Chapter 04 – Preparations

Tazuna was waiting for Naruto to show up. He and his grandson Inari had quickly come to the conclusion to accept the offer. In all honesty, they had decided to accept as soon as Naruto left two months ago. The two men had been designing buildings and village lay-outs for the past two months. Tsunami, though not experienced in buildings and the works, often gave a quick suggestion when the two men went over their plans. Men could be very single-minded sometime.

The lady of the house was just preparing lunch when she heard her son shouting that Naruto had arrived. She wasn't looking forward to this day. Both her father and her son would be leaving for spirits know how long, while she had to remain here. Or did she? Surely they needed someone to support them? Yes, she would not remain here alone, she would join them. As soon as she stepped out of the kitchen, Inari rushed in to get his and his grandfathers belongings; apparently they would leave right away. Once outside, she greeted the new arrival. He asked her a question which nearly made her drop the tray of tea she had been holding and shoot inside faster than her son had just a minute ago.

"Are you ready to go Tsunami-san?"

Tazuna asked if it was okay for her to come with, to which Naruto merely chuckled and said that he needed a woman's touch. And in his case he could use several women's opinions about designing a complete village. To both male's amusement, Tsunami was out sooner than Inari and the woman hadn't even prepared to leave beforehand. The group of four would head to Konoha. It would be easier to travel to the island from there, even though they were now technically closer to it.

The journey wasn't all that eventful besides one bandit attack. They were easily dispatched by Naruto, but Tsunami was a bit more introverted after that, constantly looking over her shoulder. It took Naruto almost a full day to assure her of her safety. She blushed at his words.

"I will protect you with my life." Spirits, how she loved to hear a man say it to her. She would have to get herself in some more problems soon.

After four days of traveling, the group arrived. They went straight for Naruto's apartment and were quite surprised to see three women sitting there. The three waiting ladies looked with raised eyebrow at the unknown woman and Tsunami practically felt herself getting smaller. Naruto quickly introduced them and the family went slack jawed when he introduced his fiancées.

After the introductions, they all made their way to Naruto's bedroom, shifted his bed to the side and teleported to the Uzushio ruins. Once there, the three new arrivals looked around in wonder. All three of them had heard of the place, their island was right next door after all, but they would never have thought to actually see it up close, let alone build a new village there.

Naruto quickly summed a small stone platform so that they could look over the plans in detail. Naruto had decided to first build a few easy to remove houses for temporarily living arrangements. He informed the group of people that he had arranged with Gaara to send several laborers. It paid off to have friends. Tazuna inquired about a budget and started crying when he heard he could go crazy.

Naruto had earned quite the amount of money by defeating Sasuke, Obito, Madara, Pein, Kakazu and Zetsu. Next to that he saved several countries and the Kazekage with high rewards and an inheritance of his parents, Jiraiya and Kakashi. In short, he was loaded to the point he could be a Feudal Lord. He had covered the professionals needed by hiring them from neighboring villages and from Suna, and he covered the manpower by summoning a few hundred clones. All that was needed now was supplies, which he got partially covered by asking a favor from yet another person he had saved during the war.

Yamato had been captured by Kabuto and used by Obito to strengthen the army of Zetsu clones by sticking the man INTO the Gedou Mazou. When the fighting with the Demon Statue had ended, it started to dissolve into tin light particles, all rising up into the air. If what Obito had said, the statue was going back to the moon. It was almost too late that Naruto saw Yamato in the statue and pure luck that he got the former team captain out before he too disappeared towards the moon. It had taken a month for the Wood User to regain consciousness, but he had promised Naruto, like many others, to help him no matter what his request was. Of course, over the years Naruto had gained an understanding with the man. So he would make absolutely certain that Yamato wasn't going to overwork himself, he didn't save the man just so he could die of chakra exhaustion.

X

Two months into the building, the major planning finished and making good progress with the construction, Naruto took Tsunade down into the library. The older woman was nervous. The two of them would make the woman younger. If it wasn't Naruto, she probably would have smacked him through the entirety of the Elemental Nations, but she trusted him and his theory seemed…plausible enough.

One of the abilities of the Rinnegan was to grant life or death. Nagato had used this ability when Naruto had defeated him to restore the lives he had taken during his invasion of Konoha. There were two reasons however why Naruto's fate would not end up the same. First one was that Nagato had to resurrect hundreds upon hundreds of people, for that many people he had to use all of his own life force. Second one was that Nagato didn't meet the requirements for it to activate on its own, even if he had the bloodline. Instead it was implanted in him by Madara; his body breaking down and getting him into a wheelchair was a result of it. Naruto had awakened it on his own because he met the requirement of perfect body, spirit, chakra and knowledge.

Tsunade believed all that and she saw the logic in it, but what made her nervous was…she wasn't dead and even if she was, it didn't explain how she would get thirty something years back of her life. His explanation to that was simple as well, and sounded…feasible, but was slightly dangerous. According to Naruto, from the moment a person is conceived, they are given a fixed amount of life force. That life force will burn and burn. The fire starts out small, but grows with the growth of the person, but after a certain age, the fire will steadily die down until the life force runs out. It was like starting a fire. Once you light a piece of wood, the flame will slowly spread and become larger, but at some point, it doesn't get larger but start to die down as the fuel runs out. The technique would normally reignite the remaining life force within a person, which would resurrect them. In this situation however, he would add purified life force to hers, adding fuel in result, reversing what time had caused. She wouldn't have agreed if Naruto was going to sacrifice thirty years of his own life, but once again he had taken that into consideration. He wouldn't have to use his own life force. He had an immortal being made of chakra in him. Now she was somewhere where nobody was allowed to go without Naruto, so they would have privacy here and he had sealed it off for sound. He didn't think it would hurt, but one does not have certainties with doing this for the first time.

Tsunade lied down on the stone altar Naruto had summoned and undid her Genjutsu as he requested. She had never before shown her true self without the Genjutsu to anyone; she didn't count Sakura during the Pein attack apparently. If this was going to work, then she was showing her fiancé how she was going to look like in thirty years. She was afraid to open her eyes. She was afraid to see disgust in his eyes; in the eyes of the boy she had come to adore as a brother, like as a young man and was starting to love as a man. But it was something she had to face. She had to see his expression and was glad she did.

He was smiling at her. Not patronizing, not condescending and not grimacing. He was just smiling his usual warm, true smile at her. Now it wasn't just 'starting to love' anymore; it was just love now. He gave her a quick kiss. Not a kiss a toddler gives his mother, but a loving kiss, their very first kiss at that, a real kiss on the lips. The two savored the moment for just that, the moment, before he said that he had no idea if it would hurt and that he would stop as soon as she gave the word. He told her that he would accept her no matter how she looked or how old she was. What kind of woman could turn away a man like that, a hero in shiny armor that was kind and accepting? She sure wasn't going to.

Tsunade closed her eyes, waiting for something to happen; she wasn't sure what to prepare for. She felt a hand on her chest, right where her heart was and felt warmth radiate from it. The warmth got warmer and warmer till it got hot and hotter until it was burning. The burning could almost cloud the rest of the sensations; the stretching of her skin, the burning on her scalp, the filling of her flesh and the crunching of her joints. She didn't scream once; it really didn't hurt, but it was a discomfort that was so strong that it went passed annoying to almost painful, but not quite yet. At some point it stopped, but she didn't open her eyes until Naruto gave the word.

She opened her eyes and didn't want to see how the procedure turned out by simply looking at her hands. She looked over at Naruto and found him smiling. It seems that he was pleased with the result. She would just have to wait for a bit longer before she could find a full length mirror before she could judge for herself. Naruto helped her stand up, though it wasn't necessary; she hadn't felt this light in years. Now she really couldn't wait for that mirror.

X

Anko and Hinata were getting to know each other a little bit better under the perfect circumstances. They were at their fiancés home drinking a nice red bean soup and eating a cinnamon bun and dango respectively. They found out quite quickly that while Tsunade and Naruto liked savory food, Hinata and Anko liked sweets. The two ladies were just exchanging some war stories and tales about what they had experienced with Naruto when they heard footsteps behind them.

Naruto came walking in with a not so different looking Tsunade. The four stared at each other, before the loud mouth of the group, the female one, asked if the technique worked or not. Tsunade was surprised by the question. She wanted to go to the bathroom first; it was the only place where she could find a mirror, but Naruto wouldn't allow her; he dragged her to her fellow fiancées. With simply one sentence, the two former younger women rushed to hug their now same aged peer.

"She is not using her transformation technique."

X

Neji had planned to have a simple training day. No Rock Lee or Might Guy or even his bride-to-be, just himself with some peaceful meditation and running through a few katas. His whole plan got shot to hell when he was summoned by Hiashi-sama. He didn't mind his uncle all that much since the conversation they had seven years ago, when he lost to Naruto, but the man was still all about the clan and nothing else. While on missions Neji preferred it to be business only, but he wished his uncle would simply take the time to simply have tea with him, even if only once. Being the dutiful man he was, he merely nodded at the servant that delivered the message and made his way to room overlooking the garden, where his uncle had his business meetings.

When he arrived there, he had come upon a sight he did not soon expect to see; his uncle with two bottles of sake. He wondered if the spirits heard his thought from a mere moment ago and decided to add a little more, but looked with a curious look at his clan leader. The man in question was as stoic as ever and even if the setting was supposed to be inviting, with the host sitting without emotion, you might as well have hot coals to sit on.

That didn't mean that Neji kept standing. No, he took a seat and waited for whatever talk was about to happen to begin, but Hiashi-sama merely nodded and seemed to be waiting. After three minutes, what Neji thought was reasonable to wait for the person that requested to see you to speak, he heard people approaching. When he took a look behind him, he saw that both Hinata and Naruto were joining them. He looked at the reaction of his uncle and saw that the man had expected them. So this was what they were waiting for.

Even though he had seen Naruto when he had come back a few months ago, he was still a bit surprised by the change the man had went through. No longer was he the loud mouthed 'brat' he was all those years prior. In front of him was a man that radiated serenity, wisdom and strength. He was not the only one that had changed though. Hinata seemed to be confident and she had lost her stutter. Ever since his lost battle with Naruto, he had begun to open up to the girl. Even though he had almost killed her during the preliminaries of the Chuunin exam when they were but twelve and thirteen, she had not once stopped calling him 'big brother'. The talk was amicable, but he was smart enough to know that there was a reason why they were all assembled.

When all pleasantries were over and done with, three pair of eyes focused on the young Hyuuga male. He felt slightly cornered at first, wondering what was going on. He had not seen Hiashi so relaxed ever and though Neji thought it might have something to do with the barrier that surrounded them, it still seemed a bit off to him. As was expected of him, he gave his honest opinion to every question that was being asked off him. What did he find of the current state of the village? How were his missions going? How was it like being in charge of a group of people? Did he like the responsibilities? He didn't see any connection to any of these questions, but kept quiet about his own curiosity.

It wasn't until Naruto made the barrier that they were in black and unable to see through that the young man was alert and went in a defensive stance. It only lasted a moment before Hiashi opened up his mouth and uttered the next sentence that he dropped that pose. Literally; his knees buckled and collapsed in sheer surprise.

"Neji, you will 'desert' this village and prepare to attack Konoha and take over the Hyuuga clan."

If his All Seeing White Eye wasn't able to see through Genjutsu easily, he would have killed the imposter immediately. But even with his Byakugan activated, all he could see was his uncle, niece and one of the only people he respected in this village. So Neji just took another swig and asked his companions to repeat what they just said. His eyes might be great, but maybe his ears were acting up.

He had wanted to process the order he had just received from his clan leader, but didn't get the chance to when the barrier lifted and Tenten together with her parents joined them. He was confused before, but it was getting worse by the second. The barrier was set once more, much to the alarm of Tenten and her family. They were reassured by Hiashi and Hinata that there wasn't anything to worry about. So now there were four highly confused people together with three people waiting for their guests to calm down.

Neji composed first and waited patiently for an explanation. Tenten's father was next, followed by his wife and daughter. They all accepted a dish of sake, which were downed quite fast, before they returned their eyes to their previous target. The group of four was waiting for an explanation and it came from Naruto. He had a proposal for them. He wanted them to join his village. And all was quiet once more. Neji used the opportunity to process the words he hadn't gotten time to think about earlier and patiently waited for the rest of the story.

When all of the people had calmed down somewhat, Naruto told them about his upcoming village. The three clanless, Tenten and her parents, were skeptical about it; not unjustified. Her father might be from a long line of blacksmiths, but her mother was once a proud kunoichi of Konoha. The thought of leaving the village where she had been brought up was a huge pill to swallow. Neji was listening to every word that was exchanged between his mother-in-law and his friend. So far he hadn't heard a single word about him or what was mentioned earlier by his clan leader in the entire conversation.

Tenten' father Kayija Gāng and mother Kyoki Gāng, seemed susceptible of the idea. They, like many others were not at all pleased with the current Hokage. The 'Hokage' seemed to be spending more time with his military power than with the state of his village's welfare. The older couple had plenty of business, but the business that came was more preoccupied by the quantity that was demanded instead of the quality. In other words, the level of work that had to be performed was falling. As a blacksmith it meant that his customers did not fully appreciate his work and as a former kunoichi it meant that something wasn't right amongst the shinobi ranks, if they were discarding the quality of their weapons.

Even though the Gāng elders were tempted to open up a business in a new village, which might actually appreciate their work; their daughter and their son-in-law were a different matter. Both had friends here and the thought of betraying them did not sit well. They may not have any love for the man that currently led their village, Neji almost died because of his betrayal, but they were shinobi of Konoha, no matter who sat on its throne. Hiashi, Naruto and Hinata had expected the two to react like that. Their loyalty to the village was one of their best aspects. So they had to carefully explain everything in detail.

Most of the plan was directed at Neji, so he had the most to process. The plan involved him, making a branch house in another village with the branch family members. The seal on their forehead would be removed and they would be given another seal that had only one function; destroy the eyes upon death, to keep the Byakugan safe. The Branch house in the new village would become the equivalent of the Konoha Police force. Their eyes would be able to overlook the entire village to protect the villagers and as sentries they would be responsible for the entry points to the village. Of course there would also be shinobi, Neji could teach his family some of the basics. After a few years, Neji would come back and take over the Main House. Since the Caged Bird Seal is removed, the Main Family cannot use it against him and when he takes over he can remove the current council and abolish the oppression he and the rest of the Branch House had to go through.

Well, that explained the part about taking over the Hyuuga clan. Now the attack on Konoha part. A topic that alarmed Tenten and her parents; who weren't present when it was first mentioned.

Naruto told them that he was going to rebuild the Senju clan so they could take their rightful place. Of course, it would be at least 22 years before any offspring would be able to take over. So he would take the grandchild of the Sandaime with him to train. The boy would take over Konoha and begin its restoration until he was ready to retire and let the descendant of the founding father take over. The lineages of the two would appease the public and with proper schooling and training they would be fit to become a leader. But it wasn't until Naruto said that he would do everything in his power to ensure the safety of the villagers and the lives of shinobi, that Neji, Tenten and her parents seemed to open up towards the idea.

Tenten at this point was beginning to feel left out. Her parents had gotten a business opportunity, her soon to be husband had been given the offer of a lifetime, while she was the odd one out. Hinata seemed to pick up on the weapon wielders mood and began to inform her what her role could be if she joined them.

Tenten's expertise with weaponry would be invaluable in the teaching of the next generation. She would help Neji with the forming of a new Branch of the Hyuuga. The self-proclaimed Weapons Mistress felt a bit relieved at that; she wasn't one to just sit on the side and watch how others busy themselves in their duties. But it still felt a bit wrong to leave her village. Sure her parents would join her and so would her fiancé, but would it be worth it? Her thoughts were interrupted by Neji, who wanted to know HOW he can guarantee the safety of everybody when taking over Konoha.

"I have the support of every clan leader in Konoha. Once I give the signal, the clans will fall back. That will cause a drop in moral, since the clan's are the major source of strength of the shinobi force. I will only need to land one hit on an enemy to place a seal on a foe to paralyze them, so everybody I touch will be unable to get back up again without getting injured. And I alone will attack the village."

The looks the blond received were skeptical at best. How could one man defeat an entire village? They didn't have to think long before they realized who they were talking to; Uzumaki Naruto, Demon Container to the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox and hero of the war against the Akatsuki and the man that defeated an opponent that singlehandedly bested the Five Kages. It wasn't that farfetched actually; to take over a village alone.

The conversation stopped right after that and the people went their separate ways. This was not a decision to take lightly.

X

Konohamaru was having a nice day, his big brother was back in town and they were going to have a nice bowl of ramen. It would be their last. The Ichirakus were moving out of the village and wanted to settle somewhere else. Konohamaru wasn't as big on ramen as his brother was, but he still liked it. After that, the two would train a little. The last Sarutobi hadn't fought Naruto in years; he was looking forward to the sparring match.

The ramen was nice, but there seemed to be something going on with the owners of the restaurant and Naruto. Konohamaru just shrugged it off. The three of them always had a very good relationship. The meal was eaten with lots of questions from Naruto's part. About how life was going or how did he like being a ninja or how his quest to become Hokage was proceeding. The younger boy blushed a bright scarlet when Naruto asked if he and Moegi were together as a couple. It was a bit of payback from the blond about the little event that occurred with Sakura right before they met Gaara for the first time.

After paying for the meal and saying goodbye to Teuchi and Ayame, the two went to training ground 7. Naruto looked around a bit at first; relishing in the memories he had of this place with Kakashi in them. He didn't care about the other two that also were in those memories. Naruto took a good look at the young man in front of him and gave a small smile before he turned serious.

"Will you come with me to train, Konohamaru?"

Every bit of fighting spirit left the brown haired boy immediately. He was practicing his imitation of a fish too seriously to think about fighting. Naruto in all that time had not softened his expression and kept waiting for the reply. Konohamaru couldn't believe it. He had asked the blond ever since they met to help him train, but he never did. He taught him a few things when Ebisu was away or too busy with other duties, but never actually train. He didn't even have to think about it; the only reason it took so long to answer was because of his brain shutting down. As soon as he heard the answer being yelled, Naruto smiled at the boy again. Everything was falling into place. Now he would go to the Hyuuga compound to see how the last part of his preparations was going.

Konohamaru totally forgot about the spar they were supposed to have and walked with his soon to be teacher. He had no idea where they were going at that moment, but it didn't matter, all he had was questions. Would he learn more of those awesome jutsu like the Rasengan? Where would they be going? Were they going somewhere? How long would it take? Could he tell everyone about it or was it a super secret? The brunette was a bit miffed when Naruto just kept saying 'you'll see' or 'you'll find out soon enough'.

The duo arrived at the Hyuuga compound entrance. The young Sarutobi had absolutely no clue about why they were here. Naruto seemed to anticipate something, so Konohamaru just kept silent. It didn't take long before Hyuuga Neji stepped out of the door and greeted the two. The younger one of the three was curious why the Hyuuga asked if he accepted; what did the raven haired man have to do with his training? Things were getting suspicious for the boy when the Hyuuga said that 'they' accepted as well then. Naruto handed the other man a scroll and said that he had to give it to his mother- and father-in-law and they should go to Wave and show it on the docks. Everything would then be taken care of. Neji was told he had to come to Naruto's house when he and Tenten were ready and then they would go. The two men agreed and separated, with Naruto leading on to the next location.

The entire walk, Konohamaru was silent; the whole short conversation that his brother just had was disturbing him. He couldn't place his finger on it, but something, somewhere there was trouble; he just knew it. But what?

"What's going on, Boss?"

Naruto turned on the spot and simply looked at the boy. They were only four years apart in age, but he could see that thankfully, the grandson of the Sandaime hadn't seen the horrors of war and had stayed relatively innocent. He was extremely grateful for that. The blond thought it over for a moment, before asking something in return.

"Do you trust me?" The boy nodded.

"Have I ever done anything that you think is questionable?" The boy shook his head.

"Can you wait some more then, before I explain?" The boy didn't nod right away, but he did eventually.

X

Uchiha Sasuke was getting more annoyed by the moment. First Senju Tsunade and her apprentice Kato Shizune left the village. He couldn't stop them because a Sennin is allowed to move freely if they wish to and can take their chosen apprentice with them as they please. So now his Health Care Department missed their two best doctors and his own wife was left without tutoring. A few deserters here and there, but that is nothing unusual; desertion happens everywhere. It really did.

Besides that, the council was pressuring him to start with the building of his clan. He had been married for a month now and he was tired of explaining how baby making worked, since the old bastards of the council seem to be forgetting that it takes nine months before a baby 'pops out'. His wife didn't like to be referred to as a baby factory so she had been quite the nag about it. He thanked everything he knew of for the paperwork that his job supplied.

He was looking over another missing nin report, another one from the Hyuuga he noted, when the door burst open and the number one knucklehead of the village came in. Sasuke was surprised to see that he wasn't alone. With him was the heir of the Sarutobi clan. Well, survivor was more like it. Naruto informed him that he had chosen Konohamaru as his disciple and that the boy would be accompanying him on a training trip around the world.

Sasuke refused immediately, he was not going to allow one of his shinobi to go off for who knew how long to train. Naruto never lost his composure and simply told the Uchiha that as a Sennin he was allowed to go where he wanted and that he had the right to choose a disciple to take with him. He didn't even need permission from the Hokage, but he wanted to be polite to the leader of the village. Sasuke was visibly seething with rage, but he knew the rules and he knew that the 'dope' had indeed every right. The duo just left the extremely annoyed man, opting to go get Konohamaru all packed and ready.

He had to say goodbye to a few people. Naruto told Konohamaru to say goodbye to his little girlfriend Moegi.