A/N: Some of you were confused by the update a couple of days ago. Sorry to say it wasn't a new chapter, like this one, but let me explain what happened.
I needed to update chapter 52 because the interplay with Hiruzen during the Council meeting left some of our Guest commentators confuzzled thinking Hiashi Hyuuga was still alive after his brutal yet heroic death during the Chuunin Exam Festival Final bouts. I figured if one or more were confused about Sandaime's mental dialogue then others might be as well. So I rewrote that section to make it clear that the former clan leader is in fact quite dead and that Hiruzen was just wondering to himself if the Tsuwamono Seal would have affected a Hyuuga given their high-level chakra control. Most of you appeared to pick up on it, however, when Hiruzen considered approaching Shibi Aburame and made no mention of Hiashi Hyuuga. So there is that.
Well done.
Unfortunately, ffnet wouldn't let me update the chapter as it was and I ended up having to delete then re-post the last two chapters again. That is why you all got an update notice.
Also, if you send me comments as a Guest, I cannot respond to you directly. This means you have to wait for a chapter update to get the answer you want. Just a reminder.
Sorry for the confusion and now on to why you are here in the first place.
I hope you are all staying safe out there, and, as always:
Enjoy as you will.
~Siva'a-tasi
~III~
Chapter 55: A Fresh Start...Maybe?
~III~
Once Upon A Time on 'No More'...
Being dragged from her bed at an ungodly hour was something Keina adapted to early on in her role as ANBU General. Having Commanders overseeing the three major SPECOPS Divisions did not alleviate her obligations as Commanding General completely and, more often than she liked to admit, those obligations prevented the comfort of a full night's rest.
[Why would being the Kage of a fledgling nation be any different?] she silently carped even as she trudged downstairs at the behest of her lieutenant on night duty.
She couldn't but help the jealous feelings burbling beneath her scrunched brows as the rest of the estate peacefully slept. She'd asked for this browbeating Naruto who was all-too-happy to take up the reins of Uzukage, a position he still needed years of training to even attempt to fill, and give her the exalted title of Daimyo.
Too bad he wasn't farther along in his training otherwise she'd have been sorely tempted. Even as she silently closed the door to his bedchamber - smiling wickedly at the tangle of legs and bottoms peaking out from under the sheet-covered gaggle - she really couldn't blame anyone but herself.
No, this was her burden to bear. She refused to trust this crooked village as her idiotic sister had once done. She refused to blissfully surrender anyone else to Konoha. Never again.
No more.
Wrapping her robe tightly around her svelte frame, the seasoned warrior ran a hand one last time through her raging bedhead before following the grim-faced hatchling out through the front door of the small estate only to stagger to a complete halt just paces before the squad blocking the main gate and her late-night visitor.
She stared, blatantly stared with her jaw hanging open wide enough to catch mosquitos buzzing around in the night air.
"Greetings cousin," the silky voice still brimming with youth called through the bars to her breaking her shocked gaze. "Won't you invite me in for some tea?"
.
.
Ten minutes later, after much happy squealing and hugging, a still-teary Keina settled down enough to sip her tea. She'd been watching her guest literally unwind before her eyes as the tension leached from her body by the minute. From the happy sigh after sampling the steaming elixir cupped in the older woman's hands, you'd think she'd been given liquid opium.
Keina took that as she'd kept her skill at making tea and hid her smile behind her own flower-printed saucer.
"Something on your mind, Cousin?"
Keina blinked in response, her eyes sliding upwards from the woman's very distinctive rainbow battle kimono, past the incredibly long crimson hair, and finally to her steel-blue eyes.
"Just reminiscing." Her short grunt of a laugh after produced a snort in return.
"Never thought you'd be the grownup. I still remember the gangly kunoichi in training with ink doodles all over her face. Saito-sensei used to get soo frustrated with you~."
Keina pouted at the comment though there was no malice, just happy memories. Too bad it couldn't last, for now. As it was, they'd idled away almost an hour just enjoying each other's company. All too soon, Keina needed to head off to bed as tomorrow was going to be busy enough.
In the near term, she needed answers that Hiruzen refused to give her over the last five years the teeth-gnashing Uzumaki ran the ANBU for the man, miser that he was.
"Can you tell me what happened? What did you do that made Hiruzen finally set you free?"
The woman's snort of laughter included a fair amount of misting tea, and just like that, the light mood faded with her Cousin's smile.
"I need to know, Fuuka."
The older Uzumaki nodded even as she framed her response in her mind. "I will write down everything that happened while I was kept prisoner for you to read once you get back from Tetsu."
Keina nodded once.
"As for my last meeting with that bastard, Hiruzen, I didn't do a damned thing."
Keina blinked several times in confusion as her brow wrinkled again in thought.
"No, seriously I didn't do a thing. He just walked in late last night (it was now early, early morning) and see we were quits."
Even as her cousin began to retell, Keina had to fight the urge to storm over to the Sarutobi compound and break every bone in the old geriatric's body.
.
.
In the Sarutobi Cabin Earlier that Night
"I never invited you in, you old lecher."
The voice was so soft, young still but held the steel of hatred behind it.
"And I see that your manners have not improved in all the years that we've known each other," he chided hoping to break the tension as she hadn't lowered her KI yet.
"Manners are for the free, you hateful bastard." Her voice was a sibilant hiss now, like razor-sharp steel being drawn from a scabbard. [A parry for the initial thrust.]
An all-too-familiar conversation flickered behind her eyes.
[The Uzumaki can never know that we've kept her. We cannot risk the weapon setting the beast loose even with our spare vessel safely sequestered.] She remembered those words spoken even as ANBU subdued her in the bastard's office, his despicable advisors staring down at her with contempt as she succumbed to unconsciousness.
Hiruzen tried not to let his face flush with shame as it would send the wrong message at this delicate juncture. Instead, he took a deep breath to settle himself.
She watched him through the mirror she'd been brushing her hair in close the door then turn fully to face her. She also knew he couldn't help but stare at her, at her body. The pervert just couldn't help himself and she hated him all the more for it. The many offers she turned away to breed her to one of his shinobi... The bribes...
She hadn't reciprocated facing him but he should be able still to see the multi-colored battle kimono she still wore since leaving Uzushiogakure more than two decades before.
She'd burned all of the others brought to the cabin out of spite.
Oddly enough it still fit her hourglass figure much to his blushing chagrin. She could feel his oily gaze sliding along her curves and could still pass for her early twenties thanks to her clan's unnatural longevity.
A clan they condemned to an unfair death in order to save their own village. It didn't take much to hear the comments of her guards while they were leering at her.
"Fuuka-chan," he began only to nimbly dodge the Konoha-grown wooden hairbrush, the best Ryu could buy, after it was flung in his direction like the sharpest of kunai. The woman hadn't needed to do more than shift her shoulders to do so, her flowing blood-red hair whipping about her curvy hips as she twisted.
THUNK
Hiruzen didn't have to turn around to know that the brush was pierced through and stuck into the wooden door behind him. He'd had that same door previously replaced a number of times for the exact same reason.
[Tenzo would have another fit after this visit but she didn't care. She hated them all.]
Odd that she never threw the brush she brought from Uzu, one of the few possessions they allowed her to keep after sealing her chakra use as well as most of her personal possessions from her right before shoving her into this cabin hidden away deep on Sarutobi lands.
[Hidden from Kushina.]
It didn't matter that it kept her safe from the Council and the CRA. In her eyes, Konoha was her greatest enemy and she had good reason to believe it to be true.
Hiruzen nervously cleared his throat now that she'd turned to face him, her very curvy figure backlighted by the gently crackling fireplace.
"Miss Uzumaki," he began pausing to make sure he didn't need to dodge more projectiles. "I believe our time together has finally come to an end."
Very, very slowly Hiruzen retrieved a single storage scroll from his left sleeve and set it atop the small coffee table bracketed by a medium but comfy love seat and two recliners.
She frowned at him in clear disbelief first followed immediately by more anger. "What has happened to Lady Kushina?!"
[Who can say what accidents could happen in routine training or mission assignments? We cannot guarantee her safety if those shinobi meant to keep her safe are forced to ensure your compliance.]
She remembered those words all too clearly from the one-eyed bastard. Those were the words his former teammate used to quell Fuuka's violent outbreaks. That was also the last time Danzo was allowed anywhere near her without an armed escort.
He hadn't been nearly as agile in dodging her hairbrush.
Unfortunately, she noticed his eyes wince, just the merest closing at the outside corners, and her eyes narrowed to near slits.
Perhaps she'd get the chance to gut him before the night was over.
.
.
Dumbfounded.
Keina's brain was refusing to work correctly based on what she'd just heard. In that single supercharged moment of anguish, anger, and loss, the former ANBU General contemplated loosing the entire Umihebi Clan upon the peacefully sleeping village of Konohagakure no Sato.
It would be so apocalyptic.
It would be so fittingly appropriate.
And while her soul waged unrelenting war with itself as to whether or not the response fit the crime, her cousin sat carefully on the edge of her seat recognizing that terrifying devil she once spied beneath the skin of her favorite royal. She clearly saw that demonic temper flaring behind the squinted orbs of her new Uzukage and trembled at her memories as she awaited the enemy's fate.
After many, many silent moments, Keina instead unsealed a blank scroll, inkwell, and brush from a body seal before taking a deep, settling breath.
Only when she could hold the brush without trembling did she begin to write in that flowing script of ink-welled perfection she'd taken a lifetime to cultivate.
~III~
"Maybe it's not about trying to fix something broken. Maybe it's about starting over and creating something better."
― quotesstory dot com
~III~
Now...
While Keina was sleeping peacefully on the road to Testu no Kuni, two oddly similar conversations were taking place back in Konoha. Odder still, these conversations were taking place in opposing camps as if they were part of some twisted melodrama.
In the Uzumaki Compound...
"Oh, I don't believe we've met yet," the former ANBU's Captain tried to inject emotion into a voice often accused of being "sterile" and "puppet-like."
Yugao's journey fresh from her shower to the breakfast nook came to an abrupt halt as she noted the flowing curtain of crimson hair in the now open room across the hall from her own. Its new occupant's back was turned to the door but keen eyes started piecing together the puzzle as the images presented themselves.
Fit. Curvy. Young. Combat trained. Hair color indicates most likely from the Uzumaki Clan.
Being ANBU changed the way you saw people and the adept former Captain couldn't help but start a new profile for her equally-new neighbor. She felt oddly protective of her new family, at least of the ones she was already familiar with.
Perhaps she could begin a new friendship with the latest member of the household.
Then the young woman turned to take stock of her neighbor and the eye-narrowing contest officially began.
.
.
~[ Fuuka ]~
Fuuka's eyes took in the purple-haired woman standing in her doorway and immediately tensed.
Fit but recently injured, perhaps still recovering. Young. Reasonably attractive. Her eyes flicked down towards the woman's slightly larger chest and her lips pursed in annoyance before clicking back up to the woman's purple hair. Not an Uzumaki.
The bitter redhead instantly disliked her. If it wasn't for her promise to Keina-sama...
Of course, Yugao picked up on the negativity after the woman casually eye-groped her but Fuuka shrugged off the lesser woman's hurt feelings.
"I am Yugao Uzuki, new to the Uzumaki Clan by way of Naruto-kun-."
Fuuka also cared none for getting cushy with her new neighbor and cut off the obvious attempt at camaraderie.
"You're awfully familiar with our Prince, Konoha."
.
.
~[ Yugao ]~
Two things registered immediately in Yugao's mind concerning the woman's tone.
First, this woman was proud of her Uzumaki heritage and her Prince while implying that Yugao's affiliation was neither needed nor wanted. While the first wasn't necessarily a bad thing, the second half of that impression would be problematic. Yugao couldn't fault her for it either seeing as she shared one of her opinions, but the former ANBU took issue with the other.
Second, this woman clearly had a bone to pick with the Hidden Leaf, which was a problem of another color. Hopefully, it would not create serious problems for the fledgling clan down the road.
At least Yugao hoped that it wouldn't because she really had nowhere else to go until her issues with Suna hashed themselves out.
"I've known him for a long time." Yugao didn't like the way this woman was staring her down like she was some misbehaving child in need of a stern disciplinarian. "He helped me when I needed it."
She made herself stop fidgeting. She made herself fist her hands near her curvy hips and stand straighter.
"I owe him both my loyalty and my life." By the time she'd nearly spit out her final comment, she was the tough ANBU she'd been trained to be once again. She was the battle-tested soldier behind the Neko mask once more.
All she got for her rediscovered bravado was a nasty sneer from her neighbor and a growled, "Good."
Yugao blinked in confusion. "Good?" she questioned back.
"Yes. It means you're not a romantic threat to me or the royals." The woman took two strides forward gripping the door edge to her room meeting Yugao eye-to-eye.
"Keep it that way and stay away from him and I won't have to kill you on his behalf."
Yugao blinked at the blatant threat only to flinch back once the door slammed in her face. It took several seconds before she walked away but she did do so hissing out a hateful, "Bitch!" under her breath.
She decided on the spot that she didn't like being told what she could and could not do by someone she didn't answer to.
~III~
.
.
Meanwhile, In the Haruno Household...
"SAKURA!"
The pinkette froze just after opening the front door to her home. The Chūnin dropping her off seemed rather impatient to get away and, given how she smelled after an undisclosed amount of time in custody, Sakura couldn't blame the poor woman for wanting space.
That did nothing to prevent the charging mass that was her mother from smothering the exhausted girl the moment the tired kunoichi stepped into the entryway to remove her crusty sandals, a very pleased yet slightly confused look on her face. That was followed immediately by a blur of dishwater blonde hair and pain.
Sakura grimaced as she felt the discs of her spine being forcefully realigned.
"Give her some space, dear. Let her-."
Mebuki was having none of that cautionary tale after mourning the death of her daughter all night long. The overprotective mama bear felt the need to exert herself at just that moment.
"No! I'm going to get her cleaned up and checked over for injuries." The infuriated woman snapped her head in her husband's general direction before shouting, "Get her breakfast warmed up!"
Kizashi merely blinked in shock before staring dumbly at the sparkling kitchen his wife spent the entire night cleaning as she fretted. He could only hope there was something in the fridge that he could turn into a passable meal, once they came back downstairs...
From there on it was a blur of laughing-sobbing-mumbling from her mother despite reassurances that she was well and just wanted to sleep on a comfortable bed. All pleas that apparently fell on deaf ears.
She did manage to filter out multiple comments about how Mebuki Haruno was going to make it her life's mission to make that worthless Uzumaki upstart pay for his actions. About how she was going to pull Sakura out of the K.S.F. and get her indoctrinated into the family business where she was less likely to be kidnapped by some crazy ninja and his army of minions.
"No," Sakura whispered out while sitting up to her neck in soap bubbles, her mother furiously scrubbing her back with a level four loofah.
The squeaking abruptly paused.
"Wha-what was that dear? I didn't quite catch that." When no answer immediately bubbled up, Mebuki's diligent exfoliation of her daughter's back with the extra soft shower aide cranked back up as she waited for a sign of life or mental activity. Hearing none after ten carefully choreographed strokes, she carried on with her complete re-scripting of her daughter's life.
By now she'd moved on to selecting potential husbands from her peers in the Civilian Council and where her daughter could plan her happy honeymoon along with the names of her first four babies. Sasuke appeared to be completely removed from the picture in the woman's mental utopia.
"I said, 'No'." Sakura's voice was a bit stronger, just enough to be heard over her squeaking back.
"What do you - w-w-what are you talking about, dear?" Mebuki was blinking worriedly thinking her daughter was finally going into shock over her kidnapping experience.
Sakura calmly took the loofah from her mother's clenched fingers and set it to the side. "I'm not running from this. I'm not running from anyone."
Pausing to dump the warm bucket over her own head, she rose to climb quietly into the hot tub to soak, her eyes glazed over as she stared blindly through the walls of her home to some far-off point.
"They can't make me quit," she murmured almost as if to herself.
"But-but Sakura dear!"
"I may not have started out on this path with the right reasons but that changes from here forward." Sakura's eyes swung over to her open-mouthed mother, an indescribable look in her eyes.
"I will never be helpless again."
"Shannaro," Inner whispered in approval.
Before an absolutely shell-shocked Mebuki Haruno could formulate a coherent response to her clearly delusional child, a gentle knocking at the bathroom door broke the rising tension. Her husband's confused-sounding voice followed immediately after informing both ladies that two ANBU were here to escort Sakura to a mandatory debriefing.
One could only open and close her mouth as her mind battled with the unrecognizable person that used to be her daughter.
The other seemed to sit that much straighter in the tub, her jaw clenching in determination as she answered through the closed bathroom door, "Tell them I'll be right down."
As one rose to dry herself and dress for the rest of her day, the other sat on her haunches and wept as the tears she'd fought back for the last several days finally reached the surface and trailed down her panicked cheeks.
~III~
.
.
Somewhere Between Konoha and the Land of Iron, Next Day...
Naruto took the piping hot green tea with a warm smile and accompanying "thank you" to the almond-skinned Dōji he'd just learned was his personal caretaker in the caravan. As usual, she curtsied, dipped, and bobbed while stuttering, "By your leave," even as he waved off her strict adherence to ceremony for the tenth time since he'd staggered out from under the pile of furs, pillows, and flesh that made up his tent bed. He'd never before seen a tent as large as the one directly behind where he was sitting. The tent alone was bigger than his crappy former apartment.
His standard issue Genin one barely fit him and it would take another dozen of that tiny hovel to fill his current clan tent.
The tiny woman gracefully slinking away was young by even Dōji standards but her hands were steady as she went about her tasks. Too bad her nerves turned her into a babbling wreck whenever he actually took the time to interact with her.
Bah, hopefully, she'd settle down. He genuinely wanted her to do well. The fact that her back-length chestnut brown hair shone like silk in its knotted braid and complimented her creamy jade green eyes had nothing to do with it.
The slender yet athletic build didn't hurt either.
Naruto mentally shook his mind free and resisted the urge to slap himself. Stupid hormones! He had a platoon of beautiful - and deadly - women hanging all over him. He didn't need to add another to the fur pile. He'd barely escaped the pillow pit this morning as it was.
Instead, he took a tentative sip of his tea and found it to be the perfect temperature. Using the mug to hide the smile creeping onto his face as he watched Koishi[2], his caretaker, bustle about around their tent. Taking the chance, he also observed their escort and whistled at the fifty-plus hatchlings moving about with purpose and military precision as they wrapped up the camp for travel.
Fifty guards.
The Komodo Squad.
The Sirens.
A dozen Dōji not including the eight litter bearers.
That added up to a lot of people moving about first thing in the morning.
Despite sleeping the entire previous day away (and drooling on the chests of both Sirens, which he apologized profusely for), he could feel the soul-draining tug of sleep yanking at his crusty eyelids. The tea helped quite a bit but everyone buzzing around the campsite made him feel like he was moving in slow motion. The air itself weighed on his shoulders like molasses.
Before he knew it while lazing away the morning, it was time to bundle back into the palanquin but this time he was joined by the other two Sirens as they rotated duties. Before too long, he was comfortably nestled in between them both, his back resting against the rear cushions of the palanquin as it began swaying its hypnotic dance along the northern path to the Land of Iron. The only difference this time was that he was awake to enjoy the sensation.
The two very soft bodies leaning on a shoulder apiece with his upper arms nestled between their chest cushions didn't hurt either.
Then his adoptive mother interrupted his peaceful moment.
"Tell me what you know about Samurai, Sochi."
Naruto blinked twice as Captain Takeda's image briefly flashed through his mind. "Strict code of honor. Most are a bit too quick to take their own lives for some offense or another."
He tried to ignore the raised eyebrow of his adoptive mother at that comment.
"They have a very structured military, much like ours, but I'm not familiar with their advancement or rank tiers." He paused as if sifting through a mental file. "The martial skills center around internal chakra manipulation making them extremely dangerous to most shinobi who specialize in chakra expression."
Keina nodded. "Very succinct summary of the samurai in the shinobi-run nations."
Naruto's face scrunched up in confusion. "There's a difference?"
Keina's giggle made him blush unexpectedly and he had to try and force it down. He knew that she wasn't his mother but she was close enough in relation that he wasn't sure if the rumor of the Umihebi being used to purify the bloodline of defects was real enough to grow "attached" in an inappropriate way. Not for the first time he wondered if being surrounded by older women was beginning to color the way he viewed people.
"Your take on their martial skills is in the general area but you're understanding of the culture may be a bit tainted by shinobi life."
He nodded once seeing as it was a fair statement. Most shinobi felt the world revolved around them and admitted it freely.
"There are three traditional classes to the samurai rank and file.
"There are the gokenin, which are the lowest ranking vassals of a Lord. This became more so once Nobunaga Oda introduced his concept of the Ashigaru and flooded the rank with battle-trained commoners. You will see them all over the place in Tetsu, most working farms and such when not waging war.
"Then there are the goshi, what those familiar with the bushi culture refer to as 'rustic warriors'. While these samurai had their own land and could even farm their own crops, they could not earn full rank and privilege."
Naruto blinked in confusion thinking a samurai was just a samurai.
Keina saw it and motioned to the two blades at her side, the long katana and the matched shorter blade, the wakizashi. "Only samurai of the highest rank were allowed to carry two swords.
"And that brings us finally to the hatamoto, or bannermen. They were allowed to carry two swords because the second blade was primarily used to commit ritual suicide on the field of battle. They were authorized to carry one at all times because they were the only rank expected to die on behalf of the Lord."
Three pairs of eyes opened at that.
"Our clan, the Uzumaki, were gifted the honor to carry dual blades through our efforts to help establish the Tokugawa Shogunate in Tetsu when they split from the elemental nations, but I'll cover more on that later.
"It is from that last rank that you get your various officer crests leading up to the feared Shogun, which is the highest ranking military ruler of a region.
"To understand the difference, however, you need to first understand their history, and it all begins with this..."
Naruto's eyes nearly bugged out of his skull when Keina pulled out a small wooden box with no lid. The very familiar object fit comfortably in her palm and could be found in any home in the Land of Fire, be it commoner or king. It was used after all at least three times a day in most of them to measure rice.
The gō masu[3], as it was more commonly known, measured roughly one cup of rice when full.
"What does a rice scoop have to do with Samurai in another country?" His interested and slightly confused look was shared with the other three women in the palanquin, both Sirens lifting their heads from his shoulders to show they were fully engaged in the story.
"Everything, Sochi. Rice has everything to do with it." She stretched one last time before rearranging the blankets in the early morning chill.
Naruto tried his best to keep his eyes locked on her face instead of the contorting masses attached to her chest, their last very intimate conversation about reviving the clan flitting through his mind.
"Shinobi are arrogant by nature. Everything I've seen leads me to believe that shinobi truly think the entire world revolves around them, that they are the only people to have survived centuries of bloodshed and war." Her eyes flickered past the gauze-like inner curtains as she pushed her hand through the veil and held out the measuring cup.
An attentive Dōji captured it mere seconds after it appeared before quickly scampering off.
A very perplexed Naruto couldn't help but interject. "You make it sound like you're not a kunoichi?"
Keina nodded once. "I'm not."
Naruto could not have been more confused and it showed all over his pinched face.
"Hiruzen may have considered me one of his kunoichis, however, I'm an Uzumaki first and foremost. While we studied and practiced the shinobi arts as a clan, our family identifies more with the morals and practices of the Samurai." Her right hand casually stroked the katana lying by her right thigh. "Women of the Uzumaki are referred to as Onna-musha, or 'women warriors' more than Kunoichi."
She paused watching the blinking eyes of her Sochi as her words clashed in his mind.
"Kaa-san, is that the same thing as... what did Chouji call his mom again...," his fingers were snapping as he dredged his mind for a memory, "Onna-bugeisha, that's it! Is an onna-musha the same thing?"
"An onna-musha lacks the prestigious samurai pedigree. Also," her hand once again lovingly caressed the blade at her side, "while our clan was honored by the samurai of Tetsu for our assistance, we did not delve into the world of politics and scheming as the samurai were forced to."
Naruto's brows unknotted, his nodding head indicating that he understood the distinction between the two.
"Now, where was I?"
Naruto was quick to pipe up with, "Shinobi weren't the only ones killing each other."
"Aaaaaah, yes..." she sighed.
"The Warring Clans Era wasn't the beginning of continental warfare and the shinobi weren't the progenitors for it. They were just carrying on a tradition that began with the samurai long before shinobi clans were officially recognized by Daimyos as something other than helpful mercenaries or an annoying guerilla threat to their rule." Surprisingly soft hands danced across the exquisitely decorated blanket displaying pearl-colored herons in flight against a baby blue background.
"Back then, before the Sage crossed the elemental nations, shinobi were little more than mercenaries without chakra."
Her story began with something she called "The Feudal Era" of the elemental nations, long before the era of technology that spawned the few creature comforts that they enjoyed today, like televisions and cameras. The ninja back then survived through it all and would continue to survive unless something changed drastically but they were not always the feared monolith of mystery and magic the common people saw them as.
Choosing not to go all the way back to the beginning of recorded time, she chose to focus on the most notorious Daimyo of the Feudal period. She focused on the man most responsible for what led to the coalescing of the various different hans, or districts, into what most shinobi recognized as the current map of the elemental nations.
Nobunaga Oda the First.
However, to understand this pioneer of warfare, you had to understand the time in which he lived.
The elemental nations were made up of thousands of hans from the tiny to the colossal "million-koku domains" that thrived where the land was most fertile. While a koku could be evaluated based on any number of indigenous products, such as lumber, ore, or seafood, rice remained the dominant currency as a staple of everyday life.
Why? Because everyone, from peasant to emperor, used and depended on it every day.
Rice fed workers and warriors alike. Rice powered an army. If you could grow it in large enough quantities, it even replaced salaries among retainers who preferred the buying power it maintained over the fluctuating worth of hard currency.
One thousand of those little measuring cups was the standard measurement equating to a year's worth of food for a single person, also known as a koku. What's more, you couldn't be considered a han worthy of a Daimyo unless you could reliably produce ten thousand kokus in a year.
Only the harder-to-produce golden coins of the empire held more value as they could be used to buy more rice should your own production not meet the current need. And in a world where physical might was measured in trained and experienced soldiers, all of the hans - even those not directly involved in a specific conflict - became war machines for the Daimyos whose banner they fell under.
It was an endless war for territory, a never-ending cycle of plotting, intrigue, and blood-shed.
During the feudal period, Daimyos pulled entire hans under their rule through ceaseless warfare, a tale of battle after battle after battle. The powerful families under these banners were, in many cases, forcefully bundled into clans supporting the ruling family, some measuring in the hundreds of bannermen. These families obviously didn't appreciate being conscripted so the Daimyo needed to be able to wield power with an iron grip to avoid both the political and physical backstabbing that could and often did occur.
Most of the time that power was executed at the end of a sword, whether their own or those of their most trusted bannermen was irrelevant.
Back then, any Daimyo that expected to maintain their place did so by leading from the front of the battle, so to speak. If they were smart, they did so with a cadre of professional soldiers cultivated from buke (families with military origins and ties) to watch their backs. It was in these internal alliances that the samurai and their peculiar moral code of virtues flourished.
Enforcement of that code, however, was a tricky thing. Often it came down to who had the better sword arm and it was once said that a samurai's loyalty was a fickle thing based on which faction would best feed him, his family, and his clan.
Given the bloody nature of feudal life, constant employment for a soldier was almost too easy to come by. Easy work meant flexible loyalties more often than not. It was more difficult to keep up with demand than to find a place to ply your trade. Buke not already stemming from families of prestige and honor were often formed by farmers looking to band together and protect their lands from opportunistic Daimyo.
Into this mish-mash of violence strode what would eventually develop into the shinobi clans. The Iga and Koka shinobi-no-mono were prime examples during the early reign of Nobunaga.
Those two clans also formed some of the more tenacious guerrilla fighters to eventually plague Nobunaga's family no matter how hard the violent ruler tried to stamp them out.
Daimyos needed resources to ply their political endeavors, and, eventually, their established domains could not give them what they needed to keep up with their plans. This made expansionism the next logical step in the process as one Daimyo pushed to acquire enough power to vie for the throne even if that meant taking it at the end of a bloody katana from another Daimyo.
Yes, there was an emperor. No, Keina didn't know whether an emperor still reigned as most people didn't concern themselves with an invisible ruler that never interfered in or aided the lives of their subjects. Most common folk had their hands full with day-to-day living let alone worrying about the Imperial Court.
It didn't matter as the central government collapsed without the combined military might of reluctant Daimyo who believed any one of them could have done a better job. With the emperor fleeing to parts unknown and the capital in flames, hans across the continent began to take up arms in their own bid for supreme rulership.
Into this chaos and upon the untimely death of his father, Nobuhide Oda, rose Nobunaga Oda and one of the first things he did was to empower peasants to fight for their own koku. In giving them combat training to go with a purpose, he in turn earned their loyalty and used that loyalty to murder two of his own siblings in order to consolidate the power of his clan.
Once he succeeded at that, the power-greedy man turned his attention outward to the rest of the continent. The blood truly began to flow then pitting, in many cases, brother literally against brother as members of the same clan sided with different houses. Through it all, the fledgling Daimyos killing each other for ten thousand koku tracts of land began to bleed each other dry all in a bid for power.
Seeing the growing schism in what would become the ruin of "true samurai everywhere," and later the elemental nations, the Tokugawa Clan banded together as many buke families as they could and withdrew to the north, a hard frozen land none of the southern Daimyo wanted to bother with quite yet.
While the south weakened each other, Clan Tokugawa fortified themselves in what would later become known as the Land of Iron. There they would wait for the dwindling resources of their cousins to force them to look north where Clan Tokugawa hunkered down to build their strength in what is today known as the Five Iron Rings[4] of Tetsu no Kuni.
And thus began the expanded education of Naruto Uzumaki.
~III~
.
.
Konoha: ANBU Holding Pen 17
Sakura glanced up at the sound of her observation cell door opening only to be greeted by the masked face of an ANBU in standard-issue gear and cloak. The only telling feature about the figure, clearly a female by the obnoxiously large obloid mounds of metal protecting their chest, was the length of platinum blonde hair rising from the crown of their head into a high ponytail only to trail down between their shoulder blades.
'Damned if those weren't unnecessarily big,' she mentally cursed wondering if it was a genetic trait among the mind-reading clan.
"Another Yamanaka then," Inner groused to a silently agreeing Outer.
What more could they possibly want from her? She'd already spent the night answering the same questions over and over again...
Despite having gone through several interrogation sessions, all of which only seemed to further blur her sense of time, Sakura had to fight a chilling shiver that shot up her spine. She couldn't place a finger on it but felt particularly threatened by how the masked figure stared at her. The Pinkette couldn't even see the agent's eyes but there was definitely a sense of hostility behind the mask.
She'd bet her still growing career as a medic-nin on that.
Very slowly, as if forcing herself to relax in the presence of this faceless judge of her brief life, Sakura gently closed the cover of a medical text she'd been trying and failing to read, her eyes never leaving the dead eye sockets glaring back at her.
"When can I go home?" Sakura's voice was surprisingly level. Inner managed to mentally pat her on the back for that.
She had no sense of time and her "sessions" seemed to come at random times and intervals. Exhausted as she was, the days seemed to blur into one another with little rest in between answering questions.
Still... she waited for an answer, any answer.
Then she waited some more.
Long past the point of being uncomfortable, the agent slid into the metal chair across from her without saying a word, a paper file opening with a blank sheet of paper clipped to the back coverlet and her license photo clipped to the opening of the top flap.
A quick glance at the words on the sheet around and beneath her photo showed her abysmal graduation evaluation and mission record to date. Sakura forced her eyes up from the disappointingly thin number of sheets with her work history at the over-modulated voice across from her.
She had to fight down another shiver at the inhuman sound of her interrogator's voice.
"Sakura Haruno, daughter of Councilwoman Mebuki Haruno and civilian merchant Kizashi Haruno. No siblings or identified love interests of note."
There was a flash of heat to both Sakura's face and chest, but, even as her hackles bristled, the events of the past few days flashed through her mind. The burning fact that her relationship was non-existent remained a bitter pill to swallow however truthful it may have been. No matter how badly she once wanted to, Sakura could not claim her delusional dream of wedded bliss with Sasuke as her reality.
Sasuke offered her up to die. She was supposed to be a sacrifice to the traitor Orochimaru.
"Former Genin of Team Seven-."
"I am still a member of Team Seven!" Sakura snarled, the heat in her voice now matching the angry flush of her cheeks.
"With the desertion of your teammate and your enrollment into the medical program, Team Seven has been officially disbanded." The ANBU's mask lifted from the paper before them to face the shell-shocked Genin.
Sakura for her part could only sit with her jaw hanging wide open. She'd assumed that the team would continue. She'd believed that a replacement would be found and Team Seven would continue without a hitch despite their recent growing pains.
As tough as it was to admit to herself, she couldn't be angry at Naruto-ba...Naruto's unwillingness to sacrifice himself to a mass-murdering psychopath for her sake. Who would do such a thing for the person that abused you physically for the vast majority of your life?
"Were you not informed of this two days ago when you were brought in for this interviewing process?" The emotionless mask tilted to the left.
'Two days,' was all Sakura could think of while she digested the latest in a never-ending series of bad news shots to the arm. Her first interview with Inoichi and Ibiki had hinted that this might be a potential outcome but to hear the words spoken with such finality...
The cold-hearted bitch uncaring for her emotional turmoil continued without pause.
"Were you aware of the Uchiha's desire to abandon the village?"
Sakura's face twisted into a grimace, her mumbled answer through gritted teeth a curt and angry, "No."
"Please speak up so the monitors can-."
"NO!" Sakura sniped back. "I was not aware of his desire to abandon the village!"
Her tone was beyond adversarial but anger would not let her back down without a fight. How long had she been answering slightly altered versions of the same questions? Hours? It would seem days now.
She was being treated like a hostile and found it insulting.
Despite the growing flush to her face, Sakura's eyes lowered to the table as she mentally began a slow ten-count. The tightening of her fingers on the hardcovers of her medical book made a tense creaking sound in the silent room.
The scrabbling sound of her interrogator's pen also filled the deafening silence accompanied by the soft sound of paper shuffling.
Then there was silence again. It was beginning to grow uncomfortable making her regret her outburst from before...
"You were close to him, were you not?"
"Not as close as we'd have liked..." Inner groused.
A few months ago a blindly naive Sakura would have shouted a hearty affirmative. The still dazed girl facing a trained killer could only respond with another hollow, "No, I was not."
She found the nauseous feeling growing in her stomach unsettling. Facing the same answers to very unwanted questions was forcing her to re-examine her "relationship" with the Uchiha heir. If you could call it that. Anyone not blindly following after the self-absorbed clan heir would have seen the truth of it.
Anyone but her obviously.
"You expect us to believe that you noticed nothing untoward in your teammate's behavior? You were with him every day, were you not?"
Though the agent's voice never changed in timber, tone, or pitch, Sakura found herself annoyed with the implication behind her question. Unease began to turn to annoyance and her face twisted once again into an unattractive snarl, the skin at the bridge of her nose wrinkling in annoyance.
"None of his outward behavior changed and I'm not a mind reader!" she snapped.
Another uncomfortable silence followed after the intentional jab at her interrogator.
For long minutes neither moved as one stared through red-tinted vision at the emotionless mask of her tormentor.
CLICK. The agent's pen scratched several notes on the blank sheet but Sakura wouldn't give her the satisfaction of trying to read what she was writing.
If only she would write faster. Then this all could end sooner.
"How long have you been feeding village secrets to the Uzumaki?"
"Well, that question was new," Inner quipped.
Sakura blinked as if she'd been slapped.
~III~
.
.
Hi no Kuni Countryside
By late on the third day, the Uzu contingent slid quietly past Hijin Lake and into Rekka Province. Despite the still mountainous region, Rekka boasted an interesting mix of forest and farmland, its winding roads allowing the smaller villages a brief glance at the royal pageantry bypassing their crop fields and villages.
When not sharing stories of her own childhood, Keina was encouraging the small children that ran alongside the palanquin with food and sweets provided by the Dōji. The mild days and decreased hostility out in the country began to bring out the smiles of the riders and the litter bearers hummed or sang songs in their deep voices as the lush countryside slowly rolled past the curtains.
Yāren sōran sōran[5]
Sōran sōran sōran (hai hai!)
Nishin kita ka to kamome ni toeba,
Watasha tatsu tori nami ni kike choi.
Everyone, Dōji, passenger, and soldier alike joined in the chorus after each refrain rumbled across the landscape.
CHORUS
Yasa e en ya sa dokkoisho
(a dokkoisho, dokkoisho!)
Yāren sōran...
Oyaji tairyō da mukashi to chigau
toreta nishin wa ore no mono choi
Yāren sōran...
Ichi-jō-go-shaku no ro o kogu fune mo
horeta ano go nya te mo choi
Yāren sōran...
Tama no suhada ga shibuki ni nurerya
uwaki kamome ga mite sawagu choi
At first, the Dōji were reluctant to disturb their passengers but that only lasted until Naruto heard one of the males humming to himself during that first-morning camp clean-up. He'd started humming along with the gentle giant until recognition and fear ended the tune.
The Dōji were trained to not disturb their most precious cargo, the royal family, and the now wide-eyed giant was frozen in place as if awaiting punishment.
Once the blond daimyo kept humming, adding in a hearty clapping of hands and stomping of sandaled feet, the gentle giant seemed to melt as his shoulders released their held tension in waves. Soon enough, the flood gates opened and the entire camp joined in.
Afterward, he joined in with every song he knew and fumbled his way through a few he didn't much to the pealed laughter and happy giggling of the female Dōji adding their soothing, higher-toned voices.
The happy melodies also helped to make quick work of the traveling day and cheerful litter bearers ate up mile after mile of dusty roads.
Safely west of the Valley of the End, their destination was one of two camping grounds set up to accommodate large groups. One lay to the north of the still unnamed bridge most called the Samurai Crossing due to the kanji symbol for "Bushi" engraved in the stone archway at its farthest end. The site they would be using lay on the southern landing, still in the Land of Fire[6].
Naruto was actually looking forward to seeing the campsite having learned that it was the only manmade break in the Great Wall of Mahokidō not solely governed by the Rekka Provincial mayor. The wall itself was a great stone buttress against northern forces, mostly Iwa and Kumo, built in conjunction with the Shodai during the early years following the Warring Clans Era.
Some even said that Konoha extended it past the Valley of the End... before Madara leveled that section of it.
He'd been told that both countries agreed not to place outposts at the Hi-Tetsu landing as a sign of trust so it was most surprising to see a Konoha outpost in the early stages of construction when their party stopped at the spacious clearing for the night.
He was even more surprised to see three samurai in the more traditional Gusoku-style armor bearing dual banners at their backs: one bearing the Standard of the Tetsu Shogun and the other bearing the Uzumaki Royal Crest.
"I will see what this is all about, Sochi." The grim look on her face warned that she might have a suspicion or two already.
Naruto nodded even as he watched her glide away, Anko and her two lieutenants falling silently into place behind their Kage.
Meanwhile, the entire procession came to a complete stop as every swordbearing hatchling took up defensive positions around the palanquin, the vast majority eyeing every move made by the Konoha shinobi using earth jutsus to rapidly construct the shell buildings of a modest-sized outpost where none was supposed to be.
It reminded Naruto of hungry cats with twitching tails watching a mob of mice scampering about in a field.
"That one-eyed porn creeper is going to single-handedly start the next major war all by himself," Kira-chan grumbled out receiving agreeing grunts from most of her fellow Guardians.
He had to admit that the Guardian's list of derogatory names for the new Hokage was as entertaining as it was creative.
Two minutes later, a very unhappy Konoha Jounin stomped by the waiting procession snarling at everyone not wearing traditional Konoha "blues and greens."
Two minutes after that, a very happy Keina sauntered up and informed the group that a warm reception waited for them on the other side of the bridge.
Nodding to her "Hands," the Uzukage clambered gracefully back into the litter to enjoy the procession across the bridge, under the gate crested by a stone katana (which made it look like a Torii gate), where they were met by the Fifth Ring himself, Tsunenari Tokugawa, grandson of Mifune Tokugawa, Nanadaime Shogun of Tetsu no Kuni.
~III~
.
.
Konoha: Sarutobi Compound
"That's a lie!"
Asuma was clearly incensed. He'd been standing at the tori gate to the Sarutobi Clan Compound arguing with the ANBU agent trying to serve an arrest warrant for his father and the situation was slowly ratcheting upwards to a full-on brawl. In his hands lay a scroll crumpled at the edges where his fingers threatened to rip the parchment in half.
The placid ANBU waiting patiently for him to end his diatribe could have been carved from stone.
"My father has served this village faithfully for decades! You take that back!"
At first, only Asuma and the two guards normally stationed at the gate stood before two full squads of ANBU from the Heavy Combat Division. By himself, Asuma was a lethal combatant but the agents backing the bear-faced Captain were certain that he could be handled without major loss of (Asuma's) life.
Loss of limb was another matter entirely.
That small Sarutobi opposition group (unfortunately) quickly grew once clan members got word of the building confrontation. Those same clan members then decided to help matters along by grabbing war staves to both use and distribute to whoever was available. The present number of Sarutobi Clan members grew rapidly from a half dozen to a full score, then nearly the entire remaining clan of sixty-three mustered at the gate, minus the small children and academy students.
Battle lines were quickly being drawn and the odds were looking less favorable for the slightly shifting government team.
Bear, who had been sent to serve the warrant no matter how much he hated the idea, was quickly finding himself at the dog's end of a no-win situation.
"Please don't make this worse than it already is. Step aside, Asuma-san."
If he fought his way through to seize the "Old Man," as the ANBU affectionately referred to him, the situation would quickly escalate into a bloodbath.
If he left, Kakashi would only send a larger force led by someone that didn't share his loyalty and it would turn into a bloodbath anyway.
Either way, innocent people were going to die unless he found another way out of this mess.
Asuma opened his mouth once again to argue.
"Stand down!" The Sandaime's grizzled voice called out from the rear of the throng.
"But pop!"
A raised hand from the oldest Sarutobi stilled everyone clearly itching to take a pound of flesh out of the two understandably uncomfortable squads trying to complete their orders in as peaceful a manner as possible.
Bear nearly sighed underneath his mask. Nearly. The sound of cloth wrapped around hardwood staves was still too loud in his ears to allow him to relax.
"I'm sure this is a simple misunderstanding." The kindly old man turned, stepped forward, and placed both palms to the whiskered cheeks of his most vocal son. "I have faith in the village we sacrificed so much for over the decades. You should have a little faith as well."
Bear could see the clearly shocked blinking of the younger one trying to see beneath his father's calm face. Clearly, he wanted to argue against this. Something wasn't right and everyone standing at the entry gate to the Sarutobi compound knew nothing good would come of this.
The Old Man merely smiled at his son.
"No one person is above the law, Asuma-kun."
Bear could see the younger male twitch as he caught something in the eyes of his father but, before he could say anything else, the elder statesman and Kami of Shinobi stepped from under the clan torii to disappear in a traditional [Leaf Body Flicker] quickly followed by ANBU hoping to avoid an angry mob on their heels.
~III~
.
.
Hi no Kuni - Tetsu no Kuni Border
It took no time with their samurai escort to settle in on the far side of the span bridging Hi no Kuni with Tetsu. Samurai lined both sides of the path leading the camp, all bowing at the waist in an impressive and unheard-of display of respect as the litter settled to the ground in a clearing filled with several hundred Tetsu warriors.
Naruto was nearly overwhelmed with the bright colors adorning the traditional armor worn by the guard of his host. Dark blood reds, deep-ocean blues, forest greens, and burnished gold danced across his eyes as he met bow after bow in kind with a gentle nod of his head.
It was a huge honor in a land that despised the dishonorable shinobi, one he would be sure to remember.
Ahead lay an enormous tent ringed by pale grey banners filled with billowing clouds in the traditional style. In the center of each banner fluttered the Kanji for "Fifth Ring." To the right of that huge tent lay a bigger tent with more Fifth Ring Banners on the left side of the entrance and, surprisingly enough, the royal blue and red banners of the Uzumaki on the right. To the right of that tent, lay another tent equal in size to the first decked out in all Uzu banners.
"We will dine in the center feasting hall, Uzumaki-sama," a surprisingly young and whisker-less Tsunenari nervously offered. "A tent has been provided for your comfort and replenishment before the feast."
The young man, younger than Keina yet several years his senior, bowed from the waist along with his entire retinue.
Naruto nodded his head in agreement, his eyes flickering back to his host. He remembered enough to know that declining his host's prepared hospitality would be an enormous insult.
Tsunenari motioned with one well-dressed arm before making his way to the middle tent in preparation for a night of drinking, feasting, and storytelling.
~III~
.
.
Around the Same Time in the Forests of Hi no Kuni
Six shadows materialized on the forest path several kilometers from the Hi no Kuni border shared with Ame, silent and deadly as they stalked-.
"Oi! Oi! Oi!"
Itachi tried not to wince at the painfully loud volume in Hidan's voice.
"I call dibs on the Kage heathen! I shall sacrifice her for the glory of Ja-"-PLONK!
The already exited nukenin blinked as a piece of tree bark bounced off his forehead. His dark purple eyes narrowed to near slits.
"Oi! Try that again you filthy non-believer and I'll serve you up to the almighty Jashin-sama first!"
Deidara merely snickered, his left hand casually ripping off another section of bark from the very next tree he sauntered by.
Itachi sighed again. "Deidara, stop trying to provoke him so that he has to donate to the communal swear jar."
He was growing tired of the antics and couldn't wait until they reached the designated ambush spot.
Deidara grunted but made no move to drop the bark. "Leader-sama approved Konan-chan's idea. We get to twenty-five hundred Ryo and we get an organizational picnic, hnh."
Kisame, Itachi, Hidan, Kakuzu, Deidara, and Sasori. Six men that hated to breathe the same proximal air were trudging unhappily through Hi no Kuni forests in preparation for kidnapping and eventually murdering another political figure, hopefully before they bled each other dry.
One red eye swiveled to take in the boiling red face of the religious zombie brother and he felt another headache coming on. How did he become the adult supervision of the group? Kakuzu had him by at least seventy-five years!?
"Let it go, Deidara." The red eye swiveled back to stare down the effeminate psycho bomber. There was a deliberate pause before the bark fell to the soft ground.
He couldn't help but believe that this crazy HR scheme, er, plan wasn't worth the pain.
The "Help Hidan-kun Stop Swearing" plan started four days ago right before the group left Akatsuki headquarters in Ame.
They'd broken the two thousand Ryo mark just yesterday and Hidan nearly popped a blood vessel on three separate occasions this morning alone.
"Focus up you lot," Kakuzu growled out. "We're a half-day from our destination and I won't have you ruining my bounties."
A dark and twisted smile hunched up the corners of his face mask and Itachi knew exactly why.
The combined bounty for the now-Uzu squad of six assassins topped three hundred eighty million Ryo between nine countries. Kakuzu, the other zombie brother as they were often referred to behind their backs, would die before he let them escape him and his perceived retirement pension.
Never mind that he already had more wealth than all of Ame put together.
Itachi almost shook his head wondering how he was going to survive this mob of hired killers. He was working with five of the worst degenerates in the Bingo book but you wouldn't know that by the sullen and silent profile of their arguably strongest basher, Kisame Hoshigake.
Itachi glanced at the large blue man catching that the shark man's eyes were still locked in that thousand-yard stare he'd adopted since they left. Worse still, he hadn't spoken a word, only grunting in agreement whenever his assignment was discussed.
That was the office shrink's other plan highly endorsed by the big boss: Kisame had to overcome his crippling fear of his brother and fight him one-on-one.
When Kisame handed over his food porn collection of culinary magazines immediately after that meeting without a word stating calmly that "he wouldn't need it anymore," Itachi knew they were all doomed. Kisame never let anyone near his precious collection of cooking references and recipes, each and every one part of his plan to one day open a bar and grill near the sea.
Hopefully, he could make it to Dragon before her attack dogs slit his throat. He didn't think Kisame was all that bad a guy... sometimes.
Besides, Itachi really wanted to finish that article on the perfect Tamagoyaki before he had to give it all back.
~III~
[Points of Interest]
[2] - Koishi means "Pebble."
[3] - One gō is the volume of the "rice cup", the plastic measuring cup that is supplied with commercial Japanese rice cookers. 1000 gō equals 1 koku, which was used to measure the worth of a feudal domain, known as a han. A single koku was the standard measurement of rice to feed one person for a single year.
[4] - Adapted from the philosophical work of Miyamoto Musashi.
[5] - A small section of the up-tempo traditional "Soran Bushi," a sea shanty accredited to the fishermen of Hokkaido. This excerpt is provided by Wikipedia, authority control courtesy of MusicBrainz.
[6] - I am aware that the Land of Iron in canon is west of the Land of Earth and the little peninsula between the Land of Rice and the Land of Waterfalls is pretty much a blank slate no one miraculously fought over. This is not canon so I put a better location to use. In my story, that chunk to the west of Earth is the Land of Bears and Tetsu is in a central place where the Kages wouldn't object to traveling without having to worry about being ambushed.
~III~
Final Comments: There! A real turnabout for Sakura. Since we don't have the traditional pairing where Naruto slowly pulls her out of her fangirlism over time, it takes a lot more for Sakura to finally pull her head out of the sand but she's doing it at her own pace. The wheels turn slow but they do turn.
~Siva'a