Chapter 57 Reunions
Mrs. Yamanaka hated open water, she had almost drowned on a family vacation to the beach when she was seven and that had scared her enough to never go anywhere near the ocean again. Even on her and Inoichi honeymoon she had refused to go to a tropical beach like most people instead they went to a mountain cabin. Even with all her fears, she had somehow managed to force herself onto the boat out of Tea country heading toward the Land of Animals.
"I hate this," complained Mrs. Yamanaka as the boat kept heading south and west over the ocean that would lead most southern part of the continent where the weather would be getting warmer instead of colder. Since she would be passing the equator, the seasons would flip so it would be spring in October and fall in May. She had left the care of the flower shop in the hands of a member of her clan, one of the few who still talked to her and whom she trusted not to run the company into the ground. She had passed the story around that she was heading south to collect rare flowers and to possible do the wedding ceremony for the Queen of the Land of Animals and her Lord husband to be. She had believed Ino to have been this Queen when she boardered the ship but Lord Carac had explain what was really happening.
Flashback
"So is my daughter your Queen?" inquired Mrs. Yamanaka as Lord Carac chuckled to himself.
"No, she is the Daimyo of the Land of Granite our next door neighbor and our friend." explained Lord Carac "We are going to stop by their new cities on our way home and drop you off, than I believe the plan is for you to stay a while before heading back to the Leaf village."
"What I am going back there?" asked Mrs. Yamanaka she had expected to never return to the Leaf village.
"Yes, for the moment at least." stated Lord Carac "It would raise a lot of eyebrows if you would not return and it brings war for us all."
"Us?" inquired Mrs. Yamanaka
"Yes, the Ninjas of the land of Granite, the Knights of Land of Animals and the Sea Raiders of the Land of Meteors are all allied together in a mutual self-defense alliance." explained Lord Carac "We actually owe them for the liberation of our lands and our new government, we will fight beside them with honor."
"What about my grandchild do you anything about him or her?" asked Mrs. Yamanaka
"When I saw her before heading toward the wedding ceremony she was still with child," explained Lord Carac as Mrs. Yamanaka blinked. "I see you are confused, from my understanding since they are joined with demons and the demons age slower so do they."
"What does their age have to do with anything?" asked Mrs. Yamanaka still confused.
"Like I said the way I understand it everything about them takes two times longer so while a normal pragancy is 9 months theirs is 18 months." explained Lord Carac as Mrs. Yamanaka realized that she may actually get to see the birth of her grandchild, not knowing that her granddaughter was already at home.
End flashback
The sound of the ship's horn caused Mrs. Yamanaka to rush to the deck of the passenger ship, which was finally heading into port. She looked out the twin towering bridge support columns, which shot out from the ocean water before soaring up. It was a suspension bridge with cables running from where they were based on land before going up to the top of the nearest tower; there it went to the second tower before coming to rest back in the ground on the other side. It seemed to be a double decker bridge with a train going from the island to the mainland; she could just make out the small dark outlines of people walking across the top deck of the bridge. The bridge itself was a pure white silver, which stood in stark contrast to the black of the natural rock face cliffs.
"They finally finished it." Said Lord Carac
"It's beautiful but why would they need a bridge to an uninhabited island?" asked Mrs. Yamanaka she had remembered from school that the island while the largest in the world was all mountains and totally uninhabited.
"Who said it is uninhabited?" asked Lord Carac "There is a hidden valley deep inside those mountains. There are two cities linked together by that bridge."
"I see." confirmed Mrs. Yamanaka as the ship came in to dock, that was when she noticed that the city itself wasn't at the harbor but actually up a small rise closer to the bridge and while the harbor had a wall it wasn't as high as the wall of the city itself. As she came in to dock she saw a man who looked like the younger version of her husband's best friend. "Shikamaru!"
Down on the docks Shikamaru waved at her as the ship came into to a stop and the lines where tied down. It took around ten minutes for the ship to be fully secured to the docks and the gang way pulled into position for there unload process could begin. Once it started Mrs. Yamanaka was the first person off the boat and instantly wrapped her arms around a young man she always considered a son.
"Welcome to the Land of Granite." said Shikamaru "I know Ino wished she could have been here to welcome you."
"Where is she?" asked Mrs. Yamanaka
"Likely either at home or still at the hospital." explained Shikamaru as Mrs. Yamanaka's eyes widened "You're a grandmother; they were going to take the baby home today."
"Girl or Boy?" asked Mrs. Yamanaka
"Girl, Leilani Yamanaka Namikaze born October 11th." reported Shikamaru as Mrs. Yamanaka smile grew even wider.
"Leilani after my Grandmother, take me to my daughter and granddaughter," ordered Mrs. Yamanaka as the two of them headed up the road, which lead toward the mainland village. Once there they boarded a train, which had been waiting in the yard for them.
"So tell me everything," ordered Mrs. Yamanaka as Shikamaru leaned back in his chair.
"I can't tell you everything but we doing good down here, your daughter is doing great as the Daimyo and Naruto is great as our Kage," reported Shikamaru as the train headed over the Aldhard bridge.
"I know that she is with Naruto but is she still with Sakura, I know you demons have more women then men." Inquired Mrs. Yamanaka she did not approve of it totally but she understood the reasons and love is love in her eyes. "Yes, and they added Hinata to their family."
"Well that is interesting, my daughter, Sakura and Hinata all married to Naruto." Noted Mrs. Yamanaka
"They aren't married yet, from my understanding they want to wait until the children are born and you are able to attend," explained Shikamaru as Mrs. Yamanaka blinked. "Sakura and Hinata are pregnant as well both due around the same time."
Mrs. Yamanaka laughed as Shikamaru raised an eyebrow.
"I have known Sakura since she was born and if my granddaughter is anything like her mother was as a baby they are not going to get any sleep for a long time." explained Mrs. Yamanaka "In fact the only baby I have ever meet which slept through the night right away was you."
"Well let's hope my child is the same." express Shikamaru as Mrs. Yamanaka smiled.
"So you and Temari?" asked Mrs. Yamanaka "Who else from our village?"
"Choji is dating someone just like Shino is but they aren't official yet, Kakashi has two daughters one each from Rin and Shizune, Neji and Tenten are expecting and Kiba…" reported Shikamaru before laughing, "Let's say he and Kauri are expecting three pups instead of one. A lot of people in the village are expecting."
"Wow." said Mrs. Yamanaka "You are producing like rabbits or is there something in the water?"
"Yes and no, it takes 18 months instead of 9 and war is likely within two years when all the Kages and Daimyo meet for a conference so we have to plan ahead." Stated Shikamaru as the train entered the tunnel which lead through the impassable mountains. The train went shooting through the tunnel before finally emerging in the massive sweeping vale that ran from near the center of the island all the way down to a hidden harbor. Mrs. Yamanaka gashed in amazement as she looked at the massive trees, which climbed up toward the snow caped mountains and the rivers, which ran through the vale toward the sea. There in the center, she could make out a city and the train was heading toward it.
While Mrs. Yamanaka was on her way toward a reunion with her daughter and her new granddaughter, a man dressed in a long trench coat and sunglass stood on the docks waiting for his package to be unloaded from the same ship that brought Mrs. Yamanaka to the land of Granite.
"Careful…careful." ordered the dockworker as a large wooden crate was being guided toward a large warehouse with the use of a forklift. The crate was lowered as Shino signed the paperwork; at once he opened the crate to find fifteen dinner plate sized tarantulas. However, the strange thing was not the spiders it was the stacks of papers, which had been carefully stacked up.
"Did you finish your mission?" asked Shino as one of his girl's clan spiders moved forward and up his arm. Shino's clan had a bound with insects for countless generations but spiders was never something they used but now thanks to his girlfriend, Arana who was the last of the Zirnek clan he and any children they have would be able to use them.
The spider raised one of its legs showing the thick black ink mark on it, Shino smiled as he picked up one of the documents and saw a perfectly copied file on the numbers of kunai, Swords and other weapons, which the Leaf had in storage in case of war.
"Very good, did anyone see you?" asked Shino knowing that the plan was to have the spiders sneak into the records during the Hokage's wedding ceremony and memorize the files. Then since spiders could only way to communicate was through sign and pheromones they would actually write out the papers. If he had been born a member of the Zirnek clan he would be able to speak to them and unlike learning the tongue of wolves/dogs it was impossible to learn you had to be born able to speak it. The spider selected for the mission where too small to set off any alarms and the saw just as well in the dark as they did in the light. To make it even better they naturally left no fingerprints or marks which would alert the Leaf that something happened.
"Perfect, time to go home." said Shino as he sealed the crate back up only this time without the tarantulas inside. The Tarantulas climbed up and took positions in hidden folds in his trench coat. Unlike the bugs which lived under his own skin, spiders could not live under someone skin they were simply too large. So in order to carry them around he had to have hidden places in his coat.
While Shino was planning for a war to come Naruto's entire world for the moment consist of the small little figure he was looking down at as she slept in a handmade wooden crib. She was perfect in his eyes, his daughter Leilani Namikaze was sound asleep.
"How is she?" asked Ino as she walked into the room, she was dressed in only a pair of sweatpants and light blue tank top.
"Perfect, how are you ok?" asked Naruto
"Well my body still hurts like hell, even more then the time Guy took over training our team when Asuma-sensie was sick on day." explained Ino as she looked down at her daughter. "She looks like you."
"I was about to say she looks like you." laughed Naruto as the doorbell rang causing both of them to look up from the sleeping baby.
"Ino get down here." came Hinata's voice from downstairs "It's your mother."
Quickly but carefully, so not to wake her Ino picked her daughter up and placed her against her chest as she made her way downstairs. Her mother was at the bottom of the stairs hugging Hinata when she saw her daughter moving down the stairs.
"Hello mom, come say hello to your granddaughter." Said Ino with a smile as Mrs. Yamanaka rushed forward and moved to hug her daughter only to stop when she saw the sleeping child. She looked down at the child before taking her into her arms holding her gently against her chest.
"Ah…Ino she is perfect." expressed Mrs. Yamanaka "She looks like you when you were born."
"Told you." laughed Naruto only to be punched in the shoulder by Ino and then Sakura while Hinata laughed at the actions.
"Well the little tuff of hair is her father's shade of blonde but beside that she looks just like you did." Added Mrs. Yamanaka
"Come on lets go into the living room, do you want something to drink?" offered Hinata "Naruto will go get it."
"No this is good for me right now." said Mrs. Yamanaka as she held her granddaughter close as she was lead toward the nearest couch.
"Naruto get us something to drink." Commanded Ino as the women sat down on the couch and two chairs with the coffee table located in the center.
"Alright." Confirmed Naruto as he moved off to get drinks as the women laughed again.
"I see you have him whipped." Laughed Mrs. Yamanaka
"Well two of us are pregnant and another just given birth so he should do what we want." confirmed Sakura
"So what is going on back in the Leaf?" inquired Hinata
"Well you have a brother-in-law now, Bilal Kurama well I guess it would be Bilal Hyuga now." Confirmed Mrs. Yamanaka
"I knew it was a Kurama but not who," confirmed Hinata as she looked toward Sakura and Ino "I don't know him do you?"
"You don't know him I thought you were all but raised by Kurenai?" inquired Ino surprised by the news.
"The Kurenai clan has a lot of branches," explained Sakura as she came to Hinata's defense "I remember him somewhat he was their clan business leader correct?"
"Correct." said Mrs. Yamanaka still holding onto her sleeping granddaughter.
"Ah, was he the one with reddish brown hair and red eyes?" asked Hinata as Mrs. Yamanaka nodded her head. "Well I never liked him; he always looked down at people."
"Well I guess he found where belong." said Ino before looking at Hinata after realizing what she had said about the Hyuga clan "Sorry I didn't mean you or Neji it is just…"
"I know what my clan is like." confirmed Hinata as Naruto returned with cups of Ice Tea for everyone beside himself who instead had some water.
"So does it work with the four of you?" asked Mrs. Yamanaka "I mean could it be a simple as a four way marriage?"
"Yes, and no." confirmed Ino as she took her daughter away from her mother. "Basically it is a four way marriage only there are rules that the demons put in and we kind of added to. Most of the rules are about how the first is decided and what she can do to the others."
"First?" asked Mrs. Yamanaka
"Someone has to be the one totally in charge so the first one fate smiles down upon to have a kid first becomes first." explained Sakura
"So my daughter is first?" asked Mrs. Yamanaka
"Currently but either one of them can replace me and I hope they do." confirmed Ino as she looked at Hinata and Sakura "I am already the Daimyo I don't want the stress of being first."
"How does someone stop being first?" inquired Mrs. Yamanaka
"By having a boy, since a three girls are born to every single boy it makes it fair. That was the rules for the demons." explained Sakura "In fact that ratio of girls to boys is holding steady with us."
"I see." confirmed Mrs. Yamanaka "And will my granddaughter be a Yamanaka or a Namikaze?"
"Either or, right now she a Namikaze but when she is older she can become a Yamanaka if she wants." Explained Ino "That is something we added so that in a few generations we don't have just a handful of massive clans. The daughter or son of can take the name of their mother clan if they want, only the first male is stuck with his father's name."
"I see and what are you two having?" inquired Mrs. Yamanaka
"No…no don't tell me." said Naruto "I want to be surprised."
"Then go get some groceries from the store we are out of milk and could use some bread, and get anything you need for dinner your cooking for all of us." ordered Ino as Naruto nodded his head before putting on his jacket and leaving to carry out Ino's orders. "Sometimes that man drives me crazy with the fact that he doesn't want to know. I almost told him dozens of times that he was having a daughter but he doesn't want to know, I don't get it."
"Your father was the same way Ino dear, not wanting to know but I want to know?" inquired Mrs. Yamanaka as she looked at Hinata and Sakura. For a moment Sakura and Hinata looked at each other. "You two don't know do you?"
"I know what I am having but not what Hinata is having." admitted Sakura as Hinata nodded her head confirming that she was in the same state.
"And I thought the competition between you and Sakura was bad when you were both children." noted Mrs. Yamanaka as she looked toward her daughter "Do you know?"
"Yes." confirmed Ino
"I am having a girl." said Hinata as she placed her hand on her growing belly
"Boy." Said Sakura
"Well I guess the race for first is over, you won forehead." laughed Ino as Hinata joined in the laugh.
"Well I guess we will have to go shopping for some boy cloths." laughed Hinata as she placed her hand on Sakura's stomach.
Well I hope you liked this chapter even though it was shorter then normal, I debated if I was going to let you know the gender but I decided to let you know. Now until next time please keep reading. Thank Wilkins75.