Chapter 05 – Wedding

Gaara was standing on the prow of a ship, silently admiring the progress that had been made to Naruto's village. His siblings came up behind him, also admiring the structure above a whirlpool. They all knew who came up with it, but they would praise him all the same when they would meet up. On top of six pillars, which were standing in the outer rings of the whirlpool, was a wooden house, as wide as the whirlpool itself was. No one would ever find out HOW the structure was build, but it was a marvel to see something being built on top of something that could easily swallow the biggest ship known to man.

In the little house there seemed to be guards sitting and were shouting at the captain of the cruiser Gaara with his entourage were traveling on. The whirlpool seemed to slowdown before the vortex of water completely disappeared. Every guest on the ship watched in amazement as the water stilled.

Others were more preoccupied by what was up ahead. The boat passed through the pillars underneath the guardhouse. There was one berth ahead of them after some more sailing to give incoming vessels enough room to maneuver. The berth was connected to one large wharf that had two other berths. Another guard post a ways from each pier. The berths seemed to be for the bigger passenger vessels as three other ships were already on them, while smaller ships and boats, probably for fishing, were secured directly to the wharf, unloading their haul of the day.

The ship docked without further issues and the passengers landed a bit unsteadily. Travelling by sea was not done often by the people of Suna so some of them were either sick or wobbly. Gaara seemed to have none of these problems and waited patiently for his siblings and his guards. His guards were instantly around him when they were approached by a young man. The young man was a little bit surprised by the sudden movement, but relaxed his stance when he noticed it wasn't necessarily directed at him.

The man was wearing navy blue cargo pants on top of simple slippers, a sleeveless black shirt and his long black hair was held back with a forehead protector with a swirl engraved in it. The man bowed formally and announced that he was there to guide Kazekage through the gates and handle the paperwork when they would be cleared. So the Suna group followed their guide.

Never having been there before, they all looked around in wonder as they saw people bustling about, shouting about ropes and securing this or that. This place was supposed to be new, but it was overflowing with life. The group passed by several warehouses on each side of the road before they came upon a large gate, which reminded them a bit of the gates of Konoha, probably because of the wall around it that surrounded the harbor and ended slightly in the sea. Every arrival had to get processed here. It was a great security measure. They passed the gate easily enough and proceeded to enter the village.

As soon as they did, they entered a small park. It was only a few yards, but on the left side of the road stood a memorial. Gaara had been told of the remains that Naruto found when he first came here, he also said that he had buried them somewhere. He didn't think that the blond would actually go as far as make a memorial for them. He looked over to see what it said.

To those who came before me in seasons long ago
To those who are the loved-ones that I will never know
To those whose noble names I bear, whose light within me burns
To those whose lives of courage prepared the way for me
Whose works became my heritage whose harvest I may reap
Who left for me a legacy that I have yet to earn
To them in gratitude shall my heart be turned

Shin-Uzusiogakure will always remember those that have fallen

Whether in past or future, our comrades will be honored

Gaara smiled a little at the text. It was probably more than the lost souls would have asked for, but there was nobody that could object to the sentiment. Everybody would pass it; they would see the monument and would at least think about those that came before. Isn't that what live was about? To do something that will make people remember you?

From there on it was obvious that the building was nowhere near finished. Every meter they walked they could see construction sites, workers and supplies. True, there were some shops open selling groceries and yes there seemed to be some finished houses, but most of it was still work-in-progress. Eventually the Suna group arrived at the city square. In the middle of it was a large round building with the symbol of the village on it. It didn't need to be guessed that this was the office of the village leader and public service. The square led to five different roads, one of which they came from; between every road there stood a building facing the center.

A gasp informed the group to look somewhere else and Kankuro was pointing at a building that was sand colored, three stories high and had the symbol of Suna above the entrance. Gaara felt his eye brow lift in curiosity, but he would have to wait to ask what the deal behind it was. When he looked around some more he noticed that next to the building with 'Suna', on the other side of the road, the same kind of structure, only yellow with the symbol of Kumo on it. He turned around and as he expected, there was the same building, just lightly brown with Iwa on it and next to that light blue with Kiri. Now he had a pretty good idea what was going on, but would ask later to be certain.

The guide had given them the time to look at the center of their village, but after a moment or two…or four, he gathered his charges and continued their walk. The group had expected to go to the center building, but they walked past in and also passed the reddish building with Konoha's mark on it and continued down on of the main streets. There seemed to be more completed building on this side. Or well enough to start using it. Like a school, a blacksmith, an orphanage and a clinic.

The street ended and they were standing in front of a large compound. The walls seemed to go on and on without end to the left side, but only went on for a yard or two before going around the corner on the right. Next to it stood another compound, slightly smaller, but still quite large on its own. The front gates of the gate in front of them were of a massive oak and were big enough to fit an elephant. On the door there were three symbols positioned in a triangle. On top it was a purple Uzumaki clan sign of a swirl, below it on the left side was the well known green Senju symbol of one fine horizontal line that opened up in two incomplete circles near both ends and to its right was a blue symbol nobody had seen before. It was a circle with three waves on the bottom half and three waving stripes above it.

The guide knocked and loud yelling could be heard from the other side. The large door opened and revealed a purple haired woman in a mesh suit underneath a red bustier and a brown mini-skirt. Gaara and his siblings recognized the woman as the proctor of the Chuunin exam where they met Naruto. She was a bit loud, but she thanked the man that brought the group here and took them inside. The visitors walked through a small front yard that had a sand garden on both sides. Gaara stopped for just a brief second, to which Anko stopped to look what the holdup was and saw that her guest was shifting the sand of Naruto's garden. Instead of the carefully lined streaks and swirls, the surface was now completely smooth and sported the symbol of Suna. Kankuro had to hold his laughter when they entered the building.

Once inside they noticed that they were probably the last once to arrive, which wasn't all that strange since they had the longest distance to travel. They were surprised when they saw that the former bodyguard of the Tsuchikage was now the Yondaime of Iwa. Apparently old Oonoki had passed away a few months ago. Still, what the people that had met Akatsuchi knew of the rotund man was that he was a patient and kind man that knew when there was a time for action and a time for peace. Next to him sat the Sandaime's granddaughter which seemed be laughing quite loud at something.

Naruto was sitting comfortably with a brown haired boy, Hyuuga Neji and his girl Tenten, who seemed to be a bit wary of Temari, Hyuuga Hinata, Lady Tsunade with Shizune and was joined by Mitarashi Anko.

The Mizukage was here together with Chojuro, Aoi was left behind to do the paperwork in her stead. The Raikage with his little brother B and Darui, Mabui, Samui, Atsui, Karui and Omoi, Gaara was slightly thankful that he wasn't the only one with a large group. He had his fiancé Matsuri with him, his sister Temari, his brother Kankuro with his wife Shosuna and Baki. Kankuro seemed to gasp when he saw the brown haired lad sitting next to Naruto, but Gaara had difficulties recognizing the boy.

The young man stood up together with Naruto and walked over to the new arrivals. Konohamaru went straight to Kankuro and greeted him. The two stood awkward for one moment before the first few chuckles sounded and laughter soon followed. As soon as Kankuro said that the boy certainly wasn't a brat anymore, Gaara remembered. It was the grandson of the Sandaime Hokage that Kankuro almost abused just before the Chuunin Exams.

X

Greetings were exchanged between everybody and things got lively soon. Of course there were tons of questions that Naruto and his brides had to answer. None were too serious and every answer seemed to turn into a story on its own.

"How did you get so many villagers? You have been building for how long now? Four months?"

"Well, I went to the Feudal Lord of Hot Water, to try and get him to send his shinobi requests to me instead of Konoha. Along the way I took Konohamaru with me to see the world and train him. We came through several villages that were being terrorized by bandits. Every time the Feudal Lord hired Konoha to get rid of them a new group showed up. They had no food or money because of the constant raids, so after freeing the imprisoned villagers I offered them a place to stay. I even went to several orphanages and took all the children with me, so they could either train to become shinobi or learn a trade of their own choice after they finish their basic education."

"The building started six months ago and has been going without too much trouble. Thanks to my funds, and my endless supply of chakra, the workforce is constant, and with the experts I hired everything is going according to plan."

"How is your shinobi force coming along?"

"It was a bit of a slow start and it still isn't anything near good enough for this village to become a ninja village, but I posted special posters everywhere I went. Those posters are sealed and can only be viewed by descendants of the Uzumaki clan who pour their chakra in it. Till now no actual relative has shown up, but descendants from former shinobi of Uzushio recognized the symbol of the village and came here to see if there was something going on."

"What have you completed so far?"

"Mine and the Hyuuga Branch compound are complete, as is my and the public service office. The harbor was the first thing that needed to get finished, so there's that. We're almost finished with the Hospital, luckily there have only been minor accidents during the construction. The Basics School is coming along nicely, together with the Ninja Academy. Then there are still houses and stores that are done, but not yet perfected."

"What do you mean basic school?

"I have decided that I will give a basic education to the children before they advance to the shinobi Academy. In Konoha, every child went to the Academy to learn math and reading and whatever. Here, you will get that at Basics School that will start from age five till nine. After that a choice can be made. Try to become a shinobi or pursuit another career. That way, the children will be filtered and the Ninja Academy can focus on actual shinobi related education."

"What were those buildings surrounding your office?"

"Well those…those are to be embassies. I made one for every great nation. It is complete with office and living arrangement so that you can send a dignitary here. We have all fought and bled together and I wanted to make sure that we remain allies. By giving each of your villages their own office here, I can discuss matters with your representative instead of traveling the lands to meet you or the other way around. And, if one of your shinobi is in trouble, in need of guidance or just wants to have a quick rest on their journey home, they can visit their nation's office, and stay there instead of finding a hotel; which I don't have yet by the way."

"Even Konoha?"

"Yes, even Konoha, eventually."

"Did you tell everybody what you did to the Uchiha?"

"Now that you mention it, I only told you and your brother. Well, I was reading a book about the history of Kiri. We all know about the tyrant Yagura that instigated the bloodline purge. It appears that he was not the first one that had that idea. There was a man who designed a seal that would…cut off the reproducing capabilities of people; to stop the continuation of the once feared bloodlines. The Shodaime Mizukage did not approve and destroyed the man's research. But it gave me an idea, so I adjusted an existing seal to have to same function. In other words, the Uchiha clan will end with Sasuke."

There was a heavy silence for a while. The Uchiha were revered warriors for generations. They had all witnessed the strength of their two strongest. Sasuke was not loved by anyone in the room because of his crimes, but to castrate him without him knowing it seemed a bit cruel. Then again, as soon as the visitors from Kumo started laughing out loud, the mood lifted. Food was served and sake kept flowing and the gathering lasted well into the evening. At some point Naruto stood up with his group.

"I'm thankful that you came and happy to see you all in good health, but it is getting late and I suggest we get some sleep. My wedding will start early tomorrow and I need my beauty sleep."

X

The very next day, the few villagers and all the guests were gathered at the center of Shin-Uzushio. All of the foreign guests were dressed up; the Kages in their formal robes, the women in colorfully embroidered kimonos and the men in black hakamas. The four Kages stood in front of the building facing the crowd. They would perform the ceremony, albeit different than normal. Since a temple was not yet build and no priest was in the village, the traditional wedding, a priest conducting it with sake being exchanged between the families, would be altered. Instead of the priest, there were the leaders of the four largest nations that would watch over their oaths and since Anko, Tsunade and Naruto had no family, the vows would be spoken between each other instead of directed at the respective families.

The mutterings of the people were all hushed as three ladies in pure white kimonos were accompanied by three Narutos in black hakamas. Each Naruto had a different clan emblem on his chest and back embroidered in gold. The one on the left had the symbol of the Senju on his back, the one in the middle of the Uzumaki and the one on the right the strange one that nobody recognized. The people parted to let the three couples through and shuffled back into place as the brides and groom(s?) took their place in front of the Kages. Seeing as Gaara was a bit too stoic, A too loud and Akatsuchi too mellow, Terumi Mei stepped forward to lead the ceremony.

"To all those gathered here today, we thank you for bearing witness to the unification of these four individuals. Seeing as the circumstances are a bit…different than normal." Nobody could stop the laughter that followed. How could they? Here stood one man times three marrying three women at the same time, but every woman will have a different clan name.

"Let us proceed one at a time. Do you, Senju Tsunade, take Naruto as your husband?" "I do."

"And do you, Naruto, take Senju Tsunade as your wife?" "I do."

"Do you, Mitarashi Anko, take Uzumaki Naruto as your husband?" "I do."

"Do you, Uzumaki Naruto, take Mitarashi Anko as your wife?" "I do."

"Do you, Hyuuga Hinata, take Namikaze Naruto as your husband?" So the strange symbol was of the Namikaze clan. "I do."

"Do you, Namikaze Naruto, take Hyuuga Hinata as your wife?" "I do."

"Then witnessed by four of the Five Great Nations; I present Uzumaki Namikaze Senju Naruto, with his wives Senju Tsunade, Uzumaki Anko and Namikaze Hinata. Now let the festivities begin!"

There was quite some laughter about the highly unusual wedding. With the gifts that the foreigners had brought and the supplies the village had gathered specifically for this day, the feast started at noon and ended only when the first 10 people passed out from alcohol. There would be no work today and tomorrow, so everybody could cut loose. There were drinking games for the adults, 'magic' tricks for the children. People of all classes mingled and danced, all in all, everybody had a great time.

The compound that housed the now three clans was empty safe for Naruto and his ladies. His guests would stay the rest of their visit in their respective embassies. There weren't enough rooms for everybody to have privacy, but seeing as there were some couples among them, sharing a room wasn't a real big problem. Naruto needed his privacy that night…and the rest of the week.

The start of his clans was about to begin. Thank the spirits for his endless stamina.