"That can not be possible!" Arata spat out trying to reign back in his anger mixed with disbelief.
The man before him that he had been so kind to meet though it seemed a bit suspicious he had met him. Well, him and his clan members with some of his. . . fellow ninja that did not look to be Senju.
It had been quite a normal voyage to get to the outskirts of the Port City of Fire country. And even quite a experience meeting the so called living legend Hashirama Senju who from his perspective seemed a bit ordinary in his red armor and tall height of six feet.
Yeah, he could feel the powerful aura emanating from the man that just did not seem to come from the other half dozen men that were around him but Arata knew that was what made a leader.
One who stood from the crowd.
That was all he had expected to see but what he could never have expected to see was another man who stood a few feet from Hashirama and was a known enemy of the Senju, and had been for years. He too admittedly did have the same aura as Hashirama, maybe even just as strong.
Madara Uchiha stood with what was sure to be members of his own clan if their proud black armor adorned with Uchiha fans were any indication. Except he too stood with a few other ninja that did not look to belong to either of the two clans.
This had all been explained to why such known hateful enemies had in fact been standing here today with such simple but paralyzing words.
"We of the Senju and Uchiha have founded the Leaf village" spoke Hashirama with a calm voice
Arata nodded "Yeah. . . That was what I thought I heard. Of course this makes no sense at all please do humor me why I, leader of the Uzumaki clan have been invited to this. . .outing?"
Madara spoke with a decisive seriousness in his voice as he looked in to the eyes of the leader of the twenty or so band of men that stood behind him.
"You are not just the leader of the Uzumaki clan but also of the Whirlpool village. As a village leader you were only called here because frankly word has spread of what Whirlpool has did. Taking over all of the islands north of yours in the East sea. Even destroying many in your opposition then even moving Uzugakure itself in one day and it's citizens threw a seal to the largest island of the East Sea. Now that is quite a small bit impressive and Hashirama belives it is worth recognition" stated the man looking over to the Senju.
'I thought the stories of him having a overbearing attitude filled with smugness was just stories. . . Makes me wonder if the tales of his strength are as true too. But how did they know of our expansion upon the other islands. That was done in all but a few weeks and secrecy was our most used weapon.' the Uzumaki wondered but kept the thoughts off his face as he looked from Madara's chin -not stupid enough to look a sharingan user in the eye- to Hashirama who stepped forward.
"Uzumaki-san I learned of as well as did many others about the sudden explosion for lack of a better word of the Whirlpool village's strength. Right around the time that the Leaf village was founded.-"
"When was your village founded? An why have I not heard of it?" asked Arata quickly ignoring the eyes of his sensei that glared in to his head at his quickness to get to the point.
Hashirama did not at all show that he disliked being interrupted and answered the question "About four years and eleven months ago. The reason you have not known publicly of it's standing is because it is a hidden village. An your country is a bit isolationist in nature. Which is understandable"
Arata's and many other Whirlpool ninja's hearts and suspicion took rises and falls.
'They beat us founding our ninja village by a God damn month. . . What could they have all been keeping hidden and doing for five whole damn years! Before we even knew? Damn! It's like father said 'Whirlpool's isolationist attitude will come back to bite us all in the ass!' Now look at us, in the past we did not care about others but our own isolated island and then when we did get stronger! When I finally run the village we are behind! I can just feel it!'
The Uzumaki leader cooled off his thoughts as he reminded himself it was no time to be mad at the past.
With a sigh Arata asked "So the supposedly two strongest clans in the world make a ninja village. Why?" he asked the Senju
"The world is changing Uzumaki-san. No longer can everyone continue to try and destroy one another but now band together as villages. Showing once more that enemies can forgive and that peace is possible."
'Did he just say there are more villages!?' observed the young man not caring about the man's talk of peace for he doubted the man's words entirely no matter how genuinely they were spoken.
"That sounds nice" was all the red head teen said back.
Hashirama nodded "Yes it would be except, there are some who would try to break the balance of peace that is now with in reach."
Arata immediately knew what the man was hinting out. As he was his father's son and he too was a bit good with strategy and could obviously see things that would go wrong with the man's quest, under the ninja system.
"You want a alliance between nations to ensure peace. In theory that would mean there would be no wars, since the leaders of each village that has their own sect of ninja would not risk war. This would only work if-"
The Senju leader interrupted the red head "If, the strongest villages banded together. All others would follow."
"That is a very strong conviction you got there"
The Senju man nodded then crouched to the ground as he slammed his palm in to the grass.
Arata saw the many black seals that spread from his hand and was able to decipher them faster then what anyone else could, even his sensei was able to, so he knew what was coming and waved his hand to tell his men to stand down.
In a plume of smoke a large wooden box appeared which the man picked up then walked towards Arata with.
Steady eyes watched the man's movement trying to perceive any deception.
Arata took the box from the man with his left hand as he kept his right hand free to draw his sword at any moment.
The Senju gave him a light smile as he said "Please look in to the box"
With a steady edge the Uzumaki watched Hashirama back up a few feet as he himself prepared his chakra to do a substitution jutsu if it was a trap.
He looked in to the box and almost gave a hardy chuckle as he saw what it was. He then looked to Hashirama and nodded.
"Alright, Leaf Ninja. I will be apart of this alliance. . . send the specifics to my island via messenger." declared the young man with gusto as he saw many of the Senju and other ninja smile at him but the Uchiha keep their blank faces only giving slight nods.
With a snap of his fingers Arata gave the signal for him and his men to leave.
FLAG SHIP| EAST SEA| 20 MILES OFF COAST OF FIRE COUNTRY
"Don't make your great sensei ask" spoke Shuji standing on one side of the mast of the ship as Arata stood at the top, with impeccable balance.
"Why sensei. . . Are you wondering what was in the box?" asked the boy folding his arms with a knowing smirk.
"Arata don't be a bastard or. . . you'll be up for some retraining" replied Shuji with a calm ease.
"Alright alright you mean old man-"
"I'm only twenty-six"
"I will tell you what was in the box was what you had anticipated" assured the young man trying to keep balance as the giant sail below him with a giant Whirlpool symbol took in air.
"What was in the box?" Shuji asked detaching himself from the mast then seemingly floating in the air upright to stand in front of Arata.
From below, a Whirlpool ninja shocked yelled "MY GOD HE IS FLOATING IN MID-AIR!" pointing upwards at Shuji who ignored him but got much attention from several ninja who had never saw the warrior do such a move.
The Uzumaki leader looked down at his shocked ninjas and spoke "This ship does not pilot itself" he reminded them making them get back to work. Turning his head back to his sensei he asked "They really are still green aren't they?"
Shuji rolled his eyes "Of course they are. No matter how well they were trained. Simulations and small amounts of experience never beats hard fought battle experience. Now tell me what was in the box?" he asked whispering the last part.
With his voice a whisper barely above the sound of the sea Arata spoke "Hashirama thinks Madara has been controlling people via his sharingan. An not just a simple sharingan a highly evolved what's called Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan."
The sensei stayed silent as he let his widening eyes do the talking.
"Hashirama also thinks Madara has at one time been controlling even his fellow clan members but released them from his genjutsu to conserve on his chakra which must have been heavily taxed to control that many people. Which he believes that is why the clan finally decided to make peace with his clan as well as that Madara is up to something."
"How could you even be sure of this Arata. The Senju could be pulling something on us, besides that meeting itself was fishy with the sudden Uchiha being there and supposedly they having a village together. None of this sits right with me"
"I thought the same until I knew what were on the scrolls in that box. It heavily illustrates many of Madara's abilities from how he has a powerful genjutsu named Tsukiyomi to how he has a phantom ability to make a chakra formed beast appear to protect him called Susanoo all the way to how he can create black flames called Ametarusu that burn inextinguishable for seven days and nights. All that is just three abilities of his mangekyou not accounting the believed thousands of jutsu he has copied with sharingan. How those eyes in his head are not originally his and that they were supposedly given to him by his brother as he had went blind from over using his other eyes"
"This. . . if this information is even true this would mean Hashirama considers the Uzumaki and Whirlpool as family and wants our help"
"No. He does not want our help he wants to warn us. . . Shuji-sensei Whirlpool was so blind. Thank God we did reform when we did as, Hashirama in those texts has tipped us off that after they had founded the Leaf village allot of other people have founded villages too. Just in this continent their is over twelve ninja villages"
"How could that. . . Damn of course they are hidden. So during our seclusion and lack of watching far around us and just simply our borders we were swept away behind. . . again" spoke the man sadly
"No. From what Hashirama believes the world actually is envying us but worse news is it is not for what you would think"
"Well then it has to be for our longevity, zanpakuto, or maybe even our seal capabilities?"
"One would normally think that but what Hashirama says it is because 'we have not been hit as hard as any other clan has'. We are a big target to many not because of our capabilities but because of what we could potentially do with them having a what is being called 'tri-bloodline' we are a potential factor in many ninja matters especially in the East sea. We have but four clans in our village yes, but what we also have is others who stand alongside us not from clans. A idea thought original by my father was not so original. . . Others created and filled their villages with clans and other warriors too. Even wandering ninja Shuji-sensei. By the thousands. . ."
"Arata how could you even know all this from just glancing inside that box just once?"
"It was the only way he could pass information to us in front of Madara without seeming suspicious. He wrote out a seal that willingly let information be displayed before my eyes in a instant."
"A seal that shows someone information in a instant. I would call it impossible" Shuji decided but waited for a reason why he should not.
Arata gave it "Hashirama and Madara will do battle very soon. That man knows this but at the same time he knows something else too. An that is Madara will try to use the Nine-tailed fox. The Uchiha is unaware in thinking that Hashirama doesn't know he can control it with his sharingan."
"How could this battle be certain and really you expect me to believe he can control the Nine-tailed fox of legends? The living natural disaster and strongest of the tailed beast?"
"The battle is certain and I know it true because they will fight for the title of Hokage. One that Hashirama is more favored for. With this decision Hashirama knows Madara will try to rally his clan and take the village as his own except with the years of war that has stained them the Uchiha clan will not stand behind Madara their leader. Which will only make some one as powerful as Madara angry which Hashirama knows he will have to deal with"
"Why is this important to us. I would if this information is true appreciate Hashirama's reminder for us to be vigilant. But what I truly want to know is what is he after?"
"Two things actually. Ya see there is a hidden village on both our sides and fronts. A village called Cloud has been founded in Lighting country just a few hundred miles from us. Another village called Mist has been founded in Water country to our east. While Leaf village among others is below us and a village in Hot Water country to our west island of our old home is closest to us. It seems that of the many villages that exist on the main land Hashirama says only one or a combination of two or more less powerful villages could potentially wipe our village off the map. Cloud in Lighting country. Rock in Earth country. Mist in Water country. Sand in Wind country. Leaf in Fire Country"
"All those villages are in major large countries. Arata your telling me those villages were able to get permission from daimyo to make those villages. Than I bet the daimyo probably provide some assistance to. Then they are founded by a group of clans on top of that who recruit from their large country which is already full of ninja. . . to join their village"
"Yes those five villages each have no less then eight thousand ninja. While only half or so complete missions around the world to gather income because of a varying amount of problems Hashirama says will soon be settled out and if not stopped now with a alliance between all five villages develop in to a war"
"What problems?"
"The same problem the Leaf is having apparently. The choosing of a leader. Which all the clans and gathered ninja would follow. I see now why Hashirama was so urgent for peace now. When the problem of a leader is solved those assorted clans and ninja will remember they all have a common enemy and a common unity now. Then soon attack their old enemies. Leading to a hateful squabble on one level but a Shinobi World War on the highest scale."
"If he sees this coming then what will he do? Again Arata what does he want?" urged Shuji wanting the man to answer not look out to the sea.
"He has fallen in love with a woman of our clan. It seems while she was out on a mission she ran in to Hashirama. She is with child and Hashirama wants to take responsibility. He also has learned and apologizes for knowing. . . She has a latent ability in suppressing tailed beasts. Just like him."
"What woman is speaking and then even conceiving children with those outside of our country?" harshly asked Shuji knowing what type of problems such foolishness could cause.
Loyalty to one's family, bred love and unity. While disloyalty begot deceit and tragedy for the Whirlpool nation. It was so with their isolation at one time from the world that was proved those who were against the clan and country were those who were of deceit. It was not tolerated.
"Calm down Shuji-sensei. I know about our traditions but this is one thing Hashirama wants. The last is he asks of us to ally with his village and help them. An they will help us. An in return we will receive. . . a sign of trust. . . He says he can not give us nothing less then our ancestor's. . . zanpakuto"
Shuji was surprised at the deal "The five treasured tools of the sage. . . Five Zanpaktou born to a man said to be a myth because of his incredible power and the father of the Uchiha and Senju by extension, Uzumaki clan. Yes the tools that no longer have their master but still live on this plane of existence, something that should be impossible as all zanpaktou die with their wielder. Tools that are still usable but cost a chunk of chakra-"
Interrupting the fanatic speech Arata corrected "Uh Shuji sensei not all of them. . . Just one as you see he only has one. . . The Banana Palm Fan, as he says the other four have been stolen"
A frown appeared on the man's face as he sneered "He's insane! Just one tool!" said the man uncharacteristically pissed off.
Arata nodded "Guess he thinks with all the information he has given. We owe him now or something. . . Though I agree that a alliance between our village after Madara is gone and Hashirama deals with the Uchiha would be beneficial but it would be dangerous too"
Shuji almost lost concentration on his floating technique as he heard the words deal with the Uchiha. "You mean he-"
"Just don't talk about it. Personally if they could get strong like Madara then all tyrannical, I say personally it is better if they were watched to do the right thing then left to do the right thing on their own. Besides Shuji it may sound like a dirty tactic but we are ninja aren't we?"
"Last time I checked. Now who is the woman Hashirama knocked up?"
"Mito. . ." whispered Arata quietly.
Shuji's frown deepened "As in our fifth best seal master in the village Mito Uzumaki? The twenty-three year old gorgeous woman you had that crush on, that teaches at the academy Mito?"
"Yes. . . An Shuji. I want you to handle this" replied the young man giving a heavy sigh as he fell backwards and became a small spiraling form of water that disappeared before hitting the deck of the ship.