against the tide - chapter 6
Uzushio
"Way to celebrate your fourth birthday: successful saving of Uzushio." Koji drawled tiredly. "Let's just say that was fate giving you a birthday present because I've never seen a plan go so smoothly before."
"Are you sure the barrier's good?" Natsuo insisted, perched upon his shoulders.
"Don't doubt me. That barrier is immovable, I'll assure you. I traded subtlety for strength, I'm a Seal Master from decades into the future, and I'm also at my prime. And I also have a suspicion Amado shoved a whole lot more techniques and abilities into me than I originally had."
"So?"
"I think I have Uzumaki DNA in me."
"…You think you could've told me that earlier?"
"Let's talk later." Koji glanced around, "Talking over the ashes of our enemies, while poetic, is a little dramatic, even for me."
Natsuo gave him an evaluating look. "You're a lot more Jiraiya than the original story had framed you."
"I don't think the 'original' me had gone through what I've gone through at this point…" Koji muttered. "That's beside the point. What's the plan now?"
Natsuo had never went into detail because this was a big enough hurdle. If he'd dreamed too in depth then failed to save Uzushio's people, he didn't know how he could cope.
"Well, I don't think the Shrine was built for long term stay, no matter how compatible the Uzumaki are with that summoning realm. And it must be quite packed as well." Natsuo bit his lip. "I'll have to explain everything first and try to convince them of my plan. Then I'll transfer everyone between the ages of 10 to 60 back to Uzushio to clean everything out and repair it. The rest should remain in the Shrine for a while longer. I have to-"
"…Kid?" Koji put him down as Natsuo tapped his shoulder aggressively, and faced him, furrowing his brows.
"I goddah nose bweed." Natsuo announced, grimacing as he pinched his nose, tipping his head down.
"…You pushed yourself-"
"I didn'"
"How are your chakra levels?"
"Normal."
"What's normal?"
"Fifth-ish." Natsuo rolled his eyes. It was pretty damn good considering he had to take into account thousands of people reverse summoned into Shrine Chinju. They all held a fragment of his chakra.
"It's mental overload." Koji tsked. "Your brain is still a four year old's."
Natsuo gave a lacklustre hum and let chakra circle through his body. "I needa talk with Ashiro-jii."
While he felt the urge to push his ideas right away, he knew it was unrealistic. (He wanted to rebuild Uzushio base up by his own hands, but he was four. He couldn't do anything yet.)
But, he'll make Uzushio greater than ever before within the next two decades- no, even just the next decade. He swore it.
Koji gave him a cautious side eye. "Ashiro will be back any moment now. He knows Uzushio the best after all, being its leader. Any rat still alive trying to hide anywhere in this Village will be found instantly by him."
"Hm," Natsuo wracked his head as he wiped the blood from his fingers. "I gotta figure out the exact time distortion between the Shrine and the real world."
"And who enabled the attack."
"…What are you trying to say?" The Uzumaki asked warily.
"You had your suspicions, didn't you? There's a reason why you were so untrusting of Konoha. It had to be something more than just a lack of faith, especially granted your knowledge."
"The-" Natsuo sighed. "The security here should be strong, with all the advanced Uzumaki sealing. It's isolated, but that had been one of its strengths in itself. Someone had created a crack somewhere."
Obviously, Natsuo's conclusion was Danzo. That decrepit reprobate was corrupt to his bones: at about age 40, well after his Sensei- Tobirama's death, he must be about entrenched in immoral greed. Danzo had been a potentially well written character until Kishimoto had decided to siphon all the evil junk onto him. The retcons all canonically or otherwise became Danzo's fault.
This meant that Natsuo, living in this very reality, had a priority to get rid of that unrealistically evil scum. Once fiction became reality, Danzo became a very present concern.
There were all too many things Natsuo had to watch out for… The cancerous roots, but also the magnitude of ripples Natsuo created. He had to watch it all and control each wave of this incoming tsunami.
"Ashiro is coming soon." Koji huffed, then shot him a serious look. "But we'll be talking more about this later."
Right. The first thing Natsuo had to guarantee was his political power.
When lacking in brute strength, he must make up for in cunning.
When lacking in autonomous power, he must make up for in… connections.
"I want to create an empire out of Uzushio." Natsuo says to Ashiro. "And I want you to let me become the emperor."
Maybe Natsuo just had a particular love for dramatic lines. Ashiro had no room to deny as he didn't have a heir, biologically or otherwise.
"You're already issuing me commands." He'd merely said with a laugh. "Alright, you've made yourself the heir."
His future position wasn't cemented, but having his agency acknowledged, Natsuo officially had a wider room to run in. In the first place, there wasn't a real government in Uzushio; it was pretty communal, granted their smaller population.
Uzushio just had to build itself back up to its former glory while Natsuo starts approaching the chess pieces on his board. (And then after that, Natsuo will take Uzushio, and let it swallow the world whole.)
It took a while, but he'd written down as detailed of a timeline as he could remember- with the recent past and present most clear in his mind as he used his Senrigan.
Upon further consideration, he realised how absolutely broken the eye's powers were, both on an interpersonal level and a global scale. Eida had shallow motives, but Natsuo? Greedy, hungry, competent Natsuo?
It was almost too easy for him to get what he wanted. With this eye, as well as the past, he could see the future: his future success.
Ashiro had also asked: "What is it that makes you this ambitious?"
There were many things he wanted in life: he wanted the feeling of respite that came with weekends, the satisfaction of a cocktail's first sip, the romance of a fleeting relationship.
That wasn't really ambition.
They were casual joys in life that made his stupider dreams unworthy of pursuing. Casual joys that were stolen in a violent clattering of guns.
If the world was so determined to snatch away every little thing he had- He might as well try his hardest to put everything he possibly could under his thumb. His stupider dreams had been like that.
His face on TV screens, his names in articles- His bigger dreams were about him becoming a bigger presence- The biggest.
He loved being a doctor. He loved saving people. He loved creating change, whether it's putting a smile on a child's face or tears on an ex-lover's.
But he also loved the power and authority that came with it. Who wouldn't love power? Who doesn't love money or fame? There came an intense craving.
To the universe that tried snuffing out Uzushio like a candlelight, Natsuo will raise the largest insurgence. While he's alive, he'll work to have all of it in the palm of his hand.
What made Natsuo ambitious?
.
This lacklustre, pathetic world.
…Anyhow, Nagato's parents, he came to know too late, were already killed. Tsunade's lover, however, was still alive. He'd jotted down his immediate concerns within the next two years and quickly formulated a plan around them.
There were many powerful people who can be easily swayed, and Tsunade was one of them. Boasting a Hokage-level power and both royal Senju and Uzumaki descent, she was undeniably a powerful piece Natsuo wished to gain and what was more: she had a crippling weakness, being her fear of blood.
But… that had to come later. Natsuo had to breed distrust and distance between Uzushio and Konoha. In order for Uzushio to rise above the rest, they had to put themselves first, and solely themselves. They had to wallow in this bitterness- at Konoha's perfidious stillness in the face of their demise. Tsunade was not permitted to swoop in and take the fruits of Natsuo's labour.
Or well, he wasn't the only one to 'labour', but that fruit sure was his to take. Tsunade already had a reputation, so Uzushio's rise would be attributed to her if her affiliation became known. Natsuo just had to dig his hook in deeply and wait to reel her in when the time was perfect.
And Kato Dan was the bait.
Ashiro sighed- not in exhaustion, but more a huff of disbelief, as he flipped through pages and pages of barely decipherable notes and directions.
Contrary to the atrocious handwriting, Natsuo's ideas were conversely invaluable and unbelievably useful. With one section on the current political affairs and information on Uzushio's reputation circulating around the world, one section on Natsuo's rough plan to establish his position in the external world, and one directing what Natsuo wanted Ashiro to do, the child had practically done all the work for him.
Most was all within predictable reason- There were some adjustments to how Natsuo wanted Uzushio to be rebuilt, including the uptake of Komainu motifs. He advised an absolute and unfiltered explanation on what was going on, including who to be wary of (which, to stay safe, is basically everyone), and he also advised complete isolation from the rest of the world- The barrier put up was two-way, so people within the barrier couldn't exit without a key anyway. Uzushio wasn't heavily reliant on imports anyway, however… that was something Natsuo requested he start setting up.
He wanted to 'dominate the international trade system' and revolutionise… medicine.
Well, if Ashiro was going to question stupidly overcompetent four year olds, he would've done that ages ago. He'll just rock with the flow of Natsuo's turning tides.
Kato Dan could not accept his impending death. He knew it in the back of his mind when those kunai landed, deep and precise- he knew it when the rain dripped off his flak jacket in a bright crimson red.
He wondered who would be in the back up squad- whether they'd have medics or not… That was his first real impression on Tsunade, wasn't it? Of course Dan had always heard of her: Konoha's princess, Hokage's student, amazingly gifted… Upon seeing her up close, she was a whirlwind of passion.
Fierce yet compassionate, she'd yelled at the Hokage to change mission regulations- She demanded what she wanted, yet it was regal. Truly a princess. He felt a kindred soul in her. He wanted to see those changes come about because Konoha… He loved Konoha.
There were so many things he wanted to do-
He felt himself drop as he failed to reach the next branch.
"-Kato-san! Kato-san!"
He hit the ground, hard. Fuck, he was dying. He was really going to die like this-
"Tsunade-hime is coming, Kato-san!"
"-Right, just hold on for-"
"Stay with us, Ka-"
"-Enemy-"
"-Stay aw-"
.
He could hear these words clearly though:
"Kato Dan." Young, yet confident- and soothing. Warm. "I'm here to save you."
Strangely, he believed him.
Tsunade expected the worst when she saw Dan's team littered about, unconscious. "Dan!" She yelled, charging chakra into the soles of her feet, prepared to launch at the hooded man besides her lover's bloodied body.
"Senju Tsunade." A young voice stopped her and she blinked a few times, looking down at the child crouching besides Dan, obscured by the hooded man's cloak. "It's about time you arrived. I don't have enough chakra to fully heal him."
"Heal…" Tsunade echoed, then saw the faint rise and fall of Dan's chest. "Dan… Dan- He's-"
"Hurry!" The child commanded and she stepped forward, almost as if the authority in his voice was the one to move her. "If you want him to live, then-"
He stood up and stepped to the side, just as she crashed to her knees besides Dan, hands trembling as they flickered with green chakra. It wasn't… It wasn't good enough. She had to focus. She had to heal him- quickly, quickly, but there was so much blood-
She's only seen this amount of blood on a dead person's body- a dying man's body- The blood grew and grew and dyed her eyes red, and dove down her throat, wriggling in her lungs and the blood suffocates her throat-
Tsunade cannot breathe-
Two small palms slapped on her cheeks and Tsunade choked on air. There's red, red red- but it's wet, Uzumaki hair and a glowing blue eye.
"He's alive." The child told her and grabbed her hand with his own. His chakra seeped into hers and it's somehow the furthest thing from invasive- It's like a still ocean over her turbulent waves. It's soothing, and Tsunade-
.
She inhaled.
.
He guided her fingers to Dan's pulse point and she felt it under her fingertips, a steady heartbeat.
"He's alive." The child said again. "I don't waste time on a corpse. Senju Tsunade, you can heal him."
.
And she does.
Tsunade rocked back onto her feet and stood up, shakily glancing around as she wiped the blood off her hands. The boy and that cloaked man were long gone. The shinobi on Dan's team began to stir awake.
"Ts- Tsunade…"
"Dan!" She helped him sit up and pressed water to his lips. "Don't push yourself. You've completed the mission objective already. We just need to go home now."
"No," He shook his head, "Tsunade, the necklace-"
Tsunade glanced down at his sternum and realised it was gone. Did that kid…
"In my flak jacket… he tucked in a slip of paper."
"Ame next?" Koji hummed in reply. "For the orphans? Jiraiya might still be there. No, at this time… he definitely was. Tsunade got really pissed at me- him because he's full of hypocrisy."
Jiraiya was loyal to Konoha yet remained in Ame for years during wartime because he felt guilty and because he mistakenly believed Nagato was the Child of the Prophecy.
"I should meet my family, and well, the kids who took him in. I'll give them more options than they currently do." Natsuo told him.
"Well, alright. Your next interruptions with the original storyline- if that isn't weird to say- occur in a few years anyway, but with Tsunade… Are you sure that was a good decision?" Koji asked sceptically. "She might get pissed from that- taking the necklace and leaving that note."
"I doubt it." Natsuo shrugged. "It is a risky move, but I can't have her too close either. If she wants her necklace back, she can come and get it, but she won't hurt me because she can't."
He grinned.
.
"She owes me now."
.
[Senju Tsunade,
I'll take this as payment. Like the tides, Uzushio will always come back, and when I raise one higher than Senju Hashirama did, you can come get it.
Fate had decreed: Kato Dan must've died today. He cannot become Hokage. Although I've defied the first, the second is inevitable. Konoha is infested. The Shimura betrayed Uzushio. However, this is all predetermined history and change will only truly come in the future.
Still, be forever prudent, for you will not find a home within the Village.
- Uzumaki]
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originally it was signed off by a waxing crescent moon symbol but alas formatting..