he needed to work on planing out proper strategy rather than coming up with plan in the spur of the moment. He had never had any experience leading missions that would help him gain these skills so he found himself quietly wishing Shikamaru was there with them.
"It should be no problem for you to take out the garrison by yourself when the time comes Naruto, maybe take Karin with you for back up?" Shougo suggested calmly.
"I guess, what do you think Karin-chan?" Naruto asked.
Karin nodded if not a little hesitantly. She was not worried about the attack, or that Naruto might be injured it was the other offensive that had her pause for a moment. "What about the other attack?" she queried.
"I will take charge of our main forces to take the town, my men would be more than capable ourselves, but I would suggest supplementing our numbers with some of the more promising trainees. They will need the experience and my men will be there incase things get out of hand," the Uchiha exile suggested.
"I like that idea, but this whole plan is based on movements suggesting an attack in the next few weeks. If we have more time we could hit more areas, or perhaps a larger target," Tsunade said folding her arms and examining the map looking over where small fortresses and military outposts had been marked out as points of interest.
"That's true, I would need more time to come up with a plan of attack, I would suggest a secondary attack, this time to the west. But I would need more intel from my spies before I could pick out a definite weak point." Shougo admitted.
Tsunade nodded in understanding, leaning back in her chair and pouring a saucer of Sake before taking a sip. "Well it looks like for now we have a game plan at least, Naruto how are the recruits coming along?"
"Well it's hard to say, the advanced class I guess could probably be considered mid Genin level, but I never really had a good grasp on that stuff. They're at least better than I was when I graduated... although thinking back thats not saying much," Naruto admitted sheepishly.
"Perhaps my men can help grade them?" Shougo mused. "The empire was rather picky when it came to talented students so all those in the academy were given a rank from E to A for potential... every so often they get one wrong though, Tetsu was given a C rank because he struggled to use his clans bloodline... that was before he discovered his mutation."
"It can't hurt." Tsunade answered, "Can you organise your men to go assess the students over the next few days?" she asked earning a quick nod from the Uchiha. "Good. Now that's all done I think we have spent enough time in this stuffy room, unless we get word of an attack we will meet up again next week," the declaration was followed by cheers from the younger blond who quickly grabbed Karin and dragged her from the room. 'Well he can claim he's not a pervert all he want's, but I would have to disagree, wouldn't you Jiraiya? I swear if your watching them up there I'll make you pay,' she thought with a smirk as she caught Naruto give Karin's rear a light squeeze as they left the room, her giggling and chasing after him told her all she needed to know of what they had planned for the remainder of the evening.
END CHAPTER!
Felt this was the best place to end this one, sorry if it's a little short. Hope you didn't mind me going into some light back story for Gouhara, wanted to give some context to why she is the way she is, rather than have her just be certifiably insane.
The main issue I had in the cannon with Obito and to a lesser extent Madara was their ambition lacked real purpose, the cause and effect were not there. Kakashi killed Rin so everyone needs to live in a genjutsu... it was poorly thought out in my opinion.
It would have made more sense if Obito had only wanted to cast the Genjutsu on himself, and everyone else getting trapped was just collateral damage. Going through all that just to see the woman he loved again would have been more along the lines of a tragic romance rather than just a little brat who wanted everyone else to suffer because he grazed his knee and had his favourite toy taken from him. Of course it would have maybe been a little better if she had actually liked him back and he wasn't just the male version of Sakura.
I have said it before but I think the best written antagonists in the series were Orochimaru and Nagato, they had personal backstories that had led to them into becoming the way they were, and they were also somewhat relatable, you could see why Orochimaru wanted Immortality.
Sasuke's backstory lost the plot and became a deus ex machina once Itachi died, becoming more and more pointless and sad leading to a poor end. (Personally really disliked his whole character arc since the time skip, just there as fan service to the Uchiha clan that could apparently do everything)
Madara's back story made so little sense that it is what inspired this fan fic lol... otherwise I never would have had Uchiha be the main villains, due to my dislike of how ridiculous they made them in the end of the series. It just made no sense to me that he revives himself after the battle with Hashirama then just did nothing, nobody ever saw him ever again until he saves Obito. The only person that could ever challenge him died young... he could have taken over or destroyed Konoha then but he just does nothing... sigh.
Kaguya... may have been interesting if they gave her more time, more foreboding... rather than the two – three chapters before she appeared.
So yeah maybe went a little overboard on the rant there... I started rereading Nightfall to begin work on it again... my grammar was quite sloppy in the early chapters, couldn't be fucked fixing it though. I Also gave the first few chapters of the Redux of this story a read. First chapter was decent covering the fight between Naruto and Sasuke, I originally omitted the fight scene because while I expected them to fight at the end of cannon, I had no idea at the time how strong they would be or what abilities they would have.
With that said next two chapters were basically this exact fic with different formatting. I don't mind so much, it's a fan fiction I don't care if people copy it, and he's giving me credit. But should I keep reading on? Has anything changed from my original story in it so far?