Ruling by the Book

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 15: Siege on Uzushiogakure

- Kazuya -

"So they have started their move, eh?"

"Yes. The attacks on Konoha have increased from all sides but the actual damage is not that big. They are all putting on a show for the rest of the world, a distraction." Kuroka informed me.

"I see…"

"What do we do, boss? Do we just stand back and let them do what they want?" She asked, actually worried.

"Right now, we have already done everything we could do. Moves that could be made, have been made. And the Uzumaki have already decided to go through with this end. Let's respect their decision now."

She nodded.

"Moreover, we have our own plans to carry and this is the best time to do so. We have to move too. How is your training going?" I asked.

"Good. I have gotten stronger than before. My magic, Senjutsu and Yojutsu are all developing nicely. That Kage Bunshin is very useful nyaa~ As for the thing you gave me, I need around a year or so to finish it. The technique is very difficult." She pouted.

I smiled at her spoiled behaviour. Kuroka had become far more relaxed with us after getting to know us better.

Now she behaves like a spoiled cat when around us.

"But it's very useful so train as well as you can. I know you can do it." I scratched her ears and she purred happily.

Really, both the sisters are adorable.

"When do we move?" Saitō asked.

"Right now. We start moving towards our goal right now. Kuroka will go with Mina, Rina and Hiromi-sama and the second team will be led by Geshiro-sensei, Minoru-sama and Disuke-sama. Toji will follow them. Your goal will be Sōma while Kuroka's team will take on the demon in the Crystal Cave. The rest need to stay here and wait for their return. We proceed to the second phase of the plan after they come back. We need to get this done before the attack though."

"Yes."

"Then prepare. You all will be leaving tomorrow early in the morning."

All of them began preparing while I went ahead for my own preparations.

x_

"Will you be needing anything else, Hiromi-sama?" I asked her once more.

"How many times have you asked the same thing, kid? We shinobi don't need much and we don't miss the things we actually need. Don't worry. You will get the demon before the end of the week. " She said.

"I see. Then we meet at the location we have decided." I nodded. Questioning her further would be insulting her.

Kasumi was also present with us and actually went ahead and gave them packed lunch, something she had cooked for herself. "Please eat this while on your mission."

The gesture made the Uzumaki group smile. I think it might have been my imagination but even Toji had a hint of a smile on his face which disappeared before I noticed it.

With everything done, they left for their missions and I got ready for my own preparations too.

x_

I wanted to get something done before they returned and that something was the vitality ritual with Kasumi.

Now she had a decent grip on her chakra and a basic foundation of the Chakra Suppression Technique to be able to hide most of her chakra. It was now safe to teach her this.

Seven giant mutated chakra beasts were already collected and placed in seven different places on the circle.

I was going to start with the best possible materials for her so the beasts I had selected were all the strongest of the group. In this time, I had even improved upon the ritual, although the preparations were a bit harder than before.

And that's what I was doing. I finished drawing the last symbol on Kasumi's body. Unlike the previous method, if the symbols were drawn to her body and connected to the ritual circle, the transfer of the energy was far smoother and the efficiency was better.

However I couldn't do this method on all my subordinates and so Kanae was the first actual person to try this.

The ritual had increased her power beyond normal jōnin levels and assured that she would get to Kage level in the future comfortably.

With Kasumi's already strong reserves the results she will be getting will be better.

"Are you ready now?" I asked her as I lay her down on the ritual table.

"Yes."

"Just hold on. Don't get scared. You can close your eyes if you want to. I will use Fuinjutsu so that your body doesn't move during the ritual and break the point of contact, alright?"

"Hmm."

"Good then. Let's get started." I leaned down and kissed her forehead and went outside

The ritual circle and started the ritual.

I summoned my Grimoire and began the ritual.

As usual the ritual circle lit up and the sealed animals began to growl and roar. The markings on Kasumi's body lit up and connected to the ritual circle and the light travelled to the circles where the animals were being kept. The roars got louder and so did the light of the circle before the entire bodies of the animals lit up. Slowly but surely, the light on the animal's bodies dulled as the marks on Kasumi's body got brighter. This happened until there was nothing left of the animals in the circles.

I quickly ran to Kasumi who was asleep and checked on her before helping her into her clothes and sending a shadow clone to call for Rose to check her properly.

Rose checked and verified that there was nothing wrong with her body and I carried her to our room to rest till the changes were complete.

Around eight hours later, she woke up. On checking further, the ritual was completed successfully. There were no problems with her. Her chakra had increased to the levels of an Elite Jōnin, although in terms of fighting power she wasn't even properly at a Chunin's level.

Her situation was similar to Naruto's. Too much chakra, too little skill… at least for now.

With her training, she could become a very good healer and seal mistress in the future.

If only the cost of raising these chakra beasts had been a bit cheaper, I could have lined up an army of jōnin in five years or so. Unfortunately that was easier said than done.

A jōnin had an extremely great fighting sense. That's what separated them from common mobs. One in a hundred chunin… this was just a problem of talent.

Getting an army of jōnin was not something I could achieve… at least not anytime soon. So, I had decided on an alternate path. Having a collection of Kage.

I had made an estimate of how many kage level people all over the world had.

Nine Jinchuriki, five Kage, Chiyo and Ebisu, Sakumo and the Sannin, Hanzo, Kakuzu and Shiroyasha Uzumaki. These were the most commonly known Kage level in the world and except Hanzo, Nanabi Jinchuriki and Shiroyasha, the rest were all members of the five great ninja villages. That's twenty people give or take.

Sure there could be cases of young Jinchuriki like Kushina but they also have hundreds of elite jōnin and kinjutsu users. And these were just the known ones. I am not even counting the unknown ones who were not publicly disclosed. After all, every ninja village has their own trump cards.

I was pretty sure they could be an Uchiha or two with a mangekyo hiding around and more people who will emerge in the future like Minato, A, Rasa, etc.

Finally there were the summons like those of the Three Sage Lands which could have dozens of Kage level summons of their own.

To have a kingdom which can stand on ground with the five great nations, I would need an army who can fight these people off.

And to reach such a level, there were only two ways… first, train my own people and second… reduce their numbers and the best way to do that was to remove the Jinchuriki from the game.

That would drastically reduce the fire power of the five major villages and also remove the danger of Madara's plans.

Right now, in the name of kage level people, I only had Kuroka, Stussy, Toji and me. Moreover, Toji and I required the eight inner gates to fight the stronger ones and the four of us had many weaknesses.

Not to mention, the greatest weakness our side had was average strength and numbers. Even if I were to get two dozen kage level people, they wouldn't be able to be at all places. In an all out war, my people would suffer too much or even die out.

There was just no way we could reveal our power to anyone right now.

I needed to increase my power to the level where people would fear going up against us and the fastest way to do so was summoning rituals…

Obviously, there was one last option… becoming as strong as Madara or Hashirama… someone people wouldn't even dare to fight…

- Kuroka -

"This is the place." She pointed to the tree in front of them. "The cave is below the roots of the tree and we have to enter from the side by making an entrance. The tree is also what keeps the demon sealed inside." She explained. She had already used a barrier spell to keep the people of the village away from the place so that they could work in peace.

"The tree?" Hiromi-san looked at the tree and then went on to check it before finally stepping back and making a path into the cave from the side. They entered the path one by one.

Kuroka used Senjutsu to track the chakra of the demon and found the place soon enough. "It's there."

Hiromi-san checked the place and slowly removed the rocks to uncover a sealing formation. "Indeed. There is something sealed here. We will need to prepare or the demon could escape. Mina, Rina, start setting up a formation around the place to isolate and trap any chakra inside."

"Yes Obaa-sama." The two girls quickly got to work, setting up seals around the place. Kuroka had seen them at work but hadn't had the time to learn more about their art.

"Are you interested in Fuinjutsu?" Hiromi-san asked.

"Hmm, it's interesting. I want to learn it too and Kazuya-sama said he would teach me. It's just that I am very busy with my current schedule and cannot spare much time."

"Aye, that's too bad. You can come to me when you are free."

"Thank you nyaa~"

"Hahahaha so adorable."

When the two were done setting up the formation, Hiromi-san walked forward and unsealed the scroll she was carrying, bringing out several things and started her work.

Around an hour or so later, all three of them stood at three corners of the Seal and started transferring the demon from the seal to the lamp.

The atmosphere in the cave changed as soon as the process started. It grew cold and dark as shadowy tentacles emerged from the seal and tried to attack the three but the formation lit up and contained the chakra from getting out.

Minute by minute, the time passed. All three Uzumaki were sweating from exertion but continued as the dark feeling continued getting stronger. Kuroka felt them getting pressured and took the chance to use her Yojutsu technique, Kasha.

Kasha can be used to purify dark creatures and sure enough, it quickly repelled the darkness in the room and burned the tentacles. They quickly retreated fearfully while the Uzumaki looked in awe.

"Hurry up. I will hold it back as much as I can."

The trio nodded and concentrated on their work again.

In the presence of Kasha, the demon didn't come out and was safely transferred into the lamp they had prepared beforehand and Hiromi-san sealed it completely.

"Our work is done. Seriously, I am getting old. This demon… not even at the level of a tailed beast and I am already feeling tired from sealing it." The old woman complained as she sat down on the ground. Kuroka offered her some water. "Thank you, dear."

"Should we rest here for a while before we leave?"

"Hmm. Let's do that."

One down. Now she hoped Toji had completed his side of things too.

- Toji -

"The route is clear. We need to be quick." Genshiro said and the trio quickly disabled the protections around the shrine temporarily and allowed them entry.

Inside was a large stone with ritual bindings around it. The trio quickly got to work while Toji kept watch.

The task here wasn't that hard as the Uzumaki had already known everything about the seal. They only isolated the seal and stored the stone inside a scroll along with the demon and replaced the stone with another similar looking stone and recreated the ritual bindings to make it look more authentic.

With everything done, they left the place as they had come. The entire mission was no challenge as the village mostly consisted of normal civilians. Even the ones watching over the shrine were a bunch of priests, not trained in combat.

Seriously, no challenge at all.

- Kazuya -

I watched Kuina training under Stussy, learning the Six Powers of the Marines.

According to Stussy, these techniques were made as a precursor for learning Haki.

Kami-e helped hone the flexibility of the body but at the same time, it also helped the person to sharpen their predictive abilities to dodge the attacks coming at the highest speed with the barest of the movements. When pushed beyond a certain limit, this could lead to the awakening of the Observation Haki.

Tekkai, Soru, Geppo, Shigan and Rankyaku were all techniques which concentrated on strengthening different parts of the body, a prelude to learning the Armament Haki.

Rankyaku was also good for swordsmen as it was quite similar to the flying slash which any good swordsman can use.

This was also something Kuina had been struggling to achieve.

Now, finally getting someone to show her a way to achieve that had pushed her further once more.

Stussy on the other hand was learning about chakra control and chakra suppression technique. When she unlocked her chakra, we found out that she had the most chakra among our entire group.

Not surprising considering how insanely stronger her body was and her haki wasn't half bad either.

She has started from high Kage level reserves and thus getting it under her control was harder for her.

With her reserves, she would be like a glaring light bulb to any sensor and so she decided to stay in the warehouse, hidden until she could completely control and hide her chakra.

It was during this time that Kuina often accompanied the girl, learning about the techniques and information about her world in much more detail.

As I watched them train, a magic circle appeared behind me.

The only one who could do it was Kuroka so it wasn't a surprise when the nekoshou walked out of the circle.

"I am back!"

"Welcome back. How was your mission?" I asked, quickly getting up.

"Success. Toji-san's mission was a success too." She brought out two scrolls and showed me. "Here are the demons."

I took the scrolls and stored them in my Grimoire and sure enough these two qualified for the demons necessary for the ritual.

"They have left for the meeting place. We need to leave soon too. The armies will attack Uzushio in three to four days at best."

"I see. Let's prepare to leave then." I stood up. I had prepared for the journey too. "Kuina!" I called out to the girl who was currently trying to learn Soru.

"Yes?"

"I am leaving. Watch over everything and cover for me while I am gone." I shouted to her.

"Right now? Do you want any of us to come?" She asked.

"Not really. You all stay here. Things are going to be chaotic and we will need someone here in case some fools try to attack."

She nodded and I quickly went and paid a visit to Kasumi and Kanae before leaving with Kuroka.

x_

The meeting place we had decided on was a hideout of the Uzumaki Clan, something they had made recently and so no one knew about it.

Both the groups were already gathered here along with twenty new faces, each old around the same age as Genshiro-sensei or grandma Hiromi.

"Kazuya! Come in. We were just waiting for you." Hiromi-san greeted me.

"Oh. Is he the one?"

"My my, looks quite handsome, doesn't he? Mina-chan and Rina-chan got themselves quite a catch."

"Ufufufufu. I can see why they would want to share a guy like this. If I were seventy years younger…"

"Hah! He's the age of your great grandkid, Rumi you slut."

….

This was certainly not what I was expecting from a bunch of old ninjas, especially ones who were going to have such a huge war in a day.

I bowed to them and Hiromi-san introduced everyone to me. There were even the grandparents and parents of the Uzukage and the Daimyo in this group, the oldest being Naomi Uzumaki. The woman was the aunt of Mito Uzumaki…

Seriously, the Uzumaki Longevity was something else.

The only reason Mito Uzumaki died so early was due to the strain of the Kyuubi

Generally, tailed beasts are sealed inside an individual at an early age so their body can acclimate with the tailed beast chakra. Mito Uzumaki was an adult when the sealing took place and Kurama was the strongest beast too. So, despite her special chakra, her body deteriorated over time. In fact, had it been someone other than her, the sealing might not even have been possible and Kurama would have broken out sooner, killing the person.

That went to show how much of a monster Mito Uzumaki was.

"Alright alright, enough teasing the kid. Remember what we are here for." Hiromi-san called for the crowd to calm down.

"How is the situation here?" I asked.

We had taken a route through the land, from the smaller countries and came to the coast near the Land of Rivers where the hideout was.

"The armies have started marching. The ones in Uzu have already prepared themselves. As for us, we need to wait until the attack happens. Our work starts after the fight." Naomi-sama, Mito Uzumaki's aunt said.

After?

"Kuroka. Can you keep an eye on them from a distance?" I asked Kuroka who nodded and was about to leave but was stopped by Hiromi-san.

"No need to go anywhere. We have already prepared for that." She brought out a large crystal ball and placed it on the table.

Injecting chakra inside, we got a view from Uzushiogakure of the surrounding lands.

"This is… amazing."

"It is, isn't it? It's something I invented in my youth. Something which got me my Seal Mastery. It's an improvement of the Telescope Technique. My branch of expertise are barrier and surveillance seals and this beauty is my masterpiece." She explained proudly, showing us our work.

"Alright alright, stop bragging and show us what is going on there." One of the guys said, making her glare at him. The guy was obviously used to this and didn't even seem phased by it.

She then went on to bring four more of the crystal balls, a total of five and showed us the live footage.

We could see several people on the walls of Uzu, looking out towards the ocean. The ocean waters were full of whirlpools, making travelling to the island difficult, thus earning it the name, the village hidden in the whirlpools.

Right now the coasts were clear. "Looks like they haven't arrived yet."

"What about Konoha?" I asked.

A frown formed on many faces and I got my answer.

"They have officially sold us off." Naomi-san spoke, taking me by surprise.

"What?"

"Didn't you already know that?"

"I didn't know the exact details. What do you mean officially?"

"There was a meeting between the kage and daimyo of the nations. The Fire Daimyo and the Hokage had pulled their support back from us… on the condition that no other country would take Uzumaki people hostage to assimilate in their numbers."

….

I found my mouth open at the insinuation. Did they actually order the entire clan to be wiped out… It shouldn't have been this surprising to me knowing what I did but it still did surprise me.

"Seems like what you said about the Senju being the real allies of the Uzumaki and not the village of Konoha… was actually true." Naomi-san sighed. "In a way, I am glad Mito passed away before witnessing this."

"Did they actually say that to you all?" I asked.

"No. The meeting was a private affair. We were only able to know about it… through some other means. Apart from that, we did send someone to notify them of the movements of the three villages and the possible attack on Uzushiogakure but…"

"They waved it off as your imagination?" I asked, already knowing where it was going.

She nodded. "Not only that, that brat had the audacity to accuse us and say that it was our shutting off Uzu that had made the other nations wary and we should drop it. As if visiting Uzu was a matter of life and death for them."

"Anyways, we don't have much to do other than waiting for now so make yourselves comfortable. Tell me more about you. I have heard the story you told Shiryasha and… we were able to confirm some parts of it." She hesitated a bit there. "It's terrifying to know what kind of world we are living in."

"You have no idea…" I shook my head.

"So, how did you know about it?" She asked. "Not even us, the descendants of the sage knew about it. Shiroyasha told us that you could see visions but…"

"I saw it." I interrupted her. "I saw the Ten Tails… rampaging through the world."

"What!"

The entire group shot up at the words.

Since they had left, it was time to give them some more context so they can start preparing to fight against Zetsu and even some possible Otsutsuki invasion later on.

I explained to them the story of Kaguya Otsutsuki, the Sage and his brother and their fight and finally her sealing. "But what not even those two could find due to their exhaustion was that she had created a being right before she was sealed… a manifestation of her will. This creature, while weak in power, is immortal. It has been living in the shadows, manipulating the world, erasing the signs of the Sage, turning them into mere myths. He manipulated Indra Otsutsuki and then the Incarnations of Indra till the last one… Madara…"

"So… Madara's betrayal?"

"Partly due to him, yes, but it was mostly because the guy had a massive god complex. That piece of shit…"

"Anyway, I wouldn't be surprised if that guy had his hands behind the disappearance of the Senju Clan and now this… attack on the Uzumaki… although I cannot verify everything. It's hard to see everything I want. I am not strong enough yet."

The entire place descended into a dangerous silence and it was Hiromi-san who broke the silence first.

"Kazuya-kun."

"Yes?"

"I take it that you have plans to avoid such a future."

"Obviously."

"Can you tell us what those plans are?"

"Well, we are already following those plans right now. My original plan was to shift half the tailed beasts to the other continent. That way, no one will be able to gather them easily since the people here don't even know about the existence of the other continent. That's how I found out about the other continent, something which came in handy for you all."

A look of understanding came to their faces.

I had to think for months for my story to not have any holes.

"I planned to talk to the Tailed Beasts and come to an understanding with them. While, I understand that the best way would be for them to be sealed inside a jinchuriki and collaborate with them… I want to give them a choice. They could actually act like guardian deities of a village or a country instead of being sealed and used as a weapon of mass destruction. They are not mindless beasts, in which case I would have understood his actions but the tailed beasts have thoughts and emotions of their own. Hashirama Senju was a man with good intentions but… I absolutely dislike his actions with the tailed beasts. I mean if it was just them being strong then why didn't he go around sealing every strong summoning creature, including the three sage lands?"

I took a deep breath and calmed myself down. I understand his motivations were good but his actions with the Tailed Beasts had done just the opposite. My plan was something else entirely.

By the time I was done with my rant, the entire room was looking at me.

"I apologise for speaking too much…" I apologised.

"No no. It's good to see you so passionate about your dreams. Believe it or not, Hashirama was also like this. But you have to understand that back then he did what he thought best and his efforts were also rewarded. The current time is a boon compared to the Warring States era. But nobody's perfect. Everyone makes mistakes. With time, new people will come and change the world… for better or worse. This is just the way the world works."

I nodded, not knowing what else to do.

"Anyways, I think this is enough. Are you two satisfied with this?" She asked, turning towards the wall.

I looked surprised at the wall as she made a hand sign and seals appeared on the wall and suddenly I could sense two chakra signatures inside.

I suddenly felt a deep chill run down my spine at the sheer chakra I felt from the two.

It was beyond anything I had sensed till now. No… it was beyond anything I had sensed till now combined… Rōen, Shiroyasha, even Stussy… all looked like a joke compared to what was behind the wall…

Kuroka quickly stepped in front of me. "Kazuya-sama… it's… a Tailed Beast."

"...what?!"

"Oh you don't need to get so worried. I told you, didn't I, that we verified your story with our sources? The sources we were talking about… are these two."

From behind the wall, two people stepped out.

One of them was an old woman and the other was a girl with red hair slightly younger than Kuina. Uzumaki obviously.

"Let me introduce them. They are Ito Uzumaki and Kushina Uzumaki, the jinchuriki of the Seven Tails and the Nine Tails."

"The seven tails?" I asked, stunned by the reveal.

"Aha, you cannot see everything then…"

"Seven tails was in Takigakure just a month or so ago." I clarified.

"Yes. We got him around fifteen days ago." She smiled.

….

Looking at my confused face, she clarified. "Well, it's your fault to some extent. You gave us such world breaking information that we had to find out if it was true or not. All the other tailed beasts were in locations we couldn't touch. The seven tails was the easiest one to access."

"And Kyuubi?"

"Well… we had left failsafes in case Konoha ever betrayed us." She didn't elaborate any further but I made it a point to search for this information later on. "Safe to say, your words turned out to be true. Even the mighty Kyuubi… was willing to listen to our words when we told him what you told us. He however wanted to see you first. Now… what do you say, Nanabi-sama, Kyuubi-sama?" She asked, looking back at Kushina.

Kushina's chakra rose and her eyes turned red with a slit in between as the malevolent chakra surrounded her. On the other hand, the older woman's eyes changed to look like compound eyes.

They just stared at me.

I stood there nervously staring at them.

It was Kushina or rather Kurama who spoke first.

"Are you afraid of me?" She asked, her voice… demonic.

"I have never felt anyone with such… enormous chakra reserves. I won't lie and say that it's not intimidating." I clarified.

She nodded. "Why do you wish to help us tailed beasts? What's in it for you?"

"Hmm… I won't lie and say my motives are completely selfless. I do not want my loved ones to die from the rampage of the Ten Tails or… well, get trapped in the hands of Kaguya."

"Do not!" She growled… "do not say that name."

"…I am sorry. As I was saying, I do wish to survive but apart from that, I believe that what was done to you all… was not right. I do not claim to be a good person. In fact, I have done lots of bad things. I have stolen, I have killed and I have sacrificed and I… will do so in the future too as long as it's to protect my country… but what was done to the tailed beasts was wrong. Being caught against your will and sold as weapons of war… you didn't deserve that treatment."

"Do you not want my power… our power?"

"... are you offering? I mean if you want to then I won't mind. I am the Prince of my country and going to become the Daimyo in a few years. I would always appreciate something extra to protect my people with, especially at such dangerous times. But if you are asking me if I want to become your jinchuriki, then no. I am not interested. As long as I have enough time, I can surpass you and your siblings in power." I answered confidently.

She raised an eyebrow. "You are actually confident when saying that… are you sure you are not delusional?"

"Give me a decade, I will show you if I am delusional or not." I replied, my fear subsided after I got used to the chakra.

"Oh come on and stop being a spoilsport, Kurama. He's the first one who has at least spoken in favour of us after father… not to mention he is working to prevent that from reviving again… that's good enough for me."

"Shut up, Chomei. He could be lying. You don't know humans…"

"Ehh… I am pretty sure you could have sensed if he was lying and you wouldn't be this quiet if he was. That means he is not lying which means he is telling the truth and thus a friend. See, easy. Why are you so confused? I mean I know not everyone can be as cool as the Lucky Number Seven but at least try…"

"Okay okay, shut up already." She then looked at me. "You really don't want to become a jinchuriki?"

"Eh… no. Not really. I don't want a guy watching my private moments… not even if they are a tailed beast."

"Pfft… hahahahahaha… that's the best reason I have heard." The older woman or rather Chomei burst out laughing.

Even some of the Uzumaki behind them looked like they would laugh while Rina and Mina had slight blushes on their faces.

"I have no interest in you monkeys breeding either." Kurama finally backed down but then raised a fist towards me. Knowing what to do, I did the same and our fists met.

Ninshu is a technique in which two people connect their spiritual energies. It was later changed when Indra used his own spiritual energy to connect to his physical energy and ninjutsu was born.

Unlike what most people believed, Ninshu didn't allow two people to read each other's minds but rather sense their intentions, their feelings. Or imagine Naruto watching his conception through Kurama's memories… that would have been… traumatic…

I had read up on it and that's why I was doing this otherwise I didn't have any plans of doing this because of the secrets I had been hiding.

After a while, she removed her hand.

"You have a lot of secrets." She said.

"And?" I questioned.

"I do not trust you… completely. But I can feel that you wish no harm to me or my siblings."

I nodded. "Then I can only make you trust me through my actions."

"My trust is not so easy to earn."

"I will keep trying until you do."

We stared at each other for a while before Kushina's eyes turned normal and Kurama's chakra disappeared again.

"Geez… that guy is still like this. Anyways, don't worry about him. If you need anything, just call me out." Chomei said before her eyes turned normal too.

After the unexpected and intense confrontation, I was also feeling tired and sat down.

I seriously wasn't expecting them to spring this on me.

Then again, if I plan stuff to manipulate their moves, I must also be prepared for them to do the same… even this…

We stayed there, waiting in the hideout talking about different things.

I also got the chance to get to know Kushina.

Turns out that they had been wary of Konoha after finding out about the movements of the other villages and Mito Uzumaki had also warned them in her own way. So the backup they had made was leaving a summoning seal in the seal used to seal the Kyuubi. This summoning seal was to summon Kushina instead.

If Konoha had actually responded to their call for help, they would have removed the seal… something which would happen with the death of the caster but if Konoha betrays them, they could just summon her from a long distance.

This seal was quite complex and needed a long time to use but Konoha had left everything about sealing the Kyuubi to them so they had more than enough time on their hands and were able to skillfully hide everything.

Man… these guys are scary.

As for Chomei, they had actually been able to snag the jinchuriki and seal him in Ito-san. She was actually planning to unseal him before she died.

"So you are a prince and will become a Daimyo?" Kushina asked me.

"Yes."

"You told Kurama that you will surpass him in strength. Aren't daimyo kinda weak?"

"I think the Whirlpool Daimyo was pretty strong." I countered.

"Ehh… no way. Shiroyasha-sama would totally win against him." She waved her hands off casually.

"Ahahahaha that might be true."

The girl was quite outspoken.

I asked her how she felt about the whole thing with Konoha. After all, she had spent a lot of time in Konoha…

She was obviously heartbroken about the whole situation. She had made some friends in Konoha but she hadn't been accepted by the people there completely.

They still teased her for her red hair and this resulted in her getting into fights with them.

"I think red hair looks very beautiful. Much better than my brown hair." I said pointing towards mine.

"Really?"

"Yup." I threw a look at Rina and Mina who were listening to the conversation. "Red hair like the strings of fate… they are beautiful."

Both the sisters blushed while I blatantly copied Minato's line.

"So you shouldn't let anyone tell you that your hair looks bad."

"Exactly… they called me Tomato… can you believe it dattebane…?"

I turned towards the girl who realised what she had just done and smiled.

"Forget what you just heard."

….

….

….

….

I just had a deja vu about the incident with Tamami and couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Ahh forget it!"

Our fun was interrupted by the voice of Hiromi-san who was continuously watching the glass orbs.

"They are here."

We all gathered around the orbs and sure enough, ships had started appearing around the island.

Hundreds of ships.

Just how many people were attacking?

"Those bastards are really not holding back." One of the guys on the other side of the orb said.

Each of them were carrying the orbs which is how we were able to watch the entire scene from here. It was powered by their chakra on that side. "Hmm, around twelve thousand. That's almost as much as they are using to fight Konoha."

"Let them come. I am disappointed that more of them didn't come."

"Keep a look at the sky. We still don't know if that pug nosed midget might try to sneak up." One of them said, making me chuckle at Onoki's nickname.

"Quickly, make the clones and man the walls. Put up the barriers or they might start doubting." One of them said and the rest quickly released their scrolls, summoning tons of water as they used that to make clones.

"Water Clones cost the least amount of chakra when there is water available." Hiromi-san explained. Despite her calm tone,her eyes weren't moving from the orbs.

The barriers around Uzushio came up, a double layered barrier. The first one was around the island while the second one was around the village walls.

The enemies started bombarding the outer barrier from the ships.

It lasted for a while before the outer barrier gave in and the ships neared the island.

However they stopped a distance away from the island and the ninjas started disembarking from the ships and charging towards the village walls.

However as soon as the first guy entered a kilometre from the village, a sealing formation appeared on the ground and caught dozens of them inside… and in front of the horrified eyes of the army, they all erupted into a splatter of flesh, blood and bones… especially bones.

The bone fragments pierced the surrounding enemies as if shrapnel in a bomb and took down a large number of them.

One of the people leading the team hurriedly stopped the charging men and ordered them to use Earth Style jutsu to disrupt or break any seals hidden underground.

"Useless. If it was so easy to disrupt our seals, we wouldn't be called the greatest seal masters of the Elemental Nations." Ito-san said as she looked at them.

The troops went forward on the destroyed area but again, the same thing happened and dozens of them died again.

I noticed that the frontlines all consisted of Iwa shinobi and the shinobi of the other two nations were following behind them.

"Are there no top levels from Iwa?" I asked.

"No. They haven't sent any kage level. We can only sense Kumo and Kiri shinobi of that level there. On the other hand, the largest number of chunins are from Iwa whereas the other two have sent lower numbers."

Realising that their methods were not working, they dropped all hesitation and dashed straight towards the village at their fastest speeds, stepping over the ones who died. Many of them used different types of bunshin to take the lead to trigger any traps ahead of them.

It was my first time watching a war and it was… terrifying…

At some level I was glad that I knew what was going to come for me when we got stronger and I won't freeze then.

Soon enough, the actual forces behind the attack came.

The elite of the three villages stepped down from the ships. I recognised some of them and Genshiro-san introduced the rest to me.

The third Raikage, A followed by a blonde woman, the two tails jinchuriki, Yukime.

On the other side were the jinchuriki of the Three Tails and the Six Tails.

The three jinchuriki started transforming into their tailed beast forms while the Raikage charged with his lightning armour donned, flashing through the crowd, directly towards the village's barriers.

Meanwhile, the rest of the ships had surrounded the island, not letting anyone escape.

Soon enough the entire village was surrounded by thousands of shinobi who attacked the barriers.

The people inside the village however didn't seem to care. They just sat there, watching and chatting casually while the clones attacked from a distance.

"I guess the barrier won't hold on much longer. That's it from us everyone." One of the people in Uzu faced the orb and said while getting up. "By the way, since it's already the end, I'd like to confess something… Daisuke… I slept with your sister while drunk on the day of your marriage."

As if a dam burst, one by one each person there started to confess things.

"Naomi-san, it was us who stole your sake during the founding day, not your husband."

"Hiromi-chan. I think you still look cute. I would have fought that bastard Madara if he wasn't dead. Hope we meet again in the next life."

Some were comedic while some were sentimental while some just apologised for past events like the guy who apologised for not being able to save Genshiro-san's child.

Even here the people gathered had tears in their eyes. Kushina was sobbing and Rina and Mina, while better, still had streams of tears running down their eyes. These people had lived decades, even a century in Naomi-san's case, fought together, played together and shared every happiness and sorrow together.

Their bonds were hard for us to even fathom.

"Alright now. No need to cry. That would put a damper on things… send us with a smile. Let's meet together later in the pure lands…"

With that, they made a handsign together.

"Don't miss this moment kids. Witness this and carve this scene in your minds. This is what we can do for our people, to anyone who dares put their eyes on our children, our land, our clan. We're… Uzumaki."

"Katsu!" The people in Uzu entoned at the same time and something terrifying happened right then.

The seas surrounding Uzushiogakure rose up into giant blasts as if someone had used nukes under it.

Every ship around the area was simply drowned in the explosion.

All attacks stopped as every ninja attacking the barrier looked behind in horror.

One of the Uzumaki stepped forward, dispelling the water clones and shouted. "You thought you could just walk in here, and trample our clan… and that we would let you…? Well, think again. This is not your back garden. This is… the Village Hidden in the Whirlpools!"

"Katsu!"

With that said, the same explosions as the sea started on the island.

It was like dozens of nukes exploded in the same place.

We felt the tremors in the cave we were in and I was pretty sure we were at least a hundred kilometres or so away from Uzushiogakure island.

The explosions started from the outer edge of the island and slowly came towards the centre. The scene looked like a scene from some apocalyptic movie. Apparently, it was the same for the ninja who were attacking Uzushio who dropped their weapons and fell on their knees at the sight of their impending doom.

The Raikage was the only one who actually tried to run away, by cutting through the blasts, pushing his chakra armour to the highest level.

We watched the wave approach till it reached the village and then… there was just white…

"Just… what in the world was that?" I asked, stunned at the scene I had just witnessed.

"Tailed beast bombs. We had sealed tailed beast bombs created by Chomei-sama under the sea and the island… one hundred tailed beast bombs."

….

….

….

….

"Kuroka!" I called.

"Yes, Kazuya-sama?"

"Quickly go and check the island from the skies. Make sure you are not seen by anyone." I ordered.

"Yes." She quickly teleported away from there.

"What's the need? Uzu would be under the ocean. In case you didn't realise, there were more blasts after the connection cut off. There is no way anyone could have survived that." Hiromi-san shook her head.

"It's never bad to be sure." I corrected while my mind was running thinking about the consequences of this and I realised something worrying.

Kumo and Kiri lost their kage level individuals and elite shinobi, while Iwa only lost mooks. Thousands of them but still chunin and tokubetsu jōnin…

While this kind of damage will take them years to recover from, their top forces were still intact. Knowing Onoki, he could totally try to use this lapse in Kumo's strength to launch an invasion on us.

No.

I will have to take some measures to assure that nothing of that sort happens.

We cannot reveal our strength, not now, especially after Uzumaki had done such a thing. It would put every major nation at their wits end.

"...uya… Kazuya!"

"Hah… yes. What?" My thoughts were broken by Hiromi-san's voice.

"What what? What are you thinking? You looked very worried suddenly." She asked. "Did you… perhaps see something?" She asked and everyone looked at me.

I shook my head. "No. Nothing of that sort. I was just thinking about something else." I explained the situation with Iwa to her and she shared a look with the others.

"You don't have to worry about Iwa. They or any other nation will not be doing anything. Just give us a month. The second great ninja war… will be over. We Uzumaki declare it over." Naomi-sama said, no nonsense in her tone.

I looked at her confused but she didn't explain anything.

"Just go home. Take care of the family and raise your people with ease. In the next five years, none of the villages will start a war or invade anyone."

….

Everyone had a similar look as hers and I wasn't able to say anything to them.

We stayed there for an hour in which they mourned their deceased.

At last, Naomi-san gave me a scroll.

"This is a summoning contract prepared by us for Chomei-sama. We are going to unseal him when Ito and Kushina go to the other continent. If you need his help, you can summon him. Since you want him to be free and not become a jinchuriki, this is the best we can do. We wish you the best of luck in your goals. Always remember that you will have an ally in the Uzumaki Clan no matter what." Naomi-san promised.

"Thank you."

She then turned towards Hiromi-san. "Hiromi, take care of the kids here. I leave everything to you."

She patted her head and Hiromi-san hugged her tight for a moment before pulling back.

One of their groups consisting of Ito-san, Kushina and one other will secretly move away by ship to the other continent to rejoin with the rest of the clan while the rest will do something only they knew.

I bid them goodbye too.

"Come and meet us, okay." Kushina told me.

"Hmm. You should train too. You should try to get to know Kurama more and cooperate with him. The guy must be really lonely, trapped inside you."

"Umm."

"Goodbye then."

"Yes, goodbye,"

With that we separated and headed our different ways.

They left their way while we waited for Kuroka.

She did come after fifteen more minutes. "Kazuya-sama, you won't believe what I found back there?"

"Hmm?"

She summoned the Totsuka no Tsurugi, something I had given her to help her with the demon sealing mission and with a few hand seals, released something from inside the sword's pitcher-like sheathe… was that… the third Raikage?

His arms were destroyed and so was one of his legs, body entirely charred and it looked like he was barely hanging on to his last breath.

Son of a bitch.

He actually lived.

"He was thrown away by one of the blasts and carried away by a tsunami. I was able to sense a barely intact aura and found him drowning. He looked like he was about to die so I sealed him quickly."

I quickly thought of something and summoned my Grimoire and stored him inside the Grimoire to check on something. Sure enough, all his information was available.

"You did a very good job, Kuroka." I patted her back and the girl looked happy.

As I sat there reading the Grimoire, she turned into her cat form and sat in my lap. I found a part which made me clench my hands in anger… these fucking Kumo bastards… they were no better than those Iwa bastards…

"What happened, Kazuya-sama?" Kuroka asked, sensing my anger.

"Let's go. We need to go back to the Land of Flowers as soon as possible." I got up and left the room where the rest of the people were.

"Kazuya? Is something the matter?" Genshiro-san asked, looking at my serious face.

"We need to hurry back to the Land of Flowers, sensei. I found out something troubling."

No more words were needed.

We all left at our fastest speed towards the Land of Flowers.

x_x_

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Author's Note:

I am back with another chapter of 'Ruling by the Book'.

Last chapter was left at a good point so I didn't hang you all much this time.

Enjoy.

Several things happened in this chapter.

Kazuya got the demons needed for the next ritual.

Uzushiogakure was destroyed.

The Uzumaki made a grand show of the whole thing. They even managed to snag Kushina away from Konoha to give them a last middle finger.

What's next for their plan?

And what is Kazuya going to do now that he knows about Kumo selling him off?

Butterflies, no, dragons have started flapping their wings and a huge storm, one like never seen before is going to envelop the whole world.

Deviations will start occurring in the plot from this point… huge deviations too.

The entire world will change and Kazuya will have to adapt.

As for what happens next, we can only know in the future chapters?

Enjoy the new chapter.

Good Day, Peace Out.