Chapter 4: The Catalyst
The Imperial City of Dǎo Shì
Standing in the heart of the young Empire, built upon an island surrounded by the Zhàn lake, stood the Empire's capital, the city of Dǎo Shì.
The city itself was centuries old. According to legend it was built by a great King to protect young wife who was with child. When the king went to war and died in battle his wife was taken by despair and she lost their child, overcome by sorrow wife wept so much that a lake formed from her tears so that none may try and love her again.
Despite the story of the cities founding, Dǎo Shì had a long history being the capital of many previous Kingdoms and Empires. So it didn't take much thought for Naruto name it as his Capital. The city was large bustling metropolis, it had strong walls and high towers, the Zhān lake made it easy to defend and its central location made it perfect for administration.
The lands surrounding the lake were also quiet fertile and earned the city, and Naruto, a lot of revenue from crop yields and livestock.
The Empire itself was divided into seven regions or kingdoms, which were then divided further into provinces. As you would expect each province was ruled by a Lord and each Kingdom was ruled by a King, whom all governed in the name of the Emperor. The Emperor himself ruled his own kingdom, mainly the valleys and plains surrounding Zhàn lake, so as he wouldn't have to rely on his lord and kings for income.
When he established the Empire, Naruto made great efforts to ensure the ruling class, which he ensured was made up of capable people who were loyal to him alone, was able to maintain relative autonomy so as to better govern the culturally distinct regions and yet still preserve the absolute power of the Emperor.
The feudal system, that had existed for millennia, worked well to do this, but to ensure the aristocracy didn't forget his power, Naruto declared that twice a year, upon the summer and winter solstice, all the ruling kings and lords shall come to the capital to advise the Emperor on the state of affairs and bring forth and disputes to be resolved.
And so here we see Naruto Uzumaki, First Emperor of the Uzumaki Dynasty, dressed in his long black robes and red shirt, his long blonde hair hanging freely, getting very irritated as he sat upon his red throne in his great hall surrounded by his pampered and selfish nobility and listening to two of his lords squabble over a disputed border and a few hectares of land.
"Your majesty please, that land has belonged to my family for generations, Lord Chu is out of line claiming it for himself" Came the plea of a old man dressed in fine purple robes with a long gray moustache that went down to his waist and his hair in a traditional bun
"Your majesty I am simply exercising my legal rights, when the borders were drawn the lands south of the Dào shí river where made part of the province of Qín" was the reply of his rival whom wore long indigo robes with white trimmings, he also had on a black headless and two black bangs framing his face.
Both men were currently standing in the centre of the hall over the large map painted unto the floor, particularly over the border between their provinces in the North Western part of the Empire.
"As you can see Your Majesty both Lord Chu and Lord Sheng are quiet passionate about this land, I feel like a mother unable to pull apart her spoilt children fighting over the last dumpling" Came the tort remark from an elderly man. Everyone chuckled at his light hearted barb despite the fact the as king he should have resolved this issue himself.
Zhou Fu was the mans name and he was The King of Wù. He wore long orange robes with his gray hair in a bun and sat third to Naruto's right in the circle of Thrones. The hall itself was specially designed so that each king who sat the circle of thrones was closest to their respective Kingdom on the map that painted unto the floor.
'Lazy old bastard' thought Naruto as he leveled a glare at the grinning King. The King and Emperor were in fact good friends as if any of his other lords had shirked their duties like this Naruto would have simply thrown them into the lake
"Well i'm happy to help you in this matter Your grace, at your age it's understandable for you to want to relax a bit instead of burdening yourself with such petty things" said Naruto as the crowd chuckled louder this time
"Lord Chu I understand that the lands were given to you when I drew the borders and Lord Sheng I also understand that the lands have belonged to your family for generations and so with that in mind, would Lord Chao step forward."
A young man with jet black hair tied in a bun wearing light blue robes with gold trimming stepped out of the crowd from behind King Zhou.
"Seeing as the land is also along the border of you province I declare it under your control" both Lord Chu and Lord Sheng screamed in protest as the crowd laughed at their actions.
"Your majesty this is preposterous!"
"I can't believe this, Chao has no claim!"
Both men continued to protest as Naruto could feel his patience wearing thin.
Both men felt themselves nearly faint as the Emperor leveled a glare at them with red slitted eyes, his whisker marks were more pronounced and the whole crowd fell silent under the pressure the blonde gave off.
The two lords simply bowed as low as they could and proceeded back into the crowd.
"Let me make this very clear" Naruto said loudly to the people before him, even the Old King Zhou was sweating under the Emperors gaze.
"I have no time for pathetic squabbles such as this, the next one of you to waste my time over a few hectares of land you will be thrown into the lake."
Normally he was able to control his anger better than this but between planning for the festival, dealing with the nobles and governing his own lands Naruto had become quite easy to anger lately.
It wasn't easy being Emperor
Xinjiang
After the islands of Lū dào, the Bay of Jing was the next region to fall under Naruto's Banner during his conquest. The port City of Xinjiang served as the provincial capital and was the site of one of Naruto's most stunning victories.
Outnumbered and outgunned, the young man spawned thousands of shadow clones to storm the city, this earned him the attention of the great lord of the continent and would make the beginning of the war of conquest.
Lord Huang Xiaoming was made lord of the province of Jing, being the nephew of the previous ruler and the only one of his family to accept defeat at the hands of the young Blonde.
Lord Huang considered himself a pragmatic man and followed a strict moral code, he swore an oath of loyalty to his Emperor despite his family's defeat and he would remain loyal to his dying day.
He was immensely grateful to the Emperor, for any other victorious Lord would have killed him along with the previous ruling family.
Currently Lord Huang was in his study signing some documents and looking over reports for the shipments destined for Lū dào. He was exempted from traveling to the capital as was Lord Chen so that the may both oversee the influx of visitors traveling to Lū dào. Lord Huang had even been given command of the 3rd Imperial Fleet by the Emperor so as to ensure the safety of the travelers.
He had forgone the tradition robes that the Aristocracy wore and instead he wore a simple blue silk gown and his brown hair hung loose to his shoulders.
He had a long scar that went down over his left cheek, for as a young man because he was simply the local lords nephew he was instead put to work as a soldier.
He had fought in many battles earning himself great merit in his family as a reliable commander, and after his defeat by Naruto he followed the blonde to war, commanding the Blondes ever growing army.
An urgent knock on his study door brought Huang's attentions away from his work.
"What is it" he said with a firm voice.
A servant in gray robes stepped through the door
"Lord Huang a boy was found washed up on the shore an hour ago, he was found with a scroll marked with the insignia of Lord Chen of Lū dào" the servant said as he handed Huang a small scroll.
Without waiting Huang snatched the scroll and quickly opened it.
"We are under attack
The village has been taken
Lū dào has fallen
Send help"
'What…?' Huang was shocked and took a minute to regain his bearings.
'It couldn't be pirates? No the people of Lū dào could drive pirates back easily… there's been no reports unknown ships headed west for the islands and the western sea has been under constant patrol…'
Thought Huang as his servant waited eargerly for his orders.
"Have all naval ships docked at the harbours prepare to depart in an hour, all soldiers in the city are to board the ships and prepare for battle, send word out to all naval vessels on patrol to set sail for Lū dào…" Huang paused for a brief moment as he looked over the scroll again.
"...Send word to the Emperor of what happened and a copy of this scroll immediately"
"Yes Lord Huang" the servant said as he took back the scroll and rushed out the door.
Lū dào
Whoever these people were they definitely weren't shinobi. When they first stormed the islands three days ago they met no resistance apart from a few shocked fisherman.
But when they reached the main village they saw a group of twenty soldiers wearing red leather and steel plate armour standing in their way. Large rectangular shields that stood from the ground to their shoulders, with spears poking over their shields and swords sheathed by their sides.
Now normally such trivial weapon wouldn't have worried Durai but these… whatever they were… had a few surprises up their sleeves.
They used some technique that created a visible chakra barrier over shields and when they linked their shields together the Kumo nin were forced to halt their advance.
Twenty three of his hundred shinobi had fallen to to these warriors, their chakra shields wouldn't budge against Kunai, explosive tags, lightning techniques or anything the Kumo nin could throw at them. Then when they matched forward in unison they threw their spears at such speed the Kumo nin could barely dodge.
Durai's men were only able to take them down when the soldiers broke formation and charged with their swords that glowed blue with chakra. Even then they still managed to kill some of Kumos finest Jounin.
After they took down their warriors the shinobi simply captured as many of the villagers that they could. Some of the men tried to fight with sword or spears but they posed no threat.
Despite being surprised of how many people actually live in the islands of Yoshimaru, despite the fact his men were taken down by swords and spears, despite the fact he had to practically torch the village to herd the people so they could be captured. One thing shocked Durai to his core
The fucking statue
When he commanded the the allied first division, he like all the commanders was given a detailed description of the appearance, abilities and personality of the alliances number one target.
Naruto Uzumaki
A teenaged boy with spiky blonde hair, blue eyes, tan skin, medium height and three whisker like birthmarks that adorned each cheek.
So when Durai and his men found a twelve foot bronze statue standing in the village centre, depicting young man dressed in the same armour those soldiers wore, with long spiky hair and three whisker mark on each his cheek questions started popping into his head.
Durai could already feel the headache coming on from when he would have to tell the Raikage.
'Fuck me why couldn't Omoi take this mission'
Kumogakure
It was three days travel from Konoha to Kumo and Shikamaru was exhausted.
He had already seen the Raikage and handed over the scroll Tsunade had given him, now he was lying in his hotel bed thinking on how he would go about his second mission the Hokage had given him.
He had been told that envoys from Iwa and Suna where on the way and should be arriving soon.
'Guess that mean Konoha isn't the only village to know of Yoshimaru'
Shikamaru guesses that if the other villages were as suspicious as Konoha was then Iwa would be more forward and just ask A why he sent a hundred Jounin to the middle of nowhere, the Tsuchikage wasn't one for small talk. Suna on the other hand he suspected of actually doing a little bit of espionage so all he had to do was stay close and see if he could learn what happened.
As far as anyone was concerned Konoha was on an annual diplomatic mission and knew nothing of Kumos activities outside of the alliance, Iwa and Suna on the other hand had surprisingly sent envoys out of nowhere for no apparent reason other then to stop by and say hello.
Shikamaru gave a large sigh as he relaxed after his journey. It wasn't often he could just lay down and relax with all his many responsibilities. His wife most of all was always on his back
"Did you finish your paperwork?!"
"Did you feed the deer?!"
"Did you make Mirai her lunch?!"
"Do I have to do everything around her?!"
"If you don't hurry up and come home right now I'll get your mother and we'll both kick your ass!"
Yes Shikamaru was glad to have a break from his nagging wife and stressful life.
"Troublesome bitch…"
Somewhere in the land of Fire
A tall man with jet black walked down a dirt road. He wore a long black cloak over a long-sleeved shirtthat covered both his hands, he wore a pair of brown leather belts with a black sheath for his sword, a brown shuriken holster clung to his waist and hs feet wore brown shinobi boots.
He walked calmly and slowly, as if he had all the time in the world. His eyes were as black as his hair with his right eye concealed by his fringe.
This man was Sasuke Uchiha, a man synonymous with redemption although not a lot of people liked him.
When he was a boy his elder brother, Itachi Uchiha slaughter their entire clan and left only Sasuke alive
When he was just thirteen he abandoned his home village of Konoha for the promise of power, power he would use to avenge his family and kill his brother
When he was 17 he killed his mentor, Orochimaru when the snake tried to take his body.
Soon after he ran into the midst of battle in hopes of having a better chance of finding Itachi.
During the war he found Itachi and finally managed to kill the elder Uchiha. Barely
Afterwards he was Captured by the Akatsuki and learnt of the truth of his Clans downfall.
Then he was recaptured by the allies and was told what happened to his former teammate, Naruto Uzumaki.
These revelations allowed him to activate his Mongekyou sharingan and in his anger and grief he broke out of prison and sought out Danzo Shimura, whom he killed.
He then helped the allies to defeat the remaining Akatsuki members including the leader 'Madara Uchiha'.
After the war he had his brothers eyes transplanted into himself. For his help in the war the Alliance granted him leniency and when knowledge of Danzo's past misdeeds was made public he was offered a place in Konoha. Which he refused.
Blaming himself for the disappearance of his friend, the last Uchiha exiled himself in search of his lost teammate.
And so here we find the Last Uchiha, one of the most powerful people in the Elemental nations, wondering the countryside searching lost rumours and made up stories.
Suddenly Sasuke paused and in one fluid motion he turned around, drew his sword and blocked a shuriken aimed for his head.
His sharingan active, Sasuke scanned his surroundings and within seconds he found his attacker hiding in the trees
Quickly Sasuke Shunshin'd to his opponent and used his sword to try and decapitate his would be assassin. His enemy was quick and revealed a kunai in his right hand ready to blocked the attack.
Just as the blades were going to connect, Sasuke blurred out of sight. His attacker only had time to widen their eyes before the tip of a sword burst through their chest.
Sasuke now behind the attacker simply withdrew his sword from the ninjas torso and in one motion sliced his head off.
The attacker, now revealed to be wearing a grey cloak and hood that shadowed his face, he had black hair and his lifeless eyes were a dull green.
As Sasuke approach the dead body he noticed a snake tattoo on the dead mans left wrist.
This man was once a follower of Orochimaru he concluded. For after Sasuke had killed the Sannin and Kabuto shortly after many of his experiments and subordinates went crazy without their leader and turned on each other.
Even five years after the fact followers of the snake still went after him and every time he killed them without a second thought.
Despite his redemption he was still a cold blooded killer, that would never change.
After cleaning his blade of the mans blood, Sasuke lit the corpse on fire to dispose of it.
Finished with the ten minute interruption Sasuke just continued walking down the dirt road into the sunset.