Chapter One – The Fall
Uzushiogakure was doomed. Nidaime Uzukage Uzumaki Arashi knew this as fact, as much as the male omega knew that he was not long for this world.
They were four days into the siege of their island nation by Kirigakure and Iwagakure's combined forces. On the first day under siege, the outer defensive barrier had fallen from the onslaught from Kiri's two jinchūriki. They lost the village the next day, being forced to shelter within the reinforced bunkers where the civilians were sheltered. They could still keep the barriers up, but they had lost most of their shinobi forces and were all running low on chakra.
The only reason that Kiri hadn't unleashed their jinchūriki on the defensive barrier was that they didn't want to destroy their prize. They sealed and moved the treasury into the shelter when the village was attacked. The other villages were after their vast knowledge of fūinjutsu, and Arashi was sure they were trying to capture civilians and the young as 'breeding stock.' Bloodline hunters had coveted their clan's unique charka to breed stronger shinobi with large chakra reserves. It had been one of the reasons their clan had settled on an island surrounded by dangerous waters long before the era of Hidden Villages.
Arashi moved through the reinforced stone walls of the bunker carved into the hills where Uzushiogakure was built. He was doing one last check on the Fūinjutsu Masters, who were holding firm against the siege on the barriers, but the Uzukage could tell they were nearing the end of their endurance.
Uzushiogakure was one of the smallest hidden villages, only consisting of one clan. They had a population of just under 5000 and 609 active shinobi, about 12% of their population. Uzushiogakure's forces broke down to 32 ANBU, 89 Jōnin, 217 Tokubetsu-jōnin, 21 iryō-nin, 103 chūnin, and 147 genin. These numbers didn't reflect the actual numbers of their defending force because all genin with less than three years experience had been stationed in the bunker, cutting their numbers down by 54. They didn't weren't experienced enough not to get in the way of the defending force, and canon fodder wasn't going to help the battle for the village. Their numbers were also further cut down because they had deployed two detachments of 30 Tokubetsu-jōnin Fūinjutsu Masters to the Konoha war effort against Sunagakure and Iwagakure. They had been hopelessly outnumbered from the start; the ratio was easily 10 to 1.
Of the 495 shinobi of the defensive force, only 71 survived and could retreat into the bunker. Of those 71, only twenty-six were abled-bodied with minor injuries. Only eight iryō-nin survived, and that was because they were stationed at the bunker. Including the genin, Uzushiogakure's military force had been reduced to 125 shinobi, and most of those had no chance against the forces outside of the defensive barrier.
Their only hope to save the village was Konohagakure showing up, but that seemed less likely to happen. Their allies should have arrived by now. The hawks had been released requesting reinforcements, and they had used the emergency communication seal to alert the Hokage, but there was no response. If Konoha had received the message when expected, reinforcements should have arrived the morning of the third day of the siege. They were now late into the night of the fourth day, and there was still no response or reinforcements. Arashi knew there were only two options: one, somehow all their messages had been intercepted by the enemy, or two, they were forsaken by their long-standing ally. The Uzukage could only hope it was the first option because their last-ditch plan relied on Konoha as a safe haven.
The Uzukage finished his rounds of the troupes before moving deeper into the cave where the civilians were housed. Arashi quickly found whom he was looking for in a private room that had once been a storage room, but its contents had been sealed away. Five elders were spaced evenly around a toddler under a sleep genjutsu, still in the process of finishing the seal that covered the expanse of the two-year-old's back.
"Uzukage-sama, we are nearly done. Here have a seat, and let me check your wounds." An ancient beta Elder said.
"Thank you, Elder Fumina," Arashi said as he sat on a crate and allowed the Elder to check his wounds.
Arashi knew that he didn't look good; he didn't look like the invincible figure a Kage should be. His clothes were covered in dirt, blood, and other bodily fluids. His long, vibrant red hair, once hung down his back in an intricate braid, now hung shaggily on his shoulders as it had been cut in an attempt to take his head. He had charka burn going up from the stump of his left arm, up his neck and the side of his face, distorting the tattoo that ran along his left cheekbone. Arashi had lost his left arm on the second day while they were retreating into the shelter. They had healed it the best they could, but Arashi was only moving because of the pain suppression seals classed as kinjustu. The suppression seals were dangerous because if you didn't feel pain, you didn't know you were injured. The seals allowed shinobi to fight until they dropped dead from injuries they sustained.
Arashi already knew that he was dying because the injury that cost him his arm had been caused by biju-chakra, and the caustic charka was corrupting his charka coils. It was only a matter of time before it overwhelmed the seal, keeping it at bay; then, it would enter his eighth gate, his heart, killing him.
As the Elder changed the dressing on his stump, his thoughts turned to the toddler within the sealing circle. She was his granddaughter. Arashi's daughter, Nariko, and her mate had been killed on the first day of the siege. It pained him that she was gone, but he was proud of his precious pup, who, with her mate, had taken down the Sanbi jinchūriki before being cut down.
Arashi hadn't been mated when he had fallen pregnant with Nariko. Her sire was a foreign shinobi, and while both had wanted to mate and marry, it wasn't in the cards for the pair. Both had duties to their clan and village that couldn't be ignored. So they had had an ongoing relationship of stolen moments that had spanned over 30 years until his death just before the start of the Second Shinobi War three years ago. Nariko had taken after her sire, paternal grandmother, and maternal grandsire in her colouring. While Arashi had the stereotypical red Uzumaki hair, his sire had been from the Hatake clan, and Nariko's sire had been from the Senju clan with a Hatake mother. While Nariko had inherited the silver hair and pale skin from her foreign blood, she had inherited the golden eyes that denoted her place as a future matriarch and Uzukage of the Uzumaki clan. Nariko's daughter Kairi had inherited her mother's foreign colouring, even though her father had the classic Uzumaki look.
Typically, the key seals placed on the toddler were given each time the clan heir completed a stage of seal mastery, allowing them to access fūinjutsu knowledge scrolls that only the clan head could see. Unfortunately, they didn't have time to do it properly. Their fūinjutsu was dangerous and couldn't be left lying around in scrolls for anyone to read, and the clan head was the Keeper of Knowledge. The seals placed on Kairi also gave her knowledge of fūinjutsu, which were referred to as whispers from ancestors.
"I've reinforced the seal as much as possible, Uzukage-sama, but I've only bought you a couple more hours." Elder Fumina said, tearing Arashi from his thoughts.
"Thank you, Elder." Arashi thanked the old omega.
"We are ready for you, Uzukage-sama." An Alpha Elder called from the side of the toddler.
"Thank you, Elder Haruto. Were there any issues?" Arashi asked.
"No Uzukage-sama. The sealing went as planned. It's ready for you to finish." Elder Haruto informed him.
Arashi made his way over to the toddler and knelt beside the small body. He quickly looked over the seals and was impressed by the Elders' work, especially because the seals were usually given over years. Arashi felt a pang of sadness because this should have been a happy occasion with family and friends and a celebration that filled the street of Uzushiogakure. Even more tragic was that Nariko couldn't complete the seals because Kairi would lose the chance to have a piece of her mother's charka.
Arashi pushed his emotions aside as he worked the charka from his own key seals into the open seal inked on the toddler. Each clan head would create a charka imprint that they would seal away to be passed through the generations of clan heads. In addition to the construct, each clan head would create a library scroll. The loss of Nariko's addition to the seal work would be the first time in over 18 generations that knowledge had been lost. It was a situation similar to this one where the heir died before being able to pass on their knowledge. However, the chain of seals had never been lost, continuing since the time of the Sage.
It took several hours, and by the time Arashi was done, he was sweating from the exertion and charka exhaustion. Arashi was thankful when an Elder pushed a canteen into his hand with a couple of charka pills while another Elder put a numbing cream on the toddler's back and redressed her. Arashi chewed the bitter pills and felt his charka recover a bit, even as familiar nausea from the medication came over him. He sipped warm water from the canteen to wash away the taste.
When Arashi has slightly recovered, he cast a genjutsu to hide his injuries before he broke the genjutsu on the toddler. It took a moment before she woke, looking around the room in confusion and squirming in mild discomfort.
"Obāchan?" A small voice called hesitantly as she rolled over and looked up at her grandcarrier.
"I'm here, Kai-chan," Arashi reassured the toddler as she clamoured onto his lap, hugging his neck.
"Where's Touchan and Kaachan?" Little Kairi asked innocently, staring up at him with large golden eyes.
"I'm sorry, Kai-chan, but they have gone to the Pure Lands with Ojisan," Arashi told her gently.
"Oh, can I go too, Obāchan?" Kairi asked, not understanding that they were dead.
Arashi smiled sadly at the toddler.
"I'm sorry, Kai-chan, but you hopefully won't be seeing them for a long time," Arashi said as he softly petted the long, soft, silver hair.
"But Obāchan…" Kairi started.
"That's enough, Kairi-chan. We don't have much time, but I want you to know that I love you, and your Kaachan and Touchan loved you." Arashi said before placing a kiss on her forehead, tears in his eyes.
Kairi looked up at him with innocent eyes, not understanding that this was goodbye but wanting to comfort her grandcarrier.
"Love you, Obāchan, forever and ever." Kairi smiled at him before placing a loud kiss on his cheek.
"I love you more than you can ever know," Arashi said as he hugged the small body tightly.
"Obāchan, you're squishing me!" Kairi giggled in the embrace and squirmed in the one-arm hold.
"I'm sorry, Kairi, but it's time to sleep," Arashi said before placing an inkless sleep seal using a charka imprint.
The toddler's body went limp as she fell into a dreamless sleep. The seal was better than a genjutsu because it couldn't be accidentally disrupted. Arashi pulled two necklaces from around his neck. The first necklace was sentimental in nature; it was a delicate chain with a golden uzu charm, and if one looked closely at the charm, one could see tiny intricate seals engraved in the metal. The charm was an exceptional example of Uzumaki craftsmanship that her lover had commissioned for him, though the seals were his lover's own invention. The second was a locket made of charka conducting metals held on a sturdy chain of the same metal. On the front of the locket was an uzu inlaid with a rare crystal that was charka heavy. Every clan head had worn the locket. Arashi carefully placed them around his granddaughter's neck, as they now belonged to her.
"Puffin, Turtle," Arashi called after pulling a scroll from his pocket and placing it in the sleeping toddler's arms.
Two of the surviving six ANBU appeared by his side. Like Konoha, they used animal code names, but the look of their ANBU couldn't be more different than their sister village. The pair were dressed in the Uzushio standard ANBU uniform. The uniform consisted of a black bodysuit with a blackened leather chest, forearm, thigh, shin protectors, and black leather combat boots. Over their armour, they wore a black, knee-length hooded cloak that hid their hair. Their faces were covered by a cloth mask that went from their neck to the bridge of their nose. The small amount of visible colour was the strip of skin not covered by the mask, but the peak of their hood partly hid even that. Both had black weapon pouches strapped to each thigh, but they were mainly used to store scrolls, while their weapons were sealed away in the hidden seals stamped into their leather armour. There was little to identify them; they used seals to mask their scents and distort their voices. They used a series of seals, linking them with each other and Uzukage to identify each other, making it impossible for infiltration. They were an imposing image. The only visual difference was their size and the colour of their eyes. (1)
Puffin was a short, female beta teen at five foot three, with hazel eyes, while Turtle was a tall alpha male at nearly six foot six with purple eyes. Puffin had only been in ANBU for less than a year, but her mostly uninjured state was a testament to her skill. On the other hand, Turtle has been with Arashi since he took the mantle of Uzukage from his father. Turtle had devoted himself to Arashi and was the one who had pulled him into the bunker when he lost his arm to the Rokubi jinchūriki. Both looked worse for wear, armour scuffed and singed. It looked like there was blood and other bodily fluids splattered on them, but they had taken the time to remove the worse of it. The duo were the only ANBU left that didn't have debilitating injuries. The pair kneeled beside him, bowing their heads.
"Uzukage-sama," Turtle said for the pair.
"I'm releasing you from the oath you swore to protect me, and from this day onward, you will serve Uzumaki Kairi. Your lives belong to her until the Shinigami comes for you." The Uzukage said; this was an order from their Kage, not Arashi.
"Hai, Uzukage-sama." Turtle acknowledges, bowing his head with Puffin.
"I'm going to transfer your loyalty seals to Kairi now," Arashi said.
The pair of ANBU shed their cloaks and body armour so that they could expose the seal that was placed above their hearts. Arashi pulled out a senbon and pricked his finger. With practiced movement, he quickly drew the sigils that would open the seals. He felt the connection between him and his ANBU break, it wasn't painful, but it was like a lost tooth. Arashi moved towards his granddaughter and used the senbon to prick the toddler's finger. He then ran into the problem of being able to maneuver the tiny body with only one arm.
Silently Puffin picked up the toddler and manipulated the child as Arashi wanted.
"Thank you, Puffin," Arashi said.
Puffin nodded in acknowledgement, then Arashi took hold of the toddler's bleeding finger and used it to draw the seals to bind the ANBU to her charka. Kairi was young for this, but the two ANBU operatives won't stress her coils too much. It took less than a minute to bind them to the toddler. After the seals were complete, the two agents redressed.
"Your primary mission is to get Kairi safely to Konoha. You are to bring her to the Hokage, don't hand her off to anyone else. Your secondary objective is the Treasury Scroll, but if you must abandon it in Kairi's favour, do it. She has to reach Konoha even at the expense of the clan." Arashi ordered the operatives.
"Hai, Uzukage-sama." Turtle acknowledged the order.
Puffin passed the toddler to Turtle; the child looked comically small in his large arms. Puffin went about sealing the child's essential belongings into a scroll. Puffin took a moment to ensure her breastplate was clean before she unsealed a piece of soft fabric several meters long from her personal storage seal. The material was used to wrap around a caregiver and create a papoose for a young child; this method of child transportation was common in Uzushiogakure. Usually, the fabric was brightly coloured, but the one Puffin had was black and blended in with her armour. It wasn't the first time the ANBU operative had transported Kairi in this way and wrapped and folded the fabric around her body with practiced movements. Turtle helped maneuver the toddler into the papoose and helped the other agent adjust the material so the child was secure and Puffin's hands were free. Once the papoose was adjusted correctly and Puffin's cloak pulled closed, Kairi was completely hidden from view. The scroll Arashi gave the toddler was slipped into Puffin's weapon pouch.
Once the child was secure, Arashi handed Puffin the Treasury Scroll. She was the faster of the two ANBU; if necessary, Puffin would push on while Turtle bought time. It was a large scroll that had to sit on the small of her back because it was too large to fit into any pocket. Once the scroll was stowed, Arashi handed Puffin a second smaller scroll.
"This is for the Hokage's eyes only," Arashi told Puffin.
Puffin nodded in acknowledgement and slipped the scroll into her weapon pouch.
Once the ANBU were ready, Arashi led them out of the sealing room to where the refugees were preparing to evacuate. The seal they were planning on using was somewhat experimental. His lover had created the Hiraishin teleportation seal, and the lovers had used it to meet at a small cabin just off the coast of the Land of Fire. The Hiraishin was not meant to transport large numbers of people, but Arashi was sure that he was successful in modifying it, but of course, there was no way to test it. While most of the Hiraishin seal had deactivated once their creator, Arashi's lover, died, thankfully, the seal within the cabin had stayed active because it had been made with a mix of their blood, keying Arashi to the seal.
The original seal could only safely transport two to three people, but Arashi believed that he had successfully modified it to transport approximately a combined mass of one ton. This approximated 13 adults, but they could transport more children. Unfortunately, they had to have adults to take care of those children.
A ton was a hard limit, any more would destabilize the seal matrix, but even a ton was pushing the boundary of the seal. There were approximately 4400 people in the bunker, and there was no way they would get them out at only fifteen at a time. There was also a second issue; typically, space-time ninjutsu could bypass barriers, and knowing that issue, the clan had fixed invented a whole new barrier seal to circumvent that issue. Unfortunately for the Uzumaki clan, their advanced fūinjutsu had effectively trapped them behind their own barriers. They would need to remove the barriers protecting the bunker to start the evacuation. They would begin with Kairi, her ANBU, and the few surviving not critically injured jōnin. The first waves of evacuees would secure the landing zone for the rest.
The subsequent waves would go by priority. The first waves would consist of the able-bodied jōnin, chūnin, and the genin. Arashi had ordered all his active able-body shinobi to evacuate first because they would mean the survival of the civilians. The next group would be academy students and the one family member each shinobi allotted, though they have been encouraged to choose younger family members. Then other essential personnel like the armourers, sumi-artisans, blacksmiths, and they would also be allowed one family member. After that, there had been a lottery for who will come through, but unbeknownst to the civilians, it had been rigged to prioritize those under the age of twenty and were capable of moulding charka. If the civilians had known about the rigging, there would be outrage and panic, but the Uzukage had to think of the survivability of his people. He couldn't just send off their civilians; they would be picked off without protection and most likely captured. If Arashi did this, the refugees would scatter like the wind, and the Uzumaki clan would disappear. Arashi had also given orders to his shinobi to let the civilians leave if they wanted or leave them behind if they were slowing the refugees down on their escape. While it would be unfortunate for civilians to be captured, it was better than a shinobi that had the knowledge they had been invaded for.
Arashi turned his attention to his clan, which was divided into groups. All were prepared to move quickly because there would be only 30 seconds between waves.
"Uzumaki!" Arashi thundered, drawing the attention of the sea of mostly redheads. "Uzushiogakure is lost, but the Uzumaki clan still stands strong. Shorty, we will start the evacuation. Myself, the Elders, and other volunteers will stay behind to buy time. May Kami grant you speed."
"Hai!" The clan acknowledged before bowing to their leader for the last time.
Arashi took a moment to see his granddaughter for the last time. He moved towards the ANBU agents and moved close enough to Puffin to kiss the sleeping toddler's head. He placed his hand on Puffin's shoulder and squeezed it in thanks. The teenager leaned into the hand before stepping back towards the large modified teleportation seal carved into the floor. Arashi turned to ANBU Turtle, the pair clasped their forearms, and Turtle pulled Arashi into a hug and gently bumped their foreheads together. The couple stood like that for a minute, in silent goodbye before Turtle broke away and joined Puffin in the seal array.
While the final preparations were made, Arashi made his way toward the entrance where the other fighters had gathered.
"Is everything ready?" Arashi asked Elder Fumina.
"As ready as we can be. We've set everything up as you requested. We will be rushed once that barrier comes down, but we will buy you as much time as possible." Fumina said as she handed over a seal to Arashi and finished her final checks on her gear.
It had been decades since Fumina had retired from active service after the birth of her last child almost killed her and left her with internal damage. Though the Elder hadn't been running missions, she had kept her equipment ready like any veteran shinobi would.
Arashi checked over the seal Fumina handed him before he slapped it over his heart and activated it.
"You know, boy, I thought that I would die fighting alongside your father, but I guess you will do," Fumina said with a slightly cynical smile.
Fumina was Arashi's aunt and had outlived his father for years. Arashi's father had died early on fighting in the First Shinobi War. His father had lived much longer than shinobi could reasonably expect, and he died how he wanted to.
"Well, I didn't expect to live long enough to have a granddaughter, but we both exceeded our expectations," Arashi said with a sardonic smile.
"Well, nephew, you have your role; let the rest of us kill as many of these bastards as possible. Let us old timer enjoy one last fight." Fumina said, looking up at her nephew.
"Give them hell, Oba." Arashi said before turning to the Fūinjutsu Master holding the barrier, "Bring down the barrier in five minutes."
The tension in the corridor was thick as Arashi returned to the chamber that held the modified Hiraishin. Arashi sealed the door shut as it would be the last obstacle for the invaders. Arashi moved towards the seal and sat in a seiza position just outside the array. Arashi raised his hand in a tiger position to concentrate his charka in preparation. On either side of Arashi were two jōnin that would be staying behind; one had lost a leg in a doton trap, while the other had severe burns on the left side of his body. Like Arashi, they were only moving because of the pain suppression seals. The two jōnin were too injured to fight, so they were with Arashi to bolster his charka supply, feeding their charka into the Kage. Arashi's ANBU guard was also in the room, and if need be, they, too, would sacrifice their charka to him.
Arashi felt the moment the bunker barrier went down, and he immediately activated the modified Hiraishin seal transporting his granddaughter to safety. There was a moment of relief before they heard an explosion in the distance as the enemy shinobi breached the bunker. The next group was already moving into position; as soon as they were in place, Arashi flared his charka again.
This cycle continued even as the sounds of fighting grew closer. Arashi's charka pathways burned from the lack of charka by the twelfth wave. Arashi opened his mouth, and one of his jōnin placed their arm into his mouth. What Arashi was about to do was taboo, but he would damn his soul to save as many of his clan as possible. Arashi bit down; usually, only pressure and saliva would activate their unique ability to transfer charka. However, Arashi bit deeper, breaking the skin and causing blood to flow freely into his mouth. Arashi sealed his mouth over the wound, drinking the blood. Arashi shuddered in revulsion as he continued to drink until the jōnin collapsed, dead beside him. Drinking another Uzumaki's blood was taboo because it was so dangerous. There was only one exception, and that was between mates. Arashi felt disgusted with himself because not only had he murdered a fellow clansman, but he had also performed a crime that was considered sexual assault in the clan.
Arashi lost track of time, but the second jōnin was now dead, Arashi having stolen their chakra. Arashi was so out of it that it felt like no time had passed before the final door was breached. The fighting spilled into the sealing chamber, and Arashi's remaining ANBU guard, their last line, rushed forward to keep out the invaders. Arashi could only send two more waves before he was forced to dodge the katana of an Iwa shinobi. Arashi drew his wakizashi and was forced into the battle. Arashi had exhausted his charka, and only pure willpower kept him moving. The jōnin that had taken over the array managed to send off another three waves before Arashi faltered, and a katana slipped through his guard and embedded into his chest. Time seemed to stop as Arashi was stunned momentarily as he looked at the Iwa jōnin that had run him through, as the Iwa shinobi pulled the sword from the Kage's chest. The Uzukage fell forward to his knees as blood poured from his mouth as he choked on his own blood. Arashi could only laugh weakly as he watched the katana swing down toward his neck.
Uzumaki Arashi, the Nidaime Uzukage's head, flew from his body. Even before his body hit the ground, the Dead-man Switch Seal over his heart activated, igniting the demolition explosive tags the bunker was rigged with.
This is based on the Nightingale Armour from Skyrim.