Nothing Else Matters
An Uzumaki-centric story
Chapter 6
"Elaborate Plans and Bad Climates"
(Forests near Uzushiogakure no Sato)
Naruto was currently sitting on the ground next to his sister, their mother was sitting across from them staring at them both and Honoka was sitting on top a coffin off to the side.
Deciding to ask the question that's been plaguing him for the last few minutes, Naruto addressed his mother. "Kaa-chan, will you start our jutsu training now?"
"Yes, your Shinobi training will start as of today. All the theory and the boring stuff has already been taken care of, so I can start teaching you to master your chakra and start conditioning your body." Kushina said, in an uncharacteristically serious way.
Naruto nodded, the only thing he could do now was make trees grow and that was only because of his training with Hashirama-san. He desperately needed to get his mind away from his attempted kidnapping, training with Hashirama-san was always a good way. His mother had never trained him and his sister before, She spent all of her time playing with them and taking care of them, but she never trained them.
"Okaa-san, where did you go for the last couple of weeks?" Kimiko asked.
Kushina just gave her a small smile. "I just had some business in Konoha sweetie, nothing to worry about." Off to the side, Honoka snorted and flipped the page on her book.
Witnessing the slaughter of the Uchiha wasn't a trivial thing, Kushina had a front row seat to the entire event. She was thrilled by it, if the way she was excitedly recounting the events to Akahana and Honoka was any indication. It might seem a bit morbid from an outside perspective, but the greatest menace to their plan was gone.
The Fourth Hokage, Sakumo Hatake, had expended all possible diplomatic avenues to reach peace. Tensions boiled over when the idiots tried to extract the Yonbi from its host and direct its power at the Hokage. The seal managed to hold until Sakumo arrived with his ANBU and exterminated the schemers. Two of the Nidaime's students, Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado pushed for the complete extermination of the clan, children and women both. The Hokage initially rejected such a drastic action, but when Tsunade of the Sannin gave him proof that the Sharingan's influx of Yin Chakra eventually leads to madness, he caved.
Kushina might not be responsible for it, but she wasnmt complaining for this fortunate turn of events.
Honoka looked at her two nephews and sighed, it hurt her almost as much as it hurt Kushina to start their training so early. Naruto had changed drastically after the incident. He wasn't as cheerful and was much quieter, only talking when his opinion was worth listening to. He also seemed to be very eager for training, he had been hassling her to revive Hashirama so he can continue his Mokuton lessons. Kushina hasn't missed this change either, and she seemed intent on showing him as much love as possible, hence delaying their training for a week to get some time for familial activities.
Kimiko looked at her brother from the corner of her eye, Naruto had been worrying her for the past few weeks, thankfully he seemed to be getting out of his funk. He smiled several times this morning, a huge contrast to the air of depression and guilt that practically hovered around him wherever he went a couple of weeks ago. She tried to be as supportive as possible, her brother went through a terrible situation, no matter if he cause it or not.
"Ok, Naruto-chan, Kimiko-chan, why don't you two go twenty five laps around the ruins. That should be a good start." She said while keeping a caring face and a motherly smile. She would ease them into training, they had plenty of time to perfect their skills, after all, they wouldn't need their skills for several years.
Seeing her two little angels bolt off to complete their task, Kushina walked towards Honoka, who was swinging her sitting cross legged on top of a coffin of all things.
"Penny for your thoughts, Honoka?"
Honoka conflicted seemed for a bit before sighing and airing what was on her mind. "I'm just not sure if we should continue this road, the kids are happy and all of our family is together. Why do we need to put our lives in danger? Wouldn't it be better to just stay here and leave the Shinobi world to cannibalize itself?"
Kushina sighed and nodded. "I admit, That thought crossed my mind a few times. Seeing Naruto, Kimiko and Karin happy makes me hesitant about putting their lives in danger, but remembering the blood of our clan that was spilled by the greed of Shinobi, my will will never waver. They deserve to die for this, the blood of the innocent is spilled because of the naïvety of the strong. The cycle of hatred must be broken, it can only be broken by overwhelming and absolute power. That power isn't within my grasp, it's within the grasp of my children."
"Whatever you say, I'm with you if you choose to continue, I just hope you don't regret this in the end."
"Have you deciphered the scrolls on the Juubi?"
Honoka smirked and nodded. "Yeah, my assumption was correct. The ten tails wasn't a god or a demon, it was created as a result of a fusion between Kaguya Otsutsuki the rabbit goddess and the Shinju. According to Hamura's writings, Kaguya united with the Shinju to get back the chakra her children stole from her. We should make a seal that separates Kaguya from the Shinju so we can harness it's powers without disturbance."
"We can't know for sure until we inspect the Juubi's body. Don't assume that we can separate her from the statue just because we know of her existence. We should store the Bijuu in inanimate objects until we can remove Kaguya's presence from the Shinju, it wouldn't be a good idea to revive that women." Kushina shook her head. "All of this planning is futile if we can't get the Rinnegan. All we have on Hagoromo's eyes are half truths and assumptions. We won't be able to summon the Shinju's husk without those eyes."
"Don't worry Kushina, they may be assumptions, but they're well placed. Uniting Asura's body, Indra's ascended eye and Kennyo's chakra and life force will most certainly yield the sage's eyes. Think of it as a puzzle, we have all the pieces, only thing we need to do now is to wait for them to mature." She said while looking in Naruto's direction.
"We'll transplant the Uchiha's eyes into him when he turns ten. His change of attitude is exactly what he needed. I'll stay here for a few months before heading to the mainland again. I want you to start Karin's Fuinjutsu lessons, Akahana says that she's progressing well in medical ninjutsu, I want her to have a wider array of skills, I also want her to be useful in battle, try to help her find a fighting style."
Honoka nodded reluctantly, she never liked Karin. Their personalities were too similar for them to get along. Although Karin was only nine, she seemed to have a less than healthy interest in Fuinjutsu, Medicine and Science. She soaked up information at an astounding rate and practically lived in her mother's laboratory, shadowing her and asking about everything she does. She would still do it, teaching Karin was trivial compared to what Kushina gave for their cause, her son's innocence, for one.
(Four years later, Uzu no Kuni)
Naruto looked across the field at his sister, they had just finished their bout of taijutsu and were gearing up to bring out the big guns. They were sparring under their mother's watchful eye. Kushina was sitting on top of a tree to the side watching the spar and assessing their strengths and weaknesses. Naruto, ever the impatient one, started the fight.
"Suiton: Suidanha" Naruto released an extremely condensed stream of cutting water without the use of hand seals, his training with Hashirama-san granting him an impressive level of control over the elements of wind and earth and of course, wood.
"Mokuton: Mokujoheki" a dozen rows of wooden planks came from the ground and took the shape of a half dome, protecting Kimiko from the stream of water.
Kimiko weaved through a couple more seals and clapped her hands into the snake seal "Mokuton: Sashiki no Jutsu."
The planks creating the wood dome stretched out in the form of sharp sticks which looked dangerously pointy.
The sticks jutted out of the wall and launched at astounding speeds towards Naruto. Naruto used his control over earth to erect a wall. "Doton: Doryuheki"
Once again manipulating earth he launched his counterattack. "Doton: Doryudan no Jutsu" A dragon made of mud manifested from the wall and shot out several balls of highly condensed rock.
Off to the side, Kushina frowned. Naruto once again wasn't putting any real effort in his spars. He wasn't even using Mokuton. He was a damn monster when he used that element. She didn't really know if he was arrogant or just didn't want to hurt his sibling. She had no doubt that he would wipe the floor with Kimiko in minutes if he fought seriously. The girl couldn't be blamed, in raw power, nobody near Naruto's age could match him. A wonder of eugenics, the boy undoubtedly was.
He still needed experience though, hence why she would take them both to capture the Ichibi from Suna. The eye transplant would wait after that, it all depended on how Naruto handled his first kill. If he recognized the fact that such things were necessary to protect one's family, she would give him the Rinnegan, if not then the burden will be pushed to his sister. Genetic similarities, the Senju blood and the Uzumaki chakra he holds should render the Sharingan a useful tool for him until it evolves. Dojutsu transplants were rather rare, but everyone who had such an operation suffered from exhaustion after using the eyes. Naruto shouldn't have that problem.
Back with Naruto and Kimiko, the battle was heating a bit. Naruto finally decided to take things seriously and was riding atop a wood dragon that he summoned with his "Mokuton: Mokuryu no Jutsu"
His sister wasn't that fazed though, Naruto might have more raw power, but Kimiko had wit and cunning. Something that her beloved brother somewhat lacked. She also had a few surprises up her sleeve.
She dodged to the side of the wooden construct's maw when the dragon lunged at her. Seeing her target, Naruto riding atop his wood dragon. Under the cover of the dust the wood dragon's lunge created, she summoned two Kage Bunshin and hid underground with one of them while the third jumped on top of the dragon and charged at her brother.
Naruto smirked at seeing his sister charge at him, she should know that he was invincible atop when using his Mokuton, years of spars should have taught her better. He shaped the wood in front of his sister's feet into wood clones with "Mokuton: Moku Bunshin no Jutsu".
The wood clone was the perfect clone for battle, it had the exact same physical capabilities and carried as much chakra as it was given, it didn't have the mental recall ability the Kage Bunshin has, but that doesn't really matter in the middle of battle.
Seeing the wood clones popping out of the ground, Kimiko's clone opted to avoid them and jumped over them, continuing on her trajectory towards a crash with Naruto, who was still standing motionless with his hands in the snake seal to facilitate his abilities in controlling wood.
Just before Kimiko's clone reached Naruto, sharp wooden spikes jutted out from under her and the clone vanished with a puff of smoke. Naruto was looking around frantically for his sister's whereabouts. Turning around when he heard the crunching of dirt, he saw Kimiko and a clone of hers carrying a blue ball made entirely of chakra, the clone grabbed Kimiko and flung her at him. He was so surprised he didn't even move until the last second, haphazardly creating a wood wall to shield him from the spinny ball of death.
Breathing a sigh of relief, he was mortified to see the wood chipping and wood shavings falling on the ground. Looking up, he saw Kimiko had totally broken through the wood wall and was continuing her effort to bury the ball in his stomach. Thankfully, one of the wood clones he created earlier jumped in front of him and took the hit for him. Getting a good footing, he jumped back just as the technique in his sister's hand dissipated.
They both stopped when their mother jumped in between them. "Good job, you two. You've both advanced considerably. What was that technique, Kimiko-chan? It's the first time I've seen anything like it." She said with an extremely proud face.
Kimiko smirked at the praise. She had been working hard on that technique, getting praise for it was very fulfilling. "I created it from the water balloon chakra control exercise you had us do when we were six. I just made the chakra spin in several directions and condensed the chakra to give it a grinding quality. I call it the Rasengan"
Kushina seemed to glow with motherly pride and hugged her daughter. "You're such a little genius Kimiko-chan, I'm sure you'll surpass me in no time!"
Kimiko was a bit put off with the physical contact, thinking herself too old to be getting hugs from her mother. She tried to push her away, only getting her mother to hug her tighter. "Okaa-san, I'm ten, stop treating me like a child!"
Kushina smiled wider and released her from the hug. "Oh, look who's becoming a big girl. I'm sure you'll be running away with some boy in a few years."
Kimiko's face took an angry visage. "Okaa-san, don't even joke about that, you know how much I love my family. I would never leave you." Kushina's teasing didn't stop, even after her daughter's serious answer.
Naruto was watching from the side with a smile on his face, he loved seeing his family smiling and laughing, but if his mother was to be believed, then they couldn't live in isolation, the Shinobi world will seek them out even if they're just a handful of Uzumaki. The only way to live a happy life with his family was to crush the Shinobi world so utterly thoroughly, that the only thing remaining would be an ugly legacy of a time of war.
He still didn't know the specifics of his mother's plan, but he would trust her completely. He betrayed her once and that didn't end well. No, he would do anything for her.
"Naruto-kun? You were spacing out, are you okay?" His sister was inches away from his face, her eyebrows furrowed cutely.
Naruto grinned and gave her a peck on the nose. A bit stupefied by the random action, her brain was working overdrive to find a correct response for this situation. Seeing Naruto running away and laughing at her, her mind was instantly made up.
"Naruto-teme, get back here or I'll rip your head off."
Kushina laughed at the scene in front, she loved these moments. Her children were being children, running around a forest and chasing one another. She watched her play for a half hour before she spied Akahana coming in her direction through the trees. Her cousin took her position next to her.
"They look like they're having fun."
Kushina nodded "They should, the peace won't last for long." Kushina sighed.
"I've prepared the operation room, I can perform the transplant the eye when ever he's ready."
"Give me a month, I need to blood them first."
Akahana looked at Kushina with worried eyes, she didn't know why Honoka was so fanatically loyal to the woman. Her methods were too drastic and unnecessary. The fact that she wants to force a couple of ten year olds to kill is ridiculous, she couldn't imagine forcing her Karin-chan to do such a thing. She loved her like any Uzumaki loved family, but that same love compelled her to preserve her cute nephew and niece's innocence. "Kushina, they're just kids. Don't you think you're rushing things a bit? You should give them more time to enjoy their childhood."
"How many times have we discussed this Akahana? I understand your concerns, trust me, I do. I am their mother after all, but this must happen. I have to get them used to death before I let them loose on the Shinobi world."
Akahana reluctantly nodded, at least her Karin-chan wasn't interested in such gruesome things. She was much more interested in the sciences, just like her mother. She was a bit upset that Kushina had Honoka teach her daughter, especially the part where she would help her create a fighting. It was almost as if she wanted her to fight! Karin was a medic, her place wasn't on the battlefield
Still, she had no authority over her. She was the de facto "matriarch" of their family.
"Naruto! Kimiko! Let's go home, it's time for dinner." Naruto jumped in front of then and landed in front of his mother with a smirk on his face, suddenly he went flying by a haymaker to his left cheek courtesy of his sister. Rolling on the ground a couple of times, he groggily sat up and rubbed his swollen cheek. Seriously, were all women this crazy?
(Konohagakure no Sato)
Hatake Sakumo sighed as he stamped yet another piece of paper. He regretted taking this job, the stress was unbearable. Well, not truly. He loved this village and all it's inhabitants. Though he had to make some harsh decisions, he was still viewed as great leader for most Shinobi. How that is, he didn't know, maybe it was because he was often compared to his predecessor.
The end of Hiruzen's term as Hokage was disastrous. Truthfully, every Konoha Shinobi had breathed a sigh of relief when he retired. True, he was an extremely powerful Shinobi, you don't get the name "God of Shinobi" for nothing, after all. He was a terrible leader, the start of his term he was confident and decisive. Nearing the end, when the flood of disasters happened, he seemed to lose his will, turning into a spineless old man who couldn't herd sheep let alone lead a Shinobi village.
Hatake had gone through extreme measures to correct the mistakes of his predecessor, trying to re-instill the will of fire in the new generation of Shinobi was just that first step. He beefed up the security of the village and rooted out suspected spies. He cracked down on crime and enforced stricter laws and regulations. The village prospered in years he's been it's leader.
They still haven't recovered though. Fighting back to back wars was very tiring to all the great villages. Losing a Jinchuuriki, having a Bijuu pop up in the middle of the village and losing several artifacts definitely didn't help Konoha in it's recovery. One of the few things that kept him up at night was the possibility of someone abusing the scroll of seals for their own gain. In the hands of a sneaky enough person, that scroll could be used to conquer the world. The Edo Tensei on it's own was a frightening jutsu.
Hearing a knock on the door, he gave a quick "come in". Several Jonin walked in, one of them being his son, Kakashi. He hoped one of the younger Jonin would accept this task, he didn't like forcing people to work, it brought less efficient results.
"Hokage-sama" they all said in a respectful tone.
Hatake put down the stamp and looked at his soldiers critically, they were all young, his son being the youngest. "I've called you here today to discuss the issue of our Jinchuuriki."
"The monkey brat? What about him?"
Kurenai nudged Asuma in his stomach with her elbow. "Show some respect to Hokage-sama." She whispered.
"Yes, the monkey brat. I've already asked Sandaime-sama to train him in his affinity. Sandaime-sama is proficient in both Doton and Katon manipulation, the two elements that make up Yoton. He still needs a squad leader to show him the ropes. Do we have any volunteers?"
Genma hesitantly raised his arm. "As long as it gets me out of border patrol missions, I'm in."
"Good, we were too late in training him. Hopefully you'll be able to turn him into a proper Shinobi. For the next six months, Iruka Umino will be placed under your care."
(Small village in Kaze no Kuni, A week later.)
She hated this place, it was so hot and dry. It was as if the sun was two inches away from her face, that was the only way to explain the debilitating heat. She was sure that the piece of cloth over head was the only thing keeping her conscious. Wearing cloaks and hoods in the desert might seem counter productive considering the heat, but the sun's rays take their toll after a while in such a sunny climate.
Stepping into the village, Kimiko almost let out a whoop, she didn't though, that would break the whole cool persona she had. Her brother had no such reservations though, as soon as they entered the village her brother let out a loud cheer. Her mother giggled at her brother's actions. Their Okaa-san didn't look the slightest bit winded by the journey, though she could detect the slightest bit of fatigue in the way she walked. Her brother and her on the other hand, looked dead on their feet, the continuous two day walk through the desert took it's toll on them. They hadn't stopped once, even their mother's physical conditioning hadn't prepared them for this. Apparently the reason they didn't stop was because camping in the windy desert of Kaze no Kuni was suicide. Putting all these things in mind, it wasn't surprising that they were this excited about a place to stay for the night. Rest was something they sorely needed.
"Finally, civilization!" Naruto wheezed out with a breathless voice.
Giggling for a bit, Kushina gathered their attention "You're so over dramatic Naruto-kun."
Naruto turned to his mother and opened his mouth momentarily before closing it with a sigh "You know what, I don't even have the energy to argue with you."
They headed towards the only inn in the tiny remote village. After getting situated at the inn and getting a good night's sleep, they gathered once again at the breakfast table. After putting a silencing and perimeter seal on the table, they started their conversation.
"Do you know why we're going to Suna?" Kushina asked her children.
Naruto cocked an eyebrow. "You never told us we're going to Suna, I though we were on our way to assassinate a daimyo or something."
Kushina shook her head with a smile on her face. "No we're going to Suna because they have something that belongs to us. It's sealed inside a child, the Kazekage's child to be specific, so we have to be very careful with how we retrieve it."
"What does Suna have that belongs to us? Is it something they stole during Uzu's destruction?" Kimiko inquired.
Kushina gave a smile, her daughter always was a sharp one. "No, sweetie. They didn't steal it from us. It does belong to us though, it's a legacy from a long time ago entrusted to the Uzumaki's. I intend to get it back. Do you know about the Kyuubi?" They both nodded. "Well, you can think of this thing as it's younger sibling. There are nine of them, they're called the Bijuu. They're massive constructs of coalesced chakra. They were entrusted to the Uzumaki by the man who created them. The thing is, they're all a part of one whole, I intend to put them all under one roof and use their combined power to achieve our goals."
Naruto munched a piece of bread and thought about the implications of what he just heard. His mother had already told him of the Kyuubi, how she kept prisoner in her stomach. Apparently the seal on the beast was so tight that the thing can't even move. The already tight seal was strengthened by his mother's Kongo Fusa. There was also the man who created them, who could be powerful enough to create such powerful monsters. He had to be a god, or at least the closest thing possible.
Kimiko continued her inquiry. "How are we going to take this kid if he's the Kazekage's son? I'm not sure he'd come with us just because we asked nicely."
Kushina grinned a knowing grin. "Oh, you never know. He is considered a monster by most of his village and is hated by his own family. I'm sure he'll latch on to any form of affection. We only need a few minutes to convince him to come with us. Though it wouldn't be beneficial for our plans to be exposed at this stage, so we to do it discreetly."
Kimiko nodded, already formulating possible scenarios that could occur with the information she had.
Kushina wasn't worried at all, the worst thing that could happen is if they couldn't get the brat, should push come to shove, she would just use Hiraishin to teleport herself and her children back to Uzu. Things should go smoothly though, no one would do something this daring so Suna wouldn't be expecting someone to attempt anything like this.
"Well, eat up. I've decided that I'm bored of traveling, so we'll just teleport to a Hiraishin marker I placed near the village last time I was there."
Naruto and Kimiko and slowly turned to look at her with murderous looks in their eyes. Naruto was gritting his teeth so hard she thought they might break. "You mean to tell me that all this time we've been traveling we could've just teleported there instead? Why the hell didn't we just do that in the first place?"
Kushina smiled sheepishly. "Well, I kind of forgot about that. Sorry"
She didn't really forget about it, she had just been hoping to find a pair of bandits for her kids to kill to get that out of the way. Having a bandit as a first kill would ease the guilt of ending a life, unfortunately, none had been stupid enough to attack them.
Oh well, they'll kill in Suna anyway, no need to rush things.
A/N: This chapter took a bit longer than usual, hope it makes up for the delay. As you can see, I do not have a beta reader, I desperately need one. If anyone is interested, please PM me.
Kushina's plans are pretty much revealed, what do you think? Are they sinister and dark enough? I've tried to keep as much of Naruto's original character without turning him into a complete retard, which was very hard. I'm looking forward to your reviews!
Jutsu Translations:
Suiton: Suidanha - Water Release: Water Severing Wave
Mokuton: Mokujoheki - Wood Release: Wood Locking Wall
Mokuton: Sashiki no Jutsu - Wood Release: Cutting Technique
Doton: Doryuheki - Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall
Doton: Doryudan - Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet
Mokuton: Mokuryu - Wood Dragon Technique
Mokuton: Moku Bunshin no Jutsu -Wood Release: Wood Clone Technique
Rasengan - Spiraling Sphere