Shin Ikeda
By Kassien
Written: 10/28/22 - 7/30/23
Chapter 8: Jounin to Kiri
When my week was up and a summons to the Hokage's office came, I was a bit of a nervous wreck, thinking somehow that the knowledge of Orochimaru's other experiments would lead to questions about me, but also realized that there was nothing I could do about that stuff at this point. The Hokage's office turned out to be a meeting with the Jounin Commander and his relatively famous teammates as well, as I was asked to take an assessment test at the recommendation of Jounin Asuma Sarutobi. Despite the seriousness of the situation and it's impact on my ninja future, it actually came as somewhat of a relief after everything else going on in my head, and instantly agreed to follow the famous trio for whatever they needed.
What they needed was a relatively long trip outside the walls of the village heading south, southeast for several miles and coming to a stop near a large somewhat desolate area, with nothing but a seemingly large crater sized hole in the ground and not much else around to get in the way of what happened next. Knowing my Sensei, I was completely prepared when Choza Akimichi quickly grew to an unreal size without getting much of a reaction from me, other than to look at the other two watching me. They said I would be fighting against Choza for now, with no indication if either of them were going to enter the fight, before stating they only asked that I didn't aim to actually kill their friend, though he could take a good pounding.
But, I fought against Sensei Doto all the time, and had several very effective strategies I had developed against the size expansion jutsu and was soon moving all around the almost impossibly large man, setting Fuinjutsu barriers that blocked his freedom of movement, and within seconds had him thoroughly boxed in and taken out of the fight. Before I could celebrate the victory, I leaped away from an advancing shadow, then spent seconds being chased at unreal speeds by the Jounin Commander's shadow, as his other teammate freed their large friend from my barriers. I quickly slapped down a seal of my own design and closed my eyes just in time for the large light flare to scatter the shadows and blind my opponents for a brief second. I used that second to create two shadow clones that immediately burst towards the Akimichi and Yamanaka, while I went after my commander with my makeshift strobe light.
Well, there is a reason their teamwork was considered legendary and even after throwing everything non lethal I could at them, including dumping a waterfall on their heads, I couldn't take all three of them out together, though several times I had gotten them down one or even two members before they were revived or rescued by their teammates. By the end, all four of us were wet and covered in cuts, leaves, and bruises before I had to call it and give up. I told them without going lethal or really emptying my chakra that I would just be fighting a battle of attrition, and would eventually lose. By the glances they shared afterwards, I know I at least did something right, and was then asked several follow up questions about my strategy, and other things I could have or would have done in a more serious fight for survival.
I lamented that with the disadvantage of numbers, I never had the time to really gather enough chakra to bring out the heavier ninjutsu, which would have helped my small waterfall be more effective, but not as much as some of the more destructive Fuinjutsu I could have included. Also commenting, that twice I could have possibly killed one of them, but instead switched out for knockout tags or other non-lethal means, and then they would be revived later. In a real fight for survival, I promised my decisions would be slightly different, but felt I did quite well overall after being outnumbered by a true team that worked together and covered for one another better than most.
They took the compliment well, and included a few of their own on my speed and taijutsu, which they agreed were both high Jounin levels, while my Fuinjutsu was well beyond anything either of the three used or knew about, and my control of water was getting insanely strong. I responded with a laugh though, that because of the fast pace of the outnumbered fight, most of the water jutsu I used was defensive or my favored whips which could act as both, and the waterfall I did send wasn't even a tenth of what I used against Kumo. All three of them looked at me after mentioning that, as they thought the waterfall was quite powerful as it was, and then asked if I could demonstrate better what I did in Kumo.
I had no reason to deny them, and started gathering huge amounts of chakra and quickly converting it to the swirling flow of water-natured chakra inside me. I could feel all three of them take steps back in preparation, but we were far enough away as I molded my chakra into the jutsu I was finding easier to use every time, before releasing it over the cratered hole in an explosive rush of water and chakra. It was almost like the time I went to Niagara Falls as a kid in my original life, the waterfall was so large and powerful that it crashed into the ground, sending up chunks of rock and dirt into the air, as the powerful water washed everything away, leaving behind seconds later, a large choppy lake were there once was nothing but rock and soil.
Glancing over to the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, I had a weird deja vu type moment of Asuma talking to me about my water powers, and something about making a choice before that choice was taken from me, but dismissed it for now. All three sets of eyes were wide, not just interested wide, but almost comically wide in disbelief, and I wondered if I maybe overdid it a bit, but couldn't take it back now. Instead, I simply nodded with a satisfied grin at the new lake, and turned back to them.
"Of course, in Kumo," I started, and all three pairs of eyes were instantly on me, "Asuma followed that up with a large-scale wind technique that almost instantly froze and then shattered the ice chunks and much of the Kumo outpost with it."
"That's one hell of a water technique!" came the excited exclamation from Choza, the first to come out of his shock and reply, "almost like the Nidaime."
"Haha," I laughed, hoping to deflect that line of thought, and if it was a little hollow, hopefully nobody noticed, "I'm not quite at that level …and we aren't exactly in the desert here, the humidity and moisture in the air is still pretty thick."
"Still, that's the most powerful water technique I've seen from a Konoha Shinobi since the Nidaime," came the almost lazy reply from the Jounin Commander, Shikaku Nara, that had me sweating bullets a little bit, as that man was far from stupid or unobservant.
"It's the strongest Jutsu my Clan has record of," I responded, hoping it reminded them that I was from the Ikeda Clan, who specialized in water techniques, even if they've never had much above Chunin level players, until me.
"I can see why," laughed Choza, who was still gazing out over the new lake, which had settled in the minutes of our conversation, but didn't seem to be in any hurry to go anywhere for a while, and I wondered if I was truly capable of changing the landscape of this world, just with the power of my water jutsu, "this lake looks nice here."
"It does," replied Inochi Yamanaka, as the pair looked out over the new feature, while their remaining teammate was contemplating the other thing with them in the clearing, yours truly.
"We should return to the Hokage," came his lazy drawl after a long second of everyone staring out over the new lake, and then led our group as we returned to the Hokage's office, where I was instructed to wait outside for upwards of ten minutes before I was called into the office.
"Chunin Ikeda," came the smooth voice of our Hokage, as I stood at attention before her, the Jounin trio now off to the side of her desk, watching on, "congratulations on your promotion to Jounin."
She then handed me a large storage scroll, with instructions that it was filled with a small medical kit, several standard weapons, and even some armor pieces to add to my gear, and as a thanks from the village. Mine also contained an additional scroll filled with several high level water techniques that must have come from the Hokage's archives (or possibly the Uchiha), as a reward and goal to continue and push myself to get better. I was also told to prepare for a semi-long mission deployment, as we needed to send someone to meet and liaise with the new Mizukage, and my control of water just won me the job.
"You will have a few days of mandatory meetings with Ibiki, starting tomorrow at 0600 to help you prepare for the role," continued the Hokage to my wide-eyed silence, "then one or two days with me, before I deem you acceptable, and ready to represent Konoha."
"Yes Hokage-sama," I answered with a bow, "thank you."
"You are dismissed Jounin Ikeda," she finished, and with a nod of my head to the Hokage, and the trio next to her, I turned and left the office, only to find several dozen others present in the outer waiting area, where I was introduced as the newest Jounin amongst their ranks and was soon joining the group for celebratory drinks.
Asuma was the first to come up and congratulate me personally, giving my hair a tussle with one hand while handing me a drink with the other, as the bartender started pouring out more for others, and soon we were enjoying the party, and I got to meet several other Jounin that were currently in the village. Since there were so few of them, and they tended to be older, most of them had known each other for years, and the fraternity was a close knit one, that truly looked after the village as the most visible elite, and leaders of others. We shared drinks for a bit, and I got officially introduced to Kurenai, Asuma's girlfriend, and several other Jounin I knew of, either from the Manga in my previous life or somehow through the village, though no Kakashi or Gai, the Inochi-Shikaku-Choza trio did show at one point talking up my control of water, and telling everyone of the new lake feature I created.
"I've been thinking almost non-stop about what you said after our last mission," came the drunken slur from Asuma late in the evening when everyone else had left us, and it was just the two of us left and a bottle of saki to finish off. "I've spent years hating my father, and not understanding what he was always saying about making Konoha a safe place to raise a family, and why that mattered more than having a relationship or real conversation with me growing up. And I was so resentful that I purposefully pushed people away to prevent real attachments from forming, and even giving the possibility of ever having a family, just to spite him and his vision …and now he's gone."
"And you finally get what he was trying to tell you," I answered honestly after several long moments of silence when I didn't think he would, but knowing exactly where he was going, from the spaced out and far away look on his face.
"Yeah," he said somewhat stiffly, and if he wasn't a ninja, trained and bred to discard emotion, he probably would have broken down crying, but instead just stared out into the distance and let the silence fill.
I wasn't going to ruin it this time, and simply took another sip of saki, the alcohol giving my head a pleasant buzz that I had missed in the years since my rebirth in this world, and thought back to my own recent discoveries and how I was going to handle them. Becoming a Jounin had definitely been a surprise, but not too shocking all things considered, I just lacked the overwhelming experience or a flashy name that everyone feared. Though, if they knew my origins, they probably would fear me at some level, and I did still need to consider what plans Orochimaru had for me.
From the timeline I first created at age seven, when I realized I was losing some of the details from the Manga of my original world, this was the beginning of the time skip, when Naruto was off with Jaraiya, Sasuke was with Orochimaru, and Sakura was with Tsunade. The only other notes from this time is the little one about Kurenai and Shikamaru mourning the death of Asuma, which I was hoping wasn't going to happen now. I genuinely liked Asuma, and felt he was finally realizing the importance of the people in his life, and would do everything in my power to make sure he survived to have a family of his own, to pass on the wisdom of his father to another generation of the Sarutobi Clan.
In thinking about my new friend, and what his future might look like, I realized that I needed to remember to live my life too, or I would spend it on missions and leave nothing for the Ikeda Clan to continue either, and that wasn't how I wanted to go out. For now, just knowing that I should be open to the possibility, was again a great feeling of freedom, that left me excited for what lay ahead of me. Though, I would need to continue to increase my training, just because I finally reached the last and highest official ninja rank, I still wasn't planning on settling for anything less than my absolute best, and now knowing just who I was genetically related to, and the person after me, I could afford nothing less.
"I'm thinking of asking Kurenai to marry me and start a family?" came the eventual response from Asuma that broke me out of my own thoughts, and had me scrambling to remember what we were talking about.
"Besides currently being drunk," I replied easily and with a smile, "what's been stopping you from asking her right now?"
"All this baggage with my dad," he slowly answered, still seemingly thinking about it.
"Baggage which can be gone through and dealt with," I answered back feeling very wise, but probably just drunk and reflective, "if you're willing to put in the work?"
"Are you sure you're not a monk from the Fire Temple?" came his somewhat laughing reply, as he looked in his empty cup and decided it needed filling again, "all the philosophy?"
It made me laugh, and remember a brief moment during college in my original life where I spent a semester studying philosophy and how much I enjoyed it at the time, before shaking my head and refilling my own empty cup with the last of our saki.
"I've been thinking about life a lot too," I answered with a knowing look to the only person who currently knew who and what I was, "and if you want to ask Kurenai, you should …don't let anything stand in the way of living your life the way you want."
We sat in silence for a bit, both slowly sipping the last of our drinks before he looked over at me, his eyes slowly focusing on me. I could almost see his brain slowly coming up with the question, and watched as it fell from his lips, never knowing it would strike such a chord.
"Have you ever considered a happuri, I mean you do resemble the Nidaime," came his question, "he was my father's teacher, we have several of his pictures …and I can't not see it now, except for the hair color …and even that is starting to go a little gray."
"Haha," I laughed a bit for something to do, knowing it was originally my intention to follow in my hero's footsteps and wear a happuri once I was strong enough to deal with the consequences, but now those consequences were even more dire, "I'm not sure bringing attention to the resemblance is the right idea?"
"With the water jutsu you can throw around? And that lake they were talking about you making?" he replied with a look, "it's not going to take too long for people to start making that connection. This way, you might be able to control the narrative, as my dad would say."
"Your dad was probably the smartest person this village has ever known," I replied with a grin, "and you stubborn Sarutobi might just have a point."
"You want a stubborn Sarutobi," he laughed easily, "I'll introduce you to my nephew, Konohamaru. He's the worst of us all!"
"What do you expect?" I laughed back, "you named him after the village? The poor kid!"
"That wasn't me," he protested with a laugh, raising his hands in defense, "my older brother was trying to win points with my dad, when he came up with that collar."
"At least you understand what it probably feels like for the kid?" I answered back with a good natured chuckle, though the moment had passed being truly funny anymore.
"Shit," he answered me, "I never really thought about what it must be like for him. I remember how hard it was for me, and I wasn't even the oldest or the heir, and I still felt tons of pressure just from my last name, and that kid's got it twice as bad."
"I understand at some level," I said contemplatively, "until last week, I thought I was the last member and heir of the Ikeda Clan, with my water affinity traced back to their days in Uzushiokagure."
"You can still be that person," he answered with a raised cup, before knocking it back and finishing it, "but you should probably make that decision soon, before it's made for you."
"Thanks," I responded, raising and downing my own cup and remembering the deja vu moment from my Jounin trial, and following him to stand, both leaving a few ryo on the table, giving each other nods goodbye, and heading off in separate directions for home, both of us with a lot to think about.
The next few days of meetings with Ibiki were mostly a crash course in reading body language and spotting tells and lies, and how to avoid giving that information out to others, in the hope it would help me prepare for the politicking that I might have to do. The lessons were interspersed with informational tidbits that would be helpful, on what Konoha had gathered about their recent civil war, and the biggest players now in the Kiri leadership positions, after the rebels led by Mei Terumi, successfully overthrew the previous Mizukage. Each night, I was given large amounts of reading to continue helping me prepare, dossier files of the known Kiri ninja, maps and histories cobbled together by our forensic teams that my shadow clones devoured at night, so I wasn't going in completely blind but had very little time for my own thoughts and activities.
One of the things I did make time for however, was my former teammates, who announced they were marrying and planning to start a family, something I had known was coming and waiting for. I think I surprised them both, when after they told me, I produced a scroll for them to read, with my authorization to accept the both of them into the Ikeda Clan, as a way to both continue and grow my Clan with the people who mattered to me, and to give them even more protections for their future. It was mentioned in the Jounin paperwork I received, to ensure as a Jounin that you had an ironclad Last Will prepared, as you never knew what was going to happen on high level missions and needed to be prepared for anything.
Ito was practically in tears, as this would guarantee them all the protections I could offer and ensure their future as well as any of their children, and I couldn't be happier about the decision. I also reminded them about my promotion and the upcoming long term mission I was getting ready for, and we chatted late into the night, reminiscing about our Academy and Genin days until we said our goodbyes. I would let them find the large stack of storage scrolls I was leaving them in their shop tomorrow, as I said my goodbyes to some of the best people I knew.
The only other stop over those last few days in Konoha before leaving on my assignment, was to the Konoha Archives on my last night in town, where I dropped off a large copy of my Fuinjutsu Scroll additions to the Konoha Scroll. It had my analysis of all the previous entries with notes and hints to help anyone advance in the listed sealing methods, more information on barrier seals than anywhere previously mentioned, the details of my invented Limb Saver Fuinjutsu tags to treat severed limbs, and all my notes on the current Fuinjutsu project of mine, a personal storage scroll that lived inside the body. Thinking it would be invaluable to have a permanent storage scroll built into your wrists that you would control every aspect of and keep everything secure on your person.
The final two days in Konoha were spent with the Hokage herself, and consisted of two very long meeting slash training sessions that left me all kinds of exhausted, and completely humbled by her ungodly strength and truly immaculate chakra control after she healed my numerous injuries afterwards like it was nothing. She too went over several larger picture items, and explained all parts of the letter she was sending along with me, the terms for a treaty she was setting and what was negotiable, as well as including the invitation to the upcoming Konoha-Suna joint Chunin Exams. I was being prepared so I could better respond to the negotiations that she was hoping would take place as we were told not to send a politician to Kiri, as they were still in the midst of rebuilding, nor would they accept a large delegation, and the Hokage was hoping they would respect a fighter more. This way, I knew what were the absolute minimum and maximum returns that I could push for, and asked if we were planning to arrive with a gift for the new regime, and she asked me what I had in mind.
"There's a rumor that Kakashi's Team 7 encountered and killed Momochi Zabuza," I responded, having heard the rumor, but knew it to be true from my original life, "and marked his grave with the Kubikiribocho."
"And Konoha shows up, and delivers their legendary sword back to them," she continued, seeing exactly where I was going, her eyes falling back to me for a moment, before calling out for her assistant to send for her newest apprentice.
Minutes later, the unmistakable pink hair of Sakura Haruno arrived, and we listened as she recounted everything she remembered from the end of that fight near Wave, and the actual location of the grave and sword. With that task added to my mission, Tsunade authorized me to leave within the next few days, and I spent the time making all my usual mission arrangements and ensuring I was well packed for a long term mission to the Land of Mist.
Even getting together with Asuma for drinks one final time, and meeting Kurenai and Anko in what was an obvious double date setup, that I didn't complain about too much when I was happily sore the next day and getting ready to leave. I spent a few minutes saying goodbye to my former teammates and the newest members of my Clan, giving them both hugs and getting them to promise and keep an eye on things in my absence. I was soon checking out at the gates, and then sprinting southeast out of Konoha and excitedly heading towards the Great Naruto Bridge, wondering what was in store for me on this mission.
Damn, the Great Naruto Bridge was epic! Larger than the Brooklyn or Verrazano Bridges in NYC, and even bigger than San Francisco's famous Golden Gate Bridge. It was a marvelous blending of old and new style architecture and structural supports that made a truly beautiful and aesthetically pleasing bridge that also served an actual purpose. It was one of the first structures that truly resembled and reminded me of my original world, and was every bit as impressive as I believed it would be.
Sakura's directions were spot on, and the first thing I did after arriving in Wave, was finding the location she mentioned that Naruto had gone and made for Haku and Zabuza. I felt bad when I found the site, with the Legendary Sword sticking out of the ground, in the clearing Naruto first met Haku, and I said a small prayer to the fallen pair before reluctantly getting to work. I also made sure to seal Haku's and Zabuza's bodies in separate black ringed storage scrolls, as they were too valuable to be left behind, and returning Zabuza's body along with the sword, should go a long way towards gaining some goodwill. And if Konoha got it's hands on the last evidence of the Yuki Clan, that was just a bonus.
After having everything sealed away and stored on myself, I made a quick stop in the Wave village that I felt I had practically been to already, and did a quick assessment of the seemingly thriving community, and could only smile and move on. Despite being an island port and nominally under Water Country control, their little village only sailed locally, and had rare instances of travel directly to the larger Islands of Water Country to the east. So, I took the Great Naruto Bridge back to the mainland, and made the short journey to the largest Fire Country port to the south, known simply as Keishi Port, where I would find passage to Water Country's main island, and hopefully meet up with my diplomatic contact on their end, Ao.
He was one of the few Kiri ninja I had notes on from the original Manga, along with the new Misukage Mei Terumi, and two of the young Swordsmen, Suigetsu Hozuki who somehow gets captured by Orochimaru searching for the swords, and Chojuro who possesses the Hiramekarei and stayed in Kiri. Outside of them, and a small handful of missing-nin and dead Kiri ninja, I didn't have a lot to go on, and the dossiers from Konoha were no better than the Bingo Book entries that I would find on these characters. Hopefully, I didn't run into any trouble, because even though we were surrounded by my element, it was also the majority element where I was going, and was going to be heavily outnumbered, and would need to be on my best behavior throughout the trip.
The journey by ship was relatively slow going, and was supposed to take two to three days, so I settled in for some reading and further Fuinjutsu experimenting, making sure I knew everything I thought I would need, and occasionally sinking my chakra into the water around us to keep an eye out and continually practice my control. At some fundamental level to myself, it was refreshing being surrounded by so much water and I wanted at times to stay emerged within it and completely let go for a while and just revel in the flow of water. My desire to potentially be the successor to the second Hokage had taken a large hit after learning that I was in fact his clone, and bred for that specific purpose, but I still felt like my connection to water was a fundamental part of who I was and wanted to embrace it.
I was still nervous as hell to be entering the new Kirigakure, as a single Leaf Shinobi with little more than an introduction letter from my Hokage, placing me as their Konoha ambassador to open the lines of communication and hopefully start an alliance that would benefit the both of us. I was at least heartened to know that Mei Terumi, and her second Ao, were both originally involved in helping Konoha and Naruto towards the end of what I remembered of the Manga, and therefore would hopefully at least be open to an alliance. It also didn't hurt that I was returning with legitimate presents that they should welcome back happily, and maybe even give us a little bit of goodwill towards any alliance discussions that followed.
+-Shin Ikeda—-+
Well, the goodwill part took quite a bit of time, as I was subjected to quite the thorough search upon my arrival at Mizu Point and put through so much security when I arrived with no visible baggage, that I was rather agitated with it all. Ao, and his three Jounin subordinates, I learned were called Unmo, Kamasu, and Rei over the course of my two day imprisonment and interrogation, were all differing levels of assholes, with only Kamasu treating me like an actual human being. Ao was suspicious as hell, something about the dense color of my chakra, and the additional chakra he detected on both my wrists, but couldn't find the actual cause of, which made him reluctant to accept that I was the ambassador from Konoha and not an assassin after the Fifth Mizukage.
Their opinion of me didn't improve, when I was finally given permission to produce the Hokage's scroll of introduction, and after touching my wrists together, and turning to the first of five positions and lining up the new Fuinjutsu script, a small pulse of chakra and the separating of my wrists, released the contents of Seal 1 directly into my hands from one second to the next. It was the absolutely brilliant new sealing method I had written about in my Fuinjutsu Scroll for the village, and had experimented with on my shadow clones, and was finally able to apply while waiting on the ship and hide all my usual mission gear, including the things I was gifting Kiri and that which I didn't want them to ever find. Depending on which of the five slots I selected, I could seemingly pull everything I kept stored on me, out of thin air directly into my hands, and the seal would only work with my chakra.
From a security perspective, I understood their mistrust of me, and the continued glares I received, even after Ao read through the scroll of introduction, intended for his Kage, and deemed me the actual Konoha Ambassador they sent. Though, by then none of us were really in a mood to get along, and I flat out was ready to kill Unmo for some aggressive handling in trying to understand what I did with my wrists without even asking. Eventually, the only calm member of the group, Kasuma asked me about my wrist seals, and I explained they were my own invention, only I could ever use them, and no I would never empty them for them or even my own Hokage.
"We can just send you back to Konoha," growled Ao threateningly, "for insulting us. For sending us this nobody."
"Yes, you can," I replied evenly, "and Konoha can wipe our hands clean of your fucking disaster of an economic dumpster fire of a village, and turn our attention to real threats, and we can instead help the nations that actually understand the importance of allies, and don't want to live in the fucking squalor of their own making."
"Konoha scum," screamed Unmo, who had been trying to slowly move around and encircle me, and now lunged from over my right shoulder while simultaneously drawing his sword for an overhand strike that would never land.
Despite being inside a small detention area, we were still right at the coast, and this was the Land of Water, and with the thick mists everywhere, water was quite plentiful in the current environment. A single one handed dog sign, and an insanely powerful water whip came to life instantly, and back-handed the charging Unmo so hard, he was sent crashing through the walls of the small prison cell, and the one after it as well. I didn't move from my position, holding the eye of Ao, who was watching for my reaction and giving nothing else away, as they were all tense and probably expecting me to lash out at the rest of them as well.
"Are we going to have a problem," I asked, "or are we finally going to be meeting the Mizukage?"
"I'll take you to see the Mizukage," grumbled Ao, who then glared at the other two with him, "Kasuma, you are with us. Rei, take that idiot to the hospital, and then report back to the tower."
Meeting Mei Terumi was rather impressive, as she was a truly beautiful and deadly woman, but seeing the amount of destruction that was still being cleaned up in a war torn village with little new growth, and obvious signs of poverty and short supplies was disheartening. The mists were heavy throughout the village, and there were several checkpoints that slowed us on our journey, and made sure there were several Kiri shinobi who knew a Konoha ninja had arrived, not that my headband or different ninja attire didn't stick out already. Ao made sure that he was between me and his new Kage when I was led into the topmost Kage office of the largest and widest of the tower-like buildings that were prevalent throughout the village I saw on my way in.
"What took so long?" came the instant question once we were inside the office, as the Mizukage turned to her subordinate, "I thought you were meeting the Konoha contact two days ago?"
"We encountered a slight delay," came the quick response from Ao, that had me instantly questioning him.
"A two day imprisonment and interrogation of said Konoha contact," was my addition to the conversation, not planning to stay completely quiet and pretend the delay was for anything else than what it was.
"What?!" shouted the red haired woman, whose eyes were instantly on me the moment I began speaking, and then turned with a glare towards Ao.
"His chakra color is dense and unique," started Ao quickly to his own defense, "and he had no identification …and an unknown chakra in his wrists that turned out to be Fuinjutsu storage scrolls only he can control."
"This looks like an identification," stated the Hokage, while holding up the scroll from Tsunade, "and look …it's addressed directly to me and has already been opened?"
"I had to verify it's authenticity," claimed Ao, who wilted under the glare of his Kage, and ducked his head in shame.
"Yes," I laughed sarcastically, and stirring the pot a little just because I was still pretty pissed off at the welcome I received, "because so many Konoha ninja must arrive, when you are waiting for their ambassador, with forged Hokage seals on their mission documents."
"Why yo–" started Ao, almost taking a step towards me before he was smacked harshly in the face by his Kage.
"Stand down," came her clear voice, that had the man frozen in fear under her harsh glare, until her face softened as she turned back towards me, "I must apologize for my fellow countrymen," she continued with a slight bow of her head, "they have forgotten their manners when greeting foreign guests of their Kage, and it won't happen again."
"Thank you Mizukage-sama," I replied with a bow of my own, "and I feel I too must apologize for unnecessarily antagonizing your shinobi, it has been a stressful few days ...Shin Ikeda, Jounin of Konohagakure, at your service."
"Mei Terumi, Fifth Mizukage," she responded with a small smile and slight bow of her head, seemingly pleased with my manners and introduction.
It was at this point that Rei returned, and made the Mizukage realize they were still missing one member of the welcoming team, and prompted the story to unfold. When she asked me to confirm the report given, I did so with only minor comments that told the truth of Unmo's actions and even complimented Kasuma, as the only one to really attempt resolution without dismissing Ao's shortcomings. Likewise, Kasuma was given the task of being my main contact, and would be responsible for showing me around to the parts of the village I was allowed to go, and then bringing me to the apartment I was being given as a foreign dignitary.
"I would like it if you would take this evening to get settled in and rest after the welcome you received," started the Mizukage to me, "and we can meet tomorrow morning to begin our discussions."
"I look forward to that Mizukage-sama," I responded with a bow, "and thank you for your hospitality."
Kasuma was very matter of fact in taking a long circular walk towards the only really available foreign guest accommodations, pointing out some of the basic areas of the village, two restaurants I could eat at, their small almost empty shopping district, the Academy I wasn't allowed to enter, and the somewhat fancy hotel that doubled as Guest Living quarters. I asked if there was a training field I could use to train, and was told that would have to be decided by the Mizukage tomorrow. The hotel put me up in one of the suites, as it had a separate area for a small bedroom, but was mostly a larger open room with a small living area and kitchenette, which made sense as I would be here for a while.
The next morning I met with the Mizukage, Ao, and two other older shinobi introduced to me simply as Gonbee and Ito, and spent several grueling hours listening to them arguing about the Hokage's letter and what their response was to be. None were exactly happy with the overall tone, as they felt it rather condescending and dismissive of their 'great' Nation, and they felt they weren't being taken seriously. Part of that happened to be their general dismissiveness towards me, as Konoha's representative, since none of them had ever heard of me or thought I was skilled enough to be taken seriously.
This was eventually solved by the arrival of Ao's little interrogator team, checking in with their boss, and Unmo trying to start shit with me. My offered suggestion of fighting that asshole if they really wanted to see who I was, surprisingly was taken up by Ao, and approved by the Mizukage for that afternoon. So later that day, I was standing across from a cocky and shit talking Unmo as we gathered in a large training area that had as much water as it did land, and I could only watch in some surprise at the amount of shinobi gathered to watch this exhibition.
"This will be a friendly spar only," came the loud voice of the Mizukage herself, as she sent a knowing glare at her shinobi, probably in reminder, "on my mark!"
The moment we began a dozen powerful water whips erupted out from around me with only a single dog seal, and instantly all noise around the arena was quiet as a whisper as all eyes were definitely now paying very close attention. Unmo's opening throw of kunai were easily batted aside, and the confident and frankly stupid look on his face, instantly cleared as he realized he had a fight in front of him. He started gathering Chakra and going through a few hand seals of his own, and was then throwing around water bullets that might have been difficult for me a few years ago, but my water whips knocked each and every one of his water attacks aside like they were nothing.
He was getting more and more frustrated after several rounds of failed water bullets, and he didn't seem to want to engage in close combat with my water whips stronger than anything he had, and his slight hesitation in deciding what to do, cost him dearly. I went through my own hand seals, and was then dumping a massive waterfall on top of him and washing him and most of the training area away into the now deeper waters. A small water whip of mine went out into the water, and with only a little concentration, I was able to hook it around the ankle of my unconscious opponent, and pluck him right out of the water and set him on the only remaining ground nearby, which also happened to be at the feet of my spectators.
"I must say," started the Mizukage with a thoughtful look at me, "that was an impressive display of water control for a Leaf Shinobi."
"Thank you Mizukage-sama," I replied with a quick bow, ignoring the now wary or angry looks directed at me from most of those watching.
"It wasn't that impressive," grumbled a young blue haired kid that stood near the Jounin Gonbee, "and against a nobody."
The young boy did at least duck his head after his Mizukage gave him a long look after his comments, though nobody said anything else about it or my fight, and we moved on. The Mizukage announced that she would be hosting a celebratory dinner for me, and invited the same group from earlier today to join as well as a few others among her ranks. The dinner was held in the Mizukage's Tower, and while formal, was rather plain in presentation, with little extra frills one would expect from a Nation just recovering from their Civil War.
It was at the dinner, where the topic of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist was mentioned being re-started as one of their goals, and where I was finally given an in and was able to get into the story of Zabuza Momochi and his encounter and double cross in Wave by the Shipping Magnate, Gato. I could instantly tell that my news wasn't necessarily well taken, whether Zabuza had friends among this group or not, no ninja liked double crossing clients. I continued anyway, knowing what I said next was very important in the relationship between our countries.
"I spoke with one of Kakashi's Genin that was present," I continued into the still silence, "she gave me the directions …so I could stop by on my way here."
That instantly got a reaction, as several eyes came up to me, many of them realizing what my words meant, and wondering what I was planning to do with this information, and the hold it would have over them if that was my play. Instead, I smiled and told them it was always polite to arrive at someone's new home with a housewarming gift, and I thought this trip was no different. It was almost comical how funny some of the looks I got after that, as a few of them realized what I meant, and that I was gifting Zabuza's body and sword back to them.
"You have the Kubikiribocho?" came the question from Ao, as several of those around us, straightened significantly at his words and their meaning.
"You have Zabuza's body?" came the almost simultaneous question from the Mizukage herself, that had several of us around the table pause to look at her, as she took that news in, seemingly almost sorrowful for a moment before straightening to look me in the eye, none of her vulnerability on display anymore.
"I do Mizukage-sama," I replied quickly and honestly, "and his sword, with the intention of gifting them both to you as a sign of Konoha's support and goodwill. It was our Hokage's wish for them to both be returned to you."
"And we are just learning about this now?" came the snappy question from Ao, who paled instantly at the glare sent to him by his Kage.
"You have my utmost thanks Ikeda-sama," came the almost whispered reply from a very serious looking Mei, as her eyes seemed far away, yet oddly entrancing as she held my gaze firmly, "this is truly a gift from an ally, and we thank you."
I tried not to react to the honorary suffix she bestowed upon me, and bowed respectfully towards the strong, yet seemingly vulnerable woman before rising from my seat, and moving over to the side away from the others and kneeling. The whole room was deadly still as I lined up storage seal number two on my wrists, and with a flash of chakra, spread my hands and left behind the gently wrapped body of Zabuza Momochi, Demon of the Mist, with his famous sword, the Kubikiribocho resting flat on top of him. I quietly stood from my seat, found the Mizukage's eyes, and gave her another respectful bow before returning to my seat at the table, the noise level in the room increasing quickly with the return of one of their own famous swords, but I was more concerned with the Mizukage, whose gaze found Zabuza and the sword and simply froze for several moments.
"Mizukage-sama will determine the next wielder of the Kubikiribocho," came the almost shouted reply from Ao, as the general noise levels had increased to many boasts and claims of the famous sword, until the Mizukage's right hand got fed up with them all.
"Yes," came the affirmation from their Mizukage, as she seemingly snapped out of whatever trance she was in, and realized the importance and significance of this moment, "the next generation of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist will be re-formed, and all those hoping for a chance will be given one …but remember. The Seven Swordsmen are made up of Kirigakure's most prized and powerful shinobi, and it is a responsibility beyond that of the average ninja …and therefore, will only be going to the absolute best of the best of what our new Kirigakure represents."
WIth her rousing speech, the general noise levels tripled easily, and the short time left for the meal was spent listening to wild speculation from pretty much everyone, on the future of the sword and swordsmen, or their desire to wield one of them. I enjoyed a good sword, but wasn't going to depend on a single tool that much, or specialize to such a degree as the Seven Swordsmen would have to, though I remember that Kisame's Samehada Sword was an absolute game changer I wouldn't mind having my hands on. The meal broke up shortly afterwards, with everyone else returning to their homes, while I went back to my hotel room, definitely noticing the increased status I had been given by the almost respectful nods from several of the gathered shinobi.
It was the start of a marked improvement of the relations between us, as over the next few days and weeks, it quickly became apparent that I had passed some unnamed test or obstacle, and was now being included in more of the plans for their rebuild and treated like an honorable ambassador would be. Discussions were happening with the Mizukage and her advisors daily, hammering out import and export agreements with Konoha on a broad range of things, and was even given permission to use the training ground from my fight to continue practicing on my own in the evenings. One of the things they were most eager to trade for, beside food and building resources they needed in large quantities, where basic jutsu, as their village libraries had all been destroyed, and most of their Clan Libraries had been lost during the Bloodline purges or the years since of civil war.
They had a precious few dozen Jounin, and then all the rest were basically conscripts trained for war, not ranks of shinobi, but more a militia, and they lacked a lot of the basic fundamentals that rounded out a good shinobi, nor did they have the tools to implement too much. There were a pair of Chunin nurses who had survived due to running the hospital at their main camp, wherever Mei and the rest of her leadership had been, but they were hardly better than triage nurses, and neither of them were capable of healing more than surface cuts and general ailments. They simply lacked everything that I had come to associate with the running of a large village, and maybe that was the only saving grace here, as Kirigakure was a village only really in name.
The non shinobi population at present was in the hundreds, let alone the tens of thousands that filled Konoha, and with all those missing people, also were a lot of missing problems, but fewer bigger ones. At some level, it was good they didn't have a larger population, because they couldn't have supported it, and it would have quickly drained what few resources they did have. It was going to take a real effort of rebuilding from basically the few people that were here now, and hopefully slowly over time, they could grow larger and more ambitious, but for now they still needed to deal with their survival.
It was why I suggested several measures they could take, including appointing a head of the new Kiri Academy, and sending out recruiters throughout the islands and smaller villages, looking for students to fill their numbers and civilians to fill their village. Training up a few select teachers, focusing on the basics and the real important stuff first, to ensure you are getting at least competent shinobi to one day fill up your ranks, and knowing they needed to start quickly. I also recommended they contact and contract out a quality building foreman to lead them in the repairs and rebuilding efforts for the next few years, even suggesting Tazuna of Wave as a possibility.
The Mizukage quickly seemed to realize that with my own studying into Tobirama Senju, I knew quite a bit about some of the ideas he implemented into Konoha, that the other nations had slowly over time developed into practices of their own, and she too wanted to incorporate into the new vision she had of Kirigakure. Our morning trade meetings had soon grown to encompass more of the day, and many more topics, as we became more familiar with one another. Before I knew it, several weeks had passed and I was acting as an advisor to the Mizukage and bringing up ideas to implement into her shinobi ranks, village governance, or Academy curriculum as I watched the village very slowly recover.
By the end of the first month, I had settled into a little routine and after my morning meeting with the Mizukage, that went through lunch as was becoming typical, I had a little free time, I usually spent wandering the village, and checking in on the only two "friends" I had really made so far outside of the Mizukage. My Jounin escort Kamasu, and the Jounin Gonbee, who wasn't entirely friendly, though he definitely saw my contributions to his village as the intended help they were, so tolerated me mostly for the sake of his village and student, who he hoped would make an impression on me so I would help in his training too. He was an excellent swordsman himself and a very patient teacher of Chojuro, and was to be responsible for identifying and then training the next generation of the Seven Swordsmen, but he lacked the truly upper level Suiton Chakra techniques, and was hoping I would pass them along.
I wasn't planning on it though, as while I got along well enough with Gonbee, Chojuro was kind of a young punk, who talked a bit too much, and thought a little too highly of himself already, though I could admit that he had skill and plenty of potential. He wanted to be one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, and therefore really only valued those who wielded powerful swords or used kenjutsu almost exclusively, and that was definitely not me. Nor did I really want to share any of my Suiton techniques, though several of them were very basic techniques, I had just perfected them over time and training to grow into what they were, and that wasn't really something I could teach anybody.
Kamasu was a different story entirely, as after the first few weeks where we hardly spoke, over the next few, he opened up some and the two of us would often find ourselves discussing things about the village on our escorted walks to and from the Mizukage's tower, and over the occasional shared meal. It was during one such meal, at the beginning of my second month in Kirigakure, when he mentioned our Clan relationship, and had me floored when he told the tale of two brothers Ake and Takeo Ikeno and their feud that split the Clan. Takeo, the oldest and heir, who wielded the Family Kamas and became Head of the Clan at age 19, versus his 17 year old younger brother Ake, who specialized in Fuinjutsu and was a student of the Uzumaki.
During the time of the Second Mizukage, they had a large quarrel and Ake vowed to renounce the Ikeno name, and formed his own Clan known as Ikeda, leaving for Konoha never to be heard of by the Ikeno Clan, until my arrival. It actually helped explain why the Ikeda Clan history started with Ake, and never mentioned anything before him, including the fact he had a sibling or another Clan he was actually a part of by blood. It caused me to ask some questions of my own, and in turn share what little I did know about Ake's life after reaching Konoha, and by the end of the second month, considered Kamasu a cousin of sorts as we bonded slightly over our shared history, even if I wasn't really an Ikeda either.
The only other important thing to happen during the second month, was a delegation from Cloud being discovered trying to infiltrate Kirigakure, and abscond with several young children they expected had unique bloodlines. They were caught by Kamasu and myself after trying to kidnap his youngest niece, each of us killing one of them, before ganging up on the leader of the group and making sure we took him prisoner, to learn of what they planned. I only found out what happened afterwards by Kamasu, as a thank you for my help and was even more welcomed by his Clan and village after word seemed to trickle through the Kiri ranks.
Kamasu's niece was pretty shaken up by the attempt, but at five years old, she was resilient enough to recover completely, though it did seem to have an unusual effect on her two older brothers. Kamakiri, the oldest was only 10 and in the first class of soon to be graduating genin from the newly reconstructed Kiri Academy, and the whole incident pushed him to train even harder, and push some of his classmates for the top spots. The next son, eight year old Kamateo, who had been attacked in the process of the kidnapping, had retreated within himself, and seemingly like Rock Lee from the Manga I remembered, lacked the ability to form Chakra outside of his body.
Kamateo, and unfortunately most of his Clan, thought it was a death sentence to his dreams of becoming a shinobi, but I actually was able to convince Kamasu to test if the boy could still internalize his Chakra, for muscle enhancements, or tree climbing, or to trigger Fuinjutsu, and to find the real limit before discarding him. I promised that I knew of another shinobi, who had similar struggles that he overcame with Taijutsu only, as Kamateo could do, along with the addition of the Family's "kamas" or another type of sword, he could still become a legitimate ninja if he was trained properly. A few days later, I was introduced to Kamateo and asked if I was willing to start training him the proper way by my smirking friend, and I could only laugh at his audacity and agree to teach his nephew for the remainder of my time in Kirigakure.
Someone, most likely Ao with his pilfered Byakugan, confirmed that Kamateo had a developed internal chakra system, but was completely unable to expel it from his body. It meant that he too could enhance his muscles and body, and could trigger Fuinjutsu by touch, but they still weren't sure about tree climbing or water walking, as Kamateo lacked the knowledge to control his chakra to that degree, but simply activating Fuinjutsu script left me positive that it would be something he was capable of in the future. For the first day, I simply guided him through meditations to tap into and start feeling and trying to move and control the chakra inside of him, letting him fill himself to his limit, and try and move it all over his body guiding it to every internal inch of himself.
When he exhausted himself and his small internal chakra reserves after the first twenty minutes, I asked him to start running laps around the training ground with me, both to show him the proper technique and demonstrate what I expected of him. I also told him it was up to him if he really wanted to be a shinobi, as motivation to keep training was a must, and that went doubly so for him, as physical training was going to be his bread and butter if he went this route. By the end of the first day, Kamateo had collapsed unconscious at least three separate times, and each time he was given a small rest, and then woken up with cold water and told to start the whole circuit again, and to really think before coming back tomorrow, if this is what he wanted out of the next several years of his life.
To be honest, I expected that to be the last I saw of Kamateo, as even Kamasu had recommended the boy quit after watching what it would take to train with me for one day, and didn't think his nephew had it in him. He surprised both of us, when he was at the training ground stretching when I got there the next morning, and though I could tell he was all kinds of sore and in pain, he had the largest grin on his face when I asked if he was ready for more. I left a trio of shadow clones, one on perimeter, one training, and one backup in case the others dispelled, so I had time to replenish the ranks and train Kamateo while I personally met with the Mizukage for our usual daily meetings with a smile on my face.
Mei Terumi was an interesting mix of person, as she seemingly had this hard edge that all shinobi shared, and was immensely powerful as most Kage were, but she also seemingly had this soft spot for romance and one day getting married which just made for an unusual combination. She was thrilled to learn that I was taking an interest in and training Kamateo, and despite Ao's initial objections, she was as glad that things seemed to be working out as Ao was disappointed in the same. By this point, most of our meetings had devolved into finances and loans, credit lines for goods, and the occasional swap for Water Country goods against their more immediate needs and capabilities they were requesting from Konoha.
Luckily, Konoha wasn't trying to bleed them dry, and the Hokage had offered very reasonable loan rates and credit terms for a rebuilding nation like Kirigakure in exchange for an alliance that we thought would benefit both sides. With the basics of the support spelled out, along with loan rates agreed upon, and supply requisitions requested, we were already nearing the end of our planned goals in less than the three months I was given to accomplish and put together a treaty both Nations would sign. The last of the sticking points was in knowledge exchange, as they were woefully lacking after the destruction of their village library and archives, any non Suiton chakra techniques, and only had mostly known Suiton techniques themselves to trade.
We dragged out the next two weeks of negotiations as there was little left to come to an agreement on, but Mei especially wanted me to remain for the entire three months, and get the most out of the training I was doing with Kamateo Ikeno, and the rest of the Ikeno Clan. Kamsu and I had agreed to a small knowledge exchange ourselves, after he learned I was giving the Ikeda Clan's "Uzumaki Chakra Seal" I had since the Academy, to my young student. In learning what it was, and how it had helped me when I was developing my own Chakra pathways, he felt somewhat indebted to me for my help, and depressed to learn it was most effective on the young and therefore wouldn't be of help to him.
Meanwhile, Kamasu had created and given me a fairly large scroll filled with Kama katas that the Ikeno Clan had developed over the years, along with a training pair of Kamas that I could practice with, and though it didn't contain everything it was a great start and something interesting to play with. They were a sickle type handheld weapon that could be used for blocking and typical sword style attacks, as well as thrown attacks and seemed fairly versatile and handy, though I wasn't planning to change everything about my fighting style to incorporate it now and just had fun trying them out. Kamateo quickly settled into a vigorous training routine, realizing that I was leaving soon, tried to ask as many questions as possible as the days passed, often coming back late at night to ask more questions, and copy down notes and pointers I was telling him, knowing I wouldn't be around for long.
His progress was coming along rather well too. He had successfully integrated the Uzumaki Chakra Seal, and had commented on how much stronger his Chakra and pathways felt afterwards, and it showed over those first few days. With that came the beginning of control exercises, as I took him through a daily routine to exhaust and work on his chakra and control simultaneously, then when that needed a break to move on to physical exercises, then mental exercises like Fuinjutsu or meditation after the body needed rest. That would help restore Chakra, and allow him to continue back with Chakra control training and starting the whole cycle over again until he was content, and my main lesson to him was to never be content and always keep learning and training to get better in some way.
He even helped me get started on the Kama katas of his Clan, and made sure I too was training and using the unfamiliar weapons properly, and learning the correct steps and movements that would give me the basics I needed to build on. It was a fun experiment for me to play with and try out, though I didn't think I would be incorporating kamas into my usual arsenal, I would keep a pair around to occasionally train with and remember my time here. I hadn't really had time to teach Kamateo much beyond the very basics, and just getting him started in the right direction, but I felt he understood the important parts to keep training and that motivation was going to have to come from within, as nobody else would care as much as you yourself in regards to your own survival.
When it came time for me to leave Kirigakure, and return to Konoha with a signed Alliance Treaty, and dozens of order forms for various building materials, foods, and knowledge that Konoha would be supplying, there were only a few sad faces. Kamateo and Kamasu had both become quite friendly, and were the only two Kiri Shinobi that I would miss, and likewise they would both miss me. The only other friendly face was the Mizukage herself, and Ao's when he realized I was leaving,
"Mizukage-sama," I bowed politely, "thank you for your kind hospitality. It was wonderful getting to know and work with you over these past few months."
"Thank you Ikeda-sama," came her smiling reply, as she bowed to me as well, "Kiri is in your debt."
A final smile and nod of my head, and I was off, boarding a large freight boat that would take me back to the mainland over the next three to four days. I would spend that time almost exclusively submerged into my element and reveling in letting go and becoming one with the water again, finally ready to accept who I was and take my place as a Konoha Elite. It started with a uniform change that included some armor pieces and the addition of a happuri, but I skipped out on the face markings or doing anything to my dark black hair to make me into a truly identical copy of the Nidaime.
It was time to return to Konoha and take my place as one of its Elite Jounin, and I decided to embrace the legacy I was given, and simply use it as another ninja tool in my growing arsenal, to help protect Konoha. If people thought I was the second coming of the Nidaime, there were many worse comparisons I could have, and I will use my power to its fullest. As we were nearing the shore and my senses were still submerged within the water, I could feel the poisonous chakra of who could only be Orochimaru, and I realized making it home to Konoha was in danger now, and dreaded the difficult fight that I knew was coming.